Acceptance

by Meatabex

First published 19th of March, 2012

The story follows a human-transformed-pony that discovers the magic of friendship in Equestria.

When a human, is mysteriously sucked into Equestria following his tragic death, he discovers a world of beauty, happiness, and magic. Transformed into a mare, and exposed to this new world that she was no connection to, she begins to learn what friendship is. But the ponies begin to reject her once strange things begin to happen in Equestria, and she embarks on a magical journey with her new friends to put an end to the evils that are penetrating the once peaceful world.

I would really appreciate feedback, support, and some thumbs! Thank you!

Photo credits to Hombre0, his DeviantArt page here.

Edited by Wivoatt, one of the most thorough editors ever! I greatly appreciate her help, here's her DeviantArt.

Prologue (Optional)

One quick note: the prologue is much gorier and language insensitive than the rest of the story will ever be. Just to clear things up. Also, this prologue is optional, so if you don't want to see violence, then you may avoid this.

“FUCK YOU!”

“NO, FUCK YOU!”

“YOU’RE THE FUCKER THAT DRANK ALL OUR MONEY AWAY!”

“YOU’RE THE FUCKER THAT DON’T DO SHIT!”

Bottles crashed to the ground as Mom and Dad wrestled. I hid in the corner of the kitchen, trying not to attract any attention. Fear began to consume me, like every other time. A black hole of emptiness filled me as I realized the extent of how they ignored me. My own parents ignored me.

“MAYBE I SHOULD LEAVE!”

“FUCK YOU, YOU’RE STAYING, BITCH!”

I shuddered, and fear closed in on me. It looked me in the eye, full of malice.

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, YOU MANWHORE SON OF A PROSTITUTE!”

Broken glass slid towards my feet, and the warm liquor washed up against my feet. I whimpered. I tried to stay strong. Fear inched closer and closer to my heart. If it got to my heart, I knew I would be lost. I only had one option left. I attacked fear, replacing it with anger. I slowly focused my thoughts on anger at my parents’ ignorance, my parents’ selfishness, their inability to accept each other. They didn’t notice my change in emotion.

“YOU SLAP ME?”

“YES I DID. WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT-”

I had enough of my parents yelling. For the first time, I was angry with my parents. I stood up.

“STOP IT!” I screamed from the tops of my lungs. They stared back, surprised at my outburst.

“You…you little…” my mom started, at a loss for words, but my dad finished. “Imma slice off your lips so you can’t talk, you useless lil cunt…”

Fear quickly replaced my anger again. It enveloped me, cackling, only manifesting itself in me more and more as my drunken dad hobbled closer and closer, pulling a kitchen knife from the nearby block.

I was frozen in place. My eyes darted from object to object, trying to find some way to escape. I spotted the screen door, and scrambled towards it, slipping on pieces of glass. My mom moved into the way, and I ducked wildly under her legs, and smashed through the door. The fiber twine ripped clean off. Getting up, I looked back. Fear, the black cloud of pain and anger, growled, and chased me. I turned and ran, and didn’t look back.

Jumping over fences, running under branches, tripping on roots, and finally landing under a large tree, I couldn’t take it anymore. Stumbling to the ground, I started to cry loudly, the reservoir of feelings finally cracked.

Nobody cared anyway. Nobody cared about me. I was a useless abortion failure. No friends, abusive family, cruel town.

Lonesome.

Invisible.

Nothing.

The dirt absorbed my tears, and wept with me, and my sobs were caught by the wind and spun into melodies of lament.

It seemed like an eternity before I stopped, gasping in quick breaths and spasms, and leaned next to the tree trunk. I quickly fell asleep, tired out by my sadness.

When I woke, the sun was already starting to pierce the dull grey sky. I rubbed my eyes, and curiously, I was staring at tree branches.

“What, oh…” I had slept on the ground, in the middle of nowhere, last night. Looking closer, I came to the realization that there were birds in the branches.

The birds came down, and hopped towards me, curious. I whistled, and they came closer. A few of them cocked their heads towards their sides, and others fluttered their wings quietly.

“Hey,” I asked. “How’s it like to be a bird? Must be fun, to be able to run away from anything that you know.”

The birds stared back, intent. They understood me. They made me feel calm, even happy. For the first time, I was without the presence of fear. I started to converse with the birds.

I told them about how miserable the town was, how bad my parents were, and how I had no friends. At one point, one of them flapped their wings, telling me, why don’t you just leave this miserable town? Use your wings.

“I don’t have wings, unfortunately,” The birds looked to the ground. “If I were a bird, I would do that, though.”

The birds looked at me, and sorrowfully crowed. Too bad you don’t have wings, human.

“I want to be a bird,” I grumbled. “I wanna get out of this town. Heck, I just want a friend.”

“Oh really?”

I whipped my head around, and spotted a hairy chest protruding from a worn out wife beater. I stood up. It was a bully from my school, Blades. His muscles bulged as he smacked his hands together, forming a fist. I guessed that his goons were behind him. I was right. Bruce and Geo appeared from behind their larger leader.

“What are you doing here, Blades?” I took a step back.

“Turns out these woods are great for paintballing,” Blades cackled, revealing his paintball gun, “Just hanging with friends, which you don’t have, queer.”

“I have friends!” I shrugged off.

“Oh, yeah?” Blades grabbed me. “Tell me one friend of yours, and I won’t give you a knuckle sandwich, fag.”

I gulped. I realized he was right.

“I was right!” Blades sniggered. He dropped me. My knees hit the ground, and pain shot up my legs. Fear, that dark cloud, began to come back. It screeched at me, beckoning me to give in. Grass was in my sight, and I couldn’t see… wait, grass…

“No. I have friends.” I looked at the ground. “The grass. The tree. The birds.” I stared at their faces proudly. Fear shrieked, and tried to counter attack. It tapped each bully on the head slightly. I looked up at the bullies.

The three were staring at me. Suddenly, they burst into laughter.

“Ha,” Blades grabbed me again. “That’s a funny one.” His fist was raised.

“Any last words, punk?” Blades pressed me against the ground.

Something was off. A bird landed on the ground next to him. Blades didn’t notice. Then another, and another started to hover behind him at head’s length.

“Birds,” I coughed, trying to warn him.

“Birds?” He hooted. “He really is a queer. Right, Geo?”

He turned to see Geo’s reaction. Geo was paling from the birds that were starting to land on Blade’s back.

“What?” Blades yelled. “Speak up, Geo!” Then he felt them.

“AHHH!!!”

Blades jumped back, frightened by the birds. A small group of birds flew by him, and dropped white droplets of poo onto his varsity jacket.

Fear recoiled, and groaned as it began to lose a foothold on me.

“Let’s get out of here!” Bruce moaned, as the birds began to peck him on the head.

“Die, ya stupid birds!” Blades leveled his paintball gun, and started firing it randomly. A couple birds landed on it, and yanked it out of his hand, throwing it onto the floor.

A bird frantically flew by me. Go! Run! It told me.

The bullies were too busy with the birds to notice me, except Bruce, who yelled at me, “Hey-“

He tripped on a tree root, and landed face first onto the grass.

I got up, and sprinted as far as I could, away from the bullies and fear.

When I couldn’t run anymore, I stumbled along, and found myself in front of my house. I hesitated, as I walked up to the door. There was no doubt that my parents were still in there. They would only be mad at me for running. The black cloud of fear began to take energy from my pondering. I shook my head. I would go in anyway.

As I walked in, a bottle smashed onto a wall above my head.

“YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU COULD’VE GOTTEN US INTO?”

“YEAH!”

“Um, no,” I whispered.

“CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES COULD’VE TAKEN YOU AWAY! I COULD LOSE MY JOB!”

“I COULD’VE LOST MY CREDIT AS A LOVING MOM!”

Dad turned to Mom at that point.

“THE FUCK YOU SMOKING? YOU KNOW I’M THE ONE DOING ALL THE LOVING!”

I quickly tripped up the stairs, not wanting to get involved again. I could’ve snuck out again if I wanted to. My parents wouldn’t notice, not in the argument they were in, but Bruce was out there. So I stayed.

That night, I stood at the windowsill, trying to coo at birds nearby.

“Hey, thanks,” I told them. They stared back at me with beady eyes.

I thought I finally had a friend. Every day, if I could, I headed down to the hill. It had some sort of stability in my life. The birds were always eager to hear what I had to say, and there were always new things to discover, whether it was new baby birds in the tree, a new plant growing near the pond, or a branch strong enough on the tree to support my weight.

The birds cared. The hills cared for me. I was an explorer, learning new things every day. I had friends.

I was no longer lonesome.

I was visible.

Something.

Sadly, all good things must come to pass. Soon the birds headed south for the winter. I never saw them again. I still wanted to visit the hill, but my parents wouldn’t even dare let me leave now. Besides, winter was coming, and my parents wouldn’t stop bickering to even buy me a coat.

Only when the snow melted was I able to sneak out after another intense argument.

My excitement fell short as I exited the forest. The hill was gone.

Replaced with an apartment complex.

The trees, the grass, the birds, all removed from the face of the earth, like they didn’t exist. I didn’t know why, but I continued on, trying to remember what it was like. The apartment building’s corner was built right where my favorite tree was, and the other corner was the place where I found some baby birds playing in a pond. Both the pond and the birds vanished.

“Hey, faggot,” I heard a familiar voice, and found Blades behind me again.

“Look around, fag,” Blades yelled. “All your friends are gone. They left you.”

“N-no,” I stammered, holding back tears. “They were killed.”

“Oh, this?” Blades pointed to the apartment. “So what if I asked my dad to build an apartment there? He was already convinced it was useless.”

“You’re smarter than you look,” I retorted.

“Faggot,” he screamed, and punched me across the face. I spat blood out. Anger boiled in my veins. There was no fear in my heart at all.

“You killed them! You killed my friends!” I screamed back, got up, and punched him back, hitting him square in the chin.

“Oh,” Blades rubbed his chinbone. “That’s how you wanna play, huh, faggot?”

I gasped as he pulled a knife out from his jacket. I started to run, but as I turned the corner to the apartment, a fist knocked me to the floor.

“Geo! Bruce, grab his arms!”

My arms were lifted, and my back was suddenly pressed on a wall.

“You’re gonna die for what you just did,” Blades grinned, and raised the dagger.

The knife plunged into my stomach, and I screamed out as pain shot through my whole body. My arms suddenly were dropped, and as I looked to my left and right, I could see Geo and Bruce both backing off. Blood started coating my front side, spreading down my shirt.

“Dude, we should stop,” Bruce warned. Blades came back down, and stabbed me again and again. Each stab was rewarded with more pain, and I howled louder. Blades came down one more time, this time stabbing at my left chest.

I whimpered as I gazed down at the blade that was sunk into my heart. He looked at me with contempt, and then got up, leaving the knife impaled in my chest.

“Geo, Bruce, let’s get out of this joint. We can call it a suicide.”

His two “friends” scrambled away from my feeble body. I was too much in pain to notice, or care. I tried grasping at the blade, trying to pull it out, but the hurting just increased. Suddenly, I realized what happened. My fingerprints were now on the knife. The suicide story would have enough flak to get through the officials. I cried out in angst, and then sobbed. I would die, friendless, forgotten, and lonely.

Nobody cared anyway. Nobody cared about me. I was a useless abortion failure. No friends, abusive family, cruel town.

Lonesome.

Invisible.

Nothing.

The pain started to numb the rest of my body. I found I couldn’t move my arms anymore. As my vision dimmed, I saw… a bird… no… something with wings… what…

Title Page

♫ Acceptance ♫
A Story of Discovery, Magic, and Friendship
Written by Meatabex
Edited by Wivoatt and AnnieRoshino
☮
♪ Note: ♪ There are links scattered throughout the story. These links may increase the enjoyability and awesomeness while reading.

Chapter 1: Awakening

“HAY! Get up! Get up! What are you doing here?”

I groaned. Was I dead? Of course not, because I heard a voice, right? My eyes slowly opened. Something wasn’t right. First off, there was no pain on my chest anymore. In fact, my whole body felt different.

“HAY!” I looked at the sound of the voice. It was, no, that couldn’t be right. My eyes saw what looked like a small blue horse, with wings?

I tried to rub my eyes. As I brought my hands up to my eyes, I noticed they felt different. I couldn’t feel my fingers. My eyes cleared, and I saw… hooves?

I screamed, and fainted.

-----

I woke up in a room.

I tried to get out of bed, but I couldn’t move very well. That’s when I realized my whole body was different. The first thing I saw was my nose and mouth, which had stretched out a little ways. My legs were bent forwards, about the same length and shape as my arms, which now had hoof like things instead of hands. My body was sleek, and furred with a light green tint. My clothes were all gone. From my shoulder bones, I could see two feathery wings, folded against my long body. My hair was now rather long and wavy, with an even lighter green hue to it. I felt another appendage brushing up against my back, and I looked back. Through my long hair, I saw a tail of the same color. And what seemed to be tattooed to my thigh was a picture. A picture of a leaf…

I screamed again, and gasped. My voice sounded… lighter, and sweet like honey.

“What’s wrong?” Another voice replied. It, too, sounded rather sweet, and soft.

“I’m telling you, Twilight, that mare is crazy!” I recognized that voice from earlier, the blue horse that was yelling at me.

“Maybe we should help her.”

I noticed its use of pronouns.

“Hey!” I spoke. It was weird, speaking in such a soft and light voice. “Can somebody tell me what’s going on?”

I looked around. I was in a room, much like any other, except it was made entirely out of strange purple wood, with purple carpet laid down across the floor. A window looked out into a dark blue sky, with a full moon casting its light into the room. A simple door seemed to be the only way out. Why were horses talking all of a sudden? And why was I a mare?

“Huh?” A head poked out from behind the door. I could first glimpse bright purple hair, and then purple eyes peeked out from behind. Its eyes peered at me for a second, and then it slid back in alarm.

“I told you! That filly must be from another continent. Another planet! She can’t be a local pony, that’s for sure!”

“I’m… a… pony?” I shook in fear. Looking at my body, it all seemed right. My legs and arms were pony-size; I had a tail, and a long nose.

Some things were out of place, though. I had a long mane, for a normal pony. My mane, tail, and fur were all strange colors. And I had wings, for crying out loud, not to mention the strange tattoo on my rump!

I was too engrossed in my fear to make any sound, other than a tiny squeak.

“And it seems she doesn’t know she’s a pony,” the other one whispered.

“She’s one silly filly,” the blue pony responded.

“Maybe we should introduce her,” the other one chirped up. “She still seems dazed about the whole situation.”

“Sure, let’s go talk to her.”

I saw the door crack widen slightly.

“DON’T COME IN! AHH!” I covered my mouth with my hooves, shocked that my voice could reach such a high pitch.

“Don’t worry,” the soothing voice calmed me down a little. Then the door swung open.

I closed my eyes, looking away in shame.

“No! Please! This isn’t me! Please don’t hurt me!” I cringed in fear.

“We won’t hurt you!”

I slowly turned my head, and peeked at the entering beings.

One had a blue skin, with wings folded on its sides. It flicked its long, rainbow colored, unkempt tail as it marched in. Its mane was the same hue of colors, but short, while it had a thin cyan coat of fur. The other was another pony, but had a sharp horn, glowing slightly. Its combed purple mane flowed beside it as it trotted into the room. It had thin light purple fur covering its body. It took me three seconds to comprehend that both voices were from… ponies!

“AHH!!” I squealed in terror.

“AHH!!” The purple pony screamed, surprised by my reaction.

“AHH!!” I yelped.

“AHH!!” she replied.

“Talking ponies? AHH!!” I continued to scream.

“Shh… shh… quiet down,” the purple pony urged. I couldn’t stop screaming though, and the two ponies quickly disappeared behind the door again.

“Everything here is crazy! Wake up Mark!” I told myself. Thrashing, I succeeded in getting out of the bed.

I could hear them whispering behind the door.

“Maybe we should try a more subtle approach.”

I scrambled for any way out of the room. There was a window. I tried getting up from my hind legs, but instead, I fell over, landing hard on my back. “Oof!”

The purple pony with the horn entered again, this time with more gentleness.

“Hello, fellow mare. My name is Twilight Sparkle. And yours?” it smiled nervously.

“I… don’t know anything…what’s going on…” I stammered, still getting used to my voice.

The blue pony trotted back in.

“Do you have a name, strange pony?” the blue one pushed, and poked my soft underbelly impatiently with her hoof.

“Um,” the purple one whispered. “Maybe you should be a little more respectful.”

“Is this real?” I wondered aloud. I was definitely hallucinating. I was probably in a hospital, and this was all from the anesthetics that the doctors injected into me. “I can’t be a pony…”

“Sweet Celestia!” The blue pony grabbed my shoulders with its hooves, and shook me. I wobbled back and forth, until I was dizzy. I tried to clear the dizziness, but once I could see properly, I realized I was still a pony. “That real enough for you?”

“Be gentle, Rainbow Dash,” the one named “Twilight” reprimanded.

“I don’t know…” My head whirled. It was real, all right. I tried to pinch myself, but soon I became aware that I had no fingers to pinch with. So I started smacking myself with my hooves. “Wake up, Mark! Wake up!”

“You are awake!” it, or “Rainbow Dash,” scoffed.

“Fascinating! She has a leaf as her cutie mark…” the purple one piped up.

“Cutie mark? What’s a cutie mark?” I asked. The blue pony slapped its, or her forehead, as it seemed that it was a girl, as was the other. “You’re nuts, stranger! The marking on your flank!”

I looked down. The leaf was my cutie mark, whatever that was.

“What’s your name?” Rainbow Dash asked. I looked up from the leaf.

“Um,” I said, struggling with my vocal range. “It’s Mark.”

“Wait, what?” the blue pony just stared at me for a second.

Then rough laughter spilled out from her lips. “Ahahahhahahahah! You’re kidding, right?”

“Heh heh,” Twilight giggled a little. “You can’t be a Mark… You’re a mare. You must be confused. Maybe we should leave her alone-”

“I know, but,” I tried to phrase it correctly, “You’ve got to believe me! I am a boy. And not a pony.”

“NOT A PONY?” Rainbow roared in delight. “That doesn’t make –eheheh- any sense!” the blue one tried to contain herself, but she kept on laughing. “You’re getting really –heehehe- silly! Stop it, or I’ll –ehehe- hurt myself laughing!”

“I’m not a pony!” I pouted. “I can’t be… no…”

“Then tell us what you really are!” Blue pony gasped in laughter.

“I’m a human,” my head reeled, and I lay my head down. I needed to get away from these ponies. “I’m sorry, but I’m really tired. Could I be alone some more?”

“Um, sure,” the purple one grinned, and a small squeaky sound escaped her lips. “This is my library, and you can stay here, I guess, if you want to....”

“I’m -hehe- Rainbow –hehe- Dash, by the way!”

“We’ll… let you stay here until you can figure out whatever’s going on in your mind,” Twilight backed out of the room. Rainbow Dash giggled some more, rolling on the floor. A purple hoof reached back in, and quickly snatched the winged horse out of the room.

I slumped back into my bed. This was strange, I thought. Speaking ponies with wings, and I’m one of them? Hopefully, I should wake up, not a pony. I slowly nestled into my covers, trying to keep my mane as far away from my body as possible.

As I began to drift off to sleep, I could hear Twilight speaking.

“Give me ‘Glossary of Animals, vol. 2,’ Spike, and hurry…”

A beautiful, peaceful melody floated through the air, which only continued as it carried me off to sleep...

Chapter 2: Aftershock

I blinked a few times. The sun was shining from the nearby window, and birds chirped happily. I yawned, and crawled out of bed.

Not able to control my movement, I tripped off my hooves and fell to the floor. Damn, I thought. I’m still a pegasus.

“Ugh,” I moaned. Still surprised from my voice, I fell onto my tail, which was fluffy. My mane got into my face, and I wiped it away with my hooves. Slowly crawling up, I outstretched my wings, to examine them. They were a brilliant hue of green, just like my body. Trying to get up, I walked on my hind legs, slowly but surely, to the door.

Tripping while pushing the door open, I entered the next room with a loud smash.

“Who’s Rainbow Crash now?” I looked up, and saw Dash giggling. “You’re so funny. Walking on hind legs, like a dragon. That’s so silly.”

“Why are you here?” I groaned, lifting myself off the ground again in an attempt to stand upright, but the effort was too much, and I collapsed, arms splayed in front, wings outstretched onto the floor.

Looking around, I could see books sprawled all over the place. Someone had clearly been doing some night reading. Looking up, I saw large pillars of bookcases, and ladders, lining the walls.

“Well, I thought my friend Twilight needed help with dealing with a certain strange pony!” she rolled her eyes. “You’re not gonna get anywhere on your back legs.”

“Watch me!” I retorted. Flailing my wings, I stood back up, and managed to trip a few more steps before slamming into a bookcase, and books rained on top of my head, burying me.

“HELP!” I screamed. A lump grew in my throat. And suddenly I felt really bad about knocking the books over. It must’ve taken people hours to organize these books! They were heavy, too.

I tried to dig my way out, but suddenly, all the books were engulfed in a cloud of red. The books levitated, and reorganized themselves into the bookcase. All thought processes in my mind ceased as I witnessed the magic.

“I knew learning that spell would come in handy,” I looked up. Twilight was looking down on me. I scrambled to get up, and managed to get onto my arms, or front legs. Her horn was shining red. I watched in awe, and she began to look nervous. “What? You’ve never seen a unicorn before?”

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “No, honestly, I haven’t.”

“It’s ok.” Twilight said. “How’s your day been?”

“She just woke up,” Rainbow interjected. I stood up, this time staying on all fours.

“So, Mark, or, whoever you are,” Twilight looked at me with concerned eyes, “I couldn’t find any entries of any beings called ‘Humans,’ as you claimed to be. In which case, you might’ve been hit by a memory-wiping spell. All I have to do, then is restore your memory-”

“Look, I don’t have a memory problem!”

Twilight looked interested. “Well, you don’t know that-”

“I don’t know how to show you,” I explained, “but I am a human. Or, at least, was…”

“Do you know anypony around here?” Twilight asked. “Any friends?”

That single word started to echo through my head. Friends. Friends. Friends.

Rainbow sniggered, “She hasn’t seen any ponies before, apparently, where she was from. Why do you walk on your back legs anyway? You must’ve been the dumbest pony wherever you used to be.”

I was still thinking about that word, friends. Tears began to drop from my eyes. Rainbow Dash’s smile disappeared.

“I’m sorry,” Rainbow slowly walked closer. “I didn’t know you were so sensitive, and, I mean, you said you were a guy, too, so I thought…” Twilight shot Rainbow Dash a look that said something like just because she says she was a boy doesn’t mean she can’t be sensitive. How could you be so inconsiderate of others’ feelings?

Rainbow Dash returned a look that said I didn’t know…jeez…

Then Twilight crouched, and cooed, “Are you ok? Rainbow Dash didn’t mean to be so rude.”

“Well, I wanted to prove a poi-” Twilight covered Rainbow Dash’s mouth.

“No,” I cried some more. Twilight just sat there, next to me as I dried my tears. “I was thinking about –sniff- back at where I lived. Where I lived, nobody was –sniff- nice to me.”

“Nopony…” Dash growled, but quietly.

I started again. “Everybody,” Rainbow shot another odd look at me, “I mean, everypony, was really mean to me,” I tried to change my word choice to help them understand. “The trees, and the grass, and the birds were my friends, because everyone thought I was weird. But they… killed all of them.”

I let more tears drop from my eyes. Twilight, blurred by my watery eyes, sat still for a while.

“I wouldn’t bear to watch any of my friends die, even if they were trees…” Twilight whispered.

Thoughts of the trees getting chopped down, and the birds being killed, and the grass being plowed over, only made it worse for me. I suddenly wanted a friend, more than anything in the world.

“It must be fun to have friends…” I whimpered.

“Fun? You can’t have fun without friends!” Rainbow Dash replied. “How have you never had friends before?”

“C’mon, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said in disdain, “you’re hurting her feelings!”

“All I want, more than anything in the world, is a friend!” I started bawling. Twilight tried to comfort me. Her horn shone in red light once more, and tissue appeared around my eyes, to catch the droplets of water that I sniffled out.

Suddenly, a bright light bulb manifested itself on top of Twilight’s head.

“Hay! I have a wonderful idea! What’s your name?” Twilight asked.

“Mark, it’s Mark,” I sniffled.

Rainbow Dash slapped her head again. “Mark is a boy’s name! Walking around with that name will make you the laughingstock of Equestria!”

The other pony just looked at me patiently. “Maybe we can make a name for you right now. What do you want to be called?”

I paused. Since it looked like I was going to be here a while, I thought of a name. “How about,” I looked at my cutie mark, “Leafwing?”

“Ugh,” the blue Pegasus groaned. “Such a mushy name!”

“It’s great, I think!” Twilight commented quietly, and grinned, making that cute squeaky sound again.

“My name is Leafwing,” I tested it out, to see if it sounded well. I liked it. It sounded a little magical.

“ So, Leafwing,” Twilight grabbed a book, “you said you wanted friends?” My soft mane shook as I nodded.

“Well, you could first try going to Princess Celestia. In fact, I was writing her a letter to her about friendship, when you showed up,” Twilight suggested. “I was sent here in Ponyville to study the magic of friendship, actually.”

“Who’s Princess Celestia?” I asked. Rainbow looked incredulously at me.

“Are you kidding, Leafwing?” Rainbow was about to say more, but Twilight stuck a hoof in her mouth.

“Princess Celestia is the ruler of Equestria, and my mentor,” I could detect a hint of pride in her voice. “She’s the most powerful alicorn in existence! She could definitely help you out!” She pulled her hoof out of Rainbow Dash’s mouth. “Spike, you can come out now!”

A sound of footsteps greeted me as a side door opened. A creature with green spikes down its back, with a purple skin, walked upright towards Twilight, holding a pile of books. I noticed it had a sharp tail, with a spear-like end.

“AHH!” I screamed, surprised by the entry of another magical creature.

“Ahh!” It tripped over, and the books crashed to the floor.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce you two.” Twilight brushed her bangs away. “Spike, this is Leafwing. Leafwing, this is Spike, my baby dragon friend.”

“The one and only!” Spike bowed. My head was spinning again. Pegasi, unicorns, and now dragons? And they were all friends?

“So, what’s cooking?” Spike looked at me, trying to size me up.

“Spike, take a letter,” Twilight ordered. The dragon didn’t seem pleased.

“But, I just got these books organized!” He moaned. “It’ll take me forever to do this again!”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Twilight laughed. “I just perfected an organizing spell! I don’t need you to do work if you’re really tired. Anyways, take a letter.”

“Ok!” Spike grabbed a sheet of parchment, and a quill, and stood attentive next to Twilight. He began to write down what Twilight was saying.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

I apologize for putting off my letter reporting what I learned about friendship. Yesterday Rainbow Dash found a pony lying on a road near Ponyville. She doesn’t seem injured. She seems fine now, but she has no memory of being a pony before, and wants to return to her home realm, and perhaps make some friends. This mystery requires a magical power with the likes of yours. We would like to visit Canterlot as soon as possible. Please respond if you are preoccupied at the moment.”

“Wait just a minute…Pre…pre…” Spike tried to spell it, but couldn’t quite get the word right.

“Engrossed?” Twilight suggested.

“En…En…” Spike shook his head.

“Have business?” the blue pegasus suggested, raising an eyebrow.

“Busi…busi…” Spike scratched his spines.

“Have things to do!” Twilight yelled. Spike quickly scratched the words down. “I remain to hear your response.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.”

“Ok,” Spike finished writing. “Send it now?”

“Yes, we need a response right now!” Twilight looked out the window. “You can’t just expect her to be able to schedule a visit at a whim! She has lots of ponies to court, lots of important business to do.”

“Ok, jeez,” Spike rolled the parchment up, and then breathed onto it. Green flames shot out from his jaws and onto the parchment, which quickly burned up. I gasped.

“You just… destroyed it.” Spike stared at me for a second, and then started cracking up.

“Wait, she doesn’t know?” Spike laughed even harder.

“I thought I told you!” Twilight paced on the floor. “She has no recollection of being a pony! And she definitely doesn’t seem to know how magic works!”

“Oh!” Spike looked at me. I stared back. “I sent that letter to Celestia through the magic network.”

“Ok… so you didn’t burn it?” I asked.

“Of course! What, you haven’t seen a dragon before?” Spike said.

“Yes, she hasn’t!” Dash spoke up.

“Twa-laght!” The front door swung open with a smash. An orange pony walked in. She was wearing a brown hat, which covered her messy blonde hair, which was tied at the end, similarly with her tail. On her flank was a trio of apples. I noticed it didn’t have a horn, or wings.

“So, there are normal ponies too?” I asked. I assumed that there weren’t any normal ones, since Twilight was a unicorn, and Rainbow Dash and I were pegasi, but it did make sense.

“Wha- Twi, what’s this mare doin?” The pony walked next to Twilight.

“Applejack, this is Leafwing. Leafwing, Applejack.”

“Pleased to meet ya!” Applejack quickly turned her attention back to Twilight.

“Twi, there’s an emergency!” Applejack yelled, even though she was only standing inches away from her.

“What, for Celestia’s sake?” Twilight recoiled slightly.

“It’s Rarity!” Applejack yelled again.

“RARITY?!?” Spike screamed.

“Rarity? Talk with me along the way!” Spike hopped onto Twilight’s back, and Twilight and Applejack bolted out the library. I tried to follow, but could only manage a fast canter. Rainbow Dash looked back at me as she quickly sped by.

“Hey,” Rainbow laughed. “Use your wings!” With that, she took off, speeding to catch up to the other two ponies. I tried to respond, “I don’t know how to use-”

As I left the library, I took in the surroundings, stopped talking, and could only stop and stare.

It seemed like an old village, probably before electricity existed or anything. All the houses were made of bright wood, and the grass was light green, bouncing its hues from the warm, bright sun. The sun was bright, but not so much that it would hurt to look at it. Somehow the sun still managed to make the town shine, and vividly at that. Ponies were prancing around. Tons of ponies were sunning, talking, eating, giggling, trotting, flying, racing, selling, pretty much everything and anything. Some ponies were bounding towards what looked like a school, and others walked into a shop labeled “Sugarcube Corner,” that was in the shape of a cupcake on top of a double-decker cake. The whole scenery just seemed so… happy!

Chapter 3: Signs of Distress

I barely took another step when I spotted a pink blur out of my eye. Before I could react, I was knocked off my hooves. Staring down at me was a bright pink pony, with an especially curly and bouncy mane. Once she opened her mouth, words spilled out.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to knock you over. I mean, cause I was so excited to find my friends that I had to get to them as fast as possible and show them my newest batch of cupcakes that I made with hot jalapeno sauce and- Hey, wait!” She stared cock-eyed at me. Then she made a long, drawn out gasp, and disappeared in another pink blur.

“What, just, happened?” My head went dizzy slightly.

“Oh, you must be new!” I turned, and a yellow pegasus pony with a bright pink straight mane and a similar colored tail stood there, smiling gently. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to Pinkie Pie’s randomness someday.” I just stared at her for a bit.

She began to back up a little, afraid, and whispered, “I’m sorry, I was trying to be more assertive, like Rainbow Dash asked me to. Did I hurt your feelings?”

I quickly responded, “No! No, you didn’t! Thanks for greeting me, actually, I didn’t know ponies could be so respectful…what’s your name?”

My staring already started to spook her, though, and she started to back up a little more, and whispered something quiet.

“Uh,” I slowly started towards her, “I couldn’t hear you. I’m sorry?”

She only backed up more, and squeaked something unintelligible.

“Um, ok then.” I wondered if all ponies were afraid of strangers. I started to turn around and back away when suddenly, she spoke again.

“Oh my!” she exclaimed, shyness mostly gone, although her voice was still soft. She almost bowled me over in an attempt to get to me. I looked at her, and traced her line of vision to my cutie mark. “Wow, I’ve never seen a cutie mark like that before… it’s a leaf…”

“Yeah, so?” I asked quizzically, not understanding.

“Well,” the pony replied, “I really like animals. And, well, everything else too. But trees are were a lot of my animal friends live. I would like to be a tree, if I weren’t a pony…your cutie mark is so… so… wonderful,” she flapped her wings happily and beamed.

“Wait,” I asked, “you have animal friends?”

“Why, yes,” the pony replied, “I love all animals. I take care of them at my cottage near the Everfree Forest, whether it’s a bird with a cramped wing, or a mouse with gingivitis.”

“Cool!” I said, unconsciously waggling my wings. “I want to meet your animal friends! I love animals too!”

“Sure, maybe later,” the pony whispered, smiling. “I have to get to my pony friends for now, though. They told me Rarity is in trouble... I do hope you don’t mind.”

“Sure! Wait, isn’t that where Twilight and Rainbow Dash were going?” I asked.

“Oh, yes,” the pony replied, as she trotted down a road, and I followed. “All of them are my friends. Oh, and by the way, my name’s Fluttershy.”

“Nice to meet you, Fluttershy,” I grinned. “I’m Leafwing!”

“You’re really nice, Leafwing.” She started to trot faster, and I cantered along with her. Soon, it started to feel natural, being on four legs.

Before I knew it, we were in front of an elegant house. Something was amiss, though. First off, a faint techno-like music was piping in from the wind, and sounded rather aggressive. Turning to the boutique, the top of the house was entirely gone, and a raging pony, with white fur and a grey mane, began to rip off parts of the building, which were flying towards a group of mares on the other side of the room.

“No! You will not take Tom from me! He’s mine!” The ground shuddered as another section of the building fell.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy gasped. “Rarity, what happened?” She quickly galloped into the house. I followed, dodging planks of wood.

Inside, things couldn’t be worse. Clothes of all sorts scattered the floor, and cloth hung on pony mannequins. String and sewing equipment was piled onto one table. A path of pebbles and debris was visible from the door to the upstairs. Fluttershy quickly hovered up the stairs. I went right behind her.

Upstairs made me retract my previous thought. Half the doors in the hallways were knocked off, and there were holes in the walls that separated the rooms. Debris, dust, and crushed candles, probably from falling in front of whatever “Rarity” dragged through the door, showed a path “Rarity” took, to the room straight up ahead. Fluttershy opened the door, only to have it fall in with a loud bang.

Fluttershy squeaked, and hid behind me. I slowly trotted in.

Chaos ensued as a group of ponies, consisting of Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Applejack, and that pink bouncing pony (probably the “Pinkie Pie” Fluttershy was talking about) and Spike were trying to coax “Rarity” out of the corner of what was left in the room. The white pony was holding on to a gigantic boulder larger than her.

“This can’t be happening!” Twilight exclaimed. “I thought we defeated Discord! His magic couldn’t possibly be lingering around, could it?”

“Hey! Rarity! What’s gotten into you?” Rainbow Dash yelled, as a wooden plank barely grazed her wing.

“Out! All of you!” Rarity screamed. “This is my Tom! MINE!”

“Em, Rarity, we can’t do that,” Applejack replied, “We’re your friends! We care fer you!”

