Chapter 1: Awakening

“…ey…are y…ay…”

Augh, my head. I must’ve set a new record for the number of consecutive head injuries in a row. What is this, my sixth whack to the head this week?

“..llo? Ar…oka…?”

Someone’s trying to get my attention. I should probably answer them.

“Uhh…W-what?” Wow. That was the best I could do? That last blow to the head must’ve done some serious damage then.

“I said ‘Are you okay?’” the voice answered.

“Y-yeah. I think I just hit my head too hard. Did someone get the license plate number of that bus that hit me?” My muscles were really sore, so I tried to stretch them…

And immediately regretted it. My back felt like someone stuck a Taser to a metal pitchfork and shoved it- What, too much? Oh, well then…

It hurt a lot. The end.

“What? What’s a ‘bus’?”

Aww, great. Don’t tell me… I tried to open my eyes only to find the last thing I was hoping to see.

“Ponies…” I grumbled. I had hoped I was at least back home.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’ as much as the next brony, but let’s just say I’ve been here before… Well, not right here. Right here seemed new to me. Turning my head, I could tell this place was different than where I was a little while ago. I was lying on my back in an open field between some sort of forest and a town that looked like… Ponyville? Whoa. How long was I out?

Stop. Rewind.

Maybe I should start from the beginning. My name is Zack. I’m 23 years old and a brony… What? Don’t judge me! If you’re reading this, that gives you no room to judge. Anyways, about five months ago, I woke up in Equestria. ‘Yay me,’ right? Well, no. It had technically only been Equestria for a few short years when I arrived, what I guess they would now call 1 B.C. (‘Before Celestia’, btw). I might have brought peace to Equestria and saved the Princesses once or twice. From what I could tell, this looked to be about the time period of the show, though.

The white mare standing over me was giving me a funny look, her pink tail flowing in the breeze while her mane was in a bun resting underneath a nurse’s cap. Her cutie mark was a red cross with little hearts around it. In case you haven’t caught on yet, this was Nurse Redheart. “What do you mean ‘Ponies’? You’re a pony too, you know.”

I lifted my hoof to my face just to confirm. “Huh. I guess I am.” I was a pony before, but I looked different for some reason. My once Navy blue coat was now burnt orange. A glance upward showed that I while I kept the same messy style of hair and silver streak, it was now brown instead of black. And… wait…

“WHERE’S MY HORN!?!” I panicked. I really liked my horn.

Nurse Redheart had already started helping me up. I was wincing in pain the whole way. “Horn? You’re a Pegasus, not a Unicorn.”

When I finally stood up, I looked back and saw that I indeed had a new pair of wings. They actually looked pretty good, considering having gone through some reality-bending teleportation through time and space.

“Wow… You really did hit your head hard if you couldn’t remember that. You might have a concussion.” She instructed me to sit down and began inspecting me for any injuries. “Do you remember your name?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s…” I paused for a moment. I knew that ‘Zachary’ wasn’t a very Equestrian name, and had given myself a new name last time, but I couldn’t remember it for some reason. I guess it was time for a new name to match my new body. I looked back at my rump to see if I had cutie mark. I did, but it caused me do a double take. I don’t recall if this was the same mark I had before, but it was odd nonetheless. My butt depicted a solid red circle behind a blue and gold… uh, what was it called… a heater shield, I think. “…Blast Shield.”

Creative, right? Don’t ask me why I chose that name. It was all I could come up with on the spot.

“Well, Mr. Shield, you seem to be just fine. No concussion or serious injuries as far as I can tell. The pain in your back is probably just some pulled muscle. Although you’re lucky I happened to walk by here on the way to work. Being passed out this close to the Everfree Forest is not safe.” That at least confirms where I am. The white earth pony motioned for me to follow her as she walked toward town. ”What were you doing out here anyway? Did you crash or something?”

“Yeah, I must have. I can’t seem remember too much from right before I woke up.” I glanced back at the spot I had woken up from. The ground was a little tousled from what appeared to be some sort of crash. I guess I did fall to the ground. What I was doing in the air to begin with, I have no friggin’ clue.

Nurse Redheart smirked at me. “Well, a good blow to the noggin will do that. I’m sure you’ll be fine in a few hours.” I looked back at her as she gave me an inquisitive look. ”Where do you live, by the way? I’ve never seen you in Ponyville before, Mr. Shield.”

“Oh, I’m from, uh… Canterlot. I was just visiting Ponyville for a little while, I think.” I honestly had no idea what I was doing near Ponyville. “And call me Blast. My father is ‘Mr. Shield.’” No it wasn’t. It was actually ‘Mr. Hutchins’, but she didn’t need to know that. “What’s your name?” I already knew it but I shouldn’t have let on that I knew more than I should.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Nurse Redheart. I work at the local hospital. I was actually on my way there when I found you.”

“Well, thank you. I’m lucky a cute nurse found me instead some Timberwolf.” At that, she started blushing. I had to hold back a laugh. A white coat really makes a blush stand out more than normal. I had seen it more than once on a certain Princess of the Sun. But I wasn’t lying. She was pretty cute.

I looked back toward town and saw that we were almost there. Near the closest edge of town to the right was the hospital. I could tell by the big red ‘+’ on the sign. To the left, a bit closer to the forest, I could see Fluttershy’s cottage. In the distance, I could make out the Town Hall as it stood a good two stories higher than the rest of the thatch-roofed buildings. A bit further I saw a giant tree, which could only be the library. I wonder if Twilight’s there. Oh! That reminds me…

I brought a hoof to my head to fake a headache. “Oi, I think I got more sense knocked out of me than usual. I’m sorry, but could you tell me the date?” I needed to find out exactly when I was before I revealed anything I shouldn’t.

“Oh, that’s fine. Today is June 18th, 1002 A.N.M., just a few days before the Summer Solstice,” Redheart said. “Do you have somewhere to be? I could point you in the right direction if you want me to.”

“No, thank you. I’m sure I’ll be fine,” I said, giving her a warm smile. A.N.M.? Must mean ‘After Nightmare Moon’.

We had just arrived at the front of the hospital when she said she had to go to work. “And don’t go crashing into anymore fields,” she snickered.

I laughed. “I won’t. I promise. And thank you again for helping me out.”

She smiled at me, “It was no problem. Anypony would have done the same.” Maybe in this time period, anyway.

She walked into the building, leaving me at the edge of town. I decided to head towards the library. If the time period’s right, this is about two years after Nightmare Moon’s return and fall. I would hazard a guess and say it’s not long after the changeling fiasco, so no revealing the ‘future alicorn princess’ thing. I just hope I’m not around for Pinkie’s Mirror Pool incident. I shivered a bit at the thought. I approached a huge crowd of ponies in what may have been the marketplace. I can probably get Twilight to send a message to Tia for me. I use to be able to myself, but… ahem… no horn anymore. Man, I really liked my horn! Now I have to learn how to use these things.

I gave my wings a little shake. They felt weird, but in a comforting sort of way. It was like have an extra set of arms on my back, easier to control than I thought they would be, but I still wouldn’t risk a test flight. I’m sure Tia or Lulu could help me learn to use them.

I stopped for a moment. Wow, if I disappeared, then technically Tia and Lulu haven’t seen me in, well, at least a couple millennia! I hope they aren’t upset about me disappearing like that. It’s not like it was my fault. I brought a hoof to my chin. I mean, I don’t think it was.

My thoughts were interrupted when a brown earth pony stallion nearly knocked me over, rushing to some unforeseen location. Careful there, Doctor. It’s not like the world is ever in danger around you. I let out a chuckle as I turned back to the wall of rainbow colored ponies in front of me, and my expression immediately fell.

“Well,” I frowned a bit, “This’ll be fun.”

Author's Notes:

Edit May 24th 2017: IMPORTANT! I am currently rewriting the entire story and with that, many details and aspects are set to change. As such, it will essentially be an entirely new story, meaning this version of Past, Present, and Future is technically Cancelled. There will be no more chapter updates until I finish the rewrite, meaning that this version will not have a proper ending. If it's requested enough, I may do some kind of Cliffnotes version of how the rest of the story was meant to play out, but for right now just know that if you start reading this version, you will not get an ending. I will post an announcement chapter on this story and Blog on my profile when the writing nears completion and I'm about to start uploading chapters. Thank you for all of your interest in my first public work of fiction. It really means a lot to me.

Chapter 2: Fun?

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It was fun to walk through the marketplace, alright. And by ‘walked’, I mean ‘shoved my way past dozens of ponies just to get in, and nearly break my neck every other step’, and by ‘fun’, I mean ‘TOTALLY NOT FUN AT ALL!’

There was hardly any room to get through. The show never made Ponyville seem so… populated. The gender ratio was even a bit more leveled out than the show made it look. I guess that just comes down to lazy animators.

I tried to push my way through the marketplace, bumping into everypony along the way.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized to a pink earth pony.

“My bad,” I said to the teal Pegasus I almost knocked over.

I tripped over somepony and got up before a green earth pony could step on my head.

“Excuse me.”
“I’m so sorry.”

I paused for a moment. Wait, that sounded like Fluttershy. I turned back to look, but she was nowhere in sight, consumed by the crowd again. Oh well. Maybe I’ll get to meet her later.

“Oof,” I shouldn’t have stayed still for that long. A grey Pegasus backed up into me, knocking me down.

Why is it suddenly so hard to breath!?! I glanced back to see the Pegasus’ flank resting on my ribcage. Bubbles? Holy cow, it’s Ditzy!

“Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there,” Ditzy said, frantically trying to get up to help me. I grabbed her outstretched hoof and she managed to pull me up, despite the minimal breathing room we had to move.

“It’s quite alright. It’s actually my fault. I shouldn’t have been standing still in the middle of the pathway like that.” I brushed myself off and looked back at her. “My name’s Blast Shield. I’m actually trying to get through to the library.”

The wall-eyed mare looked at me, excited. “Oh, a new pony in town? My name’s Ditzy Doo, but all my friends call me Derpy! It’s always nice to meet new ponies.” We started walking towards Town Hall so we wouldn’t get trampled.

“Uh,” here’s a question I’ve always wanted to ask her, “Why do they call you that? Sounds kind of mean, if you ask me.”

“It’s not a big deal.” She smiled at me. “It’s just a nickname. Like calling a short pony ‘Tiny’ or something like that. I actually really like the name ‘Derpy’.” She stepped over an apple core.

“Hmm.” I just don’t feel comfortable calling her that. I mean, it’s a cute name for a fictional character, but when I’m conversing with her right here in front of me, I just feel mean using it. “Well, if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll just call you Ditzy. Y-you know, if that’s all right.”

“That’s fine,” she grinned. “You know, you’re the second pony to insist on calling me ‘Ditzy’.”

“Really? Who else calls you that?” I asked as a crème colored mare shoved past me.

“The town’s librarian. She said something similar to what you said about ‘Derpy’ seeming mean.”

“Oh, Twilight Sparkle?”

She nodded her head. “Yeah. You know her?”

“No, not personally. I'm actually on my way to meet her right now.” I sidestepped a blue filly and her mother.

“Oh, yeah. You did say something about heading to the library, didn’t you?” She asked. “I can walk with you there, if you want.”

“No, you don’t have to do that for me.”

“I insist. It’s the least I could do for sitting on you,” She giggled. “Besides, I have to walk by there to get home anyways.”

We had just made it to the Town Hall and the number of ponies walking around drastically decreased. Looking around, I realized I had no idea which way to go from here. I can’t even see the library’s treetop! “Heheh, I guess so. I might get lost, otherwise.”

“You know you’re a Pegasus, right? You can just fly up to see where you need to go.”

I knew that tomboyish voice. Or is it ‘tomcoltish’? I looked up in time to see Rainbow Dash landing next to me with a smirk on her face. I had to come up with something, quick. “If you must know, which you mustn’t, but I’ll tell you anyways,” I stalled, “I… sprained my wing recently, yeah, and I’m not allowed to use it for a few more days.” Yeah, that’ll work.

Dash visibly winced. “Oh. Ow. Sprained my wing once. Not a pleasant experience.”

“Oh my gosh! What happened? Are you alright? I didn’t mean to sit on it. I didn’t know it was injured.” Ditzy sounded really concerned and inspected my wing.

Dash raised an eyebrow at her. “You sat on him?” Ditzy blushed and backed away from me.

“Haha. Don’t worry about it, Ditzy. I clipped a branch while coming out of a dive. It doesn’t hurt anymore, so it’s not a big deal.” I turned back to Dash. “Yes. She knocked me over in the marketplace by accident.”

“Not a surprise,” she mumbled. I was about to say something to her about being mean when she cut me off. “I’m Rainbow Dash, by the way! Fastest flier in all of Equestria!" She did a flip in the air. "But I’m sure you knew that already.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and laugh. “My name’s Blast Shield, and yes, I did know that already. I’m actually visiting from Canterlot to see Twilight Sparkle. Ditzy was just walking me there.”

“I can come with y’all. I needed to see her anyways,” Dash said. She started to fly off, and Ditzy and I quickly followed behind on hoof.

After a few minutes, the rainbow-maned Pegasus turned to me, flying backward. “So what brings you all the way from Canterlot to see Twilight?” she questioned.

“Well you may not believe me, but I’m actually an old friend of Princess Celestia’s. She’s told me so much about her faithful student that I just had to come meet her.” Did I ever tell you that I’m good at lying? I think I got it from my father.

Ditzy gasped. “Oh my gosh! You know the Princess?”

“Yep. Even helped her out with a major decision or two.” Understatement of the century, right there.

Dash crossed her forelegs and raised her eyebrow at me. “There’s no way you’re friends with the Princess.”

I glared at Rainbow Dash. “What’s that suppose to mean?” I put on a Canterlot accent, “Do I not seem noble or royal enough to know her?” Ditzy giggled at that.

Dash stopped, pressed her forehead to mine, and poked my chest with her hoof. “Well then, how do I know you’re telling the truth, huh?” Poke. “You could be lying just to get to Twilight!” Poke. “Are you a spy or something?” Poke, poke.

I had to push her away so I could breath. “Uh, no. I’m not a spy. I’m as much a spy as Twilight was when you first accused her.” Ow. She pokes pretty hard.

She immediately backed up and looked at me puzzled. “How did you know I accused her of being a spy?”

“I didn’t, until you just said so,” I smirked. She was so easy.

Dash facehoofed and groaned. “Fine. I believe you,” she glared at me, “for now.” She started back towards the library with me on her tail. Literally.

Dash slammed down to ground, giving out a quiet ‘ow’. As quickly as she could, she stood up and yanked her tail out from under my hoof, glaring at me when I started to laugh. “What the buck was that for?”

“For yelling and calling me a spy.” Not really. It was just for the lols. “You shouldn’t be so rude to new ponies you meet.” That much is true.

She grumbled something about an egghead and launched toward the library. Ditzy and I had to sprint to keep up.

“Dash, wait! Slow down!” Ditzy yelled.

After a few minutes of running, we finally caught up to her in front of the library. Rainbow smirked at us and flew in through the second story window. I heard what sounded like a crash and winced, “That sounded like it hurt.”

The library stood three stories high, three and a half if you count the leaves on top. It had various windows placed randomly about. The front door had- Wait, why am I describing it? It looks like it does on the show. Nuff said.

Ditzy turned to me, “Well, here we are, I guess. I’ll see you at the party, right?”

“Wait, what party?” I asked.

“You’re new in town, right? Pinkie Pie throws every new pony a party,” she said.

Huh. Forgot about Pinkie Pie’s Parties. “Alright, I guess. See you then.” Ditzy turned and left, waving goodbye and not watching where she was going. “Hey! Watch out for that…” *Smack* “…tree.”

She quickly got back up and shook it off, clearly embarrassed. I laughed and turned back to the library door to knock. Wait. Why do I need to knock? I decided to just walk right in and saw Twilight storming up the stairs, probably to yell at Rainbow Dash for crashing into her room. Spike was on a ladder reorganizing the closest bookshelf, grumbling something about having to clean Dash’s mess again.

I was about to get Spike’s attention when Twilight and Rainbow Dash came down the steps. Dash looked away from Twilight sheepishly while the purple unicorn ranted. Okay, unicorn. Definitely before the ‘princess’ thing.

“-the fifth time this month! Do you not have somewhere safer and preferably further than my house to crash? I swear sometimes you just- Oh!” Well it’s about time she noticed me. I waved at her with a huge grin on my face. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Oh, I just let myself in.”

“Without knocking?” Spike said as he climbed off the ladder.

I raised an eyebrow at Spike, “Uh, it was my understanding this was a public library.” I looked back at Twilight, who appeared shocked, “I didn’t know I had to knock.”

After a few awkward moments, Twilight broke the silence. “Finally!” She exclaimed, “Somepony with common sense! You’re the first pony in two years to come to that conclusion. Everypony else sees fit to knock first and it gets really annoying having to constantly answer the door.”

“Well I don’t knock, and you yell at me for barging in!” Dash steamed.

“That’s because you crash in. Usually in my bedroom upstairs!” Twilight countered. Dash shrunk back and sat down on a nearby couch. Twilight turned her attention back toward me. “Anyways, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m the local lib-“

“Librarian,” I cut her off, “faithful student to Princess Celestia, and savior of Equestria from the evils of Nightmare Moon, Discord, and, more recently, the changelings.” Twilight looked at me confused before I could explain. “It’s just, I’m sure pretty much everypony in Equestria knows who you are by now. I didn’t mean to offend.”

Twilight relaxed a little and smiled. “It’s fine. I just don’t usually get that much recognition. What can I help you with, mister…?”

“Blast Shield, but you can call me Blast. I’m actually here to talk to you about something private involving a certain Princess of the Sun.” I glanced at the other two, hoping they would catch the hint.

Spike did, at least. “I’m gonna go clean the mess Rainbow Dash left upstairs.”

Rainbow, on the other hoof, missed it completely. Instead, she flew right up next to my face, glaring at me again. “Yeah, Twi. He claims he’s an old friend of Princess Celestia’s, and came here to just to meet you.” Thank you, Rainbow Dash. Hashtag:Sarcasm. “I think he’s lying, though.”

Twilight looked at me, intrigued. “Really? What makes you think he’s lying?”

“U-uh, well… he, uh…” Dash scratched the back of her head.

Twilight glared back at her friend. “Is it because he doesn’t look or act like Nobility?”

I laughed and brought a hoof to my chest. “That’s what I said. But noooo, I must be a spy, instead.”

“Dash, you need to stop accusing everypony who knows about us as being spies!” Twilight berated the Pegasus, “It’s kind of rude.”

Dash looked angry. “Well sorry for trying to protect my friends,” she huffed.

Twilight sighed. “Could you at least apologize to Blast?”

Dash huffed and looked away. “I’m sorry.”

“What was that?” I asked.

“I said ‘sorry’.”

“Didn’t quite catch that.” I was just screwing with her now.

She turned to me, “I said ‘I’m sorry’, alright!?!”

I laughed again. “It’s alright. You’re forgiven.”

Dash huffed and was about to leave when Twilight stopped her. “Wait, what did you need, Dash?”

Dash looked confused for a moment before realization struck her. “Oh! I just came by to check out the third Daring Doo book again. I wanted to read it to Scoots. I read her the first two and she absolutely loved them!”

Twilight grabbed a book from a nearby shelf with her telekinesis and gave it to Dash. I sighed. Did I mention I miss my horn?

“I thought she would. She reminds me of you in a lot of ways, Dash.”

“Yeah. I’m sure before too long, she’ll be the second fastest flier in Equestria.” Rainbow started to leave out the front door. “Thanks, Twi!” she yelled as she closed the door.

I looked back at Twilight to find her staring at me expectantly with an eyebrow raised. “So, how do you know Princess Celestia?”

“Well, the long and short of it is that I met her and Luna a long, long,” I looked Twilight in the eye and moved hilariously close to her face, “long time ago,” I snickered and backed off a bit, “and after helping them with a few problems here and there, we sort of became pals.”

“Interesting…” Twilight said, still a bit wide eyed at the, ahem, close encounter.

When she finally relaxed a bit I decided to ask her for a favor. “Can I ask you for a favor?” I needed a favor from her.

Twilight looked at me suspiciously, “Depends," she said, real slowly, "What do you want?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her reaction. I did seem a little creepy at the moment. “Well, I just need you to send the Princess a letter for me. I actually haven’t seen her for a while and thought it would be best to send her word on where I am and how I’m doing.”

Twilight was skeptical, “How do I know you’re telling the truth, though? I don’t mean to sound like Rainbow Dash, but you are being awfully vague.”

“Well, how about this,” I proposed, “You send the Princess a letter. Whether or not she responds to knowing me would be your proof. I mean, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to ask your mentor if she knows the mysterious stallion standing at your door, would it?” I grinned at her.

She put a hoof to her chin to think. “No, I… guess not. But no funny business. If she doesn’t know you, you’re out of here. Deal?”

“Deal.” I shook her outstretched hoof.

“Spiiiiike!” Twilight called.

The little dragon came running down the stairs to see what Twilight wanted. “Yes, Twilight?”

“Can you take a letter?”

“Sure. Is it another friendship report? It’s a bit early in the week for that, isn’t it?” Spike asked.

I snickered while Twilight just glared at her assistant. “No Spike. I just need to confirm something with the Princess.”

Twilight cleared her throat as Spike pulled a quill and piece of paper from nowhere. “Dear Princess Celestia, I apologize if this comes across as inconvenient, but a mysterious stallion by the name of Blast Shield has come to my library, claiming to be an old friend of yours.”

I thought for a moment, and then suddenly remembered something only Tia and I would know. “Oh, oh! Tell her that I said, ahem, ‘Only two knew when the sun rose from the west,’” I said in my best Clint Eastwood impression.

Spike looked confused but wrote it down anyway. “From… the… west…”

Twilight continued, “Please let me know at your earliest convenience if you do indeed know this stallion. Signed, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twi… light… Sparkle… Is that it?” Spike asked.

“Yep. Please send it immediately.” Spike rolled up the letter and burned it, sending it towards Canterlot.

Twilight looked back over at me. “She’s in Day Court right now, so we may not get a reply until this evening.”

“Hmm. Somehow, I highly doubt it’ll take that long.” If Tia remembers me, she'll probably want to see me ASAP.

“Why?” Spike asked, “And what did that mean, ‘Only two knew when the sun rose from the west’? Everypony knows the sun has always risen in the east.”

“Haha, well that’s a funny story actually. One night, when the moon was about to go down, Tia decided to-” *BURP* “Oh! Took her long enough! I guess I’ll continue the story some other time.”

Twilight was surprised that the Princess had replied that fast and immediately grabbed the letter to read it. As she read it, her eyes grew wider and wider, frequently glancing between me and the parchment.

After a few minutes, I was growing a little impatient. “Don’t keep us in the dark, Twi. What does it say?”

That seemed to knock Twilight out of her trance. “Oh! Um… ‘Dear Twilight Sparkle, Thank you for telling me of his arrival to your library. I would like for both you and Mr. Shield to come to the castle immediately. I have much to discuss with the both of you. A chariot is already en route and should arrive within the hour. Signed, Princess Celestia.’”

I grinned at Twilight. “Oh, goody! So she does remember me! You’d better get packing, Ms. Sparkle.”

Author's Notes:

Chapter 3: Long Time, No See

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“Uuugh…” I groaned.

“Nurse. He’s waking up,” a voice said.

“Mmmm… Where… Where am I?” I asked. I was lying on some sort of bed with a blanket over me. My body felt weird, like the ends of my limbs were numb.

“Shh. Relax. You’re in the hospital. You need to rest,” a new voice told me. I could hear what sounded like two sets of footsteps approaching me.

Why is it so dark? Oh, duh! My eyes are closed. I tried to open my eyes and look at the nurse…

“AAHH! HORSE!” I screamed.

“What? Please, calm down,” it said.

“AAAAHHHHH!!! TALKING HORSE!!” I jumped back and fell off the bed, smacking my head on the bedside table. “Ow!”

“Oh my gosh! Are you alright?”

“I-I think so…” I pulled my arm up to rub my head and got a face full of blue hoof. “AAHH! I’M A TALKING HORSE!”

“Please, sir. Calm down. Doctor, I think we may need an anesthetic.”

What?! Anesthetic? Uh, oh. Let’s try to avoid that. “Wait! Wait… I’m good. Just a minor panic attack.” I tried to stand up and all four, uh, legs. Hmm. Easier than I thought it would be.

“Minor?” the horse, who I presume was the nurse from its cap, said. “You were yelling about horses loud enough for the whole city to hear you. And we’re ponies, not horses. I think you banged your head a bit too hard.”

Ponies? I was finally able to inspect the nurse. She, I assume ‘she’ from the voice, had a mint green coat and a short white mane and tail. Is… is that a horn on her head?

A few feet behind her sat two more unicorns, a tall white one with pink hair, staring in shock, and a smaller indigo one with blue hair, about to burst out laughing, probably at my pain.

Talking ponies, oddly colored unicorns. Oh my God… I’m in My Little Pony, aren’t I?

Commence blackout mode…

-------------------

“Uugh…” I groaned.

“Nurse. He’s waking up again,” a voice said.

“Mmmm… Wh-Where am I?” I asked. Why am I getting the strangest sense of déjà vu?

“You’re still in the hospital,” a now familiar voice told me.

I opened my eyes and saw that I was back in the bed from before. I turned to look at the Unicorn nurse from earlier. “Aaahh…” I said weakly. “Pony…”

I heard a snicker from the corner of the room. I turned to look and saw the indigo unicorn laughing at me. Wait, are those wings? I looked at the white pony and saw wings on her as well. Are-are those two…?

The white alicorn walked calmly towards me. “Hello, friend. My name is Celestia, and this is my little sister, Luna.” Oh my god, it is them! “We found you near the edge of Canterlot, just outside the Everfree Jungle. We wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Jungle? I’ve never heard of the Everfree Jungle.

Once Celestia was close enough, I was able to make out her cutie mark. It was the same famous sun that she’s always had. I looked over at Luna and saw a distinct lack of cutie mark. Huh. Are… they younger? They don’t have their ethereal manes and Luna’s missing her cutie mark. Celestia was about a head taller than the nurse, while Luna was a just a smidge shorter than the nurse.

I deflated a little. “Aww, I’m too early…” Man! I finally get to see Equestria and I’m way too early. When am I, anyways?

“What? What does that mean?” Celestia asked. “Too early for what?”

“Oh! Uh, nothing,” I quickly said. “Uh, what year is it?” They do count years like we do, right?

This time, Luna walked forward. “It is 9 A.D., of course!”

“A.D.?” I asked.

“‘After Discovery’, you know, of Equestria? Thou art not that bright, art thou?”

Ow. That hurt.

“Luna!” Celestia yelled. “Don’t be so rude to the poor stallion. He did hit his head pretty hard.”

At least I know I am too early. The Everfree must've been much larger in the past to be considered a jungle.

“Hmmm. Nurse? Do you have a mirror?” I asked. If I was transformed, I kinda want to see what I look like.

She walked out of the room and came back in with a standing mirror in her telekinetic grasp. When she put it next to me, I sat up on the bed and was able to see what I looked like for the first time. I had a navy blue coat. My mane and tail were messy and jet black, with the exception of a silver streak running down them. My eyes were cyan, and I also had… a horn?!

Yes! I’ve always wanted use magic! I paused for a moment, and then drooped. Now I just have to learn how to use it.

“Tia, why dost that stallion not have a cutie mark?” Luna asked. My ears perked at that and I looked back at my rump. I was indeed missing my cutie mark. It must look weird for a fully grown stallion to not have a cutie mark.

“I don’t know, Lulu,” Celestia said. “Maybe he just hasn’t found his special talent yet.”

Luna gasped. “Does that mean We may never get Ours?”

“Don’t worry, Luna,” I said. “You’ll definitely get yours. I’m just a…” I looked back at myself -my new self- in the mirror. “…a special case.”

That seemed to calm Luna down a bit. Celestia smiled warmly at me. She sort of gave off a motherly feeling, like I could always trust her. “Thank you, mister…” She paused. “Oh my! I don’t believe I ever got your name.”

“Uh, m-my name…?”

“We’re here.”

Twilight pulled me out of my thoughts as we approached Canterlot Castle. The gold chariot we were on was pulled by two identical white Pegasi stallions. The enchanted armor was my idea. That way, every guard could remain anonymous.

We descended onto some sort of landing pad attached to the castle as one of the Pegasi spoke up, “Here we are. I assume you know the way, Ms. Sparkle?”

“Yes, I do. And thank you.” Twilight hopped off the chariot and levitated her few bags to her back. I still can’t believe she packed that fast. “Coming, Blast?”

“I’m right behind ya,” I said and hopped down.

We walked in through the doors and started heading towards Twilight’s room.

Let’s see how much she knows before we talk to Tia. “So, Twilight...”

“Yes?” She turned her head toward me.

“Tell me, what do you know of the founding of Equestria?”

“Almost everything! I wrote a paper on it for Princess Celestia a couple years ago. Why do you ask?”

Ignoring her question, I continued, “So you know that for the first ten years after its founding, Celestia and Luna were not in charge, but were just a couple of council members.”

“Well, yeah. Even after the three pony tribes decided to share the new land of Equestria, there were still disputes and chaos throughout their government,” she explained. “A unicorn by the name of ‘Sapphire Knight’ came up with the idea of setting up a Diarchy ran by the two most powerful alicorns of their time, Celestia and Luna, who were each able to raise and lower the sun and moon by themselves.”

Sapphire Knight! That was my name! I remember now. Wait… ‘Sapphire’? Why was I stupid enough to pick that name? Everypony knows ‘Sapphire’ is a mare’s name. “Ugh…” I facehoofed.

“What? Do you not agree with something I said?” Twi asked.

“Huh? Oh! No, you’re right,” I said. “I just had a dumb thought, is all.”

“Oh, okay.”

We made it to Twilight’s room where she immediately dropped off her stuff, and we left for the throne room.

I decided to pick the conversation back up. “So, what does history know about this ‘Sapphire Knight’?”

Twilight had to think about it for a moment. “Not much, except that he was a powerful blue Unicorn, skilled in transfiguration, and was friends with the Princesses. He seemed to have vanished a short time after the Princesses’ coronations, though.”

Yep. Sounds about right.

We walked for a few more minutes before Twilight broke the silence. “I wish I could’ve met him, though,” she said, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Who?”

“Sapphire Knight. I’ve just always wanted to learn more on transfiguration magic but haven’t been able to find much material on it,” She elaborated. “Well, besides the ‘temporary wings’ spell. Even Starswirl the Bearded credits him as being one of the best.”

I thought about it. “Well, who knows? Maybe while you’re here, you could find somepony who can teach you.” I could probably help her. You know, once the whole ‘Big Reveal’ and everything is done. I wonder if Tia kept all of my old notes...

“Hmm. Maybe. I’ll probably ask the Princess if she knows anypony while we’re here.”

After walking for about five more minutes, we finally made it to the throne room doors. Two Unicorn guards were guarding the entrance.

“Miss Sparkle,” the guard on the left said, “The Princesses are expecting you and your guest.” Princesses? So I get to see both of them at the same time! Even better. “Please, enter.” Their horns began to glow a golden color. The doors matched them, and swung open.

Once we were completely in the room, the doors shut behind us. Well, there goes my escape if things get hairy. I looked around the room and the first thing I noticed was that it was a lot bigger than I remembered it. The throne room was about one and a half hoofball fields long, with a red carpet stretching from the doorway, to the steps of the two occupied thrones at the other end of the room. Spanning the entire length on both walls were-

“Ahem,” I heard one of the princesses say, trying to get my attention, no doubt.

“Give me a minute,” I put a hoof up at them, still looking at the walls. “I’m still checking out what you’ve done with the place. It’s pretty swank, if you ask me.”

Anyways, spanning the entire length on both walls were stained glass windows, depicting major events throughout Equestria’s history. Haha. That’s what you get, Discord. At the end of the room were two thrones, though the second one looked to be a recent addition. Atop those thrones were the two Princesses of Equestria, themselves. Luna was glaring at me, probably just being impatient. Tia was just looking at me with a stoic look on her face. My, my. Somepony’s been practicing to keep a straight face. Twilight was standing next to Tia, looking at me puzzled.

Time to face the music. “Tia!” I yelled as I approached the thrones casually. “Long time, no see, eh?” I glanced over at Luna with a fake look of shock on my face and gasped, “And look at you! Wittle Wuwu’s all gwown up! It seems like just yesterday you were only this big,” I said as I raised my hoof up to my height. Of course, for me, it was only yesterday.

Luna’s expression switched to one of shock, before quickly returning to an angry glare. Either she’s mad that I’m claiming to be their old friend, or she knows that I’m me and is mad that I left. Tia, however, remained stoic and unamused.

“Aww, come on, Tia,” I whined. “It used to be so easy to make you laugh.”

She raised her eyebrow at me, but before she could say anything, Luna cut in. “Our sister tells Us that thou art the one who claims to be our old friend, ‘Sapphire Knight’?”

Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise and looked toward the Princesses. “Sapphire Knight? His name is Blast Shield. And he isn’t even a Unicorn!” She motioned toward me.

“Ah, but Twilight,” I said, “I am both.” Luna flew down next to me and began inspecting me.

“H-how can you be both?!” Twilight asked. “Sapphire Knight disappeared over 3000 years ago!”

“Stranger things have happened, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said. “Sister, this Pegasus has the same silver line through his mane and tail, and an identical Cutie Mark, although one of the colors seems to be different.” So, I did eventually get one, then. She walked back up to her throne and turned to me. “Prove to Us that thou art Sapphire Knight. Tell Us something only We wouldst know.”

I thought about it for a moment. Oh, I have a good one. “Are you sure, Luna? With Celestia and Twilight in the room?”

“Please,” Luna rolled her eyes, “What couldst thou possibly say that We wouldn’t want Our own sister and frien-”

“Pwease, Knight,” I said in a high-pitched mare’s voice, “Why dost thou insist on taking Our Teddy? We art afwaid of the darkness when We are by ourselves!” I gave some fake sniffles for added effect.

Luna immediately blushed and her eyebrows could almost hit the ceiling if they weren’t attached.

Tia’s expression actually changed into a smirk directed at her sister. “Lulu, you never told me you used to be afraid of the dark.” Ah! She speaks!

“Or that you used to have a teddy bear,” Twilight added.

The dark alicorn looked between Tia and me, stuttering. “B-but… I-I wasn…"

“Actually, Twilight,” I said, “Knowing Luna, she probably still has it in her room right now.” Okay. Antagonizing the Princess of the Night? Probably not the best idea.

"Y-you!” Luna practically screamed at me. “You promised never to tell anypony!” Her anger was rising, and I could almost see the smoke coming from her ears.

“Ah! So you do believe me!” I said. "Fantastic!"

Then she charged.

…

No, I mean she literally charged at me!

“Eep!” I squeaked. Before I could think, my old Unicorn instincts kicked in, and I tried to teleport out of the way, even though I didn’t have a horn. There was a flash of light, and the next thing I know, I’m upside down, five feet in the air, and near the front door.

“H-how-” was all I managed to say before gravity decided that I hadn’t had enough head trauma this week.

When I smacked the ground, I thought I could hear Tia yell “Zack” and then try to get the guards’ attention.

“Hey, Woona!” I yelled, dizzy. “These are some vewy pwetty stars! I don't think they should be spinning, though.” The last thing I saw was all three ponies running towards me in panic.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 4: What's For Lunch?

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“Uh, m-my name…?”

Celestia and Luna were looking at me, expectantly.

Uh oh. I need a name! I can’t use ‘Zack’. It doesn’t sound Equestrian at all! I may as well just say ‘Hi, my name is Zack, and I’m an interdimentional alien that knows about your future.’

I thought about how ponies in Equestria are named. Okay, so most names are based off appearances or special talent. I looked at myself. I don’t have a cutie mark, so that won’t help. Let’s see, something that’ll sound cool. Um…“Knight!” I said aloud. That’s cool, I guess. My coat’s blue. What in nature is a dark blue? The night sky, a gem, the ocean… wait, what’s that gem called... I looked around the room in panic. The alicorns were just staring at me worriedly. Oh! It’s a Sapphire! “Sapphire Knight! Yep, that’s my name.”

Celestia looked at me confused for a moment, before smiling again. “Well, uh, it’s nice to meet you, Sapphire Knight.”

Hold the phone. ‘Sapphire’ is a-

Luna suddenly burst out into laughter. “HAHA! Sapphire’s a mare’s name!” She was literally ROFLing at this point.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up,” I said. “Imagine going through school with it.” That would’ve been horrible if it were true. “Please, just call me Knight.” The white alicorn gave her sister a stern glare and it immediately shut her up.

Celestia looked back at me, apologetically. “I’m so sorry about my sister, Knight. She still acts like a foal, sometimes,” she said as she glared back at Luna, who was staring at the floor, guiltily.

I laughed. “It’s quite alright, Celestia.” I smiled at Luna, “I mean, what’s the point in growing up if you can’t act a little childish sometimes.” Luna brightened up a bit and giggled.

Celestia rolled her eyes and gave me a look that said ‘Don’t encourage her.’

After the nurse inspected me for any more injuries, she gave me some oh-so-lovely hospital food to eat. Of course, I had some problems even doing that. I wasn’t use to my new appendages, and I didn’t know how to use my horn. Celestia and Luna gave me some funny looks, but didn’t ask. After I finished, Celestia decided to ask me some questions.

“Where are you from, Knight? My sister and I know of everypony in Canterlot, but have yet to meet you.”

I had to think about it for a moment. In early Equestria, there aren’t many cities that I know of. Why not feign amnesia? “Truthfully, Celestia, I can’t seem to remember. All I really know of my past is my name. I’m sure you noticed my issues with eating. I can’t even remember how to use this thing,” I said, pointing at my horn.

Celestia gave me a sad look. “I’m so sorry to hear that. If your amnesia doesn’t go away, maybe I could help you relearn magic?” she suggested. “I’m quite skilled myself and could easily help you.”

I smiled at her. “Thank you so much, Celestia. If you are as skilled as you are beautiful, then it would be an honor to learn magic from you.” Eep! Why did I just say that?! I shouldn’t flirt with the Princess of the Sun!

Celestia blushed and quickly looked away, smiling. Luna, however, didn’t look all that amused. “Thou wouldst be careful, Knight, or thine ‘silver tongue’ will get thee into trouble,” she said with a hint of venom in her voice. “Understood?”

I retreated a bit, eyes bulging. “Y-yes, ma’am!” I squeaked. Well, that was unexpected. An overprotective little sister. And she was just giggling and laughing at me not ten minutes ago!

“Luna!” Celestia scolded. “No need to be mean. H-he was just giving a compliment.”

Luna huffed and crossed her forelegs, glaring at me.

Oops…

Consciousness stirred.

…And then it was taste tested. It needed more sugar and a dash of cinnamon. It was then blended together and- Oh, sorry. Haven’t eaten yet today, remember?

Anyways, a few voices became clearer as I woke up.

“Where is that nurse?! She should’ve been here already.” That sounded like a frantic Twilight.

“Don’t worry, Twilight. If he is who he says he is, he’ll be fine.” I could recognize Tia’s voice anywhere.

“Are you sure, Sister? I-I didn’t mean to make him do that. I was only trying to scare him.” Luna, definitely. She usually drops that ‘Old English’ thing when she’s nervous.

“And you had every right to if he really promised not to tell anypony,” Tia said. “Although, I do recall him warning you.” Haha. Somepony’s on my side.

“I still think we should get him to the hospital,” Twilight suggested.

Hospital?! No, no! I’ve had enough hospitals! I quickly opened my eyes and immediately jumped to my hooves, causing Twilight to recoil. “I’m okay! No hospitals necessary!” I practically yelled.

Tia smiled at me, while Twilight ran over to inspect me. “Are you sure you’re alright?” She asked. “A blow to the head like that would normally have anypony out cold for hours. You were barely down for five minutes!”

I laughed. “Don’t worry about me,” I told her. “I’m fine, minus a slight headache. I’m used to getting hit in the ol’ noggin. Just this past week I’ve had, what is it…?” I thought. “Seven, now? Yeah, seven head injuries. My best week so far, actually!”

Twilight just stared at me, unsure of how to reply to that.

“I always said your head seemed to have its own gravitational pull,” Tia said. Luna snickered.

“Hey!” I yelled. “I told you, my head’s not that big!”

Tia just laughed. “Yes it is.”

“Definitely larger than average,” Luna added.

“Just a bit,” Twilight said.

I sat on my haunches and crossed my forelegs. They all started laughing. Oh, well buck you guys, too.

Wait... I looked over to Tia. “So you believe me, then?”

She nodded. “I knew almost immediately after you walked in. This morning, I felt a familiar presence enter Equestria, and after your little display, I was fully convinced,” She said, trying to sound all-knowing.

I could see past it, though. “So, it had nothing to do with my knowledge of a certain incident on the western horizon?” Luna and Twi gave Tia a funny look.

“You mean the thing about the sun rising in the west?” Twilight asked.

“We didn’t know about this, Sister,” Luna said.

The white alicorn looked a little flustered before quickly regaining her composure. “I know not of what you speak, Zack.” She got close to my ear. “You didn’t tell anypony, did you?” She whispered.

I grinned at her. “Well, I was about to tell Twilight and Spike, when your reply interrupted me.”

Tia let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Please don’t tell anypony. Nopony in this day and age knows about it, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.”

“Aww, Tia,” I said loud enough for the others to hear. “At least let me tell Luna. You heard one of her secrets. It’s only fair she hears one of yours!”

“We concur, Sister,” Luna agreed, grinning. “We wish to hear of this little… incident.”

Before Tia could say anything else, a unicorn mare stormed through the doors. She had a white coat and light blue mane, with a nurses cap on her head. I’m guessing that’s the nurse Tia called for. She looked all around before bowing to the Princesses. “I came as quick as I could. Where is the injured stallion, your Majesty?”

“Ooo, Ooo! Me! Pick me!” I said, bouncing and waving my foreleg about like a little child wanting to get picked first for kickball.

Tia giggled at my antics and answered the nurse. “He is fine, Nurse. Just a small bump to his head.”

The nurse looked at me incredulously, and I put on my biggest smile. I bet I could give Pinkie Pie a run for her bits. “Are you sure, your Majesty?” She asked, clearly not convinced of my lack of brain damage. “I could check just to be sure.”

“Yes, I am sure,” Tia said. “You may go.” The nurse reluctantly bowed, staring at me, and then left the throne room.

“So tell me,” I said, “What year is it? A.D. I mean.”

“This year would be 3216 A.D.,” Luna said.

“Whoa. So I’ve been missing for 3206 years?” I frowned and hung my head. “I’m so sorry, you two. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Truthfully, I’m not even sure what happened.”

Tia stepped forward and put a wing around me. “It’s alright, Zack. We’ll find out exactly what happened. All of us.”

“Wait, could somepony please explain to me what’s going on?” Twilight asked, confused. “And why did the Princess call you ‘Zack’ a couple times just now? I thought you were Sapphire Knight? Or, uh, Blast Shield?”

“I’ll explain everything,” I told Twilight and looked back at the two princesses. “And even reveal some things that even you two were not aware of. This seems a good a time as any.” I laughed at my inside joke. “But only on two conditions.”

“And what are those?” Tia asked.

“One,” I looked at Twilight, “you get your friends up here. It’s inevitable they’ll find out, so I’d rather get all the explaining and questions done at once.”

Twilight thought about it. “Well, if it’s as big a deal as you make it out to be, I don’t see why not. Princess, could you-”

“I’m already on it, my faithful student,” Tia said. I looked at her and saw that she was already writing a letter to send to Spike. After she sent it, Tia looked back to me. “And what is number two?”

“Two,” I said. My stomach suddenly rumbled very loudly and my cheeks flushed a bit, but I rolled with it. “Could I please get some food?! I technically haven’t eaten in over 3000 years! I was about to bake ‘Consciousness’ into a pumpkin pie!” That earned me some odd looks.

-----------------

FOOD!

The dining table was loaded. It was long enough to seat forty ponies all at once, with enough food to feed a king! Or in our case, two Princesses, a world-famous scholar of magic, and a court jester. I’ve always wanted to be a court jester…

Anywho, we all sat at one end of the table, Tia at the end, Luna and Twilight to her left, and me on her right. Sweet! Right-hand man! Er, pony.

Once everypony was settled and the servants left, I dug in, any semblance of manners thrown out the window. I was really hungry.

After a few minutes of silence, I looked up. Tia’s brow was raised, Twilight looked disgusted, and Luna was trying her absolute hardest not to bust out into laughter, poor mare.

“If the head injury wasn’t proof enough,” Luna said, “thine dining habits certainly are.”

“It’s nice to see you, again, too, Luna,” I laughed after swallowing my food. “So!” I yelled. “What have I missed in the last 3000 years or so?”

Luna looked at Tia worriedly. I guess she’s afraid of what I’ll say about her ‘episode’ 1002 years ago.

“Well, you know,” I started, “besides a couple visits from the Lord of Chaos, new Element bearers, a freak changeling incident-” I looked at Twilight. “Congrats to your brother, by the way.” I turned back to the Princesses. “-and… an extended ‘time out’ for Luna’s misbehavior.” I looked directly at Luna.

Twilight and Celestia were genuinely surprised, but Luna looked away from my eyes in shame.

“Luna, I’m not upset with you,” I said gently, food all but forgotten. “I am, however, disappointed. Did you not remember what I told you? I said that no matter what happens, whether or not I’m around, you are always appreciated. Tia’s day may bring life to Equestria, but your night brings untold beauty and inspiration, and sustains that life by giving everypony a chance to rest.”

Luna looked back up at me, tears in her eyes. “I know, and I’m sorry. Even though I let that demon, Nightmare, whisper in my ear too long, I can only blame myself for my poor conduct.”

I rose and walked around the table. “All is forgiven, Lulu,” I said. “I’m proud that with the help of the Element bearers,” I motioned to Twilight, who was tearing up as well, “you were able to rid yourself of that Nightmare.”

I gave Luna a hug and she earnestly hugged back, nearly breaking down. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, Lulu.” I pulled back to look her in the eye. “Just never forget what I told you, again, promise?”

Luna sniffed and smiled at me. “I promise.”

“Good.” I briskly trotted back to my seat to keep eating. What? I’m starving!

“Um,” Tia said. “How exactly did you know all that has happened?”

“You do realize everything I just mentioned is immortalized in your throne room, correct?” I deadpanned.

Tia and Twilight gave a silent ‘Oh’, while Luna looked puzzled. “All except for the changeling invasion. We have yet to install the new window for it.”

I beamed at Luna. “Ah! The stickler for details as always, Luna! I’m proud you caught it.” She blushed a bit as I addressed everypony, “She is correct. That’s actually one of the things I wanted to talk about when everypony got here. There are things about me that not even you know, Tia.”

We continued eating. Twilight looked to be deep in thought. Probably trying to solve the conundrum that is me.

“Oh, I just remembered!” I said. Everypony looked at me. “Were any of you responsible for my teleporting in the throne room?”

“It wasn’t me,” Twilight said.

“I was too busy charging at you,” Luna said with a smirk.

“Honestly, I thought you had teleported yourself,” Tia said, “but then I realized you were no longer a unicorn.”

“Hmmm,” I hmmm-ed. “What made you think I was responsible?” I asked Tia.

She shrugged. “Well, you lowered your head in concentration like you were performing a spell, and then you blinked across the room.”

“I may have a theory on what happened, but I need to do some testing with Twilight’s help. After I explain everything to everypony, of course.” I glanced at Twilight and suddenly remembered something. “Hey, Tia,” I looked at the white alicorn. “Do you still have all my old notes?”

Tia smiled at me. “Of course, they were too precious to lose. I have them up in my study.”

Twilight was confused. “Notes? What notes? I’ve read everything in Princess Celestia’s study and haven’t found anything even remotely mentioning Sapphire Knight.”

Sweet, it still works then. “Tell me, Twilight, did you ever come across an empty book? No words, no title?”

“Thinking about it, yes I have,” she said. “I asked the Princess about it, but all she told me was that it was incomplete.”

I smiled at Tia and looked back at Twilight. “Haha. While that is technically true, there are indeed words written within.” At Twilight’s puzzlement, I continued. “It is enchanted with a security spell I discovered. Basically, it appears blank to everypony except for those I have given permission to read it, Tia and Lulu being the only ones alive today who still can.”

Saying Twilight was impressed would be an understatement. “That… that’s astounding! I’ve never heard of such a spell!” She looked down for a moment, thinking. “Would you mind teaching me that spell?”

“Whatever for?” Tia asked. “Do you have some research you wish to keep hidden from prying eyes?”

Twilight looked embarrassed about something. “Uh, y-yeah. Research.” I could tell none of us believed her, but Tia didn’t press.

I, on the other hand… “Are you sure about that, Twi? I don’t want you keeping secrets.”

Her cheeks blushed. “Y-yes, I-I’m sure.”

I smirked. “Hey, Luna.” I looked over at her. “Do you still remember that special spell I taught you?”

Luna grinned devilishly at me. “Why, yes I do, Zack. Would you like me to cast it?” Her horn began to glow.

Tia glared at us. “Luna. Zack,” she warned.

Twilight was terrified. “W-what spell?”

“I’ll ask again, Twilight,” I said. “Is that what you really want my spell for?”

She was getting really anxious now. She glanced between myself and Luna, who’s horn was still glowing. Twilight looked to her mentor in hopes she would help her. Tia just sighed and facehoofed.

“…N-no, it’s not, alright! It’s for my diary!” she yelled. “I was just getting tired of ponies like Rainbow Dash and Spike looking through it, and I wanted something to keep them out.”

I smiled gently at her while Luna’s horn stopped glowing. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? That’s all I wanted to hear.”

“I swear, you two act like children sometimes,” Tia said, her hoof sliding off her face.

I laughed. “Hey, it’s like I always said. What’s the point in growing up if you can’t act a little childish sometimes.” Tia and Luna immediately looked at me, a mixture of shock and sadness in their eyes. “What? Is there some food on my muzzle? I swear I was saving it for later.” I tried to lick my nose. Good thing pony tongues are longer.

Tia smiled warmly at me and reached for a hug. “I’m so glad you’re back, Zack.”

I grinned back at her. “I’m glad to be here, too.” My smile fell. “Although for me, I only saw you two just yesterday, I can’t imagine the pain you two had to go through, not knowing what happened to me.”

When Tia pulled away I looked back at Twilight. “There was a reason for what I just did, though. I’m not just some meany who wants to mess with you.”

“Most of the time,” Luna mumbled.

Ignoring her, I continued. “I want everything said in this group to be the absolute truth. No fibbing, no white lies, and no secrets. All of mine will be revealed when your friends arrive. I expect the same from all of you.” I looked around the group.

Tia and Luna both nodded at me. Twilight, thought about it, but eventually nodded as well.

“If that’s the case,” Twilight said, “then tell me, what was that spell Luna was about to use?”

“Ah ha, now you’re getting it,” I beamed. “We were bluffing. I don’t know if you’re aware, but crime use to be much more common in Canterlot, and that was one of the scare tactics we would use to get information out of uncooperative criminals. What spell did you charge up, Luna?”

“It was but a simple flash spell,” Luna informed Twilight. “We art thine friend, Twilight Sparkle. We would never do anything to you.”

Twilight relaxed a bit. “Oh. Well now I see what Celestia meant by you two acting childish,” she snickered.

“The point is,” I said sternly, “even though you’ve only just met me, I want you to trust me, as much as I want to trust in what you use one of my spells for. Savvy?”

She blushed and shied away. “I see what you mean. Well, if the Princesses trust you, then I do too,” she said, nodding her head.

“Great! Now let’s finish eating. I still want desert!” Everypony looked at me in disbelief. “What? I said I was hungry.”

Author's Notes:

Chapter 5: Introductions

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Ugh, Why is does this place have to be so large?! “Are we there yet?” I asked nopony in particular.

“No,” Twilight sighed. “You’ve asked that six times already.”

We were walking down one of a bagillion corridors, headed toward Celestia’s study. Shortly after dessert had been served, a guard told us that the Element Bearers had arrived, and Tia had the guard send them there.

“But we’ve been walking for like thirty minutes now!” I whined.

“It’s only been four minutes since we left the dining room, Zack,” Tia said. I sighed.

“Maybe it wouldn’t seem so bad if thou hadn’t eaten like a starved swine,” Luna snickered.

I raised my eyebrow at her. “Did you just call me a pig?”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Nooo, We called thou a fish,” she said sarcastically.

“Cool,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to be a fish.”

Luna glared at me. “That was sarcasm.”

“No, it wasn’t. I really do want to be a fish.”

“No, I was being sarcastic.”

“What?” I feigned amazement. “Since when have you been able to grasp the concept of sarcasm?”

Before Luna could retort, Tia cut in. “Would you two stop bickering? Your giving me a ‘Knight’ headache.”

“Oh, you still get those?” I asked.

“A what?” Twilight asked.

“It’s a type of painful headache that only these two can cause,” Tia explained, glaring daggers back at us.

“Oh, I get it,” Twilight said. “ ‘Knight’ as in ‘Sapphire Knight’, and ‘Knight’ as in ‘Princess of the Night’.” Wow. Sharp as a tack, that one.

“This is probably the first one I’ve had in over a thousand years,” Tia complained.

“Glad we could help!” I said. Luna and I started laughing.

After a couple more minutes of walking, I began to recognize the halls near the study.

Idea! I leaned over to Luna and whispered something to her. She immediately smirked and nodded. As we approached the study’s door, I glowed a soft midnight blue.

Twilight was the first to walk in, followed closely by Tia and Luna, with me in the back. I looked around the room. It was circular, about twenty feet in diameter, and there were bookshelves scattered along the walls. A circular table sat in the center of the room with multiple pillows surrounding it, the majority of which were taken by five very famous mares talking amongst themselves. It didn’t look all that different from 3000 years ago, actually, minus some extra books here or there.

Applejack was the first to notice us. “Well howdy, Twi. Princesses.” Oh my God, I love that accent! She, along with the other mares, bowed to Tia and Luna.

“How many times do I have to tell you girls, you do not need to bow every time you see us,” Tia said. “I’m glad you could all make it.”

Everypony rose. “Well, it’s not like we would turn down a summons from the Princess,” Rarity pointed out.

“We are thankful, nonetheless,” Tia said.

“Not to sound rude or anything,” Rainbow said, “but what was so urgent that we had to drop everything and come down here?”

That did sound rude.

“Uh, t-that did sound a little rude, Dash,” Fluttershy said. More like whispered.

“Besides, isn’t it obvious why we’re here?” Pinkie asked. Everypony gave her confused looks. “We’re obviously here to meet the new stallion that came to Ponyville!”

“What new stallion?” Applejack asked.

“You mean that ‘Blast’ dude I met near the market?” Dash asked.

“Oh, sorry girls,” Twilight said. “This is-” She motioned her hoof toward where I was standing, and immediately stopped, shocked. “W-where’d he go? He was right behind us.”

Twilight and Tia were both searching behind them, looking right past me. I tried my hardest to hold back a snicker, Luna doing the same.

“Maybe he went to the little colt’s room?” Dash offered.

Twilight went to the door to check the hallway. Pinkie walked up next to me. I could swear she just glanced right at me.

“Hmmm, where could he have gone?” Pinkie pondered out loud. As Twilight walked back in the room, Pinkie stood up on her hind legs and leaned one foreleg on my back, the other on her chin. My eyes went wide, along with everypony else’s in the room.

“Pinkie, how are you-” Twilight started. Pinkie giggled, cutting her off, and hopped onto my back.

“Oof.” She’s heavier than she looks.

Everypony gasped, as I realized my ‘oof’ broke the spell and made me shimmer back into existence.

“How’d you know where I was?” I asked Pinkie. “Don’t tell me you have a Pinkie Sense for invisible ponies?”

“Yep!” she exclaimed. I facehoofed.

“How’d you do that?” Twilight asked.

