Chapter 3: What Are The Odds? [Here Again]

I yawned as I stretched my arms over my head in exhaustion, only having recently woken up.

Looking around though, I found myself pleasantly surprised by a small change in schedule. The food trays were already inside of the room, one of them having been completely emptied.

"Seems that you finally woke up." I looked to my right and noticed Chrysalis, as awake and aware as ever, looking to me with a bored expression.

Oh joy, I overslept. That really ought to mix things up a bit!

... again, I'm joking.

"It would seem that thou hadst a peaceful slumber." I nodded in response to Nightmare Moon's comment, surprisingly managing to keep from being surprised by her sudden intrusion into my thoughts this time around as I stood up and made my way to my metal serving tray of the usual glop.

Beyond those differences, it's still dark, I'm still stuck in this room, and I still don't remember why.

Same old, same old really. Just a different coat of paint.

"Now then, if you would simply try to inform the guards of their negligence. I believe they have forgotten to pass me my usual serving." Turning to Chrysalis, I smiled and choked down another bite of glop.

"Alright, but only if you answer this right. What's my name?"

Here we go again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Princess? Is everything all right? You seem stressed." A fellow guard asked his monarch.

True to his words, Princess Celestia seemed absolutely a mess, magically rummaging through several layers of paperwork, signing over several papers while reading through several more. Bags were clearly visible under her eyes, several cups of tea or coffee were strewn around her, and her mane seemed to struggle to maintain its usual flow of elegance.

Things has gotten busy since the winter had begun and Celestia could only handle so much of it. Of course, it also didn't help that Discord was roaming around the castle after being 'reeducated' to control his chaotic habits. Truthfully, Celestia had thought this to be nonsense. Nonetheless, she allowed it, if only to please the friends of her prized student.

"I am fine." Celestia lied, momentarily looking away from her paperwork and giving her guard a kind smile.

"I have simply... had a lot on my plate. Nonetheless, I have been through much worse."

The guard gave a slight look of concern nonetheless.

"If you wish, you highness, I could send for somepony to assist you?"

Celestia simply shook her head and chuckled at this. She had done these reports on her own for decades, centuries even. Were things a bit difficult at the moment? Yes. But she didn't keep Equestria in the state of peace it was in by simply asking for help at the slightest of inconveniences. She was perfectly independent and capable, all obtained through years of hard work and effort. She could do this on her own.

She had for a long time.

Nonetheless, a thought of worry shot through her mind.

"Then again, I didn't have to deal with a roving Discord back then."

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"What to do, what to do?" Discord mused to himself as he floated backwards through the halls of the castle, paintings tilting by just a few degrees as he passed by them. He had been in this castle for over a month now: a month without any major acts of chaos to occupy him.

To him, it was like torture. He was absolutely itching to do something. Anything, really, but if the princesses noticed, he would have a lot of explaining to do... and he'd probably be turned to stone. Standing in one place and staring at the same thing for years on end, not fun. Also, birds tended to target him as a restroom he noticed.

Sure, he had turned some of them from deadly, powerful, and almost unstoppable beings of pure scaley destruction into chickens, but surely making it so that he needed to be cleaned every other week was a bit much?

"Hmmmmmmm... I was told not to purposely cause any chaos..." He recalls, a mischievous grin formed on his face as he began to rub his chin thought.

"... Then again, I wasn't told not to cause 'accidental' chaos." He tittered to himself at the idea. A delightfully devilish, yet technically correct idea. The best kind of correct!

Covering his eyes with one of his mismatched appendages, a small pepper shaker 'poofed' up out of nowhere. He giggled before 'accidentally' tilting and spilling a small amount over his nose.

For a moment he inhaled sharply, the usual symptoms of a sneeze beginning to show. Then, right at the precipice, just as he was about to exhale and let out that little bit of biological chaos that every living being has, he burped.

"Woops! Shouldnt have had that glass and wire burrito earlier." He commented, patting his belly as a small breeze of magic is blown down the halls of the castle from his gaseous exhalation, looking for something to interact with.

"That should hold me up for a bit. Though I do wonder what it will do... Ah, where's the fun in it if I spoil the surprise."

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Unbeknownst to Celestia, her sister Luna, or even Discord, the less than pleasant breeze had already selected a target with which to mess with. Flowing through the many halls of the castle, guards shivered as they felt an odd cold pass by them. Yet, they still held their positions like stones.

Soon, the breeze began to travel downwards, sounds of its fellow stray winds passing along it. It crisscrossed through the labyrinthine depths of the castle, occasionally blowing dust around with it through its journey. Reaching its destination after what had seemed like an endless search, the wind picked up in strength. It blew out torches as it readied itself for its last moment of freedom. Finally, slammed into a nearby door. Yet, it made no sound, breaking itself apart and losing all the magic and energy that it had gained. It's journey was done. The journey of the three behind the steel door it had collided with though had only just begun.

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"Am not."

"Are too."

We had reached the arguing part of our day yet again.

Nightmare Moon was likely sitting by and watching as Chrysalis began to stand again and I made my way to the steel door. As to what we were arguing about, it was whether or not I was a 'blubbering fool'. I really hoped that Nightmare Moon wouldn't have me shut up this time around. I was on a bit of a roll with that 'self-centered ladybug' comment and I really didn't want to lose it.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am no- Whoa!" Panic. Pure, unadulterated panic. Not the kind that comes from an actual life threatening situation, or anything like that. Rather, its the type of panic that comes from leaning just a bit too far backwards on a chair and almost falling over. Yeah, that seems about right for what I felt right about then.

Flailing my arms, I continued to fall backwards for what seemed like hours. Okay, no, thats pretty overdramatic.

I just fell over and hit the floor with a thud, the wind being knocked out of me like a punch to the stomach.

I groaned, rolled over, and picked myself up. There was more than a little embarrassment in the back of my mind over the fact that I had apparently slid against the steel door and fell over. But, hey, I had a dumb little argument to win!

"Don't think this means you win, Chry-" Whatever I had wanted to say died in my throat as I realized something. There was something distinctively different about where I was. No longer was I in a dark little room with barely enough space to run back and forth for all of a second or two. Instead, I was in some sort of stone hallway, lit by scattered torches that hung from the walls. I ended up having to shield my eyes from the light ever so slightly. It practically hurt to look at the torches it had been so long since I've directly seen any real source of light.

Okay, uh... This is weird? Where the hell-

The sound of muffled metallic thuds softly echoed right next to me, so I turned and face the source.

There was a door there. A big one. One that was concerningly and vividly familiar. As I looked at it, all I could do was blink.

I was out... I felt myself smile to an unbelievable extent, my cheeks actually growing sore as I gave out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. I wasn't sure how, but I was out. I could leave! I could figure out why I was here, head back home, get my job back...

That was the plan for all of a few seconds. But, another muffled bang resounded through the hall, louder than the last two. Again, it came from the metal door.

... I could live with the guilt... I could know that they were trapped there while I lived happily... Yeah, who am I kidding, I absolutely couldn't.

Sighing, I gave out a silent curse as I looked over the steel door. I inspected every possible element that I could use to open it. All I saw though were two keyholes. One was for the door and the other for the slide they pushed our food through.

I had more than a few questions about why that that small opening needed a lock but could wait for later. Maybe I could go through the door again?

Pushing against the door, I let out silent sounds of strains as I tried to repeat whatever it was that had happened before. No matter what I did though, nothing seemed to be working.

The door must have been a foot thick, how the hell was I able to get through it before? Alright, lets think this over. Not like there's a time limit to work with.

"Ugh. I hate working the night shift." I froze as I heard the deep sounding voice of a guard resound through the hall.

Alright, fair enough. I guess I should have seen that coming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ugh. I hate working the night shift." The royal guard complained to himself, having recently been ordered to watch the prisoners by the captain of the guard. He respected him and all, but this was just stupid. In his opinion, at least.

After all, the prisoners couldn't escape from their chamber if thy had tried. Two of them were too weak to use their magical energy and the other couldn't use magic at all judging from the reports.

Letting out a sigh, the guard turned the corner to the innermost dungeons where the steel doored metal chamber laid. To his surprise though, he couldn't really see the chamber. Not that it wasnt there, its just that the torches in the hall that all lead to the room, for some reason, were dimmed.

"What in Equestria?" He mumbled, making his way into the now darkened hall.

Being a Unicorn himself, he brought about the faint glow of his horn as he thought of an unspecific spell, trying to give himself at least a minimal sense of vision. Believing that he had enough light, he looked around the hall in the hopes of finding the cause of the issue. His eyes constantly darted left and right, his awareness at its utmost as he made his way to the chamber door. Each of his steps echoed in the hall, almost taunting him as he soon approached the steel doors of the prison chamber. To the side of the door, the guard saw several unlit torches piled into the corner of the hall, bits of burnt cloth still hanging of off as though they had only recently been snuffed out.

Before he could so much as question this sight however, the sound of metal clanging against the stone floor came from directly behind him.

"Who's there?!" Turning around, his eyes widening as he saw the bipedal prisoner was out of his chamber, a metal torch carrier having fallen next to him. There was but a single moment of tension between the two beings, each giving one another a cursory glance as though waiting for movement.

The prisoner was the first to react. He sprinted towards the guard, stumbling as he grabbed the torch carrier that landed on the floor. The pony, in a state of shock, was barely able to do little then watch as the prisoner reeled back and bashed the pony over the unprotected part of his helmet. For the pony, everything went black, but not before he could let out a single magically transmitted message.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Shit!" I thought to myself as I knocked the pony unconscious, flinching slightly as I heard a solid 'clang' followed by the thud of the unconscious pony's body. At least I had hoped he was unconscious. I really didn't need to start adding charges of murder onto whatever else it was that I had done.

... Okay, yeah, he's breathing, I'm good.

I was hoping to just take away his keys without him noticing me, but it looked like this damn castle had it out for me. Then again, my original plan wasn't exactly perfect either. After all, if he had re-lit the torches, he would have seen me anyways.

I guess I'm more of a big picture kind of guy. That explains why I just worked on the blueprints before...

I inhaled slowly through my teeth as I gave a silent apology to the guard knocked out before me and tapped his snout a few times. Once I was sure he wouldn't suddenly wake up, I bent down and began to search him for his keys.

At first, I couldn't find anything and was ready to give up and look for some other way of opening the door. But, just out the plain sight, I noticed a small bit of brass under his armor of white metal and gold. I flipped him over carefully, still not wanting to hurt him any further than I had, and quickly noticed a keyring by where his cutie mark would be. Three keys hung off of it.

I let out a mental cheer as I grabbed the keyring and made my way to the steel door, stepping over the unconscious body of the unicorn with care. No less than a second after I had gotten there had I begun to look through the three keys, testing each of them out on the door. Of course, with my luck, it ended up being the last key. The brass key with teeth in the shape of a semicircular oval.

I turned the key, quickly taking a step back as the door seemed to come to life on its own. Several steel mechanisms grinded and moved against themselves, likely enchanted to do so as it unlocked the previously impenetrable door. Soon, the door pushed open. It was by just a crack though. I had to pry it open the rest of the way, which wasn't exactly easy. I hadnt realized just out of shape I was until I found myself sweating and panting as I dragged the door open, a resounding thud feeling as though it shook the world directly around me as the door slammed against it hinges.

I could only put my hands on my knees as I felt sweat drip down my face and to the floor. I glanced up and smiled as, sure enough, I saw Chrysalis looking at me from the corner of the room. She was wide-eyed and mouth agape, laying down on her stomach with her legs tucked below her as the faint torchlight from further down the hall shined partially into the room.

"Hey... miss me?" I panted, giving a wave as I catch my breath. Yeesh, three months in a small dark room with single servings of food a day really aren't great for the ol' fitness plan, are they?

"Thou... thou hast returned." Still scares me when she does that. Nonetheless, I felt a chuckle leave my lips as I heard her voice.

"Of course I did. You didn't think I'd leave without you two, did you?"

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As a matter of fact, that's exactly what they both thought. After Jeremy had somehow phased through the door, Chrysalis began to bang on the door with all her might in an attempt to follow suit. Suffice to say it didn't work as she soon gave up, moving to the corner of the room and attempting to sleep off the anger and misery she had felt. Nightmare Moon, having no way of following through the door either, settled on keeping Chrysalis' mind company as she did so.

So when the door's lock clicked, Chrysalis' head shot straight up and Nightmare Moon quickly severed their connection as the door began to grind open. The time was agonizingly long before the hunk of metal was dragged away, revealing a now sweating and panting Jeremy who looked up to the room and waved, smiling as he did so.

He had the chance to escape. That much was certain. Yet he chose to stay back and help the two. There would be no time to dawdle on these thoughts, however, as Jeremy straightened himself and spoke once more.

"We'd better get going. The sooner we get out of here, the better. Oh, and you may want to watch out for the guard on the floor." Nightmare Moon, though none could likely tell, felt both shock and a slight spike of concern as Jeremy spoke of the unconscious guard. Without a word, she made her way over to his body. It was not out of a sense of concern for the health of the stallion that she did this, however. Rather, she was much more concerned over the fact that the guard had been a unicorn.

Chrysalis seemed to have a similar fear, her eyes widening and she quickly looked to her bipedal roommate.

"Wait, how quickly did you knock him out?" She asked, a sense of urgency in her voice.

Jeremy blinked, raising a brow at the question.

"Um, I don't know. Maybe, five seconds after he saw me?" Chrysalis' eyes narrowed as she looked to her roommate.

"You foal! In that time, the guard could have called for help through the use of his magic!"

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Uh... Did pony magic work that way? Look, I never exactly questioned it, but from what limited experience I have seeing unicorns, there's no way he could have possibly cast a spell so quickly!

Sure, I took a second or two to knock him out, but-

"She is correct. We have checked the guardspony and found magical residue from a telecommunication spell."

Oh... Oh, I screwed up. I screwed up bad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia let out a sigh of happiness as she looked over her previously immense pile of paperwork. There was only one more paper to sign. The last paper of the season. Granted, she would likely have much more work thrust upon her by the end of the day, but she had done it all on her own.

Bliss in her imminent reach, she began to bring the quill down to the paper, her magical grip surrounding it in its usual golden glow. Just as she was about to make the last signature though, a group of her and her sister's guards rushed into the room, practically braking down the door in the process. The sudden occurrence caused Celestia to flinch, the quill in her magic's grip jutting forwards and through the paper. Celestia could only blink as she looked at the hole that was now in the form, a breath escaping her as she realized she would need a new copy to sign.

She was already mentally tracing out the processes she would need to perform as she turned to look towards the guards, stopping only as she saw the look of grim seriousness behind their many muzzles.

"Your majesty, we received an urgent relay message from one of the other guards. One of the three prisoners from far below has escaped and we lost contact with Glasscannon!" Celestia froze at the news, shock being the first sensation to hit her as her jaw tensed. Within a moment though, she recovered, realizing just what had been said. Her eyes narrowed as she put on a serious expression of her own.

"Ready yourselves to capture and retrieve!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Go! We need to go, now!" I yelled at the two, pointing to the hall that I assumed would lead us out of the dungeon. Specifically the literal only passage that there was.

It wasn't much of an option, but it was certainly there.

Chrysalis nodded, rushing past me and rounding the corner before I could even react. I blinked as I watched her, never having seen her move that fast... or that much. Behind her, for just a moment, I watched a small round shadow followed. It left a small wispy trail as it went along, seemingly marking and staining the ground before just as quickly disappearing.

Again, I blinked.

So that's what she looked like. I was honestly expecting something a little more intimidating or sizeabl-

FUCK, RAMBLING AGAIN.

Shaking my head, I mentally scolded myself for not focusing as I turned and began to run down the hall myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As quickly as she could, Celestia teleported herself and her guards down to the lower most dungeons of the castle. Where she had been others would have seen little more than a flash of white as well as a slight breeze from the displacement of air. Normally, she wouldnt risk such precise teleportation with such a large group of ponies, but she had to act quickly before any of the three had any chance to escape.

She had to recapture the prisoner that was out and keep this situation under control. If anypony learned of their escape, it would case panic without a doubt.

Fortunately for her, though unfortunate for another, this prove to be difficult.

Immediately after teleporting into the now darkened hall that led to the steel chamber, Celestia felt something impact against her. It was barely enough to move her, but it was certainly enough to surprise her. Looking down, she could barely make out the shape of the very prisoner she had been informed had escaped, now rubbing his head as he recovered on the floor. She took a moment to look over the prisoner, wondering how he had escaped, before then illuminating the hall with a single flash of magic. To her chagrin, the steel door to the chamber at the end of the hall hung open. The chamber itself, even worse, was completely empty.

She felt her teeth begin to grind involuntarily as she glared down to the human before her, who had been shielding his eyes from the sudden burst of light.

She leaned her head down towards the prisoner and spoke in a low yet clear tone, making sure to speak each word with a careful precision that could slice through silk and steel.

"...Where. Are. They?" She practically growled. The prisoner, though shocked at her presence, wasn't swayed. Maybe it had been how long he had been in the chamber. Maybe it was as a result of the pain he felt from falling to the floor yet again. Maybe he was just in a bad mood, or maybe it was just instinctual, but the prisoner felt his own jaw tense as a sense of irritation overcame him.

As he picked himself up off of the ground and dusted himself off, acting as though he weren't being glared at by the mare that moved the sun over the world above them and a battalion of her guards, he found his thoughts wandering for a clever response. Something. Anything.

He looked towards her and gave a glare of his own. If looks could kill, Celestia would have been killed a thousand times over. Then again, the human would have been killed over a million times, and he knew this. Still, he finally found the words.

"How about you check up your enormous a-" He was cut off rather quickly as a metal tray hit him over the back of the head. His eyes shrunk to near pinpricks as he quickly gained a dazed look and fell to the ground. Behind him was the royal guard by the name 'GlassCannon', an oddly shaped bruise clearly visible through his metal helmet as he glared at the creature he had just gained his vengeance upon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damn it universe, couldn't you have at least given me a five second head start!?!

Chapter 4: Time Suffers [Here Again]

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Alright, here's a fun question. Remember how I had said that I wouldn't be able to go through a month in that dark room alone?

Well, I can honestly say I was wrong. I could make it through a month after all! Congratulations are in order!

Though, uh... turns out two months are a bit of a different story.

I had heard that the royal guard could be rough whenever they needed to, but I always pushed this off as a rumor. I had never met a pony that was willing to so much as push another over, let alone actively hurt another being. In fact, I once watched a pegasus practically collapse into tears because a single carrot she was buying fell on top of the head of a rabbit she was trying to feed.

Now that I was here though, in the position that I was in...

Things had gotten immensely worse since that little 'escape attempt' of mine. For more reasons than one. Like, how I was wearing oversized metal wrist cuffs whether they were watching me or not. I didn't even know they had those around here, but I guess they did?

As to what the other reasons were, I suppose I'll just list them off in order from 'best' to worst.

First off, the food. No, I don't mean how it tasted, it always tasted awful. I'm not too sure if the princess ordered it, or if the guards were doing it just to spite me, but those half servings of food I would occasionally have? They became my new 'full servings'. Needless to say, I was actually starving. I know I wasn't exactly 'fit' a couple of months ago, but I was actually starting to turn into skin and bones now. Malnutrition is not fun, not in the slightest. I found myself waking up, drooling, from dreams involving light snacks way more often than I'd like to admit.

As if the fact that they're starving me to death wasn't enough, those little 'interrogations' they would give me weren't exactly enjoyable either. At first, it would start off like interrogations you would see in movies back on Earth. The whole good cop, bad cop scenario. Of course, this phase would only last for a few minutes, tops. It would then quickly turn into more of a bad cop, worst cop situation. If I was able to walk back to my cell that night, then that meant that I had gotten lucky.

It's those interrogations that bring me to my next point. Anyone ever heard of sustained trauma? Well, turns out, you can very easily find yourself associating something bad with something else if you have a bad enough experience for long enough. I... can't believe I'm saying this, but its safe to assume I was starting to deal with it. It was faint at first.

I'd find myself slightly further from the door, saying I wanted to give myself a second to breathe when the guards came. Then, I'd start avoiding the slide where the food came through. Even when I was absolutely in pain from hunger, I wouldn't rush towards what little sustenance I was given. Instead, I'd wait patiently until the lock to the slide rang out. Then came the panic attacks... For a while, I thought I was just afraid of the beatings. But, eventually I figured it out when one of the guards used their magic to light the room up so they could drag me out and I ended up blacking out from hyperventilating.

Light... I was scared of the light. Nowadays, I know what that's called. Photophobia. But back when this all started, I just couldn't believe that this was happening.

I mean, come on, it sound ridiculous, right? A grown man afraid of lightof all things?

This entire time I had been in this metal cell, I had thought of what little light came through the slide for food to mean freedom, life, hope even.

But now, every time I saw it I wouldn't think of any of that. Instead I saw their silhouettes... beings ready to drag and torture me. I couldn't help but shiver and curl up in fear. Most folks say that the scary thing about the dark wasn't the dark itself, its what we didn't know was in it. I disagree now. I knew. What was in it. More specifically, I knew what wasn't in it. In this moment, I am alone. And that is absolute bliss to me.

Well... not entirely.

I guess that's my last reason. The worst reason. The loneliness. Here I was with a dark room all to myself, my sanity barely holding its grip to my mind and all I could think about was how I would previously keep myself occupied with my two cellmates. I missed the smaller things. That scare I would get whenever Nightmare Moon would just pop into my mind. That funny process Chrysalis would go through whenever she had woken up. Even the arguments that I would constantly have with her had become something akin to a momentary heaven in my memories away from the hell I lived in.

On the bright side,--"I'll need to change that expression soon"-- the more I thought about how lonely I was, the more I thought about how the two were free. Sure, I would have liked to go out with them. I would have liked to see the light of day, rather than fear it. To bask in its warm embrace. Heh, to go home and deal with the upcoming tax season even. Fun fact: Ponies are terrible at taxes. Took quite a few odd jobs helping with that.

Who knows, I may have been able to see them from time to time. Still, I can't complain. After all, two out of three ain't bad right?

... Rambling is all I have now, isn't it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Have you or your team learned anything more about where they might be?" Celestia asked one of her many royal guards. Ever since Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon had escaped, paperwork and Discord's crazy antics had become the least of her concerns. The stress was really starting to get to her, but she had no choice but to keep herself under control and placid. If only for the morale of her guards and the citizens that trusted her to rule over them.

"I'm afraid not your majesty. The prisoner still hasn't cooperated and claimed sightings around Equestria are uncertain, at best." Celestia sighed as she heard this. They weren't making any progress whatsoever. It wouldn't be long before ponies began to talk, rumors of Nightmare Moon teaming up with Chrysalis to seek out their revenge. Celestia could already see the news article now.

"Thank you, Pure Steel. You are dismissed." Nodding, the stallion made his way out of the throne room, the large doors closing shut behind him. Pure Steel glanced towards a nearby clock, chuckling as he noticed what time it was.

"Hmph. Time for somepony to handle tonight's interrogation."

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On his way back to the soldier's barracks, Pure Steel had already begun to think over who would take the duty of interrogations tonight. Several of his other, more experienced teammates had already had their chances, so perhaps it was time for one of the new member to take a turn.

Just as he approached the doors to the barracks, somepony made their way out, nearly crashing into him. Pure Steel recognized this pony almost instantly, chuckling at the luck of the encounter. He would do.

"Brass Bone." The guard paused in his place, hesitating slightly before turning to face his commander.

"Newbies." Pure Steel mused to himself as the pony nodded his head and gave a salute, to which his captain returned a similar gesture. Brass Bone was a very quiet and timid pony, usually keeping to himself since he had joined the squad. Hopefully, a night of interrogations would toughen him up.

"Brass Bone, its your turn to interrogate the prisoner tonight. Try not to rough him up too bad, we still need any information we can get out of him first. After that, you can do whatever you like." The guard named Brass Bone smiled, though it seemed slightly forced as he did so, before turning and making his way to the castle dungeons. Just as he was around the corner though, Pure Steel realized something.

"Oh, and Brassbones." Pure Steel called again, causing his underling to pause once more. "Give him a good bruise under his ribs for me."

He had nearly forgotten to request his 'signature mark'.

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"Negative 3443 bottles of milk on the wall, negative 3443 bottles of milk. Take one down, pass it around, negative 334- No, wait, wasn't it- Oh god damn it, I lost count again!"

This was what I had been reduced to. Singing the same song over and over again or rambling about random topics as I waited for the inevitable break in the darkness that would lead to the opening of pain.

It could always be worse though, right?

There was no light, the guard was late, and I'd even gotten a slightly bigger amount of food than usual. Who knew, maybe it was going to be a good day after all. As good as it could get, that is.

The door began to grind and clang as the sound of a key entering and turning in the lock echoed into the room.

Its official. I hate this castle, it can hear my thoughts, I swear it.

Soon, the door screeched completely open, allowing the light to flow into the room as the silhouette of another guardspony came into my view. It was the very scene that I was so afraid of. Luckily, I was hidden from the light in the far corner of the room, but I still couldn't help but to sit in a fetal position, hugging my knees to my chin and trembling as the light broke my blissful darkness apart. It just barely touched me for a second.

Just a second. Yet it almost burned, as though the torches the light was coming from had been placed directly against my skin.

Focusing on the pony that had now begun to walk towards me, I swallowed as much of my fear as possible and shot him an angry glare. Its all I could do nowadays. My little form of rebellion.

In the grand scheme of things, it meant about as much as you'd expect. But it was... something.

"I-I told you and the others b-before." I inhaled as I tried to calm my nerves. If I stuttered, they'd use it against me again. "I don't know where they went." A slight twinge of rebellion jumped from my chest to my throat. Barely a spark, but I was in no state to hold it back. "Even if I did, I sure as all hell wouldn't tell you."

To me, it sounded as if I was yelling with all of my will. To him though, it probably sounded like faint and shivering whimpers, barely breaking through the silence of the room. I was near my breaking point. I could tell. And I doubted that the guards couldn't.

The pony continued to walk towards me, any semblance of anger or confidence I had quickly taking a backseat as my fear and cowardice began to take control. The pony reached out for me and I clenched my eyes shut. Hooves... they hurt, you know? If you ever got kicked by a horse, you'd know it. Of course, horses don't tend to repeatedly hit you. They usually just kick you to get you to leave them alone. These ponies though... they can aim. They can think. They know exactly where to hit, how hard to do so, and how to do it over and over again.

So, when I instead felt said hoof being gently touch to my shoulder, I was more than a little surprised. I didnt dare look up, fearing that this was some sort of trap...

But as time passed, I found myself looking towards the pony for one specific reason. They spoke. And when they did, it sounded as if two beings spoke at the same time.

"...You didn't think we'd leave you behind did you?" I could only look up in shock at the now smirking pony that was in front of me. That voice. That double-toned voice. It couldn't have been, could it? It was familiar, far too familiar for it to have been my mind playing tricks on me. Yet, I still hesitated, my own voice clawing its way out of my throat with what little will I had left.

"C-... Chrysalis?" The smile on the pony grew as he soon became covered in a green flame. For a moment, I gave silent thanks to the fact that this surprisingly didn't emit too much light for me to deal with. The flames all faded away appendage by appendage, revealing black coverings as holes began to open up in his thinning leg. His horn became much more jagged, losing its straight and pointed shape. Two small round wing coverings seeped through his skin and the rest of his body began to thin along with his legs. Even his eyes and mane began to change change, his pupils becoming slits while the surrounding eye became an dark green. As this transformation came to an end finished, I couldn't believe who it was standing on front of me. Chrysalis.

"H-How did-" Chrysalis cut me off, clamping her hoof over my mouth as she glanced around the room and hall she had come through. Whatever smile she had prior was now replaced my a scowl.

"Silence you foal! If any of the guards come down here before Nightmare Moon is ready, then I'll end up being put back here in this chamber with you." I blinked. Nightmare Moon had come too? Were these two nuts? I reached up and moved Chrysalis' hoof off of my mouth, minding the holes in her foreleg, as I looked to her with a glare.

"Are you two crazy?!" I asked, my voice seeming to gain just a bit of strength as I went on. "Y-you shouldn't have come here." I looked down the hallway that Chrysalis had just come down. I shuddered slightly as I saw the light, but my confidence didn't waver. "Look, you have to get out of here. Meet up with Nightmare Moon and tell her that, whatever plan she's going along with, cancel it!"

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Chrysalis couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had made all of that effort, using whatever spare love she could find to fuel her shape shifting ability, only to be given an ungrateful human in return!

"Forget it. I'm not going anywhere without you. Especially after I have come so far! Besides, Nightmare Moon's already doing her part and she won't be stopping until she succeeds." To her annoyance though, rather than take her words to heart, her old roommate shook his head.

"No. You're leaving now. You two were barely able to get out of here before and I doubt you'll be able to get out when you're carrying me as dead weight!" Chrysalis put on a face of frustration as the human continued to resist. There had to be a way to shut hi- convince him, to go along with this. An idea quickly came to Chrysalis, as she inwardly grinned at her genius. It had been some time, but manipulation wasn't exactly something she would ever really get rusty with, was it?

"Dead weight? You mean we weren't dead weight that night you tried to escape?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

... Oh god damn it.

"You could have easily left the castle that night, yet you chose to stay behind and help us." She was grinning as she told me this. She had won this argument and she knew it. If anything, I was starting to think she was reveling in it.

"So, yes, at this point you're dead weight. Yes, I'm going to leave. But, I'm leaving with you. Whether you like it or not." My eyes further narrowed. Looking away from her, I began to grumble. There was nothing I could say to beat that or at least I couldn't think of anything to say in my current condition. I had gotten so good at our games of verbal fencing too! Talk about being out of practice.

Taking in a deep breath, I turned back to Chrysalis.

"... Fine. So what's the plan then?"

Chrysalis smirked as she used keys I'm assuming she had stolen to quickly remove the metal cuffs around my hands. I idly rubbed my now freed wrists as I watched her sit down next to me.

"We wait."

... You're kidding me?

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Pure Steel stretched his limbs out as he began to remove his armor, sighing in relief as he felt the weight of the heavy metal be released from his burden. His shift was over and all he wanted to do was relax. He yawned as he made his way into one of the various locker rooms that the guards were given near their quarters.

Opening his locker and looking through his many belongings, Pure Steel was moments away from reaching for his bit pouch and leaving when he heard something... odd. The pounding of something against metal.

His ears twitched as he once again lifted his head, now in a state of full alertness. Pure Steel glanced around the room and quickly noticed a shaking locker door that seemed to be causing all of the ruckus.

He slowly approached the locker, keeping himself prepared for whatever situation that may have arrived. Grabbing onto the handle and removing the simple rod lock, Pure Steel barely was able to jump backwards in time to avoid the body of a squirming pony falling towards him. There, laid before him, was a tied and gagged pony. Pure Steel's eyes widened as he quickly recognized who said pony had been. Brass Bone, out of uniform and with a growing bump on his head.

Quickly untying him, he told him to get as many guards as he could. Somepony had invaded the castle, and it was an issue of the utmost importance to find them!

He also made a mental note to request better headwear for the guards in the future. This was getting embarrassing.

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"... So, what are we waiting for?" I asked an impatient looking Chrysalis. Her hoof was tapping against the ground incessantly, no real rhyme or reason to it as he stared down the hallway to the chamber warily. "... Well?"

"Ugh!" She suddenly groaned, almost slamming one of her forehooves into her face out of frustration. "What is she doing!? She should have gotten us out of here by now!" I rose an eyebrow as I looked to her, resisting a passing urge to yawn or snark at her.

"Um, no offense Chrysalis, to you or to Nightmare Moon, but how exactly is a living shadow going to help us escape?" She looked to me with an amused look on her face, smiling slightly as she did so. She opened her mouth to say something, but what I heard next wasn't her voice.

"Check the prisoner's hall! We can't afford to leave any part of this castle untouched!" My eyes widened as I heard the familiar voice of a royal guard echo down the hall. Using both of my arms to the best of their ability, I dragged myself as far back as I could from the still opened door, my back hitting the cold metal walls by the corner they met, the frigid temperature seeming to emanate through my dirtied and ripped clothing. I wanted so desperately to be one with the wall right now.

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"I swear upon my sacred empress' life you nightmare causing night-mare, if you don't open that portal already, I'm going to-" Chrysalis' thoughts were brought to a stop as the chamber began to shake, the metal room making creaking and almost crackling noises. Within seconds, a part of the metal walls seemed to bend inwards onto itself, twisting and griding before seemingly coming to life. The metal swirled and buckled, spinning onto itself as a black portal ripped itself through the metallic walls of the cell. Crackles of what seemed like electric energy flowed around it, the leylines torn asunder by the instance of intense magic making themselves know as they blood out into the gaping hole. Smiling at the success of her plan, she looked back to her former roommate, ready to yell at him to get through the portal. Unfortunately, he seemed to have been much more inclined to simply sit there and tremble in the corner of the room, seeming to stare unblinkingly at the hallway that was being lit by only torches.

Following his gaze, she noticed the shadows of several guards rushing past the wall of the chamber hall. It wasn't long before she heard the footsteps and voices.

"Hurry! I think it came from here!"

Her eyes widened as she looked back to the still unmoving human.

"What are you waiting for!? We need to-" Her patience ran short rather quickly. "Oh, buck it!"

Chrysalis grabbed the back of his shirt with her mouth and threw him into the portal.

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I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting that throw.

I also wasn't expecting the enourmous fuckin' portal that had torn through the room! On the dim side, and yes, that's what I'm going to call it instead of the bright side, the inside if the portal wasn't so bad.

It was interesting... and dark. Two pretty good traits right there!

On the bad side though, the trip itself wasn't that fun.

It felt as if I was being pulled in all directions, as if I were the last toy that five children were fighting over. Or a tube of toothpaste being slammed by a hammer to see if it could be made to explode.

Soon though, sensation came to an end and I, once more in my infinite experience with gravity, aptly reacted to the coming world and-- Ah, who am I kidding, I'm too exhausted just thinking about it. I hit my head and passed out.

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This had to be the third time I had woken up with a throbbing headache. Only this time, it was different. Well, technically all of them had been different. But this one was a... different-different?

Man my head hurts.

I felt a cool breeze blow past me, the air seeming cleaner and easier to breathe than before. I let out a breath as I pried my eyes open, trying to collect my thoughts. To my surprise, I no longer saw a small, pitch black metal room. Instead, there was the oddly shaped stalactite of a dim cave's roof, water dripping down from it and resounding through the dimly lit cavern. If this was a dream, I hoped desperately that I wouldn't wake up.

I struggled to prop myself onto my elbows, an oddly comfortable surface below me rather than a cave floor. After a minute or two of effort and grunting in pain, I managed to support myself. Though, my entire body was screaming at me to lay back down. Plus a wave of nausea from the head wound nearly made me throw up where I sat.

I closed my eyes and focused on not puking up what little breakfast I might have had in my stomach, breathing in through my nose.

Once I felt satisfied in my control of that sensation, I risked opening one of my eyes again.

Again I was surprised as I saw a familiar looking lump laying on the floor a few feet in from of me.

Chrysalis.

It wasn't a dream. I had made it. I had actually made it.

Before I could really even think on this though, I heard something behind me. A gasp of sorts.

"Thou hath awoken!" Suddenly, my entire body let out one continuous screech of pain as a pair of unfamiliar hooves came around me, pressing my back into an oddly warm and soft furry surface. "We were beginning to worry thou would never awake!" That same familiarity from before when I had heard Chrysalis' voice from the guard popped up. Only this time, it also felt as though I had been hearing it for the first time. Or rather, it was the first time I had heard it come from one place.

"N-... Nightmare Moon?" I asked as craned my head back to look at the mass of fur and warmth behind me. There sat a mare, completely pitch black in color, much like Chrysalis. However, unlike her, it was not an exoskeleton that covered her, but a coat of fine fur. I could see two large and sleek looking wings, along with a straight and tall black horn. I momentarily thought back to Princess Celestia's, but with its own darkened zeal. An alicorn with a tall and slender build, her mane and tail seeming to resemble the rich and ethereal night sky, moving as if it was alive. Finally, a cutie mark of a crescent moon surrounded by darkness on sat on her flank. As for her eyes, they were an emerald green, and slitted, much like those of Chrysalis, but with much more life and shine behind them.

The alicorn mare smiled and nodded, confirming my guess before proceeding to embrace me once again. My body let out another shriek, but I ignored it. Or at least I tried to. I don't think that I hid it too well though since Nightmare Moon immediately released me from her grip, carefully lowering me back down to whatever soft surface I was laying on.

"Oh, thou art in pain. We beg for thy forgiveness, Sir Jeremy. We simply felt it necessary to express our happiness." Her odd form of talking was still a little confusing for me, especially now that I actually saw her talking, but it was still refreshing to hear it again nonetheless. Even if I was in immeasurable pain. I smiled to her to show that it was no problem, feeling my eyelids begin to grow heavy from exhaustion. Nightmare Moon seemed to notice this as she let out another smile, my eyelids shutting completely as I felt myself drift off to sleep.

"Rest now, Sir Jeremy. Thou hast earned it."

Chapter 5: Freedom Comes With A Price [Here Again]

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"Dost thou not see what is before thy very eyes? Sir Jeremy is in too poor a condition to travel!"

"Oh please! He seems just fine to me!"

So many alarm clocks I've had to deal with throughout my life, yet somehow I don't think there's a snooze button that could ever allow me to tune those two out when they argued like this.

Course, it probably didn't help that most of the wake up came from the flash of memories that all but sprinted across my mind as I remembered what happened. The Portal, the cave...

I practically shot up from whatever 'bed' I had been laying on, the reality of how eventful the last few moments I could recall truly were only just now starting to hit me.

In hindsight though, I really shouldn't have gotten up so quick. You ever stand up from bed just a wee bit too fast and get a disproportionately large sense of vertigo?

Well, multiply that by whatever else starvation, head injuries, and lots of bruises adds onto the equation and you might be able to piece together why I was barely able to keep myself from screaming out in pain as my body caught up with my brain. Instead, a series of less than pleasant sounding grunts escaped me, my eyes watering as I barely held a rather colorful point of language in my mouth.

Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon seemed to have noticed I had woken up again pretty quickly.

Nightmare Moon looked me over for but a moment. She narrowed her eyes and looked back to Chrysalis.

"Prithee, dost thou think of him to be fair of health now?" Chrysalis didn't answer, instead rolling her eyes and giving out an exaggerated sigh as Nightmare Moon began to make her way to me. Her hooves trot lightly on the rock floor below, echoing quite clearly in the otherwise muted cave.

Once she was no more than a few feet from me, she stopped and gave a very purposeful bow of her head.

"Good morrow, Sir Jeremy."

I tried to reply, but found myself unable to. I guess the gesture had thrown me off balance.

I gave myself a moment to take a deep breath, finally seeming to catch up with everything that had happened.

Side note: I have to chew out Chrysalis later for throwing me into a swirling vortex of magic as well as head first onto a rock.

"Uh.. Yeah, yeah, morning. I think." I didn't exactly know what time it was, so I was just guessing with my response.

Then again, I couldn't help but to flinch at what I said, a part of me realizing just what the word "morning" might have even meant for me and my "issue".

I tried to raise myself further up onto the bed but barely made it so much as an inch or two before I felt pain jolt through me like lightning. I gave out a hiss as my ribs seemed to scream at me.

At this, Nightmare Moon gained a look of concern before making her way to my side and seating herself next to where I sat. Shortly after, to my earnest surprise, I could hear the chitinous hooves of Chrysalis make their way opposite of Nightmare Moon. The two practically shoved me back down onto the floor, though thankfully whatever soft object I had been laying on had made it so that it wasn't an entirely unpleasant process for me.

"Ye have suffered greatly by the looks of it. For a goodly amount of time, no less." Nightmare Moon practically whispered, as if she believed her very words could hurt me if she wasn't careful enough. From where I laid, I watched as Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and began to breathe with a slow and purposeful pace. Her horn started to glow and, shortly after, I felt an odd warmth surround me. I could faintly see a dark blue aura at the edges of my eyes as well as hear a silent hum seem to chirp at the back of my ears.

As this was going on, Chrysalis was also busying herself. She laid her two forehooves on me--one on my forehead, the other on the center of my chest--before narrowing her eyes as she looked me up and down. This was uh... awkward, to say the least.

"What exactly did they do to you while you were down there?" Chrysalis practically growled as both she and Nightmare Moon continued their actions. I didn't really want to talk about it, if I'm being honest. In fact, I kind of wanted to move on from those less pleasant memories as quickly as possible.

"And don't even think about lying, because from what that one guard captain told me while I was in disguise, I would hardly believe that they treated you kindly." So much for that idea.

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"Well, remember how the food was basically the worst thing you could ever eat... ever." I returned a half-hearted shrug as my former cellmate began to explain. Truthfully, the food wasn't that bad. Granted, it wasn't nearly as delicious as the sweet and tender taste of love, but still. "As it turns out, quantity is better than quality." I looked to him questioningly as I felt a small hint of self-amusement pass through him, followed shortly after by a rather intense wave of silent indignation. "Seriously though, they practically starved me down there. Over a month of eating what felt like leftovers wasn't fun, but I guess it was bearable."

I blinked at this, scoffing at his words.

I went almost an entire year without feeding on love, not including the time before I had been captured, and he was complaining. Perhaps what I did said next wasn't exactly royal behavior, but I wasn't really royalty without subjects now was I?

"Is that all?" I asked sarcastically. I easily noticed a small twinge of something more flash through his emotions. However, I elected to ignore it. "If hunger is what you're going to whine about, then I suppose you owe me a few apologies for all of those arguments we held regarding the lack of love I was fed in confinement."

Again, I saw that twinge of something go through him. This time though, I was able to pinpoint what it was. It was something intense. Something I hadn't seen in quite some time. So you can probably imagine my surprise when I realized just how much of this... fury seemed to provide an edge to his next words.

"Hunger doesn't leave bruises, Chrysalis." He said simply, almost blankly. There was so much whipping around in his mind and body. Sadness, hopelessness, a feeling of dread and emptiness. I had a feeling that I had struck a particularly bad nerve there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aside from the shock that she felt from Jeremy's statements, she was even more shocked to see that bruises were actually the last of his worries. Cracked ribs, malnutrition, dehydration, even small cases of internal bleeding, though not lethal, could be seen clearly as she used her magic to look over his body. Chrysalis was more focused on his mental facilities rather than physical.

"What dost thou see from thine own observations?" Nightmare Moon asked Chrysalis, her magic to create a seemingly telepathic link. It wasn't exactly a difficult thing for her to do. Since her creation, Nightmare Moon had been exceptionally adept at influencing and communicating with the minds of others. How else would she have been able to communicate when she did not have a body prior?

"From what I could see, he obviously took some hard hits to his inner will, but his mental strength still seems stable. Not ideal, but stable." Chrysalis replied through Nightmare Moon's spell, causing her to flinch ever so slightly. To be harmed so gravely, mentally and physically, Nightmare Moon could only wonder as to what the guards had put him through after she and the changeling queen had escaped.

Opening her eyes as she gathered all the information she needed from her magic, Nightmare Moon gave a serious expression as she looked down to the human laid between her and Chrysalis.

"Pray tell, what say ye to their reasoning for treating you in a manner such as this?" Curiosity and concern were quite evident in her voice. Jeremy wasn't able to respond, barely opening his mouth before a certain blank faced changeling tuned in first.

"I wouldn't suppose the phrase 'I told you and the others before, I don't know where they went, and even if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't tell you' had anything to do with it, would it?"

Jeremy silently deadpanned at this, pursing his lips and clicking his tongue as he looked directly up to the cave ceiling above.

"Yeah, that would just about be the long and short of it."

Chrysalis smirked in smug satisfaction, though Nightmare Moon didn't seem to notice as she replayed the statement over and over in her head.

He had gone through all the unnecessary trouble of protecting the two of them, even after they had left him. He had endured what she could only assume to have been almost two months of torture and hunger, purely because he wouldn't say where the two had gone. Of course, he hadn't really known where they had gone, per se, but it was still the principle of the matter.

Let alone the fact that he was the reason they had escaped in the first place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would really like to get up now. Aside from that moment between Chrysalis and I were I could practically feel my blood boiling as she scoffed at how I was treated, the two were acting as if they were supposed to care for me. Like I was a sick puppy, or something. Also, I'm not sure what they saw in their 'examinations', but judging by the looks on their faces, I could tell that I didn't want to know. Still, it probably wasn't actually that bad.

"Perhaps... you do need some time after all." Chrysalis begrudgingly conceded.

Nevermind, I might actually be dying if she was so willing to give up an argument like that.

"...Very well then, we shall stay here for another day or so. After that, we have to move on." Chrysalis lifted her hooves from atop of me and turned her head into a direction further into the cave. It was as though she had suddenly found herself in a state of deep though.

Nightmare Moon, on the other hand, seemed almost insulted. Her eyes and mouth widened as she looked between Chrysalis and I with choked annoyance. "A day!?! A single night will do naught for his wounds, if not slight!"

I'll be honest, I had no idea what she said. Chrysalis seemed to understand perfectly though, as she looked back to her with a blank face. One of her ears twitched ever so slightly as she addressed Nightmare Moon in return.

"Be that as it may, tell me, which sounds more appealing? Would you prefer he be fully healed and in the castle dungeons again, along with the two of us? Or would you prefer he deals with whatever pain he feels for now so we can continue to be avoid the entirety of Equestria which is very likely actively hunting us down?" Her words were pointed, precise, and certain. Nightmare Moon didn't answer immediately, looking down to the floor in annoyance and letting out a sigh before she returned her gaze to Chrysalis.

"... The following moon then. 'Tis safer to go during the night, when the darkness shroudeth us from our foes." No complaints here. If anything, the darker, the better. "What say ye, Sir Jeremy?" Nightmare Moon asked, the two focusing on me once again. I felt kind of nervous with the two of them looking at me, but I pushed it aside.

"Fine by me." I commented with a grunt and a shrug. "If you two don't mind though, I have some questions to ask you both."

I've got a lot of blanks that need filling in here.

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

The two of them were actually pretty responsive, and patient, with me. I must have asked over three dozen questions, like how they had found this place, or what my 'bed' was made of. Turns out that it was just some straw, covered by a cloth. Where they got it? Beats me. I could have asked, but honestly I feel like it would have been a waste of time. Some of the more important questions I asked though had to do more with the two of them more than anything else.

"Nightmare Moon, how exactly did you get your physical body back? At least, I'm guessing that's your physicals body?" I asked, raising a brow as I looked to her curiously. "I thought you were stuck as a shadow." Nightmare Moon chuckled, pointing a forehoof to the opening of the cave that lead to the outside, which by now had been long darkened by the night.

"'Tis simple, Sir Jeremy. Just as my former sister, Celestia, gaineth power from the day, I gain my strength from the night. For what other reason would she have incarcerated me than to keep me weak?" I... guess that made sense? So she was like the opposite of solar powered? I wasn't really familiar with an alicorn's anatomy, let alone of the two princesses and the alter ego of one in front of me, so I hadn't really known that they got their strength from the sky. Still, it was interesting to find out as the very least.

"... Alright. One more question then. Chrysalis, didn't you say that you couldn't use any of your changeling abilities without love?" Chrysalis let out a sigh and rolled her eyes, giving me a deadpan look.

"Yes." She answered simply.

"Then how were you able to turn into that guard?" I continued, giving her a similar deadpan. She seemed to smile slightly at this as she looked over her shoulder in a seemingly coy manner.

"Oh, I may have seen a little foal 'lose' her precious stuffed animal and accidentally absorbed the love from it until it disintegrated into little more than soot. " She gave a cold chuckle as she recalled the thought while I just looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Pro: she hadn't hurt the foal and she had ended up using that love to help me. Con: that is quite possibly one of the crueler things I had heard her do, and that includes what happened in Canterlot.

"I'm... just gonna let that slide for now." I told her, receiving an amused smile from Chrysalis and a silent chuckle from Nightmare Moon. Seeing the two like this, despite my own resistance, I couldn't help but to smile.

It was good to have these chats again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a rare moment between the three of them: One in which they would share a moment of amusement, despite the differences between one another. A small escape from the world around them and the situation they found themselves in. A minuscule moment of merriment. Unfortunately, reality often finds a way of showing itself whenever it believes it is needed.

Jeremy, in what could only be described a moment of pure bioligical shock, found himself doubled over with pain as a particularly nasty throb of his injuries made itself apparent to him. Chrysalis rose a brow while Nightmare Moon looked on with a face of concern. It was a minute or so before Jeremy's groans and aches began to calm down, leaving much smaller, whimper-like grunts escaping him as he began to speak again.

"I'm fine. I'm f-fine." He told the two, waving a dismissive arm at them as he put a hand over his mouth. His voice was slightly raspy from his strain, coming out more like sandpaper. His throat felt dry and coarse.

When they had lowered the amount of food he had received, they had done the same to the water, so it wasn't really a surprise of sorts.

"Would you wish to partake in sustenance?" Nightmare Moon asked, drawing a look of confusion from Jeremy. Chrysalis noticed this confusion and groaned.

"She's asking if you want something to eat or drink." The mention of food was quickly responded to by not Jeremy's stomach spoke for him in ways he could not. A loud rumble sounded through the cave, comparable to a snarling creature.

Nightmare Moon was barely able to hold back her laughter, her hoof covering her muzzle, while Jeremy's face became a light shade of red.

"I take it that's a yes?" Chrysalis teased.

"Um-... I-... What I mean is... S-sure." Jeremy stammered, the stalactites above suddenly holding a much greater sense of interest to him.

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"Mayhaps now thou canst see why I worry so." I questioned my fellow former 'roommate', as she had called it. We had left Sir Jeremy not moments ago, seeking sustenance that would allow us to replenish his health, if only slightly. As we went on, however, I could see that she had accompanied me with an ill mood, her face showing annoyance, rather than a shared concern. "... 'Tis disheartening to see that thou showest such little care for him."

She scoffed, glancing at me for the shortest of times before resuming her trot. "I have no reason to show more than I have to. Don't forget, the only reason I helped you and continue to help you is because I don't like to leave my debts unpaid."
I continued to show her no emotion, though verily, I felt naught but the upmost irritant of her and I was certain she could see it. "And now, here we are, looking for food and water for him. He held out for about a month and a half, he could go another few days."

A mental battlefield was quickly created for me, as my ideals began to combat one another for supremacy. "He wasn't joking when he said he would be dead weight, it would seem."

I felt my eyes narrow as she uttered this, the mental conflict quickly being ended with a mighty roar of victory. Perhaps I would break my word, but I would not allow her to speak so dishonorably of Sir Jeremy. I cleared my throat as I addressed the changeling monarch before me with a careful choice of words.

"Pray tell, for what length of time dost thou think he, as 'dead weight', went without a proper meal." The queen Chrysalis' expression as I asked this only served to further increase the sense of irritation I held within me.

"Haven't you been paying attention? 42 days, the same amount of time its been since we had escaped." I very pointedly rose a brow at her, drawing a look of confusion.

"Thou misunderstand. I meant previous to the days of our escape." Her confusion quickly grew in intensity as I looked ahead of myself, searching the surrounding area for berries and the like. "Hast thou verily accustomed thyself to the belief that the guards would occasionally show thee respect? Perchance, thou hadst not realized that there was greater reason for thine increase in rations during our time in imprisonment." I told her with as little emotion as I could muster, knowing perfectly well that she could sense it.

"... What do you mean?" I didn't respond to her question, instead continuing as I left off.

"Was it not odd to thee that during the time that Sir Jeremy would go hungry, thou wouldst be full and content? At least, as much as thou can be without thine precious love." Suddenly she had frozen in her trot, realization likely having finally grasped her just as I had hoped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chrysalis' eyes widened, her walk brought to a pause as she slowly began to absorb what she had just been told. Noticing this, Nightmare Moon stopped as well. She looked back to her with a small smile as she noticed the situation turning in her favor. Chrysalis took a moment to stare back at the mare, an indecipherable expression on her face.

"... Hmph. I'll admit, you almost had me there. You should know better than to try to trick me."

Nightmare Moon kept her smug smile though, watching as Chrysalis easily took notice and narrowed her eyes in return.

"'Tis not a ruse of any sort, changeling queen. Throughout thine incarceration, Sir Jeremy willingly donated over half of his food to thee, sacrificing his own health in the hopes of keeping thee from growing weaker." Chrysalis could feel her teeth bare as she said this, anger and irritation quickly taking over her usually clear mind.

"Oh please! If that were true, then why didn't the idiot tell me about that?!?" Nightmare Moon felt her smile diminish at the insult, but she continued nonetheless.

"He did so because he knew of the importance thou hast in thy pride. When he learned of this, he made it a matter of significant reason that he would not tell thee. I had to break my very word not to inform thee of this! Wherefore? For no other reason than the fact that thou seemst to trot so heavily on his kindness!" I found my voice growing fiercer and fiercer as I spoke, like an avalanche of fury escaping from within me. I was only able to keep myself under control due to my knowledge that the royal Canterlot voice would likely only attract attention. "Thou showest not even the care to remember his name! Sir Jeremy is a kind and noble soul, and he deserveth better accompaniment than the likes of thee!"

Nightmare Moon, as she finished giving her piece, awaited a rebuttal, an insult, even the slightest of gestures. To her surprise though, none came. Rather, Chrysalis just narrowed her eyes even further and looked ahead.

"The sooner we get this over with, the better."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Just another step. C'mon, you've been able to walk on your own most of your life, there's no way you cant do it now just because of a couple of bad bruises."

I had been laying around for almost two months, lost feeling in my legs over 30 times, and started chafing over 15 times, so for me it was only natural that I would at least want to stand. The problem though is that it felt as if it was the most painful thing in the world just to take a step forward. My arms, head, and everything below my lower torso was fine, albeit a bit weak from hunger. My ribs and upper were the real issue. Every step I took felt like another familiar punch to the ribs, winding me and almost causing me to collapse then and there.

I took in another short breath as I moved my foot ahead yet again, grunting as I put weight on it. The only reason I had even made it as far as I had so far was just because I was mostly leaning on the cave wall next to me. I wasn't going to leave the cave, I wasn't that stupid, but I just felt like I couldn't stay in the same place for much longer. Its like there were ants in my legs, biting and crawling all over just so they could be sure I would actually be able to put them to use again.

"Sir Jeremy, we have returned with-" I turned my head to the two in surprise, noticing they were looking at me with similar expressions. "Sir Jeremy! What in Equestria art thou doing!? Thou shouldst be resting!" Nightmare Moon practically yelled, the echo of her voice in the cavern practically ringing in my ears.

Oh boy, this wasn't good.

"L-let me explain." I told her, gesturing for her to hold on. I focused even more of my weight on the cave wall and turned myself to face the two, taking a much longer time than I normally would have liked. Luckily, the two waited patiently, though Nightmare Moon showed more than a little concern and Chrysalis seemed to tap her hoof against the floor. It wasn't more than a few moments before I could eventually turn to face them entirely.

"Alright, there we go. Look, I can see why you're so concerned, but I can't just lay down all day. Believe me, after sitting in the exact same spot for over a month I've had enough staying still for a while."

No sooner than the words had left my mouth did I shortly feel a familiar warmth, alongside it's accompanying dark aura and silent hum in the back of my head. The discomfort I had been feeling from my bruises lessened greatly and it felt as though my entire body had suddenly become as light as a feather.

"T'is... amongst the least sensical things that we have ever heard." Nightmare Moon began, causing me to flinch slightly. "But if you must walk, then we shan't stop thee. Realize, however, that we will not allow you to do so without our or Chrysalis' assistance. Your wounds hath already been strained enough, they need not any more."

I looked to the two in silence, standing up straight for the first time in what felt like ages as my spine releasing several thankful cracks. Without really thinking about it, I smiled and nodded my head in understanding and agreement.

"Splendid!" Nightmare Moon suddenly then suddenly exclaimed in a rather cheerful manner, bringing about a raised brow from both Chrysalis and I. "Now then, shall we eat, Sir Jeremy?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had to pace myself. I had to pace myself. This was what I kept on thinking as I was eating with the other two. Granted, they had only brought back berries and a bucket full of water. I had no idea where they had gotten it from, though I suspect Chrysalis had something to do with it. Still, the amount of stress I felt as I slowly ate the berries one by one had no comparison. I knew that if I ate too fast my body would reject the sudden increase in food and go nuts, but it was really hard to limit oneself when they are eating from a giant pile of berries, or really anything that isn't that slop from before.

Other than that though, the rest of the night went by pretty well. It was like I was living another life being outside of that small metal prison. The only thing that didn't change, which I personally welcomed, was the fact that I was with Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon again.

Soon though, much to my chagrin, the sun began to rise. It wasn't exactly hard to notice, seeing as the light shined in through the cave opening quite clearly. In fact, I'm not even sure I visibly noticed it before the back of my mind did, as though it were some gnawing, all encroaching feeling of dread. We were too far back for the light to reach us, thankfully.

It wasn't long after that the three of us decided to get some rest. I was practically shoved into the makeshift bed again, the sensation of Nightmare Moon's magic disappearing shortly after. The other two took their places nearby, sprawled upon the ground of the cave in their own respective sleeping positions.

"Good night... er, day, you two." I told them with a yawn. Chrysalis grumbled silently, curling up into her usual lump, while Nightmare Moon returned the gesture with a 'Sleep well, Sir Jeremy'.

Yeah, it was definitely good to have company again.

Chapter 6: Life Before Prison [Here Again]

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"Why would we go west? The east is at least more likely to have something that can help us!"

"We disagree. Thou dost not know of this forest as well as us! The west is more wise of a direction to travel among!"

"You lived in a rundown old castle! I lived with the rest of my hive, exploring every part of this forest as one!"

"It would seem that thou hadn't explored every part."

Yeah, this was going to be a cycle wasn't it? Waking up to the sound of their arguing, I mean. Its kind of annoying really, being that this is the second time that that's happened, but I could live with it... Not this time though.

"Can we just compromise and say we go north?" I offered, lifting an arm from my laid back position to better address them. I would have just sat up so that I could face them, but my still aching ribs wouldn't allow that. The sound of their arguing stopped as they realized that I was awake, leaving a slightly uncomfortable silence in the cave that was only interrupted by the sound of the occasional owl from outside.

"Hm. Perhaps Sir Jeremy holds reason." Nightmare Moon hummed, the sound of her hoof steps clear as she seemingly approached my place on the floor.

It felt strange to have slept through the day and to wake up at night. Kind of like I was a bat or something. I'm certainly not going to complain about it though. The idea of walking around during the day had lost its charm, in a way.

Finally trotting into my limited view, Nightmare Moon looked down to me with a slight smile. "How go your injuries, Sir Jeremy?"

I returned the smile, albeit forcibly, as I glancing down to my chest. I could still quite clearly see many blackened blotches of skin through the tears in my shirt.

"Well, it doesn't hurt as much as before when I'm not moving, so that's probably a good sign."

She rolled her eyes at the obviously horrible joke, her horn beginning to glow as I felt my body once again feel lighter than before. I gave out a sight as I felt a large portion of my practically ebb away from me before I began to stand up from my 'bed'.

I nodded my thanks before then and looked towards Chrysalis, dusting myself off and crossing my arms as I noticed her slightly narrowed eyes.

"So. Would you prefer to make it a unanimous vote and start making our way north, or are you gonna stick to your guns and lose the vote 2 to 1?"

"... I really dislike you."

I couldn't withhold my chuckle, waving her off dismissively and rolling my eyes at her behavior.

"Good afternoon to you too."

Chrysalis grumbled under her breath at this, already turning to face the entrance to the cave. Next to me, I could hear Nightmare Moon snickering.

"Fine then, have it your way. We go north. We have 12 hours before the sun rises again. Remember to stick together and we should all be fine."

Nightmare Moon nodded and very quickly made her way around me. I blinked as I watched her follow after Chrysalis in what seemed like an almost hurried pace.

Odd.

With the pain I felt being much less intense than before, I was able to catch up to the two rather easily, meeting up with them just outside of the cave's entrance.

"Any particular reason we're in such a rush?" I asked the two. Chrysalis looked at me with a deadpan expression while Nightmare Moon gave me a questioning one. I felt my lips purse at this. "We already got away from those guards at Canterlot. Why else should we be worried?"

"Oh, I don't know," Chrysalis began, sarcasm already dripping from her voice. "Maybe it has to do with the fact that we're in one of the most dangerous forests in Equestria!" Raising both of my arms up in surrender, I took a slight sidestep away from her.

"Whoa. Geez, calm down. It can't be that bad, ri- Oh." I stopped myself mid-sentence as I finally processed our surroundings. A forest of several familiar sights. Darkened trees with high canopies, vines hanging down with life-like potential, and odd looking plants spread around the area, occasionally accompanied by one of several shadowed figures rustling past the plant life. This forest was familiar for all of the worst reasons, seeing as I had lived in it for a few months.

"We're in the Everfree Forest!?!"

Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon quickly shushed me, urging me to be more quiet. I winced as I quickly corrected my volume. I'm more than a little aware of how many things there are around here that would jump at the opportunity to silence whatever loud noises were coming from other parts of the forest. After living with Zecora, I knew more than enough about how dangerous this forest was. I had nearly been turned into manticore feed more times than I could count, let alone the timber wolves, and the weird plants that were scattered around the place. Poison joke was one of my more personally hated plants.

"Sorry, but why the hell are we here!?!" I asked in a much lower volume.

"'Tis the only location the two of us could recall that my 'sister' wouldst never attempt to follow." Nightmare Moon responded. She watched out surroundings with absolute focus, her ears twitching at so much as the slightest noise.

"It's not like it was my first choice." Chrysalis added, looking blankly in front of her and shrugging as she did so. "But it wasn't like we had many options."

I couldn't believe this. I managed to escape from a torturous prison cell only to end up in an even crueler forest. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire. I took in a deep breath, filling my lungs with that familiar Everfree air, before just as slowly letting it out again.

"... So... north?" I glanced towards the two, noticing them both nod their heads. "Then I guess we'd better get going."

This couldn't possibly go well.

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

Well, it hadn't been horrendous, but it had certainly been annoying. While my two former cellmates had somehow walked through the forest with little to no issue, I was constantly rubbing my legs on a thorn bushes and thistles. The spell that Nightmare Moon cast helped me walk, sure, but it didn't help me see any better in the dark. Granted, my eyes had adapted to the dark over time, making me see better than most other humans would at night, but I was competing with the former princess of the night and an insectoid with night vision. Not really a fair comparison.

On the dim side though, I was finally able to look at something that wasn't a ceiling for the first time in what felt like forever. Call me cliche, but there's a reason I always tried to work in lots of windows or sunroofs into any building designs I made when I worked in Canterlot. I always figured it was healthy, if only spiritually, to be able to look outside and see the sky from whatever office or room you were in. I personally even left my office windows open at night, often times glancing out at the star filled skies whenever I would need a moment to empty my thoughts. I had always enjoyed the sight, both on Earth and on Equestria. Now, after being crammed inside a small room for so long, it seemed heavenly. It was dark, yet bright. Solemn, yet cheerful. It was everything that I was hoping it would be and more.

"Dost ye enjoy our night?"

To my left, Nightmare Moon had now taken to walking right next to me, a small smile on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had all been traveling for over an hour's worth of time, the forest of Everfree constantly seeming to revolve around us with every step we took, splitting itself apart in an effort to allow us three to journey through its many mysterious trails. The changeling queen, Chrysalis, had been leading us in our quest for escape. She did not seem to hold any fear nor emotion whatsoever as we continued down the deadly forest in which my 'sister' and I had once inhabited.

Time and time again I would hear Sir Jeremy grunt or flinch in discomfort as he followed us two, likely not possessing the same attunement to the darkness that Chrysalis and I held. I held my spell at its full strength in my attempts to keep Sir Jeremy limited to the discomfort of the forest rather than the pain of his wounds. 'Twas not until yet another short period of time did pass before I could no longer take the sound of his misery, turning to face the friend I knew as Jeremy with worry in my mind.

Much to my surprise however, Sir Jeremy did not seem discomforted. Rather, he seemed enthralled. His head was seemingly fixed upright as he looked towards the sky. My sky. 'Twas the very reason that Sir Jeremy had been injuring himself so constantly, his eyes focused on my night sky rather than the path before him.

I could not withhold my smile as I purposely slowed my walking pace, allowing Sir Jeremy to reach my side before matching his steps. Yet he was blissfully oblivious of my arrival in his distraction. I took another moment or so to enjoy the sight of a subject observing my joyous night sky before deciding it best to make myself known to him.

"Dost ye enjoy our night?" I asked, quickly drawing his attention with a slight start. I withheld a chuckle as I myself looked to the heavens above us. I could almost feel its energy pass through me, much like the smooth silk of my original quarters' bed coverings being moved across my side.

"Heh. Sorry about that. Zoned out for a second." He returned his own gaze to the stars. "To answer your question, yes, I do. Its been so long since I've seen the night sky, I'd almost completely forgotten how nice it looked." I felt my face warm itself slightly as he said this, but fortunately he did not seem to notice.

"We are glad that ye think so, Sir Jeremy. Few other ponies seem to appreciate the stars and moon as ye do in these times."

"Really? I can't see why. I mean, sure, people, er, ponies, need their sleep from time to time, but there's no way they can just not notice something above their heads for half of the day, right?" I glanced to Sir Jeremy and sighed, shaking my head at his statement.

"I'm afraid that ye do not understand, Sir Jeremy." There was a moment of pause before he gave a response.

"... Probably not. But maybe this will help. What do you think humans like me do at night?" I raised a brow as he raised the question to me, unsure of what direction he had been taking.

"We are not sure. Mayhaps ye rests?" He shook his head with an earnest smile.

"Not all of them. For humans, the night isn't just a time for us to sleep. If anything, we think of the night as a time to really... well, let loose." I didn't quite comprehend what he had meant by this at the time.

" 'Let loose'?"

"Yeah. Let loose. Humans would throw parties, go out for walks, even go out with the people they love so that they can enjoy the night together." This was surprising to hear. I had never heard of so much activity during the time of my night. "Sure, some prefer the day, and that's fine. Others though, myself included, prefer the night. I mean, its relaxing, its peaceful, and it certainly helps that its a beautiful sight."

I once again felt a warmth rise to my face, this time being more intense than before. Still, I could also feel the corners of my lips rise seemingly without my own control.

"... Thank you, Sir Jeremy. Those were truly kind words for you to say."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's no problem, Nightmare Moo- Ow!" Okay, that particular rose bush stung quite a bit. It also tore through quite a bit of my already torn pants. What fun. "Oh come on! How the hell are you two avoiding this all? These bushes are all over the place."

"Maybe if you pay attention to where you're actually walking, you'll be able to avoid hurting yourself so much." Chyrsalis chimed in from ahead of us, not taking her gaze off of the path ahead of her.

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't have night vision like you two." I told her with a deadpan tone. I heard her chuckle from ahead of me, which was more than a little irritating.

"Too bad. Especially since the Everfree Forest is so full of deadly animals." She teased. I could practically hear her smirk from back here.

I could only roll my eyes as I glanced back to Nightmare Moon. Concerningly, she held a look of odd confidence as she narrowed her eyes at Chrysalis.

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

After about another three hours of walking, we had managed to get past the more 'thorny' part of the Everfree Forest, thank whatever god might matter around here.

Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon had been silent, for the most part, since the conversation from a few hours ago. Nightmare Moon had sped up her pace again, returning to her original position in between Chrysalis and I. As for me, I was doing fine aside from a few dizzy spells I would have from time to time... Okay, a lot of dizzy spells.

Nightmare Moon may have handled my pain with that spell of hers, but she couldn't exactly have taken care of the fact that I had only recently started eating and drinking again. Granted, the berries and water that the two brought me were delicious and satisfying, plus they felt like an outright blessing to me, but it took more than a single day's worth of food for the human body to recover from a state like mine was in.

I stumbled slightly from another dizzy spell taking away my balance for a moment. Thankfully, I managed to stop myself from falling with the help of a nearby tree branch. I took a second or two to regain my bearings and catch my breath. I was fortunate that both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis seemed to have taken notice of this, stopping and turning to face me.

"Is all well, Sir Jeremy?" Nightmare Moon asked. I forced a smile. They had already lost enough time because of me. I didn't want to cost them even more.

"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy." For a second I thought I actually convinced her, what with the fact that she turned around again and began to walk off. I should have figured that it wouldn't be that easy though. Before I could even let out a sigh of relief, dizziness became the last of my problems as I started to float up into the air. That magical aura at the edge of my vision and humming in the back of my head both began to increase in intensity.

I flailed my arms and legs wildly, trying to get back to the ground as quickly as I could. I was not okay with floating!
I respected Isaac Newton as a man as well as a scientist and preferred to continue respecting his law of gravity, thank you very much!

"Nightmare Moon, put me down!" Chrysalis laughed as she watched me struggle like an flailing deer, turning and beginning to walk off herself. Nightmare Moon, in the mean time, was starting to get a smile as she trotted along, floating me over to her side and slightly turning my stomach in doing so.

"Do not fret, Sir Jeremy, for we do not plan on carrying you throughout the night." She wasnt looking at me as she said this, her eyes narrowed in a somewhat devious manner. I followed that gaze and felt my heart drop ever so slightly as I realized what she meant. But, by then, she had already floated me well over halfway above Chrysalis before slowly placed me down onto her back. I shivered as I Chrysalis like one would a horse back on Earth, not quite used to either the feeling of riding a horse or the unique variation of this brought on by the cold exoskeleton that Chrysalis was covered in. At least I thought it was an exoskeleton.

To say that Chrysalis was displeased with this, though, would be an understatement.

Chrysalis stopped walking yet again, turning her head to see the source of the new weight on her back and widening her eyes in surprise as she saw me. I could only give a sheepish smile as I gave a small and awkward wave.

"And just what are you doing?" She asked, lightly jabbing me with her horn. Nightmare Moon took the opportunity to respond.

"Sir Jeremy was experiencing a lack of balance, so we decided that he would need a rest." Chrysalis looked to Nightmare Moon with a look of pure annoyance before returning her gaze to me.

"Then why did you put him on my back?" Chrysalis retorted. I, in the mean time, just put my hands up to make myself seem as harmless as possible. Nightmare Moon gave a smug glance to Chrysalis.

"We need to continue advancing, do we not?"

"Yes, but not like this!" She shot back. Nightmare Moon just chuckled though, walking past the two of us with a glance.

"As thou hast said thyself, 'Too bad'." And with that, she went on, not saying another word as she continued through the forest, leaving Chrysalis and I some distance behind her. Score one for Nightmare Moon, it had seemed. Unfortunately, I was still in a bit of a sticky situation.

I felt my throat get just the slightest bit dryer as I looked back to Chrysalis, who was currently in the direction Nightmare Moon had walked off in incredulously.

"I'll just get off now-"

"No you won't." She interrupted. I froze, raising an eyebrow as she told me this.

"Pardon?"

"As much as I hate to say it, she's right. We're better off with you like this than having to slow down for you every minute or so." Was... was that compassion? No, surely she was just following the clear logic that had been placed before her. But even then, this seemed to different from her usual behavior. Where's the cold, sarcastic changeling that I knew? "If you ever bring this up again though, I'll give you even more of a reason to need carrying."

Ah, there she is.

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

Nibbling on one of the berries that we had found in our trip, I couldn't help but find the current situation to be at least the slightest bit uncomfortable. For the past hour or so we'd once again been walking in silence. Or rather, Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were walking while I rode atop of Chrysalis.

Despite my and Chrysalis' insistence, Nightmare Moon wouldn't let me set foot on the ground. So, I was stuck riding on Chrysalis' back through the whole night.

Its one thing to feel like you're causing a friend trouble, even if she didn't technically think of me as a friend, but its another to literally be riding on top of them. Especially since both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were taller than me, standing over me by at least two heads. So now, not only was I riding on Chrysalis, but I couldn't see in front of me! Maybe I'm just being overly self-conscious about this, but I didn't particularly appreciate feeling like a kid. It was oddly patronizing.

Besides that though, the only other major problem with this situation was how boring it was. It was like a broken record. 'Tamp, tamp, crunch, rustle. Tamp, tamp, crunch, rustle. Tamp, tamp, crunch, rustle!' Christ alive, I could practically hear someone creating an annoying pop song to the beat of this that would inevitably get stuck in my head.

Still, its not like boring is a bad thing in the Everfree forest. Its either boredom or pure adrenaline as you run away from whatever horrifying creature was trying to make you into its next meal. Or use you as a chew toy. Or rip off your skin.

I'm rambling again, I really need to talk to someone soon.

"... So, anypony know how to pass the time?" I asked, cracking my back in an effort to get rid of the many knots that had built up. This was why horses normally wore saddles. That and my butt was starting to go numb. Then again, I'm riding on an insect-pony hybrid.

"How exactly would we do that?" Chrysalis rebuked, glancing back to me with a turned head. I shrugged.

"I don't know, I thought maybe we could just... talk, or something." Please, don't leave me alone with my thoughts. Even I get annoyed by how much goes on in there when I have nothing to do.

Rolling her eyes, Chrysalis put her attention back to the path ahead of her.

"Perhaps ye can regale us with a tale from your past." Nightmare Moon suggested. It took me a second or two to figure out what she had said, I'm not going to lie.

"Oh, like a story?" I asked. When Nightmare Moon nodded, I let out a mental sigh of relief at the fact that I had guessed right. Chrysalis glanced to me again, a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Oh yes, please! Fascinate us with whatever you had done in your life before being arrested. I'm soooooo interested." Someone needed a nap.

"Ha ha, very funny." I sarcastically replied, drawing a smile from Chrysalis.

"I thought it was. Now, under any other circumstances, I would ask about whatever crime it was that landed in jail." I narrowed my eyes at the theme that seemed to constantly repeat with her.

"I don't remem-"

"But, since you're so dead set with the idea of not telling us, I'll just settle for what you used to do before you were arrested." I continued to glare at her for a moment or two, though she didn't seem to notice, before I let out a sigh of frustration and pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance. Had I really never talked to her about this in the time we were in the same cell?

I mean, I guess we didn't really make conversation that didn't take the form of idle arguments, plus we never really brought it up with each other, so...

"All right. I was an architectural engineer in Canterlot." I began, looking to the starry sky again as I fell slowly into my thoughts of the past.

"Architectural engineer? Ye were a builder?" Nightmare Moon asked, slightly throwing off my train of thought.

"Um, no. I didn't build anything, I just made the designs. Schematics and the like." Nightmare Moon nodded in understanding, seeming to listen to me with her utmost attention.

"Anyways, it was a pretty good job. A good pay, nice ponies, and I even chose my own hours. Plus, I was doing something I loved, so that was a bonus I guess." I chuckled as I recalled the eagerness that I would normally feel on a workday compared to everypony else's exhaustion. Funny how the only human in an all pony company was more eager to please than the more experienced personnel.

My guess was that it was because many of the ponies that worked there didn't exactly have their so called "special talent" based around the business. Sure, there were a good portion of them that were pretty good at things like structuring and demolition and such, but a lot of other ponies had cutie marks for thing like making homemade Ice Cream despite working in the industry.

"The day I had gotten the job was a miracle on its own. See, I was heading home after having bought some furniture for my new house since I had just moved into Canterlot. Then, there were these two ponies."

********************************************

"Well that was nice of them."

So far, the move was going pretty well. Granted, some of my neighbors were snooty as all hell. So much so that even if they had poles up their asses, it still wouldn't make a difference to how uptight they were. 'Stop with all that racket!', 'Can't you see that some ponies are trying to relax here!', 'How rude!'. That kind of stuff. I don't know how they expected me to be quiet while I was moving heavy furniture but I did know that it was annoying.

Luckily, there were still some nice ponies in this town after all. The furniture store I went to made it quite clear that they wanted nothing more than to keep their customers satisfied. That included bringing over furniture to the buyers house, even though it wasn't necessary. They weren't being obligated by their manager or looking for tips, but actually doing it because they wanted to. So naturally, as soon as they finished, they could bet that I was going to treat them to something nice.

"Which reminds me, how many funds do I have again?" I cringed at the thought, but I was still going to reward those ponies nonetheless. Right now though, I was just focused on getting back home. It was getting late and soon Celestia would completely lower the sun and make way for Luna's moon... I still couldn't get my head around that concept.

"What do you mean, 'he's sick'! He's been 'sick' for the last two months!" The sound of someone yelling was pretty clear. A part of me wanted to just avoid it, but it was kind of coming from the same direction that I was walking. So yeah, that was out.

"Look, that's the message he sent me. Whether he's sick or not, I'm not too sure, but either way, I still need to know what kind of material I should use for this support beam." Support beam? Are they talking about architecture or something?

Suddenly, my attention was very much drawn to the source of the voices. Back home I loved physics and had always wanted to be an engineer before I ended up here. I blinked as I purposely made my way much more directly towards the voices, eventually reaching and glancing around a wooden fence where two ponies seemed to be looking over blueprints. One of them was an earth pony with red fur, an orange mane, and a measuring stick as his cutie mark. The other, to my confusion, was a unicorn that wore a suit and tie coupled with yellow tinted sunglasses. His fur was brown and his mane was colored the same. Though, it was cut into some kind of buzz cut. Finally, he had a cutie mark of a protractor on his side, surrounded by the white lines a person would normally see on a schematic. The latter of the two was currently floating the building schematics in front of the both of them.

"I swear, when I get my hooves on him... Look, I think that if we were to put a solid steel support column in the center, it would be able to hold the place up."

"Yeah, but we'd end up putting a support beam in the middle of the room." He wasn't wrong. By the looks of the structure, while a steel column could, in theory, keep the building well supported, it would end up being more of an inconvenience than an advantage.

"True, but it's all we got. If you got any better ideas then why don't you go ahead and say 'em."

"You could just cover it in drywall and repurpose it as a bookshelf. That would make it into more of a centerpiece than some weird distraction."

Ah. I was rambling again. More concerningly, I'm pretty sure I had rambled that out loud, if the looks the two ponies were giving me were any indication.

"... What did you say?"

"Um... I just figured... you could make it seem nice while being functional... is all."

Am I normally shy? No. Do I have even the slightest clue as to whether or not I had offended these possibly dangerous ponies that were in front of me? No. Did I need to be nervous? I'm pretty sure I had just answered that question.

For some time, the two ponies stayed silent, glancing to and from the building blueprints and me.

"I'll just be going now... Bye." And just like that, I made my way back home. In other words, I sprinted the hell outta there.

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

That had to have been one of the most embarrassing things I had ever done. Let alone stupid. I rubbed my palms against my face as I sighed and glanced out the window. The ponies from the store had kept their word and, since I didn't really have much else to offer, I gave them a pretty hefty tip. Though, looking at my funds now, I think that I may have slightly overextended myself. They sure weren't expecting it.

At least all the furniture was in the house now. Hopefully I could finish unpacking before another of my neighbors came by the complain about the noise.

The knock I immediately heard at the door very quickly destroyed whatever hope I had of that rather quickly though. I groaned and practically slammed open the door as the knocks against the wood just kept on coming.

"Alright, alright already! Keep your pants on m-" I froze as I opened the door, noticing the same two ponies from before were there, looking at me with raised brows.

"Um... We're not wearing pants."

********************************************

"If they were not wearing pants, then why didst ye claim they were?"

"It's a figure of speech, Nightmare Moon. It means to calm down, basically." I explained. "Like I was saying, as it turned out, those two were the co-founders of one of Canterlot's more successful engineering companies, 'Hooves and Elbow Grease'. They had come by to tell me that my idea was actually really effective, and best of all, they even offered me a job!"

"Hm. They must have been desperate." Chrysalis commented.

"Would it kill you to say one nice thing about me?" She gave a snicker. "... Well fuck you too."

I turned my attention towards Nightmare Moon, who was currently holding an unimpressed frown on her face towards Chrysalis.

"Anything else you want to hear about?"

********************************************

"Mr. Tendhoof, I've got those schematics you asked for." I told my regular customer, unfolding the blue sheet of paper and laying it out on the flat wooden table in front of him.

"Thanks Jeremy. And you can call me 'Hardhat'." He was always a relaxed stallion, never really taking anything too seriously unless it was absolutely necessary. He had a orange-yellow coat with an even darker colored orange mane. He was an earth pony, the biggest one that I had met, rivaling even the size of a quiet red stallion I had seen in Ponyville when Zecora would ask me to get her some groceries. As for his cutie mark, it was that of a hammer with several nails and a yellow hardhat on top.

I wasn't sure why at the time, but whenever he came over to the company for new schematics he would always ask for me personally. As it turned out, he just really liked the designs and ideas I brought to the table. I guess some of the stuff I had learned back home was relatively new knowledge here in Equestria, so I was bringing some interesting new concepts to attention.

"Sorry about the short notice by the way but the pony that wanted us to build this place cut our time limit. We had to pick up the pace if we ever wanted to make it on time."

Placing two paperweights on the side of the blueprints so it wouldn't be blown off of the table, I looked to my old 'friend' and waved my arm at him dismissively. "It's no problem, it was a slow week anyway. Besides, haven't I always pulled through for you, Tendhoof?"

Rolling his eyes, he nodded, a comical smile on his far. "And that's why I usually choose you to be my building designer. Though, I do have some questions about this ventilation system you added to the building structure..."

Looking over the schematics again, he began to silently read out the details of the plans again... Before punching my arm. Considering he was an earth pony and he had hooves instead of fists, it hurt. A lot.

"Ow! What was that for!" I yelled, rubbing my now aching arm.

"For calling me Tendhoof again. I've told you over a dozen times now that you should call me like everypony else does. 'Hardhat'. Say it with me now. 'HAAAAARRRRRRDDDDHAT'." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm and found myself leaning against the table with blueprints.

"Yeah, why do they call you that anyway?" I asked. To my surprise he looked to me and smiled before looking to the construction sight ahead of him and gesturing towards it.

"Watch this." No sooner that he had said that, he began to trot his way onto the site. The problem? He had, ironically compared to his name, headed in without a hardhat. The moment he stepped in though, I heard a pony from above yell.

"Look out below!" The next few seconds could only be described as true anxiety-ridden horror as I watched a series of objects ranging from cinderblocks to steel beams hitting everywhere around the smiling stallion as he sat on the ground, seeming to draw a perfect circle revolving him. As the dust cleared up, I was pretty sure that he could easily see my dropped jaw considering the fact that he had begun to laugh hysterically.

"H-how? Okay, you know what, fine. You're lucky when you get into danger. But that still doesn't explain why they call you 'Hardhat'." He stopped his laughing for a moment or two, comically raising a brow at me with an expecting smile.

"See, that's the fun part." He easily made his way out of the mess of debris around him and towards the entrance of the construction site, grabbing a hardhat from one of the tables and once again taking a seat.

"Incoming!" This time, a solid cinderblock landed upon and crumbled on his head, the hardhat protecting him perfectly from the falling peace of debris just as it was designed to.

I heard him chuckle as he made his way to me, taking off his helmet and shoving it into my arms.

"Hardhats always seemed to do the opposite of what they're supposed to for me, huh?" Glancing down to the hardhat he had put in my hands, I carefully put it down on the floor and took a couple of steps away from it.

"So... about that ventilation system."

********************************************

"Hehe. I ended up avoiding construction sites altogether for a week after that. Made it hard to work with Hardhat, but after the performance he put on, I doubt that anypony else would do something different." Nightmare Moon had apparently seen quite a bit of enjoyment behind that story of mine, seeing as she was barely holding back a laugh behind one of her hooves. Even Chrysalis, surprisingly, seemed to be struggling to withhold a poker face as the corners of her mouth occasionally rose and threatened to make a smile.

"Your experiences in Canterlot are most amusing, Sir Jeremy." Nightmare Moon chuckled out, a smile plastered on her face as she looked back to me. Returning the smile, I then looked to Chrysalis with a raised brow, tapping her lightly as I slyly hoped for a response.

"Well Chrysalis? What did you think?" Chrysalis took a moment or two to respond, almost hesitant to speak.

"... Alright. I admit Jeremy, it was pretty entertaining to hear." Smiling, I leaned back in my 'seat' on Chrysalis' back, closing my eyes in content relaxation.

"And you thought this wouldn't help pass the time."

We fell back into silence for a moment, reveling in it, before all at once both I and Nightmare Moon realized what we had just heard.

"Did you just say 'Jeremy'?"

Chapter 7: Visiting Hours [Here Again]

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I could swear that the forest changed by a good bit. I mean, its technically always changing--trees and plants growing and all that--but I really did feel like the paths and vines of the forest were constantly taking new places. It was like a weird plant-based exchange program.

Now, you might be wondering where I'm going with this. Honestly, so was I. To be brutally honest, I was just starting to get nervous at the time. So yeah, rambling.

Why was I so nervous you might ask? Well, that's easy. According to Nightmare Moon, we had three hours. Three hours until daybreak. Soon the sun would rise, bringing about the bright, phenomenal light of day with it. And frankly I don't think the Everfree Forest sounded like a very good place to have a panic attack.

Maybe I was overreacting. Three hours was technically still a lot of time left for us to find another place to rest, especially considering the progress that I had hoped we had made in the past nine hours of walking. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but find myself counting the seconds, continually glancing up when I was sure that neither Nightmare Moon nor Chrysalis were looking towards me. The ever dimming moon, the stars losing their clarity little by little, and sky's loss of color from its wonderful pitch black into a dull and melancholy dark blue. Small details like that seemed to just pull a pit deeper and deeper down at the bottom of my stomach.

By now, I was almost certain that Chrysalis could notice these emotions of mine, seeing as I was the one tensing on her back. Nightmare Moon was probably starting to suspect something as well. She would glance back at me every so often, never really long enough for me to see much from her, but just long enough for me to notice.

Two hours. 59 minutes.

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

1 goddamned hour! At this point, I was actually hoping that the sun would come up already. The stress that I felt, paranoia eating away at my mind as the sun grew ever closer, was killing me. I just wanted to get it over with already rather than continue to feel like this. All I could do was mentally shout at myself.

'Calm down Jeremy. You're overreacting. Your absolute craziness has probably reached an all time high by now, and Chrysalis is probably ready to kick you of off her back and question your behavior. You need to be calm. Just... let your mind drift... and take a deep breath...

In...

Out...

In...

Out...

... It's not FUCKING working! I-'

"Sir Jeremy?" Nightmare Moon called, causing me to flinch at the sudden sound of her voice through my thoughts. I paused for a moment, forcing myself to speak. I just had to answer. Simple enough.

"Oh. Um, yeah?" Mediocre job, but it would do. Looking to Nightmare Moon, I noticed the look of concern that she had been giving me, an eyebrow raised in worried suspicion.

"Are ye feeling well?" I felt a small part of my mind buckle at the question. I ignored it and moved on as best as I could.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Seriously? 'Why does she ask?' I think it was pretty obvious why she asked that, yet I still said it? I have to say, my mental capability is much less functional when I'm stressed. A lot like when I was trying to get the keys from that guard on the day of Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon's escape. Wasn't really thinking with all the crayons in the crayon box, if you know what I mean... that was a horrible metaphor, I'm an engineer for gods sake. You would think I would have gone for the tool box angle. Or something about blueprints. Come to think of it, I could probably have worked in something about meters on a measuring stick-

"Your skin seems pale and sickly." Ah. Yeah, that figured. My own anatomy would end up being the biggest piece of evidence against my assurances.

"Oh. Umm. I'm just... a little sick?" That came out more like a question than a statement. I was so tempted to slap myself for that. Thankfully though, and much to my surprise at that, Chrysalis butted in before I could make my situation seem any worse.

"I'm not particularly sure about whatever logic he may be trying to put together here, but I think that we should just indulge him and get it over with." How so very kind by her standards... "Nightmare Moon, go find him something to drink. We'll stay here until you return." She stopped her walk as she said this, instead just taking to looking forwards with an exasperated expression on her face.

Nightmare Moon wavered for a moment as she looked towards Chrysalis. Then, she glanced at me for another minute or so before ultimately nodding and heading off into the brush without us in an effort to find water. It was little more than a few seconds after she had left Chrysalis turned her head to look at me, her eyes narrowed in what I thought to be suspicion. Yup. She had definitely noticed.

"I'm going to be honest with you, so listen carefully since I'm liable not to do that too often." She quietly hissed, poking my forehead with one of her fore-hooves. I mentally took note of how surprisingly flexible she was to be able to do that while I was on her back, despite the fact that she had an exoskeleton, and rubbed the place that she had so 'gently' poked. "For the past few hours, you've been panicking for whatever reason, and I want to know why."

"... I have no idea what your talking abou-"

"Don't forget which one of us can sense lies and emotions. Now then, start explaining." The seriousness on her face would have been enough to make even the most hardened of criminals break. Then again, I wasn't a criminal--I think--and I was pretty much used to her 'serious' persona. If anything, the only thing that made me nervous was that the sun was soon going to start to come out into the sky and we weren't moving.

I spared a passing glanced to the sky again. The night was slowly beginning to become enveloped by light as the moon began to lower across the sky. That cursory glance, I found, was clearly a mistake as I looked back to Chrysalis and noticed the expression on her face shift. She had probably felt the spike of emotion in me when I had looked, since she was now searching the skies for whatever I had 'seen'.

"... What are you hiding?" She asked suspiciously, slowly bringing her gaze back down to me. As I opened my mouth to spout another lie out of almost reflex, though it was obvious to both her and I that it wouldn't work, fate had decided that it had seen enough of this train wreck.

~~Took it long enough.~~

Under consideration of the fact that fate could really screw me over if it wanted, lets just pretend I never said that. God knows I've jinxed myself plenty of times by now.

"Sir Jeremy, Chrysalis, come hither, swiftly!" I flinched at the mental calls of Nightmare Moon, once again being scared by her sudden intrusion into my mind. I really needed to work out some way for me to figure out how to know that was coming. This wasn't good for my blood pressure.

"What is it?" I heard Chrysalis return to Nightmare Moon through the mental link. I hadn't realized that this was a three-way conversation. So yeah, that was brilliant. Because I definitely wanted the changeling who had just been questioning me to be inside my head now.

"We have discovered something that may prove to be of great interest. Both of your presences are asked for, immediately!" I wouldn't really say that she was asking, per se, more demanding, but I thought nothing of it. Besides, this could prove to be good news. It was already good in that it took Chrysalis' attention off of me, if even for a moment, so hey I'd take it.

"Alright Nightmare Moon, we're heading towards you now." I... 'thought' back? Well, it had seemed to work, seeing as the presence of Nightmare Moon quickly left my mind, along with that of Chrysalis. The two of us, as such, were left in a bit of an awkward situation as we stared at one another.

"... Don't think this conversation is over yet." I couldn't help but to smirk ever slightly at this small victory, Chrysalis already starting to walk deeper into the brush where Nightmare Moon had gone. As we did so, the forest's canopy grew to be thicker, enveloping the two of us in an even greater darkness than we had been in before. Even the small portions of light that were beginning to draw forth from the skies above were almost completely blotted out.

Chrysalis stumbled for a moment, a confused look on her face as she glanced back to me.

If I had to guess, my sudden feelings of glee threw her off by just a bit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Truly, I could only wonder as to the sudden change in condition as Sir Jeremy had shown. As I glanced around my left and right, I found myself continually recalling the paleness of his being. How every time I would look back to him, he would seem to be in worse condition than before.

How was I to respond to this? Had the scratches that he had gotten in our trek allowed for some form of infection? Perhaps it was the water we had earlier given him? Or the berries? There simply had to be something that we had done wrong. Something that had risked the health of our savior, Jeremy.

Our friend, Jeremy.

I would repeat that word over and over in my mind, never ceasing to find joy from the thought. To have found a friend in Sir Jeremy was to find a friend at all. Nopony had previously attempted to become my companion during my time as Princess Luna, least of all during my reign as Nightmare Moon, who had not simply wanted something in return. Yet he was willing to do so for nothing in return. Less even! Even now, as I continue to numb his ever growing pain despite the distance that had grown between us two, I continued to sense an odd sensation of unwillingness. It was faint, but it was as though he was unknowingly telegraphing to me that he did not feel it correct to allow me to 'waste' my ever so limited amount of magic upon him. Perhaps all the time I had spent communicating with him through his mind in our incarceration had left a residual effect of sorts.

Nonetheless, I could not lose him, my one true companion, so soon after the several centuries of perpetual loneliness and misery that I had felt. I could feel my slightly weighted pace quicken, my resolve empowered as I sought out whatever I could to assist Sir Jeremy.

I would not lose a friend. No matter the cost.

However, I cannot ignore the odd feeling that accompanies the thought of my companion. Alongside joy, I could also feel guilt, sadness, and for some reason an emotion that I could not identify so easily.

It was odd, but not unbearable.

Passing by yet another of the large and corrupted trees of the Everfree, I paused. For just a moment, there had been a break in the usually constant forest. This was not something that would naturally occur in this place, what with its chaotic nature, so suffice to say that I grew curious as to what I had seem.

Before I knew it, I found myself pushing aside the several layers of brush that limited my view through the opening with my forehooves, so as not to divert any of my magic away from Sir Jeremy. My eyes narrowed as I attempted to gain a better sight of what was ahead of me.

What I saw shocked me, for a lack of better words. However, parallel to this shock, I felt a slight sense of excitement, a smile coming to my face as I realized what was in front of me.

Before me was an oddly shaped and slightly wilted tree, its branches seemingly stretched and bent into elegant curves rather than the sharp angles of the many others that surrounded it. Its roots pronounced themselves from the ground, showing off its size and sturdiness even further still. It was a healthy brown, yet oddly dreary at the same time, with dark green leaves and a size that was nearly double that of the other forms of foliage surrounding it. What had made it especially interesting though were the holes that had been shaped into it, revealing a hollow inside to the great tree. Candles were visible through these openings, their short-reaching lights adding only slight visibility to the interior of the tree's hollow insides. Finally, a red oak door was seemingly built into the trunk of the tree and allowing for the entrance of ponies of all shapes and sizes.

To many other ponies, this would seem like the simple eccentric abode of somepony in the forest. To me though, I saw more than that. I saw a shelter for myself and my companions.

Swift as the stars, I quickly opened a mental link with the other two accompanying members of my party.

"Sir Jeremy, Chrysalis, come hither, swiftly!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took no more than a couple of minutes for us to reach the alicorn, and by then we could clearly see her 'hiding' behind a bush. She was glancing over the top of the plant every so often, apparently not having yet noticed us.

Oh, and by 'hiding', I had meant that she and her mane could easily have been seen behind the brush by any pony who might have happened to pass by, flowing back and forth ethereally and quite easily showing itself over the green with its midnight blue. It was amusing yet rather tedious to watch. For such a 'powerful' being, she certainly had the tendency of acting like an inexperienced foal.

"Nightmare Moon? What are you doing?" Jeremy asked, clearly struggling to withhold a laugh at the sight that was before him. Nightmare Moon quickly shifted her gaze towards us, Jeremy's voice having finally alerted her of our arrival, and smiled before gesturing for us to come over to where she was. I rolled my eyes before reluctantly doing as she had asked and moving to her left. As I stood there though, she continued to gesture at me to get down.

I was not going to lay on the ground next to her. At least, that was the plan until she put a hoof on my back, just behind where Jeremy sat, and forced me down. I let out a small grunt as my underside hit the floor, looking towards her with narrowed eyes which she so promptly returned.

I could hear Jeremy's chortling clearly through our silent debate, him having found it amusing for us two to be acting like this. His chortling was cut short however, much to my thankfulness and slight confusion, as he was then put into an oddly thought filled moment of silence.

"Is... Is that?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Geez. These two would never quit would they?

When Nightmare Moon had told us to make our way over to her, I certainly wasn't expecting to see a crouched and, rather poorly hidden, Nightmare Moon. I also hadn't expected her to force Chrysalis into a similar position to her side, the two now staring daggers at one another.

The fact that they didn't notice that I was still much more easily visible over the brush, since I hadn't made an attempt to hide and I'd been on Chrysalis' back, was beyond me. I figure they were too distracted with abhorring one another to really care to notice me, and personally I didn't really mind for now.

I continued to chuckle at the sight as I looked over the brush, trying to see what had Nightmare Moon so worked up.

I found myself staring blankly at what I saw, never possibly having imagined what was before me at this moment.

"Is... Is that?" I found myself mumbling as I stepped off of Chrysalis' back. I hardly slowed down as I made my way past the small collection of bushes the other two had been hiding behind, looking over every detail that I could see of the small tree house while a small sense of hopefulness tingled at the back of my mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis watched on in confusion as Jeremy began to circle around the tree, looking it over and under in his own attempts to confirm his suspicions. Though the two mares were less than aware of the purpose of his actions, Jeremy could feel a sense of giddiness building as he quickly realized just what Nightmare Moon had found. Or, if they were fortunate, who she had found.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ha! What are the odds?" I silently exclaimed, my lips curving into a smile as I looked back to Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis. I was probably making an absolute fool of myself, if the expressions of confusion on the two's faces were anything to go by, walking around a single tree like a mad man possessed. I couldn't really care less at this point though.

"Is the shelter satisfactory, Sir Jeremy?" My smile wavered for a moment as Nightmare Moon sent over this thought to me. Once more, it took me by surprise.

"Nightmare Moon, you have no idea how great this is!" I returned to her happily, turning back to the hollow tree in front of me. "This isn't just any house that you found. This is an old friend's house!"

"And how does that make a difference?" Chrysalis chimed in, causing me to flinch at her sudden intrusion to the mental conversation. Honestly though, there had to be an easier way for me too figure out who was in our mental conversations and when.

"You'll see." I answered before mirthfully making my way to the front door of the house as I did so. "Both of you wait out here for now. I'll call you when you can come in."

"What!?!" Chrysalis suddenly yelled as I futilely recoiled to the side in an effort to escape the sudden ringing in my ears. "You expect us to wait out here for you? How can we be sure that you'll even call for us at all?" Glad to see that she's as untrusting as ever.

Glancing back to her with a blank face, I gave her the one response that I could think of. One that I knew would both answer her question and annoy the hell out of her.

"You can't."

And with that, I knocked.

Seconds later, I could hear movement beyond the door, silently willing it to open as I once more realized just how short of a time there was before the sun finally rose. Fortunately, despite the twitching I was starting to feel as a result of my nerves, the door soon opened and graced me with a pleasant sight.

A small smile graced me as I saw my old friend, Zecora. Granted, she was currently rubbing the grogginess out of her eyes at the moment, but still.

"Do not take this as spite, but who has visited me this late at night?" She asked. Ah yes, her rhyming. Good to see that she still does that. A lot. Not that I find anything wrong with it, mind you, but its still pretty strange if you're not used to it like I am.

"Actually, its technically day, Zecora." Zecora's eyes shot open at the sound of my voice. She looked at me for a moment, her eyes wide and mouth agape in surprise, before shortly after gaining a much more cheerful and smiling expression.

"Ah, Jeremy, my old friend! It is good to see you to no end." The exhaustion that had been imbedded into her voice seemed to vanish within an instant. I could only chuckle at this admittedly heartwarming scene.

What? She was a really good friend, okay?

"It's good to see you too Zecora." I returned. "Mind if I come in?" In my head, I was mumbling 'please say yes' over and over again. I could already start to see the silhouttes of those ponies in torchlight again. I was starting to lose it.

"I think that I have showed, that you are always welcome in my abode." She replied before sidestepping to her left, gesturing for me to enter with a smile of her own. I was rather fast to accept her invitation, every fiber in my being screaming at me as though the sun was actively hunting me down.

As she closed the door behind me, I caught a glance of Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis. The two were still hiding in the bushes that I had left them in. They were both watching me, be it with annoyance or worry in their eyes. Just before the door closed though, I gave them a reassuring nod. Then, I turned my attention back to my host.

She made her way past me to one of the several rooms in the house. As for me, I simply glanced around the familiar tree that I had once roomed in. Its funny actually how some time ago, I would complain to Zecora that this place was way too dark for its own good, save for a few specific spots. Yet, here we are, that darkness suddenly seeming like the most comforting piece of scenery in the home.

"I am going to make some tea. Would you like to have some with me?" She asked from the other room.

"No thanks, I'm good." I replied, making my way to the center of the room where a simple mat had been laid. As was had previously been custom some time ago, I sat myself down on it. I had a little bit of a struggle, considering my injuries, but the pain was all but nonexistent thanks to Nightmare Moon's continued use of magic. Might I add, by the way, it was more than a little impressive how she was able to keep this going even now.

A minute or so of waiting later, Zecora made her way back into the room. A kettle of tea was held up by its basket-like handle within the zebra's mouth and a couple of cups were balanced on a small porcelain platter on her back. How she and many other ponies could manage to carry so many things at once, despite not having hands, was beyond me. Hell, let's not even get started on how they sometimes managed to hold things with their forehooves. I could barely keep pencils on my desk back in my old office, yet these ponies could seemingly scale up 70 degree inclines with no issues.

Placing the objects that she had brought back onto the mat, she took a seat as well before carefully pouring the tea into one of the cups and placing the kettle back down. She catiously picked up the now filled cup in between both of her forehooves and deeply inhaled its aroma before taking a small sip.

Shortly after, she looked towards me rather intently, an eyebrow slightly raising as she did so.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

She took a moment or two to respond, savoring her tea before finally swallowing and answering. "Though it is good to see you after a time that only Celestia knows, I must still ask, what has happened to your clothes?"

Oh. I had somehow forgotten about that. A quick glance at myself had revealed that, yeah, most of what I was wearing was torn, tattered, filth ridden and barely doing anything whatsoever to cover me. Luckily, Zecora hadn't noticed the discolored and swollen skin beneath my shirt, let alone my more thinly shaped face. The dark had its advantages, after all.

Still, I had come here for a reason, right? So the first thing I would have to do, unfortunately, would be to explain to my previous caretaker as to what had happened within the last few months after I had left her home. Fun.

"Heh. Guess I've got a lot to explain, huh?" She nodded. "Well... You know how I told you that you wouldn't have to worry about me when I had moved to Canterlot?" She nodded again, acknowledgingly, beginning to take another sip of tea from her cup. "As it turns out. You should have worried more." She didnt react, lowering her cup and looking towards me with raised a brow. I'm guessing she saw the fact that something would go wrong coming. I didn't exactly have a great track record of avoiding getting into stupid situations while I stayed with her, so I guess that shouldn't surprise me either.

"You see, I was... I kinda... oh to hell with it, I got arrested." Turns out, she wasn't expecting as much as she thought she had been. Her previously calm demeanor had all but disintegrated, replaced by one of shock as she suddenly spit out the tea she was drinking. Its also unfortunate that I could now say my clothes were torn, tattered, stained, and now wet. At least it wasn't hot tea.

I wiped off some of the liquid from my face and just took the moment to stare at the now wide-eyed Zecora. She and I stayed silent for a while, both having nothing to say at the moment, before finally, her agape mouth shifted back into a smile, much to my confusion. Even more odd though was that she began to laugh.

"My friend, that was a very good jest." She chuckled. "Truly one of your best."

She thought that I was joking? Actually, no, yeah, that made sense. Even the stupid things I had gotten into hadn't been bad enough to lead to me being arrested as the next logical jumping point.

Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I looked to Zecora seriously despite the fact that she was still chuckling ever so slightly. Okay, lets try for the more direct approach.

"Zecora, I'm being serious. I actually got arrested. I've been in the Canterlot dungeons for the past few months."

Her chuckling still didn't stop. Rather, it was further empowered by my statement again. "Heh. Forgive me for laughing, but I simply cannot see that happening. You always did enjoy the average hoax, so how am I to see this as anything but one of your jokes." To an extent she had a point, but damn it if I didn't need her to believe me. Luckily though, I had a sure fire way to convince her, and it was right outside.

Time for the most direct approach I guess.

I sighed as I stood from the mat and made my way next to the window. I flinched slightly as I could see the moon disappearing over the horizon. "Alright. I was hoping to do this out of good will, but I guess I have to do it just to convince you now." A smile still on her face, she rose a brow at me and gulped another sip of tea that she had probably taken as I was standing.

"Girls, you can come in now!" I yelled out the window. Zecora's smile disappeared once more, instead being replaced by an expression of confusion. No more than a few seconds later, as I leaned against the window, there was a knock on the door. Zecora looked at said door in silence, not seeming to really process what was going on. I shrugged at this, went to the door, and promptly opened it up while leaving plenty of space for those beyond it to pass me.

Zecora's eyes widened once more as she watched the two rather large beings, the sound of hoof steps filling the room as they moved off of the dirt floor from the outside to the wooden floor inside. As the two entered I closed the door behind them, a part of me giving a shudder as I saw small portions of sunlight begin to flood over the land.

"About time. I was beginning to think you were just going to leave us out there." Looking to Chrysalis, I noticed that she was glaring at me while Nightmare Moon was looking over the room from her position near the door.

"Didn't I say that I'd call you?" I replied, raising a brow and giving her a deadpan look.

"Actually, I more vividly recall you saying 'you can't' when I asked you how we were supposed to trust that that you would call us at all." Her glare growing in intensity, I rolled my eyes at her, not really as intimidated by this display of hers as she may have thought me to be.

"Yeah. Basically, I was telling you to trust me. Glad to see that went well." I could practically hear her teeth grinding by now. Yet, before she could retaliate, Nightmare Moon chimed in.

"Um, Sir Jeremy? Perhaps it would be best if we put our focus to the situation at hoof?" Nightmare Moon suggested, breaking us from our annoyed gazes to one another.

Looking to Zecora, I was prepared to explain this entire situation as I looked to her face of... indifference. Yeah, no, she had one hell of a poker face on at that moment. "Wow. You're taking this better than I thought you would, Zecora."

Her emotionless expression remained as she shrugged, taking another sip of her tea. "My emotions are simple to hide. Truthfully, I am screaming on the inside."

"Practically for her life, at that." Chrysalis added, earning another quick glare from me. She just smirked though, not really caring that I was getting annoyed by her. If anything, I think she was proud of it.

