After the mysterious merchant has shown his true form, Twilight and friends begin their unexpected journey in the lesson of understanding, and an even greater trial in dealing with these newfound enemies.
Following Doc's merciless failure at holding off these strange new foes, he fights back with a new level of brutal efficiency, but shows himself for what he really is in the process. Twilight and friends attempt an understanding of his position, learning of his unexpected past and just what situation they've been pulled into. Everything is changing at an alarming rate, and nopony knows just what to do. But as problems get solved and friendships are restored, a different, much larger dilemma waits for them on the horizon. A plan to stop these impossible stallions, by whatever means necessary.
Doc flew closer after launching himself towards Twi and the three stallions, his sights still zeroed in on the grey one, pulling back a punch with his left…hand as he grew within mere feet of his target. The grey one didn’t move and simply stood his ground, his once surprised expression growing a miniscule smile on one side of his muzzle as Doc approached, eventually getting close enough to give him a devastating blow into the tip of his snout. The mangling sound of crushed flesh and bone could be heard as the hit sent the grey one twenty feet backwards, leaving him to limply tumble and slide across the dirt after making contact with the ground. The other two monsters were unresponsive of Doc’s attack, hesitating as he stood in between them and spun clockwise on his left hind leg, kicking the red one in his abdomen with his right hind-hoof. The blow sent him back half the distance of the grey one, skidding on his hind hooves as he clutched his middle with both fore-legs and gave a deep grunt. Doc stood up on his spider-like legs, lifted himself over Twi and gave an identical kick to the black one.
The stallion narrowly blocked it, still sending him sliding and kicking up dirt behind his hooves for the next few feet. Doc was relentless though, launching himself to the black one and giving a quick jab to his face while his defenses were down, followed by several other strikes to his left and right ribs, sternum, fore-head and stomach in that order as he stood back on his hind-hooves, making the black one give an agonizing grunt with each blunt impact. With the black one standing there, dazed in pain for the moment, Doc spun his sights around quickly to look at the red one and noticed him quickly recollecting himself. Doc frowned deeper at this, turned back to the black one and jammed his right hind-hoof into the black one’s left kneecap, sending it directly in the opposite direction and shattering it with a mighty, fleshy crack, accompanied by a bloodcurdling scream from the stallion’s throat.
Doc watched as the black one fell to his other knee, hollering in agony and gripping the area around his kneecap, all bones in it turned to unsalvageable pieces of internal shrapnel. Doc could sense the presence of somepony behind him as the red one reared up above his back, preparing his fore-hooves for a downward strike onto his head. Doc reacted in a flash, sending the same leg that broke the black one’s knee back and up at an obtuse angle with his other leg, colliding with the unsuspecting stallion’s chin and knocking him back once again. To finish the black one off, Doc let his hind leg come back down to earth, reversed the clockwise momentum of his rotation, spun around and bashed the left temple of the black one’s head with a strike strong enough to loudly crack his skull and send him flying passed Twi by inches, skidding and sliding next to the grey one, who was now surprisingly standing back up on his hind hooves, watching the conflict unfold with his hands grasping each other in front of him. He smiled perfectly and deviously, despite the strike to his nose earlier having given the sound of broken muscle and bone. He stood without a noticeable scratch, as if that attack had never even happened.
Twi gazed away from his ominous form and back to Doc, seeing him dash up to the red one on his spider legs, galloping on them with multiple, horrific thuds against the dirt. He finally retracted and lifted them up behind his back to land on his hind hooves, standing before the red one just before giving an uppercut to his chin with his left hand, sending him a few inches into the air, then again with the adjacent hand, and then loudly jabbing his left hand into his stomach as the red one remained suspended in the air. His ribs could be heard snapping as he hovered there for a moment, bending from the impact and involuntarily spitting from his gaped muzzle, only to have Doc wind up his right hand in an arch over his head and to the red one’s forehead with tremendous force. He flew a far distance through a luckily unoccupied space in the encircling crowd and directly into a brick wall, cracking it slightly as his body flattened and made an imprint in the hardened clay. He fell out of the cracked brick and onto his knees, but before the red one could fall flat on his stomach and face, Doc raced up to him in an instant, wrapping his dark fingers around his face with his right hand and slamming his skull into the brick wall.
The insanely powerful bash made extremely loud cracking sounds as the wall and his cranium shattered from the force of Doc’s super-powered blow. Doc then violently scraped the red one’s face across the now jagged brick for several feet of the wall, leaving a wide smear of blood in its wake. He eventually ended his brutal mangling of the red one’s face and swiftly dragged his half-limp body back into the circle, letting it bump and bounce against the dirt and rocks behind him until Doc reached the center of the circle. He slowed down with a skid to his right, let the momentum of his stop flow through his right fore-leg as he spun around, then tossed the red one high up into the air. He lifted himself on his spidery legs as this ragdoll of a body came back down, finally dropkicking the red one directly in his sternum with amazing power.
The red one’s body flew halfway across the square, then bounced and skid next to his companions the same way that his dark counterpart had done, directly next to grey one. The grey one looked at his fallen accomplices, staring with his devious smile and drooped eyelids, not lifting a finger to assure their safety before he turned his head back to Doc and saw him, barely a foot away, all legs terrifyingly bared and retracted for a strike as his mouth was horrifically wide open, screaming bloody murder before finally making physical contact. His upper spider legs stuck into the ground behind the grey one loudly, barely missing the other two stallions as his lower legs supported the ground behind him. He was forced to suspend himself before the grey one as his bared, pointed fingers were caught by the grey one’s skeletal hands, locking into each other as Doc pushed furiously. The grey one didn’t even budge under such force…just kept his evil expression of a smile accompanied by his half-drooping eyelids, holding Doc’s devastating fury back without breaking a sweat.
The grey one bent Doc’s hands back, quickly overpowering him and forcing him to lower his suspended state back down to his hind-hooves as he retracted his lower spider legs. They looked eye to eye for a moment, then the grey one continued to overpower Doc, pushing him down further as he kept his dastardly, smug expression right in Doc’s face. Doc could be heard struggling and pushing to fight back, but he couldn’t, the grey one amazingly stood tall, still too strong even for Doc’s horrifically devastating power. So Doc grew angry, pulling back his lower right spider leg…and sending the large, pointed tip of it jetting through the grey one’s stomach and out his back.
***
The crowd flinched at this, had Doc just killed this stallion? They thought this, but only for moments as they looked to the grey one’s face…unchanged…as if he hadn’t even felt it. It remained this way as Doc pulled the leg out of his stomach and stabbed him with the adjacent one, then again, and again…and again. The strange thing is that Twi didn’t see a drop of blood pour from the gaping hole in the grey one’s abdomen…just ashen dust, pouring out onto the dirt below him in miniscule piles. Twi looked at it, then turned her gaze away from anything else that might further damage her psyche, finally realizing this as a chance to get out of the middle of the battlefield and run back over to her friends. She did so quietly, then looked back to the conflict to see several more stabs by Doc as she felt Spike mount on her back. Doc eventually pulled both of the legs back simultaneously and shouted, preparing to stab the grey one with double the force. But as both legs grew near, the grey one reacted, swiftly hopping up, retracting his hind legs to his devastated stomach, and then kicking with them to deflect the incoming strikes, knocking Doc’s lower legs away into the dirt before the grey one retracted his hind legs again, released his grip on Doc’s hands and jammed both of his hind hooves directly into Doc’s face.
He flew back with a furious grunt, but was able to recover himself before landing in the dirt by flipping backwards mid-flight and landing on his skidding hooves in a hunched stance. He stood up after skidding a few feet backwards, panting loudly as he stared at the grey one in his battle ready stance, ready for the fight to go on as blood began running down his scalp and face in a thick line. He continued his glare at the grey one as the pale stallion stood still and tall, his stomach now a gaping, ravaged hole in the midst of his torso. But he remained with a careless disposition, somehow ignoring the pain with his hands casually behind his back. A second later, he reached into a pocket inside his jacket and pulled out the two gloves he was wearing before. He slipped them back onto his hands, moving his fingers in them to get comfortable, then lifted them up on his sides…finally colliding them, clapping slowly before he quietly spoke.
“Bra-vo…”
He began clapping slightly faster while he took a few steps forward. As he took those steps, his once practically-dead companions began lifting themselves up off the ground. The black one lifted himself up, keeping off of his deformed hind leg until he flicked it once, giving a loud crack and a grunt before rolling it on its joints…it was instantly healed. The red one stood up and tilted his head to his left, lifting one side of his face higher than the other, the side Doc had scraped across the wall, and it definitely showed. It was horribly replaced with torn flesh and lacerated skin…until it began putting itself back together the way Doc’s healing would re-stitch a wound. The last cut soon closed, his X shaped scar still remaining untouched as the stallion lifted his left fore-hoof up to his chin, gripping it before readjusting his jaw bone with a quick flick, loud crack and mild grunt, then opened and shut it again, good as new. The grey one took his last step, the hole in his stomach that was once a foot in diameter now closing quickly as he clapped a final time, leaving his hands holding each other and speaking happily.
“I’m so proud that you finally released your true potential! I had almost begun thinking you had grown stale in your fighting skills. Oh, but you sure proved me wrong, eh? *ghahahaha* *sigh* Fine job with the sparring today Conquest.”
He turned around and spoke over his shoulder.
“I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow!”
The black one ceased his leg’s rotation and the red one turned halfway, still dragging his wrecking ball of a tail behind him until it began to retract towards him, shortening and shrinking until it came to the base of his spine as a short, spiky tail of pure, gleaming steel. They began turning and trotting away with the grey one as he lastly said, “Farewell for now!” and sauntered away with his goons through the crowd that quickly stepped out of their way. Doc felt his exhaustion grow as he stood, breathing deeply as he watched his enemies just walk away from such an unbelievable fight. He mentally dismissed them before turning around slowly and beginning to walk back as well, keeping his eyes trained to the ground. He only made it a few tired steps before he coughed several loud and painful times, falling to his knees as he did so. This alertedly caught everypony’s attention before they watched him, choking on his own breath several times before sitting back on his bent knees and keeping his eyes closed as he continued to pant loudly. He let his fore-legs hang and relaxed his neck, but the four spider legs that stuck out from his back remained alert, raised and prepared to strike. He opened his eyes droopily, looking at the dirt before his expression changed to one of realization and he began looking around him slowly with his demonically tinted eyes.
The crowd stared at him, petrified and hoping to just wake up from the horrible nightmare that lay before them. Ponies Doc had hugged and taken pictures with shuddered as his gaze came over them. Mothers held their children close, and acquaintances, whether new or old, took steps back without hesitation. After looking to his sides and seeing ponies like Derpy, the caramel colt that had thanked him, Soarin and Spitfire all flinch at his gaze, he looked up in front of him to see an even more degrading sight. The group...his closest friends…were more scared of him than anypony there. All the girls, Pinkie, AJ, Flutters…everypony looked at him like he was an abomination they had never known in their entire lives. Mac stood battle ready, extremely nervous, but prepared to protect his sister and her friends from this strange thing that had possessed his once good friend. Doc looked to each of them individually, seeing the fear and disgust in their eyes…until he looked to Twi and felt the true impact of the situation. Her violet eyes were twitching in terror of seeing her new best friend like this, keeping a hoof to her muzzle as she took steps away from him and began crying, a horrified Spike hiding from his sight behind her shivering head.
***
Doc’s shoulders sank and his muzzle fell parted, now panting softly as he slowly looked down while his hands came up to meet his sight.
“What have I done?” he said quietly and pitifully, staring at them before lifting them to his head after a short pause, covering his eyes before gripping his hair tightly. He closed his eyes, sitting for a few moments as his back arched down at an ashamed, slow and constant rate, eventually straightening as he suddenly stood back up, accidently startling everypony in the crowd before he ran out of town square on his hind hooves like a human. The crowd terrifyingly parted as he passed, but still got a glimpse of tears escaping through his closed eyelids as he passed. The crowd, every single pony that resided in Ponyville, was silent as they had no idea what to think next. The only noise that could be heard was Twi’s voice as she lifted her concerned hoof in the direction Doc had ran.
“Doc?” is what she said, speaking to nopony at all before placing her hoof slowly and quietly back to her lip.
She looked to her friends and they did the same, gazing at each other for assistance before they silently looked back in the direction Doc had left. Twi stared there for a moment, retracting her lips as she began shaking her head and lowering her sight. Her head followed her eyes down as they slowly closed, eventually reopening suddenly as she looked back up and began galloping in the direction Doc had gone. Her friends noticed her running, held out hooves as they wanted to tell her to stop, but understood partially what she was doing before following a moment afterwards. The crowd separated again, wondering just what they were doing going after such a monster. Still, they stepped aside all the same, letting the six mares, stallion and baby dragon go trotting off to their possible doom, hoping that they knew just what the heck they were doing. They sped along a dirt trail to the outskirts of town until Pinkie raced up next to Twi, asking loudly due to the loud sound of their hooves meeting the hard soil.
“Where are we going?!”
“I think I know where he ran off to.” she replied in the same volume, “Just follow me!”
Spike, who was still on her back, leaned next to her head and asked her somewhat quietly.
“Are you sure you know what your doing?”
She sighed while looking downwards before responding.
“Not at all. But I can at least hope.”
Several minutes later, Twi spotted a hill on the right side of the trail they galloped along, a lone tree at its pinnacle with a spectacular view of the Everfree forest and the enormous mountain range just beyond it. At the tree’s trunk, Twi saw an oddly shaped silhouette and finally exhaled her held breath, absolutely relieved that she was right on her assumption.
“This way!” she turned and said to her friends before making a hard right off of their galloping path.
Her friends followed close behind, anxious as to what they might find at this place they hadn’t an ounce of knowledge on. They pulled themselves up the mildly steep hill, approaching its peak and seeing the figure slowly come into recognizable view. It was a white stallion, his lower back against the bark of the tree, while the rest of his spine was sadly arched forward. Jet-black lines branched out like dead, crooked trees along his skin. He had hands that replaced the fore-hooves that sat in his lap, four fingered and drenched in the darkness that stretched across his body, which lead all the way to his heart, a black bulge in the center of his chest. The lines led up his neck and along his face, curving around his emotionally dead mouth and feeding into his eyes, lightly shut as tears streamed out of them. The four giant spider legs that came from the points in his back lied against the ground on his sides, just as joylessly limp as the rest of his body.
They approached slowly, as to not disturb him and possibly send him running off again. But as they drew closer, they quietly spread into an evenly spaced line, side by side along the stallion’s right, each getting a clear line of sight with this thing that used to be their happy-go-lucky friend. Twi approached slightly more than the rest, speaking to him in the most timid voice she and her friends had ever heard her speak in.
“Doc?”
His eyes opened in surprise, pitch black with glowing, carmine rings in their centers, staring down at the dirt by his hind hooves for a moment, then slowly lifting his head to look straight out at the scenery he and Twi had appreciated the day before. That was his only reaction for a time, just staring out in astonishment. He breathed slowly and heavily through his slightly gaped mouth as he gazed out blankly. A moment later, he finally swallowed nervously, parting his lips again and turning his head up to Twi. He looked up at her, thick lines of tears streaming down his face as he gave a weak smile and forced out his next words from his tired lungs.
“Hey Twi…”
She gave a similar simper back in a nervous response, somewhat happy to hear the voice she had begun to miss. Doc looked amongst the group, all of his friends that risked their own safety just to come and see him. Doc spoke to them with the same tone of fatigue.
“Hi everypony…”
They all reacted skeptically, turning their gaze away and giving a single nod to show recognition. Doc smiled anyway, looking back out to the scenery and resuming his astonished, but now sort of sad-smiling stare. In that moment Twi finally found what she was looking for. This was Doc, as changed as he was, it was still him under all that darkness and despair. This is the friend she had happily made over the last six days. The one who kept all of her friends happy and even saved one of their lives. The one who told tales of far off lands and dreams of spreading peace throughout the world. This was who this doctor was, Twi and the rest of her friends were just going to have to accept that. He only continued to stare off into the distance for a moment longer before he looked down at his hind-hooves, swallowed again, sniffed as he wiped his right nostril with a flick of his dark thumb and spoke once more while looking at the ground.
“So…uh…”
He looked up at all of them and continued with a forced and exhausted smile.
“I…guess I have some explaining to do…don’t I?”
***
“Alright…” Doc sighed as he pressed the middle fingers of his hands together through the skin on the upper bridge of his nose, “where to begin?”
Twi and her friends sat around him in a circle, making sure to avoid his spidery legs as they rested in the healthy green grass, relaxed as they could be in a situation like this.
“W-why not start with telling us who those…ponies were?” Twi suggested calmly.
Doc looked to her interestedly as she spoke, then let his gaze fall to his hind hooves as he sighed through his nose. He put his clenched left hand to his muzzle and softly tapped it against his lips twice, showing it in his face as he thought hard about what to say. Then his eyes widened as the thought struck him and he began his explanation.
“Alright,” he agreed, “but I think I’ll start that with a question. Do any of you believe in…well…immortality?”
The group looked amongst each other for a moment.
“Well…” Rarity remarked, “The alicorns that rule Equestria live for thousands of years at a time…so I assume that by common sense…Yes?”
She looked at everypony in the group that had given their attention to her, seeking approval in her guess. Nods were passed in recognition, followed by everypony turning their gaze back to Doc as he spoke.
“Alright…” he responded, “…then do you believe in immortality outside of royalty?”
They looked at each other again, but only momentarily before they turned back to Doc and shook their heads lightly.
“Okay…last question.” he said, “Have any of you ever heard of a story called ‘TheFourHorsesoftheApocalypse’?”
They all grew slightly concerned looks on their faces as they thought roughly the same thing.
What could a story with that kind of title have anything to do with those ponies?
Even Twi thought this until she answered Doc’s question slowly.
“I…don’t think so…What’s it about?”
He inhaled and exhaled once more, then began.
“A long time ago, back in the somewhat earlier days of Equestria’s founding, there stood beings that were unlike any before them. They were strong, powerful and eternally free to roam the planet to their hearts’ desires. Some of these beings were admired and followed, such as the kings and queens that have lead our country to what it is today. Some lived reasonably peaceful lives, just as you and I…until they finally went mad from the depression of their losses…and disappeared, never to be heard from again. But there were some…”
Doc paused for a moment, like he had just regained a bad, deeply suppressed memory.
“…some who held horrible names and horrendous pasts. They denied living by life’s rules only for the absence of purpose within it. In lamens terms, ‘Why live by life’s rules, if life itself doesn’t even matter anymore?’ was their code, motto and the words they lived by. But certain ones, about four to be specific, actually had a job doing the exact same things these other horrible and ungrateful ponies did. They were supposed to destroy and pillage any location they wished, bringing a horrible end to anypony who dared to even look upon them, should they choose. These four…”
He paused again, and in the exact same way.
“…these horrible…‘justifiably’ evil four were called the ‘Four Horses of the Apocalypse’. Each was unearthly, with destructive mutations and devastating powers. The first of them…”
Doc held up a single, dark finger.
“…was strict, angry and of a thick, blood red. He called himself
‘War’.”
Twi’s head began flooding with thoughts of the red stallion.
That stallion, one his size, power and fury is the living embodiment of war itself…and Doc had just angered it with a deeply physical assault.
She began shaking at this tale and of knowing what the red stallion was and still is, thinking that he could practically obliterate them and the entirety of Ponyville at any moment. Doc continued after saying War’s name.
“The spirit that drove mortals to hate and kill each other, one of the true meanings of an Apocalypse. The next one…”
Doc held up another finger.
“…walked alongside him, sadistically humorous, maniacally evil and a coat black as night…referring to himself as
‘Famine’.”
Everyponies personal integrities were slowly beginning to crumble, first at the fact of knowing just what the red stallion was, and now knowing for certain that the savage, dark, and malicious black stallion was in on this terrifying ordeal as well.
A devious pony like him, with that kind of power and absolutely no way to fight back. We’re doomed.
Doc continued in relation to the black one’s name.
“The one that left prosperous civilizations with nothing to live on, bringing them to a slow…painful…and ‘entertaining’ demise for him to sit back and enjoy. Still, these two merely followed in the wake of their leader, the true meaning of a worlds end.”
Doc held up his third finger.