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie cried out. “Stop being a rock-loving-pony-hating-meany-pants and come over here!”

“It’s no rock! It’s a beautiful gemstone!” Rarity screeched, hugging “Tom” even tighter. “I REFUSE!”

“You’re…cheating on me?” Spike started to develop tears. “NOOOOOOO!”

“Then, we’ll have to do it the hard way!” Rainbow Dash hollered, ignoring Spike. She nodded to Applejack, who produced a lasso out of nowhere, and started swinging it above her head.

“Jus’ don’t struggle, and everythin’ will be ok-” A purple magic surrounded the lasso, and Applejack gasped as the lasso was forced out of her mouth and out of the building.

“Please, Rarity, could you excuse me, but that’s a rock you’re hugging,” Fluttershy piped up. Rarity stared at the rock, then Fluttershy, and then her eyes began to glow with malice. Pinkie Pie started to shudder, and her ears and mane stood up from the ends.

“Uh oh, my Pinkie sense-” Pinkie Pie was interrupted by Rarity.

“How DARE you call my beautiful gem a ROCK?” Her horn shone, and another piece of wood lifted off the floor.

“Watch out!” Pinkie Pie and I yelled simultaneously.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Fluttershy replied calmly, not looking at the wood, “Rarity wouldn’t hurt me-”

The wood fired at an extreme speed at the yellow pony. She yelped. Pinkie leapt through the air, smacking into Fluttershy, pushing her away from the path of the plank. I looked away in fear.

Expecting the worst, I looked back up. A red energy was holding back the wooden plank.

“Erg,” Twilight was channeling the red energy, “what are you doing Rarity? Stop!”

“Never!” Rarity cried. “Until you give up, I will threaten you to my last breath!”

She must’ve spoken too soon, because a rainbow blur smashed into Rarity from behind and knocked her into the ground floor. Twilight sighed as she let the wood drop to the floor. Fluttershy started to cry, and ran next to Spike. Pinkie Pie bounced over to Fluttershy to comfort her.

“There there, Fluttershy. Dashie is dealing with miss-meanie-mare!” Pinkie Pie hugged Fluttershy, who was sputtering in tears.

“But…but… that’s not like Rarity…”

“She… cheated on me…” Spike mumbled.

Twilight and Applejack quickly ran down the stairs. I followed close behind, afraid of what could come next from that crazy pony.

My fears were realized as we made it to the last steps. Rainbow Dash’s tail was being held to the wall by Rarity’s magic, which was now causing Rainbow to hit the wall repeatedly.

“Let me go! Stop it!” Rainbow Dash yelled, still trying to fly at Rarity. I looked to Twilight, who was bracing her hooves. Her horn shone again, and suddenly, with a flash of light, she was right next to Rarity. She tried to wrestle Rarity away, but she was stronger, and pushed Twilight away with her magic.

Rarity grabbed one of her sewing scissors, and prepared to stab it into Rainbow Dash, who was now exhausted from flying in place.

“Say goodbye, Rainbow-”

Applejack tackled Rarity to the ground, making her lose focus, dropping Rainbow Dash and the scissors.

Rainbow Dash fell to the floor. “Oof!” She quickly brushed herself off.

“Get off me!” Rarity shrieked. Applejack pinned Rarity down with her hooves.

“Twi! Little help!” Applejack struggled with Rarity. I watched Twilight gallop over. Tipping her horn towards Rarity’s head, Twilight began to channel magic into Rarity. Rarity’s eyes widened, and she collapsed as the magic did its work.

“Now what in Equestria did ya jus’ do there, Twi?” Applejack asked.

“Memory spell, like I did with you guys.” Twilight managed a slight grin. “At least that’s over.”

“But her boutique is ruined!” Rainbow cried.

“We’ll fix it later,” Twilight replied, still looking at Rarity’s limp body. “But we need to get Rarity out of here. And we need to tell Princess Celestia right away!”

-----

We hurried back to Twilight’s library, Spike and Fluttershy still shedding tears over what happened.

As soon as we got to the library, Twilight started talking again.

“Now, Applejack! Rainbow! Put Rarity on the couch.” Rarity was dumped onto the red couch, and Rainbow craned her neck.

“She sure is heavy for a fashion pony!” Rainbow rubbed her back.

“Are you sayin’ that she was hard te’ carry?” Applejack grinned. “Cuz ah didn’t.”

“N-no! I could have totally carried Rarity all by myself!” Rainbow pouted. “I could’ve carried six Rarities at the same time!”

“Uh-huh.” Applejack smirked. Rainbow stuck her tongue out. Applejack extended her tongue in response.

Pinkie Pie also stuck her tongue out. “Egh… aiii a ee uooi iith?”

“Spike! Write a letter… Spike?” Twilight turned. Spike was sitting next to the couch, brushing Rarity off.

“I know Rarity likes her hair straight,” Spike muttered, tears dropping over Rarity’s coat. A purple color had now embodied her mane and tail, and I could now see her cutie mark clearly, a set of diamonds. Twilight grinned a little, and motioned to Spike.

“C’mon Spike,” Twilight giggled, “She wasn’t really cheating on you. It was Discord, or something along the lines of him. Now, we have to tell Celestia right now, or something worse will happen than some drama!”

Spike moaned. “Worse? What could possibly be worse than Rarity cheating on me?” Twilight glared at Spike. Spike gulped, and then grabbed a quill and parchment. Twilight started pacing the library as she composed another letter in her head.

“Dear Celestia,

I hope you have received my other letter. Rarity has been acting up lately, and her symptoms were like those when Discord escaped his first stone imprisonment. It may be possible that he escaped again. We are coming to visit as soon as possible, and we await your response.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.”

“Gosh,” I whispered, “I do hope its not my fault.” I remembered the past, and how much sadness there was in that world. If any of it clung to me when I came here, this mess could be all my fault. I shuddered slightly.

“Why would you say that?” Twilight asked, still focusing on the letter. “Spike, send it now, please.” Spike breathed an envelope of fire that surrounded the paper. The paper disappeared in a poof of smoke.

“It could too be Leafwing!” Rainbow Dash rounded up on me. “Things have been acting up since you came around…”

“Hey,” Applejack grabbed Rainbow’s back, “ya’ll remember Zecora? We all thought she was some evil enchantress, right?”

“Oh! Oh!” Pinkie Pie jumped up and down. “I remember that song! I remember every song I’ve sung!” She cleared her throat, and then began to bounce around the room.

“She’s an evil enchantress! She does evil dances!

And if you look deep in her eyes, she’ll put you in trances!

Then what will she do? She’ll mix up an evil brew!

Then she’ll gobble you up in a big tasty stew!

Sooo… WATCH OUT!”

With those last two words, she jumped up on to her hind legs onto a table.

“Wow,” I said, slightly shaken by her sudden musical rendition, and also surprised by the tuba and drum sounds were emanating from seemingly nowhere. “That’s, uh, catchy.”

“It’s a work in progress,” she replied, smiling.

“I think what Applejack is trying to say, if you all excuse me, is that Leafwing is innocent,” Fluttershy spoke up for the first time since the debacle at Rarity’s shop.

Applejack continued. “Yeah, R.D! Ya can’t just assume she’s the reason everythin’s happening…”

Spike suddenly started coughing. Twilight looked intently at Spike.

“Spike?” I asked.

“He’s receiving a letter!” Twilight explained.

Spike started to gag a little, and then suddenly, a breath of fire and smoke left his mouth towards Rarity. As the fire and smoke hit Rarity, her limp body suddenly twitched, and she leapt off the couch, awake.

“AHH!” Rarity stumbled away from the couch.

“You’re awake!” Spike exclaimed. Rarity blushed.

“I’m so terribly sorry-” Rarity was cut off by Applejack.

“Wha’ happened to the letter?” she gasped.

Torn up pieces of parchment floated out of the flames. Twilight picked up the pieces with her magic. Slowly, the pieces began to burn.

“It… It couldn’t…” Twilight tried to grab the embers, but the ashes were blown away by the wind, which picked up rather suddenly. “This isn’t possible…”

“You!” Rainbow Dash knocked me over. “You did this!”

“What?” I cried, incredulous. “Why would I?”

“It is rather suspicious…” Applejack commented.

“But-”

“Maybe she’s an evil enchantress!” Pinkie Pie suggested suddenly.

“It could be!” Spike suddenly cowered behind Rarity, who cowered behind Twilight. Fluttershy was crying and Pinkie Pie was bringing out instruments. Applejack had her lasso out, a grim look on her face. Rainbow Dash prepared to hoof me in the face.

“STOP!” Twilight yelled. Everyone froze in place. Pinkie Pie’s mouth was on the tuba, and her cheeks were inflated with air, ready to blow.

“It’s not her! I can’t believe my friends would this! Blaming all the town’s problems on a new pony!” Twilight said harshly.

Rainbow Dash slowly backed off of me, still glaring. Applejack put down her lasso, and Pinkie Pie breathed a sigh of relief as she put her tuba away.

“You’re being rather harsh on Leafwing, if you want my opinion, that is,” Fluttershy said meekly.

“Maybe,” Rainbow said gruffly. “But, it’s not just Rarity. Cloud buildup has been larger than usual. And there are reports of snow clouds appearing, nearly six months ahead of schedule.”

“Crops have been strange,” Applejack added. “More of the apples have been rotten than usual. It’s like the caterpillars have become hungrier.”

“The animals I used to nurse now don’t seem to want my help anymore,” Fluttershy whispered. “Many of them refused all the treats I tried to feed them.”

“Some of my gems went missing,” Rarity whimpered. We all turned to hear her. “Someone broke in, and stole all my beautiful sapphires! I went gem hunting, and that’s when I found Tom, once again. Something made me… come back to that horrid rock!” She hoofed the ground angrily.

Spike breathed a ball of fire into the air, and raised his fists furiously. “Why, if I find that rock again…” he muttered, swinging his little fists at an imaginary Tom.

“And someone’s been tampering with my flour!” Pinkie Pie yelled. “Why, just last Tuesday, Sugarcube Corner was covered in flour all over the place!”

“Um, that was your doing,” Twilight reminded. “Remember your babysitting?”

“Oh! Yeah!” Pinkie Pie smiled, and hugged me suddenly. “I’m sorry, Leafie!”

“Uh, its ok,” I replied, unsure what to think at this point.

“Well, we have to get to the bottom of this!” Applejack grabbed her lasso.

“Yes,” Twilight opened the door. “Let’s get a ride to Canterlot. Maybe we’ll figure out why things are so strange.”

“Can I come?” I asked suddenly.

“No!” Rainbow Dash and Applejack both exclaimed.

“No harsh feelins’, sugarcube, but it’s too dangerous outside Ponyville!” Applejack stepped in.

“Yes, and Princess Celestia will probably need us six to harness the elements of harmony,” Twilight explained. “As far as I know of, there isn’t a seventh.”

“You’ll probably get in the way!” Rainbow Dash agreed. Twilight glared at her. She cringed. “I mean we don’t want you to get hurt!”

“Yeah,” Pinkie Pie bounced. “That won’t be any fun!”

“I hope you understand,” Rarity put a hoof on my mane. “And I’m terribly sorry you had to witness my awful condition!”

“I could stay, I mean, if that’s ok with you girls,” Fluttershy whispered. Applejack sighed.

“Shy, we need you! We can’t jus use the elements without the mos’ important of all, kindness!” She started pushing Fluttershy out of the building with her head.

“I’m so sorry…” Fluttershy barely cried as she and the other ponies left, each mumbling an apology.

“Don’t worry,” Twilight turned, as she was about to leave. “We’ll come back as soon as possible, so you can make a visit to Princess Celestia. Until then, go out and make some friends!”

And with that, they all left. Except for Spike, of course.

For a while, I stood there, not knowing what to do as the ponies disappeared from my view.

“Hey,” Spike broke the silence. “So, you gonna stay here?”

“I guess so,” my head was still swimming. How was I going to get back to the normal world now? And how was I going to make friends?

“Well, I’d better start cleaning. It’ll take forever to organize these books,” Spike groaned. “Owlowiscious, you mind helping me out?”

“Who?” An owl swooped down from the rafters, and landed on Spike’s head.

“You, Owlowiscious! Silly.” Spike bent over to grab a book. The owl flew to the floor, and snatched a book up in each talon, pressing them into the bookshelves. Spike began to hum to himself. I noticed I didn’t belong, and backed out of the house, glummer than before.

Chapter 4: New Friends

As I shuffled down the road, head bent over, I suddenly realized that I was really hungry. I hadn’t eaten anything since I had gotten here, and the smell of apple pie, muffins, and salads entranced me. Wait, why would I want salads? I ate salads, but only because it was all I could do to survive at home. My tongue watered at the thought of eating salads, even though all the ones I had eaten before were gross.

Slowly, I turned my head to look in the direction of the smells. The distinctive tinge was wafting from the cake shaped shop! I had to take a gander, at the very least. I dragged my growling stomach over to the shop, and opened the door.

Inside, swirls and bright colors greeted me everywhere I looked. A pony stood in front of a polished counter with a cash register. The counter convened countless confectioneries, including cakes, cupcakes, candies, and chocolates. I sighted the surroundings, and suddenly I found myself staring at the scrumptious scruples surrounding me, like sugar, sugar cubes, sugar canes, shortcakes, Swiss rolls, Swiss cheese, sandwiches, strawberries, sundaes, and even sarsaparilla!

“Um, excuse me?” I looked up towards the voice, and discovered that I was lying on the carpet right next to the counter. Embarrassed, I quickly got up.

“I’m sorry,” I quickly stammered. “I was just so hungry-”

“It’s ok!” The blue pony giggled slightly. She sounded more mature than the other ponies I had met so far. “I can see you’re not the only one obsessed over our delicious treats!”

“What-” I turned. A pegasus was barely hovering over the carpet, face pressed into the glass of the display. I could see that she had bubbles on her flank. Her blond mane and tail brought out the yellow color in her eyes, which were strangely looking in different directions. She was staring at a particularly mouth-watering cupcake in the center of the display.

Quickly, before I could react, she yelled.

“HERE! Two bits!” the pony tossed two golden coins out, and they bounced off the counter, and landed into the cash register, which the blue pony was barely able to open in time. Before the golden coins even touched the metal, however, the cupcake was gone, as well as the mysterious cross-eyed pegasus.

As I stood there in awe, the blue pony suppressed a giggle at my frozen expression. “She always comes here, quick as a bat!” she responded to my immobility. I shook my head, and turned to face her.

“You must be new here. I’m Mrs. Cake!” Mrs. Cake introduced. “I run the Sugarcube Corner, along with my husband, Mr. Cake, and our employee, Pinkie Pie!”

“Wait, Pinkie Pie works here?” I finally understood why Pinkie Pie was always so excited.

“Yes, as well as being a resident and occasional babysitter!” Mrs. Cake replied cheerfully.

“That’s rather neat! She’s one exciting pony!” I exclaimed.

“Yes she is,” she said knowingly. “You should have seen her when our two babies were born.”

I really wanted to continue the discussion, but my stomach had let a huge growl out at this point. I looked at the labels for one of the breads. “So, um, how much is one, erm, loaf of whole-hay bread cost?”

“It’s a bit twenty!” the mare replied. I suddenly realized that I had no money.

“Um, I think I forgot my dollars, I mean bits at home,” I stuttered slightly, embarrassed that I had no money to spend.

“Now, why would you come to the shop to get something if you had no money for it?” Mrs. Cake questioned thoughtfully.

“Um, I mean, I probably forgot it, yeah,” I continued. I suddenly felt so guilty about thinking that anything here could be free.

“I’ll pay for it!” A voice came from behind. Another pony had walked in while we were having our conversation. I looked to see who she was.

She was a unicorn, with a short, light blue blade-like mane with white streaks. She had a light blue-green coat. On her thigh was a symbol of a harp of some sort. Her tail was similar in color to her mane, but longer. Her voice was melodic, as though she used to singing.

“Hey! I haven’t seen you around before!” she sung in a sing-song voice. “I’m Lyra! Lyra Heartstrings!”

“Hi Lyra,” I breathed a sigh of relief, which quickly turned to guilt again. “But you don’t have to pay for me...”

“Aw, that’s fine!” Lyra dismissed with a wave of her hoof. “I always pay for when Bonbon and I go shopping! Besides, its just a bit twenty!”

She quickly scanned the counter for anything she wanted, and picked out a twelve pack of sarsaparilla and a massive bag of candies.

“Here you go,” Lyra opened her saddlebag, which I hadn’t noticed before, “six bits and seventy cents.” Her horn shone, and the money deposited itself into the register. “Oh yeah, and also add one bit and twenty for this mare’s bread.”

“Thank you for shopping at Sugarcube Corner!” Mrs. Cake thanked.

“It’s no big deal, Mrs. Cake!” Heartstrings laughed. “I come here pretty much every other day in the week for ol’ Bonbon.” Quickly, the food in the display began to levitate. The sarsaparilla and bag of candies were dropped into the saddlebags, while the whole-hay bread hovered until it reached my hooves. I clumsily grabbed it with my hoof.

“Thank you so much!” I told Lyra. Then, realizing how hungry I was, I quickly downed the bread. It tasted sweet, and full of texture. Who knew hay would taste so well?

“Sweet Celestia,” Lyra stared. I looked around, and Mrs. Cake also had a rather surprised expression on her face. My cheeks turned pink. “Have you not eaten at all today?” I didn’t even move, and somehow she understood that as a yes. “That’s terrible!” She grabbed my hoof. “Look, I’m buying this soda for a party! You wanna come?”

“Um, well,” I couldn’t really think, after how embarrassed I was. “Sure, I guess...”

“Alright!” Lyra quickly pulled me along. “This is going to be great! I thought I hadn’t seen you around, but Pinkie Pie usually throws a party for new ponies! Strange, that she could miss a newcomer.”

“I think she left,” I managed to say as we exited the Sugarcube Corner.

“What for?” Lyra was heading towards another house, me in tow.

“Um, she had to go to Canterlot for some reason,” I replied.

“Really? So you have met her! Makes sense.”

-----

Lyra had dragged me through the door, and suddenly I was blasted by music. Gigantic speakers on two sides of a turntable, managed by a pony with a pair of goggles, were flaring as upbeat techno music spilled out. All over the place, ponies were dancing, playing, and singing their hearts out. I closely followed behind Heartstrings, who was heading towards a particular pony near the edge of the wall. The pony, who had a long curly blue and pink mane and tail, and yellow fur, was busy conversing with another pony, this one with a black combed mane and tail, and similarly toned grey fur.

“HEY BONBON!” Lyra yelled. The cotton candy colored pony turned, and smiled.

“HEY LYRA!” Bonbon yelled back. I discovered the music was far too loud for ponies to talk in a normal voice.

“I BROUGHT YOU THE SARSAPARILLA AND CANDY!” Lyra responded.

“THANKS LYRA! YOU’RE THE BEST!” Bonbon screamed. “SCRATCH IS GONNA TAKE OFF HER SHADES! TEN BITS SAYS SHE HAS TAN EYES!!”

“NO! SHE HAS RED EYES FOR SURE!” Heartstrings hollered back.

I looked up to the stage. The DJ stopped the music, and paused to get everypony’s attention. Some groaned slightly, and I could hear my hears ringing. Satisfied by the reaction, she pulled the goggles off her face, eyes closed for dramatic effect, and then quickly snapped her eyelids up, revealing a fiery maroon blaze, contrasted by her cool mane.

“BAM! THEY’RE RED, BABY!” she yelled. Most of the ponies screamed in glee, while a few groaned as they lost money to those they bet against. One of which was Bonbon, who disparagingly tossed the bits to Lyra.

“Thank you!” Lyra said in a mock courteous voice, but was drowned out by the DJ, who continued, “YOU CAN TELL EVERYPONY TO STOP ARGUING NOW!”

Bonbon then noticed me. “Who’s this pony?”

“Her name is...” Lyra cocked her head, and then asked me, “Hey, what’s your name?”

I opened my mouth to talk, but suddenly my head reeled as heavy bass and treble pumped against my ear drums, making it impossible for anypony to hear. The DJ must’ve started the music again.

“WHAT?” Bonbon shouted.

“Leafwing,” I said slightly louder. The grey colored pony from earlier spoke up. “I CANNOT HEAR YOU OVER THIS DISRUPTING MUSIC!”

“THIS ISN’T DISRUPTING!” Bonbon yelled. “IT’S FUN!”

“IT IS SIMPLY DISTASTEFUL!” the grey pony cried out, stomping her hooves on the ground. “I WOULD RATHER GO LISTEN TO GLASS BREAKING THAN THIS GARBAGE!”

“THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE?” Lyra howled.

“MY PERFORMANCE WAS SUPPOSEDLY SCHEDULED HERE HALF AN HOUR AGO!” the grey pony paused to run a hoof through her mane, then continued. “HOW IN EQUESTRIA IS THIS PARTY STILL GOING ON?”

My head started to hurt after all the yelling and loud music.

“SILLY, IT’S THE AFTER PARTY! TALK TO THE DJ!” Lyra started dancing again.

“WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” Bonbon asked. I sucked in as much air as I could.

“MY! NAME! IS! LEAFWING!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, just at the music stopped.

All the ponies were staring at me. A few in the corner giggled. Some had surprised, amused, or disgusted expressions. And the rest just stared. I started to back up, lowering my head in shame. Why do I always get myself caught up in situations like this? I thought.

“What was that?” one pony called out.

“I’m... so sorry,” I said, slowly backing up. The embarrassment was so strong, it began to hurt.

“Weirdo!” Another shouted. My face reddened.

“Get outta here!” yet another hollered, and a general murmur of agreement filled the air. My eyes started to water.

“HEY!” Lyra quickly trotted in front of me. “You don’t make fun of my friend like that!”

“She’s your friend?” one of the ponies said incredulously.

“I’m... your friend?” I said, even more surprised.

“Yeah! And she might be different, but you don’t make fun of her!” Lyra nuzzled my body, trying to comfort me. I barely noticed the tears dropping from my eyes.

Bonbon stepped in front of me as well. “This is my party. I can decide to end it if I want! So be nice to her!” The other ponies that spoke up quieted down. Satisfied, Bonbon glanced over to me to see if I was ok.

“May I take this opportunity to speak?” the grey pony asked. Bonbon nodded, and slowly walked towards me.

“You ok?” I nodded, but tears were still streaming. Was Lyra really my friend?

“Um, excuse me, but in case you did not know, my name is Octavia,” the grey pony cleared her throat again. “Somepony has asked me to perform onstage tonight, and I can see that this... other pony,” Octavia pointed to the DJ, “has taken the venue for quite some time. If you would be so kind, Bonbon, as the party manager, to ask this pony to kindly pack up her belongings and get ready for the Equestrian Quartet, I would be so delighted to demonstrate my musical talent.”

“HEY!” The DJ yelled. She stepped out from behind her turntable. I could now get a good view of her body, bright white with a musical note on the top of her back leg. I wiped my eyes to get a better look. Her hair was was short and shaggy, alternating between blue and green. She stripped her goggles off, and her blazing red eyes stood out as she opened her mouth to talk, “Are you saying I have no musical talent?”

“Well, now that you say it,” Octavia put a hoof to her chin, “I must say this... noise is utterly distasteful!”

“Hey, girls,” Bonbon tried to hush the two. “You did go a little over your venue shift, Vinyl.”

“The hay I did!” the DJ replied angrily. “It’s called an encore, Octave, which I doubt you’ve heard before.”

“How dare you,” Octavia started, but Bonbon covered the musician’s mouth with her hoof.

“That’s right!” the DJ, or Vinyl, continued. “I don’t think anypony has ever gone ‘Encore, Octavia, Encore’ at one of your concerts!”

“You want to fight?” Octavia lifted her hooves into the air, knocking Bonbon off.

“Right here, right now,” DJ-Pon3 jammed her goggles back on. She then assumed a karate pose, putting her hooves above her mane and standing on one leg.

“STOP IT! RIGHT NOW!” Lyra shrieked. Her scream traveled up and down the stairs, down hallways, out the door, and reverberated as it bounced around the room. She panted for a few seconds before somepony else spoke up.

“What in Equestria has happened?” Bonbon continued for Lyra. “I thought that Ponyville was a town of tolerance and love! Why are all us ponies talking hatefully? Parties are fun! Now, if you could just tolerate the fact that a new pony has come to town-”

“A new pony?” Vinyl interrupted. “I thought Pinkie Pie throws a party for all the newcomers!”

“Well,” Lyra said, in a matter-of-fact tone, “she has gone to Canterlot to run some errands.”

“And she probably missed Leafwing as she came in,” Bonbon added. “Look, the point is that we are better than this. We shouldn’t be arguing. Now, Vinyl Scratch, if you can come off the stage and make way for the quartet, we can continue this after party without a hitch.”

Vinyl Scratch grumbled, “ I was gonna get off anyways.” She shone her horn, and the speakers, as well as the turntable, and techno lights all vanished in a flash of light. As she passed by, other ponies offered their condolences for her leaving.

Lyra turned to me. “Leafwing, you’ll be ok. Now, since you’re probably very hungry, there’s-”

“No,” I muttered. “I need to talk to Vinyl.” I knew Vinyl still had hard feelings against Octavia, and they had to be resolved. I started out the door.

“Wait!” Lyra yelped. I looked back. “I’ll come with you.”

“Ok.” I nodded, and we both set out to search for Vinyl.

-----

She hadn’t strayed far, and was near a well. Her shades off, she was just staring into the bottom of the watery pit. I galloped to the musical mare, and tapped her on the shoulder.

“AH!” She shifted away fast as lightning, and brought both her front hooves up in a fighting stance. Lyra and I leaped back in fright.

“AH!” Lyra and I screamed.

“I’ll take you all- oh. It’s you.” Vinyl slumped back into her sad position.

“Hey, listen,” I urged. “I hope you don’t hate me for what I did.”

“No,” she muttered. “It’s not you.”

“I know,” I continued, “but I was the awkward silence that I created that allowed her to remind you of your schedule.”

“You must’ve been thinking about this for a while,” the DJ laughed with an ironic tinge. “it was the right thing to do, her reminding me of the schedule.”

“But you were doing so well up there on the stage!” Lyra insisted.

“My performance was already up,” Vinyl said dejectedly. “It’s fine.”

“So then,” I asked, “why are you so sad?” I suddenly felt her feelings bounce about. There was a mixture of guilt, followed by sadness, and regret. It was almost as though I were feeling them too.

“We’ll... I don’t... I can’t tell you...” she started to drift off, as though remembering an old memory. I could still feel the pain, horrible emotions drifting off of her.

“Look, I know how you’re feeling,” I pushed. “I don’t know how, but I seem to feel like you have some sort of guilt, or pain from the past.” She looked astonished for a second, but then went back to her downcast expression.

“You can tell me,” I moved closer. “I don’t know anyone in this town anyway, I won’t tell a soul.”

“Ok, here goes,” Vinyl took a deep breath, and then continued.

“When I was a filly, I attended the Musical Academy for Rising Equestrian Singers, or MARES. At the academy, I had lots of friends, of course. But I also really liked this one pony. She was different from the others, more talented and gifted than the others, and terribly cute. She was the same age as me, and we were both in the same grade. Her name was Octavia.

“So, we eventually got together. We became very good marefriends. She was one of the best, too! She knew how to be classy, was absolutely adorable when it came to dressing up, and really smart. She was kind, generous, and a great musician at heart.

“But, one day, her parents decided that she wasn’t supposed to learn at MARES at all. So she found out, and came to me for help. Being a young filly, I was mad at her for leaving. I mean, how could she? And so she hit me, and we got into a fight...” At this point, Vinyl started to cry. Lyra’s eyes began to water as well. “I don’t remember quite how it went... it was all a blur... but after it... she left me!” She began to wail, and it was all I could do to keep myself from crying three times in one day. “It’s ALL MY FAULT! BWAAAA!”

She began to hug me fiercely. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I hugged her back. Lyra joined the hug, crying her eyes out as well. For a long time, us three sat there, next to the well, the sun slowly going down, tearing up.

I hiccuped as I tried to calm myself down. Lyra was blubbering on the ground beside me, and Vinyl shook her head to get rid of the tears caught in her mane.

“So now, we can’t set the past aside, and this is the first time I’ve seen her since then. She hasn’t changed one bit. Well, maybe she’s become more talented with the cello, but other than that, she’s the same. I don’t know why she had to leave MARES. She was one of the best singers there.”

“Why don’t you -hic- two apologize?” I asked.

“Because,” the DJ moaned, “I’m afraid of what she’ll say. Now, not a word to anypony,” Vinyl said quietly, “please?” I nodded, and so did Lyra.

“By the way,” Vinyl stood up, “I’m Vinyl Scratch, in case you don’t know me.”

“Nice to meet you,” I replied. “I’m -hic- Leafwing.”

“Yeah, I heard ya,” she quipped, and I blushed as I remembered the awkward silence following my outburst. “Don’t worry, that was my bad.” She winked.

“Hey,” Lyra spoke up, “Leafwing, wanna head over to the after party?”

“Sure,” I answered. “Hey! Vinyl!”

Vinyl was slowly making her way to a different house, but turned.

“Want to hang out?” Lyra asked the DJ. “We still have food at the party.”

“No,” Scratch laughed nervously. “Octavia’s still in there, and she’ll attack me for sure.”

“No she won’t.” Lyra stamped a hoof down as she spoke. “I’ll make sure of that!”

-----

“Are you sure this’ll work?” Vinyl pouted.

“I hope so,” I replied. “Octavia loves music, right?”

“Well, duh!” Lyra pointed. “Look at her on her cello!”

The Equestrian Quartet was playing a nice, but doleful jazzy tune. Octavia was playing the cello with a grace I’d never seen before, and the ponies were all dancing to her melodic plucks.

“It’s about to end!” Lyra whispered. “It’s your time!”

“I don’t know,” Vinyl frowned, “I don’t think I can, not after what I did to her...”

I glanced at Octavia again. For a minuscule millisecond, I saw her eyes flicker over Vinyl Scratch. In that one millisecond, I suddenly felt an extreme shock, followed by anger, sadness, and longing hitting me like a hammer straight to my heart. Octavia continued playing for awhile before she looked again. Once again, as she glimpsed at Vinyl, a feeling of grief and yearning smashed into me. This time it was so powerful that I backed up a few steps, bumping into Lyra.

“...and she might forgive you, but it’s unlikely- hey!” Lyra stumbled back as I crashed into her.

So it wasn’t a fluke after all! Somehow, I was able to pick up Octavia’s emotions. I would figure it all out later. Now, I had important news to tell Scratch.

“What was that-” I cut off Lyra’s words.

“Vinyl Scratch! I know she’ll forgive you.”

“How?” Scratch scratched her mane.

“I just know.” I tried to be as discreet about my abilities as possible. “But if you don’t go and apologize, you’ll lose your chance!”

“Ok, I’ll go then,” Vinyl took a deep breath, and then walked onto the stage.

“Hey! You!” Octavia turned around, acting surprised that Vinyl would show up. I knew better, of course. The ponies in the room all turned their heads to look at the speaking pony.

“What?” Octavia spoke in a condescending voice, “why are you here, Vinyl? Your concert is-”

“Over, I know,” Vinyl brushed her bangs away. “I know what you think of me, after our incident...”

“I know,” Octavia responded, still astonished, “but that’s why I left. And that’s never gonna change between us...”

“I want to apologize,” Scratch walked in front of her, to the front of the stage. All the ponies in the jazz band had now stopped playing, to watch the scene unfold before them. “for what I did. I shouldn’t have hurt you when you needed me the most.”

Octavia stared into Vinyl’s ember eyes. I could see an almost physical connection, a string, connecting the two together...

“No.”

“What?” Lyra, Vinyl, and I said simultaneously.

“That is correct, Vinyl Scratch, or as all these ponies care to know you as, ‘DJ-Pon3.’ Apology not accepted.” Octavia looked away from the DJ. “I have standards, Vinyl, and you broke them a million times over when you did... what you did. I cannot allow us to be together again.”

“But... but...” I felt grief rise in Vinyl. She was starting to give up. Grief, strangely, was also rising from Octavia, only increasing as she tried to keep her composure.

Think, Leafwing, think! I brainstormed rapidly, trying to think of ways to save the situation. Scratch was already starting to slump in defeat, as Octavia slowly strutted to the changing room...

“WAIT!” I hollered. Everyone froze. Octavia and Scratch, both confused, looked at me like I was crazy.

“Back me, Lyra.” Lyra looked confounded as well.

I jumped upstage, and grabbed a mic off one of the stands. Here goes nothing, I thought.

I cleared my throat. There was slight feedback from the mic as all the ponies just stared at me. And then, I started to sing.

“I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend.

You could cut ties with all the lies, that you've been living in.”

All the ponies continued to stare at me, but now in awe.

“And if you do not want to see me again.

I would understand, I would understand.”

Lyra finally took the hint, and pulled her harp out. Soon, she was playing to my singing.

“The angry pony, a bit too insane,

Icing over a secret pain.

You know you don't belong...”

Even the Equestrian Quartet had joined in at this point.

“You're the first to sing.

You're way too loud.

You're the lone earth pony up in the clouds.

I know something's wrong.”

Walking onstage, I pointed at the two ponies, who were now both awkwardly staring at the floor.

“Well, everyone I know has got a reason,” I sung. “To say.”

Everypony shouted, “PUT THE PAST AWAY!”

“I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend.

You could cut ties with all the lies that you've been living in.”

Lyra had her own microphone at this point, and sung the next lines.

“And if you do not want to see me again,

I would understand, I would understand.”

Vinyl looked up, but quickly looked back down after Octavia looked up.

“Well, she's on the stage

And she's got a bow,

And I do not think anyone knows

What they are doing here.”

Lyra and I began to harmonize, Lyra strumming on her harp the whole time.

“And your friends have left you

You've been dismissed,”

I sung to Vinyl, jabbing her side with my hoof.

“I never thought it would come to this

And I, I want you to know,”

Lyra sung to Octavia, poking her with her tail.

“Everyone's got to face down the demons.”

Maybe today we can put the past away,”

Vinyl and Octavia looked awkwardly at each other. At this point, all the ponies in the room, even the ones in the quartet, all, except the two ponies on center stage, were singing.

“I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend!

You could cut ties with all the lies, that you've been living in!

And if you do not want to see me again,

I would understand, I would understand.”

Everypony else stopped. I bowed my head towards the ground as I hit the last words.

“I would understand.”

And now all eyes were on Octavia and Vinyl Scratch again.

“I... I...” Octavia stammered, nervous by all the attention.

“Well, um,” Vinyl took a step forward. “Do you accept my apology?”

Octavia stood there, shaking slightly in fear. Vinyl, realizing it was hopeless, slumped her neck. All the ponies in the room quickly became downcast too. Lyra started to sniffle, and Bonbon came in with a tissue box to comfort her. I just stared, wondering why it didn’t work...