I looked back at her. “Basic invisibility, Twi. It’s not that complicated, really.”

“Yeah, but who casted it?”

“What, do you not believe I could do it myself?” I said. Luna snickered.

“You’re not a unicorn, remember?” Tia deadpanned.

“Well if you recall the event from earlier, I’m not entirely convinced of that,” I retorted.

“Ahem.”

Everypony looked toward Rarity. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but… who are you?”

“Oh, my apologies, my lady,” I said in my thickest Canterlot accent. Rarity blushed. “I go by many names. Blast Shield, Sapphire Knight, Zachary Hutchens, Starswirl the Bearded, but you may call me Blast.”

“WAIT,” Twilight exclaimed, “YOU WERE STARSWIRL THE BEARDED?!”

“Nah,” I said in my normal voice. “That old geezer wished he was as cool and talented as me.”

“We recall him addressing thou as ‘a pathetic waste of time’,” Luna said. Tia laughed at me.

“Hey! That was before he got to know me!” I said. “According to Twilight, he credited me as being one of the best at transfiguration magic!”

“Magic?” AJ said. “But ain’t ya a Pegasus? How can ya do magic?”

“And Starswirl the Bearded died over 3000 years ago,” Rarity said. “How were you two acquainted?”

“Some very good questions,” I beamed. “That is precisely why we invited you all here, to get all of the questions out of the way.”

Pinkie gasped. “Oh my gosh! I still haven’t thrown you a party for being new in Ponyville!” Pinkie said, strangely still on my back.

“Uh, would you mind getting off me?” I asked.

“Oh, sorry,” Pinkie said sheepishly. She got off me and walked back to her spot at the table. “Anyways, when you came to Ponyville this morning, my Pinkie Sense told me that there was a new pony in town, but I looked everywhere and couldn’t find you, so I asked Rarity and she said she hadn’t seen anypo-” Pinkie was cut off by an orange hoof in her mouth. That looks unsanitary.

“You can let her talk,” I told Applejack. “I want to hear what she has to say.”

“Ya sure about that?” She asked, Pinkie still mumbling around her hoof. “Pinkie can get a little… excitable sometimes.” I nodded. “Alright. I warned ya.” She removed her hoof from the pink pony’s mouth.

“-plejack, but she said that she was too busy at her apple stand to notice anypony new, although when I asked Fluttershy, she said that she bumped into somepony she didn’t recognize in the market, so I went to the market and found Dashie heading home from the library, so I asked her if she saw anypony new and she said that she did and had just dropped him off at the library so I rushed over to the library and saw Twilight packing for a trip to Canterlot, I could tell because she was using her emergency suitcase that’s already filled with supplies in case of a travel emergency-” So that’s how she packed so fast! “-so I decided not to bother her, because the last time I interrupted her when she was in one of those moods, I was yelled at and teleported back to Sugarcube Corner, so I left to look everywhere else, but still couldn’t find you, so I decided to risk asking Twilight, but by the time I got back to the Library, she was gone and had left Spike in charge, and when I asked him about a new pony in town, he said you had left with Twilight to see the Princess and I got upset because you were gone before I could meet you and become your bestest friend, but then I thought ‘Hey Pinkie, he’ll probably come back with Twilight and then you could throw him a party,’ and then I got all happy again and went back to Sugarcube Corner to plan your party, but a couple hours later, Spike told me that the Princess wanted all of us to come down here to Canterlot to meet you, so I got the rest of my friends and we hopped on the train that came down here and I was soooo anxious the whole ride because I would get to meet the new pony that came to Ponyville and possibly throw him a ‘I’m sorry I missed you and couldn’t throw you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party’ party and-” She abruptly stopped to gasp for air and panted for a bit. “Sorry…” she said between breaths. “Somepony usually… stops me before I… run out of breath.”

Well that blows my ‘infinite lungs’ theory for Pinkie out of the water. “It’s alright. It still made sense.”

Everypony looked at me in amazement, including the pink mare herself.

“It did?” Twilight asked.

“Well, yeah. Did you not follow along?”

“Sugarcube, none of us have ever been able to follow one of Pinkie’s ramblin’s,” Applejack stated.

“Huh,” I said. “Well, simply put, she knew I was in town, but couldn’t find me. When she heard she would meet me here, she got really excited.”

Pinkie cocked her head to the side. “Isn’t that what I just said?”

“Yes, yes it was, but some ponies weren’t able to keep up,” I said, as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

“Zack, none of us were able to keep up,” Tia said. Huh. I thought that at least Tia could understand Pinkie.

“So, how did you?” Twilight asked me.

“Practice.”

…

“Just… practice?” Dash asked.

“Yep.” I always loved Pinkie’s rants. But I can’t tell them I had watched Pinkie rant dozens of times on TV right now. That would be a little weird. “Say, where’s Spike?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Right here,” Spike said, walking in through the doorway. “I had to use the restroom. What’d I miss?”

“Oh, not much. I was just about to get started,” I said.

“Hold on a moment, darling,” Rarity said. “We have yet to introduce ourselves. I’m-”

“Rarity,” I interrupted, “Element of Generosity, a very beautiful and stylized mare, and owner of the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique.” Everypony just stared at me. “I actually know who all of you are.”

I walked up to Dash. “Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, the fastest and ‘most awesomest’ flier in Equestria-” She puffed out her chest at that. “-and captain of the Ponyville weather team.”

“Applejack,” I said as I turned to her, “Element of Honesty, toughest mare this side o’ Canterlot, and proprietor of the Equestria-renown ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ alongside your big brother, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith.”

“Pinkie Pie!” She had a grin that rivaled the one I used earlier in the throne room. “Element of Laughter, the impossible propitious peppy pink pony that eludes science at every turn, who works for the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner.”

I slowly walked up to Fluttershy. She shied away and hid behind her hair. D’awww. “Fluttershy,” I said softly, “Element of Kindness, the timid mare with the biggest heart in Equestria, comparable only to the Princess of the Sun herself, who takes care of many wonderful animals just outside Ponyville.”

I turned to Spike who was sitting on Twilight’s back. “Spike, temp-‘Element of Loyalty’-” He suddenly looked panicked and looked at Dash, who raised her eyebrow at him. “-the kind and responsible baby dragon of Ponyville, and Equestria’s number one assistant to…”

I shifted my gaze to Twilight, who only stood in shock through the whole thing. “Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, the most talented, powerful, and adorkable Unicorn of her time,” she came out of her stupor and blushed a bit at my compliment, “who could possibly even surpass Starswirl one day-” Tia shifted a bit at my glance. Which she will, soon. “-and librarian of Ponyville’s Golden Oaks Public Library.”

“But,” I continued, “I am getting way ahead of myself. Maybe I should start from the beginning.” I looked around the room for confirmation, but everypony was silent.

“Your farm’s Equestria-renown?” Pinkie asked AJ.

Author's Notes:

*Propitious - adj. Friendly.

Chapter 6: All Is Revealed (Well, Mostly)

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“So let me get this straight. You’re a Democracy?”

“Yes, Knight, a Representative Democracy. The ponies of Equestria vote for the council members every few years to make the big decisions for this new country.” Celestia explained.

I was released from the hospital about an hour ago, and Celestia offered to get us all something to eat at a local diner for lunch. The food here is pretty good, but that may just be my new body talking. I wish I still had my hands, though. And maybe my phone… After we ate, we wandered around the city. It looked really warn down, considering it’s only been standing for ten years so far. I had decided to ask about how things were run around here. I could tell these two were not princesses since one lacked a cutie mark and neither had their fancy manes or jewelry.

I scoffed. “Let me guess, the whole council is comprised of high ranking nobles who have their muzzles so far up their flanks that they don’t consider the common ma- er, pony; they only do what’s best for them, and not all of Equestria?” I’ve read about too many governments back home that fell into that category and ultimately failed.

Celestia glared at me. “You realize we are on the council as well?” Luna snickered.

I stopped, my eyes going wide. Oops. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean you two. You are by far the nicest peo-ponies I’ve ever met!”

“Haha. Well, unfortunately,” Luna said, as we continued along, “aside from us and one of our closest friends, what thou hast said is all but true.”

“Luna!” Celestia reprimanded.

“Well, it is true, Sister!” Luna retorted. “Those nobles couldn’t care less what happened to these poor ponies,” she gestured around the mostly empty street, “as long as they were taken care of.” Celestia just sighed.

“Hmm, if only there were just a couple ponies with power higher than the council who genuinely cared for their little ponies,” I offered.

Celestia raised a brow at me. “What you’re suggesting would be some form of Diarchy. It’s bad enough with a whole group of elected nobles. Imagine what they would do if any one or two of them held that much power. These ponies would never go for that.”

“Well, if I heard Luna correctly,” I said, “Not everypony on the council is like that.”

Celestia and Luna both stopped and looked at me. I kept walking, ignoring their glances. “Just something for you to chew on,” I called back to them.

---------------------------

After walking for a few more minutes, I asked if I could see the outer wall. Tia agreed and we walked across the city to the entrance to Canterlot. What I saw was… breathtaking.

We stood on the wall right next to the drawbridge entrance. A beautiful waterfall cascaded down the side of the mountain Canterlot was built on. It flowed into a small river beneath the drawbridge before falling again to the plains below. In every direction, the grass and trees were a beautiful green and I could see luscious flowers growing along the mountain face.

The plains were not nearly as large as they appeared in the show, though. A grim-looking jungle consumed over half of what I could see in the distance. Is that… the Everfree Forest? No, they called it the Everfree Jungle. Creepy.

“So you ladies found me out there?” I asked, pointing toward the edge of the jungle. Celestia and Luna both nodded.

“Yes,” Celestia said. She glanced at Luna, “If Luna hadn’t been slacking off on her homework and playing with her new telescope, I doubt anypony would have found you.”

I turned to Luna. “Well, thank you, Luna. You bring great honor to fellow slackers everywhere,” I said, giving an exaggerated bow.

The dark alicorn giggled. “Thank you. We try Our best.”

Celestia just rolled her eyes. “You certainly do, Lulu,” she mumbled.

Luna immediately blushed and glared at her sister. “Tia, what’d I say about calling me that in front of other ponies?” she whispered harshly. Now it was Celestia’s- pardon, Tia’s turn to blush.

“Haha. Well, Tia, Lulu, where to now?” I asked. Luna glared daggers at me. Take the hint: Don’t use ‘Lulu’ around her.

Clearing her throat, Tia turned to me. Oh my gosh, I am so using that for now on. “Since you’re new here, I guess you’ll need a place to stay.” Tia said.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m sure I can just rent-” a motel room? No, you don’t have any bits, remember? “uh… n-nevermind.” I rubbed the back of my head.

Tia smiled at me. “Don’t worry. I’m sure I can get you a guest room at the castle.” She started walking back into town.

“W-what?” I was shocked. Me? Living in Canterlot Castle? With Celestia and Luna? I ran to catch up to her. “I-I don’t want to be a hassle for you two. You’ve already done enough for me as it is.”

“Quit whining,” Luna said. “There is plenty of vacant space at the castle for one more guest. Plus, Sister here could get pretty much whatever she wished, seeing as how the council allows her raise the sun by herself now.” Tia blushed.

Thinking back to the show, I remembered that was a big thing. “Really?” I acted surprised. “That’s incredible! I thought it took a large group of powerful and expertly trained unicorns to do that! And you do it all on your own?”

Tia smiled as her blush deepened. “Well yeah. As a naturally born alicorn, I hold a great deal more power than any unicorn alive today.”

“That’s awesome,” I said.

“But Luna here holds nearly as much power as I do,” she said, obviously trying to shift the attention away from herself. “If the council is correct, Luna may take over the raising of the moon one day.”

“I doubt it,” Luna said dejectedly. “So far, I can’t get anything right. Nearly every spell I cast blows up in my face somehow.”

“Hey, don’t put yourself down like that,” I said. “Not everypony can just make greatness happen. Most have to work hard to get where they need to be, and the payout ends up much greater than to those who don’t. I’m sure you’ll get there.” That seemed to lift Luna up a bit. “Besides, with a name like ‘Luna’, what else would you be destined for?” She laughed at that. Wow. Since when have I been one for encouragement?

“Thank you, Knight,” Luna said. “That means a lot coming from somepony other than my sister.”

“No prob. I meant every word of it.” I turned to Tia, who was smiling warmly at me. “So, to the castle, then?” I asked.

*SMACK* “Ow.” I should learn to watch where I’m going. The empty cart I slammed into barely even shifted. Luna started laughing at me… again.

“Oh my goodness.” Tia rushed over to me. “Are you alright, Knight?”

“Y-yeah,” I waved her off, “don’t me about worry.” I may have been a little dazed. I shuffled back to the middle of the road. “I’ll be fiiIIIIiiiiii-”

I was interrupted by an open manhole- ponyhole? -in the street. Seriously, who neglected to close that?

---------------------------

About twenty minutes after I was fished out of the sewer by Tia and a hysterical Luna, we finally made it to the castle. It was smaller than I thought it would be, but a second glance showed scaffolding in place for expansions.

Two guards were standing at the front gate of the wall surrounding the castle. They wore the familiar suits of golden armor and each had a spear at their side, but one was a short grey Pegasus with a black mane and tail, and the other was a red Unicorn with an orange mane and tail. Either they only hire identical white stallions in the future or their armor eventually gets enchanted.

Tia greeted them as we approached. “Good afternoon, Smith, Flare,” she said, nodding at each.

They saluted. “Good afternoon, Miss Celestia,” the grey Pegasus said.

“My sister and I have a guest who will be staying at the castle.” She motioned to me. “This is Sapphire Knight.” The Unicorn remained stoic, but I could see the Pegasus smirk at my name. “Knight, these are Bright Flare,” the Unicorn saluted, and I returned it, “And Silver Smith,” the Pegasus just kept smiling at me.

I raised a brow at him. “Sup,” I said.

“Sup,” he replied. He took a sniff and immediately regretted it. “Ew, you reek!”

I glared at him, and before Tia could scold him for being unprofessional, I retorted. “And you’re short!”

We glared at each other for a few more minutes… before laughing it off and hoofbumping. Tia rolled her eyes at us. "Stallions."

I like this guy. Dunno why, I just do.

“Well we had best be on our way,” Luna said, almost hurriedly. I looked back at her and saw she was blushed and looking away from Smith.

“Quite right,” Tia agreed. “Goodbye, gentlecolts.”

“See you around,” Smith said to me as we passed through the gates.

“No doubt,” I called back.

We walked through the open courtyard leading to the castle entrance. “So I’m gonna be staying here?” I asked. They were still building some walls, and most of the plants were only just blooming.

“Yes,” Tia replied. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy your stay until you get your memory back.”

Oh, yeah. Amnesiac. “It’ll be perfect,” I grinned at Tia, “as long as I get a room close to-” I’M DOING IT AGAIN! DON’T FLIRT WITH THE SUN GODDESS! Luna was giving me a glare that would kill if it could.

Tia just looked at me questioningly. “Close to… what?”

“Ahem. C-close to… a kitchen! Yeah, a kitchen,” I lied. “I like to midnight snack so having a kitchen close by would be nice.” Well, that wasn’t a lie.

Tia chuckled at me. “I’ll see what I can do,” she told me. Luna softened her glare a bit. “There’s actually one close to my room,” Tia said.

I blushed and stumbled, nearly hitting an incomplete wall. I quickly sidestepped it, though. “Ha! Stupid wall! Not this time!” I gave it a light kick, but before I could continue walking, a loose brick fell on my head.

“Lights out,” I said, and then hit the ground.

After my little show earlier, Tia had summoned some tea to help everypony relax a bit. Then I explained my origins as a human and that I had somehow been transported here. Understandably, most of the girls were skeptical. The only ones who believed me were the Princesses, since I had already told them this before, and Pinkie Pie. Don’t ask why, she just did.

Luckily, Tia was able to suspend their disbelief. “Shortly after Zack told me about where he came from, he allowed me to view his memories,” Tia explained to the girls. “He is indeed telling the truth.”

“But isn’t that a little invasive?” Twilight asked, concerned. “Viewing all of somepony’s memories like that?”

“Not entirely,” I said, putting down the tea I was drinking. “I was still able to keep her away from anything I didn’t want her to see.” And boy, was it hard to hide everything about MLP. “Besides,” I continued, “I trust her completely with anything she might have seen.” Tia turned a light shade of pink.

After that, I told everypony, and dragon, about my first day here in Equestria. You know, minus the hints at my preexisting knowledge of them.

“Wow. Rough first day,” Twilight said, taking a sip of tea as I finished my story.

“Told you I’m used to head injuries,” I grinned at her.

“I could see why if every day was like that one,” Rarity said.

“Well, aside from my history of head trauma, does anypony have any questions on what I’ve said so far?” I asked everypony.

Rarity was the first to speak up. “I simply cannot imagine how dreadful it must’ve been to be pulled from your home and dumped in the middle of an unfamiliar world,” actually a bit more familiar than you think, “and on top of that, being transformed into a different species entirely! I guess my question is, based off what you’ve told us, how did you deal with it so well?”

I chuckled a bit. “I actually got a similar question from Tia a long time ago. I’ll tell you what I told her. I’ll admit, when I first arrived, it bugged me a bit, but at the end of the first week, realization finally struck me that I may never return home. That I might be stuck here as a pony for the rest of my life. Of course, I became a little depressed, but after a couple more weeks in Equestria I realized something important.” Everypony was leaning in to listen. Pinkie fell on her face. “No matter how my body or mind changes, I will always have that little spark of Humanity in here.” I touched my chest and looked toward Fluttershy. “Let’s say you were transformed into a dragon.” She gasped. “Hypothetically, of course. Just because your body may look different, and your mind changes to fit the body, like learning about how you move and what you eat, inside you will still be ‘Fluttershy’. Inside, your heart and soul remains the same, unless you let that change too.” See? Ever since I got here, I’ve been so ‘philosophical’ and ‘deep-thinking’. Hmm…

After the girls thought on what I said for a moment, Twilight spoke up. “That’s how you dealt with the transformation, but what about your home? Surely you have friends and family that miss you.”

I just shook my head. “Nah, not really. I never knew my father, and my mother…” I sighed. “She died a few years ago. I have a big sister, but she’s happily married to a man that loves her very much. I’m sure she’ll be fine.” I looked around the room to see everypony looking sad. Hehe, I chuckled to myself, why the long faces? “As for friends, I didn’t have many, and the few I did have, I rarely got to see.” I grinned at Tia and Luna. “Besides, I’ve already made some great friends here, and I wouldn’t give them up for the world.”

Rarity and Fluttershy looked like they were about to break down. Dash was trying to look unfazed, but I could see the sadness in her eyes. Tia, Luna, Twilight, and AJ were all smiling at me, and Pinkie…

“Awww!” Pinkie said. “That’s so sweet.”

I blushed a little. “Hehe, uh, any more questions?”

“Yeah I got one,” Dash said. “If you were a Unicorn 3000 years ago, how did you get here as a Pegasus?”

“That,” I frowned, “I’m not really sure about. Unfortunately, yesterday still seems like such a blur…”

“Come on Tia! Let me go, please?” I begged.

The Princess shook her head, her ethereal mane blowing in a non-existent wind. “I’m sorry, Zack. I don’t want you to go by yourself. The Everfree Jungle is just too dangerous.”

We had just left the dining hall and were walking down a long hallway toward our rooms. The last orange rays of sunlight came in through the windows along the hall as Luna prepared to raise the moon for the night. There were guards stationed every twenty yards or so, all white with golden armor.

“Tia, you know me. I’ll be careful,” I said. I then tripped over a maid running down the hallway, causing her to drop the towels she was carrying on her back.

“Yes, I do know you,” Tia said as I helped the maid pick her stuff up. “I know that if you’re left alone for more than ten minutes, you’ll end up unconscious somewhere with another bump on your head. And the Everfree is the last place I want you to be when that happens. You could end up injured, or worse!”

After I finished helping the maid I turned back to see Tia almost in tears. “Look, Tia, I know you’re worried about me, but I’ve been here for, what? Nearly five months now? And I have yet to investigate the area near the Everfree where I was found.” I wiped a tear off her muzzle with my hoof, a little awkward when she’s about 1.5 times my size. “I just want to see if whatever force brought me here is any threat to the safety of Equestria. You know somepony needs to investigate it and who better than the one that was sent over? If you’re so worried, then just come with me.”

“You know I cannot come because my newfound duties tie me here at the moment.” Tia sighed and nuzzled me. “At least let me send a group of guards with you, just to be safe.”

I gasped. “So I can go?” She reluctantly nodded. “Yay! Thank you so much, Tia! I promise you won’t regret it!” I ran off to my study to plan the expedition.

“Just be careful!” Tia yelled after me.

---------------------------

The next morning, I went to the entrance of Canterlot to find over twenty guards lined up for me, all appearing identical and ready to move out. Are you serious, Tia? I don’t need this many!

I approached one of the guards. “Lieutenant Light, do we really need this many guards for a short expedition?”

The lieutenant saluted me. “The princess enlisted all of us to ensure your safety.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, I don’t need the whole army at my side.” I walked to the front of the group. “Listen up; at most I’ll only need about eight of you on this trip. Lieutenant Light, you’re with me.” He trotted to my side. I looked out at the group and saw my best friend. “Smith, you too.”

Silver Smith trotted up to me with a grin on his smug face. “I knew you’d need my help. Or am I just that irresistible?”

I jabbed his shoulder. “Aw, shut up and fall in line.” I looked back at the other guards. “I’m also gonna take… Star, Mills, Rich, Green, Songs, and… Flare,” I said, pointing out each guard as I called their names. “The rest of you may continue your previous duties back in Canterlot.”

“I still don’t understand how you can recognize each of us,” Light told me.

“Well,” I said with a smirk, “I invented the enchantment for your armor. I should also have a way to see around it, right?”

The guards I called out gathered around me as the rest cleared out. “Alright,” I said, “We are investigating what could be a potential threat to Equestria, near the border of the Everfree.”

Everypony saluted, except Smith, who was shifting on his hooves. “Are you alright, Smith?”

“Well, it’s just…” He paused to think about it. “If what we are investigating is a possible threat, why did you send away the rest of the guards?”

“You sure you’re not just scared of the Everfree?” I prodded him.

He just scoffed. “Like anything could scare me.”

I just laughed. “Well, truthfully, we don’t know what this could be. It could very well be nothing at all! Besides, after so long of nothing bad happening, why would something happen now?”

Smith glared angrily at me. “Thanks for jinxing us, idiot!”

---------------------------

We approached the edge of the Everfree Jungle, right near where Luna said she had found me, and I began to scan for any abnormalities with my magic, the guards forming a perimeter…

I was working for a while…

Uh…

There was a loud growl and somepony screamed “Knight, look out!”

Umm…

There was a flash of light…

…

A tall dark figure standing over me…

…

“That’s… all I can remember,” I said. “Wow, repeating all that out loud, I realize nearly every word that came out of my mouth was ironic, wasn’t it?”

Dash looked restless. “That’s it?!”

“Sorry Dash, that’s all I got.”

“Augh! I hate cliffhangers!” She laid back on her pillow with her hooves to her face.

“Well, the next thing I know, Nurse Redheart is waking me up in a field just outside Ponyville, and I’m an orange Pegasus.” I frowned when I saw Tia and Luna looking upset. “But, maybe the Princesses can fill us in on some of the aftermath.” Dash immediately shot back up to attention.

“Seven of the eight guards that were with you came back.” Luna told us. “Lieutenant Light informed us that you were all attacked and outnumbered by Timberwolves. He said that after fighting them off for about ten minutes, the Timberwolves retreated, only for him to find both you and… Silver Smith missing.” Luna’s voice broke a bit at his name. Oh no, not Smith too…

“We sent search parties out every day for months, in hopes of finding you,” Tia spoke up. “After a while, we gave up hope of ever finding you or Smith again.” She was about to tear up again.

“Look, Tia,” I said softly, “I’m sorry. I should have listened to you. But right now, it’s all in the past, and I am here, safe and sound.” I gave her a hug. “I promise I’ll listen the first time you say ‘no’ from now on.”

She returned the hug. “No, no. You were right. I shouldn’t have kept you from doing what you thought was right for Equestria. I’m just sorry for not being there when you needed me.”

After a few more moments of hugging, we were interrupted by a cough from Luna. We immediately looked around to see everypony staring at us, wide-eyed. We quickly separated, our faces blushed.

“So,” Rarity broke the silence, “were you two, ahem… an item, then?”

“W-well,” I tried to answer, rubbing the back of my neck, “We, uh, I-I mean, she was, u-umm, we were really close, b-but between her running a new country and my approaching magical breakthrough, we never actually, you know… dated, per say.”

Twilight’s eyes brighten at my mentioning my breakthrough, but I could see her hold back her questions for a more appropriate time. But then she grew confused again.

“Wait,” Twilight said, “there isn’t any magic where you’re from, right?” I nodded. “Then how did you get better at it in five months than most do their entire lives?”

“Ah,” I said, “there are actually three reasons for that, two of which you might have guessed already, natural talent, and a great instructor.”

Twilight smiled at her teacher. “I sort of thought of those two.” Tia returned Twilight’s smile.

“The third reason,” I continued, “is human intuition.”

AJ looked offended. “Are you saying humans are better than us ponies?”

“Nope. Quite the opposite, in fact!” I said. “Because humans lack the incredible traits you ponies have, it gives most of us a chance to think outside of the box with it.” AJ looked at me confused.

“Oh, you mean like how we’ve grown up with these things all our lives,” Twilight explained, “we take for granted all of the small things we see every day as normal, and don’t give them a second thought.”

“Yes, exactly,” I said. “And to a human, everything here is new, so I can find ways to use those small things to my advantage.” Well, that and a little FiMfic magic theory.

“That’s… ingenious! You’ve got to show me some of your spells sometime.”

“Do you still want that transfiguration teacher? I’d be happy to help.”

“Yes, of course!” Twilight was giddy with excitement. “Oh, this’ll be so cool! Magic lessons from the Sapphire Knight.”

“Uh, I’m sorry for interrupting your ‘egghead’ moment, Twi,” Rainbow Dash cut in- No she’s not -“But Blast, Sapphire, Zack, whoever the hay you are, still hasn’t explained how he knows all about us. If he’s only been here for less than a day, where’d he get his information from?”

I smirked and looked away for a moment. “Here’s the hard part, I guess,” I mumbled to myself and turned back to face everypony. “Yes, well, that brings me to my next major point of interest. I haven’t even told Tia or Luna this part yet.” The Princesses looked at me confused. “Tell me, Twilight. What do you know of the Multiverse?”

“Uh, that it’s basically a theory that states that there are an infinite number of universes parallel to our own,” Twilight said.

“Correct. And by the very definition of ‘infinity’, anything could exist in some universe somewhere, right?”

Twilight thought about it. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

“That means that it’s possible for there to be a universe so different from yours, ponies don’t even exist!” Some of the girls looked shocked. “There may be one that’s similar to yours, except everypony was born the opposite gender, like, I don’t know,” I motioned to Twilight, “You would be Dusk Shine, faithful student of the great Prince Solaris.”

“That’s kind of disturbing,” Dash said.

I just laughed. “Yeah, just a bit. But it could exist somewhere. Then, there might even be a universe so identical to this one, the only difference between the two is the fact that Pinkie decided to eat a muffin instead of a cupcake earlier!”

“How’d you know I had a cupcake?” Pinkie asked me.

“Uh, one, you’re Pinkie Pie, of course you’ll snack on a cupcake.” She smiled and rubbed the back of her head. “Two, you still have some frosting on the corner of your mouth.” I motioned to the smudge of blue frosting on her face.

“Oops.” Pinkie licked her whole face clean. Okay, even a pony’s tongue shouldn’t be that long.

“My head,” Dash complained. “This ‘infinity’ stuff hurts.”

“Well don’t think about it too hard,” I said. “Even I still get headaches on occasion from it.”

Luna had been thinking about what I’ve said since I started. “I still don’t get what this has to do with your knowledge of our little ponies.”

“Hold on, I’m getting to that.” I looked at Twilight again. “So going off of the Multiverse theory, every work of fiction you have ever heard or read has indeed happened in a universe somewhere, yeah?”

Twilight just stared at me, the gears in her head clearly turning. “Based off what you’ve said so far, yes.”

“Now flipping that, every piece of non-fiction here could very well be a work of fiction somewhere else.”

Rarity, AJ, and Dash were all clearly lost. “What?” Rarity asked.

I looked over at Rarity. “Okay, if you wrote a book about your life, it would be considered a non-fictional autobiography, correct?”

“Yes,” Rarity said and flicked her hair, “and it’d be fabulous!”

I smirked. “Well, fabulosity aside, because of ‘infinity’, said autobiography could have also been written word for word by somepony, somewhere, in a universe you don’t exist in. And since you don’t exist there, it would be considered fiction.”

“Ah’m still not gettin’ what this has to do with anythin’,” AJ said.

Fluttershy suddenly gasped. “I-is that how you know us?”

“Pardon?” AJ asked.

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Are… are we a work of fiction in your world?”

I beamed at her and Fluttershy. “Bingo! Yahtzee! You’ve got it! Blast, tell them what they’ve won!” I stopped, seeing everypony’s shocked stares directed at me. I guess the luxurious beach vacation and new car will have to wait.

“Ahem, well,” I attempted to reboot the conversation, “Tia, do you remember how when I first woke up, I said I was ‘too early’?” She slowly nodded. “That was because my knowledge of this world is mostly focused around this time period.” I looked back at the Mane 6. “More specifically you girls and your adventures over the last two years. That’s how I knew everything that had recently happened.”

“Prove it.”

“Huh?” I asked. Looking around, I saw Dash glaring at me again.

“I said prove it!” she practically hissed. “Prove you know something that isn’t on a window somewhere in this castle! I still think you’re lying!”

I sighed. Well, time to take a page out of Bruce’s book. “You sure about that?” She just glared harder. “Luna, you know how I like to prove stuff. Should I?” Luna came out of her musings to look at me wide-eyed. She quickly glanced over at Dash and shook her head. “You still want me to prove it, Dash?” I asked.

She suddenly looked a little nervous, probably from getting such a terrified reaction from a Princess. “Y-yeah,” she gulped. “I still want you to prove it. I mean it’s not like you cou-”

“Dash, did you ever tell your friends what number you were in the Best Young Fliers Competition?”

“She was number 15, was she not?” Rarity asked.

“Oh, so you didn’t, then.” Dash looked a bit more scared. I continued talking to the other girls. “She wasn’t number 15 originally. When the whole thing was about to start, she was actually number 2.” The girls gasped. “Her nerves got the best of her and she kept switching numbers with the other contestants until she was last.”

“Is, is that true, Dash?” Fluttershy asked.

“… I… I’m not a coward!” Dash yelled at me.

“Hey, I never said you were,” I said defensively. “You just got nervous is all, and I can totally understand that. Just ask Luna about the first time she had to raise the moon in front of the Council.” I chuckled a bit. “I think Tia and I were more nervous than she was and nearly blew it for her.”

Tia giggled and Luna just rolled her eyes. That made Dash cool down a bit.

Tia grinned at me. I guess she believes me. I mean, with everything that’s happened, why wouldn’t she? “So, that’s how you knew about my little ponies?” she asked.

I snickered and Tia looked confused. “Oh, sorry,” I said. “I usually laugh when a book or show mentions its own name inside it.” That got a few more confused looks. “‘My Little Pony’. That’s the name of the work of fiction based on y’all.”

“Sounds too frilly to me,” Dash huffed.

“That’s because it used to be super frilly before you girls came along.” I shuddered at the thought of G1 ponies. “Anywho, are there any more comments, questions, or concerns?” I asked.

“Just one,” Tia said. “Is your knowledge only limited to the last two years,” Oh boy, I see where this is going, “or do you know more than you’re telling us?” And it went there.

Author's Notes:

Yes, that was a reference to 'Bruce' of Minalkra's FiMfic, 'Oh to be Old Again'

Chapter 7: Past, Present, and Future

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I gave a nervous laugh. “Hehe. Uh, about that…” I looked around and saw everypony giving me questioning looks. Tia was just smirking at me. She must’ve figured it out from my comment about Twilight surpassing Starswirl one day. “I may still be a little early in the timeline,” Twilight’s eyes widened a little, “And I may know one or two small things about…” I paused to think about how to word it. “…every major event within the next year,” I rapidly blurted.

Everypony just stared at me in silence. “Approximately!” I corrected. “The show was never too clear on dates.”

Silence…

And then with the force of a tsunami, everypony began screaming questions. I was only able to make out a few, though.

“Are there going to be any new discoveries?”
“Really? That’s so awesome! Will I finally become a Wonderbolt?”
“Will I bake a cake tomorrow?”

I backed up a few steps, frightened. The only ponies not taking part of the onslaught was Fluttershy, for obvious reasons, and Tia.

“Girls,” Tia tried to get everypony’s attention.

“Do my designs make me rich and famous?”
“Do We finally beat Our sister at chess?” Seriously, Luna? Chess?

“Girls!” Tia yelled. Nopony could hear her. “GIRLS!”

Ow. I hate the Royal Canterlot Voice. Everypony in the room went quiet, ears pressed to their heads. I slicked my mane back down to its previous position.

“Please, settle down,” Tia said in a calm voice.

Once everypony had settled back into their seats and fixed their manes, Twilight spoke up. “This is incredible, though. Imagine the kind of catastrophes we could avoid if Blast were to warn us. We could even-”

“Ah, ah!” I cut her off. “Stop right there. I have no intention of revealing your future.”

“But-” Twilight tried.

“Ah! No. Knowing your future could be disastrous,” I pointed out. “You of all ponies should know that, Twi.” Although, Solid Snake Twilight was pretty cool.

Twilight sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I should have known better.”

“How could knowing about a problem ahead of time be bad thing?” Dash asked.

“Because,” I said, “Whatever measures you take to avoid said problem, could very well lead to that problem. Time is too unstable to mess with. That’s the main reason why I didn’t tell the princesses about this 3000 years ago.”

I looked over to Luna, who seemed to have just put it together. “So, you knew I would become Nightmare Moon? And you didn’t tell us?” She was getting upset again.

“Listen,” I explained, rubbing her back, “it’s like I said. Knowing your future could’ve become the cause for it to happen. I tried to help by giving you some friendly advice, but as you can see, some events are set in stone.” I looked back at the group. “A perfect example of this being true is the Changeling Invasion.”

“How is that a good example?” Rarity asked.

“Shining Armor and the Princesses were warned of a potential threat to Canterlot ahead of time, yes?”

“Yeah,” Twilight said. “That’s why my brother put up the barrier around Canterlot.”

“Exactly. That was the problem.”

“Huh?”

“He was so focused on a potential threat coming in the future, that he neglected to think that the threat had already manifested itself on the inside beforehoof.”

“Cadence…” Twilight whispered.

“Yes. If this knowledge of a future threat didn’t exist, and everypony wasn’t busy worrying about what would come from outside Canterlot, Shining or somepony else probably would have noticed something weird about ‘Cadence’ like you did, Twilight,” I explained. “None of your friends knew her before then, and the only pony that knew her personally that didn’t have their attention focused on an invisible threat was you. That’s how you were able to see through it.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Twilight said.

After a few moments of silence, Applejack spoke up. “So let me see if Ah’ve got this right. You were a… Hue-man that was magically dropped in Equestria 3000 years ago as a fancy Unicorn, disappeared, and then reappeared here as a Pegasus, and you know a heap about our past, present, and future?” Pinkie snickered for some reason.

I rolled my eyes. “If you want it to sound boring, then yes,” I said.

“Well, is there anythin’ ya can tell us?” AJ asked. “Ya know, that won’t mess up the future?”

I thought about it for a moment. I guess I could be as vague as possible. It’s a good chance to mess with them a bit. “Sure, I guess I can tell you girls a few things.”

Everypony brightened up. They must really want to know their future. Well, everypony but Fluttershy. She looked distracted.

Before I could ask Fluttershy what was wrong, Tia leaned over to me. “Are you sure, Zack? You don’t want to mess anything up.”

“Don’t worry Tia. I know what I’m doing. I did pretty much the same thing with you two all those years ago and you barely suspected a thing,” I grinned.

“Alright, where to start…” I looked around the girls until I stopped at Twilight. “Ah, Twilight! I see…” she was holding her breath, “…a couple of tests somewhere in your future.”

Twilight released her breath and sagged. “But I always get tests. Can’t you be more specific? On what?”

I smiled at her. “Sorry. Can’t tell. Spoilers.”

“W-well, what about ‘When’?”

“Definitely can’t tell that. Like I said, the show was never too clear on dates. But I can tell you they will be very important.” I scanned back over the girls. “Rarity. For you I see… Crystals. A ton of beautiful crystals, with a beautiful white mare standing in the midst of them.” Rarity’s grin grew.

“Ooh, I can’t wait. I bet it will be fabulous!” Rarity was gushing with excitement.

I looked over toward Rainbow and took a deep breath. Dash got really excited… and then I turned to AJ. “Applejack.” Dash deflated. “In your future, there will be Apples visiting from all over.”

AJ just looked at me. “Uh, we hold a family reunion every year, ya know?”

I grinned. “Yeah, but this one will be different. I can guarantee it!”

I looked back at Dash, and she looked annoyed. “Rainbow Dash!” She started getting excited again. “For you, I see…” I closed my eyes and brought my hooves to my temples.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“I see…”

“Yeah?!” she asked again.

“There is…”

“What?! What is it?!” She was yelling at this point, with a ridiculous grin on her face.

“…nothing,” I stated. Did I ever say how much fun it is to mess with Dash?

She froze in place, like her brain suddenly quit on her. “…”

“…”

“…nothing?” she mumbled, still grinning.

I gave her my best smile. “Nope. Nothing.” I turned to Pinkie. Dash looked like she was about to explode, when I suddenly turned back to her. “Wait! There is something!” She stopped in surprise. “I can see another face to face meeting with Spitfire. And somepony does something to earn her respect.”

Dash grew happy again, hoofpumping the air, repeating ‘yes’ over and over again. I just laughed, turned back to Pinkie, and my face fell into a horrified expression.

“Pinkie Pie!” I yelled, alarmed. I quickly ran over to her and put one foreleg around her back. “Oh my gosh, Pinkie. I see pink!” I swept my other hoof across our view. “Pink everywhere, yelling the word ‘Fun’!” She grew excited, while the other girls looked terrified.

“Oo! What about me?” Spike asked.

“Hmm.” I had to think about it. Not much happens to him that I can be too vague about. Let’s see, the crystal heart? Nah, too important. Petsitting? Maybe. Oh wait! I walked next to Spike and whispered something in his ear.

“Awesome!” he yelled. He jumped off Twilight’s back and ran out the door.

“What’d you tell him?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, just about a certain jewel cake recipe Tia keeps hidden in the Archives,” I said.

Tia bit her lip. “You didn’t tell him exactly where it was, did you?”

“Nah. It’ll take him weeks to find it. Alright, Flutters, your tur-” I looked at Fluttershy, who still seemed upset about something. “Uh, Fluttershy? Are you alright?”

“Huh?” she said, distracted. “Oh! Sorry. I was just, thinking about something else.”

Dash sat next to the yellow Pegasus. “What were you thinking about so hard that made you not pay attention to our futures?”

“I-I was just thinking about what Blast and the Princesses said happened at the Everfree all those years ago.”

“What about it?” Twilight asked.

“I was just thinking th-that…” she trailed off. We all looked at her expectantly. “Um, n-nevermind.”

“No, go ahead Shy. It’s fine,” I said. “What’d you think?”

“W-well, it’s just that… if Blast doesn’t remember what happened, and that Lieutenant guy said both him and Smith disappeared, who’s to say Smith didn’t just end up here with Blast?”

Everypony went silent. The Princesses and I looked at each other.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said. “I knew I shouldn’t hav-”

“N-no!” I cut her off, waving my forelegs at her. “You’re right! He could be here!” I looked back at the Princesses, a little panicked and excited at the same time. “I need to get back to Ponyville. I was found, crash-landed, just outside the Everfree. If the same happened to him, he could have landed inside the forest and could be out there, lost right now. I need to find him.”

“No!” Tia said. “Not this time. I am not losing you to that accursed place again. I will go with you.”

Before I could respond, Luna spoke up. “We wish to go as well!”

Tia turned to her younger sister. “I’m sorry Luna, but you must stay here. One of us needs to be here in case something happens, and you are due to raise the moon very soon.”

“B-but I want to find him! I want to help find Silver.” Luna was almost in tears.

“Don’t worry, Lulu,” I said, giving her a hug. “We’ll find him. I swear it. We will find him and bring him here.”

After a few moments, Luna reluctantly nodded. “Good,” I said and turned back to the rest of the group.

“Alright, we need a plan.”
“Alright, we need a plan.”

Twilight and I looked at each other.

“Haha! And, and then you know what he says” Smith asked me. “He says, ‘Sir, I’m gonna need to see some identification.’” We both busted out laughing.

“And you were still in uniform?” I asked. Smith nodded and we laughed some more. “Ha, what an idiot,” I said. I took another sip of my Hard Cider. We were sitting in a pub somewhere near the Castle, called ‘The Hay Noir’. This was where we would hang out in our free time. It wasn’t the prettiest looking place, considering how close it was to the Castle, but we had still made memories here over the last few weeks.

Smith took a huge swig of his cider, his helmet gone and mane rustled. “So,” he turned to me, “have you asked her yet?”

I looked at him, confused. “Huh?”

He laughed at me, picking up his freshly refilled cup. “Celestia, ya flank! Have you asked her out yet?”

I started choking on my cider. “W-what?”

“I’ll take that as a ‘No’ then.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, cleaning myself of the spilled cider.

Smith rolled his eyes. “Dude, come on. Everypony in the guard knows you two like each other!” I looked away, my cheeks getting warm. I hope that’s just the cider doing that. “In fact,” he continued, “we actually have a pot going around on who’ll ask first.”

I almost choked again. “What? Why? Did you at least bet on me?” I asked.

“Pshh. Nah. I think she’ll ask first, seeing how much of a wimp you are.” He laughed as I jabbed his shoulder, nearly knocking his cup from his hoof.

We went silent for a few minutes. It wasn’t an awkward silence, just one of those friendly ones where we reflect on what we’ve talked about.

I smiled over at Smith. “What about you and Luna?” I asked.

“Hmm?” He asked from his cup.

“We’ve all seen how she acts around you,” I pointed out. “Don’t act like you don’t know about her crush.”

Smith chuckled at me. “Dude, I got this. It’s called ‘Baiting’, my friend. You let the mare's crush grow and grow, acting like you barely notice it, until…” He gave a drunken, over-exaggerated trap sound. “You spring the trap, and she’s all yours!”

I rolled my eyes. “Come on. Like that actually works.”

“It does!” he said. “An old friend of mine’s brother’s buddy’s uncle did that, and he’s been happily married for over fifteen years now.”

I grinned at him. “You know,” I said after a while, “Even though Luna is technically older than you in normal pony years, in alicorn years, she’s barely legal.”

Smith did a spit take. “What? Really?” He asked.

I smirked and nodded. “Yeah. Do you have any idea how long an alicorn lives for?”

“I thought they had the same life span as everypony else.”

“Not a naturally born Alicorn,” I said, shaking my head. “Tia explained all this to me last week. Alicorns made through magical means have a normal life span. Those who are born alicorns can live for millennia!”

Smith looked back at his cup. “I guess that would explain her height compared to her sister.” After a minute, he suddenly got a smirk on his face. “Hehe, I guess that means when I get old and wrinkly, I’ll still have a mare that looks about twenty at my side. Oh, the guys will be jealous!” He started laughing again, and I just rolled my eyes.

It went silent again for a few minutes before my expression fell. Smith immediately picked up on it. “Bit for your thoughts?” he asked.

“It’s just… growing old,” I said. “I mean, what if I can never get back to where I came from? What about my old friends and family? Hay, what about the old me?!” I looked Smith in the eye, as he frowned back. “I’m just afraid I’ll never get any of it back.” I looked back at my nearly empty cup.

“Look, Knight,” Smith started. “There’s not much I can say for your old friends and family. Those may very well be lost forever.” Gee, thanks for the pick-me-up. “But listen here,” he continued. “Whether or not you get your memory back, no matter what happens up here,” he pointed at my head, “you will always be the same pony in here,” he moved his hoof to my chest. “So what if you never remember who you once were. What about everything you’ve done here?” He motioned toward my new cutie mark. “If you could go back, do you think you would? Would you leave me and the other guards you’ve made friends with? Would you leave Celestia?”

He was right. Even if I was given the choice to go home, I doubt I’d take it now. I smiled up at him. “You always know just what to say, don’t you?”

“Hey, don’t look at me,” he said. “I think I’ve been taking after you. You’re the philosopher here. You know what they say, ‘Good Company’ and all that.”

I just laughed at him. “Well, you’re right, anyways. Thanks.”

He looked offended. “Of course I’m right! When am I ever wrong?”

I was about to bring up the Tutu incident when he cut me off. “Not a word,” he growled.

We both laughed and returned to our drinks.

I quickly trotted down the corridor leading to the courtyard, Tia and five of the girls following. Luna left to get ready to raise the moon, and I had Twilight gather Spike and her brother.

“Why are we going to the courtyard, again?” Dash asked. “Shouldn’t we be on our way to Ponyville right now?”

“Twilight is getting Shining Armor and the other commanding officers together there,” I said. “We need to spread the word to increase our chances of finding Smith.” I sighed, having to explain it a third time. Am I that bad?

“But if he’s at Ponyville, what good would it do to tell the guards here?” Dash asked. If I wasn’t trotting, I would have facehoofed. Luckily Tia helped me out.

“Because Smith used to be a guard," she explained. "As part of his training, if he found himself in an unknown location, he must quickly try to get out and report to a higher authority at once.”

“Exactly,” I said. “And it’s been, what? Twelve hours since I woke up? If he isn’t lost in the Everfree, he is more than likely on his way here.”

“Oh,” Dash breathed. She’ll probably ask again later.

After eight more minutes and another questioning session from Dash, we finally made it to the courtyard to find it packed with guards. There were at least 100 guards standing at attention when we walked out the doors. Next to the entrance was Twilight, with Spike on her back, looking grumpy, and Shining Armor next to her.

“That was quick,” I told Twilight.

“That’s the beauty of teleportation,” she smirked. She’s just trying to make me feel bad, isn’t she?

Shining saluted Tia. “We came as soon as possible when you summoned us, your majesty.”

“Actually,” I said, “I summoned you all here.” I turned to the crowd of guards. “Alright everypony, listen up. We are on the lookout for-”

“I’m sorry,” Shining cut me off, “but who are you and what gives you the right to give us orders?”

“I do, Captain,” Tia said. “He is an old friend of mine, and you will listen to him.”

Shining was a little flustered. “U-uh, sorry. Yes, your majesty.” He looked back at me and cleared his throat. “Please, continue.”

“As I was saying, we are on the lookout for a stallion by the name of Silver Smith,” I said. “We don’t know what type of pony he is or what he looks like. He may be wearing guard armor.”

“Wait,” Twilight said, “I thought you said he was a short grey Pegasus?”

“He might not be,” I told everypony. “Whatever magic brought me here and changed me could have also changed him.” Shining raised a brow at that but didn’t question it.

“If he’s wearing guard armor,” one of the guards spoke up, “Then couldn’t he just blend in around here?”

“Nah,” I said. “Knowing that guy, he’ll try to draw attention to himself. Probably even try to get in to see Luna or Tia.”

“Is he dangerous?” another asked.

“No,” Unless he’s been drinking. “He was trained as a royal guard, so he is as non-hostile as you lot, and just like a guard, he won’t engage unless provoked. He is, however, fast and cunning. He will more than likely slip by you if you are not paying attention.”

“You heard him,” Shining called out. “Spread the word and move out!” Everypony saluted and took off, some flying away, others returning to their post in the castle. Shining looked back at us. “I expect answers when this is over.” He then vanished in a flash of light.

I leaned over to Twilight. “Is everypony in your family skilled in Blinking?” I asked.

“Yep,” Twilight said, puffing out her chest. “My mother more than most.”

“Hmm.” I looked up and saw a couple chariots descending to us. I turned to Tia and the girls. “Well, off to Ponyville, then?”

Author's Notes:

Yep. That just happened. Is Smith actually here? Or is this just a wild goose chase? What will they find in the Everfree Forest? Why am I asking you? It's not like you actually know, do you? Thought not.

Chapter 8: The Everfree

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We arrived near the edge of Ponyville. When the chariots landed and we got off, Tia sent them back, saying she’ll send word when we want to return. The four Pegasi nodded and took off, leaving the nine of us behind.

Twilight turned to the Princess and me. “I’ll be right back. I need to get something from the library.” Tia nodded and she teleported away, taking Spike with her.

I looked at Ponyville and saw somepony flying this way. “Uh, Tia,” I said. There was a flash of light behind me and I turned to see Tia in her old form, smiling at me. Her hair was back to its old calm pink and she was now just barely taller than the rest of us. The only difference from 3000 years ago was that she was also missing her horn.

The other girls looked at her in amazement. Tia giggled. “The last thing I want,” she explained, “is my little ponies thinking something is wrong with a surprise visit from their princess.”

Everypony nodded in understanding as I turned to find Ditzy ramming into me. After the tumble, I looked up to see her sitting on me… again.

“Oops!” She hopped up. “I’m so sorry, Blast! I did it again.”

I laughed as she pulled me up. “It’s alright, Ditzy. You just need to work on your landings a bit.”

“I don’t know,” Tia smirked. “I’d give that landing a perfect ten.” I glared at her.

“Oh,” Ditzy said, looking at Tia. “Who’s this?”

I looked back at Ditzy. “I’m sorry. This is a friend of mine from Canterlot. Ditzy, meet Sunny Skies.” Sunny gave me a questioning look. “Sunny, meet Ditzy Doo, somepony I met while I was in town here.” I always liked reading about Sunny Skies.

Ditzy gave Ti- ahem, Sunny a huge smile. “Hi, Sunny! Nice to meet you!” She held out her hoof.

Sunny shook it. “The pleasure’s all mine, Ditzy,” she replied with a smile.

Ditzy turned back to me. “So what brings you back to Ponyville so soon? Is it time for Pinkie’s party already?” She put a hoof to her chin. “I don’t think I got the invite.”

Before I could reply, Pinkie Pie gasped. “I knew I forgot something! I need to get planning. If I hurry I can get it all ready by tomorrow. Oo! And I should plan one for Smith, too, in case we find him! He’ll be new here too!” Pinkie looked at Sunny. “Do you want one too, Sunny? You’re also technically new here!”

I cut Sunny off before she could decline. “Yes, she does. You can plan one huge bash for all three of us once we get Smith.”

Tia glared at me as Pinkie squee-ed. “This will be so epic! I need to start planning, so I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail!” Pinkie zoomed off to Ponyville.

Ditzy looked confused, so I decided to explain a few things, when Pinkie suddenly reappeared. “Only if they are reeeeaaaally slow shakes,” then she vanished again, and I laughed.

I turned back to Ditzy. “We’re actually here to look for a friend of mine. It’s a long story, but basically, we think he may be lost in the Everfree Forest.”

Ditzy gasped. “Oh my, I hope he’s alright. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Doubt it,” Dash scoffed.

Rarity bumped her flank into Dash’s, glaring. “What my rude friend means is,” she looked at Ditzy, who was unfazed by Dash’s insult, “Have you seen anypony new around here by the name of Silver Smith? He might be wearing some golden guard armor?”

She thought about it for a moment. “No, can’t say I have. The only pony new I’ve seen today was Blast.”

Dash rolled her eyes, like she was saying ‘told you so’. What’s her deal with Ditzy?

“Actually, I know the perfect way you could help us, Ditzy,” I said. “Could you fly around town and ask if anypony’s seen my friend?”

“Can do!” she said, saluting me. She was about to take off when she stopped and looked back at me. “Uh, I never got what he looks like, besides the armor bit.”

“That’s the problem,” I said, shaking my head. “We’re not sure what he looks like.”

Ditzy raised a brow. “If he’s your friend, how do you not know what he looks like?”

I chuckled. “Like I said, long story. But I will tell you that he was a short grey Pegasus pony. Whether or not he still is, is up in the air right now.”

“Oh, well, okay then.” Ditzy took off. “Good luck!” she called back.

After she had gotten into town, Twilight reappeared, Spike missing. “Oh, hey Twi,” I said. “You just missed Ditzy.”

“Oh, sorry,” she said, fumbling with here saddlebag. “I just had to run home and grab my book on track-” she stopped when she looked up to see ‘Sunny’. “P-princess?”

Sunny smiled warmly at Twilight and nodded.

“Nope,” I said, “not the princess. Just a normal Pegasus pony named Sunny Skies.”

Sunny looked at me. “Where’d you get that name, anyways?”

I shrugged. “An old story I read.”

Twilight was still in shock. “You look amazing.” Sunny blushed a bit.

“I dare say,” Rarity dared to say, “As a princess you were extremely beautiful, but as a Pegasus, you’ve nearly got yourself beat.” Everypony else nodded.

Tia smiled, her cheeks becoming redder. “Thank you, girls. I haven’t looked like this in over 3000 years.”

“Well, you know,” I said, pointing at my head, “You still had your horn back then.” I grinned. “I think you should go out like this more often, though. It suits you, and I’m sure you could use a vacation every now and again.”

Twilight shook her head to clear her daze. “Ahem, anyways,” she looked at me, “where to now?”

"I guess Spike's not coming along?" I said.

Twilight shook her head. "No. He needs his rest."

I nodded and started to walk off, motioning for everypony to follow. “I guess the best place to start would be where I landed.”

“Uh, whaddya mean by ‘landed’?” Applejack asked.

I grinned at her. “You’ll see when we get there.”

After walking the perimeter of the town for about five minutes, we finally made it to the field I was found in. It wasn’t long before everypony could see the huge crater I made. Now that I was wide awake, I could see the details of my crash. The crater was about a meter and a half wide, but barely a hoof deep. Most of the grass near the edge was still intact but the center was completely barren.

“Oh… ‘landed’.” AJ stated.

Twilight just gaped at the hole. “Blast, to make a crater this size, you would have had to of been falling near terminal velocity! You should have broken nearly every bone in your body!”

I chuckled at her reaction. “Well I was fine, aside from a headache and a sore muscle in my back,” probably from spontaneously sprouting wings. “I would hazard a guess in saying that my passive barrier spell must’ve absorbed most of the impact.”

Twi looked at me incredulously. “You keep a passive barrier spell on yourself at all times?”

“Yep. I usually have about five passive spells on me all the time.” I thought about it for a moment. “Well, except for right now, of course.”

“How did you keep that many spells running at once without causing fatigue?” she asked.

I looked at her confused, then at Tia- I mean, Sunny. “3000 years, and your magicians couldn’t come up with a Stability Thread that I managed to discover in less than two weeks?” I shook my head. “You need to fire your magic staff, Sunny.”

Sunny rolled her eyes. “Not everypony is as intuitive as you, Zack.”

“And don’t you forget it!” I laughed.

“You discovered a Stability Thread for spells?!” Twilight exclaimed. “Teach me, teach me, teach me!”

“Okay, okay. Settle down,” I said. “I will. Just not right now.” I motioned toward to the crater. “We kind of have more important matters at the moment.”

Twilight looked at the hole and grinned sheepishly. “Right. Sorry.” Her horn began to glow violet as she scanned the surrounding area.

“I’ll help,” Tia volunteered. The area around where her horn used to be began to glow gold.

I looked at Dash and Fluttershy. “I need you two to fly up and look around for anything suspicious or out of place.”

“Got it!” Dash said, and launched up in the air, Fluttershy slowly following.

“Applejack,” she looked at me, “Can you keep an eye on the forest? We don’t want anything to show up while we’re working.” She nodded and walked to the edge of the plains near the Everfree.

After a few minutes of the two mares wandering aimlessly, Sunny spoke up. “I can’t seem to find anything strange.”