I looked to my old friend and crossed my arms as I began to mentally look for the right way to explain this, obviously, concerning situation. "Look, Zecora, a lot has happened in the past few months. And I do mean a lot, as you can probably see." I gestured to two next to me. "But I don't want you to be afraid. I give you my word, these two are not what you may think of them to be."

Zecora took another sip of her tea, emptying her cup before finally setting it back onto the platter. With an almost trained elegance, she stood standing on all four legs once again and looked straight at me. Just behind those eyes of hers, I could see slight glint of annoyance. I recognized that look. It was a look that meant you were about to be thoroughly chewed out.

"I think that is clear, but as for my fear, I would say that it has every right being here." She began, sounding quite serious beneath her 'emotionless' and rhyming tone. "For you to say to trust the changeling queen and mare on the moon, how am I to do this so soon?"

"Zecora, I-" She interrupted me before I could get a word in.

"To expect such an upheaval from their evil?" Zecora's voice was beginning to raise, anger becoming evident in her tone.

"Woah, Zecora, they're not-" Yet again she interrupted.

"To simply misrule those that have been cruel!?" Okay, now I was getting annoyed, and by the looks of it, Zecora wasn't trying to hold back her anger anymore.

"Would you just-"

"So I question your word, for this is just absurd!" I could feel my own eyes narrowing. It was one thing to interrupt me so constantly, another to question my word, but as I glanced back to Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, noticing hurt or angered expressions on their faces, it reinforced my thought that it was beyond anything for anypony to do than to so openly insult my friends. "Why should I trust her or she-"

"Because they're the ones that saved me!" I interrupted with a shout, completely throwing off and quieting Zecora before she could spew any further. I felt like it was poetic justice that my response ended up rhyming with her attempted statement.

A prolonged moment of silence passed between us all, not even the sound of the outside seeming to exist as we all just stood there, watching each other. Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were now looking at me with an odd combination of confusion and thankfulness. Nightmare Moon likely from stopping Zecora's insults and Chrysalis from just shutting Zecora up.

I didn't really feel good about this though. Annoyed at her or not, I hated having arguments with my friends like this. Maybe it was just how I was raised, or maybe it was because of the fact that I had so few in this world, but it was almost impossible for me to stay angry at them for long/ It emotionally exhausted me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration.

"If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here right now." I finally said, breaking the silence. "Does that sound 'cruel' or 'evil' to you?" Looking back up to my old zebra companion, I noticed that her eyes closed in thought.

"... What crime did you commit, if to tell me you'll permit?" She finally asked, her voice coming out in a sigh.

"I wish I knew. All I remember is waking up in a small dark cell with Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis." Zecora opened her eyes looked up to me again, her gaze locked straight onto my eyes as she seemed to scan for any sign of my lying. After another moment of two of searching though, her eyes once again closing as she placed a forehoof over her face.

"I can see from your eyes that you tell no lies." She had a face of both exasperation and confusion as she looked between the three of us. "But why have you come if you are clearly on the run?" Ignoring the slight slip in her rhyming, likely from stress, I decided to explain.

"We got here by accident, honestly. Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis got me out of the dungeons about two days ago and we started traveling again last night. Nightmare Moon found this place and, when she did, I figured that you would be able to help us." Zecora held another moment of silence, moving for her tea kettle and pouring more of her cold, calming drink into her recently emptied cup before placing it down and looking towards us again.

"Since I am aware that you are going to persist, how would you expect me to assist?" By the sound of both the question and her voice, I could tell that she hadn't really leaned towards any particular decision.

"All we need is a place to rest until nightfall again." I told her. She raised a brow, grabbing the cup of tea with her forehooves once again as she took a seat.

"That is all? A decision to my call?"

"That's it, Zecora. I'm not going to ask you for anything extreme. Just a place to rest." She looked at me in silence for another moment or so before taking in a sip of her newly poured tea, her eyes once again closed in thought as she savored her drink. Finally, she gulped.

"Of the decisions that I have weighed, I have decided that you may stay." I let out a silent sigh of relief, happy that I wouldn't have to go out into the sun for another day, as well as the fact the three of us would have a safe place to rest. "After all," she added, a smile gracing her once again. "I cannot simply abandon my old companion."

I found myself smiling as well.

"Thank you."

Chapter 8: A Friend Through These Walls [Here Again]

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"I must say, Miss Zecora, that this tea that thou hast served us is unprecedented in its taste!" Nightmare Moon told her temporary host through the wooden door that separated them. "Even the royal chef's brew would seem like nothing more than flavored water in comparison." She happily took another sip of the drink that she held within her magical grasp. She could just barely notice Chrysalis roll her eyes from the other side of the room, taking her own indifferent sip from her serving of the drink.

"Why thank you, Nightmare Moon. If you like, I'll be out to serve you more soon." Nightmare Moon's smile grew even greater as she heard this. She found herself almost instinctually nodding her head vigorously at the prospect of receiving more of the delightfully tasting brew.

"Oh, yes, we would be most thankful for that, Miss Zecora. But, we do believe that it would be best for thee to finish thy treatment of Sir Jeremy before thou dost so." Her tone of cheerfulness took a slight turn as she mentioned her injured friend, growing to be one of a much more concerned nature.

Chrysalis' brow raised as she noticed this shift, directing her sight to the door of the room that Zecora had taken Jeremy into soon after the three had arrived and Jeremy had explained their situation.

Jeremy, though he had never mentioned his injuries to Zecora, had been dragged into that room by his zebra friend quite some time ago. Zecora had given him quite the piece of her mind about properly treating his injuries if they were to heal correctly, as well as the stupidity of him trying to hide them from her when she could practically see him squirming in place.

Jeremy, of course, insisted he was fine. And he continued to insist up until the moment that Zecora and Nightmare Moon gave one another a shared look of understanding. He barely had any time to react as Nightmare Moon levitated him up off of the floor and into the room as Zecora had directed, Zecora smiling smugly to him as she did so.

' 'Tis for your own good.' Nightmare Moon had told him as he gave two a look of annoyance. The last thing Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis had seen of him for what would be a substantial amount of time was him rolling his eyes, grumbling to himself in defeat.

That was over an hour ago. Now, Nightmare Moon was beginning to grow worried for her companion. Chrysalis though had simply been laying near one of the corners of the room for quite some time, sipping on the tea that Zecora had so kindly served her every once in a while as she rested there with an extreme sense of boredom.

"You have no need to worry so, for there is not much left to go." The zebra reassured through the wooden door. It was at this point that Chyrsalis jumped in.

"Is there any particular reason that Jeremy has been so quiet then?" Chrysalis asked, blankly breaking her silence as she took another small sip from her drink as she turned her attention to the door as well.

"She took off my clothes! This isnt exactly the least embarrassing thing that I've done in a while!" Both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis blinked at this.

"And why, pray tell, does it embarrass you to have no clothes?"

"I don't exactly have fur to cover myself, you two..." Another blink from the two mares. Before they could process the meaning behind the words, however, Zecora provided her own two bits to the conversation.

"There is little reason for you to feel degraded. After all, this was not the first time I have witnessed you naked."

"Not helping."

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I was able to save my pants, but my dignity? Well, that probably wasnt going to be coming back any time soon.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a sigh as I turned my head away from the door, putting my focus back onto the room I was in and who I was in it with.

After Nightmare Moon and Zecora had so kindly 'asked' me to let Zecora do her thing, they had been more than willing to put me into this relatively small and stuffy room where Zecora would normally treat sick or injured ponies that would come to her, or at least wander over here. Mostly the latter though. Some ponies should not try to act brave.

The room was, like I said, small. I sat on single wooden chair which, at the moment, I was currently straddling as Zecora circled the bandages around me my chest. There were only a few things that were actually in the room that were of particular importance: A long table with a cover strewn over it, a few unmarked ingredients for Zecora's potions and brews, and a couple of lit candlesticks placed near the wall. Thankfully, the candles were just far and dim enough to not cause me any real issues.

I shivered as one of her particular movements caused the odd green medicinal cream that she had put on me before the bandaging to shift, its cold and clammy texture giving me goosebumps. I pushed it off as much as I could and melded to Zecora's careful touch as she continued to gently tend to my injuries.

"Well, from the sounds of it, you really are good friends with this zebra."

"Oh shut up." I called back through the door before mentally taking note of possible smaller forms of vengeance I could think of.

"How is it that you always cause me introspection with your companion selection?" That was a bit of a roundabout way to go about saying 'why do I choose such weird friends'.

"Look who's calling the kettle black." I returned with a chuckle. I mean, I chose for Zecora to be a friend of mine, and she wasn't exactly the most normal of ponies that I had met. Plus, she had happily chosen to be friends with me, and I wasn't particularly normal either by Equestria standards. The truthfulness of the comment seemed to have fallen on deaf ears though as I ended up giving a slight yelp from the bandages tightening around my bruised ribs.

She totally did that on purpose. I was sure of it.

"If you would not mind being lead, could you please raise your arms above your head?"

I did as she asked, sitting myself up straight as I put both of my arms up over my head. I hissed slightly as I felt a rather uncomfortable twinge come from my shoulder. Even with Nightmare Moon's magic, there were still some spots in particular that were a little more than tender.

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When I had first caught a glimpse of my old friend's injuries, I had originally thought that tending to them would be a breeze. Though, the clear sight of these now gives me pause and distraught, as I notice just how my thoughts were so wrongly brought.

His very bones in disrepair, though not so easily seen with a gaze shared, and a trail of his pained affliction, shown by his blackened discoloration. It is a wonder that he could have made it this far, especially after being so horribly marred.

Even now as he moves, his pained grunts bring a stillness to my hooves. My old companion, for which even the simplest of kindness seems to have abandoned. To believe that the guards of the princesses could prove so cold, even from him I could barely believe what I was told. Or perhaps, though I do not wish to assume such a thing, it was the princesses themselves that brought this forth with a spring.

"Zecora?" Upon hearing myself called, I quickly returned from my thought filled state, a slight hope that, for this distraction, my friend would not berate. "Is everything okay?"

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"...Yes, everything is fine. Though, I cannot help but think that my letting you go, and your getting hurt, gravely intertwine." As I turned to face again, I saw that she was holding a saddened expression. Her ears were pinned against her head as she looked down to the ground with a frown.

"What are you talking about?"

"... If I had been there, then perhaps of this issue, to you they would spare. Or if I had been more attentive, I would have at least known about this issue, giving the idea to assist you incentive. Or-"

"Woah, woah, woah! Zecora, you're acting as if you put me in that prison. Hell, if anything, I'm pretty sure that I'm the one to blame. Even if I cant remember exactly why, why else would I have ended up there?" Zecora didn't need to feel any guilt over this whole mess. That was the last thing I wanted her to deal with on top of everything else in this mess.

"... Perhaps, but-" I didn't even let her get to her rhyme before I cut her off.

"But nothing." Zecora's eyes were glued to the floor, not even willing a glance in my direction. Seeing her like this, I reached down with one of my two raised arms and playfully ruffled up her mane. It wasn't creative, deep, or anything like that, but it had shaken her out of her funk before. "Believe me Zecora, you shouldn't feel guilty about this. We both know it." I told her, giving her a small smile as I put my arm back over my head with the other. Zecora, fixing her ruffled mane as best as she could with her hooves, returned the smile.

Looked like it had worked again.

"Now then, are we done with the first aid or am I going to have to keep my arms up like this forever?" Another tug of the bandages by her and a wince of pain from me was all the response I needed to know that she indeed felt better. Though, personally, I could have gone without the pain.

I sat patiently as Zecora's forelegs circled around me, passing the bandaging from one forehoof to the other as she started to cover my uppermost chest in bandages. I shivered whenever the fur on her brushed up against me, but I didn't think anything of it. Zecora and I were, and are, good friends after all. Notice the emphasis there?

Back when I had lived with her, we had thought of each other as simple housemates. Nothing more, nothing less. And personally I was fine with that. Besides, it made things much easier. Like how she and I would take turns with the chores around the house, rather than leaving it all up to one person/pony. Dishes, housecleaning, laundry.

And speaking of laundry, I found myself glancing to the corner of the room where a pile of torn cloth and color that used to be a shirt lied. My pants had more or less survived everything, but my shirt? It was pretty much unsalvageable. It was too bad too, that shirt was specially made for me by a tailor in Ponyville.

"Hey, Zecora?"

"Hm?"

"Any chance that you have some spare clothing of mine that I had left here? The clothes I came here in aren't exactly useful anymore." As I felt Zecora finish wrapping the bandages together behind me, tying a small firm knot so they would be kept in place, I heard her hum in thought.

"... Actually, there may just be. Something that, in your rush to leave, you had neglected to see." I put my arms back down at last and watched as Zecora made her way out of the room without another word, likely to look for whatever article of clothing it was that I had left behind. This left me to wait for her in the room, alone.

Letting out a sigh, I crossed my arms over the backrest of the chair and laid my head down on top to try to make myself more comfortable. I took a few deep breaths, a sense of momentary bliss in the peaceful silence that surrounded me at the moment before I closed my eyes in peace.

It took all of about five seconds before I started wondering about stupid bits of random information, like questioning how the candles near the wall didn't just burn this whole tree down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Miss Zecora exited the room, a content look on her face, I could feel a smile forge its way to mine. I made to ask her how Sir Jeremy was, but by the time I had opened my maw to do so she was already in the next room over. The sound of shifting objects and opening cabinets audible were audible from where I sat.

I raised a brow at this odd event, looking towards the door that Sir Jeremy had been behind. My desire to see my friend was great, yet at the same time I felt it not to be correct.

During my rule as Princess Luna, many of the guards were proud, noble ponies, who felt that they should not show weakness if only for them to feel themselves of use. Sir Jeremy was similar in this regard. Throughout our trek here, he had always seemed to have that sense of overt independence to him.

To enter and see him now, while he was now even more vulnerable than I or the changeling queen had ever seen him before, I felt as though it would be more of a shame than a pleasure for him. It is for this reason that I stayed my hoof, content with simply watching as Miss Zecora returned with an article of clothing folded over her back as she went back into the room again.

As the door closed yet again, the sound of a sudden hum caught my attention. I followed the source of the noise with my eyes as the changeling queen, Chrysalis, watched me with a smug smile upon her face.

My eyes narrowed as I foresaw what would likely be an upcoming issue between us two.

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Well. it wasnt the best piece of clothing that I had, but at least it was clean and comfortable.

As it had turned out, Zecora had been holding onto an old sweater that I had left behind since I had moved to Canterlot, keeping it in surprisingly good condition while I was away too. I never really wore it that often before, considering the fact that I didn't find much use for it in a warm place like Equestria where they literally gave you the weather schedules before it happened, but anything was better than nothing right now.

It was just a plain, gray coat. Not a hoodie, not a vest, just a coat. Granted, it didn't have a zipper or anything like that, but considering the fact that my only other option was to walk out of here shirtless, I wouldn't say that it's something that's too bad. Besides, considering everything else that had happened, it was more of sentimental value for me, and possibly her, than physical. It was the coat that I had come to Equestria in, after all.

It had taken some help from Zecora's part for me to put it on but it was more than worth it to have something covering me again. Granted, it didn't completely cover me, leaving the center of my chest and stomach exposed, but the bandages seemed to work well enough as an undershirt of sorts.

I leaned against the back of the chair and stretched out my arms, wobbling slightly as a sudden dizzy spell hit me like a bag of bricks. She looked at me with concern as I focused on trying to make the room stop spinning, but I waved her off, telling her that I was fine.

In fact, I was better than just 'fine'. Relatively speaking, I felt pretty great.

Zecora's medicinal treatments never ceased to amaze. Back when I lived with her I had seen her cure and relieve all sorts of conditions and illnesses. Though, about a good 40% of them were mine. Even now, as I stood painlessly in the center of the room, I couldn't help but to be impressed.

Soon, my focus finally came back, giving me a single, clear image rather than a blurred, multi-visioned mess. I shook my head once more to rid myself of the last of my dizziness before finishing whatever stretch I had been in the middle of. The series of loud clicks from my spine made it evident that I had long needed it.

I gave Zecora a nod as a silent thanks, smiling as I did so. A smile which she so happily returned.

"I take it that your new state causes you to elate?" Zecora asked, nudging my side with her shoulder.

"Gee, you must be a psychic. How'd you guess?" I replied with a lighthearted roll of my eyes. Of course, the response I received through the door was a little less than lighthearted.

"For Empress sake, are you just about done in there?" I swear, she is going to be the death of me. Or the very least, of my patience. "Now could you come out here already? I'm getting bored of having to insult you through a door. I much rather prefer to do it face to face."

Zecora and I looked to one another with raised brows, the sharing a look at Chysalis' behavior. Hey, at least she didn't seem too bothered by it, considering how she had first reacted when I introduced them.

"Geez Chrysalis, glad to see you care so much." I replied, reaching for the door handle and mentally preparing myself for what would likely be another one of our infamous 'wars of the wits'.

"Oh please! If you want 'care', talk to your friend for a while longer, I insist. Of course, you could always just talk to the other mare in the household. After all, she seems to care for you a lo-" The sound of something splashing and what seemed like glass hitting the floor rang through clearly, even past the door. I froze with my hand on the door's handle, both mine and Zecora's eyes widening. There was a moment of absolute silence, only interrupted by the periodic sound of dripping, as the two of us looked to one another. Looking back to the door, I took in a deep breath as I then started to open the it to the room the other two were in, expecting the worst.

Instead, I was given what was arguably one of the best sights I had seen in months,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes narrowed as Jeremy started to burst out laughing as soon as he entered the room, that zebra friend of his, 'Zecora', quickly following suit. Meanwhile, just opposite of me, Nightmare Moon held a smug smile, and taking a sip from her tea as her horn lost it's glow and returned to it's previous state. I could already feel my teeth grinding as I noticed the challenging glint that seemed to float around in her eyes.

That mare had gall to transmute a glass of ice water above me and spill it onto my head while I was distracted! And now, there I laid, cold and wet with nothing but my burning fury to keep me warm as I looked to the three cackling fools before me in annoyance. The glass of the cold water that she had called forth laid flat against me on the floor where it had landed and miraculously not shattered.

Jeremy could barely get out a sentence as his laughter continued to plague him, putting one arm against the doorframe as he wrapped his other around his stomach. Though, I could barely register what sounded like him asking "What happened" between his fits of chortles and guffaws.

Granted, a small part of me felt impressed as I noticed that despite the condition that he had been in earlier, he was now laughing and bending forward with little to no semblance of pain whatsoever. But this feeling was quickly disposed of as my anger took over again, a part of my mind already formulating a plan of vengeance upon the night mare, and possibly Jeremy.

"... Ask her." I replied with as much venom in my voice as I could manage, pointing to the alicorn opposite of me. Both Jeremy and the zebra's gazes shifted towards her, giving her questioning looks as their laughs began to tone down to short chuckles.

Nightmare Moon placed her tea cup on the floor next to her, crossing her forehooves over one another as she looked to the two with a smile. "To be honest, I had simply commited one of the many 'pranks' that ye had told us of during our imprisonment. Do ye not recall?" She claimed ever so 'innocently' to Jeremy.

Chortling again, Jeremy nodded his head, looking to me with a raised brow though his smile had yet to fade.

"Yeah, I remember." I felt my eyes narrow even further as he said this, apparently siding with Nightmare Moon. Honestly, I don't know what else I was expecting. "Though, ice water is a bit much, isn't it?"

"Only if the victim is undeserving of such actions."

"True." The glare I gave towards the human increased in intensity, which he seemed to notice quite easily. "... You know, I'm starting to think that you may not like me." He commented facetiously.

I simply gave a low growl in return.

"Alright, alright." He soon relented, finally giving in as he gestured for me to calm down with his arms. "I'll go get you a towel."

"And be quick about it." I added. The human simply walked off and waved his hand back at me.

"Yeah, fine, whatever. But you're drying yourself off!" The nerve of some beings. Though, I suppose that things would be much less entertaining if he didn't have that nerve to begin with.

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Jeremy let out a sigh as he crossed his arms behind his head and laid against them, silently enjoying the dark blissful corner that he sat against. Nightmare Moon and Zecora were conversing with one another, the two having found common grounds with one another as they exchanged tales from the older times. Some of these tales were nothing more than just stories passed down from generation to generation in Zecora's culture, and though others were being shown to be true as Nightmare Moon explained having lived through them as Princess Luna.

Chrysalis and Jeremy were both relaxing in their own silence, often glancing to the others and one another as they drifted off into thought. Chrysalis, a recently used towel laid loosely wrapped around her neck, occasionally looked between Jeremy and Zecora as a sense of curiosity ebbed at her.

Fight it off as she might, this sense kept returning to pester her more and more no matter how many times she would attempt to push it off. Eventually, after another 10 minutes or so of this annoyance of hers, she let out a silent sigh as she resigned herself to the relief of her mental stress.

"... Jeremy?" Jeremy looked to her again, raising a brow questioningly. "Not that I particularly care, but how exactly did you and Zecora meet?"

The sound in the room was quickly silenced as she said this, an almost disturbingly still atmosphere coming about as everyone's attention shifted to Chrysalis. Chrysalis quickly became uncomfortable with the situation, though she did not show it.

Jeremy and Zecora looked to one another in a shared gaze before turning back to Chrysalis again. Then, just as Chrysalis was beginning to regret her question all together, the two smiled and started to chuckle.

This brought about confusion from both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis as they looked on at the odd scene, unsure of what to make of it. "What's so funny?" Chrysalis asked, growing annoyed at being left in the dark. Jeremy shook his head and smiled as he looked back to Chrysalis.

"Sorry, its been a while since either of us told that story. Lets just say that Zecora and I didn't exactly get off on the right foot, or hoof in her case, when we first met." Jeremy commented wistfully, stretching his arms outwards as he adjusted his seating position.

********************************************

"... Ugh. Note to self: Whatever it was that I did last night, don't do it again." Those were the first coherent thoughts that I had when I woke up that day.

I felt sore. I mean, really sore. The kind that a person would get after running a triathlon and swimming across the Hudson River after a three day diet. As to how I knew what that feeling was like, lets just say that my sister liked to involve me in everything stupid she did when we were younger.

I could only groan as I put my hands over my face, rubbing it up and down in an attempt to wake myself up from my groggy state and trying to go through my daily processes despite the fact that I felt so horribly. The usual really. Take a few deep breaths, rub my eyes, shoo away the bird that was tweeting near my ear, try to reach across the grass for my blanket...

If you can see what was wrong with what I said there, congratulations, you are officially faster on the draw than I was at the time. It took me a minute or two before I realized that I wasn't in my bed at home.

As my eyes shot open and I jolted up from the grass, all I could wonder was what the hell had happened last night.

I tried to calm myself down as best as I could, taking deep placid breaths in the place of my short, panicked ones. I figured that maybe I was dreaming.

I reached for my arm and gave myself a pinch but still found myself in the forest. So I did the next best thing. I reeled my arm back and punched myself in the arm as hard as I could.

The stream of curses and profanities brought about from pain that flooded the forest in that moment was a sign that I had realized I wasn't dreaming.

I could only rub my now sore arm and grumble I looked around, hugging my gray sweater closer as a chilly breeze passed around me. I lived in New York, so, whatever forest I was in couldn't be too big. Hell, the fact that I found any forest at all was a miracle of its own.

I closed my eyes and pointed in a random direction, mentally hoping that I wasn't crossing the border into Canada, or something like that. Far-fetched? Yes. Had I done worse when I was drunk? My passport stamp from China could definitely help to prove that.

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Yeah, I wasn't in New York. That had been proven painfully obvious after about two hours worth of walking. Plus, the sounds of whatever animals that were prowling through this forest didn't help either.

As a part of me started to mentally write out my own will, though thinking back on it now I wasn't sure if it was a joke at the time or not, I froze as I made my way into a clearing in the forest. There, in the center, was an oddly shaped tree that had door in it. And windows. And curtains.

Considering the other option I had at the time was to keep on walking and possibly be eaten by whatever the heck had been hunting me for the past 15 minutes or so, I'd say the decision I made to check to see if anyone was home was a pretty decent one.

Adjusting my sweater a bit, I made my way to the literal tree house and hoped that whoever owned the place was home. I knocked on the door three times before putting my hands back into my sweater pockets.

I wondered over who would lives this deep inside of a forest. I also started to wonder about the fact that they lived in a tree. And the fact that the tree somehow supported having a house being built into it without collapsing or dying. Or the fact that-

Look, there was a lot going on in my head at the time, suffice to say.

The sudden creaking sound of a door drew my attention, causing me to turn to face who was likely the house owner. I started talking long before I saw them, a part of me really just wanting to get out of there as fast as possible.

"Oh! Um, yeah, sorry to bother you, but would you mind telling me where I a-" I froze as I looked to who was at the door. Or rather, what. In front of me, instead of a person, like I was expecting, there was a zebra. A zebra.

I made a face as I looked to the striped hose and ran my hand through my hair.

"Did I end up in Africa or something? If so, I really am not looking forward to that bill." I grumbled before looking back to the zebra. I wasnt sure what it was at the time, but something about it just seemed off to me. For starters, it seemed much smaller than what I had thought zebras would be. Plus, some of its features were definitely off from what I had seen in photos, least of all being the jewlery it wore. I tilted my head in confusion at it, and oddly enough it seemed to be doing the same.

"... I take it you don't know where I am either?" I asked jokingly, rolling my eyes as I did so.

"Actually, I can answer you quite frankly."

"Oh, okay, that's gre-" I froze yet again, looking down to the zebra as it raised a brow questioningly towards me. "I-I'm sorry, did you just talk?" Stupid question in hindsight, but I was just hoping that I had been hearing things.

"That is likely what you perceive, so is there any reason that it is so hard for you to believe?" I was, in fact, not hearing things. And as I realized that, I soon was no longer seeing things. Or feeling things. Or tasting things.

The point I'm trying to get across is-

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"You passed out!?!" Chrysalis laughed out, a hoof slamming repeatedly against the floor as she kept glancing between Zecora and I. I rolled my eyes at this.

"Look, it wasn't exactly normal for zebras to talk back where I lived. If anything, I'd say that I reacted pretty damn appropriately." I glanced to Zecora and Nightmare Moon, the latter of whom was evidently trying to hold back their own laughter as they held a hood against their mouth.

"If to your story I might expand, do not forget the times I had to hit you with a frying pan." I blinked as Zecora reminded me of this. Look, it was a rough day all around and it took me a few tries to calm down.

Evidently though, that was the breaking point for Nightmare Moon, no longer able to hold back her laughter as she joined Chrysalis, who by now was practically rolling on the floor. Meanwhile, Zecora and I looked to one another and shrugged.

Its odd, but this wouldn't be the first time that someone had reacted to that story of ours like this. More like the twelfth?

Coincidentally, I think that's how many dents that frying pan has in it nowadays.

Chapter 9: Time In The Yard [Here Again]

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"We can afford five more minutes." Chrysalis tiredly told Nightmare Moon, her eyes closed as she laid down on the floor with her legs folded and her head craned to the side.

"Thy senses have been dulled if thou believest that we would simply allow thee to return to resting at such a time!"

Beep. Beep. Beep. Oh, what's that you're hearing? Only the latest in alarm technology! The Two-Mares-Arguing-For-The-Umpteenth-Time Alarm! Its great! It has multiple sounds it makes at random, a built in sensor that decided what would be the optimal time to wake you up on its own, and it even got rid of that pesky snooze button so many inferior alarms held! Plus, it came at the modest price of free! (With one stay at the Canterlot Dungeons of course.)

Honestly, you would think that they would be in much better moods for the night. Well actually they were, just not with each other.

I stood outside of the door to Zecora's house with said aforementioned zebra by my side. She and I watched on as the two started to argue with one another again, Nightmare Moon yelling at Chrysalis to get up while Chrysalis half-heartedly argued back. Comical? Yes. Progressive? Not really.

I let out a sigh as I turned to Zecora, deciding to switch from the topic of the two's incessant arguing to frankly anything else. Zecora seemed to notice this shift of attention of mine as she turned her own head to face me in return.

"... So, I take it that it's going to be a while before we see each other again?" I asked, raising a brow as I casually leaned against the doorframe. Zecora nodded simply nodded. For a moment, she looked around our surroundings, seeming to take in the Everfree forest she had lived in for so long under a new perspective. As to what perspective it possibly could have been beyond 'land of murder hungry creatures from the depths of Hades', I had no idea.

"If fate so demands, then this we will have to stand." I let out a small chuckle as she said this. It was less because I found what she said funny, though, mostly because I was unsure of what else to do or say. So I settled for looking back to the still arguing Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, who had seemed to have gone full circle with their argument.

"Thou hast just rested for a copious amount of hours!"

"Yes, and luckily, I'm in a rather good mood, so I won't blame you for interrupting that sleep of mine if you leave me alone."

Its weird, but I couldn't help but smile ever so slightly as I watched the two. It wasn't because it was funny- Well, thats a bold faced lie, part of the reason was absolutely because I found the whole thing hilarious. But aside from that, watching the two unlikely companions of mine argue with one another reminded me that I wasn't going through this whole mess alone. Sure, I could interrupt this little squabble of theirs, but as previous attempts at doing so had shown it would prove to be useless. They would just end up fighting again. And for some reason, I relished in the peace of the certainty that was held in that fact.

"You were right in your decision to give them both revision." I could just barely see Zecora in my peripherals as she turned her head to face the two as well. Not turning my attention away from them, I simply shook my head with a smirk.

"They seemed like nice ponies, despite their pasts. After all, you were the one who told me 'not to judge a book by its cover'. Remember that incident with Ponyville you told me about? How they thought you were a witch, or something like that." Rolling her own eyes, Zecora chuckled and waved her forehoof at me dismissively. "Still, thanks for helping us out, despite the fact that we're in such a bad situation. You really came through."

Zecora smiled again as she heard this, giving me a slight bow of her head at my appreciation. "Though I am glad that you find my kindness undiminished, I cannot truly say that I am finished."

I felt my brow raise as I looked to her questioningly.

"What do you mean?" She merely rolled her eyes at my question.

"As soon as your friends inside are through, the answer to your question I will give to you." I was about to ask what she had planned but was ultimately cut off as the familiar sound of glass and splashing water.

"Agh!!! Would you stop doing that!?!"

"We take it that thou hast fully awoken now?"

I inhaled very thoroughly through my nose the bridge, trying very hard not to show too much frustration as I realized how long of a night this was going to be. But, if there was one thing I had picked up from several instances of being caught in the crossfire of these two's arguments so far, it was that I should just let them tire themselves out.

Without any particular fanfare, I closed the door to the house to leave the two inside to their chaos.

"It may be a while. Oh, and you may want to keep a tab on what they end up breaking, because I'm pretty sure they're about to try to club each other with whatever they can find in there."

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The good news is that they didn't end up fighting. They settled for threatening one another until they eventually got bored and came outside. The great news is after they had come out Zecora had told us that the best place for us to go would be west from here, though she didn't really say why. Still, I trusted her enough to take her advice. Bad news?... Well...

"God damn it, I told you both that I'm fine!" I exclaimed, a warmth growing in my cheeks as I recalled the look on Zecora's face from earlier.

"Consider it a precaution, Sir Jeremy. Treated wounds or not, your condition is not yet completely restored." Nightmare Moon replied, turning her head to glance at me before then turning it back to the path ahead of her.

"You couldn't have at least waited until Zecora had gone back inside?!?"

... Yeaaaahhhh. Long story short, Nightmare Moon had yet again levitated me up into the air as soon as I had thanked Zecora for the directions and placed me onto her back. A small part of me if they were unofficially taking turns.

Naturally, Zecora looked at this less than usual sight and laughed... A lot. Definitely not one of my more prideful moments.

"We see not a reason for ye to feel such embarrassment in front of your companion. After all, your reasoning for seeming so dishonorable is just, if not fair." I'd like to hear her say that while she's riding me.

Wait, scratch that, that sounded horrible, I never said that!

I looked around Nightmare Moon's head so I could try to get a view of whatever was in front of us. And, surprise, surprise, there were trees. Lots and lots of trees. I really dont know what I was expecting. Maybe I was just trying to distract myself from my more recent bit of shame.

I did my best to entertain myself as we went onwards, more than a few bouts of mental rambling coming about as I did so. Though, it was hard to really focus on said trains of thought when Nightmare Moon's mane seemed to constantly, and I swear that I'm not making this up, wrap around me. Zecora had once told me in her earlier descriptions of the tale of 'The Mare On The Moon' that 'Nightmare Moon's mane was just as alive and filled with spite as the rest of her'. Along with some unspecified rhyme that I didn't pay much attention to at the time. I had thought that it was just another exaggeration that ponies would put into stories to make them more interesting. Now I can see that it wasn't entirely far off.

The mane might as well have been alive. It constantly moved, seeming to take and lose shape at a near constant rate as it would occasionally wrap around me only to let go again just as quickly. Still, I resisted the urge to say anything about this to Nightmare Moon. I don't know, something in the back of my mind told me that it wouldn't be too great of an idea. For all I knew she didn't even know about her mane's behavior. I have to say though, at least she doesn't have to worry about her mane looking bad. If it ever did, it would probably just correct itself. That's just a somewhat educated guess though.

"Well Jeremy?" Chrysalis asked, the sound of her voice breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? What?" I ended up stammering distractedly to Chrysalis. She very swiftly let me know of her discontent to this by letting out a sigh of frustration as she put her attention back to the path in front of her.

"I said, are they any other old friends of yours that we should know about?"

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It was a simple enough question really, so of course I got rather annoyed when he didn't answer me. Turning back to him and Nightmare Moon, I noticed that Jeremy, irritating as it seemed, was looking ahead of him blankly. That same strange look he got when his mind was wandering.

"Well Jeremy?" I asked, putting the sound of my voice up a decibel or two in an effort to snap him out of his inattentiveness. It seemed to have the desired effect as Jeremy's eyes seem to regain some of their usual focus, his suddenly attentive eyes moving to me.

"Huh? What?" I felt my irritation spark a bit, causing me to let out a sigh as I turned away from him with slightly narrowed eyes. Honestly, what did I expect?

"I said, are there any other old friends of yours that we should know about?" There was a moment or two of silence after I repeated myself. Another hint of frustration built up as I thought he was getting distracted yet again, but one short check of his emotions afterwards calmed me a bit as I realized that he was looking through his memories for an answer.

"Hmm." He hummed. "Well, you both already know about Hardhat and my old bosses, Even Out and Top Suit... as for the only other old friend of mine, I don't think she's going to be much help any time soon." I felt a brow raise as he said this, but I still held myself from turning.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, the last time I saw her, she said that she was just planning on 'going where the wind takes her'. Heh, she never was the kind to think things ahead." A sense of nostalgia positively shined from him as he thought back to his times with this friend of his, much like when we had first found Zecora's home. "If anything, she's probably still flying around Equestria as we speak, looking for somewhere to finally settle down and the like."

"Oh, this friend that ye speaketh of is a pegasi?" Nightmare Moon asked, an annoying sense of curiosity in her voice. Which reminds me, I still have to get back at her for the earlier soaks that she had given me.

"No, not exactly." Truthfully this threw me, and surprisingly Nightmare Moon, off for a moment or two. If he had a friend of his 'flying around' and it wasn't a pegasus, then what could it possibly have been?

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I'm beginning to notice a pretty obvious cycle here. As to what this 'cycle' is comprised off? Well, the answer's simple. Walking-or in my case, riding. Since that earlier conversation of ours, it had been another two hours of us just walking along through the forest. Honestly though, I was starting to get really tired of being stuck in such a rut. Not only that but despite Zecora's advice and assurance, this path that we were taking at the moment was kind of sketchy.

For one, there were thorn bushes everywhere. In the previous path we had taken, there were thorns, yes. The scratches along the side of my feet and heels were enough proof of that. But usually they were low to the ground and we'd come by some sort of berry or flower bush every once in a while. In this path though, I probably would have ended up covered in scratches and pricks if I had deigned to walk it on my own. The occasional flinch or cringe from Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis as they accidentally came in contact with an unseen cluster of these thorns despite their superior sight in the dark solidified my thoughts on this.

Something else about this path that was unsettling was the sound constantly seeming to follow behind us. Footsteps. Yeah, one word says it all, doesn't it?

No sooner than an hour after heading off in this direction had Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis seemed to visibly tense up. It wasn't more than a few minutes later that I realized why. It felt as though something was watching me. We all seemed to reach a silent agreement to not make any loud or sudden sounds as the footsteps continued to get louder. On a side note, Nightmare Moon's mane was starting to grip onto me just a little too tightly.

"Um... Nightmare Moon?" I whispered, carefully moving some of her ethereal mane of off me and relieving the pressure from my ribs. Turning her head to me, Nightmare Moon gestured for me to continue with an acknowledging nod of her head. "This is getting to be a bit... problematic," I started, gesturing to the brush around us with a wave of my arm, "do either of you two have any ideas?"

"If we had any ideas, don't you think we would have tried them already?" I nearly fell off of Nightmare Moon's back at the sudden intrusion of Chrysalis' voice into my mind. I let out a silent groan of annoyance as I looked to Chrysalis.

"Since when did we have a mental link open?" I asked, making sure to add in a tone of annoyance as I did so.

"Forgive us for not alerting you, Sir Jeremy. We believed that ye had known." Letting out a mental, and physical, sigh, I shook my head softly left and right.

"It's fine. Now, as for what you had said Chrysalis, you've both got nothing?" I took a glance around us as one particular cluster of footsteps seemed to grow even further in volume before then returning to the same level as the rest.

"Unfortunately, that is true, Sir Jeremy. We have attempted to settle on a possible plan of action regarding that which surrounds us, but each one seemed to prove worthless under further thought." Great. Crossing my arms, I closed my eyes and tried to think of something as well. Before I could think of a plan though, I'd have figure out what it was that had surrounded us first.

"That cursed zebra did this! She probably knew about how dangerous this path was, and sent us here to perish!"

"Miss Zecora treated us hospitably! 'Tis with great doubt that we look upon such a thought!"

Ignoring the two's mental arguments with one another, I listened closely to the sound that surrounded us, trying to dig deeper into the knowledge that Zecora had taught me in my time living in the Everfree with her. From the sound of it, there were more than one of whatever was nearby us, so manticores and cockatrices are out, considering they much rather prefered to hunt alone.

"Oh sure, take a side against me like you always do!"

"Our debate derives from thy constant debauchery of the incorrect!"

As Nightmare Moon passed underneath a tree with an outstretched yet rotting branch, I used the opportunity to grab and break it off. It wasn't particularly heavy, fortunately, and I moved it around in my arms and I kept focusing on the sounds around us.

The steps sounded pretty low to the ground and light so that obviously crossed off hydras. Random thought, by the by, I never thought that I would ever have to be worried about animals like these.

"Apparently, to you, everything I say is wrong!"

"Thou hast yet to prove us otherwise!"

I grabbed a couple of vines as the two kept walking during their argument, snapping them off and wrapping them around my arms. They were relatively sturdy, by vine standards. I'd probably have to tie them together If I wanted them to do anything particularly useful, but still.

A part of me gave a mental thanks to some of those lessons Zecora gave me about making use of everything in the Everfree to keep yourself safe as my thoughts wandered back to the footsteps yet again.

Honestly, there aren't many things left out of what else could be nearby. Most of my options pointed to animals that had more bark than bite, using these growls to scare away possible predators while not actually being that tough individually. In fact, the only animal that I could think of to be a problem which was literally just as much bark as its bite, was-

"Do you ALWAYS have to be so irritating!? Maybe the reason your 'dear sister' banished you to the moon was because you just wouldn't shut up!"

"DON'T THOU DAREST TALK ABOUT THAT DAY!!!" Nightmare Moon suddenly yelled. Not mentally, but physically, causing Chrysalis and I to recoil at her sudden outburst which echoed throughout the forest for what felt like miles. Her eyes widened as she quickly covered her mouth with a hoof, as if it would return what she had said back into her mind.

The sound that had once surrounded us started to come together behind us, shifting into a collective upbringing of growls and rustles that brought about a dry gulp from me as I turned to look. The brush crackled and shook, letting out its many ruffled sounds of warning as two, then four, and eventually ten pairs of eyes came through it. A single forward step through the bush revealed one of the creature's wooden foreleg, and a near deafening bark helped to confirm my fears.

Timber wolves.

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The forest shifted and shook in both hurried anticipation and paralyzed anxiety, watching as a number of its many inhabitants ran after its visitors. The reasoning seemed to be nothing more than an unnecessary formality as they grew ever closer to their targets.

These three targets responded as many else would. They sprinted away from the pack and further into the west, hoping that they would soon find some form of shelter, both from the day and now Timber Wolves that hunted them.

The alicorn, Nightmare Moon, was at the lead of the party, her hooves stamping firmly against the ground as she galloped forward. Her smaller yet fleshier companion could be seen fiddling with a small collection of items he had gathered from the woods, a stream of not-so-silent profanities leaving his maw as he struggled to do so without falling off. Truthfully though, he would have likely fallen off long ago were it not for the ethereal mane that held him in place.

The Everfree's previous changeling queen, Chrysalis, trailed slightly behind the two, having gotten a later start in her run from the pure shock of the sudden hunting party that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She, much like Nightmare Moon at the moment, desperately wished that she could simply fly off at the moment and leave their hunters to search in vain, but she was already focusing most of her limited energy as is with her running and found herself unable to do so. Nightmare Moon held her flight due to the injured companion that she accompanied, unable, and unwilling, to leave him behind to save herself.

The chase went on for what felt like hours, though it was nothing more than a few fear filled minutes, as the three clashed with the forest, survival over cycle, and ran. The many resistances of foliage and shrubbery only served to chastise their progress, as, eventually, even the night sky seemed to block its own view of the event, leaving the three in complete darkness.

"I'm really starting to regret not paying more attention in my knot tying classes back in camp." The human, Jeremy, yelled as he struggled to tie the vines to the other side of the broken off branch, the rapid galloping of the alicorn he sat atop of providing a less than ideal working environment. Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon did not respond as they continued to run, ever aware of the fate that awaited them should they stop.

Though it had seemed to be impossible at the point, the forestry thickened even more, branches now causing the three to occasionally have to duck or jump in their efforts to stay in motion. The Timber wolves also seemed to be given trouble by this factor, lacking the mindset as similar to that of its prey, occasionally tripping over and crashing into these branches as they ran.

It was at this moment that the human finally finished tying off the knot he had been working so painstakingly to create, giving the vines a tug or two before giving a nod of satisfaction.

"Nightmare Moon, slow down so Chrysalis isnt directly behind us! I only have one shot at this and I dont want her to be caught up!" Jeremy directed. Nightmare Moon continued to withold a response, but acquiesced nonetheless, slowing herself for just a moment so that she and Chrysalis were practically running side to side.

The human then took the moment to grab the branch that he held and, with a reach behind him, throw it to the rapidly moving forest behind the three. He made sure to hang on to one end of the vines, however, waiting until the branch dug itself into the ground before throwing and wrapping what remained of the vines to a nearby tree just as he was running out of slack.

It was ugly. It was poorly made. The vines were horribly tied to one another and by all means, it would only be useful perhaps once. But in the thicker parts of the forest they were in now, where you could barely fit more than two beings in one place, it would be enough.

The district sound of the vine going taught and snapping rang through the air as Jeremy's haphazard and poorly executed trip wire managed to catch a single creature. However, if only in this one instance, it triggered a domino effect. Jeremy could just barely see a group of Timber Wolves trip over one another as the one that had previously been in the lead stumbled over the vines. Within an instant, the constant sound of movement and howls died down by quite a bit. Yet, neither of the mares dared to pause, nor did the human dare to look away from where the Timber Wolves had been.

Fortunately for the three, the predators seemed to have either lost their motivation or were currently licking their wounds. It was not until another ten minutes of tiresome running and maneuvering before, eventually, the three had allowed themselves the thought that they had escaped and outlasted the pack. However, it was not without their own fair share of exhaustion, as both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis tiredly slowed themselves to a halt.

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I figured I should be a cat person after this. Or a chainsaw person...

Whatever the case, Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis seemed, for a lack of better terms, absolutely pooped after everything. At first, I felt a decent amount of shame behind the fact that I was probably weighing down Nightmare Moon throughout that whole mess. Soon that shifted into concern as the two slowed to a walk, and then to a complete halt, their breathing seeming labored and occasionally accompanied by a cough or two.

Nightmare Moon, who was still struggling to get her original power and energy back after having regained a physical form, had just carried me through a sprint for god knows how long, and Chrysalis, who was basically starving from the lack of love that changelings usually consumed was probably no better!

"Crap. Are you two okay?" I asked, my heartrate still somewhat high from the chase as I glanced behind us to be sure that there indeed were no Timber Wolves left.

"We... are fine... Sir Jeremy..." Nightmare Moon told me, her head down as she attempted to regain her lost breath. Chrysalis answered soon after, though in a much more bitter tone.

"Speak... for yourself..." Nightmare Moon was panting and, as I could easily provide testimony to at the moment, covered in sweat. Chrysalis' pants, in the mean time, seemed much more labored as her legs trembled slightly beneath her.

"Okay, that's it." I exclaimed, my eyes narrowing as I looked the two over once more and removed myself from Nightmare Moon's back.

"What... are ye-"

"You both need to take a quick break." I interrupted firmly, making my way over to the shaky Chrysalis while I looked back to talk to Nightmare Moon. "I've gotten more than enough rest by now, hurt or not, to walk on my own. You two though just basically lost all of the fumes you had been, and then some. So here's how its going to go." Finally reaching Chrysalis side, I ignored her tired and obviously annoyed gaze as I put a hand on her back and made her lay down on the ground. Despite herself, her hooves folded regardless of what little resistance she provided.

"We're going to wait here for a bit until you both at least catch your breaths, or longer if you need, and I don't want to hear another word of it." Chrysalis, despite her earlier resistance, all but embraced the idea of more rest, quickly flopping her head to the ground and slowly closing her eyes. Nightmare Moon moved to speak against me, raising her head and opening her mouth to speak, but one look from me quickly stopped her. She settled for a sigh.

"Very well... Sir Jeremy..."

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So its been, about, twenty minutes-ish since the two fell asleep. They had gotten back their breath long ago, but Chrysalis, in her efforts to relax, had fallen asleep, and Nightmare Moon had followed suit soon after. I didn't bother to wake them up, deciding that there wasn't really any reason to just yet. After all, we still had over six hours of night left, so we could afford the time to rest.

As for me? I was just leaning against a nearby tree, another stray yet firm branch in my arms as I watched over the two while they rested. In hindsight, I probably seemed more than a little creepy doing that. Nonetheless, the Timber Wolves from earlier had seemingly gone away, if the distinct sound of howling and growling told me anything, so I was taking what I could get.

I closed my eyes for just a second, taking in a deep calming breath as I silently enjoyed the relative bliss of the moment after pure panic. Those kinds of moments were actually concerningly common in the Everfree. Some folks even ventured out into the forest explicitly to experience it, like some kind of adrenaline high. I, on the other hand, had enough of my adrenaline quota filled for several lifetimes, so I wasn't particularly inclined to keep it going. Not like I likely had a choice.

As I pondered on this, my thoughts were broken as I heard a sudden snap break through the bliss, along with a loud rustling that came soon afterwards. Moving off from the tree, I felt my eyes widen as I looked around for the source of the sound, making sure to check on the still sleeping figures of Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon as I did so and silently hoping that it wasn't another Timber Wolf.

At first, I couldn't see anything, and I was pretty close to just pushing it off as nothing more than my fear-addled mind playing tricks on me. However, just out of the furthest corner of my eye, I saw a small hint of color drop behind the brush. I figured maybe, just maybe, it was something small and harmless, like a squirrel. Those hopes were very thoroughly dashed, however, as I realized what I had seen in that brief moment. Gray fur with yellow streaks.

There was no doubt in my mind. That was a mane, and by extension, a pony. But, why would some random pony be in the Everfree? Save for the aforementioned adrenaline junkies and folks that would get lost, it wasnt exactly commonplace for anypony to wander this far into the forest. They'd probably have to get orders straight from the princess just to be willing to try it.

And it was at that moment, as that same thought slid through my head, a very real possibility came to mind.

That might have been a member of the Equestrian Guards.

I didn't believe it. That the princess would seriously be so determined to put us behind bars again that she'd actually willing to send her guards into the Everfree? She was determined, I'd certainly give her that. Luckily for us at that moment though, she seemingly wasn't determined enough to come for us herself.

Glancing to the girls again, who were still fast asleep, I breathed in a heavy breath as I slowly made my way over to the bush that I had last seen them hide behind. Thoughts of all sorts were going through my head. 'What if there's more of them?', 'What if it's a unicorn? I can't fight somepony with magic!', 'How am supposed to take him/her down? Am I gonna have to knock someone else out?'. I pushed off these thoughts as best as I could, getting low to the ground as I closed the distance even further and tightened the grip I had on the branch in my hands. Then, when I finally thought that I was close enough, I jumped for it.

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Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were jolted awake by the sounds of struggle, their eyes popping open and heads skyrocketing upwards as they began to look around for the source. They easily determined this source to be the now rustling and jerking bush.

"Gotcha!" They heard Jeremy shout, causing the two to spring up as they realized that he was among those causing the noise. They ran to the bush, quickly closing off the distance as Nightmare Moon's horn glowed its ethereal midnight color, engulfing the shrubbery and pulling it apart. There, holding a branch up behind his head, ready to strike, was Jeremy.

"Now, who sent-... What the?" Jeremy's once serious tone was quickly shifted to one of confusion as he gained a clear view of his 'captured' target. Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon gained their own looks similar to this as they as well looked on.

Trapped under Jeremy's grip, silently and fearfully looking at its new and uninteded captors, was neither a Timber Wolf nor a royal guard. Instead, it was an earth pony, wielding no weaponry and clad in no armor. A simple mare.

Chapter 10: Tied To Another [Here Again]

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You know, there are such things as bad situations. No matter what anyone might tell you about silver linings, it doesn't really add much positivity to whatever mess you're in if the situation is bad enough. And then, there are much worse situations. The type that even the most experienced and hopeful of optimists wouldn't be able to find something good in. This, unfortunately, was among the latter of the two.

I could just barely notice either Nightmare Moon or Chrysalis as they stayed to either side of me, my focus as well as theirs being on the currently trapped earth pony mare below me. Her head was half buried in the grass as she tried to hide herself from me as much as possible, and the eye that I could see was clenched shut. Her forearms attempted to practically tuck in on themselves as she tried to keep herself covered and safe from my and the others gazes.

Despite the fact that it was still very much the dead of night, my eyes had still adapted to the dark enough that I could still see her clearly. Her mane was dominantly gray, a light shade that contrasted oddly with the sunlight yellow streaks it also held. Her fur was a placid shade of purple, though a little stained, and as for her eyes... well, I couldn't really get a good view of them at the time before she closed them.

Whatever the case, I, or rather we, still had a situation in our hands and hooves. I had an earth pony trapped under me, Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were looking at her like the plague, and she seemed just about ready to pee herself... while I was on top of her.

Please lord hear my prayer. Don't cover me in pony urine.

My thoughts swirled in my mind as I tried to think of someway, anyway, to approach this rather problematic event. Maybe if I just tried to talk this through nice and calmly, we could figure something out?

"Who are you?! What are you doing here!?!" That plan was effectively shot down, dragged out of its plane, and summarily executed by Chrysalis. Glancing to the changeling, who was currently glaring at the mare with all of her anger, I narrowed my eyes as I shook my head at her.

"Quiet!" I silently mumbled through my teeth to her. This instead drew the glare's attention to myself. This mare, whoever she was, already seemed panicked enough. Therefore, I didn't really think that Chrysalis' usual aggressive attitude would be a very good thing at the moment.

Looking back down to the still whimpering mare, I felt a sense of tediousness pass through me as we continued in our silence. It was obvious that she hadn't, nor would she want to, answered Chrysalis' so 'kindly' asked questions. I know I wouldn't if I was her.

Actually, in retrospect, I probably would have. At least if the last few months I'd known her had proven anything.

That aside, I figured I'd try it again. I still had plenty of opportunity to smooth things over by just a bit.

"Perhaps thine fear had blocked thine hearing. We shall ask once anew. Who arth thee?" God damn it guys, I WAS RUNNING OUT OF PLANES TO SHOOT DOWN. Er, I mean "plans". I really let that metaphor from before take on a life of its own, huh?

I planted my face firmly into one of my hands, the branch from before still held securely in the other, before letting out a deep breath. "... Damn it." I muttered simply, unsure of whatever I could say at the moment.

A cold breeze passed by as this stalemate of ours went on, a slight shiver going down my spine as it hit the uncovered part of my chest. At this shiver, the mare recoiled even more, her eye clenching even further and her forelegs pushing against me as she tried to put them together.

In case you missed that, me shivering just scared the mare half to death. Suffice to say I didnt really think I could salvage this anymore.

"Either of you two have any ideas?" I asked through my the palm that still covered my face before I glanced up to the two.

Nightmare Moon just curled a corner of her mouth downwards, shaking her head 'no'. As I looked to Chrysalis though, I felt a slight sense of unease pass about me as I noticed the smug smile on her face. "Oh, I've got a few. Especially if she doesn't talk in the next few seconds." Almost instantly, the eye of the pony below me shot open, a quant silver orb filled with fear staring back at me as her forelegs once again began fidgeting rapidly.

"P-please don't h-hurt me..." She finally uttered, her voice and body wracked with shivers at this point as she released that barely audible request of hers. By this point, I was practically on a vibrating bean bag chair.

"Heh. Funny what a little threat can do in these situations. It works everytime really." Chrysalis voice said as it echoed in my mind, only giving me a slight jump this time compared to the other times she's popped in unannounced. Maybe I was getting used to it?

In return, I gave her a pointed stare, making sure she looked me directly in the eyes before looking down at the bandaging on my chest, then back to her. She seemed to catch my meaning. "Fine, most of the time. So be it." I simply blinked.

"... Look, we're not going to hurt you. Alright? We just need you to calm down." I finally spoke to the mare in what I hoped to be as soothing a tone as possible. Though it didn't seem to work, her faint fearful trembling from beneath me continuing as she looked to me with her one visible, fearful eye. And it was at that moment that I realized something. I was still on top of her. There actually might have been a way I could go about this.

"Tell you what," I told the mare, her ear twitching as I spoke again and a soft smile came to my face. "I'll prove it to you." Without a second thought, I reeled back with the branch in my arms, which caused her to let out a small whimper, before then throwing it as far into the woods as possible. I'll be honest, I was actually pretty proud of how far it went.

Out of my peripherals, I noticed both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis' mouths open slightly as I did this. Still being wary, the mare seemed to calm down ever so slightly. She relaxed her forelegs ever so slightly against her chest, looking to me in a mix of confusion, uncertainty, and remnants of fear and worry.

I felt Nightmare Moon's wing wrap around me, which was both different and unexpected, as I then heard another voice pop into my head.

"Sir Jeremy, whatever are ye attempting to bring to pass?" Didn't flinch at all that time, I am happy to say.

"I'm trying to calm her down. Maybe, if she's not panicking, she won't have such a hard time talking to us. Besides, I really don't like the idea of just randomly grabbing somepony and asking her questions under threats, and I think you both know why." Looking to the floor, Nightmare Moon bit on her lower lip for a moment, hints of thought apparent on her expression, before she returned her gaze to me and gave me a soft nod. I gave her a nod of my own in return, clearing my throat as she folded her wing back to her side and I straightened by back.

"Now then, I think we got off on the wrong hoof here." I told the mare, who simply stared at me in silence as a response. Guess I can't say much to that in this situation. "Like I said before, none of us plan on hurting you." I gave a pointed glance to Chrysalis as I said that. "In fact, the only reason I did what I did, tackling you to the floor and all, was because you honestly surprised me. There aren't many ponies here in the Everfree, after all." In return, she gave a slow nod of her head, finally reacting to me. It had seemed like we were making progress.

"Speaking of which, what are you doing here anyways?" I asked. I figured it would be best to just get the important question out of the way. Honestly though, I could only hope that she answered.

For a moment, she didn't respond, her gaze shifting elsewhere in a blank stare. Chrysalis started growling in annoyance to which I shushed her. Soon enough her silver eye moved back to me again, her voice slowly coming back with it.

"I... h-heard a noise." Her voice seeming almost quiet enough to let the other two and I hear a pin drop. I blinked.

"Er, okay. So... the reason you came here was just because you heard a noise?" She nodded, her hooves coming even closer to her as she grew slightly more afraid again. "That's-" I wanted to say 'hard to believe' but I held my tongue. "Sorry, its just that, aside from Zecora, I didn't think that anypony else voluntarily came here." Her ear twitched at the sound of Zecoras name and practically watched whatever fear she had melt away as her eye widened to the three of us.

"Y-you know Zecora?" She asked. I simply gave the mare a nod.

"Well, yeah. She's an old friend of mine. She's the one pointed us this way." Her eye looked away again, her clearly being in thought, before returning to me.

"The three of you?" I nodded again, though I could see that Chrysalis was beginning to get impatient about the mare's questions. "A-and she sent you all here?" Another nod. I used the opportunity to slowly adjust myself, my legs starting to fall asleep from the uncomfortable position that I had her held down in.

"Um... How 'bout we try this again, huh?" Her brow rose at this, but other than that, she didn't move or try to say anything. I flashed her a short smile before, putting one of my hands to my knee and taking a deep breath I completely removed myself from the mare and allowing her to move and stood up.

Her tail tucked inwards between her hind legs and to her chest alongside her forelegs, she looked on as I took a couple of steps back and gestured to myself. "My name's Jeremy." I told her, switching my gestures to the two next to me. "This is Chrysalis,"

"..." Chrysalis didn't speak or move as I gestured to her, grumbling to the floor as I introduced her.

"and Nightmare Moon." Nightmare Moon bowed slightly at her introduction, though it was fairly obvious that she was still wary about this mare.

The mare then nodded, though slowly, in understanding. Seeing as she was still on the floor, I held my hand out for her. "And you are?" I asked as she looked to my hand and I, taking several glances, before finally she slowly reached her forehoof out.

She placed it into the grip of my palm as I then pulled her up, her tail getting slightly flattened under her as she sat, then stood up. As she did this, both my companions and I could finally get a glimpse at the rest of her face.

Across her right eye there laid a white strip of dirtied cloth, hung securely from in between her ears and tightened around the lower right part of her head. She looked to the three of us timidly, seemingly trying to conceal this cloth of hers as much as she could as she noticed I glance to it.

Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, and I didn't provide any major reaction as she looked to us, with the most she had received being a raised brow from Chrysalis.

Now, here's the part where I desperately hoped that I wouldn't have to talk about that feature of hers, at risk of sounding insensitive.

"M-most ponies just called me 'Halfy'."

And just like that, the entirety of the my airport of plans was shut down until further notice due to an investigation as to what kept shooting them all down. I felt myself mentally flinch as she said this, and from what I could tell Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon were no different.

"... Okay. 'Halfy'." She nodded again in confirmation, the grassy floor below her suddenly gaining her interest. "Well, it's nice to meet you Halfy, but we should probably get going."

"About time." Ignoring that snide mental remark from Chrysalis, I gestured for the two to start moving.

"G-going where?" Halfy then interrupted, myself pausing as I turned from the two back to Halfy to respond.

"Um... Not really sure... wherever works, I guess." That was pretty much the most straight forward answer I could give to her, considering the circumstances. Besides, Zecora had said to go west, and I trusted her judgement enough to know that something in this direction would help us out. "Why do you ask?"

The mare was silent for a moment or two, looking the three of us intently though occasionally glancing away as she fought to speak. "Um... Well... I think I may be able to help."

Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, and I all were all at least a little caught off guard by this. Before I could even open my mouth to say anything in response though, Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon both stepped forward.

"What do you mean?" Chrysalis asked warily, her eyes narrowing in slight suspicion as she looked to the mare. Nightmare Moon didn't seem to think far too differently from Chrysalis on this occasion either, giving an expression similar to that of Chrysalis towards the mare.

"Yes... To what sort of assistance dost thou hint to?" Oddly enough, despite her earlier timidity, Halfy didn't even flinch at the tag team of glares that looked to her, nor the sharpened tones that accompanied them, looking to us with a much more calm expression than she previously had.

"Well, if you just follow me, then-"

"What!?!"

"Surely thou jest!" Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis suddenly interrupted, their tones raised to a higher volume. "For what reason would we follow thee?! Thy sudden appearance in a landscape as sparse as such hath preemptively attracted suspicion aplenty, without even conferring to this sudden 'suggestion' of thine!"

"It's not often that I agree with, or even tolerate, this shadow of an alicorn," Chrysalis added, drawing a short glare from both Nightmare Moon and I, "but this is one of those rare occasions! Why would we trust you!?!" Halfy was, by the looks of it, beginning to lose what little confidence she had built up, her ears laying flat against her head as she took a single step back. Noticing this, I tried to get the two's attention.

"Uh, girls?"

"You would be better off leaving right now!"

"Girls."

"Thou wouldst do well to listen to her in this instance, lest thine-"

"Girls!"

"What?!!" The two yelled/asked as they finally turned away from the mare and to me with a jerk. I flinched at this, seeing as it was more than a little sudden. Once I got over that, I gestured for the girls to come closer, glancing to the slightly off-put Halfy in front of us as I hoped to more privately talk to the two. They looked to one another hesitantly before, with a sigh from Nightmare Moon and a roll of her eyes from Chrysalis, they took a couple of steps closer to me. In hindsight, I didn't really have to make us huddle up together like that. After all, we could literally talk with each other in our minds, but I guess I just wasn't entirely used to the concept yet.

"What are you two doing?!" I asked, crossing my arms together and looking to them in annoyance.

"What are we doing? What are you doing!?" Chrysalis rebutted, her eyes narrowing physically, and somehow mentally, as she looked to me.

"Sir Jeremy, we are simply being cautious. We cannot truly be aware of this mare's true reasoning for her 'offer' of help." This time, I rolled my own eyes, mentally face palming - and it seems that they noticed - as she said this.

"Really? Both of you? Including the one who can tell if somepony's lying!?!"

"Yes, 'really'! That escape from a couple of hours ago drained most of my reserves! I couldn't tell if somepony was lying to me at the moment if I wanted to!" To be fair, I hadn't known that at the time.

"Oh..." I said simply, looking down to the floor for a moment before shaking my head and looking back to them. "Nonetheless, I think we should take 'Halfy' up on her offer." The two's eyes widened/narrowed at this. I spoke before they could.

"Realize that we're still in the Everfree forest. We're tired, we have a limited amount of time and magic," I quickly added in, glancing to Nightmare Moon. "And, for all we know, those Timber Wolves from before are still tracking us!" At this, the two took glanced around the area, suddenly much more wary of their surroundings. "So, if either of you two have any better ideas, please don't hesitate to speak up!"

The two remained silent, both mentally and physically. I nodded with a slight 'humph', taking my attention away from the two and to... The pony who was looking to us like we were insane. Right, she wasn't a part of the mental link... Fuck, I must have looked crazy...

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

A few minutes after that awkward moment back there, Halfy was leading us to, well, somewhere. I didn't really ask her about it actually.

It sounds stupid, I know, but considering the 'greetings' that the three of us had given her a moment or two ago, I felt like I she deserved to say or do one thing without us bothering her about it.

Nightmare Moon close alongside me, her eyes glancing from place to place, while Chrysalis lagging slightly behind us, grumbling to herself and occasionally giving me the stink eye. I ignored it and just let my mind, mostly shifting to the subject of our new 'friend' here.

Really though, out of all the thoughts that came up, I'd say that three were the more important ones. For one, now that we were all moving, I was able to get a good look at her cutie mark. Sounds strange to focus on, I know, but I figured that if I at least had an idea about her 'special talent', as most ponies called it, I'd maybe get a broad idea of her as an individual.

Her cutie mark was, without really putting too much of a fine point on it, an image of two silhouetted ponies. The only color on these ponies were two differently colored hearts that they held within them, one a soft shade red and the other a bleak shade of gray. As to what it meant, I had no idea. Great success.

The other two questions that I had about her were more about circumstantial things. Like why one her eyes was covered, though a huge part of me kept on yelling for me to keep my mouth shut on the matter. I personally think that was the best course of action.

Finally, what was she even doing in the Everfree? She never really explained that to us when we 'asked' a few minutes ago, so of course the curiosity on the matter remained. Well, my curiosity and Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis' suspicion.

"It shouldn't be too far from here now." Halfy said, glancing back to the three of us and pointing a hoof ahead. I nodded in return, sidestepping another thorn bush as I glanced back to Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon. They, by the looks of it, weren't taking the idea of following some random pony well. Chrysalis silently grumbling to the ground while Nightmare Moon continued to give a small glare to Halfy. It was nice to see that I was apparently the only optimistic one there, I guess.

It was a few more minutes before, despite the skeptical thoughts of Nightmare Moon or Chrysalis, we reached a large wall of brush. Not a bush, or some vines, or anything like that, but an actual wall of plant life. I was barely able to give out a questioning 'uh' before she quickly pushed her way through, letting out a small grunt as she disappeared into a sea of green. The three of us looked to the brush in confusion, and a bit of surprise.

"So..." Chrysalis led off, looking to me with an expression of smug insistence as she gestured to the brush. Nightmare Moon stayed silent, simply observing as she looked over the overgrowth.

"... I... guess I'll go first then?" I said, more asked really, as I closed in on the brush, took a deep breath, and took a big step forward.

The several small branches and leaves that came into contact with my face and upper chest immediately made themselves known as I ended up trying to spit out whatever felt like it got in my mouth in vain. I brushed myself off almost consistently, branches catching against my jacket as I forced my way through. The dim side about this is that they weren't thorn bushes.

With one last push - or would it be a pull, in my jackets case? - I made my way through the rest of the brush, an immediate sense of relief hitting me as the unbearably uncomfortable sensation of the plant life was replaced by the cool night air.

Rubbing an itch out of my eye, I looked down to the waiting Halfy, who was currently sitting on the floor just beyond the brush and looking to me patiently. "I have to say," I began, "that wasn't very pleasant."

To my surprise, she smiled, though faintly, and let out a silent chuckle. "Y-yeah, it's gotten pretty bad in the last two months."

I picked off a leaf from my shoulder before unceremoniously dropping it and looking upwards with a raised brow. Before I could comment on what she had said, my eyes widened as I saw a house, though shoddily built, snugged tightly between two large trees that seemed to bend and twist around it, forming a canopy.

Now, let me make this clear. I lived with Zecora for months, and not once did I hear about anyone else living there. I mean, the Everfree isn't exactly the ideal summer home.

"You live here?" I asked, scratching my head in a combination of surprise and confusion as I looked to Halfy. She gave a glance to her hobble before turning back to me and giving a nod. "Huh." I dumbly responded, not really having expected the circumstances I was in.

"Sir Jeremy?" Halfy and I looked to the brush as Nightmare Moon's voice came through, a tone of worry in her voice. "Is all well? Are ye in need of assistance?" My face warming up at her sudden 'motherly attention', I put my hands around my mouth and yelled for her as well.

"I'm fine. If anything, I think the both of you should see this."

"Ugh... Do we have to? I'd much rather stay where I will be less likely to be in danger."

This is what I had to deal with.

"... Just get over here."

The leaves rustled and shook as the two pushed through the almost immeasurable layer of brush, Nightmare Moon's magical glow being the first thing to come through as she surrounded herself with a thin layer of magic to repelling the leaves and twigs from her mane and being.

Chrysalis followed soon after, though she wasn't quite as fortunate. At some point, as she was about to finish exiting from the brush, one of the holes in her hooves caught on a twig. She gave it a couple of less than effective tugs before I figured she needed some help. I made my way over to the brush, reached my arm into the mass of leaves, and very quickly removed whatever plant had been holding her in place. She quickly managed to catch herself as she stumbled forward from the sudden release, looking back to the bush and her previously caught leg with a growl.

"I'm starting to really dislike this forest." She commented, giving her leg a couple of stomps as though getting used to the fact that it was no longer caught again.

"Um..." The voice of Halfy came through yet again, NIghtmare Moon, Chrysalis and I quickly turning our attention to her. "Would you like to come inside?" Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis both raised their brows in confusion at this until, tapping the both of them lightly, I pointed to the wooden abode which the two had apparently missed. Their eyes widening slightly as they turned their attention to it.

Huh, same reaction as me.

"If you don't mind, that would be great." I responded to the pony with a polite smile. The earth pony nodded, gesturing for the us to follow as she made her way to her apparent home.

I took the initiative to follow, Nightmare Moon coming quickly after while Chrysalis rolled her eyes, let out a silent groan, and tread behind us.

"Sir Jeremy," I was really getting good at not flinching at that, "we are aware that your judgement hath been unfaltered thus far, but how can ye be so sure of this mare's intention?" I shrugged my shoulders and gave her the simplest, most truthful response I could.

"I'm not." Nightmare Moon stumbled slightly at this.

"What!?! Then, for what reason would ye affirm with this 'Halfy'?"At this point, I had been getting more than a little annoyed of how much they kept questioning my choices. Nightmare Moon seemed to take note of this, a look of concern popping up as I glanced back to her. .

"I didn't exactly know either of you two back when we first met, but I still trusted you nonetheless. What makes her any different?" The alicorn made to answer, opening her maw to do so. Yet, no noise came out. I nodded as I felt my point had been made.

"Now, I'd recommend you open up the link with Chrysalis and tell her that I don't want either of you going on about this. You both got along well with Zecora, for the most part anyways," he added, thinking back to the one occasion involving Chrysalis, Zecora, and a bottle of - quite literally - bottled lightning, "so how about you do the same here, and give Halfy a chance... okay?"

Nightmare Moon looked to the ground for a moment as she walked before just as quickly returning her gaze to me and nodding.

"Thank you."

"Here we are." The voice of Halfy once more broke me away from our mental conversation, Nightmare Moon and I looking towards the mare as she put her forehoof to the door and pushed. It opened with a resounding squeak, revealing the inside, gestured for us to come in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I couldn't believe I was doing this. It was bad enough that I actually agreed with Nightmare Moon on a subject, but even worse that Jeremy didn't seem to want to listen. Now, we were entering this 'Halfy's' home, if you could even really call it that, with the only possible defense we have being Nightmare Moon's weakened magic!

After opening the door, the earth mare gestured to the house for us to enter. Jeremy gave her a thankful nod - to my vast sea of annoyance - while Nightmare Moon gave a short, though obviously hesitant, bow to the mare. She returned it without pause before the alicorn entered. Then, as I passed by, she did the same. Though this time, she did something strange. She didn't rise from her bow until well after I had entered the home. I gave her a raised brow at this. Now I was really suspicious. I mean, how could she possibly know about the customary greeting given to a changeling queen? How she would bow and, rather than wait for a bow in return, she would accept my dominance by not even daring to raise herself until I passed! I swore to the great empress above, that if she was planning something, I'd never let Jeremy hear the end of it.

"Chrysalis?" I found my thoughts interrupted as the shadow mare reopened the mental link she had made, not really paying any mind to the goings on around me as they came in as muffled gibberish.

"What?" I returned with a roll of my eyes.

"Sir Jeremy hath requested that we cease our suspicion of the earth mare. Immediately."

"What!?!" I mentally exclaimed, already feeling a bubbling pool of annoyance begin to boil over. "Who is he to tell me what to do? It's not like he'll do anything if I don't listen! Besides, you know as well as I do that this mare cant be trusted!?"

"Perhaps..." She led off, leaving the word and her thought to just float there for a moment. "But, Sir Jeremy did make a valid point in his argument. He had said that, 'if he was able to accept us, then what would make Halfy so different.'"

I could barely hold myself back from giving an audible scoff at this.

"I don't believe this! How is it that, even when you don't agree, you still take his side!?!" I looked to Nightmare Moon, who was currently waiting by the corner of the ineptly built room, earning a short but effective glare from her as Jeremy continued to converse with Halfy.

"Is that not what friends do?"

"Since when do you care about friends? Since when did you believe any of us to be friends?"

"Around the same time that you did." She finished, closing off our mental link and turning back to Jeremy and Halfy.

For a moment, I was ready to head over there and shut her up myself, already taking a step in her direction. Unfortunately, my anatomy had other plans.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The house was... well, it was certainly a house. Unpainted, dull, moss growing from several places, cracks in the ceiling, clearly showing the next floor up, and the floor creaking below us with every step we took.

The living room itself was snug, to say the least, with a single dusty and aged couch, a bookshelf placed just nearby with surprisingly filled shelves, and a fireplace. The fireplace itself built with stone and crafted unevenly, giving it a slight, though still highly noticeable for someone with OCD, tilt. The living room had doors and doorways that led off to what seemed like three rooms.

A kitchen, which could be seen through the counter-like placement of the wall separating it from the living room, with a small rusted stove, a sink with its pipes and entirety still visible, and small collection of cabinets that were placed close to the ground.

As to where the other two doors l went? I had no idea. A bathroom was likely one, or at least I hoped so, and maybe the stairs that led to the second floor. Oh, and another thing that I noticed about this room? No windows. At all. I guess that, in my case, that's not really a problem, but for anyone else it might have seemed odd. Then again, it was the Everfree Forest.

"It's not much, I know." Halfy began as I glanced to Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon, who were both taking their own positions around the room. Nightmare Moon stood in the corner while Chrysalis lingered by the door. "But, its home."

"Um... Yeah..." I replied, trying to be cautious with my wording. "So... How long have you, you know, lived here?" She placed a hoof to her chin and sat herself down onto the floor as she began to think.

"... About 6 months, maybe?"

That really threw me off. She had been living in the middle of the Everfree forest for 6 months? I mean, I guess that would explain why I'd never heard of her from Zecora, considering I moved to Canterlot about 4 months into my stay with her, but still.

"Uh, wow. By yourself?" She nodded, though this time rather solemnly, before looking back to us with a small smile.

"Honestly, besides Zecora whenever she come to check in on me, you three are the first visitors that I've had." And that was how she knew Zecora. It was a bit saddening to hear about how limited her company was though.

"Oh, well, sorry about that?" I offered, not really knowing what else to say. Halfy just chuckled at this, waving her forehoof at me dismissively.

"It's no problem at all. Besides, I'm kinda used to it at this point." At the time, I could feel my heart ache at that. "But, why are you all here?"

I clicked my tongue against my teeth at this, my hand unconsciously moving behind my head as I looked away from her. "Um, it's a long story..."

Her head tilted at this, her brow raising as she looked at me with her ~~one eye~~- Okay, yeah, I really don't want to talk about that, it makes me feel really bad whenever I focus on it too much. Scratch that out.

"What do you mean?" She asked, shifting her gaze over to my companions. "It's already kind of... off-putting that a changeling queen and the mare on the moon are with you. I just want to know how you met them."

I blinked, my thoughts moving just as fast as my mouth.

"Wait, you know about them?" Halfy simply tilted her head.

"O-of course. I was there when Nightmare Moon first reappeared, and I read about the attack on Canterlot in the newspaper once." I probably should have figured. Though, that just brought up more questions as to why she was willing to bring two of Equestria's most despised 'villains' into her home if she knew who they were.

At that point, I figured I had nothing to really lose.

"Uh, right... Well, I met them in the Canterlot dungeons."

"You were guarding the Canterlot dungeons?" Oh that sweet summer child.

"No, not really. I was a prisoner as well." She raised a brow, adding onto her tilted head to really emphasize her confusion.

"You? In the Canterlot dungeons? In the same prison as Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis?"

"Same cell, actually." She scrunched her face up in thought.

"What did you do for that to happen?"

As if that wasn't on the top of the list of my concerns at the time.

"Honestly, I wish I knew. When I first woke up in the cell, my head hurt like hell and I had a big bump on it. I still don't remember why, or even how I was arrested." There was just the tiniest bits of doubt on her expression, by the looks of it, but she didn't say anything further on the subject to question it.

"Well, like I asked before then, why are you all here?" She repeated as she gestured with her forehoof to the three. I saw this as the best possible chance to get some explanations done.

"Well, we got away from Canterlot some time ago. The Everfree Forest was the closest, and ironically, the safest place for us to be to get away from the princesses and their guards that wasnt just out in the open." I recounted, Halfy listening intently to me as I went on. "We met up with Zecora just last night and she told us to come in this direction. That's pretty much all there is to it." Now that I think about it, it's not that long of a story. No idea why I had made it out like one before.

"So, you're looking for somewhere you can hide from the guards." I gave her educated guess another nod.

"Yeah, at least until we can figure out how to deal with this whole thing." I spun my hand vaguely around the air next to me to emphasize how much of a mess this all was. For a moment she grew silent, blankly looking to the floor. I grew tense at this, the sudden eerie silence giving me an odd feeling.

Looking back to Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, I noticed the two glaring at each other, their heads and brows twitch slightly as they did so. I was more than a little confused as to what they were doing.

"You can stay here i-if you like." I gaulked at this, turning my attention back to the mare.

"... You're sure?" I asked. Rather than to give herself another second to think over her suggestion, she shook her head.

"Positive. I have a lot of extra space here, and I wouldn't mind." I had an odd feeling at the time that she really wasn't getting the gravity of the situation.

"Woah, look, I don't want anypony else to have to get in trouble, or hurt, because of what we did. I'm not saying I don't appreciate how quick and certain of this you seem, but if you let us stay here and the guards find us, they'll take you away too. You know this, right?" I really wanted her to be absolutely sure of what she was getting into. No room for error or doubt. Yet, as she opened her mouth to respond, a resounding thump came from behind me. Naturally, I turned to see what had caused it. Much to my chagrin, it wasn't a very pleasant sight. Chrysalis had, at some point, collapsed onto the floor.

My body moved before my mind did as I practically leapt over to her and kneeled down she let out a groan, rubbing her head slightly as she peaked one eye open.

"Christ. Chrysalis, you okay?" I asked. I had known that that chase from earlier took a lot out of her, as she had mentioned, but I hadnt thought it would have been that bad. I reached for her but my hand was quickly slapped away by her hoof as she looked to me with narrowed eyes.

"I'm fine." She said, trembling slightly as she removed herself from the floor with a grunt. Obviously, she wasn't going to be fooling anyone. Chrysalis would need some more time to rest, and something to eat, and fast. Otherwise...

I glanced behind me, where both Halfy, and surprisingly Nightmare Moon, looked on in concern. I sucked on the inside of my cheek as I thought on Halfy's offer.

"... Halfy, are you sure that you wouldn't mind? Despite the fact that we're in such bad circumstances." Yet again, she didn't hesitate, quickly nodding her head as she shifted her gaze to me.

"... Alright. Nightmare Moon, help me get Chrysalis on the couch."

"Wait, what!?!"

Chapter 11: New Member, Great Impression [Here Again]

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Handling a fully awake, well-fed, and more or less energized changeling? Near impossible. Dealing with an extremely tired, hungry and puttered out Chrysalis? Somehow, worse.

Chrysalis didn't really appreciate it when Nightmare Moon lifted her onto the coach with her magic, which is poetic justice considering how often she laughed whenever I was the victim of it, but she settled down once she was put on the couch. As settled down as a sarcastic, sneaky, and almost Machiavellian changeling like her could be that is.

"I think I much rather preferred it when you were bedridden."

And by that, I meant she still had some 'insightful' comments on everything I did. Despite the fact that she couldn't read emotions anymore, or tell if I was lying or not, she would still seem to make it an objective of hers to keep me bothered. I couldn't really complain considering I was now practicing my comebacks on a half-awake Chrysalis, but still.

Glancing back to her, I rolled my eyes as I looked over the the collection of books that were neatly stacked within the bookshelf. Halfy had so kindly told Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and I that we were more than free to look them over at our leisure. At the moment, I could see the bindings of books of several varieties. Some of them seeming concerningly familiar.

'The Humpback Of Notrehoof', 'Lord of the Wings', 'Daring Do'. I had seen plenty of pony parallels to the stuff in my original home in passing before, but this? It definitely nailed it down just how absurd they were.

Besides those there were some other, more unique, books. 'Green Hooves and How To Soothe Your Plants', 'A Complete History of the Everfree', 'The Anatomy and Culture of Non-Ponies', the list goes on. Some stuff was niche, other stuff was so broad I couldn't possibly get any idea as to what it could be about. In the end, I just picked out a book at random and cracked it open, glancing towards the couch where Chrysalis laid as I did so. Aside from her, I was the only person/pony/changeling that was currently in here. Halfy and Nightmare Moon had gone out some time ago to look for food.

As it had turned out, Halfy had actually made a garden of sorts nearby where she would usually get her food from. I had to say, it sounded like a pretty effective method. Especially in such a secluded area like this. Of course, it was still the Everfree Forest, so I asked Nightmare Moon to tag along with her. She had been a little more than skeptical about going anywhere with Halfy, but with a little convincing I managed to get her to accept. Begrudgingly.

I shook my head and decided it would be best not to think on that, focusing instead on the book I held in my hands.

The first page was comprised of an image of a Minotaur, his eyes red as a small group of ponies almost pleaded to him. I skimmed through the text next to it, and quickly realized that this was some sort of poetry book comprised of pony myths, some of which I had actually heard of.

For instance, this one went over the creation of 'Tartarus', which was basically the pony equivalent of hell, and how the three ponies, one from each kind, asked for the 'almighty Minotaur' to punish those that had wronged them. In response, the Minotaur accepted, creating a land to which the evil and cold hearted would suffer and he would rule with infallible power.

It was kind of a dark tale, but I guess that everyone had their own idea of life after death, huh?

I started to flick through the tales, passing image and text with every turn, occasionally skimming through those that brought about my interest. As I went along I noticed a recurring theme. The stories would get worse and worse as they passed, showing the tales of darker and more menacing themes in Equestria. I had thought that 'Tartarus' was bad? That might as well have been a man with a white bed sheet over himself compared to some of these other tales. Hell, some of them actually gave me me goosebumps.

As I approached the last tale in the book, I found my mind wandering to what could possibly be worse than everything that's passed. To what monstrous being, or place, could honestly surpass what I had seen before. Creatures that laughed at you behind your back until you went mad and they fed on you psyche, beings that's sole purpose was to cover the world in ice and end all life within it, amalgamations that sought your worst fears and used them to steal away all those you held dear. What could possibly have been worse?

The answer I got made my blood boil.

On the last pages, where the book had come to a complete end, there was an image of a night sky, the moon radiating its usual beauty. At the same time though, its seemed to have an ethereal, and almost dark glow to it. Nothing more, nothing less. As for the text...

'T'was one day, upon a beautiful equine sun, that darkness came to soon overcome. Two monarchs that ruled, one sun and one moon, a balance gently broken as it had begun so soon. The night grew jealous of day, or so it was told, a monster soon created, passed by tales of old. From anguish and anger, as mayhem was soon strewn, came about the creation, of the fear-feeder, Nightmare Moon.'

Let me make this abundantly clear. Despite the story having no spooky images, no creepy text, no horrifying context, or anything like that, she had even beat out Sombra. The same unicorn tyrant that had used dark magic to enslave and punish an entire kingdom for no real reason other than power. I would say that I took it well, but that'd be a bold-faced lie.

"I take it you read something you don't like?" Chrysalis commented, breaking me out of my thoughts. I had apparently at some point closed the book and was now glaring at its cover. The words 'Tales of Terror To Frighten Your Filly' stared back at me almost mockingly.

"Can you believe this?" I exclaimed, pointing to the book and turning to Chrysalis as I did so. "In a book where the stories get worse and worse, Nightmare Moon, of all ponies, is listed as the worst! Of all the asanine bullshit, this has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. Sure, the alicorn who supposedly feeds on fear is worse than the 'pondigo', which eats the flesh of other ponies. Uh-huh, definitely makes sense."

Chrysalis' ear twitched as I spoke, a brow of hers raising. "... Not often that I see you so upset about something." I rolled my eyes at this, pinching the bridge of my nose for a moment before looking to her again.

"Well, of course! The fact that they're calling Nightmare Moon a monster in, not only this, but I can only assume basically every scary story or book, its just-... Ugh!" I started to involuntarily pace at this, constantly glancing back to the book as I did so. "How are you not more annoyed by this? Doesn't all of Equestrian see changelings as power hungry creatures that want nothing more than to feed until nothing is left?"

Chrysalis brow raised even higher at this, suddenly seeming to take in greater interest at my mindless spiel. "Oh? So you care about the public's opinion of Changelings as well as Nightmare Moon?" I clicked my tongue against my teeth at this.

"Look, I was taught not to judge someone by what others tell me when I was growing up. That I should figure things out on my own. You two are no exception." I closed the book with a loud slam, walking back to the bookshelf I had gotten it from. "If anypony knew you two for who you were, I doubt that they would have the same opinion of you as they do now." I practically mashed the book back into its place. It was only once it was out of my hands that I bothered taking in a couple of breaths to try to stem my annoyance.

There was a moment of silence as neither I nor, surprisingly, Chrysalis, spoke a word. It was during this that a thought rose in the back of my mind. "Chrysalis," I began, breaking the silence, "we don't tell Nightmare Moon about this book, alright? I don't think it'd be good for her to hear any stories about herself like that." Chrysalis didn't answer immediately, instead just gazing at me emotionlessly. "Chrysalis!"

Finally reacting, though with a roll of her eyes, she let out a sigh. "Fine, fine. I won't say a word." Crossing my arms, I looked at her more than a little skeptically.

"You give me your word?" I heard her growl slightly as her eyes narrowed even further, her obvious annoyance picking away at her.

"Yes! I give you my word! Are you satisfied now?" At the time, it would have to have been. And I certainly wasn't given time to double check.

As I made to answer her, the door handle suddenly jostled before opening, revealing both Nightmare Moon, who was currently holing a variety of berries and fruits in her magical grasp in front of her, and Halfy, who seemed to be dwarfed by Nightmare Moon's size. She also had a small wooden basket that she held in her mouth, filled to the top with what looked like vegetables.

"We hath returned!" Nightmare Moon exclaimed dramatically, raising a hoof to the air in what seemed like victory as she did so. Chrysalis began to laugh outright at this display. I managed to restrain myself, though barely, at the same time trying to throw away all earlier pretense of the conversation Chrysalis and I had.

"Um... welcome back?" I offered, not really certain of how to respond to that entrance of hers. The two walked inside of the home, Nightmare Moon having to duck down slightly at the entrance, before Halfy went around her and closed the door again. What little night breeze that had been entering at the time was all but brought to a halt, whistling gently against the wood of the door. "You seem... happy?" I noted.

Nightmare Moon nodded at this, a smile in her face as she almost effortlessly moved the fruit from the living room to the kitchen counter. Halfy following after the floating basket and place her own down just nearby.

"Verily, yes!" Halfy made her way back towards the rest of us as she finished leaving her basket. Much to my and Chrysalis' surprise, we watched as she gave out the smallest of squeaks as Nightmare Moon quickly hooked a hoof around her and pulled her into her side. "Halfy hath proven to be a most wonderful companion in our time outside! Almost so much so as thee, Sir Jeremy, or Miss Zecora!"

The combination of this whole event as well as the look of embarrassment on Halfy's face drew a chortle out of me. Still, as you might imagine, I was more than a little confused at Nightmare Moon's sudden friendliness to Halfy. I was happy about it, sure, but very much confused.

"Wow. That's great. What exactly happened out there?" I mean, honestly, there weren't out for that long, and Nightmare Moon might as well have been prepared to push her off of a cliff when they had first met.

Placing Halfy back down next to her, the earth pony rubbing the back of her head as she did so, Nightmare Moon turned to Chrysalis and I with a smile. "Oh, 'twas a grand short time we had. When it first began, we admit, we were very wary of Halfy-..."

********************************************

To think, that I had agreed to even step hoof with this mare by my side! Truthfully, were it not for Sir Jeremy's intervention, 'twas likely that I would never have even thought of such a thing. Be it as it may though, I suppose that I was bound to honor the wishes of Sir Jeremy, despite my hesitance to such a thing.

As the mare known as 'Halfy' and I walked along one of the many forest paths that surrounded the outer regions of her home, the mare walked in a slightly quickened stride, attempting to keep her distance from me while at the same time keeping herself at a somewhat respectful boundary nearby.

She didn't speak a word as she continued to lead, escorting me to whatever area she was attempting to have me follow her to. As a precaution, I was more than prepared for any sort of act of treachery, my horn poised to cast a spell of any sort should she threaten me or my companions.

'Twas several moments more before anything truly eventful came about. The arrival of ours at this claimed garden of hers. An open clearing in the repetitive collection of green, brown, and gray, with several varieties of blooming blues, violets, and colors of all sects greeting us as we entered.

Surprise became an overpowering emotion at this time, soon shifting to that of wonder and curiosity as, despite myself, I began to wander through the area. The many flowers and crops that grew throughout were organized in a chaotic assortment of color and shape.

Glancing behind me, I spotted the mare veer off from my direction, eventually halting as she craned her head below a particularly large bush and came back up with a wooden basket of sorts in her maw. I watched as she carefully looked among the many plants, occasionally placing down the basket to pick from some of the vegetation around her.

Following her example, I looked where she had searched prior and found another basket amongst many. Then, I searched among the other side of the garden, reaching out for and grasping various fruits and berries within my magical grasp that seemed edible. This continued for a matter of minutes, the small ensemble of berries and the like that I had assembled growing to a large clump, much like the crops that almost overflowed off of the basket of Halfy. A sizable harvest indeed.

Taking a glance to the garden once more, I made my way to the mare, who despite her filled basket continued on.

"Prithee, what art thou doing?" I inquired, the mare jumping slightly in surprise. Evidently, she had been so focused upon her endeavors that she had seemingly forgotten of my presence there.

Turning to me, the mare gazed at me nervously with her single eye and began to stutter out a response. "I-I still have something else to d-do." A brow of mine rose at this, my suspicion of her not yet deserting me despite Sir Jeremy's request. After all, I had told him that I would attempt to be more 'friendly' with this mare. He did not mention to what extent.

"Oh? Then we suppose, thou wouldst not mind our attendance?" At this, her eye widened for a moment, her surprise evident, before looking to the floor and giving her answer.

"Um... S-sure."

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

Along the sides of this garden of hers, we arrived at a clearing of groves and vines that very nearly made a perfect pathway for us to follow. Trotting down the winding pathway, consistently having to either lower my head or push aside a collection of vines with my magic, I found myself growing more and more irritated as time went on.

Surely, the mare was jesting? 'Twas the time of the stars and moon, and there could not truly be any reason of her to be in such a remote part of this forest of Everfree.

At a point, I was tempted to end this pointless trek with a single spell, but once again I was held to my acceptance of Sir Jeremy's request and held myself from doing so. Upon the eventuality, we soon reached what I presumed to be our destination.

Another even smaller clearing in the woods, surrounded by a viable wall of thick branches and outgrown roots that formed a small dark dome with only hints of moonlight peering through a small collection of openings. My brow raising, I followed the mare inside of the dome, glancing to her as she reached for an unspecified object in the dark.

"... Where hast thou brought us-" I was brought to a pause as, upon noticing a particularly noticable ray of my moon's shine, I traced its path and saw that at the middle of this shielded clearing was a sight I had long thought no longer existed.

Passing around me, and taking great care in doing so, the mare carefully tilted her head near the plant, the odd tool in her maw dripping a scarce few droplets of water onto it before then just as carefully pulling it away and putting it off to the side, looking to me in timidity.

I, in the time that she did this, could only repeatedly open and close my mouth as no words found themselves to escape. The mare decided to speak for me.

"Lunar Blossoms... I'm sorry I didn't just tell you about them, but I thought that y-you wouldn't believe me." In truth, I wouldn't have. In fact, I may have even been insulted had she mentioned them. One of the rarest possible things to find in this land and she was tending to it.

It was an enchanting sight to see. The midnight blue, dotted white pattern of this star shaped plant in full bloom as what looked like small miniatures of it grew close to its thin, violet stem. The plant was... I had long thought that they had gone extinct. That they were extinguished by the fear of the many citizens of Equestria who, having seen that this plant, would grow nervous at the thought of something that grew from the rays of 'the mare on the moon' as opposed to that of their glorious princess of the sun. So, it was their goal to wipe out the entire species of blossom.

Finally, words left me, but all they could form was a silent query of "How?"

"My mother found it when she was just a filly and she cared for it as she grew up. Then, she gave it to me... It's one of the last things I have to remember her." Halfy gained a saddened look, but giving one last glance to the flower seemed to at least bring some semblance of a smile to her features as well.

"We... do not understand..." I began, still in shock at the sight of the blooming plant. "Why... Why wouldst thou retain a bloom that was so heavily linked to us?" Rather than answer immediately, she looked downwards in thought.

"... Well... I wasn't there when you... first came... Or when you came back... And my dad taught me never to look at something one way..." She looked up towards me at this moment. "I guess... I just don't see any reason why I should think of you, or this flower, to necessarily be bad, princess."

My eyes grew wide at this, most of my thoughts all but disappearing as she spoke. "W-... What didst thou refer to us as?"

Having thought she had done wrong, her ears laid themselves flat as her gaze shifted away from mine.

"Oh, um, sorry! I thought that, since you are royalty, that I-" Before she could speak any further, I found myself to be pulling her into my grasp, all but dragging her into the air as I held her close to me.

"Oh, thank thee, thank thee, thank thee! Thou, or rather, you hast no possible thought of how grateful we are to hear you, or anypony else, speakest those words!"

********************************************

And, almost as though she were demonstrating, Nightmare Moon had Halfy gripped close to her in the pony equivalent of a bear hug. The height difference between the two practically made it so that Halfy's seemed like a ragdoll while Nightmare Moon affectionately held her with a smile.

Chrysalis was, to put it simply, laughing her flank off at this. She barely stopped herself from rolling off of the couch a numerous amount of times. I can admit, the sight of Nightmare Moon treating Halfy like a teddy bear was both adorable and entertaining.

"So-", I paused for a second to repress a laugh, "...You two are friends now?" Nightmare Moon nodded, still not letting up on her grip of Halfy. The earth pony mare, in the mean time, was practically turning red from the blush on her face.

I took the whole thing as a small victory of sorts. I had hoped that the two being out there alone would ease at least a bit of the tension there was. I wasn't quite expecting Nightmare Moon to be instantly won over by a flower and a few kind words, but hey, I'd take it!

"See? I knew that there were more ponies that didn't just sleep at night." Nightmare Moon once again nodded at this before finally Halfy to be reacquainted with the floor of her house. Halfy wobbled slightly from her sudden reintroduction to the concept of standing while Nightmare Moon used to chance to approach me.

"Yes, we suppose that ye were indeed correct, Sir Jeremy. Ye truly-"

Whatever she was about to say at the time, much to my shame, was cut off by the sound of my stomach practically screaming into the room. Twice. This had happened twice now. I was starting to wonder if I had stomach issues.

My own face heated up as Halfy, Chrysalis, and Nightmare Moon all giggled and chuckled at this.

"We take it that ye hunger?"

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

I have to say, compared to the many, and I do mean many, berries that I had eaten while the three of us were out in the forest, the ones that Nightmare Moon and Halfy had picked were just amazing. I had no idea what Halfy did while she was growing them, but it sure as hell worked. The fruits and vegetables that she added with them helped make it all the feel more filling and varied as the four of us sat in the living room. Halfy and Chrysalis sat next to one another on the couch, which surprisingly earned little more than a growl from Chrysalis, while Nightmare Moon and I sat on the floor.

As I went on eating though, I noticed that despite her condition Chrysalis wasn't eating any of the food that was before her. She instead seemed much more keen to just lazily roll around one of the loose berries on her given plate as though she was playing with a marble.

I swallowed the mouthful of food that I had crushed between my teeth before looking to her questioningly.

"Uh, Chrysalis? Are you okay?" I asked, drawing her attention as she shifted her sight to me.

"... Fine. Just not hungry, is all." I blinked, more than a little surprised at this.

"Not hung- How can you not be hungry?" Narrowing her eyes at me, she lifted her lazily laid down head to look at me.

"I'm just not hungry." Despite her apparently growing aggression and annoyance, I persisted nonetheless.

"Chrysalis, you nearly collapsed a few moments ago. You need to eat something." At this point, both Nightmare Moon and Halfy's attention had been shifted to the two of us. Chrysalis, stubborn as she was, continued to argue that she was fine.

"I told you, I'm not hungry!" Yet again, I held my ground/

"Look, could you just listen to me? I know we don't always get along. In fact, I'm pretty sure we could have our own novel filled entirely out of the dumb little arguments we have all the time. But you have to realize I'm trying to help you. If you don't eat, you may lose even more strength. Strength that, in case you haven't noticed, you don't have." She continued to glare at me, but she didn't respond. "So please, just eat, alright?"

She looked at me angrily for another moment or two, the thought that she wouldn't listen to me coming to mind, before she thankfully turned to her plate of food and took a mouthful of berries into her maw.

"Thank you."

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

Our plates empty, eyelids heavy, and minds content with a night well passed, Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and I were more than ready to get some sleep for the next night. Besides, it would be day soon, and despite the fact that were indoors, I really didn't want to test if some light would peak through the numerous cracks I could see in the walls of the house while I was conscious.

I stretched out my arms and gave out a yawn as I made to stand up. Nightmare Moon followed quickly after while I glanced around for a good place to get some rest in the time I took my and Nightmare Moon's plates to the kitchen. Halfy had done the same with hers and Chrysalis' plates.

I spotted a comfortable looking corner in the room, slightly darker than the others, and a small smile worked its way onto me as I made my way towards it. That is, until I heard the familiar hum of magic and gravity once more decided to leave me for dead.

"What the- hey!" I exclaimed, looking over to Nightmare Moon as I did so. "Why?"

Smiling, Nightmare Moon levitated me closer to her as she turned and made her way to one of the other doors of the house. "Ye do not need to rest uncomfortably any longer, Sir Jeremy."

"Um... again, why?" I asked.

"Ye will be glad to know that our new host, Halfy, has offered her own resting place for you." My eyes widened slightly as I turned my head to Halfy, who looked to me with a small smile and a wave.

"Uh... really? You don't mind?" As a response, Halfy shook her head.

"It's no problem. I have some things to do during the day anyways, so you can go ahead." Honestly I didn't know what to say. Offering to give us shelter and food was one thing, but to outright give up her bed?

"Uh... Wow... Thanks Halfy. I really do appreciate it."

"As do we." Nightmare Moon added in, giving Halfy one last smile before she opened the door to another room and went through, myself floating quickly behind. On the other side there was a small staircase leading upwards to the second floor of the home, where I figured the bedroom would be.

I was levitated up the stairs in nearly an instant as Nightmare Moon followed, her hooves echoing slightly in the empty stairway with every step she took. Making a turn around the wooden railing that surrounded the stairs, the two of us came upon a single wooden door. It was at this point that Nightmare Moon finally decided to let me down onto the floor.

I took a moment to get used to having weight again before I walked past her and grabbed hold of the door handle. The bedroom was simple enough, actually. There weren't really many decorations, aside from a counter near the bed, a single window, which luckily had the drapes covering it, and a single bed near the far wall of the room. Two large and surprisingly soft-looking pillows that were seemingly sown together out of stray scraps of cloth and a thick blue bed sheet laid over it. I felt much more tired just looking at it.

There was very little hesitation from my part as feet shuffled below me. I flopped face first onto the soft mattress, letting out a content sigh as I did so. "... Perfect..." I said absentmindedly before dragging myself upwards, further onto the bed, and flipping myself onto my back.

Glancing to back to the door, I noticed Nightmare Moon looking to me with a smile, my own quickly going away as a thought came to mind. "Hey, Nightmare Moon? Where are you and Chrysalis going to sleep?"

I somehow completely forgot about them that whole time. I guess the idea of a bed kind of just took priority over everything else, what with it having been more than a little while since I had last slept on a mattress of any sort. Nightmare Moon just smiled, waving me off before responding.

"We shall rest downstairs, with Chrysalis. We are certain she would not mind too greatly." I wondered if she realized who she was talking about for a moment. Seeming to notice my concern, Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. "You have no reason to worry, my friend. For the moment, concern yourself with rest, rather than the matters of our own."

Turning to the door, Nightmare Moon trotted her way out of the room, opening and closing the door behind her using her magical grip. She left the room with one last smile and a quick 'sleep well'.

It wasn't until a couple minutes had passed though before I even thought of getting sleep. Putting my head back against the pillows, I thought over what had happened tonight. We'd met somepony else that was willing to help us, despite not even knowing us. Or, more accurately, despite knowing exactly who we were. Nightmare Moon had, surprisingly, gotten along with her quickly. And as for Chrysalis... she's gotten worse physically...

I dragged both my hands across my face, lingering as I rubbed my eyes for a moment. I couldn't imagine how stuff was going back home. That is to say, both my home on Earth and, more importantly at this point, back at Canterlot. I had a slight feeling the princesses were probably going crazy trying to find us.

Shameful and petty as it might sound, the idea put a genuine smile on my face.

Chapter 12: Life Back Home [Here Again]

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Chuckling to himself as he watched pony after pony rush past one another below him, Discord could not help but let out a sigh as he watched this beatifully chaotic sight. He especially got a kick out of it when they would occasionally crash into each other as they made their way through the large, yet currently thinning, halls of the castle.

To think, only a few days ago, word of 'escaped convicts' had been no more than a simple rumor spread about the grounds. Though this had likely been despite a poor attempt by Celestia, the 'almighty sun princess', or whatever she preferred to be called, and her guard to keep it a secret. Now, word had gotten out that these rumors were, as a matter of fact, true.

"And the rest, as they say, is history." Discord thought to himself as a tub of popcorn materialized in his hands, himself eating the container, rather than the food within as he watched the residents, servants, and even guards, of the palace run amok.

From what he had heard, Celestia had ordered for everypony in the castle to keep word of the prisoner escape to a slight lull at the very most, punishable by... well, he wasn't sure, but whatever it was, it was likely to be fun for Discord. Despite her attempts at a vow of silence from the staff, however, the princess had also ordered for the search attempts of the prisoners to be doubled, then tripled, as time went by.

Trying to keep a secret while also having to work on that secret under public view at the same time. Absolutely brilliant! At least, in Discord's opinion. After all, it certainly allowed for quite the show.

Popping the rest of the paper container that surrounded his snack into his mouth, and absentmindedly throwing away his 'waste' as he chuckled at yet another comical crash that occurred below him, he couldn't help but to wonder if he had something to do with this.

After all, the first actual escape by any prisoners did happen on the same day that he had decided to... 'let loose', with a small amount of chaos. Barely enough to sneeze over, literally.

"Hmmm... If, oh say, the princesses, or the elements, were to find out about this possible suspicion, I have the oddest feeling that they wouldn't be too happy... Ah, the look on their faces will be worth it, I'm sure." Before he could muse on this any further, a large series of clangs and tumbles from across the hall caught his attention, a smile of glee coming to his face.

"Oh, how I love a chaotic rush hour!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How can there still be nothing?" Celestia practically yelled to one of her returning guards, her wings flaring as her irritation over the matter barely spilled over its edge. The guard, though stoic as he may be, flinched at this, a sense of fear ebbing away at the back of his mind though he still held steadfast through his report.

"Since the escape of the human, your majesty, he and the other two prisoners have seemingly disappeared. No guards have been able to spot them on their patrols, from here to the crystal kingdom, and no civilians have claimed to have seen any odd sights." He said, looking to the princess of the day as stoically as he could muster.

Celestia, in a sense of frustration, placed her hoof against her head and gave out a sigh. Stress had begun to pile as the days passed since the escape of the prisoners. Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and Jeremy, as she recalled him to be named, were out there at this very moment, and she, despite her best efforts, had yet to find them.

She was in great need of finding the three. Capturing them once more and placing them back where they belonged would be the only way to keep peace in Equestria, along with the safety of her many subjects.

"... Thank you, commander. If any news is obtained, any whatsoever, please address it to me or my sister as soon as possible." The guard, slightly thankful at the process of being able to leave the currently fuming princess, bowed to her once more and exited the room as guard-like as he could. His heart though was currently acting like that of a foal being scolded by their mother for doing something they weren't supposed to.

The slam of the doors behind the guard, signaling the exit of the guard, was quickly accompanied by the faint sound of magic from the princess as she placed her hoof back to its original position. Her horn glowed as ash, with a minimal sense of effort, lifted a small stack of papers that had been piled haphazardly behind her throne. Each of them held information on both the former prisoners and the reports of the guards at the time. Truthfully, she must have looked these sheets over and over again up to a hundred times, each one just bringing her more frustration as she passed through them.

Reports that led all the way back to the escape of Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, which had apparently been caused by none other than the human, to the interrogations that then were given to him over the next span of time. All of it laid before her. Sessions of questioning, as was custom, in which two ponies would approach him, ask questions, and send the prisoner back to their cell with a considerably smaller amount of food for the evening. Instances of these came through again, and again, and again as she looked through the papers. It was pratically as though the papers had been copied over exactly, no matter the date. Of course, what could she expect. It wasn't exactly the most effective form to wear away at one's resistance, but earlier interrogations of hers over the many years of her rule had proven it to be something that at least effective and humane enough to work without being seen as torture.

Finally, it led to the escape of Jeremy, which, according to reports, had occurred when Jeremy had taken a guard captive and, with the assistance of Chrysalis who had come disguised as another guard, escaped with little to no effort. As to the name of the guard that had been held against his will, she believed that it was 'Brass Bones', as one of the other guards had referred to him as.

Nonetheless though, the capture of a guard, release of dangerous prisoners, all of this, just seemed akin to something that this human would do. And to think, that she had once welcomed him to Equestria with open hooves.

She mentally cursed herself, regretting not following her instincts on the off chance that this one would be different.

Before she could mentally rant on this any further though, a knock at the door interrupted her, causing her to release a silent groan as she once again shifted away the papers behind her.

"Come in." She said, looking to the door as it was immediately brought open by a nightly blue glow. It none other than her little sister, Princess Luna, making her way into the throne room.