“YES!” Octavia flung her hooves around Vinyl Scratch, and hugged her tightly. Scratch, not expecting it, got smacked backwards. Since she was so close to the edge of the stage, she had no time to move as they both fell off, and hit the ground with a loud CRASH!

All the other ponies looked up in response to the crash, and quickly clamored to see what was going on. I got onto the stage, and looked down at the two.

“I love you!” Octavia sobbed, “I was being such a stuck up mare that I never realized my feelings for you!”

“Urg...” Vinyl struggled to get up. “Can you, uh, get off of me?”

“Oh! Sorry!” Octavia let Vinyl up, and then, as soon as Vinyl got onto four legs, attacked her with another body wringing.

“Ack!” Vinyl at first tried to block off the hug, but gave up, and hugged back. “Love you too, Octave.”

All the ponies in the building awwwed together. Lyra started to cry again.

“BWAAAA!” Lyra’s tears began to soak up the floor.

“What’s wrong?” Bonbon swiftly brought another box of tissues.

“Nothing -hic- is wrong!” Lyra cried.

“They’re tears of joy!” I exclaimed. I was right. Lyra was the pinnacle of happiness, it was practically shining off her face.

-----

“Hey, Leafie!”

Tired as I was, I turned to face the pony. I could see Bonbon’s cotton candy colored hair in the bright moonlight.

“Tonight was fun, Bonbon, thanks for letting me join the party,” I yawned, blurring some words together.

“That’s fine! You were such a great guest! What a nice song!” Bonbon grinned. “It really saved the mood in the party. Everypony was getting worked up over DJ-Pon3 having to leave.”

“Well, it worked out in the end,” I sheepishly smiled. “I better get going then...”

“Wait!” Bonbon yelled again. “You can stay at our place. We’re having a slumber party!”

“A... what?” I shook my head, making sure I heard that correctly. “What’s a slumber party?”

“You don’t know what a slumber party is?” Bonbon gasped. “Now you have to be here!”

She grabbed me against my objections, and pulled me back into her house. Inside, Lyra was running around, setting up pillows and blankets all over the floor, while Octavia and Scratch were cuddling in the corner.

“Hey,” Bonbon trotted to the two ponies. “Do you two want to stay the night? We won’t have enough beds, but we have the floors covered, right Lyra?”

“Right!” Lyra’s horn began to dim as she finished putting things in place.

“Why not?” Scratch grinned. Octavia nodded in agreement.

“Ok then!” Bonbon smiled. “There’s gonna be five ponies staying over for an exciting slumber party!”

“Ok...” I yawned again, and slowly cantered over to the nearest carpet, and then lay my tired head on the fluffy feathered pillows that scattered the floor.

Despite that Bonbon had exclaimed that the slumber party would be fun, Octavia and Vinyl both had already fallen asleep in each other’s hooves. Lyra and Bonbon were the only ones actively talking and telling jokes to each other. I was struggling to stay awake myself, still absorbing the excitement from the earlier party. I think Lyra noticed that I was sleepy, and nodded to me with a grin on her face.

“Good night...” Lyra hummed quietly. The candles were snuffed, and I drifted into sleep as Lyra and Bonbon chatted on about the day’s events. Today was a strange day. I had found myself, now a pegasus mare, capable of actively perceiving other pony’s feelings. Even now, I tried to figure out if these ponies were truly my friends...

Chapter 5: Shroud of Darkness

“Hey Leafwing! Wake up!” Yawning, I tried to pull the covers off of me, when I realized that I didn’t have fingers. How do ponies live without fingers? Wiping my sleepy eyes off, I stretched my legs, and stumbled onto my feet again, Sliding the covers off my warm fuzzy back, I glanced about my surroundings. I didn’t remember much of what happened last night, but-

“Leafwing!” A voice called out. Oh yeah, that was my name. Leafwing. I looked in the direction of the voice. “It’s almost mid morning, silly!” It was Lyra, sitting near a kitchen counter along with Bonbon, who was busy pouring a mixture of hay and oats into a blender.

“Oh, hey Lyra!” Again, I was slightly uncomfortable with my voice after hearing it again, but I started to get used to it. Brushing my uncombed mane back with a hoof, I stumbled over strewn bed covers and pillows towards Lyra. “Where’s Vinyl?”

“Scratch?” Lyra laughed. “Oh, Octavia and her are still sleeping.” Sure enough, lying on the floor right next to me, were the two musical mares, still cuddling unconsciously.

A grinding sound brought me back to the attention of Bonbon, who started to blend the oats and hay together. “Who wants oat shake?” she asked aloud.

“Is it any good?” I responded. Lyra and Bonbon both nodded. Finishing the blend, she quickly poured a glass for me. “Healthiest mix in Ponyville!”

Someone had started to knock on the door. “I’ll get it!” Lyra yelled. The pounding grew progressively louder as Lyra began to trot towards the door.

“So how’re you doing?” Bonbon asked, pouring herself a cup. “Fine, I guess,” I replied, clumsily grabbing the oat shake with my hooves, and-

SMASH!

A yellow and grey blur broke through the front door, slamming Lyra against the wall. The blur tripped over a pillow and smacked into the wall, knocking over the blender in the process, which splattered its contents all over Scratch and Octavia.

“Wha- wha’s going on?” Scratch quickly hobbled onto her feet. “Ew, is this oat shake all over my coat?” Octavia moaned, shaking herself off. Oat shake covered the floor and pillows.

“Hey!” Bonbon yelled. “I told you to put the mail in the mailbox, Derpy!” The door smashing pegasus grinned sheepishly.

“I’m sorry,” she stared with a strange aloof gaze, hoofing the ground. It seemed to be the same strange eyed pony I had met at the Sugarcube Corner yesterday! “I just don’t know what went wrong!”

“It’s ok Derpy,” Lyra laughed. “It’s just oat shake! Last time you knocked over that hot pan of sour sauce, now that was much worse.” Bonbon muttered in agreement. “Now what’s the rush?”

“It’s an urgent message for Leafwing!” the grey pony bounced happily. “That’s why I was so fast!”

“For Leafwing?” Bonbon echoed. Derpy nodded quickly. “Ya! I asked around if anypony knew who she was, and then I heard she was last seen here, so I came as fast as I could!”

“Mail for me?” I was confused. “Why would anyone send mail to me?”

The grey pony shrugged. “Beats me! I didn’t even know about you until I got this urgent mail mission!”

“Hm,” I examined the letter carefully. The stamp seemed to be a depiction of a royal castle, complete with a pony with wings and a horn, looking up at the sun. The seal was marked with a symbol of the sun as well.

“Is that the royal seal of Canterlot?!?” Bonbon cried, peeking at the letter.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Only the most extravagant mail is delivered utilizing that seal!” Octavia piped up.

“Basically,” Scratch explained, “it's usually only for VIPs, if you know what I mean.”

“Are you from Canterlot?” Lyra asked. “Everypony from Canterlot gets mail from Celestia herself every now and then.”

“Like Twilight, from the library!” the mailmare, or Derpy, added, trying to be helpful.

I ignored the ponies, and tore off the seal with my mouth. Unfortunately, I was not too careful with it, and the letter fell to the floor.

I picked up the letter. As soon as I took one look at it, I knew something was wrong.

Dear Leafwing,

I’m sure you’ve heard of the term fear, before, am I correct? Fear, the awfully negative word used to describe distress. Fear of spiders, fear of death, fear of change. You know there is a suffix used specifically for the term fear? It’s called -phobia. So, another way of saying a fear of spiders is arachnophobia. Necrophobia means fear of death. And Metathesiophobia means fear of change, I’m sure you’re quite familiar with that one. Well, here is a new word for you. Pyrophobia. Do you know what that means? It means fear of fire. But of course there is no fire here, is there?

“Ignis.” A voice emanated from the letter. Suddenly, the letter burst into flames.

“Ah!!!” I screamed, dropping the burning letter, startled by the voice. It fell to the floor, and began eating away at the wooden carpentry. I backed away from the flames, which proceeded to grow larger and larger.

“Oh no!” I moaned. “Quick!” Bonbon yelled. “Somepony grab a bucket of water!”

As I glanced back at the fire, I felt an image burning into my eyes. It was a black cloud, some strange being. Wait, it couldn’t be... Had that thing returned? How had it-

“Leafwing! Snap out of it!” Lyra yelled. I shook my head, and yelped as flames licked my hooves.

Lyra’s horn shone, and brown gunk hit the flames, which quickly faltered as Bonbon stamped out the embers. As suddenly as the fire started, it ended, the only evidence remaining as smoke smelling strangely of oatmeal and burnt wood.

“Well, I’m glad oat shake is good for stopping fires,” Bonbon groaned, waving away oat flavored ashes. Silence then joined the smoke to fill the air for a full ten seconds before Vinyl took a deep breath.

“Now, what the -hack- hay is going on -hack- here?” Vinyl yelled, coughing on the haze.

“I don’t know!” I looked at the wax seal. “I think... I think something really strange is happening.” Was it back? And how had it followed me here?

“Indeed,” Octavia pouted. “I think we all deserve some sort of explanation from you, Leafwing.” All the ponies in the room stared at me intently.

“So maybe I haven’t been completely honest with you guys...” I mumbled sadly.

“Well, speak up, if you have something to say!” Vinyl barked.

“We don’t care, we just want to know the truth,” Bonbon added.

“Yeah,” Lyra tried to push back tears.

“I’m staying to listen to this!” the mailmare flapped her wings a few times, then sat next to Lyra.

“Well, it’s kinda complicated,” I tried to explain. I stopped for a long pause, trying to think of how to say it. I thought of how to tell them about what happened to the pony with the purple mane, Rarity, and what happened to the other letter that caught on fire soon after. But then they would ask about how I got to know those other ponies, and I’d have to tell them the truth about the past, or I would risk losing them as friends. I really didn’t want to tell them the truth. It would be too painful for these happy ponies to understand. Even trying to explain the concept of... death, would be too hard, too difficult. No, I couldn’t tell them the truth. I’d lose everything, I couldn’t.

“Yeah?” Heartstrings listened patiently.

“The point is-” I stalled a little more, still trying to see if I could rephrase it in a way that would help them understand. “Um, don’t go around telling anypony this. You know what, never mind, you wouldn’t understand...It’s too complicated, and I don’t want anypony to get hurt over it, or think differently of me for it, or... I can’t...” I tried to swallow back waves of hurt.

Everyone awkwardly looked at each other for a bit. Then...

“You can trust me, Leaf,” Vinyl started. “You helped fix a problem I had with Octavia for five whole years in a single night! And if we’re not friends after that, then at least you can trust me with the same things I trusted you with.”

“Same,” Octavia stepped forward. “I concur with Vinyl. Although it is undeniable that you do appear to be a newcomer, such a label should not prevent you from my certitude.”

Lyra spoke up as well. “Leafwing, if it really hurts you to speak the truth, you don’t have to. But I know it also hurts to hold in a secret, just like Vinyl. Maybe you’d hurt less if you told us the truth.”

But what if it only hurts everypony more? I thought. Another voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Leafie, if you really have something important to say, say it. It will help everyone, trust me.” Bonbon had her hoof to my back. I swallowed a large gulp, and then started.

“Well, I come from a world really far from here, or Equestria. I mean, really far. I don’t even know how far. I think it might be my fault for everything bad happening here. You see, I came from a place where bad things always happened to me. It was a place from before I,” I struggled to find words to describe my change of appearance, “before I had wings. And, in that place, I was afraid of everything. Everything was out to hurt me. And that’s why I didn’t want you to know, because Equestria is so happy, and I lived in a place where...” My voice faltered.

“Well, go on!” Scratch urged.

“Hey!” Lyra shouted, standing up. “Don’t rush her!”

“It’s ok Lyra,” I mumbled. “Nobody should have to know what happened to me... but right after it happened, I ended up here, in Equestria, I guess.”

I continued to tell them every minute of my life here, from meeting Fluttershy, to seeing those ponies fight off Rarity, to the earlier letter burning up, to those ponies explaining the strange events occurring around the town, to them leaving.

“Those six ponies always leave on these kinds of quests,” Bonbon snorted. “And they always think that they’re the best of friends. It really bugs me sometimes.”

“And they always deal with problems in Ponyville whenever something bad happens,” the mailmare added. “Like that one time, they somehow fixed up the town hall without me!” All the other ponies in the room face hoofed themselves.

“Whatever is the case, I am confident they will come back victorious, as usual,” Octavia shrugged.

“Yeah, like that one time they took out that Discord guy!” Vinyl laughed. “I still remember when tornadoes started to spin out of my turntables. Can you believe it? Tornadoes! Luckily, I saved all my remixed Lil’ Hoof records.”

“I remember when the parasprites came,” a tear came to Lyra’s eye as she began to reminisce something, probably traumatizing. “My pie... my harp... my house... eaten!” Bonbon went over to comfort Lyra. “And it was that Fluttershy mare that started it too!” Bonbon said with a hint of resentment.

“No, it couldn’t have been,” I gasped. “Fluttershy wouldn’t do that!”

“Of course it wasn’t on purpose!” Bonbon sighed. “But sometimes those ponies get into trouble trying to do things their way.”

“Well, everypony has their own flaws,” the wild eyed mail pony reckoned with a grin. “I mean, what would the world be without its problems?” As I looked, I could see a wink of wisdom in those irregular eyes.

“So, anyways, what you’re saying is that since you appeared,” Vinyl asserted, “weird things have been happening in Ponyville?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, “I guess.”

“And you think it’s your fault?” Octavia asked.

“Well, it seems like it is...” I started, but Derpy cut me off.

“I’m sure you didn’t do it!” she giggled. “You’re way too nice of a pony to do all these terrible things to Ponyville!”

“I agree,” Bonbon added. “strange things happen in Equestria all the time.” Octavia and Vinyl nodded in agreement. I felt a little better about my predicament.

“But still,” I asked, “why would anyone send me a letter, only to have it burn up in my face?”

“We’re just as confused as you, dear,” Octavia replied.

“What did the letter say?” Scratch asked impatiently.

“Well,” I wracked my head to recall what the letter had said, “something about fear. It was really weird writing, and kinda scary too. And I do remember it saying something about fire. And...” I paused again as I approached talking about the dark thing in the flames. “Well, there was something in the fire...”

“Huh?” Everypony said simultaneously.

“It’s something weird, I’m not sure what, but it might’ve followed me from my world...” I lied slightly.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Lyra scratched her mane. “If only we knew what was causing all this to happen...”

“Wait!” Derpy shrieked. We all turned to look at her. “I know somepony that knows all about everything! He’ll be able to tell you everything that you need to know!”

-----

Five minutes later I found myself knocking on a door of a peculiar house. My hoof made a resounding slam against the dark hued wood.

“Are you sure this person is reliable?” I asked.

“Of course!” Derpy grinned brightly. “If there’s anypony that knows everything, it would be this one.”

“Wha, who is this?” the door open inwards, and a pony walked out. “Dear heavens, who- Derpy? My assistant? What are you...”

“Hey Doctor!” the mailmare greeted. “Leafwing over here wants to know about everything, and I told her that you were the only pony that knows everything, so now she’s gonna ask you everything what she wants to know about everything!” On everything, she flipped over backwards, landing next to Lyra and Vinyl, who had decided to accompany me here.

“Oh dear,” he mumbled, straightening a tie, much like Octavia’s bowtie when she was performing. The tie was wrapped around a collar, much like a shirt, except for the fact that he was not wearing a shirt. It was just a collar and tie, which made for an noticable and prestigious appearance.

I suddenly realized that this was the first male pony I’d talked to, and I began to feel nervous for some reason. The feeling was mutual, apparently. “I do apologize for my appearance,” he stammered, straightening his tie. He was talking in a British accent, and I wondered if there were areas in Equestria where such a dialect could exist. “I was working on an invention of mine. Please, do come in.”

As we walked in, I could see the house was a mess. All over the place, there were piles of metal, debris, and the occasional how-to book.

“I am so sorry,” he scrambled to clump the pieces together, “I apologize for the condition of this place,” as he scurried around, his hind leg smacked against an elevated floorboard. “WOAH!” He flipped over and smacked his muzzle into the hardwood floor.

“Oof!” he shook his head, his frizzy mane shaking as he got up to his feet. “Derpy, I thought I was paying you to keep this place clean!”

“I’m sorry,” Derpy replied innocently, and a little frightened, “I was just so worked up over getting some mail delivered, you know that’s my other job, right?

“I know,” the doctor said gruffly, “but its been this way for weeks now!”

“But I had weeks of mail to deliver that I was behind on!” the wild eyed pony protested meekly.

“Can’t you put your mail job aside temporarily?” the doctor asked. “Just like you did with my job?”

“Well,” Derpy shied away slowly, turning her head away, “there aren’t many mailmares around anymore... so... I have to take on everypony else’s work!”

“Look,” the doctor put a hoof to his forehead, “it’s difficult enough for me to pick up after myself, especially when I have just come upon the most brilliant design!” His voice was strained with frustration. “And my science experiments leave me with no time to deal with menial things as cleaning!”

“Menial?” Tears began to come to Derpy’s eyes as she repeated the word. “M-M-Menial?” The doctor just realized his mistake, and I could feel his unease instantly.

“No wait,” he cried. “I didn’t mean-”

“Yes YOU DID!” Derpy screamed, and ripples of angst and bitterness slammed into me like a hammer. “YOU ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME, SAYING HOW I’M NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU, HOW YOU DON’T NEED ME!” She now flapped her wings furiously, and kicked up a gust that began to knock over various items in the house. “WELL, IF I WASN’T THERE FOR YOU, YOU WOULDN’T BE HERE!” She sobbed loudly, tears falling to the floor, and zoomed out of the house. I just stared as the doctor cringed slightly.

“How could you?” Lyra cried. She began to tear up as well, and ran off to follow Derpy.

“Now you’ve done it!” Vinyl muttered angrily to the doctor. “Let’s go, Leaf! We gotta find her!”

Lyra and Vinyl took off after Derpy. I began to follow, when I heard the doctor speak again. “I’m so sorry,” his lip trembled, and then he fell to the floor, legs sprawled.

“Apology accepted,” I replied half-jokingly, and stepped toward him, “but you shouldn’t be apologizing to me.”

“I know,” he said, eyes watering, staring at the floor glumly. “I didn’t mean to do that do her, I was just stressed out by the day’s work, and she’s too much for me to handle!”

“Stressed, huh?” I looked around the room again. “What were you working on?”

“Just a... nothing,” the doctor replied hastily, and stood up, but I could tell immediately he was hiding the truth. “it’s not a big deal, really.”

“No, I think it is,” I said firmly. “If you were so concentrated on it that you had to hurt Derpy’s feelings over it, then it has to be serious.” As he blushed nervously, I put a hoof on his shoulder.

“Can I... trust you with a secret?” the brown coated colt mumbled.

“Sure!” I replied quickly. “But, um, first, you should apologize to Derpy, I think.”

“Oh yeah!” he remembered, and blushed again. “Um, well, I’ll tell you as we go.”

We headed out of the debris-filled house, and made our way to the general direction that Derpy had disappeared off to.

“Well,” he started, “I’m actually not quite sure how I ended up here. As in Equestria, I mean. When I came here, I was... sort of part of an experiment, or whatever... I mean, I was experimenting on myself... you see, what I wanted to do was to create a sort of... time machine...” he wiped his brow, and continued, still staring at the floor, “in any case, I woke up in the forest over there, as a pony, and... I’m not sure what happened...” he stopped, and looked up at me. He shook his head, and I realized I was entranced by his story. “You don’t get any of it, do you?”

“No, I get it! Go on!” I urged. He grumbled, and shook his head again.

“No! You think I’m crazy!” he shouted miserably.

“No I don’t!” I shook any emotion from my face. “I... well I... I believe you...”

“You... you do?” he looked up again, surprised.

“Yeah,” I whispered almost, “look, I’m not from Equestria either. I belong on a planet called Earth...”

“Earth?!?” he shrieked, and tripped backwards, “Earth? You mean in the outer arm of the Milky Way?” He poked my chest with a hoof.

“Uh, I guess,” I mumbled, now very confused.

“You are a lifesaver!” the Doctor laughed happily, almost maniacally, “I’m so glad I’m not alone...”

“Wait, you’re from Earth, too?” I cried. He shook his head, and we continued to walk. “Well, I’m actually not sure exactly where I’m from, but I’ve been to Earth a few times before.”

“So, you’re an alien?!?” I said with alarm. He laughed, “well, I wouldn’t say that. We look very similar, so much, you couldn’t tell the difference between you Homo Sapiens and us.”

“Oh,” I was now confused. Were there aliens around me, then, while I was still a human? While absorbed in my thoughts, I almost ran into a tree. “So, how’d you get here?”

“I was going to ask you the same question!” he laughed again. “You humans are far behind technology-wise, but it’s possible that you’re from a different time period... what time period are you from?”

“Um, early two thousands, I guess,” I said, “look, I’m not sure how I got here, I just... something...something happened...” Our conversation was cut short as we neared the edge of a forest.

“That’s the forest I appeared in!” the doctor pointed, but I was looking at Lyra, who was sitting at the edge of the forest, sobbing.

“Lyra! What happened?” I quickly galloped over to the crying unicorn.

“Derp...Derpy... she went into the Everfree!” she said morosely.

“Is that a bad thing?” I asked uncertainly.

“Rumor has it that -hic- everypony that was gone in has -hic- never come out!” she wailed.

“Now that’s rubbish!” the doctor grumbled. “I came out of the forest just fine, thank you.” Even as he said that, I could feel a slight nervousness about him as he stood by the forest entrance.

“Why would she run in there?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Lyra hiccuped, and then continued. “Vinyl left to get help.”

As if on cue, Bonbon, Octavia, Vinyl, and a tan colored pony with grey hair quickly trotted up behind us.

“And there’s the entrance to the forest!” Vinyl yelled breathlessly, “where Derpy went!”

“Oh dear,” the grey maned mare put a hoof to her mouth. “well, there must be something we can do!”

“How about... panic?” Octavia moaned, shaking in fear. I could feel fear, unease, and even anger coming off in waves around me. Emotions were running high.

“Well, we need to save her!” Lyra thought aloud. “We need Twilight and her -hic- friends! They fix everything!”

“That’s the problem,” I replied sadly. “they all left for Canterlot, and I haven’t seen them since.”

“Yes, I must say,” Bonbon agreed, “Pinkie and her usual group of friends weren’t at my party at all!”

“I certainly did not witness any of her consort around during my performance!” Octavia added.

“This is all your fault!” Vinyl jabbed a hoof at the doctor, who cringed in fear.

“I’m truly sorry!” he stammered, “I didn’t mean to at all!”

“Well, whatever you meant,” Bonbon muttered, “it made Derpy so sad, she actually went into the forest! And the only ponies I’ve seen make it out of there were Twilight and her friends.”

“And that one Applebloom filly,” Octavia added.

“I’m going in,” the doctor suddenly said. All the other ponies gasped.

“And who are you?” the grey maned pony asked.

“That’s Doctor Whooves, Miss Mayor,” Vinyl said. “And he’s the reason that Derpy ran into the forest in the first place!”

“I take responsibility for my actions,” the doctor turned, and began walking in. He didn’t appear afraid at all, but I could easily feel it.

“You’re crazy!” Lyra cried, “there are dangerous creatures in there!”

”It is my duty to save her, whether I live or not,” the brown colt gritted his teeth, and charged in. A pang of anxiety shot through me suddenly, as I realized I needed him. He was the only pony that understood what I was going through, and losing him would be unbearable, especially after what he had told me.

“Wait!” I yelped, and followed him.

“Leafwing! Don’t do it!” Bonbon shouted. “It’s too dangerous!”

“No! I have to!” I yelled back, and chased after the doctor.

-----

Stumbling through the underbrush and foliage of the forest, I cried out the doctor’s name a few times in distress. Tripping on a branch, I flipped over, and landed on a patch of exotic blue flowers. Shaking myself off, I continued. The doctor couldn’t have gone far.

“Doctor!” I yelled, straining my voice. The thicket of flowers, branches, and tall roots impeded my progress. How far had I veered off the path? “Whooves, don’t go...” my voice was so weak. I rambled through, until I almost saw the dirt road. Smashing through the branches, I flapped my wings, trying to get closer using any boost I could.

Finally, I managed to land onto the path. Continuing down the dirt road, I could barely see where it led to. The road was only visible up to a few feet ahead of me now. Was it night time, or was the forest really pitch black like this during the day? I couldn’t tell anymore. As I stumbled along in the darkness, I wished I had brought a flashlight, or lamp, or something. I’m sure they didn’t have flashlights in Equestria though. Why was I getting sidetracked?

One of my hooves bumped against another root, and I tripped over. Gasping in pain, I checked to see what root had caused my fall. Except it wasn’t a root. It was a hoof.

I screamed, and looked for where the hoof led to. There, lying two feet away, was Derpy. Her eyes were closed, and she had bruises all over her body, neck, and arms. I put a hoof to her chest, to see if she was still alive. I felt a heartbeat, and I breathed a sigh of relief. So she wasn’t dead.

But still, it was strange. It was almost as though something had beaten her, and then just left her there to die. I tried to stand up, and stepped in a slight depression in the ground. Lifting my hind leg out of the depression, I realized it looked very much like a paw print...

“RAAAAWWRR!!!”

I shrieked, and jumped back. Spinning my head to see the source of the sound, I jumped in fright as I located it. Standing only a few feet away, a giant lion roared angrily. A pair of short wings protruded from its back. A long, thin, but powerfully built scorpion tail extended from its sleek frame, and it swung the appendage about as it raged. A sharp cut had apparently gone down his belly, and the redness showed through its coat of fur.

“AAAAAAA!!!!” I screamed in return, and the lion howled in my face. Saliva and bad breath reminiscent of mushrooms billowed towards me, wetting my mane.

I had to think quickly. Chances were that the thing was going to finish Derpy off, and unless I could do something, we were both goners. I took a few steps back, and the creature tracked me with its glinting eyes.

“Hey! It’s me you want, not her!” I yelled. The creature seemed slightly confused, and continued to roar and yelp, now crashing through trees and rubbing its back over a pile of bushes.

Luckily, it wasn’t hurting Derpy, so I took the opportunity to push Derpy away. Running up to the poor mailmare, I rolled her frail body, managing to get it a little ways away from the rampaging creature.

I heard a voice ringing over the creature’s din. “Derpy!”

“She’s over here!” I cried back. The doctor’s head appeared over a pile of leaves. I suddenly felt rather elated, and I was surprised by my own emotional reaction.

“You! Come over here!” he hissed. I quickly tiptoed, or tiphoofed, over to the doctor, leaving Derpy’s body sprawled across the floor.

“I’m glad you’re ok!” I whispered, truly meaning it too. I suddenly shut up, realizing that I was not acting like myself.

“You too,” he whispered, and I felt a tinge of relief go through me. He’s thinking about me too, I thought dreamily, then shook my head. What was going on? I could barely hear what he was saying, all I could hear was my heart pounding. “...is behaving strangely.” the doctor finished.

“What do you mean?” I replied, trying not to act strange, but I knew something was coming off differently.

“It’s a manticore,” the doctor explained, “and it only does this when it’s injured. I’ll see if I can’t fix him up.” With those last words, he pulled out a strange contraption with his mouth.

“He has a gash of some sort across his belly,” I tried to help, “that might be it.”

“‘Hank you,” he said quickly, device in mouth. “Now he’ll goeth nothin!” He hopped out from behind the pile of leaves.

“Be careful!” I squeaked, and then put a hoof to my mouth. Did I just squeak? And why was I so worried about the doctor? How heroic of him to save Derpy like that, my misty mind told me. Was I getting romantically attached to him? I couldn’t be! I tried to shove away my feelings, but they only began to grow, festering in my heart. Something was wrong with me.

I forced myself to think about Derpy. Yes, Derpy, I thought. If we don’t save her, she’ll be eaten for sure! The word we echoed throughout my head again, and I tried to shake the feelings away, making me shiver. Shiver with anticipation...

The doctor passed Derpy, and crossed the dirt clearing to get to the manticore. The creature took a quick glance at the doctor, and howled, pointing its belly at the pony. The doctor turned on his device, and a light, as well as a grinding sound, emanated from the invention, and I gasped as the wound slowly sealed up, leaving no residue behind. The monster roared again, but this time, out of happiness, and began to lick the doctor. His mane was now slick with manticore saliva, and it looked positively adorable!

What? Adorable? I scrunched my face up. Adorable wasn’t in my vocabulary! Fine then, my mind said, dashing, bold, dreamy! I shook myself. No, no, no! I told myself.

“No! No! Stop!” I screamed, my attempts to push away my feelings futile. Something was wrong with me, I had never used those words before in my life, especially not for somepony else! No, no, stop thinking like that, it’s going to get you hurt, my rational side argued. No, my romantic side burst. He loves me too. How could we get hurt?

“Leafwing, are you ok?” I opened my eyes, and the doctor was right there, by my side, wild, excellent mane flowing, with the romantic musk of cherry blossoms and-

“There’s, there’s something wrong,” I coughed. How unromantic that sounded! I thought. I need to adjust my game. What game? My exasperated, losing rational side asked as it gave up.

“What? What is it?” he asked worriedly, voice dripping like honey. Now I knew that he wanted me too.

I don’t know, I tried to say, but it came out “You did it, you brave little colt.” I giggled as he removed a streak of wet mane from my face. He really was a charmer, how could anypony resist it? That action itself warranted a kiss... I dearly wanted to, but it seemed to out of place...

“Oh yeah, I did, but, why is that wrong?” he asked, unsure. His uncertainty was so charming! His voice was enchanting, and how chivalrous were his actions! How could there be anything wrong with him? His dark, desirable mane, and his sleek, sexy tail, that just screamed for attention...

“There’s nothing wrong,” I whispered sensually, looking starry-eyed into his bright irises. I only just began to see how romantic he could be, I was so blind! How could I have not seen it? We were made for each other, the doctor and me. It was fate that brought us together.

“Um, ok,” he replied. “We need to get out of...” My heart was beating like a massive drum now, and it quickly drowned out the rest of what he was trying to say. I began to pass out, he was so charming. “Leafwing, are you ok?” he asked, grabbing my head as I slumped to the floor. The feelings of euphoria and passion hitting me wave after wave were starting to wear me out as all resistance faded. “Doctor Whooooves,” I said dreamily, giggling afterwards. “I love you...”

My eyes dimmed, and, in desperation, I passionately kissed him. Fireworks of frenzied ecstasy exploded. It felt like time slowed down, making that one second a whole hour. My lips locked with his adventurous, fond ones, and my eyes locked with his, his pleasantly surprised deep oceans of blue. I could feel my wings splayed across the ground, spreading pleasure as far as it could go. I released my kiss, breathed heavily, excited heart racing a mile a minute. His passionately-hot coat gleamed, and my forelegs grasped at his neck to pull in for another kiss. But before the kiss landed, I suddenly fell into an abyss of darkness, his tender arms flailing after me...

Chapter 6: Dream of Shadows

I tossed and turned. Shaking my head, I mumbled. What had happened? My mane was no longer wet, but instead back to its usual dryness. I looked around. I was lying on a cot made of some grassy material.

“It is not the first time that folk

have asked me to cure poison joke,” a voice, with what sounded like a Caribbean accent, called out from behind a massive cauldron. The large cistern was in the middle of the room that I inhabited, and hung around the walls were various seemingly cultural objects.

“Apparently, you must’ve stepped in something,” the doctor muttered, and I turned to look at him. All the magical fantastic feelings that I got from looking at him the last time I had seen him had disappeared. It was just Doctor Whooves now. “And that stuff made you faint, so I brought you and Derpy over to Zecora over here. She’s a zebra, actually, I find it really interesting that there are other sentient creatures on this planet...”

I looked to the ground, embarrassed by what had happened. He looked at me. “Oh, sorry, you must be getting bored by my ramblings. Anyways, we’re safe, right now, and hopefully, we’ll be able to get back to Ponyville soon.”

“Um, ok.” I nervously shifted around on my cot. “Look, I’m really sorry about what happened...”

“Oh, it wasn’t your fault,” he said calmly. “it was the poison joke that you stepped on!”

“Poison what!?” I asked incredulously.

"When Poison joke is up to its antics

It can turn the shiest of mares to romantics."

A striped head emerged from behind the cauldron, and a short striped mohawk-type mane followed. Zecora was obviously a zebra, no doubt about it. Around her neck were a group of golden rings. As she crossed around the massive pot, I could see there were similar bands on her right foreleg. On each ear, an additional two rings hung. Her mane was also a striped black and white color, white closer to the underbelly, and black plastering her back.

“The enchanting plant basically plays jokes on anypony unfortunate enough to walk over it,” the Doctor explained. “Like you. You basically let your emotions do... what they did...”

“Yes,” I giggled nervously, “I’m really sorry. I’m not like that at all, you know?”

“Yeah, I can...tell...” he lowered his head uncomfortably. I also lowered my head in shame.

“I go back to finishing the cure,

just in case, to be sure.” The striped animal ducked into a storeroom.

Deep inside, I was trying to uncover my feelings. Did I really like the doctor? I mean, I was nervous, if I had recalled, from when I first met him. Was the poison joke just causing me to express my innermost thoughts? Or maybe, it had reversed my strange abilities, causing myself to amplify my own feelings instead of others? Or perhaps, had I felt it all along, and just decided that the secluded environment was a good time to reveal it to him? I remembered how I chased after the doctor when he had left to go after Derpy. At first, I believed that it was for Derpy’s sake, but now I wasn’t sure. I had been nervous to let him go, because he knew about Earth, and was certainly not from Equestria.

“So,” I tried to start a conversation again, “how’s Derpy?”

“Oh!” the doctor seemed happy with the change of subject, “she’s doing fine. In fact, she should be waking up around now, I suppose. She doesn’t have any bad injuries, just a few bruises.”

“What happened between you two, if you don’t mind me asking?” I sat up in my cot. “I mean, she said if it weren’t for her...”

“Oh, yes...” the doctor coughed, and cleared his throat, “yes, well, when I first arrived here, I was stuck in the forests for a day, and I was hopeless. Finally, Derpy showed up, flying through the forests like it was no big deal. That’s when I first learned she was a mailmare. She was delivering mail to Zecora, and then led me to Ponyville. She was also the first one to introduce me, and got me a house! I really deserve to thank her more than I did.”

“So then,” I asked, “why did you become so upset with Derpy not cleaning your house up?”

“Situations, of course,” his eyes suddenly became rather shifty as he looked from Derpy to Zecora, who was busy mixing some herbs up in the giant pot of hers. Turning to me, he whispered: “I had just figured out why my space-time machine had stopped working. The gyro stabilizers in the lower mechanism just weren’t at the correct mercurial capacity, which threw off my calculations by a long shot. Enough to land on this planet, Equestria, or marked by my star chart as EQ-U327R14. How ironic!”

“But how did you end up as a pony?” I pondered, “how did I end up as a pony?”

“I have no idea,” he muttered, “it may have something to do with the environmental pressures, or something. I have a theory a virus was programmed to re-activate our dormant DNA so that it would begin to shape us like how we are.”