“Me neither,” Twilight confirmed. “No sign of any strange magic here.”

I facehoofed as loudly as possible. Everypony looked at me. “Neither of you listened to a word I said, did you?”

“Huh?” Twi asked.

I pointed up to the sky. After they didn’t seem to get it, I explained. “I fell to the ground. So the magic that brought me here would probably be somewhere in the air!”

Dash started laughing in the air as Sunny and Twilight both facehoofed.

“Of course,” Twilight said. She looked to the sky and started scanning again. “I… I think I found something. Just on the edge of my reach, over there,” she pointed.

“I’ll check it out,” Sunny said, and spread her wings and took off. She hovered about 10 meters in the air before coming back down. “It is indeed an anomaly. It felt strange and foreign, yet somehow familiar,” she said cryptically.

“Ugh,” I grimaced. Who smells foreshadowing? “Well, now that you know what to look for, scan the surrounding air for anything similar.” Tia nodded and flew off.

“Twilight, Rarity.” I looked up at the setting sun. “It’ll be getting dark soon. Can you two keep things illuminated so we can see?”

“Sure thing, Blast,” Twilight said.

Sunny returned a few minutes later with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy right behind her. “I’ve found it.”

---------------------

After wandering the Everfree forest for almost twenty minutes, the sun had finally set. Tia, now back in her normal form, led the group, with her magic still locked onto the second anomaly. Twilight stood right behind her, keeping the front lit as we walked. AJ and Rarity stayed in the back, Rarity lighting the area for AJ to keep lookout. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and I stayed in the middle. The forest was too dense for Dash or Fluttershy to fly.

“Are we close, Tia?” I asked.

“Almost,” she answered. “We should be directly beneath the anomaly any moment now.”

“Alright girls,” I said. “Keep a lookout for any signs of a crash or disturbance.”

Pinkie popped out of a nearby tree, causing me to jump a few steps backwards. “You mean like a big hole in the canopy, broken branches, and a small crater in the ground?”

After I took a moment to calm my heart rate, I faced Pinkie. Best not question her appearance. “Yeah. Have you seen one?”

“Yep!” she exclaimed.

We stood there for a few moments. “Well?” I said.

“What?”

“You going to show us where?”

“Oh! Yeah! Follow me.” Pinkie hopped out of the tree and started to walk off, the rest of us following behind.

We stepped into a small clearing just large enough for all of us to stand in. The center had a small hole. Not nearly as large as my crater, but he was probably slowed down a bit by the canopy. I looked up to see a hole in the leaf ceiling, exposing us to the stars.

“Zack,” Tia called. I looked to see her holding a helmet in her telekinetic grasp. I grabbed it and looked at it. It was a warn, gold color and dented enough to look uncomfortable for anypony to wear.

“Yep. Definitely Smith’s,” I said. Sweet! My best friend is here with me! …Well, if he’s alright. That's important too. I looked around for any other sign of him.

“How do you know?” Twilight asked.

I held the helmet to her and pointed at the engraving inside.

“‘S.S. waz here’?” she read aloud.

“That’s Smith’s, alright,” Tia said.

“Well I can use my book on tracking to help find him,” Twilight suggested. She pulled a book from her saddlebag and flipped through it. After a bit of reading, she closed her eyes and her horn glowed. “He… left here about eight hours ago.” She concentrated a little bit more. “He left… that way,” she pointed.

“Well, duh,” Dash said, pointing at his tracks leading out that way. “I could have told you that bit.”

“Anything else?” Tia asked.

“No, sorry,” Twilight told the Princess. “This spell is only really useful up to a few hours ago. After that all I get is a rough time of departure and general direction.”

“Just another useless book,” Dash mumbled.

“Hey! Books are not useless!” Twilight countered. “Every book has its own special use.”

Hmm… I wonder if this’ll work…

Twilight and Dash continued arguing. AJ was trying to cut them off, and Fluttershy was just sitting a ways away hiding behind her hair. I need to concentrate…

“Yeah, right. Books are only useful for Daring Doo or door stops.”
“Why I never-”
“Girls. Y’all need to calm down.”
“But she-”

“SHUT UP!” somepony yelled. Everypony was looking at me. Oh, I said it. “I’m trying to concentrate here.” Everypony stayed silent while I closed my eyes and focused.

“Zack, what are yo-”

“Shh!” I cut Tia off.

After a moment, everypony gasped. “H-how are you doing that?” Twi asked. Hmm? I opened my eyes to see everypony staring at me. Rarity and Twilight were no longer illuminating the area, but everything was glowing a faint cyan color. I looked down at my hooves to see my entire body lit up in a light blue aura. I looked up to Tia in surprise.

“Your eyes are glowing the same color as well,” she told me.

I just smirked. “Cool.” I looked over at the crater. “Well, my spell worked.”

Everypony looked over at the crater and jumped in shock. Lying in the middle of the hole was the ghostly image of a stallion. The image was a monochromatic cyan, and partially see-through. He looked unconscious and his helmet was a bit dented, exactly like the one we found on the ground nearby.

“Wh-what is that?” Fluttershy asked.

“That,” I said, “is the past.”

“What?” Twilight said, as Dash stepped closer to the stallion. “What kind of spell can take all of us to the past like this?”

Dash put a hoof out to touch the stallion, when it suddenly went through him. “Ah!” she jumped back.

“None,” I answered Twilight. “This spell just lets you view the past. Basically everything, living or not, leaves an invisible magic residue behind. After about twelve hours, this residue gets completely reabsorbed into the environment, but until then, it’s a living impression of what used to be there. This spell just pulls the residue into the visible spectrum, allowing you to view what once was.”

Twilight just stared at me, wide-eyed. “You never cease to amaze, do you?”

I smirked and shrugged. “Special talent, I guess.” I looked at the image. Pinkie was poking and prodding at it, giggling each time her hoof went through one ear and out the other. “I think I’m a bit too early though. Hold on.” I concentrated again and Pinkie backed up as the image distorted, like when you fast forward an old VHS tape. I stopped when he began to lift his head.

The stallion tried to stand up, and after failing a few times, finally managed it. I walked around to his front to see his face. Yep, that’s Smith. Smith’s face was slightly contorted in pain. He raised a hoof to yank his helmet off. Once he sent it flying over to where Tia found it lying, his face relaxed a bit and he looked around.

“This. Is. So. Awesome!” Rainbow yelled.

“I admit, this is incredible, even for you, Zack,” Tia said.

“No kidding,” Twilight breathed, walking around the image, inspecting it.

Smith walked to the edge of the clearing and started to look scared.

“This is actually that big breakthrough I was talking about earlier,” I explained as Smith walked back to the center, his mouth moving like he was saying something.

“Is he talking to himself?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah, he does that when he’s thinking,” I said.

“Why can’t we hear ‘im?” AJ asked.

“Probably because sound waves aren’t magical,” Twilight answered, still staring at the image. “Therefore, it cannot be recreated in the same way.”

“That’s right,” I said, smiling at Twilight. “The spell wasn’t finished yet. I was going to add a way to get the correct colors and sound as well, but this’ll have to do for now.”

Smith looked up through the canopy and spread his wings to fly. He immediately let out a silent howl in pain and pulled his left wing back to his side. I’m no doctor, but I think that wing is either dislocated or broken. Dash and Fluttershy both instinctively brought a hoof up to their left wings, grimacing.

“That looks painful,” Applejack pointed out. Nah, really?

After a few more moments, Smith managed to straighten up and look around some more, panic all over his face. His head jerked to the where his tracks led and his ears flicked. He moved into the forest cautiously. He must’ve heard something. After a few more steps, his image dissipated.

“Hey, what happened?” Dash asked.

“He moved out of my range,” I replied. “My spell only shows up to so far away. Come on, let’s follow him.” I took a few steps in his direction and stumbled. I would’ve hit the ground if Tia hadn’t caught me with her magic.

“Are you alright, Zack?” Tia asked, concerned.

“Y-yeah. Don’t worry about me. Just a bit of fatigue.” I thought on it a moment as Tia walked up next to me. “I think, without a horn to properly direct my magic flow, I’m using more magic than I need, hence the full body light show.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Twilight agreed. “A Pegasus wasn’t meant to cast spells.”

“Here,” Tia picked me up with her magic and put me on her back, my chin resting on her ethereal mane. Mmm, fruity. Haven’t smelled this in a while. “You just keep the spell going, we’ll follow Smith.”

I nodded, and Tia started walking to Smith’s exit. She stopped at the edge and turned to see everypony staring, Pinkie grinning ear to ear. “Are you all coming?” she asked. Everypony suddenly got up and followed Tia back into the forest.

We caught up with the blue image of Smith, who was walking really slow, probably terrified out of his mind. After a while, he stopped, ears twitching. Do my ears do that when I hear something too? He looked to his right, and our gazes followed. Shimmering into the edge of my spell, was three Timberwolves.

“Oh no,” I mumbled, “Smith’s scared of wolves more than the forest itself.”

Smith turned to run back the way he came, when he froze in fear, staring at us.

“Can he see us?” Twi asked.

“No…” I said. “He shouldn’t be able too.”

Smith backed away from us slowly. His eyes went wide and we all jumped as a fourth wolf jumped through us. “Well, that explains that,” I said to the girls. I turned back to look at Smith, as he got surrounded. “RUN, IDIOT! RUN!” I yelled, to no avail. He just sat there, terrified.

One of the first wolves pounced, and he quickly rolled out of the way. Another attacked and he turned to buck, but only clipped the wolf, getting cut by one of its claws on his hind leg. He backed away a few steps, and another wolf jumped. He tried to buck again and actually hit his mark. The wolf flew right past us and smashed into a tree, making Fluttershy ‘Eep’. Smith smiled at his accomplishment, but was quickly tackled by another wolf. Smith tumbled for a bit before smacking his head into a tree, knocking him out.

“Oh no,” Fluttershy squeaked. “I can’t look.” She laid down and covered her eyes with her hooves.

The remaining three wolves encircled Smith. One started to pounce… when a staff flew into it like an arrow, pinning the wolf to a tree a meter away. The other two wolves looked toward where the staff came from and prepped for attack. A zebra with an old robe stepped into view, ready to fight the wolves.

“Zecora!” Twilight yelled. Fluttershy peaked out from under a hoof.

Zecora and the last two wolves circled each other for a moment before one wolf jumped at her. She quickly rolled out of the way and bucked it in the side, instantly smashing it. The wolf stuck to the tree finally got down, dropping the staff. It leaped at the zebra. She quickly jumped higher, landing on its head mid-flight, and jumped again towards her staff. The wolf’s face skidded on the ground from the change in momentum and quickly stood back up to face Zecora with its only remaining partner.

Zecora picked up her staff and laid it along her back. Before the wolves could make a move, she reached into her robe and pulled out a familiar glowing flower. One wolf backed away a step but the other just snarled and pounced.

The zebra jumped and grabbed her staff, whacking the wolf on the head. While the wolf was down, Zecora rubbed the flower on the Timberwolf’s snout. Before it could stand back up, it trembled violently and disintegrated into a pile of useless sticks. The remaining wolf took off into the woods.

“Wow,” I said, “Who knew Zecora was such a badflank?” Twilight glared at me. “What? She is!”

“What kind of flower was that?” Fluttershy asked.

I looked at Zecora as she rushed to Smith’s side to inspect his wounds. The glowing flower was back inside her robe. “I think it was Poison Joke,” I said.

“Poison Joke?” Twilight asked. “How do you know? I’ve never seen Poison Joke do that!” She pointed at the pile of sticks, which was there in the present as well as the past. The sticks from the other wolves were only there in ghostly form. Those must’ve regenerated later.

“It’s just a guess from something I read once,” I explained. “I think it’s actually deadly to Timberwolves.”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. Zecora was wrapping up Smith’s leg and wing in gauss.

“But, wait,” Dash said. “Wouldn’t she be affected by the Poison Joke too?”

I shook my head. “Not immediately. Not if she takes the herbal bath in time.” I looked down at the girls. “You should all know that it takes nearly a day for it to have an effect on somepony,” I looked back at Zecora, “or zebra, in this case.” I wonder what would happen to her. Would she only use unrhymable words? Would her colors invert? Wait, that’s not funny...

I stopped thinking about it when Zecora picked Smith up onto her back and carried him off. She’s stronger than she looks.

“She’s heading back towards Ponyville,” Twilight said. “She must’ve taken him to the hospital to get his injuries properly treated.”

“Well that answers that.” I dropped the spell, making it dark again before Twilight and Rarity lit everything back up. “Phew. Now let’s get out of here before,” I yawned, “more wolves show up.” Everypony nodded and followed Tia towards the exit, with me still on her back.

Author's Notes:

Shout out to one of the best one-shots on FiMFiction.net: Sunny Skies All Day Long
It is incredible. Read it if you haven't already.

Chapter 9: Trip to the Hospital

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We finally made it out of the forest and into the bright moonlight. I was still on Tia’s back, barely awake the whole ride back. The rest of the girls were close by, talking about random stuff. I lifted my head up to the stars to see that they weren’t as bright as normal. Luna must be worried sick. I looked ahead of us. “Hey, Fluttershy. I can see your house from here.”

She turned to look and saw her little cottage about thirty meters away. “Oh dear,” she said softly. Fluttershy looked at me and Tia, who had just transformed back into Sunny. “I’m so sorry, but I really must get home. I need to check up on my animals.”

Sunny nodded to her. “I understand. We’ll let you know about Smith tomorrow.” Fluttershy grinned and nodded, fluttering off to her house.

“I should probably take off too,” Dash said, stretching in the air. “We have a storm scheduled for tomorrow night, so I need to spend all tomorrow morning prepping the team.” She flew off.

“Oh yeah,” Applejack said. “Ah should really get home, too, and get th’ farm ready for the storm.”

“And I have a huge party to plan!” Pinkie exclaimed and bounced away, Applejack in tow.

“Oh dear,” Rarity looked at us, frowning. “I’m terribly sorry, but I’m afraid I must leave as well. I’m already behind on orders as is.”

I chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll be fine.”

Rarity smiled and looked at Sunny. “And you simply must come visit my boutique sometime, Princess. I would be absolutely delighted to design something for ‘Sunny Skies’, if that’s alright with you.”

Sunny started to shake her head, but I stopped her. “She would be happy to, Rarity. Is sometime tomorrow alright?” Sunny glared at me.

Rarity’s grin grew. “Oh, splendid! Anytime after noon will be just fine.” She turned and walked off. “Ta ta!” she called back.

After she had gone, Sunny turned to look at me. “Why do you keep agreeing to stuff for me?”

“Because I know you, Tia,” I said. “I know that you’ve been working way too hard lately, and that you need a break.” She turned away from me. “I also know that you would enjoy a party and a bit of fashion if you gave it a chance.” I used a hoof to turn her head back to me. “Please, Tia? Take a break for me?”

Sunny sighed. “Fine.” I cheered inwardly. “But only for one day.”

“That’s all I need,” I said. Sunny started walking towards the hospital in the distance, when I noticed Twilight still following us. “Are you not gonna leave us, too?” I asked.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. “No. I don’t have anything important going on, since the library’s closed tomorrow, and I’d really like to meet Mr. Smith.” I giggled at that. Generic name, for the win. Why did I never think of that?

“That’s fine,” I told Twilight. “I just hope he’s alright now.” I turned forward and saw a white pony galloping towards us. “Is that Nurse Redheart?”

Redheart got closer and stopped in front of us panting. “Oh good… I found you…” She looked up to see me on Sunny’s back, and raised an eyebrow. “Blast? Didn’t I tell you not to get yourself injured again?”

I grinned at her. “Technically you told me to not go crashing into any more fields, which I didn’t!” I raised my chin, smiling. Sunny bucked me off sideways and I crashed head first into the ground.

“Oops,” Sunny said with a smirk. “What about now?”

I grumbled as I stood back up and wiped the dirt off my face. Twilight and Redheart were giggling at me. “Ha ha ha,“ I mock laughed. I looked back at the nurse. “Anyways, I had just experienced a little magic fatigue and couldn’t walk for a while. I’m fine now, just a bit sleepy.”

Redheart stopped laughing and looked confused again. “Magic fatigue? I thought I told you that you are a Pegasus, not a Unicorn,” she said.

I just rolled my eyes. “Long story. So, why did you have to run over to meet us?”

The nurse stopped a moment. “Huh? Oh! Derpy came by earlier asking about your friend, the stallion with gold armor?” I nodded. “Well, a few hours after I last saw you, Zecora brought in an injured stallion of that description.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” I asked. “Let’s go!” We all quickly trotted to the hospital.

Nurse Redheart continued as we walked. “He had a dislocated wing, a bad cut on his hind leg, and a few scrapes and bruises, but it’s all been treated and he’s fine now.” I sighed in relief. “He’s been unconscious since Zecora brought him in, though. He probably won’t wake up until tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, nurse,” Sunny said.

“You’re welcome,” Redheart replied. “I’m Nurse Redheart, by the way. I take it you’re a friend of Blast and Twilight?”

Sunny nodded. “Yes, I am. My name is Sunny Skies.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Skies,” Redheart said. “That’s a very pretty name, by the way.”

Sunny blushed a bit. “Thank you.”

“You’re the third pony that the party tomorrow is for, correct?” Redheart asked.

Sunny looked confused for a moment. “Huh?”

“Geez, how fast does that pony work?” I asked as we approached the front door to the hospital.

Nurse Redheart laughed. “Very, when it comes to parties. Pinkie stopped by here a moment ago to give this invite to your friend… Silver Smith, was it?” I nodded again as she pulled out an invitation from… wherever ponies without saddlebags store things. I should really research that in the future. “She was actually the one who told me where I could find you.”

She handed me the card as we stepped into the lobby. I looked around and grimaced a little.

“Are you alright, Blast?” Nurse Redheart asked.

“Y-yeah,” I said. “Just not a big fan of hospitals.”

Sunny smirked at me. “Well, with your history of head injuries, I’d shy away from them, too.”

Twilight started laughing and Redheart smirked. “So he gets injured a lot, then?” I felt my face heat up a bit.

Sunny giggled. “More times than I care to count. One time he managed to knock himself out by-”

“Anyways,” I cut her off, my face burning now. “What room is Smith in?”

“Recovery room 108,” Redheart giggled. “Down the hall and to the left.”

“Thank you,” I said and walked off.

Sunny trotted to catch up. “Oh, come on, Zack. I was only picking.”

“I know,” I smiled at her. “I just really wanted to see Smith.”

“I can see why you like him, Princess,” Twilight said as she caught up to my other side. “He’s cute when he gets flustered.” My cheeks started to burn again and I picked up my pace. Sunny just laughed.

We turned the corner and found Smith’s room. It looked identical to the one Rainbow Dash was in before. There were two beds, with a curtain between the two, and a small table next to each. At the end of the room was a window that let the moonlight in. The bed closest to the door was unoccupied, but the other one held a grey Pegasus stallion.

I rushed over to his side. “Thank God he’s alright.” Smith looked pretty much the same, minus the ugly green hospital gown. He was still asleep, though.

“It’s good to see he is fine,” Sunny said. “I’ll write to Luna, telling her about what’s happened.”

“Good idea,” I said as she walked out of the room. Twilight sat down next to me, and it went silent for a few minutes.

“So,” Twilight broke the silence, “you can still cast spells like a Unicorn, then?”

“Eeyup,” I replied, still looking at Smith. “Seems that way.”

Twilight smiled and looked at Smith. “Wait, if your internal magic still works like a Unicorn’s, and not a Pegasus’, does that mean you can’t fly?” she asked.

I looked up. “Hmm. That’s a sound theory, so I guess not.” I turned to her. “I still need to run some tests when I get back to Canterlot to find the full extent of my capabilities.” I smiled at her. “You can help if you want.”

Twilight smiled brighter. “Oh, that would be great! Imagine the kind of discoveries we could make by studying how a Pegasus body directs its magic flow.” Her expression slowly fell. “There’s just one problem. If you’re gonna be returning to Canterlot, we would rarely get to see each other. I’m still needed here to run the library, and all my friends are here.”

I just grinned at her and shook my head. “Don’t worry, I thought of that. How about this: You come visit me every Sunday, when the library’s closed, and I’ll visit you some other day of the week, and I can teach you a spell that’ll let us speak face to face over long distances any time we want.”

She instantly brightened up. “That would be perfect! Oh, thank you!” She hugged me tight.

I just laughed. She REALLY enjoys studying magic, doesn’t she?

“Ahem.” I heard Sunny clear her throat and we both looked back at the door to see her standing there, staring at us, expressionless.

Twilight blushed and jumped away from me. I laughed a little harder.

“I was just… He…” Twilight stammered.

Sunny smirked at her. “I know, Twilight, it’s alright. I heard what you two were talking about.” Oh, that troll. Twilight visibly calmed down.

“Get a reply from Luna?” I asked.

“Yes. She’s happy to hear that Smith is safe.” Sunny giggled. “She even requested that Zecora be knighted for saving him.”

“I’m sure she’d appreciate the thought,” Twilight grinned, “but I doubt she’d accept it.”

We all laughed, but stopped when we heard Smith shift in his bed. “N-no,” he mumbled. “Luna… don’t, don’t believe him… H-he’s lying…” He splayed out on the bed for a moment before turning over, sticking his muzzle into the pillow.

We all looked at each other. “What the-” Twilight started.

“I don’t even…” I said, shaking my head, and yawned.

“I think it’s time we all got some sleep,” Sunny suggested. “Nurse Redheart said we could stay the night if we wanted to.”

“No, I think I’ll head home,” Twilight said. “I have an extra bed and some blankets if you two want to come,” she offered.

“Nah, I think I’ll stick around here for the night,” I said. Sunny nodded in agreement.

“Alright, then. I’ll visit again in the morning.” We nodded to her as she teleported away.

-------------------

I woke up to the sound of somepony groaning very loudly. I opened my eyes and saw that it was still dark out. A glance at the clock on the wall showed that it was barely after 5 AM. Tia still has an hour till she needs to raise the sun. I laid back down and tried to fall back asleep.

I woke up ten minutes later to the groaning again. “Knight, if you don’t shut up with that insistent snoring, I swear…”

I moaned softly and raised my head. That sounded like Smith. I looked around and saw that I was on the extra bed. Tia- sorry, Sunny was lying next to me with a wing over me. I smiled. Aww she looks so cute, all snuggled up like that.

“Thank goodness…” Smith’s voice brought my attention back to him, well, his shadow on the curtain separating the two beds.

“How’d you know it was me?” I asked.

He scoffed. “I don’t think there’s a single pony in all of Equestria that can snore as hard as you. How anypony can put up with it is beyond me.”

I chuckled, causing Sunny to stir. He sounds healthy to me.

Sunny’s eyes fluttered open and she looked around. When she spotted her wing around me, her cheeks turned red and she yanked it back to her side. Aw, I was warm.

“Where am I anyways?” Smith asked.

“You’re in a hospital in Ponyville,” I said. I hopped off the bed and stretched.

“Ponyville? I’ve never heard of that place.”

“That’s because,” I said, grabbing the edge of the curtain and yanking it back, “you’re in the future.” Smith stared at me, wide-eyed. “Welcome to the year 3216 A.D. buddy!”

Smith’s mouth hung open. “K-Knight?”

I rolled my eyes. “Nooo, I’m ‘Blast Shield’,” I said sarcastically. “Of course I’m Knight, you twit!”

“Well, you definitely sound like him,” Smith smirked. He raised a brow at me. “What do you mean, future? What happened?”

I sat down next to his bed. “I was hoping you would remember more than I do.”

He looked down at his blankets. “Let’s see… I remember you scanning the Jungle’s edge. We were attacked by a pack of Timberwolves. I tackled you when one was about to attack you… The next thing I know, I’m in the middle of the Everfree in some sort of hole in the ground.”

“Unfortunately, that isn’t much more than we know at the moment,” Sunny spoke up.

Smith looked over at her in shock. “P-princess?”

“Hmm?” she asked. I motioned to her form. “Oh! Sorry.” She transformed back to her normal form and smiled warmly at Smith. “Greetings, Silver Smith.”

“Uh, hi, Celestia…”

Tia looked back at me. “So what do we do now, Zack?”

“Hold on,” Smith interjected. “‘Zack’? Can somepony explain what’s going on? Or why you look different?”

I groaned. I guess he deserves the truth about me. This’ll take a while… “Okay, it all started yesterday morning when I woke up in a field just outside Ponyville, a small town near the Everfree Forest. It’s called a forest now because it’s much smaller than it used to be. Anyways a nurse woke me up…”

Author's Notes:

Chapter 10: Up and About (Part I)

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Smith just stared at me. His face was blank, so I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Umm, should I say something? He just sat there on the hospital bed, perfectly still. I shifted on my hooves a bit. His stare was starting to bug me.

“I think you broke him,” Twilight said. She had arrived halfway through my explanation of MLP to him; right after Tia raised the sun.

“He may just need some time to process everything,” Tia suggested.

After a few minutes, he finally said something. “I always had my suspicions,” Smith mumbled.

I raised an eyebrow. “About what?”

He smirked a bit. “That you were some kind of pervert,” he stated.

“What?” everypony in the room asked.

“How, out of everything I just told you, did you get that?!” I asked.

Smith just laughed and shook his head. “It’s fairly obvious,” He said. “You use to spend your free time watching the day to day lives of six pretty mares for two years.” Smith motioned to Twilight, who blushed. “Kinda creepy if you ask me.”

I facehoofed. “First of all, it’s not like that. I could say the same thing about you when you read about somepony in a book!”

“That’s different,” he said.

“How so?”

“They’re not real!”

“Well neither were these girls before I came here!” I retorted. “Did you not listen to a word I said about the Multiverse thing?”

Smith shook his head. “Nah, too science-y. I couldn’t follow.”

“Oi,” I sat down and rubbed my head. “Even Rainbow Dash could follow that,” I mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” I looked back at him. “So, out of everything I told you, that was the only thing that stuck out?”

“No,” he replied.

“What else?” I asked.

“Luna,” he said, and then smirked. “Did she really cry over me?” I jabbed him in the shoulder. “Ow! I’m injured, remember?”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t care. You deserved it.” Smith huffed.

“So what do I call you?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“Your name, dipwad,” he groaned. “You have like eight now.” Twilight glared at him for calling me that. Tia just giggled.

“I only have three, thank you.” I thought about it. “Well, Tia and Luna call me Zack. Everypony else calls me Blast, so I guess it’s really up to you.”

“Hmm. I think I’ll try ‘Blast’. It’s a much better name than you chose last time,” Smith chuckled. “I mean, really. ‘Sapphire’?” He laughed harder.

“Hey, I was put on the spot!” I said. “Besides, ‘Silver’ could be considered a mare’s name.” We both laughed.

Smith calmed down a bit. “So what do we do now, oh great and powerful human?” he mocked.

I raised a hoof to jab him again, causing him to flinch back. I laughed and dropped my hoof. “First, we wait until you’re well enough to leave-”

“What are you talking about?” he said. Smith pulled back the covers, yanked off his gown, and jumped to the ground. “I’m just fine!”

Twilight stepped back in surprise and leaned over to me. “Are all your friends as resilient as you?” she asked.

“Pretty much,” I said. “Except Luna. She started bawling one time when she tripped over a fallen tree branch.” I started laughing, but was cut off when Smith jabbed my shoulder, giving me a hard glare. I rubbed my shoulder, returning the glare. “Well, now that you’re obviously well enough,” I looked at Tia and smiled, “we’re all getting a day off!”

Smith tilted his head. “A day off? But I just got here!”

“Yeah,” I said. “You just arrived from traveling over 3000 years in time in the middle of the Everfree Forest, and had to go to the hospital.” He sat on his haunches and frowned at me. “How’s your wing doing, by the way?” I asked.

Smith looked to his left and gave his wing a flex. “It’s better. I don’t really feel the pain anymore.” He looked at me. “And my best buddy is a Pegasus now!” he said pointing at me. “We should definitely go flying sometime!”

I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can.”

“Of course you can. I’ll teach ya.”

“No,” I corrected. “I mean, I don’t think I’m physically able to fly. My internal magic works like a Unicorn’s, so I might not have the magic of a Pegasus.”

“Hmm, magic of a Pegasus…” Smith thought about it for a moment. “Hold on,” he said, and took off out the window. He came back a minute later with a piece of cloud the size of a basketball. “Try stepping on this.”

I did so and my hoof went right through it. “See?” I told Smith. He started frowning. “But I could fudge it a bit using magic.” I picked up my hoof and it glowed cyan for a moment. Smith raised his brow at me. “Watch.” I stuck my hoof back on the cloud, and this time is stayed like it was on a solid object.

“Whoa, how’d you do that?” Smith asked.

“Cloud-walking spell,” Twilight said. “It allows any non-Pegasus to walk on clouds for a short amount of time. I used it on me and my friends once when we all visited Cloudsdale.”

Smith looked up. “Cloudsdale? They finished it?”

“Of course they did,” I said. “They’ve had over 3000 years, remember?”

“Hehe, right.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I guess I owe Flare 15 bits.”

“For what?”

“I told him it wouldn’t be finished for like 5000 years, at the pace they were going.”

I facehoofed. “That is the dumbest bet I have ever heard.” I looked back at the cloud. “Anyways, I’m sure I can make an enchantment to let me fly. It’ll probably be some combination of levitation and power for my wings.”

“Don’t forget Aero magic,” Twilight reminded me.

“Oh yeah, thanks,” I said. “Take note of that so we don’t forget.” Twilight flashed a quill and notebook in front of her and wrote it down.

Tia smirked at me. “You’ve already got her working as your assistant, Zack?”

“Well, yeah,” Twilight said. “We did agree to Sundays,” She teleported the notebook away again.

“But I thought you said this would be our day off?” Tia asked me.

“Oh yeah,” Smith said. “You said something about a huge party later?”

“Yep,” I nodded, “but until then, I guess we can tour Ponyville for a bit.” I looked at Twilight. “Care to show us around town?”

“Sure,” Twilight said.

I looked at Tia, who seemed a little tense. “Come on, Tia. Loosen up. We’re here to have fun today!” I smiled.

Tia nodded, still unsure, and transformed into Sunny.

“Oh, by the way,” I said to Smith, “make sure to call her Sunny. She can’t relax like a normal pony if everypony’s swarming her.”

Smith nodded. “Are there any good pubs in town?” he asked Twilight.

She shook her head. “No, but if it’s hard cider you want, Applejack’s big brother brews the best in Equestria.”

Smith grinned. “Great! I say we stop by there first!”

“Augh.” I facehoofed again.

I rolled out of the way as a red bolt of magic flew past me. I stood back up in time to shield myself from another attack, but an Earth pony jumped me from the side, bucking me in the ribs. I screamed as I felt something give and I flew across the warehouse, missing the huge crates along the way. I landed on my back and rolled a few steps, my black mane falling over my eyes. That son of a-

“I won’t tell you again!” Biggs called from the other side of the warehouse, his horn lighting back up for another attack. “Surrender now and I’ll consider sparing your life.” He stepped closer as I stood back up, legs a little shaky.

“And then what?” I asked. I winced at the pain coming from my ribcage as I spoke. Yep, definitely broke something this time. “You go back to thieving and mugging everypony on the street?”

The dark green unicorn laughed as he approached me, his red mane shaking as he did. “What? Moi? I would never!” His two bodyguards walked on either side of him, one a bald, burly yellow Earth pony with a brown tail, the other a lighter green Pegasus with short grey hair.

“No,” I called out. “You send you’re lackeys to do it.” My horn started to glow cyan again.

This sick-o was Chief Biggs, the largest crime boss in Canterlot. The Royal Guard had been after him for over six years now, but he never left a trace to follow. That is, until I caught one of his messengers at the edge of town, and I managed to scare Biggs’ location out of him.

Biggs just laughed harder. “Like you could really stop me,” he said. “You’re not even a royal guard!”

I smirked at him. “No, I’m not. I’m something much worse.”

He raised a brow at me. “And what, pray tell, is that?”

“A mage.” The image of me they were looking at fizzled out of existence and they looked around in panic.

“Find him!” Biggs ordered. The two bodyguards nodded and took off. The Pegasus inspected the rafters at the top of building, while the Earth pony ran around looking behind and inside every crate.

I laughed, and it echoed throughout the whole building. Biggs grit his teeth and looked all around him, horn charging red again.

“Ah, ah ah!” I called. Biggs’ head jerked as something whacked his horn, causing him to lose focus on his magic for a minute. He looked all around for his attacker, but couldn’t find anypony.

“Show yourself!” he yelled.

“Now!” I yelled. Biggs’ head jerked to the left as he heard his henchmen cry out in pain. Or would they call them ‘henchstallions’? ‘Henchponies’?

“Lance!” he called out. “Hunt!” There was no reply.

I appeared a couple meters behind him. “They won’t help you now,” I said.

Biggs turned to me in shock for a moment, before getting angry again. “Now, you’re gonna die!” he yelled. His horn began to glow again and he fired it at my head. I quickly ducked and returned fire, my blue bolt striking his side as he jumped away. Biggs yelled, more in anger than in pain. He charged at me and fired another shot. It barely singed my hoof as I rolled away. He quickly turned his back to me and raised his hind legs for a kick. I stuck a shield to the bottoms of his hooves, causing him to push himself forward and nearly flip over.

Biggs fell on his face and started charging his horn again before standing up. I took the opening and telekinetically threw the nearby rock I had used earlier to hit his horn again. He stumbled, almost falling again and looked at me in absolute rage, sparks flying off his horn. “Aaaaaaaagh!” he yelled as he launched himself at me, horn first. I quickly teleported behind him and kicked his backside, making him ram his horn into a crate, getting it stuck.

He frantically tried to pull his horn from the crate as ten royal guards swarmed the place, spears at the ready. “It’s about time you all got here,” I said. “I could have used the help, say, ten minutes ago?” One of the guards trotted up to Biggs, clamping a magic dampener on his horn and shackling his hooves together.

“Looks like you had fun,” Smith said, trotting around the corner of a nearby crate. He was in his full gold armor, still looking brand new. I probably look like manure. Two more guards were behind him, each carrying an unconscious bodyguard.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t have to take the bulk of the heat!” I laughed, and started coughing, a little blood hanging on the corner of my mouth. All of the guards left, taking Biggs and his crew back to the castle to lock them up. Biggs was calling back to me, swearing and cursing like it was nopony’s business. Did he just say that I’d ‘rue this day’? Seriously?

Smith trotted to my side. “Well, let’s get you to a hospital. The buck that yellow oaf gave you earlier might have fractured something.” As much as I hated hospitals, I nodded, following him out of the warehouse.

“Oooo! Can I eat it?” Smith asked.

“Of course not!” I said. “It’s not actually candy and gingerbread…” I turned to Twilight. “Is it?”

Sunny was standing next to her. Twilight just giggled and shook her head. “No, it’s not. I’ve seen plenty of kids try to lick it, and their faces would turn to disgust,” she looked past me, “just like your friend’s over there.” Sunny facehoofed.

“Huh?” I turned back around and saw Smith right next to Sugarcube Corner, a large line of drool on the candy cane post near the entrance. He was spitting and wiping his tongue off. “Told you!” I called and laughed at him.

Pinkie suddenly popped out from behind the post, making Smith jump back and fall on his butt. “Yeah! Can you imagine how big the oven would have to be to make a house this size?” she asked.

“H-how did-” Smith stumbled.

“Don’t question it,” I told him.

“But that post isn’t even wide enough to-”

I cut him off again. “It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie. Don’t think about it too hard, or you’ll catch fire like Twilight did.” Twilight blushed and Sunny giggled at her. Smith suddenly looked at the pink mare in fear.

She just giggled. “Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie,” she reached out and grabbed Smith’s hoof to shake it. “I work here at Sugarcube Corner and throw parties for everypony in Ponyville. You must be Silver Smith. Blast has told us all about you! Well not really that much besides your name and what you looked like and that you were his friend and-” A burnt orange hoof cut her off. I think one Pinkie Pie Ramble was enough.

Smith got his bearings and stood back up. “Uh, hi. Are you the mare throwing us the party later?”

“Mmhmm,” she nodded. “Mhmmhm hmm mmm hm hmm hmhm mm hmhmhmhmm!”

“What?” Smith asked. I removed my hoof from her mouth. Ew, it’s all slobbery.

“I said, ‘Everything you need to know is on your invitation!’” Pinkie repeated.

Smith looked at me confused. “What invitation?”

“Oh!” I reached back and pulled out the card Nurse Redheart gave me. “Sorry, I forgot to give this to you.” Wait! How did I do that?! I looked at my backside. Where did I keep it?!

Smith took the card from me and opened it, a bunch of confetti flying everywhere. He wiped his face off and started reading it aloud. “‘As a new pony in Ponyville, you, Silver Smith, are hereby invited to the bash of the year, along with Blast Shield and Sunny Skies. This party will be hosted at Sweet Apple Acres in the barn at 4:00 PM. Hope to see you there. Signed, Pinkie Pie. P.S. – Bring your own lampshades as barns tend to lack in them.’” He raised an eyebrow at me, then Pinkie.

Twilight walked up to read the invitation. “This seems a little duller than your normal invites, Pinkie,” she said.

“Well since I had never actually seen him in pony before,” Pinkie explained, “I wasn’t sure how he’d react to my normal invitations, and I didn’t want to scare him, so I went with a normal card.”

“Normal cards don’t fire confetti,” Smith pointed out.

I looked impressed at Pinkie Pie. “That ‘Cranky Doodle’ thing really taught you a lesson, didn’t it?”

She nodded her head. “Yep! Well, I need to finish planning, so I’ll see you ponies later!” She bounced off.

Smith looked at me. “Is she always so…”

“Yeah,” I said and turned to Twilight. “So, that’s most of Ponyville covered: Town hall, the library, the marketplace, the fountain, Sugarcube Corner. I guess all that’s really left is the Carousel Boutique and Sweet Apple Acres, right?”

She nodded. “Pretty much.” Twilight looked up at the clock tower across town. “We still have a few more hours so we can stop by Fluttershy’s Cottage along the way if you want.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said, as we started walking towards the edge of town.

“We did promise to let her know what happened,” Sunny reminded us.

After a few quiet minutes of walking, we crossed the bridge leading to Fluttershy’s place, and we could already see swarms of birds, bunnies, and a bear in the distance. Smith’s eyes brightened up. I smirked at him.

Twilight walked up next to him. “Fluttershy is the local animal caretaker,” she explained. “She feeds and treats any animals that need her help, as well as provide the town with pets.” Smith nodded and I could see his excitement growing.

We approached the cottage. Fluttershy was flying around, refilling the bird feeders hanging off her house. She saw us walking up, put the bag she was holding down, and fluttered over to us. “Hey guys. How are you this afternoon?” she asked softly.

“We are well, Fluttershy,” Sunny responded. Fluttershy looked at each of us, stopping at Smith in surprise and shrunk down, hiding behind her mane.

“Hi,” Smith said. When she didn’t respond, he continued. “My name’s Silver Smith.” She stayed there, barely glancing at him. He turned to me. “Wow, name says it all, huh?”

I chuckled. “Pretty much. She just has to get use to you.”

Angel Bunny hopped out of the cottage over to Fluttershy, not even paying us any attention. He started thumping his foot, waiting on something from Fluttershy.

I smiled as Smith gasped and jumped at Angel, bring is head down to his level. “Oh my gosh! Such a cute bunny!” Angel ignored him until Smith started to rub his head. Angel smiled and started to thump his foot in pleasure instead of impatience. “What his name?”

Fluttershy livened up a bit. “Oh, his name is Angel Bunny. He’s my pet.”

“What a cute name,” Smith said. He paused when he saw Twilight and Sunny looking at him, confused, and me about to burst out laughing. He immediately shot back up. “Ahem, I mean, that’s nice.”

Fluttershy just giggled at him. Angel got mad that the rubbing suddenly stopped and looked back at Fluttershy. “He must be hungry,” she said. She looked at Smith. “Do you want to help me feed him?”

Smith’s eyes lit up again, but he quickly pushed his excitement back down and cleared his throat. “Sure, whatever,” he said, trying to sound cool. They both walked back to the cottage, Angel trailing them.

Sunny and Twilight looked at me confused. I just smiled. “He’s always had a soft spot for rabbits,” I explained.

“He just doesn’t seem the type,” Twilight said.

I laughed. “They never do.” I trotted to the cottage and they followed close behind.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 11: Up and About (Part II)

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While we were at Fluttershy’s place, we let her know that Smith was just fine, but couldn’t remember much more than me. I also told her that I filled Smith in on everything I told the girls about me. Of course, Smith had to bring up the ‘pervert’ thing. Now Fluttershy looks uncomfortable around me, no matter what Sunny or I try to tell her. Thanks a lot, jerk.

Before we left for the Boutique, I told Fluttershy about the party tonight and where it was. She said she’d see us there and we took off, albeit a little reluctantly on Smith’s part.

“I don’t see why we had to leave so soon,” Smith complained.

“Well, the party is in two hours, and we still need to visit Rarity,” Twilight explained. Smith just huffed.

I shook my head. “You’re just mad you had to leave Angel Bunny,” I said.

“Yeah, the only thing you did the whole time we were there was play with him,” Sunny pointed out. She started laughing at Smith’s flustered glare and I joined her. I’m glad she’s loosening up.

I could hear a faint whistling in the air. I looked over at Twilight, who was chatting away about her friends with Smith. I don’t think anypony else can hear that. I think I know what that is, though. I suddenly got a devilish idea.

I trotted about four paces from the group and listened to the distance of the whistling. “Hey, Smith, could you come over here for a minute?” I asked after a few moments. He turned from Twilight and looked at me inquisitively. “I need to tell you something,” I said. Come on…

He started trotting towards me when the whistling suddenly picked up in volume. Before anypony could react, a rainbow blur swooped down from behind and knocked Smith about four meters forward.

After the dirt cloud cleared, I couldn’t hold in my laughter anymore. Lying face up on the ground was Smith, with Rainbow Dash on top of him in a very… awkward manner. She was the first to recover and upon noticing Smith, jolted up into the air, a deep blush on her cheeks. Smith was still on the ground, eyes spinning in their sockets.

“Ahahaha! I can’t believe that actually worked!” I was pounding the ground in laughter. Rainbow shot me a dirty look.

Sunny was holding in a giggle, while Twilight looked angrily at Dash. “I thought I told you to watch where you were flying!” She berated the Pegasus. “He only just got out of the hospital! You trying to send him back?”

Dash looked away sheepishly, and flew over to Smith, who was only just recovering. “My bad, dude,” Dash ‘apologized’ as she helped him up. “I sort of lost control of… my dive,” she trailed off as he stood up.

Smith shook his head to clear it and looked back at Rainbow Dash. “No problem,” he said. “I do it all the time, although I typically steer clear of other ponies.”

Dash blushed and looked away, rubbing the back of her neck. “Hehe, yeah. Sorry.”

Twilight walked over to Smith to inspect him for any injuries. Once he was cleared, she turned back to Dash. “Well, he’s fine, but you need to be more careful,” she said. “This is Silver Smith, by the way. Smith, this is Rainbow Dash.”

“Heh, I sort of figured from the tell-tale mane colors,” Smith said. He held out a hoof. “Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash.”

She shook his hoof. “Uh, you too, Smith.” She looked around. “I think I should go. I’ve got, uh, things to do.”

“Are you gonna be at the party tonight?” Smith asked.

“Oh, yeah! I wouldn’t miss a Pinkie Party for the world!” she said. “I’ll see you there.”

“Alright, see ya.”

Dash fluttered over to me, a little flushed. “You said he was a Royal Guard,” she whispered, quite loudly, mind you, “You didn’t say he was hot.”

“Sorry Dash,” I laughed. “He’s taken.” She looked back at him, a little upset, and then flew off.

Smith walked up next to me and furrowed his brow. “You didn’t tell them I was hot? What kind of friend are you?”

I rolled my eyes. “Why does it matter?”

He scoffed. “I need to sound good to the mares, duh!”

I whacked him in the back of the head. “You have a marefriend, ya know,” I pointed out.

Smith rubbed his head. “I know, but appearances and first impressions, you know?” He started laughing. I started walking toward the Boutique again, Sunny and Twilight by my sides, leaving him behind. “Aw, come on!” Smith called. “I’m just picking!” We kept walking away. “You’re not gonna tell Luna, are you?” He sounded a little panicked at the end there.

I smirked and saw Sunny grinning at the idea. Oh, this’ll be fun.

*CLINK*

Smith and I sipped from our mugs of cider. “I can’t believe it!” Smith exclaimed as he lowered his mug. “Our second big bust in two weeks! We are on fire!”

I scoffed and smirked at him. “What do you mean ‘Our’? I’ve done all the hard work, both with Biggs and the Invisible Bandit last week.”

“Yeah, but where would you be without your backup?” He asked.

“Safe in my study,” I pointed at him. “You’re the one who’s got me helping the Royal Guard.”

“Cause you’re awesome at it!” He exclaimed. “I still think you should join the guard.”

“Nah, then I would have even less time to study magic,” I said. I’m not normally one for ‘study’. I mean, just look at my grades back in high school, but this stuff is really fascinating. There seem to be infinite possibilities with it!

“Augh, you and your books.” Smith took a huge swig. “I swear, you’re such an egghead, sometimes.” I laughed into my cup, spilling cider everywhere, and started choking. “You alright, buddy?” he asked.

“Hehe, yeah,” I said, wiping up the cider. I always spill something. At least it doesn’t come down on my head. “You just said something that reminded me of somepony.”

“Oh, somepony from your past?” He asked. “Are you getting some memory back?”

Oops. How do I get out of this one? “Uh, N-no. I met her here in Canterlot a few weeks ago,” I lied. “She had a multicolored mane and a huge ego.”

“What, you think I have a big ego?” he asked.

“Huh? No.” Yes. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, you said I reminded you of her, and seeing as how I’m sort of grayscale, it must’ve been the ego part,” he clarified.

“Oh, no. It wasn’t that,” I laughed. “She just used to call somepony an egghead if they so much as picked up a book.”

“Huh.” Smith took another drink.

“I should probably take off soon,” I said.

“Why?” He smirked at me. “Got a date or something?”

“No!” I said just a little too quickly. “Tia just wanted to see me about something in…” I looked at the clock on the wall. “TEN MINUTES?! Sorry, buddy. Gotta run!” I threw down some bits for the drinks and was about to sprint out the door when Smith spoke up.

“Don’t forget you can teleport!”

“Oh right, thanks!”

Smith just rolled his eyes and went back to drinking as I blinked out of the pub.

------------------------

I quickly opened the doors to Tia’s study, ignoring the guards’ complaints. “I’m sorry I’m late, Tia,” I said as I closed the door behind me, “I was hanging out with Smith after we finally busted… Biggs.” I trailed off when I saw Tia. She still had her pink mane but she was wearing the same thick gold necklace and gold shoes from the show. She lacked the Tiara, though. “What’s going on?” I asked.

She beamed in delight. “You managed to capture Chief Biggs? That’s wonderful!” Tia ran up and hugged me, lifting me into the air. I blushed at the close contact, but tried to hide my wince in pain. I’m still a little sore from the hospital visit. “I have some good news, as well!” she said when she sat me back down. “The council has decided to give me and Luna a chance to prove ourselves as rulers.”

My smile grew. “They did? Awesome!”

“Yeah, I know!” She suddenly realized that she was going a little overboard and calmed herself down. “Ahem, I mean, it is delightful to get a great opportunity like this,” she said, trying to sound regal.

“Eh, your Princess voice could use a little work,” I said.

She just giggled as we walked to her balcony. “It’s only temporary, though. Just to see what we’ll do and how the populace will react.” We both sat down, watching the sun make its final decent for the day. “I still can’t believe it, though,” she said, looking at the horizon. “You’ve been here for only three months and you’ve already greatly affected so many lives.”

“I haven’t done that much,” I said.

She smirked at me. “Really?” I nodded. “Well, let’s see.” She brought a hoof to her chin. “You’ve helped Luna overcome her magic block, saved our lives once, saved Smith’s career, stopped both the Invisible Bandit and Chief Biggs, improved our City’s wealth tenfold, gave me and Luna a chance at being Princesses over our little ponies, and made more magical discoveries than all of the council’s magicians combined, not counting Starswirl.” She leaned over and nuzzled my neck, causing my cheeks to burn again. “I say you’ve done quite a lot.”

“Hehe, well when you list it all out like that, I guess so, but…”

Tia shoved me a bit. “You’re too modest. I’m sure you’ll go down in history books.” That’s what I’m afraid of.

I looked at Tia for a moment or two. I… I think I should tell her… about me. She and Luna both deserve to know. I looked down at the floor before returning my gaze to the horizon.

We sat there, staring at the sunset for a while. The orange glows faded over the city below as shadows grew and the moon peaked over the eastern horizon. I looked at Luna’s room a couple towers away and saw her standing on her balcony, raising the moon with practiced ease.

“She’s made a lot of progress, hasn’t she?” I asked Tia.

She looked over to Luna and smiled. “Yes. She’s happy that she finally has her cutie mark and knows her purpose.” Tia nudged me. “You helped with that bit too, you know.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess. Hey, I’m hungry. Want to go fetch Luna so we can eat?”

“Sure.” We stood back up when the sun was no longer visible and made our way to Luna’s room. I'll do it. Soon...

Twilight and I had been sitting in the main room of the Boutique for about 40 minutes now. Almost immediately after we arrived, Rarity started measuring Sunny and took her to the back to try on some stuff, and once Smith saw how Frou-Frou this place looked, and stared at Rarity’s flank for a moment, he opted to go get something from Sugarcube Corner.

I decided to use this time to study my magic with my new-found assistant, and we managed to discover a few things. We started with charging up my magic. Twilight pointed out that when I focused my magic on my hoof this morning, only my hoof glowed cyan. That led us to discover that I could focus my magic through any part of me, including my hair. I’ll stick with charging my hoof for spells. Seems a little less weird than a glowing tail.

Then we moved on to levitation, the fundamental spell learned by every unicorn. I practiced on a ball nearby, probably Sweetie’s, and noticed it wasn’t as precise as before. Now when I move things, it swings a bit, like holding one end of a nun chuck. You can point the base in your grip anywhere, but the second handle swivels around before settling where you want it. I nearly knocked over a ponyquin a couple of times.

“Alright, so we’ve discovered the possibility of channeling your magic to different areas of your body, and that spellcasting seems a little imprecise or unstable,” Twilight summed up as she wrote everything down.

“Hmm. I guess that means I should avoid teleporting unless I want to end up in a wall,” I laughed.

“Yeah, it’s a miracle you didn’t back in the throne room in Canterlot,” she mused.

I crossed my forelegs in thought. “I should also put all of my research on hold until I can find a way to stabilize my spellcasting ability.” I turned to Twilight. “Are you alright with that?”

She seemed a little upset and rubbed the back of her head. “I guess. I mean, your research has technically been on hold for 3000 years, so what’s a little while longer gonna do, right?” She smiled.

I chuckled. “Well, I can still teach you a few tricks I have written in my notes next time you visit Canterlot.”

Twilight brightened up, but before she could reply, Rarity opened the door to the back room.

“Presenting Sunny Skies, the most fabulous mare in all of Canterlot!” she announced.

Sunny walked through the doorway and my jaw nearly detached itself from my skull. She was in a beautiful light pink dress with a light sparkle to it. It was just short enough to show off her rear fetlocks and had gold trimming all the way around it. Her tail, beautifully groomed by the way, was sticking out the rear of the dress, with the split in the dress coming back together to avoid revealing anything. It had a single strap that went over her left shoulder held by a gold broach in the shape of her cutie mark. The front of the dress remained open, minus the strap, letting everypony see her forelegs. She wore gold shoes similar to her Royal ones, just a bit shorter. How the HAY did Rarity even make all this that fast?

Sunny held her wings out to let us see the whole thing, but it only increased her radiance in the room. Twilight and I just sat there, dumbfounded. Rarity beamed at our reactions and Sunny blushed a bit. I then noticed that she was wearing some light makeup, just a bit of eyeliner and mascara.

“Oh, you like it?” Rarity asked, still grinning in excitement. “You don’t think it’s too much, do you?”

I still couldn’t hardly breath, much less talk, but Twilight managed to speak up. “N-no. It’s great, Rarity! Quite possibly the best you’ve ever done! How’d you do all of it that fast?”

Rarity blushed at the compliment. “Oh, please darling. It’s the model that makes this simple piece spectacular.” She gestured to Sunny, who was turning even redder. “I was so excited when I returned home last night, that I just had to get started on some designs. I didn’t have Sunny’s exact measurements so I had to do a little tweaking, but I think it came out fantastic! But, it really all depends on what the coltfriend thinks.” Rarity looked at me with a brow raised and a smirk on her face.

That brought me out of my stupor just to send me into another. “H-huh? I-I… I’m not, we’re not…” I was frantically trying to find the right thing to say, looking every which way, my cheeks on fire. “I-I mean, I don’t… I don’t th-think we are…” I rubbed the back of my head and looked away from the others. This is one of those times I wish my great verbal skills would kick in and bail me out.

Sunny walked over to me and nuzzled my cheek. “Would you like to be?” she asked gently.

My heart stopped. The bomb has been dropped. The dogs were released. The missile has been fired. The bucking question has been bucking asked!

I slowly turned to Sunny and looked at her. No, into her. Into Celestia. Even though she was blushing, she still held that calm smile that I always loved, and I could see that she genuinely meant it.

After a few moments, I returned the nuzzle. “Yes, Tia. I would love to.” She picked me up with her magic and brought me in for a hug. A couple ‘awws’ resounded in the room.

“HA! Bright Flare can kiss my flank!”

Everypony turned to see Smith standing at the front door with a box of donuts on his back, half eaten. Twilight and Rarity both shot him a dirty look. “What?”

“Really, Silver?” I said. “You just had to ruin the moment with some dumb bet. You realize Flare’s been gone for 3000 years, so you can’t get any bits from him, yeah?” Sunny gave me a confused look. “You don’t want to know,” I told her.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 12: Unexpected Guest

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“SURPRISE!”

Pinkie jumped out in front of us as we opened the doors to the barn. Smith and Sunny both flinched backward and I chuckled.

“Pinkie, it’s not a surprise party,” Twilight pointed out. “You gave out invitations and everything.”

“I know,” Pinkie put on her trademark grin. “I just love to yell SURPRISE!” she yelled again.

Rarity rolled her eyes. After we left the boutique, Rarity offered to come with us, since she was coming here anyways. “I just hope it doesn’t start raining on us on the way there,” she had said as we left. "It could ruin my beautiful mane." Clouds had already started forming the oncoming storm, and looked pretty bad.

I looked up now and noticed that it had only gotten worse. The sun was entirely hidden from view, making 4:00 feel almost like midnight. “Well, as much as I love a good storm,” I said as a few droplets began to fall, “I think we had better get inside.” Everypony else nodded.

“Oh!” Pinkie said. “My bad.” We followed her inside and shut the doors. “Dashie said she’d be here when they had gotten the storm going.”

I nodded and looked around. It seemed like nearly everypony in town was crowded in the barn, all talking and trying to look our way. Either this is a really big barn, or only a fraction of the town could attend. To the left was a long table coated in cakes, candy, and other confectionaries. Random balloons were strewn about and colorful streamers hung from the ceiling. On our right was a small stage, only about half a meter off the ground, with, would you have guessed it, Vinyl Scratch, a.k.a. DJ-Pon3 on turntables, ready to start the first song.

Pinkie hopped up on the stage and pulled a mic from… eh, somewhere. “Fillies and Gentlecolts!” Everypony looked up at the stage. “Meet the three new ponies in town!” She pointed towards us and motioned us up. Twilight and Rarity remained next to the stage where AJ and Fluttershy were already waiting. “This is Blast Shield,” she said as she stood on my back, “the most spectac-orific magic-casting Pegasus around!” I waved as some ponies applauded and some ooh-ed.