“He was grey and lifeless, walking the world’s surface and leaving a dark, dead hoofprint with each step he made. He was the very essence of cruelty, fiendish was his smile and dastardly were his deeds, constantly boasting as he called himself ‘The end of all’ in one way or another. Although, he was vaguely right, he was the end of all, but in a different way than most would think. He actually turned out to be something unpredicted by anypony…the feared and demonized spirit that is met by everypony at one time or another, but is constantly hated and denied to give his sweet embrace if any feel it is before their time. His true name…what he really was…was
‘Death’.”
That was it. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Everypony’s comprehensive state just fell apart and their blood ran cold as ice. That grey stallion, the most horrible sounding of them all, the only one that was able to resist and even overpower Doc’s rage was the physical being of death. Twi lowered her head as she thought.
That was why he had bony hands instead of hooves, and why Doc went into a rage just before he touched me. Twi thought, He had that ‘cold touch’ that was rumored to kill anypony on contact…He was about to kill me just to make Doc mad.
She continued to shudder and grasp the triceps of her opposing forelegs as Doc continued.
“They wandered as one for ages beyond observation, only asking for one thing, their ultimate goal…They were looking for their fourth. Don’t be mistaken though, they were not going door to door recruiting any stranger to be their missing link…they already had one. They just…‘misplaced’ him. They searched high and low, across the entire world even, following clues that would lead them to their last. He was…a bright white stallion, strangely compassionate despite his demonic profession, only wanting to help others rather than hurt. He was like an exact opposite of his brethren, who only knew him by a terrible… horrible…and unfitting name…
‘Conquest’.”
They all looked at him, shocked by the message that had just hit all of them like a brick to the skull. They wanted to know the truth about Doc, to see if they could help in any way, or at least know the past of an old friend so that they might be careful of what to say around him. Now that the truth is finally within their grasp, it slaps them in the face, leaving them to stare at this embodiment of such a malicious act for what felt like minutes. The grey stallion’s vile voice echoed in their heads as they thought.
“Hello, Conquest…tis been a long time.”
With their eyes wide and unmoving on Doc, he responded in the way he would anytime he ends up being the center of attention. First, he stole a glance at several of his friends, then popped a smirk with a single chuckle just behind it. Next, he looked to the bottom left of his darkened eyes and scratched the back of his mane with his right hand, letting it glide up across his scalp and to his forehead. As it reached the peak of his brow, he felt a wet spot and a small zing of pain, bringing his hand down to visible level and seeing a splotch of smeared blood at the base of his palm.
“Oh woops” he said in a quick, innocent and casual tone before shutting his right eye and looking in the direction of the injury on his scalp with the other.
It sealed itself shut with a small fleshy noise, cutting off the small stream of blood going down his face, which had been running like a small river throughout their conversation. Doc didn’t raise his hands and use his magic for that wound, he merely willed it shut, just as the three stallions had done with their injuries mere minutes ago.
“So…” Twi broke the silence with a severely terrified and surprised tone, “if those…t-three stallions were looking for their fourth…and they came to you…”
“Yup.” Doc answered casually with a half-smile.
Dash followed Twi’s guess at understanding, same inflection in her horrifically withered voice.
“And…if they were those ‘strong, powerful and eternal’ things you talked about…then that means…”
“Exactly.” he replied in his calm tone, “Ponies like that, such as our monarchs or ponies like the three you all met today, are called ‘Immortals’, obviously. And now, if you put two and two together…it’s pretty clear now that…”
“I’m one of them…I’m an immortal…the spirit of Conquest…the fourth horse of the Apocalypse.”
***
“So Doc, wuh’d ya say you were gonna do when ya get back ta town again?” AJ asked Doc as they walked “calmly” on the trail back to town.
After concluding their conversation, Doc decided they would head back to the town square and see if they, or at least Doc, would try and sort things out amongst the townsfolk. They walked in an unorganized, distanced group, like hikers on a wide open trail, not really caring to stay in any formation as their minds were already too tired to care…either that, or they still wanted to keep a little distance between them and Doc, just to be safe. Despite their disorganization in travel and the fear in their minds, they still walked, suppressing the same terror they first held in seeing Doc in the way he is, and few in this supposed “band of brothers” had it much worse now knowing the truth than others. Doc walked steadily, suspending his strange, demonic legs above the ground and retracting them high above his back. He replied to AJ’s question.
“Like I said,” he answered, “I’ll try and explain myself as much as I can to the townsponies. All I can hope for is that they can believe everything as well as you guys have.”
Twi happened to be trotting directly behind Doc, letting her curiosity finally get the better of her as she nudged Spike with the back of her head and directed him to what she was looking at, followed by them both lifting their necks a little higher than normal and getting a clear view of Doc’s exposed back. They saw that the crooked lines from his heart fed around his sides and into four circular spots that looked just like the one on his heart. There was only a “minor” difference between them and the one on his chest, though. These were the spots that Doc’s demonic legs protruded from. It made Twi and Spike cringe a little, thinking of how Doc has stored those in his back all this time. It must have been painful. Although, they were forced to stop peeping as Doc perked his head up and spoke.
“Oh, almost forgot.”
He turned his head to look at the legs and continued.
“It’d be wise to not walk back into the square with these sticking out of my back.”
He closed his eyes, as if he was focusing on them. They straightened vertically, towering above everypony as they stopped to look, just before the legs gently slid down into the spots they came from, making a horrible fleshy noise until they fully escaped into his back. Doc gave a slight grunt as the pointed tips of each appendage disappeared into his loins, opening his still darkened eyes slowly and concluding with a tired smile.
“Much better.”
Pinkie, of all ponies, looked at him concernedly and asked him a question, her normally energetic and happy tone absolutely gone from her voice.
“W-where do you even keep those?” she asked.
He smiled after looking at Pinkie and answered.
“If an Immortal has something as big as these growing out of their bodies, it tends to come out of little geysers like these, see?”
He bent his back outwards, giving emphasis to the four spots the legs were protruding from, now giving a resemblance to black barnacles on the side of a boat with smooth, flat tops. Everypony flinched slightly at the strange sight, giving suppressed “ew” sounds and slightly disgusted grunts through closed teeth. Doc kept his smile despite their somewhat rude reactions as he replied to them.
“*heh* I expected as much.” he said happily before straightening his back, returning it to a normal, relaxed curve, “That’s how everypony reacts if they find out.”
Fluttershy asked in a voice surprisingly no more timid than it usually is.
“Y-you mean other ponies know about this besides us and the townsfolk?”
He perked his ears to her as he listened, then spoke in a much calmer and quieter voice than usual, trying to not startle her more delicate state.
“Oh yeah. In my earlier years, I used to just walk around with them out, using them to get around and stuff. Man, I was a reeeal idiot back then.”
He looked at his “friends” with happy chuckles, still sensing the small fear left in them through their forced and unconvincing smiles. He turned his gaze downwards to his front and sighed, lowering his smile slightly and speaking in a pathetic but humble tone.
“*heh* Listen to me…making it sound all ‘interesting’…”
His shoulders sunk a little.
“I’m sorry I got all of you mixed up in this.” he said shamefully, “I can never repay you enough for dealing with it so well. I was an idiot in my early years...*heh* and I haven’t changed a bit. ”
His smile continued sinking, eventually leaving no trace of happiness left in his face as he looked to the dirt in front of him, his body half way turned in the direction of his now guilty, ashamed friends. Doc felt a hoof on his shoulder, catching his attention as he reacted the same way he had done several times before, perked ears and slightly widened eyes just before turning to the item of interest; this item now being the kind, purple unicorn he knew as a true friend, giving him a real, honest smile.
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” she said kindly, “you had no idea they were even showing up.”
AJ offered a re-assuring “Y-yeah!” before she continued nervously.
“How ‘re you supposed ta know they’d come outta nowhere? Raht Big Macintosh?”
Mac gave a slightly nervous but reinforced “Eeyup”, only wanting to assist her sibling and Twi in making Doc feel better. Doc chuckled once, turned his head to them and spoke in a slightly happier tone.
“Thanks…it’s nice to know that you all care…not saying I ever had any doubt.”
He looked slightly farther to his left, looking at Twi as he chuckled. She smiled wider at him, her eyes showing sympathy and acceptance until she frowned only a little for her suggestion.
“Uh..Doc…” she said, pointing twice at her eyes and notifying him that his eyes were still retaining their demonic darkness and scarlet glow.
“Oh! Yeah.” replied Doc before he closed his eyes and tilted his head down in focus.
The dark lines across his body slid back up his legs and away from his hands, now being relieved of the darkness and returning to the cylindrical shape of a nice, normal hoof. The dark bloodlines receded from his eyes and back down his neck, all sliding back to a single location, the black spot covering his heart. Most of the lines were gone from his body, all except for four thin ones that fed around his sides and into the small geysers on his back like a harness, and several that lightly branched out from the still darkened spot on his chest, exposed by the dangling bits of torn shirt hanging off of his wrists and waist. He opened his eyes and his group of friends were happy to see them back to normal again, a black ring sitting in the middle of a calm, experienced white. He was back to his old self again…well…more or less. He turned his gaze to his friends and continued.
“Thanks for reminding me. Anyways, it’s not…entirely true that I didn’t know they’d be coming. You all remember that letter I got before everything went nutty, the one with the weird symbol on it?”
They all nodded, feeling slightly more comfortable interacting with Doc now that two of their friends were defending him from his own humility, as well as his appearance being defaulted.
“Well,” he continued, “let’s just say that an ‘old friend of mine’ was doing their job well and gave me a little heads up on it. I’m sorry, I’ll explain more about me and a lot about that drawing later on, but as of now, I have a whole town to regain trust from, and they should be right over this hill.”
He turned his head back up the trail, looking up a gently sloping hill that they had just happened to stop at the base of when they began their conversation. He trotted up it, his friends following close behind him until reaching the peak and seeing Ponyville once again. They could see the gap of buildings that Doc and his friends had ran out of almost fifteen minutes ago, one of the many entrances into the square from the town’s outskirts. The only difference now were fortifications resembling Sweet Apple Acres during the parasprite attack or Apploosa before their battle with the Buffalos. Produce carts were turned sideways at the corners of the buildings, thinning the road to only a few feet of space. A few villagers crouched behind them, armed with improvised weapons like gardening hoes, rakes and shovels, involuntarily shaking them violently, still scared out of their minds of Doc and his immeasurable power. The rest of the ponies in town were standing just behind the ones at the carts, crowded together to witness Doc’s return, practically expecting him to go on a rampage once again and tear the whole town to pieces. Doc looked down on them from the hill’s pinnacle, his friends close by as they heard him sigh.
“Yup,” he said, “thought they’d react this way…”
Doc trotted down the hill, his friends still keeping close as to show the town their acceptance of him, or rather to stop them before they started chucking rocks, but hey, I’m not being specific here. They approached, the townsponies readying their violently shaking “weaponry” in the direction of Doc as much as they could, inexperienced when it comes to conflicts like the battle of Appleoosa, and even that wasn’t designed to kill anybody. They were never a fighting sort of village, as represented by the two “identical” stampedes of bunnies that happened a while back. Their main course of action for a situation like that was to panic, run into their houses, pull the doormats in and hide, and that’s just for a miniscule rush of cute, hopping, foliage-eaters that were no bigger than a table lamp. Something like this, something that could cause some serious damage and get ponies killed (which it won’t) shook them to the very core. That, and the experience of watching somepony they loved so much commit such a degree of destruction sent the worst chills up their spines they had ever had in their lives. Doc could see every bit of this as they slowly pointed their “weapons” towards him, still incapable of ceasing their violent shaking as he approached. It was going to be difficult explaining himself without giving anypony a heart attack if this is how they react to almost everything. Doc and his band of sisters (and brother) halted as they saw somepony coming out from the crowd and approaching them through the space between the carts. A sandy colored coat with a wavy white mane, the Mayor of Ponyville proudly revealed herself to them as the town’s representative. But before the group could actually react in any way, she said to Doc something nopony thought she would…and in the calmest tone out of anypony there.
“Doctor…I thinks it’s time the town knew the truth.”
***
Doc timidly made his way through the crowd, unnecessarily putting his tail between his legs (the expression, not literally) as the eyes of the ponies who used to trust him looked up to him in fear, as if he was some sort of wrathful, unpredictable god. The Mayor cantered in front of him, keeping an unexpectedly calm and normal persona as they walked past one concerned pony after another. They eventually reached Doc’s caravan through the crowd. Doc and The Mayor looked at each other and nodded simultaneously, as if they had some sort of plan. Doc trotted up to the caravan and began undoing the secure on the large, leather strap that wrapped around it. It slid off the roof limply, hitting hit the ground behind the caravan just before Doc began fiddling with the corners of the folded wooden platform that stuck to the visible side of the caravan, hanging by securities that held it to the wagon’s wall. The townsfolk watched him as he worked sternly, crowding themselves around the caravan from several meters away, giving Doc a little distance to work, and of course, as a precaution from the monster they thought he was. Twi and her friends stood front row in the crowd, interested to see how Doc would explain himself to an entire town over the course of a few minutes. Doc swiftly slid on his knees across the dirt to the other wheel of the caravan’s visible side, followed by him unfastening an identical security for the other corner of folded platform. Gravity did the rest of the work as the large planks unfolded, just as they were designed to. This platform was the wood used to stand on while ordering something from the caravan’s marketing window, large enough to be a small stage and perfect for a merchant with many loyal customers. Doc climbed up onto the platform and walked to its center, readying himself for his explanation to the dozens of ponies that had come to see him leave, but are now scared (and very interested) as to what he will do next. They looked up at him and watched as he slowly sighed in and out through his nose, his eyes shut before he opened them and began his speech.
“Uhm…Hi…I’m Doc.” he said timidly, “As you can see, I look a little different than as you may normally know me.”
He paused, looking to the lower left corner of his eyes and letting an awkward silence fall amongst the scene.
“Jeez, I’m sorry.” he said, breaking the silence as he scratched the back of his head with his hoof, “I’m horrible at speeches *heh*. So…I…”
He stammered before the Mayor climbed non-formally onto the stage herself and helped him in her proclaiming and calm tone.
“What he’s trying to say is that he’s sorry for you all having seen him like that.” she said, “It’s a very long story about the Doctor’s past that he would be glad to tell. I only ask that you give him a chance to explain himself and listen to what he has to say…just as I did so many years ago as a child…and believe me…he hasn’t changed a bit since.”
The Mayor has known Doc since she was a filly? That must mean Doc really is immortal. Twi thought, just as surprised by the Mayor’s assistance and word choice as anypony else in the crowd.
“Thanks Ivory.” Doc said to the Mayor as she walked off of the stage via the steps on the front, then looked back out at the crowd, restarting his speech with a less bashful and more leading tone.
“Yes, I do have a story to tell that’ll explain a lot about me and even more about just who those…freaks were.”
He sighed in and out of his nose again before continuing.
“This is the story of ‘The Four Horses of the Apocalypse’…”
And so, he told the same story his friends had heard minutes ago, almost word for word, save a few changes here and there. Ponies in the crowd gave very noticeable reactions to the revealing of names and the hints to who the stallions were by the similarities of traits that Doc mentioned between them. Although, Twi, her friends and the Mayor sat still, unmoving as they already knew these facts, but still listening like the good and loyal friends they were. Doc concluded by revealing himself as the spirit of Conquest, letting everypony’s astonishment die down before speaking calmly, rather than waiting for any questions.
“Yup…I’m an immortal stallion, same as the other three you met today. I have been so for as long as any of you may have known me, and much longer before that. For years, my original job in this world was to be somepony who could make any place and all life in it disappear in the blink of an eye. But I decided to spend those years doing what I love, and what all of you know me for, helping good ponies like you in any way I can…and keeping you all happy.”
His shoulders sunk a little and a smile crept up along his cheeks as he looked out at everypony across the square. They were his friends, the ponies that inhabited one of the few places on earth Doc knew he would always love, no matter what they thought of him. The crowd looked up to him in slight suspense, most of the fear gone from their eyes as they wondered just how he would conclude such a speech. He lowered his head slightly after scanning from left to right over the crowd, widened his smile even further, then looked back up to the crowd before concluding.
“That’s all I ever wanted for anypony…for you all to be happy…” he said before letting his head and gaze fall once more.
He looked back up after a short pause and continued.
“Now…look, you can react however you want to all that’s happened, whether you chase me out of town or just go on as you normally would, but I just want you all to know that…all other towns those three have caught me in, I’ve chosen to leave and never come back. But this town….this town is just too-[ungamn-important for me to leave behind by choice…so, I’ll leave the choice to you.”
He sat down on the wood of the platform in the strange, humanoid way that he does, on his rump with his knees bent and his forearms resting on his kneecaps.
“I’ll give you a few minutes amongst yourselves to decide,” he said, “but please, and I do mean this…you may take your time.”
***
As the crowd members began turning to each other and whispering options and agreements, Twi could hear a vast majority of them leaning towards throwing Doc out so the town would not be caught in the crossfire of their rivalry. There were a few arguments of Doc being too good of a guy to just be thrown to the wolves like that, but those were quickly hushed, ignored or disproven. It eventually crossed a line to where Twi could hear it all around her, making her take several steps forward into the half circle space the crowd made in front of the stage, turn around to everypony and speak in the most commanding voice anypony had ever hear her speak in.
“Oh come on! Would you listen to yourselves!” she yelled angrily.
This caught everypony’s attention in a fraction of a second, filling the area with silence as all eyes went to her. She continued speaking to the crowd while making her way up the wooden steps and to Doc’s right side.
“This is our doctor we’re talking about!” she said, pointing at Doc, “You know, the one that has kept us happy and healthy in some of the most amazing ways?! I mean just think about why you even came to this stupid square in the first place!”
She began pointing to random colts and mares in the crowd as she asked them the same question.
“You! Why are you here?!”
A nervous, middle-aged colt answered her.
“Uh…b-because one time, the doctor fixed my broken leg.”
“Right! Now you! Why are you here?!”
A young filly, about as old as herself, answered quietly.
“Uh…h-he g-gave me medicine that s-saved my husband from a horrible illness.”
“Good! And now lastly…!”
She turned her entire body to her left and said to Doc in the same volume of speech.
“Why are you here, you friendly, demonic weirdo?!”
He stood straighter and said in the same tone without hesitation.
“To serve for the greater good of those around me and insure their safety, Ma’am!”
“Precisely!” she responded, actually quite surprised by such a professional and militarized response, but satisfied of how good he reacted to such a yell.
She continued without giving a hint of her amazement.
“That’s why all of us are here! If Doc has the heart to cope with an unearthly body filled with an immortal soul whose purpose is for destruction like his, then I’ll gladly stand right by his side until the day he stands by my death bed!”
“Heck yeah!” she heard a slightly rougher voice call from the crowd’s front row, followed by AJ trotting up the stairs and to Doc’s left, continuing in her own public speaking voice.
“This girls talkin’ sense,” she said, “and Ah think she’s one a’ the onleh few that c’n willin’ly git up here an’ admit that she c’n stick to a friend as good as this big guy! Anyponeh else got the moxy ta do that n’ stand up lahke the poneh they think they are?!”
“You bet I do!” Dash called proudly, making her way up the stairs and next to Twi in this line that was slowly building in length.
“I’d never leave a friend like him hangin’!”
Each of Doc and Twi’s closest friends, including Spike, Mac and even the Mayor made their way up in their own style, saying their own things and showing their loyalty to a good friend. After everypony made their way up and got into their spot of the line, Twi spoke, pretty much concluding this little speech they all had made.
“You all see now?!” she said happily, “This is why we’re here! To be good ponies and friends in each of our own ways, and to never back down when a friend…no, anypony needs you. This is this guy’s purpose, to defend and protect those he loves. Do you really want to deny him of that?”
The crowd looked amongst each other, waiting for somepony to say something in astonishment of the group’s loyalty to their friend. What came from the silence were a small series of applauds and inspiring *Woo!*’s from behind the crowd. Everypony turned their attention to the noise, seeing Soarin and Spitfire, daredevils of the generation, cheering him on like real fans, stomping their hooves against the dirt happily and cheering as loud as they could. This changed everypony’s outlook on the scene, seeing celebrities like them cheering him on and giving him support, soon coaxing them to do the same until slowly, the entire crowd began cheering and applauding like a grand audience after a fantastic show. It made Doc smile, looking down each side of his line of friends as they looked back at him, smiling just as he did.