“Oh,” I guess it made sense, but I had not paid attention in my chemistry class, so I had no idea what Doctor Whooves was talking about. I was slightly confused still, as to why I was a girl. And as to how I appeared in Equestria without a time machine, which was how the doctor supposedly got here. “But, I didn’t have a time machine...”

“Yes, that is strange,” he mused. “A human from your time period would have never possessed the technological advances required for space-time travel. And in any case,” he continued, putting a hoof to his chin, “the time machine wasn’t with me when I appeared on Equestria. I assumed that it had burned up in the atmosphere, but now I’m not so sure, as the heat would’ve killed me as well.”

“Wait, so you don’t have the machine?” I slumped back into bed, defeated. “That means I’ll never be able to get back home...”

“Well, that’s why I was so excited...” the doctor mumbled sheepishly, and my ears perked up. “Earlier, I was able to replicate the time traveling properties in a test chamber with a parasprite,” I looked up, confused, and he explained, “oh, a parasprite is one of the local critters around here. Don’t worry, they’re not endangered or anything. Rather, they’re a common pest, and I can only hope I didn’t throw off the ecological balance of any planet by introducing it. But still,” he cleared his throat, “um, well, it seemed to have worked, as the parasprite vanished without any trace elements of any kind. Although, this could have been easily emulated by bombarding the parasprite with antimatter.”

“Which does, what?” I asked.

“Oh, antimatter just destroys any nearby matter, resulting in a brilliant flash of energy and radiation, which was exactly what happened,” the doctor explained gleefully.

“Um, cool,” I was still confused. “So it basically destroys anything it touches?”

“Exactly!” he exclaimed.

“Oh,” I tried to hide the fact that I was freaking out that the “time machine” could potentially zap me into oblivion. “So, now what?”

“Assuming that you’re telling the truth, and you are from Earth,” the doctor continued, “it would be wise to stay around Ponyville until I manage to fix up a new time machine. Hopefully, I’ll be able to return you back to your regular time, although your form,” he gestured to my hooves, “will likely remain the same.”

“I can’t do that!” I cried. I couldn’t go back to Earth as a pony! First off, some government or other would probably capture me and use me as a science experiment or some other. Second off, how would I be able to return to my normal life as a pony? I couldn’t risk it. “There’s gotta be a way for me to become human again!” I flapped my wings furiously.

“Don’t panic!” the doctor said frantically, “chances are that it’ll take years to finish the time machine-”

“What?” I spat. “Years? How long exactly?”

The doctor gulped. “Around five years.”

I turned away, facing away from the doctor, and slumped even further down. I couldn’t deal with being a pegasus for five whole years!

“And by then, we may find a cure for...” His talking was drowned out by my thoughts. Already, I felt like the world was trying to kill me, it was bad enough that I had accidentally expressed feelings for somepony I barely knew... wrong feelings, too...

Even as I thought by myself in my lament, I still debated to myself whether I meant to say and do the things I did to him. It did feel good at the time... but it was something I’d never done before, who was to tell me if it was right or wrong? And was it even real, or was it a dream?

I then remembered. I can read pony’s feelings, right? I focused on Doctor Whooves, and tried to pick out any feelings or sentiments emanating from him, but I felt nothing.

I sat up. “What happened after I blacked out?” I asked.

“Well,” the doctor coughed a little, “after you fainted, I just dragged you and Derpy to Zecora’s, here.”

I remembered Derpy again, and looked around for her. Spotting her on a nearby cot, I sighed. I was glad she was alive, and returned my attention to the Doctor.

“Was I awake or anything?” I asked.

“Not really, although now that I come to think of it,” he muttered, “you were saying something over and over again in your sleep. I can’t remember it.”

“Oh,” I didn’t know I talked in my sleep. “Did you... step in the...”

“Oh no!” he laughed nervously. “I skipped by the area. There’s only a rare patch near the entrance of the Everfree, and you just happened to go into it.”

“Oh, well,” I shifted my legs nervously, “did it... really... happen...?” My voice dried up, and I looked up at him, heart pounding.

“Oh...” he cleared his throat again. “I... do believe so... that you... erm...”

“I’m so sorry,” I hid under my hooves. I wanted to disappear. I couldn’t bear it. So it was real. I began to cry. It was so embarrassing. I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t right.

“No, no no no no,” he shushed me, and grabbed a handkerchief to dab my eyes, which were streaming with tears. “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t your fault.” For a long time, we just sat there, the doctor occasionally dabbing at my eyes with the cloth.

As soon as I calmed down, he took the handkerchief away, and held my hooves with his. “You’ll be alright. You’ll be fine... shhh....” My thoughts had now consumed me, the fact that I really did do it, combined with the possibility that the doctor would hate me for the rest of his life. In fact, it was certain. The doctor hated me. I hated myself. I was nothing.

“It’s not your fault.” He repeated it, almost for his own benefit, it sounded, as much as for mine. “I don’t think any differently about you.”

“You... don’t?” I whimpered. It was as though a fire had rekindled in my heart. I hugged him fiercely, and he, surprised, patted me on the head.

There was still a cold area, though, where my darkest question remained. I knew I had to ask it, or it would forever dampen my insides.

“So... did you... like it?” I whispered. I could barely hear myself.

“What?” he asked.

“Did you... like... the...” I stopped, and just sat. He understood what I was trying to say.

I tried to feel if there were any emotions coming from the doctor, but I couldn’t. It was strange, like a shield was in the way of his mind.

“I mean... it was,” the doctor was about to say something, but then a yellow and grey blur flew caught him around the back, and tugged him to the floor. It was Derpy.

I suddenly felt lucky that I hadn’t said it out loud, because Derpy would’ve heard, and I didn’t feel comfortable sharing the kind of information with anyone else at the moment. Laughing, Doctor Whooves got up, and hugged the mailmare, who giggled, and returned the hug.

“Derpy,” he said, “I really missed you. I’m so sorry for what I said to you. I didn’t mean to.”

I felt a stab of pain. Why was I feeling pain? I shook my head. Then I realized the pain was envy. I was jealous of Derpy. I wished I was the one hugging the doctor.

“It’s ok,” Derpy chirped cheerfully. “it was my fault, running into the forest, getting mad at you, and everything.”

The doctor, in all his cheerfulness, managed to shoot a quick smile to me. I smiled back, not sure what it meant.

“Well, you two managed to drag me out into the Everfree, which is a record, I think.” Derpy gave me a sheepish smile.

“Actually,” the doctor corrected, “I had to drag both of you out of that forest.”

“Wait,” Derpy’s smile disappeared. “What happened to Leafwing?”

Shudders of nervousness tingled through my body. I made a quick scared glance at Doctor Whooves, as if to tell him not to tell the truth. He looked at me knowingly, and, turning to Derpy, cleared his throat to speak.

“Well, Leafwing fainted after meeting the Manticore. It was rather,” he glanced at me again, with a glint of awareness, “shocking.”

He’s talking about my kiss. I realized. But... what does he mean?

“I think she... burnt out in the heat of the moment.”

I ducked my head below my hair, as if to hide my humility, but my cheeks flushed and grew warm. How could he? He betrayed me! I know Derpy knows now... I felt absolutely terrible. Why would he go and be so blunt about what happened?

“That makes sense!” Derpy laughed. “It’s ok Leafwing! It happens all the time to me.” Her laugh killed me. Now she was making fun of me. She was insinuating that it had happened to her too, and all the time as well, huh? How could he? I thought, I’ll show him! And her!

“Really...” I said indignantly, and quickly got up onto all fours. “HOW COULD YOU?!?” I yelled, facing the doctor.

“Huh?” Derpy and Whooves both said simultaneously.

“Now Derpy knows!” I retorted. He seemed increasingly confused. He was a good actor, but I knew better. “You backstabbing freak!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Leafwing,” he stammered. “I think the poison joke is still affecting you-”

“Poison joke?” Derpy asked, worried. “Oh no...”

“I’m leaving,” I started. The doctor stood in front of me.

“No,” he said sternly. “You can’t go. The herbs haven’t taken full effect yet-”

I wasn’t sure how, but at some point my wings had started flapping, and I cleanly flew over him. “I’m leaving,” I growled, “and I’m not going to burn out ever again. Not in front of you.”

Then I turned to Derpy, “and you can stop making fun of me, you... you... flirt!” In a blind rage, I stormed out of the shack.

I thought I heard them calling after me, but I didn’t stop. Their voices were drowned out by my increasingly painful thoughts. He doesn’t care... he never cared. I shouldn’t care. As I moved farther and farther from the hut, my thoughts slowly turned from envy and rage to self-hatred. No, it’s me. I thought. I shouldn’t have done it. I should’ve known I was gonna get hurt. The Doctor was right. The poison joke is still in me. Derpy didn’t know, I was being paranoid. It’s my fault. I thought I had a chance.

In my rage, I had stumbled back into the thick forest, and now, I had no idea where I was. Tripping over another stone, I slammed into the floor. My vision blurred, and I realized that my tears were clouding my eyes. I coughed, and wiped away a tear, only to have more well up. Wailing, I galloped as fast as I could, trying to distance myself from the slowly decreasing sounds of those ponies that hurt me... that I hurt...

I couldn’t go back now. Not after I yelled after them, and wrongly too. I deserved to live in the forest for the rest of my life. They hated me, I hated myself. Surrendering myself to my feelings, I collapsed to the floor, convulsing in cries, hiccups, and weeps. Eventually I trailed off into a trail of useless gibbering.

-----

I woke up. I had fallen asleep while crying, and now, I had found myself in a shaded place. My coat felt slightly wet, and I realized that the cave felt rather damp. I got onto all fours, and looked around. It seemed I was in a small cave, and the entrance in the front opened up to the forest. Somehow, I must’ve had wandered in here while crying.

I looked around at the rock walls. Many had carvings of various animals on the walls, probably from indigenous ponies or some other. However, one carving on the far side of the cave caught my eye. I wandered over to it, eyes adjusting to the darkness. As I got closer, I recognized the shapes. Immediately, I backed away a bit in shock, and gasped. Humans.

There were carvings of humanoid creatures all over the walls. Most were upright, holding primitive spears, and wearing crudely drawn clothing. However, one on the bottom looked almost like... a normal guy. He was wearing a beanie cap, and a striped shirt with jeans. Surprisingly, for a cave drawing, it was drawn rather well, with all body proportions correct. In fact, it almost seemed realistic. This was really strange. Twilight said that there was no such thing as a human, right? The ponies didn’t seem to have any records of humans. So then where did these come from? I looked at the leftmost carving again, which was the one with the spear. Suddenly, a shadow began to appear, closing in on the left of the carving. I whipped my head towards the cave entrance. Something was closing the hole!

I ran to get to the entrance, but I was too late. A boulder was quickly sliding into place, blocking my exit. My muzzle smacked against the rock, and I flew back. Growling, I flapped my wings, and leapt back onto my feet. Slamming my body against the rock edge, I pushed as hard as I could, flapping my wings for extra propulsion, trying to keep the remaining space open.

“Ugh!” I pushed harder, but in vain. As the crack of light slowly vanished, I found myself in pitch-blackness. My heart rate increased, and my eardrums thumped as my veins and arteries coursed in panic.

“Let me out!” I screamed. A tiny echo sounded back. I was alone. Fear began to climb down my throat, and I choked as I tried to cry out.

As abruptly as the boulder began to move, a flame burst in the center of the cave, lighting every nook and cranny of the area. I blocked my eyes to shield from the light, but once my eyes got used to it, I looked at it again. It was a strange green color, which created distorted shadows from tiny rocks and pebbles around the flame. My figure cast a long shadow against the wall.

Looking at the dark shape that trailed my body, I realized something was really wrong.

My shadow was the shadow of a human.

I looked around again, in shock. Now the cave paintings were looking distorted. Many of the humans began to shift in the flickers caused by the flame. Some started to look scared, surprised. Some began to drop their spears, others opened their mouths in silent screams, some putting their hands to their mouths in shock. The one with the beanie cap, though, was the strangest. Its eyes began to turn blood red, and droplets of the same color began to permeate through his mouth onto the floor. The droplets hit the floor, and I noticed they were real. Soon, the droplets became a stream, and the stream produced a dark pool below the paintings.

Backing up as far as I could from the blood, my flank pressed against the wall behind. But it was useless. The liquid crawled towards my hooves. I flapped my wings recklessly, but I couldn’t control them, and I plummeted into the pool.

Somehow either the bottom of the cave had disappeared, or the blood was some kind of portal. Either way, I found myself holding my breath as I tried to swim back to the surface. However, I couldn’t claw my way up, and, legs flailing, I slowly sank farther. As I looked down through the red tint, I could see darkness reaching up to grab me. Screaming, but only producing bubbles, blood began to gush through my throat, into my lungs. Gnashing teeth, terrible eyes, black coat...

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Screaming, I thrashed about. I opened my eyes.

It was all just a terrible dream.

But it seemed so real.

I shook my head, and my frizzy mane got in front of my face again. I noticed my mane was curly, wet, and much more unkempt than from before I had left the shack. I had to have stumbled through some hard brush and cried into my mane while I was sleeping.

Remembering the events from yesterday, a sinking feeling pounded my stomach again. I couldn’t go back to Zecora’s hut. I glumly crept my way past bushes and trees again. A new sense of shame was coursing through me as the sleepiness cleared. I was ashamed of myself. I had abandoned two ponies that had obviously cared for me, and accused them of doing things they obviously hadn’t.

My head was hanging so low I almost didn’t notice a patch of blue flowers along a path. It was those flowers.

“Poison joke,” I muttered. “I wish it never existed-”

Suddenly, I remembered something that Doctor Whooves said. There’s only a rare patch near the entrance of the Everfree, and you just happened to go into it. The entrance to the Everfree couldn’t be far away! I could make it back to Ponyville!

I sped up to a fast paced run, following the path as though it was my lifeline. I went so fast, I didn’t see the object up the path.

“Ow!”

Hitting the object, I rolled across the ground, stunned, and tried to get back onto my feet. The object yelped out in pain. Strange. I looked up.

The object was Lyra Heartstrings.

“Lyra!” I leapt up, and tackled her to the ground. “Lyra! I missed you so much!” I half choked.

“Leafwing!” she seemed delighted to see me. I hugged her tightly. She squeaked something unintelligible, and I finally released her.

“What’s going on? What happened while I was gone?” I asked. She had a mixture of relief and terror plastered on her face.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Leafwing,” she whispered. “Things had gone from bad to worse...” Her eyes darted from side to side, then she grabbed me, jumped behind a bush, pulling me along.

“I’m not sure what happened,” Lyra started, “but yesterday, just when Vinyl, Bonbon, Octavia and I were planning to go into the forest to save you guys-” She looked around, and poked her head over the bushes to see if anypony else was around. “Where’s Derpy? And that Doctor guy?”

“They’re safe,” I fibbed, not sure if they went out to the forest to look for me. “They’re at the zebra’s hut thing, last time I saw them.”

“Oh! Zecora! I’m glad they’re ok,” Lyra breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, things went downhill after you three left. We were getting ready to find you guys, but then this strange dark cloud came down onto the town!” My stomach immediately felt queasy. “It came from the sky, and immediately it scared me, so I ran away, and I’ve been hiding here ever since.”

“Black cloud?” I asked, worried. Lyra nodded.

A black cloud. The idea made me shudder. I knew where I’d seen those before.

“Wait, you’re saying it scared you?” Lyra nodded again.

“I didn’t know what it was,” she continued, “but it really was scary. Kinda had a creepy feel to it, kind of like when before we knew Princess Luna, and she came to Ponyville.”

I had no idea who this Luna pony was, but I shrugged as though I knew exactly what she was talking about. “Yea. So where are the others, then?” I asked.

“I think they’re still in town,” Lyra shuddered, “but I have no idea how or why they’re still there. It’s creepy!”

I thought about those ponies. Prim and proper Octavia. Brash and bold Vinyl. Responsible and sarcastic Bonbon. I couldn’t leave them. They were my first friends here that I really trusted, and I wasn’t going to leave them now.

“We have to save them,” I said grimly. “We can’t just leave them in there!”

“But it’s scary...” Lyra mumbled, shaking slightly. Her ears flopped to beside her face, and she seemed like the epitome of sadness.

“We can do it,” I urged. “Remember how you said those six ponies always solved problems and saved the day?”

“Y...yeah?”

“I’m sure they’ve seen worse things than this.” I actually wasn’t sure if that was true, but I was running out of ideas, and Lyra didn’t seem too happy about going back to town.

“I don’t know about that...” Lyra pressed her back farther against the bush.

“Come on!” I was suddenly frustrated. “How could you abandon your friends like that? You’re not even going to try to save Vinyl, or Octavia, or Bonbon?”

On Bonbon’s name, Lyra’s ears perked up. “You’re right,” she murmured quietly, and I could barely even catch what she said.

Before I could say anything else, she began to sob. “How could I! How could I -sniff- just leave her like that? We were best friends, maybe... more, but -sniff- now I left her...”

I hugged her, dabbing away her tears with my hooves. She was now trying to control her hiccups, which were starting to send her into minor convulsions. When she finally calmed down a little, I stood up.

“You didn’t leave her. At least, not yet,” I comforted, dabbing another tear away. “you can still go back. If you want to, of course. I won’t stop you if you want to leave.” She continued to hiccup, staring at the flowers nearby. Obviously, she wanted to be left alone.

Defeated, I stood up, and took a few steps towards the black cloud resembling Ponyville, when a voice interrupted me.

“WAIT!” I turned to see Lyra walking out from behind the bush. “If I don’t go back,” she cried, “I’ll never be able to forgive myself.” She put a hoof onto my back. “I’m coming.”

Chapter 7: Cloud over Ponyville

Walking over the bridge to Ponyville, I immediately felt a change of air. It was as though I had stepped into a freezer. The air chilled me to the bone, and I partially felt like reconsidering this crazy endeavor.

And then I looked over the bridge. Lyra followed closely behind, looking around quickly to see if anything would emerge from the misty acrid fog that had descended on this once bright town. I remembered what Lyra said only a few minutes prior, and I felt the same way. I would not be able to forgive myself if I let some of my only friends suffer under the wrath of this black cloud.

This in mind, I stepped forward, even more determined than before. This must’ve also strengthened Lyra’s resolve, as she quickly followed behind, taking quicker strides, and even passed me, forcing me to follow her instead.

“C’mon!” Heartstrings called, “they’re probably still at Bonbon’s!” She raced ahead, darting between houses. Soon I found it impossible to keep up, and she disappeared into the mist.

“Lyra! Wait up!” I yelled, but it was in vain. My voice echoed slightly down the path, further accentuating the fact that I was alone.

I started to look around. I tried to see if I could recognize where Bonbon’s house was from surroundings, but I didn’t see anything familiar. The black mist almost seemed to transform the houses into different shapes, twisting and dementing structures slightly to make them seem more frightening. A howling face consisting of two windows for eyes and a door for a mouth roared silently at me. I picked up the pace, determined to keep away from that house. Glancing at trees, I noticed many of the leaves were turning a strange purple color, and hollows and cracks seemed to emerge on the trunks, creating masks of terror, anger, and fury.

“AH!!!!” I screamed. Falling to the ground, I scrambled to get up as a chimney glared at me with evil intent. A two story house stared with wooden hatred, and even the flowers’ expressions were those of grief and sorrow. It was impossible to ignore, and soon, I found myself surrounded by dozens of faces. They started to gnash their teeth terribly, and I tried to find a way out. My heart pounded, and I started to pant.

Just as the nearest face was about to clamp down on my neck, a voice rang out from behind.

“Get away, you freaks!” a voice shouted from behind. Jumping out with a bright torch in her mouth, a single pony swung the flaming branch at the face. They screamed silently, and retreated.

As I looked to my savior in appreciation, I realized she was strange-looking. Her seemingly bleached hair glowed in the torchlight, as well as her face, and I could even see metal rings embedded into her ears, nose, mouth, and eyes. I tried to imagine the pain involved in piercings, and shook my head. She now moved closer to me. Her black coat was barely visible in the fog, and she almost blended in with the faces. Her mane covered her left side, and the other side of her mane was a bluish hue, creating a strange color blend, with the blonde side more prominent.

“Sorry, dude, you kept running after I yelled for you to stop,” she said. I remembered the screaming, and flushed pink. “Oh, that was you...”

Her voice was harsh, but compassionate. “Dude. We have to get out of here, it’s not safe...”

“What’s going on?” I asked, as she led me away. “Why aren’t there any ponies?”

“Well, you must’ve been out of town or something, but this mist isn’t safe. Dude, I thought I told Golden Harvest to mark off the entrances of the town with warning signs...” Her blue irises shifted around, as if looking out for something, and began to speak in low tones. “Something is kidnapping everypony it sees, and taking them deeper into the town.”

“What?” I stopped. I looked around as well, and realized that there were no more faces to be seen, which only made the atmosphere more eerie. “Ponies... kidnapped?”

“I don’t know,” she huffed, and grabbed my foreleg, and pulling me along. “In any case, you can’t stay here, dude. We’ve evacuated everypony we could, you managed to catch the last patrol of the day.”

“Wait! Stop!” she stopped, and groaned. “What, dude?” she asked impatiently.

“My friend is all alone, looking for some friends of hers,” I replied, “I can’t leave her alone!”

She grabbed me by my hoof. “I’m not sure you understand,” she looked me in the eyes, alarmed. “you might die in there, dude.”

I looked at her again. Her face was weary, and probably had seen worse than I could imagine. She seemed to be almost begging me to reconsider. But then I looked down the road, and remembered Lyra.

“I’m going in. I can’t leave my friends.” Determined, I broke from her grasp, and began to walk alone. Leaving the torchlight, I looked around, noticing everything suddenly looked much more intimidating. I closed my eyes for a second, and continued forward.

I heard a trotting noise behind me, and suddenly, the volunteer rescuer was beside me again.

“Hey,” she panted, “Dude, I haven’t let anypony die yet, I’m not going to now.”

I grinned slightly, and pushed ahead, her flame revealing the next few paces forward. “What’s your name, dude?” She asked.

“Leafwing,” I replied, “what’s yours?”

“Highlight. Highlight Silver.”

We walked in silence for several minutes afterwards. The whole while, I thought about the pony trotting next to me. She had saved me, but she was also a little disturbing. On a world where most of the ponies were brightly colored, she seemed rather placid, almost dull. That might’ve explained the piercings, to help her stand out, but I was not sure. And her voice... also seemingly caring, she held a mostly emotionless monotone feel. Especially with the constant usage of the word dude, which was getting on my nerves.

Glancing towards her, I noticed the strong eyeshadow on her eyelids. Her left eye was concealed by her mane, but her right eye was constantly darting around to check the darkness. The only pony that I had seen with makeup as prominent was the Rarity pony from two... three days ago? I suddenly realized that I had spent almost three days on this strange place, and I had more friends than on Earth.

I noticed that my surroundings had changed dramatically from the last time I had paid any attention. Looking around, I found something rather strange about each house. All of the doors were open or destroyed, leaving an air of abandonment. It was as though a massive catastrophe had caused the residents on the street to vacate quickly without the decency of closing the door. Or, perhaps, something found them...

“The houses are empty, dude,” Highlight broke the silence. “We searched all of them. We think the thing got them.”

“What is this thing, dude?” I quipped under my breath.

“Definitely something neither of us want to meet.” And we resumed silence.

After what seemed like hours of fruitless searching, I spotted a dim light in the distance, slightly illuminating everything around it. A single mare with a teal mane and coat stood around the light.

“It’s Lyra!” I said excitedly, and with a burst of energy from my wings, I took off, leaving Highlight in the dust. “Dude!” the volunteer rescuer tried to keep up, but I managed to get to the unicorn in a second, almost knocking her off her feet.

“Hey!” Lyra said, relieved, “Leafie! I’m glad you made it, I thought I lost you! And who’s this... pony?”

“A friend,” I quickly breathed. “Her name’s Highlight.”

“Oh, her...” Lyra muttered.

“You!” Highlight growled. “Dude, not this dude...”

“You know each other?” I asked, surprised.

“Well, that’s kinda in the past now,” Lyra brushed the topic away, but I could feel slightly hostile emotions radiating from her. She didn’t feel too good about Highlight.

“I guess,” I murmured. “Now, some things were chasing me earlier, and they didn’t seem too happy. Highlight was lucky enough to find me with her torch. Let’s get a move on.”

“Good idea,” she agreed. ‘Look! We’re almost there!”

A row of houses stood on the corner of the road. One stood out slightly from the others. I wasn’t sure exactly why, but it was as though the fog was slightly lifted from the area around the house, making a strange ominous sphere.

Then a low, rumbling, guttural noise rose from behind me, and I turned to see the source of the sound. A dark figure was quickly rising from the mist, and it did not look like a pony. A light flickered, and I realized that Highlight’s torch had wisped out.

“Dude,” Highlight whispered solemnly, “it’s here.”

“LET’S GO!” I screamed, and Lyra and I dashed for the house. Lyra turned off her light, probably to focus on running, but it made it nearly impossible to where I was going. Tripping on something, I hit the ground with a loud thud. Highlight pulled me off the ground, and we kept running. Making the last few bounds, I had to catch my breath as Heartstrings pounded on the door.

“Let us in!” she shouted in despair, and I thought I could see teeth glinting from the darkness.

“Dude,” Highlight said worriedly.

“Lyra,” I moaned, leaning on the door, “it’s getting closer-”

The door swung open with a bang, and I toppled in. Lyra ran in, and grabbed me off the floor.

“The door!” I pointed to the creature, not fifteen feet away from entering the house.

Lyra shone her horn, and the door slammed shut. A loud thud shook the house as the creature hit the obstruction. A screeching roar echoed as it attempted to claw its way through. The sound of scraping wood entered my ears, and I put my hooves up in an attempt to block out the terrible noise.

“Help!” Lyra screamed, putting all her weight against the door. “Somepony help!”

Highlight quickly ran to help Lyra block the door. I glanced around the room. There had to be something to use to barricade the door. A kitchen counter stood on the side, and a couch was positioned across from it. It would have to do. Quickly galloping over to the couch, I pushed against it, trying to move it. But I was already too tired from constantly running, and it wouldn’t budge.

“HELP!” Lyra screamed again, tears coming to her eyes.

“Lyra,” I crawled back over to her, and tried to help block the door. “It’s no use, they’re not here, we have to get out.”

“No,” Lyra cried softly, “they’re here, I know it.”

“Lyra!” I yelled, “we have to leave, this is crazy!”

“Yeah, this isn’t cool, dude,” Highlight added.

A large gash appeared through the door, and mist streamed into the house.

“It’s breaking through!” I tried to think of a way to make it leave. I went back to the monster faces chasing me around in the streets. That’s it!

“Lyra, use your light!” I urged. She closed her eyes, and a dim light gleamed from her horn. Another screeching growl emanated from behind the door. “More! We need more!” I said desperately.

“I...can’t...” Lyra faltered, and the light winked out. “I’m so scared, I can’t focus...”

“Highlight, your torch...” I turned to look at Highlight, but she had mysteriously disappeared.

A cackling noise rang out from the creature, and it sounded like laughter. Another large gash slashed through the door, and then everything was silent.

“Did it leave?” Heartstrings coughed nervously.

A final bang shook the house again. The door, unable to take any more stress, exploded open. Lyra and I flew back. I hit the kitchen countertop, flipping over it. Smacking against a cupboard, my body finally hit the floor, and I felt all the air in my lungs leave me. I gasped for air, and tried to clamber back on to my hooves.

As I lifted myself onto the countertop, I watched a trail of mist follow the creature as it slowly made its way towards Lyra, who had landed on the couch. The creature seemed to have grown bigger as it entered, as it was now larger than the doorway. She was cowering against the pillows, and the creature had a claw up in the air, ready to stab Lyra...

“NO!!!!” A voice shrieked, and Highlight, appearing behind the couch, leapt, in a single prance, towards the creature. Hitting it in the back, it lost its footing, and both collapsed against the ground. I quickly got up, and watched as she barreled against the strange creature again.

Only that she went through it, and soon found herself flying at a wall. Highlight tried to slow herself down. It was too late, however, and she smacked against the wooden paneling. By the time she had gotten up, the creature had knocked her to the floor again.

It gibbered gleefully, and raised a claw to finish her off. I cantered towards the creature, but I knew I wouldn’t make it in time...

“Hold it right here!”

A unicorn quickly cantered down the steps across from the door. A light illuminated from its horn, and it revealed itself.

It was Vinyl Scratch. “Run!” she yelled. She clenched her jaw, and thrusted her horn forward, brightening the room with the light and forcing the mist from the doorway to retreat slightly.

The monster screamed out in pain as the light grew brighter and brighter, lashing out with the claw. As the blade like appendage slashed towards me, I rolled to the side and got back up onto my hooves. As the monster trailed towards me again, a pony smacked into the side of the creature, knocking it to the side, where another pony kicked it.

The creature shrieked loudly, and flew through the wall, vanishing. As the light from Vinyl’s horn increased in intensity, I could see that the two ponies were, in fact, Octavia and Bonbon.

“You came back for us!” Vinyl exclaimed. Before I could say anything, Lyra bounded off the couch, and tackled Bonbon to the floor. “BONBON!” she cried. “YOU’RE OK! I KNEW YOU WERE HERE!” She hugged her intensely, putting her face in Bonbon’s coat, and Bonbon attempted to push her off. “What happened-”

I looked around again to see who was present. Vinyl was busy holding onto her light, and Lyra was on top of Bonbon, Octavia was near the sofa... where was Highlight?

Bonbon interrupted my observations. “We’re glad you’re here,” Bonbon said quietly, “But we gotta leave while we can. This place is too dangerous.”

“Where’d Highlight go?” I glanced around again.

“Who’s Highlight?” Vinyl asked.

“The pony that just saved Lyra, where is she?” I asked again.

“Right here.”

She again rose from the shadows. I now understood why it was so difficult to see her. Her coat, a sheen of black, hid her in the shadows, and as she appeared, Octavia and Bonbon yelped in surprise.

“Its... her!” Octavia shrieked.

“What about me, dude?” Highlight said dismissively.

“She’s a ruffian in the town, Leafie,” Bonbon explained.

“Not to mention she’s spooky, just like those... things out there!” Lyra cried.

“Dude, that’s not very nice,” Highlight retorted passively.

“I agree,” I backed her, “you can’t just judge her by her looks!”

“I think Highlight worked at that toy shop around the corner,” Vinyl added, “and I’m sure I’ve seen her at all my raves, although she doesn’t get down on the floor like Pinkie. I’m sure we can trust her.”

“I don’t,” Octavia pouted. “She’s an utter annoyance!”

“Yeah!” Lyra added, “she once took my daisy sandwich off my plate and ate it in front of me!” Reminiscing the supposed memory, she began to sob louder.

“It took me two hours to get her stop crying,” Bonbon explained, comforting Lyra with a hoof to her back.

“Well, enough about her. Why are you guys still here?” I asked, still confused.

“Yeah, why didn’t you leave like me?” Lyra repeated, edging closer to Bonbon.

“Well, we were trapped by that thing,” Octavia muttered, “which scared us all to stay in the house all this time!”

“But when we looked out the window,” Bonbon explained, “we saw the monster staying out of the range of the light. Once Lyra stopped shining the light to run, it began to chase again. I figured it was scared of light, so we came up with a plan to help you guys out.”

“Lamps, though, seem to burn out when the thing is around,” Octavia remarked.

“Uh, guys?” All of us turned to look at Vinyl. The unicorn had a look of fatigue on her face. “I’m... getting tired over here...” the lights emanating from her horns started to flicker, and she seemed ready to fall down in defeat.

“Don’t give up!” Bonbon urged. “The light is the only thing that’s preventing that monster from coming in!”

“Lyra...” Looking at Lyra, I noticed she was still clinging to Bonbon. “Lyra! We don’t have time for this! Use your horn!” Lyra shook her head.

“Ugh...” Vinyl collapsed to the floor, and the light winked out. A few seconds later, an evil laugh echoed throughout the house. Octavia and Bonbon lifted their hooves again.

The monster reappeared through the doorway, and smiled wickedly. The lack of light increased the tension in the room as ponies stumbled to their feet.

“We will hold it off!” Octavia shouted. “You and Lyra leave!”

I turned to Lyra. “We have to get out!” I whispered to her.

“N-no!” she wailed, and I saw the creature look at her with interest.

“Hey!” I focused my attention on the monster again. “Get at me! You want me, right? This is all my fault, isn’t it?”

The creature eyed me, and its smile widened.

“That’s right,” I called him out, “it was my fault. You want me, don’t you?”

It began to grin awfully, and my stomach became queasy.

“Well, the silent type,” I growled, “who would’ve thought?” I tried to sound calm, but inside, I was frightened out of my wits. My tail was trembling like a blade of grass on a windy day, and it was all I could do to sound angry and irritated at the creature. I stared back at it, indignant. I wouldn’t let it get its pleasure. If I was going to die, I wasn’t going to go without a fight.

The creature’s grin faded, and it began to frown, baring its sharp teeth. Another claw sliced at my body, and I barely dodged it, jumping back a few paces. Checking my body, I noticed a small gash on my chest.

“Leafwing!” Vinyl yelled, but I shrugged the blow off. Infuriated, I started to flap my wings, not realizing it until I started to stare him down.

“You’re gonna pay for what you did to this town,” I said furiously. “You and all those other things.”

“SILENCE!” it yelled, and swung another blade at me. I deftly flew to the side, and the blade produced nothing but air.

“So you’re not mute!” I found myself giggling. “I was so sure you weren’t gonna say anything!”

“YOU LITTLE BUG! YOU’RE RUINING EVERYTHING!” it howled. “STAND STILL AND LET FEAR PIERCE YOUR HEART!”

“Fear, huh?” I lifted my hooves again in a boxer stance. “Well, my whole life I ran from my fears. It’s time I faced them.” I pointed a hoof at the monster, “Starting with you.”

“I WILL BE RID OF YOU!” the creature flew into the air, becoming level with me, and I watched in shock as spikes grew out from the creature’s back. Each silvery, dark appendage slid out slowly, and on each end, a blade was brandished. As soon as the now six arms had fully extended, the monster swooped towards me, swinging all of the sharp arms towards my torso.

I found my wings paralyzed with fear, and I dropped like a rock. The creature flew right overhead, disappearing through the wall. As I hopped onto my feet, I watched as it passed through the wall again into view.

“You can try and get me all you want,” I yelled back. “But no one lays a hoof on my friends. No one.”

“DIE, PUNY MORTAL!” the creature roared, and charged again ferociously. It was moving too fast, I wouldn’t have time to move. I closed my eyes in fright-

A blinding flash of light pierced through my eyelids, and I rubbed my eyes to view the spectacle. The light slammed into the creature, assailing it, and tearing at the blackness of its skin. Its appendages scrambled across its hard outer shell, and it squirmed against the light, and grunted. Cracks of light began to form and lace across its chest, and it almost seemed as if it were about to explode...