Pinkie popped up behind Smith. “This is his best friend and former Royal Guard, Silver Smith!” He quickly hovered up in the air and flexed his forelegs. I yanked his tail back down to the ground, getting an angry glare and a few chuckles.

“And this,” Pinkie stood on the other side of Sunny with an even more ridiculous grin on her face, “is his new special somepony, Sunny Skies!”

That threw us all off guard, even Twilight and Rarity. “How did-” I started, before we got a huge applause out of everypony. Apparently, that’s a big deal…

“Have fun!” Pinkie told us, her mic disappearing somewhere, and she bounced off into the crowd. We all looked at each other in confusion as Vinyl Scratch started up the music.

We all trotted offstage, but before we could discuss the Pinkieness of what just happened, a certain wall-eyed mare trotted over. “Hi, Blast! Hi, Sunny! Congratulations!” Ditzy congratulated. “I’m so glad you were able to find your friend and special somepony.” She nudged my side and my face heated up. Sunny giggled.

I cleared my throat. “Well, because of you and Pinkie,” I said, “Nurse Redheart came and found us, telling us where my friend was. Thank you, Ditzy.”

Ditzy beamed. “No problem!” She held a hoof out to Smith. “Hi! My name’s Ditzy Doo, but you can just call me Derpy.” Sunny raised a brow. Oh yeah, I didn’t introduce her as ‘Derpy’.

Smith chuckled and shook her hoof. “It’s nice to meet you, Derpy.”

Ditzy turned back to me. “Is it true? Can you really do magic?” She sounded excited for some reason.

“He sure can!” Smith said, patting my back. “He’s the best magician around!”

“Aside from Twilight, the Element of Magic herself,” I quickly amended.

Twilight blushed. “Well, I’m technically your apprentice right now, so…” she trailed of, looking away in embarrassment.

“Oh, please. What kind of magic could some Pegasus perform?”

That voice… Please, oh please don’t tell me…

I slowly turned around and saw a blue mare standing in the doorway of the barn with a magical umbrella above her. Her mane and tail were a very light blue, almost silver, and her cutie mark was a wand with a trail of stardust behind it.

“Trixie…” I said.

“I can’t believe you just did that!” Smith exclaimed as we ran down halls of the castle.

“Why not?” I asked, nearly out of breath. “He deserved it!”

Smith rolled his eyes and we turned a corner. There’s my room! “I know, but he’s the Captain of the Royal Guard!” Smith pointed out. “You don’t prank the bucking Captain of the bucking Royal Guard!”

I laughed as we entered my room and I slammed the door closed. These doors magically lock and cannot be opened unless the room’s occupant opens it. That should keep us safe for now.

We both splayed out on the floor to catch our breath. “Well,” I tried to continue, “you know… I can’t stand… ponies who are so… full of themselves!” I attempted to stand back up. “He has had that coming… phew… for a while! My only regret… was that Luna couldn’t be a part of it. She hates the guy.” I trotted through the door on the left side of the room and entered my study.

“What if he finds out… we were the ones… that did it!?” Smith called from the other room. I laughed and grabbed a book off the shelf, bringing it to the previous room.

“He won’t,” I said as my horn lit up, making us both glow. “I had us turned invisible, remember?” My horn stopped glowing and my muscles no longer felt sore. Smith grinned and stood up like he was well rested.

“Thanks, dude. I love that spell,” he said. I chuckled and teleported the book back to its place. “I guess you’re right, though. There’s no way he could know-”

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Smith jumped. “OH, SHI-” I stuffed my hoof in his muzzle, and slowly shook my head.

“Open the door, Knight! I know you’re in there!” the Captain called.

“Calm down. I got this,” I whispered to Smith. I turned and went to open the door. “Hello Captain, how can I help- Whoaha brigata fla!” I mindlessly exclaimed in fake panic. The Captain stood in the doorway, a very angry glare on his face, his blue mane missing and replaced with a green rat’s nest, similar to Rarity’s in Boast Busters. His normally large gold armor was turned pink and shrunk to look like a shiny bikini. “What the buck happened to you?!” I asked, laughing inwardly.

He jabbed my chest with his hoof. “You did!”

“Wha, ME?!” I defended.

“Yes. Everypony in the castle knows how much you love to pull pranks, and this looks like your work!”

I scoffed in faux offense. “So you just assume it was me? I’ll have you know, I’ve been in here studying and hanging with Silver Smith all day!” I motioned behind me where the Captain saw Smith doing some weird pushups on the floor.

Smith looked up and waved at the Captain. “Good evening, Captain.” He went back to ‘working out’.

The Captain hmfed. “Well, if it wasn’t you, it must’ve been Luna.” He looked me in the eye. “But I’m watching you!” he said and turned to leave.

I shut the door and after a few moments to make sure the Captain was out of earshot, Smith and I laughed as hard as we possibly could. “That, that was hilarious!” I said.

Smith rolled around on the floor. “That was probably the funniest prank I’ve ever seen you pull!”

After some time to recover, I stood back up. “Hehe, well, we ought to go warn Luna. You coming?” I asked.

Smith chuckled. “Sure, why not?” He stood next to me and we blinked out of the room.

“Trixie!” Twilight yelled and charged at her.

Oh, she’s gonna get it now! I grinned as Twilight got closer. What’s Twilight gonna do to her? She leaped in the air. Some kind of magical powerdriver? Buck her out in the rain? Maybe she’ll-

Twilight wrapped her hooves around the blue mare’s neck and squeed in delight. “I’m so glad you could make it!” My jaw nearly fell.

“Like Trixie would miss Pinkie’s supposed ‘Bash of the Year’,” Trixie said. Huh. I guess the show missed something.

I trotted over to her as Twilight let her go and turned to me. “Trixie, this is Blast Shield,” Twilight said. “Blast, this is Trixie.”

I smiled and offered my hoof. “It’s nice to meet you, miss Lulamoon,”

She recoiled a little, not grabbing my hoof. “How’d you know my last name?” Trixie asked.

I shrugged. “Maybe it has something to do with the kind of magic this Pegasus can perform.” Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled.

Trixie just scoffed “Oh, please. Show me something then.” I focused my magic and my entire body lit up cyan. All of the nearby ponies ooh-ed and ahh-ed. “Hmm,” Trixie said after I stopped glowing. “So you can do some fancy light show. Big deal.” She turned to Twilight. “And did Trixie hear correctly that you were apprenticed to this amateur?”

“Well, he-” Twilight started.

“Oh, well! Can’t win ‘em all, I guess,” I quickly cut her off. “Put ‘er there.” I offered my hoof again. Trixie looked hesitant, but eventually extended her hoof, only for it to go right through mine.

“Huh!?” she exclaimed as the image they were looking at vanished. Everypony except Smith and Sunny gasped. “Wh-where’d he go?”

I laughed, and it echoed through the barn. “What in tarnation?” I heard AJ say. Ah, memories. At least this barn has great acoustics. Vinyl stopped the music for a moment and looked around as well. “Is this good enough, Beatrix?” I asked, still sounding like it was coming from everywhere.

“U-uh, I-I…” Trixie stuttered, rapidly looking everywhere. Oops, she looks almost terrified! Not what I was going for…

I walked out from behind a nearby haybale and everypony turned to me. “Uh, sorry,” I apologized to Trixie. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” I rubbed the back of my head.

She just stared at me wide-eyed, until she shook her head and cleared her throat. “What are you talking about? Trixie does not get scared!”

“Hahaha! What are you talking about? You should have seen your face!” Dash hovered down from the rafters laughing hysterically. Trixie hmfed.

“Yay! You made it, Dashie!” Pinkie said, running over to her.

“Yeah, sorry I’m late.” Dash pried Pinkie off of her. “The storm ended up worse than we thought. Everypony should be careful going home tonight,” she said to the whole barn. A few ponies murmured in worry.

“Don’t worry, everypony,” I announced. “I’ve got a solution.”

They all looked at me confused. “What?” Ditzy asked.

I looked her straight in the eye(s). “Bubbles.”

----------------------

“And remember,” I told Roseluck as she walked to the door, “the spell wears of as soon as you enter a building.”

She smiled and waved from underneath her cyan bubble shield. “Thanks again, Blast. This party was, well, a blast!” Rose walked out into the heavy downpour, the magical bubble I conjured protecting her.

I waved to everypony as they left a few hours after the party started, some in dark purple or cyan bubbles, and others in a lighter purple bubble. I had taught Twilight and Trixie some of the components of the spell so they could help with the casting. I looked back inside the barn to see that only the mane six, Ditzy, Trixie, Sunny, and Smith remained.

“That was an incredible party, Pinkie,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to experience a Pinkie Party.”

She grinned ear to ear. “Thanks! I did say this would be the bash of the year!”

I laughed and looked over at Trixie chatting with Twilight and Rarity. Hmm. Aside from the third-person thing and doubting my abilities at first, Trixie seems really nice. “Hey, AJ.” I called. She looked up from the leftovers on the table. “Can you come over here?”

She complied and trotted to me. “Whatcha need?” she asked in that cute southern accent.

“What happened? You know, after the Ursa Minor thing.” I looked at Trixie laughing at something one of the girls said. “Like I said before, a lot of behind the scenes things were left out, so I don’t know what happened to Trixie after Twilight saved the day and she ran off,” I explained.

AJ nodded. “Well, despite all the mean things she did, Twilight still felt bad fer her, so she went out to find her an’ make friends. At first, Trixie didn’t want nuthin’ to do with Twi, saying that she was th’ reason for her failure.” AJ shook her head.

“Yeah, but Twilight was almost as stubborn as AJ here,” Dash continued, after hearing our conversation nearby. “She kept on and on, and even offered to get Trixie’s wagon fixed for her. After a while, Trixie gave in and returned to Ponyville with Twilight.”

“An’ let me tell ya, she was a huge pain in my flank!” AJ said. “Despite returnin’ to make amends, she was still just as boastful an’ annoyin’ as ever.”

I nodded. “I see that she’s different now, though.” Well, aside from the third-person thing. Seriously, what’s up with that?

“It took a few months, but Trixie eventually became bearable.” Dash said.

“She still travels an’ puts on shows in that ol’ wagon o’ hers, though,” AJ continued, “but she makes sure to visit a lot. Twilight an’ Trixie have become real good friends.”

“That sounds like a friendship report I never got,” Sunny said, walking up next to me.

“Meh,” I said. “You can ask her about it later, I guess.” I leaned on Sunny and smiled.

Dash grinned devilishly. “Is her name really Beatrix?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said, “but Dash? Don’t. Just don’t.”

“What? Why not?” she asked.

“I had the name Sapphire, remember? Don’t pick on somepony’s name. It’s not pleasant.” Dash huffed and Sunny giggled.

I looked at the table to see what was left and saw Smith and Pinkie plowing away at the leftovers. Uh, nevermind. I’m good.

“Well, I think I’m going to take off,” Ditzy said, trotting up to us. “I need to get home to check on my little muffin.”

“Huh?” Dash said. “Why do you need to check on a muffin?”

Ditzy giggled. “No, Silly. That’s what I call my daughter!”

“Dinky, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Ditzy asked in confusion.

“Lucky guess,” I shrugged. “Here you go.” My hoof glowed as I casted the barrier spell around Ditzy.

“Thanks Blast!” she said as she turned to leave. “I’ll see you guys later!” Ditzy opened the barn doors and a rush of wind and water immediately flew into the barn. She was unaffected, though, because of the bubble.

Once the door was shut, I looked at Dash to ask about the weather, but she looked upset about something. “Dash, are you alright?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” she said. “It’s just,” she looked at the door where Ditzy just left, “I had no idea she had a kid.”

“Yeah. Her name’s Dinky,” I said. “She’s actually in the Crusaders’ class.” Dash instantly looked even more upset. Seriously, what’s up with her and Ditzy?

After a little more conversing and laughing, I spoke up to everypony. “I think we should all head home now. It’s…” I conjured a ghostly clock in front of me. “Almost 9 o’clock.” The clock vanished. Twilight looked amazed and Trixie was just wide-eyed again. I chuckled and walked over to the door to peak outside.

Bad move. As soon as I cracked the door, the wind kicked it inward and I flew across the barn and landed upside down against the back wall. The others attempted to force the door closed again as I straightened myself up. “Whoa. That… was… AWESOME!” I yelled. “I want to do that again!” I ran to the door but was stopped by a golden glow.

“No,” Sunny said. “You’ll just hurt yourself again.”

“Aww, come on,” I pleaded as she pulled me to her side.

“I said no.”

I pouted and looked at the others. I noticed Trixie’s blank stare at Sunny’s glowing forehead. “Uhh…” I intelligently tried to explain.

“What the buck?!” she exclaimed. “What’s with all the Pegasi performing magic? Can you do magic too?” she asked Smith, his mouth full of treats.

He swallowed and smiled at her. “Nope! I’m as Pegasus as they come!”

“Then can somepony please explain what’s going on?” Trixie asked.

“Well simply put,” I said, “I’m a Unicorn turned Pegasus, and she’s an Alicorn in disguise.” I smiled at Trixie’s contorted face. Great, more explainations. I sighed. “Sit down, I’ll explain everything.” I looked at the front door. “We may be stuck here for the night anyways…”

Author's Notes:

Chapter 13: Weathering the Storm

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Trixie’s reaction was hard to gauge. She was weirdly balanced between understanding and about to go out of her mind. Her reactions to my explanation were a bit… well, flip-flopped.

I told her about my past as Sapphire Knight:
“I guess that seems plausible,” Trixie said. “It would explain your abilities.”

I went on about my past before that as a human:
“I… That just doesn’t seem… huh?”

The Multiverse Theory:
“Makes sense.”

My Little Pony:
Trixie winced. “A little creepy if you ask me.”
“Told you!” Smith said from the table of food.

Tia’s disguise:
“Oh! Your highness!” and she bowed.

Her biggest issue, however, was when I told her about Tia and me.

After I had finished, she just sat there rubbing her temples. “…Why?” she asked Tia for the third time. “I mean,” she motioned to me, “him? He’s not even that cute!” She quickly turned to me. “No offense.”

I waved her off. “None taken. I get that more often then I like,” I laughed.

Tia, having dropped her disguise a while ago, pulled me closer to her with a hoof. “No you don’t,” she smiled as she hugged me. She looked back at Trixie. “I don’t really care what he looks like. Zack has selflessly done so much for my sister and I, and I’ve grown to really care for him.” Tia nuzzled me and I could see Dash to left, gagging.

I chuckled, but stopped as I sensed something… I don’t know how to describe it. My best attempt would be evil. Tia and I looked at each other in confusion, confirming that it wasn’t just me that felt it.

I stood up to check outside. The rain and winds sounded much worse out there. I looked over at the table and saw it devoid of food. Smith was half-asleep on the floor nearby with a full belly and Pinkie, even though she clearly ate more than Smith, was bouncing around, ranting about something to Smith and anypony close enough to listen.

I had just raised a hoof to the door when Twilight stopped me. “Wait!” she called. I turned and saw her trotting up to me from where the rest of us were sitting. Trixie, Tia, and Rarity were all discussing something. “Won’t the storm just tear the doors in again?” Twilight asked. The roof of the barn creaked. “It sounds really bad out there.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. I pointed at my head. “I’ve got a spell to help with that.” I turned back to the door and gently placed my hoof on it. They both began to glow for a moment before about a square meter of red wood in front of me vanished, revealing the chaos that was reigning outside.

“Nice,” Twilight commented.

I searched the area outside. “Yep. One-way invisibility,” I explained. “Great for espionage.” The view outside was almost entirely obscured by a thick fog and heavy downpour. Things have only gotten worse. I continued searching outside before I saw something that caused me to raise a brow. “Hey, Trixie?” I called.

“Yes?” She turned her head toward me.

“Where did you park your wagon?”

“I hitched it right outside the farm’s main entrance. Why?”

Twilight was confused about my line of questioning until she noticed what I was looking at and gasped.

“So, you didn’t crash it into the top of an apple tree then?” I asked.

“WHAT?!” I heard two voices yell. I could hear running towards me and stepped out of the way in time for Trixie and Applejack to stop right where I was standing. They looked outside in horror.

“My house!”
“My little Blossomworth!”

Everypony looked at Applejack in confusion. She retreated a little when she noticed Trixie’s angry glare. “U-uhh, Ah mean, ‘Oh no! Yer home!’” AJ’s mouth scrunched up from an obvious lie. Smith was just now sitting up in interest.

Rarity groaned. “Is there an apple tree you haven’t named?”

“'Course there is!” Applejack shot back. “All the trees in the eastern field. Big Mac named those.”

Rarity facehoofed as Dash flew to look out the makeshift window as well. “This doesn’t make any sense. We didn’t even have a strong breeze scheduled! Much less this!”

“Something isn’t right. I think there’s something else affecting the storm.” I looked back at everypony. “We should stop it before it ends up destroying the town.” Everypony nodded, except an upset AJ and Trixie and a bouncing Pinkie.

Smith stood up. “Finally! Something fun to do!”

I rolled my eyes. “Alright, we’re splitting up into teams. Tia, I want you, Twilight, and Trixie with me, and keep us shielded.” She nodded as the four of us grouped together under a golden bubble. “Smith, Dash, and Fluttershy, you three are in charge of gaining control of the clouds.” Smith and Dash saluted, while Fluttershy nervously nodded. “Twilight, you’re in charge of keeping them shielded.” She nodded.

I looked at the remaining unicorn and two earth ponies. “The rest of you are to protect anything that isn’t nailed to the ground. The last thing we want are flying plows and carts in our way. Trixie is in charge of shielding you.” I turned to Trixie and Twilight. “Forget the weak stability thread I taught you two. It’s not strong enough for a storm like this. Just sustain it like normal.”

“What about you and the princess?” Trixie asked. “I mean, she could do a lot more than hold a single bubble.”

“We’re gonna find the cause of this.”

--------------------

As soon as we made our way out the door, I saw the strain of sustaining the bubbles on Trixie’s and Twilight’s faces. The Pegasi immediately flew up to the clouds and AJ led Pinkie and Rarity to the various supplies and equipment that needed protecting.

Once the four of us were standing in the middle of the field in front of the barn, I turned to Tia. She nodded and rested her horn on my forehead.

After a few moments and a bright flash of magic, everything around us faded, from the sound of the storm, to the dampness of the ground beneath our hooves. Even light eventually faded from our senses.

We both separated and stepped away. The entire world around me was black except for Tia and the various colors of glowing magic. I looked at where we were just sitting to see gold and cyan auras resembling our body shapes sitting there with their heads together. Next to our ‘bodies’ were two more purple glows. The darker one had three lines of the same color connecting it to three rapidly moving spheres in the ‘sky’. The lighter one had three as well pointing at the three spheres running around on the ground.

It’s always fascinating to explore the magical spectrum, I thought.

That it is, Tia thought. I heard her as clear as my own thoughts.

The telepathy is cool as well. Tia rolled her eyes and mentally giggled. Casting this spell together temporarily combines our minds and lets our consciousness roam around, free of our physical form. Normally, we would be invisible and share one single viewpoint. Adding our appearance and separating us was my own personal touch.

I have to say, it’s been ages since I’ve seen you like that. Tia thought.

Huh? I looked down at myself and saw a dark blue coat. I quickly glanced up and noticed my old horn and black hair. Oh, I never adjusted the spell to reflect my current look.

Tia smirked. Keep it. I like it.

I smiled and raised a brow at her. Well, as long as we’re going for nostalgic looks… My horn lit up as a cyan line connected it to my aura, and after a few moments, I released it and saw the old Tia in front of me. Her jewelry was gone, but she still had her wings and a horn protruded out of her pink hair. She looked 3207 years younger.

Come on, Tia giggled. We should head up to search for the magic behind this. We can be nostalgic later. I nodded and got on her back. Not really necessary since consciousness doesn’t need wings to fly, but I wanted to anyways. I could tell Tia enjoyed it as well.

We left the gold bubble and rose to where the clouds would normally be to see the three spheres flying around up close. Inside one was a prismatic glow, bucking invisible clouds. Another had a silver body dive-bombing through multiple clouds at once. The last one in the distance contained a faint aqua-colored glow, surprising me. I had half expected pink. Tia, remind me later to do some research on the connection between the color of one’s magic with the color of their eyes.

Tia mentally sighed. Noted, but don’t forget what we’re up here for, she reminded and I quickly nodded.

Flying around the area, I kept noticing something out of the corner of my vision. After the sixth double take, I started to get angry. I see it too, Tia thought, confirming my suspicions. It’s like it becomes invisible once you try to look at it.

Something about this seemed eerily familiar. Maybe it doesn’t, I thought. Maybe it’s an aura too dark to see straight on in this black void.

If that’s the case, then whose aura is dark and powerful enough to coat the entire sky? Tia asked.

Hmm. I may have an idea, but first let’s clear the area.

Tia nodded and we both charged our horns, a beam of cyan and gold connecting us to our bodies on the ground. We fired into the darkness and hit the invisible aura less than a meter from our faces.

Our magic connected and a strange feeling washed over me…

…

“A pathetic gnat…”

…

“-ou out of my way… -an’t stop me!”

…

“Goodbye, Knight!”

I suddenly came back to reality.

What… What the hay was that?!

Zack, are you okay? Tia asked. Your mind sort of vanished for a moment there.

I nodded. Yeah, I’m fine. I turned my attention back to the nearly invisible magic in front of us and we continued the onslaught, sweeping the area around us, until the darkness retaliated. A very dark and nearly invisible red beam shot out at us from behind, striking me and knocking me off Tia’s back. My cyan glow flickered, but I regained the power as I hovered in midair and fired back at what hit me.

As Tia and I cleared whatever this was away, it became a more and more visible red color. It tried multiple times to hit us, but we managed to avoid it. Once only a small area was left to hit, we both heard an evil laugh. I’m not kidding; it gave off one of those deep, cheesy villainous laughs as it vanished. “Muahahahaha…”

After we searched the sky for any remnant of the dark aura, we noticed the six violet spheres slowly converge on the gold one. The storm must’ve stopped, I thought.

Tia nodded and we both closed our eyes. Our senses slowly returned to us and our minds separated once again.

------------------

“And I was all like ‘Boom’, ‘Kick’, ‘POW’! And Smith was next to me swooping through and pumbling those clouds almost as fast as me.”

Tia and I separated from each other and she dropped her shield around us. The sky, although still mostly grey, was clearing and the rain had stopped. Dash and Smith were excitedly explaining to everypony how they, and I quote, ‘Showed those clouds who’s boss.’ Trixie, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all clearly exhausted. The others barely looked winded, except for the sweat Twilight had worked up.

The fields were a mess, with scattered branches and apples everywhere. Most of the farm equipment was missing, either stored in the barn or in a tree like Trixie’s wagon.

Twilight noticed us and trotted over. “What happened?”

“We found the magic that was causing the storm to go nuts and got rid of it,” I told her.

“So somepony was responsible?” she asked.

Tia nodded. “Yes, Twilight. Before we could finish it off, however, it vanished without a trace.”

Twilight looked worried. “Well what do we do? What if it comes back and you two aren’t here to stop it again? Ponyville could be destroyed or-” A white hoof cut her off.

“Relax, my faithful student,” Tia calmed her down. “I don’t think it will bother Ponyville again after we leave. I believe it was targeting Zack and Smith.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

She looked me in the eye. By this point everypony else had gathered around and was listening. “Because it was the same magic that brought you here.” I gulped. That only proves who I suspected to be the real culprit. This won’t be fun.

“So,” Smith spoke up, “you’re saying that who- or whatever made me and Knigh- sorry, Blast, travel to the future is here right now?” Tia nodded. Everypony looked at each other in worry and confusion.

“I pretty sure I know who’s behind this,” I said, “but I’ll explain when we’re with Luna.” I looked at Tia and Smith. “We need to get back to Canterlot as soon as possible.” They both nodded.

“Hold yer horses,” AJ said, getting a quick laugh out of me. “At least wait till mornin’. It’s nearly midnight. Ah have a guest room and two extra cots if’n you’d like to stay the night,” she offered.

“That would be wonderful, Applejack,” Tia said with her signature smile. “Thank you.”

“Aw, shucks, it’s the least Ah could do for helpin’ save my farm.”

I smiled and looked around to see Trixie sitting near Blossomworth, staring at her house. “Hey, Twilight? Don’t you have an extra bed?” I looked at her.

“Yeah, why?” she asked. I motioned my head toward Trixie. She looked over at her and gasped in remembrance. Twilight quickly trotted over to her and sat down, facing away from us. After a few moments I saw Trixie sigh and nod her head. Twilight hugged her, comforting her. They really have become good friends. I really hope this timeline is devoid of the Magic Duel. I’d hate to see that friendship go sour.

Everypony said farewell and went their separate ways. Tia, AJ, Smith, and I walked toward the house, which was also coated in apples and leaves. We walked in the front door and noticed Big Mac and Applebloom appear from under the stairs. I looked down there and saw another staircase leading down.

AJ hugged Applebloom. “Ah’m so glad you two are alright.”

Applebloom giggled at the attention. “We’re fine, sis!” Oh my Goddess, dat accent! “When the storm got real bad, Big Macintosh got me and took shelter in the cellar.”

Applejack released Applebloom and looked at Big Mac. “Thanks, Big Mac. You always know what to do.”

“Eeyup.”

I was confused. “Wait, where’s Granny Smith?”

AJ smiled. “Luckily, she’s away visitin’ aunt and uncle Orange.” Oh, okay then. “Oh, Big Mac, Applebloom, these are Blast Shield, Silver Smith, and, uh, Sunny Skies.” I turned and looked at Tia who was indeed in disguise. “They helped clear the storm and’ll be stayin’ the night.”

Big Mac nodded in greating.

“Howdy!” Applebloom yelled. Hnng!

“Well come on,” AJ motioned all of us toward the stairs. “Time to get in the bed.” She looked at Applebloom. “You’ve got school tomorrow.” She groaned as AJ looked at us. “I’ll show you where you’ll be sleepin’.”

--------------------

I woke up to a strange shifting noise. Before I even opened my eyes, I noticed that I was in a bed so much more comfortable than the cots Smith and I were using. Three guesses on why. I peeked out into the dark room and noticed that I was indeed on the full bed with Tia. My back was to her and both her wing and hoof were around me. The bed was against the back wall and the two cots were on the floor between the bed and the door. I was in the first one and Smith was in the closest one. Either I sleepwalk, or Tia pulled me up here. Why don’t we find out?

My hoof lit up and the whole room got a faint cyan haze to it. I looked over at the cots on the floor to see the ghostly images of me and Smith. I should really come up with a name for this spell and trademark it. I can’t call it the ‘view-the-past’ spell forever. I fast forwarded and noticed Smith tossing and turning the whole night. I finally saw my body rise in a magical glow and rest down where I currently was. Yep, Tia. We’re together for just one day, and she already wants me in bed with her. I released my spell.

…Wait, not like that!

I tried to go back to sleep, difficult as it was with that image now in my mind. Once I was about to doze off, I heard the shifting noise again and looked around to see Smith tossing and turning like a madpony. He sounded like he was mumbling something.

“Tia,” I nudged her behind me. “Hey, Tia. Wake up.”

“Hmm?” she said, squinting an eye open at me. I pointed down to Smith, who was getting louder. She raised her head to look over me.

“No… Don’t you dare…” Smith mumbled. “Don’t you dare touch her… S-stop lying!” He flipped over onto his back. “Luna, don’t listen to him. He’s… he’s not real…”

Tia and I looked at each other in confusion. Smith’s shifting just kept getting worse. I was about to wake him up when he suddenly sat up and yelled.

“NOOO!”

Smith panted and looked around the room, eventually noticing our concerned looks.

“Smith, are you alright?” I asked, really concerned for my friend.

He cleared his throat. “Y-yeah. Just a nightmare,” Smith waved us off.

“Do you wish to talk about it?” Tia offered.

“No, I’m fine,” he said. “Really.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “You had the same nightmare last night, too.” Smith looked surprised. I chuckled. “You mumble really loud in your sleep.”

He rolled his eyes and fell back on his cot. “Yeah, I’m sure.” He rubbed his head with a hoof. “Let’s just go back to sleep.”

“Alright then. Good night.”

“Night.” We all laid back down.

A few moments later, just when I was about to fall asleep, Smith shot up again and looked at us. “Why are you two in bed together?” he smirked.

------------------------

Ditzy gave me a hug farewell. We were all at the train station, either leaving, or saying goodbye.

“Oh, I hope you visit again soon,” Ditzy said.

“Don’t worry, I will,” I told her. “I still want to meet little Dinky.”

“Sure thing!” she happily exclaimed. “See you later!” She waved as she flew off.

“Ditzy! Pole!” I pointed. I decided to get straight to the point this time to warn her. She quickly turned and stopped, her nose barely touching the support column she almost hit.

I smiled as she properly flew off and turned to see Dash awkwardly saying bye to Smith. I looked at Twilight. “So why couldn’t Trixie come?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Twilight said. “She just told me she had something to do.”

“Well, tell her I said goodbye, and that I hope she gets her home fixed soon.”

Twilight nodded and I looked at Sunny. She was talking with Rarity about the suitcase she had just recieved.

“Remember, this dress is for any social event ‘Sunny’ may find herself attending,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, you would blow them away,” I said as I approached them. “They’d pay so much attention to you, that nopony’ll even remember what the event was for!” Sunny blushed. Wait… “On second thought, don’t wear it. I don’t want every stallion staring at you.”

Sunny and Rarity giggled. “I’m sure you needn’t worry about that,” Rarity said as Sunny nuzzled me. “You two seem perfect for each other.”

My cheeks heated up a little. That would normally bother me, but right now… I like that feeling. “There’s one thing that I’ve been worrying about, though,” I said.

“Hmm? What’s that, dear?” Rarity asked.

“Officially and publicly, am I dating Princess Celestia or Sunny Skies?”

“Oh dear, I see what you mean,” Rarity said.

Sunny just looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, darling, in the public’s eye, if the Princess, the real you, is dating Blast, chances for private moments and dates outside the castle would be next to impossible,” Rarity explained. “However, if Sunny is dating him, you would be able to go out more often, but within the castle while you’re still the Princess, you two can’t really be seen together. Otherwise we may get a royal scandal, and that’s the last thing we want on your reputation as a great ruler, Celestia.”

Sunny seemed to understand and looked worried. “Oh my. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“And that’s why you’ve got me, the over-thinker!” I said and hugged her. “Don’t worry about it right now. I’m sure we’ll come up with something.”

“Until then, however,” Rarity cut in, “You two should try to avoid public displays of affection.” Sunny and I quickly separated and smiled. “Good.” She turned to leave. “Ta ta for now!” We waved goodbye.

“Out of my way!” I heard somepony say over the crowd.

I smiled at Sunny. “Ah! Trixie made it!” I turned to see Trixie appear with a small suitcase in tow.

“Trixie wishes to accompany you!” she said.

Huh? “Why?” I asked her.

“Seeing as how Trixie has no home at the moment and Twilight says it will take weeks to repair, Trixie has nothing better to do,” she explained. “Trixie might as well do a little sightseeing in Canterlot.”

Sunny looked skeptical. “Is that the only reason?”

“Yes.” Trixie’s face remained stoic, but her shifting on her hooves gave away the lie.

“Now Beatrix,” I said in the most disappointed voice I could manage. She flinched at the name. “We have a rule. No lies, and no secrets. Are you absolutely sure that that is the only reason?”

Trixie shifted a bit more before caving in. “N-no. Trixie actually wanted to learn…” she trailed off

“What?” Smith asked.

She sighed and looked away, embarrassed. “I said I was hoping to become Blast’s apprentice as well.”

I laughed. “I’m sorry. It sounded like you said you wanted to be this Pegasus’ apprentice?”

Trixie glanced at me and lightly nodded, rubbing her foreleg with the other. “It’s just, after I saw what you could do, both in the barn and in dealing with the storm, I may have possibly thought that you were a better magician than me.”

I smiled as Twilight ran up and hugged Trixie. “Oh, I’m so proud of you!” Twilight said. “Admitting that somepony is better than you just shows how much you’ve changed, Trixie.” Trixie blushed. Dash and AJ both looked impressed, while Fluttershy just smiled. Pinkie was- Hey, where’d Pinkie go?

Ignoring the missing pink enigma, I turned my focus back to Trixie. “You can come on two conditions,” I told her. She nodded. “One, please stop with the third-pony thing,” Hehe, see what I did there? “It not only makes you sound like one of those stuck-up jerks, who I hate by the way, it also gets annoying after a while. Leave it for the stage.”

“Trix- er, I will try my best,” she said. “What’s the second condition?”

“How are you at pranks?” I asked mischievously. Trixie looked confused.

“Alright! Everypony on the train,” Sunny said annoyed, as she pulled my ear toward the nearest car.

“Ow, ow! I was only kidding!” I said, hoping she’d let go. Smith hopped on in front of us and Sunny let me go in front of the door. I looked back at Trixie. “Come on then!” I motioned to the train. “We’ve got a long ride ahead of us!”

Trixie brightened up considerably. She excitedly hugged Twilight goodbye and ran over to us.

“I’ll be coming to visit next Sunday!” Twilight called. Trixie nodded.

“Don’t forget, someday this week, I’ll be visiting you!” I called back as we all got on the train.

She, along with everypony else, waved goodbye as the train pulled out of the station. We returned it from our window until the Ponyville station was out of view. We were in a train cabin, which had a bench on either wall, a door to the hallway to one side, and a window looking out on the other. Sort of reminds me of the Hogwarts Express for some reason. Tia and I shared one seat, while Smith and Trixie occupied the other.

“Why couldn’t you have just taken a chariot?” Trixie asked Tia, who had dropped her disguise.

“When I sent a message for the guards to deploy one, they sent me a reply saying that they were dealing with an intruder at the moment,” Tia said.

“Yeah, apparently when one Pegasus sneaks into the castle, everypony in the guard suddenly gets too busy to even pick up their Princess,” I said sarcastically.

Smith laughed. “Sounds just like that one time we both-”

“Haha, yeah, that was funny,” I laughed, pointing at him.

“It sure was.” Smith said.

“I honestly didn’t think you had that in you!”

“What?” Trixie said.

“Oh, I’m full of surprises.” He motioned toward me. “Just like you, Mr. Hothoof. I had no clue you could dance like that.”

“Well, when you’ve spent most of your life bipedal, you learn a few fancy tricks.”

“That explains why most of it was on your hind legs.”

“Oh! Are you two talking about the Peppermint Incident?” Tia interjected. We nodded and she smiled. “As funny as it was, to this day, peppermint tea is still forbidden within the castle.” She giggled.

Trixie looked confused as all get-out. “What are you talking about? You know what, nevermind. I don’t want to know.” She put her hooves up in surrender and we laughed. “Anyways, Blast, you said you know who pulled you here and caused the storm?”

I nodded then crossed my forelegs and closed my eyes in thought. “I’m almost 100% certain on who it is.”

The cabin went silent for a few moments.

“Well don’t leave us hanging!” Smith exclaimed. “Who was it?”

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to look at everypony.

“Sombra.”

Author's Notes:

Chapter 14: A (Not-So) Somber Encounter

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Tia just stared at me in shock. The cabin remained silent for a few moments before Trixie asked a very important question.

“Who?”

“The Prince?” Smith asked, confused. “Didn’t he disappear a couple weeks before we went to the Everfree Jungle? And besides, he’s a unicorn. He couldn’t have lived this long… unless he came through with us,” he speculated.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. Did you know he became a king?”

Smith looked almost as shocked as Tia. “WHAT?!” he yelled. “How did that creepy jerk end up a king?”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Trixie butted in. “Trixi-, I’m lost. I’ve not once heard of anypony, king, prince, or otherwise, named Sombra.”

I looked at her. “And there is a good reason for that. You know of Celestia, the princess of the sun,” I motioned the Tia, who was no longer staring at me and appeared to be deep in thought. “And her metaphorical opposite, Luna, the princess of the moon, right?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Of course! Trixie is no moron.” I glared at her for a moment before she realized her mistake. “Oh, I-I’m sorry.”

“And then there is the princess of love as well.” I continued.

She nodded. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Right. And what’s the opposite of love?” I asked.

Trixie put a hoof to her chin in thought. “…hate?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “Sombra is-, well was, the prince of hate.”

“Good enough reason to be kept out of the history books, I assume?” Smith guessed.

I nodded again. “Especially in a world where Love and Friendship are their own powerful types of magic.”

“Hold on. ‘Friendship’ isn’t one of the types of magic,” Trixie said.

Oops! Tia came out of her wonderings to stare at me in shock again. I slipped up! It’s not a thing yet. Shouldn’t have spoiled it! Uh, what to do, what to do… “O-oh! Right. Silly me,” I laughed nervously. “My mistake. You are sharp, Miss Lulamoon.” She blushed a little. “But my point still stands about the power of love, though.” Trixie looked like she was about to question me some more when I cut her off. “Anyways, as for what happened to Sombra 3000 years ago, I’m not sure. But about 1000 years ago, he-, well I’ll let Tia explain what happened.” We all looked at her.

“Hmm? Oh, the Crystal Empire.” She looked a little reluctant to talk about it. “Not many ponies know of the Crystal Empire. Even my knowledge of it is fairly limited, but it contains a powerful magic. Strong enough to spread to the far corners of Equestria if left unchecked.” Tia took a deep breath before continuing. “A little over a thousand years ago, Sombra reappeared, his heart consumed by pure darkness, and he managed to take over the Crystal Empire, pronouncing himself King and enslaving its denizens.” Trixie gasped. Smith remained mostly unfazed, however. Probably because he’s more accustomed that sort of thing than Trixie.

“The darkness within him infected the Empire’s magic,” Tia continued, “causing its evil to start spreading to the rest of Equestria. My sister and I sensed the danger in time and together, with the power of the Elements of Harmony, we overthrew him, turning him to shadow and banishing him to the Frozen North, where we thought he would remain forever.” Tia frowned and looked down. “However, recent events have seemed to prove otherwise.”

I wrapped a foreleg around Tia to comfort her. Trixie was absorbing everything.

“Hph,” Smith crossed his forelegs. “I knew that guy was no good.”

I rolled my eyes. “You just didn’t like him because he had a thing for Luna.”

“He was hitting on her even after Luna and I were publicly dating!”

I snorted and returned to trying to make Tia feel better. “It’s not your fault, you know. No prison lasts forever. Hay, even the gates of Tartarus wear after a while.”

Tia shook her head. “No, it’s not that. It’s just… if he’s responsible, not only for the storm, but for sending both you and Smith ahead in time, then his magic must be much more powerful than my sister or I realized.”

I rubbed the back of my head and looked away sheepishly. “Well…”

Tia turned and raised a brow at me. “Zack? Is there something you’re not telling us?”

I bit my lip and looked around to see everypony looking at me.

“Yeah, what makes you so sure that this is him anyways?” Smith asked.

I looked away nervously. “U-uh, well, you see…

“I really hope this works,” I said to myself as my horn charged cyan. I weaved the spell as I read it from my notes in front of me. Last attempt left me blind for hours! I hope my new calculations and this fallback thread works.

After finishing the spell’s assembly, I closed my eyes and pushed it forward to cast it. Then suddenly…

Nothing…

My horn stopped glowing and I slowly looked around. “Well that was a bus-” I was interrupted by a bright flash of light and some kind of boom, and then everything went silent. Did… did it work? After a few moments, my eyes readjusted and I saw smoke swirling everywhere. Guess not… Wait, smoke?!

I quickly opened a nearby window to help clear the air so I could inspect the damages I had caused this time. Once the smoke thinned out I looked around to survey the mess. Books were scattered everywhere in my study. There were piles just lying around on the floor and all over my desk. So, no damage then? Everything seems the same.

I laughed to myself and started clearing the area around my personal notebook on the desk when I smelled something. “What smells burnt?” I looked around for a moment before scratching my head with a hoof. I instantly felt pain in my hoof and yanked it away. When I looked up I noticed the tip of my hair on fire. Oh, that must be it.

…

Hold on…

I suddenly let out the least manly scream imaginable and ran around my study to find something to put it out. I grabbed the cushion I had been sitting on and rapidly hit my head with it.

Once I was sure the fire was out, I looked in the mirror I had set up on the wall nearby. My mane was frazzled, and was probably burnt, but you couldn’t tell since it was naturally black. I had what appeared to be soot all over my face and upper torso. “I think I should go get cleaned up.” I turned to leave my study when I slipped on something and hit my head on the bookshelf nearby.

--------------------

“Alright, take three.”

I double checked my calculations in my notebook as I straightened the icepack on my head. “Everything seems to be in order.” I took a deep breath. “Let’s try this again.”

I sat the icepack down next to me and weaved the spell together. After I ensured I had it right, I released it, and all my senses suddenly left me. Everything became dark. I couldn’t feel the ground beneath my hooves or smell the breeze from my still open window. For a few moments I felt like I couldn’t breath, but my mind told me that I was, in fact, still breathing just fine.

After the initial panic subsided, I looked around me. Well, ‘me’ was a relative term at this point, as I had noticed that I could no longer see myself when I looked down. All I could see was a face full of cyan and black. I willed myself forward and the color vanished, leaving a black void and a few random specks in the distance. I turned around and saw a cyan pony shape standing exactly where I just was, head down like he was asleep on his hooves.

Sweet, it worked! I can explore the magical spectrum! I attempted to circle myself, but navigation as a free-floating consciousness was surprisingly difficult. Once I got ‘flying’ down pat, I looked around and saw various other lights glowing. Some were moving around, others were static. Those would probably be the guards.

After some searching, I saw a large group of colors gathered in a rectangle in the distance. I willed myself towards it and soon noticed two very vibrant lights at the back, one a bright gold in color and the other a midnight blue. Those must be Tia and Luna. I guess they’re at a meeting. Turning, I saw various pony shapes, most of them Unicorns, and about half of those Unicorns had some sort of beam connecting their horns to auras around the objects they were holding in front of them. Interesting. So there is a direct link between a unicorn and what they cast magic on. I wonder…

I looked at Luna to see her sip from a small cup shaped aura and I smirked. I summoned my magic to me, noticing a cyan beam connecting my body to where my consciousness was currently floating. I lashed out at the small line between the cup and Luna and it immediately severed. The cup shape vanished, but I could tell by Luna’s and the nearby ponies’ reactions that the cup must have fallen and spilled everywhere. Haha! That was for the kumquat prank! The unicorn closest to Luna backed away quickly and looked like she was yelling before storming out of the room.

“So that was your doing?” Tia asked me. “You know Luna blamed herself for making Ms. Cutter quit the council.”

“Oh! So that’s why I never saw Ms. Cutter again,” I said. “I thought nopony in the council liked her anyways?”

“Well, that’s not completely true,” Smith interjected. “Remember Mr. Reel?”

“Oh, right.”

“What does any of this have to do with Sombra?” Trixie asked.

“Hold on, I’m getting to that.”

After everypony settled down and I managed to stop my ghostly laughter, I noticed something out of the corner of my vision. I turned to see a very faint red leave the room. Curious, I followed. As I approached it, I noticed it was actually a very dark red aura in the shape of a unicorn. Who do I know has dark red magic?

I continued to follow him (I could tell it was a stallion from his shape) until I noticed his aura darken considerably, making him next to invisible in the black abyss I was floating in. If I hadn’t already known he was there, I would’ve easily missed him. How did he change colors anyways?

Eventually he ended up not far from my room, which was strange since I lived at the very end of the corridor at the edge of the castle. The only reason somepony would be this close is if they wanted to… talk to… I mentally gasped and rushed ahead of him back to my body. I was still standing there, slumped over. Uh, how do I…? I turned and searched for him, but couldn’t find him anymore. Oh… Did he leave?

I settled down again before I spotted something out of the corner of my vision again. Focusing, I saw the dark shape raise a hoof to knock on my bedroom door. Oh horsefeathers! I looked back at myself, trying to remember the reversal spell. I had it written in my notebook in front of my body, but it was invisible since it didn’t contain any magic. I had no idea where it was sitting.

I looked back to see the stallion entering my room and approaching my study’s door. HOW THE HAY DID HE GET IN HERE?! Bedroom doors are supposed to be magically locked! The same couldn’t be said about the study’s door, as he just lit up the door handle to open it up. Out of panic, I lit up my magic and severed his hold on the door. He cocked his head in confusion before trying again and I cut him off again.

He stepped back a moment before lifting his hoof to the door handle and twisted it. Shoot! I can’t stop him! My notebook is out in the open still! I focused again on trying to remember the spell as he opened the door.

Crap, crap, crap! He froze at the sight of my body. After a moment, he approached it from behind and tapped it, sending it sideways to the floor. Ow. Gonna feel that in the morning. His attention turned toward where my notebook was left sitting and he lifted it.

Think, think. I mentally kicked myself for poor planning. The stallion flipped through multiple pages before stopping and ripping out a couple of pages. That jerk! That’s my personal property! I should really come up with some way of preventing anypony from reading it… Wait! I realized he was holding it in a dark red aura, so I could see exactly where it was at the moment. I summoned my magic and grabbed the area around his aura, canceling his out, but not before he managed to grab a few more pages.

He immediately backed up in panic and looked down to see my body’s horn glowing. I slammed the book shut as hard as possible, causing him to make a run for it. I let out a mental sigh of relief and turned my focus back on the book. Using my magic to scan its pages, I managed to find the reversal spell and casted it.

My senses slowly returned to me and I regretted it immediately. I had a big headache from the fall that that stallion caused. “The Stallion!” I shot up and ran out the study, my book held tight against my side. I ran out the bedroom door to barely catch a glimpse of a dark grey Unicorn with a black mane and tail turn the corner at the end of the long hallway. “Shoot.” I stopped and looked through my notebook to see what was missing.

“Uh, oh…”

“HE TOOK WHAT!?” Everypony in the cabin yelled at the same time.

I cowered back a little. “I said I’m sorry! I wasn’t prepared for that!”

Tia put a hoof to the bridge of her muzzle and rubbed it. “You let Sombra get away with all your notes on pony transformation! Why didn’t you tell anypony?”

“Because I had no proof!” I countered. “In case you didn’t notice, there were a lot of grey and black stallions in Canterlot Castle. And by the time I even remotely got something to pin him with a few weeks later, you and Luna became Princesses and the council, along with their close relatives, Sombra included, became part of the royal family! How was I supposed to accuse a prince?”

Tia backed down, but Trixie spoke up. “If that was the case, how’d you know it was Sombra?”

“One, I studied his magic and noticed it was a dark red, like the thief’s. It also got darker the angrier he grew about something,” I explained. “And two, he had been hounding me for weeks to reveal my research on the subject, but had stopped after the incident.” I suddenly remembered something and started rubbing my temples, mumbling something.

“What was that?” Smith asked.

I growled a little. “I may have heard from Starswirl that Sombra had also been trying to get his notes on time travel,” I muttered

“Oh, well, is there anything else important you wish to share with the class?” Smith asked sarcastically.

“Yes actually!” I said. “This also explains why I can still cast spells.”

Everypony looked at each other in confusion before looking back at me. “What do you mean?” Tia asked.

“My research on transformations was incomplete. I couldn’t figure out how to change somepony’s magic to reflect their form.”

“But why would he try anyways?” Smith asked.

“I don’t know!” I shot my hooves in the air. “He’s evil! What goes through his head is a mystery to anypony but him.”

Tia put a hoof to her chin. “Well, you were becoming a very powerful mage. He might have seen you as a threat.”

“But then what about me?” Smith asked. “Where do I fit into all this?”

I thought a moment. “If I had to guess, I’d say you were an accident.”

Smith suddenly got angry for some reason. “Hey! You take that back! I’ll have you know my parents planned me!”

What? “What? No! Not what I meant,” I corrected him. “I mean, after we were attacked by Timberwolves, you tackled me and there was a flash of magic that wasn’t mine. My guess is that Sombra ended up teleporting the both of us by mistake.”

“Teleport us?” Smith was confused. “He didn’t just send us to the future right then?”

“No, I don’t believe so. What exactly happened is still fuzzy, but I do remember some dark figure standing over me after the flash of light.” I rolled my eyes. “Chances are, he told me his entire plan right then, but I can’t remember it now.”

“Why would he tell you his whole plan before sending you away?” Trixie asked.

I chuckled. “It’s a classic supervillain cliché. Discord did it. Nightmare Moon did it. Hay, even Chrysalis did it after she was found out!”

“Don’t forget about back in the day!” Smith spoke up. “There was Discord then, Chief Biggs, that unicorn that tried to become a seapony. I think the only one that didn’t do that was the Invisible Bandit, but he really seemed like the strong, silent type.” Smith shrugged and Trixie let out a silent ‘Oh’.

“More than likely,” I continued, “if we ever come face to face with him, he’ll do it again.”

--------------------

Most of the rest of the train ride was spent in silence. When we finally arrived at the Canterlot Train Station, we found two identical Pegasi in guard armor waiting on us. They both saluted us.

“At ease, gentlecolts,” Tia said.

“Thank you, your highness.” The one on the left said, relaxing a bit. The one on the right was still standing at attention, however. “Princess Luna sent us to retrieve you but when we heard news of you returning by train instead, we opted to wait here for you and your companions.” He looked at me, then at Trixie. I could see a blush form on his cheeks and he turned to face Tia again, clearing his throat.

“Thank you,” Tia nodded to them both. “What of the intruder I heard about?”

“He was successfully detained by the Captain an hour ago, and taken to Princess Luna,” the right one said. “That was when she sent us to get you.”

“Well, let us away then. I’m sure Luna would love to see us as soon as possible.” She smirked and glanced back to Smith.

The guards also looked over at him and their eyes bulged. “It’s him! Get him!”

“Wha-” was all Smith had time to say before the two guards practically dog-piled him. They lifted him up, a rope around his wings and legs. Wow, they could give AJ a run for her bits. Where’d they get the rope anyways?

“What is the meaning of this?!” Tia asked.

“This is the intruder,” the second guard explained. “He must have somehow escaped Princess Luna.”

“He is not the intruder!” Tia almost yelled. She realized how ‘un-princesslike’ she was acting and calmed down a little. “He is Silver Smith, a friend of mine, and he has been with me for the last day and a half.”

The two guards looked at each other in confusion before looking up at Smith, who was glaring at them. They quickly put him down and untied him. “We’re so sorry, sir. You just looked exactly like him. You wouldn’t happen to have a twin would you?” The first guard asked.

“Not that I’m aware,” Smith hissed. The guards backed up a few steps. Trixie snickered and the first guard turned red again. I chuckled at him and looked around at all the ponies that were glancing in our direction, most of them at Tia.

“Now,” Tia spoke up again, “are you two going to lead us to the castle?”

The two bowed their heads, ashamed. “Yes, your majesty,” the firs- no, seco- wait… Shoot, I forgot which was which… Oh yeah! Duh!

The others started to walk off. Tia turned to see me standing in the same spot, my entire body aglow. “Are you coming, Za- Blast?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I’m just casting my usual passive spells. I totally forgot to yesterday.”

After a few more seconds, I stopped glowing and looked at the guards again. They both looked confused and amazed at what I just did. Alright, time to test. I focused on one of the two guards to see his coat slowly fade from white to a pale green. I looked at the other for a moment before he turned a dark blue. “Alright, I’m good,” I said to Tia.

She smiled at me and we started walking again, although the guards took a few moments to start back up. About 10 minutes into town, Trixie and Smith started to talk about something in the back. Tia and I were right behind the two guards, both of whom appeared their actual colors to me. I decided to strike up a conversation with the guards.

“So, what are your names?” I asked. They didn’t respond and glanced at Tia.

She giggled. “You two may speak. You are at ease, remember?”

They looked at each other before the pale green one spoke up. “My name’s Harold Green.”

“Green?” I thought about it. “Your family wouldn’t happen to have a long history with the royal guard, would it?”

He looked surprised. “Yeah, all the way back to the founding of Equestria. How’d you know?”

“I met a Green in the guard ages ago.” I looked at the blue one. “And your name?”

He rolled his eyes and looked away from me. “Forest.”

I chuckled. “Forest and Green, working together!” I ran in front of them and started walking backwards. “Although it seems a little weird for a blue Pegasus to be named ‘Forest’.” He looked at me, eyes wide, but before he could say anything, I continued. “My name’s Blast Shield, a close friend of the Princesses, and expert spellcaster.” They looked confused for a moment. “Don’t let my appearance fool you,” I told them, and lit my hoof to levitate a nearby flyer off the ground. “I know a few tricks.”

Green was impressed and smiled, but Forest rolled his eyes again and looked straight ahead.

“In fact,” I dropped the flyer in a nearby trash can and pointed at Trixie past Tia in the back, “that pretty mare right there is my apprentice.” Green turned to see Trixie still talking with Smith. I turned and stepped next to Green, elbowing him. “She’s single, by the way.” He suddenly blushed and turned back facing forward. I laughed and stepped back next to Tia.

The walk to the castle remained uneventful. Smith told Trixie about his time in the guard, more specifically an exaggerated version of our encounter with Chief Biggs, making him sound more heroic than he actually was. I caught Green glancing back at Trixie a couple times. Tia and I tried to keep some space between us, following Rarity’s advice. Forest remained a sourpuss.

We entered the castle and headed towards the throne room, where Luna was said to be waiting for us. After a lot of corridors, and Smith being tackled two more times, we made it to our destination.

I turned to our two escorts. “Thank you, Green,” I nodded at the pale guard, “Forest,” I nodded to him as well. They appeared surprised I could still decipher between the two. “This is as far as we need you. I guess I’ll see you two later,” I smiled. They looked at Tia, who nodded as well, and they left to go do… Pegasus… guard… stuff.

Tia was about to open the throne room doors when I stopped her.

“What’s the problem?” she asked me.

I turned to Smith. “Come on, dude. She hasn’t seen you in years! We have to do this right!”

Smith grinned. “You’re right! How should we do it?”

Tia groaned and facehoofed.

“I’m not sure… How about we-”

I was cut off by Tia slamming the doors open. “We’re here, sister!” She smirked back at me and Smith. I’ll get you for that.

We stepped into the large room, where we saw Luna sitting at the throne with somepony right next to her. That must be the intruder. “Oh, Sister! We are glad thou hast finally returned!”

“Guess who I found bumbling around in the forest, Lulu.” I said as we got closer. “Silver… Smith?” I looked at the short grey Pegasus sitting next to Luna, who looked remarkably like Smith. Wow. Those guards weren’t kidding.

“We know,” Luna said happily. “We were just… discussing…” she trailed off as she saw Smith walking up behind me. “What’s going on?” She looked back and forth between the two grey Pegasi in confusion. A closer look revealed that the pony next to Luna didn’t just look like Smith…

It was Smith…

Author's Notes:

What's this? A doppelganger? Is this the work of Sombra? Or is it some kind of changeling? And where'd Pinkie go? I DON'T KNOW!

Chapter 15: Seeing Double

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Both Smiths stared at each other and slowly walked closer together. They were virtually identical, aside from the doppelganger’s mane looking even more disheveled. I guess that’s from the tousle with Shining. They even had the same Hammer and Anvil cutie mark. Smith and his copy circled each other for a few moments before they both looked at me.

“Dude… This, is, AWESOME!”
“Dude… This, is, AWESOME!”

The Smiths looked at each other with huge grins and played a little game of copycat. They both started waving their hooves and hoofbumping and flying and doing flips. After a few moments they landed and inspected each other very closely.

“I knew I was hot…”
“…But this is ridiculous!”

They hoofbumped again, laughing and I facehoofed. They’re already finishing each other’s sentences. “Get a room you two.”

They both put a hoof to their chin in thought, and then smirked at each other.

“I don’t know…”
“…I am awfully tempted.”

They turned to look at Luna.

“Hey Luna-”
“Hey Luna-”

Before they could continue their disturbing train of thought, I stopped them. “Smith, we need to take this seriously!”

“What’d I say?”
“What’d I say?”

Luna appeared a weird combination of shocked, disturbed, and interested at the same time.