“Thank you everypony, thank you.” he said to the crowd humbly, slowly bringing all of their cheers down to an attentive crowd of listeners as he continued in a deep, humble speaking voice, one of a real leader, “I give my appreciation for all of this, but I do not deserve your praise. I’m just a normal stallion, nothing special, and I would like it to stay that way. But as of now, since I have your approval of my stay, I merely ask that you go about your regular lives and let me do what is necessary with those stallions. I promise I will not let you down or get any of you caught up in this more than you already have, and if I know one thing…it’s that when I make a promise…no matter how difficult, crazy or impossible it is,”
“I always keep it.”
***
“Wonderful speech Doctor!” Rarity mused as she and the rest of the group, including the Mayor, stood on the platform of Doc’s caravan once he convinced everypony in the crowd to go home and rest their minds.
Doc was inside the caravan at the counter while everypony remained outside, same way it’s always been. They all decided to have a little chat in the residual moment of this interesting day.
“You sure made all of this feel much easier on the mind when you expressed your thoughts!” Rarity continued.
“*heh* Thanks.” He replied, scratching the back of his head with his hoof, typical Doc reaction to any compliment, “I guess I’m just used to it. Then again, I really couldn’t have done that without your guys’ help.”
He scanned the batch of good friends in front of him, each now with a real smile on their face and not a hint of fear in their gleaming eyes.
“You all are just…*sigh* so amazing…”
“Look whose talkin’.” said Spike, finally speaking to Doc after such a long period of silence. He stood on Twi’s back, leaning over her scalp as he continued.
“We’re amazing and you’re the first immortal outside of royalty any of us have ever met. Give yourself some credit for cryin’ out loud!”
He slid down Twi’s neck on his chin as he spoke, lying across Twi’s spine on his belly and looking around her neck to still get a clear view.
“*heheh* Thanks again.” Doc replied, “But really, I don’t need any credit on my part. I’m just a regular guy, one of a million. Not making myself feel important keeps me focused on what really is, like all of you.”
“Well ya can’t argue with his morals.” AJ offered to the group, then turned her attention to Doc, “But still, jus’ cuz ya don’t need ta feel important, doesn’t mean ya always shouldn’t.”
Doc looked down with a smile, sighed, then looked back up to say the same thing for a third time.
“Thanks…”
“…But…listen,” Doc continued, steering his tone to be slightly more serious and weakening his smile slowly until it turned into an unemotional flatness, “I know for a fact that those stallions are going to be back tomorrow, and I want all of you to be ready for anything. Don’t challenge them and don’t let them get inside your head. They may try to connect with you in an attempt to gain trust, and I’m not saying to shun them off at every turn, but just…be careful. There actually have been times when they’ve only come to socialize and not cause any trouble, but then again, they’ve also come bearing just the opposite. Please…I can’t stress it enough but…be careful. I can take anything they throw at me, anything, but I’ve seen what they can do to, no offense, mortals. They together are three fourths of The Apocalypse, and they will stop at nothing until I join them and we are back to the way it used to be.”
Everypony in the group looked at each other in slight concern as he spoke, but listened carefully and nodded as he finished, perfectly understanding the seriousness of the situation. He quickly scanned over them, seeing all of their recognitions through a simple bob of their heads, followed by him smiling and continuing.
“Good, now make sure to get some rest. Tomorrow will definitely be a day like no other.”
“Oh, and one more thing.” he said in the tone he had just recovered moments ago, calm, tired, and very humble as his friends had just barely begun to turn their attention and walk away, “Twi…Dashie…AJ…Ivory…all of you…thank you somuch. I’ll make sure you all go down in history for being the only few to stand up for something like me. It will take me an eternity to pay you back.”
They smiled at him, but before they could give any appreciation, he continued once more.
“Okay, now you can go home and get some rest *heh*. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
He turned his back from the counter and began swiping the other counter top with his hoof. Everypony in the group said minor farewells to each other and eventually made their way home, all except for one purple unicorn and her dragon assistant who stayed back to say something they just had to. Twi approached the counter again, attempting to remain silent as she made her way across the slightly creaky wood of the platform. When she reached the counter she could see Doc pulling things out of overhead cupboards and placing them on the counter that sat on the other side of the caravan’s inner walls. She watched his back as he worked, putting the pieces of equipment back together with strengthened movements, all of the very prominent and surprisingly etched muscles along his back and shoulders being put into the effort as he pulled and pushed on things out of Twi’s sight. She looked at the four raven barnacle-like geysers on his back, thinking about them only for a moment until quietly knocking on the wood of the counter twice. She caught Doc’s attention as he perked his head and ears, then turned his head slightly to his left and spoke to her in a friendly tone.
“*heh* How’d I know you would still have more to say?”
“Call it a hunch.” Twi replied, just as friendly as him, “But I do still have a question or two.”
“Alright,” he said as he turned around and placed both hooves on the counter simultaneously, “hit me.”
“You explained a lot to us today, but I have a gut feeling there’s more to it than just that.”
“Then yo’ gut be speakin’ the truth.” Doc said in a humorous accent, “*heh* I have sooo much more than just one little story to describe everything about me. Believe me, I promise I’ll tell everypony all of it in do time, but as of now, it would just be better for all of us if those secrets remained behind closed doors. Anyway, anything else?”
Twi put her hoof to her muzzle and tapped it twice in thought as she looked to the top of her eye sockets. She eventually looked down and saw the pendant Doc was still wearing around his neck by the thick brown string, now revealed by the lack of his shirt. It was crescent-shaped, bending to Doc’s right and of a color like a pale, midnight blue. It appeared to have miniaturized craters in it and a hole at the top of the crescent tip which allowed the string to loop through and secure it with a minor knot. This little pendant around Doc’s neck that he had kept hidden all this time was a cartoonish rendition of a crescent moon. She looked back up at him and asked him about it.
“I…noticed you were looking at the moon on the roof of the library a few nights ago.” she mentioned, “You had that little necklace with you, and you seemed to be kissing it, telling the moon you were sorry. Why?”
He looked down at his chest to see the little moon pendant, taking his elbows off of the counter and lifting it gently with his right hoof. He elevated it, getting a good look of the entire thing in the palm of his hoof. He raised his other foreleg up and slowly caressed the curve of the pendant with his left hoof. He smiled reminiscently at the little charm, looking at it for a few moments until he looked back up and answered, gripping the pendant tightly.
Ivory Scroll perked her senses to the mahogany wood of the large pair of double doors that led into her office. She was at her desk, still doing paper work after several hours of the pencil-pushing formalities she hated so. A moment passed before the large doors deeply popped open and creaked on their hinges to allow a small crack of open space between them. The head of a large, muscular stallion, a bright, sandy coat and a short, auburn mane, wearing the sunglasses and suit that came with his job peaked through the crack in the door. One of the Mayor’s many members of security, Safe Keeping, spoke in a deep voice.
“Mayor Scroll, somepony is here to see you.”
“Did they state their business?” she replied formally.
“She said it had to do with ‘yesterday’s incident’, Ma’am.”
“I see…” she looked down at the far edge of her desk, but not for long until she turned her gaze back up at her bodyguard and said, “Send her in please.”
The door mildly swung open to show the stallion gripping the handle and standing with his back to the door, a much smaller, purple unicorn standing timidly behind him.
“Ah, Miss Sparkle!” the Mayor said, beaming a quick but small smile, “Come on in!”
Twi nervously looked to the colt as he kept his gaze fixed on her, but quickly looked back to the Mayor as she trotted into the office. The bodyguard began following her after she passed him, but was stopped by the Mayor.
“Relax sir. She poses no threat to us.” she said dismissively.
“Are you sure, Ma’am? You can never be too-”
“Please Mr. Keeping, she’s a friend.” she mentioned, cutting him off once again.
“I understand Miss.” he said, nodding his head once without hesitation.
He looked to Twi once more with a slight, but non-insulting concentration before turning, exiting and shutting the large door behind him. Twi looked curiously around the Mayor’s office as she slowly stepped closer to her desk, amazed by the height of the unexpected height of the ceiling. It was, on terms, a small, dark office space despite the vertical size of the room, the ceiling leading all the way up to what little space there was before the pinnacle of the building’s pointy roof. Although, horizontally, the room was small, just large enough for The Mayor’s desk and some necessary elbow room, the two padded chairs that sat in front of it, about ten feet of space between the desk and the door, and the decorations on each side of it. The walls on the left and right sides of the office were lined with bookcases that stretched halfway up the walls. On one side of the room stood the large mahogany double doors, along with two paintings on each of the walls beside them. The one on the left was a picture of a former mayor with an end table just below the painting’s frame and the painting on the right showed a large but calming picture of a flax flower. Along the floor was a luxurious maroon rug that ran in a mildly thick line up to the far side of the room and just before The Mayor’s desk. It was grand, occupied and made of beautiful tigerwood, but orderly enough to look very professional. On it sat great loads of papers, some kept in stacks and others just carelessly set aside for later or even thrown onto the floor. Beyond the desk was a large window that stood as high as the bookcases, mostly shrouded by a tan curtain that gave the room a light brown, heavenly sort of glow.
“So Miss Sparkle,” said the Mayor, “you wanted to see me?”
“Yes ma’am.” Twi replied, “It’s about…what happened yesterday…out in the square.”
The Mayor’s listening expression popped a reminiscent smirk as she swiveled ninety degrees to her right in her padded office chair, looking through the small, curved triangle of visible window left by the large curtains that draped down from high above. She looked out to the square and replied.
“Ah yes…” she said, sighing through her nose and then continuing calmly, “Definitely not what I had planned for that day.”
“That’s…sort of what I came to talk about today, ma’am.” Twi said as she waited for the Mayor to swivel back to her before continuing, “You seemed so…calm about Doc’s transformation, his return to town and his big speech. You even said that you knew him when you were a child. W-would you mind giving a little more insight on that, please?”
“Sure Twilight.” she responded calmly, talking as if to a good friend and not just another townspony coming in to give a complaint.
She put her elbows on the desk as she leaned in slightly towards Twi, letting her fore hooves vertically rest flat against each other.
“That is, of course,” she said, “if Doc has told you as much as I think he has.”
Twi nodded.
“He told us a lot after we found him outside of town.” she mentioned, “But after the little speech he gave, he also confirmed a gut feeling I had afterwards. Something just felt like he hadn’t told us everything. The most that my friends and I know is that he and those three stallions were ‘The Four Horses of the Apocalypse’ and that all of them are apparently ‘immortal’, sort of like gods. But beyond that, I’m blind.”
“It’s good that you know that much, it makes my side of the story a whole lot easier to tell.” Ivory began, “But yes, your right, all four of the stallions that viciously fought in the square yesterday were immortals, including our good friend, the traveling doctor. I actually met him back when I was just a filly, and obviously, he didn’t look a day younger back then and he’s not a day older now. But all the same, he met me in the park while I was out playing like all good fillies were supposed to back in those days. We played the entire day and became very good friends, helping me peacefully deal with school bullies and generally looking out for me for years to come. He was even the one that talked me into running for mayor, since I actually wanted to get into the family business of printing. He always said I was meant to be a leader, that I had the heart and mind for it. Such good years those were…and yet, as I grew older and he remained so unchanged, suspicions in my mind grew and grew, eventually hitting reality when he told me the truth. Needless to say, I was just as disbelieving as anypony else was at the square yesterday. It was difficult to understand who he was and the things he did, telling me he was immortal and that he had three others equal to his power, hunting him down to the very corners of the earth. He never told me much about who they were, but he did say that when I became mayor, there was a possibility that they would catch up to him in town, and he gave me the choice to decide if he should leave and never came back right then and there. But I knew Doc, he was a friend. I couldn’t just drop him like a rock after all he had done for me, no matter what damage his conflicts might cause.”
She swiveled to her right once more and looked slightly farther out into the square, catching sight of the little white caravan that a peculiar white stallion drove all the time, thinking that it must have so many stories to tell. She continued with the same reminiscent, calming and friendly smile she had kept throughout the conversation.
“Despite him being the spirit, or god for all I know, of such an evil act, one of destruction and control over the innocent, he just had…just has…too big of a heart to be anything like his story tells, too good of a soul to be what those stallions think is best for him.”
Twi looked to the bottom corners of her eyes in thought, biting her lip in slight guilt until she finally worked up the nerve to tell Ivory the truth.
“Actually, Ms. Mayor…” she said as the old mare swiveled back to the desk in interest, listening as Twi continued, “I didn’t come by to talk about the incident yesterday. I actually came by to talk to you about…well, Doc. I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Thoughts kept running through my head about him, about that little rampage he went on, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how he acted during it. In all honesty, he scares me now. Like, if I or anypony does one thing wrong, he’ll go crazy again and get somepony hurt. I couldn’t keep myself from showing my nervousness on the way over here, but I also saw that all of the ponies in town were just as nervous and twitchy as I was. Even my library assistant admitted to feeling the same, and I think that secretly goes for everypony else in town. Frankly, I’m worried of how this day will play out in the end with everypony so wired up.”
The Mayor turned her expression from an interested gaze to a calm simper once again, swiveled closer to the desk and rested her elbows on it, hooves flat in each other’s palms, as though it was routine when talking to somepony. If so, she did a good job at making everything seem calm, despite the subject being so…unique. But I digress. After the Mayor arched her back forward in her office chair and rested on her elbows, she replied to Twi’s suspicions.
“It’s just the jitters that ponies get when they first realize Doc’s secret.” she said dismissingly, “He knows everypony will have it and I do too, so relax. It’ll only last for a day or two… depending on what happens today.”
She promptly giggled, surprising Twi with its joyful noise, but still resonating a leader’s deep octave in her voice.
“Although…” she said after a content sigh, “I’m worried about him too. I have a feeling he’s gotten himself way in over his head, like he’s doing something he hasn’t entirely thought through. He’s crazy, but then again, aren’t we all?”
Twi popped a small smile, seeing how Ivory felt the same way as her right now, understanding her and being a good friend in unnerving times. Ivory continued while taking her elbows off of her tigerwood desk and slumping back into her chair lazily.
“But, back on the subject of why you’re here,” she said, “I’ve already told you so much about Doc that I know, so I don’t think have I much else to say that will be useful.”
Twi’s shoulders slumped a little as she looked to the bottom left of her eyes, not wanting to look disappointed, but Ivory could understand her worry for Doc first hand. She leaned forward from her slothful slump and reached over her desk, placing an unsuspecting hoof on the caring unicorn’s shoulder, catching her off guard slightly. Twi looked up and saw Ivory’s smiling face as she reassured her with the kindest of words.
“It’s okay to be worried about him,” she said, “but relax…he’ll be fine. After all, *heh* he isn’t exactly in danger of dying, now is he?”
Twi laughed a little, smiling back as she replied.
“Yeah…Thanks Ms. Mayor, I needed that.” she said, then began to get up and make her way out of the office.
“Oh, and Twilight.” Twi heard just before she could place her hoof on the door handle.
She turned and saw Ivory smiling as she sat at her desk, sunlight from the window giving a heavenly glow around her khaki coat and ashen mane as she spoke.
“You can just call me Ivory, our strange friend certainly does. Bye for now.”
She then turned all the way around in her chair to look out the window thoughtfully, elbows on the arm rests, hooves flat in their palms and her gaze centered on the little, white, mysterious wagon that sat on the side of the square, strangely closed and abnormally inactive for just what kind of demigod called it home.
****
*HOO-HOO HOO*
The sudden noise from a dead nearby tree made Twi’s heart skip a beat before she looked up, noticing an owl perched on a horrifically bent tree branch just before it took flight and escaped through a hole in the dense, overhead canopy. She was far into the Everfree Forest, and it was one of the few times she had ever actually ventured through it alone. Last time she did so, she was turned into stone by a cockatrice and left to be a statue for Fluttershy to find several hours later in the middle of the night. Still, Twi worked up the courage to continue on until she rounded the trunk of another horrifying tree to see a much larger, less terrifying one. Culturally designed bottles and lamps hung from its branches and tribal decorations littered the sides of the abnormally large trunk, ending their placement at a red door that stood fixed in the tree’s bark. After a long and frightful walk through the unnatural darkness of the Everfree, Twi was glad to finally have reached Zecora’s hut. She knocked on the door, slightly nervous of how the conversation would fare on the topic she had just discussed with Ivory. But hey, Twi figured that if that conversation went well, this one should be just fine. Now feeling a tad more confident, Twi could hear hoof steps just beyond the old timber of the door before it calmly swung open and the kind zebra of a friend Twi knew was standing there, hoof on the door handle and a smile on her striped face.
“Hello Ms. Sparkle, you’re looking quite well.” she said before motioning a hoof across her chest and into the room, “Would you like to come in and rest for a spell?”
“Thanks Zecora,” Twi acknowledged before taking her offer and trotting inside, “but right now I really need to talk to you about something.”
Zecora closed the door as she replied.
“Anything my dear, but still I must say. ‘Tis strange you came alone for such a long way.”
“Well I had to make an exception of company. I don’t have much time before I miss something important.”
“In that case my dear,” Zecora said as she trotted just past Twi and lied down on one of the several pillows that were arranged to be her spot for lounging or talking with guests. She continued, “have a seat. Come and say the things of which you’d like to speak.”
“Thanks again.” Twi replied before plopping onto one of the pillows herself, “I’ll cut straight to the chase. I came here to talk with you about Doc.”
“Ah, you speak of yesterday’s case. I could already tell by the look on your face.” she replied with a calm smile and even humorous tone.
Twi cocked an eyebrow.
“You mean you know what happened?”
“Once I heard his howl through the trees, I could tell our Doctor was certainly not pleased.”
She looked over to the door and continued, making it all sound like a poem or a song.
“I ventured out of my little nook, daring to take a simple look. But once I arrived at your town square, I quickly regretted my foolish dare. I saw Doc standing, the height of a tree, meeting his hind hoof to a black stallion’s knee. The sound it made was a horrifying crack, but certain thoughts of the stallion quickly came back. I remembered the stories told by Doc in my youth, and I instantly realized the horrifying truth. They were the other horses told in his tale, including the red stallion, on his rear, a giant flail. After seeing the truth behold, I blent into the crowd, a move I thought bold. The battle waged on and came to an end, the grey one monologuing like Doc’s old friend. Then they left and our Doctor stood tall, horrifically statured until his sudden fall. After a time, he eventually ran, and you, Twilight Sparkle took a valiant stand. You followed him like the mare that you are, and the thoughts of your friends then came to a par. They followed your lead just after that show, the rest, of course…you probably know.”
Twilight comprehended all the rhymes Zecora made and through it, sparked a revelating question.
“So…wait, you already knew?!”
Zecora replied by chuckling out her next words.
“After four long months of supervision, did you not expect him to bring the truth to fruition?”
Twi looked to the lower corners of her eyes.
“Well…okay, that does make sense.” she said before shaking her head and looking back to Zecora, “But wait…Does that mean you’ve known all along?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, I do. It might have been noticed in an unforeseen clue. As Doc told the story of his time at my home, there was one thing he chose to keep in his tomes. He had saved me from a buffalo, which are feral where I’m from. Still, in doing so, the deed of truth had been done. He scared the beast off with each demonic leg, and in addition to the sight, his eyes changed black and red. Needless to say, I nearly fainted at the sight, but Doc reassured me before I fell in fright. He told me his story of who he truly was, and yet, at the conclusion, I was scared of what he does. And through all the doubts and worries that I had, his grand personality had always kept me glad.”
Twi smiled at this, the same sort of relieved simper she gave when realizing Ivory’s feelings on the matter slowly came across her face. Twi knew she had made the right decision by coming to talk to her and Zecora before she went to talk to Doc and see the stallions return. She heard Zecora continue.
“So as the days went by, I had nothing to fear, for it felt good knowing he was near. My whole village even knew the truth within time, but only through convincing, did they see Doc at his prime. I spoke on his behalf to leverage his odds, and after some discussion, they acknowledged with nods. They now knew of this unearthly fact, still they ordered he leave, to never come back. Doc left without objection, tone professional and firm, a good quality about him, one all of us should learn. But before he exited that chapter of my life, I made sure I promised him my never ending strife. We said our goodbyes, our promises and pacts, and after several years, here he is, as a matter of fact. So although I know of his power in rage, I choose to just flip my life’s book to the very next page.”