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

Once again, I couldn’t keep my eyes open, but even with them shut, the sheer amount of light flooded towards me caused me to see bright blazing blue through my eyelids. The creature’s screams echoed, even though the room was small, and a small gust had picked up. The light peaked, and suddenly, my eyelids went opaque, There was no wind, no voices, nothing.

Silence.

“Is... everypony ok?” Vinyl whispered.

“Yeah.” “Uh huh.” A murmur of assent and confusion spread throughout the room.

“Dude, dude. Dude...” “What happened?” “Are you ok, everypony?” “What did you do?”

I opened my eyes, and looked down at my friends. They all lay on the floor with shocked expressions. I suddenly felt a weightless sensation, and as I hovered down, I realized I was floating, but my wings were not flapping.

As I flailed my arms, Lyra and Octavia ran over to let me down. I breathed a sigh of relief as my hooves touched the ground.

“What kind of sorcery did you commit there?” Octavia asked.

“Octavia! That was rude!” Bonbon scoffed. She turned to me. “But that was... quite a sight.”

“Yeah,” I said shakily. I realized I was breathing heavily, and I took a seat where I was. “I didn’t know how that... thing exploded!”

“We were talking about you,” Lyra corrected, with a sense of awe. “You... were amazing!”

“It was light show, that’s what it was,” Vinyl smiled. “How did you not notice when your eyes were bugging out?”

“And those birds?” Lyra added. “They looked like... they were on fire!”

“Bugging out?” Eyes?” I was now more confused than before. “Birds?”

“Dudes, I don’t think she saw it...” Highlight looked like she had witnessed an act of a higher being, as she was in a trance like state.

“I saw the... monster explode!” I tried to explain. “That’s all! I swear!”

“Well, she didn’t see the...” Bonbon whispered to Lyra. Lyra’s eyes widened. She whispered to Octavia, and she appeared shocked. Octavia waved to Vinyl, who picked herself off the ground to get to her. As they conversed in private, Lyra looked to me, obviously as confused as I was.

“Wait, when did the lights turn back on?” I asked. Bonbon’s house was now clearly visible. All the damage done to the furniture and doors were gone. It was as if everything had returned to... normal.

“The birds flew out the door, I think they did it...” Lyra thought aloud.

“Are you sure you’re not secretly a unicorn in disguise?” Bonbon asked.

I found myself giggling. Lyra joined in, and Bonbon had to smile. “Of course not!” I tried to say, stifling snorts and giggles between words. “I’m definitely a pegasus!”

“What’s that, dude?” Highlight pointed to something in the center of the room. I turned to look. A smoldering pile of ashes lay in the center of the room, where the monster exploded. As I observed the pile of ashes, it began to move, shaking slightly.

“AHHH!!!” Octavia, Lyra, and Bonbon screamed.

“It’s not gone?!?” Vinyl yelled.

As it shook, clumps of soot and debris fell from the outside, and it began to look more like a pony. As it shook more, a thick dust cloud rose from the ashes. I could now clearly make out a mane and tail, which was curly, and elegantly trimmed... why would its mane be elegant after being struck by... whatever caused it to explode?

“It doesn’t look like the monster...” I said slowly, trotting closer to it.

Lyra put her hoof on my back. “Don’t do it, it looks dangerous...” I ignored her, and continued.

A unicorn horn pierced through the ashes, and I heard coughing. Rushing over to help the pony, I pulled her from the ash cloud. As the cloud cleared, I recognized the cloud-white coat, and dark royal-magenta coloring of her luxurious mane...

“RARITY?” Everypony in the room screamed.

Chapter 8: Emotions Running High

“Is that it?” I asked, in disbelief of everything she had said.

“I told you all I know,” Rarity explained. We were sitting in the remains of Sugarcube Corner. At least, Lyra, Bonbon, Rarity and I. Highlight had gone to help with repairing the town hall, and Octavia and Vinyl had gone to their respective houses to observe damage. Although whatever befell Bonbon’s house had rejuvenated all the damage done within, the other houses had simply been left unchanged, or worse, crumbled. A good example was Sugarcube Corner, which had been devastated by various claw markings and something heavy that appeared to have fallen through the roof. The store was essentially in shambles.

And yet, we still sat there, in chairs set up across the remains.

“A better question is, why are we here?” Bonbon asked. “My house is completely unharmed, and this place is a wreck!”

“Nostalgia, I suppose,” Rarity sighed. “I feel so awful.”

“Nostalgia?” Lyra repeated. “But, you were gone for like, maybe... three...”

“Three days, I know,” Rarity confirmed. “It’s just... I don’t feel... happiness anymore.” A pony walked by with a load of half-rotten apples. All the residents of Ponyville had returned, led by the Mayor Mare, and reparations were underway. It took a lot of explaining to convince everypony that it was safe to enter. Most of the citizens had gone back to what they had been doing before, but the atmosphere seemed more tense, more gloomy. We continued to support Rarity, who was still frail, until she decided that she needed to come to Sugarcube Corner, which is where we were now.

“Even my craft, it feels drab and bland. It is dreadful when even beauty and elegance has faded from your eyes.” She put a hoof onto the nearby counter, and sighed deeply.

“Hello, dears,” Mrs. Cake passed by the counter, “would you like anything?” Her usually singsong voice when addressing customers had disappeared, and I could tell she was distraught with something immediately.

“No, thanks,” I replied courteously. She nodded curtly, and disappeared into the workroom. I was about to ask Mrs. Cake about her cause of distress, but I decided against it for now.

“Hey guys,” Vinyl waved from outside the shop. She was accompanied by Octavia. As they entered, I saw that Vinyl was patting Octavia on the back, who was holding a large, long black case.

“So my house is ok,” Vinyl started, “but Octavia’s...”

“I’ll be fine,” Octavia shrugged. “I found my cello, and that’s as far as it goes.” I could tell Octavia was pained by the loss of her house, but she refused to show it.

“I’m... so sorry,” Rarity said slowly. I felt concern for her. She must’ve been taking everything very hard, especially since she was to blame for most of the damage done to Ponyville. At least, as far as we could attribute it to. Although, I knew better.

“No, really, it’s ok,” Octavia reassured, and I noticed her biting her lip. “I was behind on my rent anyway, and the garden was simply falling apart. I didn’t have the bits to afford that house in the first place.”

“But,” Lyra asked, “where will you live?”

“I got that covered,” Vinyl cut in. “Octavia can stay at my house for a while. No problem at all.”

“We should have known better...” Rarity began. “I could not do anything to stop it. Nopony could.”

“What, exactly, happened?” Bonbon asked. “Why were you... whatever you were?”

“And what did you do to the missing ponies?” Lyra added. I suddenly remembered Highlight saying something about how the monster brought ponies to the center of the town.

“I... don’t know...” Rarity stammered. “I don’t remember anything, let alone what I did as... what did you call me when I woke up?”

“A hideous two-faced freak that deserves to rot in a hole?” Octavia quickly recited.

Once we had discovered Rarity was involved with the monster back at Bonbon’s, Octavia was quick to make assumptions about her motives. However, the more Rarity described the situation with her friends, the more confusing everything became.

-----

“We first encountered it once we got to Canterlot,” Rarity had explained. “It was a haze of darkness, that had literally engulfed the castle like a wool knit scarf.

“We were foals to think we could face the darkness by ourselves. The elements hadn’t the time to react to its surprise. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were taken first, captured and knocked out. Rainbow Dash and Applejack put up a resistance, but they succumbed as well. Twilight and I were the only ones left, as we both were concentrating our shield spells.”

“The last thing I saw before my shield charm broke was Twilight being carried off somewhere,” Rarity finished, and as she spoke, a tear came to her eyes. “With Twilight gone, there is no hope left.”

“Why’s that?” I had asked.

“She was the one that brought all of us together when we faced other perils,” Rarity explained. “But now she’s gone. And the elements are scattered throughout Equestria.” As Rarity wiped a tear from her eyes, I noticed her expression was still emotionless, blank, as though something had sucked the life out of her.

-----

“Yes, that,” Rarity sniffed, and I was brought back to the present.

“I feel so miserable, I cannot even express my own feelings...” She said so quietly that she was almost whispering. “I came here, to Sugarcube Corner, because I thought it would make me feel something. But Pinkie Pie is gone. I saw her being taken away... she’s gone.”

Another group of ponies walked by Sugarcube, whispering amongst each other. Some of them looked at us, and then returned to their private discussion. I again thought back to the events preceding this discussion. What had happened? Where did the light come from? Why did the others seem to think I was the one that saved them? I hadn’t done anything!

And yet, all the ponies that I had talked to had credited me with saving the town. I could tell the other ponies around town had been informed about the events, and were talking about me. I slumped down in my chair to hide myself from them. I didn’t deserve this attention.

“I don’t believe it,” Bonbon said, finally.

“Well, at least Leafwing was able to save you,” Vinyl comforted.

“Again,” I clarified. “I didn’t do anything! I didn’t do it.”

“Are you feeling alright?” Octavia asked, concerned. “You don’t seem very well.”

“Well,” I muttered. I considered explaining to them that a normal person would already be stressed out by the disappearance of five ponies, ones that were specifically on a mission to investigate Canterlot, let alone taking the stress of being the supposed savior of the town. “Whatever do you mean?” I said, slightly mimicking Octavia’s refined talk.

“You’re kinda slumping,” Lyra noted, and I had to do all I could to stop from exploding.

“Hello, dearies,” Mrs. Cake stopped by again, interrupting the conversation at a favorable moment. “Did you happen to mention... Pinkie Pie, by any chance?”

Everypony in the room went silent for a few seconds, not sure how to respond. Finally, deciding to be honest, Rarity whispered, “I guess we were, weren’t we.”

“It’s all good,” Mrs. Cake said nervously, looking behind the counter. “I couldn’t help but overhear your... conversation.”

“We’re really sorry about Pinkie, Mrs. Cake,” Lyra said sympathetically.

“I’m all fine. Everything is... still fresh, and... I think...” She remained silent for a long time, just staring at the counter.

“Are you ok?” Lyra asked politely.

Mrs. Cake tried to explain. I could feel distress and grief pouring out from her, but somehow she had managed to hide the feelings for as long as she did. “I could normally cope without Pinkie Pie, but...” She started to break.

Mrs. Cake looked away. “I... I’m so terribly sorry...” I watched a lump form in her throat. “You shouldn’t see me like this...” she wept softly.

“No, no, it’s ok.” I walked around the counter to her. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just that...” Mrs. Cake tried to say between sobs. “Mr. Cake... he’s gone...”

“What?” we all said in unison.

“He decided to stay back and make sure the store was safe...” Mrs. Cake explained. She teared up again, and her dialogue degenerated into cries of sorrow. Although I had seen grief before, this felt so much worse. It was terrible to watch a fully grown mare cry and not be able to do anything about it.

“Have you seen him since?” Bonbon asked. Mrs. Cake shook her head, and dried her eyes with the sleeve of her apron. Lyra offered Mrs. Cake her handkerchief, and she accepted it with shaky hooves. Or, tried to. Unable to hold it without falling over due to her instability, Lyra walked around the counter, and held it up to her nose for her to blow.

“Hey dudes, the town hall is fixed, and we found the missing... ponies?” We turned to see Highlight walking into the store, now confused. “what’s going... on?”

“Mr. Cake is gone...” Octavia said quietly.

“How?”

“We think that he was abducted by that wretched monster...”

I looked outside as Octavia began to fill Highlight in on the situation. Everything seemed so forlorn, and bitter. A colt ran by, knocking over a mare on the street that was trying to comfort her baby. The wails of the baby only added to the melancholic feel, as the mare struggled to pick herself off the ground.

“But, dude, that doesn’t make sense! We found all the missing ponies tied up at the town hall!”

“Then where is my husband?!?!?”

I was about to get up to pick the fallen pony up, when a pegasus swooped down from the cloudy sky to assist her. She thanked her, and went on her way. The pegasus looked around a bit, then spotted the Sugarcube Corner. As I stared at the helpful pony, I realized one of her eyes was not matching her other, giving an almost aloof appearance...

“DERPY!” I exclaimed. “You made it!” As I said that, I suddenly remembered she was likely with the doctor. I realized I gave away my position. My gut started to dance.

“There you are Leafie!” she said, sparkling with excitement. “Let me get Doctor Whooves. I’ll be back.” She quickly zoomed off, confirming my suspicions. I gulped, and felt a lump of dread start to form in my stomach.

“Hide me.” I said. “Now.”

“Why?” Bonbon asked.

“JUST DO IT,” I panicked. The other ponies looked at me, even more baffled by my strange response to Derpy. Finding nowhere else to run, I hid behind my chair, just as Derpy returned with a startled Doctor Whooves.

“Woah!” the Doctor seemed rather unsettled, as he was dragged at light speed to the front of the confectionery establishment. He adjusted his tie. Despite me trying not to look, I was immediately drawn to his bright azure eyes. “We were looking for you, Leafwing! Where did you go?”

It took me a while to realize that he was talking to me. I shook myself back to attention, and smiled.

“I’m s-sorry,” I apologized sincerely, stammering a bit. “Hey, didn’t see you there, doctor...”

“Are you stuttering, Leafie?” Lyra asked.

“What are you doing under that chair?” Derpy asked, cockeyed.

“Oh, this is a chair?” I giggled nervously. “This isn’t... a chair...it’s a...”

“What is it?” Bonbon asked, bewildered.

“Uh,” I started to slink out from behind the chair. Quick! I have to think of a distraction! I thought. “Hey, look, its a...” I looked around for something of importance. Then I spotted it. “A... a thing!”

“A thing?” a murmur of confoundment spread throughout the room.

“A THING!” Derpy finally understood what I was trying to say, even though I didn’t, and started zipping around the room. “Where is the thing?”

As the other ponies looked at Derpy with flustered facial expressions, I fled to the side bathroom. I sprinted inside, and quickly closed the door as fast as I could without slamming it, and threw the lock on.

"Whew," I felt so relieved. Finally, I was away from that colt! My anxiety wavered, and I sighed.

Suddenly the lock jiggled, and then the door swung open, revealing Derpy and the rest of the confused ponies.

“AHHH!” I screamed.

“AHHH!” the other ponies screamed in reply.

“AHHH!” I screamed, and shut the door.

“What are you doing in the bathroom, Leafie?” I heard Lyra ask.

“Uh,” I fiddled with the lock, trying to get it to work again. Darn hooves! “Uh, taking a number two!”

“A what?” a concerned Vinyl piped up.

“Never mind!” I screamed. “Just don’t come in-”

The door opened slowly again.

“Silly,” Derpy laughed, “I knew what the thing was all along!”

“R-really?” I stammered, once again chuckling anxiously. “W-what was it?”

“It’s obviously the key to the bathroom!” she guffawed, and I laughed along with her, trying to sound as normal as possible. “I figured it out as soon as you went into the bathroom! You are just so great at giving hints. That was a great scavenger hunt, Leafie, let’s do it again!”

“Um, excuse me, ladies,” the other ponies moved, revealing Doctor Whooves. “I believe I need to speak with Leafwing in private.” I felt increasingly disturbed by his presence.

“No, he doesn’t,” I tried to start, but he cut me off. “This isn’t an argument,” he stated harshly, but calmly.

“C’mon dudes, they need some alone time,” Highlight whispered, and they left.

“Can I come in?” the doctor asked. I nodded hastily. He walked in, and closed the door.

As soon as the door closed, I started to cry.

“I’m so sorry...” I tried to say between sobs. “I should’ve...”

“It’s ok,” he comforted, “it’s ok.”

“No, I just...” I tried to finish off my sentence. “I should’ve listened to you two at the hut. The poison joke hadn’t worn off, and I...” I fell quiet.

“It’s ok,” he repeated. “Look.” He looked right into my eyes. “You’re ok. You just need some time.”

“No, it’s not just that,” I murmured.

“What’s the problem?” he asked.

“I...I...” I tried to say it, but words wouldn’t come out.

“Speak in sentences, Leaf,” he encouraged. I took a deep breath.

“I...I really really like you!” I blurted. As soon as I said it, I covered my mouth.

My life was over. I closed my eyes. I would be doomed. I just... I ruined everything! How could I do this to myself! How?

“No, no, no, no, no!” I sobbed. “Why did I do that?”

“It’s fine!” I felt the doctor rush to my side. “You’re ok.”

“Why did I do that? Why did I?” I moaned, trying to enunciate words between sobs.

“You’re ok,” the doctor helped me down onto the floor. “You’re going to be fine.”

“No, my life is over.” I stopped. “I won’t... I can’t go on...”

After what seemed like hours, I finally opened my eyes. I had stopped crying, and he was there again, his mane flowing, his brilliant eyes watching me with concern. No, I fought back. I couldn’t do it again. I wasn’t under any poison joke. This time, there would be no excuse.

“No, I can’t do this to you.” I finally said softly.

“But I can,” he replied, and lurched forward.

“No I ca-Mmmpghhmm...” the Doctor locked lips with me, and explosions went off in my head. My stomach was turning over and over. This isn’t right... I thought, and I tried to move, but I found I was immobile. I tried to push him away, but my rational side quickly lost resistance, and I kissed him back, and the sounds of kissing filled the bathroom. It felt timeless, as though I was floating in bliss. Blood rushed to my face. My heart fluttered, as did my wings, and I whined, as he shifted closer, bringing his arms around my back. I hugged him back, and we finally broke, as we both panted for breath.

“That was...” the doctor struggled for words as he breathed, “breathtaking.”

“Breathtaking...” I repeated, still floating around in euphoria. My lips tingled, and yearned for more action. He turned, and I threw myself onto him, kissing him again. I squeaked as I felt something wet and protruding touch my lips, but his hooves tenderly massaged my neck, calming me.

“You’re ok with this, right?” the Doctor whispered, eyes half-lidded. I paused for a beat, and then nodded slowly. My lips parted, and his did too, and our tongues mingled. As the smacking noises echoed in the small chamber, my wings flapped uncontrollably, cooling me off nicely, as I was growing uncomfortably hot. The excitement gripped my legs, which went numb as I tried to remain balanced. I nearly fell over, but the doctor gently pushed me against the wall to balance me without my paralyzed limbs. We kissed, and he continued to lap at the inside of my mouth, and I built up enough confidence to gingerly return the favor to him.

After what felt like an eternity, we released again.

“I... we...” I stammered, after a long pause. “We should... go...”

“Yes,” he agreed, and stood there, awkwardly, as did I. Not sure of what to do, I finally found courage to speak again.

“We... shouldn’t talk about this...” I started.

“Agreed,” he nodded quickly. I walked to the door, and fiddled with the lock. The doctor stopped me.

“Let me do the honors,” he walked forward, opened the lock, and raised a hoof, motioning for me to leave. “Ladies first.”

I blushed again, and left.

As I walked out, the doctor followed right behind. Before anyone could say anything, he started talking.

“It’s all good,” the doctor assured. “We just wanted to make sure Leaf was safe.” Turning to me, he winked, and continued talking. “When we discovered that your tracks led here, we were so scared when we saw that cloud. We decided to head in, but then suddenly there was a, a, a...”

“Something magic!” Derpy finished for him. “It completely knocked out the dark mist, and we could see again!”

“Yeah, just when it was getting weird,” he muttered. “I could’ve sworn I was seeing faces everywhere...”

“There were birds everywhere!” Derpy continued. “They were flying around, chasing away the faces and clouds and everything!”

“That was Leafwing, guys!” Lyra asserted happily. “She was the one who did it!” I groaned, and shook my head.

“For the last time, I didn’t even do anything!” I slowly walked back to my seat, where immediately Lyra and the others crowded me.

“What happened in the bathroom?” “What did he tell you?” “Is he a spy?”

“We just talked about... things,” I looked back to him, and he nodded.

“THINGS?” Derpy leaped out of her chair again. “Where are they?”

“I... well...” I was starting to get frustrated. I wanted to be left alone, but they continued to crowd me, firing questions at point blank. “Derpy, I think the doctor has them.”

As she left, I slumped deeper into my chair. Vinyl snickered.

“It looks like you’re melting in your chair, Leaf!” she stifled another giggle with a hoof.

“I wish I could,” I murmured. I was sick of the attention. “C’mon guys, stop putting all of the credit on me,” I tried to elucidate. “You guys were there too, you helped with everything.”

“But you were the one with the sorcerer magic,” Octavia commented.

“Again, are you sure you’re not secretly a unicorn?” Vinyl joked lightly. I felt a wave of amusement coming from all my friends, and I had to smile. Well, almost all of them.

Strangely, from that comment, I felt a twinge of discomfort coming from Highlight. I decided not to look into it, as it seemed she was uncomfortable with about everything before, and continued to pay attention to the conversation at hand.

“There’s still a lot of damage to some of these buildings though.” the doctor shook his head. “I was lucky to find my store undisturbed.”

“Actually,” Derpy piped up, “it was really messy.”

“Well, that might have to do with the fact that you haven’t come in these last few weeks to clean it!” Whooves retorted. “In fact, you didn’t even help me clean after we got back!”

“That’s because I was helping fix the town hall!” the cross-eyed pegasus replied happily, and as I looked to everypony else, I could see them wincing. That was a curious reaction, and I decided to wait to comment on it.

The doctor turned, and noticed Rarity comforting Mrs. Cake. “Why is Mrs. Cake so upset?” Doctor Whooves asked.

“Mr. Cake has gone missing,” Octavia explained.

“But I saw him two minutes ago!” Derpy said.

“WHERE?” everypony asked.

“At the library! Duh!” Derpy laughed.

Life returned to Mrs. Cake’s eyes, and it seemed that energy had been restored to her. “OF COURSE! I SHOULD’VE KNOWN!!” she leaped over the counter, and galloped down the road faster than a bullet. Before we knew what was going on, she had vanished.

“The library?” Rarity repeated, confused. “But that’s where... wait...”

Her eyes suddenly began to water. “SPIKE!” She cried. Before we could think of anything to say, she had disappeared as well, leaving a dust trail and a cloud shaped somewhat like her.

“What’s with her?” I asked.

“An interesting story,” Octavia explained. “They are lovebirds.”

“Spike and Rarity?!?” I started giggling.

“Yes.” Octavia replied. “It’s adorable, really.”

“Quick, let’s head down there!” Lyra interrupted. “We should make sure they’re ok.”

We all started off towards Twilight’s library.

-----

“So, what happened in that bathroom, Leafie?” Lyra asked for the fifth time as we headed down to Twilight’s house.

“Ugh...” I growled. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Oh please oh please oh please!” she begged. “I promise I won’t tell anypony about it.”

“You sure?” I said, unconvinced.

“Of course!” Lyra said. “I’m the best at keeping secrets!”

“Really?” I was unsure whether to trust Lyra. She was the most accommodating pony that I had met since I got here, and we were probably the closest out of all the others, but I still wasn’t sure if she could be trusted.

“Well, after Pinkie Pie,” she said, smiling again, but with less certainty. I thought again for a second, decided that she was being honest enough about her ability to keep quiet, and took a breath.

“Okay...” I leaned in close to her ear, and whispered. “Doctor Whooves and I... we... uh...” I stopped, and Lyra frowned.

“Oh, tell me tell me tell me!” Lyra bounced up and down.

“You actually can’t stop now, I have to know.”

I jumped as I realized Vinyl was talking.

“You too?” Vinyl looked to Lyra, and then both of them looked at me eagerly.

“I really want to know!” Vinyl pleaded. “You guys were in the bathroom for like seven minutes! What were you guys talking about in there?”

“Uh...” I wasn’t so sure about telling anypony anymore.

“No, you’re telling me,” Vinyl said. “I didn’t just eavesdrop for two minutes just so you cut yourself off!”

“Ugh,” I looked around suspiciously, and then back to the other two.

“The doctor was... helping me cope with... a particular situation...” I explained.

“Oh!” Lyra exclaimed, “does it have something to do with you two and Derpy going into the Everfree forest?”

“Uh, sorta,” I started to paraphrase what happened. “I stepped into some...poison joke...”

“Oh,” Vinyl lamented, “Poison joke is the worst.”

“And it made me kinda... kinda... silly, I guess.” I reasoned they wouldn’t get it. I figured if I made it obscure enough, they wouldn’t persist with questions.

“You and the doctor made out, didn’t you?” Vinyl asked, smiling devilishly. WHAT? HOW DID SHE KNOW?

“What? No no no no no... I didn’t...” I tried to refute. I looked to Lyra, then to Scratch. If they weren’t sure before, they were now, and they only needed my confirmation. Defeated, I sighed. “Ok fine, I did.”

Instantly Lyra and Vinyl Scratch squealed in excitement. “You too were kissing?” Lyra asked eagerly.

“In the bathroom or the forest?” Vinyl pressed.

“Uh, both...” I answered, and they covered their mouths with their hooves. “But, like, the first time was because of the poison joke, and the second-”

“Looks like we have another set of lovebirds, don’t we, Lyra?” Vinyl raised both eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

“No! It’s not like that.”

“Yes it was,” Lyra giggled, “and you know it.”

“C’mon, girls, whisper,” I tried to warn them, but it was too late.

“Know what?” We all turned from our slight huddle to see Bonbon, who was looking at us, confused.

“Oh, Bonbon has to know!” Lyra declared.

“No she doesn’t!” I hissed back. I turned to Bonbon, and smiled. “Uh, nothing...”

“You know Lyra and I are like best friends, right?” The cotton candy colored pony looked
at me dubiously.

“Oh yeah,” Lyra said sadly, “about that whole secret thing...”

“What?” I replied, flustered.

“Well, any secrets that I know, Bonbon will eventually know,” Lyra explained guiltily. “I’m sorry Leafie.”

“Still...” I was starting to get more worried about this conversation leaving our circle.

“If you don’t tell me, Lyra will,” Bonbon beamed. All of my resistance obliterated, I took a deep breath, and then unleashed a dam of information.

“So the doctor and me went looking for Derpy when I walked over a patch of poison joke and then I went and started getting all romantic and stuff and then I kissed the doctor and then I blacked out and the doctor brought me to Zecora’s and then I ran away because I thought that Derpy and the doctor were together or something although I didn’t know for sure because the poison joke stuff hadn’t worn off yet and then in the bathroom earlier today I didn’t want to see him because I was so embarrassed which is why I tried to hide from him but he found me anyways and then we made out in the bathroom and then we agreed not to talk about it at all but I just told you guys so if this gets out my life will be over!” I finished my run on sentence, and wheezed for breath.

After I had recovered sufficiently, I looked up at the other ponies. They stood there, slack jawed.

“Um...” I tried to snap them out of their trance, waving a hoof in their faces.

“What is going on over here?” Octavia walked over. Lyra, Scratch, and Bonbon left their trance like state, and Scratch started whispering in her ear. The more she heard, the larger her irises grew, until she was also induced into a slight coma.

“Oh my...” Octavia mumbled.

“No! I told you not to tell anypony!” I yelled, annoyed.

“It’s too late for that,” Bonbon smirked. “Vinyl is the loudmouth of the town.”

“Am not!” Scratch retorted.

“Are too!” Bonbon stuck her tongue out.

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“What are you dudes arguing about?” I groaned. Highlight had joined in.

“Leafwing here is crushing on the doctor,” Scratch blurted.

“Oh no...” I groaned.

“This proves my point,” Bonbon sighed.

“Wow, dude,” Highlight said in a monotone voice. “That’s neat.”

“Just stop it!” I screamed.

“What’s going on over here?” the doctor walked towards us. I cringed.

“Guys, whatever you do, don’t let him know!” I whispered to the group of gossiping ponies that I had somehow told my secret to.

“Don’t let who know what?” I spun around, and Doctor Whooves was right there. I shrieked.

“Oh, nothing!” I laughed, although it sounded a bit like cats dying. “We’re just hanging out, talking about... things.”

“Oh! Things!” Derpy appeared beside the doctor in a flash.

“It’s nothing, really,” Lyra said. I felt a little better that Lyra wasn’t blatantly telling straight up what was happening, like Scratch. I looked to see where Vinyl was, and found her wrestling with Bonbon over control of her mouth.

“Uh, what’s going on over there?” the doctor asked, pointing to the half-brawl.

“Absolutely nothing!” Octavia wore a fake, suspicious smile, stepping in front of the fighting, and I hoped the doctor didn’t notice.

“Well,” the doctor looked me in the eyes, and paused for a second, “keep it to yourselves, then.”

“Yup! See you!” Derpy bounced away, and the doctor followed.

I breathed out in relief. “That was too close-”

Derpy reappeared behind me. “Hey guys, just wanna clarify,” she faced Bonbon and Highlight, who had both pinned Scratch to the ground, “that’s not how you find the things.” Bonbon and Highlight nodded fervently, and Derpy beamed, and left as fast as she had come.

“Are you CRAZY?” I yelled at Scratch as soon as she had left. Bonbon and Highlight released her, and she sat up, shaking her mane slightly.

“I’m sorry,” Vinyl Scratch replied shamefully. “I can’t help myself.”

“Well,” Octavia came to her defense, “there isn’t any harm letting Mr. Whooves know if he already has...well... been close with you...” she repeatedly looked to Vinyl for comfort.

“We both agreed not to TALK ABOUT IT!” I growled back. “If I let him know that I’ve told somepony else, my life will be ruined!”

“Aww come on, it can’t be that bad...” Vinyl said, still apologetic over spilling the beans.

I stared at the ground, steaming with fury. Why did she have to do that? The secret would only be easier to get out this way. Still, somehow, she had still managed to find out about it anyways, without me telling her.

“How did you...” I started to ask, when Scratch laughed.

“It’s one of my secret talents,” Vinyl replied, chuckling to herself. “I just know when ponies are kissing on each other. I actually have like this sense, whenever I’m running a show. I tend to get more when I play slow music, although that isn’t really my style.”

“I can imagine,” I mumbled, and as Bonbon and Scratch argued over what rules were appropriate for gossiping, I suddenly imagined myself, in a dance hall, with Doctor Whooves, promenading on the shiny ballroom floor. I was dressed in a beautiful ball gown, and he was suited with a handsome tuxedo. We danced, and he looked at me with those stunning eyes.

“Will you accept my love?” he asked in a smooth, soft voice.

“Yes,” I replied, content. And then we...

Realizing I was getting caught daydreaming again, I shook my head.

“Leafwing?” Bonbon asked curiously. “What are your wings... doing?”

I looked back at my wings, and flushed beet red.

“Obviously,” Octavia used a hoof to block her smile, “they’re protruding... outwards!”

“You have a wing boner!” Vinyl Scratch roared with laughter. Lyra tried to stop herself, but burst out cackling. Before long, I was once again surrounded by six very humored friends. I even felt amusement from Highlight, despite the fact she still looked as dreary as always.

“What does that mean?” I asked, although I already had a sinking feeling of what it meant.

“It means you’ve been daydreaming about that special somepony!” Octavia said in a sing-song voice, and I cursed my awkwardness.

“Come on!” I moaned, looking at them again, trying to get them to lower. They wouldn’t budge, though, and I tried to use my hooves to pull them down, to no avail. The more I payed attention to the laughing ponies, the more I realized that they relished in my embarrassing acts. It was as if they mocked me for the fun of it. They just wanted me to slip up again.

Infuriated with my discovery, I vented air through my nostrils in frustration.

“Let’s just forget about this and get to the library, before I end up EMBARRASSING MYSELF EVEN MORE!” I yelled. “OR IS THAT WHAT YOU GUYS WANT?”

“What?” Bonbon asked, but I knew she knew what I was talking about.

“YOU GUYS ARE WATCHING ME TO SEE IF I MAKE ANOTHER MISTAKE!” I screamed.

“No we’re not,” Lyra replied.

“YES YOU ARE! ALL OF YOU!!” I vented in fury. “NONE OF YOU KNOW ME!!!! NONE OF YOU!! WHY?!???!”

“Why what?” Vinyl asked, now slightly concerned.

“GUESS WHAT? YOU WIN! NOW I’M AWKWARD EVERYWHERE I GO! I HATE ALL OF YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!!!”

“But-”

“YOU CAN ALL LEAVE! I HATE YOU ALL!!!”

With that, I stormed off. I didn’t care where I was going. I just needed to be away. I blindly ran down the road, not paying any attention to where I was going.

“We’re sorry!” Lyra called after me, but I didn’t stop. It wasn’t until I couldn’t hear them when I started trotting slowly again.

I looked back. I couldn’t see them, especially with my erect wings blocking the way. I screamed out in frustration.

“UGH! WHY?!?” I shrieked, and pounded my hooves on the ground. Before I knew it, I had started clutching my tail, and tears streaked the turquoise fur.

So much for being friends. They were making my life a total pain, even one that I had only lived for four days.

Or was it five days? Why was I sent here? Why was I a pony? And why was I a girl?

I contemplated my existence alone. Why did I have to go through such embarrassing public humiliations, a strange attraction to a colt I barely knew, and life-threatening situations that caused even more bizarre events to occur?

“Why, why, why, why, WHY?!?” I screamed again. My voice echoed down the road, and a few ponies a a long ways away were staring at me. I stared back menacingly.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?” I screeched at them. They quickly left, and I was alone again. I sobbed silently, and looked at my hooves in dismay.

And through this all I was still trying to figure out who I was. I already didn’t know what I was as a human; being an animal made it all worse. My mind was cluttered with things I shouldn’t have been thinking about, things I didn’t even want to be involved in. And yet, they refused to leave my head. My thoughts returned to the black clouds, then the ponies, then me, then my so-called friends, then Whooves, then...

My thoughts turned to Twilight and the others. They were missing. And it was my fault, too. If I hadn’t been brought here, I was sure that the black cloud wouldn’t have done the damage that it did to this beautiful world, a world I constantly humiliated myself in.

Why did I have this ability to be a laughingstock everywhere I went? More why’s circled through my mind, and I was certain that figuring out one would only raise more questions.

I shook my head. Maybe we would learn some answers at Twilight’s house. Yes. That was the only way. I had no choice. They were the only ones that could help me at this point.

“Pull yourself together, Mark,” I felt strange, using my original name. It felt foreign, out of place. “You can do this. Just get to Twilight’s house, and figure this whole thing out. Then, try to figure out how to leave this place.”

I rose to all fours again, with renewed vigour. I could do it. I just had to try.

“HEY!” I heard coming from behind me. I knew that the others had caught up to me.

“Hey, we’re really sorry,” a sweet voice apologized, which I recognized as Lyra.

Lyra was one of the nicest ponies I had ever met. I had yelled at her too. I felt so guilty. I didn’t deserve her friendship. In fact, I didn’t deserve anyone’s friendship. I wanted to run. I did run.

I ran away, but not before running into Derpy.

“Heya!” She beamed cheerfully, and then frowned. “What’s wrong, Leafie?”

“No!” I stammered. “Stay back! I’m not worth it.” I hid my face in my hooves in shame. Derpy was so clueless, but sweet nonetheless. I wasn’t worth her.

“Not worth what?” a male voice asked, and I realized the Doctor was there. “We heard you yelling, and we came back to see what was going on.”