"Sister, if I may have a word?" Luna asked, sitting herself before her older sibling. Nodding her head, Celestia closed the large doors behind her younger sister, ensuring any privacy for conversation that they may wish. In truth, she hadnt wanted wanted her sister to get involved. For one, the issue of Nightmare Moon was likely a sensitive one to her, and she didnt want her sister to relapse into a bout of guilt or shame as she had done prior. Not when she had been making such good progress. Furthermore, Luna was still adapting to the world as it was now, slowly being reintroduced to the responsibilities of the crown by the royal advisors, though much too quickly for Celestia's liking.

It was only because of the many rumors that were going about, as well as some of the dreams of the guards, that Luna unavoidably learned about everything. She was more than a little outraged, to say the least, of being withheld this information, but nowadays she instead toiled along her sister to help bring the escapees back into justice.

"Of course, Luna. Though, I must ask, why are you awake at this time? I would have expected you to have waited for the night to end your slumber." Shaking her head, Luna looked to her sister.

"This is a much more important matter, dear sister. It deals with the three escaped prisoners." At this, Celestia's brow rose, her full focus now given to her sister as she addressed this topic.

"Oh?"

"We- er, I" she corrected, momentarily having slipped back into her old way of speaking, "am curious as to the reason of not simply addressing this issue to the public." She gestured behind her as she did so. She, like many of the other guards, felt that this 'silence' that they were forced to keep was inefficient and that it slowed the seeking out of these prisoners. After all, the public was their best resource in this desperate search for the three. "Perhaps, if we-"

"I'm afraid that cannot be an option, Luna." Celestia interrupted, a serious tone about her. Luna, unsure as to her sister's reasoning, rose a brow at this.

"Yes, but why, sister? I can understand your attempts to not have the public panic, but surely if the elements of harmony at least were informed, they could-"

"It is not the panic of our subjects that I worry of, Luna." Luna's eyes widened at this.

"... Pardon?"

"The populace cannot know of the escape of Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, this is true. But, more importantly, they cannot know of the human."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ugh, we said to bring the new roundtable to the conference room, not the kitchen! Why would we have our meetings in the kitchen?" The suited earth pony with tinted sunglasses exclaimed, one of the many unicorns before him putting on a sheepish smile as he quickly began to rectify his mistake. Sighing, the pony looked to his close companion, and business partner, that sat next to him. He was, at the moment, taking a sip of coffee from the small container he had brought with him on the trip. Glancing to his right, the red and orange earth pony offered the other a sip, holding the container out to him out.

"Uh, no thanks, Even Out." The suited unicorn said, moving back in an attempt to gain some distance from the container shaking a hoof at him as he did so. Shrugging, Even Out swallowed the coffee he had in his mouth, shuddering slightly at the bitter, yet rejuvenating, taste.

"Suit yourself, Top Suit."

The two had come and gone to this site of construction - well, reconstruction - and furnishing for the past few months. Since the accident that had all but ruined their company, Hooves and Elbow Grease, things had proven to be rather difficult for the duo. Nonetheless though, they pushed on through this challenge, digging into their emergency funds and, with the help of their loyal workers and even a surprising stipend or two from the royal treasuries as thanks for their years of service, were able to easily fund and arrange the rebuilding of their company headquarters.

Despite this though, the two had still suffered heavy losses. Both in their profits and, tragically enough, in their work force as well.

As an earth pony worker helped to orient the front desk of the building's lobby, a knock at the door quickly drew both Even Out and Top Suit's attention. The two glanced to one another before turning to the door. Much to their amusement, they saw a regular customer of theirs was already inside of the building and, in fact, jokingly knocking on a door that as of yet had yet to be installed, instead lying slanted against the nearby wall.

"I take it nopony's home?" Chuckling at his own joke, along with a pair of snickers from the two business ponies, the orange-yellow stallion nonchalantly made his towards the other two, ducking as a unicorn moved another large table just over his head.

"Ah, Mr. Tendh- oof!" Even Out was cut early in his greeting by an elbow to his side, nearly causing him to spill his drink, as he turned to see the look given to him by his companion. "I mean, Hardhat." He quickly corrected, earning a nod from his business partner. "It's good to see you again." He extended his hoof outwards in greeting.

"Same to you two." Hardhat said, happily shaking Even Out's hoof as he glanced around the room, letting out an impressed whistle as he saw the progress that the two had so far made. "I see that you two are almost done over here. And from the looks of things, you've made some improvements!" The two gave prideful nods at this.

"Well, its gonna take more than a fire to keep old Hooves and Elbow Grease down! Isn't that right, partner?" Even Out asked, gaining a small tinge of satisfaction as he returned the earlier elbow to the side to his companion who let out his own small 'oof' in return. Top Suit just barely managed to keep his sunglasses from falling off of his muzzle, giving a slight scowl as he corrected them.

"Right... So, what can we do for you?" He asked, donning his professional work tone, only to draw a short laugh and a smug smile from their regular as a response.

"Now, you don't think you'll get answers out of me that easily, do you?" Rolling his eyes, though it wasn't so easily seen behind his sunglasses, Top Suit gave a knowing smile to Hardhat.

"Guess not." He 'surrendered', knowing perfectly well where this topic was likely going.

"Talk about it over a drink with the boys and I?"

"You know it." Walking from his side to join Hardhat, Even Out looked to the two in disbelief, his jaw hanging open and brow raised.

"Wh- Sure, you say 'no' to coffee, but the moment anypony mentions something that has to do with cider, you just have to be there?!" He exclaimed.

"You have your likes, I have mine."

"It's only three in the afternoon!" He continued, pointing to a nearby clock that had been placed on the adjacent wall. It was tilted slightly. Even Out grimaced as he took note of this, making a mental note to have somepony fix that later.

"I know. Later than usual for me, its a real travesty. I've just been so busy." Top Suit snarked as he and Hardhat exited the building, leaving a stuttering Even Out as he began to glance to between the lobby, and the doorway that the two had just left out of, in contemplative thought.

"... Oh, alright! But you're buying this time! Nearly lost my whole paycheck the last time I had to pay for your drinks!"

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

As the three sat together at one of the many booths at the pub, Even Out and Top Suit on one side while Hardhat sat at the other, they could clearly hear the sound of conversing and joking construction ponies around them. Each of them happily enjoyed their breaks as they passed the time with short stories and the occasional updates on their usual lives.

Hardhat held a large glass of cider in between his hooves, taking minimal sips from time to time again, while Topuit might as well have been gulping down his drinks, mug and all; not even the slightest bit of dizziness hung about him as he did so. Of the entire building, Even Out was likely the only pony without an alcoholic drink in between hooves, instead favoring a simple glass of water. He had a strong dislike of alcohol, just about as bad as his friend's dislike of coffee.

"Sooooo... the job?" Even Out asked, feeling distinctly out of place in the pub that they were in. Hardhat, in response, rolled his eyes, smiling as he took another sip of his drink before plopping it back down and motioning his arms in a 'calm down' fashion.

"Alright, alright. I know how much you don't like this kind of scene, so I'll just get this over with." Hardhat said, much to the chagrin of Top Suit who was honestly attempting to bide his time.

"Oh please, take as long as you need." Top Suit insisted, drawing a small glare from his partner. He paid no mind to this though, gulping down another quarter of his mug with ease.

"Heh, right." Adjusting himself in his seat, Hardhat cleared out his throat as he began to speak to the two. "Anyways, the boys and I are nearly finished with the next part of our build. Thing is though that we're gonna need some more designs for the other section. Nothing fancy, really. Just some casual stuff you would find on higher floors of apartment buildings is all." The two before him nodded in understanding.

"Simple enough. We'll get Follow Scene on it as soon as we can." Top Suit said, refilling his glass with a nearby bottle of cider. Hardhat, however, frowned slightly at this, looking down to the table as he let out a small, almost undetectable sigh.

"... Right... Follow Scene..."

Raising a brow at this odd behavior, Even Out quickly questioned Hardhat. "Something wrong?"

Hardhat, in response, quickly shook himself slightly out of his stupor. "No, no... well, yes. I mean, FolowScene's designs are great and all, but I'd still much rather prefer-..." He purposely trailed off at this, gesturing to the two, who both gained expression of understanding and realization.

"Ah. Right..." Even Out said, his own downtrodden tone enveloping his voice as he spoke.

"He was a good pony... Even if he wasn't really a pony at all." Hardhat added.

"Him, and the others we lost in that fire... Celestia's sake, all because of some faulty enchantments." Top Suit cursed, a more bitter outlook on the situation than the other two's. The three shared a moment of silence, looking downwards towards the table, before, with a sigh, TopSuit once again spoke up. "Still, we shouldn't let that get us down. After all, Hooves and Elbow Grease is going to have its grand re-opening soon!" He said, attempting to lift the heavy mood that had surrounded the table. The other two smiled at this, though only slightly, pushing away these thoughts of theirs as much as they could and giving Top Suit a nod.

Raising his glass in the air, Hardhat made for an impromptu toast. "To Jeremy, Cherry Lip, Blue Snazz, and the new Hooves and Elbow Grease!"

"Here, here." And with that, the three tapped their glasses together, pulling them back as they quickly took gulps of their individual drinks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Just another pound or two for the road." A certain winged figure requested of the merchant, placing the bits down onto the counter as the seller, with a nod, quickly handed them a small bag of food. The figure quickly grabbed hold of, sniffing it slightly in their attempts to assure it's freshness. "Meh. I guess these'll do."

Securing the bag around a small string around their neck, they picked up her wings and slammed them back down, launching themselves into the air. They didn't pay any mind to the obvious discomfort this caused the stand owner as he began to wave away the dust and dirt that had been blown his way.

Glancing around the air, they pointed herself back into the original direction of they had been heading, propelling themself forward as they quickly began to slice through the air. The wind resounded loudly against their eyes and ears as they sped through the skies, giving them an idea of how swift their movement was.

It had been quite some time since they had made their way through this part of Equestria again, what with the, 'going where the wind takes them' attitude and all. By now though they had figured that, while they were in Equestria again, they might as well see an old friend again.

They chuckled to themselves slightly at the thought of this friend, making making a snide remark about how serendipitous it was that they had found them so soon after everything that happened with her prior companion.

"Bah, she started to hang out with losers anyhow. At least this one gets me." Their wings beating as they propelled herself even faster through the air, they wondered how he was doing after all of this time. "Probably still chilling around Canterlot, or something like that."

Chapter 13: Wake Up Call [Here Again]

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You know, I was actually starting to get used to being woken up by Nightmare Moon and Chyrsalis' arguing by this point. So, imagine my surprise when, instead, I was greeted by silence and a slight swaying motion from side to side.

"Jeremy... Jeremy..." Okay, maybe not that silent. Groaning slightly at being woken up, despite how gently, I opened my eyes by a small crack; just enough to get a look around. Turning to my side, where I could feel the flat of a hoof softly shaking me from my shoulder, I saw Halfy. Or, more accurately, her face, considering how close she was to me.

I blinked at this, squinting my eyes before I sat myself up on the bed and gained some distance from her.

"Oh, uh, hey Halfy." I said, partially on autopilot as my exhausted self-greeted her. "Morning... er, afternoon, I mean... It is afternoon, right?" A slight chill went up my spine as I glanced to the window of the room nervously. Fortunately, I noticed that the curtains of the window, though drawn, didnt seem to have any major source of light behind them, implying that it had in fact been the middle of the night.

"Yes," she let out an extended yawn, a small squeak tipping it off as it came to an end, "it is. Princess Luna rose the moon a few moments ago."

Looking at her more closely, I could see that she actually did seem pretty damn exhausted, to say the least. Her eye was drooping, barely able to focus on me as her eyelid seemingly weighed her head down to a slight bob.

Not to mention the fact that her posture seemed limp and she had the beginnings of bags under her eye. She looked like I did that one time my sister had made me stay up all night because it was 'an interesting way to experience another day'. Heck, if she caught a glance at my sleeping habits now, she'd probably be envious.

"Jeez. You okay, Halfy?" I asked, to which she half responded, half yawned, with a nod.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. Just... Tired... Is all..." And I'd say she had reason to be. She'd probably stayed up the whole night since we had met her, along with however she had spent the day that followed. "I-if you don't mind though, would it be fine if I-" Yet another yawn cut her off as she then gestured for the bed, smacking her lips slightly as she looked to me.

I gave out a silent 'oh' as I quickly made my way off of the mattress. "Of course. It's your bed, after all." I said with a chuckle as she climbed up on top of the bed, not even bothering to cover herself with the now messy coverings that I had left behind and instead plopped herself onto the bed with a soft sigh.

"Thank you... I'll be up later to join the rest of you..." She muttered, her eye losing the remnant of resistance that she believed it had held, allowing her to just catch sight of me giving her a nod before finally closing.

"Alright." I said in a whisper. Making my way carefully out of the room, practically tiptoeing actually, I grabbed hold of the room's door behind me, softly bringing it to a close as I let out a quieted sigh. For second, I thought I heard her mumble something as I finished closing the door. Something about 'smelling nice'? It didn't really matter. I figured I should try to be quiet on my way downstairs. At the same time, I had the oddest feeling that it wasn't going to be that easy.

A quick example of this being the squeaking of the steps beneath my feet as I reached the staircase; I almost felt deafened as I made my way downstairs, flinching at every groan and squeal that the lumber below me made.

Eventually, after what felt like forever, I reached the other door that led from the stairway to the living room of the house. Pulling the door open, which of course just had to let out a deafening squeak as I did so, I made my way into the main room of Halfy's home and turned back to the door as I closed it behind me with a click.

Overall, I'd say I had been more or less successful in my attempts at being quiet.

"Good morrow, Sir Jeremy!" Nightmare Moon, on the other hand...

Turning, I gave my alicorn companion a short wave before then gesturing for her to quiet down. She seemed to understand quickly enough, giving me a curt nod before returning the gesture with a wink. At the time, I actually though it was pretty ~~cute.~~

Scratch that out, you hear me? I can't survive her hugging me every time she reads that ~~nice as it sounds~~.

SCRATCH THAT OUT TOO.

"Afternoon, Nightmare Moon." I whispered, a minuscule and thankfully unnoticed blush passing away as I pushed away a thought in my mind.

"How did ye slumber?" She asked, her voice now in a whisper as she looked to me with a small, cheerful smile on her face.

"Pretty good, actually. Halfy just woke me up a few moments ago. Before she went to sleep herself, that is." I said, crossing my arms and leaning against the now closed door of the room. "She was exhausted, by the looks of it."

Her eyes widening in what seemed like realization, Nightmare Moon's mouth made a small 'o' as she looked to the door behind me. "Ah. 'Tis for this reason that we converse in such a hushed tone." I nodded, somewhat surprised when Nightmare Moon then proceeded to roll her eyes. "As to Halfy's state of tire, she would not be the only of this matter." Raising my brow, I watched as Nightmare Moon gestured behind her, following the direction in which she had motioned.

In doing so, I quickly caught sight of the all too familiar lump that was Chrysalis, still resting on the couch where Nightmare Moon and I had last placed her. Her chest rose and fell in a steady and slow pace.

"She's still asleep?" I asked. Nightmare Moon nodded as she turned to the sleeping Chrysalis as well, her face turning blank as she looked to the changeling.

"A longer sleep than her previous showings, easily. Though, we suppose 'tis to be expected. A great amount of her energy was lost upon the more recent times." I couldnt help the look of concern I gained at this. As if the fact that she had long been starved of her more essential meal wasn't enough, but now she was pretty much ineligible to use any of her strength at all without causing great harm to herself.

"So... should we just let her keep on sleeping, or..." I purposely trailed off near the end of my sentence, hoping that Nightmare Moon would get what I meant.

She seemed to, shrugging as she glanced from me back to Chrysalis. "We would suppose that the decision is of your accord."

A very effective method of passing the buck.

"... We'll wait a bit. Say, an hour?" I offered. Nightmare Moon's internal clock would probably be able to keep us updated on that.

"Very well then. We shall inform ye of when the time arrives." She said with a nod.

I figured that would work just fine for now. The real problem was just finding a way to pass the time silently.

It was then that a thought popped into my head. One that, though it wasn't that important or useful for the moment, did bring about a sense of curiosity. "Wait, you knew that Chrysalis was asleep this whole time?" She nodded. "Then, why weren't you already whispering when I first got in here?"

She giggled as I asked this, quickly responding to me with an almost practiced speed. "Partially, the reasoning behind this was because we had forgotten, as it were." She said, a slightly embarrassed tinge of red going across her face. "Mostly, however," she then just as quickly admitted, looking to me with a smug smile, "we simply feel a sense of dislike towards the changeling."

Lets be honest, the only response anyone could have towards that was 'Fair enough'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Jeremy had thought, passing the time was, indeed, not as simple as he might have thought.

He had mentally made the choice to avoid the bookshelf. The memory of a certain book kept him from searching for another, especially with Nightmare Moon being in the same room as him. Instead, he had settled for simply sitting quietly in the room as time passed, a cool breeze from the outside occasionally entering the poorly sealed home and brushing past Jeremy as he would, from time to time, attempt to make silent small talk with Nightmare Moon. The alicorn in question was currently sitting nearby, just a foot or so away.

The two didn't particularly stick to any one subject, instead choosing to go through many various kinds. Nightmare Moon had, out of curiosity, found herself asking more and more of Jeremy's previous world, and family, while Jeremy, though sparing of a few certain details, was more than willing to answer.

"And so these... 'Cars', wouldst allow your kind to more easily travel from place to place?"

"That's pretty much the gist of it, yeah." Jeremy confirmed, his arms motioning for emphasis. Smiling, Nightmare Moon clopped her hooves, much like an excited child would.

"Oh, your world is so very interesting, Sir Jeremy!" She exclaimed, only barely keeping her voice at the hush.

"Heh. To an extent. Though, personally, there are definitely some things from back home that I'd rather forget." Jeremy returned, jokingly rolling his eyes as he did so.

"Such as?"

"Stuff that I can't imagine is completely foreign here. Your usual type of corporate greed, the occasional war, lots of monotony, and uh-... Uh..." Jeremy felt himself pause as he began to run out of ideas.

"How is it that I could list all of this stuff up the top of my head, but nowadays I cant even get past a few? Has it really been that long..." He wondered to himself.

Nightmare Moon, having been watching as he began to desperately search his mind for reasons, rose a brow at his silence. Gesturing for him to continue, if only of her curiosity, Nightmare Moon spoke up again. "Go on." She said.

Jeremy, preferring to simply move on from the subject, let out a sigh. "... Is it sad that I've forgotten?"

"... Forgotten?"

"... Nevermind, I... Its personal, sorry." He eventually relented, a sad look appearing on his features.

"Oh... Very well, Sir Jeremy." Looking to the shadow alicorn, Jeremy could see how visibly concerned she had been by his behavior. She looked down to her hooves sadly, the smile that had previously been on her face having disappeared.

Almost instantly, Jeremy felt a surge of guilt as he looked to his friend's expression, letting out a sigh as scooched himself closer from where he sat.

Nightmare Moon watched out of the corner of her eye as Jeremy relocated himself, the sound of him shifting being clear as he closed the distance between them. It was then that Nightmare Moon felt a soft touch upon her neck, momentarily recoiling away from the feeling before, almost as if she was unable to pull away, eventually moving into the sensation.

"Nightmare Moon, I really am sorry. It's just... difficult, realizing just how much I've forgotten. Its only been around a year and already things are starting to blur." As he said this, Jeremy could feel Nightmare Moon's mane slowly encircle his hand, up to his wrist. At the moment, he couldn't really care less. He was more focused on comforting his friend.

Thankfully, Nightmare Moon eventually looked to Jeremy, who gave her an apologetic smile, returning a smile of her own in return. "We understand. 'Tis no issue, Sir Jeremy."

Letting out a thankful sigh, Jeremy tried to pull his hand away from Nightmare Moon's neck. However, he himself unable to do so as her mane had almost impossibly gripped onto his wrist tighter. Not wanting to hurt her in his attempts at pulling away, Jeremy simply elected to address the issue directly.

"Uh, Nightmare Moon? Your mane?"

Raising a brow at his statement, Nightmare Moon looked to him questioningly, unsure as to what he meant.

"Uh... It's-... I-... Nothing, nothing at all." Jeremy resigned, pushing off his argument as he sat down next to Nightmare Moon, who gave him a shrug; his hand still on her neck, he felt the mane loosen its grip slightly, though not nearly enough to allow him to pull away. It was almost as if it knew that he had stopped resisting.

"Well, its official," He thought to himself, "her mane definitely has a mind of its own."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

... You know, I'd be lying if I said that this wasn't something I enjoyed. I mean, sure, I was technically stuck there because Nightmare Moon's mane had my hand in a death grip against her neck, but it still wasn't really anything worth complaining about.

If anything, it was nice being this close to her. Through her ethereal, yet silky, mane, I could feel her warm and almost velvety fur. It tickled a little, under the palm of my hand, but at the same time the warm and smooth texture of it was relaxing. Pleasant to the touch, even.

Huh? Should you scratch that out too? Ugh, nah its fine. If I have you scratch that stuff out every time, we'll probably have entire pages of stuff be made illegible. Just let it go through from now on, I'll tell you if I think otherwise.

Anyways, along with that, she didn't really seem to mind my closeness or contact with her in the slightest. In fact, if I didn't know better, I would say that she was leaning into it.

... This was actually a really good way to pass the time, actually. It was really relaxing. But, as with most good things, it had to come to an end.

"Ah. We believe that the hour has expired, Sir Jeremy. Shall we awaken Chrysalis?" Snapping out of my more blissful state, I watched as Nightmare Moon stood herself up, her mane releasing me from it's hold with little to no resistance as she looked to me with a smile.

I was kind of insulted by how easily her mane let go of me after all that.

Still, I stowed away that small pile of mental curses and gave Nightmare Moon a nod as I stood up as well. I dusted off the back of my pants and jacket as best I could as I looked to her.

"Alright. So, should I wake her up, or should-" I felt my eyes widen as a smug smile came to her face, her horn glowing faintly in the dim lighting around us. I quickly stepped in front of her and began to awkwardly step back towards Chrysalis. "Uh, heh, before you conjure up another glass of water to spill on her, how about you let me have a try?"

She was way too predictable.

She lost the smug expression on her face, instead looking to me with an expression that just screamed, 'oh, come on!'. She let out a small sigh as she looked to me. "As you wish, Sir Jeremy."

Giving her a thankful nod, I turned myself around as I realized how close I must have been getting, immediately being met with the aged sofa and Chrysalis as I did so. I nearly tripped, which I thankfully didn't, as I stopped myself and scratched the back of my head while I tried to figure out what would be the best approach to the situation.

"Maybe the careful approach?" I offered to myself, carefully reaching my arm out and placing it onto Chrysalis. I tried to take as much care with this as a person would a live bomb. Actually, I feel like the bomb would have been the better alternative here.

My hand on her hard, yet oddly warm and smooth, chitin, I gave her a shake in the same way that Halfy had woken me.

"Chrysalis... Chrysalis..." I said, attempting to rouse her from her sleep. I didn't get much of a response, aside from a slight twitch of her ear and a shift further into the couch. I repeated myself again, at a slightly louder volume, shaking her even more. This time, I got a groan as Chrysalis tucked herself into her lump even further, trying to escape my attempts at waking her.

So, I of course decided to up the ante yet again. I gave one really firm shake and upped my volume yet again. I was only halfway through repeating her name this time though as the elbow of her foreleg proceeded to knock the wind out of me. Chrysalis head quickly rose as she turned and immediately began to glare at me.

"I heard you the first time!" She yelled, her eyes narrowing while I used to opportunity to remind myself how to breathe and stood myself straight up again.

"Good afternoon... to you too." I groaned, a forced chuckle escaping as I stepped out of Chrysalis' hoof reach, to which she replied with a roll of her eyes. "Oh, and you might want to quiet down a bit. Halfy's asleep just upstairs." I then added as Nightmare Moon made her way over to my side.

"What? You expect me to quiet myself on your comman-" A flash of a familiar, magical aura above her caused her to freeze, drawing both her and my attention as we saw a floating and upright glass of ice water, just above her head.

Nightmare Moon gave me a small smile and wink as she turned her gaze back to Chrysalis. I gave the changeling a smile of my own as well.

"So... you gonna whisper now?" I asked, crossing my arms as I looked to Chrysalis with a smug expression. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced back and forth between the glass, Nightmare Moon, and I.

"... Fine then." She said, her voice already at a lowered volume. Upon hearing this, Nightmare Moon gave a satisfied nod as she quickly made away with the floating glass that she had so recently begun to torment Chrysalis with, walking off to the side of the room and seating herself once again while I looked to Chrysalis.

"..."

In hindsight, I really should have thought of what I would say or do once she was awake.

"... You feeling any better?" I finally settled on, mentally face palming at the simplicity of the question.

"Tch, I suppose it depends on what you mean by 'better'."

" Relatively the same?"

"What do you think?"

Let the records show that I could have said a lot of things there. Like, 'I think you should probably stop being so sarcastic', or something along those lines. There was a lot of material to work with.

"Good to know." I instead decided to say with a deadpan as then made my way to Nightmare Moon's side, seating myself next to her as I gave Chrysalis a small, sarcastic wave.

At least it would be just a little bit more exciting to wait now that my verbal sparring partner was back.

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

"As opposed to the other idiotic human custom of yours?"

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Your clothes."

"That is not up for discussion! We've been over this!"

We had hit the ground running, to say the least. It wasn't any more than a minute or so after she had woken up before she immediately made to begin her arguing. Believe it or not, I don't even remember what she had first said any more. Well, actually, this had happened before, so it's not too far off to assume this would be the case.

We'd been going on for hours, really, with Nightmare Moon serving as a kind of silent mediator. It reminded me a bit of when the three of us had first been together in the same cell.

... Funny how I thought of those as relatively good times, huh?

"You're still not giving a valid argument here." I taunted, watching as her eyes narrowed even further.

"You-" Before she could say anything else, the creaking of a nearby door cut her off. The three of us quickly turned our attention towards the noise.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eye with one of her forehooves, the three of us quickly caught sight of Halfy, having likely woken up a few moments ago. Though Chrysalis, of course, just gave an indifferent face towards Halfy's awakening, Nightmare Moon and I gave her small smiles before greeting her at a normal volume, seeing as nobody was asleep anymore.

"Afternoon, Halfy." I said, soon followed by Nightmare Moon.

"Good Morrow, Halfy!"

Flinching at this, Halfy's eye widened as she looked to us, soon returning to normal as she calmed her previously surprised self. I guess she still wasn't used to having guests over.

"H-hello everypony." She greeted in return, myself giving a mental chuckle as I quickly caught sight of the irony of her statement.

"So, I take it you slept well?" Chrysalis asked blankly, not even turning to face her. Halfy nodded in return.

"Yeah, I slept fine." She said, closing the stairway door behind her as she made her way further into the room. Looking to Chrysalis permissibly, Chrysalis let out a near silent groan as she scooted herself further to the side of the couch. Halfy giving her a small, thankful smile as she made her way onto the small space that Chrysalis had opened for her, seating herself with a sigh.

"Did I miss anything while I was asleep?"

"Not much." I answered, crossing my arms as I gave her a shrug.

"Oh, okay then..." She said in return, seemingly biting on the inside of her cheek as she glanced around the room. Like I said, she was probably still getting used to having guests.

"Halfy, if we might ask, do you have any duties or previous engagements for the night?" Halfy, Chrysalis, and I gave Nightmare Moon curious looks at this, though she didn't seem to pay much attention to this.

"... Um... Nothing for later tonight, no." Halfy answered, earning an excited clop of her hooves from Nightmare Moon.

"Oh, joy! Then, perhaps, you couldst lead us in a return to ye garden? We would very much like to show Jeremy of its splendor." I blinked as I realized I was being thrown into this headfirst.

"Uh, that's fine, you don't have to-" I began, only to be interrupted.

"I don't see any problem with it. I had to go water the gardens anyways."

"Splendid!"

Didn't really feel like I was getting a say in the matter, did it?

"Uh-" And, of course, once I tried to say something again, there was a knock at the front door.

"Oh, come on!" Was my first reaction to this, what with it being the third time I had been stopped in a row. My second reaction, however, was much less entertaining. "Wait... Who could that be?"

At this, both Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon's eyes widened, likely sharing a thought of worry similar to mine.

Halfy, having seemed to notice the slightly panicked expressions about us, stood from her seat and began to make her way to the door. "I-I'll go check." She said, the sound of her hooves against the floor echoing through the empty room.

An instinctual part of me screamed to hide. But even if I and Nightmare Moon did, Chrysalis would still be left out in the open, considering she wasn't really in any condition to move. So, I shoved that instinct back into the well that it had clawed its way out of, choosing instead to wait and watch.

As Halfy grabbed hold of the door, I felt my heart quicken ever so slightly, practically thumping against my chest as the dim light of the night sky slowly began to pour in.

"H-hello?"

Chapter 14: Another Visit For A New Place [Here Again]

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"H-hello?" As Halfy cautiously greeted whomever it was that was currently beyond the door, I felt my breath hitch. A sense of panic and insecurity started to well up inside me, but I held it down as much as I could.

If, somehow, the guard actually had found us, then this would probably be it. We would be getting sent back to the Canterlot dungeons, or worse. There was no way for us to get out of this situation as much as I would hope. And, worse yet, Halfy would probably get locked up as well, if only by her association with us.

The seconds ticked by as Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon and I carefully watched the door, Halfy continuing to peek her head through and addressing the individual before her. We listened carefully, waiting for some sort of indicator as to whom it may have been behind the door.

What I heard was a familiar rhyming scheme.

"Ah, good greeting. I do so hope that the purpose of this visit, I am not defeating." I involuntarily let out the breath that I had been holding as I heard the voice of Zecora through the door. I felt myself flop against the wall behind me, slightly sliding myself downwards in relief.

Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, thought they didn't share the exact same reaction, also showed their own signs of relief as they realized it to be Zecora who had come.

"Oh, Zecora! It's no problem at all! Come in, please." Halfy invited, now fully opening the door and revealing my favorite striped friend. She ushered her into the home, Zecora returning the gesture with a thankful nod as the night's faint glow and fresh breeze followed into the room quickly behind her. As she entered, I raised my hand up and gave her a curt wave, quickly drawing her attention as Halfy closed the door behind her.

"Good to see you again, Zecora!" I called cheerfully. Looking towards me with a slight start, which had likely been caused by my abruptness, Zecora smiled as she glanced between the three of us. Nightmare Moon and I responding with smiles of our own while Chrysalis gave a lazy groan.

"It seems that I am to give greetings to all of you as well. Of course doing so happily, if you could not tell." Nightmare Moon stood as she made her way over to Zecora. She had wanted to give a more proper greeting to her.

"It is with great joy that we see you as well, Miss Zecora. Your past occurrence hath certainly brought forth a certain glee towards whenever you chooses to see us, and thus, ye arth more than welcome as a result!" I was pretty sure that all that Zecora was looking for was a simple 'hello', rather than that long winded greeting. Still, I guess that I should be glad that she was willing to say such nice things about Zecora. The two had really hit it off when they first met... A little after the whole 'mini-panic attack' that Zecora had when I had first brought the two into her house with me.

"I thank you, Nightmare Moon, for being willing to show such interaction. Have your current accommodations treated you with satisfaction?" Nightmare Moon happily nodded at this, practically sprinting her way next to Halfy as she brought a hoof around her and pulled her against her side once again. Halfy could only let out another squeak at this.

"Halfy hath treated us very kindly in our short stay here. Much like she hath Sir Jeremy and the changeling, Chrysalis." She said, gesturing to Chrysalis and I as she gave a chummy smile down to Halfy, who timidly returned her own.

It was only then that I realized something. Nightmare Moon called me 'Sir Jeremy', and Zecora, 'Miss Zecora', but she never used those kinds of titles with Chrysalis or Halfy. I had a very real concern that she thought we were married or something. I had told her that we were just old friends, but, I figured maybe she had misinterpreted it somehow. I made a mental note to ask her about that whenever I could. I mean, no offense to Zecora, but I would rather not be seen as being in that kind of relationship with her.

"That is very good to hear. I am glad that you think of her so dear." Zecora said, holding back a laugh or two of her own as she looked on at the sight of Nightmare Moon holding onto her new friend. Composing herself, if only a little, Zecora turned her head to me next.

"And what of you, Jeremy? How do you think of your stay to be?" I chuckled as I shifted in my seat.

"Well, aside from the fact that it's only been a day, I'd say things are going well. Like Nightmare Moon said, kind of, Halfy's been a really nice host. She even willingly gave me her bed to sleep in for the day." At this, Zecora's brow raised, a small, almost knowing, smile coming to her face as she glanced to Halfy.

"Oh? Is that so?" Likely from the extra attention, Halfy's face flushed by a small bit. Zecora withheld a chuckle as she turned and gave me a small nod, shifting her gaze to Chrysalis shortly after.

"And for-"

"Let me get this straight," Chrysalis interrupted, "you knew about the house here, and about the pony that lived in it, but, rather than just tell us, you sent us off with no pretense as to what reason we had to do so? I mean, gods forbid that we ruined that little game of yours!" Zecora flinched as Chrysalis ranted, her eyes narrowed as she continued to give my old friend hell.

Not wanting this to go any further, which I knew that Chrysalis would likely attempt to take it, I quickly jumped in. "Chrysalis, take it easy. I'm sure she had her reasons. Besides, it ended up working out in the end, right?" This seemed to fall on deaf ears though.

"Aside from the timber wolves that had nearly mauled us, or the fact that I can barely even stand because of it?!" At this, both Halfy's and Zecora's eyes widened while I just grew silent as the memory of the event flashed through my mind.

"T-timber Wolves?" Halfy asked, as if she was attempting to assess if she had heard her correctly.

"This is something that, admittedly, I did not forsee." Zecora confessed, a sense of regret audible in her voice. "Perhaps, you can tell me more of this, over some tea?"

Nightmare Moon, who had been blankly - almost boringly - listening as Chrysalis went on, snapped to attention as she heard this. She beamed at the mention of the word 'tea'.

"Oh, it would be of great thankfulness were you to do so, Miss Zecora! We are also certain it would be a most grand experience for our hostess and fellow party as well!" She exclaimed, adding in the rest of us into her excited glee. I barely held back a chuckle as she did this, especially when she had so dramatically raised her hoof into the air.

"I will begin immediately. Halfy, would you be kind enough to assist me?"

"Oh, um, of course." Managing her way out of Nightmare Moon's grip, much to her slight disappointment, Halfy followed after Zecora as the two made their way into the small kitchen on the other side of the room. The two were still clearly visible over the counter, so Chrysalis continued to give Zecora a death glare, though she didn't seem to notice. Nightmare Moon seemed to be giddily bouncing in her seat, happily awaiting the tea that she had grown so fond of. As for me, I just watched on as this happened, crossing my arms as a short thought came to mind.

"... This seems like something I would have seen out of a sitcom back home." It was a pretty random thought, I know, but, it was oddly comforting remembering something about home. When you look at it, it kind of does make sense.

You have your sarcastic and normally grumpy yet still lovable member of the group. Chrysalis. Your slightly out of it and childish, but still well-meaning and kind person, or pony. Nightmare Moon. The timid, relatively unknown, but nice person. Halfy. And the oddball, who, despite this, still manages to bring a fun sense to the show. Zecora. Though, what would that make me?

... Oh god, only now do I realize that I was the obligatory member of the opposite gender. Oof, that's a bit hard-hitting.

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

"And if you could turn your head to your right, if only ever so slight." Chrysalis gave out a grumble as she acquiesced to Zecora's request, turning her head as Zecora's hoof guided her.

It had been half an hour now since Zecora had first arrived. She had, as she said she would, made enough tea for everypony and I. So, at the moment, we all had our own cup's worth. As for Zecora's and Chrysalis' though, they remained relatively untouched, instead sat next to one another off to the side of the couch where Zecora was currently looking over Chrysalis.

Like I had guessed, Chrysalis had given Zecora, and anyone else who had been foolish enough to make their way into the conversation, hell, chewing her out a few things. Her 'near untimely death' as well as her lost energy being among them. Honestly, throughout that whole episode of hers, I and Nightmare Moon had constantly been looking on with similar thoughts. She wasn't the only one there when those Timber Wolves had first chased us, yet she didn't see us complaining. She really had to learn to let things go. Or at the very least, try not to take things so seriously. Whichever came first, I supposed.

It had been a little after Chrysalis had run out of steam to continue her berating that Zecora had gotten up from her seat without a word and made her way over to her. Next thing we knew, she was basically giving her an examination, 'ensuring that her lack of nutrition hadn't put her in too bad of a state', as she said. Nightmare Moon would occasionally add in her own bit of assistance from time to time, whenever she wasn't too preoccupied enjoying her tea, magically looking over some of Chrysalis' vitals and energy upon Zecora's request. Even more often though, she would forcefully position her when her stubborn attitude would make things more difficult for Zecora. She more likely enjoyed the latter of the two.

Aside from this going on, however, the rest of us weren't really doing anything in particular, just sitting around and sipping our tea. Lord knows I tried to build up a conversation of some sort though.

"... Hey Zecora?" I asked, the zebra giving me a short nod of her attention as she continued to look over a grumpy Chrysalis. "I've been wondering. How come you never did tell me about Halfy? I thought you were the only one who lived in the Everfree."

"Indeed, accompanied by another pony, I was not. That is, until shortly after you had left for Canterlot." Raising a brow at her statement, Zecora continued on. "She came to me within the first week, saying that it was a far off shelter that she did seek."

Yup, apparently I just barely missed her after moving out.

Shifting my gaze to Halfy, who had just finished taking another small sip of tea from her cup, I felt another question pop into mind. "Really? Well, Halfy, why did you feel the need to come here to the Everfree, of all places? And, while we're on that subject, where exactly did you live before?" Halfy looked to me, almost in surprise of my question.

"I... just felt like I needed to get away from it all, as it were. I used to live in Ponyville, before I came here."

That was a bit odd to me. It was rare for anyone to actively move out of Ponyville. Something about the community being very tightly-knit.

"Oh? How come I never saw you there before? I had come to town more than often enough while I was with Zecora to know practically everypony."

"I didn't go outside a lot. I-I never even saw you when you would come over." That explained why I never saw her, and why she didn't recognize me when I first met her. The only human in Equestria isn't exactly something that someone could easily forget about.

I took another sip of tea as I noticed Nightmare Moon give her own questioning look as she looked to Halfy, likely having been inspired by the small conversation that was unfolding to involve herself. Admittedly though, I was screaming in my head in the hopes that, whatever question she was thinking of, it wouldn't have to do with the obvious.

In this case, Halfy's eye.

It just didn't seem like the kind of thing I should ask about, really, and I had made sure to push the subject out of my mind as much as I could by now. Besides, there's not really anyway for me to go about it.

'Oh, hey, by the way, could you tell me about why you wear a bandage over your right eye? If its something you'd rather not say, I'm sorry, and I hope you can forgive me'.

Doesn't exactly tow the line between respectful and personal all that easily, does it?

"Halfy, if we may ask you," Nightmare Moon began, myself bracing slightly, "what is your special talent?"

Look, obviously I look back at it and feel stupid for worrying about that, but I was still recovering from malnutrition, alright?! Cut me some slack.

It was a pretty good question too. I mean, I had actually been curious about Halfy's cutie mark for a while now, though I hadn't really gotten around to asking her about it.

Two pony silhouettes, each with different colored hearts in their chest. It was definitely different from a lot of other cutie marks I had seen.

"I-it's silly." Halfy answered, looking down to her drink as a small tint of red came to her face. I blinked at this, very clearly remembering the mare in town whose cutie mark was a bunch of balloons because she was really good at throwing parties. I think the definition of 'silly' is very different in this world than it was in mine.

Side note: That pony was terrifying. She planned and readied an entire surprise party for me and Zecora in the time we visited the market to get some herbs. We were gone for five minutes.

"Oh, c'mon Halfy. Give yourself some more credit than that. It's your special talent, after all, and whatever it is, I don't see any reason to judge you for it. Right girls?" Zecora and Nightmare Moon both nodded in agreement at this, Nightmare Moon doing so more energetically while Zecora did so distractedly. Zecora was still busy checking Chrysalis' condition, now lightly tapping the exoskeleton on her sides. As for Chrysalis, she stayed silent at this, instead skeptically raising a brow as she looked to us.

Halfy's gaze shifting between her tea, Nightmare Moon, and I, as she shuffled herself slightly in what I guessed to be a sense of discomfort.

"... I... I can see the good in other ponies..." She eventually relented, hesitatingly having finally given us her answer as we looked to her in what I would say to be a reasonable amount of curiosity and surprise.

"Ye... are able to 'see good in other ponies'?"

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Well, its... not really easy for me to explain. You see, I got my cutie mark when I was young. Really young. From what my mom told me, I was barely able to talk when, one day, this new pony had come to town. He was really nice to everypony, the kind that you would just want to get along with. But, whenever he would come anywhere near me, I would start to cry. I wouldn't stop until he would leave." Nightmare Moon and I - and even Chrysalis, to an extent - listened intently as she went on, seeming to gain a reminiscent expression as she looked blankly at her reflection in her tea.

"It wasn't until a few days after the pony had come to town that he was arrested for trying to steal from some of the local market stands. He had apparently come to Ponyville because he thought that, since it was a smaller town, it would be easier for him to steal from everypony. Luckily though, a pony was out for a walk when they saw him and he was quickly taken to city hall before he was later kicked out of Ponyville."

I couldn't help but to wonder if that was literal. There was a lot of weird stuff going on in that town.

"The moment word got out that he had been caught, mom just said that I... got my cutie mark. It hasn't really been any different since then. Even now, I can still tell if a pony is good or bad, just by looking at them."

"Really? Including us?" Chrysalis suddenly asked, apparently having suddenly taken interest in the subject.

"Y-yes, actually. That's why I invited you all to stay here. The three of you looked like you had really kind hearts, despite what you told me about the guard chasing you, and, well, I c-couldn't live with myself if I knew that I had let three good ponies fend for themselves, especially here of all places. So I..." She trailed off here, though she didn't really have any need to say anything further.

"That is, without a doubt, one of the coolest talents I've ever heard of." I practically sputtered. Halfy's eye widened as she looked up from her tea to me.

"R-really?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, granted, I wouldn't really say that you were accurate when you said that the three of us were kind," I joked, glancing to Chrysalis while she just rolled her eyes, "but still, to be able to see the good in others? That's not something you come by every other day."

"Sir Jeremy hath many a good reason towards his statement." Nightmare Moon added in supportingly. "Your talent easily proves to be great one. To see one's true heart with a simple glance, 'tis astounding!" Though Halfy bashfully turned her head away at this, the smile on her face was undeniable.

"Yes, well, when you can tell when a pony is lying or not, or start reading emotions, then we can ta- Ow!" Chrysalis arrogant rambling was brought to an abrupt stop as she let out a cry of pain, the three of us turning our heads to her in an instant. She was glaring at Zecora which, lets face it, wouldn't be any different than usual. Zecora though had a much more serious look on her face, her gaze on something I couldn't really see. "What exactly are you doi-"

"Despite what you speak of, how long have you gone without feeding on love?" Some context here. Zecora had only been deadly serious around me a handful of times. One of those times was back when I introduced her to Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis. This was another.

Raising a brow, I stood myself up and made my way towards the two, my cup of tea carefully balanced in my grip as I did so.

"I managed to find a small amount a few days ago. Aside from that, its been... how long ago was the invasion on Canterlot again?" She scoffed. Making my way next to the two, and attracting an annoyed sigh from Chrysalis in doing so, I looked to Zecora questioningly.

"What's wrong?" Rather than respond directly though, Zecora just pointed. I followed where her hoof pointed and almost choked on my tea. Running along Chrysalis' side was a large crack, one that I hadn't really noticed before. The area around it seemed almost dried out, and colored a much paler black than the rest of Chrysalis' exoskeleton.

"Oh crap..." I muttered, not really being able to say much else about this.

I was always a man of many words, even back there.

"How the hell did that happen?" I asked.

Many clever and absolutely unique words, I can assure you.

"It is due to the severeness of her love lacking nutrition. The cracking of her chitin has come into fruition." I flinched at this. Halfy was looking on with a slightly concerned expression, from what I could barely see, and Nightmare Moon was... well, she was looking. "If her strength was to waver by even a small amount, she would have many more health related obstacles to surmount."

Like I had said back then, 'oh crap'.

"Christ, I didn't know she was that bad." Her eyes widened for a moment before, just as quickly, they narrowed again as she looked to me.

"That's because I'm not." Chrysalis snapped. "I'm perfectly fine. A little winded, sure, but I am not some 'helpless damsel', or anything of the sort."

Nobody had really called her that, but I guess she had assumed we were thinking less of her on her own. As I glanced to her with a viable wave of skepticism and disbelief, I began to lift my cup of tea to my mouth, asking Zecora a question just before doing so.

"Sure you are. Anyways, what do you recommend Zecora?" I asked, closing my eyes as I took another sip of my drink. Truthfully though, no force in the universe could have prepared me for what she had said next.

"Considering the state to which I would confer, the best possible thing would be for you to... Kiss her." See, this time, I choked on my drink. Whatever had made its way down my throat proceeded to decide that my lungs were a much vacation spot this time of year, so I had to politely provide it with a notification that all of the available rooms were currently reserved by these folk called 'oxygen'.

I.E., I started to cough like mad as both Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon let out a simultaneous and rather loud 'WHAT?', glancing to one another before returning their gazes to Zecora.

As for me, I eventually managed to recover from my coughing fit. I put one of my hands on the seat rests to the couch, the one that laid by Chrysalis' outstretched hind legs, as I turned to Zecora. "I-I'm sorry," I began, another cough partially having interrupted me, "did you just tell me to 'kiss her'?!" My face was burning red from the very subject and Chrysalis shared her own flush as well, though of a much lighter variety.

Seemingly unphased by my reaction, Zecora gave me a simple nod. "Chrysalis is in need of love in great supply, and I believed that you would be willing to comply." Placing my own glass of tea down on the floor so that I wouldn't spill it, or be tempted to take another drink before this situation was defused, my eyes widened as I looked between the blank faced Zecora and the narrow eyed Chrysalis. I gave the motion for a time out.

"Woah, look, I care about Chrysalis, I really do, but I only think of her as a friend. In other words, even if I were to do that-"

"Which you won't!" Chrysalis quickly added, myself only giving her a quick look of annoyance before continuing on.

"I wouldn't really be giving her anything." Zecora seemed to have a counter ready for this though.

"It would not be necessary for you to love her. Changelings are able to, through lip contact, involuntarily force the love out of another." Well, add that to the list of things I didn't know. Back to business though.

"Nonetheless, I am not going to demean myself through kissing the likes of him, wether it is a 'friend assisting a friend', or otherwise." I opened my mouth to thank her for siding with me before I slowly began to realize what she had just said.

"... I'm not sure whether to thank you, insult you, or just plain be offended."

"Take your pick for all I care, I am not kissing you." As Zecora looked on at our bickering she let out a sigh, lowering herself from the couch and picking up her long forgotten cup of tea, taking a long sip before drawing her attention back to us.

"I am only telling you both of what is the best option. As to what you do with it, it is for your adoption." She said, Chrysalis and I glancing at one another again before looking away from one another at an even quicker speed, the red on our faces growing even greater.

Nightmare Moon, who had remained relatively quiet aside from her earlier outburst, quickly made herself known. "Miss Zecora," she said, "while we do very much appreciate your willfulness to assist us at such times, both now and with Sir Jeremy and our issue of shelter, we must... have some thought, on this option of yours."

For a moment, even Chrysalis seemed thankful of Nightmare Moon at this.

Giving her a nod of understanding, Zecora glanced out of one of cracks in the wall of the house. She continued to do so for quite some time, attracting looks of confusion from most of us, aside from Nightmare Moon who looked on with interest, as she then took one final sip of her tea.

"... It would seem that I need to be going. It would be best if I return to my home before the dark allows for the worst of the Everfree to begin showing." Picking up her cup using her mouth, Zecora made her way into the kitchen and placed it on a nearby counter before making her way back into the living room again. She give each of us a farewell before she then made her way to the door of the house. Just before she had completely left though, she had one more thing to say.

"Do remember what I told you both over your continued strife. Chrysalis, my old friend Jeremy, it could mean the difference between death and life." And, just like that, the door was brought to a close behind her, giving a low thump as it hit against it's wooden hinges.

"... If she thinks I'm going to let you even think about kissing me, she's more foalish than Celestia."

"Glad we can come to an agreement." I thought to myself with a slight bout of sarcasm as I gave the changeling queen a short glare. Little did I know though, that I wasn't the only one thinking this.

Chapter 15: A Short Break From Monotony [Here Again]

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"Are you sure this is a good idea, Nightmare Moon?" I asked, watching as both she and Halfy made their final preparations; Halfy placed a dirty plate into the kitchen sink while Nightmare Moon stretched one of her legs with a grunt.

"Verily, Sir Jeremy. Ye will not regret attending our return to Halfy's garden. We are certain that you will find great intrigue in such a sight." I wasn't really sure what she meant by that, but, hey, I guessed it wouldn't have be any harm for me to go along. Even if I was 'volunteered' rather than given the choice.

"Alright, if you say so." I said. I turned my head to Halfy as I heard the clang of plates against one another. "And you don't mind, Halfy?"

"Hmm hm mmpph." She mumbled through the plate in her mouth. Raising a brow, I felt a chuckle escape me as well as heard one escape Nightmare Moon.

"Care to try that one again?" With a small tinge of red, she placed the last of the plates down into the sink, exiting the kitchen before she made to answer.

"I-I said I don't mind. If anything, I like the company." Nodding, I bent myself over slightly and ruffled her mane playfully, drawing a laugh from her.

"Well, that's good to know, Halfy."

"Yes, 'tis welcome knowledge. We would not want you to feel pressed to accept our requests." Nightmare Moon added. "Now, shall we be going?" Glancing to the two, I was about to give them a nod before I was just as quickly reminded of something else that I had to check on. Or rather, someone else.

"Uh... you two wait outside for me. I'll be just a moment." Nightmare Moon raised a brow at this but didn't seem to question it, instead giving me an understanding nod as she and Halfy opened the front door of the house and started to make their way out.

"Very well then, Sir Jeremy. We will await for you outside." I gave her a thankful nod as the two escaped my sight, the wooden door closing softly behind them and beams of the night's light gently making their way through it's many cracks to providing a serene twilight upon the room.

I let out a short sigh as I made my way to the kitchen, gathering up whatever I thought necessary. A plate, a few berries, some greens, and a glass of water to the side.

I had a bit of trouble balancing the plate, since I was so preoccupied holding the glass in my other available grip, but I managed and eventually brought it to the living room. I placed the items down in the floor next to the couch. The same couch where Chrysalis was currently resting.

A mental groan escaped me as I recalled what was to come next before I then, as carefully as possible, reached for the changeling monarch and began to stir her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A shaking on my side awoke me, though I could not find the will, nor motivation, to open my eyes and respond to it. I chose instead to allow for whatever was causing it to pass in the hopes that I could get back to sleep. I had been having such a wonderful dream.

Princess Celestia, nor those bothersome mares from before, had been there to stop me from succeeding in my invasion of Canterlot. I had 'married' that stallion, Shining Armor, and was able to continue my feeding off of his love. Everything was perfect. Nopony suspected a thing as I gave my 'beloved' our ceremonial wedding kiss, managing to absorb even more love from him.

There would be no need for me to order my changelings to attack, risking themselves in the line of battle, for we had what we needed. I could feed my hive again, spreading the love that I gathered from my newly wed and rejuvenating my once starving children. We would grow in number, the ponies would not endanger us, and we would all 'have a happy ending'.

Well, aside from the real bride and the groom. But, sacrifices were to be made if my hive was to survive. Such a blissful and calming dream... And now, it was gone.

I felt a sense of irritation grow as one of my eyes cracked open, turning to see who would be fool enough to even think of disrupting my sleep.

"Chrysalis..." Of course it would be him. I let out a mental groan of annoyance as I quickly recognized the source of the sound to be the human, Jeremy. This would be the second time that he had woken me up within the past few hours and I did not appreciate that one bit.

"Chrysalis... Chrys- Look, would you just turn around already? I know you're awake." Whatever semblance of an attempted 'peaceful and quiet' wake up that he had been trying for quickly disappeared as his voice's volume raised, reminiscent to an annoying buzz in my ear as I let out a growl and reluctantly turned to him.

The squeaking of the couch felt deafening to my slightly spinning mind, my eyes barely open as I gave him what would equate to a glare.

He stood there with his arms crossed, looking to me with a deadpan.

'Who was he to give me orders?' I had wondered back then, as well as many other times prior.

If I had even the slightest amount of energy, I would've easily stood myself up and shown him just how much I outranked him. But, unfortunately, I likely wouldn't be able to do so without swaying in my step or even falling over.

"What?" I asked in a low, grating voice, attempting to keep my intimidating pursona. He wasn't bothered by this though, instead rolling his eyes as he listened to me.

"It's time to eat." He said, almost stated, as if he were my caretaker, or the like. The fact that he was currently speaking to me as his lesser annoyed me even more.

"I'm still not going to kiss you." I said matter-of-factly. I was not willing stoop myself so low as to kiss him.

As I said this, he swiftly slapped his palm against his face, a satisfying - or at least it was for me - noise echoed through the air from his self inflicted pain. I could tell, even without my ability to read one's emotion, that he was beginning to get annoyed. Something I found great satisfaction in.

"Th-that's not what I meant!" He stuttered, apparently flushed from my statement. He shook his head and let out a breath as he looked to me again, crouching over and grabbing something just out of my view before then quickly bringing it into my line of sight.

In his grasp he held a plate full of berries and vegetables. Meanwhile, in his other hand, he had a glass of water. He looked to me expectantly, simply drawing a further narrow of my already heavy eyes as I quickly realized what he was implying.

"I'm not hungry." I said, turning my head away from him and trying to lull myself back into sleep. Rather than leave me alone, he placed the plate of food by my hind legs on the couch before then reaching over me and, to my earnest surprise, grabbing hold of my chin. He very firmly turned me to face him.

While this was oddly aggressive of him, that didn't change the fact that I truly didn't feel any sort of hunger, despite my state. The reason I had eaten before wasn't because of his asking, or his 'kindness' in doing so. No, it was because of the shadow alicorn that was obsessed with taking sides against me. Even now, I was expecting him to ask me to 'please eat, or you may feel worse', or some other overly kindhearted plea of sorts.

"Look, Chrysalis, I don't care what you say, you're eating!" The 'request' I was instead given was rather shocking. My brows raised as his voice rose in volume, his eyes now in an angered glare as he looked down to me.

"... Well, taking the more forward approach, are we?" I mocked, removing myself from his grip with a push of my hooves, though a weak one. He ignored my comment, continuing to bear down upon me.

"Chrysalis, you heard what Zecora said. You're unstable as is and you need all the strength you can get, which means you can't afford to not eat, just like I won't let you."

It was interesting, to say the least. 'Gutsy', even, if I am using the term correctly. The fact that he was trying to intimidate me into eating. Me? Of all beings? It was almost enough to bring a laugh from me, and I use the term, 'almost', VERY lightly.

"And you should have heard what I said. I'm not hungr-"

"Chrysalis, so help me god, if that plate isn't empty by the time Nightmare Moon, Halfy, and I get back, I'll have Nightmare Moon shove it down your throat!" I opened my mouth to say something, ready to call him out on his little bluff, but something in his eyes just stopped me. For a moment, just a truly short yet fleeting moment, It seemed as though he was actually serious.

~~Had he been a changeling at the time, I might have found that attractive.~~

Listen to me and listen to me well. You will remove that from what you have written, or I will be forced to find a new way of rending the flesh from your bone. Understood? Good.

"... Fine." I surrendered, slowly sitting myself up on the couch and turning to the plate of food next to me. He continued to watch me, his arms crossed and eyes still narrowed, as I picked up a small, nonspecific berry. I toyed with it in my hooves before popping it into my mouth and starting to chew.

He seemed to ease at this, if only slightly, as he placed the glass of water that he had been holding between the cushions nearest to the plate of food.

"Good. Now, the three of us are going to be out for a while, so you'll be alone for a bit." I took the idea of time to myself as a beautiful one.

Jeremy turned away, making his way to the wooden door and placing his hand on the handle. Before he made his way out though, he gave me one last glare. "Remember what I said. That plate had better. be. empty."

And with that, he exited the house, myself rolling my eyes as I choked down the remainder of the berry.

I was barely able place it in my mouth without spitting it back out, let alone how hard it was to actually eat it. It truly did feel like I was forcing needles down my throat. It had been the same the prior night, every swallow bringing me unprecedented amounts of discomfort and pain as I ate. I wondered how could I possibly empty this entire plate before he got back.

Then, in a moment of clarity, my eyes wandered to the couch cushions in which the glass of water I was given was stood between.

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As I closed the door behind me, I let out a sigh. A sense of both relief and guilt washed over me like a bitter-sweet wave.

I didn't like to talk to Chrysalis like that, or anyone for that matter, but I felt like I had no choice. If I wanted her to take me seriously, that is. Like Zecora said, Chrysalis was already in horrible condition. And I just had to make sure that she would be okay. I just had to...

"Sir Jeremy?" I was quickly brought out of my funk as Nightmare Moon's voice of concern caused me to turn from the door to her. She and Halfy were looking to me curiously, yet with small hints of worry to them. The two of them sat just outside, where they told me they would wait, and I quickly cleared my throat in an attempt regain my composure.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that. I finished what I had to do." Were it not for the fact that Nightmare Moon already seemed suspicious enough, I would've kicked myself for a nervous chuckle that escaped me at the end of my sentence. Honestly though, why not just tell her what I did, if I'm going to act like that. In fact, why didn't I tell her to begin with?

I honestly don't know.

Thankfully though, neither she nor Halfy seemed to persist. Instead, they moved onto a different subject altogether.

"Um... well, should we get going then?" Halfy asked, glancing to both Nightmare Moon and I as she gave a small gesture of her hoof. I gave a quiet thanks to whatever divine force had decided to cut me a break and nodded to Halfy.

"Oh, yes. Let us make haste, shall we? While our night is still youthful!" Her obviously overly-excited state helped cheer me up at least a little as I walked away from the door and towards the two. The two halves of my jacket's zipper clinking into one another lightly the two began to trot towards a direction. I followed close behind.

As we entered the dense forest of the Everfree once again, I couldn't help but to glance back to Halfy's home. My mind was still focused on a certain ill being that currently was there.

All I could hope was that, for once, Chrysalis would realize that I earnestly did want what was best for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The forestry and brush was broken of its peace as a series of rustles began to echo through the air. In an oasis of plant life, each crop was carefully grown with the love and gentleness of a unique earth mare. The calm and serene surroundings of the area were momentarily brought to an end as three of its inhabitants made their way into the view of the clearing's clear moonlight.

The night skies practically let out a sigh of happiness as they saw one of the halves of its creator, Nightmare Moon, come through ahead of the other two, a sense of eagerness practically shining in her eyes as she awaited for her other companions. Soon after, the maker of the wondrous garden, and the mare who was willing to give her own living space for those in need, Halfy, followed the alicorn through the brush. Finally, though hesitantly, the single human of Equestria, yet among the more friendly and caring members of the land, Jeremy, joined the two.

As he picked off a spare twig that had caught on his jacket, his eyes widened at the sight of what was before him.

"Wow." He found himself uttering, scouring the clearing's various bushes and stalks that made up it's bountiful harvest. "This is-... I honestly don't know what to say..." Turning his head to Halfy, he looked to the mare with a sense of true amazement, honestly surprised that a single pony could have managed this. Especially when he considered the relatively short amount of time she had been here. "You grew all of this?"

A sense of bashfulness overtook Halfy from the sudden attention, a small tint of red working its way to her face as she gave Jeremy a small nod. "W-well, not all of it. When I first found this clearing, there were already a few plants growing here, and I just worked from there." She said.

"You truly art of great modesty, Halfy." Nightmare Moon said with a chuckle, giving her friend a smile which was shyly returned to her. "What of your thoughts, Sir Jeremy? Is this not a magnificent sight?"

Jeremy nodded as a smile of his own graced him, almost at a loss of words for what to say. "Yeah, this is great. Not often that I see anything grow like this in the Everfree forest." He responded, passing the two as he began to walk through the various lines of crops that lined the opening in the forest.

"We are glad that ye find great interest in this, as we hoped you would. However, there remains another sight that we wish for you to see." Jeremy stopped where he was at this, turning his head to her and raising a brow in interest. Nightmare Moon looked to Halfy once again, hoping to inquire as to the possibility of showing Jeremy the rare sight that had previously allowed her to get along with the mare.

"Halfy," she began, "wouldst you mind if we showed Sir Jeremy to thine rarity of a bloom." Halfy quickly responded with a nod.

"Of course princess. J-just be careful though." A sense of giddiness surged through Nightmare Moon as she was once again referred to as 'princess' by Halfy, still slightly surprised at the fact that anypony would be willing to treat her as the royalty she was.

"We would not want to do so in any other form, friend." More than satisfied with her response, Halfy gave Nightmare Moon a nod, acknowledging her unspoken promise of care before she walked to the garden before them.

"You two go on ahead," she said, "I have to make sure the rest of these are watered before I check on the flowers." Jeremy and Nightmare Moon both called out their understanding, the two making their own individual ways around the various crops before meeting up along the far side of the clearing where Nightmare Moon took the lead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Nightmare Moon had first told Chrysalis and I about the flower that Halfy had been caring for, I admit that I was pretty interested in seeing it myself. Now, at least from what I've surmised, Nightmare Moon was granting me that silent wish of mine.

The two of us walked side by side, though she was slightly ahead, as we made our way down a path of bent branches and twisted trees. She had an excited look about her, one even more so than when Zecora had offered to make tea again, and it was actually pretty nice to see. It was like watching a kid make their way to a candy shop, a sort of innocence and pure giddiness behind it that you couldn't possibly imagine.

Nightmare Moon was the kind of woma-- Heh, sorry, I still slip up on that kind of thing every now and again. The kind of mare who enjoyed the little things. This flower, though, seemed like more than that and I could see why. It was an indirect remnant of her past, as Princess Luna. Back when she was treated like a princess rather than a villain. If I was in her position, I'd probably feel a similar kind of connection.

I mean, that sweater of mine was one of the last things I had from home, and I wasn't exactly eager to get rid of it, you know?

"Do you share a similar excitement as us?" Nightmare Moon suddenly asked, breaking me out from my thoughts.

"Huh? Oh! Oh, yeah. I am pretty glad to be seeing that flower that got you and Halfy to get along. Plus, it made you happy, right?" She nodded, a smile firmly on her face as she seemed to recall the experience.

"Oh, very much so, Sir Jeremy." It was at that moment that my brow rose again, this time out of thought.

There she went again with the whole 'Sir Jeremy' thing. I figured now was a good time as ever to ask.

"Say, Nightmare Moon?"

"Yes?"

"Out of curiosity, why exactly do you call me that?" She turned her head back to me as I asked this, though she continued to walk on.

"What is it that you mean?"

"You call me, 'Sir Jeremy'. I mean, I'm not offended by this or anything like that, but I would still like to know why you call me that as opposed to just 'Jeremy'." I explained, only seeming to draw a questioning look from Nightmare Moon in return.

"To what other title am I to refer to a knight?"

... Still surprises me, thinking back on it. At the mention of the word 'knight', I practically stopped in my tracks, looking to her with a near flabbergasted expression. She seemed to notice rather quickly, rolling her eyes with a smile.

"Of course, we are aware that ye are not truly of a knight's descent," she said, "but ye have shown many a number of qualities as shown by those knighted in olden times. Nobility, honor, loyalty, all that and much more. 'Tis the reason why we refer to you as 'Sir Jeremy'."

Look, I thought of myself as a relatively decent guy, sure, but enough to earn a 'knighthood'? Back home, you would have to do some pretty stupendous things to do that. All I did was open the door for them when it was time to escape.

"And the reason you call Zecora, 'Miss Zecora'?"

"Custom dictates that close associates of one of knighthood should be treated with respect as such." She quickly replied. That pretty much eased my concerns of her thinking were were married. "... There is no issue with this, is there?" She asked after a moment of silence, her face now one of concern.

I quickly shook my head at this, scrambling to keep her from getting the wrong idea. "No, no, no, its fine! I just wanted to know, is all. I have no problem with you calling me 'sir'. If anything, I'm actually kind of flattered that you think so highly of me." Her look of worry was quickly shifted to one of happiness, and relief. She gave a curt nod before she put her gaze forward once more.

After a moment I did the same, watching as the path became narrower and, eventually, brought us to a collection of branches and roots that formed into an impromptu dome. Nightmare Moon's smile grew as she quickly entered the small opening in the dome. As she disappeared behind the incubating plant life, I let out a breath, slowly and carefully following in after her.

The first sight I came upon was Nightmare Moon sitting off to the side, serenely looking downwards to the center of the ground. Following her gaze, I saw the object of her attention.

Like Nightmare Moon had said, the flower was positively beautiful. Hints of moonlight that shined through the dome of roots seemed almost purposely aimed to the flowers, emboldening their already pronounced aura of fragile wonder.

I could see why the flowers were so related to the night. Aside from the fact that it grew only in the moonlight, as Nightmare Moon had previously explained, the color and pattern of the flowers really made it clear. Its star shape, its celestial similarity to the night sky, and its deep midnight blue. The center of the flowers seemed like small, individual moons that shined upon their miniature nights while the petals provided the stars and constellations.

In its entirety, the flowers reminded me of Nightmare Moon. It's a bit obvious as to why, but I can't really help myself but to say it nonetheless.

I was tempted to say something, to comment on how Nightmare Moon wasn't kidding when she said that this was a wondrous sight. I couldn't though. All it took was one glance at her for me to shut myself up. She seemed to be enjoying her time here, her eyes shining with reminiscence and joy as she looked over one of the last objects that related to her past.

I couldn't just intrude on this obviously important moment of hers. So, instead, I sat myself off to the side with a smile, watching on in silence. Admittedly though, I didn't keep my gaze too focused on the flowers all that much.

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It was some time later that Halfy arrived as well, giving the two of us a short greeting before she started to water the Lunar Blossoms like she had just done with the rest of her garden. She showed extreme care for the delicate flowers, which Nightmare Moon seemed to greatly appreciate. She only provided a few drops of water for the plants, wetting their petals with dew-like placement.

Once she had finished, giving a small nod of satisfaction as she did so, she looked to the two of us and asked if we were ready to go. The two of us responded that we were, standing from our seated positions and following Halfy as we began to make our way back. I barely noticed Nightmare Moon give one last smile as she glanced to the flowers behind us as we left.

The walk home was relatively silent, the three of us being sharing a sense on unsureness of what to say, or if we really had anything to say at all. After all, we were relatively satisfied with how the short trip to Halfy's garden had gone.

Halfy managed to give some more care to it, as she does every night. Nightmare Moon had once again seen the flowers that she was so fond of. And I had even been able to actually see the sight for the first time. All together, it was a nice time we had out from the house. The house that, at the moment, we were approaching.

Halfy, taking slight initiative, quickened her pace, beating us to the door and pushing it open for us to enter. Nightmare Moon and I gave our thanks as we entered the house. Alongside that, I took in a breath and silently pleaded that Chrysalis had listened to me after all.

As the door shut behind us, Nightmare Moon and Halfy quickly found their individual spots among the room, silently seating themselves as they let out content sighs. I did so too, but not exactly as I normally would. I took a bit of a detour as I made my way to my seat, glancing over the currently napping Chrysalis as I did so. Near her hind legs there was an empty plate and a similarly empty glass on the floor below.

I let out whatever breath I didn't know I was holding as I saw this.

Chapter 16: Keeping Each Other Going [Here Again]

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"Jeremy... Jeremy..."

I still was not used to the gentle approach. Of course, it has only been a couple of days. Maybe after a week, it would start feeling normal? Or earlier even, if I was lucky.

I let out a yawn as I began to peel my eyes open and stretched my arms outwards and upwards. I regretted that instantly as I ended up hitting wall that the bed was laid against. That short jolt of pain springing through me caused my eyes with much more energy than I previously thought I had.

I limply shook them in an attempt to ease the pain, giving out a mental curse at my own stupidity as I did so. Once I had finished, I rolled my eyes at my actions, sitting myself up on the mattress with a grunt as I turned my head to Halfy, who was currently, tiredly, stood at the bedside.

There was a small smile on her face, likely being of amusement from the idiocy she had just seen me commit, as she looked to me groggily.

"Afternoon, Halfy." I greeted as I swung my legs off the side of the mattress, putting myself in a seated position before standing myself up on the cold wooden floor. A chill passed by me as I was introduced to the sensation.

I really needed to get some shoes.

"Afternoon Jeremy." Halfy returned in her half-awake state, the small smile from before still on her face as she rubbed her eye. I simply gave Halfy a smile of my own, sidestepping across her and gesturing for the bed as if it were an invitation.

She took this in good spirits, sending me a thankful nod before she began to make her way onto the mattress. This time she actually covered herself with the blankets as she shifted in the bed, trying to make herself comfortable.

I gave a satisfied nod at this before I made my way to the bedroom door. I pulled it open as it let out a loud squeak before beginning to close it behind me.

"Sleep well." I said to Halfy as all that was left for the door to close was a small crack. Her eye closed as she moved a bit, tucking herself closer together. She gave a half-hearted 'mm-hm' in return, drawing another chuckle from me as I then completely closed the door behind me.

Soon after, I made my way down the wooden steps of the stairway, it's continual squeaking and groaning noises still deafening, but seeming to have lost a small portion of its intensity compared to yesterday. I shrugged it off and made my way down to the living room.

I quickly caught sight of Nightmare Moon, herself being lazily laid in the center of the room with both of her legs tucked beneath her and her head on the floor. Her ears twitched as the door was closed behind me and my feet tamped slightly on the wooden floor. She rose her head from it's previous position as she turned her gaze to me.

Upon seeing me, she gained a notable smile, lifting one of her hooves and giving me a short wave. I returned the gesture, smiling and waving as I made my way over to her.

"Good morrow, Sir Jeremy." She greeted, her voice already low as she spoke. "We take it Halfy has awoken you?" I nodded as I sat myself down in front of her, my legs crossed as I adjusted my seating. "She has fallen into her slumber, we presume?" I nodded again.

"Yeah, she just knocked out a few seconds ago." As I said this, Nightmare Moon's eyes widened slightly, surprising me as I noticed a tinge of concern to them.

"She hath lost conciousness?!"
Probably should've rephrased that, huh?

Restricting a laugh at Nightmare Moon's obvious misunderstanding, I shook my head and gestured for her to calm herself.

"No, its just an expression, Nightmare Moon. Basically, it means that she went to sleep."

She let out a sigh as I said this, relieved by the fact that Halfy was okay after all. Then, looked to me with a questioning gaze, a brow of hers raised high. "Why would one attempt to mislead another in such a way? Would it not be less confusing to simply speak of things as they were, rather than as they were similar."

Opening my mouth, I made to answer. At least, I tried but just ended up silent as I thought on what she said. She kind of had a point.

Unsure of how to respond, I settled on a shrug. Nightmare Moon then glanced downwards in thought as she tried to think up the reasoning on her own, letting out a soft hum as she did so. While she was doing this, I turned my attention to my other, though currently much less likely to converse, companion. She was still on the couch, sleeping, as per usual, in her curled up lump.

I could faintly see her chest rising and falling as she slept, the crack in her chitin now seeming to pronounce itself since Zecora had shown it to me, moving along with her breaths.

It was a... less than pleasant sight to think back on.

"Sir Jeremy?" I turned my head again as I heard my name. Nightmare Moon was looking at me rather oddly, apparently having pushed off the thought that bothered her from before. "Is all well?" I noticed a strange tone in her voice, though I didn't think much of it.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Just making sure that Chrysalis is all right." The odd look on her face didn't pass as I said this, instead momentarily seeming to grow in intensity before, with a clear of her throat, it returned to its previous state.

"Yes, well... we take it that ye wouldst like for us to inform you of when an hour of time passeth?" Smiling, I gave her nod.

"That would be great. Thanks." I told her sincerely. "Until then though... How about we just, you know, talk?" The look on her face quickly changed as I said this, obtaining a much more cheery and upbeat sense to it.

"Oh, yes, we would very much like that!"

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"Wow... And I thought that my dad was rough." I said as Nightmare Moon finished recounting her tale of the time she, as Princess Luna, was punished by King Solaire for pulling a prank during the royal court meeting.

Though she didn't go too far into detail as to what the prank actually was, she did tell me that it involved toilet paper, a banana peel, and couple of slices of cake. Really makes you think, doesn't it?

That's not the point though. According to what she told me, after the king had found out about what she had done, she was given a sort of time out. And by that, I mean a three month grounding with no sweets, play time, or anything of the like.

It didn't necessarily sound that bad but that was because I was an adult now. 23 years old, at that. I still knew that, for a kid, having to go an entire 3 months without being able to do anything fun would be like torture, Nightmare Moon's childish energy having to be diverted to more boring things like her studies.

Honestly, whatever that prank was, it must've been good. I wish that I had seen it.

"Reflecting on that time of past now, we suppose that our father did have fair reason to do so. Behavior of such kind from a royal, especially during such an important part of a monarch's daily schedule, was unbecoming of a princess, and therefore utterly inappropriate." She said this almost sounding matter-of-factly in her presentation. Anyone with half a sense of sight could probably see the glint in her eye though.

"So... worth it?" I asked. Almost instantly, her 'serious' demeanor dropped, a giggle escaping her as she looked to me.

"Very much so, yes." I figured as much. "What of you, Sir Jeremy? What of your kin?" She inquired.

I gave her a shrug as I began to recount to her of my family. "Well, it was like any other family, really. A mom, a dad, you know. I guess the odd one out though would be my older sister, Beatrice." Nightmare Moon rose a brow in interest at this.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. You see, my sister was what most people back home would call a 'health nut'." Her raised brow of interest was turned to one of confusion as I told her this.

"A 'health nut'?"

"It's pretty much someone who's obsessed with trying to stay healthy. For instance, have you ever run five miles with nothing more than a tablespoon of granola to keep you going?" She shook her head. "Well, my sister has. And guess who was somehow talked into doing the same? I swear, I'd need to take two showers everyday just to get rid of the smell of sweat I'd get from dealing with her exercise-crazed self." I felt a chuckle escape me as I recalled some of my previous outings with my older sibling. "... Yeah. She was insane sometimes..."

"... You yearn for it again, do you not?" A more solemn sentiment to me now, I gave Nightmare Moon a nod.

"... Its been so long. I mean, I dont mind the ponies, or griffons, or even the dragons, but... I can't exactly go back, you know?" I didn't usually think about this subject. Over the last few months, I'd been more distracted by what had been going on: being in a dungeon, escaping, and all that. Though, I would be lying if the thought of being back in my world didn't come up every now and then while I was still living in Canterlot and with Zecora.

I had more than a few nights in the pubs close to my home drinking until I stopped thinking about it.

"We understand. Being so long away from others of your kind, and not knowing of when one would see them again... 'Tis similar to our time spent on the moon."

That was... a bit extreme, honestly. I didn't really think my experience even dealt with a fraction of the misery that hers had. But, I could get where she was coming from. All things considered, the three of us were more or less in the same boat. At some point we were isolated and alone, and nowadays we still kinda felt that way.

But there was a silver lining to it all.

"Its not all bad, at least. At least I have friends to keep me company here. Yourself included." She smiled as I said this, giving me a bow of her head.

"Thank you, Sir Jeremy."

"No problem, Nightmare Moon."

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Nightmare Moon was really interested in what I had to say about my family. For the rest of the hour that we waited, I told her about some fun or just plain silly moments that I had with them. Most of them involved my sister in some way and she would listen intently as I went on.

Maybe she was trying to cheer me up from my homesickness, maybe she was genuinely interested, or maybe it was even a bit of both. Whatever the case, I can't I wasn't thankful for it.

"Next thing I know, we're both skydiving from over 5,000 feet or something like that, and sharing a parachute because she forgot to bring hers. The look on our parent's faces when we finally reached the ground though. Man, I never knew that the vein on my dad's head could bulge out that much."

Nightmare Moon barely restrained her laughter as I finished telling her about the incident I liked to call 'Pajama Skydiving', a hoof over her mouth and a smile on her face as her shoulders and chest shifted from her chortling.

"Hm. 'Twas certainly not a reasonable idea of yours." I chuckled at this.

"Hey, give me a break. My sister was blackmailing me to do it. I swear, you pass out one time at a friend's party, and she just doesn't let it go." Her smile still firmly on her face, she bemusedly raised a brow to me.

"Oh? And how did she obtain this information if this was at a friend's gathering?" My eyes widened slightly as she said this, a small warmth coming to my face as I realized that she saw through that small flaw in my tale.

"Uh... Well... Technically, it was my friend's party... Just... he hosted it in my house... Heh."

Okay, in retrospect, that was a bad decision to just go along with his ideas when my parents had specifically warned me not to have anyone over and when my sister was just upstairs. But, hey, I was young, and I was stupid. I'm sure that a lot of people made that kind of mistake.

Nightmare Moon looked at me smugly, giving me a roll of her eyes as I proved her skepticism to be correct. "Ah. That seems more accurate." The corners of my mouth lifted in amusement as he said this.

"Ha ha." I sounded out sarcastically, earning a chuckle from Nightmare Moon.

Suddenly, her ear twitched and her face turned blank as she gazed in my direction. "We believe that an hour has passed, Sir Jeremy."

It was a very sudden change and, honestly, it threw me off a bit.

"Oh, uh, thanks." I told her, unsure as to why she had just changed her attitude like she did.

I stood up from where I sat on the floor, giving a silent grunt as my spine gave a crack of approval. I stretched out my back as I began to make my way to the still sleeping Chrysalis.

Taking in a breath, I put an arm on her back and started to give her a small shake. "Chrysalis. Time to get up." I said simply, my voice at a higher volume than before in an effort to stir her.

She didn't respond, either still being asleep or purposely ignoring me. Rolling my eyes, I started to shake her even more, putting my other arm on her and talking even louder. "Chrysalis. Come on. Get up."

Still no response. Yeah, I definitely thought she was ignoring me. I groaned in annoyance and crossed my arms as I looked to her.

I wondered if she was angry about how I told her that she had to eat. I mean, sure, I didn't like the way I went about it either, but it was necessary. She had no reason to be mad, especially when I was doing it for her own good.

Those were my thoughts at the time...

Narrowing my eyes, I decided to see just just how far she was willing to take this little game of hers, a smirk forming on my face as an idea came to mind. "Alright Chrysalis, have it your way. But, if you don't 'wake up' with my approach, I'm sure Nightmare Moon would be more than willing to try hers."

At the mention of this, Nightmare Moon made her way next to me in what seemed like an instant, a smirk of her own on her face and an odd glint in her eyes. "Oh, why of course we would, Sir Jeremy."

At Nightmare Moon's willingness, I gave a smile, looking to Chrysalis again before I gave her one last warning. "Your choice Chrysalis. Either you get up, or Nightmare Moon 'wakes you up'."

Stubborn to the end though, Chrysalis still didn't respond. From what I could tell, she was dead set on doing this. Letting out a sigh, I gave Nightmare Moon a nod. A smile popped on her face and a glow to her horn as the familiar scene of a glass of water being transmuted above Chrysalis appeared before me.

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." And with that, Nightmare Moon flipped the glass over in her magical grasp, the water rushing out as it was pulled down by gravity before ultimately splashing all over Chrysalis.

I flinched back as a small amount of the water splashed onto me, sending a chill through me as I noticed how cold it was.

It wasn't hard to guess why it bothered her so much.

"There. You gonna get up now?"

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is where I came to a horrifying realization. One that brought more of a chill to my blood than even that small splash of water did. She didn't even flinch. The only thing I heard was the sound of water dripping off of her and the coach. Nothing else from her. Not even a peep.

"... Chrysalis?" I looked to Nightmare Moon who gave me a shrug as she glanced between Chrysalis and I. "Chrysalis, come on. I think you proved your point..."

Putting my hand on her again, I started shaking her once more. "Chrysalis... Chrysalis?" As I was shaking her, I accidentally leaned her too far back, unable to react in time as she fell from the couch to the floor. She didn't move her arms out to stop herself. She didn't move herself back. She didn't even try to get back up. She just... went limp.

"Chrysalis?!" I kneeled down next to her started to shake her even more roughly, waiting for her to respond in some way. Even Nightmare Moon seemed be concerned at this point, looking to Chrysalis as similarly as I did. "Chrysalis, come on, this isn't funny!"

Grabbing hold of her, I moved Chrysalis onto her side, finally allowing me to get a look at her face. As I did though, I felt my stomach drop, just barely hearing Nightmare Moon as she gave a gasp at the blatantly obvious, and alarm worthy, feature that had appeared on Chrysalis. A large crack, similar to the one on her chitin, had spread from her upper chest up to her face, splitting as it reached her eye, before ending near her ear and maw.

"Chrysalis!"

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It took me forever to get there.

My wings felt exhausted from the trip and that snack that I had bought hadn't exactly lasted long. I swore that when I saw Jeremy, he had better have been grateful for what I doing just to come visit him.

Then again, he'd always been glad to see me. Hmph, and why wouldn't he be? When he's friend with one of the cooler fliers in Equestria, and back home, I'd say that he should count himself lucky. Heh.

Anyhow, looking down as the huge white city finally came into view below, the castle easily towering over everything else, I felt a smile wring its way out of me as I pulled my wings down and put myself into a downwards tilt. I was already looking forwards to hangin' around with my old pal again.

Mess with some ponies, relax a bit, the usual business with the two of us. At least, before that zebra -- which at the time I was having some trouble remembering the name of. Heck, I'm pretty sure I thought it was 'Zecorna' at one point. Whatever - would end up telling him that it was time to call it a night. She'd always say that the animals in the Everfree would start to get more aggressive, or some stuff like that, at night. And I'd always tell her, 'Yeah, I know. Isn't that awesome?'

Course, she never really went for it. Always ending up convincing Jeremy to go get some sleep anyhow.

Now though, things were different. Last I had heard, he had gotten some work there at Canterlot, at some company called 'Hooves and Elbow Grease', along with his own place. When I had first heard this, I wanted to go visit him. Check out how he was doin' and maybe congratulate the sap, but I couldn't. I still had more to do, more to see before I could do that.

Now though, I had given myself a sort of vacation. Ya get tired of seeing new things, ya know? And sometimes, you just wanna appreciate the old.

I squinted as I noticed that there weren't any clear places for me to land. Even at this time of night, tons of those snobby ponies were everywhere. I gave a groan as I decided to just find that company that Jeremy was working in first. Then I'd deal with finding a place to land.

As to why I needed to go to his workplace? Well, I didn't really know where he lived, so much as where I thought he might live.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Look loser, the company was open 24 hours. I'd figure something out. Plus, if I had to wait even a second in that uptight place more than I had to, I think that I would have hurled.

Come to think of it, that might have been funny if I managed to do it from high enough and hit somepony...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Chrysalis! Wake up! Chrysalis!" I kept on shaking her as I yelled her name. Whatever idea I had towards being quiet was way in the back of my mind as I tried to get her to at least open her eyes/

I could tell she was still alive, thankfully, from the fact that she was still breathing. Still, it was faint, which didnt exactly help my nerves. Nightmare Moon, who had taken a position to Chrysalis' other side, put her hooves against me, her magic enveloping my arms and hands as she began to push me back despite my resistance.

"Sir Jeremy, you must cease!"

"What? Why the fuck would I stop? Chrysalis. Isn't. Moving! I can't just do nothing!" Nightmare Moon continued to push me away using her hooves and magic despite my protest, looking me dead in the eyes and narrowing her own.

"No, but what you are currently doing may as well be!" I froze as she said this, taking in a half breath while Nightmare Moon, seemingly satisfied with the distance she had put me at, released her magical grip on me. I didn't move an inch. "We will attempt to assess what the current issue at hoof is. In the meantime, Sir Jeremy, we wish for you to be calm! We can understand if ye are worried for her well being," she said, gesturing to Chrysalis, "but you mustn't allow yourself to fall into a panic!"

She was right, of course. I needed to calm down.

I nodded, albeit a little slowly, amd started to take in a few deep breaths, desperately trying to keep myself calm. Nightmare Moon seemed to gesture me through this, eventually giving me a nod as she decided me placid enough before shifting her attention to Chrysalis.

Her horn started to shimmer, soon followed by Chrysalis, as she began her ministrations. I hoped desperately that whatever was wrong with Chrysalis she'd find it and we could fix it, fast!

At that moment though, as I was finally able to put my breathing down in its pace, the sound of a squeaking door behind me quickly drew my attention. Halfy was at the stairway door, likely having been awoken from the noise we - more specifically I - had made when we realized that Chrysalis was unconscious. She was rubbing her eye, apparently not having noticed the scene before her yet, and letting out a yawn as she started to inquire as to what the ruckus was all about.

"What's going o-" That was as far as she got before she let out a gasp as she saw that Chrysalis was on the floor. Her eyes darted between her, Nightmare Moon, and I before she quickly ran her way over to us. Any signs of her exhaustion she had were shoved away in an instant. "W-what happened?!"

"We're not sure." I said, glancing to Chrysalis' closed eyes for a moment and giving a grimace. "She hasn't woken up yet, no matter what we've tried, and now there's another crack on her exoskeleton that's even bigger than the last one!" As I explained this, Halfy looked between Nightmare Moon and I, looking for some sort of explanation.

"H-how did this happen?" She asked. I shrugged, momentarily biting on the inside of my cheek as I looked to her.

"No idea. Nightmare Moon's trying to find out what the problem is now."

"How long will that take?" Before I could answer, Nightmare Moon intervened.

"No longer. We have found the issue." She said, her eyes, which had been previously closed in her focus, opening as she looked to us.

Well timed as per usual.

We returned the gaze intently, desperately wanting to know what she had seen. "And?" I asked. Her eyes seemed to narrow at this.

"Her energy levels have reached a dangerously low status. Even lower than when Miss Zecora had examined her." My and Halfy's eyes widened in disbelief at this. I was barely able to talk as I fumbled with my words.

"Wha- Bu- There's no way! How could her energy have gotten even lower? She hasn't moved from that couch since we first got here! I even fed her and everything on that... couch..." And slow realization came to mind. It was like a spider, creeping up around the back of my head, just barely making itself known as it silently stalked up my brain stem.

I didn't say a word as I made my way to the couch. I didn't say a word as I barely noticed the odd smell that emanated from cushions Chrysalis had been laying on. I didn't say a word when I lifted the cushion.

But when I saw a plates worth of there, crushed by the cushion as well as the weight of Chrysalis; The same food that I had given her yesterday, and had thought that she had eaten?

At that point, I most definitely said something.

"... MOTHER FU-"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I pushed open the door to the company building that I had found among the many others of this town, I was barely able to duck as a wooden chair flew over me, barely avoiding getting a nasty bruise. I looked to the unicorn who was running after it with a glare, his horn glowing the same color as the chair as I quickly realized it was them that had very nearly clubbed me upside the head.

"Hey, watch it!" I yelled after him, scoffing as he ran his way around the corner and out of my sight. Lucky him too. Otherwise, I'd have had to kick some flank.

I shook my head as I made my way into the main room of the building. Two weird lookin ponies stood at the center of the room, a big blue piece of paper in front of the them while they looked it over. How one of them was able to see it so clearly considering he had sunglasses on indoors though, I'd never know.

I figured that they may be able to help me out there, seeing as they seemed more or less important, and made my way towards the two before loudly clearing my throat. They didn't seem to notice me though, which was dumb. So I cleared my throat again. Louder.

Their ears twitched, almost at the same time, as they turned away from the paper and looked to me, their eyes wide in surprise.

"Hey," I said coolly, "either of you two know where the boss around here is?" The two blinked at me for a moment before looking to each other, smiling and chuckling as they completely turned themselves to me. The blue paper behind them magically rolled up as they did.

"Top Suit and Even Out at your service, ma'am." Said the pony in sunglasses. I clicked my tongue against the inside of my beak at this, recognizing their names from what I read in a letter Jeremy had sent me once.

These were his bosses? I mean, c'mon, no wonder they hired him. These two didn't look like they could even build a birdhouse, let alone an actual building.

"... Yeahhhhh. Hey to you too."

"Is there anything we can help you with?" This time, it was the other pony that had spoken up.

"Not much. I'm not really looking to make a new home, or anything like that. What I am looking for though is a friend of mine. I heard that he works here."

The two's brows rose at this, the stupid smiles on their faces not even moving as they looked to me. "Oh? Well, I'm sure that we can help. Who are you looking for? We can try call them here as soon as possible, if you like."

Ugh. Seriously, this whole 'professional business nice guy' thing was obnoxious. And yeah, I could recognize it. You get scammed by enough folk while you're flying through minotaur country, you end up picking up on it a bit.

"He shouldn't be too hard to find. You know, big guy, walks on two legs, no fur?" Their eyes widened at this, and finally the smiles on their faces left. They didn't say anything though, which made me wonder if they had heard me or not. Or, just maybe, they somehow hadn't pieced together what I had talked about yet. Guess I can't say that I'd put it past 'em. "His name's Jeremy?" I offered, hoping that the two would finally be able to piece it together. If not, then I seriously doubt that I'll ever be hiring them if I ever want to settle down somewhere. "Well, is he here, or not?"

The two looked to each other again, this time looking nervous. "Uh, yes ma'am. Jeremy... did used to work here..."

The phrase 'used to' raised a lot of flags.

"What do you mean, 'used to'?" I asked, squinting as I looked at them.

"Um... Ma'am, we're sorry to tell you, but... Jeremy's... gone." The other pony looked down as he said this, drawing a raised eye from me.

"Gone?" I repeated, still not sure as to what they were talking about.

"He... passed away some time ago, ma'am... in a building fire." There was a second or two where I didn't say anything. I just kind of looked at the two, my brain going funky as what they said repeated over and over again.

But then I chuckled, much to their surprise.

"Heh. Funny. You almost got me there." I admitted, chuckling again as I replayed what they said in my mind for the umpteenth time. Their eyes widened as I said this, the two deciding to keep on with this joke of theirs a little longer.

"Ma'am, this isn't a joke. Jeremy died in a building fire months ago. That's why we're rebuilding the place now, in fact." Now I started to laugh, the 'statement' sounding even funnier the second time.

"Oho. Stop! You're killing me- Ha!"

"Ma'am, this is serious! We-" I stopped the two here, waving at them to be quiet for a moment as I wiped a tear that had built up from how hard I laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever." Turning away from them, I started to make my way out of the building again, having given up in asking them. I figured they pretty clearly didn't have what I was looking for. "You two keep on with that joke of yours all you like, but there's no way that Jeremy just up and died like that without me hearing about it!"

Seriously though, how dumb did they think I was? Did they really think that if Jeremy, the only human in all of Equestria, died, that no-one would know about it? Like, at all? C'mon, that's just stupid.

It would have been front page news for months where I had gone.

Anyways, if they weren't gonna help me out, I was sure that there was still a certain somepony else who would be more than willing. Provided she didn't try to kick me out again. And let me tell you, that zebra can kick.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"SHE DIDN'T EAT! IS SHE NUT- No, let me rephrase that, she IS nuts! OF ALL THE STUPID, STUBBORN, AND HEAD-IN-OWN-ASSIEST THINGS, I JUST-... FUCK!" As I gave up with my momentary rant, having just sworn enough times to make a sailor ask me to wash my mouth out, I looked to Nightmare Moon and Halfy. The two were currently looking to me with a more than a little surprise, likely not having expected that kind of outburst from me.

I hadn't really expected it either. Kinda just... happened.

What did they expect though? This wasn't exactly the least frustrating thing that I've ever seen! The one time that she should listen to me the most and she just shrugged it off! And now she was unconscious! And... And... God damn it I get pissed off just thinking about it.

"... So what do we do?" I asked the two, hoping for them to have some sorts of options. Unfortunately though, they didn't, instead just silently glancing to one another, before returning their gazes to me.

So what the hell were we supposed to do? If we didn't act soon, Chrysalis might have... couldn't have gone this far just to lose it all now all because she wouldn't eat!

... And as those thoughts echoed through my head, alongside a bunch of others that didnt really seem to make sense at the time, I paid closer attention to them.

'All because she wouldn't eat'. That was it. That was what I had to do. Give her something to eat. Ah jesus christ, I can still remember how quickly I went from happy I was from figuring it out to the absolute dread I got.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes as I relayed this to Nightmare Moon and Halfy.

"... I've got an idea." I practically mumbled. This drew the attention of the two other mares in the room.

"What have ye formulated, Sir Jeremy?" Nightmare Moon asked, shortly followed by Halfy.

"Y-yeah. What did you think of?" As the two asked this, I felt myself flinch. Nonetheless, I made my way towards the two and Chrysalis, sitting myself in front of the unconscious changeling. I gulped a mouthful of spit as I looked down to her and took in a breath.

"... Alright, so three things, before I do what I'm about to do." Nightmare Moon and Halfy nodded as I held out a finger for each thing I mentioned. "One, this is only a guess that it'll work. If not... well, I'm sure you two can piece that together." They visibly cringed as I said this, but they nodded nonetheless.

"Two, I'm not sure how she'll... react to this once she wakes up, if it even works that is. So, no matter what, I want the two of you to stay back and let me handle it." Halfy nodded again within an instant, standing from her position next to Chrysalis and taking a few steps back. Nightmare Moon, however, seemed more hesitant. She shared a glance with me before, though reluctantly, she shook her head as well and followed shortly after Halfy.

"Finally... Three..." As I said this, I gave a glance to Chrysalis, blood starting to rush to my cheeks as I once again mentally went over what I was about to do. "If Zecora asks about this, please help me limit the amount of teasing she gives."

The two looked to me oddly, obviously unsure as to what I meant, but they nodded nonetheless. That gave me the final signal that I needed. I nodded to myself as well before I carefully reached for Chrysalis' head. I gripped it carefully and pulled it's weight upwards.

A small part of me noticed just how surprisingly soothing it was to the touch, and unique. Some parts of her chitin here were obviously just a bit softer and more malleable, likely to allow her facial movement in a wider range.

I struggled slightly, but eventually I got her to eye level with me. I looked at her closed and sickly eyes before letting out a mental sigh...

One thought came to mind. Only one.

"If this worked, you absolutely owe me one."

And with that, I clenched my eyes shut and mashed our lips together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a while, I thought I had dozed off again.

Empresses above, I felt just awful.

It was cold. Colder than even the crystal empire had ever been. My stomach hurt, as though I were being jabbed over and over again by a sharp rock.

It felt as though I was eating myself inside out. I wanted to move, to scream out my discomfort and anger, but I couldn't.

This was wrong. I'm a queen for goodness sake. I couldn't let myself show such weakness. But I felt so tired, and that cold that surrounded me was starting to feel so comforting.

For a moment, I was tempted to just let myself get some more rest.

... Then I felt something. It was faint, but it was so warm and delicious.

I could feel it. Every second it was there, it only became warmer and warmer.

I recognized this taste by now, though barely. It was love. I questioned it, but I was so much more focused on getting more of this that I just didn't care.

I could already feel my strength returning. Even more than before, in fact. I didn't want it to end. I could practically feel myself begging for it to keep going.

Me. Begging. That's how wonderful it was.

And as I felt the warm, flowing energy of love fill my body, I shuddered. My muscles started to respond to me again, along with more and more parts of my body. Eventually, I started to feel again. More importantly, I could feel the love I was absorbing.

It was so pure and untampered. Not like the lust that I would often have gotten mixed in with that of stallions, or, on occasion, mares, but pure love. The kind a pony would give a cared one or even a close personal belonging.

I could start to feel emotion around me once more and it felt phenominal to say the least. I could sense three beings around me. Two of them displayed large amounts of shock, surprise, and, oddly enough, a notable tinge of jealousy from one. The other? Their emotions were an absolute mess. They were all jumbled up, as if a foal had attempted to draw with crayon for the first time.

The warmth from before was starting to centralize in front of me. My power was growing, greatly, and I was more than happy to receive it. It was at this point though that I realized that my eyes were still closed. As much as I wanted to focus on this amazing sensation, and nothing more, I found myself wanting to see where it was coming from.

So, I let out a small, barely noticeable breath through my nose, mostly since my mouth wouldn't respond. Then, I slowly began to open my eyes.

The sight before me was... ~~wonderful~~. ~~Interesting~~.

Unexpected. You hear me? Unexpected.

My eyes widened as I caught sight of the human, Jeremy. His face was no more than centimeters from mine, his eyes clenched shut and a large shade of red spread throughout his entire face. Something more was happening though. Something that, despite my best attempts to make myself think would be otherwise, I knew was occurring.

His hands were holding onto my head, carefully keeping me up as I felt a warmth against my lips. His.

Without even a second thought, I felt my eyes narrow as a strong amount of magic flowed to my horn, surrounding him and, within seconds, pushing him away from me. I pinned him to the ceiling. As I did, he let out a grunt, both from surprise and from the impact as I stood from where I had been and desperately tried to wipe my mouth off with my hoof. Whatever remained.

"What are you doing?!" I interrogated, narrowing my eyes as I looked up to him. To say that I was absolutely furious would be an understatement.

"Oh... You know... saving your life... being painfully crushed into a ceiling... Prioritize whichever you like?" Narrowing my eyes even further, I let out a growl as I eased on the force I used behind my magic. Jeremy quickly let out a sigh as I did so. "Great, thanks." He said, opening his eyes as he looked down to me. "Now, if we could just- Nightmare Moon, I said to let me handle it!" He suddenly exclaimed.

Raising a brow at this, I suddenly became aware of the protective sense of anger behind me, turning my head as I quickly caught sight of a narrow eyed shadow alicorn. Her horn glowed eerily, threateningly, as she pointed it towards me. Furthermore, her wings were flared to their full length. "Sir Jeremy, she is harming you! We cannot allow for this to-"

"She just woke up to an... awkward situation, Nightmare Moon. Just let me explain this to her, and everything will be fine." Nightmare Moon continued her display for a short while longer, her mental conflict being clear to me before, with a sigh, she dropped her stance. There was a sense of bitterness about her as she did so. The other mare, Halfy, was just looking on with concern now, a sense of relief flowing through her as well.

Turning back to Jeremy, I sat myself down, still not yet allowing him to the ground as I glared to him. "... This had better be good."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... And that's what happened." As I finished explaining this to her, the red that had long been on my face now finally faded. The same had happened with the faint shade that had been on hers, but I wasnt exactly inclined to tell her about it at the moment, was I? She looked to me silently, not seeming to know what to say as she instead just kept me stapled to the ceiling, her jagged horn glowing a green and black magical energy.

It was a little bitter-sweet to see the she had her magic back along with, what I could only assumed, would likely be her other abilities. For instance, having her magic back? Good. Figuring that out by using it on me? Not so good. Being able to sense emotions and lies again? Both good, and bad. Mostly bad for me though. Even the cracks in her exoskeleton had started to close up.

"... So, are you gonna let me down, or..." I trailed off here, Chrysalis looking to me with narrowed eyes as I said this.

"So you weren't doing that because of how 'helpless' I was?" She asked, myself having to carefully think that one through.

"... That sounds like a loaded question." She let out a growl at this. "Look, Chrysalis, I was only doing it so I could help you, I swear. You should get that I'm telling the truth by now. You can check if you want!" Chrysalis continued to keep me where I was, glaring at me for another moment before, with a groan, she lowered me back down. And by that I mean she floated me over the couch and let me fall.

Before I could drop even a couple of inches though, I felt one magical grip be released from me before I was then held by another. The latter of the two lowered me slowly to the ground until I managed to get to my feet. Glancing around the room, I noticed that Nightmare Moon's horn was glowing and gave her a thankful nod, to which she responded with a curt nod of her own.

"Let me make this clear to you..." I turned to where Chrysalis' voice came from only to see that she was a few inches away from me. A sight that, concerningly, I was now a bit more familiar with. I leaned myself back slightly to gain some distance from her. "Don't ever do something like that, without my permission, again! Otherwise, there will be an issue. Understood?"

Not really much of a thank you ,but hey, at least she was alright.

Course, its not like I didn't notice what she said.

"Without your permission? The hell does that mea-"

"It means that, despite my disgust, I did still manage to feed once again. And, to put it frankly, there is no way I am going to starve myself from it again." It wasn't hard to figure out what she was implying. And by the looks of it, Nightmare Moon and Halfy had figured it out too.

"So... So basically... I'm going to have to feed you from now on? Really?"

"Oh, so the human has a brain after all." She said sarcastically. "Also, I've got a lot of catching up to do in our arguments. Especially now that I have most my strength back. So, don't expect it to be easy anymore."

That I was actually fine with. A smirk came to my face as she said this. I guess I ended up finding the ridiculous of the whole situation to be funny? I crossed my arms and chuckled, trying to follow after her.

"Oh, believe me, it is on. I've already got some ide-" My eyes widened as everything in me just... shut down for a moment, is the best way I could describe it. I stumbled, barely able to catch myself before an extremely powerful dizzy spell that came like a punch to the face. I kneeled on the ground, my breath suddenly shallow and my mind feeling misty.

"Sir Jeremy!" I heard Nightmare Moon call out as she made her way next to me, her hooves clopping against the floor as she did so. I felt one of her forehooves and wings place themselves on my back as she sat herself down next to me, her other in front of me as she helped me keep balance.

Halfy came soon after, looking directly at me, her eye full of concerns. "A-are you okay?" She asked. I gave a small nod, just barely managing to give an answer through my labored pants.

"Y-yeah... Just... really dizzy for some... reason." Through my breaths, and the loud sound of my heart beating against my ears, I heard Chrysalis hum as she looked to me.

"Well, what did you expect. Absorbing one's love isn't exactly pleasant for those who it's used on." I noticed Nightmare Moon move her gaze to Chrysalis, giving her a sharp glare. "Oh relax. He'll be fine in a few short moments. Until then... why don't you clean the floor while you're down there?"

Chuckling, I looked up to her with a smirk. "Sure... Just as soon as you... clean up the mess you left behind on the couch..." Her eyes narrowed as I said this, herself seeming rather annoyed. "And I'd get to it too... I think those berries are starting to go bad... Heh"

Seriously, I felt absolutely terrible. It didnt help that my heart was beating so fast. Problem was though, I wasn't exactly sure if it was because of how tired I suddenly was or... something else.

Chapter 17: Taking Fault Where Fault Is Due [Here Again]

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It was, by my guess, a little bit over 10 minutes before all that sudden fatigue let me breathe normally again. And even then, I was still a bit wobbly when it came to standing on my own. That drain of Chrysalis' meant business, to say the least. I had known what I'd been getting myself into when I did what I did, but damn if I couldn't use a break afterwards.

Even when I had been able to stand myself back up and tell everyone that I was okay, Nightmare Moon had, without a word, enveloped me in her magic. She lifted me from the ground, which I helplessly flailed and spoke against, before she then moved me over to the couch and sat me next to Chrysalis. With a notable distance between the two of us, of course.

Chrysalis, naturally, didnt seem to be too particularly pleased by my sitting next to her, but she didn't really complain too much.

Halfy, in the meantime, had made her way back upstairs after some urging by Nightmare Moon and I to get the sleep she needed. Then, not long after the sound of Halfy's bedroom door closing reached the three of us, Nightmare Moon spoke up out of the blue. She had said that 'she was going to get some air'. All things considered, that didnt seem to strange. A lot had happened, after all. What was really strange was how she said it. I couldnt put my finger on it at the time, but something about it just seemed off.

I decided against asking her about it though. Instead I just asked that she be careful. She sent a curt nod in my direction in response before, with a breath, she made her way outside.

As the door closed behind her, I gave out a sigh.

I had just been left alone in the same room with someone who both loathed me and that I had just kissed. There's a terrible joke there about unhappy marriages, but frankly I think its a bit tasteless.

"..."

"... So-"

"We aren't talking about it."

"Okay, thank god!" Not much of a talk, I know, but it was better than nothing. Besides, the less that she and I mentioned that kiss until her next 'feeding' the better. Unfortunately though, that only brought a very good question to my mind.

"... Actually, as much as I would like to leave the whole thing behind, I still have to ask. How long until we need to do... that, again?" I glanced over to her with what I could only assume was a shade of red on my face. She, in return, looked to me with a face that absolutely screamed 'really?' Nonetheless, she let out a short, almost reluctant, sigh.

"The love that I drained from you should be able to last me for some time. A few days, at the most." I breathed another sigh of relief. "... though..." Only to quickly suck it back in and hold it at gunpoint.

I turned to face her directly, bracing myself for the worst as I wondered what else she might have to add on to the conversation. Rather than her talking, however, I was faced with her giving me a concerning smirk.

Her horn began to glow it's eerie green aura. Along with that, I heard a familiar sound come from above me. The same that I often heard whenever Nightmare Moon would cast a certain spell.

I knew what was coming well in advance.

With a grunt, I loathingly accepted my fate. The sound of Chryalis' vengeful and smug chuckling was drowned out - quite literally - by the sound of splashing water. It took all of a millisecond before my body reacted to the sound and feeling. An involuntary gasp escaped me as I was suddenly soaked to the skin. My clothing and the bandages over my torso were suddenly heavy with freezing cold water. I could faintly hear the sound of a glass cup falling and bouncing off the floor in the background, but it was of little importance to me at the time.

"Since I still have so much to get back at you and Nightmare Moon for, I may need to be fed even sooner than that. If I want to keep my magic going, that is." She finally added onto her previously hanging sentence. I flicked off whatever water hung along both my hair and face before wringing out my jacket.

"... Great." I paused to clear some of the stray water our of my eyes. "Anything else you'd like to try the- Jesus!"

The close up view of a Timber Wolf that met me caught me by more than a little surprise. I scrambled back on the couch, tumbling off of it with a flail. Had I been a spectator of the whole thing, I admit it probably would have at least looked a bit funny. As the participant though? Nah, not so much.