After hearing this amazingly long poem that Zecora was able to think of as she spoke, Twi smiled. She was able to piece together Zecora’s thoughts and realize that even though she has known of Doc all these years, she’s merely accepted what he is and chosen to move on. Twi got up from the pillows, making her way for the door as she spoke.
“Thank you again, Zecora. I only asked three questions…and you said everything I needed to know.”
“Tis but my job to help your problems amend. I believe that is ‘loyalty’ in the qualities of friends.”
Twi was at the door already, hoof just before the handle like at Ivory’s office before she smiled widely and turned back to Zecora.
“You bet, ‘Stripes’. See you later.” she said before happily making her way out the door and on the trail to her newly prepared day, now absolutely ready for anything those monsters could throw at her once they arrived.
She had no idea how stupid a statement like that was.
***
Doc yawned loud and deep on the roof of his caravan as he sat in a criss-cross sitting position, fully dressed in a brand new work shirt and looking somewhat “back to normal”. He had decided to climb up on the roof of his caravan and do overnight surveillance of the roads that ran into the square, making sure to be prepared if his old “friends” decided to pay him a midnight visit. Now having spent the whole night sitting on his roof with no sign of the stallions, he had begun to get exceptionally bored. He finally gave up his job of sentry and surveillance and decided to lie back and rest, putting his fore-hooves behind his head as he looked up at the wispy clouds above, making curious shapes out of their freely bent figures.
“Hey Doc!” he heard shouted from below, causing him to instantly sit up straight and look around for the noise’s origin with a swivel of his head. He eventually peered his gaze over the edge of the roof and down the side of the caravan, spotting Twi as she looked up to him from just beyond the platform’s steps, an uncommon smile draped across her face despite everypony’s slight negativity and anxiety towards him. He was glad to finally see a smile that wasn’t faked, replying with an identical, much more relaxed expression.
“Hey Twi, what’s up?”
“Not much. What are you doing up there?”
“Just keeping watch.” he said while hopping down from his roof and onto the wooden patio of his closed shop in a kneeling stance, “I stayed up all night to make sure those stallions wouldn’t sneak up on me once the sun went down.”
Twi cocked an eyebrow as Doc cantered to the edge of the platform and sat, dangling his legs off the side.
“Really?” she asked, “Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?”
“Extreme?” Doc asked with disbelieving expression, “*pfft* Believe me Twi, these guys will try anything to make sure I join them again. *heh* After yesterday, I don’t even think the term ‘extreme’ applies to them anymore.”
Twi walked up the steps and onto the platform, sitting beside him as he continued in a stressed tone, stretching his back as he spoke.
“But all the same, *sigh* I couldn’t stop thinking about them all night. So, I figured doing something about it might help to calm my nerves.”
“Jeez…” she replied, “Well, you certainly don’t look tired after staying up all those hours.”
“That’s ‘cuz I’m not…and I never will.”
Twi looked at him with a curious expression.
“What?” she asked, “What do you mean?”
“It’s a thing about being an immortal.” Doc replied, “Since we just undo any damage done to ourselves throughout the day, our bodies are designed to never need rest. Even if we want to, we can never really fall asleep.”
“Wow, really?!” Twi asked enthusiastically, “That must be amazing! I can’t tell you how much studying I could get done if I never needed to sleep.”
“Yeah,” Doc replied flatly, “but answer me this, Twi. What happens when studying gets boring, or you’ve studied all you ever could?”
Doc’s tone somewhat stomped on Twi’s enthusiasm before he continued.
“It may seem great, never needing to stop, but think about this for a second. Have you ever appreciated the ability to dream, or to not be by yourself for hours every night because everypony else is asleep?”
“Oh…” Twi responded guiltily, “I-I’m so sorry Doc.”
“Meh,” Doc replied casually, “you don’t need to apologize. And sorry for my tone, it just…kinda sucks, y’know?”
“W-well…it can’t be all bad, right?” Twi said, trying to cheer him up, “I mean it’s gotta have its upsides, having that much time on your hooves.”
“That’s true.” he said, sounding slightly reassured, “Still, it can be a little hard to take up that much time.”
“Well, what do you normally do?” she asked.
“Mostly reading, coming up with new alchemy recipes and thinking.” he answered, “If not that, it’s mostly spent getting unbelievably drunk and singing to myself for hours at a time.”
Twi responded after sounding a quick, very-surprised chuckle.
“Well, you certainly aren’t shameful about it!”
“Why would I?” Doc asked with a smile, “I certainly think of it as time well spent.”
“Yeah. I guess you weren’t kidding when you said you enjoy the occasional drink.”
They both enjoyed a little laugh after Doc just responded with a sheepish “Yeah”.
“Still,” Twi continued, “I didn’t know you could sing.”
“Eh, I dabble.” he replied.
“You think you can show me?” she asked.
“*heh* There’s a time and place for everything, Ms. Sparkle.” he replied with a smirk, “Maybe someday, but not today.”
“Aww, fine.” Twi responded, “*heh* So did you do any of that while you sat up there all night?”
“Nope.” Doc answered with the slightest ounce of pride, “Kept vigilant the entire time. I didn’t want to give them any chance of sneaking up on me.”
“Jeez.” Twi said, surprised by his commitment for such a paranoid thing, “Don’t you think your being a little paranoid with them? I mean, sure, they do seem pretty crazy, but-”
“But nothing.” Doc interrupted, “Believe me, I’ve dealt with these dudes for a long time. That is exactly something that they’d do.”
“True…but they didn’t.” Twi mentioned slyly.
“*heh* Still,” Doc responded, “‘Better safe than sorry’ has always been my way to go with those guys, and it hasn’t failed me yet.”
They sat in silence for the next few moments, almost like they were expecting something to add itself into the conversation. Twi swung her hind legs in playful alternation over the edge of the platform like a child, smiling and lightly swiveling her torso to the sides in rhythm with the swings.
“Now that I think about it…” she said, breaking the small silence, “doesn’t it seem kind of…unnatural without everypony else here?”
Doc sat up from his backwards lean and arched his back to relax his elbows on his thighs.
“What?” he responded, “You mean AJ, Dash and the bunch or everypony in town that was here yesterday?”
“Do I really have to answer that question?”
“Well…no.” he turned his gaze down as he contemplated her point, but only for several moments until he said, “But yeah, it does feel weird not to have them here.”
“Yup.” Twi said before she jumped down off of the platform and continued, “I think I’ll go round everypony up. Wouldn’t want them to miss today’s show now would we?”
“*heh* You sure seem confident.” Doc said, slightly mocking but in a friendly way, the way he would speak to a friend like Dash, “What’s got you so calm?”
“I went to see the Mayor and Zecora before I came here. I wanted to hear their side of the story first.”
Doc smiled reminiscently and turned his gaze downward for a moment, the sign that he was thinking of the past or of somepony he cares/cared about.
“In that case Twilight,” he said with a calm and nostalgic voice, “what were those sides like exactly?”
“The Ma-…uh, Ivory, says I have nothing to worry about, and ‘Stripes’ has accepted you for who you are. She’s just chosen to move on.”
Doc thought of them again with the same course of action.
“Good.” he said before turning back to Twi, “Thanks Twi, see you when everypony else gets here.”
He spun to his left until he was able to lie down on the edge of the platform, right foreleg dangling off of it lazily as looked to the sky, admiring the shape of a pirate ship in the clouds above.
***
Twi then spent about the next hour finding and rounding up everypony in her main six of friends, her fellow pieces in the Elements of Harmony. She traveled to every place she knew she would find them, and was surprisingly right on all accounts. Still, as she arrived and told them of her purpose, each took some slight convincing before they willingly went back to Doc. Most of them were very nervous and skeptical about him, even Pinkie felt a little cynical on the subject, completely opposite from her joyful and hoppy disposition. Yet, each one she spoke to, whether it was Fluttershy to AJ, from Pinkie to Rarity, they all gave off the same kind of vibe. They all had done the exact same thing Twi had done when she tried to sleep, lying awake, thinking of Doc’s fury like a disease or spasm that could occur at any moment. So, Twi responded the same way to each, telling them the thoughts of Ivory and Stripes as she heard them, then giving her own opinion on the matter. Some took a bit more convincing than others, but they eventually chose to go and be the friends they knew they should be, despite their paranoid thoughts. Then, last but not least, Twi climbed into her personal balloon and got ready to go meet the final of her friends, a certain colorful, sky blue pegasus she thought would just love to come and see Doc again.
Her balloon landed on the large, cloudy porch outside of Dash’s home in the clouds. She took in the décor of the small palace that here friend had built from her own two hooves. She was even slightly impressed by the detail, such as the cloud columns along the building’s sides and the unnecessary waterfalls of rainbow spectra that ran off the cloud’s edges, evaporating before they could even come close to hitting the ground. Only somepony like Rarity would put this much effort into anything, but Twi’s judgmental thoughts let her know that this had to all be in the name of pride. A mare of my abilities deserves to live in a palace, if not in my own kingdom. is probably what Dash thought when building it.
Twi hopped out of her balloon and onto the cloud with ease, standing on the fluffy mass due to the cloud-walker spell she used on herself during the ride here. She walked up a few stairs and knocked on the large, cloud blue double doors twice, accidently pushing the door slightly open with the second knock. It felt ominous, like the large door hadn’t been shut all the way, leaving it to crack open and for the snap it made to be heard echoing throughout the abode. Twi pushed the door open an inch farther to peek inside, seeing a single long hallway, lined with door after door along the walls and completely shrouded in darkness, giving the cloudy textures a midnight-blue tint. The peculiar lifelessness and ambiance of the situation left Twi unsettled, but after taking a moment to work up some courage, she dared to step further. She checked each of the doors that lined the sides of the hallway, seeing common rooms like a living room, kitchen, and an unexpected pool, but still no sign of Dash.
Twi noticed that every “window” in the building was purposely closed, giving each room that ominous and abandoned feeling. Was Dash out this early in the day? Had Twi made a mistake in the address? Was this just an abandoned manor in the clouds? These thoughts hung in the mare’s head as she continued searching, peeking into each door from one side of the hallway to the other, making slow progress down the hall until finally reaching a door she hadn’t noticed. It was at the far end of the hallway and almost looked identical to all other doors she checked, the only difference being a symbol in it’s center. It was a colorful lightning bolt, comprised of red, yellow and blue coming out of a cartoonishly fluffy cloud. Twi could tell this was Dash’s bedroom, and the only room the mare could possibly be in if she was even at home.
Twi slowly creaked the door open and peeked half of her head inside. She could see it was a large cloudy room with a fluffy and detailed bed in the center. Not much else was in the room, like all other rooms, the overhead windows were cloaked in more distinguishable clouds, but only certain bits of cumulus furniture scarcely littered the walls. Twi expected as much, with how many things were in all the rooms she checked, there wasn’t much in this room that would not be overkill. Twi continued to scan the room until she noticed something out of the ordinary. A cyan-colored hoof flat against the floor and a similar hind leg that led to it at an angle from behind the left side of a large, cloudy recliner and just out of Twi’s sight. Twi gained a smile, as big of one as she could in this kind of atmosphere, snuck her way in and approached the chair, crossing its front slowly as to not alert her and poke her head around it in surprise.
She had a humorous, happy and open-mouthed grin as she swung her head around the chair’s edge. It died shortly afterwards.
***
She saw Dash, sitting on her rear with her back to the wall and her knees lifted just high enough for her to wrap her forelegs around and bury her face in. She moved back and forth occasionally, but only in slight flutters as she made a depressing and muffled sobbing noise. She was crying. Twi, after having her friendly gaze drop like a rock, steadied herself to stand directly in front of her friend, allowing her to sob for several more seconds before breaking the silence throughout the entire house.
“Rainbow…” is the only thing she said, watching Dash’s sobbing as it came to a dead stop and echoed throughout the building. Eventually, Dash looked to Twi slowly, showing her face to be a deep red from crying and all of the space beneath her eyes to be twinkling with tears. They stared at each other for what felt like minutes, silence falling back over the house, Dash looking up to Twi with a sad, scared and controlled face. Twi looked down on her in an expression of concern for her well being. Finally, Dash broke the silence, barely forcing out her next words in a wilted whisper.
“Hey Twilight…What’s up…”
“A-are you okay?” Twi asked before Dash chuckled once, allowing a small smirk to rise on her face while responding in a withered, exhausted and terrified demeanor.
“*heh* Okay? How can I be okay?”
She then allowed her expression to die, only for the effect of showing how she feels. The smirk was never meant to be real, her eyes’ focus and spacing drifted to not quite look at Twi, but rather past her head and into deep space.
“I only saw the stallion I’ve looked up to my entire life turn into a monster right before my eyes. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“Now Dash-” Twi began in what was going to be an attempt of calming her down, only to be interrupted.
“I mean, it’s not like I have any problem with it and all.” she continued, “Traveling merchants are supposed to secretly be one of the four members of some apocalyptic thingy, right? Right. It’s all normal…nothing out of the ordinary.”
She was talking to herself now, completely oblivious of Twi’s presence and in her own little world while she rocked back and forth on her rump, ranting to anypony who would listen, even if it was just herself.
“Dash please I-”
“I mean if anything was out of the ordinary, he would tell me. We’ve been best friends for years now, he wouldn’t leave me out of the loop!”
“Please Dash, just listen-“
“Oh, who am I kidding!” Dash placed her hooves on her head, pushing her hair and shutting her eyes tight as she lightly screamed, “He’s kept this a secret my entire life! He’s never trusted me and he never will!”
“DASH!”
The sudden scream Twi uttered, echoing and shattering the silent stillness of the house, made Dash open her eyes and release the pressure on her hair. She looked up shortly afterwards, Twi was internally happy to see the focus and spacing in her eyes was according to actually look at her now, but Twi kept the face of her other half, the half that was furious with Dash’s over-reactive thoughts, completely apparent on her angered expression. Twi continued after her bellow in an austere and deadpan tone.
“Think about what your saying for a split second! Do you even realize just how wrong you are?!”
Dash attempted to react, uttering, “Bu-“ before quickly getting interrupted as well.
“I mean weren’t you the one who said you would never leave a friend like Doc hanging?!” Twi interrupted, leaning her head in on the pegasus and turning it to the left slightly.
Twi waited for a response as Dash slowly turned her gaze down in thought, shaking her head gently and puckering her lips until she returned to placing her hooves in her hair and sealed her eyes shut. Several seconds past of Dash slowly slipping back into this stage until Twi bellowed once more.
“WELL?!”
“I…I don’t know okay!” She replied after wincing at Twi’s howl like a scared, little child, “I really didn’t want to think about this stuff, b-but it kept me up all night last night! I’m j-just,” she buried her face in her palms, muffling her voice, “s-scared…I’m lost at what to do! Please don’t hate me for it…please…” and she began crying again.
Twi retracted at this and let her eyebrows dip into more of a pitiful watch than an enraged scowl. Dash just admitted to her own fear and pleaded for forgiveness. She is the exact opposite of everything this house said of her pride and attitude. After a small bit of silence, Twi looked down in regret of her cruel and unnecessary response.
“I don’t hate you.” she said, quiet and ashamed as she looked back up.
“Yes you do.” Dash muffled out through her sobs.
“No, I don’t.”
Twi sat down to her left and wrapped Dash’s shoulder in her right foreleg.
“I’ve never hated you Rainbow, and I never will.”
“Then why did you-”
“I overreacted a little, okay.” responded Twi quickly, “It just…struck a wrong nerve when I put the thoughts you had to mind. I didn’t want to think about him like that, and I didn’t want you losing your sanity over one pony, especially not one like Doc. Out of all of us, I think he trusts you the most. So relax, you’re not alone in your suspicion.”
“What?” Dash said as she finally looked out of her tear-washed hooves.
Twi began smiling after she had taken her foreleg off Dash’s shoulders.
“I was kept awake all night too, thinking the exact same things you were, over and over again. So, to cope with it, I went to talk with Zecora and the Mayor, and guess what I found out?”
Dash sniffed in response after placing her hooves around her knees again, followed by Twi beginning to sound much more enlightening and happy.
“Turns out that everypony in town feels the exact same way you do. It’s not uncommon.”
“Really?” Dash asked as she changed her sitting position to an identical one as Twi’s, which was now cross-legged with her hooves in her lap.
“Yeah, really. Even all of our friends had the same thoughts. I’ve been going to all of them and talking with them about it. But just a talk wasn’t the real reason I went to them. I came to ask a question, and after some convincing I was able to get an answer from them, but now I need to know your answer. Dash, after all you’ve seen, thought and said, would you be willing to join me in seeing Doc again? Just going and talking with him?”
Dash scanned the floor as she thought through her answer. She turned her gaze to the ceiling after several seconds, watching it until she grew a smile on her face, a real one. She got up, flew to the darker tinted clouds that covered the overhead windows and kicked all of it away with a single, spunky buck to its center. Light flooded the room and made both of the mare’s corneas burn, their eyes already adjusted to almost complete darkness of the room. Still, despite the piercing agony in her eyes, Twi looked up to see her smiling, cyan, pegasus friend looking down on her happily, suspended in the air with lively flapping and liberated wings. Twi smiled back up, followed by Dash implying in the brash tone Twi had begun to miss.
“Come on Twilight, let’s go see just what the world has to throw at us today.”
***
“Wait, how long did Doc say he stayed there?” Dash asked.
“Four months, I think.” Twi acknowledged, “He said it was for a ‘business trip’ and he even moved his hooves like air quotes. *sigh* He’s so strange at times.”
The mares were on their way to the town square from the library after Twi dropped her personal balloon back off at home. As Twi walked and Dash flew, they discussed why Twi had visited Zecora earlier that day, Dash unaware of her involvement of Doc’s current situation. Twi summarized her visit to the zebra’s hut with Pinkie and Doc a few days ago, quickly telling the story of Doc’s visit to Zecora’s homeland, but she made sure to tell as he described it then, leaving out the part of Doc revealing his powers to save Zecora’s life. Twi wanted to save that for when she told of her visit to the zebra’s hut the second time.
“ ‘Sneaky’ would be more precise.” Dash said in an impudent response as she landed and trotted beside Twi, “He’s been like that ever since I met him. *heh* I’m not even surprised he could speak Zebra with all the little secrets he has. ‘Probably knows some sort of ancient…dragon language or something that he hasn’t used in a million years.”
“Oh, come on Dash. I don’t think he’s that old. Known history only goes back like ten thousand years.”
“How am I supposed to know? Ponies like Doc could have been around since before time or something crazy like that…”
She paused.
“Okay…maybe that is a little overboard.”
They both laughed, enjoying each gentle chuckle as they let it die down into a pleasant sigh.
“Alright,” Twi said, several moments later, “the square should be right around the corner of this candle shop. You sure you’re ready to see him again?”
“I was born ready!” she slightly shouted, her tone happy and rebellious, giving a small hop, followed by lifting her left foreleg in the air with a flick after landing.
After Twi watched her do these acts in unison with her speech, she nodded her head with a wide smile and they rounded the corner. They saw the caravan almost on the other side of the square, sitting right where Twi had left it. Doc was sitting in the same spot he had been about fifteen minutes ago, hanging his hind legs off the edge of the wagon’s customer platform and arching his back as he sat, located a few feet from the set of small stairs that lead up and onto the platform. Around him stood or sat the other four mares that made up Twi’s band of comrades. Rarity and Pinkie stood in front of Doc while AJ sat with him on his left and Fluttershy on the opposite side. Twi was slightly amazed as she looked at their faces and noticed the extreme lack of nervousness and tension within each. They weren’t exactly as “happy” as they usually are, but they definitely showed no discomfort in the situation. Doc must have said something pretty impressive to calm them like that, but Twi refused to dwell on it and continued with Dash towards the bunch. They could hear little bits of conversation as they grew closer and began to notice that they were speaking in a pattern of somepony in the bunch asking a question or saying something, quickly followed by Doc replying.
“Hey everypony.” Twi said as the two mares grew closer, still undetected by the group, “Not too late to the party are we?”
The four mares and stallion turned their attention to the voices and grew happier to knowing who they belonged to.
“We were wonderin’ when ya two were gonna show up.” AJ said.