I groaned and sat down, rubbing my head. “Look, something is obviously messed up here. Smith,” I pointed at the Smith we arrived with, “stand over here for a moment.” He did as he was told and reluctantly left his ‘twin’. “Smith,” I said to the other one, “Who are you and how’d you get here?”

Smith looked insulted. “I’m Silver Smith, you dolt!” he yelled. Well, he does sound like him, but any decent changeling or spell could do the same thing. “As for how I got here… I’m not sure.” He sat down to think. “I was helping you and the girls take care of the storm in, uh, Ponyville. I was diving through the clouds, something hit me, and the next thing I know, I wake up just outside Canterlot and it’s early morning.” He turned to Luna. “I spent the next four hours trying to get into the castle to see Luna.” Smith looked at us again. “I figured if I was already here, I might as well see her while I waited for you two. Although I didn’t expect to be caught so easily.”

“Well, what with the recent Changeling Invasion,” Luna said, “We have had to increase our security measures. We don’t want any changelings sneaking in again.”

Both Smiths gulped and looked at me worried, before the second one noticed Trixie next to me. “Uh, Blast, why is she here?”

I looked over at her before realizing he wasn’t with us at the station. “Oh! I’ve got a second apprentice now.”

“Nice.” He offered a hoofbump, but I didn’t return it. “You just gonna leave me hanging? Dude…”

“Huh? Oh, sorry, just thinking.”

Tia looked at our Smith. “Do you recall anything hitting you in the storm?”

“Not really,” he rubbed his neck. “Except…” We all looked at him. “Well, I think I was hit by a rogue lightning bolt.”

“What do you mean, ‘you think’?” I asked.

“Well, looking back on it, I’m not too sure it was a lightning bolt.” Smith started rubbing a spot on his flank that looked bruised. How’d I miss that? The other Smith looked at his flank to see an identical bruise. “There was a flash of light, and a slight shock running through my body, but it… it wasn’t the normal hot zap feeling, you know?”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t know. I’ve never been struck by lightning.” I guess Pegasi are also resilient to lightning. Good to know.

“Well anyways,” Smith continued, “it wasn’t like a normal strike. It felt, almost cold.”

I walked closer to Smith to inspect the bruise. It looked like any other bruise so I circled him to his other side…

And then I zapped him with my magic.

“YYYEEEOOUCH!” Smith jumped over three meters in the air before falling flat on his face, rubbing the newly developing bruise. “What the hay was that for?!”

“Did it feel like that?” I asked, ignoring his glare.

Smith sat there for a moment, and then looked at his flank. “Y-yeah, exactly like that. What’d you-”

“You were scanned.” I looked at both Smiths. “Somepony scanned you and somehow made an exact duplicate.”

“Then why don’t we arrest him?” Trixie asked pointing at the second Smith.

He suddenly got scared. “W-what?! B-but I am Smith! Arrest him!” Smith pointed at Smith.

“What? I was with them since the lightning strike!” he yelled back. “You’re the one who mysteriously woke up next to Canterlot like eight hours later!”

“Shut up!” I yelled. Everypony stopped and stared at me. I looked at Trixie. “The problem with that, is that either one of them could be the real Silver Smith.”

The Smith we traveled with was about to speak up but Tia stopped him. “You might have been there after the lightning,” Tia said, “but that doesn’t prove your identity.”

“Right.” I looked at Smith. “As far as we know, you two could have been switched.” I paced the room. “You could be the real Smith and only have been scanned,” I turned around to pace the other way, “or the real Smith could have been knocked out by that bolt and instantly swapped with the fake, only to be placed near Canterlot and gain consciousness again this morning.” I stopped and looked at everypony. “You following me?”

Tia and Luna nodded and Trixie looked annoyed. The Smiths looked at each other, then at me. “But I know for a fact that I’m the real Smith,” they both said.

“And that’s the problem,” I said. “Mentally, you are both identical, so memories and personalities are impossible to differentiate, making you both the real Smith.”

Trixie was getting even more irritated. “Then what do we do about the double case of annoying over here?” she motioned to the Smiths.

“Simple,” I said, smiling at her. “We run some tests!”

She facehoofed. “Sounds just like Twilight,” she mumbled.

“Thanks!” I turned to Tia. “You mind if we all head up to your study? I need my notes and it would probably be more comfortable anyways.” She nodded and we all walked out of the throne room.

We were about to head down the hall when I turned to Trixie. “Except you,” I said, stopping her.

“What?”

“This is your first day here. You need to get settled in,” I motioned to the bag she still had on her back, “and a tour of the castle would help you out a lot.” She started pouting and was about to say something when I noticed a familiar pale green guard standing at attention down the hall. “Hey, Green!” His eyes went wide in shock before glancing over at us. “Come over here!” Green remained at attention, and I looked at Tia. “I miss when the entire guard knew to listen to me.”

Tia giggled and motioned him over. Green quickly trotted in front of us and saluted. “Green, these thre-” Tia stopped and looked at the twins, “four are guests of the castle, and as of this moment, Blast here is my personal Mage,” I smiled. Yeah, good ol’ times. “So you will follow his orders.”

“Yes, your majesty,” Green nodded and looked at me.

“Alright,” I said, “Miss Lulamoon here does not have a guest room yet. Could you please acquire one for her and give her a tour of the castle.”

The guard glanced at her and started blushing again. “Y-yes, sir.” Heh, too easy.

“Trixie, if you need anything, we’ll be in Tia’s study.”

Trixie huffed and turned to walk away from us. After a few steps, she looked back at Green. “Well, come on then! Trixie does not have all day!” Green’s face lit up some more and he quickly trotted to catch up with her.

“You really think so?” Luna asked nervously.

I laughed. “I know so. He told me.” We stepped out of the library where I was just tutoring Luna. She’s had a really bad magic block and Tia thought it best if I helped her out.

Luna smiled hopefully. “So what do you think I should do? Should I wait for him or…” She trailed off.

“Luna, I think you should buck up and ask him yourself. Smith is almost as shy as you and I doubt he’d ask anytime soon.” No he isn’t. He’s just following that ‘baiting’ tactic he told me about a few weeks ago.

Luna nodded. “Th-thou art right. We shall ask him out the next time We see him!” she said, trying to sound confident.

I patted her back. “That’s the spirit!” I looked in front of us and smirked. “Now here’s your chance.”

“Wha-” Luna turned to see Smith walking towards us, waving at me. She locked up and started blushing.

I chuckled at her and turned to Smith. “Hey, Smith. What’s up?”

“Dude, you’ll never believe what just happened. I was-” I looked down at an invisible watch on my wrist and cut him off.

“Oh! Would you look at the time?” I looked back at him. “I have to be somewhere right now, but I want you to tell me all about it at the pub later, alright?” Smith looked confused but nodded anyways. I elbowed Luna, breaking her out of her lock and I quickly teleported around the corner. I love being able to do that now. I quickly made myself invisible and peaked out to see Luna nervously scuffing her hoof on the floor.

“So, uhh…” she started. “N-nice weather we’re having, huh?” I facehoofed and could see Luna mentally berate herself for saying that. Smith just laughed.

“I guess it is. Sucks that my patrol is entirely inside today,” Smith smiled. I slowly walked toward them, keeping my hooves as silent as possible.

“W-well, would you like to go for a w-walk? Through the gardens?” Luna asked. She quickly looked away. “I-if you want to.”

Smith looked momentarily surprised until he put a hoof to his chin in thought. “I don’t know…” I saw Luna start to frown and I quickly jabbed Smith in the shoulder. “Ow,” he said quietly and looked around, rubbing his shoulder. “I mean, sure. The captain should be fine with me accompanying you to the gardens.” Luna perked up again and almost cheered. Smith chuckled. “I’ll just let him know. I guess I’ll meet you at the garden gates in about ten minutes?”

Luna nodded and teleported away. Well then… I was about to leave when Smith started swinging in the air near me and managed to hit me. “Ow! Watch it!” I said, shimmering back into existence.

“That was your doing, wasn’t it?” Smith asked.

“So what if it was?” I said, still rubbing my muzzle where he hit me. “A friend asked me for advice and I gave her some.”

Smith scoffed and we started walking toward the captain’s office. “And yet you won’t follow your own advice and ask Celestia out.” I blushed and looked away. I at least have other reasons besides shyness… although that is a big part of it. Smith rolled his eyes and grunted. “Well there goes my plan.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “You baited her, and she asked you out. The only thing that happened differently was that she willingly jumped into the so-called ‘trap’.”

“It’s not that,” Smith said, starting to get angry. “It’s the principle behind it.”

“What principle? You two liked each other and she finally bucked up the courage to ask!”

“Well maybe I wasn’t ready!” he blurted. Smith quickly covered his mouth and sped up to get away from me.

“What’s this?” I said, trying to keep up with him. “The big tough stallion was nervous?”

“I’m not talking to you.” He was trotting really fast now.

“And now a young mare was officially braver than the Great Smith!”

“Shut up. I said I’m not talking to you!” Smith sped up some more, almost to a full gallop.

I started laughing and followed him all the way to the Captain’s office, shouting about how chicken he really was.

Have you ever gotten a strange feeling of déjà vu? Like everything you just did or said had happened before? That’s exactly how I felt after I finished filling in Luna and Silver (that’s what I had decided to call the second Smith for clarity’s sake) about our ‘Sombra’ theory.

Luna rubbed her head in annoyance. “So thou just let Sombra get away with thine notes on transfiguration?”

“Hmph, I knew that guy was no good.” Silver crossed his forelegs.

“Oi.” I rubbed my head and looked at Luna. “One, I wasn’t prepared, and before you say anything, I had no proof it was him until he was already a Prince. If you hadn’t noticed,” I motioned to the Smiths, “there were a lot of grey and black stallions at the castle.” I turned to Silver. “And two, you just didn’t like him because he had a thing for Luna.”

“He was hitting on her even after Luna and I were publicly dating!” both Smiths yelled.

Luna nodded. “He did.”

See? Serious déjà vu. I shook my head to clear it and carefully levitated my notebook in front of me. Luckily, even though I looked physically different, the spell on my notebook still recognized me as its owner. As I flipped through multiple pages to find a particular spell, Tia offered to search their memories like she had mine all that time ago. “I guess that’s a good a place to start as any.” I looked at the Smiths. “Are you two fine with that?”

They glanced at each other nervously. “Why can’t you do it?” Smith asked.

“Because my magic is still too unstable,” I explained. “If I did anything as complicated as dig through your minds, I could accidentally screw something up. The only reason the spell that let me explore the magical spectrum worked so well was because Tia and I shared her focus point.” They rubbed their necks and looked at the ground.

“But what about…”
“…you know…”

Luna and Tia looked confused. “Don’t worry,” I said. “She won’t explore wherever you don’t want her too. Just think of the memory you want her to avoid, then picture a huge wall in front of it. She’ll know not to look there.” After a couple moments, they both nodded.

Tia stepped in front of Smith and placed her horn on his head. Her horn radiated gold for about two minutes before she moved on to Silver. I continued flipping in my book before I found the spell I was looking for. “Aha! Found it.”

I looked up to see Tia back away from Silver looking confused. “They… are entirely identical. From the memories, to the types of walls they put up.” She giggled for a moment. “They both had two brick walls and then a small one with a bunny on it.”

The Smiths blushed and glanced at Luna who was giggling. “Uhh…” they both muttered. “I-I can explain.”

I stepped in front of them. “You two can explain your fascination with rabbits later.” They glared at me, their faces still slightly tinted. “Right now, I need to run one more test.”

“But I thought you said you wouldn’t cast anything on us?” Silver said.

I shook my head. “Because I’m not. At least not yet.” I focused my magic and my whole head glowed cyan.

“Whoa,” both Smiths murmured. “Dude, your eyes are glowing.” Silver said.

“Then it’s working.” My vision grew brighter and brighter until I had to close my eyes from the light, although it didn’t help, since the light was in my eyes. The spell ended and I slowly blinked to let my eyes refocus and adjust to the dim room. Once my vision cleared I looked up at Silver and Smith, and immediately frowned. “I-I… Smith, I…” I stepped backward a little and nearly stumbled, keeping my attention almost entirely on Smith instead of Silver.

Tia caught me. “What?”

“What’s the matter?” Luna asked glancing between me and the two confused ponies sitting in front of me.

“Smith, I’m sorry.” I said as I regained my balance and took a deep breath. “I’m so, so sorry. There is only one way to prove who the real Smith is… And you’re not gonna like it.” I looked at the princesses. “No matter what you see, I want you two to do nothing until I can explain. Understand?” They slowly nodded their heads in confusion as I started charging my hoof and pointed it at the two ponies sitting in front of me.

The two ponies glanced at each other for a moment before both their eyes went wide and they turned back to me. “Knight, wait! You promised you wouldn-”

They were both cut off by a blast of cyan light. The light faded and Tia and Luna both lowered their forelegs they used to shield their eyes. When they saw the two ponies in front of me, they both gasped.

Where Smith once sat, was a slender red Pegasus with a blue mane staring at his hooves in genuine shock. He looked beside him and jumped. The pony next to him was pitch black. He had a set of bug-like wings, a curved horn on his head and a green shell-like thing on his back. His green eyes stared down in sadness at his hole-lined hooves and he sighed.

“B-but…” the red Pegasus stuttered. “I… a-and he… I thought I was…” The Pegasus suddenly fainted, hitting the ground with a loud thwack.

Tia charged her horn and was about to detain the changeling when I stopped her. “I said ‘NOTHING’!” She reluctantly depowered her horn.

Luna was just staring in shock at the two new ponies in front of her. “They were both fakes? B-but where’s my Smith?” She was about to tear up.

I stepped next to the changeling and patted his back in comfort. “Right here.”

Tia and Luna stared at me wide eyed until the changeling lifted his head to Luna. “Hey, Luna.” His voice was nearly identical to Smith’s but with a slight buzz to it. “So, uhh… Nice weather we’re having, huh?” he chuckled nervously.

Luna's eyes went wider and she decided to follow the red Pegasus’ lead and fainted.

I looked at Luna confused and turned to see a shocked Tia. “I thought nothing could make an alicorn faint?”

Author's Notes:

Chapter 16: What's In The Past

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“What’s going on?” Tia asked. Luna was lying back on her pillow, taking in everything. Red, which is what I decided to call the unknown Pegasus, was holding an ice pack to his head. “Who is this?” Tia motioned to Red, “And what do you mean that’s Smith?” she said as she looked Smith over again. He just sat there with his head down, ashamed.

“Oi.” I rubbed my head. “I feel like all I’ve done since I got here is talk, talk, talk. Just give me a moment.” I sat my head down on the table.

Smith raised his head a little. “I… I think I should be the one to explain everything.” I looked up to see the Changeling smiling at me and I smiled back.

“Alright,” I said. “Just don’t stray off topic like you usually do.”

Smith smirked. “I’ll try but I’m not making any promises.”

Red smiled and elbowed me. “Yeah, can’t expect him to contain all that awesomeness, can you?”

Smith and I chuckled. Smith glanced at the princesses and stopped. “Well, I guess it’d be quicker to start with this guy over here,” he pointed at Red. “Apparently we were switched in the storm. As for who he really is…” Smith raised a brow at Red. Wait, Changelings have brows, right?

Red shrugged. “I have no idea. In my head, as far as I’m aware, I’m still Silver Smith the Changeling, but in a different body.”

I sighed and decided to help out. “This is why I said I was sorry earlier, Red.”

“Red?” Everypony but Luna asked. She was still staring at the ceiling, but I could tell she was listening.

“Well, since he’s technically not Smith, and we have no idea who he is, I decided to call him Red for now.” They nodded and I continued explaining. “Anyways, I said sorry because if what Tia said about your minds being identical is true, whoever Red once was… is probably lost forever.” Red frowned.

“So, I basically took his body and replaced his mind with my own?” Red asked.

“Simplistically yes, but remember,” I said, “this is Sombra’s doing. You are not at fault here.”

Red nodded. “I guess, but… whoever this pony was… he had a life! He probably had friends, family, a job.” Red looked at his flank to see his cutie mark which was comprised of three blue stars of various sizes. “And now… now he’s dead.” Red lowered his head and sighed.

“What? No he’s not, silly!”

Everypony looked around at the sound of a mare’s voice. Even Luna sat up in surprise. That voice… I know that giddiness any-

My thoughts were cut off by a pink blur leaping up on the table. “P-Pinkie?! What are you-”

She cut me off again and jumped at Red, hugging him with a huge smile on her face. “If you were Smith and not Red, my Pinkie Sense wouldn’t have told me that there was somepony completely new nearby at the train station this morning,” Pinkie suddenly started vibrating random parts of her body and grinned some more, “or right now! So give Pinkie a smile!” She used her hooves to pull the corners of Red’s mouth up and he chuckled. “That’s more like it!”

“Uh, Pinkie?” She looked at me. “Did you follow us?”

“Of course, silly! I needed to find the new pony, and I realized that my Pinkie Sense was the strongest when I was close to you guys, but I thought to myself ‘I’ve already met all of them’ then I gasped and was like ‘What if one of them isn’t the real them?’ So I snuck on the train when nopony was looking and followed you guys here, and I was like a hidden detective, so none of you noticed me. By the way, that Sombra guy sounds like a real meany pants. Anyways, I overheard what you guys were talking about in the throne room and started to feel bad for Not-Smith, but then I remembered that Not-Smith really was not Smith, but another pony that looks and acts like him, so maybe there’s a chance to get that other pony out and throw him a party since he’s new!”

Everypony just stared at Pinkie Pie. I, on the other hoof, smiled at her and chuckled. “I think we should hold off on the party until we can get all of this straightened out.”

Tia blinked a few times and shook her head. “So if… Red… is still in there somewhere, how do we find him?”

“Oh that’s easy!” Pinkie said. “We just find somepony or something to jog his memory!”

“But we don’t know who I am,” Red said. “How are we supposed to find somepony in all of Equestria?”

“I guess we just start asking around,” I suggested. “Since Pinkie doesn’t know you, you’ve obviously never been to Ponyville.”

“We do not mean to seem insensitive,” Luna said, “but We would very much like to hear about…” she lightly motioned to the Changeling’s body, “this.” Smith immediately frowned and looked away.

“Sure,” I said. “Pinkie, would you mind keeping this a secret? Not just Smith, but everything you’ve heard today.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie went through the motions.

Red and Smith looked at each other, and then back at us. “What does that mean?” they asked together.

“It’s called a Pinkie Promise,” I explained. “They are very sacred and breaking a Pinkie Promise is the quickest way to lose a friend-”

“FOREVER!” Pinkie popped up between the two stallions, causing them to jump. Haha, I’ve always wanted to try that.

Once Pinkie was sitting next to me again I motioned for Smith to start his story. “And try to keep it brief. You can give the detailed version later, but we should really be focusing on Sombra.”

“Alright,” Smith nodded and looked at the princesses. “I’ll start by saying that I have always been Silver Smith, since before you two ever met me.”

“That said,” I cut in, “knowing what he is now does not make him any different from who he’s always been.” Tia nodded in understanding, but Luna didn’t look so convinced. “Not all Changelings have bad intentions. In fact, Smith came here with only the best intentions in mind.”

Smith nodded. “My hive only wanted to kill and conquer, but I wanted no part of that, so about four years ago-” Smith thought about it for a moment, “Well, 6 A.D. I mean, I fled to Equestria, the new land, in hopes of starting fresh. On the way here…” Smith paused and rubbed his neck, “I kinda got lost in the Everfree Jungle. I’ll skip some of the excruciating details, but basically a pack of six Timberwolves, at least twice as large as the ones in the Everfree Forest, trapped me.” Tia’s eyes widened a bit, but she kept her composure. Luna and Pinkie gasped. “Long story short,” Smith continued, “A guard on patrol nearby heard me scream and helped me fend them off, but not without the both of us getting injured. Luckily I was already in disguise when he had found me, but we did have to go to the hospital for a few weeks.” Smith chuckled. “Flare and I became friends after that. Anyways, once I was released, I joined the guard under the name Silver Smith and have been there since.”

Everypony was quiet for a few minutes. “Well,” Tia asked, “what about nourishment? You feed off love, correct?”

Smith shook his head. “Not entirely accurate, at least for my hive. We can feed off any strong emotions. Although love is the most potent, I could still survive off others like fear, happiness, or sadness, all of which Royal Guards see a great deal of.” Tia nodded in understanding but Smith opened his big mouth and continued anyways. “I mean, I was beginning to be a little malnourished after a year or so, but I was lucky enough to catch the admiration of a pretty mare.”

Luna blushed but looked insulted at the same time. “So… I was just food to you?”

“What?” Smith panicked. “No! Nonono, you probably did save my life, but I almost instantly returned those feelings.”

“So you knew I liked you for nearly three years and never said anything?” Luna looked hurt.

Smith rubbed his leg. “I just… As a Changeling, you don’t ever really fall in love or develop your own relationships, so I was nervous about getting to close to you.”

I heard what sounded like muffled whispering and Luna frowned. “What, were you afraid that if things between us went sour that you’d lose your only real source of food?” She was looking angrier by the second. What was that sound?

“No! I- I just-” Smith stuck his holed hooves up in surrender. “You know what? I’m not going to lie to you, Lulu. You deserve better than that. I’ll admit that that was one of my concerns with going out with you originally-” Luna huffed and turned away from him. “BUT, I was more concerned about losing the first mare I ever liked.”

Luna’s expression softened a bit and she looked at Smith again. “You really care for me?”

Smith nodded. “With all my heart. I wanted to tell you about-” he motioned to himself, “this, but I was scared for the same reasons, that I might lose you.”

“He was planning to tell you,” I added. “He was talking to me just the week before we vanished about how he should reveal it. He really loves you Luna. Even though you know what he is, it doesn’t change who he is or his feelings for you.”

Luna smiled at Smith, but them quickly frowned and bit her lip. “Just… give me a moment to think.”

“Take all the time you need,” Smith said. She nodded and flashed out of the room.

Silence took over again, but as usual, Tia broke it. “So when did you find out about this?” she asked me.

“Well, it was about three months after I appeared, not long before I told you two about my past. Basically Smith was too close during one of my transformation experiments. I casted that spell I used earlier on them to reverse any transformation magic used on somepony and, well, he happened to be sitting nearby in my study. When I saw he was a Changeling, I made sure to keep calm-”

“You screamed like a little filly,” Smith corrected.

“-and think things through rationally.”

“You dived out your window,” Red deadpanned, “which was nearly 20 meters in the air.”

“I had to quickly change back and save your dumb flank,” Smith said and jabbed my shoulder.

“Anyways,” I continued, “after he dropped me back on my study’s hard floor instead of the pillow that was less than a meter away,” I glared at him, “we found out that my spell had some… side-effects.”

Tia tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“Watch,” Smith said and was immediately engulfed in green flames. A second later, it faded and Silver Smith’s monochromatic self sat in his place.

“I don’t see-” Tia started, but stopped when she noticed a small green flame on Smith’s mane. It gradually worked its way down and spread out as it burned away his skin, leaving the undisguised Changeling in its place.

“Knight’s stupid experiment screwed up my changing ability, so I can’t disguise myself on my own anymore,” Smith explained as his hooves and tail reverted.

“I said I was sorry!” I looked back at Tia. “So Smith explained to me what he just told you, and after a small internal debate, I decided that he was still my friend, so I helped him out.”

“And that’s how you remained disguised?” Tia asked Smith and he nodded.

“I used my in-progress transformation spell on him to keep him disguised,” I explained, “and it worked for the most part.”

“The most part?”

“Well, we did have that issue about a month later,” Smith explained.

Tia thought about it for a moment. “Oh! That changeling sighting was you? You two are the ones responsible for the Changeling Lockdown right after New Year’s?” Smith and I both slowly nodded. Tia rolled her eyes. “I should have figured.”

“It was really because of that that I decided to tell Luna,” Smith said, “but I wasn’t so sure how to break it to her, you know?” Tia nodded.

“Awww!” Pinkie squeed. “The all-powerful Princess of the Night and a foreign Changeling in love!” Pinkie nudged me and smirked. “Typical romance novel if you ask me,” she giggled.

There was a flash of light and Luna reappeared on her cushion near Smith. “I thought about it and I still have a few questions.”

Smith nodded. “Please, ask away.”

“Where did the grey Pegasus come from?” Luna asked. “Don’t Changelings typically copy somepony else’s appearance?”

“That is mostly because Changelings try to take somepony’s place, usually one in a relationship, to get food. But most Changeling drones lack the creativity to invent a look. Otherwise we may end up looking something like this.” Smith’s fire consumed him again and he was turned into… What the hay is that suppose to be? Smith was taller and had a large black and yellow mane that had a curved bright purple horn sticking out and a ridiculous tail to match. His body was a weird gradient going from purple near his head, fading to dark green at his hooves and his wing tips. His eyes were nearly every color of the rainbow and he had a white lightning bolt going down his side right beneath his wing. He honestly looks like one of those ‘Do-Not’ OCs used to explain what not to do in creating your own pony. I shuddered a little.

“Oh! It’s Mr. Awesome van Coolstein!” Red exclaimed. What? Smith nodded and hoofbumped Red as his flame tore away the unsightly pony, making them both chuckle. Was… was that Smith’s OC? Remind me to keep him from writing Fiction.

When Smith had returned to his normal Changeling self, he looked around to see Pinkie laughing on the floor in tears and the princesses in shock. “See? Not very good at fitting in. So I came up with the most basic concept I could imagine. That’s why I don’t have any color on me, aside from my eyes.” Smith shrugged. “It still wasn’t perfect though. I mean, how many Pegasi blacksmiths do you know? Most are either tough Earth Ponies or precise Unicorns.”

“Haven’t you ever wondered why he was a hoof soldier instead of working in the armory?” I asked them. “I asked him about that my third day here!”

Tia and Luna both nodded. “And why a Pegasus?” Luna asked.

Smith shrugged again. “I never learned more magic than the basic absorption and transformation, so anything with a horn was out the window, but I really enjoy flying, so it was entirely a matter of preference.”

I heard that whispering again. “What about your past? Before you wanted to come to Equestria.”

“What about it?” Smith asked. “For most my life, I was another mindless drone, ruled by a queen who only wanted to conquer other hives and settlements. I eventually grew a conscious of my own and left.”

More whispering. “But what did you do over there?” Luna asked a little more forcefully. “What were some of the things required of you?”

Smith shifted a little and looked away. “I’d… rather not talk about it. I did some things that I regret and they’re what made me realize what I was doing wasn’t right.”

“But what?” Luna asked a bit louder.

“Please, Lulu. I’d rather not talk about it,” Smith pleaded.

“Sister, calm down,” Tia said. “We’ve all done wrong things in our past. There’s no need to pick at old scars.”

Luna suddenly remembered what had happened to her recently and calmed down. “I’m sorry,” she told Smith and hung her head.

“It’s fine,” he said. “It’s just a really sore topic. I’m sure we’ve all got a few of those.” Everypony nodded, even Pinkie Pie.

It went quiet for a few minutes, until I heard the whispering again coming from Luna. I looked around at everypony else. Seriously, can nopony hear that? Luna looked up at Smith again. “What was your name?”

“Huh?” Smith asked.

“I said, what was your name?” Luna repeated. “Before you became ‘Silver Smith’ you had to have a name. What was it?”

Smith rubbed his leg. “Please, I’d rather not.”

Luna frowned more. “Why not? I’m not afraid to tell somepony that I was once ‘Nightmare Moon’ since that is all behind me. Why can’t you just tell me what you were called?” Her volume was increasing.

“Because it doesn’t matter who I was before.” Smith said, trying to keep his voice level. “All that matters is that I’m Silver Smith now, the stallion that loves you!”

“But I don’t see what the big deal is!” Luna was getting angrier. “It’s just an old label. Why should you care if we know it?”

“Because I don’t want you to!” Smith yelled and immediately regretted it.

“Fine!” Luna huffed and teleported away in anger.

Everypony sat in shock for a moment. Smith hung his head and I could almost see him tearing up. I facehoofed. Why can’t anything go smoothly for us? “We should give her some time to cool off,” I said. “Hopefully she’ll feel better with a little space to think.” Everypony nodded in agreement and I looked at Pinkie. “So… how should we start with Red over here?” Pinkie immediately got a grin that made me regret the question. Oh, Goddess…

Author's Notes:

Chapter 17: Moving Forward

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“Do you know this pony?”

“No.”

“Do you know this pony?”

“Sorry, I’ve never seen him before.”

“Do you know this pony?”

“Who?”

“This red guy here, have you met him before?”

“I don’t think so.”

Pinkie Pie kept dragging Red from pony to pony in the ballroom where she was hosting a ‘party’. I say ‘party’ because it’s mostly upper-class ponies who wouldn’t know how to have fun if Pinkie Pie shoved it in their face. Instead, she shoved Red in their faces. How she managed to invite and get all these ponies here in less than an hour, I just left at ‘Pinkie being Pinkie’.

“Do you know this pony?” Pinkie asked a white pony with a monocle.

“I don’t believe I do.” The white Unicorn held out a hoof. “My name is Fancy Pants. A pleasure to meet you.”

Red shook Fancy’s hoof. “Hi. I’m, uh…” Red rubbed his neck. “Well, we have no clue who I am. That’s why Pinkie here is showing me to everypony, but my friends here call me Red.”

Fancy brought a hoof up to his mouth. “Oh my. Amnesia?”

“I guess you could call it that,” Red nodded.

“Well, I certainly hope you get well soon,” Fancy said.

Red nodded. “Thanks.” He was quickly dragged away by Pinkie to be shown to more ponies.

Fancy Pants grinned at them and turned to see Tia and me looking in his direction. Smith had left a while ago and wanted to look around after I turned him back into his normal grey self. Fancy Pants grew excited and approached us, and then bowed to Tia. “Princess, what a pleasant surprise!”

Tia nodded for him to rise. “Likewise, Fancy Pants. We see you have met Red over there.” I looked in their direction to see Red and Pinkie practically teleporting from pony to pony. Pinkie Pie magic would be incredible to study sometime. I chuckled and turned to see Fancy giving me a questioning look.

“Oh, sorry,” I said. “My name is Blast Shield. I’m a friend of the Princesses.”

Fancy Pants shook my extended hoof and grinned. “Fancy Pants. It’s a pleasure to meet a friend of the Princess.”

“He is actually my newest personal mage,” Tia said.

Fancy went wide-eyed and inspected me. “But…” He looked at my wings. “He’s a Pegasus.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “I wasn’t always one. Watch.” I lifted my hoof as it lit up cyan and placed it on the floor in Red’s direction. A cyan barrier wrapped around his rear hoof, causing both him and the pink mare pulling him to abruptly stop and fall down. “Blast!” Red yelled. This wasn’t the first time I’ve done something like that to him. Well, to Smith at least. Red shot me glare as my magic faded. Pinkie was already up and pulling his hoof again like nothing happened.

“Fascinating.” Fancy Pants turned back to me. “You must be very skilled if the Princess made you her personal mage. You know she hasn’t had one since Starswirl the Bearded!”

“Really?” I smirked at Tia, who avoided my gaze. “I guess that’s something to discuss later.” Fancy gave us a questioning look and was about to ask when I noticed Trixie and her tour guide walk in. “Trixie! Green!” I waved. “How was the tour?” I trotted closer to them and noticed a faint blush fading from her cheeks and the guard smiling. Ha, knew it.

“Ahem, it was adequate,” she said, trying to compose herself. “It is truly incredible to be able to say that Trix- uh, I live at Canterlot Castle.”

“That’s exactly what I thought when I first got here,” I said.

The guard looked at me. “If that is all you want, I must return to my post.”

“Oh, sure,” I nodded. “Thanks for the help, Green.” He nodded and walked back to the door they had just entered. “And tell Forest to lighten up a bit!” I called to Green. “Even Shining knows how to smile every once in a while!” Green nodded and disappeared around the corner.

“So what’s Pinkie throwing a party for this time?” Trixie asked. She thought about it for a moment. “Wait, why is Pinkie Pie here?”

I groaned. “Long story short, Smith’s doppelganger was a disguised Pegasus whose memories were replaced by Smith’s. Pinkie followed us here because she sensed a new pony, and she’s seeing if anypony recognizes him.”

“Oh,” Trixie mouthed.

“Actually,” I thought about it, “you travel a lot, right?” Trixie nodded. “You might recognize him from somewhere.” I turned to look for Red but he wasn’t anywhere to be found. “Hey, Pinkie?” I asked to nowhere in particular. “Do you know where Red went?”

Pinkie popped up behind Trixie. “He said he needed to use the little colt’s room.” I facehoofed.

Trixie jumped and squeaked. “What has Trixie said about doing that?!” she yelled at the pink pony.

“Oh, hi Trixie!” Pinkie said, ignoring Trixie’s glare. Pinkie gasped. “You might know who he is! I’ll show you him when he comes back.”

“He’s not coming back,” I groaned.

“Huh?”

“He only calls it the ‘little colt’s room’ when he tries to get away from a party or out of an appointment,” I explained. “We’ll be lucky if he isn’t halfway to Ponyville by now.”

“Well, shoot. I guess I’ll have to work faster next time,” Pinkie said. Wait, that wasn’t her working fast?! “I’ll go find him! I’m the best at finding ponies!” Pinkie vanished, leaving a tiny puff of smoke in her place.

“Remind me to never give her caffeine,” I mumble to Trixie and she nodded. We turned and walked back to Tia, who was still talking with Fancy Pants. “Hey, Tia. We’re gonna go find Smith before he gets into any trouble.” I looked at Fancy Pants. “It was nice to meet you, Fancy Pants.”

“Likewise, Blast Shield.” He looked at Trixie and beamed some more. “And Miss Trixie! I was at your show in Manehatten last week. It was simply marvelous!”

“Thank you,” Trixie said.

I patted her on the back. “Well, you can expect her to become even greater and more powerful before too long!”

“Oh?” Fancy asked.

“She’s one of my apprentices.”

“One of them? Who else is under you?” he asked.

“Oh, just some low profile librarian in Ponyville,” I said.

Fancy raised his brow in surprise. “You’re teaching Miss Twilight Sparkle?”

“That’s the one!”

“Impressive, indeed,” He said. “I hope to witness your abilities at some point.”

“Well, I should go before my friend ends up in the dungeon.” I looked at Tia. “I’ll be back for dinner.”

Tia nodded. “It’s in the dining room in a couple hours.” I nodded and Trixie and I left the ballroom.

----------------------

“Where are we going?” Trixie asked as we approached the far end of the castle.

“I wanted to see my old room real quick,” I said. “Tia said that it was unoccupied, so I could have it back if I wanted.” Trixie nodded as I turned down an oh-so-familiar hallway. A short distance down was a turn that led to Tia’s room, where I’ve been twice since I got here already. A little further was the door to the kitchen and at the end was a large double door that led to my old room.

I smiled as I approached it and slowly opened the door. Everything in the bedroom looked as new and clean as it did 3000 years ago. The large purple bed sat at the back of the room. The door to the bath room was to the left and my old study was to the right. I entered the study to see most of my books exactly where I left them, including my old journal and book of notes on the desk in the middle of the room. Why is all this here?

“I figured you would want all of your things returned,” I heard a soothing voice say behind me.

“Thanks Tia,” I said without having to see her. I turned to see Tia standing in the doorway smiling at me. “Did you memorize every book I had, or…”

“I couldn’t remember a few of them. It’s been a while, so you couldn’t expect me to get everything, could you?” Tia smirked and started giggling. “No, I had your personal books stored away. I think the only ones you’re missing are the books you ‘borrowed’ from the library but never returned.”

“Hey, they told me that there were no due dates.”

Tia rolled her eyes and nuzzled me and I returned it. It felt a little weird, but I liked it. When we separated, I looked back at the journal on my desk. “It’s been technically only a few days since I’ve written in that thing, but it feels like an eternity now,” I said as I picked it up with my magic and brought it closer to me.

“Do you plan to continue writing?” Tia asked.

I shook my head. “Nah. There’s no need to anymore. Everything in here is in a past life.” I could swear I heard Pinkie Pie giggling somewhere in the distance. I opened my journal and skimmed over my first entry about my second day here in Equestria. Reading it made me rub my head in ghostly pain a few times, but I chuckled anyways. I placed it back on my desk and Tia and I walked back to my bedroom, where Trixie was looking out a window near the bed.

“Well, let’s go find Smith. I’m starved,” I said. Trixie nodded and we all went back out to the corridor. “I think I know where to find him.” Tia and Trixie followed as I led them toward the Royal Guard barracks.

“Do you really think he’ll be here?” Tia asked as we approached building.

I nodded. “He’ll be too bored if he doesn’t have something like this to occupy his time.”

We walked inside and I asked a nearby guard if he’d seen Smith. He told us a silver Pegasus just went to see the Captain in his office.

As we approached Shining Armor’s office, I could hear him talking. “And I said that unless the Princess herself walks through that door and tells me otherwise, you cannot join the guard!”

I smirked and pushed the door open. “Geez, Shiny. Lighten up. He was only able to trot past your entire guard until you intervened!”

Shining looked shocked. “What-” He saw the Princess walk in behind me and bowed his head. “Princess Celestia.”

Tia motioned for him to rise. “What seems to be the issue?”

“This guy won’t let me join the guard because I ‘trespassed’ and ‘disturbed the peace’,” Smith said, motioning his hooves in air quotes as he said them. “I mean, what’s up with that?”

“You snuck into the castle without permission!” Shining exclaimed. “A crime punishable by prison! Why Luna didn’t send you there immediately is beyond me.” Shining rubbed his head in irritation.

“Oh, they’re dating,” I stated. Shining stared in disbelief and slight disgust at Smith, who just crossed his forelegs and smirked.

Shining groaned and looked at Tia. “I’m sorry Celestia, but I’ve waited long enough. Who the hay are these ponies?” Tia and I started laughing.

------------------------

“So you’re the Silver Smith?” Shining asked. “The same Silver Smith that stopped the largest crime ring in Equestria?”

Smith nodded. “The one and only.”

“Well, sort of,” I said. “Technically there’s Red.”

“Oh, yeah,” Smith looked back at Shining. “Anyways, it wasn’t just me. I couldn’t have done it without Knight,” he motioned to me.

Shining looked at me and hummed. “Sapphire Knight. I think my sister mentioned something about you a few years ago. Something about Transformation magic, right?” I nodded.

“What?!” Smith exclaimed. “How do you not know about Knight? He was only the finder of the Elements of Harmony, helped make Celestia and Luna princesses, and the greatest magician rivaled only by Starswirl himself! I mean, he-”

“Dude, calm down,” I cut Smith off. “I made it so I wouldn’t be remembered all that well.”

“What? Why?” He looked at me incredulously.

“Just trust me. I had my reasons.” I looked at Shining who was shocked.

“Was all that true?” he asked.

I slowly nodded. “Well, yeah. But like I said earlier, I sort of had pre-existing knowledge of this place, so in a way I guess I cheated a bit.”

“But just knowing magic exists doesn’t make you a great magician,” Tia said.

“Yeah,” Smith punched the air a few times, “And it takes some guts to go up against Discord and Chief Biggs like you did.”

“Our point is,” Tia lowered her head to mine. “Regardless of what you knew before, you still excelled beyond what most ponies are capable of.”

“I’d have to agree,” Shining said. “Those really sound like impressive feats. I’d love to hear more at some point.” Shining looked back at Smith. “As for you…” He grinned. “I suppose you can join the guard. We’ll put you through a crash course in basic training to make sure you’re still up to par, and then we’ll see where to go from there.”

“Alright!” Smith cheered to himself.

“Meet me here Friday at 0800 hours.” Smith saluted and Shining returned it.

“Well, we should be going,” I said. “It’s time for dinner!”

Shining nodded. “It was nice meeting you two. Take care.” He looked at Trixie. “And it was nice to see you again Miss Lulamoon.” She smiled and nodded at him as we left.

Once we re-entered the main part of the castle, something occurred to me. “You know, he never said anything about my past as a human.”

Tia nodded. “He probably knows not to pry at the unknown. He’s met one or two ponies that were not always ponies.”

“Hmm,” I thought about it. “I guess I can trade him a story for a story sometime.”

“Why didn’t you mention you and the Princess?” Trixie asked.

Oh yeah, she wasn’t there when we discussed it. “Well, even though we may be together now, we’re unsure about how to go about it. If I date Tia, we’ll never get any privacy. But, if I date ‘Sunny’, Tia and I can’t really be close around the castle.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Trixie said. “You want to be able to go out without-”

“Found him!” Pinkie yelled as she appeared in front of us with Red in her grasp, causing all of us to stop in surprise. I laughed when I saw Red mouth ‘Help me’.

“L-Light?!” Trixie muttered, blushing.

“Come again?” I said.

“That’s Lightwing.” Trixie said. “I met him on the road just a few days ago!”

“See?” Pinkie said, dropping Red- err, Light on the floor. “I told you somepony would recognize him!”

“Uh, who’s Lightwing?” Light asked after dusting himself off.

“Apparently, that’s you,” I said.

“You don’t remember?” Trixie asked him.

Light shook his head. “I’m sorry. The only memories up here are Smith’s.”

“We met on the road right outside Manehatten,” Trixie explained. “I had just finished a performance when you caught up to me to compliment my show.”

“Umm…” Light put a hoof to his head in thought. After a few moments, Light let out a cry in pain and fell to the ground, clenching his head.

“Light, you alright?!” I said and ran to help him up.

“Uh, yeah. I-I think so.” Light slowly rose, leaning on me. “I… I remember. I remember meeting you.” Light looked at Trixie. “You… gave me an autograph and showed me around your wagon. I was surprised by how much bigger it was on the inside. It was… the best day of my life.” Light smiled at her and Trixie looked away, blushing. Great, she has a crush on her fan. I chuckled to myself. Looks like Green’s got some competition.

“Is that all you remember?” Tia asked.

Light nodded. “Yeah. My name’s Lightwing, and I-” His eyes went wide. “I was only visiting Manehatten for Trixie’s show! I still don’t know where I’m from.” He sighed.

“Come on, dude,” Smith said. “Don’t stress out about it right now. We’ll take it one step at a time.”

Light nodded. “You’re right. You know, it’s weird. It feels like I’m talking to myself.”

“Well, you do that anyways, so what’s the difference?” Smith asked and they both laughed.

“Let’s go eat,” I said. “Maybe you’ll remember something else at dinner.”

Light nodded and we all went to the dining hall. Trixie tried to avoid looking at Light, but Light constantly glanced at her. This should be interesting.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 18: Keep Calm and Carry On

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Dinner remained generally quiet. Looking around the dining room, I saw that everypony had something on their minds. Trixie made a point of avoiding eye contact with Lightwing, who would repeatedly glance at her and smile, then he would think about something and his happiness would fade to something akin to depression. Smith seemed upset, just poking at his food, probably because Luna hadn’t shown up for dinner.

When Tia asked one of Luna’s usual servants about her, she said that Luna wished to remain in her room until it came time for her duties. I am really worried about her, though. I mean, she’s had tantrums before for things as small as who ate the last slice of cake… but that whispering I heard… I hope she’s alright. I looked at Tia right next to me and could tell we were both thinking the same thing.

Even though we were next to each other, Tia and I remembered to keep some distance. We really need to figure something out for this, I rolled my eyes. I finally have a fillyfriend, and I can’t even get too close to her.

Pinkie sat across from me and seemed blissfully unaware of the inner turmoil everypony had. She was just glad she could help Light start to find himself. And the endless royal buffet in front of her probably helps as well.

Overall, dinner remained uneventful… at least, until Tia brought up something I had completely forgotten about until now.

I started choking on my drink. “The-” *cough* “-Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow?!”

“Yes,” Tia nodded. “As I just said, I will be preparing to leave later tonight to ensure that I will arrive at Vanhoover in time for the sunrise.”

“Ooo! Can I come?” Pinkie asked, bouncing in her chair. “I missed last year’s celebration you had in Baltimare because the Cakes wanted me to stay and help clean up Sugarcube corner after the incident when my Party Cannon misfired so I was really hoping to catch this year’s because I just know this one will be extra special, but then again every Summer Sun Celebration is extra special but I-” Smith stuck his grey hoof over Pinkie’s mouth.

“What’s the Summer Sun Celebration?” He asked. I could tell Light was thinking the same thing.

“It’s a tradition I started shortly after Nightmare Moon’s banishment,” Tia explained. “I used it to improve my little ponies’ morale and to show that Nightmare Moon’s threat of eternal night will never come to pass. Every year on the Summer Solstice, a random town is picked to host said celebration. Everypony stays up all night until it’s time for sunrise. Then I come out and raise the sun in front of everypony, to show that I will never let them down.”

I decided to give my take on it. “As the years passed, the story of Nightmare Moon became nothing more than an old mare’s tale, so I assume the Summer Sun Celebration became more of a symbol of peace here in Equestria than anything else, right?” I looked at Tia for confirmation and she nodded.

“It saddened me how everypony but the history scholars did not believe in my sister’s existence, but I am happy that she’s returned.” Tia’s smile began to fade and she looked out the window towards the tower Luna stays in. “Although I am worried about her right now.”

“My thought exactly,” I said. “Maybe we should go check on her before you leave.”

Tia nodded. “Speaking of leaving,” she looked at everypony else at the table, “Does anypony else wish to accompany me to Vanhoover?” Pinkie quickly raised her hoof excitedly. “Yes, Pinkie. I am aware that you want to come. Anypony else? Smith?”

Smith looked up from his half eaten food. “Huh? Oh! No thanks. I need to train and prepare myself for this Friday.” He waved a hoof in the air dismissively. “Like I could really get any better than I already am, but it doesn’t hurt to try, you know?” Tia smiled and nodded at him.

“I guess I could go,” Light said. “There may be somepony there who might recognize me.”

I thought about it for a moment. “I’ll probably stay,” I told her. “Somepony needs to start preparing in case a certain black and grey nutcase shows up.”

“Hey!” Smith yelled.

“Not you, genius! Sombra!”

“…Oh.”

“Anyways,” I continued, “Unless Trixie wants to see you raise the sun for the…” I did some quick math in my head, “…174th time this year, we might even begin her lessons tomorrow!”

Trixie grinned ear to ear. “Really?” I nodded. “Ooo, Twilight’ll be so jealous.” I started laughing. “What?”

“Haha, you just remind me of Rainbow Dash, always trying to make a competition out of everything.”

“Wha- I do not!” she exclaimed.

“Really now?” I said. “I seem to recall how your show used to be nothing but you trying to prove to the members of the audience how you were so much better than them.”

“That was the old Trixie!” she defended. “My new show contains nothing of the sort! Now it’s mostly fireworks and storytelling through illusions.”

“Her performance is really breathtaking,” Light said. “The way she uses her magic to conjure images and how they move really bring the story of her adventures to life!” Trixie blushed and rubbed her foreleg, smiling.

“That sounds delightful,” Tia said. “I would love to attend one of your shows sometime.”

Trixie looked shocked. “Y-you want to see one of my shows?” Tia nodded.

“Sure!” I chuckled. “I’ll probably go too, just to see some of these ‘Adventures’,” I said using airquotes, “you supposedly went on.”

Trixie chuckled nervously. “Hehe, right…”

I laughed a little. “In all seriousness, though, from what I’ve seen and heard, while I am primarily skilled in Transformations, you, ma’am, are incredibly gifted in Illusion magic.” I shrugged. “Who knows, maybe you’ll even be able to teach me a thing or two,” I smiled.

I walked down the hallway leading from my room to Tia’s. The sun outside was already below the horizon and Luna’s moon was climbing ever higher. I still can’t believe it. I’ve been here for about four months and I’ve done more than I thought was possible. Maybe Tia was right. I don’t give myself enough credit. I turned the corner that had Tia’s bedroom door around it and I stood there with a huge grin on my face. I’ve done so much, not only for Equestria, but for these mares as well. It was currently New Years Eve and the council saw fit to hold Tia and Luna’s official coronation on New Years Day. Tomorrow… They’ll be princesses… Because of me.

I stepped closer to the door and could only imagine how excited they must both be. I knocked on her door, only for it to open on its own. The door hadn’t been shut all the way for some reason. I slowly cracked it open some more. “Hello? Tia?” I called. I peaked inside to see Tia’s fireplace lit up and both Alicorns were just sitting there, staring at it gloomily. “Tia? Luna? Are you two alright?” I stepped closer to them and Tia turned to look at me. She briefly smiled before turning back to Luna and putting a comforting hoof around her.

“Hey, Zack,” Tia said, surprising me. That was the first time since I revealed my past to them a few weeks ago she’s called me by my real name.

I slowly trotted next to them and sat down. “What’s the matter?”

Luna kept staring at the dancing flames in front of her and Tia sighed. “Luna came to see me a little while ago. She was holding doubts about whether or not she’d make a good ruler.”

“What?” I said, surprised. “That’s crazy talk!”

Tia nodded. “That’s what I told her, but she got me thinking.” Tia looked me in the eye. “What if we really aren’t ready to lead these little ponies? What if somewhere down the line, maybe a few months from now, or even a year or two, it turns out we were not meant to rule and the ponies of Equestria resent us for it?” Her eyes were slightly watery.

“Oh, come on,” I said as I stepped in front of them and hugged Tia. “Both of you.” I hugged Luna as well. “Listen to yourselves. It’s the day before your coronation and you two become Princesses, and you’re sitting here panicking. It’s just last-minute jitters.” I put a hoof on each of them. “I’ll have you know, you two are the fairest and kindest ponies I have ever met. Not to mention the two most beautiful.” They both blushed. “No rule is meant to last forever, and you’re not immortal…” I paused. “You’re not immortal, are you?” I softly asked Tia. She giggled and shook her head. “Anyways, you’re not immortal. I’ll admit, eventually, whether it’s a year from now or millennia from now, you may not be in charge of your little ponies, but I promise, based off your trial period as rulers a few weeks ago, you will always be held on high as the greatest leaders this world has ever seen.”

Tia and Luna both smiled a little and hugged me right back. “Thank you, Zack,” Tia said. “That’s exactly what we wanted to hear.”

“That’s what everypony needs to hear every now and then.” I said, still hugging them. “That somepony else has full confidence in their abilities.” We all held our embrace for a while longer until Luna let out a small yawn. I let go of them and saw that they were both exhausted. “I think it’s time you two got to bed. Big day tomorrow,” I smiled.

Tia nodded while Luna looked pleadingly at her. “Sister… do you mind if… We sleep here with you tonight?”

Tia smiled softly and nodded. “Of course I don't mind, Luna.” They both turned to Tia’s bed, but before either of them could move, they were both lifted from the ground in a cyan glow. I smirked at their surprised glances as I carried them over to the bed to tuck them in. I want to be a good friend and help them out as much as I can. It’s not like they’re the heaviest things I’ve ever picked up. Now if they were the full sized alicorns from the show, that might be different…

As I tucked them in, they smiled at me and I started humming. Living in this world, what’s the first song to pop in my head? The ‘My Little Pony’ theme, of course. Not the newer one, the original. As girly as the show and lyrics were, the tune was still relaxing and beautiful if sung at nearly half tempo. I mentally sang the words as I hummed.

My little pony, my little pony.

Isn’t the world a lovely place?

My little pony, my little pony.

Everywhere you go, a smiley face!

I stopped humming when I looked up from the blankets to see Luna and Tia both shocked and in tears. What’d I do?

“H-how… how do you know that song?” Tia asked as she sat up.

I shrugged a little, concerned. “It’s… just a tune from my world,” I said, trying to figure out what the big deal was. “Why?”

Tia took a deep breath and looked away. “Our... mother… used to sing that song to us every night before we’d go to sleep.” I was shocked. This was the first time either one of them mentioned their parents since I got here.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry,” I said, using my best Fluttershy impression. “I won’t hum it i-if you don’t want me to.”

Tia smiled a little. “Thank you.” They both looked at each other for a moment while I carefully started to tuck them in again.

“Wouldst thou…” Luna started, “…sing it, instead?”

“What?” I looked up in surprise at the two mares, who were both smiling warmly my way.

“You do know the words, correct?” Tia asked.

I returned their smiles, “Of course,” and I began to sing as much of the song as I could remember, of course in more the style of a slow lullaby than the normally giddy and energetic style. After I finished tucking them in and extinguished the fireplace, I saw that they were both sound asleep with smiles still on their faces, so I let the rest of the song fade until I was silent and stepped out the front door.

That was interesting. I started walking down the hall back to my room and chuckled. Maybe singing them to sleep will end up becoming a regular routine.

The light from the setting sun faded through the windows as Tia and I approached her sister’s room. Trixie and Smith had both left for their guest rooms after dinner, and Light and Pinkie were waiting for Tia in her study. After a couple more twists and turns, and way too many stairs, we finally came to a large double door that was a very dark blue with the night sky accurately painted on it. Luna’s done some serious work after I left. It used to be a bunch of random five-pointed starts and generic crescent moon on her door. She’s always loved to paint.

Tia and I looked at each other to see who should knock. We came to a mental agreement that Tia should, since technically I also kept Smith’s secret from them. She took a few steps and raised her hoof to knock.

*knock knock knock* “Luna?” Tia said, concern in her voice. “It’s your sister and Zack. We were concerned after you left earlier.”

The room remained silent for a few moments. After a while, Tia was about to knock again, when we heard shuffling behind the door. About ten seconds later, Luna’s aura coated the door handle and slowly opened to reveal a disheveled Princess of the Night… And she was upset about something. She gestured us into the room and shut the door behind us. Luna slowly walked back to her bed and sat down on it, Tia and myself carefully following.

Glancing around the room, I noticed how dark it was, except for the moonlight coming through the windows, but I could still make out some details. The entire room was round, with miscellaneous bookshelves and framed paintings scattered around the edge. Just off the back wall was Luna’s bed. It didn’t have any frame so it looked like a giant pillow with blankets and smaller pillows on top. To the right were the doors that led to Luna’s balcony, and on the left was a small desk. All of her painting materials were kept in a mid-sized chest next to her bed. She never saw a need for a personal study so everything she could need was stuffed somewhere in this room.

My attention turned back to Luna, who had her head hanging down. “Lulu, what’s wrong?” I asked. “I can tell this is more than just Smith bothering you.” I hopped up on the bed next to her and put a hoof on her back. Have I ever mentioned how awkward it is to comfort somepony nearly twice your size? Tia sat on the floor in front of me, looking at her sister with worry in her eyes. Luna continued staring down at her hooves and shifted a little. “Come on, Lulu,” I said. “Tia and I can’t help if you’re not willing to talk.”

She adjusted her hooves some more and then I heard her sniffle. I was prepared to ask again until she looked up at the two of us with tears in her eyes. “I… I heard it again,” she choked out.

Tia flinched in shock. “Heard what?” I asked. “Luna, what’s going on?”

Then she said something I wasn’t entirely prepared for. “The… the Nightmare…”

I reeled back in surprise and Tia nearly leapt to hug her sister. “Oh, Luna,” Tia said sympathetically. Luna let some more tears free as my mind struggled to process exactly what this meant.

The Nightmare… Was that the whispering I heard in Tia’s room? If that’s the case, why was I the only one able to hear it? How did it get here in the first place? And why is she not affected by it here? I came out of my thoughts to see Luna and Tia still in the same place. “If I may ask,” I said carefully, “can you not hear it in here?”

Luna let go of Tia and shook her head. Tia looked at me sorrowfully. “Not long after she had returned and the Elements of Harmony saved her, she was still plagued by nightmares of The Nightmare,” Tia explained. Nightmare-ception, much? “I told her I would do everything in my power to prevent such an event from happening again, and after months of research, I managed to create a spell to keep such evil things at bay when she enters her room.” Tia managed a small smile. “I am very glad to see it works,” she frowned again and looked at her sister, “but there is no telling what could happen if Luna were to leave here.”

I put a hoof to my chin in thought. Where could it have come from? My thought’s immediately turned to Sombra, since he was the current villainous nutbag on most our minds, but shoved to the side for later. “Are you absolutely sure it was Nightmare, Luna?” I asked.

She still looked a little shaken up, but Luna managed a nod. “I am positive. One does not forget such a foul voice,” she said.