What with my face now firmly planted on the ground, I could only give out a groan as I was able to easily hear the boisterous laughter of Chrysalis. It wasn't hard to guess what had just happened. Sure enough, as I picked myself up from the ground and looked to the couch, I caught sight of a chortling 'Timber Wolf'.

"Was that both necessary?" I asked. The wooden canine, in turn, quieted its laughter, turning to me and showing an expression of 'innocence'.

"Oh, I don't know, why don't you tell me." It was a little odd to see the wolf talking, let alone with Chrysalis' voice. Small detail, I know, but its not everyday that you would have seen a talking animal.

... Actually in hindsight, I should have been a lot more used to that concept.

I rose my brow at her, completely clueless as to what she was getting at. She seemed to notice this - easily, might I add - likely due to the fact that she was able to read emotions again. Her eyes took a serious turn as she now, in her transformed state, began to give me a glare.

I crossed my arms as I hazarded a guess.

"... Riding on your back?" She shook her head, her glare still unwavering. "Having Nightmare Moon threaten you with glasses of water?" She paused for a moment, seeming to consider it, but shook her head again. "When I pushed you off of the couch while you were unconscious?" She blinked at that one.

"When you wha-"

"Nothing!" Yeah, really didnt want to give her more to be angry about. "Alright, I give up. What?"

Her canine eyes showed no give as she continued to glare at me before she stood herself up on the couch. Her feet tamped almost menacingly beneath her as she closed the distance between us.

"Lets see... Oh! Maybe, it had to do with how you treated me last night!" She was just barely able to stop herself from shouting at the end. I can only guess that she kept her voice low enough because she remembered that Halfy was still sleeping just upstairs, but that just a guess. As for me? I didn't say anything. I just stared at her blankly. She took exception to that.

"Oh don't pretend you don't remember! 'Chrysalis, so help me god, if that plate isn't empty by the time Nightmare Moon, Halfy, and I get back, I'll have Nightmare Moon shove it down your throat!' Those were your exact words!" Her voice shined for a moment as she said this. Rather than her voice coming out of the body of a Timber Wolf, I instead heard a perfect mimicry of my own as she quoted me. It was a bit exaggerated in some parts, but still pretty spot on.

"Ah. That." I replied simply.

There was a moment of silence. Of pure, unmotivated, tense silence. I could hear Chrysalis let out a snort as she continued to glare at me.

"... Well?" This time it was my turn to glare.

"No." It was just a moment, but I was sure of it. I could a face of pure shock and absolute surprise that she had never had before. One that I could only describe as so flummoxed, it was as if I had told her that I had secretly been a sentient bush from the mystical land of Druidia.

"Pardon-"

"I am not going to apologize for that." It was apparently my turn to stand at this point. Looking back, I don't even remember when I did stand up, I just... did.

I looked her eye to eye, her Timber Wolf form standing on the couch just about at the same height as me while I stood on the floor.

"I've apologized to you for a lot of things. And I'll probably apologize for a lot more in the future. That's just who I am, sorry to say. Hell, I'm even willing to apologize for how I had to talk to you yesterday. But I will not apologize for saying it at all." I took a step closer to her and leaned down ever so slightly. My throat felt like something was clawing at it, but I knew I had to get this out. "Do you know what I felt when I saw that crack on your exoskeleton? Hm? Up until that moment, a part of me was always aware you were starving. It was always there gnawing at the back of my mind. Like a feeling that just wouldn't go away. But it wasn't until I saw that crack that I really realized it."

"Realized what?"

"That you were dying. That one of the only people I had to talk to, that understood what I felt being alone, that I actually gave a shit about beyond just a passing glance and a friendly nod was dying."

"I am not a foal. I am a-"

"A queen. I get it!" My hands flew up above me in frustration. " But guess what, in the same way that I don't care about what the princesses are, I don't care about what you are. I only see you as one thing god damn it, and I wasnt about to let you die because you were so prideful."

"And what," she growled, her head butting against mine and the teeth made of splinters and thorn she held bared themselves, "is it that you are so keen to see me as?!"

I couldn't help but to roll my eyes. I just couldn't understand how it wasn't obvious at this point.

I took in a lungful of air through my nose and laid it out as clearly as I could.

"My friend."

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... There was nothing but sincerity.

That was all Chrysalis could see as she silently watched Jeremy stand up against her. A solid, pure, near impenetrable aura of truth. Something that, to Chrysalis, seemed almost difficult, to comprehend.

She was mad at him, of course... but... In the back of her mind, she knew it. He did help her. And everything he had done up until now had been exclusively for that. 'Maybe she was getting soft', she wondered. 'Maybe feeding off of love after so long had made her feel more vulnerable'. She made so many thoughts that all bounced around her head as she heard that word again and again and again.

'Friend'. Spoken with true sincerity. Stated so simply and clearly, as though it had been obvious. He had said that word to describe them before. A part of it could somewhat remember that. Yet, she never recalled it being stated so directly to her.

Were it not for the fact that it would show weakness, she would have looked away from him at this moment.

"... You're lucky..." She finally said, breaking the momentary silence. She stepped backwards away from him and into the sofa, allowing her currently lupine form to sit once more.

"In any other regard, I would likely hold a grudge. Considering the fact that you did play a part in returning my powers to me though. I suppose I'll forgive you." It wasn't hard for Chrysalis to spot Jeremy as scoffed at this, but he held a smirk nonetheless.

"... Right. Sure, however you want to phrase it I guess."

"You know, this actually is one of the few times that I'm not thinking of claiming my recompense from you. You should be pleased." She narrowed her eyes for a moment again. "Nightmare Moon is free game, however."

A chortle came from Chrysalis' side, as well as the sensation of the sofa shifting underneath the weight of someone else.

"Noted. Though, if you're going to do that, you may want to start by changing yourself out of that form before Nightmare Moon comes back. Otherwise, you're gonna end up being firewood." What slightly surprised Jeremy then was that, for what seemed like the first time, she outright laughed at his joke. Not a withheld chuckle, or a sarcastic chortle, but an actual laugh.

One that, in the end, he ended up joining her in.

Chapter 18: A Friend's Troubles [Here Again]

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This was... a pleasant change of pace. Look, it wasn't often that Chrysalis would be in a good mood. I think that's obvious by now. On the few occasions that she would have a less negative attitude though? It would always be pleasant. Very pleasant. I'm sure at one point I would have wondered why I always thought that way before, but now?

Meh, I guess it doesn't really matter. Besides, something I was more focused on at the moment, aside from the currently good-natured Chrysalis, was the seemingly opposite natured Nightmare Moon who had come back from her time outside a few short moments ago.

For some reason, she still seemed off when she had come back. She barely offered so much as a glance in my direction, and when she did I saw another illegible glint in her eyes.

Nightmare Moon sat down further than usual from the couch. She chose to seek out one of the corners of the room before laying herself down and quietly bringing her eyes to a close save for a single sigh that escaped her.

Chrysalis and I were curious, to say the least. Well, really, I was more concerned. Very much so, at that. This night had been crazy enough. This would only add to it. More stress that would need to be resolved. It felt a little like I was letting the air out of an overly filled balloon that had needles all around it. One wrong step and, rather than a safe defusal of the situation, we would instead get a metaphorical 'pop'.

"...Chrysalis? You there?" A small - actually it was pretty big - part of me was praying to whatever force was watching over me that Nightmare Moon wasn't overhearing the mental message I attempted to send. She was the one who made this link between the three of us in the first place. I wasn't particularly sure of its functions or limitations. That included whether I could speak strictly with one of the two or not.

I got my answer quickly.

"Before you say anything, let me take a guess... This is about the shadow alicorn, isn't it?" Her mental tone was both knowing and exasperated, which made the small sense of victory I felt for having pulled off a private mental link slightly bitter.

"IPretty obvious, huh?" I asked, glancing to her with a raised brow. She looked to me similarly.

"Think of it like this. I didn't even need to read your emotions to see your concern. By the way, you're oozing it." Not particularly useful information at the time, but I don't think it was meant to be. I know that it's impossible for me to hide my emotions from Chrysalis, but I really needed to learn how to at least do so physically.

"Can you blame me? This isn't like her. Though, I guess I can't say she hasn't acted like this before." I recalled some of the more recent times that she had gained a similar way of acting similar to this one, like when we were going to wake up Chrysalis before. I had pushed this matter aside, considering her business to simply be just that - her business - but now I was beginning to regret it.

"Oh? You don't say?" I rose a mental brow at this remark of Chrysalis.

"... Are you being sarcastic, or are you-"

"A little bit of both." She quickly answered, not even allowing me to finish my question. My brow rose even higher at this.

"ohhh...kay?" She had lost me completely.

"... You know, I have to ask, are you really that oblivious?" I should have not have justified that with a response.

"... I... don't know?" If I could go back and slap myself, I would. For several reasons.

Chrysalis sent me a vivid image of her slamming her hoof into her face, causing me to purse my lips. On another note, I now knew that I could apparently send images over that link. Which was handy.

"... Alright... I'll make this simple for you. From what I read from her emotions, though I doubt anypony would even need to do that to see it, she-"

"Dont!" I quickly stopped her there, practically jumping physically as I kept her from finishing her statement. She gave me a bemused look at this.

"Listen, I appreciate the gesture, but please don't tell me about another pony's emotions or thoughts. I find that to be more than a little bit invasive." She blinked as she deadpanned at me. "No offense inteded, obviously."

Surprisingly, outside of a bit of annoyance towards that comment of mine, she seemed rather understanding of my reasoning. For her, she was born and raised with the ability to read a person's emotion and the like. So she's used to seeing everyone's mind as if it were an open book. For me though, it's much more different. To suddenly have a sort of cipher to this sort of thing. It just felt wrong.

That is to say, I would not want to stifle Chrysalis' abilities because of this, but I simply would not like to use them in everyday circumstances. Sometimes when a person lies or keeps a secret, its for good reason. Believe me, I know.

"... I'll pretend I didn't hear that last part... But fine, I'll keep the emotion reading to myself, until it's needed." I gave her a thankful nod as I put my gaze forward. I quickly caught sight of and focused on the still impassive Nightmare Moon.

"... Maybe I should talk to her?" I said after a moment of quiet. "I mean, it wouldn't hurt to try, right?" Turning to Chrysalis, I expected some sort of answer to my question, be it honest or snide. Instead, however, I was met with a sleeping Chrysalis. And by that, I meant that she was obviously pretending to be asleep, what with the clearly forced breaths and the occasional yet purposeful peek she took through a crack in her eyelids "Gee, thanks." I remarked sarcastically. From her faux sleeping position, she shrugged her shoulders and smiled ever so slightly.

I stood myself up from the couch with a grunt, the bandages that were still around my body shifting slightly as I did so but thankfully not yet coming undone. They were just a bit uncomfortable from the more recent impromptu washing they had received, but I could grin and bare it.

I closed the distance between I and Nightmare Moon, which somehow felt as though I were walking down a long and ever-growing hall. Despite this sensation, I soon found myself to be in front of the prone alicorn what felt like far too soon.

I looked down to the her, crossing my arms and slightly leaning forward as I did so. She seemed to notice quickly, her previously closed eyes opening and slowly moving their gaze up to me before then turning away.

Again, I tried to open a mental link, this time with Nightmare Moon, as she continued to keep her sight away from me. "Nightmare Moon? You there?" I tentatively probed.

Now, one would wonder why I was using the mental link, rather than actually talking to her. Two reasons; One, Halfy was still sleeping, and I didn't want to risk waking her again. Two, and more importantly, I felt this had need of being private. Not just a preference, or want, but an absolute need. I feel like I had made the right call there.

A stressful silence filled my mind, along with the now blurring background, as she continued to look away. Finally though, seemingly giving into the fact that I very clearly wasn't leaving any time soon, I heard a familiar voice.

"...Yes, Sir Jeremy, we are here." That answer was less than optimal compared to what I was hoping for, but at least it was something. Her odd tone was still there though, nearly raising a flinch from me. I decided that I'd try to get on her level, literally speaking.

I sat myself down in front of her, crossing my legs and unconsciously noticing the difference in size between us again while I tried to meet her gaze. "Nightmare Moon... would you please look at me?" She silently resisted as she tucked herself closer to her center. Her body seemed like it was becoming even more closed off at my request. This was, of course, displeasing, but I continued on.

"Come on Nightmare Moon. It's obvious something's bothering you, and I want to help. To do that though, I at least need your attention." There was still no other reaction or semblance of a response from her. "... We both know I'm not leaving until you feel better."

In my attempts to gain her attention, and through an odd yearning in the back of my mind, I raised my hand to her. I followed a path that seemed clear to me at the moment, moving it over to her head and simply placing it down. I didn't mind, nor struggle, as her mane seemed to muddle around where my hand was near her horn and began to take hold of me. It was a much more gentle and almost fragile grasp than usual.

Nightmare Moon's eyes seemed to lower for a moment or two, seemingly without her volition. Then her eyes closed and her head moved further into my touch. It was another second or two of this silent contact between the two of us before I heard her give out a sigh and her eyes opened. Fortunately, they were now entirely on me.

I offered a small smile, hoping to slightly ease the obviously tense mood. Her own lips shifted at this at her own halfhearted attempt at returning the gesture. It barely lasted long enough to be noticed.

"There. Isn't that better?" Of course, I wasn't necessarily expecting a response to that nor did I receive one. I pushed myself to get to the topic at hand though. "Now, I'm not going to lie here Nightmare Moon, or even slightly sugarcoat it. I'm worried about you. A lot. And I want to know what has you acting like this." I told her in earnest.

"... We've... no idea what ye are referring towards, Sir Jeremy." I pursed my lips as she sent this mental message. I looked to her in a mix of skepticism and plead, the expression on my face making it clear that I didn't believe her and that I really wanted to help. Both she and her mane, which had tightened it's grip by a small amount, reacted to this. She gave out another sigh as she then reluctantly responded again.

"... How have ye said... 'It is personal'?" As she forced out this statement, looking to me for confirmation of her difficulty-riddled pronunciation, I definitely felt a part of me flinch. It wasnt exactly the best context for her to pick up on something I had said before.

Still, I couldn't really force her to talk about something she just didn't want to, just as she wasn't able to with me. I wouldn't push the matter further, but I certainly hoped that her mood would improve eventually. I gave her an understanding nod.

"... Alright. Just cheer up a little, okay? I don't like seeing you like this." Though it wasn't much, she did give me a nod in return.

As I made to remove my hand from her and return to my place on the couch so I could give her some space, she suddenly spoke up again.

"Sir Jeremy?" I paused, raising a questioning brow as I then responded with a mental hum. "... Forgive us for asking this, but... for what reason did ye commit your actions from earlier?" Once more within the span of an hour, I wasn't sure what I had apparently done.

"What do you mean?" I asked, hoping for some sort of clarification.

"When the changeling and you..." She trailed off here with a vague hoof gesture of hers. I blinked, though I could definitely feel the same warmth I had become way to accustomed with return to my ears.

"Er... Uh... Nightmare Moon, I did that because she was-"

"Ye misinterpret what we are attempting to relay." Yet again, I blinked. "What we are attempting to say is... how are ye able to commit such an act so easily, if she is not your lover?"

"I... just... did...?" Look, I've already established I'm not good under pressure. I already felt bad enough when I saw how disappointed she looked when I said it, I don't need you judging me too... "Nightmare Moon, I did what I did because Chrysalis is my friend. I was hesitant at first, that much is obvious, because I didn't want to invade her boundaries by doing... that." She seemed perplexed by this.

"How wouldst such a thing be an 'insult'?" Had I half a brain cell back then, I would have noticed what she actually meant. Instead, I assumed that she probably just meant how helping someone could be considered a bad thing.

"Its... hard to explain. Nonetheless, I did what I did because she is a friend and I wanted to help her. In the same way, I would do so for you." As I had told her this, my eyes had wandered a bit, glancing to the momentary subject of our talk, before then looking back to the ground. I could barely catch some red coming through the blacks and dark blues of the fur on her muzzle. I quickly realized what I had accidentally implied. "Uh... er... T-that is to say, that- Um... Eh-"

Before I could go on any further, thankfully, I was stopped as Nightmare Moon gave out a soft giggle. The giggle was more mental than physical, as she had her mouth partially covered with a hoof, but there was a smile I could see there nonetheless.

"We understand, Sir Jeremy, and we greatly appreciate your intention. In both regards." That last part was a little unclear to me but it was still very much a good thing to hear. I smiled just as she did, only barely giving notice to the snicker I heard from Chrysalis behind me.

It was so weird that so much had happened, yet the night had just barely started...

Chapter 19: Change And Weakness Go Hand In Hand [Here Again]

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"Sleep well, Sir Jeremy." Nightmare Moon told her friend, wishing him a good rest as he opened the stairway door. He glanced back at the three behind him for a short moment and gave them a small friendly smile before then disappearing from their sight behind the door.

To him, and the others, it had been a relatively tiring night what with all the excitement that had transpired earlier into it. The rest of the time they had spent awake had seemed to be nothing more than a dull passing of the hours, occasionally filled with short but pleasant conversations.

They had all but forgotten - at least, by what one could tell at a glance - of the earlier events that had transpired. The kiss, the grudges, the apologies. All of that had now seemed to be water under the bridge.

The moment that Jeremy had begun to feel tired though, he had decided that was that and excused himself to bed. He likely couldnt tell you if what he felt was emotional exhaustion or physical exhaustion, but that was hardly important. Now, Halfy, Nightmare Moon, and Chrysalis were left alone with no form of interaction other than with one another.

Considering the fact that it was often Jeremy that would bring about friendlier - or at least more tolerant - conversation with each other for them though, this proved to make things slightly more difficult.

After all, Nightmare Moon still wanted to involve herself in little to no way with Chrysalis, and vice versa. Halfy as well, while the other two admittedly held no quarrel with her, was often far too timid to begin conversation herself.

This, of course, led to a rather uncomfortable situation between the three as it had occasionally done in the nights prior. The three found themselves simply sat or laid in their respective areas of the living room, occasionally glancing to one another in shared silence.

"..."

"... Well, this certainly never gets anymore entertaining." Chrysalis commented, rolling her eyes as she stretched out one of her hind legs with a grunt.

Nightmare Moon did not respond to her, instead just looking to her with an already irritated glint in her eyes before then looking away again. As for Halfy, she gave a small though silent chuckle at this comment, in a way mentally agreeing with the statement.

"If thou art so very inconvenienced by thy current lack of activity, why not simply make use of our host's available literature?" Nightmare Moon half-asked half-sneered to the changeling, pointing towards the bookshelf that sat against the wall of the room with a barely raised forehoof.

Chrysalis gave a short growl at the alicorn, her teeth grinding slightly as she held back a comment that struggled to escape her. Truthfully, were it not for the fact that she had told Jeremy that she would not do so, Chrysalis would have brought up the book that held a story of Nightmare Moon that he had found in their earlier days here.

Though, a part of her did end up wondering why she even cared to keep her word on this for him. She had broken such 'promises' before, after all.

"As tempting as that is," she instead began snidely, "I'd rather just lay here for a while." Nightmare Moon audibly chuckled at this, drawing a questioning and almost scornful look from Chrysalis.

"As usual, mayhaps? Verily, we must wonder as to why thou art returned thine energy and strength if thou then dost not make use of it. A simple walk, even, would suffice for thine currently 'immobile' self's loss of gluttony... If only slight." Though Chrysalis understood her relatively easily, having lived for quite a span of time herself, she had for a moment almost understood what Nightmare Moon said as a roundabout way of calling her fat. She quickly realized that she had simply meant to call her lazy though.

"Magic and energy or not, I'd prefer not to walk out there, alone, during the night. In case you've forgotten with that precursor mindset of yours, we're still in the Everfree forest." Rather than take her seriously, Nightmare Moon once again rolled her eyes.

"Yes. Of course. 'Tis the more likely of reasonings." Though Chrysalis was unable to read Nightmare Moon's emotions or lies, due to the mental barrier she had put up again shortly after having realized that Chrsyalis had her powers back, she could easily detect the sarcasm in her voice.

"Alright, fine." She scoffed. "Halfy?" As she called out the mare's name, which rolled of her tongue oddly seeing as she had never before said it herself, the earth pony's eye momentarily widened before she quickly turned her head to the changeling. This had been the first time that she had directly interacted with her.

"Y-yes?" She asked, her ears raising in sudden attention.

"I'm going to need you to wake Nightmare Moon, Jeremy, and I up earlier. At least a little before the sun sets. The sooner that I can prove this alicorn wrong, the better." She said in a decisive and commanding tone, even though the scene only drew a withheld laugh from Nightmare Moon. To see Chrysalis take such a comment to heart like this, despite her ability to take much more from Jeremy during their arguments; It was both uncharacteristic and comical at the same time.

Despite this, however, Nightmare Moon did see an issue with this. A rather large one, at that. At least, in her opinion.

"Pray tell, for what reason must thou include Sir Jeremy and we in this foolish insistence of thine? Surely, neither of us have any interest of awaking during the active day, if even during it's fading." Though Nightmare Moon was amused by Chrysalis' behavior, she really did not feel the need to be awoken during her 'sister's' day in any way, shape, or form. Not when the night continued to provide her strength and display her efforts for the land to see.

"Easy. You, because that way I can prove it to you. As for Jeremy, that's because I want to make sure he doesn't call me lazy either. The two of you share a mindset often enough, after all, and I want to nip that argument in the bud." Nightmare Moon scoffed at this.

"Thou art tardy in that regard." She said under her breath. It was still more than loud enough for Chrysalis to hear though.

"... Like I said, a little before sunset." She finally said as she turned her attention back to Halfy. The mare, however, pursed her lips slightly and shuffled her hooves nervously below her. Chrysalis could feel the anxiety coming from her and almost rolled her eyes, already sensing a doubt coming. "What is it?" She asked with an exasperated sigh.

"W-well... It's just... I can wake you two up I'd you like, but I'm not sure about Jeremy. He seems to really like waking up at night, and I don't want to be a bother..." As she said this, she distinctly remembered the first time that she had woken him up. How he had asked her, in an almost nervous voice, if it really was the night or otherwise.

Chrysalis, however, rubbed her hoof against her face at this. She could feel that familiar bubbling that was her frustration.

"Ugh... I'll do it myself then. Just wake Nightmare Moon and-"

"We still do not wish to be awakened due to thy stubborn-"

"WAKE Nightmare Moon and I," she interrupted forcefully, attempting to get her point across, "and I'll deal with rest."

Halfy debated this choice for a moment, a sense of slight conflict coming about her as she had to choose between the preference of Chrysalis or that of Jeremy. In the end though, convinced by one more glare from the former monarch of changelings, Halfy gave out a sigh.

"... O-okay." She responded, drawing a nod from Chrysalis.

"Good." Chrysalis turned her head to Nightmare Moon with a seemingly triumphant and smug smile, which earned her a short glare in return. "Now, have anything else you'd like to sa-"

Almost upon reflexive impulse, Nightmare Moons horn glowed as she once again attempted her now favorite spell, creating a filled glass of water above Chrysalis before them quickly turning it over. This time though, Chrysalis did not even flinch. Instead, her smile continued as her own horn glowed in response and the water stopped itself mid-fall. Is flowed down an invisible 'umbrella' of magic she had created while Chrysalis just watched it bemusedly.

"Not this time." She said with a chuckle, drawing an even deeper glare from Nightmare Moon.

It would seem as though she would need to think of something else now.

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The birds sang in their bliss as the morning sun shined high above their heads, providing them with the warmth and light they needed to begin their days.

Ponies began to awake from their sleep, ranging from the more happy-go-lucky morning ponies to those who would grumble and ask for a few more minutes of rest.

Clouds, which had flown over from the unmanageable Everfree, dotted the sky and only seemed to add to the morning atmosphere. A pair of particularly early risers groaned and stretched as they gazed upon the new sky, sighing as they took in a breath of fresh air before, just as quickly, raising their brows in surprise, as one of these clouds was suddenly plowed through. An odd shape was left within it, only very vaguely familiar to any who had seen it.

The figure that had plowed through these figments of Everfree weather gave out a yawn through her seemingly creaking maw, her eyes slightly drooped from her recent flight.

After having left Canterlot, she had flown nonstop over to Ponyville, making it well into the night and morning as she passed over the home of one of her former friends and arch-enemies. The arch-enemy in particular was of the pink variety.

She didn't particularly like to even come close to this place, considering some of the bad memories that would spring up whenever she did, but it was the only way to get to that zebra's house in the forest.

Shaking her head and ignoring her growling stomach, she pushed through her exhaustion as she came up on the edge of the only remotely exciting thing that this town had to offer.

With a growing grin, she quickly brought herself in for a landing. The ground tamped lightly below her as she did so and her wings folding themselves against her back.

They felt slightly sore, but in a good way. The kind of soreness that one would feel after a lot of fulfilling exercise.

Moving her neck left and right, she allowed for it to give out two loud cracks as she began to now walk into the forest, working off of memory at this point.

"Okay... so, first, I have to take a left at the split tree... Or was it a right...? Hm. So this is why Jeremy would agree to meet me outside the forest whenever I came by."

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Another day of raising the sun. Another day of monarchal duties. And, more importantly, another day of seeking out the three escaped prisoners.

This was what was heavy on Princess Celestia's mind as she ate her breakfast, occasionally sipping from her nearby cup of tea or wiping off her muzzle as she went on.

To her, it had now been far too long since they last had any leads. No news from the guards. No recent sightings. Simply nothing.

The princess of the day gave out a silent sigh as she magically raised a small sweet up to her maw, taking measured a bite from it before following it with another sip of tea, and a wipe of her napkin.

Even more frustratingly, Discord was acting very snidely recently. Celestia just knew that somehow, someway, he had something to do with this. The issue, however, was that she didn't have any proof of this, nor would Discord likely ever confess to such a thing.

Another bite from her sweet, a sip of her tea, and a wipe of her napkin.

The stress was starting to get to her, really. Between hunting these dangerous beings down, while also keeping it hushed among the kingdom, her energy was beginning to wear.

Bite, drink, wipe.

She could keep her controlled and neutral persona when needed, but eventually, she would need a rest. A time without concern, if possible. Oh, how she longed for this to come sooner.

Bite. Drink. Wipe.

"It has certainly been a while since you've worried over your subjects to this extent"

She blinked, the sweet in her magical grasp floating in place as she shook her head slightly. That voice in the back of her head. It had been so long she had heard it. Not since-

The doors to the dining room slowly opened, interrupting her thoughts. A familiar blue aura of magical energy surrounded the doors as Celestia turned her head towards them. Unsurprisingly, tired figure that was her younger sister, Princess Luna, followed shortly after.

It wasn't hard to imagine why she had seem so exhausted. Luna was often seen in this state during the mornings, as she would come to the dining room for a pre-bed snack. Her nocturnal habits were practically set in stone, as it were. Add to that the stress that she was likely putting herself under as well and it was practically a surprise that she was even able to walk.

"You just had to let her involve herself, didn't you?"

No sooner than she had placed herself at the table, a soft yawn escaping her, had several castle servants begun to move about and prepare her a usual serving of moon cakes and warm milk.

"Good morning, sister." Celestia greeted, offering a kind smile to her younger sibling. Luna replied with a tired murmur, unable to truly create any words in her state. Celestia giggled at this, playfully rolling her eyes at her sister's ever-so-familiar behavior. "How was your rule tonight, if I may ask?" A plate that held two individual slices of moon cake was placed before the princess of the night, followed by a glass of milk and a pair of utensils.

"It was fine, for the most part. A few nightmares here and there, but nothing I could not handle." She replied as she enveloped her fork in her own aura, moving it over to her early morning sweet and tearing out a large mouthful before bringing it to her maw.

A couple of spare crumbs fell from her utensil onto the plate as she stuffed her mouth with her beloved snack. A smile came to her face as the wondrous taste overwhelmed her taste buds.

"That is good news." She said, floating her own dessert to her maw and preparing to take a bite... Before then pulling away for a moment.

"Don't ask her. Let your poor sister enjoy her-"

"... Did... you happen to see-"

Before Celestia could finish her question, Luna already was beginning to shake her head. She, though she had herself volunteered to do so, had been recently searching through the hundreds upon thousands of dreams the ponies held in the past few nights. All in an attempt to find those of the escaped prisoners so they might learn where they were hiding.

The results of this were... less than promising, however. Try as she might, Princess Luna was unable to find the dreams of the three during her nightly rule. She had thought that, perhaps, a sort of spell had been cast by her dark doppelgänger or even the changeling monarch. This theory, however, was quickly pushed aside as she realized that she would have been able to sense this magic and at least use it to somewhat narrow down the search if that were case.

Celestia gave out another sigh, momentarily breaking her monotony by taking an early sip of her tea rather than a bite of her cake.

"So much time without any sightings, its becoming more and more concerning. No sightings during the day, yet no dreams during the night? How would-" Celestia's eyes widened as a sense of realization dawned upon her. She let her cup and sweets momentarily fall upon the plate before, with a clear of her throat, she addressed her sibling once again.

"Don't you dare-"

"Luna?" She began, drawing a raised brow from her still tired sister. "... Perhaps... we have been approaching this the wrong way."

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"Alright, everypony! Eyes over here!" Top Suit called. His business partner and friend, Even Out, stood next to him as he brought the attention of their employees towards him.

At the moment, all the workers and heads of Hooves And Elbow Grease stood outside of the currently refurbishing building, where it was currently much more quiet in volume. As their eyes were shifted to the founders of the company, what little conversation that they had made between one another being silenced, Even Out and Top Suit gave two satisfied nods.

"Okay, good. Now, as you all may or may not know, our new company building is almost done. Which means, soon, we'll all have our offices, work stations, break rooms, all of that, back in no time!" The small crowd gave a cheer as Top Suit finished his statement, excitement clear in their voices and actions at the prospect of more efficiently being able to continue their business. Even Out and Top Suit looked to one another with two short grins before then returning their attention to their many employees.

"That's right," Even Out added, taking a step forward, "but, until then, it's business as usual everypony! Understood?" The ponies all gave out their loud murmurs of understanding and agreement. "Great! Now lets get movin'!" With a clap of his hooves, the ponies all began to spread out once more and head to their assigned areas with pride.

Even Out and Top Suit watched as this went on, satisfied smiles upon their muzzles as they looked on at the efficiency of their workers. Among these workers, a certain earth pony stallion quickly caught the two's attention as they suddenly remembered an important assignment that they had tasked him with.

"Oh, Follow Scene!" Even Out called, the pony turning his head towards the two in response before walking over to them. His red fur and yellow mane stood out among the other ponies while his cutie mark, comprised of a hammer and what seemed like a thin roll of film, described his talent in a rather unusual form. Nonetheless he was, despite his odd appearance, an altogether friendly pony with quite the reputation in the company as well.

"Yes sir?" He returned, a smile on his face as he sat himself before his two employers and gave a cheery salute.

"Just wanted to know how the progress on those schematics for Hardhat are going." Follow Scene momentarily raised a brow at this.

"You mean, Mr. Tendhoof?" He asked, himself unknowing of the stallion's apparent nickname. The two nodded at this.

"Yes, Mr. Tendhoof." Follow Scene's smile returned as his confusion was cleared, his ear momentarily twitching as he made to reply.

"I'm almost done, sirs. I just need to add a few finishing touches and it'll be ready." The two nodded at his answer, turning themselves as they began to return into the building to oversee progress.

"All right then. Just try not to to take too long Follow Scene. We're on a schedule, after all." The stallion once again nodded, calling out his response as they entered the company's construction epicenter.

"You can count on me! I'm not one of the best here because I was just lazing around." The two chuckled at this as the doors closed behind them, leaving Follow Scene and another few ponies outside to continue their work.

Follow Scene gave himself a shake, as though trying to give himself a burst of energy.

"Alright, top of the company again. Lets make it count!"

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As she began her morning process of organizing her various potions, elixirs, and ingredients, Zecora could not help the yawn that escaped her. This morning, it seemed, was a tiresome one.

Nonetheless, she desperately needed to prepare. Apple Bloom, among her other two friends as well, was supposed to come and help her today, and though she would never say this aloud she knew what this meant. She would need to place the more fragile/explosive of components and furniture in a safe location.

Apple Bloom and her two companions were dears, but they would occasionally be prone to more accidental tendencies every now and then.

As she placed a glass bottle of powdered tree root up on the top shelf, there was a knock at the door. Zecora rose a questioning brow as she turned to the source of the noise.

"Hmm. What an odd change of tune. What could they be doing here so soon?" She wondered curiously, lowering herself from the shelves as she then began to make her way towards the front door.

The knocking became slightly louder, and almost agressive, causing a slight sense of confusion to go through her as she wondered as to why Apple Bloom was acting so impatiently.

Grabbing hold of the door handle, the zebra pulled open the entrance to her home and put on a welcoming smile to greet her guests.

"Hello, you three. I was not expecting how early you would be-..." Within an instant, Zecora's smile was lost; a face of exasperation was now clear as she realized who was before her.

"Oh... It is you... This is a fact that I wish that I knew." Zecora said blandly, rolling her eyes as the visitor before her put on a smug grin and gave her a short wave.

"'Sup." She replied. Giving out a sigh as she rubbed her face with her hoof, Zecora grumbled for a moment or so.

"... Though I do prefer you to disappear, I must ask, what are you doing here?" She inquired with barely a half sense of interest about her.

The visitor gave a chuckle, her tail swishing slightly behind her as she answered. "Oh, you know." Zecora skeptically raised a brow to show the visitor that, as a matter of fact, she didn't. This time, the visitor gave out a sigh. "Ugh. Look, I've been traveling around for a while and I needed a break. Figured I'd see an old friend. So, yeah. Where's Jeremy?"

Though she didn't show it, favoring a face of her usual annoyance to her guest, Zecora felt a cringe of nervousness and anxiety go through her at the mention of Jeremy.

After all, he wasn't exactly in the sort of situation that would adhere a visit. Especially when it was from... her. So, with a quick little fib, she attempted to trick her into leaving.

"To tell you that he is here, I cannot. After all, he is currently residing in Canterlot." Immediately after she said this, a scoff could be heard from the visitor.

"Yeah, right. I already checked there, genius." She said, Zecora pursing her lips though raising a brow as she said this. "But all I heard there was some dumb joke. That's kinda the reason I'm here."

Mentally cursing her luck, Zecora sighed yet again. "... A joke? What could matter of this that you spoke?" She asked. Her visitor let out an annoyed chortle.

"Heh. Believe it or not, some ponies there kept on saying that he was dead, or something like that. Dumb, right?" At this, Zecora's eyes widened.

"Excuse me?! Who would make such a rumor be?!" She asked, utterly outraged. The guest before her just shrugged her shoulders, humming out an 'I don't know' in response. "To hear something such as this about Jeremy... Especially after so recently I did see-" Zecora thought out loud, only realizing what she had accidentally said far too late to take it back.

"Aha! So you do know where he is!" Taking in a breath, Zecora gave out a near inaudible groan.

"... Of his location, I know, yes. But, this information, to you I will not egress."

"What? Why not?!" Zecora rolled her eyes.

"Just as the year has it's seasons, I too have my reasons." As the figure before her made to open her maw again, Zecora quickly stopped her. "Though I cannot make such a fact endear, I can at the very least offer for you to-", Zecora shuddered slightly at what she was about to say,"... stay here."

She made a mental note to say that her friend would owe her for this. To offer kindness to someone she found to be obnoxious, badly influential, and a myriad of various other negative traits, if only to bore her long enough to leave...?

Oh, how she would hate this.

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There aren't many dreams that I can remember nowadays, but this one was special.

It was just me laying on a hillside, the wind gently blowing, the grass calmly swaying with the moon and stars shining placidly down upon me, and the silence that bathed the area and the sense of peace that I felt.

This was the life.

It was just... perfect.

With a sky so clear and air so clean, it practically felt like nothing could bother me. In fact, it was almost like I was floating.

Actually, it felt exactly like I was floating.

Wanna know why?

Because outside of that dream, I very much was.

********************************************

A sudden short fall, along with a sharp winding blow to my... well, my entire front side really, woke me up from my pleasant dream to an unpleasant sensation of pain. An involuntary grunt and groan left my mouth as my eyes shut themselves even tighter from the aches I was suddenly dealing with.

I could feel my leg caught on something, keeping it up and making my position even more uncomfortable.

I picked my head off of the wooden floor, doing my best to ignore the painful throbbing in my face as I turned it to look next to me.

The bed that I had been laying on, Halfy's bed, was there to my right. I, unfortunately, was very clearly no longer on it. The covers were messy and scrambled with a small portion currently being wrapped around my right leg.

I grumbled as I shook my leg loose, releasing myself from my 'trapped' position before I began to pick myself up.

As I did so, I dusted off my bandages and jacket, cleaning off whatever dust had stuck to me from my fall.

For a moment, I wondered if I had rolled off the bed in my sleep.

Before I could question this any further though, I heard a poorly withheld chuckle come from behind me. I'll give you three guesses as to who it was that was laughing; first two don't count.

I quickly caught sight of a Chrysalis, a smirk on her face and her jagged horn losing the glow it clearly had.

10 points to whoever guessed 'Chrysalis'. Anyone else? You clearly need remedial classes.

Rolling my eyes, though with a smile, I completely turned myself to face her. A yawn escaped me yawn as I crossed my arms. "Ugh. So, is there any particular reason you did that?" I asked. "Or are you still sore abut me not apologizing before?"

"I'm not. But, how else was I supposed to wake you up?" Again, there was that sense of smugness about her. I quickly began to list off all the other options she had.

"Lets see... You could've shaken me awake, called my name, pulled the covers off really quickl-" I paused for a second as I realized something. "In fact, why are you even waking me up at all?" I asked, rubbing some of the left over drowsiness from my eyes.

"Because Halfy wouldn't wake you up earlier, like I asked her to." She replied in an almost irritated form, giving out a short grumble in doing so.

"That still doesn't mean that you had to wake me up like that. You could have just... I'm sorry, what?" I froze as I realized what she had just said. Specifically, the 'earlier' portion of what she had said.

I felt that same sensation begin to grow. A creeping, crawling feeling in the lowest parts of my spine. I tried to weigh it down mentally as much as I could.

"... Uh... okay, three things." I began. "One, is that the first time you've said Halfy's name?" I know, it wasn't the biggest priority at the moment, but hey it was still pretty important. It either meant that the two were starting to get along, or she was just starting to bear her. More than likely, it was the latter.

"Two, why did you ask Halfy to wake me up earlier?"

"Because I needed to prove a point to the shadow alicorn who is beginning to annoy me."

I didn't particularly appreciate that reason, but I had more important things to worry about. Shaking my head, I moved onto my last, and most important, point.

"Okay, fine, whatever." Her eyes seemed to narrow at my response, which was fair considering my tone was probably getting... sharp. "Three... you said something about waking me up earlier, right?" She nodded. "Okay... H-how much earlier?" I hated that stutter. It was bad enough that Chrysalis could probably feel the sudden spike in anxiety that I felt, but the fact that I was now starting to show it physically didn't make it any better.

"... Why do you ask?" She questioned.

I elected not to answer. If I lied, she'd be able to tell.

Her face shifted to one of annoyance, likely from my refusal to say anything.

"... It's a little before sunset." She finally answered. That tingling at the bottom of my spine became a clawing. Burning cold that slowly but slowly but surely rose. With each vertebrae it overtook, every organ in its way felt slowed and labored. Every blood vessel became suddenly more willing to make itself known to me. Every breath I took and every beat of my heart were suddenly becoming deafening.

I tried to steady myself as much as I could.

"O-oh... Well, I-I'm just gonna get a little more sleep then. Heh. Uh, w-wake me up a little later. Preferably after the sun goes down." As you can tell, I wasn't doing a very good job.

If the sun was still out, if only by a little, then that meant that there was likely a decent amount of light.

Just thinking about that... I could already see the eight corners of that metal cell.

"Oh please." My eyes widened slightly as, with a movement of her head, Chrysalis' horn began to glow. The closed shutters of the single window in the room took on the same glow. It was only now that I noticed the thin, focused beams of light shining downwards at the floor.

The single metal door separating me from what was outside; the pain and suffering that awaited me.

"And the alicorn calls me lazy. Tch."

The sound of the door grinding open as the torchlight flooded into the room.

"CHRYSALIS, DON'T-" The window opened and the last thing I remember seeing was those same silhouettes coming to drag me out of the dark...

Chapter 20: Change And Weakness Go Hand In Hand (Part 2) [Here Again]

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"Ugh... We still cannot believe that Chrysalis hath awoken us so soonly." Nightmare Moon conferred, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she spoke with the one eyed mare. "All to prove an invalid point, just as well. 'Tis utterly infuriating." Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes for a short moment, giving an exasperated sigh as she thought back to the changeling's behavior.

Halfy, during the irritated spiel of the alicorn, listened with care. She took in every word of the self-proclaimed, though not unwelcome, friend of hers. Tilting her head from where she sat on the couch, just next to Nightmare Moon, she risked a response as the dark moon princess finished with a humph.

"Well, princess, to be fair you did... provoke her." Her voice quieted as she said this, fading into silence. Having caught this, Nightmare Moon's ear twitched and her head turning towards Halfy with a jerk. Her brow rose with a glint of anger.

"Ye choose to follow her reasoning?!" She asked incredulously. A squeak of surprise and regret escaped Halfy as she lowered her head completely to the couch, her ears splaying themselves back against her head as she struggled for words.

"N-no, I- I mean- I- I just-... I'm sorry!" She finally managed to utter, hiding herself behind her hooves from Nightmare Moon's apparent aggression.

Seeing this, the shadow alicorn continued her glare for another moment or so before, eventually, she relented. She shook her head as she realized what she was doing. "... No, Halfy, ye hast nothing to seek forgiveness for." She said in a much softer, more apologetic, tone. Halfy partially removed herself from behind her makeshift cover as she heard this; An ear of her's rose along with her. "We... simply find issue with the changeling awaking Sir Jeremy over such a meaningless debacle... Though, we also suppose that we are partially at fault for this."

Having taken notice of Nightmare Moon calming down, Halfy sat herself up once more. Though, admittedly, now she did so with some tension as she looked to her friend.

"You... really care for him, don't you?" She asked. After all, throughout her spiel she had focused more on Jeremy's possible issues than her own.

Nightmare Moon nodded as she looked to her, a small smile gracing her features. "But of course. For he is our reasoning for being here. Our bringer of freedom, our knight of great honor! ... Our first true friend..." Nightmare Moon's smile grew even further at the thought as she looked blankly looked towards the floor below her in reminiscence. Even Halfy seemed to brighten up ever so slightly, if only because of the blissful expression of her guest and friend.

The two remained like this for a rare few minutes of calm. Not an awkward silence, but a calm. One that, with wide eyes and raised ears, was abruptly shattered.

A scream, almost bloodcurdling, pierced through the air as well as the timber that sculpted the house. It was shocking, to a point where the two were utterly stunned as their minds processed the sudden noise. Ultimately though, it was Halfy who began to recover the fastest, slowly speaking out as she realized an awful fact. She recognized the voice behind that scream.

"Th-... That was..." She choked out at an agonizingly slow pace, stuttering as she did so before trailing off. Fortunately, her current member of company had also retrieved her grip on reality, doing so at a much more accelerated rate.

"Sir Jeremy!?" She cried out, momentarily glancing to the ceiling above her before, without another word, she jolted off of the couch and sprinting to the stairway doors. It was the shaking furniture and echoing hoofsteps that she left that had fully removed Halfy from her own stupor as she, in similar though not nearly as powerful movement, began to make her way towards the stairway as well.

Nightmare Moon, ignored the stairs of the room, her wings extending themselves as she, for the first time in quite a while, flew herself upwards towards the bedroom entrance to shave off what precious few seconds she could.

The door to the room stood no chance as Nightmare Moon plowed her way inside, desperate to see what was ailing her companion.

The sight before her made her stomach drop and her blood run cold.

There, in what seemed like a shaking mess of panic and fear, was Jeremy. The blankets from the bed covered and coating him like a thick and homely shield, to the point where the only way she could really realize that it was Jeremy hidden underneath was the sound of whimpers that came from below them. Before she could soak in the shock and concern of seeing her noble knight like this though, she felt her blood go from cold to an outright boil as she brought her eyes to the changeling that stood before him.

Chrysalis was stood next to an open window, it's light shining into the room in thin rays. Her eyes were wide along with her maw as she held a raised hoof close to herself. She had been a state of shock of her own.

Nightmare Moon cared not for any of this, however. Her teeth clenched together and, barring even a single second of thought towards the matter, she lanced out a wave of magic towards the changeling.

Within an instant, Chrysalis found herself pinned against the wall by the window, her hooves just inches off the ground as she felt a powerful pressure pressing against her side. She barely recognized the loud slam that filled the room, the small tremors that came with it's force, and the sudden jolt of sharp indescribable pain that flew through her slightly concussed mind.

She released a grunt as she opened one of her two now shut eyes, quickly catching sight of her current aggressor as she struggled to pry a small part of her head from the wall. She was instantly met with the face of Nightmare Moon, her horn glowing brightly and her wings flared as an obvious expression of anger was etched across her face. Even her eyes held a dark and aggressive tone to them that had previously never been seen in such a way, seeming to glow and shift with dark swirling magic.

Within a hair's width of the changeling queen, Nightmare Moon forced Chrysalis' head back against the wall. Her anger-ridden breath blew harshly along the changeling's exoskeleton as the alicorn asked four simple, yet furious, words.

"What hast thou DONE?" She interogatted, her voice almost a whisper. With each word, the pressure that forced Chrysalis back increased.

"I... I didn't... Nngh... I... Don't... Urgh..." Truthfully, despite her now much more aware than ever mind, due to the situation she found herself in itself, she could not find the words on what to say. And that wasnt because she was busy grunting and groaning against the spell that held her in place. She was, in all earnest, just as answerless as Nightmare Moon in this regard. Jeremy's sudden scream and panic had left her in utter bewilderment, even now.

Nightmare Moon's eyes narrowed even further at the lack of an answer that she recieved, opening her mouth to repeat the question again.

"Jeremy?" The voice of Halfy rang through the room with a sharp clairvoyance, Nightmare Moon ear twitching as she glanced behind her. It was only now that she took note of the mare's presence in the room. It had seemed that, in her distraction, Nightmare Moon had completely tuned out her entrance. By now, Halfy had made her way over to Jeremy's side.

As she caught sight of Halfy, who was currently calling to Jeremy softly through his makeshift guard, her anger was quickly pushed away. What replaced it was concern towards her companion. With one last narrowed glance towards the changeling, Nightmare Moon made the note to deal with her later. Chrysalis was unceremoniously dropped from her magical pin, allowing her to fall to the ground with a thump as Nightmare Moon made her way next to Halfy. Chrysalis gave out another groan as she stood herself up, shaking off the pain she felt and looking towards the two ponies that surrounded Jeremy.

"Sir Jeremy?!" Nightmare Moon called to the shaking and hiding figure. Her voice was laced with heavy concern as she carefully held out a hoof towards him. "Are ye injured? Hath something occurred?"

Doing her best to lean herself over his hiding figure, in order to gain a better view of him, she gently took hold of one of the inner edges of the thick bed covering that enveloped him with her magic. She gave it a small tug until a small part of his arm was revealed.

An instant reaction was brought about by this though as cover was quickly yanked back over him. For the brief moment that his arm had been visible, his shaking had intensified severely. It was only then that he silently began to speak. "...C-close it..." He gave out in a low and stuttering voice.

"Pardon?" The alicorn asked, raising her brow in confusion.

"Close it..." He repeated, this time more audibly. Halfy was next to speak up.

"Close what? W-we don't know what you're-"

"Close it. Close it! CLOSE IT!" He repeated this again and again, each time becoming louder and firmer until he had practically begun to shout. Both Nightmare Moon and Halfy recoiled at this, glancing to one another before yet again turning to Jeremy in their flummoxed states.

"W-... We do not-" Before Nightmare Moon could go on any further, the light of the room was suddenly snuffed out, both the alicorn and mare giving out gasps of surprise as they heard the sound of the shutters to the window closing.

Turning their heads towards the now closed source of illumination, they took notice to the black and green aura that surrounded it. Chrysalis looked back at the two, the glow in her horn fading as she flinched from a particularly bad crick that had been created in her shoulder blade from the impact she had just dealt with.

Within an instant, as the room was plunged into it's previous darkness, Jeremy stopped shaking. Minutes passed, nobody daring to move, before what little sound that could be heard coming from him finally came to a calm.

The Nightmare Moon and Halfy turned their attention back to Jeremy as they took notice of this. Chrysalis, in the meanwhile, did the same from afar. Her eyes would narrow, however, whenever they wandered to the shadow alicorn that had just attacked her.

"Sir Jeremy?"

"Jeremy?"

"..."

Though he was calmer than he was before, Jeremy did not answer immediately. Rather, the coverings that surrounded him shifted and a moment of thoughtful silence overcame him.

"... All of you... Wait for me downstairs..." He uttered, his voice once again lowering. This time it seemed strained. This request came as a surprise to Nightmare Moon, Halfy, and Chrysalis alike.

"But... Sir Jeremy, we cannot simply leave-"

"GET OUT!" This time, all three of them, including Chrysalis, recoiled at this abrupt and uncharacteristic outburst of Jeremy. Chrysalis, from this outburst, could see an array of different negative emotions. Rage, grief, confusion, and most of all fear.

Not another word was spoken by the three, as, with a shared glance between Halfy and Nightmare Moon, and a silent sigh from Chrysalis, they all began to make their way out of the room. They all followed Jeremy's request - and order - without any more argument.

With Nightmare Moon ahead of the pack, Chrysalis in the back, and Halfy knowingly placing herself as a sort of wedge between the two, they left the room. As they went down the staircase however, Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis exchanged a deep glare with one another. Halfy, having noticed this, felt her head and ears lower as she trotted on. The heaviness in the air around them suddenly seemed unbearable.

She knew that this would not be a good sign. That this, as a matter of fact, could easily prove dangerous if taken out too far.

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Heh. I... hated that day. I don't even think there's a single week I can go without thinking about it.

Obviously, things are a bit better now, but at the time?

Fuck, man, I-...

I was fine. Completely fine! Everything was actually starting to go right! Chrysalis had her powers back and was starting to actually open up! Nightmare Moon and I were getting along even better than ever! They hadn't even known about
me being so afriad, but we were okay!

But no! Some ungodly force up there decided that seeing me happy for once just wouldn't do! So, they decided that this would happen!

A FUCKING argument between Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon; That's all it took! No accidents! No slip-ups! No deductions!

NO! Instead, it was a MEANINGLESS ARGUMENT that did me in! Fucking DAMN IT, the both of them!

If they would have just STOPPED FIGHTING with one another for ONE SECOND, then maybe this wouldn't have happened! All they had to do, was NOT FIGHT! AND... And... Fuck...

Sorry...

Yeah, yeah, I'm better, thanks for asking.

No, its alright, I'll talk to them about it later. I can keep going.

I could feel a shuddering breath escape me as the last few trickles of pain, memory, and a little bit of sweat flowed away from my body and mind. I knew they weren't completely gone though. I knew they never would be. They were just... hiding.

I was blaming what was out of my, and likely anyone else's, fault. Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon had technically made the wager, but they didn't know I'd react like this. I didn't want them to know that I'd ever react like this.

So much for that, eh?

... I really didn't want to move. I wanted to focus on other things. So, for a minute or two, I let myself.

The floor to the second floor was uneven. Some of the planks had been installed at an angled because of the two trees that grew inwards around the house, so either whoever installed the planks had measured them poorly, or the trees were slowly compromising their integrity. It might be about a year, at most, before some of the planks would need to be replaced...

Stuff like that... it helped. And frankly, as much as I don't like whenever I start to ramble, I needed it.

I could hear the three while they walked down the stairs, their hooves muffled though still easy to hear along the floor of the wooden house. I could hear how they starting to whisper, though I couldn't make out any of the words. I could hear the anger in their tones. I could hear how it sounded more like muffled growls than whispers.

I wondered, 'Were they mad because of me? Because I'd been hiding this from them?'

... They were probably waiting for me... I was sure of it...

I wanted to ramble a bit more though. About the bed frame. About the wall. About anything. I just needed a minute.

I'm ashamed to say that the thoughts that went through my head weren't just me rambling though.

The word 'pathetic' in particular... I remember hearing it a lot.

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"We have asked thee previous, and we shall ask thee once more... What didst thou do to him?!" Nightmare Moon growled, her voice nearly exiting the whispering tone that the three in the room had wordlessly chosen.

"..." Chrysalis, however, did not answer. Instead she chose to shoot daggers at the 'princess' from afar, unmoving and unrelenting in her own obvious show of aggression.

Halfy, unable to do or say anything to calm the situation sat in the sidelines, so to speak. A sense of fear and worry crept up on her as she watched the two square off in their motionless battle.

"..." As the changeling continued her silence, Nightmare Moon felt her anger once again flare, this time even being visible by Chrysalis. Evidently, the intensity of her emotions had even begun to break through the mental walls that Nightmare Moon had put up, like a blade through paper.

"What. Didst thou. Do to him?!" She repeated yet again, her slit eyes becoming nothing more than thin lines floating in raging and vibrant oceans of green. Her mane lost it's ethereal flow, instead gaining preference to that of a burning inferno, wild and deadly. Even her fur and feathers seemed to darken, becoming more akin to brimstone rather than that of a night sky.

Chrysalis was unfazed by this, her glare continuing in the same way it had before while her lips finally began to carve out the answer that Nightmare Moon had been asking for. "I. Don't. Know."

For a moment, Nightmare Moon's eyes widened. This was only for a short moment, however, before her overall demeanor returned to it's previous viciousness, if not even greater so.

"... What?" She began. " 'Thou dost not know?' Thou truly expects me to believe such a wretched and ill-conceived lie!? How dare thee? To harm Sir Jeremy in such a manner as to leave him as thou didst and blatantly speak nonsense of it! How dare thee-"

"I don't know!" She interrupted, her teeth grinding as she opened and closed her maw in what was now a shout, having quickly abandoned the idea of whispering as she felt her own eyes narrow and shrink. "Ugh, you really must be deaf! Though, I suppose that's not so hard to believe now! What with your head being so far up your flank, it's impossible for you not to be!" Halfy and Nightmare Moon watched on as Chrysalis put on this display, the two of them, Halfy especially, being in a state of shock as they saw her continue. "You think that everything I do is wrong, don't you! That at even the slightest provocation, I wouldn't hesitate to commit cruelty! As if you're a saint yourself! Or have you just conveniently forgotten your thousand of years of banishment?!"

"Thou hast no right to return this subject to matter, nor any reason!" Nightmare Moon yelled back. "Of course we would believe thee to be so uncivil and insufferable! 'Tis foolish to think any less, or any more, of one such as thee! Especially in comparison to a past such as ours!" Chrysalis promptly returned a yell of her own at this, standing herself onto all four hooves as her entire body seemed to gain it's own aggressive fury.

"Well, guess what, you malignant shadow of an alicorn! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HIM!" She proclaimed, her voice getting even louder still as she shouted this towards her long loathed party member. "And for you to think that I would just shows that you don't have the right to even think of accusing me of doing so!"

"Accuse!?! No, 'tis not an accusation. 'Tis a statement of fact!" She rebutted, her hoof stomping against the ground with a loud thump. "Thou hast brought harm to Sir Jeremy in previous occasions, and we-"

"Those were different!" Chrysalis interrupted, much to the further anger that currently fueled Nightmare Moon. "On those occasions, he had always brought them about himself!"

"False!" Nightmare Moon exclaimed, though Chrysalis ignored her, continuing with her spiel.

"When I had hurt or insulted him, he had always taken it in good nature! One way or another! That damn moron! Whether he would find humor in it then or later, he would always brush it off as if it were NOTHING!" She went on, her magic momentarily spiking with her anger. Truth be told, she didn't know where most of this was coming from. "I demean him. I disagree with him. But I have never- I would never - purposely harm in a way that left him like... LIKE THAT!" She yelled, gesturing to the ceiling above them. The image of Jeremy's mentally shattered and shivering body as he hid beneath the covers was practically branded in their minds by now.

"Thou certainly hast a form to show such a thing! At every turn, thou hast not failed to ignore Sir Jeremy's previous kindnesses as if they were nothing! He freed us from our captivity, at sacrifice of his own! He kept whatever knowings he had of us hidden away, despite his constant torment from then on! Another sacrifice of his own! He had even allowed himself to besmirch his lips with thine own, in an attempt to save that which he refers to as a companion! How many sacrifices must he make before thou are satisfied? Oh woe is he, to believe thee as anything worth such actions!" Chrysalis practically snarled at this, her horn now positively glowing as its aura turned into a much more deep and intimidating green and her chitin seemed to thicken and shake.

"Oh, what's wrong!?" She began yelling sarcastically. "Are you sad that he was willing to do something like that to me, rather than yo-" Before Chrysalis could even finish this statement, Nightmare Moon let out a loud and menacing roar, stomping both her front hooves. Her horn gained its own glow as she used it to menace the changeling.

Chrysalis, in return, took her own aggressive stance. Her teeth bared as she and the alicorn threatened one another for what could easily be the last time. Halfy looked between the two with a trembling body, her legs unconsciously beginning to move her back from the sight as her inner fight or flight instincts attempted to get her as far away as possible.

Finally, as the two raised their heads, sparks beginning to fly from their horns as they prepared a myriad of spells and strength, a weak though still firm and clearly audible voice rang through the air.

"... Enough..." The three's eyes widened as, within an instant, the aggressive statures and powers of the alicorn and changeling monarch vanished. Their heads all turned to the source of the voice, quickly shifting them to silence as they all caught sight of the human who stood in the stairway's doorframe, his skin still slightly pale and clammy. He seemed weak, but more so mentally, than physically, as he silently closed the door behind him, it's squeaking and shutting adding sound to the suddenly muted room.

Somehow, they had not noticed him open the door and enter.

His head was pointed to the floor as he leaned himself against the now closed door. His arms crossed and a silent sigh escaped him as he allowed a moment to pass...

"Sir Jere-" He stopped her with a raised hand and nothing more, her ears moving back against her head as she quickly quieted herself.

"... I'm guessing... you're all wondering what happened a few moments ago... Right?" There was a moment of tense silence as the three all glanced amongst one another, then back to Jeremy. Almost simultaneously, they nodded. Jeremy could only chuckle.

"... Of course you are..." Chrysalis couldn't even tell what emotion she was sensing from him. It was like a jumble of emotions that were so muddled together, they somehow cancelled one another out to nothing at all. "... Look, you two know how things were... after you were gone." He began. "Back in the Canterlot dungeons, I mean."

Another silence passed, before, with a careful approach, Nightmare Moon answered. "Y-yes, Sir Jeremy. Ye have told us of this." She could also vividly remember the horrible state that he was in on that day. Her eyes fell to his still bandaged chest and relatively thin build without her noticing.

"... Right. Well... I didn't tell you about everything..." At this, both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis rose an inquisitive brow. Halfy, in the meantime, elected to simply wait and listen, seeing as she was missing a notable amount of context.

"How do I put this...? You both remember the room we were in, right? How it was small, cramped, and practically pitch black?" They nodded promptly. "Well, think of if this way. I still see that room. Its not often, obviously, but its there. Just at the back of my mind, like an itch I cant scratch, or a monster just in the corner of your eyes." The three present grimaced at this, his explanation being rather... concerning already.

"But... thats not a bad thing. Heh. The room itself is actually completely comforting... But every time that damn door opened... Every time I could see those torches..." He trailed off, his voice straining and legs trembling before he took in a breath and steeled himself. The sight was ghastly to those who saw it.

"...That's what it was like for me. When I was in there I would be blind. I would be cramped. I would be hungry. I would be thirsty... I'd be safe. And whenever that light came in, I just... pain..." Nightmare Moon's heart broke as she listened to her friend recount his stay at the Canterlot prison, telling the three of things that even they had not known of. Halfy could not withhold a gasp, and Chrysalis... simply stared in shock.

"I... guess I started to associate one thing with another... And the next thing I know... I'm actually afraid of light." Looking up towards the three, he could now see bits of confusion in their eye. A weak, almost pitying, chuckle escaped him. "Ah. That's right. That's not something that exists here, is it?" He asked. Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon shook their heads, the concept seeming so brutally alien to them. They had heard of creatures that were sensitive to and avoided the light, yes. But 'afraid'?

"Of course not... Not when everyone in this sees that piece of shit's sun as a GODSEND!" He suddenly yelled, slamming his closed palm into the door behind him. The three flinched at this outburst while Jeremy just stood there, seething. He wasn't sure of where that anger had come from. Perhaps it was his growing hatred towards Celestia, who had likely overseen his mental punishment of sorts. Or maybe it was just because he was mad at himself for not being like the others that surrounded him. Either way, it made no difference. "Funny, isn't it? Most ponies are afraid of the dark when they're just foals. Its the same for humans. Hell, I was scared of the dark at some point. Now I, a grown man, can't even stand the sight of a goddamn flashlight if it comes too close!"

Chrysalis' eyes now widened in realization as she pieced together what he had said. All the previous occurrings had suddenly made sense. The day that they had first found Zecora, for instance. How he was clearly afraid of something, pure anxiety, up until they went indoors. It had been right in front of her and she had just later pushed it aside.

"... I had blatantly told you both, upfront, that I was deadweight. At the time, it had been because of the fact that I could barely move at all, and because I had pretty much been starving. Now, though, you can probably guess that those weren't the only reasons..." He glowered at the ground below him, taking in a deep breath. "Deadweight can at least have it's uses at times... Ballast, a makeshift distraction... Something. Me...? I'm so pathetic, I can't even be that during the day..." His head lowered even further at this, his eyes masking themselves. "... That's why I didn't want you two to know about this. Why I kept it hidden... I can't compete with an earth pony's strength, a unicorn's magic, a pegasi's flight... I was never gonna be anything impressive. The whole thing with light though. Forget it... I'm useless."

As he finished with an almost surrendering sigh, his entire body seemed to go limp against the door. He could barely keep himself upwards as he hid himself as best he could, the three looking at him with a wide collection of emotions. They didn't know what they should say – what they could say – in response to this. It was almost like watching someone... just fade away in front of them.

For a few scant seconds, it seemed to everyone that this would be the end of the conversation As if that was that and Jeremy would be left in his own musings...

This was a possibility that Chrysalis would not have.

Her teeth nearly ground against each other as she, to everyone's surprise, seemingly growled her words. "... Don't you ever say that..."

At this, everypony shifted their gazes towards her. Even Jeremy raised his head to better look at her, peeking just slightly towards her. "... Excuse me...?" He asked.

Again, Chrysalis' teeth bared and her horn gained it's previous glow. Jeremy suddenly felt his body become lose all of its weight at once, blinking at the sensation. He could barely react as he was practically flung by an invisible force, a breath forcibly escaping him as he all but crashed into the vacant couch in the room.

Neither Nightmare Moon nor Halfy felt they could react, the suddenness and intensity of the situation stunning them, as they then watched the Chrysalis make her way over to the human with a sharp glare.

By the time that he had sat himself up on the couch, giving out a pained groan and rubbing at a now sore part of his back as he did so, Chrysalis was already in his face. He leaned back somewhat as her eyes glowed with nothing else but anger.

Raising a forehoof, she began to jab Jeremy in the chest, pushing him back against the couch more and more as she began to give him an angered lecture of her own. "You have no right to call yourself that. No privilege of doing so, whatsoever!" She began angrily, Jeremy's eyes widening as she did so. "You want to know what useless is? I can tell you! Useless, is a family member that would willingly give up their own to save their own flanks! Useless, is somepony who allows for their cared one to be hurt without even putting up the slightest struggle! I know because I've seen this happen all before! Over and over!" She exclaimed, using her own past experiences as an avid example in her attempts to 'wake up' the human. "Breaking us out of the Canterlot dungeons was not useless! Helping us whenever we needed it, even though we never asked, wasn't useless! Tripping the Timber Wolves behind us so we could get away and watching over us while we rested wasn't useless! Having your friends help us wasn't useless! And if you think that keeping me alive was useless, than you clearly don't understand what that word really means!"

As she spoke, Halfy, Jeremy, and even Nightmare Moon could see that she was saying this all in earnest. What she had just been accused of ignoring no more than a matter of minutes ago she was using to show Jeremy that he was worth more than he let on.

"You are not, nor were you ever, useless! The only thing about you that's even remotely so, is the fact that you're calling yourself that! Don't. You. Forget. It!" She hooked a hoof around his head and pulled him towards her, narrowly avoiding her horn as she held him forehead to forehead, eyes centimeters from one another. "If I have to force that into your head, believe you me, I most certainly will! One way or another!" She released him from her grasp and shoved him back against the sofa to emphasize her point. With a satisfied grunt, Chrysalis backed away from Jeremy, continuing her glare as he looked at her, positively lost in his own thoughts.

Glancing downwards, then towards Nightmare Moon, he raised a brow. It was from this that the alicorn finally snapped out of her earlier daze, her head momentarily shaking as she made to speak.

" 'Tis a certain truth, Sir Jeremy! Ye have been by our side since your first encounter with us! As to your fear, 'tis not well founded! We did not suffer through what you did, and cannot possibly have reason to refer to you as weak, in any way. 'Tis the opposite, in fact! To push through your fear in order to keep us satisfied, despite not truly needing to do so. We know not of anypony stronger than such!" Nightmare Moon reassured, adding to Chrysalis' statements as best she could.

For another moment, Jeremy simply sat there, glancing to and from Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis again and again in silence. Finally though, he closed his eyes, putting his hands over them and leaning further against the sofa. For a moment, there was silence. Chrysalis was moments away from demonstrating her version of 'one way or another before', suddenly, there was a chuckle.

It was faint, but it was there.

As he removed his hands from his face, he opened his eyes and glanced to the house's front door, taking note in the fact that there wasn't any daylight flowing in through any of the cracks.

"... Alright..." Standing himself up with a silent grunt, her spun his arms on his shoulder, working out the soreness in his back as best he could. "I'm... gonna go get some air... Try to calm myself down a bit more." None of the three moved to stop him, knowing that this was a time that he likely needed to himself. As he walked to the door and opened, he paused. He turned his head over ever so slightly back to the mares behind him. The smallest of smiles could be seen on his lips.

"Oh, and girls...", he began, nodding his head towards them, "thanks." With that he closed the door, leaving the three to their own once again.

As they listened to the fading sound of crunching grass from beyond the door, Nightmare Moon found herself turning her gaze to Chrysalis. The changeling in question was looking towards the door, away from her. All sense of anger had been suppressed and rid of in her mind, leaving her only with a genuine sense of remorse and regret forming in her mind.

Chrysalis really didn't hurt or hate Jeremy, after all. And yet Nightmare Moon had openly accused her of doing so.

"... Chrysalis... We-" Before she could even continue, she herself was suddenly flung backwards, crashing into the nearby wall and ending in a similar position as she had placed Chrysalis. The changeling queen turned herself and walked up to the alicorn, her eyes narrowing yet again. They showed a contempt to them that held deep roots.

"Don't you ever say that I don't care about him... Ever." And just like that, her horn lost it's glow once again. Nightmare Moon was dropped carelessly to the ground, eliciting a grunt from her, as Chrysalis then returned to the couch in the center of the room. Ignoring the apparent gazes of Nightmare Moon and Halfy, she laid herself down on the cushion before closing her eyes and taking a deep, lethargic breath.

She was done for the day, even if it had barely begun...

"They'd better feel the same."

Chapter 21: The First Step Is... [Here Again]

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That same snore. That same obnoxious and utterly deafening snore that her new tenant would give as she slept echoed throughout the zebra's house. Her head was already beginning to ache from the second night she had had to endure it.

It was one thing having to deal with her during the day, but to have to tolerate her during even the night? Zecora felt a sigh and a grumble escape her as she wondered how little sleep she had managed to get last night. Had it been an hour? Maybe a few minutes? It wasn't particularly worthwhile, however much it might have been.

"Geez, what happened to you?" She remembered her guest asking her the next day, having likely noticed the bags under her eyes. Zecore simply glowered at her. She was barely able to hold her anger, taking in a calming breath before answering.

"... In case you had not guessed, something enabled my loss at a good rest." Zecora returned. Unfortunately, her implication had seemed to go over her guest's head. Or at least she thought that she wasn't aware of what she had implied.

"Really? Hm, I slept like a log."

The amount of willpower that she had needed to muster – And barely managed to summon forth – in order to halt herself from, quite literally, kicking her 'guest' out of her home was astounding.

Now, just as it had been in that previous night, the sound of snoring echoed through the air. For once though, Zecora was relieved by this.

She had been waiting for her guest to fall asleep for quite some time now. She even went so far as to give up her own bed to her and wait in the living room in the hopes that it would quicken the process.

Zecora's ear twitched once – then twice – at the sounds of noisy rest in the other room. A hoof of her wandered to her temples as she began to make her way outside of her living room and into the forest.

She took great care to silently close the door behind her. She barely gave out another breath as she gained some distance from her abode before finally deciding she was far enough to relax a bit.

It had been a few days now since Zecora had last seen Jeremy and his other companions. Were it not for her sudden surprise 'visitor', she would have gone to check on them sooner. Now more than ever though, she especially had need to see them. The information that had been provided to her by her 'guest' was something of notable value.

She had to be careful, however. After all, whether her tenant is indeed an old friend of Jeremy's or otherwise, she still felt it necessary to keep word of his location as tight-lipped as possible. That, and she didn't want her to begin to influence Jeremy as she had threatened to do some time ago.

Grass tamping below her hooves, Zecora gave out another sigh as her migraine began to fade and she made her way down the long-memorized mental path that led to Halfy's home.

A short ways behind her, a stray leaf fell from a tree to the grass below, its branches rustling against some sort of new weight that had planted itself upon them.

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Within the other of the very few residences that lied in the Everfree Forest, a flood of silence filled the space within as opposed to the noise that filled that of Zecora. Yet, the fault just as equally was held by those who resided in it.

Between the wooden walls of the scantily built home – made by the partially sighted earth mare – Halfy, Nightmare Moon, and Chrysalis went on in their own quiet minds and surroundings, unwilling to make even the slightest of sounds.

It was not because of the same reason as the previous nights that they had gone through these moments though. It was not an air of boredom and uncertainty that kept them silent this time. Instead, the air was heavy; a combination of tension, uncertainty, and concern filled the space they were in. Chrysalis was practically choking on it, though some of it was her own that had mingled with the mix.

It had barely been one day – a single, ever so nerve wracking day – since Jeremy had told them of his fear of the light. Or rather, since he was given no other choice but to have done so.

In fact, it was because of this mental stress that they had believed that they had caused him that he was not there in the first place. It was over an hour past the time that Halfy would normally have woken him up by now. But, upon the request of both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, she had allowed for him to sleep in. In doing so, she had givnd up a large portion of her own rest. Even now she would nod off from time to time before then shooting her eyes open and giving her head a shake. The process repeated ad nauseum every now and then.

Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis had both felt guilty in their own regards. Nightmare Moon for having accused and attacked Chrysalis as she had done in the previous night, not even having given her any chance to explain herself when it had occurred. Chrysalis, for what she had done to Jeremy.

Though she did not do it with purposeful or malice-driven intention, she had still brought out another side of Jeremy that she had never seen before. One of complete terror and utter vulnerability. She couldn't help but to have imagined if, given the circumstances, she would have done the same that Nightmare Moon had done to her were their roles reversed.

The thought was... odd.

Halfy watched cautiously from the 'sidelines' as the two occasionally glanced to each other, though never for more than half of a second, nor would they ever seem to notice the other doing so. It was like an endless cycle.

She knew that the two were dancing around each other, waiting for something. At the same time though, there was something else interesting going on.

Since Jeremy went out to get some air the night prior, the two had not fought even once. They hadn't even given one another the smallest of ill-mannered gestures. As to why, she could only guess. Guess and watch.

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I was starting to really regret letting him sleep in. If that wasn't painfully obvious by now.

It had been three hours since the time that the earth mare, Halfy, would have usually woken Jeremy up and brought him downstairs. And, for one reason or another, those three hours were absolute torture.

Peace and quiet is nice and all, especially when compared to the absolute chaos of the last few days. But this? It was just utterly ridiculous.

If he'd have just woken up and come downstairs, I could start another 'debate' with him, or vice-versa. At least then I wouldn't be so bored.

Instead, I was stuck there with a half-conscious mare with bags starting to form under her eyes on my left and the shadow alicorn that had attacked me just in the corner of the room.

Of course, I wasn't particularly fond of her at the time. Granted, I hadn't been fond of her in general, but after the previous night, she was on thin ice. I swore that if she had tried anything, I would have...

I'd have...

I didn't need this. It wasn't worth my effort to think that through back then, and it's especially not worth my effort now. My mind was already in enough of a mess without thinking about that irritating alicorn.

The dull throb in the back of my head went on ignored as I absentmindedly scanned over what few points of emotions I could see around me, each created by those I currently shared the home with. It was simple enough to see the timid anxiety of Halfy, likely prompted by the impermeable silence that currently surrounded us all. Nightmare Moon's emotions were, though visible, blurred by her mental shields. They had seemingly weakened since last night.

Before, I wouldn't have seen so much as a tingle. I raised a brow at this but didn't comment. What use would that have done anyways?

Even Jeremy's emotions were visible, if not slightly more difficult to see and scrambled due to him being upstairs and asleep. There was an odd mix among this organized chaos though. An almost fake sense of peace. Whatever he was dreaming of, I could only wonder.

I wasn't able to linger on this for long, however. Coming slowly but surely towards the house was yet another mass of emotions.

"... Oh great." I had thought to myself, my eyes rolling as another pair of emotions came into my sight . That zebra from before was easily discernible from them. Their emotion held a notable amount of relief for some reason.

Still, I suppose I couldn't complain. After all, anything was better than the quiet room that we all were dealing with at the time. That, and I supposed that I could go so far as to say that the tea that she made was acceptable. My mind wandered ever so slightly as I watched the two mass of emotions approaching the house.

I suppose it was because of how much my mind had been in such a mess that it took me so long to realize what was wrong with what I was seeing.

Realization dawned on me in an incredibly violent form. My head and neck jolted upright and my eyes widened as I looked to the pair of emotions again, making sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me. Why had there been two?

The subsequent knock on the door drew the attention of Nightmare Moon and Halfy within an instant, their eyes moving from their unfocused states to the sealed entrance. I barely took notice of the two as they glanced to me. Their confusion and curiosity were placed to the last of my priorities as I kept an eye on the two emotional entities. Only now did I notice that the emotion of the other was a sense of smugness and self-satisfaction, my teeth involuntarily tightening together as the possibility of some sort of spy quickly came to mind.

There was another empty silence after the echoing knock faded. Neither I nor the other two in the room moved from our places at first. Before long though, I heard hoofsteps. Halfy's aura beginning to shift and move along with her as she soon passed by me on the couch and made her way towards the door.

My eyes narrowed, much like the ones I could practically feel still burning at me, as Halfy took hold of the door in her hooves. Then, just as she opened it, the other, unknown mass of emotions changed. It dissipated within an instant, leaving only the zebra's as it seemingly moved in a flash upwards. Just like that, it was gone.

A familiar phrase came to mind as I witnessed this. One that Jeremy had said a few times.

It was rather similar to something ponies said, but there was a particular flair to how he had said it.

"Ah, right... Fuck."

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The shifting and trotting of fur and hooves could barely be made out beyond the wooden door that Zecora patiently sat herself before. A sigh of silent thankfulness escaped her at the blessing that was her escape from her unwanted, though unfortunately inevitable, house guest. No more snoring. No more 'show boating', as she often called it. Zecora preferred to call it an oversized ego. And finally, no more 'jokes' or ignorant wordings... If only for the rest of tonight.

Clearing her throat and mind as the door finally began to creak open, Zecora gave a friendly smile as Halfy greeted her in her usual friendly manner. "Hello Zecora." She said to her neighbor of sorts, a small part of her mind giving a silent and withheld laugh at the thought.

"Hello to you as well, my friend. I do hope you don't mind me visiting again.' Halfy smiled even more at this, more than welcoming to a sudden change in the overall tone of her previously silent and tension-filled home.

"Not at all. Please, come in." While Halfy witnessed a zebra simply give a thankful nod as she stepped into the wooden home, Chrysalis spotted what may as well have been the emotional equivalent of a cheer. The changeling wasn't sure whether she should have laughed or raised a brow at this.

Nightmare Moon, upon seeing the zebra, made her way over to greet her in a similar manner of friendliness as Halfy. Though it was admittedly a little more outgoing.

"Ah, Miss Zecora! 'Tis a great joy to see thee-"

"SHHH!" Chrysalis hushed, all the pony's in the room's eyes slightly widening in surprise as they turned to her. She met their gazes with a glare. Wordlessly, Chrysalis bobbed her head upwards. This seemed to be effective in terms of reminding Halfy and Nightmare Moon of the still sleeping member of this house just upstairs. Though Nightmare Moon did not appreciate being interrupted in such a matter, she also couldn't really say that she was angered by it. After all, Chyrsalis was right, loathe as she might have been to admit it. Jeremy was still resting, and it would be best if they kept their tones down.

"... Yes, well, do forgive us for that small... pause..." Nightmare Moon picked up, her voice now in a whisper as she turned to Zecora once again. She quickly took notice of her confused expression and made to explain. "Sir Jeremy has not yet joined us at this moment, and it is best if we remain more-"

"I think she gets it." Chrysalis insistently interrupted, rolling her eyes as what she believed to have been an upcoming and ongoing explanation of the shadow alicorn. Much to her surprise though, she didn't detect even the slightest amount of hostility from Nightmare Moon. Appearance wise, that is. What was more surprising was that she also didn't detect any hostility in herself. Nightmare Moon simply shook her head.

Nightmare Moon had no interest in starting another argument with the changeling. Not for some time, at least. Not when she had been an instigator no more than 24 hours ago.

"Now then, is there any particular reason that you came over?" Chrysalis asked, a brow raising as she skeptically looked to the striped pony of foreign origin. A large part of her mind was still very much focused on the earlier entity that she had seen from before.

"I... do not see why you are attempting to act so implicit. I have simply come over for a visit." An almost smirk-like smile tugged at Zecora's lips as she gave her half-lie to the powerless changeling, making sure to leave out any detail relating to-

"Alright... now, whats the other reason?" Chrysalis went on, a smirk of her own appearing as Zecora's was all but ripped away from her. Zecora's eyes then instead widened as Chrysalis smugly pointed out the inconsistency that she had sensed from the zebra. Nightmare Moon and Halfy, in the meanwhile, shared a questioning glance between one another as they watched the scene play out before them.

"What is it that you mean?" Zecora quickly began, Chrysalis now seeing a clear layer of caution overcoming her. "I do not see why you would make this claim in such a method to demean." Chrysalis rolled her eyes, obviously not believing her statements for even a moment.

"... In case you haven't noticed," Chrysalis answered, another smirk on her face as her horn began to shine and one of the cushions below her fluffed itself in a black-green glow, "I'm not exactly as 'powerless' as I was before." Satisfied with the comfortableness of her place of relaxation, Chrysalis tucked her legs further underneath her. She watched with some matter of amusement as Zecora's face and emotions changed into several forms and shapes. Most of them expressed some variation of shock.

This went on for another moment or so. Zecora continued to stammer for another set of rhythmic words that she could form into an adherent sentence. Before long though, a thought suddenly came to her. One of realization.

To Chrysalis' unease now, the two once again switched facial expressions with each other as Zecora now aimed a knowing smile at the changeling monarch. It didn't take any more than one glance at her before both she, as well as Nightmare Moon, took notice of what she had likely realized.

"... The only way that this sort of event have I missed, would be if she and Jeremy had-..."

Both the larger mares in the room cut her off.

"Please do not speak of it."

"Shut it." The two blinked before looking towards one another with raised brows, likely not having expected to hear the other respond in similar ways at the same time. They just as promptly looked away though.

Zecora did not lose her smirk, but she abided by their requests nonetheless. A satisfied look sat on her face as she calmly sat herself down; She was already ribbing at Jeremy about this in her mind. "... Though I will not go against what you see fit... I will still think of it."

Her words drew a glare from Chrysalis.

"... Just shut up and make your stupid tea."

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"I... was not aware that he had been so horribly effected. Even such a result, I had not expected." Zecora said to the three in what seemed like a whisper, her head low and ears splayed back.

Nightmare Moon, Halfy, and Chrysalis had – after some silent discussion between one another – of course told her of the events of the previous nights. There were several details they left out, but they managed to get out the more recent discovery that they had made about their human companion.

After all, Zecora was an old and well-known friend of Jeremy. If there was anyone they believed should at least know about his... limitation, it would be her.

In doing so however, Nightmare Moon and Halfy shared downtrodden looks much like that of Zecora, their tones taking a similar turn. Chrysalis, though she did not physically show it, was affected negatively by this recounting of events as well. Her own guilt flared for a moment before she just as quickly managed to gulp it down alongside her tea.

She gave a mental chuckle as to how similar she and the others seemed to relate this drink to a round of hard ciders, but other than that she remained relatively thought-free and wordless throughout the time.

She had even forgotten, or at least put aside, that earlier anomaly that she had seen Zecora with on their way here. She preferred to be more focused on the now.

"Sir Jeremy... did indeed suffer a greatly amount. We had known of his relative stay from the condition he had been in upon our finding of him, but..." Nightmare Moon trailed off for what must have been the fifth time since the three's explanation had begun, though she had already said enough for everyone else in the room to fully understand her meaning.

"... To think that the princesses would allow such a thing to occur. That-"

"Oh please!" Chrysalis interrupted, her voice having momentarily gained volume before she quickly regained control of it with a cough. "That 'kind princess' of yours is anything but that. She was willing to allow the extinction of my entire hive, to send her own sister to the moon because she couldn't pay attention to what was happening to her, and then to trap us all inside of a prison – starving me in the process – for little more reason than to keep us weak! The fact that she ordered the guards to do what they did to Jeremy is no surprise to me at this point!" As she finished off her rant, her drink trembling slightly in her magical grasp from the sheer intensity with which she had let out emotionally, an air of quiet entered the room.

Halfy, Zecora, and Nightmare Moon alike looked to her surprised, and almost dumbfounded. Nightmare Moon especially, considering how Chyrsalis had taken into account what she had gone through, along with herself and Jeremy. In fact, she had been half-expecting that she only would have mentioned her own struggles, rather than anypony else's.

Chrysalis was not phased by these looks, another bit of tea being raised up to her lips as she took another sip. Looking back to the three with a raised brow, practically screaming 'what are you looking at?', Zecora cleared her throat to move on.

"..." She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She was honestly out of words to say. And even if she had then, what should she say?

Even Halfy had attempted to speak up, raising a hoof in a timid attempt of doing this. As she did so, however, a sudden noise stopped them.

"Wo~oah!" A muffled voice could be heard yelling, followed by the sound of loud thumps and crashes. The entire room jolted in surprise, everypony immediately scanning around the room in their attempts to isolate the source.

Not having recognized what little she had heard of this voice, and removing Jeremy from the list of causes as a result, Chrysalis glanced upwards towards the ceiling where it had come from.

Though his emotions had become much more scrambled now, for whatever reason, Jeremy could still be easily sensed upstairs in Halfy's bed room. More concerningly though was that an even further off and fainter aura could be seen in the same direction. It showed surprise, irritation, and hints of panic. Chrysalis easily pieced together what this all had meant.

"... It's on the roof."

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It was a familiar scene. I wasn't really sure where I had seen it before, but somewhere in the back of my head I just knew I had seen it.

Probably.

Still, it didn't really matter to me at the moment. I was just happy laying back against the floor, gazing at the moon above me just as it gazed back.

As I stared into its glow, I could swear I could hear a faint hum in the back of my mind and color surround the edges of my sight. I began to recall some more negative memories. Practically involuntarily.

The book on Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis' near death experience, the apologies that I had owed Nightmare Moon and most recent argument I had with Chrysalis. Even the events of yesterday had begun to come into light at some point of this.

Chrysalis walking towards the closed window curtains, her magic surrounding the coverings and, with a single flick of her energy, her opening the window. I remembered her exposing me to the sun. And yet, just as I was about to verbalize that thought, as though I was compelled to explain what I had been so afraid of, something stopped me.

"Wo~oah!" As a series of tumbles and a loud yell rippled through the calming scene before me, my eyes felt as though they shot themselves open twice.

********************************************

My breath hitched as I practically spasmed out of bed, a bead of sweat rolling down my head and unto my cheek while several shallow pants escaped me.

For a moment, I just stayed where I was, trying to just figure out my who was who and what was what in my surprised state. As I eventually gained my bearings back again though, I gave out a quiet groan and moved my view to the window. The curtains were drawn still, but I could see from the lack of light peering slightly around the sides that there was no sun.

Night had already fallen, by the looks of it. Some time ago in fact. This caused me to raise a brow, swinging my legs out of the bed and standing up before opening the curtains ever so slightly to peer outside.

A part of me panicked as I did this, still vividly remembering what had happened yesterday. I pushed through it through.

I couldn't help but to wonder - as I confirmed my theory about it already being late at night - as to why Halfy, or anyone for that matter, hadn't woken me up yet.

I worked out a crick in my neck before deciding to make my way downstairs.

From the stairway, I could hear faint whispers coming from the living room. A yawn escaped me as the steps creaked lightly below my feet; my eyes shut while my mouth did the exact opposite.

I have to say, despite apparently not having been woken up, it actually felt really nice to have slept in a little. Like I had taken a moment to recharge, if that makes any sense.

As my feet finally met the floor again rather than steps, I could more easily overhear the voices in the other room.

"What dost thou mean?!"

"What do you think I mean!? Something is on the roof!" My brow once again rose as I heard Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis talking to one another in a whisper. Chrysalis's words bounced around in my head.

There had been something on the roof?

"W-well, how can we be sure?" I then heard Halfy add in.

" 'How can we be su-' Are you kidding me!? I can sense its emotions! I know it's there! Just like it was behind the zebra when she got here!" I blinked at this, my still relatively groggy mind wondering if she had meant Zecora.

"Then why did you not warn me of what I did not see?" Yeah, that was Zecora. I couldn't help but to think that I had really overslept.

"Oh sure! Just tell you that I thought I saw something behind you, despite not actually seeing it. Why did I ever think you wouldn't believe me?"

Rolling my eyes at the apparent 'situation' – I honestly figured it was probably nothing – I grabbed hold of the doorknob and opened the door as another smaller yawn made its way out from me.

Oddly enough the moment I stepped into the room whatever talking had been going on all came to a stop. All eyes were instantly on me: not a word, or sound, was made by anyone. This included myself, what with the whole scene being more than a little concerning.

Eventually though, I did regain my words.

"... Um... Hi?" I never said I regained a lot of them. Just that I regained them.

"... S-Sir Jeremy..." Nightmare Moon greeted – sort of – in return, her voice seeming to struggle just to say that. "You are awake." I blinked at the obvious statement.

"Well, yeah. Something woke me up." I scratched against the back of my head as I noticed the four seem to visibly flinch at the statement. "Speaking of, Halfy, how come you didn't wake me up this time?"

"Oh, um, well, y-you see, it's that-"

"We asked her not to." Chrysalis interrupted, drawing my and Halfy's attention. I could already guess that 'we', in this case, meant her and Nightmare Moon, considering how the two glanced to one another. I also found myself growing very concerned that something else had happened between the two while I was asleep.

"Why's that?" I inquired, crossing my arms in the process. "I mean, not to say I don't appreciate the extra rest, but I didn't really need it." Zecora was the first to answer this time.

"I believe that they are attempting to repay what they believe to be grievance from yesterday." Again, I blinked.

"Really? Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, you didn't have to-" I felt myself freeze. A reset. That's all I could describe it as while I thought over what Zecora had just said. "... Zecora... How did you know about...?"

Despite trailing off, Zecora seemed to easily understand what I had meant, her eyes widening before she hastily placed her hoof over her mouth as it would take back way she had said. Nightmare Moon and Halfy seemed to be surprised as well, while Chrysalis practically burned a hole into Zecora's head.

"... You... told her?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... You... told her?"

Okay, now I had somepony else to get a bit of revenge upon.

Honestly, SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO TELL HIM THAT SHE KNEW! Not yet at least. The reason that Nightmare Moon and I had agreed to tell her in the first place was because we figured she should at least know. That way, she wouldn't make any stupid mistakes. Stupider than usual, it had seemed.

Instead, she flat out admitted that she knew right away?

Yanking my attention away from the emotional source I sensed to still be stationed on top of the house, I looked towards Jeremy as his emotions momentarily flared. Shock, panic, anger. All of this exuded from his unmoving body.

He didn't seem to know what to feel, I would say.

"When did you-... Why did you-..." Shutting his eyes, he took in an audible breath through his nose, pinching its bridge as he now began to gain a more visible and clear emotion. He had settled for the moment on irritation.

Before I or seemingly anypony else knew it though, Nightmare Moon had already begun to break her stunned silence... In a rather unorthodox way.

She practically bowed towards Jeremy, a look of nothing but sheer guilt and hope for forgiveness upon her face as she looked to him. "Oh, please, Sir Jeremy, do pardon us!" She began. "We simply felt as though she should know! After all, she is an old companion of yours, and we believed that-... That-... Please do not be angry."

Obviously, she didn't quite feel any better about last night. I couldn't really be sure about it but the way she sounded, along with how she was acting; It seemed like there was more guilt to her than she let on, though she obviously didn't want to reveal that.

Again, I felt Jeremy's emotions shift several times over. It was as if I was watching the four seasons change within a matter of seconds, violently and abruptly. To my surprise though, they finally came to a rest on one particular emotion... Calm.

"... It's fine." He said, pulling his hand away from his face and looking to us again. More specifically, he looked to Nightmare Moon. The alicorn, in return, seemed surprised by this, her eyes widening as she looked to him again.

"Really?" I asked, a brow raising as I did so.

"Yeah... Yeah it's fine." He uttered. "You said it yourself, after all," he focused his attention to Nightmare Moon. "She's an old friend of mine, and if you two know, then..." He took in a quick breath before continuing. "Then she has the right to know too."

I honestly was not expecting that. Especially after how he had reacted yesterday. "You seem surprisingly... placid about this..." I observed aloud, to which he shrugged.

"I've had some time to think things over, I guess. Besides, in hindsight, it's better that Zecora learn this way than by example, right?" Honestly, all it took was a few extra hours of sleep and suddenly he was an exemplary philosopony? Really?

Nightmare Moon raised her lowered head from the floor, though she did so cautiously just in case Jeremy would change his mind.

Halfy and Zecora, who had both been quietly sitting to the sides of the situation, gave one another a quick glance before then looking to the human again. I could easily see the relief practically pouring from them. Especially from the zebra, who also had a jovial amount of joy exuding from her at the willingness of her friend to share such a thing – his fear and reasoning – in understanding.

"I-I'm glad you think so." Halfy added, her voice still soft in its volume.

"... Yes. I suppose that I much rather prefer that you don't lose your mind whenever somepony finds out that you're afraid of the light. It's already bad enough dealing with you sane as is." To my oddly pleasant surprise, this drew a chuckle from him.

"You aren't exactly a joy to deal with yourself." He rebutted, finally...

If you were to ask me before, I would have told you that there was nothing about him that I had "missed". That it was just entertaining to have somepony that was willing to at least try to converse with me as an equal, even if they very clearly weren't.

What would I say if you had asked me now?

I would say that you should focus on you own business before I string you along the side of an oar and have a ship full of sailors use you for rowing practice.

"Ahem. I... think we should focus on the matter at hoof." I eventually said, rolling my forehoof at him and the others in a sort of 'moving on' motion.

Jeremy's brow rose at this. "Oh yeah. What exactly is the matter anyways?"

Almost out of instinct, I felt my eyes dart to the rhyme-obsessed monochrome on my left. "Well, as it turns out, somepony led something else here." She rolled her eyes at me, an air of annoyance forming about her. "Now, it's on the roof."

Glancing between each of us, Jeremy pursed his lips in what looked like thought. "Well... Crap... That's not good. Did you manage to get a look at it?" I shook my head in response.

"Hardly. I saw it because I could sense its emotions. And if that wasn't enough, we all heard it." For a moment, he turned his head away from us, muttering something that I could barely make out to say 'so that's what woke me up'. Just as quickly though, he turned it to us again.

"Okay, yeah, that's a problem." He said. "Though, considering how it managed to apparently follow Zecora without her noticing and get on the roof so quietly - for the most part - you think it's safe to assume that it had wings on it?"

Halfy gave out a gasp next to me. "D-do you think it's another pony? A member of the guard?" I quickly dismissed this theory of hers as I took another glance to the being.

"Doubtful. It's too big to be a pony."

"Perhaps... is it another alicorn?" I chuckled loudly at Nightmare Moon's suggestion as well.

"Please. You and I both know that those princesses would never be bothered to do something like this on their own." As if I was wrong either. After all, why would they have been looking for us when they had so many guards. Let alone the fact that they had no idea where we were. Tartarus, I barely had any idea where we are.

As I searched mind for an answer, or at least some sort of plan, I could hear Jeremy's footsteps as he walked by me, likely to find someplace to sit. Or ay least, that's what I had thought.

But, of course, its never so easy with him.

"I'm gonna go check." All of our eyes widened at what must have been the exact same time as he said this, each of us turning towards him.

"What?!" I exclaimed. "Are you mad?! Why would you-"

"Because nobody else seems to have any ideas." This promptly quieted me. Not from shock this time though, but because I honestly wasn't sure of how to respond.

"I-... You-"

"Will be fine." He cut me off, giving a curt smile as he grabbed the front door's handle. I hadn't even noticed him walking towards it. "Besides, whatever it is, in pretty sure we can take it. Didn't the two of you actually beat Celestia once?"

While he was technically correct, I was only able to do that because of all the love energy I had gotten from that Shining Armor fellow. As for Nightmare Moon? Well, I wasn't really aware of how that particular situation had gone.

"If that's not strong enough to deal with a threat, then I don't know what is." And with that, along with one last chuckle, he pushed the door open and made his way outside.

In retrospect, either I or Nightmare Moon could have probably just pulled him back and held him down with our magic...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the grass tamped below my feet, tickling me softly as it did so, I could barely notice Zecora, Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and Halfy peeking their heads outside through the opening in the door. Thankfully though, they didn't reveal themselves further than that, keeping themselves relatively out of sight.

The scene was still pretty funny though. They had all stacked their heads on top of one another what with the limited space they had as they watched me. Halfy was at the bottom, followed by Zecora, Chrysalis, and Nightmare Moon.

I vaguely recall thinking of some weird tiki tower as I gave out a chuckle and walked further out into the clearing that Halfy's house resided in. Once I had a fair distance, I turned around and looked to the roof, where Chrysalis had supposedly last sensed whatever it was that had been up there.

All I saw though was an empty roof.

Scratching the back of my head, I shook off what little lost nerves I had, constantly reminding myself that I'd be fine and that this was nothing. I honestly don't know where the idea of me going outside on my own had come from. Maybe I just wanted to do something to show that I was able to help despite my fears? Maybe I was trying to prove something to myself? I couldn't tell you if I tried.

Whatever the case, Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were right there, so I at least knew that whatever risk I had had been marginally limited.

Not wanting to risk calling out to Chrysalis to ask her where it might have gone, I glanced around the clearing to see if I could find anything that would tip me off.

Fortunately – or would it have been unfortunately? – I managed to spot something off to the side. A small, almost impossible to make out discoloration among the green of the grass and forest around me.

My interest piqued, I made my way over to the discoloration, practically feeling the eyes of my friends as they continued to watch me from the door. A shudder escaped me as the thought of something else watching me came to mind.

It was only once I was close to the odd sight I had seen before that I was able to really discern what it was. I bent down and picked up the object of interest before holding it up to the moonlight.

In my hand was a feather. A rather rough and sturdy one too. It was practically a pure white, with the only more distinguishable feature being its purple edges... Heh. I could recognize those feathers from anywhere nowadays. Back then was no different.

Pretty much everything fell together at that point: The reason that whatever it was, or rather whoever it was, had chosen Zecora to follow. Its speed and flight. The voice that I could barely recall had woken me up.

So, as the bush far off to my side started to rustle, I only found myself smiling rather than flinching nervously.

"... God damn it, I should have seen that coming." I said with a chuckle, allowing the feather to fall from my hand as I was pretty much shoved from my entire right side by a sudden force. With a small ache from my still not entirely healed ribs, I was sent into a tumble with what felt like talons grabbing me and continuing to push me along the floor.

This went on for a while. I was only able to get glances of the familiar figure I 'fought' against, the grass and new sense of weight against me keeping me from getting a clear sense of what was up and what was down.

Finally, with one last grunt, the tumbling stopped as I was then firmly placed with my back against the floor and a weight on my stomach.

Despite the dizziness that I felt, I managed to look up at my 'captor'. I quickly took notice of the white and purple feathers that scattered themselves into a solid layer along most of her head and neck, with two wings to her sides and a light shade of brown fur spread throughout the rest of her. Her talons were close to her as a smug smile came to her beak, her thin tail wagging lightly behind her and brown eyes practically gleaming with amusement. I almost rolled my eyes right then and there at the familiar position and the nostalgia that came from it.

She had always been one for 'surprise attacks'.

"S'up." She said. "Looks like I win again." A joking though slightly honest tone could be heard in her voice.

This time I did roll my eyes, giving a chuckle as I crossed my arms below her and gave a smile of my own. "I wouldn't say that was really a win, but hey, you do it every time, so I probably should have seen that coming."

"Got that right!" She practically harumohed with a laugh, her tail again swishing behind her.

"... It's nice to see you again, Gilda."

Chapter 22: Unforeseen, But Not Unwelcome [Here Again]

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It wouldn't have been the first time that I had been tackled to the floor like that. I mean, by her at least. I think the number would have been closer to, say, 20?

You would think that I would see it coming at this point, that I'd be able to keep myself from getting ambushed by her. Then again, it had been a while since I'd seen her, so I'd like to think I was at least a little excused.

From my position on the grass, I could see the griffin on top of me curl her beak into a smile. A familiar chuckle filled my ears as her rather tomboyish voice piped up.

"Yeah, I know. I'd probably think that it's good to see me too." She said, responding to my prior statement with over-dramatized pride. She puffed her chest outwards and her smile grew even larger at her newly stated self-importance.

It was good to see that she'd kept her infamous sense of modesty, in a way. It at least let me know that not much about her had changed.

I managed to pry my arms free from her grip before promptly crossing them with one another. It wasn't hard to do so whatsoever, despite what you may think. Whenever she would do this, she'd always at least have enough sense to be careful and for the most part 'gentle' about it. She always made sure to watch her talons, keep her beak at a safe enough position, and so forth. Good thing too, considering I wasn't exactly at my physical best at the moment.

"Uh-huh. Sure. Because you've done so much to make me think so." I said sarcastically, quickly ripping away her boasting persona from her as she let out a cheerful laugh.

"Good one. Though, it's not like I haven't been busy." She rolled her wrist at the air behind her. "It's weird, but you would think that you'd be easier to find, what with you being the only thing that walks on two legs for miles."

"Besides minotaurs, you mean?" She waved me off.

"Fine, fine, the only thing on two legs that looked like a naked monkey."

"I wear more clothes than most minotaur do too..."

"Psh. Potato, tomato."

I shook my head at her oh-so-apt and informative inclusion to our usual spree of jabber. It was pretty normal for us to have these kinds of back and forths. It was kind of like me and Chrysalis, only there was a lot more general teasing and prodding in our conversations than there were verbal death matches. We were pretty casual with one another, all things considered.

"Right. Anyways, what brings you looking for 'the naked monkey'?" I inquired.

"What? Can't a griffoness drop in on her friend every now and then?" She replied, a clearly false and comical tone of hurt in her voice. She was a poor actor for these kinds of dramatics, and we were both aware. Just made it part of the fun.

"And besides..." she quickly added, her eyes momentarily looking over and scanning every part of my body that she could see from her position; she ended up focusing on the layer of bandaging that was still wrapped around most of my torso. "It looks like you've been... 'occupied'."

"It's been a long few months." Yet again, she gave a chuckle.

"No foolin'." She replied simply enough, a roll of her eyes adorning the statement and a talon lightly tapping the bandaging I wore as added emphasis. "I mean, honestly, I thought this was just for show."

As you might be able to guess, she had always been a well-meaning - though often obnoxious and insensitive - griffon with a hankering for sarcasm and conflict. I mean that all in the nicest way possible, if that even makes sense.

Look, let me just try and put it this way: To use my previous comparison, she was like the slightly nicer and much more good-spirited version of Chrysalis. A funny bone or two of hers had been added in to further the difference, as could be seen by some of the pranks and jokes she'd have pulled some time ago. Though she didn't particularly enjoy being on the other end of the prank.

Speaking of Chrysalis, it was just about at that moment that I remembered and realized that Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, Halfy, and Zecora could probably see all this going on. From where I was though, I couldn't get a look at the house they were watching me from, so I could only imagine how they were reacting.

Still, in for a penny, as they say.

"So," I started once more, attempting to further prolong the conversation and give myself some time to think over the situation I found myself in as a whole, "how the hell did you find me?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The amount of magic that I had to pull up from the love that I still held within me, as well as the sheer willpower to keep myself from simply releasing it and letting the current target of my hold go, was astounding to say the least.

Even now, I was still holding back the alicorn, blocking her magic with my own and keeping her hooves firmly planted on the ground below her to make sure she wouldn't try to intervene.

I admit, when that thing had first crashed into Jeremy, I myself was ~~absolutely livid~~.

Surprised. Oh good, you corrected it yourself that time.

However, at the same time, the emotions that he displayed just before and during everything had clued me in that he wasn't really being attacked at the moment. Even after he had been pinned by this apparent griffon, I saw no negative emotions coming from either of the two.

No hostility, or fear. Instead, there were two senses of friendliness and joy. As if to add onto that, once the zebra had caught sight of the griffon, she immediately lost her previous sense of fearful concern. Though, she did retain a sense of annoyance.

Halfy, in the meanwhile, was far too shocked and unsure of what to do to react.

Nightmare Moon, being the only one who lacked my sight of one's emotions, Zecora's 'familiarity' to the griffon, and Halfy's timidity, had simply narrowed her eyes the moment Jeremy had been brought down.

Having predicted what she would likely try to do despite the risks that came with revealing our presences here, I had, and still had been keeping her held back as a result.

"Release us, now- mmpph!" Empresses, there was always something with her.

Focusing some of the magic that I gripped her in towards her muzzle, I shut her mouth before she could make anymore noise.

For the entire split second that she was unable to vocally communicate, I felt nothing but the utmost bliss, wondering why I had never done this before. However, just because I had closed her mouth, that didn't mean that I had stopped her from using the mental link that she still held over Jeremy and I.

"What is the meaning of this!?" I heard her practically boom against the inner walls of my skull, momentarily sending a jarring and painful ringing through my head.

I gave her a glare, just as she gave one to me, while I continued to restrain her.

"Would you just hold still and think for a second?!" I mentally shouted back at her at a comparable volume, I made sure that my annoyance and anger were easily audible. "If she wanted to hurt him, she would have done it already. On top of that, there isn't a single emotion that she's showing that can possibly make her hostile! Even Jeremy seems to be fine with this!"

With an even stronger pull against her, the glow of my horn grew slightly as I reigned her back by a fraction of an inch. If she was angry after this, then so be it! I couldn't care less if it'd keep us from the dungeons.

"We need to stay hidden! Jeremy can take care of this on his own, he and Zecora seems to know this griffon. If you rush into the situation like some sort of foal, however, it'll all be for nothing!"

Much to a great part of my mind's relief, alongside my still rather limited supply of magic, the force behind her attempted escape gave a notable slack. I let out a breath as I used the oppurtunity to relax my hold slightly.

"... Be that as it may," another short, though much weaker tug could be felt as she said this, "we cannot yet be sure that this being is yet trustworthy." It was like a verbal game of chess really; I had to continually counter every move she made. Unfortunately for her, it was the equivalent of fighting a novice when I had years of experience.

Add to that the fact that I had plenty of practice with a certain human?

"Oh? Then you don't trust Jeremy's judgement? Even after how he proved you–," I paused for a moment, holding back a snarl at what I was about to add, "us wrong about Halfy?" And that was checkmate.

As I had predicted, what little struggle that the alicorn had left came to an end, leaving her standing plainly in one spot. A blurred menagerie of jumbled emotions peered through her mental barrier before just as quickly being hidden away once more.

I could see her attempt to open her mouth several times, as if ready to say something despite the invisible muzzle I had placed over her. It might have been an insult or some random comment, but I wasn't about to bother to check unless she gave me the answer I wanted.

Finally, with several muffled grunts and one last scowl in my direction, she gave out a reluctant breath.

"... Very well then." She said, finally seeming to calm down completely. "We will, again, trust Sir Jeremy's judgement."

For another moment or two, I continued to hold her in my magical grasp, a part of me still skeptical as to if she would really stop trying to gore the griffon in front of us with her horn. After a few seconds though, I released her, relieving myself of the heavy concentration I had needed in order to restrain her. A strong throb echoed through my head, likely the precursor of an oncoming headache from the magical strain I had just given myself.

Rubbing a forehoof at my head's temple, I gave out a silent groan before looking back at the scene before me. It was only now that I noticed that Zecora and Halfy were looking at the two of us, likely having watched the entire silent - from their point of view, at least - display put on by Nightmare Moon and I.

I didn't need them to be looking at me like that, thank you very much.

I gave the two glares, practically snarling, which prompted them to turn their gazes away from us and towards the door of the house. They used the small crack in the door in order to keep an eye on Jeremy and the apparent griffon.

'Gilda', I think I had overheard her name to be. Not an odd name for griffons, but certainly not normal for ponies and the like.