“Yeah, sorry.” Twi replied while scratching the back of her neck, then using the same right foreleg to point across her chest and at Dash, continuing, “I had to go and convince this pony to show up. But in the meantime, what’d we miss?”
“Not much.” Doc answered with a straight face and casual tone, “I’ve just been answering minor questions while you were gone. Stuff like if my back hurts from having these things, which it doesn’t, and if I can use them whenever I want, which I can.”
“Cool!” Twi replied with a smile, which quickly changed before she asked, “But…why do you say those are ‘minor’ questions?”
“Because I wanted to wait until you returned before I got into the major stuff. You remember that drawing I got before those stallions arrived?” he asked them.
They nodded.
“Okay…I’ve been thinking about it, and I want to show you just what it means.”
He stood up from his spot and onto the platform before saying “One sec.”, turning around and making his way to one side of the caravan, the side that had the door to the inside. Although, as he did, Twi noticed something yellow and shiny on Doc’s back. She said his name to catch his attention, then asked about it.
“What’s with the…” she said before pointing at her own back in implication.
“Oh those!” Doc replied while perking his ears and widening his eyes slightly, then turning back to open the caravan door and walk inside leisurely. After getting behind the counter and motioning for everypony to come closer, he turned around and stood on his hind legs to show the back of his shirt. On it were four golden rings, reasonably thin and about half a foot in diameter, located in the same spots of the small geysers for Doc’s supernatural legs.
“Now that everypony in town knows I have these things, I can wear this shirt so that it won’t tear when I use them.”
Twi and the group of mares looked at this for a few moments.
“…Wait, why didn’t I see you wearing this earlier?” Twi asked.
“I thought to put it on after you left. It’s just a failsafe in case I have to get a little ‘technical’ again when our guests show up.”
He fell back down onto his fore hooves and turned back to the counter.
“But anyway,” he said, “that’s not the point of this conversation.”
He reached under the counter and pulled up the paper that had that strange symbol on it, placing it on the countertop and promptly pointing to it.
“This is. This symbol was able to show me that those stallions were going to show up shortly after I got it. I just wanted to describe to you how exactly it does that. Now, listen carefully…”
He was now leaning in on the counter’s edge and pointing to the picture as he spoke. The group watched intently as he began pointing out important things and explaining what they meant.
“In the picture there are four circles with lines through them that point towards this big one in the center, here. The reason I could tell the stallions were coming was because these circles represented the stallions and I, since there’s four of us, and the big one here in the middle showed that there would be a conflict between us, which turned out to be our little fight.”
The group looked at each of the pieces of this sketch in varying orders, putting the puzzle pieces together and taking mental snapshots.
“So do the circles represent immortals in general?” Twi asked.
“Actually, quite the opposite.” Doc said matter-of-factly, “That symbol, the circle with a line through it, only pertains to the other three Horses of the Apocalypse and myself. It’s like our logo.”
The group thought harder as they understood this, hearing Twi ask another question.
“But why would something like the Apocalypse be shown by such a…simple thing.”
“Yeah,” Dash added, “I mean what’s a circle with a line through it even supposed to be?”
“Why, the earth splitting in two, my dear…”
They all turned alertedly to the tone of that unforgettable voice, Doc more than any of them. They saw the three monstrous stallions once more, standing in the same formation as last time with the red one on the left, black on the right and the sickly grey one in their center, standing slightly ahead of them. The main difference in their approach was the lack of the giant mace behind the red one and the absence of gigantic wings that had protruded from the black one’s back. The grey one, unchanged in comparison to yesterday, was the one who spoke. He continued doing so after everypony got the chance to turn their heads and see them.
“Our kind, the immortals, finds…beauty in simplicity, you see.”
Doc swiftly hopped over the counter and put himself between his friends and the stallions, furrowing his brow and standing in a defensive position.
“I knew you’d show up again.” he said very sternly, the same sort of tone he used yesterday.
“Well that’s good news.” the grey one said, same pompous and malicious accent from yesterday present in his voice, “After how long we’ve been chasing you, it’d be foolish to think otherwise. But for the meantime, shall we get down to business?”
Doc replied by bringing his demonic legs out of his back slowly. For the group, who stood just behind, it was still slightly terrifying to see them slide out casually while making strange, fleshy noises. It looked as if there was a gigantic spider or strange parasite in Doc’s back that vied for escape. Still, they only saw this as Doc began revealing his demonic appendages, but the grey one lifted the palm of his right hand towards them in a stopping motion while shutting his eyes regally, ceasing Doc’s preparation for a fight in its tracks.
“Relax Doctor,” he said before letting his palm drop to the ground once more and opening his eyes slowly into their villainous droop once more, “we are not here for a fight.”
They stood, baffled by the words they never thought they would hear from this thing’s mouth. Doc, reacting more than any of them, noticeably brought his head back and changed his furrowed brow to an almost exaggerated kind of astonishment, staring for several seconds with everypony else before he shook his head, retracted his legs instantly and screamed at them in confusion.
“What?!”
The grey one chuckled before speaking again.
“We merely chose to make a small visit on peaceful matters. Gentecolts like us should give ‘proper’ introductions, and I feel that yesterday’s fiasco was a horrible first impression on your new friends.”
He tilted his head slightly so as to give the impression of him looking at the sextuplet of mares behind Doc, but his raven eyes still looked dark and still, unable to show any movement or location of his vile gaze.
“Do you really think I’ll trust you to get anywhere near them after what you did yesterday?!” Doc asked, bringing back his spiteful glare.
“That is why we’re here.” he replied, “After realizing who your friends were, we came to talk and give according first impressions to such well known mares…maybe even make a friend or two as well.”
Doc growled savagely at them, but only for a second before he felt a hoof on his right shoulder. He turned to see Twi, giving a pleading expression and the tone to match.
“Please Doc,” she said, “they’re not here to fight, just to talk.”
Doc slowly turned back over to the stallions as he let his sight bounce from Twi, to the wood of the platform on his right side, and to them.
“Fine then guys,” he said, “let’s talk.”
***
Within a minute, the three stallions began talking with the gals of the group as they all stood on the platform. Twi watched as the red one discussed with AJ, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie while Dash, several feet away, was busy fending off the black one, who happened to look like he was flirting with her. After a few moments of the black one acting sly and Dash stationarily dealing with it, he must have said something that struck a nerve and made Dash punch him square in the jaw. Nopony really cared for the assault and the black one even stood back up and laughed, rubbing the spot of impact while saying something else that was muffled by the other bits of conversation. Twi was glad to see the small talk session going as “smoothly” as it was, but she couldn’t keep her calm for long before she heard a creepy voice on her right.
“Miss Sparkle, I presume?”
It was the grey one, standing at her side with a slightly less malicious smile on his face. As “better” as he looked, his stature still dwarfed her own, making her shrink down and take a step back as she responded.
“Uh…yeah, that’s me.”
The stallion gently reached out for her left hoof, lifted it up and kissed it like a true gentlecolt.
“‘Tis a pleasure.” he said politely.
Twi became slightly flushed at such a demonstration of courtliness and regality, but remembered just who this stallion was and retracted her hoof from his fingers casually.
“Um, thanks.” she said, “I can see you already know my name so…”
“Indeed, I do know you so there is no need for introductions on your part. As for myself, it is nice to meet you.”
“I am Finality.”
Twi replied inquisitively while tilting her head lightly to the side
“But I thought your name would have been De-”
“Yes! Yes…” he interrupted, slightly loud and panicked in his own formal way, “But I prefer Finality. That other name just seems so barbaric and most ponies tend to react a little…differently to it…”
An awkward silence began brewing in the conversation before Finality spoke again.
“Well! All the same,” he said, “‘tis a pleasure to finally meet you in person, one of the star pupils of Princess Celestia herself.”
“…Oh, you know of that.” she replied, a hint of anxiety in her voice, “Well…I guess it’s nice to meet you too. But, how is it that you know my past and my name all of a sudden? I mean, you barely even knew we were Doc’s friends yesterday.”
“That, my dear,” he replied with a smile as he lifted his right index finger sideways to the level of his eyes, “is precisely why I am here. I came to apologize for my crude behavior against you yesterday. I wanted to make sure you were not hurt from when I so wrongfully hit you in the stomach.”
Twi remembered that, the pain of being physically assaulted for the first real time in her young life. She hadn’t thought about it at all that day, merely shunning it as a mandatory side effect of getting herself involved in the fight the day before. But as Finality brought it up, she remembered, rubbing her stomach slowly as the soreness that remained became apparent.
“Oh, it’s okay.” she dismissed while looking to the lower right corner of her eyes, “For just charging at you after seeing the power you three had…I kind of had it coming.”
“Well,” Finality said, “whatever thoughts you may have on the situation, still know that I give my sincerest apologies and hope for your forgiveness.”
“Same here.” a deep and gritty voice mentioned from behind Twi.
It was a voice of experience, one of a real leader that was strong, independent, and had the skill to fight with anyone, anywhere, at any time. Twi knew exactly who the voice belonged to. She turned to see the red stallion standing behind her, a face and tone not angry and stern, but temperate and normal. Still, despite his regularities, his height towered over Twi’s even with the distance between them, making Twi shudder even more before hearing the stallion continue.
“I’d also like to say sorry for throwing that fire at you yesterday. It was merely a way to make the Doctor react and show his abilities after so long. We had to make sure he was still as battle-ready as he had been since we last saw him.”
He rubbed his right cheek with his hoof and continued humorously.
“And boy, did he give us a clear message.”
Twi looked at him, scanning him over once again having now obtained a true first impression. It turned out he was not just the stern, silent and clueless powerhouse she thought he was. He sounded like a regular stallion, maybe a little more matured by the heat of battle, but he apologized nicely and even made a joke out of how badly his face got damaged.
“*heh*…Yeah.” she said, “Thanks for the apology. It’s nice to meet you.” “Likewise,” he replied with the smallest of smirks,
“My name’s War.”
“Yes.” Finality commented to Twi, turning his attention to War as he finished, “He’s a good companion, a regular tank of the litter. Aren’t you, War?”
The stallion responded to the childish remark with a blank expression, his top eyelids lightly drooping as to emphasize his annoyance.
“You almost make it sound like we’re part of a family.” he said.
“‘Course we ah!” they heard spoken from the direction of the others.
They turned to see the black stallion trotting closer to War as he continued.
“Aftah all this time,” he put his left hoof around War’s shoulder, “I’ve begun ta think of us like…three devastatin’ly powerful peas in a…rightfully grand and malicious pod.”
He was looking up into the sky now with a far gaze and a small upward tilt of his head, smiling and suspending his right foreleg in the air to align with his sight. He looked like a philosopher before he turned his gaze down to Twi in a second, smiled again and spoke.
“Well ‘ello beautiful.”
He walked over to her, stopping a few feet away before bowing formally.
“It’s a pleashah makin’ your acquain’ance.”
“The name’s Famine.”
“Ah yes.” she said, “Nice to meet you. If I’m right, then the fact that these two know about me means-”
“You bet.” he interrupted while standing straight once more, “I know a li’le thing or two about you, but not too much. Perhaps we can get ta know each other a bit bettah, maybe ovah a cup of coffee?”
He was flirting with Twi now, so she could obviously see he was the “Casanova” of this strange little team.
“I can see why Rainbow punched you in the face.” she responded with light amounts of spunk, “Not to say that your words aren’t smooth, but she’s not that kind of mare.”
She tried to react calmly to his banter, attempting to not let it get to her by bringing up a recent subject.
“Ah I’m used to it.” he humorously dismissed, then brushed over his jaw with his hoof as he continued, “The li’le miss has got quite the arm, though. But I c’n win her ovah eventually, I always do.”
“And then you move on to another mare in a matter of seconds.” War mocked, a small smirk cracking on the side of his grizzled face.
“Comin’ from the love expert ovah here. When’s the last time y’ even spoke to a proper mare?”
“Hey!” War responded, sounding a little infuriated, “You know very well why I don’t, so shut it.”
“Yeah yeah, let’s see that excuse last ya long. Soon enough you’ll have ta come out a that shell of yours and learn ta be a real, warm blooded male again.”
“Boys, please.” Finality said, ending their petty argument, “We’re here to make the right first impression on a very important mare, let us not mess it up for the second time in a row.”
They both straightened slightly, as if given an actual order from a superior.
“I assure you Madame,” finality continued, “we are usually not as childish…” he glared at them in a slight pause for emphasis, then turned his expression back around, “…as we appear. We are just common ponies on a simple mission.”
Twi looked to each of them as Finality finished, noticing the different levels of size in their smiles. War was only cracking a minor smirk, Famine still had his devious grin and Finality had his villainous simper.
“All that we hope for is that it may be accomplished with as little interruptions as possible.” Finality concluded.
“Then the question is…” they heard from an unobserved side of the conversation.
They turned to see Doc, expression more on the stern side and tone, deep and sharp as he continued.
“Just how far are you willing to go?”
“As far as necessary Conquest,” Finality responded with closed eyes, “you know that.”
Doc zipped up to him, but in a way to get right in his face rather than to attack.
“That’s not my name!” he said in a hiss.
“Fine, fine,” Finality dismissed while lifting his hands up, eyes opening with a forward lean of his neck as he said, “Doctor. I shall get my head around your new persona eventually. But all the same, I still say that we only take our measures as far as necessary.”
“That doesn’t quite answer the question. How far is necessary?” Doc asked.
“What is necessary is however far you wish for us to go, Doctor. If you had only joined with us in the past, all those unfortunate instances could and would have been avoided.”
Doc responded deeply as he began tightening his hooves, the equivalent of clenching human fists.
“Let’s keep matters like that out of the conversation before I lose my temper, Death!”
They began getting into an argument about how to address each other, both sides disliking the name the other used on occasion. Twi had already backed away from their talk before it started, now standing between the other two stallions as the altercation ensued, never escalating past emphasizing speech and far from the level of assault. Twi turned her attention from it to look at War. She shivered once again at his stature and how much it towered over her own. Although, she was used to the tilt of the head she had while looking up to him. It was the same angle that she would look up at to see the kind face of her celestial mentor. Still, as Twi familiarized with this angle of looking up to War, it only continued to unsettle her to realize that War really was nearly as tall as the princess, but in powerful muscle, not simple leg length. Twi tried to calm her anxiety by looking to the back of the stallion, instinctively curious about what cutie mark something like him would have. It was a strange symbol, a thin and black circle with a vertical line through its center, just like the pieces of the drawing Doc was describing before the situation turned into the peaceful introductions of these monsters. The only difference between the drawing and War’s cutie mark were two objects within the circle. They appeared to be two arrows, but crudely drawn as if by a cavemare on an ancient cave wall, one evenly above the other and facing opposite directions.
“Uhm…excuse me.” Twi asked timidly, catching his attention before asking in the same bashful fashion, “What does your cutie mark mean?”
“Think about his name, love.” she heard Famine say from her right, “Arrows heading towards two opposite sides…showin’ conflict or…?”
“War.” War said to finish his sentence and answer her question in one word.
“Oh,” Twi responded, “that’s why…but wait, why is that your cutie mark. Have you had it since you were born?”
“No,” War dismissed, “I had it since I begun my job as the spirit of War. All three of us have one,” he looked to Famine, “right Fam?”
“Yep.” he responded, “It’s our logo, pretty much. We all got one, see?”
He pointed to his flank, Twi looking to inspect his mark. It was, once again, a ring with a line down its prime meridian. It was the same sick green as the other bits and bobs on his person, making it stand out amongst his black coat. Twi was surprised she hadn’t noticed it sooner, but continued surveying to notice the icon in the circle’s center. It was a coarsely drawn picture of a weight-measuring scale, two half-moon cups on both sides of a vertical line, connected by lines on their flat tops that ran to a singular, higher point on the center line. One of the cups was filled with the neon-green coloring, while the other remained only outlined by the strange tint. Twi looked up and asked after giving an inquisitive *hmm* at the strange emblem.
“What does it mean?”
After looking at Twi as she asked, Famine looked to the top right of his exotic eyes and put his left hoof on his chin in thought. Several seconds later, his ears perked slightly higher than the norm and he regained his devious grin. He turned his head to look across Twi and at the red Clydesdale beside her.
“Hey War.”
War turned his attention away from looking back to the argument, still unheated and bearing only spiteful concepts. As War turned, he began asking, “What is it n-” but before he could finish, Famine had already reached one of his hooves over Twi to wrap its grip around War’s face, muffling his unfinished sentence. Shortly after, War’s already surprised expression grew stronger as the veins on Famine’s hoof could be seen coursing up against his skin severely. War began lowering to his knees forcefully, giving an occasional, small grunt of what sounded like involuntary and suppressed agony. Twi had quickly stepped backwards after realizing the slow descent of War, watching as he fell to his knees like a slave before his now devilishly-grinning master. After several more seconds, Famine released his grip with an upward bend of his elbow, letting War finally fall unto his hooves and struggle to get up, failing at every minor attempt.
“Famine!” they heard Finality bellow from the argument, sounding like an infuriated parent.
He had turned his attention away from the argument only for a second once he saw this display over Doc’s shoulder, yelling with the same volume of the argument and asking in the same tone.
“What have I told you about using your powers on War?!”
“What? The lass asked what my mark was about.” he motioned to Twi, causing her to shrink down slightly, “So I showed her.”
“That doesn’t excuse you using that skill!” Doc interjected, strangely supporting Finality despite their conflict, “Now give it back to him!”
“Just give me a second ta explain myself,” he said defensively, “then I’ll be a good, little, harbinger of the apocalypse again, alright?”
Both Doc and Finality’s shoulders that once grew tense during the argument sank as they calmed down slightly. They looked to each other for a second, then back to Famine as they simultaneously nodded. Famine nodded in return, turned around to face Twi and trot closer to her. She appeared to be slightly anxious after seeing immortals like these stallions in such a heated situation, but quickly calmed as Famine came nearer, speaking in a pressured tone as he stretched his forelegs.
“Well, story time.”
He crouched next to Twi in a parent-like fashion with his left foreleg over her shoulder, keeping more of a straight face than the devious grin that he wears at all times. After today, Twi just assumed that this face was the farthest she would ever see him from that terrifying persona.
“Alright love,” he began, “just ta start off, what I just did ta War was an ability I have. It allows me ta suck the pure energy outta somepony just by placin’ my hoof ta there face. Now granted, I could’a done much worse to him, but all I did was take a little of his strength.”
He lifted his right foreleg up in a low, presenting position so that Twi could see it clearly.
“Now,” he continued, “when I take the power from them, I can always save it for later, stored in my body for emergencies.”
He looked to his foreleg.
“But I can also use it.”
The veins on his foreleg began coursing up and the muscles along them grew, growing as strong as War’s while still keeping its sinewy look. He continued as his dastardly smile grew.
“It’s why my symbol is a scale with one side full, and the other side empty. ‘Means I can steal as much power as I want…”
He regained his sadistic speech as he continued looking over his now stalwart muscles.
“Make it my own…”
He began standing up, still keeping his sight fixed on the power in his blood.
“I could have enough power to make up a whole other pony…”
He grew louder while turning his gaze upward lightly.
“or ten…”
And louder.
“or a hundred…”
And louder until his gaze was to the sky.
“or a thousand! I could have enough power to rule the world,” he looked to Twi, finishing in a lighter but callous volume with a shifty and crafty tone that made his statement frightfully believable, “and nopony in this world could stop me!”
“Yeah, but as of now,” Doc said uncaringly from the same spot, deepening his gaze as to give further emphasis of his frustration to him, “you won’t. Now are you going to give War his power back before I lose my patience with you, or what?”
Famine’s face grew into a flat, minor frown after looking to Doc as his shoulders sank in a sudden and agitated fashion.
“Sorry mum.” he said mockingly while walking next to the still weakened clydesdale.
He put his left hoof to War’s scalp, replacing his strength as his veins became visible once more, letting the grand amounts of muscle leave his arm and transfer back to his comrade.
“All ya had ta do was bloody well ask.”
After a few more seconds, Famine let his hoof drop and War began getting back on his hooves.
“You okay, big guy?” Famine asked as War was just getting his bearings, only to promptly have War’s large right hoof meet his face with tremendous force and speed, making a grotesque noise on contact and sending the dark steed clear off of the platform.