I nodded. “I understand. It’s hard to forget somepony with bad breath,” I joked. I expected Luna to glare at me like Tia currently was, but she giggled instead. That’s what we need to do, raise her spirits.

Luna smiled softly at me for a moment before continuing. “We were not aware of its presence until We had returned to Our room,” She said, slipping back into her usual old English speech. At least it shows that she’s calmed down quite a bit. “It began shortly after you four arrived. We had managed to ignore it for the most part until you revealed Smith and the red pegasus to us.” Luna slowly shook her head and frowned. “We wish to apologize for Our behavior earlier. Even if We were not in direct control of Ourself, We still feel like it is Our responsibility to make up for Our actions.” Luna sighed. “I just hope I didn’t upset Silver,” she fell back into normal speech. “I honestly don’t care about his past. Not back then, and not now. I know he truly cares for me.”

“That is wonderful to hear, sister,” Tia said with a warm smile on her face.

I nodded. “Yeah, and don’t worry. Smith is fine. He was only upset that he upset you. Anypony can see how much he cares for you.” Luna smiled at me. “He actually went to see Shining about becoming a guard again. Who knows, maybe this time, he can be your own personal body guard,” I smirked and poked her side, “if you know what I mean.”

Luna’s cheeks turned a little red but she and Tia both giggled anyways. “So what are We to do about the Nightmare?” Luna asked, her mood beginning to drop again.

I shrugged. “Truthfully, there isn’t much we can do until after the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow and Tia returns from her trip,” I said. “Since I wasn’t here, you two know more about this thing than I do. Although, there is one thing that stands out to me.”

“What is that?” Tia asked.

“The whispering,” I said. “Back in your study, I could actually hear it whispering to Luna. Not enough to make out what it said, but still enough to know it was there.” Tia and Luna seemed mildly shocked by this. “Since I can apparently detect it somehow, I can keep an eye on things until you get back Tia.”

Tia nodded and looked up at the night-themed clock hanging on the wall. “Maybe I shouldn’t go,” she said reluctantly.

I reached over and gave her a hug, surprising her for a moment. “It’s not like you to cancel an event, especially one as important to your little ponies as this one,” I said. “I told you I’d keep watch and that’s exactly what I’ll do. Nothing is getting to your sister.” I loosened up a bit to look her in the eye. “If it’ll make you feel better, I won’t leave her side until you return.”

Tia smiled and nuzzled me as she returned the hug. “Thank you, Zack. I know I can always count on you.”

“Except with recipes,” Luna giggled, making me remember a botched cake I tried to make for everypony once.

Tia giggled as I suppressed a groan and released me. “I will try to be back shortly after lunch tomorrow,” she said to the both of us. We nodded and she stepped out of the room to get ready to leave.

Luna turned to me, worry still in her eyes. “Everything will be fine, Lulu,” I said. “Nothing can get you here. Remember what I told you when you were younger? This room is your personal safehaven from all the baddies out there.” I chuckled. “Though that’s a bit more true now given our current situation.” Luna smiled and giggled as I scooted toward the center of the bed. “Come on,” I motioned her toward me. “Do you remember what Tia and I used to do to keep those nightmares at bay?”

Luna giggled and came closer. “Thou do remember that We are the Princess of the Night and Keeper of Dreams, correct?”

I continued smiling and shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you’re immune to bad dreams.” Luna seemed to think about it for a moment, still smiling, before she laid her head down on my lap. Then I began to sing a familiar tune while gently rubbing her mane, letting her drift to sleep.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 19: Magic Tutoring

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Outside the window, the sun was just beginning its ascent, marking the very moment Tia raised it from Vanhoover. The light actually stung my eyes a bit and I had a crick in my back for some reason. Groaning, I sat up and looked around, realizing why I felt sore. That mare knocked me off the flippin' bed! I was sitting on the floor next to Luna’s bed with half the blanket and a pillow lying over a meter away. Luna was spread out across the entire bed, drool running down onto her pillow and snoring peacefully. And I thought I snored hard.

Slowly, I stood up, trying to stretch my back and get rid of that annoying kink. I don’t know why I feel so bad this morning. I’ve woken up to worse but still always managed to be energetic. I snickered to myself. It’s good to be a morning pony if you’re dating Tia. I looked up at the clock to see that it was about six o’clock. Using my magic, I carefully sat the pillow and blanket back on the bed next to Luna, although my unstable magic nearly whacked her in the head. She turned a bit and I was afraid I had woken her up, before she stopped and started snoring again. I slowly crept to the bedroom door and creaked it open.

Just as I thought I was home free, the snoring suddenly stopped. Turning around I spotted Luna sitting up and looking at me curiously. “Where art thou going?” she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

I rubbed my head. “I sort of promised Trixie yesterday that we’d start her training today.”

She looked upset for a moment. “But, thou also promised to Our sister that thou would stay by Our side till she returned.”

“I know, I know,” I said defensively. “I just need to run to my study and grab a few materials, then tell Trixie to meet me here. That way, I can keep both promises!” I smiled at her.

Luna stretched for a moment on her bed, seeming to think about it. “Well, it has been quite some time since We have learned your magic…” she mumbled to herself. “Perhaps if thou wouldst allow us to join Trixie in the lesson?” she asked earnestly.

I chuckled. First the Element of Magic, then the Great and Powerful Trixie, now even the Princess of the Night wants to learn from me. I’m not that good. What could I possibly know that even a near immortal Princess doesn’t? “That should be fine,” I said, “although I don’t know what I could possibly teach you.” Luna giggled. “Why don’t you order some breakfast from the kitchen for us while I’m out? I shouldn’t be gone for more than thirty minutes.” She nodded as I stepped outside and shut the door. Alright, as long as she stays in there, she should be safe. I charged my magic to teleport to my room before I remembered my ‘problem’ and sighed. “Guess I’m hoofin’ it.”

Down the steps, down the hall, take a right, through a doorway, down more steps, turn left, down a longer hall, turn right, bada bing, bada boom, I’m at the corridor that held Tia’s room and mine. Why the two sisters nearly live on opposite sides of the castle is beyond me, but it’s been like that since before I ever showed up.

As I passed Tia’s room and the kitchen, I noticed something strange near my door. There didn’t seem to be any sort of visual cue, but I could almost feel something there. I kept a poker face as I approached my bedroom door and decided to take a stab in the dark. “Well, you’re up early, Trixie.”

I smirked as I heard a gasp and Trixie materialized right next to me. “How’d you know I was here?” she asked as I pushed my door open.

“I dunno,” I shrugged, still grinning. “Call it skill, talent, or even just dumb luck,” I chuckled as I entered my study. “I take it you’re eager to get started?” She grinned ear to ear and nodded. Carefully, I started searching through my assortment of books for anything I might have needed, pulling out each one to read the titles. After some searching, I collected the five that I found the most relevant into a stack, albeit a shaky stack that looked like a Janga tower that would fall at any moment. “Hey Trixie, you mind grabbing these?” I asked. “My magic is quite literally not what it used to be. I’d make a mess carrying these things.”

She nodded and gathered the books in her light purple aura. “Are we not doing it here?”

“No,” I answered, shaking my head and returning the rest of the books to the shelves. “Tia wanted me to look after Luna while she’s gone, so we need to do it in her room.”

Trixie nearly dropped the books. “W-what? We’re going to Princess Luna’s bedchamber?” Who calls it a ‘bedchamber’? Well, aside from Luna.

I nodded. “She- OW!” I stopped when a book I had just put on the top shelf fell back down and hit me in the head. Rubbing my head in irritation, I put the book back and continued. “She was even hoping to be included in the lesson,” I chuckled and grabbed my notebook from my desk.

Trixie just stared at me, wide-eyed. “How… how powerful are you?” she asked, seriously.

Laughing, I waved her off. “Not nearly as much as you might think I am. I think Luna just wants to reminisce in the old times,” I said, trying to calm my laughter. “Before she became the All-Powerful Alicorn Princess everypony knows her as today, she was just a filly with a serious magic block. I used to tutor her up until she got past her block and excelled well beyond my capabilities. After that, Tia took over teaching her.” Trixie slowly nodded.

*CRASH*

Before I knew it, my whole world turned dark. I knew I wasn’t unconscious since I heard Trixie gasp, but my head was hurting even more now. Digging through whatever fell on me, I poked my head out and saw that I was in a huge pile of my books. “What the-?” I saw Trixie hiding a grin behind her hoof and looked up at the bookshelf I had just straightened up to see the top three shelves entirely empty. Growling to myself, I pulled a glowing hoof out of the pile and pressed it against the bookcase to scan it. Not two seconds later I detected a very familiar magic behind it. “LUNA!!!”

After I dispelled the prank shelves, I began putting all the books back, only doing one at a time so my magic would behave. A couple moments later, I saw Trixie put down the books I had her carry and help me clean these up. “What was that?” she asked.

“Just another of Luna’s stupid pranks,” I told her. “Ever since I arrived, it’s been a constant prank war between the two of us to see who the better prankster is.” I laughed. “You should have seen her when I gave her Tia’s mane. I couldn’t breathe for nearly an hour!”

Trixie giggled at the thought of what she must’ve looked like but stopped to look through one of the books she had picked up. “What’s this?” she asked. I looked over at her to see her holding my personal notebook and flipping through various pages. “Why is this book empty?”

“That’s my notebook,” I told her, still putting books up, “and it’s not empty. I created a spell that only allows ponies I give permission to read it. Came up with it not long after the whole ‘Sombra’ thing.” I looked back at her in time to see her cast a spell.

When she looked at the book again, her face contorted in confusion. “Why didn’t that work? It’s only an illusion that these pages are blank, correct?” I nodded with a smirk. “So why couldn’t I dispel it?”

“I added a few extra security threads to make it so only I can change or remove the spell,” I explained. “Let me see it.” Trixie hoofed me the book and continued picking up the last few books off the floor. I held it out in front of me in concentration and probed it with my magic. I failed a couple of times since my magic wasn’t very accurate, but I eventually made it to the center of the spell and added Trixie to the list of ponies who could read it. After a few moments of thought, I decided to go ahead and add Twilight as well.

After Trixie finished putting up the last few books, I levitated my notebook back to her and she looked at the cover surprised. “Oh! ‘Sapphire Knight’s personal notebook.’” She opened the front cover and read what was written on the first page out loud. “‘This is my personal notebook, containing my research, spells, and theories throughout my stay in Equestria. If you can read this, then I have given you my permission to read what's inside. Use this knowledge wisely. Sapphire Knight.’” She looked back up at me in surprise. “I… I don’t know what to say. I feel honored that you trust me this much.”

I chuckled at her. “Why? You have yet to give me a reason not to trust you,” I said as she gave me my notebook back. “Regardless of what you’ve done in the past, you clearly want to change. And as an added plus, any friend of the Elements is automatically a friend of mine!”

Trixie smiled warmly at me. “Thank you. It… means a lot to me.”

I waved it off. “No problem. We should probably head over to Luna’s. She’s probably worried what’s taking me so long.” Trixie nodded and grabbed the stack of books on our way out.

After we passed Tia’s room, she looked at the books she was holding and turned to me. “You said that your magic wasn’t what it used to be, and that’s because of your form, yes?” I nodded. “Well, why don’t you transform into a unicorn and regain the control you once had?”

“It’s not that simple,” I shook my head. “If I transform into a Unicorn with the spells I’ve developed so far to gain a fake horn, that’s exactly what it will be. Fake. My magic will still behave as if I was still a Pegasus.”

“But didn’t you say Sombra transformed you into a Pegasus? Can’t you just undo that to go back to your normal self?” Trixie asked. Wow. She is very analytical. That will probably make teaching her a little bit easier.

“While I admire the way you think,” I smiled, “that won’t work either. Whatever Sombra did to my original spell, he made this a permanent transformation.”

Trixie blushed at the compliment. “How do you know it’s permanent?”

“The spell I used to reveal Light in Tia’s study was an Area-Of-Effect spell. If my Pegasus form were reversible, I would have turned back into Sapphire Knight right then and there.”

She nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry.”

I playfully patted her back. “No need to be! You’ve shown how well you do at critical thinking, which I find to be very important, both in being a leader and becoming an expert spellcaster.”

Trixie smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate that.”

“No problem,” I said as we turned down a long hallway. “Besides, with yours and Twilight’s help, we should easily be able to come up with a way to make my magic just as focused as it used to be, if not more so!” Trixie grinned and nodded, though she looked like she had something else on her mind. “What is it?”

“Hmm? Oh, just… Why transformations?” she asked.

“Come again?”

“Well, why’d you decide to focus on transformation magic? Why not illusion or conjugation?”

“Simple,” I grinned. “You recall that I said that I wasn’t always a pony, yes?” Her sudden look of realization told me she did. “That’s why! I was hoping to find a way to turn myself back into a human, even if only for a short amount of time. You can tell by just looking at me how successful I was at it,” I chuckled. She nodded as we continued to our destination.

----------------

“Phew! These ponies know how to cook for royalty!” I said as I patted my full stomach. Trixie and I had arrived to Luna’s room to see a rather large breakfast spread out on a circular table I didn’t realize Luna had. She must keep it stored out of the way for when she needs it.

I turned to see Luna and Trixie both looking satisfied as well. “Five more minutes, then we’ll get started,” I told them. They both nodded and Luna teleported the mostly empty trays back to the kitchen downstairs.

“So how didst thou enjoy Our little prank?” Luna smirked at me, causing me to growl. “We could hear you yell from our balcony.” She started laughing.

“Not funny,” I growled. “If I wasn’t so hard-headed, or Trixie was under it, one or both of us could have been seriously hurt.”

She stopped laughing. “But thou are hard-headed, although…” she glanced at Trixie, “We did not anticipate somepony being with you,” she said, rubbing her neck. “We apologize.”

“It’s fine, Princess,” Trixie said. “As a street performer, I am well adept to an injury or two. And besides,” she giggled, “it was actually funny watching him tunnel out like some kind of mole.” Both mares started laughing at me and I crossed my forelegs in a solid humph.

Once we were all able to move again, I laid my notebook down on the table in front of me, then grabbed one of the books in the stack Trixie left nearby. Having taught magic a couple of times before, I knew what my first step was. “Now, to get a general idea of your current levels in magic, I want you to pour as much magic energy as you possibly can into this rock without casting a spell.” I pulled a smooth rock the size of a hoof from behind my back.

“Where’d you get the rock from?” Trixie asked.

“Outside,” I shrugged. She looked confused for a moment. “What?”

Trixie shook her head. “Nevermind. Anyways, won’t putting all our magic in it like that destroy it?” she glanced at the dark alicorn next to her. “Or make it explode?”

I let the rock in my hoof glow for a few moments before placing it on the table. “No, it’s enchanted to harmlessly dispel whatever you put into it back out in the environment. I plan to use it as a gauge to see how strong your magic is,” I explained and turned to Trixie. “You first.” She nodded and lit the rock in her aura. I tapped into her magic through the rock using a spell most magic teachers use to help a student navigate their magic flow. After a minute or so, Trixie started sweating and her concentration began to falter. Eventually she had to release the rock and started panting like she had just gone through a five kilometer sprint.

“Impressive,” I said, making a note toward the back of my notebook. “Not only is your mental strength relatively high, but your endurance is extraordinary. Well done.” Trixie smiled at me and nodded, still trying to catch her breath. “I’d say on a scale of one to ten, five being an average unicorn, you are a high eight!” I turned to Luna. “Alright, now you.” She smiled and grabbed the rock in her dark blue aura. As I tried to gauge her power, the room began to feel a little staticky. Probably from such a high amount of power dispersing in a tiny room.

Once Luna released, I noticed she was sweating too, but was resisting the urge to pant, leaving me a little surprised. “Clearly well over a ten since you're an alicorn, but that felt slightly weaker than last time I had you do that,” I told her.

Luna frowned after a moment and shook her head. “Ever since We have returned from banishment and Nightmare Moon was cleansed from Us, Our power has been weaker.” She sighed. “Some time after Our return, We managed to regain enough of Our power to return to Our Regal form and raise the moon, but it still returns to Us very slowly.”

“Well, this is probably exactly what you need!” I smiled at her. “A little variation in your spell casting. Exercise of the mind and magic.” I playfully jabbed her with my elbow. “Before too long, you’ll be able to turn the entire moon into cheese if you wanted to! …Again.” Luna blushed and looked away.

“Again?” Trixie asked.

“Long story, I’ll tell it some other time,” I waved it away. “Back on topic! I’m gonna write down a spell, and I want you to show me your process in casting it.” I wrote down the formula for a simple transformation spell to turn the rock into a daisy on a sheet of paper I had nearby. Trixie gave the spell an inquisitive look as she gathered the magic necessary to cast it. Luna read it over her shoulder and smiled. As Trixie weaved the spell together, she told me each step of her process and I wrote it down. Once she was finished, she released the spell and the rock became a rather large and withered-looking daisy. It was nearly as long as my leg.

“What happened?” she asked, looking at the ‘daisy’ in shock.

“What happened is the failure to account for the conservation of mass,” I explained. “While your process in spellcasting is rather advanced, you were still unable to control the individual pieces of the spell,” I said as I started circling the different parts of the formula, “causing you to cast it mechanically and only for its sole purpose, turning a rock into a daisy. All that extra mass had to go somewhere, so the spell simply enlarged the output to compensate.” My hoof lit up as I turned the deformed daisy back into a rock.

I started pointing out the pieces of the spell she needed to focus on. “While you could alter this in a way to simply dispel the extra mass into air, you would still end up with the daisy appearing wilted.” I circled a part of the formula. “If you refocus the energy gathered from here, and input it back into this,” I pointed at a separate section of the spell, “all of the excess mass becomes the nutrients required for the daisy to remain healthy.”

“Oh!” Trixie said. “I was wondering why this piece didn’t seem to have a purpose.” She shook her head. “But this is still rather impressive. I’ve never seen a spell broken down any further than the individual threads required to cast them.”

“That’s one of the perks I had of starting from scratch and thinking outside the box!” I said, grinning. “Following the analogy of the ‘threads’ that make up the ‘fabric’ of the spell, picture each thread as containing individual ‘strands’ of magic. If you are able to learn how each strand functions and supports the thread as a whole, you can find ways to weave those strands,” I pointed at the part I circled, “back into a separate thread,” I moved my hoof to the other section. “Not only does that strengthen the final product since the threads are actually connected to each other instead of just pushed together, but it also allows for more intricate outputs of the same spell.”

“Wow,” Trixie breathed. “That’s… an ingenious way to picture it. And it makes perfect sense too.” She looked back at the spell and studied it again. After a few moments, she lit up her horn and attempted the spell again. After the flash that followed, the rock that was once on the table was replaced with an impressive looking daisy, although it was still slightly larger than average.

“Fantastic!” I grinned at her. “Knowing how to balance the parts comes from practice and usually a bit of math, but very good, nonetheless!” Trixie blushed. “Alright,” I said as I reverted it back into a rock, “you take a shot, Lulu.” She smirked and quickly turned it into three small perfect daisies. “Oh, quit showing off,” I told her. “You can only do it because I’ve taught you this before.”

I grabbed the paper and started writing down a new spell. “Now, I want you to find and circle each thread of this spell. Then I’ll ask you to find and point out each strand of each thread, and give me your best assumption on what it’s for.” I finished the rather simple formula and slid it to Trixie. Luna took one glance at it and was about to speak when I cut her off. “I know you already know this, but Trixie needs to learn this on her own. If she gets something incorrect, I’ll have you help her and make sure you both understand it before moving on.” That quickly shut her up as Trixie started to work.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 20: Forgiveness Pend-, uh, Imminent

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Everypony in the room was coughing like madponies as the smoke began to clear. “Why-” *cough* “Why did it do that?” Trixie managed to choke out from somewhere in the black cloud. I heard Luna’s coughing and hoofsteps approach the edge of the room where I believed the balcony to be. When I heard the doors open, I activated a wind spell to help clear the air.

*Cough cough* “You let the spell fray too much,” I tried to explain. The air began to clear enough to let us see each other. “If you separate enough strands from one thread to another and give nothing in return, the integrity of the spell diminishes and has a cha-” *Cough* “a chance to backfire.”

“Oh, sorry,” Trixie apologized and I laughed.

“It’s fine,” I said, still trying to blow all the smoke out to the balcony. “I had misfires like this almost twice a week. That’s the risk you take in researching new spells.”

Luna almost burst out in laughter. “Thou should have seen him sprinting down the corridors with his tail on fire! It was nearly a week before he attempted spellcasting again!” Trixie giggled.

“In my defense,” I said, “that was shortly after I discovered the very possibility of making my own spells! You don’t expect the new guy in Equestria to get it right on his first try, do you?” We all started laughing but stopped when we heard the sound of wings from out on the balcony.

“What happened? Is everypony alright? Luna, are you okay?” Smith rapidly blurted, using his wings to clear the last bit of smoke near the doorway.

“We are fine, Silver,” Luna said as she stepped out onto the balcony, Trixie and I close behind to let the room air out a bit. As she was about to nuzzle him, Smith took a couple steps back, fear spread across his face. He avoided looking directly at her. Luna flinched in surprise before she remembered yesterday and hung her head. “Silver, I…” she started and paused.

“I’m sorry about what happened yesterday.”
“I’m sorry about what happened yesterday.”

Smith and Luna quickly looked at each other in surprise. “Please,” Smith said, frowning. “Let me go first.” Luna reluctantly nodded and I looked back at the bedroom door, considering whether Trixie and I should leave or not. “You don’t have to leave.” I turned back around to see Smith smiling softly at us and I nodded with a smile of my own.

Taking a deep breath, Smith turned back to Luna. “Luna… I know I should have told you from the beginning. I should have told you what I was the moment we became a couple. I shouldn’t have led you on like I had those first couple of years. There’s a whole list of ‘should have’s and ‘shouldn’t have’s that I blatantly ignored, and it not only hurt me, but hurt you as well and I’m sorry.” Luna looked like she was about to respond when Smith held up a hoof to stop her. “Please, let me finish. I’m not very good at this deep mushy stuff,” Smith lightly chuckled, “so let me get everything out while I’m on a roll.” Reluctantly, Luna relaxed a bit and let him proceed.

“At first I had hoped that your crush was exactly that, a crush, and that it would eventually fade away. As a changeling, I never put any real thought into having my own relationships or doing anything spectacular, but after a year passed and your crush only grew, I began to question what I really wanted.” Smith sighed. “My hope in coming to Equestria was to remain safe and be one of those stallions that just faded into the background as everypony else’s lives just passed on by. I tried to keep myself isolated and act like I hardly noticed you, when in reality, you were almost all I could think about, but when Sapphire Knight showed up…” Smith glanced at me and started to chuckle, “He helped me realize things about myself that I never thought of before. That I could make a difference in ponies’ lives and that I wanted somepony to help make a difference in my life.” He looked back at Luna, grinning sheepishly. “With his help I was able to see that the only thing that made me happier than being a guard and protecting the innocent… was you.”

Cheesy, I thought to myself and smiled, but it works. I glanced at Luna who was on the verge of tears. Trixie was wiping her face with a handkerchief she teleported in from somewhere. Sometime during our lesson, Trixie had asked why I was looking after the all-powerful Princess, so I told her everything that had happened in Tia’s study the day before, including Smith’s identity. As expected she recoiled a bit at the fact, but what I didn’t expect was for Luna and me to ease her fears so easily. She almost took it in stride after we explained.

“Augh, I feel so sappy,” Smith grumbled. “But I know this needed to be said.” Smith started shuffling his forehooves around a bit, taking a sudden interest in a loose pebble on the ground. “I… I don’t expect you to forgive me so easily, but just so you know… I’ll always be ready t-” He was suddenly cut off by a dark blue Alicorn wrapping around him, her hair a solid light azure. Luna had reverted to her older form and began crying on his shoulder. Smith was taken aback by this for a moment but eventually put his hooves around her to comfort her.

I slowly approached them and, after a few moments, decided to use this time to explain what happened to Luna and about the Nightmare. He was already aware of the incident a thousand years ago, so he was informed enough to understand what had happened. When she finally calmed down enough, Luna started filling us in on the Nightmare. She told us about the year leading up to her transformation and how she felt so trapped by it. Then Luna explained that the Nightmare works by finding even the smallest speck of doubt in somepony’s heart and picks at it until the pony can’t stand it any longer and surrenders their mind and body to the evil entity.

After we finished, Smith looked very concerned, but relieved at the same time. “So, that was Nightmare speaking in Tia’s room? You’re not really mad?”

Luna smiled warmly. “Of course I am not. I care not what you are or who you once were, just that you truly love me.” Smith grinned again and hugged the smaller Alicorn.

“Oh, yeah,” I mumbled. “The ancient evil that’s loose in the castle, probably searching for a new host until Luna leaves her room, doesn’t matter all that much. Just as long as she’s not mad at you.” Smith shot me a dirty glare and I started to chuckle. My attention turned back to the table inside where we left the practice rock, only to see a large black smudge in its place. “You may have overdone it Trixie.” She turned to look at the smudge in shock as I sighed. “Guess I need a new practice dummy.” I glanced at Smith and grinned.

Before I could say anything, he held up a hoof at me and frowned. “Not even once!”

We all laughed some more and Luna looked around. “We should return inside. Tia did not shield the balcony and I fear something may happen.” She turned to go back inside and the rest of us followed.

*bop* “Ow.”

I quickly turned to see Smith sitting in the doorway rubbing his nose in pain. “What’d you do that for?” he asked me.

“Do what?” I said. Smith stood back up and stuck his hoof out in front of him, only for it to stop abruptly at the doorway. He stood up on his hind legs and put his other hoof on the invisible wall as well. Either he’s an excellent mime, or Tia wasn’t very specific on what ‘evil’ things were not allowed inside. I groaned to myself. “Tiaaa,” I whined.

Smith fluttered up in the air and started punching the barrier as Luna watched curiously. His hits weren’t even making a sound. “This may be the reason We were able to sleep through the invasion,” Luna thought aloud.

I groaned in irritation. “Let me see what I can do,” I told Smith. My hoof lit up as I closed my eyes in concentration and examined the room. There were… quite a few enchantments, actually. Taking a closer look, I realized most of them were castle-wide enchantments. I’ll ask Tia about those later. I found the strongest enchantment to the room and found that it was very complicated and powerful. I withdrew my hoof and sighed. “I’m sorry. The spell is too strong for me to do anything with,” I explained to everypony. “Tia probably made it so only she could alter it on purpose.” Luna frowned.

I turned to Smith to see him leaning against the barrier with his forelegs crossed. “Can’t even enter my own marefriend’s bedroom,” Smith scoffed. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Celestia put me on the ‘No Entry’ list on purpose.” He lowered himself back down to all fours and looked at Luna. “How long are you stuck in there?”

Luna shook her head sadly. “We are not sure. At least until Our sister returns this afternoon.”

Smith smiled devilishly. “Then you’ll be all mine,” he said quietly. Luna blushed and shied away while I just gave him a questioning look. That did not sound like the normal Smith.

I was about to step closer to him when some harsh whispering stopped me. “Everypony be quiet!” I yelled.

“Why do we-” Smith started.

“SHH!” I lowered my head and focused on listening. I felt my ear twitch slightly as I heard more whispering. Glancing around, I couldn’t quite place where the sound was coming from. But given the circumstances… I carefully stepped closer to Smith, keeping my gaze off him. Please no, please no… A few moments of silence later I heard it again, but to my extreme relief, it wasn’t coming from Smith. “Phew, for a second I thought-”

I was suddenly interrupted by a very loud knock at the door. We all glanced at each other as I cautiously approached the door. There was another loud knock and I cracked the door open… just to get a face full of apron.

“I quit!” I heard a mare yell.

Pulling the pink apron off my face, I noticed a very angry matching pink Earth pony with a short white mane and tail. Her cutie mark was of a bowl and whisk. She must work in the kitchen, I cleverly devised. “I’m sorry?” I asked her, opening the door just wide enough for Luna and Trixie to see her as well.

“I said I quit!” she screamed again. “I’ve worked here for years, slaving over the kitchen stove all day and forced to work with the laziest group of imbeciles this castle could possibly hire!” I heard more whispering and she stomped her hoof. “And yet I get the worst paycheck of the entire cooking staff! Do I ever get any proper acknowledgement for my meals? Have I ever gotten a proper thank you from any of the royals I’m forced to serve? Hay no!” Before I had a chance to react, she stomped her hoof again and started leaving. “I’m out of here!”

Luna quickly trotted to the doorway, stopping before she passed the threshold. “Sesame, wait!” she called. Sesame didn’t even respond and continued stomping off.

Now that I had a moment to think, the first thought that popped in my head was Her last name better not be ‘Seed’. The next thought kicked in as I heard the whispering again. Oh, no. I scrambled out the door and pointed. “Trixie, quick! Grab her!” Trixie’s brows rose in surprise, but immediately followed my order anyway and lifted Sesame in a light violet glow right as she got to the stairwell.

“What is the meaning of this?!” She screamed. “Let me go!” Sesame began thrashing around as I instructed Trixie to sit her in the bedroom with us. As she passed the threshold, Sesame’s energy seemed to vanish and she started to go limp like she was half asleep. Poor mare. I had Trixie set her on the bed as I scanned the area outside the doorway, but the Nightmare had disappeared before I could analyze it. It… it was just there, right on the edge of the doorway, then it just vanished! After making sure there were no more threats around, I stepped back inside and shut the door, just to find Sesame passed out on the bed.

Smith looked at me questioningly from the balcony. “What the buck just happened?”

---------------

Forcing back a sigh, I stared at the pink Earth pony that had been unconscious on Luna’s bed for over an hour. Shortly after Sesame’s little… episode, a couple of Luna’s personal guards, a Batpony and a Unicorn of the same color scheme, quickly reached her door to check on her saying they heard screaming. They came up for that but not the explosion? Of course they had to do a double take since Luna had yet to change back into her more ethereal form. She managed to defuse the situation and asked about Sesame. They said that she was just one of the kitchen staff so they let her through.

After that, I asked Luna about Sesame.

“Sesame Seed-” Oi, “-is one of the best young chefs here at the castle,” The dark Alicorn explained. “We always enjoy getting Our meals prepared by her hoof. In fact, that delightful breakfast this morning was almost entirely her work.” She shook her head. “Her paycheck is only so low because she had very little work experience outside the castle and has only been here for just under three years, when the majority of our staff has been with us for nearly a decade.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said the Nightmare will target even the smallest spark of doubt,” I said. My stomach rumbled and I looked up at the clock to see that is was just before noon. “Who else could go for something to eat?” I asked. Everypony in the room (and one pony outside the room) all nodded their heads and Luna wrote down our orders. Along with the order, Luna also requested that one of the ponies that was on duty with Sesame deliver the food.

About twenty minutes passed before we heard a knock at the door. Luna opened it and invited the red stallion with an orange mane carrying a large tray on his back and one in his orange aura inside. “Everypony, this is Chef Lebouge, head chef of the kitchen in this section of the castle.” Trixie and I nodded in greeting while Smith just sat on the balcony waving like an excited school filly. The Chef took notice of him and flinched away for some reason. “Chef, these are Our friends, Blast Shield and Trixie Lulamoon, and our…” Luna paused when she turned to Smith and blushed for a moment, “…coltfriend, Silver Smith.”

The Chef jumped a bit in shock that the princess had a coltfriend, or maybe that it was Smith, but he quickly caught himself and cleared his throat. “Yes, well, I have already had the, uh… pleasure, of meeting Mr. Smith at breakfast this morning.” Even though his name sounded French, he had no sign of an accent. Rather disappointing, actually.

Everypony else in the room glared at Smith. “What’d you do this time?” I asked.

“What?” he said innocently. “I was bored when nopony I knew showed up for breakfast, so I took a quick tour of the kitchen.” Smith looked at me with excitement in his eyes. “Did you know they have a contraption called a ‘microwave’ that heats things up like an oven, only much quicker? Or that their stoves don’t use gas anymore? They use metal coils that heat up as magical electricity flows through them!”

I facehooved and sighed. “Yes, I am well aware of some of their technological advances,” I said with a nod. “If you recall, I said that where I come from, technology was much further along than we are now.”

“Honestly, it’s like he’s ever seen a kitchen before,” the Chef grumbled. “He nearly blew up half the kitchen microwaving something that he wasn’t supposed to.”

“May we eat now?” Trixie asked. “I am getting rather hungry.”

“Oh, my sincerest apologies, Miss Lulamoon,” Lebouge said and levitated the two trays onto the recently cleaned table. Once we figured out whose order was whose, I levitated Smith’s food outside to him. The Chef looked on curiously but refrained from asking, turning his attention back to the Princess. “You’re Highness, you wished to see me about Sesame Seed?”

Luna turned from her food. “Yes, I wished to ask about her behavior this morning.” She turned to look at the unconscious pony on her bed. The Chef did as well and gasped.

“O-oh my! I-is she alright?” he asked.

“She will be fine,” Luna nodded. “Tell me, did you notice anything strange about her this morning?”

“Well, yes,” Lebouge said after a moment’s hesitation. “Everything was alright up until breakfast. She and a few of the other staff members were even cracking jokes about how much food you had ordered this morning-” He quickly stuffed a hoof over his mouth. “I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Luna grinned and shook her head. “It is quite alright.”

“Were the jokes about her eating all of it herself, or sharing with somepony in her bedroom?” I asked with a smirk.

“W-what does it matter?” he asked as Luna shot a glare at me.

“It could matter a great deal,” I said with the most serious face I could muster. I could use this as ammo on Luna later.

“U-um, a little bit of both, actually.” I snickered and received a jab from Luna, only making me burst out laughing. The Chef looked between the two of us curiously and turned to Trixie, who only shrugged as she ate.

“Getting back on topic,” Luna said, “What happened afterwards?”

The Chef gulped. “W-well, Sesame began preparing your order as a few other cooks and I attempted to remove… uh…” His eyes briefly flicked to the balcony and I turned to see Smith shoveling his food into his mouth. Luna followed our glances and caught on with a facehoof.

“We’re sorry about him,” I said to the Chef. “He’s even more ‘out of the times’ than Princess Luna, believe it or not.”

“Oh, I believe it,” he said. “Anyways, once he was out of the kitchen, we finished your order and a maid and I brought it to you. Once I had returned, however, Sesame’s mood just seemed to plummet for no apparent reason. She’d start mumbling to herself and wouldn’t talk to any of the other staff about it. After a few hours, she suddenly exploded, telling everypony in the kitchen off and stormed out.”

Luna gave Sesame a sympathetic glance before turning back to the Chef. “Thank you, Lebouge. You have been most helpful.”

“My pleasure, Your Majesty.” He bowed his head.

“How exactly was that helpful?” Trixie asked.

“Well, now we have a general idea for the symptoms of Nightmare,” I explained. “We could alert the Royal Guard and staff of what to watch out for and to report it to one of us immediately.” Trixie nodded in understanding and went back to her food.

The Chef turned to leave. Just as he opened the door, Smith looked up.

“Oo! Can you bring me a piece of chocolate cake?” He asked.

“No!” I said. “Ponies who nearly blow up kitchens don’t get dessert!”

“Aww, pleeeeeeeeaaaaaase?” He then gave me his best attempt of the puppy dog face.

“I said no!” I told him. “You know just as much as I do that only mares can pull of the puppy dog look.” I continued eating my daisy sandwich but Smith didn’t let up on the face.

“I think we should let him have it,” Trixie said. I nearly choked on my food.

“What?”

“Yes,” Luna spoke up, “everypony deserves a slice of cake now and then.” I looked at the two mares who were both frowning in Smith’s direction.

“Augh,” Lebouge and I both facehoofed.

Author's Notes:

A little boom here, some touchy-feely there, and a desperate cry for chocolate cake! What more could you ask for?

Chapter 21: The Root of the Problem

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After I cracked and ordered us all some cake, we sat and ate in silence. I have never been the biggest fan of chocolate, but however those ponies in the kitchen made this, it was beyond delicious. Thoughts of ordering a few more pieces crossed my mind before I shook my head. No, don’t get distracted! We need to figure out what to do about Sesame. I glanced down at my half-eaten slice of cake and with great trepidation I sat it down on the table so I could think. Now I know why Tia enjoys dessert so much.

I tried to think of what our next move would be, but with all that’s happened recently, I suddenly realized that my mind was a mess. I stepped over to the edge of the room and sat down, facing the center. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and my entire demeanor began to change. A few months ago, I had found a meditation technique that would let me clear my head and organize my thoughts. Anytime I went into concentration mode like this, I kept my playful side in check and took everything seriously. The current situation pretty much demanded it right now.

The haze in my mind had only just begun to clear when an annoying voice sounded across the room. “You gonna finish that?”

I inwardly groaned as I cracked an eye open to see Smith pointing at my plate from the balcony. With a sigh, I shook my head and levitated it over to him, closing my eyes again. I tried to block the sound of him assaulting the half-eaten cake as I took a few more deep breaths. My mindscape was once again coming into focus until somepony else spoke up.

“I assume the lesson is done for today?” Trixie asked.

Sighing, I opened my eyes. This is why ponies meditate in solitude. “Unfortunately, yes, but we’ll pick it back up some other time. Right now, we need to focus on Sesame and the Nightmare.” Trixie nodded in understanding. “Hopefully we can have something useful for when Celestia returns.” I rarely used Celestia’s full name, unless I was talking with unfamiliar ponies or concentrating. This was obviously the latter. “We have a few hours until she gets back,” I said while glancing at the clock, “so I want to have as much cleaned up as possible for her when she returns.” My attention turned to the still un-ethereal alicorn. “What do you recommend we do with her?” I motioned my head at the bed.

Recognizing my shift in demeanor, Luna lit her horn and, with a flash, returned to her full ethereal state. “We are not entirely certain,” she shook her head sadly. “She was under the influence of a powerful being that even We couldst not fight. We think our best course of action at the moment wouldst be to attempt to awaken her.”

Nodding in agreement, I approached the edge of the bed where the pink mare was currently lying. I put a hoof to her shoulder and attempted to rouse her. “Sesame. Sesame, wake up.” I gently shook her until I heard her groan and she cracked an eye open.

“Just… just five more minutes.” Sesame closed her eyes again and rolled over. She put a hoof out, feeling the bed and the soft blankets. Reluctantly, she slowly sat up and looked down at the bed in confusion. “This isn’t my bed,” she mumbled. After taking a moment to wake up, she shook her head and looked around, inspecting each piece of furniture and window until her eyes locked on the Princess. “P-Princess Luna!” she gasped as she tumbled out of the bed, nearly falling on her face. “I-I’m so sorry!” she bowed. Her voice when she wasn’t yelling was soft, almost like Fluttershy’s. “I don’t know why I was-”

Sesame cut herself off when she felt Luna’s hoof on her shoulder. “It is alright, my little pony,” Luna said as gently as she could. “Please, rise.” Sesame did so and immediately noticed the rest of us nearby. She seemed afraid. Well, I would be to if I was in her horseshoes. “Tell Us, Sesame Seed, what dost thou remember last?”

“U-um,” She thought about it for a moment, avoiding making eye contact with anypony. “I-I was… m-making breakfast f-for you…” She trailed off, almost visibly shaking.

I stepped up next to her and gently put a wing around her. “Don’t worry,” I said softly. “You’re not in any trouble. Just relax.” Sesame flinched when my wing touched her, but she eventually calmed down a bit and smiled at me.

“W-well, I was in the kitchen making your meal while my boss and a few others were trying to kick somepony out for making a mess.” She didn’t notice the glares most of us shot at Smith, who was lying against the barrier with a hoof on his stomach and a huge grin on his face. “Once we finished, Chef Lebouge and one of the maids left to deliver it. Umm…” She looked away again in thought. “I don’t… The rest is a little blurry for some reason.”

“Take your time,” Luna said. “We are aware of how disorienting this must be.”

Sesame sat there in thought for a few minutes before her eyes gradually grew and she looked at each of us in panic. “I… Why did I do that? I-I’m so sorry!” She was getting tense again as panic crept into her voice. “I yelled at everypony! I-I would never do that normally. Oh, I’m such a horrible mare! I didn’t m-mean any of those things I said!” Sesame was bowing now. “P-please don’t take my job! T-this is all I have! I’ll d-do anything to make it up to everypony…” Her voice trailed off. I couldn’t see her face since it was pressed into the ground, but I heard her sniffle. “P-please…” she said almost inaudibly. “I’m sorry…” The pink mare sniffed a few more times before Luna quietly approached her. Sesame froze when Luna did the last thing she expected.

She hugged her.

Sesame Seed gasped in surprise when Luna used her magic to quickly bring her up for a hug. Things remained silent for a few minutes before Luna decided to slowly release Sesame. “Do not fret, my little pony,” she nearly whispered to the pony sitting in front of her. “Thine actions were not thine own. Thou hadst no control over them.”

“B-but I-”

Luna quickly shushed her. “We are aware of what you did, and We must apologize for them.” Sesame tilted her head in confusion. “It was Our curse that was thrust upon thee.” Must… resist… snicker…“We want thee to know that We have always appreciated thine work here at the castle. So much so that We have specifically requested thine services once or twice.” Sesame’s cheeks turned a deeper pink. “But it is not only thine culinary skills that We appreciate.” Sesame looked up at the Alicorn questioningly. Luna smiled warmly at her. “After our return two years ago, the majority of pony kind was fearful of Us. Thou were one of the few that showed no fear of Us and treated us accordingly, and for that, We thank you.” Luna gently bowed her head in appreciation.

This actually made Sesame giggle. “Your highness, I-I was only doing my job. Aside from the way you speak and the unnecessary use of the Royal Canterlot Voice, you seemed just like any other pony, so I saw no reason to treat you any differently than I would Princess Celestia.” I grinned to myself. This is turning out better than I expected.

Luna beamed at this. “And for these very reasons, despite what has happened today, We hereby promote thee to Our personal chef!”

“R-Really?!” Sesame gasped. She looked at the ground and started idly tracing her hoof around. “E-Even after all those mean things I said to everypony?”

“Certainly,” Luna nodded. “We know thou did not mean those things. And besides,” Luna smirked at her, “what are friends for?”

“F-Friends?” Sesame bowed her head in respect. “Princess Luna, I’m honored!”

“Please, call Us Luna,” she said, lifting Sesame’s head back up with a hoof.

“Oh! O-Of course, Pri- uh, Luna.” Sesame smiled sheepishly.

I let a few relaxing moments pass before putting my serious face back on and speaking up. “As wonderful as this turned out, I’m afraid I’ll have to cut in here.” I frowned slightly and looked at Sesame. “Right now the whole castle, if not the entirety of Equestria, may be in danger, and we need your cooperation to help fix it.” The pink mare started looking a little frightened but nodded regardless. “What you experienced was the Nightmare,” I explained, “an ancient darkness that preys on the insecurity of ponies, no matter how small, and amplifies them beyond the pony’s control. Aside from this, we know very little about it, and since you were the last one affected by it, I want to get as much information from you as possible.” Sesame nodded, a bit more resolute. “The way I see it, we currently have two options. The first is you tell me everything you can about this morning in as excruciating detail as possible. Everything from what you were doing, to what you said, to even the very thoughts that crossed your mind.”

“U-Um, I’m not sure I can do that,” Sesame said shyly, rubbing her head. “Everything after breakfast is still rather blurry.” She looked at me and tilted her head. “Um, not to be rude or anything, but… Who are you?”

“It is alright, Sesame,” Luna said. “This is Blast Shield, an old friend of Ours.”

“Oh, okay. Um…” She looked back at me. “W-What’s the second option?”

“The second option…” I shook my head, “you may not like. It is that, using Luna as a focal point, you let me enter your memories and watch what happened for myself. Unfortunately, that also means you will have to relive everything from this morning. I understand if you do not wish to do this.”

Sesame looked understandably frightened at this and glanced at Luna. “This is thy decision,” Luna said. “Thou dost not have to help if thou dost not wish to. We will, however, say that We trust Blast with Our life. Both me and my sister.”

Putting a hoof to her chin, Sesame mulled over her decision. After a few moments, she slowly sat up, looking determined, and nodded. “Okay, I-I’ll do it.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” I asked. “This will not be pleasant.”

She took a staggered breath. “Y-Yes. They are my memories, so I would probably relive them in some way or another, so why not now when I can help everypony?”

I smiled and nodded at her before facing Luna. “You also have a choice in this. Since I need to use you as a focal point, you have the ability to watch as well. Whether or not you do so is up to you.”

“As much as We would not like to watch, We feel it is Our duty to do so,” Luna said. “We can confirm if what affected Sesame Seed is indeed the Nightmare.”

“Alright,” I nodded, “let’s get this show on the road.” I looked at Trixie and Smith. “Can you two make sure we’re not interrupted?” Trixie nodded and trotted to the front door. Smith was still lying against the barrier and just waved a hoof to show he heard me. My hoof lit up as I placed it on Luna’s side, while she charged her horn for the appropriate spell.

“Just relax and focus your mind on this morning when you were making breakfast,” Luna instructed Sesame. She nodded and Luna lowered her horn to touch Sesame’s head.

After I finished wiping my station, I stood back and smiled at the sight of a clean kitchen. Unfortunately, that didn’t last too long as an order appeared in front of me at that moment. Picking it up and looking it over, I found it was a decent sized order that needed to be delivered to Princess Luna’s room.

“Chef, we’ve got an order from the Princess!” I called to the other side of the kitchen where most of the others were resupplying shelves.

“Alright, Sesame,” I heard Chef Lebouge call back as he peaked around the corner. “Could you get started on it? We’ll be right there to help in a moment.”

“Sure thing,” I nodded and started pulling out the appropriate pans and ingredients.

A yellow unicorn with a light red mane levitated the order to where he was standing a couple meters away. “Hehe, this is a lot, even for the Princess,” Quick Whisk snickered. “You think she wants to pig out this morning?”

I smirked at him and shoved him playfully. “Don’t make fun of the princess.” I giggled. “Though it’s either that… or somepony spent the night with her,” I winked.

“Ooo, scandalous!” He joked.

*CRASH*

“Eep!” I jumped, nearly dropping the eggs I was holding, and turned around to find the source of the noise.

“Hey! What are you doing in here?” I heard Lebouge call out. I could just make out a black tail from around the corner.

“Sorry about that!” a new voice said. “My name’s Smith. I’m just a friend of the Princesses’ checking out the kitchen,” he said, almost playfully.

“I don’t care who you are! You’re not allowed back here without permission!” Lebouge yelled.

Whisk sighed. “I should probably go help them out. You can get started, right?” I nodded and Whisk trotted around the corner, leaving me to start cooking.

Ignoring the sounds around the corner, I went back to prepping the Princess’ breakfast. It’s always something, isn’t it? I stopped for a moment to think about that. Almost all of them find some excuse to stop working. I tried to shake that out of my head. We don’t want somepony destroying the kitchen though, do we?

*Crash* *clatter* “Hey get away from that!”

I continued cooking and started looking around for our supply of salt. But it’s not just now. They’ll use anything to get out of cooking. I guess that was true. Just last week, half the staff left saying they were needed to deliver a single box the western kitchen. I mean, it shouldn’t take more than two unicorns to do that, right? I rolled my eyes when I found the salt in the wrong place, again.

“Cool! How does this thing work?” *Beep beep*

“WHOA WHOA! Careful with that! You want to blow us to smithereens?!”

“Agh, I need to focus,” I said to myself. Blocking my mind from anything other than the task at hoof, I continued cooking. When I was about three-quarters done, I heard the new pony yipe causing me to jerk my head in his direction. “Oh dear, I hope he’s okay…” I mumbled.

“Now we’ve got you!” the Chef called out. A few moments later I saw the Chef, Whisk and two other kitchen workers carrying a struggling grey Pegasus out the door. “And stay out!” Lebouge called as he slammed the kitchen door shut again. Chef Lebouge and Whisk trotted over to me. “Sorry about that,” the Chef said. “Some ponies just don’t know when to… leave.” He stopped when he saw everything I had prepared so far. “Wow, you work quick. Let’s help you finish.” After they washed up, Whisk and Lebouge helped me assemble the last few things on the order and put them on trays for delivery. Lebouge flagged down a maid outside the kitchen to help him deliver the food.

“Phew,” Whisk wiped his brow.

…Anger…

What? You didn’t do anything to help me, you lazy little- “That Pegasus is tougher than he looks,” Whisk said. I squeaked when I realized that was why he was tired and I felt bad about that mean thought that had just gone through my head. “Sesame? Are you okay?” he asked.

“Y-yeah,” I stammered. “J-just a dumb thought.”

“Alright then,” he said. “Let me know if we get any more orders.” I nodded as he walked off.

“Why would I think something like that?” I mumbled to myself. I turned back to my station to see it in shambles again and sighed. Why didn’t he stay and help? Well, it was my station, and I’m the one who made most of the mess. But he could’ve been a gentlecolt and offered to help anyways. I wouldn’t want to be an inconvenience though. Gathering some clean rags, I proceeded to clean up the food spots and put the dishes in the sink to be cleaned later. No, inconvenient is when you have to do most of the cooking, then be left to clean up by yourself.

…Doubt…

I… I guess he could have helped a little. I sighed and stopped for a moment, before smiling to myself. I kinda like him, though, so I don’t mind too much. I hummed to myself as I continued cleaning. I wonder if he likes me back. I wiped off the countertop and threw away the eggshells from earlier. Of course he doesn’t! You’re not much to look at, plus you make the least amount of bits in the castle. Stopping again, I felt my eyes water a little. “No,” I shook my head. “It’s only because I’m new here. And Whisk has always been nice to me.”

Nearly three years is new?!

“Well, compared to the rest of the kitchen staff-”

Compared to the rest of the kitchen staff, you have done nearly twenty years worth of work.

“B-but it wouldn’t be fair if-”

If what? You got paid for doing your job correctly?

I didn’t respond to that thought. I didn’t know how to…

…

They don’t care about you. Those stuck up royals just want to be pigs and ignore the hard work behind it!

“Yeah, they don’t care,” I angrily mumbled to myself…

…

…Rage…

…

Tell them what you really think! “I will not calm down!” I yelled at the Chef. “I work harder than anypony in here and rarely do I get recognized for it!”

“Please, Sesame, just listen!”

“No! I’m done listening!” I stormed off to the highest authority to resign…

…

…Hate…

…

I gasped as I fell backward, panting, while I tried to wrap my head around everything I just saw and felt. Rubbing a hoof on my hurting head, I saw Sesame shaking on the ground with Luna’s wing wrapped around her. Luna herself looked like she had just been crying and I saw Smith coming to comfort her.

“W-wait…” I said, trying to sit up, “H-how did…” I turned some more until I saw Celestia and Light standing next to Trixie in the doorway. “When did you get here?”

“About fifteen minutes ago,” Celestia said, helping me up. I still had a hoof to my head though. “According to Trixie, you three have been like that for almost an hour. I also dropped the shield for a moment to let Smith-”

“Augh!” I nearly collapsed to the floor from the migraine I had. I-it’s… Why didn’t see it before!?

“Zack!” Celestia gasped, holding me up.

“I’m fine, Celestia,” I said through grit teeth. “We need to go.” I feel so stupid now!

“Go? Go where?” Luna asked.

“Not important,” I started limping towards the door, one hoof still rubbing my head, “but we’re in more trouble than we thought. It’s not safe here anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked.

I turned around to Luna, who was between Smith and Sesame at the moment. “What affected Sesame was Nightmare, correct?” I asked. Luna looked downward, almost pained at the memory, but lightly nodded. I turned back to the doorway. “Then I know what’s happening, and it ain’t pretty.”

Before I could get out the door, it slammed shut in a golden glow. “Zack, tell us what’s going on!” Celestia called out.

I growled as I slumped against the door, the pain in my head getting to an extreme. “Don’t you ponies get it?!” I spat, causing everypony to flinch. “Tell me, when did Luna start behaving irrationally a thousand years ago?”

“Uh, about a year after we banished King Sombra,” Celestia hesitantly said. “Why?”

“Nnng!” I rubbed my head some more. “You don’t think it’s a little strange how Luna never doubted herself before then? And how the Nightmare just vanished from her when the Elements of Harmony cleansed her, but reappeared right when Sombra, Smith, and I showed up? I didn’t realize it myself until I felt the hatred the Nightmare poured into Sesame Seed. Agh.” My head felt like it would explode at any moment and I was lying on the ground, but I had to press on. For Equestria. “Whatever this Nightmare is,” I panted, “it’s a part of Sombra. Whether a literal piece or just a spell, I can’t tell, but we need to do something before Sombra- AUGH!” I couldn’t speak anymore. I could barely think. The pain was just too much.

Celestia quickly trotted next to me to help but stopped when a loud laugh echoed through the room. “Ha ha ha ha. It’s about time somepony got it,” a deep voice echoed. Everypony but me was looking around for the source, Celestia and Luna with their horns charged and ready to fight. “I was afraid I would have to spell it out to you simpletons.”

“Sombra!” Luna yelled.

“Yes, my dear? Oh, don’t worry. I don’t plan on hurting your little ponies. At least not yet.” There was a flash of light and Sesame and Lightwing were gone.

I grit my teeth even more. It was hard to focus.

“Oh my,” Sombra said in faux worry, “Poor Zack is in pain. LET’S SEE WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT THAT!” Instantly my vision faded as my head fell to the ground.

Author's Notes:

Whoa... Intense, right? Sorry about the cliff hanger, but I need to make sure my ducks are in a row before I count my chickens... or however that saying goes.

Chapter 22: Bad Dreams

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The guards I called out gathered around me as the rest cleared out. “Alright,” I said, “We are investigating what could be a potential threat to Equestria, near the border of the Everfree.”

Everypony saluted, except Smith, who was shifting on his hooves. “Are you alright, Smith?”

“Well, it’s just…” He paused to think about it. “If what we are investigating is a possible threat, why did you send away the rest of the guards?”

“You sure you’re not just scared of the Everfree?” I prodded him.

He just scoffed. “Like anything could scare me.”

I just laughed. “Well, truthfully, we don’t know what this could be. It could very well be nothing at all! Besides, after so long of nothing bad happening, why would something happen now?”

Smith glared angrily at me. “Thanks for jinxing us, idiot!”

I turned around, laughing, and started for the jungle’s edge, the rest of the team trailing behind, except for Smith and the Lieutenant, who were by my sides. “You’re so superstitious!” I mocked.

“Says the guy that jinxed us right before Discord showed up!” Smith rebutted.

“He would have shown up anyways,” I explained. “Just because earlier that day I said ‘What could possibly go wrong’ doesn’t mean that was what caused it!”

Smith rolled his eyes and looked forward again. “Whatever dude. Your funeral.”

After walking for a few more quiet minutes, we arrived near the outskirts of the Everfree. I had never been this close to the Jungle since I’ve been here and I can now confirm, without a shred of doubt… it looked like any other thick forest back on Earth. Seriously? It looks nothing like a jungle up close! Sure, the canopy is extra thick to prevent light from getting through, but that’s it! No vines, no excess moss… I sighed at the thought of ponies only fearing it because it’s weather and animals were untamed.

We all approached the Everfree, the guards a little more reluctantly, especially Smith. Well, he has been through a lot in there… Shaking my head, I turned back to the guards. “Alright, according to the girls, I was found somewhere around here. I want all of you to form a perimeter about ten meters in diameter around me. Smith, since you two know the most about the Jungle out of all of us, I want you and Flare to be the ones closest to its edge.” Fear flicked across Smith’s face for a brief moment before he quickly shook his head and saluted me with the rest of the team.

The guards panned out, giving me some extra space. I sat in the center of our little pony circle, and took a few deep breaths, clearing my mind and focusing on the task at hoof. After a few quiet moments, I put my two forehooves together and summoned my magic to my horn. Once I was sure I had built up enough, I reached out with the scanning spell Celestia taught me about a month ago, scanning the entire area in one quick sweep. The purpose of this spell wasn’t to give me any specifics, but just to let me know if there was indeed some kind of anomaly nearby.