“It’s our fault,” another voice emerged, which I identified as Bonbon. “We’re really sorry for what we did.”

“It’s ok,” I replied despondently, not willing to reveal my face.

“No, it’s not,” another voice piped up, Vinyl’s. Vinyl was also so nice to me, even if she was a loudmouth, and insensitive at times. I closed my eyes, and tears rolled down my cheeks.

“You don’t have to do this,” I replied quietly. “I overreacted.”

“We did, rather, if I do say so myself,” Octavia’s voice said sympathetically. “We were absolutely cruel to you, and we apologize.” Octavia had always seemed like a thorn in my side, but it was as though a rose had bloomed from those sharp branches as she spoke.

“All of us,” Bonbon continued for her, “just feel awful for treating you like that. We know you’re not from around here, and we’re sorry for being so insensitive.” Bonbon was one of the few ponies who had accepted me from the start, letting me sleep at her house, and relieving me from the spotlight of her party.

“Dude, sorry,” Highlight coughed, but I sensed she was being as honest as she could.

I looked up at my friends in a new light. They no longer seemed like malicious, cruel ponies, but more like accepting, sympathetic, and trustworthy companions. They had helped me with my problems, and had saved my life.

How was I supposed to react to this? My mood swings were killing me, and they made it impossible to deal with life. I knew that I shouldn’t have overreacted. They were simply trying to help, and were reacting like how normal ponies would. I guess, at least normal in the context of what I had discovered in the last few days. What was I supposed to think about ponies anyway? Were they always like this to strangers? Was I changing?

I was, wasn’t I. I would have never had mood swings as a boy. I was acting differently. I was worried about how my mane looked, even though I had never had much hair as a human. I had just made out with a colt I barely knew. I shuddered slightly as I thought back to Whooves and me in the bathroom... I was worried about things that I would have never worried about as a human. Being a pony was hard enough, but as a pegasus mare, I could barely even handle myself. In fact, the only thing really stopping me from completely exploding were...

These ponies. Derpy, Lyra, Vinyl, Bonbon, Highlight, Octavia and even the Doctor, though he was the main reason for some of my problems. Regardless what I had done, what I had said, they were there for me. They all helped me in some way, big or small, and all cared for me. They were my friends.

They were my best friends.

For the first time in my whole life, I cried tears of joy.

“Oh no!” Lyra wailed. “Was it something we said?”

“No!” I blubbered through my tears. “You guys are all just... such... good friends... and I... love you all...so much...” As they watched in awe, I teared up more, and gasped for breath. “Please don’t leave me.” I barely made out, and my speech dissolved into more incomprehensible blobs of words.

“Awww.” They responded in harmony. “C’mon guys,” Bonbon proposed. “Let’s get in for a group hug.”

I felt warmth emanating from all parts of my body, and I realized they had me surrounded. It was warm, and constricting, which felt strangely good for a change. I felt a wide smile pierce my face, the first one in a long time.

“Hey, where’d Highlight go?” Derpy asked. I opened my eyes. She wasn’t in the group hug.

“You mean that strange pierced pony?” the doctor asked.

“Yeah, her,” Bonbon said, “I mean, she’s not really that strange, but still.”

“Where’d she go?” Vinyl echoed Derpy, and I looked out from the hug. She had been slowly walking down the road, passively, and I could feel pain leaking from her body. She seemed really upset, and I had a feeling why.

“Highlight!” Determined to make things right, I burst from the circle of friends and tackled her to the floor.

“Hungh!” she grunted.

“Oops,” I apologized. “Sorry!”

“Dude, what are you doing?” she asked, irritated. I could see there was a slight dampness to her mane, and her face, and I could see her left eyes was uncovered and shut closed. She covered it back quickly, and I decided not to comment on it.

“You deserve a group hug as well,” I smiled at her. “You’ve must’ve gone through a lot as well, and everypony that accepts me as a friend should accept you too.”

I quickly hugged her. I could sense her feelings of loneliness slowly leave her. As I continued to embrace her, other ponies gathered around me again.

“Well, you guys gonna join in?” I asked.

“Of course!” Vinyl shouted, and once again, all the air was squeezed out of me. I could see Highlight getting smothered as we all hugged her. It was too much love for her, and she tried to get out a bit to get some air.

“Dudes,” she somehow muttered, despite the constraining force of seven ponies on her. “Dudes? That’s enough.”

“You sure?” I asked.

“Yeah, dude.” she poked a head through the hug, and took a deep breath. “Yeah, dude, I’m done.”

Chapter 9: Finding the Elements

Finally, we had made it to the treehouse.

“Here we... are,” Doctor Whooves said, confused, and I turned to see him and Derpy, a few paces away, pointing towards the library.

The door had been smashed open. As we moved closer to get a better peek inside, I could see piles of books, knocked to the floor.

“Get off of me!” I heard a child-like voice say from inside.

“SPIKE!” I heard in response. Walking in, I could barely distinguish the dragon with a sobbing Rarity lying on top of him.

“I’m so sorry!” she wailed. Her voice was scratchy, whinier almost, a sound produced as she tried to talk through her crying. “You saved my life!”

“I...did?” Spike said, bewildered.

Meanwhile, a few piles of books away, a pony I guessed to be Mr. Cake was in a similar situation.

“I was so worried!” Mrs. Cake bawled above Mr. Cake’s thin structured body.

“How did you forget I was going to return the cookbooks I borrowed for Pound and Pumpkin?” he asked, upset, and slightly perplexed. As they embraced each other on the floor, Vinyl and Octavia looked at each other, and smiled. Lyra teared up slowly, raising a tissue that she had taken from Bonbon’s resigning hooves to dry her watering eyes.

“It would be nice if you could get off,” Mr. Cake wheezed from his position. Mrs. Cake chuckled nervously, and removed herself from her husband.

“Thank you so much, Derpy,” she thanked, standing up from Mr. Cake’s crushed body. “I wouldn’t know what to do without Mr. Cake, we would lose the shop, and...” She stopped, realizing we were all staring strangely at the pair.

“Thank you,” Mr. Cake said finally, embarrassed slightly by their public display of affection. Octavia and Vinyl, who were standing by the door, made room for them as they departed. As soon as they left, Vinyl chuckled a bit more.

“Remind us of anypony, Octavia?” she winked.

“Not one pony,” Octavia blushed. “I haven’t the slightest clue.”

“Uh, somepony, a little *ack* help here, please?” someone choked, and I realized Spike was asphyxiating. He was busy trying to get Rarity off of him, wiggling his arms and legs, and trying to squeeze out of her tight hug. Lyra and I pulled the sobbing beauty off of the dragon, and pulled her onto a chair, where she sat and sniffled.

“Spike, are you ok?” I asked. He replied by wiping sweat off his brow.

“Yeah,” he groaned, clutching the spines on his back. “My back aches. I must’ve slept for a long time.” He looked at Rarity, and then back at me, concerned. “Why’s Rarity so upset?”

“Wait a minute...” I looked at the baby dragon. “Are you saying you slept...”

“All day and all night.” He replied, albeit a little worried. “Actually, please don’t tell Twilight! She thinks I’ve been organizing books while she’s gone!” As he looked around the room, we fell silent.

“Twilight’s not here...” Lyra said slowly.

“What?” he said, shocked. “Then what’s Rarity doing here?”

“Rarity?” Lyra and I turned to her. She looked up at us. “Perhaps you should explain.”

She nodded quickly, but could only make hysterical blubbering sounds. I sighed.

“Basically,” I tried to start, “things didn’t go down as planned.”

--------

As we told her story to the dragon, his scales slowly drooped. As we finished, he almost seemed to be struggling, trying to contain his despair.

“But...but...” Spike muttered, “it can’t be true! Twilight always makes it through everything she does! If she hasn’t, she would at least be able to send me a letter from Canterlot!”

“That’s just the thing,” Rarity sighed. “Canterlot has been compromised.”

“What?” everyone gasped.

“I beg you to think logically!” she groaned. “If whatever was here affected me beyond my control, then it must’ve affected princess Celestia. That’s the only way the castle grounds could possibly be covered in fog!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, several ponies started yelling at once.

“NOT TRUE!” “NOT PRINCESS CELESTIA!” “I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS NONSENSE!” “Dude, that makes no sense. She’s stronger than that.” “DEAR CELESTIA! WHATEVER WILL WE DO?!?” “THEN WHO’S CONTROLLING THE SUN?”

“Wait a sec!” I yelled. They stopped. “Princess Celestia controls the sun?”

“Uh, duh!” Vinyl snorted. “Where have you been?”

“Not here,” I stuttered, “I mean, around. Never mind, the point is, look at the sun!”

We shuffled outside to look to the sun. There was nothing seemingly different about it. It floated above the town in a noontime position, sitting there as if nothing was wrong.

“Well, what about it?” Scratch asked slowly. Octavia shook her head condescendingly.

“What Leafwing here is trying to say,” the cellist explained, “is that if the Princess was really in danger, the sun should be functioning slightly differently.”

“Spike, what time is it?” Bonbon asked thoughtfully. Spike put a hand to his chin, as though to think for a second, and then ran back into the library. We followed him until he reached a nearby store room. As soon as he had shut the door, a series of banging noises and what sounded like yelping, screeching, and howling ensued.

After a few moments, he emerged, carrying a white rabbit. As he kicked the door closed with a back leg, he collapsed to the floor, evidently exhausted.

“I... had to... take care of... everypony’s... pets... while... they were... gone...” he wheezed.

“Wait, is Opalescence in there?” Rarity asked. Spike barely gave a nod with the strength he had, and Rarity opened the door once again, and her horn glowed. Out of the door flew a fat white cat. As it levitated closer to her, it slowed down, and I could make out a purple bow on the top of her head and a similarly colored collar, inset with beautiful sapphires.

“OPAL!” Rarity squealed, and embraced her pet. As we watched her attempt to hug her scratching cat, the white rabbit stood there, looking unamused.

“Wow...” Lyra said cautiously, as if to voice the opinions of the whole group, “that’s a nice... pet you have there, Rarity...”

“She’s simply a darling,” Rarity grinned, and the cat batted angrily at her styled mane.

“Angel...” Spike took his time to sit up from his collapsed position. “Can you... get... the time...?”

“Why does Angel have a watch?” Bonbon asked.

“Well, Fluttershy is always late for some kind of errand or other,” Spike explained, “and it’s up to Angel to keep her in check.”

The bunny shook his coat. Out tumbled a simple pocket watch. Looking at it, he quickly handed it over to Spike, who turned it over to read it.

I was perplexed. Where did the watch come from?

“Where’d you get that from?” I asked.

“From his coat,” Derpy replied happily. “At least, that’s where I keep all of my things!”

“Yeah,” Bonbon added, “At least, small things. I guess it’s different for you pegasi, with your wings and all. Derpy may be an exception.”

“Actually, dude,” Highlight said, “I keep my things in my coat too...” I started to feel nervous. They can store things in their coat? How is that even possible? And how come I can’t do it? The longer I thought about it, the longer I realized I didn’t have much to carry in the first place. At least, for now. When the situation called for it, it would be likely that I would need to know how to do this.

But for now, it only seemed to reinforce the fact that I was awkward in my body.

“Huh?” Lyra asked, confused, “then where does Leafwing-”

“It’s 5:30 P.M.” Spike announced, luckily interrupting their discovery of my obvious lack of pony know-how.

“Wait,” Doctor Whooves asked, “the sun is still at noon-time. Are you sure your watch isn’t acting up?”

The bunny, or Angel, as it were, scratched his ear with his hind leg, and then put his front feet up to his shoulders, as if to shrug. Then it pulled another pocket watch out, this one with a slightly less ornate design.

“Yup, his spare reads the same,” Spike repeated. “It’s supposed to be near evening!”

“It can’t be,” Bonbon whispered. “If Celestia can’t control the sun...”

“We’re in for trouble,” Scratch finished, gulping.

We all sat silent for a beat. Then...

“Alright, I’m heading home,” Vinyl yawned.

“Me too,” Bonbon agreed, and they began to leave. I was confused.

“What’s... going on?” I asked.

“Oh, we’re just gonna wait out the storm,” Lyra said. “Wait until the other ponies figure it out.”

And with that, most of the ponies shuffled out of the room, leaving a befuddled Rarity, Spike, Doctor Whooves, Highlight, and me, as if nothing had happened.

“Huh?” I was confused. “What happened?” I asked.

“Dude, they’re leaving, obviously,” Highlight said calmly, without change of vocal inflection.

“WHAT?!?” I raged. “WE’RE IN FOR TROUBLE, AND THEY’RE LEAVING?!?!”

I quickly bolted my way out of the library to follow them.

“STOP IT!” ALL OF YOU!!!” I screamed. Everypony looked at me strangely, and they all stopped walking.

“What is it?” Lyra asked.

“Just... what is wrong with all of you?” I demanded.

“Wrong with us?” Vinyl snorted. “We didn’t do anything!”

“EXACTLY!” I yelled, frustrated.

“I’m not sure I follow,” Bonbon said, perturbed.

“Are none of you guys worried about Twilight?” I asked, worried even more.

“Uhh, no,” Vinyl answered.

“Or Rainbow?” I continued. “Or Fluttershy? Or Pinkie Pie? Or Applejack?”

“Not really, to be honest,” Lyra replied.

“Frankly,” Octavia shrugged, “that band of silly ponies always get through to,” she stopped to change voice, as though mimicking another, “save the day.”

“Frankly?” Derpy laughed. “Why not Charlie?”

“Or Bob?” Highlight added. We stared at her strangely, and then I continued.

“Really?” I questioned. They nodded their heads. “So then explain why Rarity is here, separated from the rest of the group.”

“Well,” Bonbon tried to answer. “When Discord came around, they were divided for a time.”

“Yea,” Vinyl continued. “Ponyville has gone through much worse than some monster.”

“But they weren’t here this time,” I explained. “I don’t even know how we stopped that thing.”

“Well, there’s certainly some sort of reasoning behind it,” Octavia tried to argue.

“If I might add something to the conversation,” we turned to hear Doctor Whooves talk. “I believe it would be a prudent idea to visit Princess Celestia.” I put a hoof up to my face in dismay.

“This brings me to the next point,” I muttered, pointing a hoof at the sun, still hovering directly above us. “Does anypony here remember that there’s something wrong with the sun, which the Princess supposedly controls?!?”

“Oh...” Derpy mumbled.

“We gotta do something!” I finished, flailing my front legs in frustration, breathing deeply, trying to calm myself down.

“But why?” Lyra asked. “We never do anything. We’re in the background of the real action, per se. Most of the time, we just avoid trouble.”

“Leafwing has a point, guys,” Bonbon argued, and I was taken aback, stunned by her taking my side. The others seemed to share the same surprise, and turned to listen to her. “We can’t just stand aside and let Equestria fall into ruin.”

“But how?” Octavia said, indolent. “We don’t even know where to start!”

“Yeah!” Scratch added. “We’re not anything special! We’re just... regular ponies.”

“At least,” Bonbon said, “all of us... except you, Leafwing.”

“What?” I exclaimed, startled by her statement. “You guys are all special!”

“You’re the one with the freakish magic,” Scratch pointed at my chest. “You’re not even a unicorn!”

“Dude,” Highlight said. “She’s right.”

“At the end of the day,” Lyra sighed, “we’re nothing. We just tag along for the ride. We’re just...background ponies.”

The others looked to the ground. I couldn’t tell if it was self-pity, lethargy, or cowardice, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I was tired of nopony taking responsibility. I stamped a hoof on the ground, causing all of them to look up.

“Not anymore,” I stared each of them in the eyes. “We’re going to rescue Equestria. And we’re going to do it together. Whatever Twilight and her friends can do, so can we. And we have to. We’re their only hope.”

“But how?” Octavia echoed her previous statement. “We don’t even know where to start!”

“I have an idea,” a voice said, and we turned to see Spike, who had followed us out of the library. “And it just might work.”

-----

“The Elements of Harmony?” Lyra whispered for the hundredth time.

“Yes!” Spike grumbled. “Now stop saying that!”

“Oh! Sorry.” Lyra apologized.

He opened a large yellow tome, encrusted with dust and dirt. As he flipped the ornate cover open, a puff of dust left the pages, causing Lyra to cough.

“Careful with the pages,” Spike warned. “Some of them are really old, Twilight tells me.”

“You should be more careful with handling that piece of dust around living beings!” Octavia muttered. “It’s a health hazard, if you ask me.”

Spike ignored the cellist and continued flipping pages. Inside were many inscriptions that I guessed to be “Equestrian,” or whatever language ponies used to write with. On closer inspection, however, it looked to be an ornate version of English.

“Anyways,” Spike cleared his throat before continuing, “the spirits of the Elements are currently ‘residing’ within six ponies. Those would be Twilight and her best friends: Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, who is here now. Each represents a different element. Pinkie Pie’s is laughter-”

“No doubt about that,” Vinyl chuckled, elbowing Octavia.

“-Fluttershy’s is kindness, Applejack’s is honesty, Rainbow Dash’s is loyalty, Rarity’s is-”

“Generosity,” Rarity finished for the dragon. “and Twilight’s is magic. She’s always had a knack for it.”

“So how does this help us?” Bonbon asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The last time that something terrible had happened in Equestria,” Spike explained, “they used the elements to defeat the bad guys. Like Discord and Nightmare Moon.”

“I remember Discord!” Derpy spread her wings, and flew straight up into the air. “There was chocolate rain everywhere!” She flailed her arms around as if to simulate the supposed tasty precipitation.

“The exploding chocolate glass was funny dude,” Highlight added, and the other ponies looked at her with confused expressions. She slunk back slightly, and I could feel her humiliation, even though she didn’t show it.

“Anyways,” I decided to break the unpleasant silence up, “how do we use the elements?”

“I’m not sure if you can...” Spike pointed to the book. “It looks like the energies of the elements, wherever they are, are ‘bound,’ whatever that means, to their ‘representatives’ or something. I don’t know what these big words mean, I’m just reading them from the book.”

“Basically,” Rarity interpreted, “nopony other than me can represent generosity.”

“Well then,” Octavia muttered. “We are out of luck. We can’t even hope to defeat them without the elements!”

“That’s the thing,” Rarity elucidated. “If you were able to rescue me, then you could rescue the others!”

“But where do we even go?” Scratch asked impatiently. “I mean, it was dumb luck that we rescued you, let alone survived whatever happened here, but where would the others be?”

“Somewhere evil looking,” Lyra suggested. “At least, like Ponyville before Leafwing did her magic spell of awesomeness!”

I shrunk back. Why did they continue to praise me for something I didn’t do?

“Hey, dudes,” Highlight pointed. “The Everfree forest is pretty evil looking.”

“The Everfree?” we all said simultaneously.

“Yes!” the Doctor agreed. “It did seem darker than usual. We should go and investigate.”

“Not the Everfree!” Spike shuddered. “It’s... dangerous!”

“And how do we even know if they’re there?” Derpy asked.

“Easy,” Bonbon explained. “Ponyville was covered in a dense black cloud. If we can find one in the Everfree, then maybe another element will be hiding there.”

I shuddered as I thought about the fog, and how quickly the ponies were able to figure out about how it functioned. At least, they now knew it as well as I did, and that scared me for some reason.

“It’s a risky plan,” Lyra murmured, concerned.

“And it will be difficult to spot the difference between the fog and the forest itself,” the doctor added.

“Well, it’s a risk that we need to take,” Bonbon retorted.

Octavia stomped a hoof on the ground. “We must save Equestria! For Princess Celestia!”

“Well, if scaredy cat Tavi is going for it, I will!” Vinyl Scratch chuckled as Octavia huffed in displeasure.

“Me too,” Lyra added.

“Well, it’s settled,” Spike announced proudly. “You guys are officially... ‘The Element Gatherers!’”

“What?” Derpy asked, confused, echoing the sentiments of the bewildered ponies around her.

“Well,” Spike thought for a second, “I need a name for your group... I mean, they call Twilight’s group of friends the Elements of Harmony.”

“Well,” Bonbon said flatly. “That’s because they are the elements of harmony.”

“Oh, yeah.” Spike scratched his chin. “Fighters for Friendship?”

“Uh, no way,” Vinyl Scratch dismissed. “Waaay too cheesy. Try something awesome, like my stage name, DJ PON-3!”

All at once, several ponies began suggesting names.

“The Terrific Six?” Lyra beamed, until somepony asked how many were in the group.

“The Mystical Mares?” Octavia suggested, “Plus a Doctor?”

“The Doctor?” Whooves tried. “Plus the mares?”

“The Muffin Crusaders!” Derpy smiled brightly, although no one payed attention.

“Dude, how about The Midnight Bloody Reapers?”

Ponies stopped, bewildered by Highlight’s suggestion. “Uh, no...” Bonbon said slowly.

“Well,” Scratch suggested slowly, “if they’re the Elements of Harmony, maybe... we could be... the Elements of Awesomeness!”

All of us seemed pretty content, except Octavia, who frowned.

“We cannot use that as a group name!” Octavia shrilled. “We should use something more...representative of the group.”

“Are you saying you’re not awesome dude?” Highlight said.

Octavia sputtered. “I was simply saying... we do not have to use... this...”

“Well, we all are pretty awesome,” Bonbon giggled.

“I agree,” I said quickly, not wanting to prolong the discussion. “it’s a working name, and we can discuss it later, but we have to go now. The longer we wait, the more in danger the elements are in.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“Fine,” Tavi scowled. “But it’s a working name.”

-----

“Why are we doing this again?” Octavia’s teeth clattered together as we ventured deeper into the forest.

“So we can ‘save Equestria,’ if I remember clearly?” Vinyl Scratch grinned slyly.

We had decided the first plan of action was to visit Fluttershy’s cottage, which was on the edge of the forest. We didn’t quite know where it was, though, and we were finding it increasingly difficult to navigate the terrain.

“Oof!” Bonbon stumbled on a root. She fell face first onto the ground, and we chuckled as Lyra tried to pull her out of the dirt.

“My mane is dirty!” Bonbon grumbled, as she got onto her feet. “I can only deal with so much in one day. Ugh!”

“Why didn’t we just ask Rarity for directions?” Octavia groaned.

Rarity and Spike had elected to stay, Spike since he was a baby dragon, and he needed his sleep. Rarity stayed to help repair the damages done to Ponyville, not to mention caring for the pets with Spike. She agreed to make sure that when the other elements of harmony returned, she would make sure they stayed put until we had found them all.

“I forgot to...” I replied, frustrated at my stupidity. “Maybe we should go back and ask first...”

“It’s too late,” the Doctor sighed. “There’s no way we’ll be able to back now.”

“Why’s that?” Lyra asked, now scared. “Are we lost? We’re lost, aren’t we.”

We were lost.

“I’m afraid so,” Whooves replied sadly. “Even though I know these forests better than the lot of you, I’m afraid my knowledge only extends so far. I’m sorry ladies, but I’m no good.”

As soon as he had finished talking, a loud crashing noise erupted from above. A yellow maned pegasus smashed into the ground nearby, releasing a cloud of smoke. Dusting herself off quickly with her wings, she trotted up to us.

“Hey guys!” Derpy grinned. “It’s really fun to fly up over the forest! I can see everything!”

“Really?” the doctor sighed with relief. “Well, did you see any clouds of smoke or something?”

“Actually,” Derpy answered, “I see two!”

“Two?” a murmur spread throughout the group.

“Yeah!” Derpy beamed. “One is covering Fluttershy’s cottage, and the other one’s around some broken castle thing.”

“Let’s split up, dudes,” Highlight suggested. “That way, we’ll be able to cover more ground.”

“She’s right,” Scratch said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to find our ways back.”

“And Highlight, Leafie, and me can fly above the canopy!” Derpy added. “So we can direct you when we see something interesting, and find each other when we’re lost!”

As she mentioned me, I tucked my wings in more. I almost forgot I was a pegasus.

“And Scratch and I can light the way with our horns!” Lyra continued.

“Ok then, dudes, each group needs a pegasus and a unicorn,” Highlight ordered. “The Doctor, Derpy, Vinyl, and Octavia, you head in that direction, towards the castle. Leafwing, Lyra, Bonbon, and me are going to Fluttershy’s. Once you find the element, we get back to the library as soon as possible. Got that, dudes?”

We all nodded.

-----

“Wow, I didn’t know you had organizing skills!” Bonbon said, still struck by how eloquently Highlight had set up the groups.

“Dude, there’s a lot you don’t know about me...” she replied quietly.

We stopped talking after that.

Heading straight towards a slowly darkening trail, I started thinking again. We were headed towards Fluttershy’s cottage, but I had no idea what to expect there. Would Fluttershy be trapped inside a monster shell as well? And how could I defeat her? Would the same circumstances allow me to stop another one of those creatures, even though I still had no clue as to how and what had happened in Ponyville? The questions bore into my mind until they were all I could think about. I wracked my mind, trying to figure out any reasonable answers to the conundrums haunting me.

“The cloud...” Highlight said suddenly. “We’re here.”

“This is scary...” Lyra squeaked. “Do we have to do this?”

“We have to...” Bonbon replied, scared as well, but trying not to show it. Lyra slunk behind Bonbon, head down.

“Get out from under there, dude!” Highlight growled.

“No!” Lyra cried. “I’m not taking orders! Especially not from you!”

Bonbon and me exchanged confused glances. “What do you mean?” Bonbon asked.

“I don’t trust her!” Lyra shoved her head under her hooves, and shook uncontrollably.

“Lyra, we can’t see if you’re hiding behind Bonbon!” I coaxed. “You gotta light the way!”

A whimpering response was all I could get from Lyra.

“Ugh! Just! Go!” Bonbon was now pushing Lyra in front with her head. “You! Can! Do! This!” Bonbon was pushing so hard, and her hooves so firmly secured to the ground that dirt began to give.

“Dude, the cottage is right there,” Highlight said, pointing.

She was right. The cottage was a small one, barely with two floors, and an extensive garden covering the lawn. A tiny river flowed under a small bridge. I thought about Fluttershy, and imagined it would probably be beautiful, if only the fog hadn’t made it seem so dark and gloomy. A rusty fence was slowly decaying, and the cottage had taken on a sinister personality of sorts, contorted tiles covering the roof and the chimney twisted like a spiral. More smoke and fog billowed out from the top, and I could only assume something evil was lurking inside.

Muahahahahahahaha... an ominous voice echoed. I realized the voice was inside my head. Lyra screamed, and Bonbon cowered. Highlight stared into the blackness surrounding the cottage. I guessed they had heard it too.

“Dude, who are you?” Highlight muttered in her monotone voice, but I could feel panic emanating from her.

You seek the Element of Kindness, do you not? Well, let us have a little game, and see if you can prove your worth...

A cloud slowly rose from the ground, starting to cover Highlight, who had now started to flail her legs about. “Dudes...” she said calmly, but I could feel waves of panic and fear coming from her.

“Highlight!” Bonbon yelled. I flexed my wings, and slammed my body into the fog with full force, but nothing gave. I bounced off, and crashed into Lyra, who shrieked she could only watch.

The cloud was changing her. As Highlight began to levitate, I could see her wings slowly dissipate into wisps of smoke, and she screamed in agony. She threw her head back and forth, struggling against the cloud, and her hair was flipping uncontrollably. Her left eye suddenly opened, glowing red. It was strangely the first time I had seen her left eye, and I realized her mane had covered the eye previously. Another scream erupted from her as something slowly protruded out of her head, and then she disappeared from view as the cloud consumed her.

“No!!!” I screamed.

“What have you done with her?” Bonbon yelled.

You think that I did anything to her? Simpleminded mare, I merely instigated what exists inside of her, what has existed inside of her for far too long to be contained...

“What do you mean?!?” Lyra covered her eyes in fright.

You’ll see. You’ll see...

Silence, once again. There were no animal noises, which were present even after we had entered the fog.

“We have to go in,” I finally declared.

“Are you kidding me?” Lyra replied. “It’s so... scary...”

“We have to go in,” I repeated with more determination, more for my own confidence than hers. She whimpered, and remained glued to the ground, shaking.

“Hey, think of it this way, Lyra,” Bonbon knelt beside her. “Once we get rid of the cloud, it will be beautiful. Just like Ponyville. Remember?”

“I... I just... I don’t know...” Lyra whispered.

“The only way to find out is through that door...” I pointed. The door to the cottage was eerily open, as if to welcome us in.

“Let’s go,” Bonbon ordered.

“I’ll... stay.... here... guard... exit...” Lyra managed to say, and then went silent.

Bonbon and I walked towards the house cautiously, making sure not to make much noise. As we reached the small bridge, something plowed into both of us, and we both screamed. Looking up, we saw...

Lyra.

“I thought I saw something move out there...” She quivered on the front step.

“Ok, let’s go then,” Bonbon said, worried. “The longer we wait, the more danger Highlight could be in.” She then turned to me, and pointed with a shaky hoof into the darkness of the house. “Uh, you first, Leafwing.” The others stood back, cowering a good few feet away from the door. They expected me to be brave...

I took a deep breath, and slowly peeked into the house. My heart beat like a drum, and I could barely discern any other sound. My hooves grew sweaty as my anxiety set in. A silhouette of what looked like a unicorn lay in the center of the room. It was too dark to see, but I could tell it was no monster.

Or was it...

“Uh, hello?” I asked carefully.

“Hello there, Leafwing,” the unicorn replied mischievously, and I felt a tingle of discomfort spread down my backbone.

Suddenly, a green light, floating in the center of the room, illuminated her body, and I recognized her...

“Highlight!” I gasped, “it’s you!” She turned to face me.

“Yes, it’s me,” she cackled, and I knew something wasn’t right.

“Your wings, your hair,” it seemed that the coloration of her mane had reversed, so that her dark inner hair had switched places with her bleached blond hair that had previously been on the outside, “you have a horn...”

“Yes, what about it?” she laughed some more, and my gut solidified. She had never laughed before, in fact, she had always talked in a monotone like voice, full of torpor. Never like this. This was different... It was fully expressing the emotions that were radiating from her... and the emotions were disturbing.

I noticed her left eye was bloodred, and her right eye was hidden from view by her mane, much like her left eye had before the transformation...

“We’re gonna find a way to change you back,” I stammered, however I stepped back through the doorway slowly.

“Why would I want to go back?” she guffawed, and I shrunk back slightly. “My whole life I have been trying to express myself... my feelings...” she rose to her tallest height, standing.

“What’s going on, Leaf?” Bonbon asked from outside the house.

“...and now I have the ability to do as I please!”

With that, Highlight lowered her horn, and charged. My heart skipped a beat.

“Ahh!” I screamed, and jumped aside barely quickly enough to let her slide by and slam into a mailbox.

“Get her!” Bonbon screamed, and jumped onto her back, trying to subdue the crazed pony.

“Stop, Highlight!” I pleaded. “You’re going to hurt someone!”

Highlight bucked Bonbon off. The Earth pony skidded across the ground, and slid right next to Lyra. Shaking her head to toss a few stray hairs out of the way, Highlight roared, “MY NAME IS SHADOW STAR, AND I FINALLY ARISE!!!!”

“Oh no!” Lyra cried. “It’s her! Run!”

“Her?” Bonbon and I said quizzically.

Highlight, or Shadow, as she now called herself, raised her horn. A condensed ball of energy accumulated at the tip of the horn.

“MOVE!” Lyra screamed, and pushed me out of the way, just as Shadow released her bolt of magic. It smashed into the wall of the cottage, and broke, revealing a gash in the wall, smeared in soot and ashes.

“Hide,” Lyra insisted, and dove behind a bush. Numb from my near-death experience, I could only watch as Bonbon got to her feet again.

“Highlight, or Shadow, whoever you are, take this!” Bonbon charged towards Highlight, or Shadow, and struck her on the side. Reeling around to recover from the blow, Shadow once again concentrated on her horn, and Bonbon was levitated off of the ground.

“Let! Me! Go!”

“TOO LATE!” Shadow roared pugnaciously, and the horn brightened slightly. Bonbon, now unable to control her floating body, crashed to the floor, dazing her, and rendering her unconscious.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” At first, I thought I heard it coming from my mouth, but instead, a furious Lyra screamed out from her hiding place. Jumping from behind the bush, she stood above Bonbon’s tenuous body.

“And what do you think you’ll do, Lyra Heartstrings?” Shadow disparaged. “You were too late to save your friend.”

“Not. Yet.” Lyra had somehow changed from a timorous pony into an intrepid unicorn in a blink of an eye. I gawked as she planted each hoof into the ground belligerently. Shadow Star growled.

“Do you remember the first time we dueled, Lyra?” Shadow Star reminisced.

“You! You’re not Highlight!” Lyra yelled, with some sort of realization dawning upon her.

“Of course, you silly filly,” Shadow answered condescendingly.

“Huh?” I managed to say. Now, I was so confused. Did they know each other? I faintly remembered their exchange when I introduced them.

-----

“A friend,” I quickly breathed. “Her name’s Highlight.”

“Oh, her...” Lyra muttered.

“You!” Highlight growled. “Dude, not this dude...”

-----

So they did have a history.

“You’re her... other side, it seems,” Lyra figured. “Her... dormant side.”

“You win the memory game,” Shadow cackled. “The prize is death.”

“Well, I’m not taking that prize, ” Lyra said through clenched teeth. “I’ve changed. I’ve gotten better.”

“YOU INSOLENT BRAT!” Shadow screamed. “PREPARE TO DIE!”

Before I knew what was going on, both of their horns shone brightly. Lyra’s horn fired a single powerful line of magic towards Shadow Star, who had fired her own. The two clashed in the center, and an explosion of flowing energy flared out at the connective point.

“I’ve been... practicing,” Lyra winced slightly as she concentrated, “and... this time... you’re in for it...”

Slowly, I could see Lyra’s bright cyan beam was beating Shadow Star’s namesake colored dark magic back quickly. I could feel her becoming more and more distressed by the second, and she braced her hooves in the ground in a feeble attempt to fight back.

“WHAT...?” the black unicorn shrieked as she struggled. “THIS CAN’T... BE POSSIBLE!!!”

“You. Hurt. My. Best. Friend.” Lyra grunted, and put more force into the beam with each word, until she was shouting. “You. Do. NOT. HURT! MY! FRIENDS!”

As I grew increasingly confused, Lyra’s beam finally connected with Shadow’s horn. A huge explosion of light dazzled my eyes, and I threw my legs up to block the light from possibly blinding me.

A sonorous bang sounded off, followed by a shrill voice in distress.

“NOOO...” a slowly dying scream echoed, and then, as the bright light faded, I could see Shadow Star lying on the floor several feet away from where she once stood, surrounded by a pile of ashes. The house no longer glowed the eerie greenish hue as it had once.

“I’ll take care of Bonbon,” Lyra said sternly. “You go and check on her.”

I decided not to question her suddenly dominant attitude, and walked over to the soot covered Shadow. Except she looked different once again. The explosion must have done something to her mane, as it had once again switched the inside coloration with the outside, making the bleached color stand out more strongly than that of the dark blue. Her right eye twitched, and I realized her left one was once again covered by her mane.