Everypony except Doc and Finality flinched at the assault, staring at Famine’s body for a few seconds longer after it came to a screeching, but cartoonish halt against the dirt on his back. Yet, a moment later, Famine’s upper body quickly sat up with a happy grin on his face, allowing almost everypony in the group to give a sigh of relief. Famine stood back up, rubbing the left side of his jaw with his hoof and speaking loud enough for everypony to hear.
“Man…two thwomps ta the face in one day?” he looked to everypony happily, saying, “I’m on a roll!”
***
“Well they seemed…nice.” Twi mentioned, attempting to lighten the semi-awkward mood.
She and her friends were now at the caravan’s counter once more. After some last little bits of conversation, the three stallions eventually gave their farewells and left, leaving the group to return to their usual matters. They had gathered at the counter again, Doc on the inside while leaning on it with his elbows. He replied to Twi’s statement bluntly and blankly.
“Believe me Twi, you don’t know them.”
“But they seem fine to me!” she reacted happily.
“Agreed.” Rarity added, “Some of the girls and I spoke to that ‘War’ fellow, and he seemed like a reasonably fine gentlecolt for his size.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie said, “I don’t see why you hate those guys so much.”
“Look,” Doc replied, sounding slightly agitated, merely a way to stop the wave of commentary from coming in before continuing, “I’m glad that you see the good in them, but you don’t know their ways. The only reason they came and apologized is because they realized just who you six really are.”
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy whispered.
“I mean that the only reason they were nice with you today is that they did research on who you gals are. They know of your pasts, and especially that you are their friend.”
He pointed to Twi as he said “you”, grabbing her attention as she noticed herself being made the focal point of the conversation.
“Once they realized that you were one of the Princess’s most personal students,” Doc continued, “they knew that if they messed with any of you in any way, the Princess would crack down on them like a firestorm.”
Twi and her friends looked to each other in concern, acquiring the expressions to match.
“So…” Twi asked timidly, “does that mean that all those apologies and nice things they said were lies?”
“Not necessarily.” Doc replied reassuringly, “Granted, they might have actually been trying to make friends with you all, coming here with peaceful intention. But if you ask me, and I’m honestly the worst pony to ask if you want any positive opinion on them, I just think they’re doing it to kiss up to the Princess. Get on her good side.”
“Wait,” Dash asked after several seconds of everypony putting their hooves to their chin in thought, “so does that mean that Famine guy wasn’t actually hitting on me?”
“Sorry Dashie,” Doc replied with a smile and dash of humor, “he’s kind of a lady’s colt. He meant it.”
“Ponyfeathers.” she said under her breath.
***
Finality sighed the scent of that cool night’s zephyr as he calmly strode through the snoozing streets of Ponyville, wearing a shady, malicious smile, with just a hint of glad reminiscence. He had been walking amongst the town for some time, in no rush to reach his destination and just taking in the happy country ambience the area had to offer, even in the midst of the night. But after walking amongst town, he had finally reached his desired location, the town square. He saw his old friend’s bright white caravan on the other side of it, straightening his tie gladly before making a silent approach. He made his way to the front door that stood on the left rectangular side, taking in a deep breath before knocking on the door three solid times. He could hear some slight clattering before the sound of hoof steps grew near the door. It quickly opened into the wagon, showing Doc holding the inside handle with one hoof, wearing only his black undershirt and casual blue jeans. As soon as he realized just who was at his door at this hour, he froze. He stood silent and still, waiting to see just which one of these two would make any sort of first move, just as Finality did the exact same.
After several seconds of dead silence, Doc finally spoke, no emotion in his voice as several thousand plans of action rushed through his head.
“Hey.”
“Hello.”
Finality’s smile grew a little wider before he asked in a surprisingly friendly fashion.
“What are you doing?”
Doc looked behind him before turning back and answering flatly.
“Reading.”
“That’s nice.” Finality complimented before looking to the stars as he continued, “A good pass time for these long nightly hours.”
“Thanks.” Doc replied.
A few more seconds went by as they stared each other in the face, Doc’s expression blank while Finality kept his calm, unwavering smile.
“So…” Doc asked, “what’s up?”
“Not much.” Finality replied, “I simply came by to talk with you again.”
“Not to sound like I’m not absolutely giddy to talk with you,” Doc said sarcastically, “but didn’t we do that already?”
“Yes, yes…” Finality replied, “but all we did was argue, we never really spoke. I wished to converse with you on a more…personal level.”
Doc looked to the lower corners of his eyes quickly, then shook his head lightly.
“Fine.” he said mildly, “If it gets you off my back and lets me get back to my book,” he leaned against the door frame with one crossed foreleg, “shoot.”
“Alright.” Finality pronounced, sounding lightly more encouraged, “To start off, how have you been all this time? We haven’t caught up to you in the last decade. ‘Tis a long time for a pony to change.”
“I’m about as good as I’ll ever be.” Doc replied blankly, “Made some new friends, seen some new places…the usual.”
“Ah Yes.” Finality replied before looking at the scenery around him, “You sure have a knack for picking pleasant locations. I had a quick walk before arriving, and I must say, this town dons some of the best ambience I’ve seen in a while. If not that, it certainly has its own…‘flavor’ to it.”
“Don’t they all?” Doc replied, gaining a smile just before quietly chuckling several times with Finality, like old partners, like real friends.
Doc thought about this for a second, shook his head at the stupid thought of acting like friends around this monster and let his smile drop.
“So what is it you really want?”
“I’m not sure exactly.” Finality responded casually, “I came with the intention of having an actual conversation with you, to see how you are after so long.”
“You’re almost making it sound like you care.”
“But we do.” Finality quickly responded, “I mean, you certainly have been our number one priority all this time.”
“Me working for you has been your number one priority. That’s all you’ve cared about and that’s all you ever will, Death.”
Finality gave a royal, upset puff from his nose, adding another tally to the number of times Doc has called him that in a single day. He quickly let his anger be shrouded by his villainous simper and a partly tense and suppressed tone.
“Well…” he straightened his tie once more, “whatever your thoughts may be, let it be known that we care about you,” he turned around, swiftly and regally, “and that we will stop at nothing until you come to your senses and return to your true family.”
“You aren’t my family.” Doc replied in a deep, cold voice.
He wished to make sure this ball of slime that calls him a friend heard him loud and clear. Finality heard him, waited a moment after smiling, turned his head half way around to look at him and say “Good night Doctor.” before beginning to walk away.
“Oh and Doctor…” Doc heard from Finality as he was half way turned in the doorway, the grey stallion several meters away from the caravan. Doc saw him turn his head lightly to the side, implication that Finality was still talking to him.
“Today was a reprieve from how we normally settle things. Just remember that I won’t be handing those out too often.”
“Whatever.” Doc replied agitatedly, “Just get out of my face and let me think. Damn sandbag.” before promptly closing the door behind him.
Finality only took this act of audacity with a smile and a chuckle as he spoke to himself.
“You haven’t changed a bit Conquest…” but grew more sinister as he grew a dastardly grin and concluded,
The skies were a mixture of a dark, night sky violet in the east, fading into a warm, creamy, sunset-drenched orange in the west. Each lapsed into each other, equally sharing half of the beautiful evening sky in a short twilight respite. Clouds dotted the expanse, bearing shadows, colors and shapes that made each one an individual, artistic miracle. Their pace was slow, coming to a gentle pull as they and the earth below began sinking into the natural state of repose that approached the end of every day. The sunset was, as most, a vibrant orange that draped the once azure expanse like a grand curtain. Everything in sight was beginning to settle just as they should, everything was going according to the natural plan, everything was just right.
*FFFFSHOOOOOM*
Dash suddenly burst from one of the clouds at an upward angle, a small splash of rainbow energy blaring outwards behind her like a miniature sonic rainboom. She flew across the heavenly plane at dashing speeds, cutting thin tunnels through cumulus, sliding across the soft tops of cirrus, evading through asteroid field-like patches of altocumulus and finally landing on a patch of altostratus with a plushy, welcoming thump. She happily rolled and bumped against the surface, laughing as she came into a joyful bounce against a slightly tall mound of condensation, slowly easing back into it like an oversized pillow as she gazed off to the distant sunset. Her body eased, giving an internal sigh as she admired the grey patches of cloud that masked the sunlight so it would not blind her while she slothfully enjoyed this one of the few moments of peace she rarely had.
Her eyelids began fluttering and her breath slowed to comfy sighs as she began drifting off to a beautiful sleep, hooves resting on her chest and neck barely tilted up as she lied on her back. But before she could dose off, she heard a voice, one she recognized.
“Hey Dash…” it said in a calm, whispering tone.
It brought her back to consciousness as she opened her eyes, seeing one of her icons, her Wonderbolt friend Soarin, standing at her side with his trademark suit on, the head section off and laying on his back and his goggles propped up on his forehead. Any other circumstances, and she would have instantly jumped up and bounced around in delight, seeing one of her top childhood heroes next to her and knowing her name. But now, all she could do is look up to him and smile, having already spent great times with him several days ago and being in one of the most tranquil states of her life. She heard Soarin say again in a more sing song tone, one of implying.
“Oh Da-ash?”
She wondered why he was speaking like that, if he was making it sound like she shouldn’t be resting or if she had forgotten something he wanted her to do. But then, just in the very midst of her inquiry…
she woke up.
“Dash!”
She awoke, startled by a sudden shake of her shoulder. She looked around quickly, scanning her surroundings as she said several “what”s in close succession. She was not on a paradise spot in the sky overlooking a perfect sunset, she was just in her own bedroom, lying on her plushy, Wonderbolts themed bed. It was just a dream. After understanding her situation, she looked to who was shaking her, seeing Soarin standing by her side, just where he was in the dream, suit and all, gently grabbing her shoulder. She was going to ask why he was in her house in the first place, but before she could, both of them turned their attention behind Soarin as they heard Spitfire speak.
“Wake up, buttercup.”
Dash looked to her, seeing the golden mare holding a thermos of coffee in her hoof, a small plume of steam rising from its top. She wore the same attire as Soarin, trademark suit with goggles at her neck as she spoke happily, but slightly tired.
“Your gonna be late for morning drills.”
Dash furrowed her eyebrows, checked the overhead skylights of cloud space to see it was about five in the morning and looked back to her.
“What?” she asked.
Spitfire responded while trotting towards her leisurely.
“Sorry we didn’t come and get you yesterday.”
“Yeah,” said Soarin, continuing her apology, “we just figured you needed a day to cool down after that…interesting display of strength by Doc.”
Dash did not react to the retelling of a once bad subject, but simply pushed herself up to sit in a criss-cross fashion under her sheets.
“Wait,” she asked, “what’s going on here?”
Soarin sat on the side of the bed just in front of her, speaking calmly and happily.
“We’re talking about the deal we made. Remember?”
Dash thought, but only for a moment before she recalled the pact they made with a surprised expression.
“Oh yeah,” she said, “now I remember!...Wait a minute, you guys are still up for that?”
“’Course.” Soarin replied with a shrug and a smile, “Granted, after seeing Doc like he was two days ago, we had to think a little. But after thinking of that little speech he gave” he lightly brushed her shoulder with his hoof, showing a gentle resemblance to a friendly sock on the arm, “and the support you and your friends gave him, we came to the conclusion that he can’t be that bad of a guy.”
“Yeah,” Spitfire responded, now standing at the end of the bed before she took a sip of her thermos and continued with a smile, “he has to be if he has friends like you.”
Dash blushed and scratched the back of her neck.
“*heh* Shucks.” she replied bashfully, “Look at you two, making me feel all special.”
“You are special.” Spitfire reassured, “If you weren’t, we wouldn’t be here. Now put this on.”
She lobbed what looked like a folded stack of blue clothes, but as Dash caught and looked at it, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. It was a folded Wonderbolts uniform, a yellow thunderbolt running up and down the side of the breathing cobalt cloth and the trademark goggles neatly resting on top. This was Dash’s dream, to hold one of these in her hooves and know that she would soon wear it, to know what it feels like to be a real Wonderbolt. She continued looking in young, aspiring astonishment as Spitfire continued.
“We sort of guessed what size you were so it may be a little tight, but it should be fine.”
“Yeah,” Soarin added, “and who knows, you might be able to tell us a little more about Doc, your friends, or yourself while we practice. A little small talk here and there never hurt nopony.”
“Yeah, but not if it takes up the whole day.” Spitfire said as she socked Soarin in the bicep playfully, then continued, “Now come on, kid. It’s time to show us just how much of a Wonderbolt you can really be.”
***
*TWHUMP*
AJ let a burlap sack of apples hit an old table as it flung off her shoulders, the fifth one she had unloaded since Big Mac brought in the last of today’s harvest. She hopped up slightly near the table’s edge, resting her fore-elbows on the sack as she wiped her brow with a *phew*. She stood there, leaning with both elbows as she took a moment to think. She thought of what had happened the last two days, how her thoughts on the world had changed dramatically in such a short time. She now knew that immortality was possible and present, that there were now physical embodiments of the very Apocalypse chasing after one of her good friends and that he is one of those embodiments himself.
Her expression began turning sour as she continued her thoughts, thinking of how emotionally dead Mac was today during harvesting. She knew that Doc was practically his only male friend he’s had in such a long time, that Mac always looked forward to the day Doc would come back again. She could tell that Mac was thinking of all the times he had raced, drank and had good times with him. But now that he knows the truth, there’s just too much to think about at once, too much stress that anypony AJ knew could handle in one sitting. AJ knew that Doc was the kind of pony to realize that, yet she hadn’t seen a sign of him caring since the whole ordeal occurred. How could Doc be so ignorant of his friends, so caught up in his own business to not be selfish for one darn second and talk with the people who care for him, even if they know all their stress is entirely Doc’s fault.
She quickly shunned her thoughts, trying to think more on a lighter note, to bring her emotions back to normal so that her anger wouldn’t show on her face. Everything she didn’t want anypony knowing about always showed on her face. She began thinking of the other members of her family, about how their blissful ignorance of all that’s happened made her feel a little more glad. AB and Granny Smith weren’t at the square two days ago, so they still have no idea that anything even happened. Along with that, the army of a family she has is usually out of the loop from her and her family’s business. They haven’t a clue of who Doc really is, only the knowledge from a single story AJ told to a group of cousins at one of her family reunions. Of course, Doc might take his travels to Appleoosa from time to time, the town of abode for quite a chunk of her family and possibly one from the group she spoke to that one time.
AJ shook her head, not dwelling on the thought for too long as another one entered her head about family matters. Where was Applebloom anyway? AJ hadn’t seen her in a while, and the filly usually loves to help during harvesting routines despite her young age and inexperience. AJ continued wondering, but only for another moment before she heard a slight shuffle from the pile of sacks behind her that were left to be loaded onto the table.
AJ spun around in surprise, looked around her to see if anypony was near, then began creeping up on the pile of sacks like a lurking predator. What could be shuffling through the harvest that AJ would have to specially clean or throw out the apples for this time? She crept closer and closer, hearing and seeing another shuffle of the bags as one in the center lightly moved. She slowly put her hooves up to the sack, then yanked it away quickly, only to be tackled lovingly by her once missing, excited, cream colored little sister as she sounded,
“Surprise!”
AJ was startled at first as she fell backwards from the charging hug, grunting as her back hit the dirt with a thud and some unexpected blunt pain. She looked up, slightly frustrated before she heard her sister’s giggles and saw the smile on her face, bringing one to her own as she gave a chuckle from her hard working voice.
“*heheheh* Now what ‘n tarnation d’ya think you’re doin’?”
“Ya looked a little sad, so Ah chose ta surprise ya so ya maht feel better.” the pleasant filly replied.
AJ’s happy smile grew to a flattered simper of admiration at this. Such caring and devotion to keeping her sister happy. It was hooves down, the sweetest thing AJ had seen in quite a long time.
“*heheh*…Thanks little sis.” she said as AB and her got back onto their hooves, “Very kind of ya.”
“It’s just that Ah can’t stand ta see ya all sad n’ stuff.”
AB hugged her sister’s foreleg with a close-eyed smile.
“Ah just want ya ta be happy.”
AJ smiled reminiscently and replied as she hugged her back.
“Same here sis…same here.”
Just then, they could hear hoofsteps off to there side, very slow and coming to a stop just within audible range. They turned their attention to the noise, seeing the seemingly unusual, white stallion that the mare and filly both knew and “loved”. He stood with a reminiscent smile on his face for seeing such a touching moment, but it quickly vanished as he realized his detection and spoke modestly with an innocent hoof close to his muzzle.
“Oh, sorry…am I interrupting?”
AJ stared back, blankly at first, but as her thoughts of the past events being all Doc’s fault resurfaced, her expression turned to a scornful one and her tone shifted to an irritated tolerance.
“No.” she said as she released her grip on AB, “Just finishin’ up.”
“Doctor!” AB shouted as she ran up to him, already smiling widely once she spotted the kind colt.
She quickly galloped up and squeezed his left foreleg, making him take a slightly surprised step back. But it only lasted for a moment as she squeezed tighter with a closed eyed simper and a cute noise, making him bring his expression to a fatherly smile as he hugged her back.
“Hey Applebloom.” he said lightly.
She noticed his tone, sounding tired or deep in thought, so she asked while releasing her grip and looking up to him worriedly.
“You okay? Ya sound…troubled.”
“I’m fine…” he dismissed, “…just thinking is all.”
“Okay.” she said happily, not dwelling on the subject, “What’cha doin’?”
“I actually came by to talk to your sister, if she’s available.”
“Oh yeah, she’s raht over there.”
AB pointed over her shoulder and to AJ, who was standing with slightly crossed forelegs and a reasonably sour look on her face.
“Yeah…hmm.” he said.
“Hmm?” AB sounded inquisitively.
“Your sister seems a little…”
AB looked to her sibling for a second, then turned back and suggested confidently with a spunky smile.
“Grouchy?”
“Meh…that works.” Doc replied while shrugging, then added some positivity to his voice as he lightly placed one hoof on AB’s back and said, “Anyway, come on, let’s go cheer her up.”
They approached, seeing AJ turn back to the pile of sacks and sling another onto her back. She was turning back to the table as the stallion and filly came closer.
“What’s shakin’, bacon?” Doc asked happily.
AJ, in response, just continued towards the table until she reached its edge, slung the sack off her spine and turned back around to the pile, trotting back for another sack as she responded bluntly.
“Nothin’. Whad’you want?”
“Just coming by to see how a good friend is doing.” Doc replied, smiling and not noticing the slight irritation in AJ’s voice.
“Well ya don’t need to,” AJ replied as she grabbed another sack and walked to the table, “I’m fahn.”
Doc began to notice her mood, asking in a still friendly tone.
“You sure? You sound a little…”
AJ slung the sack that she carried with a slightly noticeable amount of force, letting it slam as it relieved some of her pent up anger.
“…frustrated.”
“Well I assure ya,” AJ said as she walked back to the pile once more, slinging a sack over her spine with a small grunt and continuing with a pressured tone, “I’m just peachy keen. Anythin’ else ya need?”
Doc put his hoof to his chin, tapping it twice in thought.
“Yeah, but…” he said before turning his attention to AB, “I’m sorry Bloom. May we talk in private?”
AB appeared slightly surprised, looking from one corner of her eyes to the other.
“Uhh sure. But…Bloom?”
Doc scratched his hair and responded innocently.
“I’m kind of a sucker for nicknames. Sorry.”
“Oh, it’s alraht.” she dismissed, “Ah’ll give ya two some tahm ta talk. If ya need me, Ah’ll be at the clubhouse. Bah Doc!”
She hugged him lovingly, then began cantering away, but she stopped halfway through her path from the two ponies to a space of open fence just ahead of her, the makeshift entrance to the section of farm that held AB and her friends’ headquarters. She stopped to quickly turn back, wave at her sister, say, “Bah sis!” and turn back once more to continue trotting away.
They watched for a moment as she departed, Doc looking to her contently and waiting until she was out of sight before he began turning his head to AJ.
“Well she seems…” he completed the rotation of his neck towards her, smiling and finishing gladly, “happy.”
AJ replied with a simple “hmph” and a disrespectful raising of her chin as she turned back to the pile of sacks.
Doc approached, not letting the insulting gesture faze him as he asked in a still friendly tone.
“I’m…assuming she doesn’t know about me?”
“No,” she replied bluntly while picking up another sack, “she doesn’t.”