In my distraction from these thoughts, I barely gave notice to the fact that Nightmare Moon had joined the other two in gazing through the crack in the door, watching and listening from afar. It was amusing, actually, watching as she dwarfed the two with ease. While they simply struggled to give one another clear views without limiting their own, the alicorn was able to easily stand, or even sit, in a single spot while still having ample room to watch the goings-on of the outside.

There was no way I was going to even allow myself to get close to doing that again. Last time I had, I had nearly been trampled by the alicorn as she tried to rush outside to aid Jeremy. Besides, I had a relatively clear view of my own, what with the two emotional entities I could sense through the walls. As for hearing, they weren't exactly speaking quietly. Especially that griffin, who may as well have been shouting.

"Oh, what, can't a griffoness check on her friend every now and then?" It was odd, but she was lying and telling the truth at the same time with this statement of hers.

I rose a brow at the fact, making a mental note of it for later alongside the momentary surge of emotion that went through her with it.

Nonetheless, like Nightmare Moon, Halfy, and Zecora, I listened on as the two continued to converse. I didn't really hear or see anything of particular interest until a few moments later.

"So, how the hell did you find me?" As I heard Jeremy ask this question, I felt an ear twitch and my brows furrow.

'How did you find me'? He was really going for that?

We already knew how she found us. She obviously followed that zebra here, that much was obvious.

At this point, I prayed that he was just trying to stall for time and that he wasn't actually that clueless.

"Pfft. Duh! I just followed Zecora here!" And there it was.

"Oh. Heh, I guess I probably should've figured." I'd give it to him, he was a relatively good liar. On occasion, that is. He had quite a bit left to learn though. For instance, he shouldn't have chuckled like a nitwit at the beginning of a sentence.

Despite this blatant error on his part though, the griffon didn't seem to notice. She seemed more pre-occupied busying herself with a growing sense of self-appointed pride.

"No foolin'. Gotta say though, it wasn't easy. I had to go two nights without any sleep just to see where she was going." As she said this, I was beginning to take note of a sudden sense of surprise in the room, followed shortly thereafter by irritation.

"Really?" Jeremy asked curiously. "Didn't she, you know, notice that you weren't asleep?" The griffon scoffed.

"As if. All I had to do was close my eyes and pretend I had a really bad snore and she left me alone. Times like those that I'm glad I take so many naps." The irritation from before? It had escalated into a white-hot fury.

Before I knew it, Zecora, who had been the source of these emotions, gave out a breath through her nose, every obvious intent of doing harm to the griffon clear in her emotions as she took a step to the door and partially pushed it open.

As much as I liked her enthusiasm to get rid of this griffon, we still couldn't afford letting her see us just yet.

The door barely gave so much as a creak before Zecora was surrounded by a magical field. She was held firmly in place despite her dragging hooves and snarling anger. I, however, wasn't the one doing it this time.

It wasn't particularly hard to notice the dark blue aura of magic that surrounded Zecora, as well as Nightmare Moon's horn.

Its almost poetic, isn't it? I held back Nightmare Moon to keep her from interrupting, and she ended up doing the same for Zecora. Though, it was obvious that she did not struggle as much to hold the Zebra as as I did her. She barely batted an eye as she managed to drag Zecora away from the door and forced her to sit down next to her.

"Miss Zecora," she said simply and silently, "we must await for Sir Jeremy if we are to take action." I rolled my eyes at this.

"Sure. Now you think that." I mentally grumbled, though I felt a bit of amusement tinge at the back of my mind as Zecora began to give several angered grumbles. Believing the situation had been more or less dealt with, I soon turned my head back to the griffon and Jeremy, both of whom had thankfully not seemed to notice us quite yet.

"Killjoy." I heard the griffon suddenly say with a short laugh, my brow raising in confusion.

"To be fair, you brought that on yourself." Hearing these words, the griffon gave a sigh and I barely suppressed an annoyed groan as I realized that I had missed a part of their conversation in my distraction. Even Halfy had seemingly missed what had occurred, likely distracted by the fact that Zecora had brushed past her to open the door.

Neither of the other two seemed the wiser either, so it was very obvious we all had missed something.

That was especially apparent to me when I noticed there were a few fading emotional remnants of what looked like lustful amusement and embarrassed humor.

Now I was really interested in what they had said, mentally cursing the zebra for her interference.

I figured I'd just have to get it out of him later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"As if. All I had to do was close my eyes and pretend I had a really bad snore and she left me alone. Times like those that I'm glad I take so many naps."

Cards on the table, I was fully expecting Zecora to walk out here and have Gilda fishing her own wings out of her beak.

Not many ponies knew it, but there were two things that annoyed Zecora more than anything: Messing with her potions – though I had avoided her fury that day as a result of the instantaneous comeuppance I was given at the time; to this day there's still remnants of an uncomfortable craving for minty things in my systems – and being tricked.

And considering the fact that she had basically just admitted to tricking her, while she was watching... Yeah, I couldn't help but to mentally commend Zecora for her control... Then again, it was probably more realistic to assume she was being held back.

"Hello? Equestria to J'. You there?" Ah. I had nearly forgotten about that nickname she had given me.

Shaking my head and giving her a smile, I let out an awkward chuckle as I realized that I had gotten distracted in my own thoughts. "Sorry about that." I apologized. "By the way, you do know that Zecora is probably gonna kick your butt for tricking her once she finds out, right?" I could already feel the glare that Zecora would soon be giving me in her attempts to get to Gilda.

Not pleasant.

"Meh. Yeah, probably..." She glanced around us for a moment or two, a smile slowly coming to her face. One that, unfortunately, I was rather familiar with.

"... Um... You know," I began to say, looking her over, "you can get off now."

"Hm... Not a bad idea." She responded. She shifted herself slightly atop of me, seeming to make herself more comfortable as her tail gave a quick yet lazy wag behind her.

"... Gilda..." I called warily, squirming slightly underneath her.

"Hmm?" She hummed in return, her eyes now starting to lid themselves halfway.

"You're doing it again." She shrugged her shoulders at my warning, acting as if she had no idea what I was talking about.

"Doing what again?"

... Yeahhhh. See, there's one more trait about Gilda that I had, um... left out. She liked to flirt... A lot. At least with me.

I didn't know why she did it - that's a lie, I knew exactly why, I just don't want to talk about it yet - she just did. I couldn't tell whether she'd be joking or if she was serious sometimes though, and honestly that's what worries me the most about it. Worse still, she seemed to know that.

"Gilda, we've been over this before." I looked to her with a firm gaze. She seemed unfazed by this though, looking away momentarily and shaking her head.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, big guy." Obviously, she very much did.

Also, random detail, but I was only about a few inches taller than her when she was on all fours. She was taller than me whenever she would be on her hind legs though. So, 'big guy' didnt seem like an appropriate nickname she gave. Course, I was well aware of where she had actually gotten the idea to call me that, much to my chagrin, but that's a story for another time.

"I'm serious, Gilda. It's time for you to get off." She smirked at this, leaning herself down to be a few mere inches from me. Whatever intimidation or factor of seriousness I had about me practically disintegrated as she did this, now replaced by splatters of nervousness and anxiety.

"Like I said," she repeated huskily, "not a bad idea." I was suddenly growing very distinctly aware of the knowledge I had that Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, Halfy, and Zecora were watching this all occur.

I blinked as I also realized that her tail had moved out of my sight, shifting with slow precision particularly close to a... certain region. I quickly felt my face heat itself up to a degree that it might as well have been on fire.

With practiced speed – though it's not like I purposely wanted to practice this sort of thing, so much as I was forced to do so on these kinds of instances – I reached around Gilda and firmly grabbed hold of her tail, moving it away from its previous placement and instead putting it in front of me. I made sure that Gilda had a clear view of my grasp on it.

A shiver momentarily went through her before she noticed what I held, her eyes turning to pinpricks and her entire body seeming to freeze. I smirked at her reaction as she then moved her gaze to me.

"... You wouldn't..." She uttered, almost challengingly. Without saying another word, I gave her tail a quick squeeze.

Her reaction was instant. Her back stiffened until she now sat straight up, permitting an even greater distance from her face to mine. Along with that, a shock seemed to go through her. Layers of fur and feathers ruffled and stood on end in their journey upwards to her head, ended with an odd face that, in short, made it look like she had just been electrocuted.

I chuckled, her tail still in my grip, and gave her my own challenging look.

Fun fact, and not very well known actually: A griffon's tail is extremely sensitive if treated wrong. I mean, sure, it can take its fair amount of abuse, but if it's so much as squeezed or pulled the wrong way, it can bring a lot of discomfort to its owner. I had found this out by accident, actually, during one of the many other times she had gotten me in this position. Since then, that's pretty much been my defense against her. Rather useful I'd say, considering I never really had any advantage over her before this whole mess had even gotten started anyhow.

After another moment or so, her posture softened once more before she gave herself a quick shake in an attempt to return her displaced feathers and fur to their original place. Once this was done, a comical shudder escaped her as she looked to me again.

"Really?" She asked angrily, myself only smiling and nodding in return. For a bit, she just glared at me while I carefully kept a grip on her tail, ignoring what little wriggling it was doing in an effort to escape me. Soon enough though, the corners of her beak tugged themselves into a smile. She gave a chuckle, slowly shaking her head at her own defeat.

"Killjoy." With another short chortle, she began to make her way off of me. I let go of her tail in order to let her get up comfortably before I began to stand myself up as well. It's weird, but though she had often told me she didn't like losing, she'd always be a relatively good sport whenever I would beat her. Then again, this wasn't the kind of thing I would prefer to have to beat her at.

It was at that moment that I felt a light smack against my back, looking to Gilda just in time to notice her tail returning to its place behind her and an 'innocent' look on her face.

"To be fair, you brought that on yourself." I brushed off what little dirt and filth had accumulated on my back and front from the earlier tumble, even finding another one of Gilda's feather's stuck in between my jacket and bandages before nonchalantly tossing it away with a laugh.

"Heh. Whatever you say, J." I rolled my eyes at her obvious sarcasm, the warmth in my face from a few moments ago finally beginning to fade. "So then, mind telling me what you've been up to?"

I blinked again.

Would you believe I had somehow forgotten about all that?

"Oh, um... I want to say 'nothing much', but..." I looked to her and gestured to myself. "As you can tell, that'd be a pretty obvious lie." She gave a nod in my direction, her face in a deadpan that just screamed 'you don't say'?

"So," I clapped my hands together, "with that out, I guess I'll go for our usual arrangement?" She raised a brow at this.

"You mean the 'you go first and I'll owe you one later' agreement, or the 'don't bother Zecora this time and I'll buy you some fish' one." I gave her a deadpan of my own. "Alright, alright, I'm joking. Yeesh. Sure, I'll take you up on that." The smirk she put on at the end of that sentence worried me again, but not by too much.

That agreement of ours was a little one-sided, I admit. The only reason I came up with it was because, when I knew her, Gilda was basically just like my sister in the regards that she would drag me along for everything. I saved myself a lot of work and effort by asking her to do whatever over-the-top thing she wanted me to try first, ergo having her deal with the worse of the events and leaving the easier for me.

It was partially worth it. As for that 'IOU' I would often need to repay her with... Well, I put some pretty strict ground rules on it and made sure she was aware. Other than that though, anything went.

The memory of the time she made me sit in a pile of garbage for over three hours just because I had reminded her of an embarrassing moment of hers rang a bell.

"Great... I think..." I was already regretting this. A short and devious laugh escaped her as Gilda put a talon to her beak, tapping it in thought as she seemed to recall what she had done in her more recent days.

"Lets see... I went back to the griffon kingdom for a few days; checked out this awesome dragon cave – and yeah, it was empty when I found it, which was a bummer; pretty much dived into every lake I could find, mostly because I got bored after doing nothing but flying for a few days; found some Diamond Dogs and kicked their butts after I noticed them staring at the somewhere other than my face; then I-" Despite my attempts to listen to her quite impressive summary of her trip, I ended up involuntarily drowning it out as I heard somepony else speak up. Not physically though. Rather, mentally.

"...Sir Jeremy, are ye certain of this?" Like I said, I had been getting much better at not flinching at either her or Chrysalis' sudden intrusion. Which is good, because that would have ended awkwardly had Gilda noticed. Still, before I could even question what she had meant, she seemed to have already known the answer. "We are aware that you hold trust in this Griffon, and we do not mean to question your judgement... However..."

I couldn't hold back a mental or physical smile as she said this. "You know, I actually find it kind of funny. If this is how you're reacting, I can only imagine how Chrysalis is doing." Already I could hear Chrysalis telling me off for this, scolding and shouting at me for telling someone else about what was happening.

"We apologi-"

"Don't worry Nightmare Moon, it's fine." I assured, not wanting for her to start beating herself up for nothing. In the back of my mind though, I could still feel her prominent sense of worry.

I can't say I was happy about that, but I understood where she was coming from. It hadn't been the first time that she had trouble trusting someone.

Gilda really wasn't a bad griffon though. A little obnoxious, maybe, but nothing intolerable. Honestly, I just wished I could show her that she was a good person.

A wish that I recalled could very easily be granted in current company.

As I came to that realization, I began to devise a plan in the back of my head. One that would, hopefully, lighten Nightmare Moon's worry. And if I was lucky, it would also minimize the amount of chastising Chrysalis would give me. The latter of the two seemed unlikely to me though.

"Tell you what, if you like, we can have Halfy meet her first." I could quickly sense the confusion from her. "Think about it. Halfy's able to see the good in other beings, right? Well, having her meet Gilda should show you two that she's trustworthy as well."

In theory, it was pretty sound. But it was a double-edged sword. If Halfy even showed the slightest hint that she sees the opposite of what I was hoping for...

Whatever thoughts I may have had of that happening, I pushed them away at the time. I trusted Gilda.

Anyways, as for Nightmare Moon's reaction to this idea? She was skeptical at first. After a few prolonged moments of relative silenve however, she spoke up again. "... Very well, Sir Jeremy. We shall relay this to Chrysalis and the others." I sent her a mental nod of my head before tuning back into Gilda's story to make sure I still had some time to talk – by the way, I had no idea she could drink that much cider without passing out – before asking Nightmare Moon one last question.

One last... awkward question.

"Oh, uh, by the way, how much of that earlier conversation did you happen to overhear?" Yeah... I had to make sure they hadn't gotten a full helping of Gilda's flirting with me.

"What... is it that you mea-"

"Nevermind! Nothing happened! Bye!" And with that, I sealed off my own mind to the best of my ability, hoping to end that subject then and there.

Nightmare Moon had seemingly missed that part of when Gilda was on me... I think. If the universe had decided to give me even more luck though, Chrysalis and the others would have done the same.

I begged that that would have been the case as I completely returned my focus to Gilda and her story.

"-And I ended up having to outrun an Ursa Minor before deciding to come back for a visit... You're up, J." Pushing aside what she had said as being 'just Gilda', I shrugged.

"... Alright. Lets see, I've..." I hesitated for a moment at the memories, but with a deep breath, I started to let them all out. "been arrested by Canterlot guards for a crime I don't know that I committed; stuck in a small dark jail cell with two others for a few months; staged an escape, in which I didn't make it; got starved, dehydrated, and tortured practically everyday for a couple more months; developed a phobia from it; managed to stage another escape, this time rescued by the two from earlier; ended up in the Everfree; met up with Zecora, where I got these bandages; got chased by Timber Wolves; ended up meeting another pony and staying here with her and my cellmates; annnnd... the rest are smaller details, really. "

Talk about turning a long story short, huh?

As for Gilda's reaction? Well, she was surprised at first.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Like I said, at first. "Ha! Whoo! That's a good one! Bu- hehe- but seriously though, what happened? Heh." Yeah, I should've figured as much. I pursed my lips as I momentarily looked away from her and scratched at my cheek.

"Weird, Zecora had the same reaction." Gilda rose a brow at this but continued her chortling nonetheless.

"Alright then. Since I don't particularly want to go through the trouble of trying to convince you, I'll just skip that step and move on to this one." Turning myself to the house, I gestured for her to follow me. "C'mon, lets go introduce you to the others."

And again, I hoped for the best.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I-I don't know about this, Princess." Halfy confessed to the shadow alicorn, her nerves already beginning to get the best of her despite Gilda having not yet arrived.

As she nervously drew circles into the ground below her, averting her gaze from Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis gave out a withdrawn sigh, muttering silently at how much she disagreed with this ploy of Jeremy's.

"Our friend, we are aware that we are indeed asking a great plenty of you, but we also cannot deny that your abilities are significant in our following actions." Halfy pursed her lips at this, her body seeming to tense even more at the realization of the importance of her role. Chrysalis didn't even need her abilities to see that Halfy was only getting more nervous by the second.

"You're not quite the one to get a pep-talk from, are you Princess?" Chrysalis chided. Nightmare Moon turned to look at her with a glare, but was openly ignored as the changeling put her attention to Halfy. "And if you're so nervous about doing things this way, then why didn't you just check to see if she had 'good' within her while she was outside?" Chrysalis questioned, gesturing and rolling her hole-filled foreleg as she did so, along with her eyes.

"I-it's not that simple. I have to be close to a pony, or anything else, before I can actually see them like that. Otherwise, they just look the same to me as anypony else might see them." She explained, flinching at the look that Chrysalis gave her shortly after.

"Tch. Of course..." Hearing the sound of someone clearing their throats, Chrsyalis gave a mental groan as she looked to the source. There, near the furthest corner of the room, was Zecora. She stood upright and had a look of calm on her face.

"To be fair, changeling queen, you neither are as perfect as you mean." Chrysalis scoffed, pushing aside Zecora's own two bits to the situation as if they hadn't even been given. Nightmare Moon, as she did this, barely withheld another sigh of frustration before she looked back towards Halfy once more. The mare seemed to notice her gaze with ease, timidly placing herself to look eye-to-eye with her towering form once more.

"There is no need to be nervous, our friend. We will be near and prepared to assist should anything take a turn for the worst. Of this, we give you our word." Though her nerves were neither steeled nor calmed by Nightmare Moon's words, Halfy was at least able to manage a small smile in the direction of her friend.

"...O-okay..." As a smile now made its way to Nightmare Moon's features as well and she opened her mouth in order to express her gratefulness, there was a knock at the door, paired with the sound of Jeremy's voice.

"Hello? Girls? We're coming in."

" 'Girls'? Wow big guy, you've been busier than I thought."

"... Damn it, Gilda."

At the sound of the two's voices, Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and Zecora looked towards one another one last time before quickly taking action.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... Damn it, Gilda." I replied curtly to Gilda as I gave the doorknob a quick pair of turns – if only to subconsciously extend the time the girls had to react – and opened the door with a push.

As the door creaked open, allowing the dim night's light to flood in inch by inch, I could feel Gilda's gaze circle around me in an attempt to gain a better view. The view to the living room was clear, yet, incredibly, the only one I could see was Halfy.

Just Halfy. Nobody else. She sat near the middle of the room, her overall posture showing unease.

That really threw me for a loop. I mean, obviously the idea was to have Gilda meet Halfy first to and show Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon that she was trustworthy, but I couldn't help but to wonder... How?! How in the hell did an alicorn and a changeling queen, both of which being taller than me by at least two heads, just magically disappear?

... Magically... That's how... You would have thought I'd have gotten this by now.

In my distraction, I failed to notice Gilda make her way past me. She reached the center of the main room of the house and took a look around, not quite acknowledging Halfy's presence yet. The mare in question didn't seem to mind though. In fact, Halfy seemed partially relieved by the fact that she had been ignored.

"... So, this proves that story of yours, how?" Unsurprisingly, she had the expression she would put on whenever she had suspected me of playing a trick on her. Word of note, by the way, she had given me that face a lot when I had first met her. She couldn't really help it, I suppose, but still. "I mean, maybe I can believe that whole 'other pony' bit that you gave me near the end, and that one about Zecora helping you out, but in case you haven't noticed, there's only one pony here." As she said this, she pointed a talon behind her, this gesture alone seeming to cause Halfy to flinch. In fact, now that I was looking at her, I could see that Halfy looked nervous. I sincerely hoped that this was just because of her timidity with new ponies, rather than...

"That's because they're... waiting?" I answered dumbly, showing off what was clearly my many years of acting practice.

Suffice to say, Gilda couldn't have possibly been any more doubtful.

"Look, you'll meet them in a bit. Until then, why not greet the mare who is here." She and I both put our attention to Halfy, who only seemed to grow even more timid under our gazes.

Hoping to calm her down, I aimed a gentle smile in her direction, making my way over to her side and giving her a slight encouraging nudge towards Gilda. "Halfy, this is Gilda. Gilda, this is Halfy."

Upon my rather rushed intro of the two, Gilda and Halfy just looked at one another for a bit. For a moment, Halfy seemed rather intimidated by Gilda.

Then again, a Griffon stands quite easily over a pony. Most, according to Gilda, were actually around my height on all fours like Gilda. Add to that the fact that Halfy only reached chest height in comparison with me, plus the fact that Gilda was made up of much more – with no offense of course – fearsome features... Yeah...

"...'Halfy'?" Gilda echoed, raising a brow while curiously narrowing her other. "So... this is who 'helped you'?" Well, nice to see she was still skeptical about that.

At the question, Halfy gave a meek nod of confirmation before then just as quickly stiffening herself once again.

For a moment, as the two continued to look at one another, I grew nervous. Halfy hadn't shown any sort of greeting, or loss of timidity, or anything like that yet. In fact, so far, it seemed as though she actually had managed to see Gilda for who she was and just wasn't fond of what she saw.

I bit on the inside of my cheek at the possible arrival of an issue, if not between Gilda and I, but between her and the others. If they took notice of, and they probably were at the moment as well, Gilda's apparent untrustworthiness... What would that mean for her?

After several long, agonizing seconds of silence, I managed to finally notice something. For a moment – a short, almost imperceivable moment - Halfy's eye seemed to widen, and her jaw loosened slightly. This seemed to have been the initial domino for a wide range of changes.

All of a sudden, many more of Halfy's features lost their tense and withdrawn details. Her shoulders lowered, her nose unwrinkled, the small shivers she gave practically dissipated to nothing, and, slowly but surely the previously uncertain expression she held was replaced by a friendly – albeit still timid – smile.

"H-hello," she greeted, a sigh escaping me involuntarily at her having given her first words towards Gilda, "it's nice to m-meet you."

A much more friendly air about her, she rose a hoof of hers up towards Gilda for the pony-griffon equivalent to a handshake.

Gilda was in the clear, and I was practically elated that I wasn't wrong about her after all.

Speaking of, she looked at Halfy's extended hoof, then back to her, then her hoof again, before she returned the greeting. A friendly smile of her own reflected her willingness to accept the gesture.

"Heh. Cool to meet you too." Rather than shake her extended hoof, Gilda instead pulled the talons of one of her appendages together, making a sort-of fist, and lightly butted it against the smooth underside of Halfy's hoof.

Halfy seemed a little thrown off by this at first, but with a short laugh she quickly shrugged it off.

Heaving out a breath that I had not even been aware he had been holding - and mentally scolding myself for doubting my friend in the first place - I gave out a smile at the scene before me.

"Glad to see that worked." I said, Halfy looking towards me with an equally satisfied smile while Gilda raised a confused brow in my direction.

"I'll... explain later." I told her, scratching at the sudden itch at the back of my head. "For now though," I looked around the room vaguely, "you girls satisfied now?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Within an instant of him asking his question, the room seemed to momentarily still itself of all motion and sound. Noticing this odd change, Glida glanced around the room as the fur near the back of her neck began to tingle.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed one of the many shadowed area in the room seem to move, giving an odd life-like squirm. Before she could react to this, however, the shadow suddenly sprang to life, hurrying itself to a stationary position by Jeremy's right side.

The other shadows in the room started to react similarly to the first, squirming before gathering themselves into a single mass by Jeremy's side.

Little by little, the mass of shadows began to take shape in another form, even beginning to raise from its two-dimensional prison on the floor and take a more physical form.

Features began to form from the unstable mass, including four long and slender legs ending with four hooves to match as well as a lighter-shaded flowing trail of wisps flowing behind what seemed to be the head and neck of a mare. Piercing white eyes finished the indeterminate mass.

Gilda's eyes widened and the lower half of her beak dropped as the conglomeration of shadows began to fade back into the ground, leaving the materialization of color and several other once unseen features, such as a long horn, a midnight blue mane with what seemed like starry nights imbued within, large and graceful wings, and a pleasantly green-tinted pair of irises with black slits to adorn them.

As the last of the shadows left Nightmare Moon's form and began to return to their original places, Gilda speechlessly and motionlessly watching the scene before her, Jeremy looked towards the alicorn with some semblance of surprise to himself as well.

"Huh... So she can turn into shadows at will? Didn't know that." He mused to himself. A small smile on her features, Nightmare Moon turned her head to face Jeremy.

"So it seems that your judge of being continues to hold its unprecedented status, Sir Jeremy. Prithee, mayhaps you can accept our apologies for directing to you such doubt?" Jeremy gave a faint laugh at her words, waving her off and giving his head a slight shake.

"Again, it's fine Nightmare Moon." He assured her, before then turning his attention to the currently still Glida. "Oh, and that was a good entrance and all, but... I think you may have broken her." Looking to her newly met acquaintance with a raised brow, Halfy took a small step closer to her, tilting her head as she waved a hoof in front of her in an effort to gain her attention.

As she did this, the sound of laughter quickly filled the room, followed shortly thereafter by the a dim glow. "Heh. She certainly has a value of entertainment to her so far." Chrysalis voice seemed to echo with her laughter as the glow began to take the form of a green impressive flame, this time to Jeremy's left.

Fortunately for Jeremy, the light from the flames was relatively muted, allowing for Jeremy to keep from even flinching from its low brightness as he watched the flames slowly take form in a way similar to that of Nightmare Moon's sudden appearance. Shortly after, the flames put themselves out, revealing her hole-filled legs, smooth and black exoskeleton, her calm yet sickly shaded version of a mane, and a darker green pair of irises, slits within their holds just as well.

"Uh... I get how Nightmare Moon was able to hide, but how did-"

"Invisibility spell." She stated simply, preempting his unfinished question. "Foal's play, honestly."

Jeremy looked to her with a raised brow, momentarily glancing back to Nightmare Moon in doing so. "... Remind me to ask you two some more about what you can do later."

He again returned his gaze to the still frozen, if not even more so, Gilda. "Either of you two mind snapping her out of this?"

Within seconds, both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis' horns began to glow as two near-identical - save for the magical glow that surrounded them - glasses of ice water appeared above the griffon's head. Halfy was barely able to step back in time, giving a small squeak as she did so, before Gilda was soaking wet.

Shivering and sputtering, Gilda suddenly seemed to come back to life. Her feathers were drenched and her fur became heavy and matted from the ice cold water. A shudder went through her body while Jeremy, his face now deadpan, didn't even glance back at the two. He didn't even need to turn around to sense the amused grins on their faces.

"Really?" He asked, of course not expecting any answer in return though he still heard a pair of withheld laughs. "... Alright, so Gilda, what do you think?"

Wiping off some of the excess water from her face and beak before then giving herself a quick shake, she moved her gaze to her friend, Jeremy, her expression showing a deadly amount of seriousness to it before quickly sprouting a grin.

"... Awesome." This genuinely surprised the four, Halfy included, as they had at least expected for her to show some sort of panic, fear, or at least concern.

"You're completely fine with this?" Gilda scoffed at this.

"Dude, did you not hear when I told you 'I outran an Ursa Minor'?" Both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis rose a brow at this. "It's gonna take a lot more than this to scare me. Besides, I'd say this puts you up to an 11 on my scale."

This time, Jeremy was the one to raise a brow. "Uh... What scale?" He asked, instantly regretting it as he realized that she had gained that same familiar, devious grin on her face.

"Oh, I think you know which one." With a quick wink in his direction, Jeremy, who knew of her meaning from experience, felt his cheeks heat themselves while Chrysalis, who could easily read the emotions of the griffon, was barely able to hold back a laugh at the newly received 'ammunition' she could use against Jeremy. This also assisted her in getting a general idea of what they had missed from the conversation the two had while they were outside.

Jeremy quickly made to change the subject. "Yeah, so, um, it's good to see that you don't really seem to mind their... being here. Plus, now you know that I wasn't joking about what happened back in Canterlo-... Wait..." Jeremy paused, suddenly taking notice of the fact that something was missing from the scene.

"Where's Zecora?" At the mention of this oversight of his, Gilda's eyes suddenly widened again. Chrysalis could easily see a sudden aura of concern surround her.

"Did you just say Zecora's here? Like... here, here?" Jeremy blinked.

"Well, not technically, but-"

"If it is truly me that you fear, then you should know that I am indeed right here." Gilda's fur lost a tone or two of color as a shiver passed through her and her eyes went to pinpricks.

A yelp escaped her as she turned and recoiled back towards Jeremy and the others. Halfy also gave a slight squeak from Zecora's sudden appearance, but comparatively unfazed, similar to the other three in the room.

"Wha- Where did- How did you-" With a single clear of Zecora's throat, Gilda quickly quieted herself, earning a chortle from Jeremy.

"Ironic," Jeremy thought to himself and the other members of his mental link, "she isn't afraid of anything. Anything at all. Zecora, though, seems to be a very real exception." The three shared a mental laugh at the thought. Gilda, however, was currently too occupied with her current situation to notice whatever they may have been doing.

"Now, what was this trick you mentioned of purposeful snores? Explain quickly, or certainly I will make you sore." Her eyes narrowed into a glare while Gilda let out a nervous chuckle.

"Heh. C'mon Zecora, it's not like I did that just to trick you." Zecora's glare intensified, the bags under her eyes from her sleepless nights suddenly seeming more pronounced. "... mostly."

With an irritated growl, Zecora began to make her way over to Gilda, the griffon taking a half-step backwards, though inevitably ending up with her standing no more than a foot away from her nonetheless. She craned her neck up and back, attempting to gain even more distance in any way possible.

Despite her proximity, Gilda retained her skittish smile.

"... You, uh... aren't mad, are ya?" Curiously enough, contrary to Jeremy's thoughts of that having been the last sentence she would give before she would have to start running, Zecora's expression softened. Her glare turned to a face of calm and a chuckle escaped her.

"Oh, I do not get mad, in this you can believe in." Raising a brow in surprise, Gilda scanned Zecora for any signs of falsehood, before – having seen nothing – warily turning her head to Jeremy. He gave a shrug in response to her wordless question.

"... Well... Okay then- AGH!" A loud stomp filled the room as, with a short-lived shudder, Gilda once again stiffened herself like a statue. This time though, it was much more rigorous and pained.

All at once, everyone, including Chrysalis, could not help but to at least flinch as they caught sight of Zecora a satisfied smile while one of her sat hooves firmly planted atop of Gilda's tail, pinning and flattening it directly to the ground.

"...I get even." Adding to her unfinished rhyme, Zecora then gave the frozen griffon a light push on her side, throwing off what little balance she had and causing her to fall to the floor. She turned to a crumpled mess with a series of groans and higher pitched whimpers.

"... Uh..." Jeremy flinched again as Zecora finally removed her hoof from Gilda's tail. "We may need a couple more glasses of water." He glanced over to her swelling and twitching tail. "... And an ice pack."

Chapter 23: Looking Back, Moving Ahead [Here Again]

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"Why does it always have to be the tail?" A certain griffon could only whimper as she carefully held onto her limp and slightly swollen appendage. She flinched whenever she felt a throb of discomfort originate from it, only serving to add to the smile that the zebra which had caused them had.

"To be fair," Jeremy commented, "you did kind of have that coming." A light chuckle escaped him as he put both of his arms behind his head and leaned against the wall.

It had only been a few minutes since Zecora had given Gilda a reminder of the pecking order between the two of them. Already everyone had seated themselves once more. Chrysalis and Halfy sat upon the couch, with the smaller of the two holding a respectable and timid distance from the changeling. Zecora held her seat near the middle of the room, calmly allowing herself to observe the situation with the occasional tidbit to add. Finally, Nightmare Moon and Jeremy held a position against the wall, seated next to one another.

The one addition to this usual arrangement of seating positions, however, had also chosen to take her place next to Jeremy, opposite of Nightmare Moon. A position which, aside from initially having momentarily gained a look of annoyance from Nightmare Moon, allowed Gilda to give Jeremy a swift jab to his side from his remark.

"Gah!" He exclaimed, more surprised by the blow than he was pained by it. This attracted a raised, though amused, brow from Chrysalis as Jeremy moved his gaze to Gilda. Jeremy provided the griffon with a glare while in response
she looked to him with a face of 'innocence'.

" 'To be fair,' " she quoted with a smile, " 'you did kinda have that coming.' " Jeremy continued to hold his glare for another scant moment or so before, ultimately, it just as quickly disappeared with a shake of his head.

"Touché."

Chrysalis' eyes rolled as the two gave one another these gestures. Something about the series of interactions between the two made her feel oddly perturbed.

Nightmare Moon spoke up, feeling that since this was an old companion of Jeremy's, it would be best if she attempted to make some sort of conversation. After all, she had gotten along well with Zecora. What would there be to stop her from doing the same with this one?

"Miss Gilda," she called, "if I may?"

In response to this, Gilda rose a brow, her full attention towards the alicorn.

"Uh... 'Miss Gilda'?" She repeated, assuring that she had heard her right. "Sorry, but, no, that ain't gonna fly with me. I'd prefer just 'Gilda', hold the 'miss'." Nightmare Moon looked to her strangely at this. After all, she was only attempting to show her respect to this griffon, yet she was openly being told to do otherwise. Perhaps, had she missed something?

This confusion did not go unnoticed by Jeremy who, without missing a beat, gave Gilda a slight shove before leaning himself closer to her.

"Gilda," he whispered, "just roll with it. Don't forget, she was on the moon for a while. A long while. If she's trying to show you some politeness, let her." Being sure to add emphasis to the last of his quieted message, and ignoring the fact that he easily heard her click her tongue in annoyance, he moved his attention to Nightmare Moon. A kind smile met her unsureness as he spoke up.

"Uh, just ignore that last part. She just hasn't really met anypony quite like you yet, so she's not really sure how to act." He began, eliciting a semi-understanding nod from the alicorn. "Anyways, back on topic, what was it that you had to say before?"

Nightmare Moon blinked at this, her momentarily lost train of thought returning onto its previously established rails.

"Oh, yes, of course. Miss Gilda-"

"I just said that it's only Gil- Gak!" Before the griffon could continue in her interruption, she froze up once again as Jeremy grabbed a lower part of her tail, just below the swollen and more pained area. He wanted to shut her up, but not cause her too much discomfort. Yet, he made sure to lightly flick the tip of his thumb to the recovering area, sending the message that he would not hesitate. She seemed to get the message quite clearly, judging from the ruffle of her feathers.

"... Go on." He insisted, gesturing for her to continue with a roll of his wrist.

"Er... We would like to know... How it is thou came to recognize Sir Jeremy?" Satisfied with the relative quiet Nightmare Moon had been given to ask her question, Jeremy let go of Gilda's tail, earning himself another swift blow to his side.

"... Ow." He said in a monotone voice, shortly after giving a visible flinch.

From the sidelines, Jeremy, Nightmare Moon, and Gilda could hear Chrysalis laughing, her voice easily resounding through the room as the attention of everyone was put on her.

As it seemed, she had been quite amused by the 'act' that had played out before her, and the others, filled with all the idiocy and slapstick she would need.

"Yes, why not tell us how you met this birdbrain? Maybe you'll even manage to keep us entertained for some time." While Nightmare Moon and Jeremy simply rolled their eyes at her, Gilda took her words with much more attention, giving off a glare instead. More specifically, at the 'birdbrain' remark.

"Well, bugbreath," she returned, "I would tell you about it, if it wasn't for the fact that I don't think you'd be able to pay attention for more than a few seconds." Chrysalis gave a bored expression.

"Really? 'Bugbreath'? Is that all you have?" A smile grew on her face a she leaned herself forward on the couch, not particularly gaining any distance to her but seeming to try to obtain some slight factor of intimidation. "Then again, I suppose it should be expected from the cat who can't handle anyone touching her tail."

As if to add to the point, a green flame surrounded her for a scant few seconds. Just as quickly as it appeared though, it faded to reveal that a mirror-like image of Gilda had appeared, toying with her tail as if it were nothing.

The only difference that could be seen between this Gilda and the one to Jeremy's side was her eyes, which had retained their usual slit and vibrant green nature.

Though this momentarily threw her off, the original Gilda quickly recovered.

"Yeesh, 'cat' is right. I look dang good with a twin, don't I, J?"

"Please dont involve me in this..."

"Plus, you must agree if your ugly mug decided to take on my good looks."

The copy growled at this, Chrysalis returning to her previous form once more while the two consistently exchanging insults.

The human among the group pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, already mentally tuning out the two's argument.

It was obvious to him that this was escalating beyond the average 'argue and finish' routine he would have with either of the two, but then again a part of him had expected this. On this occasion, two negatives did not make a positive.

He looked between the two once more before then moving his attention to Halfy, who simply watched on from her place next to Chrysalis. Her ears were folded against her head as she seemed to inwardly retreat from the situation.

Nonetheless, it barely took even the smallest of waves from Jeremy to gain her attention, her eye moving towards him as one of her ears rose alongside it.

With Gilda standing herself up from next to the human and making her way over to Chrysalis so the two would literally be arguing with one another face to face, Jeremy gave Halfy an extremely vague gesture for her to move back.

She seemed confused for a moment, but shortly after gave a nod. She moved herself a few inches away from Chrysalis.

Jeremy gave her another gesture to explain his satisfaction before, looking to the deadpan seeming Nightmare Moon, he reopened the mental link between the two.

"Nightmare Moon, would you mind-"

"We would be more than delighted to oblige." She interrupted, already well aware of what she was to do before he could even finish.

Within a moment, Jeremy gave her a thankful nod, leaning himself back against the wall once more and closing his eyes as he mentally counted down to the moment of peace.

Nightmare Moon, who by now had had more than enough of this bickering only seconds after it had begun, smiled blankly as she quickly recalled her favorite spell. Her horn shone its usual aura of midnight blue but was seemingly missed by the bickering pair, alongside the sound of ice and water as it moved against the glass that appeared above them.

Before it had even occurred, Halfy was already flinching at the sight and Zecora was holding back a laugh that fought against the back of her throat to escape.

Just as Jeremy's thoughts counted down to the beautiful number '0', the previously yelling, glaring, and angered pair of griffon and changeling suddenly went mute, unlike the sound of dripping water and Zecora's now uproarious laughter.

With fur, feathers, and chitin soaked and cold, both Chrysalis and Gilda shifted their gaze to a Nightmare Moon. The alicorn, in return, shared a more than satisfied smile with herself.

"Do you always have to do that?!" The two shouted in an almost perfect unison, their voices working as one in angered purpose.

Nightmare Moon simply shrugged, a smile still firmly on her face.

Again, the two opened their mouths to speak up but, before they could, a single word from Jeremy interrupted them.

"Fish."

"... Huh?" The two once again said in sync, before syncing the glare of annoyance towards their involuntarily similar responses.

"That's how we met... Fish."

********************************************

All I had wanted was some protein. That was it! The amount of effort and hoops I had to put in just to try though was absolutely ridiculous.

Humans are omnivores. I am a human. You want to know how much meat was sold in the markets in Ponyville? Not a whole lot!

... I'm being pretty aggressive, aren't I?

Well, it's not like that's much of a surprise. Be it from the cravings, or just the human body's natural reactions, most people are likely to have similar reactions if they to just quit eating an entire food group cold turkey.

Lord, now I'm craving turkey...

Gah, see what I mean?!

Still, as I looked to the basket of groceries that I lugged - most of the things there having been from Zecora's list - a good portion of the frustration I had practically melted. Instead, they were replaced by feelings of bliss. All because of the sight of two freshly wrapped fish that were placed carefully atop of everything else.

A stroke of luck had blessed me that day, it seemed.

As it turned out, ponies from that small village near Zecora's house, Ponyville, had learned about my 'Omnivorous habits', or whatever it was they would call it. As to how, I have no idea. Thankfully they didn't really seem to mind.

Then again, they don't seem to mind a whole lot. Not a hint of judgement had been given towards me or whatever was different from them. I had actually asked about that at one point. Their response was something along the lines of 'we've gotten a lot better at it ever since we worked things out with Zecora'.

I digress though.

Anyways, the fact that they had learned I was an omnivore was actually the reason I got this fish. I hadn't even bought it. It was given to me by this nice and really shy pegasus who I remembered occasionally spotting on the edge of the Everfree forest from time to time. She was pretty timid about the fact, having approached me while I was buying some herbs for Zecora, but eventually she managed to get her message across.

In her kindness, she saved some 'leftovers from feeding her bears' for me.

I'll be honest, no matter how weird that sounded to me at the moment, I couldn't care less when she pulled out a pair of wrapped fish from the bags – 'saddlebags', I think they were called – on her back. I had to actively stop myself from drooling.

Now I was on my way back to Zecora's house, my stomach pretty much begging for me to hurry so I could get to eating already. Still, I had to make sure all of Zecora's things made it in one piece as well, so I kept a relatively steady pace.

A slight spring in my step and an undeniable grin on my face, I focused on my dinne– er, errands. At least, I had been focused on that until I heard some shouting while I passed by a particularly crowded part of the market.

"I told you, I don't care!"

"Aw, c'mon RD!"

A brow of mine rose as I found myself slowing at the sound of these two voices, clearly in some sort of argument. They were loud and coarse voices unlike the normally peaceful and quiet Ponyville that I usually came to when I visited, so it was only natural that they attracted my attention.

Curiosity ebbed at me, but I just shook my head and moved my gaze forward. It wasn't my business, whatever it had been, right? Arguments happened all the time back home, and it was best not to get involved when they neither indirectly or directly had nothing to do with me.

Besides, I'd rather not be a part of a 'conflict hungry crowd'. I was already a part of the 'fish hungry crowd', and that was a badge that I was wearing with honor.

I went on along my way towards the Everfree, but could still easily overhear the yells of the two voices even as they began to fade behind me.

"You can't just pretend we never knew each other! Besides, it's not my fault your friends were a bunch of dweebs!"

"Don't call them that already! They are not 'dweebs'! Matter of fact, they're all better friends than you've ever been!"

Ouch. I'm not even watching this and I could feel the sting behind that remark from here. Whoever this was, they must have done something pretty rotten to deserve this.

"I'm not gonna call them what they aren't! Their dweebs! Especially after what that pink loser put me through!"

"That 'loser' has a name! And it's Pinkie Pie!"

That name definitely rung a bell.

I could faintly hear the sound of grunting and some sort of scuffle.

I couldn't help but to wonder where it was from. I could swear that it was familiar.

I brushed past a pony or two, ignoring the stares they gave me as I went further into the crowd.

Seriously, it was right there on the tip of my tongue. Had I seen her before? I could practically picture her.

The crowds grew thicker as the marketplace surrounded me more and more.

Ah, now I remember! It was that pony that threw a party at Zecora's house for me! See, I knew I recognized that name. It was figuratively killing me.

A self-satisfied smile crept onto my face as I mentally tuned back in to my surroundings, wanting to get back home as soon as possible.

Instead of the same path to the Everfree as usual though, I blinked as I noticed I was now surrounded by a metric ton of ponies. Furthermore, I had somehow made my way further into the center of the marketplace.

I blinked again, wondering where the hell I was for a moment before I heard a voice immediately behind me.

"Hey! Who the hay are you? We're kinda in the middle of something!" Turning to face the voice, I saw a light-blue pegasus with a rainbow colored mare glaring at me. She was sporting a very fresh pair of scratches, forming bruises, and a small layer of dirt on her fur.

As I recognized the voice to have been one of the ones I had heard shouting, I took in a breath and closed my eyes before giving out a short curse.

"... I really have to stop fucking rambling to myself."

"What was that? You wanna go too, pal?!"

I turned to the other voice, expecting to see another pony. What threw me off thought was the fact that not only was it not a pony, I had no idea what she was. Yet again, I was being faced with something familiar, but the name escaped me.

If anything, it looked like someone ate an eagle and a lion before coughing them both back up at the same time.

********************************************

"Yow!" I was brought out of my memories by yet another jab to my side. One that used notably more talon than paw. I made it a point to glare at Gilda at this. I also made it a point to ignore Chrysalis' chuckling in the background to the best of my ability.

Gilda was giving me a sideways glance.

"What?! That's what I thought when I saw you! I just got used to ponies, griffons weren't exactly on the bucket list of weird shit I'd also run into."

"Uh-huh, sure. Totally. Just get a move on with the story already."

********************************************

Suffice to say, I had never seen anything like her. Literally. Hell, the fact that I could figure out that she was a girl was a miracle in itself, considering how clueless I was to these sorts of things around here.

Nonetheless, I had a bit of a situation to deal with. One that, in my own self-distraction, I had gotten myself into by subconsciously following the crowd just like I had said I wouldn't. Seriously, I couldn't believe I had actually managed to pull that off.

The large collection of ruffled eagle feathers and bruised and dirtied lion fur continued to glare at me while I decided to make use of all of the diplomatic skill I had acquired in my stay with Zecora.

"Uh... Hiya?"

She lived in a hut in the middle of a forest filled with monsters. What did you expect?

"Why you little-"

"Woah, easy, don't make me use this!" I yelled, reaching into my basket and grabbing the first solid thing I could. Minus the fish of course, that was a precious resource and I had no plans of sacrificing it. The eagle headed female looked to me in confusion, paused in a stance that I could only assume had meant she was moments away from lunging at me.

I heard the sound of hooves from behind me as the pony involved in this debacle came around my side.

"Uh... Dude, that's a bunch of leaves."

I looked up at what I held in my grasp, noticing that I had apparently grabbed a small branch of herbs from my groceries. Threatening, I know.

I looked down to the Pegasus and pursed my lips.

"I'll have you know, this is sage." I knew that because Zecora had told me. Multiple times. The pegasus just gave me an odd look while the other of the two aggressors spoke up again.

"I- You- Wha- What the heck even are you???" And there was the 1000 bit question. I looked to her with a deadpan.

"How about 'the guy who's not openly judging you for your appearance'. That sound good to you?" Not the best response given the situation, but hey I kind of got tired of hearing that 'what are you' remark after the week one.

This comment, of course, didn't go over well for her, if the look of murder in her eyes didn't make it clear. I brushed it off with a shrug.

"So," I gestured, sage still in hand just in case I needed to 'spice up' the ass-beating I would likely receive if I said something stupid, "either of you two mind explaining why you both look like you just fell down a couple flights of stairs with each other's faces on them?" The response was instant.

"She started it!" The pegasus immediately exclaimed with a yell right next to me, pointing a hoof to her 'opponent'.

"What?!" The other joined in, again with a loud yell. "I'm not the one who pulled the first punch! If anything, you started i-"

"Alright!" I provided my own yell to the mix, making sure that I could drown them out. This seemed to catch them both off guard as the two of them flinched. My ears were ringing ever so slightly from both of their outbursts by now. "Look, I really couldn't care less who started this, I'm ending... this... Good god, I've become my father." The two again looked at me oddly as I came to this revelation. Before I let myself unravel that thread any further though, I shook my head and refocused my efforts on what was before me.

"... Alright, now, would one of you calmly explain? And this time, I don't want any of that 'she started it' crap. Understood?" Of the two, the odd combination of animals scoffed, rolling her eyes as she did so.

"Oh look, the monkey's being all tough." She said. "Look, this isn't any of your business, bub, so why don't you just get out of here already."

"Oh, big surprise, Gilda not wanting to try to be nice to somepony."

"As if you would've said any different!"

"Oh yeah? Well- mmph!" One of my hands found itself rubbing my temples at an upcoming headache while the other covered the mouth of the mare. I had hoped that would help to end this argument. That, and I didn't really think it'd be a good idea to have covered the other's beak with my hand instead.

"Okay. I'm not gonna deal with this any longer, so we'll just do this." Putting myself between the two again, I pointed them towards two opposite directions. "You go that way," I said to the pony, before turning my head to the opposite, "and you go that way. Neither of you look back, neither of you fight again."

For a scant moment, my words seemed to echo. All noise was drowned out by silence, save for a single breeze that passed.

... I'll be honest, the chance that that would work was a longshot, especially as I glanced to the two for yet another time, catching full views of their still angered and intimidating glares to one another.

"... You're kidding, right?" The mare suddenly asked, still not taking her eyes off of the one who stood past me.

"Not really, no." I replied in a deadpan tone, noting the obvious skepticism on her features. "Why? Whats the problem now?"

"There is no way I'm turning my back to her!" In response, the other leaned over slightly to her side, looking around me and towards the pegasus.

"What, you don't trust me?" The rainbow-maned mare glared at her.

"Just as far as I can throw you." I all but threw up my hands.

"Fine! Then I'll go with her." I affirmed, immediately drawing wide eyes from the two.

"Wait, what?!"

"You're kidding, ri-"

Noticing that where this was going again, I quickly interrupted the two.

"First of all, you already said that," I began, gesturing to the pony in question, "and second, if you really feel so worried about leaving her 'unsupervised', then I'll just go with her. Besides, I need to go that way anyhow."

The two stood quiet yet again, seeming to think over what I had said for a short moment.

"Well?"

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

"I still can't believe you did that, you dweeb! I had that totally under control, and then you just randomly come in, and-"

By god, I had never regretted a decision of mine so much, so quickly. From the minute that she and I had made our way out of that crowd, she had not even given the slightest of hesitation to start complaining about how 'I butted in', among other choice comments.

"-like, who does that?! I don't need some wierd whatever you are looking over me like I'm some sort of-"

"Human."

"... What?" It was almost comical how this single word seemed to throw her off so much; as if she actually hasn't expected any sort of response whatsoever from my end.

"That's what I am. A human. Now, mind telling me what you are in return?" A brow of hers rose at thisI quickly explained. "I've never really seen anything like you, and it's pretty obvious that you never saw anything like me, so I'm only trying to be fair here."

She seemed stunned for a moment, but eventually she spoke up again, though with an audible huff in her voice.

"... Griffon."

"Damn it, I knew I remembered that!" I couldn't help but to exclaim as I then slammed my hand into my face from the obvious answer that I had so stupidly forgotten. Worse still, I'd read about these, and heard about them from Zecora.

Sure, my head was more than happy to put me in the middle of a brawl because I was distracted trying to figure out the name of some random pink pony that had thrown confetti at me once or twice, but when it came to remembering the name of a creature I was actively talking to? Nah, I guess it was on a union-sanctioned break or something.

"... Weird. You're not, like, another of those annoying and dork ponies from Ponyville, are you?" It was odd, but she took a step to the side away from me as she asked this, sounding almost wary.

"Hm. Lets see, I have no hooves, no wings, I can't use magic, I don't have any 'cutie marks', I-" Before I could continue, a hard smack to the back of my head threw me off guard; so much so that I nearly spilled the contents of the grocery basket that I had practically forgotten having at this point.

"No, you moron, if you're one of those prank-pulling, irritating, idiotic, crazy-"

"Okay, I think I get it." I interrupted, stopping her from rambling on for what I could tell would have seemed like an eternity as I rubbed the part of my head she had hurt. "Man, you really don't like Ponyville, do you?"

She gave out a loud snort as she looked ahead of us, her eyes narrowing even further just from the word 'Ponyville'. "Mostly the ponies that live there."

"Really?" I inquired, genuinely curious as to this griffon's reasonings. "If that's true, then, why did you go there in the first place."

She scoffed at my question, rolling her eyes as she looked back to me. "Duh! I came to this dump to see an old friend of mine. One who was cool – almost as much as I am – and managed to stick with me through thick and thin for, like, ever!"

"... That 'friend' wouldn't have anything to do with that mare back there, would it?" Her response was quick and jagged.

"That's none of your business." She had said, all but answering my question as she fell back into silence.

"... Let me guess," I decided to comment nonetheless, "over the years, you drifted apart from that friend of yours. Something changed – for the better or the worse – in one of you, and made it so that they saw the other differently. That sound like its in the ballpark?" Once more, she was silent. Once more, she answered my question by doing so.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. It's happened to me a few times too. Life's rough that way." At this, the griffon looked up to me with a look of mild surprise while I reached into my basket.

"Huh?" Grabbing hold of one of the two fish, I nonchalantly held it in front of her in offering, watching with slight amusement as she craned her head back in surprise.

"Here, griffons eat meat too, don't they?"

She seemed confused, moving her gaze between the fish I held out for her and I almost consistently before then, slowly, taking the offered food.

"Uh... thanks?" Glancing around her and mine's surroundings, I mentally pointed myself left before my feet followed suit. "Hey, where you goin'? Didn't you say you have to go this way?"

I gave her a wave, not even turning my head to look back to her. "Yeah, but I just said that to get that situation over with. I'm actually on the opposite side of town."

Say what you want, I had my clever moments.

"... Huh..." I heard her say from afar. It was then, however, that she gave out another yell. "So, what's your name anyways, weirdo?"

"Jeremy." I yelled back. "Care to return the favor again?"

"Name's Gilda. And don't you forget it!"

********************************************

"So, you two have been friends ever since?" Halfy asked only moments after I finished recounting the memory of how Gilda and I had met, her head tilted curiously to the side as she did so.

"Pretty much." I shrugged. "She and I saw one another every now and then. We talked, joked around, that kind of stuff."

"But mostly we just messed with Zecora."

"No, that was just you." I swiftly corrected with a smile. Gilda's brow rose at this, her entire posture seeming to shift in relation.

"Really?" Tapping a talon against the bottom of her beak, she seemed to think on this, her gaze blankly on the ceiling as she searched her mind. Quickly after though, she also shrugged, returning to her previous position. "Huh. Guess you're right."

Opening her beak once more, she made to talk, but was shortly after stopped by the sound of a loud, practically echoing rumble. I held back a chortle as I quickly recognized this ever-so-familiar sound.

"I take it the fish-talk gave you some ideas?" I asked jokingly, nudging her lightly with an elbow yet again. She gave a nudge in return, though with some more force behind it, as a smile drew itself on her face.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, Halfy," she called, Halfy's head suddenly shooting up in response, "you got any grub around here? I'm starving."

Halfy quickly made to reply, beginning with her usual timidity as she spoke. "O-oh. Well, I don't really have any... meat, but I-I can probably still try to get you something, if you like."

Gilda shrugged. "Eh, that's fine. Whatever you got, I'll take it." Halfy gave out a sigh of relief, nodding to Gilda before standing herself from the couch and making her way into the kitchen. She was still clearly visible over the counter-like opening in the wall between the living room and kitchen, allowing most of us to get a short glance to what she was doing before continuing our conversation.

"... So... You were jailbait, eh?" Gilda suddenly questioned, a slight voice of amusement in her voice. I blinked.

"Wow, you clearly don't know what that actually means, do you?"

"... You were the first thing people beat up in jail to look cool?" I gave out a sigh in response to her offered meaning while Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis both raised a brow.

"She's a very impulsive thinker, isn't she?" Chrysalis commented, quickly after affirmed by Zecora.

"Impulsive, yes. This fact is sure, and truly needs no guess." I opened my mouth to offer some sort of disagreement, but after thinking about it for all of three seconds I went in the opposite route.

"Believe me," I said, giving Gilda a quick and friendly pat on the back, "you get used to it." With a small chuckle, and another chummy shove from Gilda, I crossed my arms and decided to indulge Gilda's impulsiveness.

"Anyways, yes, we've been over this, I was a 'jailbird' for a bit. Definitely not a part of my more pleasant stay in Canterlot." The sound of approaching hoofsteps caught my attention at that moment. Halfy had finished whatever she was doing in the kitchen and was currently bringing over a tray of her usual amalgamation of arranged fruits balanced carefully upon her head. Her first destination seemed to be towards where Gilda, Nightmare Moon, and I sat. Gilda practically gleamed as she saw the mare approaching.

"H-here you go. I hope you like it." Halfy said, carefully placing the tray down on the floor in front of Gilda. Within a second though, I moved over slighty to my side, knowing exactly how lacking Gilda's table manners were. This was further proven as she quickly and noisily grabbed and shoved a handful of berries into her mouth with her talons, a muffled 'thanks' trying to escape her beak as she did so. 'Trying' being the operative word.

Despite the admittedly disgusting form of gratitude, Halfy still gave a small smile in return, a good bit of cheer in her tired eye at Gilda's satisfaction. Said tired eye quickly attracted my attention.

"Halfy, exactly how long did you all let me oversleep?" Moving her groggy eye to me, she seemed to barely withhold a yawn as she replied.

"Um, I think... three hours?"

"Three and a half." Nightmare Moon corrected, her internal clock just as keen as ever. I pursed my lips at this.

"Seriously? Geez. Halfy, as thankful as I am for that, you should probably get some sleep." She tilted her head at this, half losing her balance as she did so.

"Are you sure? I don't mind staying up a litte longer, if you all li-"

"It's fine. Go get some rest, I'd say you've more than earned it by now." She wavered at my interruption. Still, she then smiled before offering a thankful nod to everyone else and I. She trotted to the stairway door shortly after.

"Night, Halfy."

"Sleep well, our friend."

"Do attempt your best to get some much needed rest."

Zecora, Nightmare Moon, and I bade to Halfy. Chrysalis, as expected, said nothing of the sort, while Gilda attempted to say far too much with far more food in her mouth, again coming out as a mess.

This time, Chrysalis seemed to scowl. "Ugh. That is completely grotesque." Gilda gave her a mocking gesture at this, while I held back a laugh at the irony of her saying this.

"You weren't exactly much better. There's a reason I always moved to the exact other side of our cell back in Canterlot whenever you ate, remember?" Chrysalis' scowl only worsened at this, but she was well-aware I was right as evidenced by her subsequent silence.

Gilda gave out a short laugh through her filled mouth, before swallowing the rest of the food she held in her maw with a loud gulp, chewed or otherwise. A sigh punctuated the end of her exercise in food engulfment alongside a short burp.

"Whew." She said. "Not as good as fish, or maybe a bit of squirrel, but hey, you take what you can get." She grabbed yet another bundle of berries and made to shove them in her mouth once more. About halfway through the gesture though, she froze, her eyes widening in sudden realization. "Oh, by the way, I actually went to Canterlot looking for ya. Before I figured out you weren't there, that is. "

"Really? Well, sorry for the extra trouble then." I apologized as she swallowed another messy mouthful of food.

"Eh, no sweat. If anything, it was funny to see the fact that you used to work for a couple of clowns." I rose a brow of interest at this.

"You ran into Even Out and Top Suit? That's great! How are those two anyway?"

Gilda shrugged as she collected another morsel of food. "Meh. I dont know, I didnt stick around for too long. Though, they did mention something about a rebuilding." I cocked my head at this.

"Rebuilding? Do you mean renovating, or...?"

"Nah, rebuilding. Some sort of fire, or some crud." My eyes squinted as I felt myself mouth the word 'fire', as though that would help me process her words better. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Zecora's eyes widen as she seemed to come to a realization of her own. Before I could ask Gilda more about this, she gave out a loud snort. "Oh, and you're not going to believe this. Those two made some hilarious joke about you being, get this, dead. Hilarious, right?"

I most certainly did not find this hilarious.

"Dead?!"

I practically shot up from where I had been sat down. "What the hell do you mean they said I was dead? How can I be dead, I'm right here!" Nightmare Moon elected to chime in here.

"Sir Jeremy, please, calm yourself. We-"

"Calm? How can I possibly be calm when, apparently, I'm dead?" Again, I jolted back towards GIlda. "Did anyone else tell you this?" I asked, not even caring of the fact that I had said 'anyone' rather than 'anypony' in this particular instance.

"Yeesh. Not really. If anything, that's the first I heard of you being gone."

As you can imagine, I was more than a bit frazzled about this whole thing. Not exactly every day that you hear that your bosses are going around saying you're dead.

Unless you're the former assistant of a mortuary owner who died in a tragic car accident on their way to work. In that case, it would probably make sense if they said that.

"For empress' sake, do I need to pin you to the ceiling again?" Chrysalis grunted, effectively shutting me up. "Now... do you know anything about this? If not your 'death', then the fire? Anything?" I stuttered for a moment, trying to regain my mental bearings, but eventually answered after trying to retrace my last few months for what had to have been the 100th time.

"N-no... I don't think so?"

"Mm-hm. And Zecora, did you happen to hear about any of this?" As Chrysalis looked to the Zebra, Zecora gave a calm yet serious shake of her head.

"Of either event, I did not know. At least, save for when the Griffon previously informed me so." She answered. Chrysalis' nodded sagely at this.

"Hm. So it's just as I thought."

I was effectively as lost as I could be regarding what she had meant.

"Pardon?" I asked, taking note of Chrysalis' pondering expression while her gaze was seemingly fixated at one point on the floor.

"Supposedly you're dead, yet very few are aware of it. In the same way, nopony seems to be aware of our escape."

Nightmare Moon nodded at this, her expression similar to that of Chrysalis. "The changeling is correct. In our months of freedom before we retrieved you, Sir Jeremy, we found that there was none who knew of our leaving of Canterlot. There were, in fact, even fewer that knew of our current existence."

"Yeah, I definitely didn't even know these two were still around either, 'till a few moments ago." Gilda added, referring to Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis. "And I've been... well, pretty much everywhere." I held myself back for a moment, raising a hand as I slowly tried to understand what they were implying.

"Wait. So, you think this was on purpose? That people were supposed to think that we were dead, or gone, or whatever?" Chrysalis nodded, a sneer escaping her as she shook her head.

"No doubt the work of that Princess, Celestia. She likely didn't want any of her citizens to go into a panic." I took in a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves as best I could.

"So... What now then?"

A moment of silence revolved around almost all of us, leaving us quiet. At least, almost. Without any obvious reason, Gilda laughed.

"Heh. Ol' sunbutt is trying to keep you three a secret, is she? Something that doesn't get out of Canterlot? Then I guess that's where you need to go."

At the time, I thought she was kidding.

"You're kidding, right?" See? At this, Gilda was only able to raise a brow. "Gilda, no offense, but you've had a lot of bad ideas... Like, a lot."

"True." She agreed readily.

"But, of all of them, this has to be one of the crazie-"

"We shall leave tomorrow."

"Agreed."

At both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis' words, I froze, my mind going through an almost impossible to recover from reboot. I definitely hadn't been expecting that.

"Uh, h-hold on, you can't be seriou-"

"I shall see what I can do to find you your ways. You should easily arrive after the end of the day."

"Z-Zecora, what the he-"

"And don't think you're going without me. I just found you, and there is no way I'm losing ya again."

"Eh... I... You... We... Ugh." I was completely at a loss. I had no possible way of rebutting against them. Especially when they had seemingly teamed up like this...

"Of all the occasions for them to do this for the first time...." I mused to myself in annoyance.

"I'm not going to be able to argue against all of you, am I?" The smiles on their faces were all clear and broad.

"Nope."

"Not really."

"Afraid not, Sir Jeremy."

"The option is so: your answer is no."

And with that, whatever batteries I may have had for the evening had quickly been drained. In other words, I was, in fact, quite empty on the department of single unit 'fucks' to give.

"... You know what, we'll settle this tomorrow. Chrysalis, scooch over, I'm sleeping down here so we don't bother Halfy."

"Oh! I call dibs on sitting on your fa-"

"So help me Gilda, I will get a hose."

Chapter 24: To Feel Each Other's Pain [Here Again]

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The Everfree forest had never truly been any sort of ideal tourist area, or anything else of the sort. Many, in fact, avoided it at all costs. Unknown plant-life, wild and uncontrollable weather patterns, and even a near eternally slumbering family of Ursa that resided within a large cave within the forestry made it a land that only the most foolhardy would attempt to deal with. To enter the Everfree Forest often was a major risk for anyone, pony or otherwise, who was not previously experienced with the land.

Yet as the night began to draw to a close, one could not help but notice the odd group out that made their way through the many pieces of shrubbery and trees that made up the sides of a well-worn path. Even more interestingly enough, however, were those that made up the group.

A shadow-spattered alicorn, an ever-so-grumpy changeling monarch, a smirking griffoness, and finally - trailing slowly behind - was one last pony. This one had dark brown fur and a simple black mane, with no particularly special traits to him save for his lack of a cutie mark and the gray jacket that fitted oddly around his equine form. His endless supply of grumbling as he took step after step with his trembling and unsteady hooves was a constant source of noise from him, allowing the others in the group to be certain he had still been there. Often times he would even trip over his own hooves and onto his face, which currently explained a succession of forming bruises he had earned alongside the laughter of the griffon.

"So," the griffon semi-casually called to the stallion that trailed behind them, "how you doin' back there? Still learnin' to walk, or what?" At this, the stallion gave her a glare.

"Shut it, Gilda. This is harder than it looks!" He replied, stumbling over himself once again as he let out a series of curses. "Seriously though, how the hell do ponies do this!?"

At his remark, the changeling queen near the front of the group rolled their eyes. "Oh please, don't be such a foal about it. I've turned into a pony every now and then for as long as I can possibly remember and I never had any of this trouble."

"Yeah, well, you didn't have to go from walking on two legs to four! Try to turn yourself into a human and walk around, then we'll talk!" With a growing sense of annoyance, if not only from his frustration of having to learn to walk in this state as well as the teasing of the griffoness and changeling, he watched as the insect-like being smirked.

"Now, why would I ever turn into a human? That's hardly any functional disguise I could use, and I doubt I'd be able to gather any love in that sort of form. Besides I've turned into a minotaur before. There's no appeal to being on two legs."

Before the stallion could provide another reply, an untimely force of nature in the shape of an exposed root suddenly held his tongue for him. Muzzle met floor as he once more tripped for what could only have been the twentieth time or so.

"Damn it." Placing a forehoof on his head in discomfort, he opened one of the eyes he had closed in his fall just in time to see a dark-midnight blue forehoof before him, gesturing for him to take it.

He managed to easily follow the hoof back to its owner, his gaze eventually falling upon a warmly smiling alicorn. With a sigh he returned the smile, taking the mare's forehoof as he lifted himself back onto his his own hooves. "Thanks." He said simply, gaining a nod of acknowledgement from the alicorn.

Repositioning his hooves he moved his gaze forward. He took note of the fact that, despite their earlier teasing, both the griffon and the changeling were waiting patiently for him.

"Geez, can you get any goofier while you're like this?" The griffon asked, momentarily sitting herself down and crossing her eagle-like arms as she looked to him. In return though, he gave a small smirk.

"Probably, yeah. Though, it would be a real shame if I just - oh, I don't know - fell full force onto your tail the next time?" Just as he had hoped, the griffoness quickly gave out an uncomfortable shudder at the notion, drawing a chuckle from both the alicorn and changeling.

Before he could truly take in his small victory over the griffon, however, he felt his nerves twinge as she then gave him a familiar, odd smile.

"Hm. You know, you miss my tail, and you just might end up doing something I'd actually enjoy." Though this went over the alicorn's head, the changeling had to suppress her own laughter, especially once she caught sight of the impressive shade of red that began to coat the brown-furred stallion's face.

"... How you manage to turn a subject in that direction every time, I'll never know."

"It's a gift, really."

"Yes, well," the changeling intervened, her laughter still fighting at the back of her throat to escape, "as... amusing as this is, we should get going."

At this, the three nodded in unison, with the only difference seeming to be a momentary glare held by the stallion towards the griffoness.

"Right, well-"

The snapping of a small twig echoed through the air. Such a small sound, normally muted by the many other sounds of the forest, had become amplified to the four seemingly out of pure tension. The equivalent of a s

With this, the long-lasting silence to follow was only an untold guarantee. Had there been a group of timber wolves following them? Perhaps a manticore, or some other cruel force of the Everfree? These thoughts rippled through the minds of only three of them, with the alicorn's horn beginning to glow intimidatingly and the griffon's eyes narrowing as she unfurled her wings.

Nonetheless, the fourth of the group remained calm, instead blankly looking towards a collection of brush in the direction the disturbance had come from.

"... You know, had you shown yourself earlier you would have saved us a lot of trouble." The other three looked to her strangely as she spoke, though she paid them no mind. She had been well aware of this being's presence for quite some time now, but had simply chosen not to speak up. In fact, she wanted to see where this would go, watching as the emotions of the being shifted violently whenever they would look in its general direction. Now, however, it had been caught, and her form of entertainment for the past hour or so was brought to an end.

"..." With a roll of her eyes as well as a a single purposeful thought, her jagged horn shone with a green and black aura. The same light came faintly from beyond the bushes, where the hidden being gave what sounded like a momentary squeak of surprise.

Within seconds, the being was lifted from behind the plant-life and into the sight of the group, all of their guards quickly dropping as such. Instead, their stances were replaced with confusion and partial surprise.

A familiar purple-furred earth mare with a gray and sunset yellow mane, as well as a seemingly permanantly bandaged eye.

"Halfy?" The griffon questioned. "What the hay are you doin' here?"

The changeling focused on the awkwardly floating earth mare who, upon noticing this, did whatever she could to further hide herself. Of course it wasn't really possible from her position, but she tried noneteless.

"Halfy, our friend," the alicorn then added, "why have you come here? Weren't you supposed to be slumbering at this time?" She asked, curious as to why her companion was apparently following them.

Initially, the mare was only able to stay silent in response, both from timidity and unsureness as to what to say. Soon though, after gathering a sufficient amount of nerve and taking in a deep breath, she managed to speak up in a low and quiet tone.

"I... I w-woke up a while ago. When I did, Z-Zecora was still there, waiting for me." She recalled. "She told me that you had all left, a-and what you were g-going to do..." Again she grew silent. This time the griffon pressed her to go on.

"And...?" She said with a roll of her wrist.

"... And, well, I... I'd like to come w-with you." Everyone held a unique reaction to this. Raised brows, blank faces, smiles; it was array of different emotions and opinions towards what the mare had just said.

Glancing towards one another, the group watched as the changeling lowered the earth mare down to the ground, giving a short 'harrumph' as she placed her down next to the stallion of the group.

"Halfy, are you sure about that?" He asked. In return, he only received a momentary look of confusion. The earth mare had, in truth, been bewildered as she saw him. His loosely fitting jacket; his eye color and voice; more importantly though, what she could see of him through her eyes.

"J-... Jeremy?" She questioned unsurely. The stallion chuckled.

"In the flesh... Er, fur..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I needed to work on my 'pony' talk.

"H-how... Why are you...?" It wasn't really much of a surprise that she had been confused about everything. I was pretty confused too when this whole thing had happened. I quickly made to explain.

"Heh, yeah, as it turns out Chrysalis specializes in more than making just herself look different." Halfy, still with a raised brow, moved her gaze over to Chrysalis. Despite her obvious groan of exasperation, she didn't seem to have any issue with adding further explanation.

"It's a relatively simple spell. Usually, we queens cast it to teach the new-born members of our hives how to transform." Chrysalis' attention was then shifted to me, accompanied by a smug smile of hers. "Though, I suppose he and the new-borns pretty much have the same level of intelligence, so that might have made things easier for me."

Yeah, I should've seen that coming. If Gilda was still willing to flirt despite the situation, then it was only logical that Chrysalis would still keep our war of the words going.

"Thank you, Chrysalis." I said in a deadpan and sarcastic voice. "Anyways, Halfy, you've already done plenty to help us, why would you want to come along?"

Seeming to add to my point, Nightmare Moon gave her own input as well. From it, I could tell that she shared the same concerns that I did.

"Yes, Halfy. Your assistance to our cause has already proven its value ten times over. What of your home? Your garden?" The thought of her wooden abode and expansive orchard of plant-life - more specifically of those Lunar Blossoms that Nightmare Moon so cared about - flashed through my mind as Halfy looked towards the ground, absentmindedly digging a small hole with a forehoof.

"I... I've already asked Zecora to take care of everything while I'm gone..." Her attempts of putting our concerns at ease only really made them worse in a way. From her tone, I could tell that even she was unsure of this. And this didn't seem to be missed by Nightmare Moon either.

"Halfy, I'm going to be honest with you. We're going to be doing something that may not be the best ide- Oh, fuck it, sugar coating it wont help. We're doing something really stupid. And if you come with us, there'll be even more of a chance that you'll get in trouble for helping us than before." She didn't respond, continuing in her mindless digging. I knew it wasn't really from her trying to ignore me so much as it was she didn't know what to say.

"Halfy..."

"Let her come." Mine, Halfy's, and Nightmare Moon's eyes all turned as we all heard Chrysalis speak, putting our focus to her. Of all the times for her to start audibly holding any positive thought towards Halfy, it had to be now?

"What?"

"Her mind is set. Though I'm not sure why, nor am I sure I should even care, that's all there is to it. Even if you turn her away, she'll just keep on pestering us until you say yes. Believe me, it's not persistence I see from her. It's determination."

It was such an odd word to hear at the time. So oddly specific, but probably the most fitting. 'Determination'.

"Really? Cool." Gilda suddenly added in, making her way over to Halfy. " 'Bout time you got some guts. Figured you had it in ya." She playfully ruffled Halfy's mane with her talons, as if providing her own seal of approval to the matter.

Nightmare Moon and I, in the meantime, held different opinions of the whole thing.

"Sir Jeremy," I heard her suddenly say to me through my thoughts, ", what is it that you think? Should we truly allow her to venture with us, despite the risk?"

I was quiet for a moment, just thinking the idea over. I didn't want Halfy to put her neck on the line any further than she already had - hell, I was already tense about the fact that I had gotten Gilda and Zecora involved in this as well. But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how she could help.

With that special talent of hers, we'd more easily be able to figure out who we could trust or otherwise. Plus, like Chrysalis said, she was determined. If that meant anything even remotely close to like how I was stubborn, then she really wouldn't just let this whole thing go.

I tried to cross my forearms in thought, but in doing so I had forgotten that I was using them to stand. I had once again become acquainted with the ground, taste and all.

After that, it didn't take a genius to guess that the laughter I heard was from Chrysalis and Gilda. I grumbled as I picked myself up with some struggle, cricking my neck in doing so.

"A-are you okay?" I could hear Halfy ask. She seemed to take notice of something about me, pursing her lips before, without a word, she brushed off a stray leaf from my head.

I could appreciate that.

Before I could vocalize this though, the sound of Chrysalis and Gilda's laughter were suddenly drowned out - quite literally - by the sound of splashing water. I had easily guessed what had happened as I looked to the two, seeing that whatever looks of amusement they may have had were gone. They had instead been replaced with drenched glares as they pointed daggers towards a smirking Nightmare Moon.

"Quit doing that!" They both yelled as I gave her a mental 'thanks' before finally speaking up to Halfy.

"... You can come, Halfy."

"R-really?"

I nodded to her in response. "If you're really this dead-set on this, then I'm not going to stop you..."

For a bit, she just looked at me, blinking in utter shock. Still, shortly after, her shock shifted to something else. A smile slowly made its way onto her features. It was pleasant, actually.

"Thank you."

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The town of Ponyville was as lively as ever now that the sun had been raised. It was an odd cycle, but the moment morning came along in this small town it was as though someone had suddenly flipped the 'on' switch for activity.

Many ponies passed by each other and gave their greetings, be they friends or complete strangers. The brown-furred stallion with his loosely fitting jacket was no exception to these greetings, though he would have much rather preferred not to.

"Damn it!" He battered into the back of his own mind. "Why did Zecora have to say that the train came along every 'morning'? It couldn't have been every night? Or sunset? Literally anything else? Anything?"

"Sir Jeremy?" The human-turned-pony practically yelled as he heard the echoing voice of one of his friends, Nightmare Moon, overshadow that of his own thoughts. "Are you well?"

Before he could answer, Jeremy had to take a deep, shuddering breath. He could feel a bead of sweat going down the side of his head as he gathered himself.

"... Could be better." He responded. Technically speaking, he wasn't lying.

When he and the other members of his group had first been told by Zecora of the train only arriving during the day, only moments after Jeremy had been changed into the form of a stallion, it had naturally become an issue. Though Gilda was 'out of the loop' in this regard, having raised a brow when this came up, Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon were well aware of the issue that this posed. Even Halfy, who had later joined them, quickly understood the situation upon being told.

For Jeremy and the others, cluelessness was the only initial thing that he felt when the subject had come up, along with a good bit of guilt considering he was the only one holding them back.

Eventually though, Nightmare Moon had made a suggestion.

"Perhaps," she had said, "if you are ineligible of traveling during the day... We could do so for you?"

Though this was originally met by a confused silence, it did not stop the idea from being put into action. What other choice did they have, after all?

This is the reason that Jeremy currently made his way through the roads of Ponyville with what seemed like little to no reaction, though anyone that listened in on his thoughts would likely hear the ramblings and whimpers of a mad man. The reason that he held such a calm and simple face, though he was essentially giving out an internal scream. And, possibly among the more important of things to note, the reason his shadow occasionally seemed to shift in shape and appearance, and his previously clumsy walk suddenly seemed to obtain a regular grace to it.

"Continue to compose yourself for only a short a while longer, Sir Jeremy. We promise, we will not have to do this for too long of a time." Nightmare Moon told her fear-filled friend, attempting her best to comfort him while also guiding his body along. To her, his allowance of this possession couldn't help but to spark conflicting emotions.

On one hand, this had signified a great deal of trust. She would be in charge of almost every action he took. If she so chose, she could very easily put him in harms way. Yet, Jeremy had given little to no resistance to the idea, allowing her to take control shortly after they had reached the edge of the Everfree Forest and Ponyville, right as sun had begun to rise.

Alongside this, she would not be lying if she said that she quite enjoyed being in such a proximity to him. Especially now that the others were elsewhere, what with part of their plan to leave involving them arriving separately.

"It would seem suspicious if we all just went to the same place in a big group." He had told them all. "Plus, uh... we aren't exactly the least noticeable group around there."

Still, she couldn't help but to feel a twinge of guilt whenever Jeremy gave out an internal shudder, his fear likely pressing at him more and more as he remained outside. She had done whatever she could to ease his fear. She sealed off the majority of his mind from the rest of his body, she moved from one shaded area to the next, and she even purposefully sped up his/her pace so that they would arrive to the train station sooner, but unfortunately she knew that the comfort that this may have provided him was minimal at best.

Yet, here she was, gaining comfort out of the matter while Jeremy was moving against his will, making his way through what he had been forced to fear over his time in the Canterlot dungeons.

"A-any chance that we're almost there?" He asked her in a quiet and stuttering voice. As mentioned before, despite the fact that they shared the same body in a way, most of his mind had been sealed off from the senses of his body. This included sight. So, of course, he held no idea as to what was occurring in the world around him while Nightmare Moon guided them along.

"Yes, Sir Jeremy, we do believe we can already see our intended destination." She could hear him give out a loud mental breath as she said this, adding a sense of relief to her just as well as to him.

"Good... Good. Hopefully, the others will be there by now."

In truth, Nightmare Moon had felt relatively disappointed when he had said that. Nonetheless, this wasn't a time for her to enjoy. Not here, and certainly not as it was. Her priority, much like Jeremy's, was centered around one thing. To arrive to the train station and, afterwards, Canterlot.

Sooner or later, it would be time for her and her 'sisters' to have words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, barring the fact that I was in the light as much as I could be... The entirety of this situation was odd, to say the least.

I mean, it's not exactly normal for me to be moving my body without really moving it. It felt as though my entire body were asleep and someone was constantly grabbing hold of me, moving my numb limbs with ease despite whatever command I would try to get through.

Despite this, I wasn't really scared of this feeling. The light that surrounded me as I seemingly involuntarily made my way down the dirt paths of Ponyville? OH YEAH, THAT SCARED ME LIKE HELL!

But not the fact that I couldn't move. If anything, all I felt from this was... Warm, I guess. Its hard to describe. It was as if Nightmare Moon was holding me as tightly as she could, moving me with only the slightest and most careful of gestures.

Plus, it wasn't like I thought she would hurt me.

She had done a lot for me over the time I had known her, and become one of my better friends, so why should I have even hesitated when she had given mention to the idea of the 'puppet shadow' spell she knew.

Granted, from the name I had originally guessed she would be controlling my movements from afar, but I certainly wasn't going to complain about this.

Even better, I wasn't the one controlling this clumsy pony that Chrysalis had made me into anymore. Now someone with much more experience was behind the wheel.

Or would it have been hoof? Hooves? Muzzle? Look, don't expect anything clever from me here, I can barely remember what was going on at the time. I was practically having twelve conversations with myself just to keep from remembering where I was at the time.

And besides, the fact that my mind made the best possible hiding spot from the light certainly didn't hurt. While Nightmare Moon was able to move me in whatever way she was, I was still able to blink, to talk, to 'move', anything like that, so long as it fit the limitations that my mind and some of the spells she had cast on them were provided with.

So, suffice to say, I had my 'eyes' closed for a good bit of the time that we moved through Ponyville.

Curiously enough though, it still felt like I remembered everything here from the last time I had walked through. The dirt floors, the homely houses, and the seemingly over-friendly ponies that lived here. There was definitely a certain nostalgia to it. Were it not for the fact that my mind was in a blind panic, I would've tried to enjoy it a little more.

"Sir Jeremy?" Nightmare Moon suddenly asked for me, her voice seeming to come from some sort of outside source while I was snapped out of my thoughts. I responded to her with a questioning hum. "We have arrived at the station. Though, we are unable to see any of our other companions."

From just tuning in to my body's hearing, I could more or less tell what she was going on about. What was usually just the calm atmosphere that so heavily characterized this small town, accented by the occasional friendly voice, had become more stuffy and crowded. Rather than just one voice, there seemed to be many, each of ponies clamoring to ready themselves for their train to either arrive or leave.

"Oh, okay." I told her, keeping my mind's eyes shut tightly, especially as the sun felt as though it grew brighter in the skies above. "As for the others, we probably just need to wait for a bit. They had different routes than us, after all, and were only bound to take longer to get here."

I could feel her give a small and almost undetectable nod with my body as response. It probably would have looked strange if anyone else had seen it, but, hey, it didn't seem like anyone had so I didn't a really pay it too much concern.

Time from there seemed to take an eternity, the sounds of ponies continually spiking and flatlining in terms of volume while I tried my absolute best to be anywhere else. The mind has its limits though, so I could only keep up this imaginary facade for so long.

Soon enough though, through Nightmare Moon and I's silent ministrations, I heard a voice.

"Excuse me, mister." It said, high pitched and, honestly, adorable. "Have you seen my parents?" I could feel my neck turn on Nightmare Moon's command as she looked to the source of the voice.

And as for me, curious as to the matter, I took in a deep breath, 'opening my eyes' for a split second so as to look.

Initially, the first thing that came was a short flash, both from the light, and from the horrible memories that followed; I barely held myself from screaming, or doing anything else in that regard. Nonetheless, despite this, I had seen what I had wanted to. I shut out the images of torch lights and silhouettes as I shut my eyes again.

A small unicorn filly, seeming barely old enough to talk without mixing up her 'R's and 'L's, had been stood before us. Some of her more discerning features were a sky blue coat, a light yellow mane, and the lack of a cutie mark. Anypony else would have just believed this to be a really young filly who had yet to figure out her 'special talent'. Nightmare Moon and I knew a little more than that though, especially as we caught sight of her familiar green eyes.

"Thou art tardy." I heard Nightmare Moon say over our mental link, though I could tell it wasn't aimed towards me. I felt my body smile and turn completely towards the filly.

"Oh shut it." Chrysalis' entry into the link was sudden, accompanied by the mental image of her glaring. In other words, pretty much the same as usual. "Do you know how hard it is to make my way through this pathetic little town alone as a filly? It's almost sickening how many ponies kept asking me why I wasn't in school, or where my 'parents' were. Ugh."

Despite her mental complaint, the filly she had shaped herself to be continued with her act. "They got on the train, but I can't find them."

"And how are you holding out, exactly?" This time I could tell that she was referring to me. As to how, well, lets' just say that I didn't appreciate the image of me crying like a baby.

"Could you help me find them?"

"Same thing I told Nightmare Moon earlier... Could be better." As I relayed this, Nightmare Moon opened my mouth, likely to reply to the 'filly'.

So far, this was going perfectly, according to how we had planned this. Nightmare Moon and I had met up with Chrysalis - Or rather, a random stallion had met with a lost filly. The filly would say she couldn't find her parents and the stallion would happily agree to help her. Around this time, a certain mare, with a bandage around her head would come around, hopping aboard just as well in the hopes of seeing her family. Then, a short time after that, there'd be a griffoness who'd follow, claiming that she had to meet some friends in Canterlot, but didn't want to fly all that way.

It was a simple enough idea, and, with the bits that Zecora had given us for the tickets we would need, it had made things much less complicated. You can't really find too much suspicion in a varied group with different purposes.

So, yeah, aside from the fact that I didnt really feel like I was providing much. basically being a puppet with thought, everything was going just perfectly.

"Do not worry, little one, we shall help thee find thine guardians."

...

"..."

"... Didn't think that far ahead, did you?" Chrysalis told me, this time sending an image of her face of bemusement as she referred to Nightmare Moon's form of talking.

"Just get on the god damn train." I returned, just barely noticing Nightmare Moon slightly raise a brow in confusion through my body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seeming to compose herself with a clear of her throat, the filly that was Chrysalis spoke up again. "Um... Thank you. I-"

"Move it! Outta the way!" A loud, gritty voice filled the air, interrupting the conversing three - or two, as any other may have seem it - as it demanded for a path to be cleared.

The three instantly recognized the voice to be Gilda's, turning towards its source in their shared and disguised forms.

"I knew this wouldn't work." Chrysalis added shortly afterwards. Jeremy ignored this comment, electing instead to speak to his body's current 'guest'.

"Nightmare Moon, what's she doing?" Jeremy asked, noting the sounds of grumbling and complaining ponies. As he could not see, Nightmare Moon relayed to him what was occurring.

"Miss Gilda seems to be pushing over everypony else..." She told him quite bluntly. At the same time though, she took note of what seemed to be a clear and unmistakable look of concern on her face, though in a much angrier tone."She also seems rather distressed, Sir Jeremy."

Chrysalis from her place next to the currently unified pair was able to see this clearly for herself. Though she had some trouble seeing over the taller ponies than her filly-formed self, she could still easily catch the emotional storm that was raging inside of Gilda.

Before she could even comment on this though, there were suddenly no more ponies that blocked Gilda's path, either having been pushed aside or smart enough to move after watching her.

From there, she reached the three within seconds.

"Yo, J, you there?!" She asked loudly as she stood herself before him and Nightmare Moon. Jeremy internally flinched as he overheard her call him by the nickname she had given him, despite the fact that they were supposed to seem like total strangers to one another.

Even worse, he wouldn't be able to say anything to her without taking control of his own body again, and doing so would mean directly exposing himself to the light again; something he didn't think he be able to bear again.

"Nightmare Moon, ask her what's wrong." Jeremy requested of Nightmare Moon, receiving a physical and mental nod in return as Nightmare Moon then spoke up in his place. Unlike Gilda, she had seen the staring ponies and instead whispered.

"Miss Gilda," she began quietly, "Sir Jeremy wishes to know what troubles you."

At this, the griffon sputtered, seeming to have momentarily forgotten that her friend was, in fact, not the one in control.

"What the- Whatever, look, we've got a problem!" Much to the three's displeasure, Gilda continued to yell, only serving to attract even more attention to them.

"Miss Gilda, please, calm thine self. Thou art bringing unnecessary attention towards us all."

For the first time that they had met her, both Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis took note of a certain look that she held; one that breathed and gasped fury; one that Jeremy would know all too well to signify something really bad. Even more so when he realized that, of their group, Gilda was not supposed to be the next to have arrived.

"... Where's Halfy...?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I-I could barely breathe at the time. My legs felt like jelly, my stomach felt like it was doing backflips, it was terrible! All I could really do was stare at the pair of stallions. One was a pegasus while the other was a unicorn. They weren't alone either. I'm guessing that they had their marefriends with them, judging by how close they liked to be to the other two. There were four of them, so that made for a total of six.

They seemed familiar but I-I didn't bother trying to remember their names. I couldn't even tell you what they looked like. What was the point, after all? They were the same as all the others in my memories. If I had tried to give a name to each one, it would have just hurt more. I... I didn't want to think that they were real ponies. I didn't want them to be more than just things in the back of my mind.

Things that, at the moment, had stopped me just for walking in the town.

"Say, how long has it been, Halfy? What, five, maybe six months?" One of the two asked, though I could tell his tone was anything more than honestly curious. He didn't really want the answer. They never did. So, I stayed quiet. I did what I had learned to do after years of practice. I looked down at the ground. That had usually made things turn out less badly for me, I had noticed. Maybe they felt like I was trying to undermine them by daring to look back at them. Or maybe they just didn't want me to even 'look at the same air as them', or something like that.

It could be anything.

"I think that it was 6, Thunder Lock."

"Oh, right, right. Thanks, Feather High."

Thunder Lock and Feather High. I hated that I knew their names now. I hated that, until I could forget them again, they were ponies to me. I hated even more that I remembered those names after I heard them.

Usually, they'd only throw names from afar. Except for one time, where they threw a small rock. Something was different from before. Maybe it was the mares? They had never brought them along before, they were probably just trying to seem more confident now. To show-off?

Jeremy told me he 'couldn't get what kinds of horrible mares would have found that attractive' at some point, but its actually not that surprising how many of them there are when you know what to look for.

"So, how have you been doing then? Met any new friends? Any at all?" He was baiting me to answer. At the same time though, I knew he also didn't want me to answer. It was that same trick they used every now and then. No matter what you said or did, it would go in their favor.

Still, of the two options, I decided to stay quiet. My throat would always hurt so much when I spoke. It was like the air was sandpaper around them. It was so much easier to stay quiet.

"Aw, ThunderLocke, that's so nice of you, assuming that she would have anypony would want to be her friend." The other stallion laughed while the mares that were with them giggled. Why was it that they always had the same sense of humor, I wonder? Then again, I shouldn't think on it. It would be dumb of me, wouldn't it? Thats what some of the others like them would have told me. 'Just stay quiet and take what you deserve'.

"Yeah, I know. I'm such a nice guy. Eh, Halfy?" I felt him give what he seemed to pretend would be a light blow on my shoulder. I didn't feel that. I didn't get that chummy nudge that I saw Gilda would give Jeremy while they stayed over at my home. I wish I would have, but I didn't. Instead, I could only barely keep myself from whimpering as my shoulder started to ache. "Yeah, of course I am." He shortly after finished for himself. They did that a lot too.

"Hey, Halfy, you know what would be a good way to thank him for being so nice to you?" I tried to keep quiet again. But I guess I had forgotten something in the time I lived outside of Ponyville. Sometimes, I had to answer them. There wasn't any option. I had to. It was stupid of me to forget, and I couldn't blame anypony else for what came next but myself.

I got another 'nudge' to the same shoulder, though with even more force behind it. This, coupled with fact that I was still tender, was too much for me to hold. I couldn't keep myself from giving out a soft cry. I was so sorry at the time. I know I didn't do anything wrong, but I was still sorry. To myself. To them. I just... I couldn't help it.

"He asked a question, Halfy. Do you know what would be a good way to thank me?" Despite my nerves, I managed to take in a breath. My throat hurt so much just talking. It hurt so much to let myself know that they were real.

"N-n-no..." My voice hoarse from the struggle of having to respond. I could practically hear them smirk. I had told them what they had wanted me to, so it was back to being silent.

"Well, why don't you head on back to wherever it is you came from and try to make some friends this time. I'm sure that, if you're gone long enough, somepony might be willing to at least contemplate the idea." How badly I wanted to just disappear; to just vanish from that very spot, there and then. But I couldn't. Instead, I had to sit there and wait, ignoring whatever discomfort my bandage seemed to give at the time. They had been fine earlier, but now they felt like they were tighter. I figured that, in their own way, they were reminding me to keep to my place. I couldn't blame them, if that was the reason.

"Or," the other then continued, "if you prefer, we can stop trying to be so nice, and-"

"And what, exactly?" Just like that, the dirt didn't seem so nice anymore. My ears twitched as I looked up, recognizing the voice I heard. The two stallions, and the mares that accompanied them, had suddenly lost their smirks. Instead, they seemed annoyed.

For once though, it wasn't at me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd say that both Nightmare Moon and I had uh... heard and seen enough. How could I tell, you might ask? Well, one of us was trembling in anger. I couldn't tell you who. I hadn't opened my eyes, but just from listening and from what Nightmare Moon told me she saw, I practically wanted to peel the skin off of my face.

Morbid? Really? Thats what you think is-

Whatever, lets just get back to it.

As it turned out, this wasnt exactly going on in the middle of nowhere. No, heaven forbid it have been done in some cliche place like an alleyway or something like that. Instead, it was happening in the middle of a busy pathway. Now, you might be hearing that and thinking 'why is that a bad thing? Isn't it good if others were watching'? Well, you'd be right. It was good that there were others around.

But that's where the good parts had ended. They could see it happening. They could hear it happening. It wasnt out of sight or anything like that. It was right there. Yet, nobody seemed to be paying attention. There wasnt one second that the ponies spared to look at what was happening, or even give a slight 'hey, what's going on here'. No, instead their days were apparently just that important to them.

Evidently, the bystander effect was no less real in Ponyville than it was back where I had originally come from.

Still, that was only more fuel to the flame. That is to say, more reason for me to be pissed off at the folks that were bothering Halfy. More specifically, the two shit ringleaders who led this shit circus.

Even now I could hear them as they arrogantly addressed Nightmare Moon and I.

"And just who the hay are you?" Seemed as though Nightmare Moon and I had shared a similar idea in regards to a response. I didn't even have to open the link I had to her before she had said exactly what I was thinking.

" 'Somepony who contemplated the idea'." Nightmare Moon quoted for me, every word sounding exactly as how I would have wanted them to.

Look, it was a cool moment and you cannot take that from her.

"... Sir Jeremy, they are grinning." I gave Nightmare Moon a mental nod as I then heard one of the two give out a light chuckle, practically filled with arrogance and stupidity. Mostly the latter, though.

It was like I was in Canterlot all over again! What fun! What nostalgia! What a sense of home!

... No, I am not overdoing it with the sarcasm.

"You can't be serious." One of the two then said. "You mean, you actually are a friend of one-eye there?"

If I had control of my body, I probably would have twitched a bit when they said 'one-eye'.

"Sir Jeremy, would it be wrongful of us to claim that we wish to hurt them...?" If it was, then I'd be in the same boat as she was in. Nonetheless, we couldn't let it get to us. So, after reassuring her that her sentiments were shared, I told Nightmare Moon not to do anything rash. At least, not yet.

"As a matter of fact, we are." She then continued through my voice, though once again allowing her 'Old Canterlot' accent to show again in the process. I had to say, it felt strange to hear my voice saying things like that. Then again, it was also pretty weird to hear my voice when I wasn't talking.

" 'We'? Now I know you must be joking." This time it was the original offender's voice who rang through. "To say that she could actually have one friend is funny. But even more than that? Ha, that's hilarious!"

I seriously hated this guy. Not disliked - no, I'm wasn't allowing him that kindness - I sincerely hated him, and his friend.

"You must not know that much about her, right? About her weirdo parents, or her eye?"

Hang on, before I continue, do you hear that? That little noise? It's just barely there.

... No? Cool. That's the sound of how much I really didn't give a singular fuck about what they were talking about.

I could feel mine and Nightmare Moon's teeth grinding both physically and mentally as she seemed to ignore the two, instead turning to face Halfy. "Are ye well?" She asked, though simply saying this seemed to trigger the idiots again. Their focus was aimed towards the way Nightmare Moon spoke this time though.

"Did you hear that Thunder Lock? 'Are ye well'? What a dork!"

"No wonder he's with her, the two are a perfect match of weird."

And now they were basically making fun of Nightmare Moon's accent. They didn't exactly know they were, but it was definitely close enough. Fortunately, aside from a few choice words under her breath, of which I wasn't even aware existed for ponies, she didn't react too badly.

"I-I'm fine." I heard Halfy finally reply. Nightmare Moon gave some sort of inquisitive hum before, with a narrow of her/my eyes, she spoke up.

"Then, pray tell, why do your favor your right shoulder?"

And that, ladies and gents, was the metaphorical straw effectively shattering the spine of that horse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Twas a difficult feature for us to ignore, yet even more so just to acknowledge. Our friend, Halfy, could not lie to us in this regard, for one could not hide what was so physically clear.

Even as she held her shoulder with her forehoof, attempting what she could in order to hide the proof of her more recent abuse, the discoloration that laid upon her remained ever so apparent.

"Um, uh, n-no reason. Really, I'm fine." We narrowed our eyes as she said this, doubt being my lead in this judgement.

In truth, anger could not begin to describe our emotions. So terribly it was we wished to bring recompense upon the afflicters of our friend's injury and state; to enshroud them in our darkest of shadows and show them what they have to fear as consequence.

We knew though that we could not. Though we could sense Sir Jeremy's own fury within his body, of which we controlled, we were also aware of his wishes to draw little attention. For an earth pony to use any form of magic, more incredulously that which was as recognizable as ours, would do naught but end our plot before it had began.

"We do not wish to hear lies, Halfy. You are aware of this..." Our friend said nothing more as we informed her of this, instead favoring the ground below her as she grew to be silent.

Unsure of what more to add, we decided to have the opinion of Sir Jeremy, ignoring the seemingly endless babble of the two 'stallions' behind us. In truth, they held no right to be referred to as them any longer.

"Sir Jeremy, it would seem as though they hath brought harm upon our companion. We take it you would like us to escort her away from this scene?"

"..."

"Sir Jeremy?"

"..."

We received no response from him. Not so much as even the slightest of sounds resounded from his dormant being, gaining our curiosity and, of course, concern.

The spell we had cast in order to gain control of Sir Jeremy's body harbored no intention to also completely shut out his mind as well. We had made sure of that. Yet, no matter our approach, he would not respond.

Before we could focus on this issue any further though, one of the the poor excuses for a pony spoke up again.

"Hey, you listening to us or not, weirdo?" We gave out a sigh as the ignorant pony behind us gave out yet another incessant yell.

We would have to postpone our worries of Sir Jeremy for after the situation had passed. Even so, we knew we would not enjoy this.

Our companion's gaze lifted towards us ever so slightly as we turned ourselves to face the ponies once more. Our eyes narrowed as we looked to them. If only for a moment, we took notice of one of the two's sudden intimidation, likely from not having expected our angered gaze. It was pathetic that it was truly so easy.

"What privilege does thou believe thine self to own in order to treat our friend in this such regard?" We interrogated, our voice almost a growl as we did so. Our tone was even as we spoke. They had dared to harm our companion and we had no reason to restrain our voice, of all things.

At our question, the noise throughout the area became mute, tension filling the atmosphere like wine to a glass.

After only moments though, the silence was quickly ended. Not by the words of the two before Halfy and I, curiously enough, but by their laughter: uproarious and loud.

"Ha! Oh, this is too good! The way this dork talks - Haha - is just perfect!" This brought about our confusion. To begin, what was a 'dork'? An insult, perhaps? Certainly, 'twas not one that we were aware of back then.

"Prithee, what exactly is the issue with how we speak?" As we asked our eyes remained narrowed, yet the disgrace of a stallion before us held no visible signs of backing down. They were likely too arrogant to do so as they then took another step closer to us.

"Look pal," he spoke, "I'll tell you what. If you and her just take your freakish selves out of my sight in the next ten seconds, I may consider actually letting you go without a fight."

A bluff. So very clearly a bluff. We could tell just by his eyes that this one was a coward by trade, only content on hurting those he believed he could get away with hurting. More than likely, he believed that we would back down, and he would 'win' this debacle. Yet, when he finished this bluff of his, he'd likely back down from whatever possible fight, making some sort of claim to justify his doing so.

This knowledge was simple to us. We were once one of the rulers of Equestria, after all, and understanding the behavior of our subjects was a necessity. It would seem that this behavior of theirs had yet to change too drastically.

"Now then..." Taking a seat upon the ground before us, the smirking foal of a stallion closed his eyes and began to count.

"One... Two..."

We could not help but to roll our eyes. All we would have to do was wait, yet we felt it wasn't even worth it. We had wasted enough time as at was and Halfy had been spared any further taunting. All we would have to do was step away.

"Three... Four..."

There was an issue that was made clear though. One that we could not ignore. We could no longer move.

"Five..."

'Twas not of our own will, but we simply could not move. Neither limbs, nor eyes, nor even our very lungs. Our body simply would not respond.

"Six... Seven..."

The we realized. It was not our body, just as it was not our doing. Without warning, our eyes sealed themselves, blinding our view of the world before us. We began to feel one of our forearms moving.

"Eight..."

We attempted to regain control but, no matter what we attempted, nothing seemed to function as we wished it to. Instead, we were reduced to the role of a meager blind spectator, unable to see, but easily able to feel and hear what was occurring.

"Nine..."

Our foreleg retracted as far back as it possibly could, as if testing its own limits until it could go back no further. Before we could even manage any sort of reaction as we realized what was occurring, we first heard and felt everything that happened next.

"Te-"

The first thing we could sense through the haze that had suddenly appeared around our mind was a loud and echoing thump, followed shortly thereafter by the sound of a comparatively softer thud. The next we could sense was the feeling: the sensation of a slight stinging sensation along the bare of our forehoof, as well as that of a sudden impact.

We were made utterly speechless.

We knew what had occurred, but as to what had caused it, we held doubt. Even as the haze over our mind faded; as we regained our sight and opened our eyes; as the first scene that lay before us caused our brows to raise in surprise, words unable to escape. Even through all this, we could not entirely believe what had just occurred.

The ponies that had been passing by suddenly took notice of us all, many pausing as they looked to us in shock. As for the group of six ponies before us, their numbers had suddenly been reduced to five. Furthermore, each held looks of utter shock. The reason behind all these gazes was easily found to be apparent as, with no more than a slight glance downwards, we took notice of the sixth member of the group. The other stallion was currently unconscious with nothing more than a clearly visible site of impact upon the left side of his face.

"...Sir Jeremy, you-"

"He deserved that."

It had been just as we had thought... Still, we withheld no surprise as our theory behind our uncontrolled actions - Sir Jeremy's controlled actions - were proven true. Since we had cast the spell, this was the only occasion that he had truly shown any resistance towards it. As such, we were unable to react when he forcefully retrieved command of his physical being, so as to deal his own sense of righteousness upon at least half of the bothersome duo before us.

This was, in fact, the first occasion we had seen of Sir Jeremy taking action upon his anger.

"We should get going, Nightmare Moon."

Just as he had put us into a state of surprise and distraction, he just as quickly removed us from it, our eyes blinking as we responded.

"O-of course, Sir Jeremy."

Turning ourselves to our other companion, we shared little of a moment to truly take in more of her own look of shock - arguably among the most so of all that were there - speaking to her in an attempt to gain her attention.

"Halfy?" She gave out a gasp as she heard us, almost as though we had given the message in the form of a yell. "Shall we be taking our leave?" She was silent for a moment, glancing to the unconscious stallion behind us before, ultimately, she gave a slow nod of her head.

With a single gesture we signaled for her to follow, to which she gave another wordless nod before beginning to trail shortly behind us as we headed towards the crowd of ponies that had paused to watch us. They cleared a path for us just as quickly as peasants would have during our rule. Though I disliked the use of that word, their lack of action today as they instead chose to ignore another pony being harmed hurt could only allow us to give them this such description. Peasants.

Curiously enough, despite our best wishes, the matter didn't seem to end there.

"H-hey," the other stallion finally spoke up, breaking out of his earlier stupor, "you t-think you can just get away with that?!" His voice was clearly much more nervous than before. His confidence stemmed from his arrogance, much like his friend. Yet upon watching as he was quickly incapacitated, this arrogance - and as a result his 'confidence' - were quickly swept away. "How 'bout a fair fight, eh?! O-or are you too chicken."

He was an insolent one, was he not?

Without so much as turning to look towards him, we gave our response. "Verily, thou hast already lost. There is no need for us to waste our time with thee any further."

The sound of his sputtering came through clear, much like that of giggling from the mares that accompanied him and his defeated companion.

"Why you- get back here!" Immediately after yelling this, we could hear the stallion begin to run, his hooves grinding against the ground as he seemed to gain distance upon us.

Once again, we felt Sir Jeremy's rage flare, much like our own, as we narrowed our eyes. We turned ourselves and stood before Halfy once more, forming a barrier between her and the stallion. We could barely hear her seem to take a step or two back as we stood our ground with a calm mind. As to the reason of our calm mind? It did not make itself beknown to our aggressor until they were only seconds away from reaching us.

It was at that moment that a small portion of the sky seemed to blur with nothing more than a single feather being left behind to serve as the recognizable sign to identify its source.

The stallion very swiftly found himself to be pinned to the floor with an audible thud, his air escaping him from the simple combination of shock and pain he suddenly felt. His running was, of course, halted on the spot as a familiar figure kept him trapped.

Even as the stallion began to struggle, attempting to escape his restraint, the figure smirked.

"Geez, that was way too easy."

Upon hearing her voice, the stallion froze, his pupils shrinking to the size of a needle as he managed a short look behind him.

"G-G-Gilda!" We could not help but to raise a brow at his apparent knowledge of Miss Gilda's identity. It was this momentary confusion, however, that triggered Sir Jeremy's explanation.

"I wouldn't worry, Nightmare Moon. Gilda's only really well-known by the people who have bugged her before... Mostly because they're smart enough to not take the risk of doing it again afterwards."

We could only smirk at this, watching as the stallion who had dared to harm our friend seemed to hold a sudden expression of fear aimed towards the griffon. Justice could be oh so swift on occasion.

"W-what are you doing here? Heh..." The nervousness of the chuckle he gave was clear, down to its very essence. Miss Gilda seemed to have noticed this as well, leaning her head closer down to the stallion.

"Oh, you know, I just figured I'd come by, get some snacks, the usual biz."

I had no form of knowledge as to what this 'biz' was. Honestly, it was becoming painfully obvious just how much everypony's vernacular had changed over the millennia.