Standing back slightly, I gasped as her horn slowly dissolved in a bright flash, and wing-shaped planes of light materialized on her sides. I blinked, and her wings had returned.

I was more interested in her left eye though. It seemed now it was more than coincidence that her mane was covering her left eye. Lyra knew it too. In fact, Lyra knew more than me about her, it seemed.

As I lifted her mane to peek at the eye, a hoof smacked my arm away. “HAY!” I quickly turned to see her bright blue right eye stare at me. “Dude, don’t touch that.”

I instinctively jumped back, afraid that Shadow Star would make a reappearance.

“It’s a little late for that eye,” Lyra murmured.

“Oh no...” Shadow said glumly. “Did I...”

“Your other side appeared, Highlight,” Lyra finished. “I’m so sorry.”

“Wha- what?” I tried to speak cohesively. “What’s going on?!?”

“Ugh, that’s what I want to know...” I glanced at Bonbon, who was struggling to gain consciousness again.

“Apparently,” Lyra grunted as she pulled Bonbon to her feet, “Highlight has an alter ego. I fought her before, in the past, but I couldn’t tell the difference between the two until now. I should’ve known that, I knew they were different.” I was baffled. If Lyra had just made the discovery, then...

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?!?” I yelled at Lyra. “I still don’t get anything and you’re only making things confusing!”

“Dude, I’m Highlight,” Shadow, or Highlight, started. She looked at Bonbon, who was rubbing her temples with her hooves, trying to recover from what probably was a concussion.

“Please, tell us what’s going on, Highlight,” I grumbled. “Or should I say, Shadow Star?”

Highlight stood up, and stumbled toward us.

“How do we know you’re not Shadow?” I demanded.

“Dude,” Highlight said with apathy, but I felt as though she was pleading to me. “You just have to trust me.”

Her truthfulness astounded me. Although her voice could not reflect what kinds of feelings I was receiving from her, her eye almost could. I could feel that she was as close to showing her emotions as she ever could. Her right eye twitched slightly, and her pupil dilated quickly.

“I trust you.” I finally said.

“What? Why, dude?” Highlight seemed surprised, although her voice didn’t reflect it.

“Because you sound... truthful,” I replied.

“Dude, I sound... the same... whatever I say,” Highlight whispered, almost as if to prove something to herself.

“No, but I can feel you,” I said. She scrutinized me carefully.

“What do you mean, dude?” she asked. “That’s kinda weird...”

“Not like that!” I giggled before seriously responding. “I just know how you’re feeling... even if you can’t show it.” Highlight looked at me differently. I could see her feelings of confusion, relief, and then more confusion.

“I believe her,” Lyra stepped forward. “And that means I believe you.”

We both looked at each other, and then nodded to Highlight.

Almost immediately she began flooding my senses with happiness, sadness, grief and cheer, relief and guilt, almost as though she had released a dam of emotion, held back only by time.

“Woah, stop it,” I said shakily, and realized I had stumbled back a few steps. “That’s way too much at once...”

“Dude... I... I... I don’t understand...” she whispered.

“Me neither...” I replied. “It could help if you explained who this Shadow Star is.”

Highlight nodded.

Before she could start talking, though, the mind-voice returned. And it did not sound happy.

FOALS! YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO DISTURB FEAR’S MASTER PLAN! YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED!!!

“Punished?” Bonbon squeaked.

“Master plan?” I shook in fright. “What master plan?”

“Into the house!” Lyra yelled, and we all quickly entered the cottage. Lyra illuminated the room with her glowing horn as Highlight slammed the doors, but shadows began pouring in through the cracks and windows of the building.

“Oh no,” Lyra shrunk back, and I could see her recessive side return slightly. “I don’t think we can explain Highlight right now. We have to stop this thing before it-”

“AHHHH!!!” We turned to see Bonbon screaming. A cloud had begun to form around her, just like how it had around Highlight.

“What are you doing to me?” Bonbon screeched. “Are you going to... change me too?”

No. It would be too much of a waste of energy for that. Instead, I’ll just kill you.

“SOMEPONY HELP!” she screamed. The cloud had snatched her hooves up, and was slowly crawling up her fetlocks.

As I looked down, I realized the same was happening to me, and Lyra, and Highlight.

“We can’t get out!” I discovered, struggling against the vice-like grip of the shadows. They were cold, and I imagined that the fog would likely kill by hypothermia.

“Well, it looks like we’re screwed,” Bonbon said, voice quavering.

“No!” I yelled. “There’s got to be a way... out...”

There is no escape. Goodnight, my little ponies. You’re in for a little chill... the voice chortled, and then ended.

“No no no no no no no no...” Bonbon moaned. “Leafwing! Do something!”

“I...I...I can’t...” I replied, crestfallen. “I don’t even know how to...”

“Ugh, dude,” Highlight sighed. “This sucks...”

“Highlight!” Lyra called out from her cloud, surprisingly calm. “I just want you to know... I’m sorry!”

“Sorry for what, dude?” Highlight was also calm, almost sounding bored, but I could tell she was fearful.

“For... for being so mean to you...” she replied. “I should’ve known she wasn’t you.”

“But, Shadow is me,” Highlight called back. The fog was now climbing up to near my flanks, and I tried unsuccessfully to move my legs. It can’t end like this, I thought. Not like this... what about the others?

“What are you guys talking about?!?” Bonbon yelled. We ignored her.

“You’re not Shadow right now...” Lyra cried, now more desperate. The light from her horn enhanced her scared expression. “I... I should have been nicer to you...”

“Well, it’s ok, dude,” Highlight shrugged, at least, as well as she could as the shadows wrapped near her shoulders. The fog had reached a similar location for me, and I sneezed. The cold would soon freeze us if we couldn’t do anything. Which was feeling more and more like the case...

“I... forgive you,” Highlight said softly. I could see a tear leave her eye. A similar wetness came from my eyes. Lyra smiled slightly, sadly, as her light gave out. Even with no light, I could hear tears dropping from her eyes as they smattered against the hardwood floor.

It was becoming harder to breathe, and it wasn’t only because I was becoming emotional. The fog had reached my chest, and I could tell it was also affecting the others. Soon, all the things Lyra and Highlight had wanted to tell me would never be told. And, everything I wanted to tell them, I couldn’t. Wouldn’t be able to in a few seconds.

“Well, we’ll never know about each other’s secrets, will we...” I moped sullenly, expressing my thoughts.

“It’s ok,” Lyra replied warmly, “like I said before, it’s all in the past.”

“Dudes,” Highlight said, “it’s probably best this way anyway...”

Lyra could no longer face Highlight, as the fog constricted her, and stared straight at Bonbon, who was in a similar situation facing Lyra.

“Bonbon,” Lyra managed to gasp, “in case we don’t make it out...”

“We won’t,” Bonbon choked, and puddles formed under her eyes. She struggled to stop from bawling entirely. Lyra’s mane started to freeze up. It was soon impossible to see, and I found my eyes were filled with tears as well.

The shadows were now moving slothfully, as if to torture us. The fog reached my ears, and I was slowly losing the ability to hear.

“I... I love you...” Lyra whimpered.

“I love you too...” Bonbon whispered back.

“Leaf,” I tried to turn my head to look at Highlight, who could now only weeze out noises that I could barely make out as words. “We’re good, right?”

“Yes,” I replied with the last of my breath, as the shadows covered my eyes and ears, freezing my tears solid.

“We’re good.”

The fog finally reached the top of my head, and I could no longer see, or hear, or feel. The numbing of the ice was too powerful, and I began to lose focus as the lack of oxygen permeated my brain. I strangely felt at peace. I was going to die.

I was going to die.

Suddenly, a dull thud. A crackle. A larger crackle. A snapping sound. A larger snapping sound. The shadows were breaking!

I could see. I could hear. I could breathe. Even as I gasped for air, I watched the others as chips of shadow broke off from the others’ icy prisons.

I was going to live.

“What’s... going... on?” Bonbon yelled. “Are we... dead?”

“No...” Lyra responded, “I think... we’re getting out...”

“But how?” I heard Highlight’s voice ask, but as she spoke, I noticed a strangely shaped fire burning bright pink above Lyra’s horn. It almost looked like a heart...

“Is that...” Bonbon gasped.

“I see it,” Lyra returned the shocked expression. “But I don’t believe it...”

“What is it?” I asked. “What is it doing?”

“I thought the Fire of Friendship was just an old mare’s tale,” Bonbon said in awe. “But if it’s true...”

“Dude, it’s getting us out of here,” Highlight could now move her legs, and kicked away the remaining splinters of fog, which roiled into puffs of smoke and drifted away. Observing her, I realized the layer surrounding me was also weak, and I pressed against it, finally smashing through.

“Woah!” Bonbon shrieked as she fell to the floor. I did the same, and coughed. As I shivered on the ground, I realized I was still very cold.

“Careful,” Lyra warned. “We’re all still close to freezing to death. Stay close to me.”

We all complied, and crawled our way to Lyra and her magical flame. I had no idea what it was, but if it could help us break out of the shadows, it was our best bet. It took all of my strength to lift a hoof, but I wasn’t strong enough, and slowly fell back down onto the floor, groaning in pain as the cold overtook me.

“Dude.” I looked up. Highlight was offering her hoof for support. There was something subtly different about her, not quite as drastic as her change to her supposed alter ego. Then I pinpointed it.

It was her smile. It was very small, barely noticeable, but I could see it. And I could feel it.

Hoisting me up, we limped together to where Lyra was standing, and heaved a sigh of relief together.

The shadows seemed angry, but weren’t giving up yet. Even as the fire burned, swoops of darkness attacked the purple fire, and there was a noticeable heat loss.

“What’s g-g-going on...?” Bonbon asked, chattering her teeth.

“I d-d-d-d-don’t know...” Lyra replied. “Why is it going away?”

“D-d-dude, w-we c-can’t af-f-f-ford to lose it,” Highlight chattered her teeth.

It was cruel. Just as we were saved by this magical “Fire of Friendship,” it had turned its back on us. Soon, we would be all but frozen again, and... wait a second... Fire of Friendship... Fire of Friendship?

“Wait. D-d-did you s-s-say the ‘F-f-fire of F-f-friendship?’” I asked. They quickly nodded.

“Maybe we h-h-have to... be n-n-nice to each other or something?” I suggested. Bonbon and Lyra gasped.

“You’re right!” Bonbon exclaimed, and seemed to recite parts of some song.

“As long as it burns, we will not drift apart, but the converse is true! In order to keep it burning, we have to stay together!”

And so we huddled close to the flame. Bonbon and Lyra apologized to Highlight and me, for everything bad they had thought about us, or had done to us. I told them how great friends they were. And the whole time, the fire continued to expand, blocking off the attacks from the cloud.

“Hey Lyra,” I asked at one point, “since when were you a super amazing warlock unicorn?”

At the thought of her being a powerful mare, we all giggled. Even after she had displayed her amazing magical capabilities, she still seemed like the same timid and caring pony we knew.

“Since I was small,” Lyra explained. “Let’s just say I used to duel with other unicorns for sport. Unfortunately, I never made it big, and so I never thought I would ever have to use it again.”

“Really?” Bonbon asked. “I never knew you were that competitive!”

“Yeah, well...” Lyra blushed, “I was supposedly really talented back at Magic Academy. I don’t like to show it, though.”

It was an interesting explanation, but I had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t being told. I decided to keep it to myself for now. I would probably find out sooner or later, if she was hiding anything.

So we resumed talking. I noticed that Highlight was a little isolated from conversation, and so I focused most of my topics on her.

Soon, I realized I was the only one talking to Highlight.

“And I remember when you saved me... huh?” I looked at Lyra and Bonbon, who were sitting closer and closer together. As they looked to each other, they could not move away. One glance at both of them and even a normal pony could tell what they were going to do.

“Hey, Lyra...” Bonbon whispered into her ear. “I should have done this years ago...”

Their lips slowly collided. Unfortunately, due to my strange sixth sense, their emotions slammed into me like a jackhammer. Longing and lust penetrated my body until I started to feel similarly, even as I tried to block off the feelings.

“Mmmmmmmmmm...” as they kissed, the fire began to burn more brightly, as if witnessing the passion, and more of the black veil began to lift, and I could see the place beautifying dramatically.

“I love you.” Lyra mewed breathlessly.

“I love you too.” Bonbon moaned, and they kissed again. Warmth rippled off of their bodies, and began to penetrate even the corners of the house. The inside of the house began to shine with bright hues indicating that life had returned to the area.

Despite all my resistance, watching them inadvertently made me think about him, and how our kiss went. Although I didn’t want to, I began to analyze how large the increments of feeling were coming from the couple. It seemed passionate enough, Whooves and me, but they...they were in a whole new level. I started to question if making out in the bathroom was the right thing to do.

Then again, we didn’t just barely survive a life-and-death situation, unlike them.

Wow. Was I really thinking this way? I could tell their feelings were already starting to influence my thoughts, and soon would affect my actions if I kept observing them. Trying to distract my thoughts from the doctor (and the kissing couple), I looked at Highlight. She was shivering slightly, but her face showed no visible change in attitude. She remained cool as far as I could see, although something told me she was feeling warm inside.

“Hey Highlight,” I crawled closer to her. “You mind telling me all of your dirty little secrets now that we’re still alive?” I giggled at that last thought as a wave of affection slammed into me from the side. Lyra and Bonbon were still going strong. And, my talent for picking up on emotions was starting to affect my speech. Great.

I felt slight amusement from her, and then... a strange feeling. I couldn’t quite put a finger, or rather, a hoof on it. It was an warm emotion, much like how I had experienced with Doctor Whooves. It was almost affection. I didn’t know who it was directed at, but I guessed that Lyra and Bonbon’s (ongoing) moment had also affected her, possibly deeper than it had affected me.

“Dude, you know just as much as I do...” she mumbled.

“That you have an alter ego...?” I asked. “Named Shadow Star?”

“She only seems to appear when someone or something forces open my left eye, dude,” Highlight said.

“She’s like my polar opposite, dude. She plays evil tricks and hurts anypony around her. And she can... do what I can’t...” she said, hinting at her lack of the ability to... express herself.

I tried to imagine that. I couldn’t. It was impossible to think of being unable to change one’s tone of voice, to show one’s feelings. Now that I had thought about it, being awkward was nowhere close to being isolated. I couldn’t bear to live as Highlight. I was surprised at her willpower to keep living, after so many years of silence.

I thought back to when we trapped in the fog... when she said it was probably better that way... she was about to give up... give up on her miserable life...

“I mean, dude, I try,” Highlight said. “I try so hard. I can’t smile. I can’t frown. I can’t laugh. I put piercings in me so I force myself to cry, but I still couldn’t get myself to show anything.”

That gave me a new perspective on the various rings that donned her skin. If that was why she had them put in...

I was struck by more feelings of lust and passion from Lyra and Bonbon, and tried to shrug them off, with no avail. This was almost as bad as the poison joke. No. It was worse. The passion and want was building up in my system, and I wanted something to dump all my feelings on.

No. I needed something.

“I’m... so sorry,” I comforted, trying to ignore the pressure building up behind my resistance to pounce on Highlight. “You’ve had to live through this... your whole life?”

“Yeah, dude,” Highlight said, and tears rolled out of her right eye. Her voice, however, refused to shake. “You’re the first pony that’s ever... understood me...” Waves of grief and despair washed out of her system, and into mine. I could tell she had given up on the prospect of anypony understanding her, until she had met me.

“Well, there’s a first for everything,” I chuckled nervously, but I felt awful. As I felt her pain penetrate me, I started to cry. Life was unfair for her. I felt so ashamed to be who I was when someone was suffering...

This whole time, I was constantly taking in more powerful emotions from Lyra and Bonbon, and I was slowly losing my self control. More feelings of passion hit me from the kissing, and coupled with the feelings Highlight was assaulting me with, my walls of resistance crumbled, and my primal instincts kicked in.

“Welp.”

Must. Find. Object of affection.

“Dude? Are you ok?”

The only object in front of me was Highlight. Poor Highlight. Nopony ever understood her... she deserved somepony’s attention...

I couldn’t hold back anymore.

Before I knew it, my lips were locked with hers. My wings protruded out of my back, but I didn’t care. I wanted Highlight. I needed Highlight.

Unfortunately, my plan backfired. All of the feelings of lust and passion only seemed to multiply as I kissed her. I brought my front legs over her head to drag her closer to me. My tongue lapped at her cheek and teeth as if it were the cure to my illness. I hated the kiss and I loved it. I wished I had never done it, and I wished it could happen a million times over. I wanted it to stop, and I wanted it to last forever.

My mind went blank. I didn’t think of anything. Couldn’t. The only thing in my mind was Highlight. Highlight and me. Both of us, ashamed of ourselves for who we were, struggling against our... disorders. Why were we like this?

“Dude...back off...” I didn’t realize we had stopped until I opened my eyes. I had been kissing air. Highlight had shoved me off. “I’m sorry...but you and the Doctor...”

I just realized. The Doctor and me. What have I done? All of my feelings for Highlight instantly dissipated as I thought about him. I betrayed him.

“Oh no...” I started to cry. “What have I done?” I covered my face with my hooves. I kissed Highlight. I just kissed Highlight. I was so ashamed. Why? Why did I do it? I possibly ruined our friendship! I probably forced her to hate me for the rest of eternity! It wasn’t what I had really wanted...and I didn’t like her... I didn’t think so, at least... besides, I had done something I was never supposed to do. I was a mare, after all... wasn’t I?

I froze again. I was starting to believe I was a pony. This was bad. This was beyond bad. Not only that, I was starting to believe I was a mare. And I was getting feelings I had never gotten before. This was wrong. If this was how being female was like, with constant mood swings and secret relationships, then I hated it. I hated being a mare. I hated being so awkward. And I hated being so dependent on other ponies.

“I’m a mess...” I cried. I had gone from remorseful to friendly to passionate to depressed in a matter of minutes. Was this really who I was? Some bipolar pony?

I desperately tried to cling to my human memories, which seemed so distant now. How simple life as a boy seemed, without complicated social situations, and the only people I had to deal with were my parents... not that I missed them...

Why was I this way? Why-

I suddenly felt a pair of hooves encircle my body. I looked at her, alarmed at first. And then, I slowly hugged her back.

“I promise,” Highlight whispered, “I won’t tell him.” I started to cry into her shoulder. Even as I tried to regain control of my voice, I could feel more emotions coming from Lyra and Bonbon, who I would be yelling at if I didn’t feel so ashamed...

“I can’t control... what I feel from...” I couldn’t finish, my head jerked violently as another choked cry escaped my lips. Highlight took a look at the couple, who were still going strong, and nodded slowly.

“I know what you mean,” she soothed, and I hiccuped slightly. “It’s ok...”

I collapsed in her hooves. They felt so secure, so... welcoming. I felt better. Although being a pony was tough, and emotionally tolling, my friends had so far helped me through everything. I reconsidered my thoughts on being a mare. I had never had friends as a human. At least, no friends that were like me...

“I just... I don’t... I don’t know what I’m doing...” I wiped tears with my hooves.

“Me neither...” Highlight replied, “you were my first kiss.”

We sat there for a while, hugging. I felt better, but as I let go, I found she had not. Her head hung over my shoulders, as if they were helping her bear the weight of the world. A single drop of water landed on my back, and I realized it was a teardrop. She had started crying. I patted her on the back, whispering that it was going to be ok. After we had separated, she remained in the same position for a few seconds before suddenly realizing she had stopped.

“Are you ok?” I asked. “I’m still really sorry for... kissing you...”

“Dude, that’s all fine,” she replied. “It’s...something else...”

“Oh... well, what is it?” I asked.

“Dude...” she stared at the ground. “Lyra and I had... an attack, before.” Highlight stated, but I knew she felt guilty about it.

“Oh,” I started to fit the pieces together. “You turned to your other side... you became Shadow...”

“Yes,” Highlight replied. “And I tried my hardest to fight against it, dude. I tried...”

“You’re fine now,” I hushed. “Lyra knows. We know. You’re not a bad pony, Highlight.”

“But dude,” Highlight said. Her feelings turned to worry. “What about if I turn into her again?”

“Well,” I thought about it for a moment. “If you change, we’ll deal with it later. Now, you’re just the Highlight we all love and know, and that’s good enough.” She went silent for a second.

“You mean it?” Highlight murmured.

Her lips quivered slightly, and I could barely see another smile emerge from her tight lips.

“Thank you.”

As we reconciled, a loud fiery noise emanated from the flame. We turned to watch the fire begin to burn even brighter. Soon it could not be contained, and hovered up the chimney. I followed it out, and watched as the purple flame ascended to above the house. It swelled to an enormous size, almost bigger than the cottage, and then inexplicably exploded with a BANG!

I closed my eyes too late, and the heart was burned into my retinas. I couldn’t see for a few seconds, and blinked rapidly to regain my vision. As soon as the image left, I gaped at the sight.

It was as though a giant purple firework exploded, as magenta sparks and embers sparkled out from the dazzling spectacle that once was a heart shaped flame. Sunlight pierced through the clouds, removing the fog lingering in the air. Embers all over the ground absorbed what little had remained of the black clouds, and then faded, leaving no trace of either substance.

The sun had reappeared. It was shining from the noon-time position, although I knew could be anytime now. It didn’t change the fact, however, that the color had returned to the cottage and the surrounding land. The river now held a bright blue glow as it passed under the bridge, and the gardens were lush green, dotted with splotches of beautiful red, purple, and yellow. I could smell the flowers, and I could feel a warm breeze coming in from beyond the garden. The sounds of birds chirping signified that the place had finally restored. It also reminded me that Fluttershy had mentioned something about animals. She cared for them, didn’t she...?

The only darkness remaining floated inches above the bridge, but dissipated as I stepped closer, revealing a brightly colored yellow pegasus with long flowing pink hair...

“Fluttershy?” I asked the mare. As her eyes opened slowly, she looked up, and squealed.

Chapter 10: Losing His/Her Mind

“I’m so sorry,” Fluttershy said for the fiftieth time as we crossed the bridge into Ponyville. “I couldn’t do anything...”

“You don’t have to apologize,” I repeated for also the fiftieth time. “The fact is, we made it out alive, and you’re safe. And hopefully whoever else they find in the forest...”

We had long left the cottage, and Highlight had volunteered to find the other group that had set out to find the other element. Meanwhile, we had escorted Fluttershy (on the road this time, with no fear of getting lost) to Ponyville, and I had decided the first order of business was to get her to Rarity as soon as possible.

“But what about Canterlot?” Fluttershy squeaked, drawing my attention to her again. “What about... Princess Celestia?”

Her mention of the princess reminded me. I looked at the sun again. Now, it was clear that the ponies were starting to notice it was not moving. The thatch roofing of many of the houses were beginning to scorch, and many ponies that were awake (many seemed to be sleeping, or trying to, I assumed) huddled under the protection of any shade they could find.

I would do the same, if I had not been nearly frozen solid just a few moments ago.

“Why aren’t you under the shadows?” A dark mare hissed at us as we walked by.

“We’re still a little cold, but thank you for offering,” Fluttershy whispered back.

“You’ll burn!” the mare crowed ominously. “The town is slowly burning...burning...” as we passed her by, she continued to repeat the warning to others that passed by.

“Calm down, everypony!” As we entered the town square, it was evident that the mayor was attempting to rally the townspeople, with little effect. As a few gathered outside to watch the mayor, she continued stumbling along with her obviously impromptu speech. “I’m sure the princess is just fine...”

“Mayor,” a mare with a puffy orange mane objected, voice scratchy, possibly from lack of water, “my carrots are literally baking outside of my house!”

“We must remain orderly,” the Mayor called, “we must remain calm...”

“How am I thuppothed to be calm,” a filly with large purple glasses and a prominent speech impediment asked, “if thchoolth been clothd early?”

“Who cares about school Twist?” Another filly wearing a tiara, inset with diamonds, shouted. “This is the best day ever!”

“Only a neeerd like you would want to stay in school, Twist,” another spiteful filly added.

“Yeah!” an obnoxious misshapen green colt added, “let’s go play on the playground!”

The other fillies surrounding her cheered, and quickly ran off to a nearby playground of sorts. The filly named Twist caved to peer pressure, and joined her classmates.

“The fillies and colts seem to be getting the idea!” the mayor smiled, sweat dripping from her grey mane.

“Still,” the mare with the orange mane continued, “we aren’t fillies anymore! We have lives!”

“And so does the Princess!” the mayor had started to argue with just the concerned mare. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure everything out as it comes along...”

“The mayor has always had trouble with handling the town,” Lyra said, snapping my attention back to her. “She barely even does anything during Winter Wrap up time. I’m still wondering why they still call her mayor.”

“I agree,” Bonbon nodded. “After all, Twilight and her best friends pretty much run Ponyville.”

“That can’t be true!” I interjected. Lyra frowned. “It kinda is.”

With that, her and Bonbon began to list off the various ponies, one by one.

“Rainbow Dash leads the weather patrol around these parts,” Bonbon said.

“Applejack and her family grow a majority of the food in the area,” Lyra contributed.

“Rarity’s Boutique is the only place to find suitable attire for formal occasions.”

“Pinkie Pie caters for all sorts of parties, and also supplies a good portion of the baked goods.”

“Fluttershy... wait, Fluttershy.” We all turned to Fluttershy. “Oh, right, she takes care of Ponyville’s pet and animal population!” Fluttershy blushed meekly.

“Then what does Twilight do?” I asked.

“Oh, she’s the ringleader,” Bonbon explained. “She does all the organizing, planning, speeches, you name it. She would be the mayor, if she wasn’t here as a student of Celestia.”

“Wait, she’s a student?” The others turned to me, and looked at me like I was a newborn foal. Wait, foal?

I paused my thoughts for a second.

What’s with my vocabulary? I was starting to think like a pony. That couldn’t be good.

“Yes, Leafwing, silly,” Bonbon laughed, but I could barely hear her over my thoughts. “She’s just here to study the ‘Magic of Friendship’ or something. At least, that’s what she tells us...”

I drifted into my deep thinking. I suddenly realized, the longer I lived as a pony, the more used to it I was becoming. This could help me out of more awkward situations, but I was scared now. Was I losing myself? I thought back to when I had... kissed Highlight... When I felt that it wasn’t right for me as a mare to have feelings for another mare...I mean, girl... was I becoming another pony... person?

I shook my head, trying to remove my thoughts, but they flooded back, like I was trying to dig a pit into a sandbox with only my hooves... hands... And as I thought about Highlight, I thought about the kiss. It was almost like when I was under the poison joke... was I starting to develop feelings for two different ponies... I mean, people... ponies...

“...She used to be a real introvert,” Lyra remarked. “Always carrying around those books...”

I barely nodded... there was something changing in me, I knew it. I didn’t know if it was me adjusting to my new body, or... hormones... ew... but something was changing, and I knew it. I was losing my old self with each passing second. And it was affecting my ability to be normal.

Then again, I hardly knew what it was to be normal.

“...Either way, that’s a big reason why this town is in chaos!”

“Wait, why?” I tried to join the conversation again, but everything was so confusing...my head reeled with the discovery of my ongoing internal transformation...

“Because she’s not here to supervise the town!” Bonbon repeated. “Have you been listening?”

Sweat dripped from my neck, and I nodded weakly. The heat from the sun... it was starting to get to me... my eyelids drooped slowly, and my tongue slid out of my mouth as I started panting.

“Are you ok Leafie?” Lyra asked, concerned.

“Let’s bring you to some shade, if that’s alright with you...” Fluttershy whispered, and I nodded again. My friends dragged me next to a nearby store, where an overhang shielded us from the threatening rays of sun.

Sounds of quick galloping were coming from behind us, and we moved aside as a single buck charged towards the stands. He appeared to be wearing a blue overcoat with a broad hat, much like a train conductor’s. As he reached the stands, he stopped to gasp for breath, and sweat poured from his mane.

“What’s going on, All Aboard?” the mayor said, relieved to have something interrupt her announcement. “Have you established communications with Canterlot yet?”

“I... don’t... know...” the buck wheezed. “I think... I’m afraid whatever affected... the town... has warped the tracks to Canterlot!”

“Ugh!” the mayor stomped a hoof on a wooden beam in frustration. “How could this get any worse!?”

“Um...” the conductor paused, and looked up at the mare with a considerable amount of guilt. “The coal tender... has combusted into flames.”

“What?!?”

Murmurs of disbelief and shock arose from the crowd.

“One of the trains coming in from Appleloosa was stalled on the tracks for an hour, because of the tracks, and so... we had to leave the train out in the open. By the time the fire fighting department had gotten to it, the car was half melted. I’m sorry.”

“So... this means no transportation by train then...” the mayor said blankly.

“You see?” the orange-maned pony screamed. “This heat is affecting everything!”

“Don’t be so melodramatic...” the mayor said, as if to reassure herself more than anypony else, which did nothing to loosen the tension that was quickly rising.

Even if she had meant to talk to the gathered ponies, she would not have snatched their attention as well as the crackling noise that arose from the playground. Ponies turned to see what was going on, and as screaming began, I could see why.

FWWWSH!

A gout of flames burst from the roof of the main play structure.

“AHH!!” Ponies dashed for cover as fire scattered into the playground. The roof burned, and the foundations threatened to fall apart. My instincts kicked in, and I pumped my wing muscles to get to the playground. The fillies and colts playing in the playground were either crawling to safety, or dangerously close to burning to death. I had to save them.

“Go!” I screamed, and two colts snapped out of their daze as they watched the playground burn, shaking in fright and running in the opposite direction. I took a deep breath and looked for more foals. Another group of two fillies huddled near a burning swing set.

“You have to get out of here!” I urged as I approached them quickly. One of them, an orange pony with a short purple mane and miniscule wings, responded frightfully.

“Our friend’s in there!” she squeaked, pointing to the main structure, which was now surrounded with flames. I pawed a hoof into the ground, and then throttled to full gallop, charging blindly into obvious danger.

Reaching the structure, I arrived just in time to see another beam collapse, and I heard crying. Turning, I glimpsed the sight of a young filly, trapped in between a group of unstable pillars. Another beam landed in front of me with a smash, releasing embers into the air, and obstructing my view, although I could still hear her.

I couldn’t let her burn. Taking my wings, I hovered above the beam, and dove in, hooves outstretched, eyes closed. I felt my hooves brush against soft fur, and grasped at it with all my strength, trying to pull her out of the burning structure. She wouldn’t budge, however, and as I opened my eyes, I found myself stuck, trapped in the flames with her.

“We’re gonna be ok,” I reassured the filly, who could only whimper. I flapped my wings, but the flames nearly set my feathers on fire, eliciting pain, and I jumped back in fright. The flames slowly closed in, and smoke filled the air, congesting the slowly collapsing building.

“Stay down!” I shouted. She complied, and we hugged the slowly conflagrating grass.

The flames licked at my tail, and I tried stomping the embers out, only to be burned. Yelping, I pulled my singed hooves back. There was no way out. My hope paled as I watched the fires draw closer and closer... It became harder and harder to breathe...

“At least you tried...” the filly coughed. I put a hoof next to hers, in an attempt to comfort the both of us.

The heat was unbearable. Sweat dripped from my wings, and my mane was soaking wet. I thought about how it would quickly evaporate as the flames approached... It was already happening, steam rising from the ground, the fires slowly... dying?

Droplets of water splashed against my muzzle, and I looked up. A raincloud had auspiciously opened up above us, releasing a torrent of rain that quickly drowned out the flames. Wood ceased to burn, and only black scorch marks remained. I took the chance, I wasn’t sure if another would come. Sopping wet, I crawled out of the wreckage, gasping for air. Couldn’t breathe. Must. Push on. Remembering the filly, I grasped her hoof with more determination, and dragged her along with me, struggling against the burnt, wet grass out of the playground.

The lack of air was affecting my ability to think. It was all I could do to help myself and her out of the fire. My vision was fading, but I still looked back to make sure the filly was ok. I noticed her coat was bright white, much like Rarity’s, and she was a unicorn as well. Her mane was an alternating hue of pink and purple, curly and bouncy, a little like Pinkie, but for some reason, it still reminded me of the fashionista that had taken temporary residence with Spike.

Crawling a short distance more, I looked back to see the playground. Most of it had burnt to the ground, with a few support beams still sticking out of the earth like misshapen totem poles. Rogue fires dotted the area, before the cloud moved to extinguish those flames as well... was there a pegasus on the cloud? I couldn’t tell, I could barely see anymore.

“What’s your name?” I asked, losing focus. She could barely squeak out a name, and I thought I heard “Sweetie Belle” or something...

“Sweetie Belle,” I said, coughing. The smell of smoke still clung to our coats, and only served to reinforce the severity of our near death encounter. My vision blurred again, and I found I was unable to breathe...

“I think we made it...”

I blacked out.

-----

As I opened my eyes, I found that they were covered in ash. After using a hoof to wipe away the dust, I could finally see clearly. I tried to breathe in.

“ACK!”

Sputtering, coughing, I found it surprisingly difficult. I tried again, this time through my nose, and finally oxygen began to fill my lungs. I looked around again.

The play structure had been reduced to a pile of ashes and smoke, and the surrounding area was parched, dry, and burnt. I watched as a few ponies rolled by with a stretcher. One wore a white hat and uniform, and ushered a burn victim onto the roller, and the others pushed her away. She then turned to me, and knelt beside, stethoscope around her neck.

I opened my mouth to speak, but she seemed to anticipate it, and shushed me with a hoof to my muzzle. “You’re going to be ok, but I’ll need to make sure your lungs are working fine before I let you fly free again.”

With that, the nurse placed the plate of the stethoscope onto my chest, and told me to breathe in and out. Which I did.

“Thanks for helping out...” she scrutinized me, while hanging her tool onto her neck. “I’ve never seen you around before. What’s your name?”

“Uh, Leafwing,” I stated quietly, the smell of smoke still permeating my nose.

“Well, Leaf, you sure saved quite a few lives today,” she watched as the other ponies gathered with their families. “I’m glad you stuck around to help them. I’m really sorry about not getting you your medical attention on the spot, but we just couldn’t identify you.”

“It’s nothing,” I murmured. “I’m just glad that cloud came by just in time...” as I remembered the cloud, I turned to see if I could find it.

“Well, I’m glad you have good friends,” the nurse commented, and before I knew what she was talking about, a voice rose from behind me.

“Hey!”

Startled, I spun around to face the pony. It was Derpy.

“Derpy! You made it!” I hugged her. I found myself genuinely glad she had made it out of the forest, and my own reaction surprised me.

“Uh, duh!” She hugged back. “And I saved your flank!”

“Huh?” I was now confused.

“I saw the fire, and I decided to borrow a cloud, and put out the fire!” she beamed, which only mystified me even more.

“I’m going to check up on the victims in the hospital,” the nurse announced, and trotted off, leaving me with my pegasus friend.

“Really?” Pegasi could move clouds?

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Derpy giggled. “You didn’t used to have wings! You wouldn’t know anything about pegasi!”