“Well that’s good,” Doc said, “but now that she’s gone, will you please tell me what’s wrong?”
“For the last tahm,” AJ agitatedly started before she practically threw the sack she was carrying against the wood of the table, causing it to creak loudly before she slightly bellowed while trotting back to the pile, “Ah’m fahn!”
“Please AJ.” Doc persistently begged, catching AJ’s attention and stopping her directly in front of him on her track to the pile. She looked to her side at him as he continued.
“You know I can tell when your angry about something.” he said, “All I want to do is help, but I can’t do that if you don’t let me. Just tell me the truth.”
AJ looked away from him and to the ground in front of her. As she planned out several ways to start this conversation that she knew she shouldn’t be having, her lips began pressing together and her head began swiveling lightly until she closed her eyes for a moment, then swung her head at him and began angrily.
“Why?!”
Doc tilted his head to the side and sounded, “Hm?” while showing a confused face.
She seemed like she had finally given in and begun to tell him what’s wrong, but now she’s asking why he wants to help…or at least he assumed that until she continued harshly.
“Why did’ja have ta go n’ do this ta us?!”
Doc grew slightly distressed, asking calmly but with a hint of discipline.
“Excuse me?”
“Shut up and listen!” she bellowed, now fully catching his attention before she continued, “Everythin’ was just fine and dandy ‘round these parts, just nahce an’ normal ‘til you had ta come along and bring your freaky, nutjob, outta-this-world friends! Why‘d ya have ta go and bring your problems with ya wherever ya travel, leave them on the shoulders of ponies like us ta deal with?! Do ya even know how upset Big Macintosh has been since the fight? He’s felt like he’s lost his one n’ onleh friend in the world, an’ all you been doin’ is goin’ ‘round and sayin’, ‘How do ya do?’ ta everypony else that doesn’ need it! Ponies lahke Applebloom don’ know what you are, they don’t need comfertin’, or ta be told that your still you on the inside! Ponies lahke Big Mac n’ Ah do need it, but you’re just too twitterpated in your own need fer personal comfort ta even care! You don’t even care, do ya?! You’ll never care ya spider-legged, evil-eyed, in-con-siderate monster!!”
Doc had stood still throughout the rant, listening with a still expression, surprised gaze and slightly gaped mouth as he absorbed every word of her anger-induced banter. After several seconds of silence, and of Doc staring down at AJ with the same innocent and victimized face, he began slowly shutting his muzzle as he appeared to be piecing together every spoken syllable. AJ kept an implying lean a few inches from his face after finishing, just waiting for a response and only receiving the actions of Doc looking farther down from her and into his own alleged “guilt”, as AJ’s assumptions told her. After looking slightly to the left and right, Doc began pressing his lips together before he turned away and began trotting from the scene slowly. AJ watched as he walked away, noticing his head to be hung low and scanning the ground for an answer to his confusion. It’s not quite the response she wanted, but it appeared to leave him baffled and kept him far away from her. He’s gone. It worked. So she honestly didn’t care how he reacted.
She saw him stop in the middle of his path away from her, appearing to be breathing harder and harder after stopping dead in his tracks. Good riddance was all she could think of before she turned around in defiance of him, doing so just after seeing Doc raise a hoof to the level of his head in what could have been agitation, along with his heavy, now furious looking breathing. She was turned the other way, eyes closed and forelegs crossed like a spoiled brat only for a moment longer, then she heard it. The booming sound behind her made the ground quake and her heart skip a beat, like a bomb just went off right behind her back, so she turned around to see the cause and noticed Doc strolling up to her. Her mouth just began to speak his name in question as Doc’s dark fingers locked around her throat.
AJ felt Doc lift her high into the air a second after he got a grip on her neck, not so much choking her, but dangling her up to the level of his face, which practically radiated spite and fury in the now infamous, demonic and deathly gaze everypony in town has been terrified of since two days prior to then. Doc’s glare was just as it was those two days ago, crimson iris and raven sclera with dark lines running up his face and into his eyes, the same vile beam Doc gave his foes when all this started and everything changed. AJ instinctively grabbed Doc’s foreleg with both of her own as it lifted her up, her hind legs hanging limply below her like a ragdoll as she went into a slight panic. She was frozen in momentary fear and was only able to stare into Doc’s eyes as she heard him hiss deeply through his clenched teeth.
"Just who the hell do you think you are?"
***
The tone in his voice was constructed of pure anger, spoken in a feral growl that terrifyingly pierced AJ’s ears and rang out through her head. That kind tone, coupled with the fact that she thought she was being choked, made her think he was going to kill her without hesitation, stopping any of her oncoming words of reply in their tracks. In that second of terror, AJ could understand her surroundings and just how deep of a mess she had gotten herself into. Doc actually looked exactly as horrifying as he did two days ago in the town square. His eyes were black and red, his hooves replaced by grotesque hands, which explains the fingers around AJ’s gullet, and his skin, tattooed and lined by the darkness that laced over his crooked bloodstream. He stood on his hind legs, practically doubling his height and reinforcing his superiority in the situation. The only difference from the first time AJ saw this look he had was that he did not have his monstrous legs protruding from his back. He simply stood, shockingly angry, unearthly tall and murderously interactive with his once caring friend, but only coming close to the level of intimidation of what AJ spotted just over his shoulder.
The spot where he had been standing just before AJ turned around now had a crater, five feet in diameter and about one foot in depth, busting through the ground like a cracked and jagged pock mark on worn-in steel. The once solid dirt was now broken into full slabs like fractured concrete, a form soil should never take under any normal circumstances. After she was lifted into the air and allowed to notice these things in the matter of seconds it took Doc to ask his furious question, AJ could feel the intense heat radiating from the dark hand around her throat. She instantly knew that Doc had punched the ground in fury just before stomping over to her and showing his displeasure over her foolish outburst. With a feat like that performed in his anger, it was all the more reason to be intimidated by Doc, a once kind and modest friend of a stallion, now possessed and completely directed by his own blinding rage. He continued in the same furious tone of his previous question, starting his own rant in a boiling counter to AJ’s.
“Do you have any idea just how stupid you are for saying crap like that?” he asked.
AJ could only squirm in response to Doc’s vile but true words, merely showing her discomfort by rebelliously shifting in his fingers for a fraction of a second.
“You say that I don’t care. That I’ll never care. Remind me again who fixed your brother’s damn leg after a cart of freaking apple sacks fell on top of it?”
She could feel him release the grip on her neck slightly, still making sure that she was in his grasp, but now giving her neck just the room it needs to formulate a sentence. Or just a word in this situation. As she noticed her queue to speak, she deliberately stared up into his intimidating eyes with an angry, unmoved face, defying his request for an answer. After a few seconds of this, Doc severely deepened his already furious glare and shook her hanging body back and forth like a ragdoll.
“ANSWER ME!”
AJ panicked in the slight second she was being slung around in Doc’s dark grasp, thinking he was about to kill her with the gargantuan strength he just displayed. She answered as soon as the shake Doc was giving ceased, speaking in a now extremely shaky voice accompanied by a horrified expression.
“Y-y-you did!”
“Who was the pony that, when you were younger, helped you in the apple bucking seasons that were just too much for you to handle?”
“Y-you.” she replied.
“And just who was that tall, white, idiotic freak that has kept his promise of coming back to you guys every year for the last decade?!”
“Y-…y-…”
AJ exhaled through her nose and relaxed her tense muscles, finally calming down as she closed her eyes and slightly lowered her head in shame.
“You…you did…”
“Exactly!” Doc spouted, completely ignoring AJ’s now shameful actions and just continuing to make his point, “I’ve cared about you all for as long as I’ve known you. Are you really just going to let this little incident, these minor facts about the monster that I am, destroy everything our friendship is?”
He made it sound so much smaller, such less of a problem to coup with than what it really was. You don’t just see your best friend turn into a demon and brush it off five minutes later. AJ knew this, and replied as such.
“How’m Ah supposed ta not let it git destroyed? D’ya have aneh ahdea just how much pain it’s caused us?”
The vocalization of AJ’s excuse pulled Doc’s furious scowl back onto his face after what looked to be a second of unbelieving confusion. He shouted, raising his voice back up after he began calming down in his last question.
“OH! You think you’re in pain?! I’ve had to see more of my friends die than the number of ponies you’ve ever met in your life! I’ve had to walk over the bodies of those who believed in me! Saw me for who I was! They were the only things in the world that made me feel like I belonged, and now their gone! How do you crack under the pressure of just seeing your brother a little sad, when I’ve had to deal with the pressure of having thiscrap,” as he said that, he pointed directly at his face, giving emphasis to the darkness in his blood and the red in his eyes before continuing, “running through my veins for my entirelife?!”
“It’s not the same!” AJ swiftly replied, “I’ve got a family ta think about!”
“Damn it Skyheart! How many times do I have to tell you before you realize that I HAVE NO FAMILY!”
***
The silence that followed left both of them still, Doc standing high but slightly hunched due to his imposing lean on AJ. AJ herself was still hanging limp, completely at the mercy of a friend she turned her back on in his time of need, foolishly believing her own grief superseded his. They stared into each other’s eyes for several seconds, noticing the other’s expression, both confused, but in their own different way and pace that it became apparent. AJ’s expression, after being called by a completely unknown name, came almost instantly, while Doc’s expression slowly shifted from his angry glare, as if he was slowly realizing his own words and what they meant to him. At the end of his transition, he was looking away from AJ and at the ground slightly to his right. His eyes were open and his muzzle was parted, panting as he slowly cooled down from the heated discussion, the expression of guilty realization on his face.
“I…I should go…” he said before promptly freeing her from his grasp.
AJ fell from his fingers and onto her knees against the dirt, clutching her throat with one hoof as the other held her up from the ground. Rather than be concerned for her own well being, AJ instantly looked to Doc after she hit the ground, worried for him more than for herself. As soon as he let her go, Doc began walking in the opposite direction of AJ, forelegs by his sides as he walked away on his hind legs like the mythical humans of legend and fantasy. He looked like so only for a moment longer, before he dropped back down onto his forelegs and let his head hang after the impact. AJ waited a few seconds before responding, watching Doc’s fore-hooves change back to normal and the lines across his body recede before picking herself back up and running up to him.
“Doc wait!” she said hurriedly.
She caught up to him, one of her hooves on his left shoulder as he continued trotting, unaffected by AJ’s concern. She stayed his pace and pleaded to his hung head as they walked.
“Please Doc! Ah’m sorry! Please, just stop n’ talk ta me for one second!”
Doc was still a moving statue, staring at the dirt trail in front of him as his hooves automatically put one in front of the other. AJ continued, sounding increasingly desperate.
“Ya gotta forgive me!” she pleaded, “I didn’t mean any a’ that stuff Ah said. Ah really didn’t!”
She stopped trotting by his side, standing alone on the trail and letting him continue his march without her.
“Ah was jus’…” she said as she started tearing up, pointing her nose to the ground as she admitted, “scared…Ah didn’t know what ta do…”
She could here the hoof steps in front of her stop, but didn’t dare look up out of the shame she knew she deserved for saying such horrible things to a good friend.
“Please Doc…” she said as she closed her eyes, tears dripping off of her naturally beautiful eyelashes and onto the dirt in front of her, “Ah’ve alreadeh lost so much…Ah don’t wanna lose you too…”
She could hear the hoof steps in front of her start up again, beginning to weep as she thought he was continuing to walk away. But she could hear them get closer and closer, stopping when they sounded like they were right in front of her. When AJ realized where Doc was, she opened her eyes and slowly looked up, still crying as her sight ran up Doc’s very near figure and eventually caught sight of his face. She stared up into his blank expression as Doc stared down into the depressed state of hers, both of them looking right in the other’s eyes for a few moments longer in silence, before Doc suddenly wrapped his forelegs around AJ’s shoulders. At first, the sudden hug caught her off guard, but Doc’s following words and the tone about them relieved any of the fears she had of being in his grasp again.
“No need to worry AJ. Even if it takes every ounce of power from my body, I promise you won’t lose me. As long as I have the strength to fight, the will to go on, I will never leave you…”
This tone was the one AJ thought she had destroyed in her outburst, the one that made Doc the supportive, strong, friendly and loveable guy that he always was. It sounded helpful and flexible to the aftershock of the frightening situation AJ had just experienced, calming the scene and bringing everything back to its natural state. She loved hearing that voice again, knowing that it still exists and that Doc hadn’t left with it. She hugged him back after taking a few moments to soak in his words, squeezing his torso tightly under his forelegs before hearing him continue.
“And you’re not the one who should be sorry in this situation.” he said, “I put you in a choke hold and you’re the one saying you’re-”
He was quickly interrupted midsentence by AJ releasing her wrap around him slowly, backing her torso away from his while waving a hoof in front of his face and saying several “no’s” in quick succession. Before Doc could ask what she was doing, she imposingly spoke after finishing her last two no’s with emphasis.
“You don’t get ta be sorry after all the stuff Ah said.”
“Aw, come on AJ-”
“Doc, in that outburst, Ah sounded lahke Ah was the most important mare in Equestria. That mah problems stood above everypony else. Ah didn’t even stop for a second ta think a’ what the others must be goin’ through. And on top a that, just look at, above anypony else, who Ah chose ta yell to! There is not a doubt in mah mahnd that you’re goin’ through the worst of all this and you need as much help as you c’n get. An’ yet, there Ah was, too damn stupid ta even bring the options up before makin’ mah decision.”
Doc smiled at her honesty about herself, that she knew the degree of her mistake, even if Doc didn’t think of it that way himself.
“Eh, accidents happen I guess.” he casually said with a shrug and a relaxed smirk.
He stuck out his hoof and proposed questioningly.
“Bygones?”
AJ looked at his hoof and smiled quickly before looking up to him, slapping her hoof into the grasp of his like the brash, young farm girl that she was and gladly saying, “Bahgones.” before firmly shaking it in agreement with her recovered friendship.
“Anyway,” Doc said, changing the subject, “now that we’re square on the whole immortality thing, you think we should go and talk to your brother?”
AJ was surprised that he remembered that part of the outburst. He saw a problem that one of his friends was having, even when he had it screamed into his face. AJ gave a slightly surprised, “Oh” before smiling at his concern.
“Yeah,” she replied, “that’d probleh be for the best raht about now. Don’t want him gettin’ jealous of you talkin’ ta me and leavin’ him outta the loop.”
“My thoughts exactly!” Doc responded with a closed-eyed smile before motioning his hoof in the general direction of AJ’s house, “Shall we?”
“Let’s.” AJ replied, and they were off to comfort another of Doc’s friends, taking another step in their journey to bring everything in the town back to it’s peaceful ways.
“Bah the way Doc…” AJ said as they were about halfway to her house.
Doc looked to her interestedly.
“That name ya called me, before we stopped yellin’ at each other…who is she?”
“Oh…” Doc said with a smile before turning his gaze forward and answering happily, “…somepony.”
“Well, where is she now?”
Doc looked up slightly from his normal gaze, staring at the sky for a moment before he turned his face back to AJ and casually said with a humble smile,
“She’s dead…”
***
The hardwood floor squeaked a little as Spike’s scaly feet padded across it. He was walking with a silver tray in his hands, laden with a large bowl of lettuce, a small plate of daisies on the side and a tall glass of water. He approached Twi, who was at her desk, still deep in her studies after already having her face in a set books for last three hours. Spike put the plate on her desk without warning, surprising Twi and giving her eyes a moment of rest in the slight small talk they shortly followed with. After some miniscule topics and enjoyable laughs, Spike eventually brings up the topic of Twi going to visit Doc earlier in the day.
“Like I said Spike,” Twi explained, “I checked the caravan and he just wasn’t there.”
“Where do you think he ran off to?”
“Not sure,” answered Twi, “there wasn’t a note or anything to follow, so I guess we just have to wait and find out.”
And before they could change the subject to whatever else may pass the time, they heard a distinct knock at the door.
Twi got up from her seat, stretched her stiff limbs and went to check the door, finding none other than the famous white stallion everypony’s been talking about standing right on her door step. As she saw his smile light up at first sight of her, Twi greeted him happily.
“Well aren’t you right on queue?” she said, “We were just talking about you.”
“Oh really?” Doc replied as he trot inside, “And pray tell, what was being discussed of me?”
“We’ll tell you later.” said Twi as she walked past him after closing the door, “But in the mean time, care to join us for dinner?”
“Uh…sure.” Doc said, surprised by the offer before he responded modestly, “I’d be honored, in fact!”
“Great!” exclaimed Twi before turning her head around and saying to her loyal assistant, “Spike, if you would be so kind as to get Doc a bowl of that wonderful salad you made.”
“My pleasure.” he replied with a salute before he hopped out of his chair and swiftly set course for the kitchen archway.
As Spike ran off, Doc said, “Thanks little guy!” just before he rounded a corner into the kitchen and out of sight. Twi sat back at her desk, and Doc followed by using his strange magic to telekinetically pull a chair to him from clear across the foyer, placing it to face along the desk rather than into it. Twi was about to ask him about his magic abilities, thinking he was a bit more open with his secrets after all that’s happened. But she had to turn her attention to Doc as he kindly asked with a smile, plopping lazily into his seat with a relaxed backwards lean, crossed hind legs and his left foreleg resting on the desk.
“So Twi,” he asked, “you still haven’t said how you two were talking about me.”
As she took her own seat, she replied in the same friendly tone he was using.
“Have some patience, I was just about to tell you. We were just a little concerned about why you weren’t at your caravan all day.”
“Ah yes!” Doc sounded, “Sorry about that. I was busy going around town and having a talk with all our friends. Just a chat about everything that’s happened lately.”
Twi tilted her head to the side and changed her expression to show her slight confusion.
“Out of all the ponies in town,” she mentioned, “I’d have thought that our friends would be the best off in dealing with it. I mean, we did stand up for you when you were giving your speech.”
“True.” he replied, “But I’ll have to correct you in saying that you” he pointed his hoof at her and spun slightly in his seat, now correctly facing the table off the side of his chair, “are the only of our friends that has dealt with it atall.”
This began to greatly confuse Twi.
“But what about the speech? They sure seemed okay around you then.”
“So did everypony else in town.” he presented, “Now look, I can understand how it might be confusing, but I’ve accidently revealed myself in enough places to see a decent pattern.”
He straightened his chair to face the desk and shifted in the seat to get comfy, beginning his explanation with appropriate movements of his hooves and a surprisingly experienced tone.
“Should my secret get out, and a group like the populous of Ponyville know, there’s a series of outcomes that tend to follow afterwards. Most of the time, my secret ends up getting me kicked out of the small town, never to return again. I almost lost a lot of good friends because of it, but in that situation, I try to do enough good for the town, remind them of who I try to be so they forgive me and do the other, somewhat-common outcome. That outcome is that the town just accepts me, whether it be out of pity from seeing the crap get beaten out of me like before, through the kind of reassurance you guys helped me give at the speech, or just because I knew all the townsfolk well enough to where they could see the real me past that horrid beast I could so easily become. But even if I knew every single pony just as well as you, or any of our friends for that matter, there was always this one little catch that never seemed to fail.”
“After seeing such horrible things, even if you’ve been reassured that they’re not a problem at all, that they change nothing, you still just want to go straight home, fall asleep, and then wake up. Hope that everything you’ve experienced that day was nothing but a bad dream, a nightmare of seeing your best friend turn into a demonic superpony, capable of snapping anypony in half like a twig should they strike a wrong nerve with him. But when you wake up the next day or two and realize that what you saw was reality, you begin to lose it. Next comes a jumbled mess of doubt, denial, blame, and many other things. All this, and the next thing you know, you’re just as scared as you were the first time you saw the friendly little Doctor for the beast he really was.”
Twi understood it now, how the hope of such a phenomenal horror not being real can drive you into a nervous lapse when not fulfilled. Dash was a perfect example, a strong and resilient athlete turned to a wallowing pile of insecure mush as soon as she put some thought to the matter.
“This has happened every single time I’ve been caught,” Doc continued, “even to those closest to me. That’s why I had to go around and see all of our friends, have a talk with them before they slip any further into that inevitable, paranoid mess most ponies end up in.”
“But I’ve been just fine since the incident.” Twi said, still attempting to see why her friends needed help, “How can they be any worse for wear when we all know what friendship really is?”