"Though, there was also another reason. What was it now...?" She asked jokingly, pretending to be in thought over the question as she shifted her gaze upwards, seemingly awaiting the answer she already knew. "Oh yeah! See, I came by to see a couple of friends of mine. A, uh, purple mare with a bandage over her eye annnnd a stallion with brown fur, usually wearing a jacket."

The stallion before her gulped at this, his eyes somehow becoming even more dilated as his gaze suddenly darted between the three of us.

"... I take it you get where I'm going with this, right?" She accentuated the end of her sentence by raising the stallions head with a single talon, forcing him to look to her straight in the eyes. She glared sharply at him, practically burning her gaze into his.

"Y-y-yes..." At this, Gilda gave a small smile, moving herself off of the stallion and making her way towards us.

"Then get out of here before I get mad." She finished, an impressive amount of self-satisfaction on her face as she did so. The stallion, upon suddenly realizing his given ability to escape, was gone in no more than a millisecond, leaving behind his unconscious partner and the mares that had accompanied them.

"... Nice right hook, by the way." Walking past us, Gilda aimed what seemed to be an approving nod in our direction as she made her way over to Halfy.

We simply watched as she did so though, barely overhearing the sounds of the crowd from prior beginning to scatter - and at a rather hurried pace - as we sat in thought.

Sir Jeremy had, if only for a mere moment, seemed like a completely different being. He had only commit an act of violence on one other occasion, when he had first helped us escape. Even so, he had done this out of necessity, and nothing more.

And yet, this time, he had done this purely in an effort to protect, not only Halfy's, but our honor as well.

"Nightmare Moon?" The sudden sound of Sir Jeremy's voice ended our thought-filled stupor, us taking a moment to regain ourselves before ultimately responding.

"Yes, Sir Jeremy?" We inquired.

"If you don't mind my asking, am I able to get some sleep while I'm like this? I feel exhausted..."

His voice made this apparent. 'Twas odd, considering no more than a few mere moments ago his anger had seemingly reached a level we had never seen before. Yet, now, he had apparently been drained? We suppose we weren't the ones to question this, nor should we. Nonetheless, this would not restrict our concerns.

"Of course, Sir Jeremy. You should be able to do so as long as we keep focus on our spell."

With this, we moved our attention to Gilda who, at the moment, seemed to be doing her best to lift Halfy's spirits. Patting her back, playfully ruffling her mane, simply anything she believed would elicit a smile from our recently abused friend. 'Twas quite the sight to see.

This was how Miss Gilda treated her companions in their time of need, after all; a trait that could only be identified using two words: A 'laugh' and a 'shrug'.

We could see with ease why Sir Jeremy had chosen her to be a companion of his, similar to his relation with Miss Zecora.

Curiously, this made us wonder as to what traits Sir Jeremy had seen within us, a changeling and a previously formless alicorn, to find worthy of befriending.

In fact, even now we questioned what the changeling was doing in our absence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I had to wait for them any longer, I was going to make sure Jeremy and the others paid for telling me to stay on the train.

It hadn't exactly been difficult for me to sense the hostility that had formed in the near distance. Ergo, it wasn't difficult to guess that whatever it was that had gone wrong was serious.

I would have enjoyed slamming whomever was causing this trouble so hard into the ground that they be unconscious for the next week. Then again, thats probably the reason I was told to stay...

Meh. Still wouldn't have minded.

Chapter 25: Even The Shortest Trip... [Here Again]

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"..."

"... So these stallions. Should I rip one, or both of their you-know-whats off?"

This was the first thing that Chrysalis had offered as a response to what she had been told by Gilda and Nightmare Moon. They had recounted what had happened back in Ponyville. Halfy, the ponies that bothered her, and the subsequent 'butt-kicking' as Gilda had so eagerly coined it to have been.

Of course, Chrysalis wasn't initially silent when the group had returned. Quite a few words were thrown at the arriving three - four if counting the resting Jeremy, of whom Nightmare Moon had been sure to close off sound towards - with many of them attracting odd looks from the other ponies that sat around them. It certainly was quite a show, hearing what seemed like an average little filly use such a colorful language.

She had even taken the time of going down the group in her doing so, beginning from Gilda, and stopping just as she was about to tell off Halfy for keeping them held back. Yet, she didn't. One look in her direction immediately brought her to silence. A flurry of emotions had formed a dark cloud around the one-eyed earth mare.

"... Somepony better start talking or I will show you just how mad I can get."

And that was how the situation came to be. Of course, Chrysalis had showed what had seemed to be a notable amount of skepticism as they recalled what had occurred, but it became rather clear that they had still listened after all.

It was a point of particular interest to notice that, throughout their discussion of recently passed events, Halfy had kept some modicum of distance. They hadn't known the reason but shortly after Chrysalis had demanded an explanation, Halfy quickly informed Gilda, Nightmare Moon, and Chrysalis that she would sit elsewhere.

Gilda and Nightmare Moon naturally were curious as to why - after all, she was their friend, so they could only help to inquire as to why she would be elsewhere, save for the open space by them - but were swiftly silenced before they could vocalize this by Chrysalis.

"If she wants to sit alone, let her. That still won't excuse either of you from your explanations anyhow." She had said, halting the two before silently watching the dark cloud from before follow the earth mare all the way to an empty and isolated booth near the very most corner of the car.

She did not mention it, but she had seen such flurries of emotions before. Ponies that had lost loved ones, those that sought out retribution, those that were in truly dark times of their lives. She had even seen this dark cloud upon Jeremy, on occasion. So she wasn't exactly inclined to push further on the issue.

Returning to the issue at hand, or hoof, however...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I mean, c'mon! How could anyone have thought that made any sense? Those jerks messed with Halfy, hurt her, we helped, and now she suddenly didn't want to sit with us for the train ride? What the Tartarus was that about?!

Sure, bug breath said to just 'let her yadda yadda yadda' but honestly I could care less about what she thought.

"Ahem." Pretty much outta nowhere, I was dragged out of my my own head by Jeremy - or was it Nightmare Moon at the time? I never really got that. First he was a human, then a pony, then he was being controlled by some weird magic so that it kinda was him and kinda wasn't? It was a lot to keep up with, okay?! Magic is the dumbest crud, let me tell ya.

"Miss Gilda," she asked, and yeah I could tell it was her purely because of what she called me, "we apologize if we are... interrupting, but this is a rather important matter."

She had a point. I wanted to trash those idiots from before just as much as she probably wanted to. Plus, while I zoned out for a while, I did manage to catch that 'should I rip off one or two of their you-know-whats' comment that Chrysalis had made. So it wasn't hard to guess that she was just as annoyed by this as we were.

"Eh? Oh, right, sure." I had been leaning against the windowsill for a while, just watching as the hillside rushed past us just as quick as the train would go. There was a bump every once in a while, but for the most part it was a smooth ride. I ended up having to majorly take a stretch break, yawning all the while.

That is until I felt something touch my tail, which ended up making me freeze up mid-yawn. It was only for like a second, but it still took my attention. In terms of looking for specifics, by the way, it would probably be best if interest were focused on a certain 'filly' that sat across from us, suddenly having grown a small horn. So yeah, it wasn't hard to figure who had done that whole thing.

"What the hay was that?!" I interrogated, only getting a blank face in response. Seriously though, she gave herself a horn just to mess with me?! If she didn't look like a filly right now and this train was emptier, I would so kick her flank right now.

Before I could even tell her this though, Nightmare Moon - Jeez, it feels so weird to use that full name. Forget it, it's going to be NM for me from now on. Just like back then!

Anyways, NM stopped me, putting her/Jeremy's hoof in front of me. "Miss Gilda," she said, "now is not the time." I don't know if she was implying that I could kick bug breath's flank some other time, but believe me I could wait. It wasn't long after she told me this before she then turned to Chrysalis, her eyes narrowed and her voice a whisper.

"And, pray tell, what reason dost thou hath for metamorphosing in such a populated location as this?"

I'm gonna be real. No idea what she said.

"Hath thou forgotten that we are attempting to relocate without suspicion? Surely one would realize that an earth youth had suddenly sprouted into that of a magic user!"

Seriously, I had no idea how she talked like that, but hey if she was bugging the bug while she was doing it, fine by me.

"Oh please. Most of the ponies here probably would have believed me to be a pegasus whose wings they just hadn't paid attention to. I doubt a horn will be any different." As she replied, she rose a brow in NM's direction, laying herself down on her seat lazily and crossing her legs over each other. "And besides, are you really one to judge about what's inconspicuous or otherwise? I think those stallions had their only point when they commented on your 'holier than thou' speech."

Speaking of the way she talks...

NM didn't seem bothered by this though, not even batting so much as a single eye as she continued to watch Chrysalis.

"... We are digressing from the subject, Chrysalis, and we believe that thou art aware of this."

The two kept giving each other their own mean mugs while I mentally started to take bets for who would back down first. Honestly, I wanted to side my bits - what few I had on me - to NM, but bug breath wasn't exactly a pushover when it came to this kind of crud either. Anypony who can go eye to eye with me is pretty much sure to be able to do so with anypony else.

As surprising as it was though, it turned out that I wouldn't really have lost or won that bet no matter what. The two ended up looking away from each other at pretty much the same time. I had expected a little more than just a small harrumph, so it was a little disappointing. Still, I couldn't complain, I guess.

Ah, who am I kidding, of course I could.

"The situation was dealt with, as we said. Our worry, however, is that this may occur again." Her attention somewhere else, I noticed NM look over to where Halfy was. Watching her sat alone, blankly staring out the train window, I saw her lips thin.

"... What dost thou believe we should do?" The way she had said that, it had practically come out as more of a whisper than a real question. I couldn't tell who she was talking to at that moment. I hoped it wasn't me, since I was about as good with this emotional stuff as a rock. Mushy and I did not get along. Instead, bug breath took the lead.

"I don't dictate what you do, as nice of a blessing that would be. Whether you choose to bring it up with her or not is your choice, and it would be smart if you figured out that I wasn't going to help you." She got an annoying smirk on her face as she boringly closed her eyes. "Besides, 'asleep' or otherwise, a certain human made me promise them that I wouldn't tell them about anypony else's emotions unless he asked me to. And, since you two are in the same body..." She rolled her hoof, letting NM finish the sentence on her own.

"... Very well then." Without so much as offering another glance to either Chrysalis or I, NM moved off of her seat. She landed with a clop from her hooves before making her way down the aisle of the train.

I watched her for a bit, a brow raised in interest as she gained more and more distance from us while closing said distance to Halfy at the same time. She was a good twelve or maybe thirteen steps away before, under her breath, I barely caught bug breath muttering something.

"Hm... Not the worst decision she's ever made..."

To this day, I have no idea what the hay she meant by that.

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The train was calm as time passed. Or at the very least, it was calm enough. Though ponies still conversed, their voices still audible to anyone who was willing to listen, their voices could easily drowned out by the average pony within the train's thoughts. Even the train itself made the occasional sound in a seemingly controlled volume, the click-clack made against the track and the ever so rare whistle that resounded from the conductor's whim providing some background noise to the passengers of the large hunk of metal on wheels barreling down the tracks.

It was the perfect environment for thought. The perfect place for one to isolate themselves in their own mind. Halfy had been silently taking advantage of this, watching the train window as several landscapes passed and disappeared quickly before her eyes. From time and time she would try to follow any hill or noticeable feature from afar until it exited her field of view completely. She imagined some invisible pony sliding and running along the tops of these features, disappearing and reappearing as it found something else to leap and bound off of.

On one occasion she had even seen a small bird fly in the same direction as the train went. From where she sat, it seemed to be a small dot in the sky from how high it was. Her eye strained as she followed the bird as best as she could, eventually losing it in the clouds that were being moved by a pair of pegasi.

Once it was gone she blinked her eye a few times, unconsciously doing what she could to remove the sense of strain she suddenly felt upon it. She began to rub her eye, hoping to quicken the process. It worked, for the most part, as she then blinked her eye a few more times and returned her gaze to the window.

Her hoof, however, lingered. The window suddenly began to accentuate the barely visible reflection of her, rather than the world outside. It essentially became a mirror as she took a moment to silently look herself over. Her attention did not fill with the bruise she could see forming on her shoulder. If anything, she didn't even offer it a glance. She was used to sights such as these, that unforgettable shade of black and blue upon a soft purple.

What she did show focus on though was what she knew she would never get used to. A filthy white bandage that, from what she remembered, she hadn't changed since she moved to the Everfree Forest.

Her previously lingering hoof suddenly came to life, slowly moving itself and, with the utmost care, landing upon the bandage. It almost physically sickened or pained her that she could feel the hoof through the bandages, yet again being reminded of why those stallions, and the many other ponies over her life, were right to treat her as they did. How what lay below that bandage was proof of what a horrid creature she was.

"Halfy?" The thought-filled earth mare all but jumped out of her own skin when she heard her name, a small squeak escaping her as she quickly and instinctively turned to where she had believed the sound to have come from.

She recognized the voice rather easily, much like the appearance of the stallion as she turned to it, but that didn't particularly still her suddenly rapid beating heart nonetheless.

Nightmare Moon, having only wanted to gain her friend's attention, was swift to notice the signs of surprise Halfy had shown. "Oh, do forgive us, Halfy. We did not mean to frighten you."

Her heart and breath calming, Halfy gave out a silent sigh as she faced Nightmare Moon, whom of course still occupied the disguised form of Jeremy.

"I-it's fine." She assured, not at all wanting for Nightmare Moon to feel guilty over the subject. It clearly wasn't her intention, after all, to have scared her. "I-I just wasn't expecting you prin-"

With an audible clear of her throat, Nightmare Moon interrupted her before she could finish, gesturing for her to refrain from calling her that by putting a hoof before her maw in a shushing manner. As much as Nightmare Moon had no issue with being referred to as the princess many no longer has thought her to be, she knew that now would not be the appropriate time, what with the ponies that were around.

Halfy seemed to understand this easily enough, stopping herself almost immediately.

"... S-sorry..." She apologized in a quieter tone. Nightmare Moon shook her head simply.

" 'Tis no issue." Halfy was assured. She watched as Nightmare Moon put on a gentle smile, looking to her kindly.

"Pray tell, would you allow us to have your company, if only for a short time?" The question truthfully threw Halfy off-guard for a moment, an ear involuntarily twitching as she took a moment to be sure she had heard her right. "Of course, if you wouldst prefer to retain solidarity for a more prolonged time, we would have no complaint if you told us otherwise."

Ever so slowly, Halfy shook her head. She had told the group she would sit by herself, yes, but that did not mean she would necessarily turn any of them away should they come to her. Even if that was what she had implied, she would never have enforced it by even the smallest of degrees. She simply wasn't the kind of mare to do so.

"Ah, 'tis grand to know. We thank you, our friend." Having obtained all the confirmation she needed, Nightmare Moon moved herself into the seat opposite of Halfy, allowing the two to now face each other perfectly.

Curiously, the two quickly grew silent as they found themselves to be in their new orientations to one another.

It was clear to Halfy that Nightmare Moon had not simply come to sit with her - though obviously she meant no offense in thinking so - and that she had likely come to talk more about what had occurred in Ponyville. The subject was unavoidable, of course, but that did not mean she had wanted to talk about it so soon.

Nonetheless, she knew she'd have to say something. And besides that something had been on her mind for some time anyhow. This was among the better possible opportunities for her to ask what she wanted to ask, seeing as it was just Nightmare Moon and her there.

Halfy gave another glance to the window and its moving sights before returning her view to the stallion controlled by the mare on the moon.

"I-If you don't mind my asking," she began, quickly gaining Nightmare Moon's full attention, "why did you do that?"

Nightmare Moon rose one of Jeremy's brows at the question.

"We... do not understand." She confessed, hoping that Halfy would elaborate.

"In Ponyville, with the two stallions. Why did you stand up for me?" It wasn't as though it had never happened to her before. Of the various times and ponies that had treated her in this way, the two were among the more harmless. It was only one bruise, which was better than she would usually be afraid of. Yet Nightmare Moon stepped in, coming between her and the stallions despite it not really involving her.

Nonetheless, Nightmare Moon had an answer ready.

"We simply did not wish to allow you to undergo such treatment any further. Neither we, nor Gilda, nor Sir Jeremy." She answered, her face shifting to one of honest concern. "What other reason would one need?"

At this, Halfy looked to the seat below her, shifting ever so slightly as she did so. The faint squeak of the seat springs below her served as a sort of filler for the silence between the two.

"... I don't know..." She dug her forehooves slightly into the seat, eliciting another groan of its springs.

"I just... never had anypony help me like you did. So, um..." A faint line of red drew across her face as she grew silent yet again, seeming to choke upon her own words. Though she desperately did want to express what she felt at the moment, she found it difficult. It wasnt a concept she was used to being able to take advantage of. She had only really been able to show it a handful of times, after all. Nightmare Moon, however, was able to clearly make out what she wanted to provide.

Her gratitude.

"You are very welcome, our friend." With a gentle smile and soft tone, Nightmare Moon accepted Halfy's unsaid 'thank you', placing a hoof upon her unharmed shoulder for only a moment as comfort. Halfy could not help but to look back to Nightmare Moon at this point, her nervousness and anxiety at the very least blurring as she took note of the kind and chummy gesture.

"Regardless, we are not to receive all of the credit for the happenstance in Ponyville. As we said, Gilda and Sir Jeremy played a part in the event just as well." Halfy rose a brow as Nightmare Moon retold this statement.

"A-about that. I understand how Gilda helped, but - and I mean no offense to him if he's hearing this - how did Jeremy help?" Truthfully, she was expecting some outrage of sorts. She knew how much Nightmare Moon respected Jeremy, and that she would likely defend him from anything she could, including a possibly misunderstood 'insult'.

Instead though, Nightmare Moon gave out a short chuckle, shaking her head at the more recent memory.

"To begin, Sir Jeremy is not listening to us in any form. He chose to rest until we arrived at our intended location, likely due to his adopted sleeping schedule." Halfy nodded attentively, silently assuring Nightmare Moon that she was listening.

"Furthermore, when we came to assist you, we held no intention of besmirching our or Sir Jeremy's hooves with the disgraceful stallions that had so perturbed you." Yet another nod was elicited from Halfy, though more slowly on this occasion.

"... Sir Jeremy, as it seemed, held different thoughts on the matter." Halfy's ears now twitched at what Nightmare Moon said, not only from what she had uttered, but also the pride behind it.

"Y-you mean Jeremy was the one who-...?"

"T'was quite the interesting occurrence." Nightmare Moon gave as response to her unfinished question. "So strong was Sir Jeremy's will to defend your honor, he not only broke the spell we held over him, but also seemed to do so through the light that he feared as well." Halfy's jaw fell ever so slightly at this as she slowly processed what she had heard. She knew not a great amount of information regarding alicorns, but she was well aware that their magic was no laughing matter. Yet, according to Nightmare Moon, Jeremy was the one to throw that blow. Despite his fear of the light, the fact that it was close into early morning when it had occurred, and that it was Nightmare Moon that had been controlling him with her magic.

A question bounced back and forth in her head. 'Why'? It seemed this was all she could ask herself, though she was aware she would be unable to give herself an answer. In fact the only one who would be able to do so was currently asleep, as it turned out.

"... H-he did that for me?" She gained a slow nod in return.

"We hold reason for our respect to Sir Jeremy. He places others before himself many times. Thereof be the reason he was unable to escape the dungeons with us initially. The reason for many things that we hold gratitude towards him for. We and Chrysalis, though she shows it not." The controlled, disguised form of Jeremy gave a short glance over towards the direction of her other companions, of whom were easily noticeable due to the Griffons who sat taller than any other in the train car.

"... When he wakes up, c-could you please tell him I said 'thank you'?"

"Of course."

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It felt... different to sleep with only my head, rather than with my body. I could still dream, sure, but I didn't feel like I was there, per se. Even as the moon shined its dim light above me, I could feel myself half-aware that I was dreaming. One would think this was a lucid dream and that, as such, I'd be able to relatively dictate what went on.

Yet, there I lay, still unmoving as I stared up at the sky, my thoughts beginning to fester and flow more freely.

The disguises Chrysalis had given to us, the train, our route to Canterlot. It was as if only these select thoughts could escape me, and any others seemed to pale in comparison.

This dream had no controllability to it, yet it felt eerily familiar. Hell, come to think of it, there was something different about it too. For some reason, though it was hard to really make out, the moon above seemed to grow closer and closer...

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"Canterlot?!" Celestia exclaimed. "They're coming to Canterlot?!" She was in a state of absolute shock and dismay, looking towards her lunar sister from her seat in the throne room. It was only a few minutes ago that Princess Luna had entered the room. By then, Celestia had already been able to guess that she had found out something of interest.

Yet, how could she ever hope to have expected what she was told.

"Don't yell at her. She's only trying to help you."

"It would seem so, sister." Luna confirmed, though giving out a small yawn as she did so. It was rather difficult for her to keep her focus aligned on the subject at hoof when, in fact, she was almost dead tired. She was not used to sleeping during the night whatsoever, and the thoughts of how her and Celestia's subjects must have been doing without her - having to fend off nightmares on their own in her absence - grated against her. Nonetheless, as her sister had so explained, it was an issue of the utmost importance that had led to this, and as such it was necessary for her to have made a decision as to which responsibility to preside over: to protect her subjects within the dreamscape, or throughout the physical realm.

It was a clear choice from the start.

"See how exhausted you've made her? How many of your subjects are suffering from nightmares because of your mistakes?"

Celestia rubbed at her temples ever so slightly, doing her best to ignore the stress that screamed at her from the back of her mind.

"Shall we order the guards to await their arrival at the station?" Luna inquired. Celestia, however, shook her head.

"No. It would seem too suspicious if it seemed as though the royal guard were suddenly involved with something that should be as simple as a train ride. We need to draw as little attention as possible." Celestia explained, her eyes closed in thought. "What's more, we aren't even sure which of the ponies aboard are the ones we should capture. The only way to decipher changeling magic from any other is through a spell that only you, I, and my student know." If the appearance of the royal guard didn't worry ponies, then surely her own would. It was a conflicting set of thoughts for her.

On one hoof, she had thought the three fugitives to have been foals for returning to Canterlot, making their capture all the more simple. On the other, they had simultaneously made things all the more difficult, gaining a proximity to the princess and her sister while also giving themselves a sort of safeguard from their action.

Were this a game of chess, Celestia would more than likely have found herself to be in check by now.

"Then, what should we do?" Luna asked, narrowing her eyes at the thought of the three escapees - more specifically her former self - being within the city walls.

Celestia's eyes remained closed as she answered with a deep breath, attempting her best to hold a calm tone.

"We are unable to take any immediate action at the moment, just as we cannot allow anypony to know of their escape..." With a heavy stature, her eyes opened once again to gaze down to her sister. "However, we at least know that they will be here in the city, so we can be sure to watch for any suspicious activity more easily. Moreover, so long as we continue our current actions, we should be able to gain more information from the human's subconscious . From this, we will take action, but for now? For now, we wait."

Chapter 26: Home Sweet Home [Here Again]

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Time always held its own form of passing, be it in a tense, calm, silent, or audible form. Yet, on this occasion, it held all of those elements at once.

There were those who sat upon their thrones, watching with care, and those who sat aboard a train, awaiting arrival; It was an unexpected - nor was it warily known of - battle of patience between two opposing sides.

As to how long it lasted, few could actively tell. Either way, it truly made no difference. By the time the train began to slowly escalate up the mountain that held Canterlot aloft, the sun had also begun to descend, barely touching the very edge of the horizon.

And no sooner then that occurred did a certain few who rode in the train give out an amalgamation of sighs and silent stares.

They were all clear on the risk they had taken just by having come aboard the train, and even more so in regards to actually entering the city. They were essentially on the princess's doorstep, so if they wanted to avoid being caught it would be absolutely necessary for them to be as discreet as possible...

"We're doomed."

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"... So, where is it we're going again?" For what must have been the eighth time - the other six having been on the train, and the extra from before they had even gotten to Ponyville - Chrysalis gave out a groan as Gilda asked her this question.

"For Empress's sa- How many times am I going to have to repeat this to you?!" Chrysalis angrily interrogated, growing tired of answering the same thing over and over again.

While the filly-shaped form that was Chrysalis slammed a hoof into her face - her cheeks puffing out in silent fury - Gilda shrugged her shoulders.

Shortly behind the unfortunately paired two was another, though much more relatable pair: Jeremy's currently pony form, still controlled by Nightmare Moon's magic as he slept, and the mare Halfy, who made sure to walk nearby her friend.

Since the train ride, they had stuck to these pairs in an almost unconsciously - more unconsciously for some than others however.

Nonetheless, Chrysalis rubbed her hoof against her head in an attempt to calm an upcoming headache, not even turning her head to look at Gilda as she explained once more.

"Listen carefully feathers-for-brains, because this is the last time I'm going to tell you this." Not one to take that comment without annoyance, Gilda opened her mouth to give out a reply of her own. "And so help me, if you dare to say anything while I'm already this annoyed, I will rip your tail off!"

... But ultimately decided against it upon being told this. Granted, to her Chrysalis wasn't nearly as much of a threat as Zecora, who would likely make Chrysalis' threat seem like nothing compared to one of her own, but she still didn't particularly want to take too much of a risk with the situation.

Plus, she was too much in a mood to nap to do anything else.

"Now, we are going to wherever the Tartarus it was Jeremy had told us to go when we got to Canterlot, which we have!" She made sure to accentuate the last of her statement as slowly as possible, so as to make sure the 'dim-witted griffon' would be able to understand as well.

"Once we get there, we'll figure out what we should do next. Got it?!" Having practically had these words yelled at her, Gilda rolled her eyes, grumbling softly under her breath.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever cheese legs." Had Gilda been given a momentary visual of all the mental fantasies Chrysalis had of Gilda's pained yells and cries, she likely wouldn't have finished that statement with 'cheese legs'. Thankfully, Chrysalis did not say anything more in response, instead seething in her quiet rage - which, in her current form, only served to seem more adorable than it was meant to be.

Nightmare Moon was not one to simply be oblivious to this obvious conflict just ahead of her and Halfy, rolling Jeremy's eyes under her control as she then called out to the argumentative pair.

"Calm thineselves, if only for an instant!" She said with a clear tone of annoyance. "We hardly see any true reason for either of thee to display such unadultered incompetence. Now be still, or we shall merilly give onto thee our most swift of silences!"

And silence was what she indeed gained. Though, not exactly for the reason she had believed, as Gilda was so readily blunt to state.

"... Seriously, what the hay did you just say?"

"Just ignore her. Even I lose track of what she's saying sometimes."

And just like that, it was now Nightmare Moon's turn to seethe in silent anger. Halfy, in the meanwhile, wisely took a small half-step away from her glowering friend.

Nonetheless, the four - five counting their sleeping and hidden away member - continued through the many expansive paths of Canterlot, passing building and pony after building and pony in search of their one true destination. Though some grew to be easily bored and restless - more specifically the griffoness - and it had taken the better part of the next ten minutes before the oddly mishmashed group did eventually arrive at their destination: A single architectural block of large buildings. Some were homes, some were businesses, all were varied in sizes and colors, all unified under a single sign that read-

" 'Clean Bridle Boulevard'?" Halfy read aloud, her eyes squinted and her mouth pursed. "This is where we were supposed to go?" Nightmare Moon, whose gaze was also upon the sign, much like the other members of the group, nodded in response.

"Yes, this is indeed where Sir Jeremy had suggested we arrive upon reaching Canterlot. Pray tell, why is it you ask?" She inquired. Halfy, in turn, sucked on the inside of her cheek as she searched for he right way to state her thoughts.

"W-well... The name itself just seems so..."

"Weird?" Gilda offered.

"Y-yeah. I mean, aren't bridles normally used for..." Suddenly, her cheeks flushed to a dark red as she cast her gaze away from the sign and towards the ground. Her voice also lost most of the volume it held behind it, escaping as a muttered whisper. Nonetheless, the trio beside her were easily able to understand what she was getting at, though none of them reacted as she did... Well, at least, most of them understood. Nightmare Moon, however, shook her head and gave out a chuckle.

"Actually, Halfy, 'tis more to the name than you may see." Halfy looked slightly up from the ground to her in attention, though her red tone of blush and silence still held strong. "Believe it or otherwise, the use of bridles was not quite as uncommon as seen in present times. Why, millennia ago, 'twas seen as a statement of common wear."

Gilda rose a brow as she said this, looking to her oddly.

"A statement of what now?" She asked, quickly receiving a translation of sorts from Chrysalis.

"She means most of the noble numbskulls around here used to wear them as fashion."

Gilda blinked before, within a moment's notice, she was swiftly driven to laughter. Halfy's face, in the meantime, became a deeper shade of red. The very thought of not one but several ponies, male and female, walking around the streets wearing things that were nowadays only meant for more... lewd actions... It simply seemed unbelievable. Then again, was it possible that Nightmare Moon was unaware of these such acts involving what used to be common clothing when she still ruled, and that she had, in fact, not truly understood what Halfy was getting at earlier?

Either way, despite the reactions of the two, Chrysalis did not even flinch, whereas Nightmare Moon looked on in nostalgic serenity.

"Oh, we are very surprised to see this location has made it through all this time, despite the many changes clearly seen." Putting Jeremy's hoof to his chin, she then asked herself of another memory she had floating around as a result of the sight. "Mayhaps, is it possible that the location Half-Halter Hone has also made it through the times?"

Now with the added imagery given by Nightmare Moon with that one question, Gilda fell over in boisterous laughter, gasping for air and holding her sides, while Halfy's face essentially became the equivalent to a tomato. Having finally snapped out of her thoughts as she took notice of the two's actions, the alicorn-controlled pony body of Jeremy rose a brow in confusion, not particularly sure of what made them react in such a way.

"Did... we say something off?" Chrysalis rolled her eyes at this.

"You say a lot of things that are 'off'. Just so happens that, this time, you were even moreso than usual. Congrats." This went completely over Nightmare Moon's head in regard to meaning, but did little to stir anymore of Chrysalis' attention. Instead, she looked to the idiotically laughing griffon on the floor beside her. Honestly, in her opinion, Gilda couldn't have possibly been anymore unaware of how much attention she might have been attracting. Even now, Chrysalis could see several ponies looking in their direction as they passed them, likely attracted by the noisy and, might she add, obnoxious laughter of Gilda.

"Are you just about done?" Chrysalis asked evenly.

For the most part Gilda ignored Chrysalis, continuing her booming laughter for some time before, eventually, calming herself down. With remnants of snorts and chuckles escaping her, Gilda sat herself up from the ground before wiping away a stay tear from her eye.

"Heh. Woo, that was too good." She said with a smile on her beak. She turned to the other three, another short chortle escaping her as she spoke. "So - heh - anyways, which of the houses around here do we go to again?"

Silence was what met her as a response, with little more than the sound of ponies trotting in the background and their distant conversations serving as a sort of background filler. Gilda quickly pieced together what this meant, her previous smile all but disappearing.

"... We have no idea, do we?" Again, silence.

"Wait, so, you're telling me that Curly Fry Horn here nagged me about where we were going earlier," she began to complain, pointing a talon to the filly-shaped Chrysalis as she spoke, "when she didn't even really know herself?!" Chrysalis, of course, took exception to these words.

"Oh don't go blaming me you non-committal gene pool of creation! Neither of us know because a certain someone managed to somehow leave out that detail." Gilda sneered at the gene pool comment, rolling her eyes as she began to contemplate striking a filly for the first time in her life... Well, actually, there was that time in grade school, but that was a completely different story in of itself.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't apologize or anything. Not like you were wrong."

"I wasn't wrong, you-"

"Whatever, just ask J about which house it is and let's get this over with." Of all the annoyances that Chrysalis had had to deal with in her life as a changeling queen, this griffon before her was quickly managing to rise to the top of her list, right below that one idiotic centaur she had the displeasure of meeting some centuries ago. Nonetheless, and mostly because she partially agreed with the griffon in terms of wanting to get this over with, Chrysalis withheld herself from taking any further actions or slinging any words towards Gilda.

"I would, but he's still asleep, remember?"

"And alongside that," Nightmare Moon then added in, "the light of day hath not fully dispersed itself yet. We do not wish for him to wake up in immediate fear." Gilda rose a brow of confusion at this.

"What are you talking abou- oh yeah! That whole 'afraid of the light' thing." Snapping her talons in realization, Gilda very nearly slammed her own hand against her face for her forgetfullness. After all, Chrysalis had told her about this during the train ride there; still, her recounting of this didn't particularly serve to bide away any of her skepticism about it. In fact, even Jeremy had vaguely mentioned it when she had first seen him again in the Everfree Forest. Still, Gilda couldn't really wrap her head around it.

Still, that didn't mean she would want to test that theory of hers out anytime soon. She had her own things that she was 'afraid' of too - one of which was of a more black, white, and rhyming variety - and she had a general idea as to how bad it was to deal with it.

"Yeah, not fun..." She thought to herself, involuntarily moving her tail closer to herself at one of her more recent memories of this issue.

"... Okay, so, why don't you just wake him up with your eyes closed? I mean, isn't he only able to see and feel what you do?" Glancing around her, Gilda was miffed to see that rather than immediately responding everypony took a moment to simply look at her in thought.

"You... make a very valid point, Miss Gilda." Nightmare Moon finally said, raising one of Jeremy's forehooves to his chin as she vaguely recalled him closing his eyes back in Ponyville, when he had taken control in order to deal with one of the two bothersome stallions.

"Agreed, surprisingly." Gilda didn't let this particular comment of Chrysalis' fly by so quickly, raising a brow at the clearly double-meaning and sarcastic undertone behind it.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"That I don't think you to be very capable of coming up with good ideas." She stated matter-of-factly. "Honestly, I thought that was obvious by now." She shrugged, not particularly surprised that Gilda's eyes gleamed with anger as she looked towards her, saying many more things about the disguised changeling than likely any other pony even understood the meaning behind.

On a similar side note of this, however, Gilda silently thanked that griffons had their own dictionary based around swears... Before then vividly remembering the even larger list of words that were yelled at her and Nightmare Moon back on the train, as well as the fact that Jeremy seemed to have his own list of swears.

"... Congrats, you've managed to get second place in the list of ponies that I've managed to hate the quickest." Chrysalis rolled her eyes at Gilda's words, scoffing outright.

"Oh, I feel so honore-" One of Chrysalis' ears twitched as she realized what Gilda had just said. "Wait, second? Then who's-"

"She's pink, she's yappy, and she made the top of that list in the first five minutes of my meeting her. Believe me, you do not want to know anything more than that." A visible shudder went through all of Gilda's body as she recalled the memories of the certain mare she was talking about, already beginning to have a headache build just from that.

"... We shall contact Sir Jeremy now." Nightmare Moon then said, shaking her head so as to move away from the subject before, with a deep breath, she closed her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sir Jeremy..."

Fun fact: Turns out the recesses my mind are really uncomfortable to sleep in. I dont know how, but I could swear that my back was aching despite not actually having one at the moment.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I wanted to stretch out of habit, but uh.... yeah...

"Sir Jeremy?" Again I heard Nightmare Moon's voice. I did what I could to recover from my rather unconventional nap, going so far as to imagine stretching my arms and all that crap. I'd be lying if I said that it was as satisfying as I would have wanted.

"Oof... I'm up, Nightmare Moon, I'm up."

Mostly. I was mostly up. I mean, would it have counted as me being awake? Technically I wasn't controlling my body, and I remember some folk mentioning things like sleep paralysis. Come to think of it, was this just magic sleep paralysis? No, better yet, it was probably more like sleepwalking. Lucid sleepwalking.

Right, sorry, the story. My bad.

"We apologize for disturbing you, Sir Jeremy, but we are experiencing a minor issue that requires attending to." Raising my figurative brow at this, I decided to try and get some more specifics on the matter.

"Uh, what do you mean, exactly?" I questioned, albeit nervously. I mean, it's not exactly reassuring for someone to wake you up and then tell you something's wrong. Not a fun wake up call.

Nightmare Moon seemed to notice this tone in my voice, an image of her shaking her head flashing by as she spoke through our mental link yet again.

"We assure you, 'tis nothing to truly worry of. We simply wish for your direction from our current location."

"My... direction?"

"Yes. From 'Clean Bridle Boulevard'?"

I was surprised they had gotten there already. I mean, I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep, but evidently it had been for a while. Usually that train ride took a few hours, and even then there was always the possibility of delays. I wasn't going to complain though.

"Oh, you guys are there already? Great! So, uh, what's the problem?"

"Well, though it truly is indeed worthy of gratefulness that we have arrived, there is still the issue of navigating the edifices." That one took me a second or two.

"Y-you mean, the buildings?"

"Yes."

"And... I didn't tell you which one to look for, did I?"

"We are certain that it simply slipped your mind."

If I could've slammed my hand - or hoof, as it were - against my face, I would have. Had I really forgotten to tell them which building to look for once they had gotten here? It's not exactly an insignificant detail.

Then again, I do faintly recall being momentarily stuck on the fact that I suddenly had fur and four legs, so that probably was a bigger priority in my head at the time.

"Sorry about that. When it comes to finding the right place though, well, I need to actually see where we are right now. So, um... why is it that I can't?" I inquired, tilting my metaphysical head at the dim darkness that blinded me. I was pretty sure I had my mental 'eyes' open at the time, so why was it that I couldn't really see anything? For a mere second, a slight hint of worry passed through me, though not nearly noticeable enough for me or Nightmare Moon to have taken note of.

"The issue you are speaking of is due to our cause, Sir Jeremy. We did not wish for you to awaken in a fearful state, and for that reason, we closed our - or rather your - eyes." It took me longer to put her sentence into words that I could understand than it did for me to figure out what she was implying.

"... The sun still hasn't gone down, has it?"

"Unfortunately, Sir Jeremy, no. It still lies in the horizon, the light it emits providing its last hurrah for the ever shortening day." I had to give Nightmare Moon credit. The way she had explained that seemed almost poetic. Then again, most of what she said was poetic. Kind off the nature of how she talked.

"Oh, well, thanks for that whole 'eye closing' thing then." It was clear that I couldn't really direct her to where exactly she needed to go by direction, what with there still apparently being light out, but I figured that maybe I could just describe what she was looking for?

Most of the buildings around here looked way to identical to each other, but that actually worked out to my advantage about now.

"Nightmare Moon, you're next to the sign for Clean Bridle Blvd, aren't you?"

"Indeed."

"Alright, I may not be able to give you directions, but I can at least tell you how to find the right house."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... How long has she been standing like that now?" Gilda asked impatiently, tapping her talons against the sidewalk below her as she watched Jeremy's quiet and stock-still pony body. Just as she had suggested, the eyes of it were closed as it sat silently on the floor, Nightmare Moon likely attempting to wake Jeremy up while it was like this.

"How should I know?" Chrysalis snippily rebutted. "The only one out of us who can tell time is the one who's using that time."

"You're a pretty annoying bug, aren't ya?"

"I'll only take credit for one of those three words you used to describe me there. If you can't figure out which one, then you're more of a fool than I thought." Gilda sneered at this, rolling her neck to rid a momentary cramp she had gotten from sitting still and waiting for so long before responding.

"Okay, that one didn't even make sense. So, I can get the trying to say you're not annoying part as a comeback, but you also just said you aren't an bug. And, last time I checked, changelings are considered oversized bugs." To her confusion, Chrysalis simply looked at her with a face that screamed 'really?'.

"... That was the word I took credit for, you nimrod. Well done, proving my point an all." Gilda's eyes narrowed at the insult for only a moment before she realized what she had said. This was not missed upon by Halfy who, though she had previously been sitting by and waiting in timid silence, could not help but to speak up.

"Wait, you... don't think of yourself as pretty?" Chrysalis did not respond. At that moment, Nightmare Moon's eyes finally opened once again.

"Sir Jeremy is awake, and he has informed us on how to find our destination." Chrysalis was quick to take the opportunity of moving onto another subject as quickly as possible, taking note in the fact that Nightmare Moon seemed oblivious as to what had happened while she was speaking to Jeremy.

"About time. Now, where too?" She asked simply and swiftly. The response she gained, however, was not to her expectations.

"Sir Jeremy says to 'look for the building that isn't boring'."

"..."

"... That's it?" Chrysalis asked, her tone clearly restricting hints of frustration as she looked to Nightmare Moon. She nodded in response, much to Chrysalis's displeasure.

The changeling queen had honestly been expecting something - anything other than that bland excuse for directions Jeremy had apparently given. So it goes without question that she was rather irritated. Rubbing her temples in the filly-form she inhabited, Chrysalis began to slowly yet deliberately attempt to recap the situation before her aloud.

"... So, let me get this straight." She began, her voice at a low, though gradually increasing volume. "I turn Jeremy and myself into different forms, using up my magic while doing so, wait on a train alone for I don't know how long while you deal with what happened in Ponyville, before then waiting for several more hours - while having to deal with an imbecile of a griffon!"

Gilda essentially turned off her hearing at this point, not even feeling it to be worth the effort to try to give any sort of response to what Chrysalis had said and instead busying herself by looking around her surroundings. Upon doing so, she caught sight of something that was rather obvious.

"I walk my way through the irritatingly busy streets of this place as a filly, getting annoying looks from the several so-called 'nobles' of this place - still dealing with Gilda the entire time!"

With an amused smile smile on her face as Chrysalis went on - whereas Nightmare Moon and likely Jeremy held blank expressions, well used to her occasional meltdown by now - Gilda decided to let Halfy know about what she was looking at, nearly giving her a quick elbow to the shoulder to grab her attention as she would do with Jeremy... Before quickly remembering what had happened with her shoulder and instead giving her a tap on the back.

This quickly gained Halfy's attention as she turned to face her, all the while Gilda was holding in a chuckle.

"We finally make it here, before just then realizing that we don't know where to go afterwards-"

Quickly taking notice of the sight herself, Halfy glanced over to Gilda, who in turn returned the look, before bobbing her head towards the mid-spiel Chrysalis, gesturing for her to tell her.

"And now, after all that, the best that the hibernating hairless monkey there has to give us to go on is that we should look for a building 'THAT ISN'T BORI-' " Before she could finish, a light tap on her shoulder stopped her. Almost cataclysmically, she jolted her head to the direction of the tap.

"WHAT!?" She yelled, Halfy nearly falling backwards in surprise and fear. Nonetheless, despite hiding herself behind her hooves as much as she physically could, and the slightly panting and glowering filly before her, Halfy shakily pointed to the direction she had been informed to look towards by Gilda. Chrysalis' eyes narrowed at this, but she looked nonetheless. Whatever anger and fury she held was quickly replaced by a blank face.

"... You have got to be joking me." Behind her, she sensed two different emotions coming from the shared form of Jeremy. Both were of smugness, respectively emitting from the consciousnesses of both Jeremy and Nightmare Moon. Soon after, she received a short mental transmission from one of these two sources.

"Yeah. Say, Chrysalis, maybe you should stay in that filly form? It would certainly match that tantrum you just threw."

"I could say the same about you sleeping matching the blissful silence that came from-"

"So, bug breath, what d'ya have to say to that?"

"... On second thought, I would've been tormented by one of you two either way."

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

Hoofsteps and low grumbles accentuated their short walk as they closed in on a particular building within the block. Chrysalis, of course, being the source of the grumbling as they eventually came up to the front of the home.

The building before them was, despite the inversely small amount of space it held in terms of the path before it and buildings next to it, actually seemed fairly sizable. It seemed to be about two stories, much like Halfy's own self-built home. Unlike Halfy's home, however, this building held a much more noticeable elegance to it, alongside a relative increase to its overall size. With only a few windows built into the front of the building, as both its left and right were neighbored by similarly large buildings that blocked the view and overall necessity of any other windows, it managed to hold a simple yet ornate appearance to it. Finally, just as Nightmare Moon and the others had been hinted towards, the building was tipped off with an eggshell white and midnight black striping paint, differing from the other more simply colored buildings that surrounded it.

It was quite impressive, honestly. Though, one of the group was more focused on how irritating it was that they weren't just told of this color difference, rather than given a vague hint.

Nonetheless, the group continued on its way to the front door without hesitation, each one them almost sequentially stepping onto the small tile pathway that led to it one by one. Gilda nearly slipped on an unsteady tile as they went along, though.

"Woah!" She had exclaimed, before quickly regaining her footing and looking to the tile with narrowed eyes.

"Geez, wonky floor." Unbeknownst to her, a certain human had no other option but to agree with her, well aware of the issue.

"Yeah, I never got around to fixing that. I think it has something to do with the age of the concrete. Either that, or the molding is wearing down, which is a nightmare in of itself." Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis heard Jeremy as he involuntarily sent this thought of his over their mental link.

"Odd, you act as if we care." Chrysalis returned in a deadpan.

"Odd, you act as if you know how to get in the house on your own."

"..."

"Exactly." Quickly moving on from that short conversation, all the while watching as Chrysalis glared at the resolvedly smirking Nightmare Moon, Jeremy instructed Nightmare Moon on what to do next. As well as he could what with his 'eyes' closed, of course.

"Alright, now, if you check the top of the doorframe you should find a key to the door."

"Should?"

"Just check."

Though neither Halfy nor Gilda were really sure as to why Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were making faces at one another in silence, making themselves out to be 'total nuts' as Gilda would put it, they didn't really find any particular reason to comment or try to make sense of it. Especially after Chrysalis' horn began to glow, a light scrape of noise coming from the door as a small key floated from atop of the frame before then moving to the keyhole and turning.

A sharp click could be heard as the door's lock released and the key was then withdrawn once more.

"Well that's a good sign." Gilda off-handedly commented, reaching for the door handle. At first, she had some trouble, her talons slipping on the smooth metal knob with an ear-wrenching scratch. Eventually she managed, giving out a harrumph as she grabbed hold of the handle with both of her frontal limbs, securing and allowing for her to turn it.

The door creaked as it opened, the comparatively dark insides of the house being what welcomed the group as fresh air from the outside entered for the first time in what must have been months. Shortly after this air was the odd group of possessed former humans, transformed changelings, single-eyed mares, and blowhard griffons that followed, each of them glancing around the inside of the house as best as they could in the dim lighting.

"Sir Jeremy asks that thou also close the windows of the abode, changeling." Chrysalis groaned in annoyance but fulfilled the request nonetheless, the shine of magic signaling the end of the remaining dim light of the house. Instead, they were now in pitch black.

A slight 'eep' of surprise escaped Halfy as this occurred, the suddenness of this action having caught her off guard. Gilda, in the meanwhile, took the opportunity to give off another bout of sarcasm.

"Oh, awesome, because it was too easy to take a look around the place before."

"A-aren't Griffons really good at seeing in the dark?" Halfy inquired, tilting her head in curiosity towards where she believed Gilda to be. Truthfully, the only hint she had since her sight was not yet used to the sudden darkness was the faint glow she saw coming from everyone as a result of her special talent.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I still can't complain about it." Gilda replied with a shrug, glancing around the room.

It was... nice...

Really, there wasn't much else to say.

White inner wall paint, a soft carpeted floor - almost velvet red in color - a collection of cushioned seats organized to face a coffee table in the center of the room, including a couch with enough space for two ponies whereas the other seats were singles, and a few random paintings strewn along the walls to fill in any empty spaces. There were a few lamps, but they were ultimately useless all things considered.

Alongside that, a few doors and halls were spread about the living room, added some more depth and intricacy to the place. Granted, Gilda herself was too lazy to really try and think up what may have been behind these individual doors and down those halls, but, hey, she would cross those bridges when she got there.

"Huh... Not too shabby." Gilda muttered to herself as she strode her way to the couch on first instinct, flopping herself onto it the moment she reached its side. She stretched herself out as much as she could, practically taking up the entire couch as her body laid flat from head to tail. One of her wings hung lazily over the side of the couch and to the floor as she kicked her leg out.

An audible grunt could be heard from her as she grabbed hold of the closest couch pillow she could and placed it over her face.

"Well, you're quick to make yourself at home, aren't you?" Chrysalis commented, taking a few steps further into the home herself before stopping and turning to Nightmare Moon.

"Alright, happy? Or would you prefer I draw you a bath now as well?"

The sarcasm behind Chrysalis' statement didn't go unnoticed to Jeremy as he sent her a mental roll of his eyes.

"As a matter of fact, there are a few papers and pencils around here. I'm sure that, with some art classes, you coul-"

"Are you honestly using a pun as a comeback."

"... Good point." A green flame surrounded the unicorn filly in the room, casting a dim light over the rest of the darkened home as the small pony that stood before Nightmare Moon and Jeremy was replaced by a fully grown changeling queen, sporting a grumpy look of exhaustion.

"About time I was able to do that." Chrysalis thought to herself aloud, easily overheard by the others in the house. She didn't seem to care, however, as these stares were ignored with ease. If anything, she was just glad that she was finally able to talk and actually sound like herself, rather than a filly. Plus, the smaller amount of strain on her magic was very much appreciated. In fact...

Looking to the still controlled, and pony formed shape of Jeremy with a glare, Chrysalis stretched her limbs, not being used to being transformed for such a long period of time after having been without magic for so long. The only thing even relatively close to this was the occasion she had transformed herself into a Canterlot guard to find Jeremy, and even then it had barely taken her an hour of the day, whereas her transformation into a filly had lasted a good bit longer than that.

"... Are you two about done? I'm going to turn Jeremy back into a human. I want to get some sleep and I can't do that while he's still a pony. So, either you make with the unpossessing, alicorn, or you end up having to figure out how to walk on two legs quick."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well that was certainly a pleasant form of threatening someone, isn't it?

... Oh sarcasm, how I do enjoy entertaining its use.

Anyways, despite how she had told us that, Chrysalis did have a good point. None of us were in the open anymore, so there wasn't really any need for me to be a pony. Plus, with all the windows closed and lights being out, Nightmare Moon didn't need to drag my body through everything anymore.

Besides, both Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon must have been tired as all hell by now, what with all the magic they'd been using. That and I didn't want to deal with Chrysalis whining about how we had her use her magic longer than she needed to.

I mean, technically her magic was refillable, but that wasn't exactly something I was looking forward to dealing with.

The point is, she wasn't wrong, I needed to turn back, and I needed control of my body again.

"Nightmare Moon, I-"

"Sir Jeremy, you will feel some discomfort for a short moment." Having not expected her sudden interruption, I, of course, was left wondering what she meant.

... On an incredibly related note, would you guess that the universe tended to answer your questions when, sometimes, you didn't want them to be answered?

Granted, the feeling had started off small, though still not pleasant. It was pretty much just the feeling of someone letting me go after having held onto me for years, exposing me to the cold. Within a few seconds though, several other much more noticeable feelings came with a crash.

Suddenly it felt as though I was propelled into my own head, crashing against my own insides like a snapping rubber band. My body went entirely off, then on, then off, and on again, for a total of I don't know how many times. Even worse, I could barely see a green flame engulf me through the mess of a bodily reset I went through, adding a memorably unique and of course not fun in any way feeling to the margarita of magic and bodily change that I dealt with.

I wasn't really sure, but I think I blacked out, say, three to four times.

Fortunately that made the process just a little faster from my perspective, eventually leading to me just lying on the floor with an unmistakable sense of dizziness, nausea, and a headache to boot.

In short: 0/10, would absolutely never recommend.

"Sir Jeremy? Are you well?" I was barely able to make out her voice past the ringing in my ears. I gave out a groan as a response, opening my eyes and glancing up from the carpet to the others.

Unsurprisingly, Nightmare Moon was there now - more specifically next to Chrysalis - looking towards me worriedly. It was almost odd to see her physically again, much like it was when I wiggled my fingers in an attempt to test my body again.

I was definitely back to normal, and I was definitely - thankfully - still clothes.

I had vaguely been wondering what had happened to my pants when I was turned to a pony.

All thoughts aside though, it was rather difficult for me to raise my head up, even slightly, to look towards the six figures in front of me. I'm aware that it's only Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis there, but there was still six of them.

"... Why... did you both have to do that at the same time?" I inquired, trying to decipher which of the six I saw were the real ones.

Nightmare Moon had opened her mouth to answer, but Chrysalis quickly cut her off with an answer of her own.

"Why use up anymore of the love I have keeping you transformed when I can just turn you back while the alicorn is giving you control? That's why."

As always, her logic was fucking infallible. Looking back on it, I kinda wish I had said that out loud. Instead, all I managed was another groan, followed by a quick and carpet-filled 'never again'.

"Geez J, you act as if you haven't been through worse. Like, remember that one time we went out on a night on the town?" I barely gave out another groan in response, moving both my arms and hands under me before, with some momentary struggle, lifting my upper half off of the floor.

As for the memory Gilda had brought up, well, it didn't help to really soothe my stomach. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Nonetheless, as I sat myself up on the carpet, regaining my breath and pushing down whatever lunch I may have had - which was nothing so far - I took joy in the small things around me. The feeling of that same soft carpet, that familiar air, those same dumb paintings I got from a yard sale. I muttered something under my breath, just loud enough for the others to hear.

"Home sweet Ho- Oh to hell with it, I'm gonna see if I have any aspirin left over before I puke."

... Ah, just like old times...

Chapter 27: House Warming Yet Again [Here Again]

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So, I can safely say that the plumbing in that house of mine still worked. I mean, granted it wasn't for the reason I had originally expected I'd check it for, but enough drunken nights had told me otherwise. Sometimes, it really did pay to have some sort of reference as to what to do when you're tired, slightly dazed, and nauseous. Especially now, what with having just started walking on two legs again.

Honestly, had I been told I'd suffer a hangover from being possessed while in the form of a pony... Shit, actually, that'd still only be the third weirdest thing I'd heard since I got to Equestria.

Anyhow, dry heaving into my toilet - which thankfully was, and I put an emphasis on was, relatively clean at the time - a few more times, I finally managed to pull myself away enough to reach for the actual tank lever to quite literally flush away what remained of my sickness.

As the sound of running water from the refilling tank calmly filled the room, I grabbed toilet lid and pulled it down as I lifted my own head out of the bowl and rested it on said cover.

Either I could stay there in the silence of my bathroom for a bit and possibly pass out for a minute or two until my stomach said I was free to go, or I could just wash my mouth out, stand myself up, and head back out of the bathroom to ensure every other guest I currently had in my home that I was fine.

As I thought this over with my head on the toilet seat, I was certainly becoming more and more tempted by the former of the two options.

Just as my eyes drooped a bit despite the horrible and acidic taste in my mouth, a knock at the door suddenly came through loudly and clearly.

That single knock felt more like a full-on battering ram being used against the entrance to a palace at the moment though, what with the headache I was dealing with.

I lifted my head and passed the palm of my hand over my face before deciding to address whoever was at the door.

"... Yes?" I called, trying my best to clear my throat and make myself sound as not-absolutely horrible as possible.

The action itself irritated my throat quite a bit as I slowly rose myself onto my feet and made my way over to the sink that was firmly planted just a short distance away from the toilet.

"O-oh, um, I hope I'm not intruding or anything, but it's just that you seemed really sick when you left, and the princess was worried, and, well..." Recognizing Halfy's voice and overall timid nature as I essentially drowned myself with sink water in an effort to clear out the taste and discomfort in my mouth and throat, I withheld a mental chuckle or two as I realized how bad that actually might have seen from not only Halfy's but everyone else's point of views as well.

It would've been like watching a drunk best friend try to wander around the house in search of, well, anything that could constitute a container. Experience told me exactly how that looked with ease.

Gilda still owed Zecora an apology for the mess she made that day inside of her cauldron.

"... A-are you okay?" Halfy then finally settled on, myself spitting out the water alongside any other impurities that I could rid myself of.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I promptly responded, wiping the excess water away from my mouth with a short glide-over with my wrist. Standing myself straight up, I took note of the mirror part of the medicine cabinet above the sink, looking over my reflection.

Overall, I couldn't deny that I looked like a mess - baggy eyes, a tired stare, I might as well have looked like I was just recovering from some kind of major disease.

"Just... felt a bit nauseous is all."

Yeah, and whatever was left of that 'nausea' was now safely going down whatever sewage pipes or magical filtration system awaited it upon being flushed down the toilet.

"O-oh..." I heard Halfy then give out in brief response, her voice lowering as she did so.

More curiously, however, even after I had answered her I could still hear her shifting ever so slightly just outside the bathroom door. I could imagine her drawing circles into the floor with her hood, as I had recalled her doing on a few other occasions.

"W-would it be alright if I came in?"

I found the question odd at first before I quickly remembered: I wasn't at her house anymore. We were at mine. I couldn't help but click my tongue against my teeth as I realized just how out of it I really was.

"Uh, sure, go ahead. The door's unlocked." I responded, giving myself another quick once over in the mirror before I was more or less satisfied with how I looked. The doorknob twisted before the wooden door separating Halfy and I was opened.

On an unrelated note, I still have no idea how ponies are able to open doorknobs with hooves. I mean, unicorns I can sorta get, what with their magic, but the rest? Yeah, it was a guessing game there.

The door initially barely opened by just a crack - small enough to keep anybody from entering but large enough to allow one to get a quick view inside - and I watched in admittedly silent amusement as Halfy's eye came into vision, along with the half of her face that held it.

She seemed to look around the bathroom for a short moment or two, almost as if she was confirming that this was the bathroom after all.

After a moment or two, she finally settled her eye on me, to which I reacted by giving off a small smile and a friendly wave. For a moment, I could see a smile of her own flash across the limited features of her expression I had a sight of.

A moment afterward, the door completely opened, revealing the rest of the previously more or less hidden pony that stood behind it. She took care in her actions it seemed, going so far as to make sure the door didn't swing too far out or too quickly as she held onto the handle... somehow.

"Afternoon." I then greeted her jokingly, hoping to ease her still visibly tense mood.

I was well aware of the fact that it was morning and that the sun was up, what with Nightmare Moon having had to control my body the rest of the way here not moments ago, but a small part of me wanted to say otherwise, and I wouldn't argue against it.

"A-afternoon." Halfy returned, seating herself on the tile floor before, with a soft and sudden squeak, shooting back up into a standing position. By my guess, she noticed how cold the tile floor was a little too late.

I barely withheld a laugh as I saw this and it became even more difficult to do so as Halfy gained a notably more red tone to her.

A little more hurriedly and stiffly than before as she likely tried to keep herself from making the same mistake of sitting on the floor again, she spoke up.

"I-I wanted to talk to you." She said, to which I gave a nod to continue.

She almost didn't seem to expect that gesture, going silent for a moment or two before she went on.

"Well, I-I wanted to know about-" As she spoke, her gaze went back up to me again, and, almost immediately, she paused.

"A-are you sure you're okay? You look... um..." Noting the fact that she clearly didn't want to say anything that may have been taken the wrong way, and that I'd apparently need to wash my face some more, I shook my head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little nauseous from what happened." I reiterated, before then rolling my wrists so as to gesture for her to continue with her previous statement.

She looked momentarily confused for a moment as if she had completely forgotten what it was that she initially was going to ask before she then remembered with a near silent 'oh'.

"R-right. So, I wanted to know about..." And again, she trailed off.

I wasn't sure what it was she wanted to know about; I didn't even have the slightest of guesses. Still, while Halfy wasn't exactly the most talkative of ponies, she normally wasn't completely silent either.

Whatever it was she wanted to know, I had figured it wasn't something easy for her to bring up.

"Why did you help me back then?"

I took a moment or two just to stare at her. I didn't really know what to make of what she had just asked me.

"Um... you mean back in Ponyville?" She nodded softly, confirming my suspicions. I gave an answer as though she had asked me the simplest question in the world.

"Oh. Well, because they were bothering you. That's why." I told her with a smile and a shrug before turning back towards the mirror. I opened the medicine cabinet to see if there was anything that might come in handy right about now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was as simple as that.

'Because they were bothering you.'

There was no ulterior motive, no point of future judgment, and certainly no foreseeable advantage that may have arisen from the action. Instead, Jeremy had done so purely because he disliked the fact that those ponies from before were acting as they were to her.

To Halfy, this was certainly proof of Nightmare Moon's earlier claims.

That is to say, it wasn't that she didn't believe her. It was not like that at all.

She simply felt it necessary to hear it herself, from the mouth of Jeremy. Granted, it was technically told to her from Jeremy's mouth before just as well, but those circumstances were different in themselves.

She hadn't told Nightmare Moon about her intent to do so while she was on her way here, and she knew that she would likely find out once she came by to thank Jeremy on her behalf as she had asked - if only to find out that Jeremy had in fact already known of her gratitude - but it was something she felt that she absolutely had to do, if that made sense. And it certainly did to her.

"T-that's all?" Halfy stuttered though a part of her hoped she wasn't irritating Jeremy with her badgering.

"Pretty much, yeah." He returned, his response just as simple and swift as before.

Halfy... wasn't particularly sure what she was expecting. She had imagined that Jeremy had committed his actions out of good intention, as foretold by her alicorn friend, and she had received the answer she had more or less hoped for, yet she still felt it necessary to ask if there was some other reason.

Perhaps it was out of habit?

Though, as she pondered this, she didn't notice Jeremy looking through the opened medicine cabinet that lay behind his bathroom mirror, giving out a soft hum as he looked over the contents within.

"Good news, by the way, there are some painkillers in here, along with some cough drops, some pain cream from Zecora, and a few bandages I had for emergencies." Jeremy then spoke out, bringing back Halfy's previously - albeit shortly - lost attention, his tone already seemingly uplifted. This, however, did not last particularly long.

"The bad news, though, is that that's all I have. And, on top of that, I'm pretty sure I'm running low on painkillers." He accentuated the 'and' as he spoke as if purposely wanting to make it sound as though it were an interesting combination of seriousness and a joking tone.

"W-what makes you say that?" Halfy inquired, to which Jeremy, with barely a flick of his wrist, gave her all the response she needed by grabbing hold of the container and giving it a short shake. About one or two small objects could be heard moving around inside.

A near silent 'oh' came from Halfy at this, Jeremy scratching the back of his head as he gave out a sigh.

"Well, if that's all we have, might as well use it, right?" Jeremy then optimistically gave out, earning a small chuckle from Halfy. The first she'd given since she'd come by to ask about what had been on her mind.

Truthfully, Jeremy had figured that Halfy thought him to simply be joking, but the headache he felt was very much real.

He accepted that it would pass with time, yes, but he still was well aware of just what said time would be like. A notably grumpier and all-around less responsive version of himself.

He was admittedly not a fun person to be around mid-hangover. The only reason he was okay at the time was that nausea from before had all but passed completely, and that was often the main cause of his annoyance.

"Um, o-okay. I'll just go back to wait in the living room the- Ah!" She found herself yelping mid-sentence, quickly catching Jeremy's attention as he looked away from the still unopened medicine container in his hand towards her.

Halfy had, without realizing or attempting to, moved out one of her forelegs a smidgen too far away from her in her attempts to turn and leave. In doing so, she had added some momentary stress and pressure to the area on her shoulder where the bruise from earlier had been.

It had only been a scant second or two; barely a moment of what, to her, seemed more akin to discomfort than actual pain, but to Jeremy, it was more than enough to garner his worries.

"Are you okay?" He questioned concernedly, taking a step or two towards Halfy's direction in the process.

Halfy, however, simply glanced back at him, forcing down her discomfort so as to respond.

"O-oh, I'm fine. Really." Suffice it to say Jeremy held his doubts. It also wasn't particularly hard to guess just what may have caused her to yelp the way she had.

"It's your shoulder, isn't it?" He questioned bluntly, his tone taking a sudden shift.

"R-really, I'm okay, you don't need to-"

"Sit the hell down." Jeremy said firmly. Halfy, not used to hearing Jeremy like this, quickly obliged, planting herself down on the floor exactly where she stood without another word. Another shiver rushed up her spine as she did so, but she wasn't certain if it was because of the cold floor or her nerves.

And so mid-hangover Jeremy had reared his head for the first time in quite a while, if only for a scant second. Jeremy shortly after realized this fact and gave himself a mental kick in the head as a result.

Nonetheless, Jeremy was quick to grab the medicinal cream that sat upon the cabinet behind the mirror, alongside the roll of bandages while Halfy watched all the while from her seated position on the floor.

Barely saying another word as he made his way over to her, Jeremy took his own place on the floor next to Halfy - the same side where her bruise lay - and placed the two objects he held down nearby him.

Halfy's gaze silently followed him as he went through his own set of motions, opening the clear and unlabeled glass of cream he had with him first. He gave out a momentary grunt as he twisted it open with a small but notable pop; just as quickly as her gaze followed him, it was shot away as he looked back to her, a small amount of the unguent substance dabbed on the tip of his fingers.

The wall ahead of her was her newly attained primary focus. Silence filled the room as Halfy slowly awaited... something.

She wasn't particularly certain as to what she expected to feel; warmth, cold, smoothness, roughness, it was simply unknown. So, instead, she prepared herself mentally for anything.

Said 'anything' came in the form of a sudden cold and clammy feeling against her coat, which slowly made its way down to her skin. Suffice it to say she couldn't so much as partially hold back the shudder she gave out, nor the odd squeak that she released as a result.

"Yeah, that's about the same reaction I had when Zecora first put this stuff on me." The human commented with a chuckle as he continued to dab the cream over where Halfy's bruise had been.

"It doesn't bother you too much, does it?" He then questioned, glancing at Halfy as she kept her eyes pointed forwards with her utmost focus.

"N-no," Halfy replied, another shudder escaping her mid-sentence, "it's just... strange."

"No argument here." And with that, the two fell back into an awkward silence, though the two did lose a notable portion of their previous tension. It wasn't long before one of them spoke up again though.

"Hey, uh, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly did happen back in Ponyville?" Jeremy then suddenly asked, to which Halfy's breath momentarily stilled.

"What do you mean?" She questioned, pretending to be unaware of what he had meant. Jeremy was having none of this though.

"Why were those pieces of shit bothering you?" Halfy dared not respond. Instead, she started counting the tiles on the floor in front of her, hoping that it would distract her for a moment.

Jeremy momentarily withheld his ministrations, tilting his head slightly as he looked more directly towards Halfy rather than the bruise of hers he was treating. As he had half expected, her head was now firmly pointed to the ground, rather than the adjacent wall, her lips holding firm as she gave out a clear and impossible-to-ignore vibe.

Feeling as though he may have hit a rough spot by accident, Jeremy quickly made to move the subject aside, much like Halfy had previously done not a few moments ago.

"... Or, if you prefer, you don't have to tell me and we can just move o-"

"Because I'm not normal."

And with that, it was now Jeremy's turn to be silent. Not because of the suddenness of the response, not because of the fact that he actually gained a response. No, it was because of the very simplicity of the response, and the seemingly practiced tone that came with it.

Despite this though, Jeremy took a breath, momentarily shaking his head before then returning to what he had previously been doing.

"... not 'normal', huh? If I had a nickel, or rather a bit, for every time I had heard something like that..." Jeremy trailed off, barely noting the slight twitch of one of Halfy's ears as he did so.

"Well, I suppose if I were to go on from that, I would ask what you think doesn't make you normal." Another ear twitch signified she had heard, but a lack of her turning her head gave off an opposite signal.

Halfy, again, did not provide an immediate response. Instead, she found herself gesturing she gave as she quietly rose one of her forehooves to the bandage across her eye. Her lips seemed to purse for a moment or two, before just as quickly returning to normal.

Jeremy noticed with ease as he then pulled away from Halfy's bruise once more, satisfied with how it had been covered in the odd cream to the point that one particular spot of her fur seemed a completely different color than its usual shade of purple.

"Okay, so, that's one then." Jeremy calmly concluded aloud as he stood from the floor, referring to Halfy's gesture before grabbing and closing the salves container. Shortly thereafter, he stood and began moving towards the medicine cabinet, replacing the jar in its previous place. "I take it the other thing has to do with your parents? That is to say, according to what that one pony said before I..."

"Hoofed him in the face?" Halfy offered.

"Well, when you say it like that... yes, definitely." There was no hint of regret in Jeremy's voice. In fact, it seemed as though he found a slight sense of amusement towards the fact. This same tone came through to Halfy just as well, eliciting a small, but still somehow relieving chuckle from her. "By the way, it unfair just how good hooves are for hitting things. I say that from both the giving and receiving end."

Halfy's previously blank face seemed to crack a gentle smile for a moment or two, before then just as quickly returning to normal.

"My parents were... not normal either, no." She then finally replied with a sigh just as Jeremy once again sat beside her, bandages at hand as he picked them up from the floor he had left them on.

"And why's that?" He further inquired, hoping that he wasn't pushing too far for answers. Thankfully for him, however, if Halfy did feel as though this were the case, she didn't show it.

"I-I guess it's mostly because of my mom. N-not that I blame her for anything, that is, but..." Gently grabbing her bruised forearm, Jeremy gave a silent request for Halfy to lift it with a pair of soft taps, to which she responded by doing as she was asked. A slight flinch came from her as she did so, but not nearly as severe as before, displaying that the medicinal cream was already taking effect.

"We're talking about the same mother that managed to keep one of the last plants related to Nightmare Moon alive and then gave it to you, right?" She nodded, a smile once again coming through on her features, though this time seeming to be more out of nostalgia than anything else. "Then am I to assume that was the reason she was thought of as weird?"

And with that, Halfy then shook her head, to Jeremy's mild surprise.

"No. Though, if anypony did know, I doubt it would have made things better." Jeremy blinked, undoing the roll of bandages as he slowly wrapped them around Halfy's upper foreleg.

"Then why?" And the ear twitched yet again. It was as though, since entering, Halfy had unknowingly become stuck in multiple repeating cycles, be it of silence, ear twitching, or whatever else it may have been that Jeremy hadn't noticed. It was odd, but certainly not distractingly so. Not by Jeremy's standards, at least.

"My mom was... well, I guess you could say she was a scientist of sorts. H-her cutie mark, from what I remember, was even on a pile of papers with some more scientific stuff written on it, and a ribbon on top. I never understood what it meant, and I remember her once telling me that she sometimes forgot too." The smile on her face didn't fade for even a moment as she momentarily basked in her memories, Jeremy watching as he continued wrapping the bruised and cream-covered section of her limb, noting that her head had now raised from the floor as well, instead pointed towards the wall again.

"She was one of the smartest ponies I'd ever known. In fact, in her work, she'd found out a lot of important things. Why some flowers, like Poison Joke, hold the magic properties that they do, ways to improve how some medicines worked, and more." At the mention of Poison Joke, Jeremy visibly shuddered, recalling a rather unpleasant experience he held with that plant. It was also at this moment that Jeremy realized that Halfy had all but stopped stuttering, or so much as even wavered as she spoke. It was as though she was a different person altogether, simply from speaking of her mother.

"But... nopony remembered her for that. Instead, they remembered her for... another of her studies." This quickly caught Jeremy's attention.

"Which study?" He asked. The response he got was quick, concise, and unexpected, causing him to freeze for a second or two.

"Changelings."

One word. One single word that, to him, seemed normal, yet somehow foreign in this context. Was it out of surprise? Confusion? He wasn't sure, but whatever it was was definitely there. And it was clearly visible by his reaction as the bandages in his hand momentarily slipped, himself barely able to catch himself before he messed up too badly and caused Halfy any further discomfort than he already likely had.

Recovering shortly after, Jeremy spoke.

"... Changelings?" Halfy nodded.

"Yeah. My mother focused most of her work around species besides ponies. She even wrote a book about all the other pony species that a lot of other ponies read. 'The Anatomy and Culture of Non-Ponies'." Jeremy blinked, vaguely recalling seeing said book in the several shelves worth of reading material that Halfy had back at home. "But changelings were always of particular interest to her. Mostly because very few ponies actually knew anything about them. How they worked, what they acted like on their own, nopony knew. Most of her life was based on that study. In fact, she even met my dad during one of the trips she took to study changelings, at least from what she told me."

Jeremy blinked again, adding one last thin layer of bandaging before tearing it from the roll and tying off the end so it wouldn't simply fall off.

"And I take it thats what ponies found to be 'not normal'? The fact that your mother studied changelings?" Halfy nodded. The smile that had once been on her face was now completely and utterly extinguished.

"... And that's weirder than being the only human, how?" He then questioned, much to Halfy's subsequent confusion.

"H-huh?" She then asked, turning her head towards Jeremy as he still held onto her foreleg.

"Or what about being the only griffon for miles that everyone thinks has an attitude problem? An alicorn that everyone thinks is evil and brings nightmares to life? Or, and heaven forbid she let us forget, a changeling queen with a pension for attitude." As he spoke, a grin on his face, Halfy just looked at him in honest uncertainty. Seeing this, Jeremy clarified.

"What I'm saying, Halfy, is that being 'not normal' is hardly an excuse for what happened. Nopony should be treated that way for something that they can't control. So your mom studied changelings and something is wrong with your eye - I don't see any problem with that, so why should anypony else? In fact, those things your mom told you about changelings have probably helped you a lot with a certain you-know-who that's probably grumbling in the living room right about now."

"I-I... I..." With barely so much as the slightest of motions to warn her, Jeremy put the roll of bandages on the floor before then placing his free hand lightly on her head, ruffling her mane slightly.

"Halfy, don't think that just because you're a little different, it's a bad thing. There's not really any such a thing as 'normal'. And if anypony tells you otherwise, well they better hope I, nor Gilda, Zecora, Nightmare Moon, or even Chrysalis are around to hear it."

Looking towards her, his smile not yet fading as he did so, he gave a pair of light taps towards the bandages on her arm, letting her know he had been finished. Realizing this, Halfy gave out a slight 'oh' before lowering her foreleg to the floor.

Standing herself up on all fours, Halfy tested her leg, giving it a quick stretch forwards and backward, side to side, before then repeating the process by actually moving entirely in those same directions.

"Any better?" Jeremy questioned, to which Halfy responded with a cheerful nod in his direction.

"Great. Now, uh, having spoken about your eye, there's one thing that's bothering me." Once again grabbing hold of the roll of bandages next to him, Jeremy held it out in Halfy's direction.

"That bandage seems like it's gotten pretty dirty by now. You might wanna replace it before you get sick." Looking to Jeremy, then to the bandages, then to Jeremy again, Halfy moved one of her forelegs for the roll on Jeremy's palm. Her hoof slightly brushed against his hand as she used the crook of her leg to grab hold of the bandages before then sitting down and simply looking at them.

"O-oh." She responded, her other foreleg moving to the bandage that she currently wore.

As Jeremy said, it was indeed very much different from the clean bandages she currently held and had wrapped around the bruise on her foreleg. It was less white so much as it was an odd mixture of dirt brown and filthy gray, small bits of it torn here and there with traces of small wooden splinters, debris, and so forth.

How long had it been since Halfy had placed that bandage on? Months now? She certainly didn't bother bringing a spare when she moved to the Everfree forest, that much was clear to her. So, perhaps months weren't too far off after all?

Either way, Halfy once again found herself looking to and fro between the bandages and Jeremy, her other bandage under her forehoof in the meantime.

For a moment, Jeremy was oblivious to the issue Halfy felt as a result of being given these new bandages. A few seconds later, however, Jeremy then finally realized the problem.

"Oh, right! You probably want me to leave for this?" Not wanting to have told him this outright, and glad that he had eventually understood, Halfy gave a slight nod as a response.

"My bad." With a slight laugh, Jeremy picked himself off the floor with a grunt, a part of his lower back slightly sore from having been sitting on the cold, hard floor for so long. He would never understand how ponies were able to seat themselves so comfortably seemingly anywhere.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it then." Making his way over to the bathroom door, Jeremy grabbed the handle and gave it a swift tug as he gave one more glance back to Halfy.

"If you need anything, just-"

"Gah!" Before he could say anything more, both Jeremy and Halfy found themselves practically jumping back as something fell into the room with a yell, landing face down on the floor.

At first, Jeremy was too shocked to really figure out what it was. However, upon second glance, Jeremy took note of a certain combination of feathers, fur, and a beak, allowing him to easily guess who it was, overriding whatever shock he felt and replacing it with chagrin. The familiar groaning and grumbling voice only furthered the point.

Watching as the figure partially lifted itself up and rubbed a talon against its head, Jeremy crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe.

"Gilda... why were you leaning against the door?" Almost as if it was at that very moment that she believed she had been seen, Gilda's eyes could be seen darting open as she swiftly made to sit herself up and look between the two other occupants of the room. She had done so so quickly that it was a surprise she hadn't sustained a self-induced whiplash.

"Huh, uh, what? No, no, dude, I wasn't leaning against the door. I was uh... trying to get in the bathroom, yeah, that's it! I had to go, you know, do my thing and, uh, you just happened to pull the door open when I got here. That's it." As if her explanation didn't seem rushed and improvised enough, Gilda then proceeded to finish her attempt at 'winging it' with a clearly forced chuckle, before then taking a confident stance, as if she believed she was a master at acting.

Jeremy, however, was not convinced.

"... Right. Well, you're gonna have to wait your turn, sooooo..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know, it's surprising how light a griffon is when you pull them out of a room by their tail. I mean, not like I know from experience, but hypothetically speaking of course.

Oddly enough though, I think Gilda would testify otherwise as to how 'hypothetical' I was being. Especially as she and I stood outside the bathroom, the door closed while she held and blew onto her slightly aching tail.

"Man," she said with a slight squeak, which she quickly rid herself of by clearing her throat, "why is it always the tail?"

In response, I gave a slight shrug.

"Well, that depends on whose fault you think that is, doesn't it?" I joked with a chuckle, crossing my arms as I watched her look back at me with a slight glare.

"Oh ha-ha. You're lucky I'm more focused on bug-breath than I am you at the moment, or I would get payback so quick."

"Noted." I responded, momentarily raising a finger as I added that threat of hers to a mental list of 'things to worry about later'. "Now, you gonna tell me why you were spying on Halfy and me yet, or am I gonna have to ask Nightmare Moon to get the ice water again."

At this, Gilda gave out a shiver.

"Yeah, no thanks J. I'd prefer not to wring out my tail for the eighth time this week." As she said 'eighth' I couldn't help but to wonder as to where she got that number from, or perhaps how much I had actually missed whenever I slept.

"The actual reason I was there was because NM wanted me to check in on you and Halfy since you were taking so long." I rose a brow at this.

"And 'checking in' requires leaning your head against the door?" I returned with a smirk. A smirk that was quickly wiped away as Gilda put on a familiar face that I had grown wary of over time.

"Actually," she then began to return, lidding her eyes by quite a bit and seeming to puff out her chest ever so slightly, "I only started listening in when I heard that 'friend' of yours give out a yelp through the door. I mean, at first, I was skeptical, but I guess it makes sense for you to do that kind of thing in a bathroom," pausing, Gilda raised a talon and dragged it over the bandages on my chest, "you stud you."

I'm not terribly proud of what I said, nor do I regret it.

"... You wanna find out what 100 pounds of torque can do to a tail, Gilda?" Gilda didn't so much as flinch, crossing her forelegs over one another and tilting her head slightly as she looked at me with a knowing smirk.

"Bad hangover?" She accurately surmised, to which I swiftly gave her confirmation.

"Extremely."

"You never were good with handling those."

If anyone knew that more than anyone else, it was her. After all, she and I had gone out for drinks more than a few times in Ponyville, much to Zecora's chagrin whenever I had to wander back over to her home. Yeah, walking drunk through the Everfree was not an entertaining experience; yet I ended up doing it so many times that it eventually became a habit.

Not to say I was an alcoholic or anything like that. If anything the only reason I ever went out to drink was that Gilda would convince me to, but it essentially became the ritual of any Sunday whenever Gilda was free to go out drinking.

Of course, pony brand drinks were never really strong. That is to say, not for anything that wasn't a pony.

It was certainly an odd experience, watching as some of the ponies around me at the time went from sober to absolutely wasted in a matter of one or two cider glasses while Gilda and I were there downing our eighth with barely so much as a tingle. Maybe it was the low alcohol content of the actual cider that they served because God knows there wasn't any beer or vodka in Ponyville, and maybe it was the apparent natural light-weightedness of those ponies, but it practically was like a challenge for Gilda and me to so much as get a buzz. But we managed, and beyond.

Anyways, what was I talking about again...?

Oh, right, the whole 'bad with hangovers' thing.

"No, Gilda, no I was, and am, not." Unsurprisingly, Gilda ended up holding back a laugh, momentarily covering her beak with her talons and giving off a suppressed chortle, before then returning her attention to me.

"So would you say this one is a one, or a ten?" She questioned. To anyone else, this question would simply seem out of the blue and without reason. To me, well, like I said she and I had had enough drinks, and she had seen enough of my hangovers to have made a veritable scale for me and her to rank our states after those supposedly 'fun nights'.

... The term 'fun nights' sounds really bad actually, now that I think about it. Especially considering who they were often with, and how she would likely use the term to her advantage if she ever heard me say it.

"Somewhere along the lines of a three. I mean, I'm not nauseous anymore, so that's good." Gilda nodded in response, rolling her eyes as she did so.

"Magic sure is fun, isn't it?"

"Shut up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... And now it wouldst seem as though another hath been lost in their journey." A certain shadow alicorn commented aloud as she looked down the hall she had just asked Gilda and Halfy to go down in order to check on her human friend. Honestly at the rate the situation had been going, had Chrysalis not been there to tell her that the three were fine due to what she could sense of their emotions, she would have believed that the hall had been enchanted and was whisking her friends away one at a time. Or, perhaps, the house was simply larger than she had believed it to be.

And could she be blamed for being concerned in the first place? Jeremy had not been in the best of shape for some time now, as evidenced by the bandages that still laid wrapped around his torso. Add the possible sickness of a sudden magical surge in one's body to top such a thing off. He must have felt absolutely awful.

Jeremy had told her in one of their discussions from long ago that, in his original home world, magic did not truly exist. This was a shocking discovery in itself, but the reason this truly even came to mind was that it gave Nightmare Moon another point of reason to worry.

She had seen the effects of magic on creatures that normally did not use it if suddenly brought about in large quantity, and most of the time this would lead to a supposed 'magical overload', as it were. Some effects were even stranger, though thankfully rare.

More than likely, this was exactly what Jeremy was suffering at the moment. After all, two powerful spells were cast on him at the same time, and from two different origin points as well; one a pony, and the other a changeling. Even a unicorn would have at least felt dizzy under such circumstances.

Truly, Nightmare Moon felt as if she should have taken this into account. She had wanted to simply go towards her friend and cast a common cure-all spell she knew towards simple ailments such as nausea, headaches, and the like, but she knew that this would only further his ailment just as well. The only real way to deal with magical overload was time, after all. So, that is what she would have to give him.

Yes, that was it, time...

She wondered if maybe she disguised herself and went outside for a while, she could find a doctor. Just in case, that is. After all, she couldn't really be too sure could sh-

"For the love of the empress and all those below her, including myself, stop pacing for one second and sit down!" The changeling monarch that sat atop of living room couch growled angrily, having lost what little patience she may have held for the alicorn - which in fact was already little, to begin with - as her hooves gave off what must have been their hundredth set of clops against the floor.

Her mind was having its own set of issues to deal with.

They had finally made it to their destination with, surprisingly, little to no issue, and yet here that alicorn was continuing to concern herself over something that really needed no concern in the first place.

It was frustrating.

Placing a crater-filled forehoof of hers over her face for a moment or two, as if attempting to ease a headache that she really wouldn't be too surprised to have, she was more than prepared to continue telling her off, or to at least combat whatever argument Nightmare Moon would give.

And as luck would have it.

"How are we to calm ourselves? It has been far too long for the three to make their returns as of this time, well over what was deemed necessary, and yet thou lays there as though nothing has occurred, or will!" Nightmare Moon returned in a clearly aggravated state, momentarily allowing her emotional wall to crack by just a sliver; enough for Chrysalis to see a clear concern and nervousness hidden behind it, but not enough to see any further. Realistically though, it wasn't hard to imagine what the rest of her emotional state was.

No, to Chrysalis, that was far too predictable.

"I 'lay here' because I'm still not used to using my own magic for such a long period of time. Let alone on another being and me at the same time." Chrysalis responded matter-of-fairly.

"Verily, we question your investment at times." Chrysalis blinked at this.

"Did you think my warning from before was a joke?" The changeling then spoke out slowly, already preparing a notable amount of magical force into her horn. Thoughts already popped into her head as to what possible curses she could bring about with the magical stockpile she had. "Because it wasn't. As I said before, if you ever questioned whether or not I cared for him, I would-"

"However," Nightmare Moon then suddenly interrupted, her voice un-wavered or so much as slowed by Chrysalis' aggression, "we also cannot completely question the care of those we are to assist, can we? After all, were there truly any such danger to be left to the imagination, thou would make haste to clear it, wouldn't thee?"

Chrysalis stayed silent at this, unsure of what to say, whether they should say anything. At the same time, she felt the magic in her horn slowly return to whence it came.

"... Your point being, what? That you don't think I care, but you do too? Clearly, you have no real idea as to what to think of me. Something I find strange because, before, you were more than willing to claim you knew me. To say I was nothing more than a hindrance that you would rather be rid of." Nightmare Moon dared not refute her. Not because of fear, but because she simply did not wish to waste the effort.

"True." She instead simply stated, her billowing mane ever so slightly shifting with a sort of decisiveness to it. "However, times do change, as our time of banishment has clearly displayed by this point."

"So, what, you suddenly trust me now?"

"Nay. We do not trust thee entirely. We hold much more of that such concept of trust in our other compatriots: Halfy, Miss Gilda, Miss Zecora, and we need not mention Sir Jeremy, of course." She answered, by now turning towards the changeling and sitting herself down on the floor. It was a welcome change as opposed to continuously walking around without any real purpose.

"Rather, we hold a different concept of trust tethered to thee. One that, though we do not mean to speak poorly of them in any regard, is not yet held by Miss Gilda, Halfy, or Miss Zecora."

"Oh? And whatever could that be?" Chrysalis began sarcastically, believing this to be some sort of belying insult of sorts. "An exoskeleton to cover my cold insides perhaps? Certainty of betrayal? Or, perhaps, the ability to shatter a mirror with a single glance? Come on then, enlighten me as to what it is you 'trust' me to do."

The response Chrysalis received was not one she had expected.

"Trust that, should we fail in our part to keep Sir Jeremy safe, thou wouldst be the most likely to take action no matter what the risk."

Chrysalis grew silent, unaware of how she would go around responding to this. Yet, she would not need to. The sound of approaching footsteps halted their conversations.

The alicorn turned her head towards the sound, her previously serious expression all but melting within an instant as she instead dawned a smile for whom she saw.

"Ah, Miss Gilda, we see thou hast returned with Sir Jeremy." As said griffon and human, came into sight from the hallway they had previously been, one could note the slight glint of soreness on the face of the griffon, alongside a slightly twitching portion of their tail.

"Yeah, wasn't all that hard to do. Though, Halfy might be held up a bit. Had to powder her nose, or whatever it is the nobles around here call it, if you catch my drift."

The alicorn's head seemed to tilt ever so slightly at this.

"We... do not understand what 'drift' thou speaks of, Miss Gilda, but we do understand as to what it is thou mentions." It was easy enough to see from the griffon's face the mixture of exasperation and doubt as she heard the alicorn respond.

"Uh... when I say, 'catch my drift', it means 'if you know what I mean', NM..." At this, Nightmare Moon's eyes momentarily seemed to widen in a sort of fascination, as though she had discovered the secret to the universe.

"Oh, is that so? Verily, this information will prove very useful, we are certain!"

"Uh... Yeah, sure thing." Gilda then responded with an awkward smile, before then giving Jeremy a light nudge for whatever reason and making her way elsewhere. Said elsewhere, unfortunately, for a certain changeling, was on the other half of the couch.

"Yo, scoot over a bit. You're hogging the couch again."

"Sorry, but the cushions already have enough feathers in them without your feather-brained self coming over. Besides, if I really am a 'couch hog', as I'd imagine you would phrase it, then add that to my list of privileges as a queen." The griffon took exception to this.

"Last I checked, you need subjects to be a queen, ya pest." And the changeling took exception to this.

"Why you-"

"So help me, I will walk over there and bury you under that couch if you don't shut up. I already have enough of a headache without needing a couple of pains in the ass as well!" All of the beings in the room looked toward the human in shock, not having expected the outburst. Jeremy glared at the two on the couch, very much annoyed by the two's instantaneous argument breaking out upon seeing each other. The griffon, however, recovered rather quickly and let out a snort.

"Pfft! Wow! Nice one." The changeling and the alicorn turned to face her, a brow raised as they saw her with a smile over her beak, despite the fact that she had just been told to be quiet.

She took notice of their stares quickly, glancing at the two and giving a shrug.

"What? He never told you he gets grumpy when he has hangovers?"

Chapter 28: Work Before Play [Here Again]

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The streets of Canterlot held their usual pace once again. Ponies of all types - be they unicorn, pegasi, or earth - walked down the paved streets that encompassed the wealthy city. Many wore suits and dresses, signifying their status and place among the community. It was well known among them that the sharper one dressed, the higher on the 'social ladder' they would seem.

Some even chose to display their status in different, much more difficult-to-miss forms, taking carriages to and from their locations rather than dirtying their well-taken care hooves. Of course, due to the relatively narrow paths that Canterlot was made up of, resulting directly from the great number of years the grand city had stood upon its perch, there were relatively few places for so much as taking a slow cruise through this means of transportation. As such, many of the ponies that lived in the area had grown accustomed to occasionally scoffing or sneering at those who rode carriages; both out of possible jealously and overall disdain for such a rude pony, so willing to take up space in a way so unnecessary and flashy.

Of course, most would believe otherwise if they were the ones aboard the carriage, but that is simply how the denizens of the city operate.

By this time, the average clock, be it personal or citywide, would be more than willing to inform those that sought its advice that soon the monarch of the land would once more set the sun, bringing whatever transactions, important meetings, and - heaven forbid - occasional hooficures and haircuts that may so urgently be needed to an end.

As a result, the streets were comparatively emptier, with only the occasional blindsided insult, interpreted sneer, or overall spit being slung between the many nobles of the land. Yes, truly, it was a calm, overall average time in the city of Canterlot.

That is to say, calm and average in the minds and bodies of the nobles that resided in the city. Those that resided within the castle walls, however, held a different overall opinion. One that consisted of various sprinting scribes, guards that seemed to hold a much more notably alert astuteness to their usual statue-like demeanors, and various other staff members that had been at their best to keep up with the clearly heightened tensions and paces within the castle of moon and sun.

Few understood why, save for a select hoof-full of guards, royal advisors, and of course the royalty itself. Even the scribes and messengers were without a clue, often writing down messages without so much as thinking of what they wrote and delivering them without so much as glancing at the papers they were given. After all, they were there to assist the princesses, and if said princesses clearly were treating something as though it was a situation of utter importance then there was no need for forethoughts or afterthoughts.

Suffice it to say all was not normal within the castle walls. Something that a certain maid, who at the time was grumpily dusting one of the many thousands of near-identical vases and decorative pieces that resided within the halls of the castle, was all too aware of.

Had this been the fiftieth or sixtieth one she had dusted? Who knew, who cared? She certainly didn't. After all, it had only been five days since she had started working at the castle, having been ever so kindly recommended by one of the guards - and granted this certainly did allow her to avoid some of the more intrusive parts of becoming a member of staff, such as background checks, medical exams, and a particularly noteworthy 'changeling test' which involved a series of nonsensical questions meant to understand if one was a changeling or not. The last one supposedly was among the most unnecessary and ridiculous, as the one maid had been told by other staff members who had taken the test - and already she was being forced to work her hooves to the bone.

Granted, she was currently using her teeth and mouth, what with being an earth pony and not having magic or even wings to make her job simpler, but her point stood.

It wasn't as though she had taken the job because she had oodles of joy over the idea of being among her princess's army of cleaner mares. No, that wasn't it at all. Rather, it was due to the impressive amount of bits offered as payment for such a thing, alongside many other benefits. Besides, she had several foals waiting for her at home, and the only one who she could so much as even glance at to give the blurred possibility of being a more mature figure had decided it best to stay behind and look after said foals.

Irritating, to say the least, but certainly not comparable to the life she had lived before having them with her. No, there was no comparison at all.

Perhaps she favored one of these foals over the other, especially over a certain one, but she would never say this aloud to them. Instead, she would continually split her opinion of them all evenly. As evenly as they asked, of course. And who wouldn't? Was it not normal to do so?

She wasn't certain, it was the last thing on her mind really. Instead, she was more focused on what was before her. An extremely dusty vase that the more she cleaned, the more she wondered if she would be able to simply smash and blame it on one of the many messengers that often blazed by her as she worked, showing no courtesy or hesitation as they hastily shoved their way past her because she had been in the wrong place. And due to the fact that the hallways weren't exactly roads, she was in the wrong place often.

She also contemplated tripping these ponies by simply sticking one of her legs slightly outwards but withheld herself as she realized that the smudge that would be left on the floor, as a result, would likely be much more irritating to clean.

As her mind filled with these thoughts, the mare maid suddenly felt a tickle on the tip of her muzzle. It was practically not there at first, seeming more like a fleeting sensation made from the mind's perspective. However, with the ticking of every millisecond, the sensation grew. It turned from a light tickle to an itch. It went from an itch to a notable disturbance. And finally, it went from a disturbance to what felt like an inferno; a flame that could not be ignored, engulfing her entire body in what could only be described as one of the most horrid, awful things that could ever befall a pony such as herself.

"Achoo!"

A sneeze. Oh, how she hated sneezing. It was so involuntary, so out of her control, and yet it was inevitable with the amount of dust she had found herself dealing with. Of course, the fact that, in her sneezing, she had not only ended up dropping her duster, but also whipping up whatever other dust remained on the case, causing it to lightly cover small portions of her brown coat, black mane, and of course recently cleaned maid outfit.

Oh, how she hated dust. Oh, how she hated cleaning. Oh, how she so wanted to simply lift up the vase that had caused her such trouble, and the pedestal that so happily held and portrayed it, and throw it out the nearest window.

"Oh, gesundheit!" And with the sudden arrival of a new, previously unknown voice in her proximity, the maid all but fell over herself as she turned to address whoever may have approached her, taking the customary 'prim and proper' stance she was taught within her first day to take whenever such an event occurred. A stance which she, of course, loathed to no feasible limit.

In her doing so, however, she did not expect to come eye to eye with a certain, wickedly smiling draconequus.

"... Well nice to see you have such wonderfully deep eyes, mademoiselle!" It said with a sense of pep to it that seemed without reason, the maid only then realizing the proximity between the two as her initial shock faded, before then being given a new sense of shock as she realized who stood, or rather floated from what she could see, before her.

The ever so precedent, yet not so prevalent, being of true chaos, Discord.

"Hm, what? Did I come off as too strong? Was it my breath, mayhaps?" Discord questioned as he saw the mare flinch away from him, before then putting one of his forelegs before his mouth and giving out a pair of breaths. Upon doing so, however, said arm seemed to wilt, much like a flower doing so all the way up to where the foreleg met his body, shriveling up and shortly after falling off with a slight snap resembling that of a plant stem being cut in two.

The shriveled arm fell to the floor with a slight crumpling noise and then proceeded to disintegrate into dust and fly off as though there was a sudden strong breeze in the hall.

The maid, however, was more focused on her own personal thoughts than she was on this... display.

She had heard that this being of chaos had been residing in the castle walls for quite some time now, but it was only now that she could truly confirm these rumors. She had been to the castle before her employment, on several though short or limited occasions, but it was only now that she came face to face with Discord himself.

"Note to self, have more milk with my morning batch of garlic. And they say it's 'part of a balanced breakfast'. Psh-aw!" The being continued as he looked towards where his arm had been, not in a panic, but with a pout.

Suddenly looking at the mare, then behind her, the creature's pout all but disappeared within an instant.

"Oh, may I?" He asked, leaving the maid in confusion until she took note of the single talon on his other forearm, shaped like a griffon's, and followed to where it pointed behind her. The vase that she had recently dusted.

She didn't do much as get out and answer before Discord suddenly spoke once more, already grabbing hold of the vase.

"Ah, thank you very much. Your kindness and generosity are appreciated." He thanked with no hint of joking or sarcasm in his voice whatsoever as he lifted the vase, as though he actually believed himself to be giving a true token of gratitude to an unanswered question. Perhaps he did.

"I must say," he then commented as he brought the vase up to his face, the rest of his body slightly twirling and fidgeting behind him, "I'll never understand why Ol'Sunshine herself has so many of these lying around. Not like she needs them, after all." This is perhaps the first and only time the maid finds an individual who shares this opinion with her, and it is Discord. Truly, she was well beyond the point of caring by now.

"Well, bottom's up!" The amalgamation of chaos and body parts before her then happily cheered to nopony in particular before then raising its final digit on its hand, for whatever reason, and tilting the opening on the top of the vase towards his mouth.

It was then that an odd brown liquid began to pour out of the vase and into the open maw of the creature, a substance which the maid was more than certain was previously not there. She... had never really seen anything like it before. It held the viscosity of what she believed to be milk, but it was certainly not the same color. In fact... it vaguely reminded her of chocolate.

Throughout the entirety of the time, the being before her chugged this seemingly unending substance from this previously decorative and useless vase, a similarly colored limb began to grow from the former site of Discord's recently lost limb. It held no shape at first but soon began to fill out a sort of outline, as it were, shaping itself more and more to appear as a familiar limb. Eventually, through the loud gulps and gargles of the draconequus, the maid watched as the color of the limb then changed, alongside a few more select features, until it finally took the exact form of the creature's previously lost forearm.

This seemed to be the creature's stopping point as he then tilted the vase back to how it is normally meant to be held, abruptly ending the flow of liquid from it as Discord then proceeded to close his mouth and smack his lips, quite audibly at that.

"Ah, that's much better. Though, a bit dusty, I must say. Somepony should fix that." He commented, as though suddenly completely oblivious to the mare's presence - the same mare and maid that now began to question if she was willing to truly risk angering a being of chaos by shoving her duster where the sun didn't shine - before then haphazardly tossing the vase aside.

The maid watched in shock and silence as the vase slowly made its way towards the floor further away from her and the draconequus, being dragged down slowly by the inevitable force of gravity. However, rather than shatter, as she imagined it would have, it instead embedded itself into the ground with a loud thump, cracking the floor around it as though the weight of an entire metal safe had been held within it. A part of her felt it slightly logical, what with the apparently infinite amount of liquid it had recently held, but another part of her then proceeded to slap and berate herself for so much as attempting to place logic over the actions of chaos.

"Well, I do so appreciate the company Miss Maid, but I really must get going. I'm certain Celly is about to have a meltdown sometime soon and I for one, don't want to be the one who forgets to bring enough popcorn for every pony! Ta-ta." She didn't even bother to watch him leave or speak, instead keeping her eyes fixed on the vase embedded in the ground not far from her; the vase she was in the middle of cleaning...

It was close to quitting time anyways. She was certain somepony else would deal with it. They always did.

For now, she was far too hungry and tired to do anything else aside from head home. Her lunch break never really did much for her anyways, which is why she'd simply work through it.

Her fellow staff members told her she worked too hard, she which she replied something along the lines of 'mind your own business'. Silently. In her mind...

She needed the job, she nagged at herself repeatedly. She needed the job.

And, as if fate itself had been looking down upon the ever-loathing maid, the sound of a familiar chime echoed down the halls of the castle. That which may as well be compared to one's arrival to utopia, paired only with the finest and most decadent of luxuries that could ever truly become another's.

The chime that signaled a change of shifts.

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Trotting back down the roads of Canterlot, the mare was no longer in her uniform, having deposited it atop a pile, of which most maids at the castle took the utmost care to fold and stack, whereas she simply tossed in atop the others, dust and all.

She knew she would surely get lectured for not keeping her uniform in order, her superior likely to tell her off for not keeping her uniform clean, be it as nonsensical as it may be. After all, it was her job to clean, wasn't it? How was she to do so without getting herself filthy at the same time?

'Make yourself appear as though you deserve to be staffed by the princess', she remembered her superior saying at one point. A clearly slapdash reason, made only to make her superior seem more on top of things, the mare imagined.

The others didn't seem to think this though. In fact, they ate up this excuse as though it was law. She had seen many fellow maids go so far as to dirty themselves to the point of their coats changing to a different color, whilst making sure nothing else so much as smudged their uniforms. Had they any backbone, or intelligence, they would clearly see what was wrong with this thought process. But, of course, they didn't, so they would not.

The mare need not be able to read minds to know this.

All things considered, was there even so much as one co-worker that she so much as stood?

No, there wasn't. Not a one.

Of course, despite everything - despite her miserable job, her often itchy and uncomfortable uniform, her ditzy and idiotic fellow staff - there was one thing that gave her solace at the moment.

The jingling sack of bits that balanced atop her back. It had been five days, after all, since she started working. Naturally, as a result, it had finally been time for her first of many paydays. It was times like these - ergo, only this one time for now - that she was glad that she had begun working at the start of the week.

From this alone, all of that misery and annoyance had seemed almost worth it. Almost.

Not completely, but the significant amount of bits that she carried certainly helped to better things. It was more than enough to last her, and those waiting for her at home, for the next week and then some. How could she tell?

Well, her overall estimate was one reason, but the weight upon her back reinforced this fact even further still. She didn't even bother checking inside. She was too exhausted, too hungry.

At a time like this though, with the bits resounding loudly with every step she took, with each individual gold piece seemingly hitting against her back and stacking its weight upon her all at once, again and again, she wished she had a saddle bag of some sort. It was a suggestion made to her back home, but she didn't want to waste any of the - at the time - limited finances they had on something like that. Especially not in Canterlot, where anything clothing related was meant for fashion rather than use, and she'd rather not have a 'designer's saddle bag', or whatever sort of thing they call it to put up the price to extraordinary heights.

Would she have a slight ache in her back? Maybe, yes. But she didn't care, because it wasn't like she would do anything to stress it afterward. Her work week was over for the next couple of days, and this included at home. She'd have the others do whatever it is that needed to be done on their own while she, respectfully, would simply pass out and sleep... after eating.

And it would be like that for the next two days as well. Just enough time for her to mentally prep herself for another week of work.

A slight smile grew on her face at the thought. The plain-looking mare barely paid any attention to the setting sun or the rising moon. She didn't care for time. She wanted to head home and sleep. She wouldn't even bother with the dust and filth that caked her brown coat and black mane.

It was like a mantra to her at this point.

She would simply head home and-

"Excuse me." The sound of a seemingly random stallion's voice suddenly echoed through her ear as she was quite literally shoved out of her thoughts, barely able to catch herself as she was thrown off balance by the sudden.

Her mind froze with the force but came back shortly after when she regained her footing and place in the world once more. Under any other circumstance, she would have simply ignored this sort of thing. After all, it had occurred often enough at work. But that was just it. It had already occurred enough.

Oh, how she had had enough of being shoved around by some uncultured and rude pony who cared not for anypony but themselves. She wasn't able to speak out in the castle, lest she is chastised for making a scene at work, but she wasn't in the castle anymore was she? She was outside, without her uniform, without her metaphorical binds and limits.

She could now do as she wished, including giving this stranger a piece of her mind, if only to release a small portion of her pent-up anger and frustration.

Her teeth ground ever so slightly and her cheeks puffed. The mare turned herself so as to face the stallion. Opening her mouth, she was more than prepared to give out a long, well-overdue series of curses and insults in the direction of the inconsiderate pony.

However, before she could do so, she noticed a few select things, almost seemingly at once.

One, the stallion - and she was certain it was this one that had wronged her since the path she was walking down at the time had been all but barren for the two of them - had suddenly seemed to speed up his pace. He was less walking so much as he was seemingly galloping in the opposite direction of hers. Two, this stallion seemed to hold something within his mouth. He was an earth pony, clearly, but that didn't matter. What mattered was the oddly familiar bag he held within the grip of his teeth, shaking loosely as he carried it with him. And third, the mare suddenly took notice of the fact that the weight on her back, and the noise that came with it, were suddenly gone.

... Oh, this would not do at all...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It always felt so nice and relaxing to rest there. Even if was only for a short amount of time. With the light breeze that comes in from seemingly every perfect direction, the slight tickle that the grass gives my back as I lay upon it and think, and of course, the night sky dimly shining down upon me - not so much that it's overpowering, but just enough to allow me some security and a sort of warmth similar to sunlight.

An internal warmth, really, but warmth.

It was always a good place to think.

To let my mind wander over the past five days, and how they had gone, the moon practically acting as though it were there to happily listen to my thoughts. Like a sort of good friend, always willing to hear you out.

Things had, surprisingly, been rather casual since we had gotten to Canterlot. There were never any 'raids' of sorts conducted where we resided, as law enforcement television programs had led me to believe would have occurred, nor were we constantly avoiding the law, or anything that might sound... I don't know, exciting?

I mean, don't get me wrong, I have no complaints and certainly don't want to have my roof caved in by an angry Celestia spouting on her ploy for revenge for making a fool of her, or tricking her, or some stupid shit like that, but I guess that after the rather eventful trip to Canterlot my mind had been switched to a mode of full-blown paranoia.

It was a little easier after the first day - somewhere along the lines of after I had stopped puking - but still.

And, hey, it wasn't like everything was the same! No, in fact, just a few days ago, Nightmare Moon had asked me to help her out with something.

Concerningly, just as her name passed through my mind, everything felt... different. The moon above me suddenly seemed a lot bigger, or should I say closer? And that breeze suddenly wasn't quite as pleasant.

********************************

"Yo, J, you awake or not?" This hammered into my eardrums, all but jolting me awake to the point that, as I involuntarily lifted my upper half upwards to sit up as a reflex, I ended up instead feeling my head smack into something at full force.

It was a sort of 'immovable object meets unstoppable force' kinda thing, and to be honest the immovable object had won. Something that could be seen as I fell back down onto the mattress below me again, my hands instinctually moving towards my forehead where most of the impact had centered itself.

It was like smashing your head into a wall, or a rock, or a stubborn griffon's skull. How did I know how that last one felt?

Take a wild guess...

"Agh! Son of a-... Why?!" I hissed out as I peeled one of my eyes open.