I opened my eyes when the spell returned positive and looked around. Standing up, I charged a newer, more in-depth scanning spell and slowly walked around. This spell can only cover so large of an area, hence the previous spell to ensure I wasn’t just wasting my time. I stepped through the knee-high grass, scanning both magically and visually, until my eye caught a strange patch of grass that looked slightly shorter than the rest.

Using my magic to scan it, I was unable to find anything strange about it until I raised my magic skyward. About three meters in the air, there was some kind of odd magic. I instantly knew it wasn’t any of the normal magics, so that only left Chaos and Dark magic as possibilities, since I had the least experience with those.

*Growl*

Before I could decipher it any further, my attention was brought to the Everfree, where my ears caught the sound of some kind of animal. Judging by Smith’s shaking, I knew exactly what it was. “Stallions, line up!” I ordered. “We’ve got company.” The guards nodded and did as told, forming a small arc between me and the Everfree. Each of the Unicorns charged their horns and the Pegasi, except for Smith, lightly flapped their wings, preparing to take flight. “Smith, I want you back here with me.”

Without a word, Smith quickly ran backward, stopping by my side. I could see him instantly settle down a little and take a few deep breaths, before a determined gleam appeared I his eye.

We all stood there, waiting for something to happen. The Jungle remained unnaturally silent for a few minutes. Before too long, I could just barely make out a single pair of yellow eyes, followed closely by a low growl. The guards stood their ground, waiting to see if it would attack. Is it only one? After a few moment, another pair of yellow eyes appeared a couple meters to the left. Guess not.

I charged my horn and gave myself a thicker shield, in case things got rough. I didn’t have the benefit of armor the guards had, so I needed to be prepared. A couple more growls sounded and I could see at least six new pairs of eyes staring at us. “This is not good,” I mumbled.

“Heh, what’d I tell you?” Smith quipped.

Rolling my eyes, I looked back at the Everfree, just in time to see the first set of eyes exit the Jungle, attached to the face of a huge Timberwolf. I really mean huge. The Timberwolves in the show may have been around pony size, if not slightly bigger, but these guys were over twice as large. Lieutenant Light was the closest at the front of the arc from the Timberwolf, about six meters away. The Lieutenant may have been one of the few Earth ponies in our group, but I knew he could tousle when it came down to it.

The Timberwolf in front took another slow step forward as a second one left the shade of the trees as well. A couple steps later, the wolf stopped, causing the other to stop, and lowered its head, releasing another growl. For a split second I could see his eyes give off some kind of dark purple smoke before he lunged at us, causing the rest of the wolves to leap out of the Everfree as well.

Before I could react, the Pegasi were already in the air and the Unicorns were firing into the pack. Light quickly veered around and bucked the first Timberwolf in the face, causing it to instantly shatter. By the time I was finally able to contribute to the fight, six wolves had already been destroyed, but with each one they took out, another leapt from the Jungle to take its place.

A few wolves circled around the left side to get to me and I fired a cyan bolt straight into the midst of them, causing all but one to shatter, and the remaining one to catch fire, making him flee back to the forest. I quickly turned around to see another group with the same idea but before I could do anything, a silver blur swooped down and slammed into the first wolf, sending it flying into all the others. “Strike!” I heard Smith yell.

Being distracted, I almost missed the wolf that snuck its way past the guards. I barely noticed it in time just to duck under its claw and buck it in the chest. The Timberwolf staggered back a few steps, but was otherwise unfazed by my kick. It leapt at me, claws outstretched, in an attempt to pin me. Out of reflex, I teleported a couple meters to the left and sprinted at the confused wolf, shoulder-checking it and sending it tumbling a couple meters. While it tried to regain its balance, another wolf leapt over it, running straight for me.

As I dodged its attacks, I charged my horn and aimed at it. After a flash, the wolf was no longer in front of me, but nearly a kilometer in the air over the Jungle. I smirked and turned my attention to the previous wolf, which Smith was currently keeping busy. Smith may have been terrified of wolves, but he knew when to be brave and was an expert in Pegasus Martial Arts, although did he rarely need to leave the ground. His wings were mostly used to keep him balanced on his hind legs. Dodging a failed swipe from the wolf, Smith jumped up and roundhouse kicked the wolf, but instead of letting the wolf fly, he used his wings to keep his hind leg pressed into the Timberwolf’s face, plowing it into the ground, and instantly smashing it from the force of the impact.

Another Timberwolf snuck its way behind Smith, but was smashed to pieces as a cyan bolt flew through it. Smith quickly turned around to see the leftover twigs shower to the ground then turned to me in surprise. I smirked at him, my horn still fading and he chuckled. His eyes suddenly went wide when he looked past me. “Knight, look out!”

I quickly turned around in shock to see a Timberwolf in midair, its teeth only a hair’s breadth from my face…

Gasping, I quickly sat up, sweat rolling down my face. I quickly looked all around and saw that I was in my bedroom at the castle, the light of a new morning barely shining through my windows. My covers were bunched up and hanging off the bed and my pillow on the left side of the bed was slightly damp from the sweat. I took a few deep breaths to calm down and raised a navy blue hoof to push my black hair out of my face, avoiding my horn. “It… It was just a dream.”

I carefully laid back down, trying to slow my heart rate. Of course it was a dream. Why would I be near the Everfree Jungle in the first place? Once I was sure I was feeling fine again, I turned to the side to see a particular pony missing from the bed. Shrugging, I rolled out of bed and my stomach growled. Hehe, time for breakfast with the girls I guess.

After I finished my morning stretches, my horn lit up and I levitated my favorite saddlebags on my back. I stepped over to the smaller bookshelf I kept in my room and took down the second of a few small, silver books and opened it. Hmm. Yeah, this one’s all filled up now. I put it back and grabbed the next one in the row and made sure it was empty. Journal number three. It took just under six months to fill the first one and now… I stopped a moment. Two full journals. That must mean…

I quickly levitated the mini calendar I had on my nightstand over to me to check today’s date. Yep! August 26th, 10 AD. I’ve been here for nearly a year now! Tomorrow is the anniversary of my arrival. Now giddy with excitement, I replaced the calendar on the nightstand and gathered my new journal, as well as a few miscellaneous supplies, and put them in my saddlebags.

I stepped out of my bedroom and started down the long hallway leading past Tia’s old room. She still used it, but it was more for storage than anything else. We both have so much stuff in our studies that we decided to keep separate rooms, but both beds are rarely occupied at the same time, I chuckled.

Continuing my pace to the dining room, I waved at a few of the guards and maids that passed me, getting nods and waves in return. A few even greeted with a ‘Morning, Zack!’ I was pretty well known around the castle. I’m not surprised, though, with how many times I’ve saved the day. And dating their Princess doesn’t hurt either. “Coming through!” I stopped and jumped to the side as Starswirl the now-fully-bearded sprinted past me in a hurry. What’s got his bells in a jangle?

A few minutes later, I arrived at the dining room, the two beautiful Princesses waiting at the end of the table. “Good morning!” I called as I approached my seat next to Tia.

“Ung,” Luna grunted, letting her head fall to rest on the table. Up close I could tell her mane was a mess and she had bags under her eyes. I couldn’t blame her, though. Her now inverted schedule meant that this was technically her late dinner before she would head off to bed. I told her that being the ‘Keeper of Dreams’, as she calls it, is only an optional part of the job, but she insists on it, despite how it's been affecting her.

“Good morning, Zack,” Tia said, nuzzling me as I sat down. Luna levitated her mug of hot coffee to her face to take a sip.

“Luna, you know you shouldn’t be drinking coffee before bed,” I said.

She grumbled irritably a few moments before mumbling, “It’s decaf.”

“How did you sleep?” Tia asked.

I chuckled. “Pretty good, actually. Although…” I put a hoof to my chin, “towards the end I had this strange dream.”

Luna’s ears perked at this and she lifted her head. “What kind of dream?” she asked, most of her funk replaced with curiosity.

“I… I can’t seem to remember,” I said after a moment. “It keeps slipping away for some reason.” I shrugged and turned to thank the servant that brought me my pile of pancakes. Luna slowly lowered her head back to the table, giving me an irritated look, and took another sip of coffee. I rolled my eyes. Well, sorry for forgetting! Geez. She sighed and turned to the nearest window, staring outside.

I started eating my breakfast but slowed down as I looked at the worn out alicorn across from me. Luna really needs a special somepony, I thought to myself as I took a sip of my orange juice. I thought for sure Silver Smith would be the one, but… I sighed at the thought of what Luna did after he revealed his secret to her. I just can’t believe Luna would do something… like that…

-Flash-

Wait… I literally cannot believe Luna would do that! She admired him for years! Why would she-

-Flash-

“Zack, are you alright?”

“Huh?” I blinked and looked around to see both sisters staring at me quizzically. “U-uh, yeah. Just zoned out there for a sec,” I said, shaking my head.

“Alright then,” Tia gave me a peck on the cheek. I smiled and returned to my meal. What was I just thinking about? After not being able to remember, I decided to just drop it. Probably wasn’t important anyways.

----------------

“Augh! Why, Mondays, Why?!”

I yelled in irritation as another botched spell sat smoking in front of me. I’ve never been too fond of Mondays, but recently I’ve noticed that my luck was the absolute worst on those days. Normally, when I mess up a spell, it just harmlessly fizzles out before it could do any damage. But for SOME reason, they always blow up on Mondays!

Groaning, I started cleaning up the work area in my study, using the supplies I always had nearby to scrub up the dark smudges and sweep up anything I had destroyed. I learned a long time ago to keep a protective barrier over my books so they wouldn’t get burned… again.

Tia sat in the corner of the room near the door, giggling. Every morning before she had to start day court, she would watch me practice my magic, occasionally helping out. After a while she would attend day court, and then when lunch rolled around, we would eat together. Sometimes we ate on her balcony, or out in the gardens. I’ve really come to love our little routine.

“Perhaps this is why your first day here was so horrible,” Tia offered. I stopped for a moment and remembered that my first day was indeed a Monday.

“I think you’re right,” I chuckled as I finished cleaning. “Oi, I think Mondays are just cursed for me.”

She giggled some more before looking at the clock. “Well, it’s time for me to go. I’ll see you at lunch, Zack.” I trotted over to her and gave her a quick kiss before she left. As she stood up and stepped out the door, she flicked my muzzle with her ethereal tail, making me blush and chuckle.

Once she was gone, I turned back to my desk and thought about what I could do now. Hmm, I guess I could go visit my friend. I normally try to visit him and hang out at least once a day, whether or not he actually wants me there. Gathering my saddlebags and a couple supplies, I left my room.

I trotted down multiple corridors and made my way to the back of the castle. The hallways grew smaller the farther I went, and they weren’t quite as shiny as the rest of the castle. I eventually made it to a small set of wooden double doors. Using the magical key Tia taught me to unlock it, I pushed the door open and descended the circular staircase on the other side. There were no more windows, so the only sources of light were my horn and a few scattered candlesticks on the walls.

I grimaced as I approached the bottom and that old musty smell hit my nose. I’ll never get use to that. At the bottom, there was a long hallway made of cobble with various magic and sound proof doors along the sides, each one roughly six to eight meters apart from each other. I grabbed the set of keys near the entrance and trotted to the seventh door down on the right, avoiding the patches of moss that decided to make this their home. Putting in the key, I gave it a twist and pushed the door open with my hoof.

Inside was a decently lit room, about ten meters long and eight wide. About halfway in was a row of bars spanning the width of the room, leaving about a five by eight area on each side. The entire room was made up of the same cobblestone that lined the hallway, although there was noticeably less moss. You’d think that someplace as grand as Canterlot could at least improve their dungeons to be somewhat livable.

Sitting in the corner of the cell, leaning against the pile of hay and blanket that made up a makeshift bed, was a dark figure, his green eyes following the ball he was repeatedly bouncing of the opposite wall. I smirked as I remembered when I had snuck that in here for him. He stopped the ball with both hooves and turned his green eyes towards me. He always tried to keep a straight face, but I could see a small smile tugging at his lips. “Hey, Zack,” he said, a slight buzz in his voice.

I smiled a little more as I approached the bars. “Hey, Smith.”

Author's Notes:

Muahahaha...

Chapter 23: Day in the Life

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Smith and I were laying down in peace on my illusionary beach, the fake sun beaming down on us. Even though we both knew it wasn’t real, the warm sand under our backs still felt great. I turned my head toward Smith, looking through the bars that separated us. Even my powerful illusions couldn’t get rid of the magic proof bars, or the door that made up the entrance on my other side. We always found it hilarious how, no matter where I put us, there would be a random door and bars in the middle of it.

With the bright light coming off the sun, I could easily see the magic dampener around Smith’s curved horn. His chitinous skin was a little pale and peeling in some places and the green shell on his back was slightly faded as well. With his magic stopped, he’s had to solely rely on me for nourishment, so he nearly died the first month in here until I found a way to help.

Smith looked around the beach, taking in the sights of a thin grove of palm trees behind us and the occasional fake beachgoer sunbathing in the distance. After a few moments, the Changeling growled and sat up, staring out into the ocean. “Why do you keep doing this?”

“Huh?” I said, sitting up as well. “What do you mean?”

“This!” he motioned around us. “All of this, almost every day! Trying to make me feel like I’m not hopelessly stuck in some prison for the rest of my life!” Smith turned his back to me and leaned against the bars. “Keeping me company and coming to visit,” he slowly lowered his head, “even after all the hurtful things I said to you.”

I sighed and sat back to back with him against the bars, facing the door. “Because you’re my friend, Smith. I don’t want you to ever forget that. You’re having a hard time, and that’s when friends are needed the most.” I turned my head to the side so I could see him out the corner of my eye. “And don’t worry. You won’t be stuck in here forever. I will find a way to get you out. You’ve never hurt anypony who didn’t deserve it. In fact, you’ve saved lives multiple times. I can honestly say that I’d even trust you with mine.”

Smith brought his hooves to his head and growled some more. “Why?!” he buzzed. “Why do you trust me so much? When I was accidentally revealed to you last year, you were quick to accept it, knowing full well what a Changeling was and what they normally do. Not even a week before I was arrested, you trusted me with your secret of who you really are. You just-” Smith shook his head. “I want to hate you, to find a way to blame you for my being in here, and I did… in the beginning. But the past couple of months, I just…” Smith quieted down a bit. “I can’t bring myself to do it anymore.”

Separating myself from the bars, I turned around to face Smith, his back still to me. “That's because you are a very loyal friend, Silver. No matter what happens, or who comes between us, I know you’ll still be there for me, just as I’m here for you. What you are doesn’t dictate who you are. I only wish Lulu could see it the same way.” Smith flinched at my mentioning of his ex. “I’ll admit, I had doubts about you back when I first found out.” He quickly looked back at me, frowning. “But after you were incarcerated, I had time to think about it. You hid what you really were from everypony for the same reason I did, fear of losing those closest to you, and unfortunately you got the short end of the stick in that regard.” Smith’s eyes drifted back to the floor but I continued anyways. “That’s why I’m still your friend. Even though you lost somepony you love, I wanted you to know that you’d never lose me as a friend, no matter what.”

My horn lit up as I extended a hoof to him through the bars, as I usually did when I gave him nourishment. Smith mulled over my words for a moment before slowly turning around completely and placing his hole-lined hoof against mine. I released the spell and he gasped, taking in a lot more at once than he was use to. “You once commented on how much leftover love of Celestia I would bring for you,” I said as I continued to hold the spell. “Truth is, there is more than one kind of love, like love for family… or friends.” Smith’s eyes widened as I stopped the spell and pulled my hoof away. “Everything I’ve been giving you for the last few weeks has been the love I hold for my best friend, and everyday it gets stronger.”

Smith sat there, slightly frozen, before slowly pulling his hoof back to look at it. After a few quiet moments, he looked back at me, a small grin on his face. “You really do care about me.”

“Of course I do, you dunce!” I scoffed. The bars prevented me from reaching over and whacking him in his head. “If I didn’t, why do you think I keep coming here? Obligation? Pshh, please,” I waved a hoof dismissively. “I have important magic things I could be researching.”

“Whatever,” Smith rolled his eyes with a smirk. “Even with a year of practice, you still couldn’t magic yourself out of a cardboard box without blowing up half of Canterlot!”

“Hey! Just because that nearly happened once, doesn’t mean you can keep reminding me of it.” We both laughed and turned to the ocean. A few moments passed in silence before I laid down on beach, tucking my legs beneath me.

“So,” Smith started. “Anything interesting happen since the last time you were here?”

“Not really. I finally filled my second journal,” I said as I levitated my empty one out of my saddlebags nearby to show him. “Aside from that, just the same old, same old. Well, except…” I stopped to think for a moment as Smith raised a brow at me. “Back in January… did we ever venture out to the Everfree Jungle?” I turned to him. “You, me, and a few guards?”

Smith quickly shook his head. “Not that I can recall. I think I would remember going near that evil place.”

“I thought so.” I sat my head back down on the warm sand.

“Although…” I looked back at Smith, who had a hoof to his chin. “I do seem to recall you asking Celestia about something near there around that time.”

My head shot up. “Oh, yeah! I asked her if I could investigate the area where I appeared in Equestria.” I thought about it some more. “She… was about to let me go, when Luna came by and convinced her otherwise.”

“So you didn’t investigate?” Smith asked.

I shook my head. “No. Tia let me send another unicorn to check it out though, but he came back with nothing.” I sighed and turned back to the ocean.

“What does that have to do with what’s happened recently?”

“Hmm?” I looked back at Smith. “Oh, just… a strange dream I had.”

“About… us going to the Everfree?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “We were the ones investigating instead of that unicorn. The thing is… it seemed so real. Almost like a memory instead of a dream.”

“Have you tried asking Lulu-” Smith quickly caught himself, “-ahem, Princess Luna about it? She’s supposed to know a thing or two about dreams, right?”

I sighed. “Well, I was going to, but when I brought it up at breakfast and she asked me more about it… I don’t know, I just acted like I couldn’t remember it. Luna… She seems different somehow.” I frowned at Smith. “Ever since what happened between the two of you, it seems like she doesn’t trust anypony anymore, me least of all! She claims her new sleep schedule was for her duties, but I think it’s really just to avoid everypony during the day.”

We sat in silence for a few moments before I shook my head. “Well, one problem at a time, starting with you,” I pointed at Smith. “I think I may be on to something to help get you out of here, but I need to do a little more digging to make sure it will work. The beauty of a new government is the fact that loopholes can be found anywhere!” I winked at him.

Smith smiled at me as I stood up and stretched. “Thank you, Zack.”

“No problem! That’s what friends are for.” I looked around at the scenery. “I still have a little while before my lunch date with Tia, so where do you want to go next?”

He looked around with a hoof on his chin. “How about-”

*BONK* “Ow!”

Smith burst out in laughter as I rubbed my head and looked around. Settling at my hooves was a large coconut. I turned around to see a monkey in the palm tree, taunting me. “Why you little…” I only ran two meters in his direction before slamming my muzzle into the invisible wall of the dungeon. I fell backward and started rubbing my sore muzzle while Smith just laughed even harder.

“I think it’s safe to assume today’s Monday,” he laughed while I just grumbled to myself.

-------------------

Well, that was eventful, I thought as I wandered the hallways back to my room. I knew that he had something to talk about. I’m just glad he finally got it off his chest.

I glanced around as I passed by multiple guards and maids, all going about their business, the occasional one greeting me. The halls seemed quite busy today. After a while, I slowed to a stop in front of one of the many grand windows found all over the castle and looked outside. Although I couldn’t directly see the sun, I could tell it was nearly at its peak in the sky. I feel like we’ve both just lifted a huge weight off our backs. I took a deep breath. He’s my friend, I don’t care what anypo-

“Oof.” I shouldn’t have stayed still for that long. Why is it suddenly so hard to breath?! I glanced back to see a maid’s periwinkle flank resting on my ribcage. Maid? Periwinkle? I think it's just Mrs. Hooves.

The maid gasped. “I’m so sorry, sir! I-I didn’t see you,” she said, frantically trying to get up and help me. Mrs. Hooves was a wonderful maid with a silver mane and tail here at the castle, albeit slightly clumsy, not unlike myself. Kind of reminds me of a certain Wall-Eyed mare from the show. I grabbed her outstretched hoof and she managed to pull me up, despite her lack of coordination.

I righted myself and looked at her, rubbing my head as a headache took hold. “It’s alright, Mrs. Hooves. I shouldn’t have stopped in the middle of the… hallway…” Oi, my head. “Ugh-”

-Flash-

Bubbles…

“Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there!”

“It’s quite alright. It’s actually my fault. I shouldn’t have been standing still in the middle of the pathway like that… I’m actually trying to get through to the library.”

…

“I know the perfect way you can help us! Could you fly around town and ask if anypony’s seen my friend?”

“Can do! …Uh, I never got what he looks like…”

…

“Well, I think I’m going to take off. I need to get home to check on my little muffin.”

“Dinky, right?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Lucky guess…”

-Flash-

“-ir? Sir, are you alright?”

I slowly blinked and saw that I was lying on the ground again. The floor, my old friend. “Y-yeah, I’m fine,” I tried to reassure her, standing back up on wobbly hooves. “A-anyways, it was entirely my fault.” I started to massage my head again.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked, really concerned. “You just sort of passed out for a moment there. I was afraid I hurt you.”

Ignoring the pain in my head, I lowered my hoof and put on my warmest smile. “I promise I am alright,” I said softly. “Thank you for your concern, though.”

Mrs. Hooves slowly nodded as a smile made its way to her lips. Oh, the power of Tia’s smile. Love it. “Well, if there’s anything I could get you…” she offered.

“Actually,” I said with a hoof on my chin, “could you have the kitchen go ahead bring our lunch to Tia’s room?”

She quickly nodded. “Yes, sir. Right away.” She turned and was about to leave before I stopped her.

“And Mrs. Hooves?” She paused and turned her head back to me. “If you could stop calling me ‘Sir’, and just call me Zack or Knight, that would be lovely as well,” I smiled warmly at her again.

The mare returned the smile. “Of course… Zack.” Mrs. Hooves turned back around and continued on her merry way.

I had only taken a couple steps toward my destination when I had to stop and rub my head again. Why did I pass out? And why do I have the strangest sense of Déjà vu?

-----------------

Lunch with the Princess of the Sun was just like any other. We sat on a picnic blanket on her balcony, overlooking the whole of Canterlot as well as the distant fields and jungle. The sky was crystal clear, letting the sun warm us up as a crisp breeze occasionally rolled through. Tia and I sat up straight with our plates hovering in front of us as we nibbled on our beloved daisy sandwiches and daintily sipped our teas…

…At least until the local Pegasi guards finished their rounds near the balcony. As soon as the final guard was out of sight, Tia and I let out a breath as we sat down our plates. I pulled out a hidden stash of chips and various fruits from the cupboard near the doorway while Tia flashed in a couple bottles of pop and two slices of cake. What? A sandwich and tea is not a very exciting picnic, but a princess simply cannot be seen going ham on a bunch of junk food.

Relaxing, we both spread out on the blanket, huddling closer together and making sure we were both comfortable. Tia was lying so that her front hooves extended out in front of her and I was leaning against her side. She started telling me about recent events in day court; a few complaints from and about the nobles, a few compliments to Tia and Luna’s rule, and an argument between two ponies over the ownership of a pet, but what caught my attention was an incident with a farmer. Apparently, she claims that one of the nobles just outside the castle robbed her of her land in some crazy tax scheme. I wouldn’t put it past those arrogant little… Anyways, Tia promised to look into it and gave the farmer a section of unowned land quite a ways south of here, just past the Everfree Jungle. What caught my attention, however, was her name.

“Cherry Delight, you say?” I asked.

Tia nodded. “Indeed. I’m sure you can guess what her family farms,” she giggled. “They intend to settle there and build a small village.”

“Oh, really? Do they have any ideas for a name?”

“Not that I’m aware, but having the settlement just on the other side of the Everfree, I’m sure it will become a very important junction.”

I chuckled. “I’m sure it will.”

We continued talking, slowly running low on pop. I told her about the incident in the hallway a little while ago, to which she just laughed at me.

“Yeah, yeah,” I rolled my eyes. “Laugh it up.”

Tia calmed down a little. “It’s just so like you to stop in the middle of a busy hallway like that. Why did you stop, by the way?”

I proceeded to fill her in about what Smith and I discussed in the dungeon. She almost teared up at the part about my love for my friend. At least until I got to the coconut, then she was laughing at me again.

“And then he said, ‘I think it’s safe to assume today’s Monday’” I mocked Smith’s voice. I can never get that buzzing sound right, though.

“He’s certainly got you pegged by now,” Tia giggled and I rolled my eyes. “I am proud to see how far you two have come as friends. I may not be that much older than most ponies around here, but I’ve still seen how important friendship between two ponies can be.”

“And how old is that exactly?” I questioned with a smirk.

Tia shoved me playfully. “I’ve told you before, I’m not going to tell. You should know better than to ask a mare about her age, anyways.”

I chuckled. “I thought that only applied to a mare’s weight?” Tia growled and narrowed her eyes at me, but her smile told me she knew I was only picking. Shifting closer to her front, I rolled onto my back. “Well, in any case, I’m sure you’ll get a mage under you to study friendship one day.”

“It may be important,” Tia rolled her eyes, “but I doubt friendship contains enough magic to study.”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “My friendship alone is enough to keep Smith alive. There may be more to it than we can see,” I smirked.

Tia giggled. “If it will make you feel better, I’ll be sure to make note of that.”

I grinned and moved so that the back of my head was resting on Tia’s extended forelegs. Tia took the opportunity to lean her head down. Her lips met mine and I gently pushed back with my own. As she pulled away, I sighed happily and stared up at the sky. I don’t think I could be much happier right now.

My mind began to wander until a large cloud passed over the sun, providing a moment of shadow over all of Canterlot. I slowly sat up and looked at Tia, who was also confused. “I thought we were supposed to have clear skies for the next few days,” I said. Looking to the west of the castle, I could see a large group of dark clouds heading our way. “That doesn’t look like it’ll be pleasant.”

“Indeed not,” Tia said. “I’ll be sure to discuss this with the weather ponies.” She looked back around at what little food we had left. “I suppose we should clean up. We do not want to be outside when those clouds get here and I must get back to court soon.”

I nodded slowly, still staring at the approaching clouds. Something feels… off, about them. Ignoring the feeling, I joined Tia in cleaning up the balcony. There was still a decent amount of chips left, so I stored them in the cupboard again. I looked around and saw Tia gathering the last few pieces of fruit, including one delicious looking red apple. Tia had just levitated it up to eye level when I suddenly jumped for it, catching it in my mouth. She looked at me curiously, her aura still holding the apple in place, and by extension holding me in place, before giggling.

“Wha?” I asked around the apple in my mouth. “I lighe ahhles.” Tia just laughed some more. She pulled me closer using the apple and kissed my forehead, just below my horn, before letting go of it.

Happily pulling it from my mouth, I started munching on the apple as I levitated and folded the checkered blanket we were just on. Before I could do anything else, however, somepony knocked on Tia’s door.

“Enter,” Tia called out, still gathering the dirty dishes into a pile. When I heard the door open, I turned my head to see a blue unicorn, slightly lighter than myself, bowing to Tia and me. He wore a white shirt collar with a red tie and had a solid black mane, styled backward in a series of spikes. He was levitating a folder by his side, the top of which was emblazoned with Smith’s cutie mark. The Unicorn’s own cutie mark consisted of a brown gavel over a written document of some kind.

“Mr. Wright,” I beamed. “So glad to see you again.”

The Unicorn raised his head back up and rolled his eyes in irritation. “And you as well, sir. And again, my name is Writ, not Right.”

“Wright, Writ, Right, whatever” I chuckled. “You honestly look like a ‘Wright’ to me.”

Writ just sighed and shook his head. “In any case, I need to see you immediately regarding my client.” He glanced around at the various picnic supplies now being cleaned up and chuckled nervously. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”

Tia teleported the supplies and dishes away while I just chuckled again. “No,” I said.

*Rumble*

A distant crack of thunder vibrated through the air. “…The storm already did that.”

“Storm?” Writ asked as he stepped closer to the balcony, just to see the dark clouds that have only gotten closer. “That’s strange.”

“Indeed it is,” Tia said. “I’m afraid I must go now. I need to look into this sudden change in weather.”

“Of course, your highness,” Writ bowed as she approached the door.

I followed her to the doorway and gave her a quick peck before she left. “I’ll see you later.” I watched as she turned the corner of the hallway before turning back to Writ, who was smiling at me. “What?”

“It’s clear that what you two have is special,” he said. “Putting aside the fact that she’s a princess, everypony can only dream of having something like that.”

I returned a soft smile. “Thank you, Writ. That’s nice of you to say.” Before he could add anything else I straightened up. “Now, what was it you wished to speak with me about?”

He cleared his throat and his expression quickly shifted back to a professional one. “You should probably come with me.” A quick smirk appeared on his face. “I may have found something to help your friend.”

----------------------

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to sit still. I was just so darn excited! Dinner would have probably been more awkward with all the strange looks I got if my mind wasn’t in a different place entirely. I couldn’t be entirely sure, but I think I had a huge grin across my face the entire meal.

It was almost time for dessert to be served when Tia’s voice brought me back down to Equestria. “Zack, are you alright?” she whispered. That’s all it took for me to fully realize that I had been vibrating slightly in my seat for the last twenty minutes.

Mentally shaking my head to clear it, I looked around at some of the concerned glances I was getting from the nobles sitting near me. Luna, who still looked slightly disheveled from having just woke up recently, was making a point to not look at me. The Unicorn sitting right next to me almost looked fearful. I gave them a weak smile and chuckled nervously. “Sorry about that. Just, uh… a bit excited with how my research is going.” Everypony seemed to calm a bit. Well, except for the poor mare next to me. She still looked a little nervous.

Tia looked at me skeptically. I knew she figured what I was really excited about. “I take it the meeting went well?” Tia asked in a hushed tone.

“Oh, did it ever!” I whispered back. “I’ll tell you all about it later tonight.” I realized I was grinning like a fool again and took a few deep breaths to calm back down just as dessert arrived.

Tia giggled at my antics before looking at the slice of cake that was placed in front of her. She proceeded to eat her slice of doubly-triple chocolate cake before humming in appreciation. At least it’s easy to know what Tia would want for Hearts and Hooves Day, I chuckled.

Now that I was calmed down and eating my brownie-ice cream combo, I noticed the seat across from me was strangely vacant. “Tia? Where’s Starswirl? I haven’t seen him since this morning.”

She paused just as a fork-full of cake approached her mouth. I could see her force herself to put it back down before looking at me. “I’m not certain. He left before breakfast. Something about one of his experimental alarms going off.” Tia started to raise her fork again until I asked another question.

“Alarm? Alarm for what?”

Tia lightly huffed on her floating piece of cake. Not even bothering to lower it this time, she said, “I don’t know, Zack. He mentioned something regarding extra dimensions or some such.” Before I could ask anything else, she quickly shoved the cake in her mouth, immediately relishing the flavor.

I chuckled until a voice cut me off. “Excuse Us. We have some pressing matters to attend to.” Tia and I looked over at Luna, who was standing up looking slightly panicked. We watched as she quickly trotted out of the room, nearly knocking over one of the servants. Luckily I was able to catch him in my magical grasp before he fell.

After making sure the servant was fine, I gave Tia a curious look. She matched my gaze and we both shrugged. Probably forgot something in her room. She can be a little, er… airheaded at times. Especially when she first wakes up.

The rest of the meal went without incident. Tia finished her third slice of cake, I made amends with the mare next to me, servants cleaned up after us (I offered to help but was turned down). Overall it was just the same old, same old.

Tia and I left the dining area and made our way back to the bedrooms since Tia’s duties were done for the day. It stayed unbearably quiet between us. I didn’t want to talk about my meeting with Writ until we were completely alone. What? I’ve grown pretty paranoid the last few months! You would too if you’ve been targeted for foalnapping and assassinations as many times as I have… Well, it was only twice… and almost half a year ago… but my point still stands!

Thunder quietly rumbled outside, bringing me out of my thoughts and giving me a conversational idea. “So, crazy weather, huh?” In a world where ponies directly control the weather, it is as excellent topic starter.

“Indeed,” Tia replied. “I talked with the local weather coordinator and he says that this storm shouldn‘t exist. The best explanation he could give for how it formed was ‘Everfree Magic’.” Tia giggled. “His team is trying to get some sort of control over it right now, but it would seem like the storm is too much for them.”

I smiled. “Ah, well, no storm is going mess up the castle with those defensive spells Starswirl drummed up.”

“And those spells would normally require constant recharging if not for your input on the matter,” Tia pointed out.

“I’m sure a genius like Starry could’ve figured something out on his own,” I shrugged. Tia rolled her eyes. She hates it when I put my abilities down like that. We had just arrived at our hallway when-

*Flash* *CRACK*

An unexpected lightning strike scared me out of my mind. Even the ever-stoic Princess Celestia flinched in surprise. Once she was able to calm her heart rate, she looked at where I had just been standing, only for her to see a lone set of saddlebags clumped on the floor. “Zack? Zack, where’d you go?”

“…U-up here…”

Confusion flashed across her features before she glanced up to see me upside down, clinging for dear life on one of the support beams on the ceiling. “How did…” A warm smile reached Tia’s lips as she shook her head. “I swear, sometimes you seem to be part Pegasus.”

“O-oh, Ha h-ha.” I stuttered. “N-now could you be a dear and help me d-down? I d-don’t know how much longer I-I can hold on…” As I spoke, my rear hooves had already begun to slip. I looked up/down at Tia in time to see her spread her wings partially before tucking them back to her sides.

“I don’t know~,” Tia sung. “It’s kind of cute to see you in peril.”

“Aww, c-come on!” I whined. I looked back at my hooves to see a rear one slip free. Scrambling, I tried to pull it back up to the beam, only for my forehooves to slip. “Eep!” was all I managed to squeak out before clinching my eyes shut and plummeting…

…for all of one meter, into a pair of soft forelegs. I cracked an eye open to see Tia smiling and holding me in midair. Letting out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, I sighed “oh, thank Celestia.” I chuckled lightly. “Literally, I guess.”

Tia just rolled her eyes again as she brought me to the ground. “I still cannot believe those kinds of sayings have caught on. They say them as if my sister and I are some sort of deities.”

She sat me down and, without warning, I immediately went to her side and jumped onto her back, nearly knocking her over and earning a slightly annoyed glare from the alicorn. “I don’t know,” I smiled as I wrapped my hooves around her neck. “You’ll always be my Amaterasu.” At her blank look, I decided to explain a bit. “She’s the Sun Goddess in one of the religions on my old world.”

Realization set in and Tia turned from me, blushing. “Please, I’m no goddess.”

“Whatever you say, Ami!” I chuckled before tapping her back and levitating my saddlebags back up to their usual resting place. “Now come on! There’s still something I need to tell you!” Tia smiled at my antics before making her way down the rest of the hallway. We passed her room, then the kitchen, then window after window, each one typically showing the beauty of the night sky, although right now it was dark and rainy.

As soon as we approached my room, I noticed my door was slightly ajar. Hopping off Tia’s back, I motioned for her to keep quiet as I shrouded myself in invisibility. I peeked into my room to see a unicorn standing in the dark, and holding some sort of small device over my bed in a dim silver glow. Unicorn, Silver, quirky device, hasn’t been seen all day. It didn’t take long to put the pieces together.

I stood behind him and lowered my invisibility. With a flicker of cyan, I lit the candles in the room and spoke up. “Why are you in my room, Starry?”

Not a single reaction. Not even a bucking flinch. “Oh, hello Knight,” he greeted coolly. “Just scanning for anomalies.”

“In my bedroom?”

“Yes.”

“How the hay did you even get in here?”

Starswirl stopped what he was doing with the weird apparatus and turned to me. “You have your ways around your inventions, and I have my own around mine.”

I guess that makes sense. He made the magic locks on the castle doors. I lifted the saddlebags from my back and sat them next to the bed. “But there is still that little thing amongst ponies called ‘privacy’. Heard of it?”

I heard Starswirl grunt in some sort of acknowledgement as he messed with his little gizmo. It was a small sort of rectangular box with various wires coming in and out of it. There was also a small, immobile dish towards the front. I couldn’t help but feel it looked somewhat familiar as Starswirl mumbled something about the dish suppose to be spinning.

“You could have at least asked,” I grumbled.

“Asked what?”

I turned around to see Tia walk in, regarding Starswirl in confusion. “Asked if he could break into my room and scan it with… whatever the hay that is.” I turned back to Starswirl. “I mean, you even ran right past me this morning.”

“This morning I had no idea my search would lead me here,” he replied, not even looking up at us.

“So you’ve been searching all day?” He nodded.

“Searching for what, exactly?” Tia asked. I guess that’s important too.

“A tear,” he said quietly. Tia and I looked at each other in confusion while Starswirl fiddled with his gadget some more. Before we could ask further, he sighed and put the doohickey away. “I guess I should be going. My scanner seems to have stopped working so I’ll let you two get your sleep.” He trotted to the doorway. “Good night.”

“Wait! I’m not done with you!” Before I could even step out the door, there was a flash of light and he was gone. With a defeated sigh, I stepped back in the room, shutting the door behind me. “Today’s been a long day,” I mumbled, rubbing my face with a hoof. Tia followed me as I made my way to the bed and plopped down on it. “Ugh, I hate Mondays.”

Tia cooed as she settled down next to me, nuzzling me. “At least today wasn’t all bad,” she pointed out.

I managed a smile and looked up at her. “I suppose you’re right. Smith and I had a heart-to-heart, I got to share a balcony picnic with a beautiful mare,” Tia blushed and glanced away for a moment, “and, according to Writ, we may be able to free Smith! As soon as next week, if need be!”

“Oh?” Tia beamed. “You two have found something substantial?”

My smile quickly fell to a half smirk. “Eh… not exactly… What we plan to use is more of a… technicality, if anything. An error we found in the laws on citizenship.”

“Citizenship? Care to elaborate?”

“Well, Smith entered Equestria as a Pegasus pony,” I started. “One of the very first things he did here in Equestria was try to join the Royal Guard-”

“-And to be a Royal Guard, one must become a citizen of Equestria,” Tia finished for me.

“Exactly, which he did, passing the test with flying colors, if I recall correctly from the records.”

Tia slowly nodded. “Alright, but what does his citizenship have to do with freeing him now?”

“I’m getting to that. Now, as a citizen of Equestria, Smith has inherited the inalienable rights that come with that title. Including the right to a fair trial!”

“So… since he never got a trial, your plan is to give him one? I fail to see how this will help too much, since he was arrested for being labeled an enemy of the kingdom.”

Ugh, racism amongst ponies. It’s almost sad. “Changelings are labeled as enemies to the kingdom, BUT once again, we refer to those inalienable rights he has as a citizen. The law says that he, and I quote, ‘will not be discriminated against, regardless of race; Unicorn, Pegasus, or otherwise.’ I’m sure the lawmakers only intended the ‘otherwise’ to include Earth ponies and Alicorns, but that’s where the loophole is. There is no law against a Changeling becoming a citizen, so they cannot just strip him of his citizenship, and thus, he will be given a fair trial, and his guilt will only be determined by his actions as a citizen of Equestria, and we both know that he has never done anything wrong in the eyes of the law… well, besides a few misdemeanors, but I mean, come on. Even I have a few of those.”

Tia pondered my words carefully. “That… may just work. Is everything in place for Writ to see this through?”

I shook my head. “Not quite yet. He still needs to iron out a few details and he said he would share it with one of his lawyer buddies to double check that everything will work, but in a day or two, Smith could be on his way to freedom.”

*Crack*

The thunder made me jump, but it wasn’t quite as bad as it was in the hallway. I glanced outside the window to see that the rain had gotten worse. A warm wing made its way across my back and pulled me close to Tia’s side. Thunder doesn’t really scare me. In fact I find it quite relaxing. But since coming to Equestria, I’ve become a lot more jumpy at sudden loud noises. I wonder why that is?

“Well, I certainly hope it all works out for you,” Tia said as she nuzzled the top of my head, bringing me from my thoughts.

“I do too.” A yawn escaped me and I chuckled. “Today really has been a long day, so I guess we should be nodding off soon.” Tia nodded in agreement and we both got off the bed. She started preparing it before I noticed my saddlebags still sitting on the floor nearby. “I’m gonna put my stuff up. I’ll be right back.”

Levitating my saddlebags, I started emptying a few of its contents. I noticed the journal and decided to go ahead and write while it was on my mind. “Do you mind if go ahead and fill out today’s events, Tia?”

She glanced at me to see the journal floating next to me. “No, go right ahead. I still need to wash up anyways.” With that, she made her way to the bathroom and I turned to enter my study.

I finished unpacking the last few things from my saddlebags and teleported it back to my nightstand before setting the journal down on my dirty desk. I chuckled when I saw that I forgot to clean up my mess from the explosion earlier. I was about to lift a quill from nearby when a light tapping sound distracted me. Turning my head and swiveling my ears, I could tell it was coming from the window.

Cautiously, I approached the window to see what was causing the noise. As soon as I was right in front of it, the tapping stopped. I also noticed the rain was no longer falling on it. Carefully, I opened the window inward, only wide enough to stick the tip of my muzzle out.

Bad move. Before I could react, the wind picked back up and flung the window inward, sending me flying against the back wall of the study. In my daze, I was almost tempted to do that again, when I suddenly got a terrible migraine...

-Flash-

Wind… Rain…

…

“The storm ended up worse than we thought. Everypony should be careful going home tonight.”

“Don’t worry, everypony. I’ve got a solution.”

“What?”

“Bubbles…”

…

“Whoa. That… was… AWESOME! I want to do that again!”

“No, you’ll just hurt yourself again.”

“Aww, come on…”

…

“Where did you park your wagon?”

“I hitched it right outside the farm’s main entrance. Why?”

“So, you didn’t crash it into the top of an apple tree then?”

“WHAT?!...”

…

Darkness… Black aura…

“Muahahahaha…”

-Flash-

“-ease wake up! Zack!”

“Huh? Wha…” I rubbed my head with a hoof and tried to look around. I was leaning against the wall on the far side of my study. Any papers I had lying about were scattered around the room and there was a sizable puddle in front of the window. Tia was lying in front of me, the worry on her face quickly shifting to relief as she watched me wake up. “What- augh… what happened?”

“I’m not certain.” Tia instantly looked worried again. “I heard some kind of ruckus in here and when I came to inspect, you were lying here unconscious and the window was wide open!”

I groaned as my memory slowly returned to me. “It was my fault. I’m sorry.” Tia raised a brow at me but huddled closer regardless. “I heard a tapping at my window and the rain had stopped, so I went to check it out. The next thing I know, I’m being flung across the room in a torrent of wind, and then…” I grew silent.

“And then what?” she asked, curious.

“I… I can’t remember…”

“Well, you were probably knocked unconscious from the impact,” Tia guessed.

“No, no. There was… something else…” The pain in my head grew. “Something about… another storm… and then somepony… dark? I’m not sure…” My voice faded out towards the end.

“Come on. Let’s get you to bed.” Tia picked me up in her golden glow. “We can clean this mess up tomorrow.” In my incoherent haze, I managed to give a murmur of agreement and Tia carried me to the bed.

I had already begun to drift off as Tia laid me down and crawled up beside me. A warm, feathery blanket wrapped around me and I leaned my head against the fuzzy white wall to my side. As I faded to dreamland, I heard the rain outside beat relentlessly against the windows and the occasional roll of thunder. Somepony must be very angry right now…

------------------------

I am VERY ANGRY right now!

I know, sir.

What are you even doing? You are supposed to be keeping your namesake by making his life a living nightmare!

Voices… they seem… familiar…

I’m sorry, sir. He just-

Just what?! He has obvious doubts for Luna and the Changeling, but what do you give him instead? I wonder why it’s so dark… Aside from a disgruntled lunar princess and a temporarily out of reach friend, he has the perfect life! I don’t want his life to be perfect, I want it to be living TARTARUS for what he did to me!

I understand that, sir, but-

It’s not enough to just kill him and his friends, no. I want them to watch as their worlds fall to pieces around them. Watch as the very ponies they care about abandon them and leave them for dead. But once again, all you’ve managed to do is give this idiot the love of his life! How one manages to screw up so badly-

Sir!

WHAT?!

Ooo, that echoed…

Ahem, this is not my fault. Y- Ah! Before you say anything, let me explain. Whatever he is, he’s no pony. For some reason unknown to me, his mind is less malleable than a typical pony’s. It’s like his mind is almost shielded from direct influences like mine. If I could hazard a guess, I’d say even Luna could not manipulate his dreams without his conscious consent. She sounds smart with her smart words…

Whatever doubts he has, I cannot easily magnify them like I could any other pony. The most I could do in a single day’s time was increase Luna’s distrust in him, put Smith just out of reach, and even make Mondays slightly worse than normal. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I search, I cannot seem to find even the smallest doubt for Celestia.

Is somepony growling? Heheh, that sounds funny…

Then what? You have full power over this illusion! Just manually upscale his doubts!

I cannot. If things get unbelievably worse, he will realize that something is not right, and the illusion will be broken.

…

If I may suggest, sir… while I cannot influence his doubts directly, there is more than one way to create a nightmare.

Hmm… Do it.

Bye bye strange head voices! I’ll miss you…

Author's Notes:

Three months and this pathetic chapter is all you get? Tsk, tsk, tsk. If I were you, I'd stop right here. There's no point in continuing to follow this story. Unfav right now and walk away. Such a lengthy hiatus cannot be a good sign for things to come...

Proofreaders:
RavenGuardian17, candyman20XX, and Bincho777 (He changed his username to ParadigmShift)

Bonus Chapter 1: Behind the Story (Optional)

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Aha! My first bonus chapter! I want to start off by saying thanks to everypony that’s been enjoying my story. I’m still pretty new at writing, so I didn’t expect to get this much attention. Thank you.

Anyways, to celebrate my first milestone, 3000 views and 600 favs, I present to you a collection of deleted/alternate scenes from my time planning Past, Present, and Future. Warning: The plot in some scenes differs greatly from what the story is currently on. If you're easily confused or don't have a firm grasp of what's currently happening in the story, DO NOT READ THIS. This is entirely optional! If you don’t care about my planning process, or how some events early in the story came to be, feel free to ignore this chapter.

For the rest of you, enjoy!

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The following is part of the first draft of “Chapter 2: Fun?”

When she finally relaxed a bit I decided to ask her for a favor. “Can I ask you for a favor?”
Twilight looked at me suspiciously, “Depends. What do you want?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction. I did come off as a little creepy and suspicious with my appearance and vague answer. “Well, I just need you to send the Princess a letter for me. I actually haven’t seen her for a while and thought it would be best to send her word on where I am and how I’m doing.”
Twilight was incredulous, “How do I know you’re telling the truth? You’re being awfully vague.”
“Well, how about this. You send the letter. Whether or not she responds to knowing me would be your proof. I mean, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to ask your teacher if she knows a mysterious stallion at your door, would it?” I grinned at her.
She put a hoof to her chin to think. “I… guess not. But no funny business. If she doesn’t know you, you’re out of here. Deal?”
“Deal.” I shook her outstretched hoof.
“Spiiiiike!” Twilight called.
The little dragon came running down the stairs to see what Twilight wanted. “Yes, Twilight?”
“Can you take a letter?”
“Sure. Is it another friendship report? It’s a bit early in the week for that, isn’t it?” Spike asked.
Twilight glared at her assistant. “No Spike. I just need to confirm something with the Princess. What do you want it to say, Blast?”
I thought for a moment then remembered something only she and I would know. “Just tell her that a mysterious stallion has appeared at your door and he says ‘Only two knew the sun rose from the west.’”
Spike looked confused but wrote it down anyway. “Is that it?”
“Yep.” Spike rolled up the letter and burned it, sending it towards Canterlot.
Twilight was curious. “What does that mean? ‘Only two knew the sun rose from the west’? It rises in the east every day.”
I laughed. “It’s an inside joke between her and I. It happened a long time ago, basically she-“
Suddenly, a huge explosion of light and magic cut me off. Twilight’s mane flew back and Spike was practically thrown at the wall, knocking him out. After readjusting my eyes I saw a white alicorn standing in the middle of the room, looking around frantically.
“Oh, hey Tia. Long time no see.” I said nonchalantly. I looked back to see a stunned unicorn and unconscious dragon and decided to continue my story. “Anyway, as I was saying, one morning she was… Uh, Twi? You paying attention? It’s a really funny story.” She kept staring at Celestia, who, in turn, was looking at me, confused.
“Z… Zack?”
I sighed at not being able to finish my story but quickly turned to the Princess with a huge grin. “Hey Tia. How’s Wittle Wuwu doing? Better I hope.”
I had never seen Tia’s jaw drop so far. She could almost give Pinkie a run for her money. “You…you look…”
“Different, I know. Don’t know how, but all I know is it happened. I miss being a unicorn though.” I turned to Twilight, who hadn’t moved an inch. “Twilight, enjoy being a unicorn now. You might not be one forever.” Technically true since I knew she was destined to be an alicorn someday soon.
Tia had tears in her eyes and was slowly walking towards me. “W-where did you go? You disappeared over three millennia ago!”
Before I could respond, Twilight broke out of her stupor. “Wait, WHAT!?! Three thousand years ago? How old are you?” she asked me.
“23.”
“…”
Her eye twitched. It was kind of funny and adorkable.
I turned back to the princess, who was less than three feet from me, looking like she might break down any second. I explained all I could. “Look Tia, I’m so sorry. All I remember is going out on that patrol near the Everfree Jungle. The next thing I know, Nurse Redheart is waking me up and I have a terrible headache like I was struck by a frying pan.”
Celestia couldn’t help but giggle through her tears. “I always said your head seemed to have its own gravitational pull.”
I pouted at her. “Hey, my head isn’t that big.”
“Yes it is,” Celestia said.
“It kind of is,” Twilight said, throwing in her two bits.
“Just a bit.” What the hay?! Even Spike joined in. I didn’t even know he was conscious!
“Augh! Whatever!” I was suddenly pulled into the air for Tia to give me a life-crushing hug.
“We thought we had lost you. Luna and I spent the next six months searching for you and found nothing.”
“What, only six months? I thought I was more important than that.” I returned the hug with as much force as I could, but I knew the ‘all-powerful’ alicorn wouldn’t be phased by my strength, or lack thereof.

This scene was scrapped due to issues planning the next few interactions, e.g. Meeting Luna, Revealing past as Sapphire Knight, Mixing in the flashbacks appropriately, and a few other kerscuffles. Aside from its preplanning stages, this is part of the very first thing I ever wrote for the story, so I wasn’t as adept as I am now with keeping characters… in character. I hated Zack and Celestia’s dialogue the most, so I did an entire rewrite, eventually making Celestia more like a calm, experienced ruler and sending Twilight and Zack to Canterlot.

----------------

“Behind the Story” Fun Fact #1: Did you know that it wasn’t until chapter 6 that I had the idea of giving Zack a non-Royal friend? Smith started as a small joke in one of the flashbacks until I figured Zack seemed too alone, so I flung Smith into the heat of things with him.

Don’t believe me? Here’s an old version of Smith from an outdated Chapter 6: All Is Revealed:

I rolled my eyes. “Well, I don’t need the whole army at my side.” I walked to the front of the group. “Listen up, at most I’ll only need about eight of you with me. Lieutenant Light, you’re with me.” He trotted to my side. “I’m also gonna take… Star, Flare, Mills, Rich, Green, Songs, and… Smith,” I said, pointing out each guard as I said their name. “The rest of you may continue your previous duties in Canterlot.”
“I still don’t understand how you can recognize each of us,” Light told me.
“Well,” I said with a smirk, “I invented the enchantment for your armor. I should also have a way to see around it, right?”
The guards I called out gathered around me as the rest cleared out. “Alright,” I said, “We are investigating the entrance to a potential threat to Equestria, near the border of the Everfree.”
Everypony saluted, except Private Smith, who was almost visibly shaken. “Are you alright, Smith?”
“Well, it’s just…” He paused to think about it. “If what we are investigating is a possible threat, why did you send away the rest of the guards?”
“Haha. Well, that’s the thing,” I said. “We don’t know what this could be. It could be nothing! Besides, after so long of nothing bad happening, why would something happen now?”
Oh boy. Did I just jinx us?

See? He started out as some minor scaredy-cat Private. Way different from what he is now, huh?

-------------

Just For Kicks

Here are a few lines/jokes that were removed from the story, as well as a running joke still in the story that at least half the readers missed. (Truthfully, those should have been the ones removed.)

In Chapter 6: All Is Revealed, sometime after Zack convinces the group of his knowledge of MLP:

“I have another question for you,” Rainbow Dash said.
“What would that be?” I asked.
She glared at me with a serious look on her face… before grinning and sounding excited. “Do I have a catchphrase?”
“What?” Rarity asked.
“You know,” Dash looked at her, “A catchphrase. A line or something the cool characters in stories say regularly that makes them more memorable.”
“Oh,” Rarity said in understanding. Dash turned back to me, questioningly.
I had to chuckle. “Well, honestly from the first moment you appeared, you got a catchphrase in ten seconds flat.” Well… It may have been a little more than ten seconds.
The other girls in the room giggled as Dash did a hoofpump. “Sweet! What is it?” Everypony stopped laughing and looked at her. “What?” she questioned.
“Uh, Sugarcube?” AJ started. “That was yer catchphrase.”
“What was?” Dash thought about it for a moment. “The ‘ten seconds flat’ thing? I don’t say that that often,” she shook her head.
“Yeah, you do Dash,” Twilight said. “Remember? It was one of the first things you said to me after I told you to clear the skies for the Summer Sun Celebration.”
Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Once doesn’t count as a catchphrase.”

I stopped writing right there because I found that I was going way off topic on something with virtually no meaning to the story.

Also in Chapter 6: All Is Revealed, I was going to have Zack explain what a human was, and under the assumption the general fandom was correct, say “You know, those things Lyra obsesses about?” I scrapped the whole ‘human’ dialogue before it got anywhere, so I don’t have a copy of it.

Here’s a few quotes from Chapters 6, 7 and 17. Maybe you guys can catch the running joke with them so close together? Hint: What is Pinkie best known for doing to the fourth wall?

Tia grinned at me. I guess she believes me. I mean, with everything that’s happened, why wouldn’t she? “So, that’s how you knew about my little ponies?” she asked.
I snickered and Tia looked confused. “Oh, sorry,” I said. “I usually laugh when a book or show mentions its own name inside it.” That got a few more confused looks. “‘My Little Pony’. That’s the name of the work of fiction based on y’all.”

After a few moments of silence, Applejack spoke up. “So let me see if Ah’ve got this right. You were a… Hue-man that was magically dropped in Equestria 3000 years ago as a fancy Unicorn, disappeared, and then reappeared here as a Pegasus, and you know a heap about our past, present, and future?” Pinkie snickered for some reason.

Tia rolled her eyes and nuzzled me and I returned it. It felt a little weird, but I liked it. When we separated, I looked back at the journal on my desk. “It’s been technically only a few days since I’ve written in that thing, but it feels like an eternity now,” I said as I picked it up with my magic and brought it closer to me.
“Do you plan to continue writing?” Tia asked.
I shook my head. “Nah. There’s no need to anymore. Everything in here is in a past life.” I could swear I heard Pinkie Pie giggling somewhere in the distance.

------------

“Behind the Story” Fun Fact #2: "Wittle Woona" in Sapphire Knight's time was going to be extremely filly-like personality wise before I came up with a few things she'd need to be slightly more mature for, like keeping Knight from hitting on her sister, advancing more in her magic studies, and, yes, dating Smith. Although by the point Knight shows up, both Luna and Celestia are well above the age of adults (not telling their real ages due to possible spoiler/plot later in the story), their mental maturity was only about a mid-teen and young adult, respectively.