“Like I said,” he answered, “you were the only one that really dealt with it. I was simply adding on to your efforts by going and talking to them in person. You were the one who really kept this group together after everything changed. I mean, just think about it. The verynextday after what happened, as everyone thought and thought about what to do, you went around and talked to your friends, not losing yourself to it at all. You talked to the ponies that were affected the most by the truth, but helped them discover a way to deal with it, and somehow remain the friend of an old, foolish monster. You’re a problem solver, somepony who won’t leave something like that alone and just hope that it’ll go away. When something needs to get done, you get it done, and that’s what’s made you the smart, resourceful, amazing girl that I know I can always trust.”
Twi blushed a little at such a sweet comment, then thought through some of his words before responding.
“Thanks…but Doc.”
He perked his attention as he usually does.
“After all that’s happened, after all the convincing of the townsfolk that you’re just a normal guy and all the support from all of our friends, why do you still call yourself a monster?”
“‘Cuz I am.” he answered flatly.
“No you’re not, and you know it.”
“Oh come on Twi. Yesterday, you saw crystal clear just what kind of thing I can become. That thing, that beast, is inside me, and can be released at any moment. How can I not be a monster with that kind of power to throw around as I please?”
“You tell me.” Twi assertively ordered, “How is it that somepony with such power hasn’t turned on all of equine kind and declared themselves the ruler of the world? You know why? It’s because it’s you controlling that power. You know why it is that I don’t see a monster sitting here right now? Because that thing that I saw in the square, even if I didn’t know it then, was fighting to protect us.”
The look of slight realization could be seen on Doc’s face, and grew as Twi went on, his smile growing with each thing she said as he stared thoughtfully into the wood of the table before him.
“When you were fighting,” she continued, “the only thing I saw you focusing on was keeping those things, the real monsters in this, away from us. As soon as they left, did you do what a monster would do and start beating everypony in the square into a bloody pulp? No! You kept your distance from everypony as soon as you realized you might be a threat to them! Your intention from the verybeginning was the safety of others’ over your own. You cared only about us no matter how badly those freaks beat you up, or of how we thought of you, knowing such incomprehensible facts about your past. To me, that doesn’t sound like a monster at all. That sounds like the kindness and consideration only found in the heart of a valiant stallion, the heart of a true hero.”
In the slight silence that followed, Twi calmed herself by staring at Doc and waiting for a response with her hooves on the table, her own social interactions revved up after her surprisingly assertive side of the “argument” they had. As she waited, Doc stared at the table aimlessly with a content look on his face, relaxed blinking and a nice, wide smile. A moment later, he spoke to Twi with a calm and quiet tone, the table not leaving his sight.
“Thank you, Twi…”
He looked away from the table and at the hardwood library floor just beyond his crossed, relaxed hind hooves before continuing.
“After spending an entire day giving other ponies reassurance…”
He looked at her, his face the same with its wide smile and gentle infliction.
“I never thought I might need some myself.”
***
Twi grinned at him widely with her eyes closed, but then remembered something, retrieving a normal expression.
“Oh, by the way Doc.” she said, “Speaking of your day seeing our friends, how’d it go?”
“Great!” he responded with a smile, “Well, for what it’s worth anyway. I’m at least glad Dashie’s visit was the way it was.”
“What do you mean?” Twi asked.
“Let me explain. I think she was the third or so of our friends I visited today, so it was still a little early. I checked her house, just as I did for everypony else, but found it empty. I had no idea where she was, until I thought of a place we found with some other friends a few days ago.”
Twi interjected in the short pause Doc took.
“Who?”
“You remember how Spitfire and Soarin greeted me at my not-so-farewell party?”
Twi’s eyes suddenly flared open in realization before she spoke with a disbelieving smile.
“No way.”
“Yes way.” he replied with a point of his hoof, “Heck, Dashie was the one who introduced me to them in the first place. But anyway, I digress. This place that we found was a nice bit of clouds over a pretty little pasture with a small forest. But that’s not important. What is important is the fact that when I got there today, what I saw was absolutely phenomenal. It was Dashie, dressed up in a complete Wonderbolt uniform and training with that famous duet. It was crazy enough when I showed up, but then they told me they had been training for the last five hours, and my mind was just blown.”
Twi looked just as surprised as Doc, speaking with the same disbelieving smile and tone she used a moment ago.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am serious!” he confirmed, “But the most surprising thing of all was Dashie herself. She was happy. Not angry, not nervous, not scared. Just…happy. I never thought that she, of all ponies, would recover just as fast as you.”
“Well, to tell you the truth,” Twi mentioned, “she didn’t do it on her own. You remember yesterday, how all of us met up at the caravan just before your ‘friends’ arrived?”
“Not my friends, but yes, I recall.”
“Well, you know how I said I had to convince Dash to show up?”
Doc nodded.
“Well, it may not have seemed like it, but she was in absolute shambles when I found her at her house. Sitting in a corner with all the lights off, crying and telling herself lies just to make herself feel better. I practically had to scream into her ears to get her back, and after that she was still pretty traumatized. It took a few words of encouragement and my story of how I coped with it, but she eventually wizened up and seemed to be just fine with you afterwards. If anything, she was definitely much more enthusiastic to see you than anypony else. I helped her understand that you were nothing to be feared, that you’re not a monster and that you’re just who you are. It may have been difficult for her to get, but I’m just glad that now I’m not the only mare in town that knows it.”
Doc, after listening with a surprised expression, snickered before remarking happily.
“Bra-visimo, Twi! Never thought you would do such a big part of my job for me like that. *heh* Color me impressed.”
“Thanks. Just trying to help.”
“That’a girl.” said Doc with a mentor’s smirk and flicked point of his hoof before he continued, “Attitude like that is certainly a rare gem in this selfish world. But anyways, Dashie aside, it’s time to move on to the others. I remember Pinkie hosting a little party to try and get her spirits up, but she and Gummy were the only attendants and the anxiety in her voice could be heard by the deaf. AJ yelled at me a little, trying to feel strong in such a powerless situation by just…venting all her angry thoughts at me. Flutters was locked up in her house like a nut jar at a squirrel convention, scared out of her mind and just trying to escape from this horrible reality she was stuck in. And Rare was trying to act casual, making clothes and being as regal as she is, but she was shaking so badly she couldn’t even thread a damn needle without any help. Sounds bad at first, but it wasn’t too anything I haven’t seen before.”
“Nothing you haven’t seen before? Really?” Twi asked, not too used to situations of minor psychiatric breakdown.
Doc snickered a little.
“Twi, you have no idea what kind of insanity I’ve dealt with in all my years.”
Twi almost thought about what the worst could possibly be for somepony like him, but stopped before her mind took a turn for the gruesome.
“So…are they okay?” She asked, slightly nervous.
“Oh absolutely! They’ll be just fine.” he said with a dismissive wave of his hoof. “I danced with Pinkie to some of her favorite party music, which definitely got her spirits back up before we shared some really good cake. I yelled back at AJ once she finished, we argued a bit, but eventually made up before we went to go reassure Mac. Flutters just needed a shoulder to cry on for half an hour, then we had a nice picnic a little ways out from her house. It was sort of the same thing for Rare, just minus the picnic. We just sort of sat in a room for a while as I rocked her back and forth and sang to her…”
Doc looked to be remembering a time long ago, a straight expression shrouding sadness displayed on his face.
“…I hadn’t done that in a while…”
He regained his smile and turned his depressing expression to one of good remembrance.
“…it was nice.”
Twi saw the sad expression on Doc, thought of what horrors he must have gone through in all his years, of how that session of comfort he gave to Rarity must have been a perfect moment of peace, one he hasn’t chanced to enjoy in so long. She thought he needed comfort, but when she saw his happiness return, her emotions gladly followed, seeing his amazing ability to cope with whatever sadness he must be experiencing in this eternal life of his.
“*sigh* You know,” she said with a tone of importance, “it’s amazing. After everything you’ve told us, who you are, what you do, and all you’ve been through, there’s still so many things about you that I never see coming. It’s just…”
After a small pause of Twi trying to find the right word, Doc suggested.
“Crazy?”
“Crazy.” agreed Twi with a nod of recognition.
“Eh, I try.” Doc replied with a shrug, “When you’re in my kind of business, it’s best to try and be a walking puzzle box. That, or some sort of mountain hermit.”
They laughed, glad that Doc was the better one of those and not the other. In the midst of their laugh, they could hear the pitter patter of Spike’s feet approaching the kitchen archway. They looked in its direction to see Spike walk into the foyer, a practically identical tray of food as the on he made for Twi in his hands and a smile on his face. Doc’s smile widened as he eyed the plate of greens, followed by him licking his lips and rubbing his hooves together expectantly.
“Thanks Spike, this looks awesome!” Doc said as his eyes remained fixated on the approaching food.
“It’s just some salad recipe I got out of a cookbook.” Spike replied modestly, “I’m not too used to cooking, so I hope it’s alright.”
“Oh come on, it looks delicious!” said Doc reassuringly, “And I bet it’s going to taste five times better.”
“Wow, thanks!” Spike replied with a wide smile.
“That’s so sweet of you.” Twi added before Doc simply laughed a little through a wide grin with closed eyes, same as he always does while Spike pulled a chair up to the desk and joined the conversation.
“So, what’cha guys been talking about?” Spike asked as Doc began happily digging into the salad.
“Oh,” Twi answered, “Doc’s just been telling me how he went around today and visited all our friends.”
“Ah, so that’s why he wasn’t at his caravan in the morning.”
Doc interjected for a moment, replying with a mouthful of leaves, “Yeppers.” before taking a bite into one of the small tomatoes caringly placed into the salad.
“Yes, and for good reason.” Twi said, “When he visited everypony, he talked to them about everything that’s happened recently, helping them if there was anything wrong.”
Spike appeared to grow more attentive as she finished, asking her with a smile.
“Oh, you mean like how you did for me last night?”
Doc perked his attention away from his food again, listening as Twi replied.
“Yes Spike, exactly like that.”
Doc asked after he quickly swallowed his mouthful of veggies and dabbed his face with a napkin.
“What’s up?”
“Last night, after I talked with Spike about everything that happened yesterday, he couldn’t sleep. He told me he was scared, that bad thoughts he didn’t want to think kept swimming in his head and he just wanted to stop thinking. Now granted, it didn’t sound as bad as Dash’s thoughts, but the poor guy was just distraught.”
She rubbed his scaly scalp from halfway across the table caringly before she continued.
“But I told him how I was able to deal with it and he understood just like Dash did. Since then, he’s actually been anxious to see you.”
“Yeah.” Spike commented before saying to Doc, “I guess I was just interested to see how I’d look at you now that my thoughts are cleared up. And so far, I feel like those leg things of yours don’t even matter anymore.”
“Well that’s good.” replied Doc with a kind smile, “At least now I have my closest friends covered in the list of ponies I need to talk to in town. So I guess, for now, my job is done.”
He stuck his hoof out to Spike.
“And now,” Spike got the message and met his scaly fist to Doc’s gentle hoof with a respectful bump before Doc picked his glass of water up off the tray and proposed a toast to Twi, “I truly know that I’m here to stay!”
Twi grinned quickly and accepted his toast with a chink of her glass against his, followed by them both gladly chugging like the great friends they were.
And that’s when they heard something knock at the door.
***
Doc offered with a smile after quickly gulping down the water in his mouth and wiping his muzzle.
“I got it.”
He hopped out of his chair and jogged to the door, stopping just before it to check the peephole and see who it was. Twi watched as he did, and his reaction a second later was absolutely unmistakable. He froze up in the exact same way he did when everypony in the square first heard Finality talk, like a choked second of surprise that tightened every muscle in his body. He stood there for several more seconds, frozen as if stung by some paralyzing insect before Twi asked in great concern.
“Doc?...”
The next words out of Doc’s mouth were not the words he would use if it were the stallions, Twi knew that much. Yesterday, when they arrived to the regrouping of Twi’s friends, he used his aggressive and orderly tone to shout at them. His next tone was of urgent fear, you know, that kind of tone somepony uses when a gargantuan Ursa Major is charging right at them. He used that tone as he loudly whispered the words, “Oh sweet Celestia!” before instantly turning around and sprinting towards Twi.
As Doc approached, Twi could tell something was very very wrong.
“What’s wrong?” she asked nervously.
He slid to a stop just before the table and spoke with severe urgency in his voice and in his tightened expression.
“Hide me!”
“What?”
“I need somewhere to hide!”
There was another triplet of knocks at the door, and Doc swiveled his head to it quickly as he continued.
“A closet, a cupboard, anything!”
Spike stuttered quickly as he looked around the room.
“Uh…uh…”
His eyes spotted a large chest laying at the base of a book shelf a very small ways away from the table.
“In there!” Spike lightly yelled to Doc as he pointed to the chest.
Doc nodded before sprinting towards it, Spike following in his swift wake.
“What’s going on?!” Twi asked as he hopped in hind hooves first.
Doc, hunched over with his left hoof over his head and on the open lid of the chest, answered quickly.
“Just answer the door and pretend that you don’t even know me. You’ll be fine, just don’t panic.”
“But I don’t even know-”
Before Twi could finish her sentence, Doc was already beginning to ball up into the chest, saying in reminder to her just before Spike helped close the lid on top of him.
“Don’t panic!”
Now with Twi’s only means of explanation secluded in a box, she was in a nervous rush as she heard the next three knocks at the door. They sounded much louder, harder and had a longer pause in between them. Whatever was at the door was beginning to grow impatient. Twi calmed it by yelling to the door nervously.
“J-just a minute!”
She jogged her way towards the door, hesitating a moment before opening and fearing what she may find. But she knew this was not the time to think, but to act. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and took a deep breath before grasping the door handle. Then, with a final mental discarding of any nervous precaution, she swung the door open, hopefully ready for whatever lie beyond. And what lie beyond was nothing like what she expected. Standing just beyond the doorstep were three, very large stallions. Not the three that have been tormenting Doc, Twi could easily tell that. These were bigger…much bigger, at least a few inches or so shorter than the red one, and he was already practically matching Celestia in terms of height. These stallions were all wearing a matching outfit, a full tan suit under an identically colored trench coat. The upwards collars of their trench coats, combined with the tan fedoras they all were wearing, completely shrouded their faces in shadows, leaving them unidentifiable. The formation they stood in could be compared to the one used by Finality, Famine and War on the day of their arrival, a small V formation with who appeared to be the leader at the front. They all peered down from their shaded, unreadable expressions to look at Twi as she opened the door. Twi looked up to them in surprise of their size and remained still, anxiously uncertain of what their next move would be. Just a moment later, the stallion spearheading this trio spoke in an extremely deep voice.
“Ah. Good evening ma’am. We would like to ask you a few questions, if you have the time.”
Twi, already beginning to panic like Doc told her not to, stuttered.
“Uh…s-sure. Wo-would you like to come in?”
She stepped aside and motioned a hoof over her chest, inviting them in, only to receive the response of the center one lifting his gloved hoof in decline.
“Thank you, but we are very busy and do not have the time.”
Twi nervously nodded and stepped back in the doorway to face them.
“Have you seen any strange events in the past few days?” The center one asked her.
Twi now panicked, receiving her first question. She stammered “Um…” several times with a hoof on her muzzle, thinking of what she could say to seem like an innocent, little, uninformed librarian that has no idea of what’s going on.
“N-no. At least not that I can recall.”
“Are you sure?” calmly pressured the center one, “Nothing since say…oh I don’t know, two days ago?”
He knows. All three of them know. Twi could tell that and that her little innocent act wouldn’t work on whoever or whatever these stallions were. She decided lying would get no better results, so she recovered.
“Um…Oh! I think something may have happened then.”
She tapped her hoof to her head and whispered utter nonsense to herself, pretending to try and recall what happened that day, even though she knew she would never truly forget it. She spoke after several more seconds of fake remembrance.
“Yes! I…think I remember seeing something awfully strange in the square that long ago.”
“Good.” responded the center one, “So you were there?”
“Yes. Should I tell you what I saw?”
The center one replied calmly with a light shake of his head.
“That won’t be necessary ma’am.”
He motioned an upwards flick of his chin to the accomplice on his right, queuing that stallion to reach into his trench coat and pull out a clipboard, offering it to the center one. Twi was confused of what it could be until the center one took the clipboard from his accomplice, pulled a pen out of his own trench coat and spoke to Twi calmly as he offered both the items to her.
“All we need is for you to sign this paper, stating that you never saw anything that day, shall never speak of it to anypony and that you believe it never happened.”
Who the heck are these guys, what do they have to do with Doc and why do they want me to sign this paper?
Three very suspicious questions. The first things that popped into Twi’s head as she heard and thought through his statement, the surprise she felt showing immensely on her face. As her expression undertook a drastic change from unexpectedly nervous to terrifyingly confused, all three of the stallions slightly leaned their heads back in surprise before awkwardly looking at each other. Twi continued to stare at them with her elongated, slightly petrified face before the center one asked.
“Um…Miss?”
She shook her head, snapping herself out of her thought induced trance.
“Oh…sorry…”
“Are you alright?” the center one asked in a surprisingly considerate and gentle tone.
“Yes, of course!” she replied, “Just a little dazed is all.”
“Will you be able to sign the paper or should we come back another time?”
“Oh don’t worry. I’m fine.” she dismissed with a wave of her hoof and a fake smile before the center one offered her the pen and clipboard. She took them both in her magical grasp and levitated the clipboard before her eyes, reading the document like the content bookworm she was. The paper may have been a mish-mosh of legal terms she didn’t know and complicated ways of stating a simple action like punching somepony in the face, but Twi read through it easily enough and detected nothing that could be used to take advantage of herself or her friends, who may have also signed it for all she knew. She signed her name on the dotted line at the bottom and handed the clipboard back to them.
“Thank you for your time ma’am, and for making it a quick signing.” he said with very, very slight positive tone, “Most of the other visits we’ve made today have taken us at least half an hour longer, and that was just time spent saying ‘It’s classified’ over and over again.”
He chuckled deeply, sounding reasonably intimidating, but somehow kind and jolly at the same time.
“Oh um…*heh* glad I could help.” she said nervously, another fake grin plastered on her face.
The center one concluded as he gave the clipboard back to his accomplice and placed the pen back in his coat pocket.
“Alright, have a nice day ma’am. And remember…”
She watched as he motioned a hoof across the muzzle area of his face, acting out a zipper across his mouth and reminding her to stay quiet about this whole thing. After that, Twi sensed a nice smile underneath the shadows on his face just before the three stallions turned around and began to walk off. Twi closed the door slowly, confused of what she may have just done and its actual degree of importance. She turned around and looked at Spike, who had been standing by the chest the entire time, hands behind his back, small, quiet and out of sight. As she approached, Spike knocked on the chest a few times, followed by Doc emerging from within, giving a quick look around the library.
“What’d they say?” he asked.
“Not much really.” Twi replied with a slightly calmed disposition, “They just wanted me to sign this paper so I can’t talk about anything that happened.”
Doc looked slightly confused about Twi’s answer, shifting his eyes to his right and back quickly.
“That’s…it?”
She nodded in response, followed by Doc hopping out of the chest.
“No…house search? No questions about me or anything?”
Twi shook her head slowly as she responded suspiciously.
“Nnnooo…why? Is that a problem?”
Rather than give an answer, Doc ran past her and to the door, looking through the peephole again as he watched the stallions continue to trot away. After backing away from it slowly, looking much more confused than before, he placed a hoof on his muzzle and stared at the wooden floor in front of him in intense focus.
“You really seem surprised about this,” Twi said, concerned about his actions, “what’s wrong?”
Once again, he ignored giving an answer, whispering to himself after a few more moments of serious thought.
“Just a gag order and nothing else? No wonder you never caught me…but why?”
He *hmm*ed to himself in extended thought before remembering that Twi asked him a question. He turned away from his severe concentration and in her direction, looking at her and Spike’s concerned faces before he looked down at the floorboards again and sighed through his nose.
“You guys remember how I said ‘In my kind of business, it’s best be a walking puzzle box’?” he asked as he looked back to them.
Only Twi nodded, Spike not being there for that part of the conversation.
“Well…” he continued before turning his gaze back to the door, finishing with, “when ponies like me can’t quite manage that, there are some…others that make sure it stays that way…”