I could easily see the griffon that sat atop me. And when I say atop me, I mean atop. As in, she was literally sitting on my lap and part of my lower stomach, her tail swinging slightly behind her, grazing me through the blanket I had over my legs.

This same griffon was also currently holding her own head with one of her taloned forearms, rubbing it over what I imagine would be her forehead... if that's what it's called in griffon anatomy.

Look, I didn't take any classes on that or anything, so don't judge me if I sound stupid saying stuff like that.

Because God knows I think it sounds stupid.

Anyhow, as for her other forearm, it was planted firmly on my chest by now, just over the bandages I had still kept on as per Zecora's recommendation to keep me from moving all that much. I didn't even so much as have my jacket on at the time, having taken it off to sleep so I was essentially bare from the waist up.

"Geez." I then heard Gilda say, the pain in her own voice barely registering through the dull stabbing of my skull.

She then seemed to echo my own actions as one of her eyes opened, gazing down at me as her lips pursed deeply.

"What the hay, J?! I come to wake ya up and this is what I get as thanks?!" I grimaced at that.

"Are you kidding me? You're the one who decided to yell me awake! What did you expect to happen?" I returned, planting myself up on one of my elbows as the pain in my head slowly began to fade.

Very slowly.

"Speaking of which, why are you on top of me?" And just like that, a switch seemed to flip. All of a sudden, any pain, or so much as discomfort, that Gilda may have been feeling at the moment seemed to vanish all at once. Her talons were removed from her head, instead taking their place idly in the air next to her as her eyes momentarily widened.

It was like a deer had been caught in the headlights, if that made sense in this context, with her light amber eyes staring off into the wall just behind me.

Unsure as to what was going on, I, of course, followed her gaze, and of course, found nothing but a bare wall. Nothing but the boring white paint of my old room, which I had meant to color in but never got around to. Come to think of it, there's a lot of stuff I never got around to doing in this house of mine. I know I say I was usually busy, but I'm starting to wonder if I was just lazy...

Anyhow, my eyes slowly moving back to the still seemingly frozen Gilda, who might I add had not moved so much as a centimeter, a brow of mine raised as I decided to try and bring her back down to earth.

"Uh, Gil-"

"I'm calling in that favor you owe me." Blunt and abrupt. Definitely Gilda's style, I'd give her that.

Of course, me being in a still relatively tired state, though not by much, I wasn't all that sure what she had meant.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I questioned, to which she replied, initially, with the first bit of movement she had made in some time; specifically, a roll of her eyes.

"Ah-doi! J, the favor you owe me. Y'know, for that agreement of ours? Back in the Everfree? Is anyone in there or what?" Gilda practically interrogated, emphasizing her words by knocking the 'knuckles' - again, still don't know griffon anatomy - of her talons against my head. Worse yet, against the part of my head that I had hit against hers.

Yeah, ouch. Lots and lots of ouch.

Giving out a groan as she did this three consecutive times before I covered my head with one of my hands, I gave her a quick glare as I swiftly spoke up.

"Alright, alright, I remember." I told her, to which she, almost victoriously, smiled and eased up a little bit, leaning back further upon her faux seat - I.E. Me.

"What do you even want anyways? It's not like I can just go outside and throw myself in the nearest trash bag to give you a quick laugh, after all." This clearly seemed to gain a chuckle out of her, if only slightly, her smile growing ever so slightly as she moved a talon up to the bottom part of her beak and lightly tapped against it as she clearly thought the concept through.

"As fun as that would be," she admitted with another scant chuckle, before then pointing the same talon that was previously tapping her 'chin' towards me, "the thing I want you to do is much more practical."

... Is it wrong to say that this admittedly got me interested?

No, the word I'm looking for is 'stupid', not 'wrong'.

Yeah, that fits better.

"Okay, I'll bite, what do you want me to-" And before I could even finish my question, Gilda answered it by swiftly and nonchalantly unfolding her wing outward, allowing it to expand to its full size, which was about an arm and a half's length and slightly over half an arm wide from my perspective.

At first, the action simply had me silent, unsure as to exactly what Gilda was getting at, or if she was getting at anything at all. However, as my eyes moved between her and her open wing, I took notice of her slightly bobbing eyebrows, as if saying I knew what she wanted.

And unfortunately, I did.

"Oh... Oh, God da- you've got to be kidding m- really?!" I ultimately ended up giving out as I realized what she had wanted, giving out a groan at the thought. "Can't you just do it yourself?! You've told me you've done it plenty of times on your own!"

At my clearly less than eager response, Gilda's beak pursed ever so slightly once again.

"Well, yeah, duh, but I also told you that it feels way better when someone else does it. And besides, you owe me. That's the deal." Again, I gave out a groan, and were it not for the fact that my forehead was still relatively sore I would have slammed my palm against it.

"I know, but-"

"Or..." She then suddenly said, again drawing my attention. And again, unfortunately so, because the moment I did look at her face again, I took notice of the fact that she had that expression on it.

"If you really want me to do it myself, I'd be willing to, but only if you'd do something else for me. Something, I'd guess, the both of us would enjoy more?" And with that, Gilda leaned herself back even further against my lap, doing so until she bumped into... something.

"You never did explain why you human males get like this whenever you wake up. But, hey, I'm more than willing to make use of the fact. So, what'll it be, option A, or option B?"

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

And now there I was, grumbling to myself as I, with a green t-shirt over my chest to cover the bandages I still had on, along with my - by now signature - sweater jacket, picked through this griffon's wing to find and get rid of any loose and/or damaged feathers to be rid off.

And I say relatively because, by now, I was practically covered by a good portion of these feathers.

I never liked helping Gilda whenever she was molting. It didn't happen too often, thankfully, with Gilda more often than not doing her own personal wing maintenance whenever she had the chance, but it still felt like it was a living hell for me to do whenever molting did befall Gilda when I was around.

I remember the first time I had seen Gilda molting. It had just been a week or two after we had first met. We had gotten to know each other relatively well by then and had started hanging out much more often.

It was nice having someone to talk to whenever Zecora was too busy with her potions and all, but I digress.

I recall that, at the time, we had simply been walking when Gilda started acting oddly, shifting her folded wings almost repeatedly and occasionally giving out an annoyed grunt or low curse.

I, of course, asked what was up with her. Gilda didn't hesitate to respond, telling me about molting, how often it occurred to griffons, what it involved, and everything she hated about it.

And I, being the idiot that I was felt bad for Gilda and asked if maybe I could help her.

If I could go back in time to punch myself, I would, temporal anomalies be damned.

Gilda didn't so much as hesitate to accept my request at the time. In fact, she practically shoved her wings into my face at the time, which ended up making me fall over onto my ass.

Not fun, though it is pretty funny thinking back on it now.

What isnt funny, however, was the process of learning what to do in order to deal with Gilda's molting, which was not pleasant. Hell, even after I did figure things out, with some direction from Gilda, it still wasn't pleasant. The reason?

Well, for one thing, it was tedious as all hell, trying to find and grip the right feathers out of what may very well have been hundreds. And don't even get me started on how frustrating it was whenever I would lose track of one and have to find it all over again.

Another thing was that most of the feathers that I would end up plucking would end up on me. I'm not sure if it's because of the fact that I usually wear clothes and some sort of static attracts them to me, or if they are just stickier than they seem, or if they just straight up hate me, but those feathers always either stick to me or make a mess around me.

Thankfully, Gilda had ended up agreeing to one condition I had for her involving me clearing her wings of unwanted molting feathers, and that was that we would do it in my living room rather than my bedroom.

It made cleaning any stray feathers easier, in my opinion, and it made it a lot less likely for any of the seemingly vast amount of fluff that these such feathers would bring to bother me the next time I go to bed.

Sleeping in my own bed had made my past five days absolutely wonderful, and let's not even mention comfortable. And I would not have that ruined by these damned brown wing feathers! Note how I say wing feathers. You would not believe how glad I was, and am, about the fact the feathers on Gilda's head, nor any other griffon's head from what she had told me, tended to come off easily enough on their own without any need for help. Because that would just make things all the worse.

Of course, one unfortunate result of me being in the living room with Gilda, was the pair of spectators that oversaw the whole thing with a sort of odd intrigue in their eyes as they watched me work. They watched me as I miserably cleaned out her wings as she lay lazily on me, her head and upper torso essentially trapping me beneath her as she placed them over my lap, giving me a good position overall so as to clean out her wings on the couch.

This brings me to my third point, and arguably the worst part about dealing with Gilda's molting for her, and why it makes it all the more awkward to be doing it in the living room with both Nightmare Moon and Halfy watching from the sidelines.

"Ooooooh~ yeah. That's the spot~." Gilda was quite the vocal griffon when she liked how something felt...

Now, to make this perfectly clear, Gilda actually didn't do this in a purposeful effort to tease/flirt with me. What she had done upstairs was very much on purpose, but with her wings? It was purely involuntary.

I had asked Gilda - and Zecora afterward - about that after the first and of course most awkward and embarrassing time I had done this for her. The two had both in fact said that, culturally, and instinctually, it was practically built into griffon nature to make some noises of acknowledgment and satisfaction whenever another being, rather than the griffon itself, had been tending to them. That, of course, included helping them with feather maintenance.

Of course, they partly made these sounds because the very process of having another being do this for them indeed felt nice and relaxing, like a sort of massage really, but it was also a form of... well, I guess you could say 'rating' how one was doing. The louder or longer the noise a griffon made as one did this, the more they would essentially be telling them that their work is satisfactory, or beyond it.

And, as you might imagine, if you compared the work of other griffons or ponies, who often used their teeth, beaks, or talons to pick out these feathers, or the relatively bland occasional use of magic, to the use of actual opposable thumbs... well, Gilda found my work to be beyond just satisfactory, to put it simply. I was the 'sixth star out of five', as it were.

And as flattering as this was, it was also frustrating in that, after the first time I had done this, Gilda always wanted me to be the one to do it.

Many times I would politely turn her down, but many more times she would find a way to get me to do it, such as right now.

"Little higher~. Little more. Little... more... Ahhhh, that's the ticket~." Seriously, how red must my face have been right now? And was it from the noises she was making or the tediousness that was finding the right feathers on her godforsaken wing? And this was only the first one too!

I blew off another stray feather that had ended up floating too close to my face as I continued in my ministrations. Then I shifted ever so slightly as I grabbed hold of a feather I found to be loose, having passed my hand gently through the feathers on her wing, twisting it slightly before then pulling it out with a swift pluck.

"Ooooooh, that was a good one~." Gilda again moaned as I tossed said feather aside to join a small pile I had on the floor nearby her and me, to which I replied with a slight 'yeah, yeah' that I ended up silently mumbling sarcastically.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind helping Gilda out like this, but I still hate the process itself.

"We must say, Sir Jeremy," I then heard Nightmare Moon chime in, who was seated almost immediately to my right, her head tilted slightly so as to better observe my actions, "your dexterity and aptitude in this such activity are most interesting to see. We do not believe we have ever truly seen your... um, 'fingers', as you call them, work on something as careful and precise as this."

Evidently, my audience was enjoying the show more than I was participating in it.

"Are you kidding NM? He's absolutely - oh, that's the stuff - great at this kind of thing. You should totally get him to do it for you too. Oh yeah." I couldn't imagine how much worse it may have been to work on alicorn wings to do this. I mean, no offense to Nightmare Moon as I say this of course, but her notable size difference would result in a difference in the size of her feathers as well, right?

All I could think of was just a pile of blue feathers, with my hand being the only sign that I was there as it desperately reached out for help.

Again, don't mind helping that much, but I choose life. I already was covered with enough feathers, felt enough frustration from losing and recovering said feathers, and I really didn't want to deal with any more of this. Plus, I didn't think I'd be able to handle hearing Nightmare Moon making noises like these.

~~... Then again...~~

THAT ONE YOU GET RID OF. SHE WILL ACTUALLY THROW ME INTO A RIVER, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.

"Oh, no, that is quite alright, Miss Gilda. Alicorn wings do not quite molt as Griffon or Pegasus wings do. The magical properties within mine wings dutifully allow them to keep their functionality without any loosening or damage being wrought upon by constant use."

That one took me a bit to get. And Gilda, it seemed, took even longer.

"Um... Huh?" She questioned, opening an eye that she had involuntarily closed while I worked on her wing so as to look at Nightmare Moon with a raised, and clearly confused, brow.

Noting this from Gilda, I stopped what I was doing for a moment, so as to not distract her, instead allowing my hands to lay on her back.

See, one thing I'd never admit, to either pony or griffin, was how comfortable their fur usually seemed, no matter what. I had actually made that comment to Zecora once, having accidentally ended up petting her in my absent-mindedness - and to be fair, could you blame me - and her reaction was quite flustered.

As it turned out, that sort of comment was akin to a human telling another human that their skin felt very nice against their own, which of course could be taken very lewdly, or psychopathically.

Ahem, returning to the subject at hand, Nightmare Moon seemed confused by Gilda just as much, if not more so, as the vice had been the versa. It wasn't until Halfy, who has been watching this whole event from a slightly further off cushioned seat made to sit only one pony, gained her attention that she realized what was amiss.

"Uh, P-princess," Halfy began, one of Nightmare Moon's ears twitching before she turned her head towards her, "Your, um, 'accent' is showing again."

The alicorn to my right blinked, only once, before then dawning a face of realization.

"Oh, we see! Very well then, let us try again." Her weight shuffled against the couch as she shifted ever so slightly. She cleared her throat before then beginning to speak again.

"Our- Er, pardon, my wings do not molt as much as thine- oh curses, your own do." Nightmare Moon finally managed to say, clearly struggling and flubbing every now and then but eventually managing nonetheless.

Gilda, having now understood what she had said, gave out a satisfied nod, accompanying said nod shortly after with a shrug.

"Oh, okay, now I get ya."

Seeming to take this to heart, Nightmare Moon suddenly gained a pretty big smile on her face, like a preschooler who had just managed to count to ten for the first time, before looking to Halfy and me, expecting more praise of sorts.

"Pretty good that time." I gave her. "Though, you only needed to say 'yours do' rather than 'your own do'. It makes the sentence more clear and concise."

"Other than that, you did really well Princess!" Halfy then added in shortly after, only seeming to further raise Nightmare Moon's momentary pride as her mane then began to flow in the invisible breeze it usually caught itself in ever so slightly more.

Altogether, seeing such a large powerful being as her act in such an admittedly childish and amusing way was beyond absolutely adorable.

But, yeah, as you may be able to tell, Nightmare Moon has been working on the way she talks for the past few days. She only really started after our first day here, having been reading some stray postage that had ended up piling up in my absence and noting the difference between how she spoke and the text was written.

Supposedly, she wanted to 'fit in' more with her fellow ponies. Granted, Chrysalis, at the time, didn't hesitate to comment on the fact that those ponies she wanted to fit in with weren't exactly fans of hers, but she happily ignored that comment - following shortly after with a quick glass of ice water over the changeling's head - and asked of me and Halfy to help her, what with being her closest friends.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure the fact that Halfy had been called one of her closest friends had made Halfy's day, what with the smile she held throughout the rest of it. A good look for her, coupled with that new white bandage she had now replaced her old one in favor of.

Even now it was still a fairly clean white, having little more than bits of fuzz from the carpeted floor to possibly change the fact. Of course, this led me to question whether whatever it was that was below said bandages really even needed bandages, at least medically, but I decided not to make that comment known.

Anyways, returning to the subject of Nightmare Moon's speech, she had been trying fairly hard to fix how she spoke for the past few days. First, she would just read more of the junk mail that I had, alongside a few old newspapers, in an effort to get a basic understanding. Then, she would start repeating the sentences, both how they were written and how she would say them, so as to ascertain where she varied. Finally, she would adjust her speech so as to better fit in a modern context. Her method was quite effective, really, and Halfy and I were acting as sorts of spelling and grammar checks for her.

We didn't always do it, knowing that it would end up seeming more annoying than helpful if we did, but we would usually chime in whenever we found it appropriate. Such as when something she said came across as difficult to get. Her knowledge of 'old-timey words', as Gilda had coined them to be, far exceeded any of our own. In fact, the only one who had any sort of understanding, most of the time, was Chrysalis.

Anyhow, just yesterday Nightmare Moon had taken her growth of lingual knowledge for a sort of test run as she forced herself to speak in modern means for well over two and a half hours. Granted, conversations were relatively slow, but most of us, save for Chrysalis, had been relatively patient with her so as to give her time to catch up whenever it seemed we left her behind in a conversation. This, of course, included even Gilda.

Say what you want about her, but she was still a good friend through and through.

And I can't really say Chrysalis was uncaring and obnoxious throughout the whole event as much as she was tired. She'd been sleeping a lot these past few days, and really I can't say I blamed her. None of us could.

See, Nightmare Moon wasn't the only one doing something productive to use up her time. It seemed like everyone had been assigning themselves some unspoken duties to accomplish while we were here.

For instance, when we first arrived here, we quickly came upon the subject of food. Or, rather, our lack of it. Thankfully, I had some emergency funds hidden away, alongside a few more bits Zecora had given us with the money we needed for train tickets, so we wouldn't really have all that much to worry about for the first few days.

Of course, the funds were still rather tight, and it wasn't like any of us could just go outside with ease. No, I'd imagine the idea of seeing Nightmare Moon, previously a supposedly cruel and wicked being whose only goal was to block out the sun and rule with an iron hoof - a concept which I still find gross and disrespectful, considering I know Nightmare Moon is nothing like that - going out to buy a few heads of cabbages would not go well.

Chrysalis hated interacting with other ponies, and as such was not the prime candidate for social interaction; Halfy was much too shy, and often found herself distancing herself as much as she could from ponies every now and then, meaning that Canterlot certainly held its fair share of 'bad ponies', so that wouldn't do; as for me, well, markets normally close at sundown. So that was out.

In the end, Gilda ended up happily up taking up the responsibility of heading out and buying us some food and water with the money we had left over.

Now, I'll admit, the first time she went out both Chrysalis and I were... skeptical as to how things would go. After all, I knew better than anyone else that Gilda tended to be impulsive. If she saw a puddle of mud after a rainy day, chances were she'd jump in without a second thought. The same applies to dangerous situations and the like.

So, imagine my surprise when she not only came back with the food we had needed but also managed to somehow get extra, all the while ending up actually saving us bits.

As it turns out, she's a shark when it comes to haggling. Something even I never knew.

As for Halfy, she ended up taking her place cooking, more often than not. I mean, from what I and the others could tell from our stay with her at her home, she was an absolutely great cook. I mean, granted, she only usually fed us with berries and greens from her own garden, but that's only because that was what she had at the time. With the much larger variety of food and ingredients we were able to get from the Canterlot markets, and the much more spacious and functional kitchen I had in my house in comparison to hers, she had, so far, been able to make some pretty damn good dishes from what seemed like random ingredients.

Plus, uh, as it turned out she was the only one of us who actually could cook. Nightmare Moon usually had servants to do that sort of thing for her when she was still a part of Princess Luna, Chrysalis didn't really need that much normal food in comparison to love so she'd normally just feed herself the raw ingredients anyhow, Gilda I had known to somehow burn water, and I... well, cup ramen is hardly a gourmet meal. Plus, I'm fairly sure that's not sold in this world.

Even Chrysalis was making herself handy around the place. I wondered how she was holding up at the moment.

Before I could finish that thought though, a sudden force applied itself to my stomach, not really hurting me but more momentarily winding me out of the unexpectedness that had accompanied it.

Looking towards the source, I saw Gilda's wing was, apparently, now shoving itself repeatedly into my stomach.

"Uh, dude. I didn't tell you to stop." Gilda quipped, her lips pursed as she rose her head up from my lap and gazed at me.

Rolling my eyes, and stifling a groan, I motioned for her to open her wing up completely again, which seemed to restore the smile from before back onto her as she then lowered her head once more and did as I instructed. I cursed myself as I looked at the large assortment of feathers before me, a momentary thought coming to mind.

"Where was that other feather I had found before again?!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now partially sweating and panting as she continued on her way home in the dark, the mare grumbled to herself as she eventually caught sight of the home she had already grown so used to seeing, despite only recently having moved there. The bits she had earned from work were once again where they belonged, jingling incessantly on top of her back with every step that she took.

She wouldn't bother going over what she went through to get them back. She hadn't been 'too tired' before, she certainly was now.

A momentary chill went up her spine as she approached her home, placing a hoof over the comparatively freezing tile path that led to the actual front door. The mare began to take the last steps she would need to before she was able to finally relax.

She was so tired. So hungry. So very close to falling over as she stepped on one particularly poorly maintained tile, almost tripping over her own hooves before shortly after catching herself.

She had almost forgotten about that dreaded tile, surprisingly. Then again, she did every time she got home.

She knew somepony from her home had said that he would get around to fixing it, but he never did, did he?

Granted. It wasn't like he could nowadays, but still.

Another series of silent curses escaped her as she made her way over that one particular bit of flooring with care, trying to make sure she didn't drop the bits she balanced on her back. The mare swiftly came up to the front door of her home.

However, she didn't knock immediately. Instead, she gave herself a moment to prepare; to prepare to deal with three foals that were within; to prepare to inevitably disagree, almost constantly, with the other more mature member of the household that was there; to prepare to do nothing more than eat and sleep.

Taking in a breath of the cool night air, which did very little to help her still relatively recently strained lungs, the mare then let it escape her as she raised a forehoof and, quite loudly, knocked it against the wood. Well, less knocked, more thumped.

Lowering this same hoof shortly after, the mare took note of a series of sounds that came from beyond the door. First was the sound of one of the foals she'd have to deal with yelling 'oh come on' for whatever reason. Next, was a notable moment of silence, alongside a few faint whispers. Shortly after this, she could hear hoofsteps slowly approaching the door. They weren't particularly big ones, which led her to believe that it was one of the foals that were answering the door. Finally, there was the sound of a pair of locks being released, swiftly accompanied by that of a twisting doorknob, and a groaning door.

Looking up as the door opened just a crack, the mare quickly caught sight of whom she had correctly guessed to be one of the foals.

Specifically, the one with a bandage over her eye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"O-oh, it's just you, Chrysalis."

I'll be honest, I didn't think I was holding my breath for that long, nor did I think that it would ever be released as a result of hearing the fact that Chrysalis was the one knocking.

Two for one, huh?

I had initially panicked for a second or two when a knock had come from the door. And it certainly didn't help that Gilda, likely having been frustrated by the fact that her wing cleaning session had been interrupted again, ended up yelling quite loudly when the knock had come.

Had it been a guard that was at the door, either A. we were all about to be in a lot of trouble, or B. kidnapping would have been added to whatever list of charges I had over my head... assuming it wasn't already?

God, I hoped it wasn't.

But, yeah, in summary, I'm just glad it ended up being Chrysalis. Sorta. Still very conflicted about that.

Not really.

Yes really.

Okay, maybe I was still just a bit panicky...

Watching as Halfy who herself had volunteered to check the door in the first place, which was quite brave by her standards, pulled open the entrance to the house in the first place, the three of us that were on the couch quickly were given sight of an altogether plain looking mare.

No special looks, no odd or unique color, nothing like that. Just a run-of-the-mill mare with a brown coat and a black mane.

I swear, I had told her that she looked way too common and inconspicuous to, well, not be conspicuous. But, as she had said early on in the week, 'in a world where everypony looks unique and special, nopony looks common.'

Turns out that's also a common changeling phrase used to teach hatchlings that no transformation is too extreme or common, but that's another story entirely, isn't it?

"A-are you okay, Chrysalis? You look really tired... a-and, um, sweaty." Halfy worriedly asked the disguised changeling as she opened the door completely, revealing the dim light of the outside world.

Chrysalis took this opportunity to enter, making her way inside at a relatively slow and exhausted speed, barely mumbling out what sounded like gibberish as something on her back then proceeded to fall to the floor behind her.

It made quite a loud series of sounds as it did so, including a notable thump alongside the sound of several coins clacking against one another.

It also served to cause Halfy to practically jump backward and out of her skin, a notable squeak escaping her as her ears splayed themselves back against her head and her eye momentarily became as small as a pinprick.

Glancing at the object, though not really able to make out what it was, I barely caught sight of a familiar midnight blue glow beginning to emanate from it shortly after it was dropped, before then rising from the ground in its entirety and steadily floating towards my direction.

Though it wasn't exactly moving all that fast, it seemed to pass the slowly moving Chrysalis easily enough before then making its way past me, allowing me to get a good glimpse at it.

It was, in fact, a sack. Just a small seemingly burlap sack that, in itself, seemed fit to burst with several outwards projections from within making it seem as though it was more akin to a mutilated pine cone. Furthermore, the actual opening of the sack was slightly ajar, nothing more than a slightly woven-in string of a different color serving to keep it closed, and mostly failing, as I gazed past it to spot a clear multitude of shimmering objects. Gold shimmering objects. Shaped like coins.

Ah, payday in Equestria. I knew it well. If wages were like this in my world either I'd be living in a utopia, or inflation would make my home as close to broken as it could possibly be.

As the sack then proceeded to float past me, and towards the very being that was manipulating it in the first place, Nightmare Moon looked down at the rather impressive little bag with a look of what seemed to be satisfaction.

"Our friend, could you mayhaps close the door? There blows a particularly wicked breeze on this night of ours." Nightmare Moon then kindly requested, to which I then immediately heard Halfy give out another squeak, followed shortly after by the sound of the door shutting.

I didn't see this happen, having been momentarily distracted by the bits Nightmare Moon held in her magical grasp, but I imagine it would have been quite humorous to at least see.

A soft chuckle escaped me at the very thought of the scene I missed. I then turned back to Chrysalis who, surprisingly, was still dragging herself towards the three of us on the couch.

I couldn't help but wonder what they had her do that day. Run marathons?

If so, then it was official that everyone inside of that castle is either an ass or an inconsiderate prick.

Then again, Chrysalis had been coming by more and more tired as the week had progressed, now that I thought about it. Really, this was just pretty much the next step in that declining cycle.

Still, that didn't make me feel any better about seeing her like this.

"Yeesh," I heard Gilda comment below me, myself glancing to her to catch sight of the mildly concerned look on her face, "what carriage hit you on the way here, bug-breath?"

The mare before us seemed to look up towards and slightly glare at Gilda, but only for a short time before then falling back down to blankly stare at the floor.

Rather than respond though, Chrysalis just mumbled incoherently once more.

"U-um, pardon?"

"Thou might want to pronounce thine speech more clearly, changeling." Both Halfy and Nightmare Moon said in response to the gibberish, only causing Chrysalis to give out a slight growl.

"... I said, I'm hungry..." She then finally managed to give out, though still relatively quiet.

Then again, it could be that it wasn't really that she raised her voice, more that she had just gotten a bit closer. This seemed like the more likely case, what with Halfy twitching an ear of hers before then tilting her head slightly in confusion, having likely still not heard or understood.

I, however, had understood clearly.

"Oh. Well, we haven't really started making anything, what with me having just woken up a bit ago, but if you like you can choose what we eat today." I began, glancing back to a doorway that led to the kitchen. Had I been paying attention though, I would have noticed as she suddenly placed a hoof of hers on the very edge of the same couch cushion that I sat upon, slowly lifting her upper half over Gilda and my lap.

"I'd say that's probably the least we can do, all things considered- Hmph?!"

With no particular warning, all of my words suddenly became muffled.

You know, it's not exactly outside of the realm of surprise whenever I suddenly feel something grab my head from behind; for example, a hoof. And it's not exactly any further outside of that realm to suddenly be forced forwards and to suddenly feel something against my lips; for example, Chrysalis'.

Yeah, that wasn't expected. At all.

Then again, I don't think it ever would have been.

Maybe it wasn't the best time to question that though. After all, here I was being kissed, which was a notable switch-up considering the first time this kind of thing had occurred.

My eyes were, of course, as open as a pair of saucers as my mind quickly began to try to catch up with my body. And boy did I mean try!

"Okay, so, let's try to get this straight then. Chrysalis came in just a few moments ago, right? And she had said she was hungry. Now, she's kissing us. Yeah, all things considered, I probably should have half-expected this..." That's about the long and short of how my mind processed everything.

I also couldn't help but notice that she was very purposefully starting to deepen the kiss just a bit...

I wanted to try and distract myself from what was happening, I really did, but what was I supposed to do? Look at someone else like an absolute idiot while this happened?

It didn't help that as this was going on my eyes were very much focused directly ahead of me, not knowing where else to go in a situation such as this. I watched as the mare before me - who, might I add, only made things even odder because it seemed as though I was just being kissed by some random mare - with her eyes closed slowly became engulfed by a green flame, and the lips against mine not only became a little warmer as a result. They then seemed to change in regards to how they felt altogether as well.

Definitely a... unique experience.

In fact, it was only once the flame faded away, leaving Chrysalis to be the one kissing me as opposed to
the mare from before, that I felt the sudden disconnect from my lips.

A slight tingling sensation lingered upon my lips as well as a much more notable warmth covering my entire face as a whole. I watched relatively vacantly as the previously closed eyes of Chrysalis suddenly opened again, revealing her vivid green eyes and slit irises just as a slight smile crossed her face.

"Ah, that's much better." She then commented to nobody in particular, momentarily allowing her thin forked tongue to exit her maw and slowly, deliberately, licking her lips before once more returning to whence it came. She then proceeded to push herself off of the couch cushion she had been supporting her upper half on, allowing herself to sit down on the floor instead.

"Though, I must say I'd appreciate it if you at least put a little effort into it the next time I'm hungry for love. You have the honor of being one of few individuals for me to ever do that with, so at least show some attempt behind it."

What the hell could I have possibly said to that?

"What the Tartarus?!?" Yeah, something along the lines of that would do. Though, with much more human equivalents. "Since when were you two a thing?!" I heard Gilda question, or rather interrogate, which actually managed to momentarily knock some semblance of sense into me as I shook my head and slowly recovered from what had happened.

Looking to Gilda, who was still on my lap with her head suddenly raised and her eyes narrowed, Chrysalis rolled her eyes and gave out a scoff.

"A 'thing'? Pfft, I am a changeling queen. I would not stoop myself that low." She responded with her double-toned voice.

By the way, that was absolutely brilliant for my self-esteem. No, really, I felt like a million bucks now. Two million, really...

"What?! Then why did y-"

"Changelings feed off of love, Miss Gilda." Nightmare Moon then suddenly intervened, my gaze then shifting to her as she did so, a blank face accompanying her words. Of course, I say blank, but there was still clearly something there. I just couldn't make it out is all.

"We apologize for not having informed you of this previously, but this is, in fact, the only form for the changeling to sustain her magic and keep herself healthy... Unfortunately." Looking between Nightmare Moon, Gilda, and Chrysalis, I could clearly see the look of continued confusion and annoyance that came from Gilda, and one of slight surprise from Chrysalis.

"Hm. Funny, I would have personally thought you to be the last pony to excuse my actions for me." Chrysalis revealed with a slight chuckle, her smirk from before not yet having left.

"If Sir Jeremy, noble soul as he is, wishes to sacrifice the purity of his lips so as to assist thee, then we shall not speak against his efforts. However, we would very much appreciate it if thou not speak so lowly of him. Especially immediately after having committed such an act."

Dear god my face must have been red.

Though, come to think of it, the way she phrased the 'purity' part was a little odd for me at the time.

Snickering once more, Chrysalis waved off Nightmare Moon with a light gesture from one of her forehooves. I then took the opportunity to finally make use of my voice again, which had previously been lost for obvious reasons.

"And how about a warning the next time you do that?! I wasn't exactly expecting- Oh, shit, there goes my everything..."

And with that, the familiar feeling of everything in my body suddenly shutting down and turning back on returned, and any sort of force I held that may have been keeping my voice working all but disappeared.

The world around me suddenly began spinning, my stomach felt as though it did a one-eighty and back, and breathing suddenly became very difficult. I found myself placing a hand on Gilda's back just to keep myself from falling forward as I began gulping in any air I could in long yet shallow breaths.

This didn't slip by either Gilda or Nightmare Moon, obviously, as the two quickly reacted.

Gilda, who had previously been on my lap, suddenly sat herself up entirely in one swift jerking motion. At first, her doing this essentially caused whatever source of balance I held, which was the hand I had on her back, to be lost, but she just as swiftly replaced that balance with that of her own, moving one of her taloned forearms to my chest, to keep me from falling forwards, and the wing I had previously been picking not that long ago moving over my back.

"Woah! J, you alright there bud?" She asked with concern now clear in her voice.

Nightmare Moon, in the meantime, made her own move as she closed whatever small distance there may have been between her and I on the couch, her side brushing against me comfortingly, whatever parts of her mane that were in contact with me attempting to grip and soothe me in any, albeit small, way that it could, and one of her wings moving over my back, alongside Gilda's.

" 'Tis an unfortunate side effect of a changeling draining love from another being, Miss Gilda. He shall be weak for some time, but he will be well." Though my hearing felt muffled as my head swam, I could barely hear Gilda give out a faint sound of doubt.

"What? Are you kidding me? Does he look fine to you?" She asked, quite aggressively, before then turning her attention to Chrysalis.

"Listen here, ant-wings, it's one thing if you mess with me, but Jeremy here's a whole different story. If this is really what happens to him whenever you do whatever the hay you did to him, then you'd better not so much as come near him again or so help me I'll-"

"Gilda." I suddenly managed to groan out, raising a hand so as to stop her. It was certainly a significant amount of effort to do so, but I managed. I had half-expected Gilda to have just not heard me and continued in her rant, but instead, she almost instantly stopped talking.

"Don't blame her for this..." I wheezed, taking in a breath and holding back a cough before speaking again.

"If anything, I volunteered for this, so... If you really want to be upset, be upset with me, okay?" She wasn't upset though. At least, she didn't seem it, from what I could tell.

Instead, rather than begin to yell at me for putting myself at such a risk, or anything like that, I just heard her take in a deep breath and give out a sigh.

"... Ugh, ya big-... Nah, I'll do it later, maybe. And you can take a rain check on the whole 'wing cleaning' crud too if you want." She offered. I glanced at her face and saw she had a light smile upon it. Not really sure of what to say, nor having the breath to really do it effectively, I just returned the gesture as best as I could.

"... Halfy." I then heard Chrysalis call, her own voice clearly different from the snide tone it held from before.

"U-um, yes?"

"Go get some water for the human. No ice though, if it's too cold it won't end up helping at all..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a more quiet part of the city, no noise could be heard. Indeed, it was a normal night in the usually busy city that was Canterlot. A calm and peaceful night, undisturbed by anything.

Not even the one stray stallion that groaned from within the garbage pail that he, for the life of him, could not recall how he had ended up in.

Chapter 29: Except After Day

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“So, what do ya think the odds are that they’ll serve some fish over at that joint?”

God I hate that she made me remember fish.

For a moment, I couldn’t help but flinch at the sudden and blunt nature of Gilda’s question. Or, rather, that would have been the plan if I had been in control of my body at the point in which it had come up. Instead, I had to settle for whatever internal equivalent I could muster from my current position, merely imagining myself flinching as my body continued down the path it walked.

To my right, I could hear Halfy give out a silent ‘eep’ of sorts, along with a slight misstep of her hooves along the gravel walkway we took. At least I think it was gravel.

It certainly sounded like it.

Then again, if it was, that’d be a pretty weird choice of material to make a path out of for pedestrians to use. Especially in a fairly high-traffic place like Canterlot with nobles constantly rushing from place to place to attend to whatever business they may have, ranging from an actual important meeting to something as simple as hoof care, because of course that was a thing. So, with all that in mind, it would be more of a hazard for that kind of path to actually be placed in this than anything else.

Plus, said nobles would probably have complained if there was even the slightest of staining that may occur to their clothes as a result of any gravel that may be kicked up by the rushing ponies, so why wouldn’t they just make it out of cement, or something similar?

Can you tell I was nervous yet? Or do you want me to go off on a tangent about the intricacies of cement mix?!

“Sir Jeremy?”

Nightmare Moon’s voice interrupted my thoughts, though admittedly with much more care and subtlety than Gilda from earlier. It took me a moment before I was able to reply.

“Uh, yeah? Something wrong, Nightmare Moon?” I responded, doing my best impression of a person who wasn’t mentally having heart palpitations. And I don’t mean to brag, but I’m pretty sure I nailed it.

“You are thinking aloud. You have been covering the concept of walkways for quite some time now.” I blinked. As much as I could, of course.

“Sorry about that.” I meekly returned.

In exchange, I could barely feel my body chuckle, if only for a moment, as well as hearing a similar chuckle come from Nightmare Moon’s actual voice.

“’Tis of no concern, Sir Jeremy. We quite find it interesting to gain an understanding as to the perspective ye builders hold over such things if anything.”

Again, I wasn't a builder so much as I was a designer, but I got that she was just referring to it as she knew it best, so no harm done. As to the whole ‘perspective’ thing, I can’t say I don’t get where she’s getting at. It was a bit of an old habit of mine when I still worked at Hooves and Elbow Grease, mentally figuring out ways that one could better design architectural... stuff that I felt was lacking in some way or another, but I had dropped that habit some time ago while I was in the Canterlot dungeons.

It had also made my usual rambling be worth a whole lot more, seeing as it actually provided me something constructive in return.

Then again, being back in Canterlot, in general, had probably brought said habit back with a vengeance. There was also the fact that I never really made such observations about my surroundings unless I was nervous...

“Yo, NM, what’s up? You and J leaving us out of the loop here again?” Gilda suddenly questioned. I could hear her quite clearly as my left ear suddenly turned to face the source of the noise. That was something that I myself would never have figured out how to really do, but seeing as how someone - or rather somepony - that actually knew how to use a pony body to its full functionality was in control, it wasn’t really much of an issue to bring to attention.

“U-Um, that is, it’s not really a problem if you and Jeremy are talking privately with each other, Princess.” And there goes my right ear to face Halfy. Seriously, it is like a reflex thing? Or is it something you have to purposefully do?

“Oh, apologies, our friends, 'twas not our intention to leave you both in a state of uncertainty. Sir Jeremy was merely making an observation of the ground upon which we walk.” Nightmare Moon gave out, a light apologetic smile making its way onto my face as she gave out her message through my voice.

“Seriously?” Gilda chuckled. “The ground? Yeesh, no offense NM, but I can’t for the life of me see how something as lame as that is in any way funny.”

I could guess she was gonna rib me about that for a while.

Nightmare Moon momentarily closed my eyes and shook my head before she then turned to face Gilda.

“Mayhaps ‘tis less the humor behind his words so much as it were the context behind it. That is, we-“

Yeah, I’m not sure when, but I’m pretty sure I started filtering her/my voice out at this point, as well as the voices of Halfy and Gilda, instead settling for my thoughts. I also took a bit more care to make sure they were actually only my thoughts instead of those that Nightmare Moon could hear too.

I kept forgetting that I have to be more careful with that kind of thing when Nightmare Moon is in control than if I were to just think to her over that link she, Chrysalis, and I had.

Anyways, where was I?

Oh, right. That habit of pointing things out and how they could be designed better, and things like that?

It only really made itself known when I was stressed or nervous. And considering the situation I was in, I couldn’t really be blamed for it.

**************************************

"Oh sweet water of Poseidon’s grand seas, liquid of the gods and creation of every physicist's damnation, how I love thee."

Sound extreme? Well, tough, cuz that's how it was gonna be.

I know it sounds like I’m exaggerating, but for some goddamn reason, that cup of room-temperature tap water felt as though it was blessed by the goddesses of this world.

At least, I would have said that if I didn't remember that Celestia and Luna were considered the goddesses of this world, and frankly I’d rather not have tainted my drink with anything to do with them. It’s not like I had a grudge against them, you see, but more so I’d rather have their asses both shoved into separate dungeons being fed whatever sewer brand gruel they could be given as well as occasionally being thrown down a flight of stairs until their bruises start to match mine.

See, no grudge at all!

I digress, that water was orgasmic bliss. Just the thing I needed after a Chrysalis feeding session.

Speaking of Chrysalis, said changeling was currently having a conversation with the other members of the household that had somehow become a base of operations for a former Princess of the Night, Queen of Changelings, and the totally not-at-all bitter I swear it singular human that resided in this goddamn surprisingly ignorant and hateful pony world.

I was starting to think that feeding Chrysalis held similar effects on my attitude as the average hangover did.

“Like I said slick-skin, I haven’t been hearing anything while I’ve been out showing these mamby pamby nobles how to haggle. Nothing about J or prison escapes. Absolutely zilch.” Gilda could be heard stating, an elbow of hers on one of the armrests for the couch. Her arm held her head and a bored expression was on her face.

She had moved to such a position sometime after she and the others - including Chrysalis, though I’m sure she wouldn’t admit it - made sure that I was doing okay. As I said, that room temperature water had surprisingly helped quite a bit. Though, curiously enough, one of Gilda's wings was still lazily splayed over my back.

“ ‘Zilch’? We- Oh, curses, I am not familiar with such a term.” Nightmare Moon suddenly responded to my side opposite of Gilda, slightly slipping over her own vernacular in the process. Similar to Gilda, her wing was also draped over my back, though much more actively than the former’s. Alongside that, parts of her mane were managing to ebb over to my arm and some of my side - given that the couch was barely made to hold four ponies and was easily filled by a griffon, a human, and an alicorn - occasionally grazing over and lightly grabbing at me whenever possible.

Next came Chrysalis’ voice, herself having taken providence over a separate loveseat across from the couch, curled up so as to make herself as comfortable as possible. Needless to say, it wasn’t working out considering her size.

“Jeremy can tell you what it means later, I don’t want to get off topic again. Also, ‘slick-skin’? Really? I’m exhausted from working at that castle under those idiotic maids and even I can come up with better insults than you can apparently. You sorry excuse for a self-proclaimed traveler.”

Technically, Gilda never called herself a traveler at all, only saying she goes where the wind takes her. Whatever, she was tired, I’d give it to her. And it seemed Gilda would do the same, judging from the light chuckle she gave out instead of any sort of retort.

“Yeah, not my best. Hard to stay focused when I’m looking at a mug as ugly as yours.”

Never mind, there’s the retort.

I could practically hear and feel the heat of the glare Chrysalis gave to Gilda in response, but thankfully Halfy - who was seated on the last loveseat that sat in the living room - managed to interject and get everyone back on subject.

Well, more like she barely managed to get out a few words along the lines of “U-Um, excuse me?” before both Chrysalis and Gilda looked at her, then at each other, then moved on without another word.

Which was impressive, honestly. I definitely had to remember that Halfy apparently had the passive ability to make even the most aggressive of people calm down by some slight degree through adorable timidity alone.

“Yes, well, returning to matters at hoof, I can’t say I’ve heard anything from inside of the castle walls either.
Despite the fact that I’m constantly surrounded by ponies that seem to always pretend I don’t exist while I’m around them, none of them have so much as uttered a peep of information that may be even somewhat informative. Not even a rumor of sorts, save for some mention of one of the maids and a guard occasionally meeting up for a quick buck in the broom closet. A rumor which, off-hoofedly, is very accurate judging from the looks on their faces when I walked in on them while she was choking on his-“

I didn't need to hear that.

Tearing myself away from my water, I barely managed to hold my arm out for her to prematurely end her story, practically choking down whatever mouthful I had in my mouth before stopping her.

“Chrysalis, for the love of god, I deal with enough of that talk from Gilda. Please don’t.” I uttered, shifting slightly in my seat and straightening my back out of the pure uncomfortableness I felt. I tugged on the collar of my green t-shirt, silently grateful that a closet's worth of my clothes had survived my time away from my home.

Chrysalis could only roll her eyes, silently acquiescing to my request.

Sighing, I leaned back slightly in my seat, cushioned by a pair of soft and surprisingly comfortable wings.

Long ago I would have been worried about so much as touching wings the wrong way for the fear of breaking them. But as Gilda had taught me, millennia’s worth of what I can only to be some odd combination of magic and evolution had led to them being able to take impacts equivalent to atmospheric re-entries assuming they weren’t directly landed upon or bent the wrong way upon landing. Save for the base of the wings, which were apparently fairly sensitive. That was a detail Gilda had happily informed me of in great detail.

“So, basically,” I spoke up, “we have about as much info now as we did when we first left for Canterlot in the first place.”

After said glum news, I then tilted my head towards Nightmare Moon, the mare seeming to take notice and turn her own head to face me in turn.

“Oh, and ‘zilch’ is another way of saying 'nothing', or 'zero'.” A small smile made its way onto the alicorn’s features as I gave her this new knowledge before she and I both returned our gazes to the center of the room.

I wasn’t staring at anything, in particular, just somewhat blanking out in focus as a lack of words or reasoning came about. Though I’m not sure if it was the same for Nightmare Moon or otherwise. All I really knew was that the five of us were absolutely stuck, with nothing to go on and no backup plan to speak of.

So, yeah, this is all going as swimmingly as I had thought it would. Though, chances are it would not be a particularly grand idea to start giving out my ‘I told you so’, lest I end up dealing with a very irritated changeling as well as a somewhat miffed griffon. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Nightmare Moon decided to give me an inkling as to how cold the water she could poof up out of nowhere was.

I could feel Gilda shift as well as her wing against my lower back slightly reposition, the griffon leaning forward in her seat and reaching for something on the coffee table in front of us. Specifically, the clearly stuffed bag of bits that was practically indenting the table it was upon.

A chuckle came from Gilda as her talons circled the bag and she took hold of it, the clear sound of the coins it contained hitting against one another permeating the relatively silent room. From there she held it near her chest and peered inside, her other set of talons slightly opening the bag for her to get a clearer view.

“Welp, we may have about as much useful info as the gossip section in a magazine, but at least we’re rolling in that sweet royalty-brand moolah!”

Sensing the incoming question from Nightmare Moon, I decided to give her a quick answer.

“It means money.” I told her over the mental link.

“We do not recall asking.” She responded, not bothering to correct herself.

“But you were going to, right?”

“... Yes.” The two of us shared a chuckle at that, garnering an odd look from both Gilda and Halfy. We really should have added them both to the link at some point. I’m pretty sure I had them think I was crazy or hallucinating multiple times by now.

I was photophobic, not a nutcase. I swear! Those voices in my head just happened to come from an alicorn princess and a changeling queen.

... I know how that sounds. Believe me.

Across from us, Chrysalis grumbled something about being the one to earn to bits in the first place, though Gilda seemed to conveniently miss out on that fact.

“Out of curiosity, just how many bits are in there in the first place?” I asked, suddenly feeling parched again as I put my glass of water in my mouth for another sip. It was at that point that Chrysalis decided to enlighten me.

“About six hundred eighty-two bits.”

Y’know, I’d wondered what it’s like to do a spit-take like in the cartoons from my world. Sure I’ve choked on a drink or food every now and then when something surprised or scared me, but I’m not sure I'd ever done a proper spit-take... until then.

Yeah, shortly after covering a good bit of the coffee table in water and thankfully not reaching either Chrysalis or Halfy - seriously, Chrysalis would skin me alive and Halfy would make me die of guilt - I managed to regain the gift of speech that thousands of years of evolution had allowed humans to make use of.

“What?! Six hundre- How in the-” I heard Gilda whistle in response to the exact numbers of what had apparently been the paycheck to end all paychecks while I stammered for a bit.

“Nice! Royalty-brand moolah rules!”

Let me put things in perspective here. You see, I worked at Hooves and Elbow Grease as an architectural designer, that much I think I’ve mentioned plenty of times. What I haven’t mentioned, though, was my pay.

And really I was paid pretty damn well. Well enough that I was able to not only afford staying where in Canterlot I had been staying with no issues but enough that I also had plenty of fallback money as well as spending money to make use of.

And you wanna know how much I made in a week? Two hundred and forty-six bits as an architectural designer... I MADE LESS THAN HALF THAN A CASTLE MAID DOES!

So yeah, I was a bit miffed about that.

“Christ,” I uttered, “how the hell do the princesses not go bankrupt with how much they’re paying their employees?”

It was then that Nightmare Moon decided to give her own form of enlightenment.

“Well, Sir Jeremy, though you mayha- may find the wages to be somewhat extreme for those that work under the crown, a majority of said payment is meant to instill loyalty within the workers so that there would not be a single worker that would divulge the secrets of the princesses. Or, at least, such practices were how they were in my time as a princess.”

So in other words, most of that payment was hush money. Yup. Seemed about right.

Can’t say I was shocked anymore considering the whole ‘keep the fact that Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and the only human in Equestrian escaped from the capture nopony had even known they were under' bit. Or... bits?

I don’t know. Honestly, I was still recovering from the fact that Chrysalis had made over twice as much as I did.

Instead, I was much more worried about something else. Specifically, a certain griffon that was eyeing the bag of bits with a particularly less than a thrilling smile. At least, less than thrilling for someone such as myself who had long begun to understand such smiles to mean what would likely be problems to me and my physical, as well as mental, health.

“... Say, what do ya guys say to a night on the town tomorrow night?”

**************************************

And here we were.

You’re probably thinking that there was a lot to that story missing, right? Like, how she managed to convince Nightmare Moon, Halfy, and I on this ridiculous night on the town and such?

Well, to put it simply, she didn’t. Chrysalis pretty much kicked us out. The moment she heard of the possibility of her getting some peace and quiet to spend at least one day of her weekend alone to sleep, she absolutely jumped at the chance.

Yet even with both Chrysalis and Gilda pushing the idea, it wasn’t really that that had led to me going out with Gilda and the others in the end. Rather, it was a combination of adorable looks and excited hoof clapping that came from a certain alicorn as she realized she might be able to learn more about the city that had changed so much over the many years she was gone.

Those stories I’d heard of how Nightmare Moon could turn a stallion’s heart to stone with a mere look? It was more accurate to say that she could turn mine into putty and then use it like a kindergartner does play-doh.

Gods above damn those adorable eyes.

All of that was what had been necessary to drag me out of the house, once again in the shape of a pony with a jacket sweater while I walked alongside Gilda and Halfy.

The walk was fine enough, honestly. It was pretty dark out still, seeing as it was the middle of the night, so there were very few ponies that we saw pass by. A part of me found it insulting how even saturday nights failed to lull these ponies from their strictly anti-nocturnal time frames.

What few ponies we did see were either so tired that they looked as though they could walk into a bush at any moment if they weren't paying attention, or were so up their own asses that they avoided our group as much as possible. Fittingly enough, I saw Halfy take a step or two away from some of those ponies as they walked by, a look of quiet concern on her face as she did so.

From my guess, she was spotting more than a couple 'bad ponies' with that special talent of hers. The fact that they resided in Canterlot did not surprise me whatsoever.

"For the sake of clarity, you mind asking Gilda exactly where we're going?" I asked the current co-pilot of my body, receiving a mental nod in return.

I felt my neck turn ever so slightly as my gaze turned towards Gilda, who was currently taking the lead of the group.

"Miss Gilda, Sir Jeremy wishes to know where you are currently leading us." Nightmare Moon said through my voice. Gilda, in return, glanced back to me/Nightmare Moon with a sheepish grin on her beak.

"Oh yeah, I did sorta forget to tell you guys, didn't I?" Classic Gilda. "There's this diner I spotted while I was out and about this week. Seemed pretty chill, all things considered. Plus, it has some tables outside the joint for anyone that wanted to eat there instead of inside. So too much light shouldn't be too much of a problem!"

I found myself mentally raising my brows at this. It was surprising just how much thought Gilda had actually put behind what was supposed to have been an impulsive decision of hers to go out to eat. Then again, she did have that tendency of getting to know the places she'd been around until she could point out all of the good spots. It was how she was able to figure out where all the good bars had been back in Ponyville.

"Oh, that sounds nice. Do you know what they s-serve?" Halfy asked. Gilda simply gave a shrug in return.

" 'Fraid not. Didn't really have any cash on me at the time that I could afford to lose, plus some of those suited jerks were starting to give me the stink eye, so I left before I could figure anything else about the place out." I had an odd feeling that the reason she had left wasn't that she was being intimidated by those nobles so much as it was that she didn't want to be arrested for throwing them out the windows of the place.

"Well, we-" Nightmare Moon paused, "I am rather interested to see how cooking practices have changed over the millennia! There had always been such a focus on oats and barley before, as well as boiled foodstuffs." She recounted, tapping on our chin with one of our forehooves as she lost herself in memory.

"That... doesn't sound great."

"Oh, indeed, it was absolutely atrocious!" She replied with a smirk. I, in the meantime, could practically feel my stomach putting suicide on layaway if it were ever faced with some of the dishes she mentioned.

"Ick. I'd rather try to choke down a live goose than barley. Stuff goes right through me, and takes everything out with it." Gilda gave a shudder as she spoke, clearly remembering a particularly terrible experience that she had previously dealt with. This... brought up a good point.

How did food work while I was a pony? Like, would I suddenly be able to eat hay with no problem? Or would I still have the eating habits of a human in the body of a pony? I decided to make sure not to test fate and made a mental note to check whatever it may have been that Nightmare Moon ordered for us.

"H-have you... eaten live goose before?" I heard Halfy nervously ask of Gilda. Gilda, rather than respond, simply turned her gaze back to Nightmare Moon and I. She had a sort of side-eye going as she did this, her brow raised as she looked to us for an answer.

Nightmare Moon, obviously, was at least a little confused by this.

"Sir Jeremy, why is she-"

"She flew too fast that day, Nightmare Moon. She flew too fast." I replied simply and effectively.

That was a memory I, and I could only assume Gilda, would prefer to forget. I had never known Griffons could dislocate their beaks to eat something. And neither did Gilda, or any other anatomy book she ended up looking through while desperately hoping the goose wouldn't burst out of her stomach. Fortunately, no further questions were brought up as Gilda glanced forwards again and saw what she had been looking for.

"Ah-ha! There's the place!" She exclaimed, her wings giving a momentary flutter in their place against her body.

I felt my eyes follow hers, likely under Nightmare Moon's command, as I spotted the building she had likely been talking about. To my surprise, I actually found the place to be rather familiar.

Just a little further down the path, there was a quaint-looking diner resting in between a few other, taller businesses. It was pretty small, all things considered, but it seemed to have plenty of personality. Wooden accents and painted-marble walls normally were a pretty casual combination of things here in Canterlot, but this diner seemed to have an inverse of the norm, being made of far more wood than it was marble.

There were streaks of red and white along the roof of the building, as well as several handwritten signs and painted windows to draw the attention of anyone that would see it despite its relatively small profile. One of these signs was bigger than the others, easily legible as 'Dilly Dally's Drum-In Diner'. As Gilda mentioned, one could easily see a collection of two or three tables sitting just outside of the diner, with umbrellas, four simple wooden stools, and a couple of candles adorning each one.

Plus, despite it being the middle of the night, the place was still active, serving a variety of ponies that, while there weren't a lot of them, were more than happy to spend this part of their night talking and eating.

I felt my body blink as Nightmare Moon spoke up.

"Oh, this seems to be of interest! I did not expect there to be any eateries that were willing to keep their businesses open at this time of our- my night!" I could hear Gilda chuckle before she replied.

"Heh. You'd be surprised. There are lots of places that get better at night than the day. Sure, a diner is a diner. But the atmosphere! That junk changes to something great at night! And, obviously, this place knows that!" She walked ever so slightly slower, eventually losing the lead she had over the three of us and settling right next to Nightmare Moon and I. She reached out a wing and used it to drag us to her side as we walked. "That's part of the reason this place seemed so chill. Any place that's willing to dump out all the dorks in the day for those loyal weirdos that might come by at night gets my automatic 'seal of coolness'."

As she said this, she rose one of her taloned legs, waving it out in front of her as though pointing out a large neon sign that stood before us.

Nightmare Moon, in the meantime, was practically brimming with glee and excitement at the prospect of visiting a diner that apparently thrived in the nightlife.

I, on the other hand, held my own reason to be excited.

This place was familiar, I mentioned this before. As to why? That's easy. I had eaten here before. Lots. There were plenty of late nights I had at work, so of course I would eventually have come across one of the few places that were open after midnight. And this place?

Jesus Christ, Gilda had hit the motherlode.

"Hm... That is strange." I could barely hear Nightmare Moon say through my voice as I already imagined what I would order. "I appear to be salivating."

Those cheese fries would be mine once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the group made their way towards the somewhat out-of-place and simplistic diner within the city of nobles, a pegasus mare in a modest striped uniform, who had originally been conversing with another pony in a similar uniform, seemed to spot them.

Though the four were unable to hear them, the three that were able to could see the mare give a few more words towards the other pony before she left. She waved her colleague off before straightening her uniform ever so slightly and taking her place just behind a small wooden podium near the front of the diner.

The mare behind the podium quickly put on a professional and peppy smile for the group of ponies and griffon that approached them.

“Welcome to Dilly Dally's Drum-In Diner! How might I help you?” She asked, her voice equally as peppy as her smile.

Nightmare Moon gave a returned smile through Jeremy, whereas Gilda seemed all the more interested in looking past the mare at the podium to sneak a peek at the meals they served at the establishment. Halfy somewhat hid behind her other friend's forms and focused on the floorboards beneath them.

“Yes, our thanks. May we perhaps be given a table for fou-“ The stallion paused, interrupting themself with a cough.

“Apologies, a table for three.”

The mare gave a nod in response before, shortly after, she lowered her head behind the podium and popped back up with a few menus in her mouth.

She placed the group of menus on the podium before she spoke up again.

“Any preference as to where you’d like to sit? Table, booth, outside?” The employee asked.

“Ah, yes, we would like to be seated outside, if thou- er, you would not mind!” Nightmare Moon acquiesced through Jeremy, gesturing towards one of the dimly lit tables visible just outside of the windows of the diner. The waitress pony either didn't take note of her momentary slip into her old form of talking, or simply did not choose to bring attention to it. She simply gave another cheerful nod.

“Alright, sounds good! Just follow me and I’ll take you to your table.” Once more the mare took the menus into her mouth by their spines, moving from her place behind the podium and around the group.

Though Nightmare Moon nor Halfy could see it, Gilda could not help but to roll her eyes at the overly happy attitude that the waitress held. In the Griffon Kingdom, restaurants would usually be a whole lot of ‘get in, get your grub, get out’, with most of the waiters being little more than decent towards customers as a whole.

Maybe it was just ponies being mushy and soft, as Gilda had thought it to be, or maybe she was just a bit more hard-shelled as a result of her upbringing.

“Meh,” she thought to herself, “less thinking, more snacking.”

The waitress led the group to their seats, picking out one of the outermost tables of the three that were outside and placing the three menus equidistant from one another onto the circular table. With practiced grace, she used one of her wings to scoot the extra chair from the desk out of the way so that it wouldn't get in the way of the customers.

Both Halfy and Nightmare Moon gave a kind and respectful nod to the mare before taking their seats at the table. Gilda sat up on her stool and lazily began to entertain herself by kicking one of her legs out onto the table and tilting herself back so that she was just barely balanced on the back legs of the seat.

Nightmare Moon could not help but to raise a brow at this behavior. She wondered if that would not cause Gilda some issues when it came to eating, but ultimately did not voice her thoughts as the pegasus serving them reached behind her wings and pulled out both a small notepad with a pencil held within the spirals that organized the papers. She used her wings as a sort of clipboard, resting the notepad atop one of them in front of her before looking back and forth between the three.

"Okay! Hope you all are having a nice night! I'm Blooming Daze and I'll be your server today!" The mare began with an almost perfectly memorized cadence and spring. "Anything I can get to start you guys off to drink? Water, cider, some pop?"

"S-some water, please." Halfy was the first to respond, tapping her forehooves against one another as she finally found her voice for the first time since they had arrived.

"Oh, definitely some cider for me. Strongest ya got." Gilda added shortly after. Her eyes narrowed and a confident smile made its way onto her beak. A part of her was hoping that Canterlot actually had some alcohol that would actually do something for her instead of the usual pony-proportioned drinks.

Nightmare Moon was the last to order. However, the reason for this was that she held somewhat of a confused expression as she mentally went over the list provided to her again and again.

"Um... 'pop'? What is 'pop'?" She vocalized her confusion, the sound of the word rolling strangely off the tip of her tongue when not referring to bubbles. The mare serving them lost her smile for the first time since attending them, gaining her own expression of confusion before she quickly widened her eyes in what seemed like realization and regained her trademark 'Dilly Dally Brand Smile'.

"Oh! Sorry, that's just a regional thing for me. I meant 'soda'." She corrected herself, proud of how she could fix her momentary slip-up. Nightmare Moon, though still just as confused as before, gave a sheepish smile as she did not want to dispirit the pony before her.

"Ah, yes. Of course! Soda! That is, indeed, what we had thought you had meant." The word 'soda' flowed off of her tongue even worse than the prior one had. It was as though a foal had been taught the word and was trying to use it for the first time. An appropriate comparison since, in this case, this truly was the first time Nightmare Moon had used the word.

Gilda gave a brief exhale of extra air through her nose as Nightmare Moon glanced between the mare and the other two like a deer-in-headlights. The idea of this all-powerful being that tried to take over the world suddenly struggling just to hold a conversation because the word 'soda' had caught them off guard was quite entertaining, to say the least.

Unbeknownst to the other two at the table with her, Nightmare Moon was currently using the opportunity to converse with the owner of the body she was currently controlling.

"You okay there, Nightmare Moon?" Jeremy asked his friend with a snicker. The mirth in his voice was not missed by Nightmare Moon, who mentally scrunched her muzzle in embarrassment.

"Yes, we are well, Sir Jeremy. We simply... are having a miscommunication, of sorts." She assured, a self-imposed sense of faux certainty and pride clearly audible in her voice as she spoke her thoughts to her current bodily co-pilot. Jeremy, having not been born yesterday, saw right through this with ease. Still, rather than call her out on it, he decided to cut her a break and give her a hand.

"I'm sure you are. Look, soda, or 'pop', is a kind of... fizzy drink. Have you ever had sparkling water back when you were Princess?" The real-life body of Jeremy blinked involuntarily, giving Jeremy all the information he needed to know.

"Ah. Well, there goes that comparison. Still, seeing as you're so eager to figure out how much has changed over the years, this might be a good chance to try out something new?"

"Oh! This does sound like quite the new experience! Very well, we shall take your advice, Sir Jeremy!"

A confident smile appeared on the stallion that was both Jeremy and Nightmare Moon as they seemed to make their mind up within the few seconds they had been left to their own devices. With an almost practiced and theatrical flair, Jeremy's body put one of its forehooves upon the table, lifting the stallion onto their hindlegs atop of the stool they sat on while they thrust their other foreleg into the air above. It was as though the stallion were preparing to make a declaration for the ages.

"We shall take the so-da!" The stallion proclaimed proudly, slipping on her pronunciation of this new word ever so slightly. Gilda practically lost the balance she held and fell off of her stool as she fought to keep herself from bursting out laughing while Halfy simply looked upon the spectacle with an earnest smile towards the alicorn's enthusiasm. Jeremy held his own reaction, a part of him dying inside as he remembered that he was technically the one taking such a flamboyant stand over ordering soda. A cringe worth one-thousand dying souls passed through his mind while he barely noted the fact that the waitress did not seem perturbed by this entire display whatsoever.

He could only imagine just how much strange stuff she had seen in order to keep that smile of hers going without even so much as giving out a chortle at this display.

"Sounds good! And what kind of soda will you be having?" The mare continued, writing down everything she had been given so far onto the notepad.

The confidence and pride in Nightmare Moon/Jeremy's pose wavered ever so slightly. The stallion looked to the waitress for a moment, unaware of what to reply, before another helpful suggestion popped into their minds.

"Dr. Hay-Per."

"One Dr. Hay-Per!" She quickly recovered, once more regaining her confidence and stance. Never before had Jeremy wished so dearly that this moment would both last forever and that he would be stabbed to death at the same time.

"Alright, that's great! I'll be right out with your drinks! If you figure out what you'd like to order to eat, feel free to look for me! If not, you can tell me when I come by again!"

"Yes, uh, t-thank you."

"Sounds good."

"Verily!"

The three responded, with one far more enthusiastically than the other two, as the mare put the notepad and pencil back into their previous place in the crook of her wings before trotting off into the diner happily. There was a moment of silence as both Halfy and Gilda looked at Nightmare Moon, who was still very much partially standing on the table.

"You, uh... You gonna be good there to eat, bud?" Nightmare Moon blinked at this, seeming caught off guard before suddenly realizing that she was still posed and seating herself back on her stool. A light shade of red could be seen going over the muzzle of the stallion before they gave out a nervous chuckle.

"Our apologies. We are... out of practice interacting with other ponies, it would seem." She admitted, shifting slightly in her seat as she looked around and noticed some of the bemused stairs from a few of the ponies that were eating inside and had been attracted to the noise coming through the window.

"O-oh, its no problem at all! It's good that you're able to be so... energetic!" Halfy provided, hoping to ease Nightmare Moon's concerns.

"That's one way to go about seeing it." Gilda smirked, leaning forwards onto the table before grabbing the menu laid out before her and opening it up. "Now, what say we get some grub? I'm starvin."

Halfy nodded her agreement, deciding to also pick up and open her menu to see what this place had offered. So far, she was in a pretty good mood about the whole thing. Sure, she wasn't exactly fond of how many ponies were around, likely staring at her, but the waitress had seemed like a very nice pony! Plus, she couldn't see any pony that really seemed bad, so she was quite hopeful that nobody would cause her or her friends any issues.

Finally, Nightmare Moon decided to mirror her compatriots, taking a moment to realize what they were doing before she just as quickly grabbed and opened the menu that sat before her.

To say that she was overwhelmed would be an understatement. Her brows furrowed as she looked from listing to listing, reading out a wide variety of names that she had absolutely no memory or knowledge of from her time. 'Onion Rings', 'Potato Skins', 'Carrot Apple Ginger Soup', 'Crispy Cheddar Fish Sti-'

"AW, SWEET, FISH STICKS!" Nightmare Moon and Halfy both flinched at Gilda's sudden outburst. One glance towards her easily showed them both that the griffon was practically drooling by now, a sparkle in her eyes as she snaked her tongue along the edge of her beak.

"T-theres an awful lot of, um, carnivore options here." Halfy commented, a somewhat hard-to-read expression on her face. There weren't really a lot of them actually. Maybe there were about six or so compared to the eighteen other food items there were spread between both pages, but to Halfy, who had lived most of her life in Ponyville, it was certainly quite a bit.

"If we were to hazard a guess, our friend, Canterlot has always held some semblance of serving as a political embassy of sorts for missionaries from other countries." Nightmare Moon began, raising a hoof to the stallion she controlled's chin as she focused on her older memories. "We recall that negotiations with the Griffons had just recently begun last we were here. Of course, what with their diet being different from that of us ponies, we had to make some arrangements in order to provide them with a hospitable stay. Eventually, some of those griffons grew tired of only being able to feed their more carnivorous habits whilst they stayed within the grounds of the castle, so our former sister made a royal decree."

For a moment, an odd mix of both distaste and nostalgia filled the eyes of the stallion as he could be heard clearing his throat.

" 'Hear! Hear!' she had said, 'from this day forth, we shall treat those beyond ponies as we would our own. There shall be no judgment of those who feed off meat and those who feed from the earth, for we all share the same world nonetheless!' " As she spoke, Halfy watched the stallion with great interest, eyes wide as she heard what could only be described as a first-hoof testimony of what had occurred millennia ago, back when Equestria was still in its earlier stages of forming.

Nightmare Moon dropped the theatrics for a moment, a momentary chuckle escaping her as she rolled her eyes at the frivolity of it all, now that she looked back at it. The fact that they truly would just go about making royal decrees before large crowds left and right until eventually the ponies they watched over began to govern themselves in smaller circles of power. It seemed so ridiculous. Yet, she could not deny that she had some vague longing for those simpler times.

"Our former sister was most certainly always better at giving memorable speeches than we were, we recall." The stallion said, shrugging his shoulder before returning his gaze to Halfy. " 'Tis more than likely that such traditions apparently held themselves true throughout the centuries, leading to many a business more catering to species beyond simply ponies."

Halfy nodded attentively, a thoughtful expression on her face as she processed what she had just been told.

"Y-yeah... I guess that makes sense. Thanks for that, by the way." Nightmare Moon rose an eye at this, unsure of what she meant.

"Oh? Prithee, what do you have to thank us for?" Halfy simply shook her head.

"For telling me about how things were when you used to be... when things were different for you. I-I can't imagine it's easy for you to think back to those days, all things considered, but I really would like to hear more stories about how things were back then!" Her voice showed earnest excitement as she reached the end of her sentence. She caught it just a bit too late, noticing the look of surprise upon Jeremy/Nightmare Moon's face before seeming to reign herself in just a tad. "T-that is, if you don't mind, of course."

Nightmare Moon blinked, looking at her friend for a moment before, with the beginnings of her own earnest smile, she nodded at the mare.

"We would be happy to recount some of our tales to you, our good friend."

Within the mind of the stallion, Jeremy felt a warmth in his heart at the sweetness of the display that played out before him.

"Blech. Tone it down with the mushy stuff. At least until I'm done absolutely destroying these fish sticks!"

And just like that, the warmth was replaced by the sudden urge to slap a certain griffon in the back of their head.

Fortunately, the other two members of the group seemed to take this comment in stride, both releasing a chuckle of their own before returning to their menus.

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

It wasn't long before the waitress from before returned with the drinks for the three carefully balanced atop a plate on her back, her wings serving to stabilize and even move about the plate as she moved about the diner with a well-practiced grace.

Halfy accepted her glass of water with a quaint 'thank you' to Blooming Daze while Gilda all but snatched up the mug of cider offered to her and practically gulped down a quarter of it before giving out a satisfied sigh. It still wasn't quite as strong as she would like, but it was definitely stronger than anything she had ever had in Ponyville. More than likely, this was also a fortunate side effect of a certain royal decree made some several hundred years ago. Finally, Nightmare Moon accepted her soda with some excitement visible in her eyes, finding this new and exotic drink known as a 'Dr. Hay-Per' to be the new greatest discovery of her lifetime, though she had not tried it quite yet.

The waitress didn't stick around for long, only waiting as long as it took her to write down the orders they had all decided upon while giving them her usual professional smile and nod. Gilda had, of course, ordered the Crispy Cheddar Fish Sticks. Halfy had elected to ask for the Carrot Apple Ginger Soup. Finally, at the recommendation of Jeremy, Nightmare Moon had taken the opportunity to order and try out the 'Cheese Fries'.

Now, Nightmare Moon found herself staring at the carbonated drink before her, watching the bubbles constantly forming within the odd beverage before floating upwards to where the ice and straw of the drink sat to harmlessly pop. She also made the mental note that perhaps that was the reason it was referred to as 'pop'. The origin of the word soda, however, still escaped her.

"What form of enchantment has been cast upon this beverage?" Nightmare Moon wondered, the voice of the stallion she controlled barely a whisper as she looked over the glass.

"Oh, t-theres no enchantment, actually. Soda is just fizzy like that." Halfy informed her, watching with some silent sense of elation at Nightmare Moon's child-like wonder. The stallion nodded slowly as they processed what they had been told, their eyes squinting as they tried their darndest to follow a single bubble from creation all the way to the moment they popped.

Gilda emptied out another quarter of her mug with as a satisfied shudder went through the feathers on her head, glancing between the pair of ponies sat before her. A question slowly but surely raised in her head as her gaze focused on the stallion that had both been Nightmare Moon and Jeremy.

"Hey, so, uh, how does eating like that work?" She questioned, drawing the attention of both Nightmare Moon and Halfy. "Like, do you guys both taste what you eat? Or does only Jeremy get the food since it's technically his body? Or...?" She rolled her wrists as she trailed off, leaving the line of questioning in the hopes of getting some sort of answer.

The stallion, upon hearing these questions, simply put a hoof to its chin. The human within the mind of the stallion provided their own thoughts on the matter.

"Yeah, I was actually wondering about that myself."

Nightmare Moon could be seen deep in thoughts, her gaze occasionally shifting between the drink placed before her and the Griffon that sat across from her.

"Hm... This is quite the quandary. 'Tis not the first time that we have actively taken control of another pony, but we had never deemed it necessary to test the parameters of the spell when it came to the idea of obtaining sustenance..." In her ramblings, she had all but completely forgotten about trying to translate her accent into a more modern form. Nobody seemed to mind, however, simply allowing her to think through the many little details that had just been placed before her.

"... If we were to make an informed assumption," she began, "it is likely that Sir Jeremy would obtain the nutritional benefits of eating the meal while we, in our control, would receive the sensations of eating." Gilda pursed her lips as she heard this.

"So, like, you get to taste it, but still end up hungry, while J isn't hungry anymore, but doesn't get to taste it?" She summarized to the best of her ability, receiving a nod in return from the stallion. "Woof. Sounds like a bummer on both ends." Again, the stallion nodded.

"Indeed. It would be quite the 'bummer'..." Once more, there was a moment of silence as the three - four if counting Jeremy - simply sat there in thought. However, the stallion's ears flicked ever so slightly as Nightmare Moon suddenly came up with an idea.

"Ah! We have a solution!" She decreed proudly, once more raising a hoof into the air.

Halfy and Gilda watched with combined feelings of interest and bemusement, watching as a smile worked its way onto the stallion before they then sat stock still on their stool and closed their eyes. From the perspective of the two across the table from the stallion, nothing seemed to really happen. However, had anyone been paying attention to the group, they would have taken note of the fact that the shadow of the table they sat around began to shift and swirl with a darkening aura. The shadow then shot out in three directions, connecting the table with the seats and the silhouette of the three seated there. Finally, a portion of these shadows wormed their way up the side of the stallion, wavering for just a moment before quickly shooting up into his jacket.

To the knowledge of nobody, a combination of several unique spells had just been cast in rapid succession of one another.

Yet, to the knowledge of the ones at the table, the stallion suddenly found themselves blinking in confusion, raising a hoof against their head as they gave out a groan.

"Oh, okay, I guess I'm driving now?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wasn't really given a lot of warning, all things considered. From my point of view, it was just 'we have a solution', followed by a bunch of really weird sensations of stuff moving all around me. The closest I have as a comparison would be saying a bunch of warm snake-like creatures that had no physical mass were wriggling all around me. Then, I was practically slingshotted back into my own body, with all the senses and control that it had entailed.

The fact that I hadn't fallen off of my seat was nothing short of impressive. Though I could certainly do without the headache I had to deal with afterward. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as bad as the last time I was given back control from Nightmare Moon, but god damn if it didn't at least leave me a little uncomfortable.

As I rubbed a hoof against the side of my head, I could hear Gilda chime in from across me.

"Uh... J, is that you?" I nodded, pursing my lips as I looked up towards the griffon.

"I guess so? Don't really know why I'm in control again, but uh... here I am?" I found myself looking at the Dr. Hay-Per in front of me a lot, suddenly really aware of how long it had last been since I had one.

I was more of a Celly-kist fan if we were being brutally honest, but it was either this or a Para-Sprite and frankly, lemon-flavored sodas always seemed to make me hungrier than anything.

... I hate how normal those pony parodies are to me now.

"I-if you're the one in control again, then w-wheres-" Halfy began, only to find herself interrupted as a familiar voice decided to make itself known.

"We hath simply taken an alternative form, our friends!"

"WHOA. WHAT THE ACTUAL DRAGON SHIT?!" Gilda practically shrieked, taking a page from my book of curses. She swung her arms and wings wildly as she well and truly fell backward off of her stool at the voice of Nightmare Moon. Halfy, for her part, practically slammed her forehooves into the table, fighting every instinct in her body to keep herself from kicking her rear legs out.

As I watched this whole display, I blinked, a part of me cringing at how much attention we had likely been drawing. I was already formulating some excuse we could use about how there was a bee or something that had scared Gilda and Halfy when I leaned ever so slightly back into my stool.

"Oh, our apologies! We forget that our presence within the thoughts of ye both is not yet the norm." Nightmare Moon apologized. I, in the meantime, was starting to piece together what had happened.

Gilda could be seen replacing her stool and all but slamming herself back into the table, her eyes narrowed as she looked left and right, more than likely searching for the source of the voice in her head.

"Seriously, what? I'm not going cuckoo, right? You guys can hear her in your heads too?" She interrogated, watching as Halfy took a few breaths to calm herself down before glancing around the table as well.

"Y-yeah, I-I hear her t-too." She assured gently.

I tilted my head ever so slightly as I looked to the two before me, leaning forward onto one of my elbows - at least I think that ponies had elbows - before supporting the weight of my head on the flat of my hoof.

It was weird watching others react to it for the first time. I had practically jumped out of my own skin so many times from all the mental trespasses I had dealt with in the past few months that I was practically numb to it by now. Gilda and Halfy, evidently, were not. Side Note: I found it pretty funny how the two were pretty much on the exact opposites of the spectrum when it came to reacting to stuff that scared them.

Gilda definitely had much more of a 'fight' reaction, her eyes looking around us like an animal looking for prey, while Halfy was more of a flight reaction, her glances being the kind that implied she was watching for an animal that was hunting her down. All things considered, it was probably obvious.

I shrugged as I drew a knowing smirk faintly across my temporary muzzle.

"Yeah, you get used to it." I said flatly. I decided to use the opportunity to practice with my hooves a bit more, reaching out for and trying to grasp the straw that was in the glass of Dr. Hay-Per in front of me. It took me more than a few tries to figure out how the hell ponies grabbed stuff without magic, and I even now I don't think I'm properly able to explain it.

"We do seem to recall you screaming like a little filly on more than one occasion." The voice that was apparently now in all our collective minds said with no shortage of mirth to it.

"As I said, you get used to it." I responded dryly, rolling my eyes as I heard Nightmare Moon giggle at the edges of my mind.

"Okay, you are being way too chill about this. The buck is going on?!" Gilda once more demanded for answers, to which I simply responded by gesturing a hoof below us.

"Remember how Nightmare Moon was hiding in a bunch of shadows when you first met her?" I started, making sure to keep my voice down just in case somebody else heard us. Fortunately for me, nobody seemed to have even noticed all the noise we had made prior, either being far too busy with their own conversations or occupied with their jobs to have heard all the commotion through the glass that separated us from the well-lit interior of the diner. I shuddered as I noticed the lighting that wasn't more than a couple of feet from us, actively doing my best to focus literally on what I was saying so that I wouldn't go into a panic.

"Well," I continued, "it's kinda like that. Except she's probably hiding inside of all of our shadows. I don't know how it works, but it tends to make it so that her thoughts pop up in our heads while ours can pop up inside of hers."

I was basing this mostly on the limited knowledge of the subject I had, almost all of which had been based on the time we had spent inside of our cell in the Canterlot dungeons together. Evidently, though, I was right on the money.

" 'Twould seem that you have become quite knowledgable in the machinations of our shadow sorcery, Sir Jeremy. We are most impressed!" I held back a chortle as I shook my head in response to Nightmare Moon's praise.

"I'd hardly call it 'knowledgable'."

Moreso, I would have called it 'accidentally experienced'.

"Wait, hang on," Gilda yet again chimed in, finally seeming to calm down ever so slightly as she stopped looking all around her, "she can hear our thoughts?"

"Only if you want her to," I responded simply. "It's like sending a text-" I paused, realizing that the comparison I was about to give probably wouldn't have worked out seeing as this world had no concept of cell phones. I readjusted my approach before trying again. "... Like sending a letter. If you don't make it out specifically for her, she doesn't tend to hear it."

I watched the two before me slowly but surely seem to process the information they had been provided with. Halfy seemed to gain an expression that simply bathed in curiosity while Gilda pursed her lips while glancing down below the table, likely trying to see if she could spot which of the shadows below us the alicorn had been hidden in. Gilda gave up before long, shaking her head before glancing at the cider she had thankfully left on the table before she fell over, grabbing it, and downing the last half with little more than one quick motion.

"So-" her beak turned into a scowl for a moment as she seemingly looked for words she wanted to say. She forced her eyes closed, seeming to strain herself in thought.

"So, like this?" Her voice ultimately came through, though this time echoing in the back of my mind much in the same way that Nightmare Moon had been.

"Verily! 'Twould seem as though you are already a natural!" I heard Nightmare Moon respond, an image of her clapping her hooves together in glee accompanying her words. Shortly after, a third voice joined the psychic ensemble.

"O-oh! T-there we go! Uh, wait, you can send i-images too? Um..." An image of a blurry circle that was hurriedly drawn on a blank sheet of paper came through. "Oh. Wow."

Both Gilda and Halfy had looks of curiosity and focus on their faces as they went about testing out the workings of the spell. They sent thoughts to everyone, then each other, then images, then separate their own thoughts once again, and so forth. In other words, they were doing their damndest to figure out how this new concept that had quite suddenly been introduced to them worked. It was like watching a kid learn to use the bike for the first time. It was slow going at first, but eventually, they seemed to get the hang of it.

"It's weird to watch this from an outside perspective." I thought jokingly towards Nightmare Moon, receiving a giggle in return.

"Quite. Though, they seem to be gathering the concept much more effectively than you had prior."

"Hey, cut me some slack. Humans don't do magic, remember?"

"Nor do griffons and earth ponies." She teased, drawing a small chortle from me.

"You know what I mean."

The two across from me continued in their testing for another few moments before, finally, they seemed satisfied. Gilda was the first to speak up, this time physically.

"Alright, whatever, freaky shadow magic. Fine." She conceded, likely deciding to just go with the flow of things like she usually did. "But, like, why did she do that again?"

It was a pretty damn good question if I do say so myself. In fact, it was the only question that I had at the time too. We had been doing just fine with Nightmare Moon just staying in my shadow and puppeteering me everywhere up until that point, so I had no idea why she had suddenly decided to do something different this time around.

Before I could mirror her curiosity, I felt an odd sensation crawl up my spine, slithering around the inside of my jacket,

"We simply did not wish to split the better parts of our merriment into unsatisfying halves between Sir Jeremy and ourselves. So, to rectify this, we performed a simple series of spells to allow us to actively participate in the activity of flavoring the modern world's wonders whilst serving as nothing more than a simple wisp beholden to the whims of Sir Jeremy's ponyhood. "

... Did you get that?

No?

Cool. I didn't either.

Gilda and I blinked, not really sure whatever the heck we had just heard before Halfy spoke up once more.

"U-um, princess, you might wanna try that one again. S-slowly, if you don't mind." A sense of understanding entered my mind from some external source - likely the alicorn hiding within my shadow - before I heard a hum.

"Hm... Perhaps we would be easier able to show you than explain the intricacies behind our actions? Sir Jeremy?" I stirred ever so slightly out of the thoughts I had been devoting to translating whatever it was she had said before.

"Yeah?" I returned simply.

"Would you be so gentlecoltly as to lift the beverage we ordered to your right shoulder?" I furrowed my brows at this, more than a little baffled by the odd request. But I didn't any reason to argue, so I went about stress-testing my newly found knowledge on how ponies grabbed hold of things with hooves to fulfill her odd request.

I ended up having to use both of my forehooves, fumbling around with them like a newborn before I was able to balance the glass between the two otherwise flat surfaces that made up the ends of my front legs, but eventually I managed to get things under control. Once I was sure that my 'grip' was secure, I brought the beverage up to my right shoulder as I had been instructed.

Both Halfy and Gilda watched me curiously. They weren't really sure what to expect in the same way that I wasn't sure what to expect. I sat there awkwardly for a moment, waiting for something, anything, to happen.

Then, I felt it. At first, it was just that vague sensation of something warm wriggling along the inside of my jacket again. For a second I was worried that a squirrel or something had somehow managed to jump onto me and hide inside of my sweater. Those concerns faded away however and were instead replaced by a sense of pleasant surprise.

The warmth spread from just a small massless portion into a much larger, all-encompassing blanket. It felt as though my entire back, as well as some parts of my shoulder, neck, and the right side of my face were being smothered. The sensation was familiar. Only vaguely, but the familiarity was there nonetheless as I watched something enter the very most corner vision on my right. It was as though some of the smaller shadows created by the area between my jacket and I had suddenly begun to spring to life, leaping off of their pre-ordained places to take shape in the air next to me.

In an odd way, it was like watching vines and plant life grow, twist, and knit themselves together. It took only seconds for the shadows to form themselves together, but from my perspective, it had seemed like hours as I tried to watch this spectacle unfold. Nonetheless, form themselves the shadows did. And when I saw what they had formed into, I realized just where I had recognized that warm sensation from before.

There, practically as close to me as she could possibly be was Nightmare Moon. She was leaning her head forward, just atop of my shoulder where I could feel her nuzzle into me ever so slightly. The sensation I had found familiar had turned out to have been that of Nightmare Moon's fur against my skin.

Glancing behind me, I could very clearly see Nightmare Moon had her entire body pressed up against me from behind, easily able to meet my height from a sitting position on the floor despite me being sat atop of a stool. Her wings were held firmly to her side, though I could see them fidget ever so slightly, as though they wanted desperately to move. Parts of her mane tickled against me, once more making its sentience known as it gave smaller wisps of the movement against me.

At that moment I was practically a statue, not really sure how I should go about analyzing the situation I was in without frying my brain out in the process. The only thing that brought me out of my shock was the easy-to-identify sound of icecubes clicking against one another, as well as the sound of someone slurping from a straw.

I turned my eyes towards the source, watching as Nightmare Moon used her place from atop my shoulder to sip on the soda I held out for her. Looks of curiosity, then intrigue, then joyful satisfaction crossed the face of the mare that all but smothered me at that moment. She seemed to let out a grateful hum before, just as quickly as she appeared next to me, she disappeared, leaving me colder and the glass I held in my hooves emptier.

I just sat there for a bit, not really knowing how to react as I almost unconsciously placed the glass of Dr. Hay-Per back onto the table and looked at the others.

From what they told me later on, what they had seen had been quite a bit different from what I had seen. From their perspective, they just saw me move the glass to my shoulder and then start to empty as some invisible force seemed to drink the beverage away.

Nonetheless, they held their own... unique reactions to the show.

"Holy hayfeathers..."

"Okay, that was pretty cool."

I blinked. Words dumbly escaped me in a mumble before I could even try to stop them.

"Actually, it was very pleasantly warm..."

I could vaguely feel some sense of smug satisfaction that wasn't my own tickle against the back of my mind.

Chapter 30: Shows The Way

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"So, all those times that you guys were just staring at each other without saying anything, you were using this magic mind-reading thing on each other?"

"I mean, I wouldn't call it 'mind reading', but yeah, that about covers it."

"Dude! You coulda told me!"

"You never asked."

Gilda gave me a deadpan while I just looked at her with a more than a slightly self-satisfied smile. As I leaned against the table, I could vaguely hear the sound of my soda being slurped up right next to me, as well as the sound of a content hum of appreciation echoing in the back of my head.

Gilda, Halfy, and I had decided to use the past few minutes to clarify a few things while we waited for our food. And by that, I mean that Gilda had decided to add two and two together about more than a few things that had happened in the past. Suffice to say, she wasn't exactly happy about the idea of me having 'secret' conversations - though I didn't really look at the whole thing like that, since that made it sound much more sinister and malicious than it had actually been - without her knowledge.

Halfy, however, had been content to sit there and sip on her water. She didn't seem to hold any of the dramatics that Gilda did. If anything, she was just happy to be included now.

"I-I don't know, maybe they had their reasons. I mean, they still don't have a lot of their magic back so..." She trailed off, leaving the sentence in the air for anyone to finish. Gilda glanced over at her for a moment, a wry expression on her beak, before she just shook her head and moved a taloned hand through some of the feathers along her head.

"Ugh. Seriously dude, what the hay..." She glanced at her empty mug of cider, pouting as though it would magically refill if it saw her upset enough. When that didn't work, she looked back at me. "How am I supposed to keep my cred as the coolest griffon in all of Equestria when you get all 'secret agent cool guy' on me?" I didn't bother to hold back the chuckle that formed at the statement. The fact that Gilda wasn't really angry at me so much as she was upset by the sudden disproportionate growth of my 'coolness levels' was absolutely classic when it came to her.

"I'm not a griffon, so I'd say your throne is still safe there for a while longer." Gilda rolled her eyes at this, choosing instead to dispassionately lean her elbow against the table before using her hand to support the weight of her head.

"Not if bug-breath decides to turn you into a griffon next time..." She mumbled. She sounded like a kid having a tantrum over the fact that one of the other kids at the daycare got more birthday cake than they had.

I'd be lying if I said a part of me didn't find the idea of her being at least a little humbled by this whole thing at least a little satisfying. I mean, I'd have preferred it if it wasn't based around a series of events that I would hardly call ideal, but hey. I could work with what I got.

Halfy looked to Gilda with a sympathetic, albeit amused, smile.

"Hey, you're still p-plenty cool. It's not like lots of other ponies can say that they outran an Ursa Major before." She offered. She reached a hoof over towards the griffon. For a second, I could notice a brief battle going on in her head as her face hardened a bit. Her eyes darted back and forth, likely as she tried to figure out whether what she was trying to do would be considered overreaching or not before she eventually seemed to make a decision and pat Gilda lightly on her shoulder.

Well, really, it was less like a pat and more like a graze as Halfy still second-guessed herself halfway through the process. It was all of a second before Gilda gave out a snicker as she looked over the still nervous but clearly trying mare. A wing of hers reached out, practically engulfing the mare before dragging both her and the stool she sat upon closer to her side. Halfy gave out a gasp of surprise at this as she struggled to keep the glass of water between her hooves from spilling as a result of the sudden jostling she had just received.

"Ursa Minor, actually," Gilda corrected, reaching an arm out and over the shoulders of Halfy before bringing her close like one would a close chum, "but you got a point. I'm still way too awesome for there to be any competition between the big guy and I."

Halfy seemed beside herself at the gestures, not really knowing how to respond to the sudden displays of affection. Still, the meek smile that appeared on her face as well as the look in her eyes showed that she was actually more than a little happy about the whole thing.

The whole scene was heartwarming, to say the least. Hell, I was barely able to keep myself from actively giving out an 'awwww' as I saw how well both my older and newer friends seemed to be getting along with each other.

It's odd. I never would have expected Gilda to have gotten so chummy with someone who was so shy. In the past, we had talked about lots of things, including some less than pleasant experiences we had had throughout our lives. One of those experiences Gilda had brought up involved a series of... let's say 'incidents'.

*********************

The human that sat under the shade of the stray tree near the edge of the Everfree forest was a little less than pleased at the moment. First, he had woken up with a terrible headache after a rough night of sleep at his Zebra friend's home. Then, he had to take a less than pleasant detour around the usual path out of the Everfree he had taken due to an entire portion of the forest being unofficially marked as 'off-limits' by Zecora. More off limits than a forest of perpetual danger such as this one usually was, that is.

As to why Zecora had deemed it as off-limits, Jeremy would quickly be informed of a genuine issue called 'Hydra Mating Season'.

As if that wasn't irritating enough for the human - who at this point could still swear that he had thistles and stray twigs hidden all over his body from the alternate route he had taken - he had been tackled to the ground for what must have been the third time that week by a new friend he had made in the shape of a griffon he had gotten out of a less than ideal situation a few days ago. And now, to top it all off, said griffon had used the opportunity to use Jeremy as a sort of audio diary/therapist of sorts, talking to him about everything that had happened to her the last time she had been in Ponyville.

A part of Jeremy was very much regretting asking why she always insisted on tackling him before he had reached the town where he might have the chance to hide, seeing as that had brought this whole spiel about in the first place. Another part of him, though, was much more occupied just mentally keeping track of all the apparent... he would call them 'incidents', that his new friend had brought about in the past.

"So then, I was like 'well, when you decide not to be lame anymore, gimme a call', and I beat it the hay outta there before I could catch any of their stinks on me." The griffon quoted, recalling the story of her first visit to Ponyville. Jeremy was just staring at the griffon evenly, rubbing his fingers against his temples in an attempt to combat the headache that had continued to plague him throughout the day. Gilda seemed to take notice of this, an annoyed scowl working its way onto her features.

"Yo, are you even listening, J?"

Jeremy just gave a simple nod, unable to summon the effort to give a more direct response as he gathered himself. He knew he had a pension for being rather blunt whenever he was dealing with a migraine or headache of any sort. It was a bad habit that he had dealt with ever since he could remember. Fortunately, he had usually been able to avoid being around others up until now to keep them from finding out just how bad it would get. Unfortunately for him, Gilda actively sought him out, so the avoidance strategy had gone clear out the window. Still, he tried desperately to make the best of a bad situation.

"... I really don't know what it is you want me to add on here." He eventually settled on, giving out a slow and deliberate breath through his nostrils.

Gilda, evidently, was not quite satisfied with this.

"Uh, I dunno, maybe, anything? Here I am pourin my guts out to ya, talking about how I lost my best friend to a bunch of losers for no reason, and you're just here starin at me like some rando on the streets!" Jeremy blinked at this, a particularly bad throb of his headache being made just slightly worse by Gilda's raised voice.

"Gilda, as much as I appreciate you using me as the metaphorical toilet for your emotional upchuck, I already told you, today is not the day. I really don't want to say anything I might regret, so is there any chance we can just try this again later when I don't-" Jeremy's hopeful, albeit somewhat irked plea fell on deaf ears as he was quickly interrupted.

"No way. You're totally on their side, ain't ya?"

"That's not even close to what I-"

"You totally are! Ugh, and here I thought I finally met someone else who got what it meant to be cool. Instead, I just get some other, weirder-looking dork who lives with some striped dweeb pony!" Jeremy blinked, giving Gilda an emotionless stare before he took in another deep breath. A small part of him still fought against what he was about to do, but a much, much larger part of him was in the mood to provide his honest commentary about this whole thing.

The human sat themself up against the tree, straightening their back out before putting both of the palms of their hands together just inches from their face.

He and Gilda shared a moment of silence - the griffon raising a brow at the lanky creature before her - before Jeremy gave out a silent nod of self-affirmation.

"... So, to summarize," he pointed the tips of his joined hands to the griffon, "you made an old lady believe that she was being attacked by a snake."

"Hey, a bit of a scare never hurt any-"

"Then proceeded to steal from her." He rose his voice by just a tad. Loud enough that he could overpower her voice while still quiet enough that it wouldn't strain his own.

"Look, it was just one flippin' apple-"

"You yell at and make a pony cry for getting in your way while helping baby. Ducks. Cross the street." He made sure to punctuate his words carefully, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly as he did.

"Oh c'mon! How was I supposed to know that she was such a cry-"

"And" he yet again interrupted, "to top it all off, you try to isolate and manipulate the one friend that you had in that town while jumping at ghosts because you were jealous of-"

"Aw hay no, I was not-"

"JEALOUS. OF." He once more interrupted firmly and squarely, "-another friend that your first friend had made for spending more time around her than you. That sound about right? Cuz I really think I nailed it."

Gilda had a mixture of both absolute shock and pure fury on her face. Evidently, having her actions repeated and simplified to her in such a manner was more than a little frustrating for the wren.

"All right, fine! I get it! You're just another-"

"Lemme guess, 'lame-o'?" Jeremy mocked, crossing his legs and leaning forward as he said so with a wry smile.

Gilda's feathers ruffled as she took in a deep breath, voicing her frustrations in the only way she knew how. She yelled at the absolute top of her lungs.

"WOULD YOU QUIT DOING THAT?!" Jeremy covered his ears at the noise. He could swear he felt his eardrums momentarily transform into 'ear-percussion orchestras'. This only served to worsen his headache which, of course, just as quickly worsened his mood.

"Depends. Can you get some new material?" He shot back. "Or are we just going to stick to the insults that you picked up from a middle school sitcom? They were pretty popular where I came from. 30 years ago."

The griffon's frustration welled further and further as she now actively glared at the human before her. Her legs carried her before her mind could issue the order, closing the distance between them step by step until they were literally butting heads.

Jeremy, however, did not back down, making use of his old habit of being as stubborn as a bull to face this feathered matador of sorts directly.

"What is with you? You're the one who wanted to keep talking to the awesomest griffon in Equestria. You're the one who decided to talk to me that day. Not the other way around. I don't need to be here. I can be anywhere in the bucking world that I want!" By now she was practically panting, her anger squeezing at her chest like a vice of heated spikes and invisible strings.

"Oh really, then why? The fuck?" Jeremy leaned forward against the griffon's head. He didn't gain any ground whatsoever in their confrontation, the griffon easily being just as strong if not far stronger than the fairly average human. "Are you here in the first place?"

The griffon opened her beak to say something. Anything. An insult. A cool dismissal. So much a simple scoff so that she could turn around, fly off, and never come back with the feeling that she had gotten the last words. But she couldn't. Instead, the beginning motions of speech adorned her beak, never getting past the first steps, as she and Jeremy continued to look and push at one another's faces directly.

"Well, chicken-head?"

And with the challenge issued, Gilda spoke the first, most visceral selection of words that came to mind.

"BECAUSE I REGRET IT, OKAY?! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR? I BUCKING REGRET IT. I REGRET EVERY SECOND OF WHAT I DID, AND I HATE MYSELF FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO BIRD THE BUCK UP AND JUST SAY 'SORRY' WITHOUT NEEDING TO MAKE IT SOME COMPETITION. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR? HUH?!"

"AS A MATTER OF FACT-" Jeremy began to reply, his voice just as raised in volume as the griffons despite the scraping sensation in his throat and burning in his chest. He used to opportunity to raise a hand, moving it up to the distracted griffon's face. He was subtle with his movement, slowly but certainly shifting his palm until only his index finger remained, which he brought directly up until it was on a level with and pointed directly at the Griffon. Then... he pulled his head back from hers and gave her a swift boop on the nose.

"Yes, you dumbass, that's exactly what I wanted to hear." He suddenly said in a quiet and calm, Gilda scrunching her face in confusion from both the sudden shift in the human's tone as well as the odd sensation on her beak.

"Honestly, for someone who says they're so awesome, you absolutely suck at saying what's on your mind." The griffon blinked, her mind blank as she tried desperately to regain traction on the suddenly slippery floor that was her mindscape.

"I-I-... You... What?" She eventually settled on, drawing a smirk from Jeremy.

"Nice, you got one out of three sentences done."

"How did you-"

" 'do that'? Gilda, it wasn't exactly hard to do. You may be an egotistical hardass, but you're plenty better than some others I've known in my life. Plenty easier to read too."

"But, how would you-"

" 'know that you regretted that stuff'? Folks don't exactly try to apologize to the people they've wronged, especially in public, unless they have at least a few regrets."

"BUT WHY-"

"Because," he yet again interrupted for what must have been the umpteenth time, "I think you're a good person. Or pony. Or griffon. Whatever, semantics. I think you learned from everything that happened and wanted to grow a bit. I think you earnestly do want to get better, at least at being a friend." He leaned back against the tree for what felt like the first time in years but had actually just been a matter of minutes.

His head was practically on fire now. Every throb felt like somebody had taken a jackhammer and ground it into the side of his face. He put his fingers against his temples again, hoping above all hopes that someone would just knock him unconscious already so that she could hopefully sleep this off.

"And while I'm certainly no model citizen, I can certainly at least try to be a good friend to you in return."

Gilda blinked, watching the human before her with an incredulous look as she searched for some kind of sign that he was lying. Some kind of sign that said that he was planning something just underneath it all.

However, all she saw was a strange creature with a weird version of their language and an annoying voice... that did in fact want to help her be a better friend.

"... You're the weirdest, coolest, lamest freak I have ever met," Gilda said simply, watching as Jeremy simply shrugged in return.

"Any chance the title comes with an ice pack and some aspirin as a trophy?"

*********************

I gave out a chuckle as I thought back to this. In a weird way, I guess that had been where I had gotten my start at looking a little more deeply into the habits of others. If I hadn't gone out of my way to help Gilda to get better with how she went about interacting with others, I would probably have had a decent amount of trouble getting along with Nightmare Moon or Chrysalis. And evidently, Gilda had taken a lot more from our talks since back then than I had thought, if her current friendly noogie-ing of Halfy was anything to go by. A motion which Halfy returned with a half-hearted struggle and some cheerful laughter.

I moved the Dr. Hay-Per next to me closer while I watched, absent-mindedly taking a sip from the straw of the familiar yet still entirely copyright-safe beverage.

"Our soda..." A childishly sad and mournful voice suddenly popped into my head. I blinked as I recognized Nightmare Moon, glancing to my right and momentarily seeing a vision of the alicorn with her cheeks puffed out and a pout on her face.

I was so distracted by my thoughts that I had completely forgotten about the fact that the soda was for her. Glancing down at said soda, I could clearly see that I had sipped up the last of it.

I gave out a sheepish chuckle as I noticed both Gilda and Halfy looked at me with two similarly amused expressions. They had probably heard Nightmare Moon's sad whining, which had also drawn their attention to me.

"Sorry about that," I apologized aloud, partially to Nightmare Moon as well as partially to Halfy and Gilda for interrupting their moment, "guess my mind kinda wandered somewhere else."

I made a quick assurance to Nightmare Moon that I'd ask for a refill on the soda, which seemed to lessen some of her sadness by at least a little bit. I also made sure to try not to think that I had basically just shared an indirect kiss with Nightmare Moon, seeing as she was the one sipping from that straw not long ago.

Course, it was a little bit tougher to explain away the fact that my heart beat a good bit faster and why my face turned a different shade of red when I thought about this, but I decided to put a lot more focus on the suddenly very real question that was 'where is our waitress when you need her'.

As the old phrase went though, 'speak of the devil' and all that jazz. I could practically feel myself give a silent prayer of thanks to whatever version of a god had decided to humor me at this moment as I saw the waitress make her way over once again. She had a pair of food-filled plates balanced carefully on her back, though she was still able to walk her way over towards us with seemingly no issue.

Another pony accompanied her, this one a unicorn stallion, as they held both a sizeable plate of my beloved cheese fries and a metal jug that I could only assume was used to refill glasses of water. I could feel my mind go blank as the familiar scent of dairy-based milk proteins coating the surface of grease-fried potato slices reached my nostrils. I had to stop myself from letting out a shudder as I recalled the various late nights I had spent just diving into the cheddary goodness that was slowly but surely approaching me, like an old lover come back for one last fling.

I'd say I'm being overdramatic, but I'd be wrong and I would make myself feel bad if I did.

I'll... have to go back to that diner later. Once this is all over, of course.

"Alright! I have a Carrot Apple Ginger Soup, some Cripsy Cheddar Fish Sticks, and our house specialty Cheese Fries!" The mare chirped, looking between the three of us as she spoke with her trademark smile.

"Yup, that us."

"I-I ordered the soup, yes."

"Oh fuck yes. Thank you, those are ours!"

We each provided our own forms of thankful confirmation as the unicorn and the pegasus went about providing us with our dishes. They made sure that the meals were placed directly in front of their respective orderers.

Halfy seemed quite content with the soup that was placed before her, taking the spoon offered by the unicorn's magic with thanks as she started to give the piping hot broth a gentle stir. Gilda had a couple of fish sticks in her mouth so quickly that I had the vaguest concern that she would bite into the wing of the pegasus who was offering it to her. The pegasus seemed unphased though.

Finally, my beautiful mountains salted starch with layers of yellow melted upon them like sheets of wondrous snow were served in the magic of the unicorn that accompanied the waitress. It took all of my willpower to keep myself from diving headfirst into the dish.

For a moment, I could swear that I saw Nightmare Moon pressed directly against the side of my head once again, a look of child-like wonder sparkling in her eyes as she gazed at the meal before us.

"What is this... wondrous odor that doth invades our muzzle."

I could vaguely hear the sound of another mare's giggle enter the confines of my mind as I glanced up and saw Halfy looking toward me.

"I guess the princess has never had Prench Fries before?" She asked, to which I just blinked for a moment.

I had forgotten that there was a pony equivalent of France here way too often. So it always threw me off guard whenever someone dared to mispronounce the name of my favorite transportation devices for cheese, up until I remembered that they really did have such a term as 'prench' in the first place.

It also turned out that ponies had a weird, hay-based alternative to these called 'Hay Fries', which sounds about as appetizing to me as your average can of mosquito repellent did a mosquito. Turns out, a lot of ponies prefer the taste of Hay Fries over that of Prench Fries, so there was a bitter rivalry between the two factions of 'potato vs hay'.

But who am I to say? It's not like I had a side in this supposed war against the filthy hay-preferred fools that probably didn't even bother using ketchup or adding salt onto their inferior version of fries. Nope. No side at all!

" 'Prench Fries'..." I heard Nightmare Moon repeat, trying out the word in her voice just like she had soda and pop. "And they hold a layer of cheese atop them, as well. What an interesting decadence! Sir Jeremy, kindly provide us with one of these 'Fries of Cheese'!"

I smirked at her forced annunciation of cheese fries, shaking my head slightly as I chanced a glance back to the two servers that stood next to us. The unicorn was busying himself refilling Halfy's glass of water while the mare had been assuring Gilda - who had several fish sticks hanging from her beak at the time - that she would come by with refills for our cider and soda soon.

"Calm down, you big baby. I'll give you some of them once the waiters leave. We don't want ponies seeing the food disappear next to me, do we?" I assured her. I chortled as I felt a vague sensation of impatience and dissatisfaction that I could only guess belonged to Nightmare Moon.

"I hope you all enjoy your meals! 'Don't Dilly Dally now'!"

Oh god, I had forgotten about that corny slogan that all the service staff had to give whenever they served someone their meals. To this day, I don't know if Dilly Dally actually is a pony or just a brand name. I wouldn't be surprised if it was both. Either way, this seemed to garner both a little smile from Halfy as well as a roll of the eyes from Gilda as the waitress cheerfully gave the diner's catchphrase.

I gave the waitress a nod in thanks before using the chance to reach down, grab a fry, and bite into the delectable taste of heaven that sat before me. I could swear that I felt tears well up as I ate one. I could also swear that I heard Nightmare Moon give out a whimper for the same reason.

I was almost so distracted by the fry that I almost didn't notice the unicorn seem to trip over himself, the magic hold he had on the jug of water next to him flickering for a moment as it floated nearby me. I felt my eyes widen as I watched the jug slowly tip mid-air towards me. Before I could react though, I once more heard a familiar voice pop up in the back of my head.

"Nay! Our cheese fries!"