My strange train of thought directed me to Highlight as I heard the mention of pegasi. She had asked me to go with her before we separated; I couldn’t. I just couldn’t fly... she had been very upset, and I tried to remind her that I wasn’t always a pegasus...

I found it hard to accept that I used to be different. I had now lived in this body for... what? A week? Two weeks? My own voice barely fazed me anymore, although it still surprised me in times of stress. My mane and tail felt... strangely natural now, as did my wings, and walking on four legs. I couldn’t remember how it felt to not have constant emotional surges of ups and downs...

And even less believable was the fact that I hadn’t told my friends about my past... and the shadows... and what had happened. It was easier not to tell them, but the significance of the transformation was weighing me down emotionally, and mentally. Plus, it might have helped if I had told them the truth... perhaps they wouldn’t risk their lives for something that was very possibly my fault...

I shuddered at the possibility that some of them didn’t make it, that she didn’t make it...

As if to resolve my fears, Highlight swooped in from the air, landing deftly right next to her. I felt immediate joy in my heart, but then stowed it away, as though it was something to be ashamed of. At first I imagined that the joy was from inferring that the others were safe, but as it persisted, I realized it was because of her. Why was I suddenly feeling so happy around her? It was almost the same feelings I experienced around the Doctor, although I imagined I felt better around him. Unless I was making it all up in my head...

“Hey, dudes,” she panted. “They’re safe.”

“Oh, oh!” Derpy hopped up and down quickly. “We have two great fliers here! You and me, Highlight!”

“So, dude?” Highlight snorted. “What’s your point?”

“We could... teach Leafie how to fly!”

“Heh heh, yea,” I giggled slightly. “I guess I wouldn’t know anything about pegasi, would I?”

“Nope!” Derpy laughed. “That’s why I’m going to teach you everything! After we get you guys back to Twilight’s library, that is.”

“Ok,” I looked around. Lyra, Bonbon, and Fluttershy were nowhere to be seen. “Did Lyra and the others make it back yet?” Derpy nodded.

“I told them to go after we made sure you were ok. I think we’re the last ones. We gotta hurry!” She grabbed one of my front legs with a hoof, and we slowly made our way through the crowds that had come to listen to the Mayor’s new anti-heat plan (which, judging from Lyra’s succinct explanation for her staying in office, was probably nothing worth listening to).

“Ok,” I said, “but you really have to explain what’s going on. I am so confused...”

-----

“So you guys rescued Pinkie by... laughing?” Derpy demonstrated her rescuing abilities by giving a snort-giggle.

“Yep! It was that easy!” She was hovering next to me, telling her anecdote with exaggerated hoof movements. “It was hardest to get Octavia to laugh, but she figured it out in the end!” She chuckled again, and put a hoof up to her muzzle to stifle any further spasms of laughter.

“That’s good,” I murmured. “We went through quite a bit of trouble trying to save Fluttershy.”

“Dude, tell me about it,” Highlight replied.

We finally reached the library. Luckily, a few of my questions were answered on the way, so I had some idea of what had transpired in the forest. Derpy told me that as they headed towards the fort, a dark shadow was following them, casting scary impressions of figures on the trees, rocks, and everything around them (not unlike the ones experienced in Ponyville with the monster that had captured Rarity). Derpy had found some of the faces incredibly amusing, and had been cracking up by the time they had reached the fort itself. As she laughed, the faces seemed to recede, and Vinyl caught the drift, and began emulating her. By the time the monster had appeared, the others had easily brought it to its knees with a combination of giggles, chortles, and snorts.

“We’re here,” Highlight said simply, and I found myself facing the treehouse again. I wasn’t sure what to expect, how the others were doing, but I forced myself to just go, and opened the door.

A bubbly voice greeted me as it swung open.

“OHMYGOSH LEAFIE! YOU’RE OK!!!” I witnessed a bouncing pink pony spraying streamers and showers of harmless but colorful sparkles into the air. “They saved me! They saved me! Vinyl and Tavi and the Doctor and Derps over here! And I’m FREE!!! I’ve never felt so happy in my life!!” On cue, a small explosion and a burst of confetti launched from behind me, and I leapt into the air, startled again.

“That’s... great!” I uttered, voice shaky, and discovered I had fallen to the ground in shock.

“Oh, my, Pinkie,” a soft voice murmured, and Fluttershy appeared, caressing Angel in her arms, “you startled her.”

“It’s fine!” Pinkie giggled, and somehow managed to wrap her arms around all four of us, and pulled us in.

Inside, what seemed like a party was going on. The shades were drawn, and Vinyl Scratch was once again manning a DJ set. However, the music changed abruptly, taking a more jazzy feel, and before Vinyl could grab her, a sneaky Octavia had escaped, holding onto Scratch’s sabotaged discs and laughing out loud. Bonbon and Lyra were both sitting on a couch, relating stories to each other, and Spike was running around, frantically trying to scoop up any pets that had escaped the back room. Fluttershy gasped.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy whispered. “Spike, let me handle them... I mean, if you want me to.”

“Please do,” Spike managed to say. With that, she disappeared to help the dragon.

“Isn’t this awesome?!?” Pinkie shrieked. “I can’t believe I went three whole days without partying! You know what I also can’t believe? That like two hours ago I was a big mean meany pants! I mean, I was all like ‘no laughing,’ and then all of them laughed, and then I was like ‘stop laughing or I’ll be a meany pants’ and then they kept laughing and then then I started laughing too and then all those dark and scary things went BOOM!”

“I’m going to talk to the Doctor now,” Derpy announced, and left Highlight and me to Pinkie’s wrath.

“Dude, I’m going to... uh...” Highlight was almost stammering. “I’ll just leave you two.”

Okay. So just me.

I walked over to a punch bowl, lips parched, and all the while, Pinkie continued to relate the story to me.

“I mean, really though, I have a schedule when it comes to parties, and it’s my obligation to make sure I meet these schedules! Gosh, I’m already thinking about all the parties I missed! Including yours!” Pinkie gasped, and then her word per second ratio multiplied. “Ohmygosh! I completely forgot to throw a party for you! I’ll totally make that the top of my list as soon as we rescue everypony else that’s missing! Like Rainbow Dash and Applejack and Twilight! Actually I’m already thinking of planning parties when we rescue them too! I think that I’ll schedule it right now!”

With that, she trotted away, with the biggest smile on her face. With a relieving sigh, I took a deep sip from the cup I had poured a gratuitous amount of punch into.

After consuming about half of the punch bowl, I found myself wandering aimlessly through the party, I was even more bewildered than before. It was as though everypony had stopped worrying to party. I reminded myself that the town had gone through various crises before, but I didn’t know they would become this used to it.

Then I remembered that Pinkie was the element of Laughter. It was very possible that Pinkie was releasing the stress of the last few days through her handiwork. I had no idea if that theory was plausible or not, but it seemed more reasonable than ponies simply dropping everything they were doing to dance and blast loud music. Not that I could understand any reasoning in this crazy technicolor world.

Was I too becoming accustomed to near death experiences? I found that after the fire, I had quickly returned to my old self (at least, me before jumping into the burning playground). Perhaps it was true, since I had nearly been killed several times now.

I decided to stop wondering as I reached Doctor Whooves. The doctor was busy in a deep discussion with Derpy about the power of longitudinal sound waves concentrated at decibels of the thousands. I had no idea what he was talking about, but it clearly had something to do with the device he was holding.

“-and I think that with the right amount of magic coursing through... oh, hello there, Leafwing!”

“Hey,” I stammered, once again feeling the pressures of social situations. “I’m glad that you’re ok.”

“As to you!” the doctor replied. “I think that the forest was... quite a bit of a laugh, don’t you think, Derpy?”

“Oh, yes!” Derpy giggled, almost flirtatiously. I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t as though I hadn’t noticed her and the doctor hanging out more often. Not that it mattered though. The doctor liked me too. He had kissed me. And some silly derp-eyed pegasus wasn’t about to steal him from me!

Once again I caught myself. Of course they would be hanging out, she was his assistant! My thoughts had turned from innocent to malicious in only a few seconds. Even regarding them being together caused me to think about our relationship. Why was I doing that? Since when had I ever concerned myself with being with a special somepony... I mean, somebody?

Oh, right. Since I became a mare.

“Are you ok, Leaf?” I heard the Doctor say, and I snapped back to attention. “Oh, yeah!” I said, giggling nervously. My goddess. I seemed to giggle so much more when I was nervous. It was becoming almost predictable.

Wait a minute. I caught myself again. Did I seriously think goddess? Why would I...

Oh... right... Celestia was a... goddess...

This was worse than I had expected.

“You keep snapping out into... trances or something,” Derpy said, and I shook my head, trying to toss some thoughts away, although I was not so sure if I was losing my pony or human ones anymore.

“Uh, I’m just thinking about things...” I whispered. “It’s been a long day.”

The unintentional pun drove Derpy and the Doctor to tears. “That’s a good one, Leafie!” Derpy cried out in laughter. I stared shyly to the floor as the doctor looked up at me, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief. There was no way I could stay in his glance. I had to leave before I really starting messing up the conversation.

“Which reminds me,” I said suddenly, “I have to talk to Lyra and... Bonbon.”

“How does that remind you of Lyra?” Derpy asked.

“Um, inside joke.” I sighed in relief once more as Derpy and the doctor nodded, and returned to their conversation, chuckling to themselves slightly. I slowly trotted away, berating myself.

“What the hay were you thinking, Leafwing?” I cursed, and then covered my mouth. The hay? I mean, heck... hay... Ugh... I’d deal with the lingo later. My thoughts returned to my abrupt end of the conversation. I wasn’t getting any better at talking to the doctor. My composure melted whenever I was near him.

In fact, I could go as far as to say that before my crippling mental changes, I was better at talking to him. Now, instead of seeing a colt, I saw a stallion, heroic and brave... The exact image of his ocean-like eyes caused me to stop and stare. There was no way I could breathe around him for prolonged amounts of time. His very presence reduced me to the verbal ability of a blubbering foal.

Perhaps it was the eye that made me like Highlight. As much as I hated to admit it, she was kinda cute, and her flank... No, Leafwing, I thought. You’re not a fillyfooler.

I paused. What kind of word had my subconscious thrown at me now? What was a fillyfooler, anyway?

I shook my head. The point was, it wasn’t right to like girls. I was a mare, for crying out loud, and I was supposed... it was my dream to be with doctor Whooves. To caress his long brown hair, pull his shoulder close with my forehooves, and start kissing him, deeply...

Wait, what was I thinking? I’m not a girl! At least, I wasn’t a girl before... If anything, I was supposed to like Highlight... and it was possible I did... But...

Even as I asserted that to myself, I found it difficult to believe. Would it be that bad to like Doctor Whooves? As Mark... I was open minded... and yet, I had never kissed another person before. Why not... The question resonated in my head for a few seconds, and I put my hooves on my temples, and groaned.

“Hey Leafie!” In my daydreams, I had unconsciously walked onto the stage. Lyra was already there, so I guessed I did end up finding her.

“Yeah, Lyra?” I asked, pulling myself out of thoughts of fillyfoolers and doctors. I found a microphone being levitated to me. Lyra wanted to do a musical piece, didn’t she?

“I know just the song,” she grinned. “you just have to follow.”

I looked down at the stage. Bonbon, the Doctor, Derpy, Rarity, Spike and Fluttershy (who had finally chased the rest of the animals into the vacant room) sat waiting patiently for the music to start. I felt a spotlight on me, and realized it was not figurative. It was as if the room had darkened, and the only light spots were focused on the ponies on the stage. As I looked back, I noticed Vinyl Scratch had joined us onstage with a guitar, as well as Pinkie Pie, who was banging experimentally on a drum set. Octavia set up her bass cello, tuned the massive instrument, then stood ready.

“Dudes,” Highlight said calmly, walking up the stage. “I want in on this too.”

“Can you sing?” Lyra questioned, and Highlight gave a quick snort. “I might sound dull, but I can play the drums like a boss, dude.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie bounced off of the drum set, and snatched up a trumpet instead. Lyra cleared her throat. “Guys, ready?”

Vinyl and Octavia nodded. Highlight started a warm up beat with her drums, and then finished. “Wait, you!” Pinkie pointed at me. “Take these!” Before I knew what was going on, a tambourine had been shoved into my hooves. I blushed.

“Now we’re ready!” She beamed.

Lyra snatched her harp out of nowhere, and began to sing:

“We've only just begun,” Lyra sang, “to live.

White lace and promises

A kiss for luck and we're on our way.”

As if imbued with the words of the song, I joined in, harmonizing with the cyan pony that had already begun tugging at all of the audiences’ heartstrings.

“We've only begun.”

Highlight looked me in the eyes, and I returned the look. It was a compassionate look, despite what her face read. As I read her feelings, I realized she imagined I was singing to her. Inside, I made a slight takeback. I shouldn’t have looked at her like that. Now I was giving everypony the wrong idea. I didn’t like her...

Or did I? My own thoughts were muddled, and it was all I could do to follow the song.

Lyra was on her own again.

“Before the risin' sun, we fly,” on cue, Highlight and I spread our wings out, to match the tone of the song, and then began to sing along again.

“So many roads to choose

We'll start out walkin' and learn to trot

And yes, we've just begun.”

Highlight began to hold the beat as Vinyl and Octavia joined in. Somehow Pinkie was managing to play a brass instrument while simultaneously playing various percussion instruments, which was impressive, if not insane.

“Sharing horizons that are new to us

Watching the signs along the way

Talkin' it over, just the two of us,” now I was absolutely sure that Highlight liked me. It was making me uncomfortable, and I tried not to think about it. Instead, I listened to her beat. It was perfect. The consistency kept me in focus as the next verse began.

“Workin' together day to day, together,” Lyra was obviously serenading Bonbon, and Vinyl Scratch and Octavia were so entranced I could see a physical connection between the two. I had no idea who Pinkie was singing to, although I could only guess it was of the friendly relationship she had with the others. And Highlight thought I was singing to her. I could see her eye glancing up to me, then darting away, then slowly looking again. It made me feel disconcerted, partly from knowing another pony was... thinking about me... and that I had to plan accordingly to make sure I didn’t hurt her.

But it still barely shifted my thoughts from the burning question in my head: who was I singing to?

“And when the evening comes, we smile

So much of life ahead

We'll find a place where there's room to grow

And yes, we've just begun,” The drumming ramped up again, as well as her brass instrument, and I finally decided.

I was singing to Doctor Whooves.

With a special somepony... somebody in mind, I began to sing with more emotion, more passion.

“Sharing horizons that are new to us

Watching the signs along the way

Talkin' it over, just the two of us

Workin' together day to day, together, together,” as we paused, the doctor noticed my eyes catching his, and I felt a tremor of emotion from him... I didn’t know what though...That was the biggest problem... I couldn’t read his feelings, especially when I began to feel rather woozy. I theorized that it might have something to do with the fact that my infatuation with him was disrupting my ability to penetrate the barrier surrounding his facets of emotion, and... screw it. I stopped thinking and continued singing.

“And when the evening comes, we smile

So much of life ahead

We'll find a place where there's room to grow

And yes, we've just begun.”

-----

“Young love,” Fluttershy sighed. “It’s so beautiful.”

Her words echoed my sentiments exactly. I watched Lyra and Bonbon as they sat on the couch, talking about relatively normal things, despite what events had occurred in the last three days.

“They’re so... connected,” I murmured. I thought about the Doctor again... he was amazing... and we shared a bond, despite the fact that I couldn’t read his feelings... it was still there... We were just like them... I began to daydream about him...

I found myself in a tropical paradise, lying under the shade of a bright umbrella on a warm, fuzzy towel. My mane was dripping wet, which only accentuated my deep lust for the stallion sitting beside me, with a smile that could melt ice...

“Yes,” Fluttershy agreed. “I think that the Doctor really has a good influence on Derpy, don’t you think?”

Her words cut my fantasy short.

“WHAT?” I said, a little too loud. She shrunk back, fear in her eyes, and I immediately felt ashamed as I apologized. “Sorry,” I ducked my head. “he’s just... really... nice.”

“He is... quite a charmer,” Fluttershy stated, slowly building her confidence back up.

“It’s wonderful,” I murmured. “He’s so handsome...” I slowly returned to my dream, and we were on the beach, and his... plot-

“Oh, so he’s your special somepony?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“Uh, yeah?” I replied, slightly annoyed that she had to interrupt my pleasant daydreams. “So what?”

“Well...” Fluttershy seemed to shy away as she approached an obviously broaching topic, “Um... well... I don’t mean to offend you... but...”

I sighed. Fluttershy was more bashful than I had expected. “You can say it, Fluttershy,” I encouraged.

“I don’t know...” she flapped her wings tentatively, and backed away a bit. I pushed.

“Tell me, please! I promise I won’t get mad.”

“...You sure?”

I nodded.

She swallowed a gulp, and soon I regretted my pleas of curiosity.

“I’m seeing something between him and... Derpy...”

“What?” I huffed in annoyance, shocked by her seemingly unacceptable observation. There was no connection between them! “She’s... She... he... they... no!”

“Um, what?” Fluttershy whispered.

“She’s... He’s... He’s mine!” I growled slightly. I glanced over to him, and realized he had returned to talking to Derpy. They were just good friends, that’s all, I thought. There’s no way they could possibly be together...

“I... he... he can’t just do that!” I sputtered in indignation. “He... he... he wouldn’t do that.” Even as I spoke, I noticed him laughing as Derpy knocked a cup of punch over his coat.

“Why not?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, they’re lovely together. At least, in my opinion...”

“THEY’RE OPPOSITE OF EACH OTHER!!” I nearly screamed. Looking around, I saw eyes closing in on me, and I lowered my head, as to not arouse any more attention.

“Well...um...” Fluttershy smiled half-heartedly, not knowing what to say to me, “you know what they say... Opposites attract...”

She was right about their... clashing personalities. Derpy and Doctor Whooves were like fire and ice. She had a bubbly, disorganized demeanor, and he had a managed, mild manner. Of course. But still...

“That doesn’t make sense,” I mumbled. “Shouldn’t two ponies that are similar attract each other?”

“Of course... well... at first,” Fluttershy looked right into my eyes, and I could see she was being as honest as she could without hurting my feelings. “But I know animals are always looking for change... I don’t see why mares and stallions are any different... if you know what I mean.”

My eyes narrowed in resentment.

“Are you saying Dr. Whooves is... cheating on me?” I growled.

“Not... necessarily speaking...” Fluttershy was now scared. And she was right to. I was pissed! “Look... um... Leafwing... I’m really really sorry...”

“You will be...” I said through clenched teeth.

“...but I don’t see you and him being together... if you don’t mind me saying.”

I stopped myself short before I could tackle Fluttershy to the floor.

It wasn’t her fault. I had no reason to be angry with her. I returned to my secluded thoughts. No, it was me. I had to step up my game. The only way I was going to get the stallion was to make him want me. I put a hoof to my chin, deep in thought now.

And I had to do it without arousing the suspicion of my competition. I quickly glanced over to Derpy Hooves, who had begun racing around the room searching for paper to wipe off the doctor’s coat.

I need to turn it up a notch. As a worried Fluttershy watched on, I stormed off to a bathroom, and shut the door.

-----

What was I looking at? Rather, who was that cute, attractive mare in the reflection?

I gawked at the mirror. A light green colored mare with a long, almost braided mane, and a slightly twisted, yet graceful tail. The mane gave me pause, as she had alternating light blue and cyan colors. I had glimpsed my mane before, when it had gotten in my face a few times, but never had I seen myself... like that. She had slight freckles behind her eyes, which had wide pinkish-purple radiating hues for irises, enhanced with elongated eyelashes that screamed adorableness. She turned her head from side to side, and flicked her tail experimentally. She then remembered why she was in the bathroom in the first place, and put on an almost sultry pose, lowering her eyelids and shifting her flank (displaying her cutie mark, a green leaf) in an almost revealing position, and then giggled slightly, before covering her mouth with a hoof.

Did I just... do that? The pony in the mirror cringed, and looked down shamefully. What’s happening to me? Why can’t I... think... straight... this isn’t right... What’s happening?

I was battling myself. That was what was happening. Another side of me that I had never known was trying to take over, and I was afraid of what she would do.

Actually, she wasn’t as much another side as she was... as though she were mixing, blending, leaking into me like a poison... I was losing more of myself, and being replaced by somepony else... I mean... someone else... somepony... I giggled again, and this time I didn’t stop myself.

What was worrying me so much? The fact that I had giggled?

I did that all the time!

No I don’t! I tried to scream, but it was too late. I was forced into a corner of my mind as the mare reared in front to take control.

With my silly worries dispelled, I stared back into the mirror.

It was quite possibly the first time I had ever seen myself since the first day of my transformation... It felt really odd... but almost right... I was cute. If it weren’t me, I would be very attracted to the beautiful mare in front of me...

What was I thinking again? she thought. I’m not a filly fooler. I’m not a filly fooler...

And yet, I had stared at Highlight’s luscious flanks before... no... that was a mistake... I was clearly still after the doctor... I forced myself to think straight. Leafwing, you’re a mare, and you’re gonna get that stallion of your dreams.

With my sexuality oriented, I faced the mirror again with more determination. Everything had to be right. It had to be... perfect... I found my mare side taking over the rest of my body. She found herself to be inadequate for the task ahead. Her hooves entered her mane, and pushed her mane this way and that, trying to make it as presentable as possible. Her ears flopped a little as she looked upon her final adjustments with chagrin.

“Leafwing, dear, this simply won’t do,” I muttered to myself. And with that, my hooves got to work, and soon I lost myself in my pruning.

-----

“Wow, Leafie!” Lyra gasped in awe as I trotted towards her and her marefriend. “You look... a lot different when you fix your mane!”

“Hehe, thanks,” I giggled back. “I can’t believe I went a whole week without any cleaning!”

“You seem... different,” Bonbon observed.

“Well, I have been fixing my hair,” I laughed.

“No, it’s not that...” Bonbon turned her head, and eyed me from the side. “You’re a lot more... giggly?”

“Yeah,” Lyra contributed, “and you’re much less on edge!”

“That’s a good thing, right?” I chuckled to myself as the words slipped out. Of course it was a good thing! My... other side had really made things difficult, hadn’t he?

No, I’m the one that kept you alive for as long as you did!

I laughed again, and forced him back into his corner. He was right about him saving my flank for the past week, but now it was Leafwing’s time to shine, and I wasn’t about to let a silly immature colt spoil my dreams.

Leafwing, stop! You’re going to get yourself hurt! I mentally (as if there was any other way I could) cringed as I remembered that only ten minutes ago I had referred to myself with that name.

“Well...” Bonbon still seemed worried. Why was she so worried? “I... just... it’s... different...”

“Well, I definitely feel different!” I felt another giggle escape my lips.

“...ok then...” Bonbon smiled finally.

I smiled back. “I’m deciding to make my move today,” I winked, and Bonbon gaped. Lyra’s eyes lit up.

“Go for it!” she cheered, and I beamed.

I trotted confidently towards Dr. Whooves. I finally had a game plan, and it was foalproof.

-----

I could only watch as Leafwing flirtatiously entered a conversation that was again, between the doctor and Derpy. As I watched on, I found myself in a precarious position. I felt parts of me drift back into my body, but Leafwing was... interestingly enough, just a tad less awkward than I was at talking to him... so I let her stay in place... Even worse was the feeling that... I truly did like him. He was rather handsome... Minutes ago I had tried to resist her, but in reality, I think it wasn’t me that was resisting any more. I was honestly enjoying being a mare... Then what was I resisting?

As my human mind tossed and turned in his own flailing thoughts, I was busy conversing with Doctor Whooves. Now, if I could only lead him out of the house...

I really was Leafwing, wasn’t I. I had tried to resist my own urges, in fear of embarrassment, and instead created a temporary alter ego... a sort of autopilot, mixed in with the strange subconscious voice in my head... So really, it was another half of me that had already been there... one that I had separated from myself...

“Hey, doctor,” I grabbed his hoof, and made the best puppy face as I could. “I really need to talk to you about... something...”

Oh goddess. I can make a puppy face?

As we trotted outside, I felt a slight breeze tickle my fur coat. Whatever my other side was thinking, he seemed ready to join with me again. But that would have to wait. I was almost there with him.

I would reclaim my body, but it would have to wait, I could feel she was ready to make a move on him...

“So,” I lowered my head, and stared at the dirt in front of his hooves. “I was just wondering... after all this is over...”

“Yes?” he asked. Wow, he really was a cutie... Yes he is, now shut up! I have to talk to him.

“I was just wondering...” I slowly looked up into his bright blue eyes. “Can you... me... we...”

“Yes?” I felt extremely nervous. I was suddenly glad I had temporarily split myself. My mare side was much more confident, and yet, an amazing actress. Don’t doubt my abilities, silly voice.

I knew it was the time to act. I lurched forward, and kissed him passionately. He looked surprised for a second, and then relaxed into the kiss. I felt undeniable pleasure as Leafwing’s... my lips... locked with his... I knew that Leafwing was me, and I was her... and I loved him.

I drifted into control of my body, and together, we kissed him.

“I want you,” I moaned. “Will you be my stallion?” I began to hug him, leaning on him. I felt vibrations through his coat as he cleared his throat.

“Um, Leafie?” he said. The sound of soft thunder slowly rolled overhead.

“Yes?” I looked up at him again.

“I think...” he cleared his throat again, “I need time...”

“Oh!” I immediately realized the circumstances of the situation, and got off of him. “I’m... different, Doctor. I’m not under anything anymore! No poison joke, nothing! It’s just you and me...”

“I know...” he muttered, taking a step back. “I just... I don’t want to hurt you...”

“What do you mean?” I was starting to be confused. “I wouldn’t want to hurt you either!”

“I just... I need some alone time, ok?” the doctor responded gruffly, and galloped away, leaving a sullen Leafwing alone. A dark cloud slowly cast droplets of rain overhead as I stared at where his hooves once were.

------

I sat outside, placid. The downpour was chilling me to the bone, and yet, I couldn’t feel anything. I could hear the downpour of the rain, and my coat rippled as the rain and wind picked up, but my heart was frozen solid.

I felt emotions surging through me. I could no longer control myself. And slowly, slowly, I choked in lament.

I was crying, sobbing in agony. I couldn’t hold any feelings back, and tears flowed freely from my eyes as I dropped, belly first, onto the ground. The rain had made the floor muddy, and the mush splattered into my mane and coat. Not that I cared. My tears connected with the slowly forming puddle from the rain clouds that had gathered overhead. My stomach spasmed in coughs, choked cries, and gasps as I tried to breathe. What had I done wrong? Why had I done this? Why had I even... tried?

“NNNnnnnn!!!” I screamed in fury, or tried to, but all that came out was a squeak, and more tears as I shook uncontrollably under the cold of the storm. Lightning struck.

My eyes cleared slightly, and I opened my eyes to see a reflection of me. A downcast, messy maned mare stared back with bitter and morbid eyes.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized, it was my fault. Who would pick this miserable, embarrassing, annoying mare over anypony else? Why would anypony want me as a friend, let alone a love interest? Did I ever stand a chance?

“Hhmhmmnnnnnn!” I moaned, and my tears returned. Why do I even bother? I’m not worth anything. I’m a useless piece of hay. I have nothing. I am nothing. More thunder crackled overhead, but I did nothing to leave the rain. Let it rain.

I hated myself.

“Leafwing?”

No. No one cares about you, Leaf. Don’t listen.

“LEAFWING!”

A pair of hooves grabbed me, and flung me off of my mud-strewn belly, flipping me over. More mud splashed out from under me. I refused to identify the pony responsible, keeping my head low and hunched over.

“Are you ok? What’s going on?”

“Leave me alone.” My own spiteful voice surprised me, but only for a second.

“Dude, this is important.” Another voice said.

“Go away.”

“Rarity’s sister’s been hospitalized.”

That temporarily shook me from my glum stupor. “What?” I asked suddenly, looking up.

-----

“I...I...I... sh-sh-should have n-never l-left her!” Rarity sobbed, as Spike patted her on the back.

“It’s ok,” Spike comforted. “She’ll be ok! Sweetie Belle never gives up. What would the Cutie Mark Crusaders do without her?”

We were looking through a glass window. The filly I had rescued from the burning building, the one with the white coat and pink-purple mane, was hooked up to a set of machines. One displayed her heart rate, and the others ran various tubes back and forth, and into her. Another one had a pump that was steadily rising and dropping, pumping air into her lungs.

I looked around. Octavia’s hoof was still clinging to her mouth, and Vinyl was holding her shoulder. Lyra and Bonbon were situated at a nearby bench, both holding back tears. Pinkie Pie was comforting Fluttershy, who had started weeping in the corner of the hospital. The Doctor and Derpy (my heart fluttered, and then seared in pain as I saw them together) simply watched through the window. His eyes caught mine for a second, and then glanced away hurriedly. I turned my head away from them. He didn’t need to feel guilty about me. I was fine alone.

I went to the corner of the room, and sat down with a sigh. The pain hadn’t gone away, and my eyes were still caked in dried tears.

“Dude,” I tried to move away, but Highlight sat down right beside me, so that the other side was facing a wall, and the only way I could get away was to stand up. Which I didn’t, because I was too somber to care.

“Go away, Highlight. I don’t need you.”

“Dude, I know you’re hurt.” Even though I could hear no emotion in her voice I could feel it coming off of her in caring and worried waves.

“I don’t care. I deserve it.”

She took that like an insult.

“No you don’t.”

“Yes I do!”

“No, you don’t, dude.”

“What do you know?” My blazing gaze entered her right eye. “I’m nothing.”

“You saved her life, dude.” I could feel the hurt and sorrow coming from her, not on her behalf but because she cared for me... or did she?

“So what?” I shrugged off the caring remarks, and tried to focus on sulking. “No one cares about me. Why should I care about myself?”

“Because I d-” Highlight stopped herself, but I had already heard the words, and I knew for a fact from my stupid sixth sense that she meant it. She brushed her mane back, and continued to speak.

“Look, dude, if you hadn’t been there Sweetie Belle would be dead. At least give yourself that.”

“Maybe I’ve helped a few people, but I’ve hurt a lot more!” I snapped, glaring through wet eyes up at the mare.

“Leaf...” But she couldn’t seem to think of anything to say. She laid a hoof on my shoulder instead, trying to calm me.

I shook it off angrily. “Just go away.”

“No.” She said blankly, waves of determination coming from her, and, perhaps sensing that comforting wouldn’t work, she pushed me against the wall with her hooves.

“Hey- what are you doing-”

“You think you have it tough, dude?” I felt a sudden change in tone, which sounded almost angry. “You think you’ve been through a lot? You think you’ve ruined your whole life? Don’t even start talking like that, dude.” Her eye returned my previous glare, and I shied back.

I tried to struggle out, but she held me to the wall with a strength that surprised me.

“Dude! Hear me out for just one minute!” she almost yelled, and I stopped squirming. “I’ve seen terrible, terrible things. I’ve done horrible things, and have had horrible things done to me. You think this... drama is bad, dude? I have things that scar me to this day. Memories that I hate, and ones that my body’s suppressed because they’re too painful for me to remember. Sometimes, I still wake up alive and well, wondering why I do, because I certainly don’t deserve it.” As she spoke, her gaze wandered, and I knew she was thinking of those things. Shaking her head, she continued.

“And then... you came around...” Highlight’s voice softened. “Meeting you made me different. My whole life, I’ve been searching for meaning. And now I know, dude. You’re special.”

I stared into her eye. “I’m nothing special, Highlight. You’re just saying that.”

She laughed. Of course, it did not sound jubilant, and the feelings I was picking up from her matched pretty closely. “Dude, you are though. Ever since you showed up, things have started acting up in Ponyville. The mysterious letter from Canterlot, the town under attack by a shadow, and even the attack in Fluttershy’s cabin. It was as though you triggered something, dude.”

Before I could protest, she hushed me with a hoof. “Just let me finish.” I stopped trying to lower my jaw, and instead lowered my head, to stare at the ground.

“I know it’s probably not your fault, dude. But you’re here for a reason. I don’t think the monster in Ponyville could’ve been stopped without you. And you needed to be there for the fire of friendship in the cottage. And, dude, I have a feeling we need to be there for each other in order to help the rest of the elements find their way home.

“If you won’t be here for yourself, be here for me.”

I looked up at her, my eyes matching her eye. I knew she was right. I had to be there, for her, for my friends, for Ponyville. If I didn’t care for myself, at least I would care for others. I opened my jaw to speak-

“Sweetie Belle!”

The door next to me smashed open, and two fillies scrambled through, racing to the window in panic. I recognized them as the two cowering foals that I had passed that had pointed out their trapped friend.

“We got here as soon as we could, and-”

The fillies pushed their way through the ponies gathered in front of the viewing area. One of them, a filly with a sunny yellow coat and rose red mane, was wearing a large pink bow, which bounced on her head as she tried to get a better view.

“Oh no!” she gasped as she spotted her friend through the window.

“Is she going to be ok?!” asked the orange filly rushing to the nurse. The staff on duty, a pale white mare with pink hair, shushed them before continuing.

“She’s... gone through quite a bit of trauma... and her lungs have taken a hit...”

“What does that mean?” the filly with the bow said. I could hear a definite southern accent in her voice, and it reminded me of somepony else... but who...?

“It means... she can’t breathe!” the orange filly whimpered. “That’s why all of those gizmos are hooked up to her!”

“Oh no!” the bow filly put both her hoofs up to her mouth. “That’s terrible!”

“And if she can’t breathe...” the orange filly stood with fear in her face, “she can’t SING!”

“Does that mean she ain’t never gunna sing uh’gain?” The bow-filly asked, tears in her dark orange eyes.

“She’ll recover... hopefully to the point where, yes, she can sing again,” the nurse replied, becoming irritated at the quick fire questions of the fillies.

“Well how do you know?” the orange filly began leaning on the wall, in a sort of detective style interrogation pose. “You could be trying to sabotage her voice!”

“What... what are you talking about?” The nurse was now confused. As was I.

“Well, Scootaloo does have uh point, ah guess,” the bow filly said. “It does seem like uhn awful lot of machinery fer just one filly, right?”

It was now nearly impossible to follow the discussion.

“She’ll be fine...” the nurse growled. “Now you fillies have to leave.”

“Ok...gosh...ma’am... Apple Bloom, let’s go.”

“But, Scoot! What ah’bout Sweetie Belle?”

“Leave.” The nurse’s voice was now stern.

“Ok... let’s go...”

They were halfway to the door when my mind clicked.

“Apple Bloom!” I cried out. She turned.

“Ya- wait, how’d you know mah name?”

“Is your sister Applejack?” I asked, impatient.

“Duh... why’d you ask, ma’am?” I cringed slightly. I had never been referred to as ma’am before... it felt strange, but natural too... I shook my head. Back to Applejack. She was Applejack’s sister...

“Um, have you seen her at all?” I asked.

“Wait... you don’t know?” she cocked her head to the side.

“Don’t know what?” I asked, feeling more unsettled than usual.

“Scoot, we should show her...” her eyes looked up into mine, and I glimpsed into the face of despair.