“Behind the Story” Fun Fact #2.5: Although it's never directly mentioned in the story, Smith is only younger than Zack by a couple years. That's why I made the crack about Luna being 'Barely Legal' in a flashback.

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The following is the first draft of Chapter 15: Seeing Double. Note that this was written before I even published Chapter 13, so details and story direction was set to drastically change by the time I got to publishing this one. Originally, Smith's doppelganger was really Smith. Both of them were, but the travel through time, or what Sombra did prior to that duplicated him.

Like I said, as I worked my way toward this chapter, plotlines changed, and frankly, I didn't want to do a heap of storytelling. You'll see what I mean:

Smith and his doppelganger approached each other with identical looks of confusion on their faces. They each looked just as disheveled the other. Our Smith from the storm last night and the other from getting ruffed up by Twilight’s older brother.
They stood face to face to each other. Same height, mane, coat. Hay, even their cutie marks were identical! After circling each other a moment, almost making me lose track of our Smith, they lifted their right hooves to each other. The Smiths repeated this a few times before one turned to us and the other turned to Luna.
“This… is awesome!”
“This… is awesome!”
They quickly turned back to each other, a huge grin plastered on their faces.
“I knew I was hot…”
“…but this is ridiculous!”
I facehoofed. Great! They’re already finishing each other’s sentences! “Smith, please. This is serious!”
“What’d I say?”
“What’d I say?”
I groaned and one of the Smith’s sat down and looked at Trixie and Me before turning to the other Smith. “Who are the other two?”
“Oh! The mare is Trixie Lulamoon,” the other Smith suddenly looked a little apprehensive at the mention of Trixie’s name. Trixie raised a brow at him. “And you might not believe this, but that Pegasus is actually Sapphire Knight!” Smith explained.
“Really?” Smith stood up and walked over to me with a serious look on his face. “Prove it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Two weeks before we vanished, you and I were at the pub when this really cute mare walked over to you and said-”
“Stop!” they both yelled, panicked.
“I believe you!” the Smith in front of me said. “You promised not to tell anypony about that.”
“That didn’t stop him before,” Luna muttered.
I gave Smith a glare similar to the one he had used earlier. “Now prove you’re Silver Smith.”
He jumped and did a backflip in the air. “You mean aside from the awesomeness I’m giving off?” The other Smith started cheering and applauding.
“You certainly sound like him. Tia, you mind giving me a hoof?” I asked.
Tia walked up next to me. “What do you need?”
“We’re gonna check both Smiths in case one’s an imposter,” I explained and turned to the Smiths. “Sorry buddy, but with the possibility of… you know who…”
Smith nodded, but the other one tilted his head. “You mean Sombra, right?” he asked.
I looked at him questioningly. “Uh, how’d you know?”
“Dude, I’ve been awake for over two days. You don’t think it’s strange that I only just now got to Canterlot?”
I thought about it for a moment. “I’m guessing you’ve had your own run in with him?”
Smith nodded. “Not directly, but it doesn’t take a Sapphire Knight to figure out it was the Prince.”
“King,” Our Smith corrected.
“WHAT?!” Smith yelled. “How did that creepy jerk end up a king?”
“We’ll explain in detail later,” I said. “Long story short, he took over an entire empire 1000 years ago, making himself king, but was quickly overthrown by Tia and Luna.” I shook my head. “Anyways, since we’re all on the same page about who’s behind this, you know why I have to be careful, right?”
Smith nodded. “Yeah, go ahead.” He chuckled. “It’s not like this would be the first time you’ve blasted meEEEEEEE!” Smith’s volume increased as Tia and I hit both of them with our magic.
After a few moments, we released the Smiths, dropping them unceremoniously to the floor, and we looked at each other curiously.
“Heh, so,” one of the Smith’s started as he tried to stand back up, “what’s the verdict?”
“You’re… both Silver Smith,” I said and sat down to think.
“But… how are there two of him? You sure it’s not a changeling?” Trixie asked.
I nodded. “I’ve met a changeling before, nice guy, by the way, so I know how to detect one. Both Smith’s are giving off almost identical signatures to the Smith we all knew 3000 years ago.”
“What dost thou mean ‘almost’?” Luna asked.
“Well, there will be some minor differences,” I explained. “Whether it’s from teleporting to the future, Smith’s involvement in clearing the storm in Ponyville, or the other Smith’s involvement in… Whatever he did after waking up.”
“Why has he been split into two, then?” Tia asked
Luna and Trixie both nodded, also wanting to know. Smith sat down next to Smith.
I looked around to see everypony staring at me in expectation. “What?”
Smith rubbed his head. “Well, you’ve always been the one who could explain bizarre things before anypony else.”
I sighed. “Well, I’ll try my best, but I think we should fill Luna and… Smith in on what’s happened so far.” I turned to Smith. “I’ll start with the truth about me…”
-------------------
Smith just sat on his pillow with a blank look just like Smith’s yesterday. We had all moved to Tia’s study to be more comfortable, making most of the Royal Guard turn their heads at the two Smiths. I waited for the obvious comment.
“I always had my suspicions,” Smith said.
Right on cue. I decided to roll with it. “About what?”
He smirked at me. “That you were some kind of alien.”
I raised a brow. “…What?” That actually caught me by surprise.
“Well, you weren’t the most subtle, you know,” Smith said. “The way you acted at times seemed a little… alien. After the first few weeks, even you were having issues believing your amnesia story.”
“And don’t get me started with the verbal slip-ups,” our Smith cut in. “I think you said ‘Someone’ and ‘Anybody’ more than the council at a griffon conference.” Everypony in the room except Trixie nodded.
“When you put it like that,” Tia said, “I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner.”
“Anyways,” I continued, “here’s what’s happened since yesterday…”
-------------------
After I finished explaining what we talked about on the train ride over, Silver (that’s what I’ve taken to calling the second Smith to separate them) crossed his forelegs and huffed.
“I knew that guy was no good.”
I chuckled. “I said it once, and I’ll say it again. You just didn’t like him because he had a thing for Luna.”
“He was hitting on her even after Luna and I were publicly dating!” both Smiths yelled, causing Luna to look up, a slight red in her cheeks.
She lightly nodded. “He really did.”
“Okay, now that everypony’s filled in,” Trixie spoke up for the pillow she had been lying upside-down on, “can you tell me why we have a double dose of ‘annoying’ over here?” She pointed at Silver, but then hesitated. “Wait, which one’s which?”
I laughed. “Smith, the one we were with, is that one.” I pointed at Smith. “Silver, which is what I’m calling the other Smith for clarity’s sake, is that one.” I moved my hoof to point at Silver.
Tia raised a brow. “How can you tell the difference?”
My hoof lit up and I held it out to her. “May I?” I asked Tia. She looked confused but nodded anyways. I touched her leg and her head briefly lit cyan. “Now look.” She turned to the Smiths again. “Smith,” I pointed, “Silver.”
“Oh! That’s clever!” she said and smiled at me.
The Smith’s looked at each other for a moment. “What?” they asked.
“Before I go into the difference between you two,” I looked at Silver, “I want you to tell me what happened after you woke up.”
“Oh, okay…” Silver looked a little nervous. “You know I’m not good at long explanations, right?”
Smith patted his back. “Of course I am! What are you talking about?”
“The Garenger Assembly?” Silver and I both deadpanned.
Smith quickly retracted his hoof and grimaced. “Riiiight…”
Silver took a deep breath. “Anyways, it all started two days ago…”
-------------------
-Silver’s POV-
I woke up with a horrible headache. Why do I feel like Knight on a good day? When I was finally able to move, I opened my eyes, just to see more darkness. I slowly stood up and brought a hoof up to my head to find my helmet. It was unusually tight, so I struggled to take it off.
I finally got it off and inspected it. My helmet had a huge dent right above the engraving ‘S.S. waz here’. That would explain the headache. I tossed it to the side and looked around to see where I was. It looked like I was in a clearing in some kind of thick forest. I really hope I’m not where I think I am. I walked over to the edge to try to look into the forest, but it was too dark. I frowned and turned back to the clearing.
“Alright, so I’m in the middle of the Everfree Jungle,” I said to myself. “I have no weapons, my armor is damaged, and I don’t have any supplies.”
-------------------
“Wow,” Smith said. “That sounds eerily familiar.”
I nodded. “No kidding.” Tia and I looked at each other for a moment.
Luna looked like she was growing inpatient again. “Well, go on!” she told Silver. “What happened next?”
“Well, I started panicking a little until I looked up…”
-------------------
-Silver’s POV-
“An opening!” I gasped. I hadn’t noticed it before, because there was no moon or sun to shine light through, but I could still see stars. “It must be either early morning or late evening.”
I inspected the hole for another moment before spreading my wings to take off. After a few test flaps, I rose through the opening in the canopy-
-------------------
“What?!” Smith yelled. “That’s not fair!”
“What?” Sliver asked.
Smith crossed his forelegs and pouted. “The crash in the Everfree Ju- err, Forest injured my left wing! I had to walk through the scary place, only to be ambushed by some Timberwolves!”
“Oh my, I heard.” Luna said and hugged Smith. “Are you okay now?” Smith nodded and hugged her right back.
“That explains why you asked about my wing when you saw me,” Silver said to Luna.
“You’re getting a little ahead of yourself,” I reminded him and looked at Smith. “And please, no more interruptions.” Smith nodded.
-------------------
-Silver’s POV-
After a few test flaps, I rose through the opening in the canopy and looked around. The sun had only started rising. Okay, not the Everfree Jungle. The trees were too short overall and I could easily see a large field between here and Canterlot where the tree line used to reach. Wait, Canterlot looks different for some reason. I couldn’t be absolutely sure in this dim light, but it looked… larger.
I started flying towards the city before something caught my eye to the left. I turned to see some kind of small village. That didn’t use to be there. I ignored it for the moment and continued to Canterlot.
About an hour later I stopped to take a break. I glided down to the field below and found a single oak tree to rest under. Phew. It looks like it’ll take a few more hours to get there. The sun was a little higher, so I could see Canterlot a little better. Yeah, it is bigger. The castle didn’t use to have that many towers. I looked around the field I was sitting in. And this all used to be jungle. How long was I out?
I sat there for a few minutes trying to remember the last thing that happened to me. “Let’s see… Tia asked a bunch of guards to accompany Knight on an expedition. I joined the ranks outside. Knight called me out and selected a few others… We… went to the jungle’s edge for him to scan something, then…” I tapped my head a bit. “Augh. I wish Knight were here. Oh wait! We were ambushed by-” I shivered a little, “Timberwolves.”
After thinking on it for a while longer, I realized I wouldn’t be able to remember anything else anytime soon, so I took off north towards the city again. Another hour went by and my stomach growled. I stopped to look around and spotted a wagon on the dirt road beneath me. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if I asked for a little food.
I glided down and stood outside the little caravan. It was about four meters long and two wide. A bit cramped, isn’t it? I knocked on the door.
“Who’s there?” I heard a mare ask.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m on my way to Canterlot by wing and I don’t have any supplies on me. Would you mind donating something for me to eat?”
I heard some movement inside. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not deal with hitchhikers or beggars.”
“Please, Ma’am. I don’t normally do this, but I’m a little desperate at the moment.” Look at me. Reduced to groveling for food.
That was you?!
…Yeah.
It took me the whole day to clean up your mess! I was late to Ponyville because of you!
Trixie, please. I said no interruptions.
Hmph.
“Please leave before I summon the guard” I heard her say.
“First of all,” I said, “I am part of the guard. Second,” I looked around at the vast fields in every direction, “We’re sort of in the middle of nowhere. How would you summon the guard?”
The mare, I assume her name is Trixie, hesitated. “Magic, of course!” Wait, ‘Great and Powerful’, small caravan, magic… Am I really begging for food from a carnie?
CARNIE!?
Trixie!
“So there’s nothing you can give me?” I asked the showmare. Silence. “Agh, fine!” I flew up to her roof and waited.
A few minutes later I heard the door open and a blue mare in a tacky magician’s outfit covered in stars stepped out and looked around. I couldn’t see her face from above her hat, though. Trixie stepped around the corner of her caravan. I took the opportunity and quickly flew down into her open door and shut it.
She quickly ran to the door and started pounding on it. “Let me in you sorry excuse for a-”
“I just wanted something to eat! I’ll open the door in a minute!”
-------------------
“Really, Silver?” I interrupted. “I knew you get crazy when you’re hungry, but breaking in somepony’s home and stealing?”
Silver looked down dejectedly. “Look, Trixie, I’m sorry. I never act rationally when I’m hungry, and I promise to pay you back for everything I broke or stole.”
Trixie’s expression was a mixture of anger and sadness and she hesitated. “…It doesn’t matter now anyways. My home was destroyed in the storm in Ponyville.” She quickly glared at Silver. “But don’t you even think for one second I won’t get you back for that!”

I couldn't find an easy way to have everything here meld into the plot I wanted, so it was scrapped. This was actually the first chapter that I had to completely throw out and start over from scratch. It was just... horrible, quite possibly the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!

...except, you know, not really the worst, just inconsistent and annoying, like I already had the idea of Smith being a changeling, so how would physical hunger really affect him like that? And I didn't like the idea of changing the story to write from somepony else's point of view. It seemed like too much trouble this far into the story.

Author's Notes:

Welp, that's mostly it for this bonus chapter. Again, thank you to everypony reading and favoriting my story.

If anypony has any questions, please comment or PM me about them. Authors love coming online to a notification about new comments.

Bonus Chapter 2: Rule 63½ (Optional)

View Online

Author's Pre-Note:
Before you ask, just like the previous bonus chapter, this one is not required to get a better understanding of the main story. I only posted this in celebration of reaching 4,000 views and to curb you guys over until I can get some proper work done on Chapter 24.
My idea behind this chapter was two-fold. First, I wrote it in an r63 alternate universe, which I will explain more about at the end of the chapter, but basically I sometimes write r63 versions of popular stories to practice my writing skill. Second, as you are soon to find out, a few details in this version of Chapters 1 and 2 have been greatly revised, even more so than just flipping some genders around. This is how I wish my first few chapters had came out; greater detail and much more fleshed out in regards to the rest of the story. Not to mention an awkward moment or two, because why not?
With that in mind, I plan to do a complete rewrite of Past, Present, and Future eventually. Don't worry! I'm still gonna finish what I've already started before doing that. I predict I should be done with the current version of the story by late Spring (heh, uhh, let's just wait and see how long this will actually take), and then I'll worry about a rewrite.
Anyways, on with the chapter!

CHAPTER 1: Awakening (Word count: ~3,400)

“…cuse me? …re yo…ay?”

Ow, my head is killing me. I bet I’ve almost beat my own record for the number of consecutive head injuries in one week.

“Ma’am, …ou alright?”

Someone’s trying to get my attention. I should probably answer. “Uhg, w-what?” Smooth, Genny. Real smooth.

“I was asking if you were alright,” he responded. The voice was clearly masculine, but gentle at the same time.

“Augh. Y-yeah, I think I’ll be fine. I probably just hit my head too hard.” I groaned inwardly as my body began to ache all over.

The voice chuckled. “I would be surprised if you didn’t after a crash like that.”

Crash? Did I wreck a car or something? I… can’t seem to remember. Groaning again, I attempted to crack an eye open, only to be blinded by sunlight. I winced and lifted an arm up to shield my eyes, failing to notice what my ‘arm’ actually looked like.

Despite my burning corneas, the voice continued, this time a little closer to me. “I’m actually surprised you’re conscious. An impact like that would usually leave anypony out for hours, if not a couple days!”

“Practice,” I answered out of reflex. “Wait, anypony?” Moving the shade from my face, I was finally able to focus on who was talking to me, only to see the last I was hoping to. “Ugh, ponies.”

Now, don’t get me wrong! I love My Little Pony just as much as the next fan, but let’s just say that I’ve been here already. Well, not right here. Turning my head, I could see that right here was different. I was in the middle of some sort of field between some kind of forest and… wait… Is that Ponyville? Geez, how long was I out?

Er… Maybe I should back up a bit.

My name is Jennifer, or just Genny to my friends. Yes, ‘Genny’, with a ‘G’. Don’t ask why, that’s just how I’ve spelled it since pre-school and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Anyways, I am 23 years old and a brony. What? Don’t look at me like that! Personally, I think whoever coined the term ‘Pegasister’ was an idiot. I prefer ‘brony’ as a gender-neutral term for adult fans of the show My little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Back on topic, about five months ago, I woke up in Equestria. ‘Yay! Every brony’s dream!’ right? Well, not exactly. For reasons that are completely unknown to me, I woke up in Equestria’s distant past, like, even before the royal brothers were, well, royal! The year was 9 AD when I arrived, or ‘After Discovory’ in regards to the discovery of Equestria. You know, the time of Starswirl the Sorceress and Waldo the Wise? Yeah, that early. Judging by the familiar town in the distance, I’d say I was currently in the time period of the show. How did I even get here?

“Ponies? What do you mean ‘Ponies’? You’re a pony too, you know.” The white stallion standing next to me brought me out of my thoughts as he got closer. The pink in his tail and his short mane beneath the nurse’s cap on his head directly contrasted his bright sapphire eyes. His cutie mark was difficult to make out from this angle, but it looked like a red cross with small hearts around it. In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, this was Nurse Redhoof.

Turning my attention to the limb that was currently doing a crappy job of blocking the sunlight, I found an orange hoof hanging there. “Huh. I guess you’re right.” Something was weird, though. No, not the ‘being a pony’ part. I was pony before, but I looked different for some reason. My once navy blue coat was now a slightly burnt orange color. While I was staring at my hoof, Nurse Redhoof took the opportunity to grab it and gently help me up. “AGH!” I cringed as a sharp pain went down my spine, like somepony tried to taze me while simultaneously stabbing my back with a rusty-

Oh, sorry. It really hurt. That’s all you need to know.

To his credit, Redhoof reacted well to my pain, instantly supporting me from behind while allowing the pain fade away. After a little bit of a struggle, and a few whimpers from me, I was finally sitting up, the pain in my back now just a dull ache. Nurse Redhoof made his way around me, inspecting my face while it was still slightly scrunched up in discomfort.

While he continued to inspect me for any more injuries, I looked around the field we were in. Overall, it appeared to be slightly elevated from town, random flowers of nearly every color spotting the landscape. The grass was unusually orderly being this far from Ponyville as it was all the same height and didn’t come up past my fetlock. The occasional tree sprung up in the mostly empty field, disrupting the monotony of it all. Well, aside from nearby, where there seemed to be a huge crater of some kind, about two meters long and half a meter deep. Anything that used to be growing there was gone now. I wonder what caused that…

As I turned my head to look around some more, I noticed my long mane hanging limp on the edge of my vision and used a hoof to bring it in front of me. Instead of the usual jet black color like I was used to, it was a soft brown, although the silver streak from before was still there. At least some things didn’t change. A quick glance down at the tail between my legs showed that it was also palette swapped.

My headache started acting up and I lifted a hoof to my temple, rubbing in irritation. Why does everything have to get so complicated around me? I began to fix my mane to help me clear my head, when I noticed something that made me freeze in fear, a hoof to my forehead. I… oh, please don’t tell me…

“Alright Ma’am,” Redhoof spoke up from behind me, “You appear to be fine everywhere else. Please extend your wings for me so I can inspect them as well.”

My head veared around in shock. “W-wings?!” Right there, tucked against my side, was an orange wing. “B-but I’m not-” Turning my head, there was indeed a matching wing on the opposite side. “I wasn’t-” I shook my head, “Where’s my horn?!” I frowned, rubbing the empty spot on my head that was supposed to have a pointy magic-guiding bone protruding from it. I had really grown fond of my horn over the last five months. We’d been through a lot together.

“Uhh… ‘horn’, miss?” Redhoof raised an eyebrow. “You’re clearly a Pegasus.” My frown turned into a cute pout, my eyes going wide and tears threatening to spill as I stared at the Nurse. He suddenly took a step back in shock. “O-oh, please don’t do that. I can’t-” He turned his head to look away, but his traitorous eyes remained locked with mine. “L-look, ma’am, can you just… spread your wings so I-I can see if you injured them?”

Dropping the look and giving a quick huff, I glared down at the stupid replacements. “I’ll try,” I grumbled. Mentally searching for any unknown muscles in my back for a few moments, I finally managed to make them twitch a bit. After a few more failed attempts at spreading them, I sighed, looking away from Redhoof dejectedly. “I… I don’t know how.”

The nurse was understandably confused. “You… don’t know how to spread your wings?” he asked, making sure he had heard me correctly. I nodded. “You mean you don’t remember how?”

I simply shrugged. “Sure, let’s go with that.” Faking amnesia helped before, so why not now?

“Well, I don’t want to just pry them open in case they are injured.” Redhoof hummed to himself in thought as I looked towards town. There were a few trees near the edge of town, blocking my view of the first few houses, but from my slightly elevated position in the field, I could see the thatched and shingled roofs of the homes and businesses further in. The two most prominent landmarks, however, were Town Hall, which stood at least a couple stories higher than the rest of the buildings, and what I assumed was the Library, if the huge treetop with a balcony was any indication. Sugarcube Corner must have been on the other side of town, since I couldn’t spot it.

While I was inspecting the town, the mischievous smirk on Nurse Redhoof’s face barely registered in my mind until it was too late. I finally looked up as the white stallion slowly circled me, grinning, his eyes half-lidded. He suddenly stopped next to me and leaned in to whisper something in my ear.

After a moment, Redhoof backed away as I stared blankly ahead. If I wasn’t blushing already, then my face was certainly on fire now. I’m not even gonna repeat what he just said, so help me God. I at least want to keep a shred of dignity to myself. Whatever his goal was, he apparently achieved it as his face quickly lit up. “Ah! There we are!” he said before making his way behind me again.

Shocked, I quickly turned my head to see what he meant, only for my muzzle to hit a batch of disheveled orange feathers. I pulled my muzzle away to see that both of my wings were currently on full display, regardless of my input on the matter. Did… Did he do that on purpose?!

Redhoof poked and prodded at my wings for a while, rubbing a few flight muscles to make sure they were alright before finally speaking up. “Well, except for needing to be preened, your wings appear to be in perfect condition.” He gave me a wingboner… “My best guess about the sharp pain you experienced earlier would be some sort of pulled muscle near the base of your wings.” …on purpose. “Any remaining pain should be gone within an hour or tw-”

*SLAP*

Everything went silent as we both sat there in shock after what I had just done. About ten seconds ticked by before Redhoof brought a hoof up to his muzzle and adjusted his jaw a bit. “I suppose I deserved that,” he chuckled.

I, on the other hoof, was having a mild panic attack. “I-I’m so sorry! I don’t normally do that! I don’t know what I was thinking!” I looked down at the guilty hoof. “Bad hoof! Bad!”

“Hey, it’s alri-”

“But YOU!” I glared at the stallion again. “Don’t you ever DARE do that again!” I froze and retreated a bit. “U-unless, you actually mean it, cause you are kinda…” Redhoof and I both blushed as I shook my head. “You know what, nevermind. Forget this ever happened.”

Nurse Redhoof chuckled as his blush faded. “Yes ma’am. Try moving your wings now,” he pointed at my half-extended wings.

I turned and watched as my wings gradually relaxed. As they did so, I could feel each muscle stretch and compress. Focusing on those muscles, I slowly opened my wings back up and pointed them outward. After testing my wings’ range of motion, I tucked them back to my side and turned to face Redhoof, rubbing the back of my neck. “Uh, thanks.”

The nurse chuckled as he extended his hoof. “No problem, miss…” he paused as I shook his hoof. “You know, I never got your name.”

“Oh! I’m sorry!” I giggled. “My name is…” I trailed off. I couldn’t very well use Jennifer, could I? It’s not very Equestrian sounding. What did I call myself before? Oh, right. Cobalt. Ugh, I’m such an idiot sometimes. I couldn’t use that now anyways, since I was no longer blue. I glanced back at my cutie mark to see a bright red circle behind some sort of blue and gold shield. That can’t be right. I thought for sure it was an orange and gold shield. Shaking my head, I spat out the first name that popped into my mind. “Amber. Amber Guard.” Yay! I didn’t blurt a stallion’s name this time! “And you?” I asked. The last thing I wanted to do was say somepony’s name before I was properly introduced. That could easily raise a red flag to some ponies. A certain rainbow streak came to mind.

Redhoof grinned. “A pleasure to meet you Miss Amber. My name is Nurse Redhoof.” He turned to walk back to town, motioning me to follow. “I work over at the local Hospital.” I shuddered slightly at the word, but he didn’t notice. “I was just on my way there when I saw you crash near the Everfree Forest.”

“Really?” I rubbed my chin, somehow managing to walk with only three legs on the ground. “I can’t seem to remember too much from right before that.” Yeah, like why I was turned into a Pegasus, thrown into the future, and crashed to the ground.

The nurse chuckled. “Yeah, really. Memory loss is to be expected from an impact like that, though. I don’t care how much practice you claim to have had with being knocked out, the mini-detonation that went off when you hit the ground would knock the sense right out of Prince Solaris himself.”

“Was it really that bad?” I asked sheepishly. Wouldn’t be my worst accident, but it definitely sounds like it’d be in my top thirty… “Wait… I caused that crater back there?” I turned to glance back at the crater we just walked away from.

Redhoof nodded. “I had to pull you out before I tried to wake you up.” Okay, it just moved up to my top twenty. He slowly glanced back as well, his expression falling a bit. “It’s… actually a miracle you managed to step away with nothing more than a headache and a pulled muscle.”

I giggled at his dumbfounded expression. “What can I say? I’ve had my fair share of incidents.” The majority of which had little to do with crashing, however. Ever had magic blow up in your face? Not very pleasant.

He looked at me as his brow rose. “Well, you’re obviously not from around here, or I might have seen you at work more,” he chuckled.

“I’m actually from Canterlot,” I stopped in my tracks for a moment, glancing at the mountain-side castle in the distance. “I… I’m not sure why I’m all the way here in Ponyville, though.” That was the truth. This was all part of the Everfree back in the time period I was from, so why would I be out here to begin with?

Redhoof noticed my frown, having stopped trotting when I did. He placed a hoof on my shoulder in an attempt to cheer me up. “Don’t worry your pretty little head,” he chuckled. “It’ll come back to you. Whether all at once or gradually with time, I’m not sure, but it will come.”

I looked down at the ground for a moment before I remembered something mildly important. I’m in a bucking new time period! I should really find out ‘When’ I am so I don’t go shooting off my mouth when I shouldn’t. We continued walking as I raised my head back up to Redhoof. “What’s today’s date? Um, in full, please.”

He raised a brow again, but answered anyways. “I think it’s June 18th, 1002. Just a few days before the Midsummer Solstice Festival.”

1002? That can’t be right. It was just 10 AD, and I know Arty was banished for at least a thousand years, so maybe they use a new calendar marker. “I’m sorry, but I’m old fashioned. Do you happen to know the year in A.D.?”

His face cutely scrunched up in thought before realization set in. “Ooh. I’m sorry, I don’t know what year it is in A.D. off the top of my head. I didn’t even think anypony still used A.D. since the defeat of Darkhorse Knight a thousand years ago. Almost everypony in Equestria uses A.D.K. nowadays.”

‘After Darkhorse Knight’. I guess that makes sense. If that was true, then it must be two years after Artemis returned, and if the seasons of the show were literally a year each, I must have appeared not long after the Changeling invasion. So I guess I should avoid revealing the whole ‘Alicorn Prince’ thing. I just hope I’m not around for Berry’s Mirror Pool incident. I shivered a little at the thought.

We continued walking for a few minutes before we stepped on a dirt road that split off in two directions. “I guess this is where we part ways,” Redhoof spoke up.

“Huh?”

He motioned down the path away from the center of town. “The hospital is just down this way, and I assume you want to head into town, which is in the opposite direction,” the stallion directed my attention down the path towards Ponyville.

“I guess it is, then.” I smiled and turned back to him. “Thank you so much for helping me.” I giggled. “I’m happy a handsome nurse found me instead of some rogue Timberwolf.”

Redhoof blushed as he scratched the back of his head. “It was nothing really. Anypony would have done the same.” Anypony in this time period, at least. “Is there anywhere in particular you need to go? I can point you in the right direction if you want.”

I smiled warmly at the stallion and shook my head. “No thanks, I’m sure I can find my way around on my own. ‘When in Roam’, right?”

“Alright then,” he chuckled as he turned to walk away. “I hope I don’t have to see you at work!”

“Don’t worry,” I called after him. “I typically avoid Hospitals at all costs!” I turned and started my lonely trek into town. Before too long, my mind began to wander, pulling random ideas about my current situation.

What the hay was I doing here? Trying to look back at the last thing I could remember, I kept drawing a blank. I vaguely recalled leaving Canterlot for some reason, but my memories wouldn’t line up for more than a split second. I would try to research what happened and send myself back, but… I sighed to myself. Magic was once again out of my grasp, probably permanently this time. Alright, so I guess I’m stuck here.

I shrugged to myself, but flinched when I felt my wings try to shrug with me. Oh, yeah, and now I have two new currently-useless appendages to learn how to use. I guess flying could be fun, though. Well, as soon as I learn how to. I’m sure Solly or Arty could teach… me… My trot slowed to a stop right as I was about to enter the main street of Ponyville. Solly and Arty… They hadn’t seen me in at least a thousand years that I knew of. For some reason, I suddenly felt guilty. I felt like I had just abandoned two of my closest friends in this world, and it wasn’t even my fault! At least… I don’t think it was. I seriously hoped it wasn’t my fault.

Gradually starting a trot again, I thought about what Silver would say if this ended up being my fault. Something snarky, probably. She can’t take anything seriously, even when it’s life-threatening. I giggled as I recalled my best friend mouthing off to the embodiment of Chaos herself. Well, I guess first things first. I need to get word to Solly about how I am, and the only way to do that now, since I don’t have magic anymore, is through Dusk Shine.

I was abruptly shaken from my thoughts when a chestnut Earth pony mare with a dark brown mane rushed past me back toward the edge of town, nearly bowling me over. Careful there, Professor, I laughed to myself. It’s not like the world is ever in danger around you. I turned back to where she came from to see almost a literal wall of ponies crowding what I would guess to be the marketplace if the various stalls and ponies yelling about deals was any indication.

“Well,” I mumbled to myself, “This ought to be fun.”

CHAPTER 2: Fun? (Word count: ~5,000)

I just… I’m not even gonna go into detail of how unfun it was to even step into the sea of Technicolor ponies, so here’s a brief summary of what happened:

“I’m sorry.”

“Excuse me.”

“Watch it kid!”
“I’ll pay you back for what I broke later! I promise!”

“Pardon me.”

“Oops, my bad.”

Then I was finally able to take my first step forward. Yeah, it was that bad.

I was quickly surrounded by ponies of every variety and immediately became grateful to any almighty being out there that I wasn’t claustrophobic. There appeared to be a great deal more ponies living in Ponyville than the show ever made it seem. Mares were actually slightly more prominent as well. I guess that just comes down to lazy animators.

It wasn’t until I was about twenty meters in that I could do something that vaguely resembled breathing again, but I kept moving regardless. Glancing around for Town Hall, I failed to notice the pony that stepped right in front of me and we both fell to the ground, their pink tail briefly hitting my face. I scrambled to get back up before a large blue stallion could step on my head.

“That was my bad.”
“I’m so sorry.”

My ears perked at the gentle voice. Was that Butterscotch? I turned around to search for the shy Pegasus, but he was already gone, consumed by the crowd again. Oh well, I’ll probably get to meet him later.

I quickly stepped off to the side of the crowd to avoid getting run down again. After making sure I wouldn’t break anything standing there, I looked around the skyline in hopes of spotting the top of Town Hall or the Library, but the only things I could see were the buildings that lined the street, most of which were just indoor businesses, like just to my left was the Joke Shop in all its jester’s-hat glory.

Sweeping my gaze back over the masses, I spotted a familiar orange stallion working a familiar apple stall on the other side of the street. I guess some directions to Town Hall wouldn’t hurt right now. I carefully stepped my way back into the conglomerate of color, trying to avoid getting plowed over.

But when does anything ever work in my favor?

Halfway across the busy road, a loud ringing noise sounded from the Joke Shop behind me, causing me to pause mid-trot and look around. Unfortunately while I was doing so, a grey stallion backed up into me, bringing us both down to kiss the dirt. Ugh, if I hit the ground one more time today, I swear… And why can’t I breathe? I turned my head to see the stallion’s bubble-covered rump crushing my wing and ribcage. Ohmygosh! It’s Dopey! I would have audibly squee’d if I wasn’t being suffocated and turning slightly purple at the moment.

The Pegasus sitting on me shook his head and looked around before finally noticing me. He suddenly gasped and stood up, turning back to face me. With his weight now missing, I gave in to my lungs' demands and inhaled as much oxygen as I could in a single gulp. Stallions are heavy! “I-I’m so sorry, miss!” Dopey said, reaching for my hooves to help me up. “I didn’t see you there!”

I grabbed his hooves and began to pull myself up. “It’s no big deal. It was my- Eep!” Before I could balance myself properly, a pony nearby bumped into my flank, instantly sending me to the ground again. Thankfully without somepony on top of me this time.

“Oh dear,” Dopey said as he pulled me up again, using his wings to fly and lift me quicker this time. “Are you alright, miss?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I giggled as I got my bearings back. When he landed I could see directly into his golden eyes, which were, in fact, slightly diverged, but nowhere near the extreme that appeared in the show. He was smiling sheepishly and rubbing one of his forelegs with the other. Across his back, he sported a light brown set of saddlebags, probably filled with goods from the market. His short blond mane and grey coat were slightly dirty from the fall, immediately causing me to become self conscious of how bad I probably looked. I should definitely get cleaned up soon. My mane probably looks like a train wreck. We stood there awkwardly for a moment before another stallion nearly bumped into me again, shaking me from my thoughts. “Uh, let’s keep moving to avoid a massive pony pile-up, shall we?”

Dopey chuckled nervously as we both turned to walk further down the street. “Right. Again, I’m really sorry about that.”

“It’s no big deal,” I smiled. “It was my fault for stopping in the middle of the road. I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t be a little scatterbrained at times.”

The Pegasus chuckled. “I know how you feel. My name’s Clutzy Doo, by the way, but my friends call me Dopey.”

“Dopey, huh?” I smirked. “That sounds like a mean thing to call somepony’s friend.” It really did, but I mean, come on! It just seemed so cute how it fit the clumsy stallion so well!

The grey Pegasus just smiled. “I don’t really mind. It’s just a nickname, like calling a short pony ‘Tiny’ or something. Besides,” Dopey's grin brightened up a bit more, “I’ve really grown fond of it ever since I moved here from Cloudsdale.”

His smile seemed contagious as a larger one made its way onto my face. “Well, Dopey, my name is Amber Guard. It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

“Right back at ya! It’s always wonderful meeting new ponies.” Dopey looked me over critically. “You wouldn’t happen to be new in town, would you?”

“Mhmm,” I nodded. “I actually just got here from Canterlot. I was just trying to find my way to the local library when I bumped into you.”

Dopey’s head tilted to one side. “You came all this way just to visit the library?”

“No,” I giggled. “More specifically, I’m here to meet Dusk Shine. I’ve always loved magic, so I really wanted to meet the Element of Magic himself!” Both statements were technically true.

“Huh,” Dopey blinked. “I’ve never met anypony who likes magic that much who isn’t a unicorn. Do you want me to show you where he lives?” He looked away as he rubbed his neck. “It’s the least I could do for sitting on you.” Dopey and I finally stepped out of the crowd as we approached town square, Town Hall looming high not too far away.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I don’t really want to be an inconvenience.”

“It’s no problem,” Dopey waved me off. “I needed to go past there to get home anyways.”

A quick glance in every direction still showed no sign of the Library’s large canopy. “Heh, I suppose that’d be nice. Ponyville is much larger than I thought it would be. I might accidentally get lost on my own.”

“You know you’re a Pegasus, right?” I could recognize that scratchy voice anywhere. Dopey and I looked up just as Rainbow Blitz glided down in front of us. “You could just fly to find where you need to go!”

Ugh, this guy. Of all the ponies I could have met today, he had to be one of them. I watched as Blitz crossed his arms and look at me smugly before suddenly realizing that he was waiting for a response. Quick, Genny! Come up with an excuse! You’re great at making those! “I’ll have you know, I’m… not allowed to fly! Yeah! Doctor’s orders.” Perfect! “I sprained my wing coming out of a dive a couple days ago, so I’m temporarily grounded.”

Blitz winced. “I sprained my wing once. It was not a pleasant experience.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Dopey blurted, looking over one of my wings. “I had no idea it was injured! I didn’t make it worse when I sat on it, did I?”

Rainbow snickered. “You sat on her?” Dopey quickly stopped inspecting my wing and turned away, blushing.

“Don’t worry, Dopey. It doesn’t hurt anymore.” I turned back to Blitz again. “Yes, we had a bit of a collision in the marketplace earlier.”

Blitz rolled his eyes. “Why am I not surprised?” he mumbled.

I glared at him. Well, that was rude! Before I could voice my thought, however, Blitz suddenly spoke up again. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around town before,” he said, looking me over.

“She just got here from Canterlot!” Dopey perked up.

“Canterlot, huh? Well then, the name’s Rainbow Blitz, fastest Pegasus in Equestria!” he bragged, doing a back flip in the air before hovering near my face. “But I’m sure you already knew that.”

I frowned. “Amber,” I returned curtly, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. I didn’t have anything against Blitz personally, but over the past few months I had grown to absolutely despise ponies who were so full of themselves. I know Silver acted like that sometimes, but it was all in jest. She knew how much I couldn’t stand it. Turning back to the grey stallion next to me, I smiled again and motioned forward. “Come on, Dopey. I want to get to the Library before lunch time. I heard Dusk’s assistant makes the best nachos.”

He happily nodded as we stepped forward before looking back at the colorful floating Pegasus. “You wanna come with, Blitz?” Doooppeeeyyyy, nooooo…

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” Rainbow replied, quickly catching up to us. “I needed to get something from him anyways.” I sighed in defeat as Dopey led the way down one of the many dirt roads branching away from Town Hall.

Things actually managed to stay quiet for a few minutes until Blitz came up next to me, flying backwards with his hooves behind his head. “So, what brings a pretty mare like you to Ponyville?”

This time I didn’t bother to hold back my rolling eyes. “I came to meet the Element of Magic. I enjoy learning about magic-” I could see Blitz’s interest suddenly drop, probably because I’m just another ‘egghead’, “-and Prince Solaris always talks about his prized student, so I figured, why not?”

Dopey gasped. “You know the Prince?!” I smiled and nodded. “That’s so cool! How’d you meet him? What’s he like? Is he really as tall as they say?” I giggled at Dopey’s excitement, but Blitz looked skeptically at me.

“You know Prince Solaris?” he asked.

“Eeyup,” I smirked. “Best friends with him, actually.”

“Pfft, yeah right,” he chuckled. “Quit lying.”

“What makes you so sure I am?” I asked. “Is it because I don’t act like Nobility?” I stopped, quickly shifting to a more poised stance and speaking in a snooty accent, “Because I will have you know, good sir, that I am not, in fact, ‘lying’, as you so eloquently put it. It is simply you who is misconstruing the truth!” Dopey started chuckling. I thought I sounded quite convincing.

Rainbow Blitz just glared at me. “How do I know you’re not just a spy, though?” he asked, meeting me almost muzzle to muzzle. “You could just be making something up so you can get close to one of my friends!”

“Blitz, come on. Just leave her al-”

“Stay out of this, Dopey!” Rainbow shot Dopey a quick glare before looking back at me.

“Don’t yell at him!” I stuck the sharp tip of my hoof to his chest and promptly shoved him away, causing him to wince. “I’m as much a spy as Elusive was when you accused him!”

Blitz’s eyes widened a little. “Wha- See?! Only a spy would know that I accused him!”

I rolled my eyes. They fall for that every time. “Actually, I just took a wild guess. You’re the one who just confessed to doing it.” That’s interesting to know that he thought Elusive was a spy, though.

Confusion crossed the cyan stallion’s face for a moment before he huffed and glared at me again. “I’m watching you.” Blitz prompted turned and took off again, only making it half a meter in the air before suddenly slamming to the ground.

“Oops,” I said innocently, lifting my hoof off the prismatic tail next to me. “I’m so sorry.” I failed to keep a smile off my face. Glancing toward him, I saw Dopey try to hide his behind a hoof.

“What the buck?!” Blitz said, sitting up and wiping the dirt out of his tail. “You did that on purpose!”

“What?” I brought a hoof to my chest. “Moi? I would never. Although I do have to ask; do you treat all new ponies like this? Or just the mares? I’d say it was karma getting back at you for being rude.”

Rainbow blushed but grumbled to himself before taking off on his own in the direction we were just walking.

“Blitz, wait up!” Dopey called, running in his direction. I followed silently, assuming we were still heading to the Library.

Was I too mean? I idly wondered, but immediately shook my head. No, he had that coming, getting all up in my face like that! And he yelled at Dopey! The only thing worse than yelling at Dopey is making Butterscotch cry, like Guilder did. I kept my pace with Dopey as we turned the next corner. The Library was visible near the end of the street. Then why do I feel so bad about it? I groaned inwardly as my conscious decided to act up again.

About halfway there, we saw Blitz fly in through the open balcony doors at high speeds. Can he even stop that quic-

*Crash*

…I guess not.

Dopey and I eventually slowed to a stop in front of the library’s door. Even though I still felt fine, the Pegasus next to me was panting slightly. “Sorry,” he breathed. “I’m not as used to running as I am to flying.” Well then why didn’t you fly? He started stretching, extending his hindlegs backwards until I heard a soft pop. Sighing in delight, he smiled back at me and motioned to the library. “Welp, here we are I guess.”

“Thanks for helping me, Dopey,” I grinned. “I really appreciate it.”

“It really wasn’t a problem. I’m sorry about Blitz, though.” He rubbed his neck. “He… can be pretty brash sometimes.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” I giggled.

“I’m sure once you get to know him better, he’ll turn out to be a great guy,” Dopey reassured me. “He really is an awesome flier and friend.”

“I’m sure he is. He just doesn’t have to go shoving it in everypony’s faces, though.”

Dopey laughed. “I guess you got me there.” He started to flap his wings and hovered in the air slightly. “I guess I’ll see you again at the party?”

I tilted my head. “Party?”

“Yeah! You said you were new to Ponyville, right? I don’t know if you’ve met him yet, but Bubble Berry throws every new pony a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party.”

“Ooh,” I smiled. I forgot about Berry. I wonder why I haven’t run into him yet… “Well then, sure! I’ll see you there!” I waved goodbye to Dopey as he flew down the street, waving back at me and not watching where he was going. “Dopey! Watch out for that-” *Whack* “…tree.”

I giggled at Dopey’s blush as he got back up and flew away again before turning back to the library. The whole thing stood at least three stories high with various windows strewn about. Its leaves were well-trimmed with very few branches hanging out of place. The front door held a picture of a cand- Wait, why am I describing it this much? It looks almost exactly like it did in the show! Well, everything but the sign right next to the entrance. It held a large picture of a book, like I remembered, but it also had words underneath in bright gold lettering that read ‘Golden Oaks Public Library’.

Stepping up to the door, I hesitated as I was about to knock. Do I even need to knock? It is a public library, after all. But then again, it’s also somepony’s home. I debated for a few seconds before deciding to just walk right in. His room’s on the second floor, so I don’t think he’d mind.

I cracked the door open slightly and poked my head inside just to be safe, though. The small entrance area only extended about a meter in before it quickly expanded into the main room of library. There was a small window right next to the door and a strange plant hanging from the wall to my left. All I could see of the main area from here was a few bookshelves, the circular table in the center with a woodcarving of a horse’s head on it, and a staircase near the back wall that led up and out of sight.

Deciding that it was safe to enter, I pushed the door open the rest of the way, causing a bell to ring above the door. “Just a moment!” I heard a young girl’s voice call out. After closing the door behind me, I stepped into the huge open space that served as library’s primary reading room/study. There were a few books and notes still scattered across the table, suggesting Dusk had just been there. Every wall held bookshelves that were loaded with… well, books of course, and above some of those were small cubby holes, a few of which contained windows that let light in the library during the day. Spanning across almost the entire ceiling was a large painting of a sun that looked similar to Solly’s cutie mark. Just to the right of the staircase was a large door that probably led to the rest of the library. A noise that sounded like muffled yelling came from the top of the stairs.

There were a couple ladders leaning against the bookshelves, one of which held the small purple dragon that I had heard earlier. She was currently putting up a few books in their proper places, somehow balancing a stack of ten or so in her other claw. I was about to grab her attention when I heard Dusk Shine come stomping down the stairs, his voice finally becoming audible.

“-the fifth time this month! I wish you’d find somewhere better to crash, preferably somewhere far from my house!” Rainbow Blitz was slowly hovering behind the angry unicorn, frowning from being scolded. Right as Dusk hit the bottom step, he stuck a hoof out towards the front door behind me, still yelling at his friend. “Why can’t you just enter through the door like a normal po- Oh!” He suddenly stopped when he realized I was standing right where he was pointing. “I’m sorry, ma’am. Barbara, you didn’t tell me we had a visitor.”

The dragon glanced over her shoulder at me before she shrugged and continued organizing the books. “Sorry, Dusk. She only just now walked in.” Blitz looked at me as well, only for his expression to fall to an annoyed one.

“That’s alright,” I giggled. “You’re clearly busy with something, so I can just wait.”

“No, no. I’m not busy,” Dusk smiled. “Welcome to the Golden Oaks Library! My name is Dusk Shine, the local librarian-”

“And bearer of the Element of Magic,” I continued for him, “responsible for the spectacular defeats of Darkhorse Knight and Eris. Not to mention helping with the Changelings in Canterlot recently.”

Dusk’s eyes widened as Blitz’s gaze shifted to a glare. “Uh…” Dusk began.

“It’s just… you and your friends are pretty well known around Equestria,” I explained, as Barbara stepped next to her boss, her claws now empty. “I’m sorry if I freaked you out at all.”

“Oh, no, sorry,” the unicorn shook his head. “I’m just not use to getting that much recognition,” he chuckled. “How can I help you, miss…?”

“My name is Amber Guard,” I replied. “I’m actually here to meet you and possibly discuss something in private regarding a certain Prince of the Sun.” I quickly glanced at the other two, hoping they would catch the hint.

Thankfully at least Barb did. “I think I’ll go and clean up Rainbow Blitz’s mess upstairs,” she said, ascending the steps nearby.

It apparently went right over Blitz’s head, though, as he approached me angrily. “Dude, she claims she’s all buddy-buddy with the Prince!” he said, poking my chest. “I don’t believe her one bit, though! She’s gotta be lying!”

“Really?” Dusk asked, analyzing me. “Just because it sounds improbable doesn’t make it impossible.” He looked back at his friend. “Do you have any proof that she’s lying?”

Blitz backed off and rubbed his head “Well, u-uh… not really.” He quickly huffed and crossed his forelegs. “Something about her just rubs me the wrong way.”

Too easy, I smirked to myself. “Oh, puh-lease!” I rolled my eyes. “Like any mare would want to rub you any kind of way!”

The library fell silent as Blitz just stared at me, slack-jawed. Dusk was clearly torn between wanting to defend his friend or just laugh at him. After a few moments, Barb’s footsteps could be heard running across the floor upstairs before she stuck her head out the bedroom door. “Buuuuuurrrrrn!” she called down the stairwell.

That seemed to snap him out of it as Blitz started growling at me. I just stuck my tongue out at him. “That’s what you get for getting up in my face and calling me a spy.”

“What?” Dusk turned back to his friend. “What’d I tell you about accusing everypony like that? You really need to be more considerate of the ponies you meet.”

Blitz scoffed. “Well, soooorry for trying to protect my friends! I just want to make sure nopony does anything bad to y’all!”

Dusk sighed. He really takes his role as the Element of Loyalty seriously, doesn’t he? Once again, my conscious reared its head, making me feel worse about everything.

I hung my head as my self-induced guilt trip succeeded. “Look, Blitz. I’m sorry about the way I’ve been acting. I don’t normal act like this.”

The Pegasus looked at me suspiciously. “Really? You’ve done nothing but give me the cold shoulder since we met.”

I cringed and rubbed my mane. “I… have a natural hatred for selfish, egotistical ponies, but now I see that you aren’t. Uh, selfish, that is.”

“Thanks!” He paused and turned to the unicorn. “What does egotistical mean?” he whispered.

“It means you’re full of yourself,” Dusk stated simply.

Blitz raised an eyebrow for a moment before shrugging. “Eh, you got me there.” He glanced at me before frowning and looking away. “I guess I’m sorry, too. You know, for accusing you without any real proof.” Blitz quickly glared at me again. “But I’m still keeping my eyes on you!”

I giggled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know I’m hard to resist,” I said as I struck a quick pose, fluttering my eyes at him.

“You know,” Blitz chuckled, “That would probably work a little better if you didn’t have twigs sticking out of your mane.”

“What?!” I quickly sat down and started rubbing my head for the offending shrubbery. After a few moments of frantic searching and doing nothing but messing up my mane even more, Blitz started laughing at me. Oh, that little… I glared at him as he opened the door to leave the library.

“Blitz, hold up!” Dusk called out. “Did you want to see me about something?”

The Pegasus looked confused for a moment before realization dawned. “Oh! I came to borrow the fourth Daunting Deeds book for Scootaroll! He loves them almost as much as I do.”

The unicorn chuckled as his horn lit up and pulled a seemingly random book from a nearby shelf. “I thought he would. He reminds me a lot of you, actually.” I stared at the violet glow that surround the book as it floated towards Blitz and sighed. I already miss magic, and it hasn’t even been more than a couple hours for me.

“Of course he does!” Blitz said as he grabbed the book from the air and hovered over to the exit. “I’m sure before too long, he’ll be the second fastest flier in Equestria. Smell ya later!” He gave us a quick mock salute goodbye before taking off out the door, the sudden rush of wind slamming the door shut behind him.

“So,” Dusk began, drawing my attention back to him, “You really know Prince Solaris?”

“Eeyup!” I nodded. “I met him and Artemis a really long time ago, and after helping each other with a crisis or two, we all sorta became close friends.”

“Is that so?” Dusk rubbed his chin. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Prince mention you.”

“I don’t doubt that,” since Solly’s never heard of Amber Guard before, “but I’m still telling the truth.”

“Hmm… Well then you wouldn’t mind if I confirmed it with him then?”

“No, go right ahead. I’ve got time.” I started to walk around the room, skimming the book titles. It’s not like that was why I came here in the first place.

“Well, alright then. Just so you know, he may be in Day Court right now, so we may not get a reply for a while.” Somehow, I really doubt it will take that long, I thought as Dusk turned to the stairs. “Baaarrrb!”

“Coming!” she called back.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have any books on Transformation Magic, would you?” I asked. Maybe they’ve learned some new stuff while I was away.

Dusk frowned and shook his head. “Sorry, but I don’t. Literature on the topic is surprisingly scarce.” He sighed. “There are a few ponies who learn a little bit of it on their own, but nopony knows enough to even have a minor of it at Canterlot University.” Oooor not. “The last known expert on Transformation magic was Cobalt Justice, and she’s only mentioned in a few of Starswirl’s notes, but nowhere else.” Aww, Swirly mentioned me? “She claimed that Justice was so well versed in it, that she could turn an Earth pony into a Pegasus or Unicorn or vice versa, while all Starswirl managed to accomplish giving a pony some frilly butterfly wings.” It feels nice to get a few compliments from the recluse.

Barb walked down the steps. “Whatcha need, Dusk?”

“Oh, there you are! Would you please take a letter for me?”

“Sure thing.” Barbara suddenly pulled some parchment and a quill out of nowhere. “It it another friendship report?” she asked. “It’s a bit early in the week for that, isn’t it?”

I giggled at Dusk’s annoyed glare. “No, Barb. I just need to run something by the Prince.” The baby dragon shrugged and prepared to start writing as Dusk cleared his throat. “Dear Prince Solaris, I apologize if this comes across as any inconvenience, but a mysterious mare by the name of ‘Amber Guard’ has approached me, claiming to be your friend.”

Wait, since he doesn’t know that name, I need to give him something that will prove I’m me… Aha! “Just to make sure he remembers me,” I interrupted, “tell him I asked if he remembers that one time the sun rose in the west and his bucket of dirty trout that followed shortly after.” ‘Bucket of dirty trout’, of course, being a euphemism only he’d remember.

The duo stared at me in confusion for a moment before Barb looked up to Dusk for confirmation. The lavender stallion just gave a shrug and a quick nod to Barb before continuing. “Please let me know at your earliest convenience if you do indeed know this mare. Signed, your faithful student, Dusk Shine.”

“…Dusk…Shine,” Barb muttered as she wrote. “Is that it?”

“Yep, go ahead and send it.” A quick seal and breath of fire later, and the letter was on its way to Canterlot. “What did that bit about trout have to do with anything?” Dusk asked.

“Yeah, and that part about the sun rising in the West?” Barb added.

“It’s actually a fun story,” I giggled. “Solly gets so embarrassed every time I tell it to somepony.” I briefly saw Barb mouth ‘Solly’ to Dusk but ignored it for now. “It all started a couple months after I met him. For some reason, we each made a bet that the other couldn’t stay up for over forty-eight hours, so the second night, Artemis got the bright idea of-” *BURP* “Oh, shoot. I guess it’ll have to wait till another time then.”

Dusk was surprised at the Prince’s quick response and grabbed the letter. “ ‘Dear Dusk Shine,’ ” he read aloud, “ ‘Thank you for informing me of her arrival. I wish to let you know that I do, in fact, know her and have requested that you and Miss Guard come to Canterlot immediately.’ ” Dusk’s eyes slowly widened the more he read. “ ‘I have dispatched a chariot to pick you two up and it should be there shortly. Signed, Prince Solaris’ ” Dusk quickly dropped the letter and ran upstairs, carrying a few pieces of parchment and quills in his telekinetic grasp with him, panic spread across his face.

After he entered his room, Barb picked up the letter and read over it herself. “Oh, there’s something else here. ‘P.S. Tell Miss Guard to not reveal anything about that incident. If she insists on doing so, then disregard anything she says.’ ”

“Aww, Solly, you’re no fun,” I said, crossing my forelegs in a pout. I glanced up at the stairs as a small crash sounded before glancing at the dragon next to me. “Hey, Barb. Do we have time for nachos?”

Author's Post-Note:
Like I mentioned before, I sometimes write r63 versions of popular stories. Anything ranging from One-shots to single chapters from lengthier stories. Hay, even a clop-fic or two. I don't upload any of these because that would require getting permission from the authors of said stories and doing work. Ugh. And then there's the fanon debates on names. Barbara or Spines? Prince or Lord? Darkhorse Knight or Nightterror Nebula? Dopey or gender-neutral Derpy? There's just too much debate to post anything successfully.
I go into more detail about my unintended Hiatus since Hearth's Warming in this blog post, but basically I ignored the warnings I got from various other authors and burned my inspiration out for this story, at least temporarily. I'm still holding that goal of the end of Spring for finishing PP&F and finally moving on to other projects! For anypony that's been to my User Page, you'd have seen that I have quite a few other stories in the works, but I don't want to give them much attention until I'm out of my slump for this one, hence the 'writing r63 for practice' in the meantime.

Oh! And just because I wanted too:

Excerpt from CHAPTER 6: All is Revealed:
"By the very definition of ‘infinity’, anything could exist in some universe somewhere, right?” I asked.
Dusk thought about it. “Yeah, I suppose so.”
“That means that it’s possible for there to be a universe so different from yours, ponies don’t even exist!” Some of the guys gasped in shock. “There may be one that’s similar to yours, except everypony was born the opposite gender, like, I don’t know,” I motioned to Dusk, “You would be Twilight Sparkle, faithful student of the great Princess Celestia.”
“That’s kind of disturbing,” Blitz said.
I just giggled. “Yeah, just a bit. But it could exist somewhere."