The visage of Nightmare Moon momentarily filled my gaze as I suddenly lost control of all of my limbs. By the time I realized what was happening, I was holding onto the jug in the air to keep it from spilling.

"Oh, horseapples, I am so sorry, sir." I could hear the unicorn apologize, quickly grabbing the jug of water into his magic again.

I blinked. I was kinda in a state of momentary shock as I tried to go over whatever the hell had just happened. I was able to eventually piece together that Nightmare Moon had more or less controlled my body again for a moment or two when she noticed what was going on, but it was rather difficult to do so when it felt like my brain was just rapidly shot between two different places.

"Uh, it's... no problem? I'm alright, so no harm done." I eventually managed to return. I glanced around, still trying to regain my bearings, and noticed that Gilda, Halfy, and the waitress were suddenly entirely focused on the stallion and I. The waitress had lost her trademark smile, replacing it instead with a look of genuine concern.

"Oh, Celestia! Are you two alright?" The mare asked. Gilda tried to say something too, though much more aggressively. Unfortunately for her, there were way too many fish sticks in her beak for me to even come close to understanding that as anything but a muffled mess.

"Yes, yes, I'm okay. So sorry again, sir!" I waved my arms side to side, gesturing to the stallion that everything was okay as he continued to apologize.

"Really, it's fine! You don't have to worry so much! I'm okay."

"But he almost ruined our cheese fries..."

Nightmare Moon tickling the back of my head with her newfound obsession with cheese fries was really not helping the situation. Also, I couldn't help but notice that she was seeming a lot more concerned about the cheese fries than she was me...

Oh who am I kidding, I would have had the same priorities.

"Pardon him, guys. Poor stallion just hasn't been getting a lot of sleep lately." The mare once more chimed in, making her way over to the unicorn and giving him a sympathetic pat on the back.

"O-oh. Have you been stressed recently? Some i-insomnia?" Halfy asked in her own bid to sympathize with the stallion. The unicorn, in return, just gave out a sigh and shook his head.

"Naw, I wish. I've been having nightmares like mad. Must be going on a week by now." As the stallion spoke, I could once more see Nightmare Moon's form surround me as she seemed to subconsciously lean towards the conversation. Gone was the look of a child throwing tantrums or being amazed by the world around her. Instead, Nightmare Moon's expression held a deadly seriousness to it.

"O-oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. Maybe you should try to take a break. You must be exhausted." Halfy suggested, to which the unicorn gave a simple nod.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll just uh... take a second or two." He looked over to the waitress next to him, his ears folding against his head as he offered an apologetic look to the mare. "Sorry about this, Blooming Daze."

The mare simply gave the stallion a smile as she continued to rub a hood over his back reassuringly.

"It's no problem. Go and get some rest. I'll cover for you for a bit." The stallion nodded once more, offering us one last glance before he made his way back into the well-lit diner, the jug of water floating just behind him as he did so. Shortly after the stallion left, the mare once more gave her apologies before assuring us she would be back with our drinks and following shortly after the unicorn.

Gilda chose this time to finally choke down what was in her mouth. An audible gulp escaped her before she let out a breath.

"Yeesh, what the hay was that all about?" She scoffed, leaning against the table over her plate of food as she looked to where the servers had gone.

I shrugged my shoulders in response before shifting in my seat so that I was once more facing the table.

"The guy's working late nights and having a rough time sleeping. Can't say I'm surprised. I've seen plenty of ponies slip up on stuff when they're tired. Lord knows I've made that mistake before too." Several overnight stays in my old office at Hooves N' Elbow Grease made that brutally honest to me. Once more, I felt a voice in the back of my head as I heard Nightmare Moon give out a grumble. All three of us were able to take notice of this rather quickly.

"Somethin' you wanna say there, NM?" Gilda questioned as she reached for another fish stick and tore right into it. Nightmare Moon took her time to answer, seeming to find the words that she needed, before her voice filled our heads yet again.

"Nightmares... By all accounts, our former self should be able to clear such concerns from the hearts of the commoners with ease."

The vague memory of Zecora telling me that Princess Luna supposedly monitored the dreams of others some time ago suddenly popped up for a moment as I reached for another cheese fry.

"Maybe Princess Luna is busy?" Halfy offered, which Nightmare Moon quickly shot down.

" 'Tis unlikely. The act of dream walking takes no more than a few hours for those with ample experience. One can easily dash away the nightmares of thousands in their sleep if they would wish to. And even then, ponies only rarely have nightmares. To hear that one is actively struggling under our former self's watch is... disconcerting. How could one such as ourselves hear such a thing and simply rid ourself of such concern?"

In a way, I could get what she was saying. Hearing that another version of myself was doing my old job poorly definitely would have left a sour taste in my mouth. At the same time, that wasn't really her job anymore. She wasn't Luna. She was her own pony.

So, I decided to distract her from these less-than-cheerful thoughts in the easiest way I could.

I held a cheese fry over my right shoulder.

It was gone in less than a second...

"...Thank you, Sir Jeremy. This will suffice."

"No problem."

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

Even though I only really had about a third of the cheese fries I was served - the rest was practically destroyed by the alicorn literally waiting in my shadows - I could still feel the satisfied smile on my face while I sipped some of the Dr. Hay-Per that the waitress pegasus had kindly refilled for me a few moments ago. On occasion, Nightmare Moon would also share a sip or seven from the glass, but I was honestly way too focused on how effectively I had fulfilled my cheese/starch quota for the month to care.

The other two at the table seemed just as if not more satisfied by the meals they were given as well. Halfy was peacefully sipping from her glass of water with an empty bowl of soup in front of her, a nice little smile on her face. Gilda was more inclined to practically be laying across the table belly-up, rubbing her stomach and giving out a sigh as she gave out a satisfied shudder.

I think that by then it was her third mug of cider. I can't remember exactly, but it certainly still wasn't enough to give her much more than a buzz. Of that I was certain.

"God I needed that," I muttered absentmindedly, getting only a combination of grunts and nods of agreement in return.

"We gotta come back here some other time." Gilda all but proclaimed, only for Nightmare Moon to give a response through our mental link.

"Verily. Such meals of less than nutritious varieties were rarely provided to us in our time as co-ruler of Equestria. We must go about correcting this travesty. Post haste!" I more or less picked up what she was saying, but I figured this would be a good bit of practice for her.

"Ease up on the accent, Nightmare Moon..."

"Nay. We are too stuffed to care." Welp, I had tried.

A hearty guffaw came from Gilda as she heard Nightmare Moon's response. She lifted herself up from the table and barely kept herself from tipping the whole thing over as she let herself stand on the ground.

"Man, I know that feeling." Gilda chuckled before reaching towards there a wing of hers met her body. She gave a quick shiver before she pulled out a handful of bits that she had taken from Chrysalis' recent wages and placed them on the table with a healthy slam. "You dudes go ahead and figure out what the damage is. I'm gonna go take a whizz. I've got a full tank that needs to be emptied. "

I grimaced slightly at her words.

"Too much information there, Gilda."

Gilda gave out a snicker. She waved my words off with a move of her talons, as though shooing away a mosquito, before walking into the diner proper.

I watched her for a few moments. I was half expecting her to slam into the glass door of the restaurant with the self-satisfied swagger she walked with. To my disappointment, she didn't.

"S-so Princess-" Halfy began to say, only to pause as she put a hoof to her mouth as if to stop herself. She glanced around, making sure nobody was listening before her face scrunched ever so slightly in focus.

"So Princess, how do you like modern-day restaurants?" She repeated, this time making sure that the message was only received through our minds. I vaguely heard a giggle echo through my mind as Nightmare Moon made to respond.

" 'Tis not often that we have the opportunity to enjoy such quaint times with others. 'Twas a worthwhile and wondrous experience! More so with such enjoyable company." I gave a nod at this. As nice as the place's cheese fries were - and believe me, they were nice - I can't deny that a nice meal would usually just be a backdrop for spending some time with friends.

The entire experience had been a pleasant change of pace. We talked, we ate, and we told some stories about small things that most people wouldn't find interesting. Mostly Gilda was the one telling the stories, sure, and even then it was usually unintelligible what with the mouthfuls of fish sticks she was practically choking down, but they were stories nonetheless.

Halfy was beside herself with joy at Nightmare Moon's words. So much so that a part of me couldn't help but compare how different she looked now compared to when we first met her. She was so much more exuberant. So much more talkative. Sure, she still preferred the role of the listener as opposed to that of the speaker in a conversation, and she still doubted her words and actions from time to time, but the difference was still there.

Even as I glanced at her previously bruised shoulder, which by now seemed to be gone along with any signs of pain she suffered from it, I noticed that whatever hints of sadness that she may have had after the Ponyville incident had seemed to disappear.

I kind of wished that I had met her sooner and under much better circumstances. Who knows? Maybe we would have been good friends.

Not like I could say she wasn't a good friend as things were now, though. And not just to me. Gilda enjoyed her company, Nightmare Moon enjoyed her company, hell I'm pretty sure even Chrysalis had some kind of soft spot for her at the time. I doubt she'd ever admit it, but I was pretty sure.

I glanced at the small pile of bits that Gilda had placed on the table. I was pretty sure that we weren't likely to stick around for any dessert, so I reached over to start counting them out once we got our bill.

I struggled for a bit. I still wasn't exactly a pro at the whole 'being in the body of a pony' angle, so there was more than a bit of concern I had about falling from the stool as I reached for the bits. It was for that reason that I felt so proud when I was able to grab the bits and drag them to me with no incident. Well, more or less.

I felt one of my ears turn on its own as a bit clattered against the floor behind me. My gaze followed the source and saw the small golden coin roll along the floor away from the table I sat on, eventually hitting a small bump before coming to a halt with a spin.

"I-I'll get it." Halfy offered, giving an amused smile as we both shared a look at the novelty of this odd little inconvenience.

I guess the small things just seem much more grounding when you're constantly dealing with much larger, more severe issues.

I gave Halfy an appreciative nod as I set about counting the bits, my mind wandering as I started to piece together the prices of everything from what I had seen on the menu and my past memories of the place.

One, two, three...

I remembered that the cheese fries were almost always about three bits or so. The only time that would change would be in a situation where there was a holiday or something. Well, really I had only seen them on sale once in the many times I had eaten here, but I'm pretty sure it was for a holiday.

I ignored the sound of hooves as I continued to count out the bits, assuming that they were Halfy's.

four, five, six...

The soup was about two bits. That one always gave me a bit of trouble. Not because of the price, but because the exchange rate of bits to what concept of money I had in my head always seemed a little off. It didn't feel like there was an exact translation of price to anything around Equestria. Sometimes it just felt like a system of 'whatever sounds good'. I know there's a method to the madness, but I just couldn't get it for the life of me. There's a reason I always let Zecora, and nowadays Gilda, be the one to haggle whenever prices weren't set in stone.

A part of me noticed that it sounded like there was more than one set of hooves, but I was too busy with what I was doing to notice.

seven, eight, nine...

The fish sticks were another three bits. Add to that the cider that Gilda had ordered as well as the Dr. Hay-Per for Nightmare Moon and I. I think that totaled out to around two more bits total?

Had I been paying attention, I would have noticed the sudden sensations of wariness and concern that suddenly came from Nightmare Moon, as well as the gasp from Halfy.

ten, eleven, twelve

Tips weren't really common in Equestria. I guess that most service staff members were paid more than their fair share. But, it was good manners from where I can from, so I set aside a couple of bits for the waitress. Her service had been nice enough, she had been attentive, and lord knows anyone that could force a smile to seem as genuine as that one when working in the service industry more than earned some portion of their pay and then some.

It was only once I finished gathering these bits, separating them from the rest of the small pile Gilda had laid out before heading to the bathroom and piling them as neatly as I could with my less than elegant hoof movements, that I heard Halfy speak in the back of my mind.

"C-C-Celestia..."

I rolled my eyes at first, thinking that she had just been using the pony equivalent of 'Jesus Christ' when she realized how far the coin had rolled. That was another odd comparison, honestly. Nobody had ever asked me about it when I just said 'god' or 'christ' in passing, so it seemed obvious that they got my meaning. But still, I was more surprised that they found it normal to just randomly say the name of their monarch as a cultural equivalent.

If anything, I'd gotten more questions about the curse words I use than anything else.

As I felt something burning in the back of my head, a fury like no other, I froze. It took me a moment to realize, but everything suddenly felt... quiet. I don't know how to describe it, but it felt as though the world was just a teensy tiny bit heavier. As though the air were thicker and harder to swallow.

I realized rather quickly that these feelings weren't mine. They were of the pony that passed within the recesses of my mind and the cover of my shadow.

"Sir Jeremy... We ask that you do not panic." The alicorn's voice uttered, a chill running down my spine at both her words and the deadly serious tone behind it. I'd seen and dealt with enough cliches to know that when someone tells you that you shouldn't panic, it means there's something that is very much worthy of your panic nearby.

What I heard next proved that old cliche to be more than true.

"Oh, pardon me, my little pony. I do believe you dropped this."

That voice. That same god damn voice. The voice I had only personally heard on a few occasions in the time I had been here in Canterlot.

As my head all but shot to my right, I could see her. A large white alicorn with a rainbow mane trailed slowly behind her in an invisible breeze, smiling down at Halfy as she floated the bit I had dropped in front of her for her to take. A smile that I felt was supposed to be gentle and mother-like on any other occasion. To me though, all it did was make my blood run cold as she looked past Halfy and towards me.

Chapter 31: Or So They Say

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The heavy winds of the Everfree were strong that day. Maybe it was the result of another creature within the vicious forest's influence. Or perhaps it was just the harder-to-control forest's natural processes that had brought it. Whatever the case, Zecora could only brace herself as another spray of water collapsed over her like a wave, shielded by the hooded robe that she wore for such intense types of weather.

As she stepped over another set of exposed roots and narrowly avoided a growing puddle in the path she walked, she couldn't help but wonder how her old friend, Jeremy, was doing. It had been a little over a week since he, alongside those that accompanied him, had left for Canterlot in the hopes of finding more information about what had led to his imprisonment. During that time, she had made true on the promise she had made the one-eyed mare, visiting her home once a day to care for her garden as she had been asked to.

She worried for the group - albeit some members more than others - and she could only hope that they would find the answers that they needed. The sooner they came back safe and sound, the better.

Another powerful gust of wind broke through the cover of trees and canopies, threatening to knock Zecora over as she adjusted her gait to account for the invisible force. She was barely a few minutes away from her destination by now, already beginning to see the far-off wall of brush that separated the small clearing of Halfy's home from the rest of the forest. Her ears were filled with the howling of the skies and storm around her, eager to scare her off lest she incurs their fury.

She had lived long enough within the forest by now to know that this was a mere bluff. Unless the storm brought thunder that shook the earth and lightning that burned the skies, this was little more than a mere cloudburst by Everfree standards. Similarly, she had lived in the Everfree long enough to take note of the fact that something was wrong.

Her ears shifted and twitched as she heard the sounds of movements. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to pinpoint the noise. A list of creatures went through her mind as she slowed herself to a walk, all quickly being crossed out as she narrowed it down more and more.

Eventually, with a small break in the wind, she was able to make out what the noise seemed to have been. As the wall of brush in front of her started to shift under the new forms that broke through it, she could only give out a series of mental curses and grunts as she realized - those were the sounds of hooves and the clattering of armor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's a phrase that exists in my world. It probably exists here, but I doubt it follows the same... let's say 'word choice' behind it.

It goes 'when shit hits the fan'. The imagery isn't exactly great, I can admit that, but it gets across what you need to know pretty quickly, right? It's a very visceral way of explaining that crap is about to go flying in every which way. Do you know what I mean?

Now, you might be wondering why I'm bringing this up. Well, when you have the pony princess - with the ability to move the goddamn sun - that oversaw your imprisonment and torture looking in your direction, chances are you're going to be thinking the word 'shit' at least once.

I certainly was. Multiplied by a few hundred times.

Nightmare Moon had told me not to panic, and to my credit, I wasn't. I was far too busy being so god damn flabbergasted by the fact that Celestia was there; she stood in front of Halfy, in the middle of some random road in Canterlot, by some random diner out of dozens of restaurants in the city, that just happened to randomly be housing Nightmare Moon, Gilda, Halfy and I as guests.

I sat there slack-jawed, vaguely taking note of the wriggling between my jacket and body as Nightmare Moon seemed to move about in my shadows a lot more viciously. From what I could see, Halfy was no better. With the solar diarch being directly in front of her, I couldn't imagine what was going through her head.

The white alicorn seemingly inched the bit ever so slightly closer to the Halfy, which snapped her out of whatever stupor she had been in quite quickly as she gave a bow.

"O-oh, P-P-Princess Celestia! W-what a surprise t-to see you." Halfy was a mess, practically stumbling over her own words more than I had ever seen her do before. And that's saying something considering the first time I met her, I had pinned her to the ground.

Celestia, for her part, simply gave out a soft giggle. In any other context, I would have said that it sounded nice. As things were though, something in me wanted nothing more than to have her shut the hell up.

She lowered her head until she was on level with Halfy, drawing some ire from both Nightmare Moon and me before she spoke.

"Be at ease, my little pony." She soothed. Halfy raised her head at her words, watching as she continued to offer the stray bit to her in her magical grasp. Halfy blinked, looking between the golden coin and me uncertainly.

I felt myself inhale sharply through my teeth as Celestia returned her gaze to me upon noticing where Halfy was looking. I felt cold while I tried to remind myself over and over that I was disguised at the moment. That she should have no idea who the hell I was.

"Ah," she uttered, "is this pony perhaps a friend of yours?"

Halfy's eyes widened for a moment, as though she suddenly remembered where she was before she spoke up again.

"O-Oh, uh, yes your highness! I was just out having a meal with my f-f-friend here."

Celestia rose her gaze at this. I could see a look of astonishment on her as she took a moment or two to look at the skies above us.

"So late at night?" She pressed, casual as can be. At this, Halfy paused again. She looked at me pleadingly, hoping I had some kind of answer. And while I didn't, someone else did.

The familiar wriggling sensation below my jacket returned as I felt my mind bounce backward like a tennis ball again. My mouth opened without me as I vaguely saw Nightmare Moon's visage next to me again.

"Indeed." I heard her say with my voice. "It has been... a long day, as it were." She spoke slowly, trying her best not to slip in her old accent in front of Celestia.

In the meantime, I was doing my best just to wake myself the hell up. The fact that Nightmare Moon had to take over my body again just because I had frozen up wasn't exactly a fun concept. I wanted to do something. So, I focused as much as I could, hoping as much as I could that I could send a message or two out while Nightmare Moon kept Celestia occupied.

"Gilda, Halfy, can you two hear me?"

I saw Halfy flinch ever so slightly and I could swear I heard the faint sound of a familiar squawk come from inside of the diner. Celestia didn't seem to notice, being much more focused on Nightmare Moon and I.

"Ah, of course. You have my apologies, I am simply not used to seeing my citizens out and about at night." She rolled a hoof vaguely, that same motherly smile on her face as she gives out a lighthearted chuckle. "Though I must say, it certainly does my heart proud to see the occasional pony enjoying my dear sister's night."

Whatever equivalent to a pony's grip I had was tightened as Nightmare Moon did her best to seem calm and collected. Evidently, she had hit a nerve.

It was at this point that I got a response from both Halfy and Gilda.

"Y-Yes Jeremy, I can hear-"

"WHAT THE HAY, DUDE? I NEARLY FELL IN!"

Again Halfy flinched while I just tried to rub whatever mental equivalent to temples I had as Gilda shouted into the back of my and Halfy's heads. For a second, I wondered what she had supposedly almost fallen into. Then again, she had said that she was going to use the bathroom, so...

This wasn't exactly the time to think about that though. Nor would it ever be.

"Look, you both need to get out of here. Now."

Again, I heard my voice as Nightmare Moon spoke. There was some sharpness to it this time.

"This seems... sensible..."

"Eh? Why the sudden rush?"

"P-p-princess C-Celestia is here..."

"You're kidding?!"

I was barely able to keep my attention between the two different conversations going on. It was like trying to stare at two different things at once. Sure, you can technically do it. But the more focused you are on both things at a time, the more starts to slip. You start missing smaller details, losing out on important facts, before eventually you're just staring blankly ahead of you and dealing with some hellish eye strain.

I had tried making multiple measurements for blueprints at the same time more than enough times to know that.

Nightmare Moon shifted somewhat in our seat, facing forwards and collecting the remaining bits from the pile we had left on the table. She addressed Celestia as simply as she possibly could.

"Well, if... th- you would'st- would not mind... we must be going now." Despite her attempts to act casual, her dialect slipped through just a bit. If Celestia had noticed though, she was doing a damn good job of hiding it.

The white alicorn gave a nod. One so small that one might have simply thought it to be a twitch and nothing more if they weren't paying attention.

"Why, certainly! I myself know just how nice it is to rest after such difficult days." Her smile broke by just a tad, giving way to a blank expression. "Unfortunately, I have not been able to do it as easily at present." I could feel icicles in my veins as her voice shifted to reflect her expression. Cold, calculating, certain. All these words popped up in the back of my head at once. Then, just as swiftly as it had appeared, the smile from before returned and quickly hid away the little slip of her mask she had allowed to peek through.

I noticed Halfy shudder, her eye shrinking as she suddenly couldn't bring herself to look at the princess that had ruled over her as far as she could remember. I guess that was her first time witnessing her princess act in such a way. It was my first time too, but then again, I hadn't been raised under the idea that she was this being of pure kindness and righteousness that she likely had been.

That spurred me on to act faster.

"Halfy, head back home and warn Chrysalis to be on the lookout. Gilda, she hasn't seen you. We'll use that to our advantage, but you'll have to walk out and leave like you were on your own. Don't even acknowledge me as you leave, got it?"

"I'm not gonna just bail on you, J." Gilda stated, her tone even as she spoke. I took in the closest thing I could to a breath at the moment. While I was appreciative of her loyalty, this really wasn't the time.

"Trust me. It's important that you do this. Just in case."

"W-what about you?" This time Halfy's voice came through, alongside an image of her giving me the closest equivalent to puppy dog eyes I had ever seen in a pony. I couldn't help but snicker at it. It wasn't like Celestia would hear it while I wasn't the one in control of my own body.

"I have an alicorn literally using me as a human-pony meat puppet. I think we'll be fine."

"If you would not mind though," Celestia suddenly chimed in, "it has been quite some time since I have taken a... break of sorts. And while the royal gardens are certainly nice, one cannot help but find a sort of simple comfort in mingling with the other ponies of the kingdom."

Nightmare Moon forced a smile on our face, but I could feel the contempt behind it. For a moment, I wondered if it was hers or my own. I felt a presence in my mind as she and I seemed to come to a silent understanding. It wasn't one I was particularly happy about, but it was an understanding nonetheless.

"We have no doubt." She said simply, gesturing a hoof over to the seat directly across from us. "Would... you like to join us?" I could feel my heart pounding in Nightmare Moon and I's currently shared chest as she spoke. This was a bit of a gamble we were taking over what could very well have been nothing. But something just wasn't sitting right about this. We needed Halfy and Gilda to get out of here. Fast.

As if sensing this urgency from me, Nightmare Moon turned to face Halfy, giving her the first real smile we had since Celestia had arrived.

"Apologies, but would you be so kind as to go on without... me? We will meet again soon." For a moment, Halfy blinked, a look of concern etched on her face as she took only a half step away. With a nod and gesture from Nightmare Moon though, she returned a nod of her own before she stiffly began to leave.

"H-have a g-good night, y-your highness." She said, giving one last bow to Celestia as she walked past the diarch. Celestia returned the farewell with a kind bob and smile of her own. The bit that had been floating in her magical grasp all this time spun a few times as she looked towards it the same way a person would an ant crawling on the ground.

Nightmare Moon and I watched as the bit floated over to us, landing in the small pile we had on the table. Still, our gaze was mostly focused on the alicorn before us. Our eyes narrowed as her horn glowed ever so slightly brighter, enveloping her in a faint magical aura. For a moment, I wondered what had just happened. Nightmare Moon was quick to clue me in though, apparently recognizing the spell.

A perception-blocking spell. It was an advanced illusion spell that made it so that, for some time, nobody would be able to see her save for whoever had seen her cast the spell.

I felt my body tense, practically ready to jump out of its own skin, as Celestia made her way over to us. The tendrils of shadow against the inside of my jacket were practically jolting around like lightning at this point, reacting to Celestia's presence like a pack of wolves to an intruder.

With practiced grace, Celestia sat across from us. She did not bother using the stool, seeing as it had not been made to accommodate the sizes of alicorns, but she still could sit nicely over the height of the table despite this. Her nostrils flared as she closed her eyes and took in a breath, her smile from before still on her face.

For a moment, it was silent while Nightmare Moon and I just stared at her.

In a weird way, I felt like this was some kind of chess game. One between two powerful beings that I had somehow been roped into.

"I must say," Celestia finally spoke, still not opening her eyes, "I did not expect you to be this daring, Nightmare Moon."

Celestia had just moved forward with her first pawn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The guard couldn't help but flinch every time he heard so much as a twig snap around him. His ears were swiveling constantly, making doubly sure that there was nothing that would be missed by even the slightest moment of carelessness. For the life of him, he couldn't understand why the other blue and silver armor-clad guards around him had been acting so calm and collected.

Granted, yes, they had been in the service for much, much longer than he had, but this was still the Everfree forest they were talking about. Nopony who had even the slightest knowledge of Equestria and its inner workings wasn't at least somewhat aware of the horrors of this Celestia-forsaken place. And just to make sure that they were aware, the briefing that all of the guards selected for this mission had more than filled them in on what they might expect.

Which, obviously, did little to dissuade the stallion's concerns.

He could vaguely hear the sounds of the guards that were in the small home behind him, searching through every nook and cranny of the hovel. He, in the meantime, busied himself keeping an eye around the clearing around them. Just as he had been ordered to by the commander of this seek and capture mission.

For a moment, he could almost swear that he saw movement near the edge of his vision, his leathery wings flapping for a moment as he forced himself to remember his training and stay put. If Princess Luna had seen a member of her guard acting in such a way, the stallion was certain there would be words.

Mainly the type of words one would have to put in their will moments before their head was chewed off.

Taking in a breath to calm himself, the stallion reared a hoof and lightly kicked against the wooden door behind him.

"Anything yet?" He inquired, allowing himself to glance to the wooden door behind him for all of a second before returning his gaze to the large wall of shrubbery that surrounded the clearing, as though it would suddenly spring to life when he did not gaze upon it.

The response he gained was muffled, as one would expect. But he was able to make it out nonetheless.

"Primary and secondary targets are negative. So far the house seems clean of anything useful, but we're still looking."

A scowl made its way onto the stallion's face as he heard this. The idea that they had come to this forest for nothing was a less than pleasing thought, causing him to shift in place. He was certain his superior might think the same. He wondered if they were having any luck in their search, but ultimately was interrupted from his thoughts as the voice of another guard echoed through the inside of the home.

"Private, I can hear you fidgeting out there." The stallion suddenly stood himself upright and at attention, just as he had been trained to do. Well, less trained, and more conditioned whenever his commanding officers would come by to yell his ears off for doing something wrong. In truth, he highly doubted that the other thestrals could truly hear him fidgeting, but it never hurt to be sure.

"If you're so anxious to move, fine. Make yourself useful and check that garden the princess told us about in her briefing." As if by instinct, the stallion saluted, paying no mind to the fact that as far as he knew nopony was around to see him.

"Understood, sir." He provided, slipping into the same professional voice he would use whenever he would address a citizen during night court. Oddly enough, it was somewhat therapeutic for him to slip into that tone from time to time. It was much the same as when one would do a job for long enough that, before long, they could go through the motions without really thinking about it.

He wasn't quite at that point yet, still being relatively fresh to the force, but at the very least it assured him that he was a trained and capable individual, at least by practical standards.

His plated armor clanked and clicked as he walked away from his prior assignment and towards the new one. Fortunately for him, despite the fact that he was leaving the close proximity of his squad, he could recall several mentions of the garden area in particular apparently being rather peaceful and clear. Something about a veritable amalgamation of thorns surrounding a notable portion of the plants annoying most animals enough to leave it alone. He wasn't sure of the details, he was just aware of where he was going and why he was doing so.

Once more he took in a breath, eyes focused as he took the predetermined path before him.

Before long, he came across a collection of edible plant life and vegetation, more or less organized into rows along a relatively well-kept garden. His gaze wandered left. He saw nothing. His gaze wandered right. Yet again, nothing.

By all accounts, he had just finished doing as he was asked. Still, he had been drilled to follow proper procedure. And so he would, if only to make sure he didn't fall into the poor habit of not doing so. It's all fun and games until the one time he becomes complacent and gets a metal torch to stand to the head like he had heard happened to ol' Glass Cannon a few months ago.

He paced back and forth between the rows of the garden, his ears still on a constant swivel and eyes moving left and right while he searched for anything of use. Once more, he heard the snap of twigs. Once more, his head darted in the direction it had come from. Once more... he was met with nothing. Nothing save for a clearing of groves and vines that formed a small pathway along the side of the garden.

He grimaced, finishing the last steps of his search before making his way down the pathway he had heard the noise come. He could swear he heard movement around him as he continued down the winding path. A voice in the back of his head told him to turn around and regroup with his squad. To gather reinforcements just in case there was danger ahead.

But another voice told him that he was a member of the Lunar Guard. He shouldn't flee from danger. He should face it head-on. He should make his princesses proud.

He elected to listen to the latter of the two voices.

Before long, he came across what seemed like a dome of thick branches and overgrown roots that formed a small dark dome at the end of the path. A small opening led inside.

He steeled himself for a moment, feeling the armor weighing upon him as reassurance now more than ever, before walking inside.

He was alert as he looked to and fro, waiting for any sign that the movement he had been hearing earlier would finally make itself known. All he received, however, was the sight of an empty dome of plant life with a portion of the ground that seemed to more recently have been dug out.

He rose a brow at this, unsure of what to make out of what to make of the sight. Had he been quicker, he just might have spotted the silhouette of a robed zebra making her way back into the deeper parts of the Everfree, balancing a carefully wrapped vase atop her back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, will there be anything else I can get you?" The mare asked, her wings shifting ever so slightly as she addressed Nightmare Moon and I. I could feel my head shake and a small polite smile make its way onto my lips.

"We thank you, but that will be all." Nightmare Moon responded with my voice. She gently pushed the small pile of bits I had separated prior towards the waitress. "It would not be untoward to ask that we remain seated here for just a while longer, would it?"

The waitress skillfully swept and tucked the bits into the folds of her wing. If it wasn't obvious just how experienced at her job she had been before, watching her take a collection of solid gold coins and make them disappear into the small space between her wings and her barrel without so much as a sound had definitely solidified it.

"No problem at all! Plenty of customers like to just relax here during the quieter times of the day. Though, I may need to come by and ask you to move so I can wipe down the tables for other customers in half an hour." Nightmare Moon gave out a pleasant chuckle at this, waving a hoof through the air.

"That will not be an issue. We shall not be long." She assured. The mare gave a nod at this, once more thanking us for our business and wishing us a good night before she went off into the diner. More than likely, she still had other customers to attend to.

For a moment, both Nightmare Moon and I just watched her until she was out of our direct line of sight. Once she was gone though, Nightmare Moon turned our shared heads so that we were looking directly ahead of us again.

Celestia, still holding that same gentle smile on her face, had still been looking in the direction that the mare had gone.

"I must say, that was quite a generous tip of you to provide." She tittered. Neither Nightmare Moon nor I were entertained.

As Nightmare Moon had figured, the waitress hadn't noticed the alicorn's presence at the table at all. That spell she had cast was certainly impressive, to say the least. Course, it would probably seem a lot more interesting to me at the time if I wasn't figuratively dying inside.

I was still dealing with the fact that Celestia apparently knew that it was Nightmare Moon that was controlling me at the time. It also didn't take a genius to figure out that she likely knew that we were here well in advance. It would have been way too much of a coincidence for her to have been there otherwise. And say what you want about Equestria and all of its craziness, even those weird coincidences the place is known for have limits before they arent 'coincidences' anymore.

I was barely even able to get Gilda to sneak off as I had asked her to with a few more mental messages before the waitress had come by and interrupted whatever train of thought I might have had.

Thankfully, despite my perfectly calm and not-at-all-incredibly-panicked state of mind, Nightmare Moon was more than happy to take the reigns in the conversation.

... God damn it, humans have too many horse-related phrases...

"Spare us the frivolities, 'sister'." She responded without missing a beat. " 'Tis painfully obvious that thou art here for more than to exchange pleasantries." Her tone was even and precise as she spoke, like a parent addressing their child when they do something wrong. It was certainly different from what I had heard from her before, but definitely not unwelcome considering the circumstances.

Celestia, for her part, showed no obvious outward reaction. Though I could swear that her ear twitched ever so slightly when Nightmare Moon had called her 'sister'.

"I suppose I can appreciate just how straightforward you are being. It's rather reminiscent of the last time that we met face to face, in a way." Celestia mused. This earned a smirk from Nightmare Moon as she leaned forward against the table. For a moment, an image of Celestia being blasted by a beam of concentrated magic entered my mind.

"Ah, we suppose thou refers to the night of our return? When we banished thee in the depths of our Nightmare Realm?" I blinked at that. Well, as close to blinking as I could manage from where I was watching this. I was... dealing with a lot of conflicting feelings, right about now.

Celestia's ear twitched yet again, this time much more noticeably than before.

"Quite." She replied simply, a deadpan expression breaking through the facade of a smile she had been holding up until then. She took in a breath through her nose, Nightmare Moon and I watching in silence as she used the opportunity to gather herself.

Before long, that same smile came up yet again. It was so god damn grating to see it at this point. It was like I was getting poked over and over again with a stick. It didn't really hurt, per se, but it just got more and more annoying.

"Speaking of, I must say, I'm somewhat surprised to see that you are refraining from spreading your nightmares and illusions to the general populace. And for that, you have my gratitude."

Despite Nightmare Moon's previous request, Celestia was yet again beating around the proverbial bush. Whatever panic I might have had at this point was very quickly just turning into that feeling you get when a mosquito keeps flying just close enough to your ear that you can hear it, but never staying long enough for you to swat it.

I could tell Nightmare Moon was feeling similarly, what with the fact that she let out a poorly hidden growl with my body.

"I will be blunt." She then said, which I doubted, "I have come here to... negotiate."

This earned a raised brow from both Nightmare Moon and me.

"Negotiate? The fuck does she mean by that?" I asked into the void that was my currently occupied mind. Nightmare Moon's voice served as the void's answer.

"We are... unsure." As if to mimic her curiosity, I felt my mouth open to say something. Before we could though, Celestia simply raised a hoof to stop us.

"Allow me to explain." Just as smoothly as she raised her hoof, she lowered it down to the table alongside her other foreleg, holding them together as she spoke. "You see, as one of the rulers of this country, it is my duty to ensure the safety of all of my citizens. Everypony looks to me for a number of things. Guidance, hope," she narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, "and safety."

"And our presence disrupts that, we take it?" Nightmare Moon retorted, her tone still even. Celestia nodded sagely.

"Of course. Were it up to me, my ponies would live their lives happily and fully, knowing well and good that they would find happiness, fulfill whatever purposes the harmony of our land deigned to provide them, start families, and pass that happiness onto their next of kin."

"Does she ramble like this all the fucking time?" I found myself asking. I was pretty fresh out of patience, and frankly, I wasn't inclined to think about how ironic it was that I was the one asking this.

"Verily. From what we recall of our former life, she does so whenever she finds herself stressed or her mind occupied."

I had a very visceral reaction to the idea that she apparently had the same bad habit that I did. One that involved pretending to slam my face into a wall over and over again. All things considered, that probably would have been more productive than that conversation was becoming.

"The point, 'sister'." Nightmare Moon interrupted, raising our voice for a moment as she evidently was starting to lose patience too. Celestia didn't even flinch this time.

"I am well aware that you likely have... goals that you would like to accomplish. And while I cannot exactly allow them to pass if they would endanger any of my subjects, I am willing to make certain concessions if we can go about resolving this whole matter as peacefully and quietly as possible."

"Concessions?" Nightmare Moon repeated as I felt one of my body's brows raise. "As we recall, 'twas not an interest of Equestria's princesses to make 'concessions' when regarding our enemies. Peace talks and token delegations, aside."

"Times have changed. We have changed. You are simply a relic of the past, is all. A peek at simpler, more regretful times." She very pointedly looked us over, pausing for a moment as she took everything in. An odd glint flashed in her eyes for a moment, but it just as quickly disappeared. "A time where we... where I made many mistakes."

To Nightmare Moon's credit, she didn't seem to provide any real reaction to what Celestia said. I, on the other hand, was fucking fuming.

"Thou deigns to pretend thou makes no mistakes anymore?"

"Hardly. But I do my best to keep them and the suffering those mistakes would bring about to an absolute minimum."

A 'minimum'. What an absolute joke. I had so many thoughts brewing in my head, so many words flashing in front of me all at once, it was overwhelming. Over and over I would start some kind of sentence in my head only to have it interrupted by another, then another. Eventually, I realized that I had way too much in mind to just sit on the sidelines anymore.

"Tag out." I felt my body freeze for a moment.

"Sir Jeremy?"

"Tag out," I repeated. "let me take control for a bit."

There was a vague sense of confusion and uncertainty I could feel coming from Nightmare Moon as I spoke, but to her credit, she didn't question me. Instead, I felt the now concerningly familiar sensation of my brain being shot around like a pinball before all sensation in my limbs suddenly returned to me. I forced my eyes shut for a bit, rubbing my foreleg against them while I wiped away what small spots clouded my vision.

"Feel not afraid to seek our aid should you need it." Nightmare Moon offered. I physically nodded, sending her the closest mental image to a thumbs up that I could manage.

By the time I opened my eyes again, Celestia was looking at me with a vaguely confused expression. I took a breath before I spoke.

"Good to know I'm apparently a minimum expense." Her eyes widened for a moment. Evidently, she hadn't expected that response. "Also - and I can't believe I have to restate this for her - I'd really appreciate it if you just moved the hell on and said what you need to say."

For a moment, she just sat there wide-eyed. It wasn't long though before her expression shifted again. This time, much to my confusion, she seemed almost sad.

"Ah. Human. It is troubling to see that you truly have aligned yourself with the other two as reports have-"

"The. Fucking. Point." I really wasn't interested in whatever else she had to say about Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon. Frankly, at this point I just wanted this to be over with.

Again, she paused for a moment, looking at me with a troubled expression. Thankfully, she relented.

"Allow yourself to be placed in exile from society with supervisional check-ins, Nightmare Moon to have her magic permanently limited, and the changeling queen to once more be imprisoned." The table shook as I all but slammed my forelegs against it and stood on my seat.

"Excuse me- Are you outta your- What the f-"

"Tag out." Nightmare Moon's voice interrupted my several failed attempts at some kind of sentence. Evidently, she was making use of a newly acquired term I had just given her. I could just barely notice the fact that my heart was pounding in my eardrums. If I had knuckles, I have no doubt in my mind they would be white from how hard my hands would be balled up.

I wanted to keep going - to get some kind of response out that would effectively let the princess know what the hell I thought about her stupid suggestion. That wouldn't have been fair though. Nightmare Moon had trusted me to take over when I asked, so I would do the same for her.

I sat down with a huff as I felt shadows move along the space between my jacket and skin. Before long, I was a spectator once again to my own body.

"... And what benefit would we possibly have to gain from following such dubious demands?" Celestia raised both her forelegs, letting whatever pony equivalent to elbows rest on the table while she rested her head against her folded hooves.

"You know as well as I that your mere existence after being cleansed by the Elements of Harmony is little more than an oddity. By all means, the ancient magic of the elements should have wiped you away alongside any other impurities that had been plaguing my sister." She leaned forward as she spoke, her voice becoming a whisper. "There is no guarantee this would happen again. At best, you would be imprisoned in stone or sent back to the moon. At worst, the elements would find you too corrupt to save, and you would well and truly be purged from this world."

Again, to Nightmare Moon's credit, she didn't react to this. Even as Celestia threatened what I could only really equate to as her death.

...

Sorry, needed a moment. It's not a very fond memory of mine.

"And what of the changeling and human? What would be their benefits to this agreement?"

"The changeling can just as easily be turned to stone, if not banished elsewhere from whence she could not return. There would be no guarantee of her survival there." I scoffed at the idea of imprisonment being something that you could even somewhat consider 'survival'. Especially if they did the same to her as they had done to me. "As for the human? While he would still be overseen in his exile, I can imagine it would prove preferable to have them roaming about freely as opposed to housed within a cell."

Nightmare Moon gave a thoughtful stare, taking in what she had just been told while I rolled my figurative eyes. She was definitely better at having a poker face than I was. Then again, life as a princess probably calls for that.

"The changeling is... understandable. 'Tis a quite problematic species if left unchecked. Even a single queen has the potential to create a swarm. However, one thing eludes us. What is thine interest in the human? From what we have seen, there seems to be little danger regarding them. Yet, they are given royal priority." Nightmare Moon made a show of appearing as absolutely casual as she spoke, allowing our gaze to drift off to the tops of one of the nearby buildings with a bored expression. The both of us saw movement there as she did, but she pretended otherwise.

If I had to guess, Celestia wasn't quite as alone as we had figured.

"The reasons of the crown are just that. Reasons of the crown."

"Tag out." Again, I was thrown into control.

"In other words, you don't want to tell us. Christ, don't give us that political 'evasion of the question' crap."

"There is much more behind it than that."

"Tag out." Again, I was a spectator.

"And what, pray tell, would thou believe this 'more behind it' to be?"

"I am in no position to share this at the moment."

"Tag out." Control.

"Bullshit. You're the fucking princess. There is literally nobody you answer to except yourself."

"Yet you would expect me to answer to you?"

"Tag out." Spectator.

"We would if thou would prefer these negotiations to proceed anywhere meaningful."

I don't know how long we did this. Swapping in and out whenever either of us had something to add that the other didn't. It felt oddly natural. The two of us were pretty much filling in whatever that the other lacked. Nightmare Moon provided the cold and calculated political responses to keep the conversation flowing naturally back to the negotiation, while I bluntly called her out on whatever deflection or non-answer she tried to give.

Weird as it is to say, it was kind of nice. For a while, I even started to forget where the boundaries between her mind and mine were split. And I didn't mind that. At some point though, two things happened.

For one, Celestia sighed.

The second thing to happen was a lot more subtle. Nice as it was to be working so well with Nightmare Moon, there was a bit of a side effect to me constantly having my brain bouncing forwards and backward between being in control of my own body and watching everything like a movie screen. Having my consciousness being used like a hockey puck wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, and it was really starting to get to me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After an entire week of cleaning out an entire castle based on some arbitrary standards, as well as having to return home to deal with whatever idiocy awaited, I figured that peace and quiet were exactly what I had needed. Granted, I couldn't allow myself to fall asleep. The spell I had cast on Jeremy wasn't a particularly long-lasting one on its own, so I needed to keep some semblance of focus on it to keep it going. The distance they had gained from me didn't help, but it was manageable.

Still, it was meant to be a time that I could pass the time and allow my mind to go blank. And it was. For all of thirty minutes.

Boredom is a funny little thing. It pops up at seemingly random times, almost with the express purpose of making you regret doing whatever had brought it about. Yet, sometimes, you just as swiftly end up regretting satiating said boredom with whatever might have been convenient.

Jeremy's home didn't exactly provide much in the form of entertainment either. There was a couple of old discarded newspapers from months ago, but outside of that, there was nothing else. I couldn't help but miss the time in which I had an entire hive to cater to my every whim. Sometimes my drones would take on the roles of jesters, bringing about whatever mirth that they could through acts of slapstick and mimicry. Other times, my more experienced hive members would use some of the knowledge they had gathered from mingling with ponies, griffons, and minotaurs to provide a variety of spa-quality treatments. A particular favorite of mine had been something they had picked up from watching the minotaurs, which involved an oddly relaxing exercise focused on the part of my chitin where my wings met my body.

Even as I thought back to it, I found my wings absentmindedly escaping their place beneath their covering. They flittered and buzzed for a moment as I realized just how long it had been since I had made any real use of them. Flying wasn't exactly the most viable option for quite some time and now wasn't any different, even if the reason was distinct.

In my time alone, I must have wandered through each and every room in the house looking for something to occupy myself. I sat on every chair, often in different positions. I looked through every cabinet, often finding rather bland or basic things as I did so. Though I did find some mild amusement when I found something in a magazine hidden behind a few cleaning products under the sink. One that I could most certainly use against a certain human at a later date. I even made use of the opportunity presented to rest in a bed for the first time in what felt like ages.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stomach being in it for too long, seeing as it positively reeked of the human's scent.

I did take one of the pillows though. 'For comfort', I had told myself. That it was 'marginally better than the cushions that were on the couch of the home'. I ultimately settled on sitting atop all of the couch cushions stacked together alongside one of Jeremy's bed pillows as a sort of throne.

I digress though.

For some time, I wondered how long the others would be out. Not because I missed their company, obviously. They were the ones I was taking the time off from, after all. But more so because I had my doubts that they could go more than a few minutes without doing something stupid what with the griffon being by their side.

Much to my chagrin, I found this concern proven right when I sensed a flurry of powerful emotions approaching. Panic, fear, and concern, all meshed together like some poorly constructed tempest of anxiety and fuss. I watched as the emotions grew closer and closer, hoping beyond hope that it was unrelated to me.

"Don't knock... Don't knock... Don't knock-" There was a hysterical series of raps against the door to the house. "EMPRESS DAMN IT."

To say that I had been tempted to simply ignore the noise and pretend I had never heard it would be an understatement. I sighed as I nonetheless removed myself from my position on my cushiony throne and walked to the door. In case it was indeed just some random pony that had come by, I made sure to change my form to that of my work identity as an earth pony mare.

"Alright already, keep your horseshoes set!" I yelled, opening the door as I did so. No sooner than I had barely cracked it open, however, did the familiar bandage-wearing pony all but gallop past me into the room. I only barely kept myself from falling over in surprise before turning to glare at the pony-shaped bulldozer. "You have ten seconds to explain why you would dare to-"

"J-J-Jeremy and N-Nightmare Moon- At the restaurant- D-Dropped a bit- W-Went to p-p-pick it up- C-C-Celestia!" She stammered, her lungs heaving as she tried in vain to get some kind of message across. I could feel myself lean my head back just a tad as I narrowed my eyes at the poor attempt at speech that was being portrayed before me.

"What? What in Tartarus are you saying?" She made to speak again, her breaths just as quick and haphazard as before. This time though, I stopped her. I raised a hoof to her muzzle, shutting her mouth before she could murder the common language any further. Evidently, that didn't stop her from hyperventilating, as was evident by the rapid breathing I felt against my hoof from her snout. "Breathe. Then, you can talk."

I leaned forward, making sure her eye met mine.

"You're no use to me if you pass out now. Understand?" I felt her still under my gaze and my hoof. Eventually, she nodded, and I soon felt her breathing slowly more and more. It was only once I believed her to be fully calmed that I removed my hoof from her mouth. "Better?"

She nodded again.

"Good, now, just what happened?" She took in another breath, as though making sure that she had gotten everything out of her system before she went about explaining everything.

When she mentioned Celestia, I thought for a moment that she was joking. But I could see her emotions. I had been seeing those emotions since she had rushed through the door in a panic. She wasn't joking. She was deadly serious. And at the moment, so was I.

I kept silent as she spoke, taking in everything she said and just trying my best to unravel the mess it brought into my head. I was used to high-stress situations like this. Being given information that was less than optimal and being asked what should be done next. Being the queen of a species that is constantly starving and craving more will do that to you.

Why would Celestia have even been there was one of the things that I focused on first. There was no way in Equestria that she had just happened upon that restaurant by accident. The odds of her recognizing Jeremy were also exceptionally low, seeing as he had been disguised at the time. Even less so Halfy and Gilda. The two were, by all means, completely unrelated individuals to the three of them. One guess was that she had some means of tracking everyone down in advance. But that made no sense. There were no signs of anyone following them up until now. Yes, they were living in the old home of Jeremy, however who was to say that the home had not simply been under new ownership at the time? Ponies moved all the time.

That was a conundrum that could be resolved later.

Another more pressing thought made itself present as Halfy mentioned that Jeremy and Nightmare Moon had asked her and Gilda to simply leave them behind. I barely withheld a sneer, promising myself that I would drench those two in ice water if they came back. And if they didn't, that I'd hunt them down and all but drown them in it. There was also the fact that Gilda was not yet here, despite also being asked to leave. I chalked that up to her leaving separately for now. If that wasn't the case, I would deal with that bridge when I crossed it. Something else was bothering me about this though. On the off chance that Celestia was aware of who Jeremy and Nightmare Moon were, and that this was all planned out, why would she have simply left somepony who was interacting with them leave?

"... Were you followed?" I asked plainly. Halfy blinked as she stared back at me.

"I-... w-what?" I kept myself from groaning in frustration, but just barely. I really wasn't in the mood to repeat myself.

"Were. You. Followed?" I repeated nonetheless, this time making sure to give ample pause between my words to make sure I could not be misheard. Halfy, in response, simply opened her mouth. No words came out as she seemingly searched for them. Once more, I could see emotions of panic flaring up within her as she realized that she didn't have an answer. I felt my muzzle twitch as I started to concoct possible backup plans and escape paths. Something else I had grown used to doing.

Before even one of them could be done though, there was another knock at the door. This one was much more authoritative and demanding. Beyond it, I saw a confusing mass of emotions. It wasn't that it looked like one individual, but an amalgamation of several that were all bunched together.

"Yo! Open the bucking door already! I'm not in the mood to find out if I can pick locks with my talons again." I heard a familiar voice ring out. I cringed at the thought that I was partially relieved it was the griffon.

I made my way over and opened it, slightly at first, before meeting my gaze with the griffon. She seemed tired. Exhausted even. The feathers on her head were protruding in all directions, scuffs of dirt and grime littered her body, and I could see that she was slightly favoring her right forearm. Yet, despite this, there was an odd sense of pride oozing from her.

"Quiet, before all of Equestria knows you're here!" I whispered as loudly as I could, just barely keeping my volume at a level that couldn't be considered shouting. "What took you so long anyways?"

The griffon rolled her eyes, using her body to shove the rest of the door open and to walk past me. As she did, I noticed a pair of wriggling masses balanced atop her back.

"Well, excuse me. But someone needed to up the cool factor of the place in the only way that a certain human figured I could handle." With a grunt, she all but threw the masses on her back to the floor of the living room. Halfy and I could only stare with wide eyes as a pair of pegasus struggled against ropes and restraints they had been bound in, keeping their hooves, wings, and mouths from being unable to do anything effective. The two had white and gold armor adorning them identifying them as members of Celestia's day guard, though there were more than a few dinks, dents, and scrapes littered throughout them. As one of the pegasi looked to Halfy almost pleadingly while the other looked between me and Gilda with as much anger and hatred as they could muster, I could only blink.

"... How did you-"

"Apparently J kinda figured something was up, so he had me keep an eye out in case Halfy was being tailed. I got the jump on 'em, but," she took a step to the guard glaring at us and shoved him back down, "the one tailing me tried to do the same." She straightened out a few of her loose feathers with her claws, occasionally wincing as she felt one come loose uncomfortably.

"And where did you get the rope?" I asked.

"Oh my Celestia, we k-kidnapped two members of the guard..." I barely heard Halfy whisper. Evidently, she was in a state of shock from the whole thing. The griffon didn't seem to take note of this. She shrugged her shoulders as she answered.

"Construction site not that far from here. Had to take a detour when one of 'em tried to clobber me outta the air." While I had several more questions, and believe me I did, I would be hard-pressed to ignore a very clear opportunity before me. Right here, before my eyes, were two members of one of the princess's personal guards. They had no means of escape, no means of calling for help, and most importantly, they were pegasus. In other words, they had no means of combatting magic. I could feel a smirk make its way on my muzzle as I realized what I had before me.

A source of information.

I shed my pony disguise, allowing myself to stand in my true form before the two hog-tied ponies. The pony that had been panicking before seemed even more eager to escape the ropes binding them. The one that just prior had been so gung ho about showing their anger suddenly faltered.

"Right. Well, I can honestly say I am pleasantly surprised by how decently you did, griffon." Said griffon snickered.

"Really? That's the closest thing to a compliment I get for taking down two trained guards? No bowing at my awesomeness? No 'wow Gilda, you're the absolutely coolest thing this side of the world'? Nothin?" I decided not to justify any of that with a response. For now. Later, yes. Now though? I had ponies that I needed to intimidate.

"Why don't you and Halfy head to one of the other rooms for a bit? Take some time, get some air, all of that. I do believe you've earned it." This particular recommendation earned a raised brow from the griffon. I could also vaguely - just vaguely - sense a small twinge of concern coming from her. I took pride in that.

"You uh... you good there, bug breath?" I ignored her comment, closing the distance on the ponies while my horn began to light.

"Oh, just grand actually. It's been some time since I've been able to worm my way into the minds of ponies, you see. And I was beginning to miss the feeling." I leaned my head down, closing the distance between the pegasus closest to me. "Now, I have two wonderful-looking specimens to work with. Won't this be fun?"

And I can happily declare: It was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes were closed as I rubbed my hooves against the temples of my head. They did little to soothe the enormous headache I felt from constantly being thrown back and forth in my own skull, what with being hooves, but it was all I could really do. I never missed having fingers more than I did at that very moment.

Nightmare Moon and I had been arguing with Celestia for I don't know how long. All I know is that, at some point, I took control again only for neither her, nor Celestia, nor I to have anything meaningful to add on. In a way, we had said everything we needed to, and no side was backing down.

The cool night air served as the slightest reprieve from the pain in my head, as well as the shifting of shadows within my coat. Celestia was the first to break the silence.

"This is ridiculous." She said tiredly. "All we're doing is going around in circles."

"On that, we're very much agreed," I replied simply. Opening my eyes, I looked up to the alicorn before me. She no longer had that calm and collected expression from before, nor that fake motherly smile plastered on her face. Instead, she seemed just as frustrated as me. I grimaced as I saw that she was leaning on the table, rubbing her hooves against the temples of her head.

"Oh god damn it..." I muttered, which seemed to draw her attention with a curious brow.

"Hm?"

"You do the same fucking thing I do. Again." I complained. For a moment, she just stared at me, her expression unreadable. Then, for the first time, she gave a smirk. Or rather, it was the first time I saw anything close to a smile from her that seemed legitimate.

"I'm almost certain that I have been around longer than you have. So, technically, you are copying me." She spoke with mirth in her voice. I just rolled my eyes at this, hitting her with the best comeback I could come up with at the time.

"That's stupid. You're stupid." One of my absolute best. She chuckled at that, closing her eyes and shaking her head ever so slightly. Next to me, I could vaguely make out the visage of Nightmare Moon appear again. She seemed confused, as though she had just missed a crucial part of a story. I, on the other hand, didn't think there was anything significant.

Another moment of silence passed as Celestia straightened herself once again. Her eyes were ever so slightly softer as she spoke.

"You have a headache?" I blinked.

"Yeah? Kinda par for the course with dealing with a big white horse with an ego bigger than the sun she moves, isn't it?" She didn't respond to this. Instead, she just looked over to one of the empty roads around us, as though in thought.

"And how much do you remember?" I narrowed my eyes at this. I figured she was doing some other stupid runaround or change of the subject.

"Enough. Now, would you just get back to-"

"Very well." She interrupted. She raised herself from her seated position the first time she got here. As she did, she looked at me with an odd expression. One that seemed almost sad. "I can see that negotiation is futile. So for now, I will leave you be."

Her golden-clad hooves clopped softly on the ground as she started to depart, her gaze no longer spared to Nightmare Moon or I. I squinted my eyes at this, taking a glance around my surroundings to see if anything was coming. When I was satisfied with the fact that there was nothing, I got up from my seat, stumbling slightly before remembering what little I knew about walking on four legs.

"That's it?" I called out to the departing princess. "No magic? No siccing your guards on us? Nothing?" Nightmare Moon seemed just as perplexed by this behavior, her head tilted next to me questioningly.

Celestia paused for a moment, glancing back at me with the familiar false smile she had worn before.

"Oh, hardly. While I do believe myself more than capable of defeating Nightmare Moon at this moment, I would hardly wish to go about doing so in the middle of Equestria's capital." She gestured around herself vaguely, hinting towards the several occupied residencies and storefronts there were, even in the emptiness of the night. "Far too much risk of others being hurt. Not to mention other factors I would have to keep in mind."

I could feel words struggling to make their way out of my throat, but they died over and over again. Instead, I managed to barely croak out one simple thing. One realization that hit me much harder than it should have.

"You were bluffing?" She widened her eyes at this, as though genuinely surprised.

"Oh, no, no, no... Well, yes and no." She corrected, one of her wings making an odd 'so-an-so' gesture. "I do very much plan to prioritize the safety and happiness of my ponies no matter what. And if that means using my magic, as well as that of the Elements of Harmony, to permanently rid of any threats. Then so be it. I simply wish to ensure there is as little collateral damage as possible."

"But... you don't have any way of doing that now do you?" She shrugged.

"Who can say? For now, I do believe it is getting rather late. I should get my rest before my sister takes over. Royal business and all that, you understand." I didn't. I could pretend I did, but I didn't feel like doing that either. So I just looked at her with a deadpan.

"I stand corrected. You're very stupid." I could just barely hear her give out another earnest chuckle before a faint glow appeared around her horn. In the next moment, she was gone. She had disappeared with an audible pop.

I glanced around, checking to see if maybe she had just turned invisible or something. I know, in hindsight, that was pretty dumb on my part. I wasn't likely to see her if she was invisible considering she'd be... well... invisible.

"Well," I relayed through my mind "that went better than I expected." The response I got was swift."

"Verily... Almost concerningly so, as a matter of fact." The shadows shifted below me ever so slightly, pointing off in random directions. "Though 'twould seem that we art still with company" As she implied, I could still see bits of movement on the rooftops. I frowned at this, electing to start making my way down the road in a random direction. At least until I once more heard those now all too familiar words.

"Tag out." I flinched at the thought of being bounced around in my own skull again. "Worry not. This will be the last time." My lips pursed for a moment, but I just gave a nod in agreement nonetheless.

For what would hopefully be the last time for tonight, if my absolutely throbbing head had anything to say about it, I was placed in the role of a spectator to my own body. I watched as Nightmare Moon made her way down the roads of Canterlot, undisturbed by those that followed her from the rooftops. I watched as she made her way into a small alleyway between buildings, placing us even an even darker place than the night had provided. I watched as the shadows that were hidden below my jacket all but sprang to life, surrounding and circling around me like serpents through the air. I watched as our shared sights disappeared into nothing but pitch black.

And what came next? I felt. For a millisecond, my body felt as though it didn't exist. I felt suspended in a touchless, smell-less, soundless, tasteless, sightless void. A bit of panic came over me, but just as quickly it was ushered away as this unmistakable sensation of warmth peered through. It was as if I was being held. Clutched closely to some indeterminate mass. Then, everything returned all at once. And all at once, I could see that we were standing inside of my home. Specifically, we were in one of the corners of my bedroom.

It took me a moment to reorient myself as all of the wriggling shadows around me finally ebbed and flowed away and I was once more in control. In a way, I kinda felt cold and naked without them. I had grown so used to their being there that it was as though I had just lost a bit of myself when they left. I didn't linger on that though. Instead, I occupied myself watching as those shadows took shape next to me, quickly growing larger than I stood into the familiar and reassuring form of Nightmare Moon.

Her eyes were closed in focus as the last of the shadows recalled themselves into her form, bringing life to her mane once again before she finally looked down towards me.

"Shadow Transmission. Not quite as instantaneous or efficient as simple teleportation, but far less easily traced." She smiled softly as she spoke. "Also, far more pleasant than the use of portals."

I returned the smile, subconsciously rubbing my head where I remembered hitting rock after my last run-in with portals.

"I can appreciate that," I said plainly. Nightmare Moon tittered at this, shaking her head gently before she looked at me with an approving grin.

"We must say. You handled yourself quite well in the face of royalty." She commented.

"I'm friends with a princess and a queen. I'd like to think I'm decent, at this point." I scoffed in return.

"Hm. Perhaps." Nightmare Moon glanced up to the ceiling in faux thought, the smile from before never leaving her lips. I barely saw her wing open and circle around me out of the corner of my eye. It wasn't close enough to touch me, but it practically shielded me from the rest of the world around me. It was almost like having those shadows around me all over again. 'Comforting' was the word that came to mind. "However, should we go about committing any other 'negotiations', we would be most reassured to have you by our side to serve as a..."

"Bullshit-o-meter?" I offered. The wing behind me lightly slapped the back of my head.

"We were going to say 'regent' or 'viceroy'."

"Sounds a bit too fancy for my taste."

" 'Steward' then?"

"Isn't that a bit of a downgrade from a knight?"

" 'Sir Steward Jeremy' it shall be then!"

"That's just a mouthful."

This was nice. I couldn't tell you when, but at some point, the two of us had gotten into a rhythm. I guess that all the time we spent filling in for each other with the princess had made it a bit harder for us to leave lulls in our conversations. Still, nothing lasts forever. Before I or Nightmare Moon could comment any further, the sound of footsteps echoed through the air. Shortly thereafter, the door to my bedroom was opened.

"Look, Halfy, it ain't that bad. I mean sure, you're technically an accessory to kidnapping, but I'm pretty sure there ain't a court out there that would see a cute mare like you and throw the book at you." I watched as Gilda entered the room, far too preoccupied speaking to the bandaged earth mare behind her to see either Nightmare Moon or I standing in the corner. I raised a brow as they spoke, but I didn't say anything.

Halfy, for her part, was staring wide-eyed at the floor.

"I-I just don't know what to think of all this. It's so much so suddenly." She looked up to Gilda. "Are we sure it was a good idea to leave those guards with Chrysalis?" Gilda shrugged in return.

"Meh. She seemed happy enough. Besides, I ain't exactly inclined to feel bad for them after they stalked you halfway here and jumped me two on one." She stretched one of her wings out as she spoke, garnering a very loud, very painful, yet very satisfying sounding click out of her joints in the process.

"W-what about Nightmare Moon and Jeremy, we still don't know if they're-"

"Present." I finally said, drawing the attention of the two. Well, I say 'drawing their attention', but really I mean scaring the living night out of them.

"OH MY CELESTIA!"

"BUCK ME WITH A BARREL!"

Halfy and Gilda shouted out respectively, which instantly made me regret everything as my eardrums practically screamed into my aching head. I grimaced at the noise, once more raising my hooves to my temples to temper the pain. I heard Nightmare Moon give out a faint harumph next to me.

"Aw. We wished to see how long it would have taken them to sense our presence on their own." She said, yet again taking that tone of a child that just had their toy taken away. Despite the pounding of jackhammers in my ears, I hazarded a chuckle.

"Maybe next time."

All things considered, this had been a nice dinner outing with friends.

Though I doubt that my blood pressure would agree.

And no, I'm not just referring to how bad those cheese fries were probably clogging up my arteries. Frankly, I think that's the only case in which I truly wouldn't mind.

Chapter 32: Dare To Dream

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As you can probably guess, there was a lot of explaining to do. Not only to Gilda and Halfy about what happened after they left but also to Chrysalis. Of course, we had to deal with a couple of things before we could fill her in. For one, we had to wait for her to uh... 'deal' with the guards that Gilda had caught.

On a related note, I made sure to give Gilda a high five for that one. I also swallowed my pride and promised to preen her wings for her later to make up for the bruises she had gotten while wrestling with the two pegasi.

Back on topic, changelings apparently were very good at other ways of deception besides just changing their forms. Illusion magic, hypnosis, and - most importantly - memory manipulation. Now, it's not anything large-scale. They can't just completely wipe something's mind to make it so that they can't even remember their own name or anything like that, but they can look through recent memories and change small details about them. Things like, say, where it was that we were hiding out. Or even the fact that they had seen us. Instead, those memories could be tweaked just enough to make them believe that they had lost track of us not long after we left the restaurant. And that the reason they took so long to report back was that they were thoroughly searching where we had last been seen just in case they had missed something.

Pretty nifty. Obviously, the ethics of messing with people's memories was more than a bit questionable, but I couldn't exactly find that little bit of mercy there might have been in the back of my head to any member of Celestia's guard. Not after everything.

This brings us to the other thing that Chrysalis had to do once she finished messing with the minds of those ponies and sent them off to give out false information—immediately soaking Nightmare Moon and me in ice water upon seeing us. She didn't question how we got away, what had happened, or anything like that. Nope, she just fired up her horn and made me regret even bothering to wear dry clothes at any point in my life. Nightmare Moon wasn't particularly happy about being soaked either, but at least she was able to dry the two of us off easily enough with a quick spell of hers that was the equivalent of being sprayed by a hundred hair dryers at once.

She yelled at us for a bit, unsurprisingly, and I did my best not to ask her to shut the hell up before I buried her in the backyard to see if a bitch tree would grow... Look, I had a really bad headache, okay? Obviously, I wouldn't have just randomly thrown that at her.

Nonetheless, I managed to keep my mouth shut long enough for her to go through her entire spiel and eventually ask for details on what had happened. She had a general idea from looking through the memories of those guards, but she wanted us to fill in any gaps there might have been. So, once she turned me back into a human, I indulged her. After I rushed to the bathroom and puked my guts out from the combination of migraine and nausea that came from the forcible change of my anatomy, that is.

This was the only time I was not happy to see Cheese Fries again.

A couple of aspirin and some generous rinsing of the mouth later, Chrysalis was caught up to speed, as well as Gilda and Halfy who had by now come down to join us. We mentioned Celestia's sudden appearance, that fact that she instantly saw through the disguise Chrysalis had provided me - which she was apparently not happy about from a pride standpoint - and even the supposed 'negotiations' that had taken place.

Nightmare Moon was all too happy to talk about how we shut down Celestia's attempts at a friendly facade while Gilda was plenty pleased with herself when it came to recounting how she brought down the pegasi in detail. Side note: She was apparently being rather kind with how she went about doing so, considering talons tend to be something that can easily cut wings off. Yowch. Halfy, for her part, was actually rather silent. She was more focused on the ground than anything else we were saying. I chalked it up to the fact that she was in shock from everything. Not like I could blame her.

By the time we were done, Chrysalis had an expression that I could only really identify as that of a person rethinking a large variety of things. As to why? It turned out that it was because of more than just what we had told her. Something she had seen in the memories of those guards was bothering her.

Evidently, they hadn't received the information on where we would be, as well as the disguises we would have, from Celestia. Rather, they had gotten their orders and briefings from Luna. I didn't really know why this was important. I mean, sure, it turned out that Luna was helping her sister. That wasn't exactly all that much of a surprise. Nightmare Moon, however, suddenly got very quiet.

"Whilst we were at the diner," she mentioned, "there was a stallion claiming that they were having nightmares for the past week."

Again, I was clueless why this was important. Chrysalis, however, looked as though she had just been slapped in the face.

Which somehow all lead to where I was now. In bed. Chrysalis sat on the floor to my right and tapped her hoof impatiently against the wooden tile while both Nightmare Moon and Gilda were to my left, with the previously stated alicorn leaning somewhat onto the mattress. Her weight caused the mattress to shift, but it wasn't really enough for me to notice. Instead, I was more focused on the fact that her horn was glowing ever so slightly, as well as the focus she had etched across her features. Halfy was getting some drinks for us downstairs at Chrysalis' request.

"... So, why the hell are we doing this again?" I asked unceremoniously. Gilda seemed to share the sentiment, shrugging her shoulders before she leaned an elbow against the wooden headboard of the bed.

"Yeah, what the hay are we doin'? You guys didn't really say anything. You just scooped the big guy up in your magic and tossed him into bed without saying a word." She looked directly at me for a moment. "Last I checked, trying to drag him into bed was supposed to be my shtick." I pursed my lips at this, raising a hand and quickly flicking her in the beak without a second thought. She flinched at this, shifting the yellow protrusion on her otherwise white-feathered face before giving it a couple of sniffles.

I could practically hear Chrysalis rolling her eyes this time around.

"Weren't you paying any attention?" She snarled. I just gave her a deadpan. We both just stared at one another for a bit, waiting for the other to budge. Whether it was due to sheer stubbornness, or just Chyrsalis's lack of care for the matter, I ended up winning out as she ended up all but slamming her hoof into her head. "Why am I not surprised..."

"Can't say there's much I could have missed. The big white sun horse doesn't like us. The moon horse doesn't like us either. Kinda self-explanatory." I retorted. Nightmare Moon's expression of focus shifted ever so slightly at this, a brow of hers raising in my direction. I realized my faux pas rather quickly. "The bad moon horse, of course." She blinked, only somewhat sated in her curiosity.

"We were aware. We were more curious as to why you refer to either of them as 'whorses'. Unless more has changed in the past millennia than we had believed, members of royalty rarely took consorts. In fact, we do not believe Celestia has ever had a lover of any kind. Even less so did they indulge in carnal matters of the flesh with such frivolity and leisure as to earn such labels." She stated, as though it was the most typical point of conversation in the world. I had forgotten that the closest word to 'horse' meant something entirely different around here.

"Wait, so you guys, like, never got laid as princesses?" Gilda restated in her own blunt and simple way. I, in the meantime, really wanted the subject to change. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one.

"Focus!" Chrysalis chided, stomping a hoof onto the floor. "Yes, 'moon whorse bad', 'sun whorse bad', whatever! The important thing is that the guards got their information about us from Luna!" Once more, I just stared at her.

"And?"

"And Luna has the ability to look through dreams!"

"Still not getting it..."

"Urgh!" Chrysalis gave out a roar of frustration, both of her forehooves covering her face before slowly being dragged downwards. Nightmare Moon took the opportunity to be the adult in the room. She moved one of her hooves just to my side, gaining my attention while she looked at me with a gentle expression.

"Sir Jeremy," she began, "dreams are a rather complex concept. While many believe them to be nothing more than haphazard amalgamations of thoughts and memories, they serve a different purpose altogether." She reached a hoof behind her, gesturing to some invisible object of sorts as she spoke. "They are much more akin to gateways. Entries into the minds and psyches of others. What is seen in a dream is often just a representation of those minds and psyches that create them. Their emotions, their hopes, their despair, their memories. All of these make up the realm of dreams and the many that find their solace in it."

She looked at me questioningly, checking to see if I understood what she was saying so far. I nodded my head, albeit a bit slowly. She continued shortly after.

"As we mentioned before, one of the duties of the princess of the night is to survey the dreams of others. However, when one does so, it is done at a surface level. Typically, we do not scratch beyond that surface, instead seeking nightmares to dispel at a glance, lest we begin to find ourselves deeper and deeper in the minds of those dreaming. Furthermore, such deep dives into the mind are... inefficient." She looked somewhere off to the side of the room as she said this. I took the opportunity to raise a question I had.

"Inefficient how? If you can look through the minds of other folks, wouldn't it just be easier in the long term to find out what was causing the bad dreams and just-" I gestured a hand emptily, looking for the right word I could use for the situation. When I came up with nothing, I just used the same buzzword most ponies used when I asked about stuff from their world. "magic it away?" Nightmare Moon simply shook her head.

"Nay. While one can dream walk along the surface level with as much ease as one would breathe, sifting through the complexities of the mind can be difficult. Time-consuming. By the time one finds the cause of one's nightmares, the night might as well be at an end."

I chalked another point for the 'don't bother trying to explain Equestria stuff, otherwise, you'll look stupid' board at that. At that point, the board might as well have been a solid black from all the tallies I had marked, but I digress.

While it was nice to get a bit of a better idea regarding Equestria and how some of the things here worked, I still wasn't really sure why it was important. Yes, you could look into another person's mind if you really wanted to while looking through dreams. Great. But I had no idea how that applied to anything. Until Chrysalis decided to enlighten me, albeit rather patronizingly.

If ponies were still having nightmares, then that meant that Luna was probably looking deeper into someone's mind. So, she didn't have time to help others. Plus, all the information the guards had been given was rather limited. Even more significantly though, Luna was giving said information out during the day, when she would normally be sleeping.

Now, let me just really get the idea nailed down here. Because believe me, I wish I had been able to understand this as easily back then. What Luna and Celestia apparently knew about my disguise was something only a certain amount of people knew. Halfy, Gilda, Zecora, Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and I. And of those people, two apparently couldn't have their minds looked into while they were dreaming. Not while they had magic, at least. So that left Zecora, Gilda, Halfy, and I. Zecora was miles away. There's no way she would have known that we were going out tonight. So she was out. And, finally, Gilda and Halfy both still at least tried to get some sleep at night. They had been trying to adopt a more nocturnal lifestyle, with Gilda having much more ease than Halfy, but they still weren't quite as nocturnal as I, Nightmare Moon or Chrysalis were.

That only left one on that list. Or rather, more precisely, one person.

"She's looking through my fucking head?! While I sleep?!" All things considered, I reacted better than I thought I would.

The concept of someone going through someone else's head was already weird enough to wrap my mind around. But the fact that they were actively doing so in my head not only made it seem all the more real, but it also added a level of creepiness to it that I just couldn't describe if I tried. I mean, fuck, not even being able to have your own dreams be private, but instead work as a door to the inner parts of your mind for someone to look through like a filing cabinet. I don't understand how ponies, or anyone else in Equestria for that matter, sees that as normal. I get it, a different world, different culture, but fucking hell my skin was crawling at the time.

" 'Tis just a theory at present, Sir Jeremy, unsightly as might seem." Her ears twitched ever so slightly. Evidently, I was not the only one who was just a wee bit stressed about having my inner thoughts looked through. I found my fingers at my temples again, my headache suddenly feeling like I was being stabbed against the right side of my skull. Stress, evidently, was not helping with the situation.

"And how exactly does dragging me to bed deal with this? Shouldn't I just, I dunno, stay awake or something?" I queried. I wasn't bothering to try to hide whatever frustration I felt anymore.

"Hardly. Not even mentioning the fact that you can't exactly stay awake during the day anymore," Chrysalis scoffed, "all that the princess would have to do is spend some time adjusting whose dreams she searched for. Eventually, she would find another of us whose dreams she could worm her way into."

"So I just have to deal with the fact that Luna is stalking my memories from inside my dreams from now on?" I deadpanned. At this, Chrysalis looked me dead in the eyes. The slits in the seas of emerald green that were her eyes thinned as she gained a look of focus and confidence.

"Only for one more day. Then, we turn the tables on her." I raised a brow at her words.

"And how exactly do we go about doing that?" Rather than respond with her words, Chrysalis simply gained a wry grin. She bobbed her head slightly across from her, straight towards where Nightmare Moon still sat, not having lost either the glow of her horn or the concentration on her visage.

"Why, using the only other alicorn that's an expert in dream magic, of course."

And there was the crux of Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon's reason for dragging me to bed. Evidently, I had forgotten that Nightmare Moon had technically been Princess Luna at some point. Meaning she had the same memories, same expertise, and same magic as the lunar diarch. To a point, obviously.

Still, it wasn't exactly a flawless idea. I had no clue what to expect, and Nightmare Moon was no better. Something about the dreams of humans being an entirely different ballpark than what she was used to. Add that to the fact that she was more than a little bit rusty with not just her dream magic, but a good portion of her magic in general, as well as the fact that Luna probably had much more practice and time at her hands to familiarize herself with all of these things that Nightmare Moon hadn't...

All of these were concerns. Very god damn valid concerns. And I was more than willing to make them known. At least until Chrysalis cheated.

"Surely, you can't tell me you don't have faith in her, can you?" She teased, leaning ever so slightly closer with an expression of faux surprise. I made sure to give a very pointed, very slow blink to her as she did.

"... Oh, fuck you."

"Not before me, you won't." Gilda instantly chimed in. I was a little less gentle than I was with my urging of her to shut up this time. Rather than flick my fingers against her beak, I reached up and smacked her upside the head.

That had been strike two.

Once I was done, I allowed myself to fall back onto the mattress, as well as the pillow that awaited me.

"Fine. Fuck it. Why not? Seems just as crazy as anything else we've done in the past few weeks." I muttered just loud enough to be heard. My palms rubbed against my straining eyes as I struggled to keep my blood pressure in check. Even if I couldn't see it at the moment, I could practically hear the self-satisfied smirk on Chrysalis' face next to me.

At that time, I could swear that this land of ponies would be the death of me.

"Can't start a hive without losing a few drones, as they say."

All I could wonder was who the hell said that.

"Thou'lt kindly do us the favor of never uttering such a coarse turn of the phrase again." Nightmare Moon chimed in, disgust evident in her voice.

I allowed my arms to relax, splaying them haphazardly to either side of me on the mattress. I found myself staring at the ceiling for a moment, wondering what turn of events possibly could have led my life to this moment. Outside of the obvious, that is.

"So you just expect me to fall asleep while knowing what's waiting for me on the other end?" I sighed. Chrysalis leaned forward and closed her hooves against one another.

"If we want to get rid of a possible threat to our continued freedom." She gave a slight shrug. "Otherwise, we might as well just walk up to the palace and say 'we surrender' in broad daylight." That earned a frown from me.

No pressure then, clearly. All I had to do was allow myself to lose consciousness and have dream magic used on me to look inside my head where there was already someone using dream magic to look at me. Yeah. Perfectly natural. In fact, the entire thing was like a lullaby.

"Can't either of you just use a spell and put me to sleep?" I asked hopefully. Unfortunately, there would be no such luck.

"Nay. Rest brought about by spells is typically dreamless."

"And we can't just use that so I can sleep and not have Luna look through my head?"

"Doubtless, our former selves have already created a path straight through your psyche in her machinations through your mind. Even without dreams, she would still find you in times of rest." It was worth a shot. Also, Gilda mirrored my thoughts quite effectively.

"Yikes. That's just downright creepy." She said. I could not agree more. "Whatever the case, if the name of the game is getting you to go to sleep..."

The mattress shifted next to me once more. I didn't even have to look to know what expression was likely on Gilda's face. Not like it would have been a bright idea anyways, considering how close she got to my ear. Her breath was warm as she took a second just to breathe against me. I felt goosebumps climb up my whole body, and for all a moment my headache was forgotten. Up until I heard her whisper huskily into my ear.

"I've got a great way of tiring you out." I could swear I felt something warm and wet very lightly make its way across my ear.

And that was strike three.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just outside of the bedroom, a mare could be seen making her way toward the door. On her back, she balanced a small wooden tray, upon which sat four glasses of water. As she had been requested to do by the changeling monarch, she had fetched the drinks she had been asked for. However, her pace in doing so was slow. Even now, as she walked to the bedroom, she could easily be seen making half-progress as she moved.

It wasn't particularly that she was tired, or unwilling, or anything like that. Rather, something was weighing very heavily upon her mind. Something that she had seen not so long ago.

Her gaze on the wooden floor, her eyes furrowed ever so slightly as she mumbled to herself.

"It just doesn't make sense..." She thought, going over her memories again and again. Yet, no matter how often she did so, the same answer would come up.

As much as she would like to believe otherwise, she was certain of what she had seen before. That particular trait of hers was never wrong. Not even once. She was well enough aware of it by now to say that without a doubt. Yet now it ate at her like a gnat did a plant root. Small nibbles, never quite enough to terribly destabilize the plant, but just enough to cause issues if left unchecked.

How would she bring it up? Could she bring it up? Would she bring it up? It was all so terribly troubling.

Perhaps, if all went well, there would be no need. Yes, that was something to hope for. That everything would go well. She should not trouble herself with such negative thoughts. She should try to focus on the now. On the pleasant thoughts.

She had fun with the others when they went out to eat. Perhaps it had ended poorly, but it was nice to do activities with friends.

It was nice just to have friends.

The mare took in a breath, calming her nerves ever so slightly as she focused on the positives. Her gaze shifted forward, to the door that was just a few inches ahead of her along the wall. She wondered, ever so vaguely, just how those friends were doing.

And much like anything else within the land of Equestria, she was given an answer by the most impractical, yet effective means possible.

The muffled sound of stomping could be heard, alongside the weak vibrations that went along the floor to follow them. Halfy rose a brow as she sensed this, barely having even a moment to register these noises before the door to the bedroom was kicked open. Halfy gave a silent thanks to the fact that she locked up in response, frozen in fright on this occasion, believing she would very likely have caused quite the spill had she so much as flinched while holding the wooden tray on her back.

The foot of Jeremy stayed there in the air for a moment, right where it had kicked the door inwards, before slamming down onto the floor. He took three loud and steady steps forward, jerking around as he did so. His eyes were blank, no visible emotion upon them, as he looked straight forward to the wall opposite his bedroom door. To his side, he held the impressive form of Gilda, now reduced to the equivalent of a stray cat being kicked out by animal control. One hand of his held onto the scruff of her neck, just where the feathers of her head met the fur of her body. The other held firmly - white-knuckled even - onto the base of her tail, using it as leverage to lift her bottom half while his other hand lifted her top.

Gilda, for her part, was as mobile as a statue. She dared not to move. Dared not to breathe. Dared not to so much as blink, for risk of having Jeremy possibly rip her tail off where it was. She knew he wouldn't, he wasn't that type of person, but her natural instincts were all too happy to disagree.

"Batter out..." The human mumbled to himself quietly as he very pointedly sat Gilda down on the floor. Halfy had no idea what he could possibly have meant by this, but then again this probably wasn't the time to ask questions. She just watched as Jeremy placed the griffon down, spun her around so that her back was to the wall, moved her talons so that it looked like she was holding an invisible object between them, then - with a surprising amount of grace - reached over to where Halfy held the glasses of water. He didn't spare a glance, eyes more focused on what he was doing, as he placed the glass of water into Gilda's apparently waiting talons. Still, she stayed still, accepting her fate of being manually posed by the human before her, even long after he had let go of her.

Jeremy took a step back, crossing his arms and simply taking a moment to admire his work before he gave a curt nod of self-satisfaction and turned back to his bedroom.

He took barely so much as a step before he paused and finally looked toward Halfy. The mare was in her own state of following the teachings of the Great Statue Sensei, not really sure how to go about approaching... whatever was happening right now.

Jeremy didn't seem to acknowledge this, giving her a quick thumbs up before taking the tray that was on her back and finally making his way into the bedroom, closing the wooden door behind him.

Mare and griffon were left in the hall, one with more water than they had begun and one with less, both simply registering what had just transpired. There was a deep moment of silence as they just stood and sat there, inclined more to focus on the quieting creaks of the floorboards beyond the door.

Before long, as though waking from a trance, Gilda stiffly rose the glass up to her beak and loudly took a sip.

"... Dang it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Griffons aren't as heavy as you'd think, oddly enough. For a while, I figured it was because of 'magic', as per usual. Turns out, that's more the explanation for ponies. Griffons just have naturally light yet flexible bones and body masses. Add to that the wings that are about as big as your average alicorns, and, well, you can do the math as to how they fly so well.

Back on topic though, I was now face down on the bed, a newly added tray of water glasses resting upon the nightstand nearby as well as a newly added opened space in the room. I groaned ever so slightly as I did my best to pretend I wasn't aware that Gilda had just straight-up licked my ear while Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were watching, as well as trying to figure out what that odd scent that was faintly embedded into my pillow was. I made a mental note to wash it later.

"I would call her forward, but that would be an understatement..." I also made a mental note to hit Chrysalis over the head with it later.

My anxiety about whatever the hell was waiting for me in my dreams, the fact that the other two were watching me, and the headache that was constantly serving to make sure that sleep wouldn't happen. I mumbled something into my pillow, vaguely aware that there was probably no way that either of the two next to me would hear. Something about asking if maybe just knocking me out cold with a hit to the head would work.

Before I knew it, an hour passed. And yet I was still right there, in the land of the conscious. Just as awake as ever.

By now, I had shifted my position in bed I don't know how many times. The glasses of water had all been emptied, left lonesome and used on the tray from before. Nightmare Moon hadn't so much as budged from her place next to me, that same look of focus never leaving her as she stood statuesque with her horn cascading with a thin veneer of sapphire magic. And Chrysalis...

"Go. To. Sleep."

Had lasted longer than I had thought she would.

"What the hell do you think I've been trying to do?" I retorted, covering my face with my pillow as I tried to put more force behind closing my eyes. By now, that headache had mostly subsided, but it was still causing some issues. I started to wonder if Equestria brand headache medicine was just a sugar pill or some magic whatchamacallit. Obviously, that wouldn't really make sense considering I had used it before to much greater success, but still.

"Well clearly, you aren't trying hard enough." She laid her front half across the foot of the bed, not that far off from my own blanket-covered feet, and glowered at a nearby wall. I was tempted to give her a light kick or two, but I figured that being covered in ice water wouldn't help me get some sleep either. This entire situation was a little more than slightly ridiculous.

Barely another minute passed before, finally, Chrysalis removed herself from the bed and gave out a grunt.

"Right then, extreme measures it is." I rose a brow beneath the pillow. I was starting to wonder if Chrysalis actually had heard me talk about getting knocked unconscious. If so, I was regretting it. Immensely.

The pillow started to faintly glow a dark shade of emerald, fighting against the weak hold I had of it before swiftly being yanked out of my grip and into the air. I took the situation as it came, taking in a breath through my nose and scowling before allowing my arms to fall to my sides and looking toward Chrysalis.

"And by that, you mean?" I questioned. For her part, Chrysalis simply rolled her eyes, as though I had asked the most obvious thing in the world.

"I mean I'm going to drain some of your love until you're so exhausted you have to fall asleep." My frown deepened at this. Partially because of the implication that I would have to kiss her again for that plan, but mostly because I remembered that the whole 'body feeling as though it's going through a hard reset' wasn't exactly a fun feeling. I heard a scoff come from next to me.

"Thou art certain thou does not simply wish to fill thine insatiable craving, changeling?" Nightmare Moon queried, doing very little to hide the sharpness in her voice. Chrysalis mostly ignored her, save for a momentary glance with daggers in her eyes. She took a few steps along the side of the bed, closing the distance between her and me. My heart thumped in my chest ever so slightly as she got closer, which I felt trace all the way up to my head.

It's likely that she saw me flinch, judging by the sigh that Chrysalis let out shortly after.

"Calm down already. I don't plan on taking a lot. And if it puts you at ease, we'll do this in small increments. Just enough that you'll be able to go to sleep." She assured me, which was different.

There was a lot about, well, everything, that I was against. The idea of someone looking through my mind, the idea of coming to Canterlot in the first place, the list went on. But just this once, on this very occasion, as I looked into Chrysalis' eyes and listened to her try to ease my concerns...

"If I feel a tongue, I'm having Nightmare Moon dump three buckets of water on you."

"We would prefer ten." Nightmare Moon quickly added in.

"Ten it is." Chrysalis clicked her tongue at this.

"Don't flatter yourself." She remarked. The bed shifted once again as she came up next to me and placed some of her weight upon it. Her forelegs sat folded underneath her chest as the distance between her face and mine shrunk. I found myself swallowing as my throat suddenly felt dry.

At this point though, I had a decent idea of what to expect from the prior two occasions Chrysalis and I had kissed. So when I felt the sudden sensation of warmth against my lips, I didn't have any real issues. Well, outside of the obvious, that is.

The kiss lasted barely a second. Hell, you could barely call it so much as a peck on the lips. Yet the effects were immediate.

It suddenly felt as though I had been awake for hours. It wasn't quite as extreme as it would have been before. My body certainly didn't scream for a quick ten-second coma like usual, but I certainly felt more fatigued. Even more interesting though was the fact that my headache was far less prevalent than before. It wasn't completely gone, but it had been numbed to the point that it felt like little more than a minor annoyance.

I blinked, ridding myself of some odd swirls of bleariness that wandered around the edges of my eyes. Once I did, I could see Chrysalis gain a bit of distance from me. Just enough that I could see her full face instead of the limited view I'd have while she was kissing me.

Her expression was odd. Her muzzle was wrinkled ever so slightly and I could see her slightly smacking her lips, as though an odd flavor was stuck in her mouth. Her tongue visibly ran over her own teeth as she somewhat reeled back from the taste.

"Well, that's certainly an... odd aftertaste." I heard her mutter, looking down at her own muzzle as she did so. I narrowed my eyes ever so slightly.

"One, the taste of cheese fries coming back up isn't nearly as nice as it is going down. Two, I did my best to wash my mouth out." Her look of mild dismay towards the taste on her lips turned into one of pure revulsion. She shuddered, giving out an odd noise that lay somewhere between that a whimper and a cry.

Her jaw tightened as she quickly gathered herself again, now glaring at me.

"Revolting of a thought as that might be to have now, that's not what I meant. The flavor was more akin to..." She waved a hoof in the air absentmindedly, rolling her changeling equivalent of a wrist as she searched for the right words to say. "Raw magic."

That woke me up from whatever fatigue I felt rather quickly.

"Magic? What do you mean by magic? I don't have any magic." I stated matter-of-factly. Chrysalis shook her head.

"Yes, you've been painfully clear about that in the past. Which is why it's so odd that I can taste it on you now."

A fair point. In the prior times that Chrysalis had taken love from me, she had never complained about the flavor. If anything, she was far too happy to express how much she enjoyed it. I wondered what had been different. What might have brought about this sudden change?

Nightmare Moon would be the one to give out a theory of hers on that.

"Mayhaps, 'tis residual magic from the vast quantity of spells that have recently been cast upon you?" Chrysalis and I both shifted our gazes over to her. She was still in that same position of focus as she was before, but now we could very clearly see one of her eyes opened in a thoughtful gaze somewhere far off. "Humans such as you seem rather prone to magical exhaustion compared to the average Equestrian citizen. 'Twould not be too far of an assumption to ascertain that you may also retain some of this residual magic for longer periods of time."

I could feel a frown make its way onto my face as she said this.

"And what would that have to do with Chrysalis taking love from me?" I asked. Chrysalis hummed for a moment before giving a slight nod of her head.

"Love is not something that is isolated. There's inherent magic to it, one that has an incredible amount of potential to it." She glanced behind her for a moment, gaining a sour expression. "Believe me, I know." She briefly muttered. I could only imagine she was referring to the incident back during the wedding. She shook her head, removing herself from her thoughts and continuing her explanation. "Despite that potential, the magic itself doesn't really provide much of anything to changelings."

"So, kinda like finding out your favorite food also gives you vitamin B?" I offered, trying to piece together what she was saying in my own head. Chrysalis shook her head, putting her hooves together as she gathered herself.

"It's more the equivalent of drinking unfiltered river water. The water is the part that is necessary, but one has to accept that there'll be at least a few contaminants within. Nothing major, but they'll be there nonetheless." Her gaze shifts back to me for a moment, a look of understanding dawning on her. "That's why your love seems so much purer than that I've drained in the past. Your species has no magic. Not even inherently. You're the equivalent of a perfectly isolated, perfectly clean freshwater spring." The pillow that was still in her magical grasp spun around a few times as Chrysalis fiddled with it in thought.

"In other words, magic affects you much differently than others. While other species already have those 'contaminants', meaning there's hardly too much of a difference if you were to add any more, your species does not. So even the slightest amount of contamination-"

"Seems all the more extreme." Nightmare Moon finished, nodding sagely as her gaze shifted to Chrysalis. "We must say, we are surprised to see that thine knowledge of magical theory is so in-depth."

Chrysalis didn't return the gaze, simply waving Nightmare Moon off with a wave.

"Don't patronize me. One doesn't retain their position as Queen within a hive without having at least some knowledge of magic and the potentials behind it." Nightmare Moon gave a faint chortle at this, closing her eyes once again as she returned to her statuesque state of focus.

I, in the meantime, scratched at my scalp as I looked between the two. Magic was very much not my strong suit. I had made that obvious before. And it certainly was showing now. Even with Chrysalis dumbing everything down, which I can only assume was for my benefit, there was still a lot going over my head. I resolved to just push this little detail to the side for now. For now, I could just focus on one aspect of this whole thing.

Chrysalis has a way of sucking love out of me. If she did that, she would also suck out any magic that might have been stuck there. IE, there might be a new way for me to deal with any more of those magical hangovers as they came. Of course, that new way involved kissing Chrysalis more than usual, but you know what that was a bridge I would cross when I got to it.

"Right... Anyways, I think I might be able to get some sleep now. My headache is almost gone, and I'm definitely feeling a bit groggy." Chrysalis finally seemed to snap out of her thoughts, looking towards me with a bemused expression.

"Hm. Not quite." She tittered. My brows knitted as she said this. "For one, I don't plan on waiting all day for Nightmare Moon to confirm or deny if Princess Luna has decided to invade your dreams after all. So I'm much keener on exhausting you until you have no choice but to sleep." She leaned forward ever so slightly, once more beginning to close the distance between us. "Furthermore, I now have this awful taste of residual magic in my mouth. So you will do me the kindness of washing it out for me with some more... 'refined' samples of love." Before I could so much as speak, she closed the last of the distance between her lips and mine.

Once more, she pecked her lips against mine. Then another. And another. Each time, I felt more and more tired, barely recognizing the low chuckle coming from Chrysalis as she continued. My neck was eventually no longer able to support the weight of my head as fell back onto the mattress. My eyes felt heavier and heavier as my body slowly went from drowsy to 'I've just worked for three days straight and the only thing I've had to eat is a single order of pancakes and coffee'. I vaguely made out the sensation of my head being lifted by magic while the cool sensation and softness of my pillow returned to its former position below me.

"There we go, that should do it."

"Was that truly necessary?"

"Of course it was. Magic tastes positively awful."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The princess of the night was tired.

Actually, that would be an understatement.

The princess of the night was exhausted.

For a little over two weeks now, the smaller member of the alicorn diarchy had been diving deep into the subconscious of the human known as Jeremy, at the behest of her sister. And in those two weeks, she learned many things. Some of his contacts, the occasional slip of a plan or two, some of the places he has been and things that he had seen.

With bags under her eyes, the lunar princess gave out a grunt as she trotted past a pair of her personal guards and into her room. She gave them barely a glance, not particularly having the energy for it. But what little they had received was enough. They knew that look well enough after serving under her for long enough. Even if it had been a little rough getting reacquainted with serving under her after her banishment.

It was a look that meant 'do not let anyone disturb me or I will find a battle axe'. One particular maid mare had made the mistake of slipping inside the room during one of these situations some months ago to get a jump start on the cleaning. One particular stallion guard had allowed her, having had a bit of a crush on the mare. On that night, the two ponies were fortunate that the closest thing to Luna when she was disturbed during one of these moods was a rolled-up newspaper of The Canterlot Times. Yet, somehow, the dents upon the armor of the guard after the incident was over proved that she may secretly be a grandmaster in the art of fly swatting if nothing else.

As the door closed behind her, enveloping her in the dimly lit sanctity of her personal quarters, she looked towards the faint shimmers of moonlight that flooded in from the balcony built into the side of her room. She grimaced, saddened that she would miss yet another of her nights so that she could wander through the dreams of the human during the day once again.

Nonetheless, with head held high and metal adornments clattering upon the floor, she made her way out into the balcony as she did every coming day. The cool night air glided against her fur, cascading through her wondrous mimicry of the night sky enchanted into her mane. She took the moment to greet this zephyrous visitor happily, breathing out a sigh as she simply basked in the wind.

Faintly, ever so faintly, she could swear she felt the wind shift ever so slightly, as well as the flapping of wings. Drawn from her thoughts by this, she opened her eyes. She had not even been aware that she had closed them.

Across from her, upon another balcony similar to her own, was her fellow ruler and sibling, Princess Celestia. Her wings fluttered and flapped for a moment as she gently touched down upon the marble flooring beneath her, before just as gracefully folding against her side. Celestia raised her gaze towards Luna, and Luna returned the gaze just as well.

A faint smile could be seen making its way onto Celestia's face. It wasn't one of happiness or joy, however. Luna could figure that out at a glance. It was a smile one would give a loved one when things were difficult. One that would hope to express some bit of optimism and hope into the situation, so that all does not fall into anything more than negativity and stress. It was a smile of levity.

Luna accepted this smile, mimicking the motion with a tired chuckle.

Despite the decent distance between the two's respective towers, Celestia began to speak. Yet Luna heard it as clear as her night sky was brilliant. A spell the two had cast some time after her return so that the two could always talk even when they were busy. All they would need to do was step out onto the balcony, and anything that they said would become silent to everyone else, yet perfectly clear to just them.

Luna would be lying if she said she wasn't fond of this enchantment. By now, she had held many talks with her sister. Some were based on current events, some based on the stresses of her and her sister's days, and others just simple conversations that provided some hint of normalcy through their hectic lifestyles. The last of the three was Luna's favorite. It was Celestia's favorite as well.

But unfortunately, there had not been an opportunity for such a talk in a while. And tonight would be no different.

"How goes the dream walking, Luna?" Celestia asked, a twinge of despondency in her voice. Luna picked up on this rather quickly.

"It is... proceeding, sister." Luna responded, glancing away for a moment as her eyebrows furrowed.

While she wished that she could have provided a better answer, there had been a lot of issues with looking through the subconscious of the human. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he was such a different species with such a different mind than that of any other creature in Equestria. Or perhaps it had to do with what Celestia had informed her about him some time ago.

Whatever the case, the information she has been able to gather had been sporadic. Still, it helped. It was through said information that she was able to have some of her detachment of guards make their way into precise parts of the Everfree to look for information and clues as to their plans. There was something else of interest that she saw in that forest, but overall it was somewhat tangential at best. It was also through that information that she was able to provide her sister with the approximate whereabouts of the human and their company on this night.

Information that Luna could already tell did not provide the results that the two had hoped for.

"The negotiations fell through, did they not?" The princess of the moon laid out bluntly, though she already knew the answer. Celestia stayed silent, electing only to nod her head ever so slightly. Luna barely withheld a sigh at this.

She had known that the suggestion her sister had made would never have worked. While she could not speak for the mentalities or motives of either the human or the changeling queen, there was one being among the company that she knew well of. One that she knew all about like the back of her hoof. Which was fitting, considering the two shared the same back of a hoof for almost millennia.

Nightmare Moon.

Just the name brought Luna's fur to stand on end. Not of fear, but out of anger, out of hatred, out of guilt, out of remorse, out of so many things. What was especially concerning was that Luna could never quite pin down whether those emotions were aimed directly toward Nightmare Moon, or towards herself.

The mare on the moon was not a being that could be reasoned with. It was a being a pure emotion and spite. A creature that lived only to cause nightmares and feed off of the fear of others to feed its endless hunger in some deprived form of jealous lust for power. A thing that only cared for itself and its own goals.

The fact that it had aligned itself with the likes of the changeling monarch and the human was likely due to Nightmare Moon finding the two to be pawns on some overly complex chessboard of political and magical stratagem. One that used the lives of thousands as pieces.

"I had assumed as much." She remarked, shaking her head as she did so.

Little more was said between the two as they both brought forth the magic from their inner wellsprings onto their horns. Ponies throughout the lands could witness the shifting of the moon as it disappeared beyond the horizon, only for the sun to take its place shortly after. Yet few ever saw this shift as the princesses did it. Fewer still ever witnessed them doing it personally. In a way, despite this being one of the duties that affected Equestria the most, it was arguably the one that ponies grew blind to the quickest, with how accustomed they would get.

"Worry not, Luna. We will have them apprehended before long. Our citizens will be safe once again, and we will be able to leave this all as little more than a bad memory." Celestia encouraged. Luna smirked, noting just how many of those 'bad little memories' the two of them shouldered nowadays.

"Then the Elements of Harmony?"

"The bearers of Magic and Laughter are still visiting their siblings. Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, and Kindness are in Ponyville but can arrive within a moment's notice. At most, it will take them another week to be able to gather at Canterlot." Luna had suggested just teleporting them all to Canterlot prior, but Celestia was all too quick to remind her that the Elements of Harmony suddenly disappearing in front of their friends and family likely wouldn't do well to keep the whole 'avoiding a panic' situation going.

A yawn escaped her as the warmth of the sun replaced the cool night air against her fur. Her body was still very much used to associating that warmth with the signal for her to get some rest.

"Are you certain that you are still fine doing this?" Celestia's voice once again chimed in, this time with concern lacing it. "You can always take some time to rest normally if you wish. Or if you prefer, I can-"

"It is not necessary, sister." Luna interrupted firmly, raising a hoof up to rub at her sore eyes. Celestia had been plenty stressed, as of recent, though she did well to hide it behind the mask of royalty and professionalism that was expected of her as the princess. They both were. Luna did not wish to worsen such issues by having Celestia constantly worry about how she was holding up. And besides, Luna was just as invested in capturing or removing these threats to Equestria as her sister was. "I thank you for your concern, however, I cannot just stand idly by while my former self threatens to wreak havoc upon the world. I will not sit by and do nothing."

"You have done plenty, Lulu." Celestia soothed. "Without your contributions, we would not have nearly as much information to use as we do now."

"Thank you, Tia." Luna responded, a faint smile adorning her muzzle. This time, it was one of appreciation. Or rather, of gratitude towards being appreciated. An emotion she was happy to have learned. Even if it was a millennium too late. "We should get going now. You have day court soon while I must continue to seek information regarding the escapees."

"Very well. I wish you good fortune, sister."

"And I you, sister."

With that, the two walked back into their personal quarters, closing the balcony doors behind them and severing the enchantment that had allowed them to communicate with one another so easily.

Luna's eyes habitually shifted to her bed, the blue silk sheets and linens mocking her with their inviting gazes before she forced herself to look away. Instead, she set her gaze on a specially made vanity table and mirror that sat along the walls nearby.

Her eyes narrowed as she forced herself to focus, stepping towards the vanity with determination in her gait. She sat before the vanity, looking upon her reflection with the same resolution as it gave her.

Yet again, a faint glimmer of magic enveloped her horn. Shortly thereafter, a similar glimmer developed in her eyes as she slowly lost focus on the world around her.

No longer was she in her room, surrounded by her personal possessions, hobbies, and resting places. No longer were there her subjects to see. At least not on this occasion. No longer was there Equestria. Instead, there was only her and the vanity.

The mirror began to ripple, as though suddenly turning into liquid silver before the gaze of the lunar alicorn.

Normally, she'd find herself in a much more open and abstract landscape when she dream-walked. One in which she could freely catch glimpses and ideas of the citizens within Equestria's dreams. One in which she could snuff out nightmares with barely so much as a sniffle.

But for her journeys deeper into the mind of another, she needed to be more direct. Unless she was feeling inclined to make her way through the labyrinthine mind of the human every time she wished to look through his memories, forming this direct portal was necessary.

With a breath, Luna slowly blinked her eyes. The image of the vanity became blurred while the ripples of the mirror intensified. Again she blinked. Again, the vanity blurred while the mirror became more akin to a glass of water during an earthquake. Once more she blinked and finally, she found herself in a new place.

An odd yet open plain of colors and vague shapes formed no real concept of objects that anyone would be able to recognize. The skies were warped, seeming more like constant auroras of blues and grays. Occasionally, what looked like singular specks of snow would slowly fall through the auroras, towards the closest semblance to a ground that there was, and then just as quickly sink into the floor as if it had been made of liquid.

In the distance, flashes of images could be seen. Few were discernable. Even fewer still stayed around long enough to even seem discernable.

Luna grimaced at the sight, still not quite used to the stark difference between the subconscious mind of a human versus that of a pony. Still, she had a duty to fulfill.

Her mind set on what she had to do, she fired up the same spell she had been using to keep the human's mind as preoccupied and still as possible.

The human found himself lying upon a grassy hill, relaxing in the night as they stared up at the ever-watchful moon. Her ever-watchful moon.

Chapter 33: No Dream Too Big

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How long had it been? How many decades upon decades had it last been since she had wandered the dreamscape?

When she was banished - exiled to the moon - there was little she could do. On occasion she could feel some sort of connection, some vague reminiscence of what she once had, of what she once flowed through like water did through the cracks of a stone. Yet it was never enough. The distance was too great. Even for her.

When she returned, she did not have the opportunity to fix this issue. So swift and unexpected had her defeat been at the hooves of the Elements of Harmony that she never even managed to show much as a glance at what was once her escape from reality. Her reminder of what she did and how important it was.

It came as a bit of a shock when the dreamscape appeared before her now, then. An entire plain of indeterminate shapes and swirling amalgams that were the dreams of hundreds, if not thousands of ponies. Many were disappearing, bit by bit. Like flames upon candles, being snuffed out so viciously. The sun was beginning to raise, after all. She felt it. And so ponies would no longer need to dream.

There was some stray comfort in the back of her mind as she realized something. Despite how long it had been - despite how much had happened - it was all still the same. She wasn't quite ebbing through the dreamscape as majestically as she would have liked, some dreams seeming just a bit blurry in some places or seeming to flicker in others, but she still clearly had control.

Her thoughts narrowed to more pertinent subjects, scanning through the disappearing forms of dreams and incorporeal masses in search of one in particular. She knew the signs to look for. Jeremy had just gone to sleep, after all, so it was likely that his dreams were still minuscule; half-formed and growing.

In some ways, that should make the dream hard to find. If it was smaller, still forming, then by all means it should barely be visible among the usual flood of dreams that engulfed the dreamscape. In others, it was easier. It was the only dream that was fresh and forming, after all, as all the others were aged and dying out.

She took some pride in the fact that it barely took her a few moments to find what she sought. A freshly blossoming dream, just barely past the genesis of creation and beginning to shimmer in its self-imposed glory. Nightmare Moon took note of the fact that this dream seemed different than the others, for a couple of reasons.

For one, while most of the other dreams around her - as well as most that she had recalled seeing in the past - could be more easily comparable to nebulas of color that only vaguely retained some form of cohesion amongst themselves, this newly formed dream was becoming far more uniform. The easiest comparison that one could see would be that of dust, slowly but surely forming into a self-contained orb that shimmered in a non-existent light.

Another reason that this dream seemed different, which brought a grimace from the alicorn, was the signatures of dream magic that could be seen surrounding this mass of shimmering light. It was clear as crystal. So blatantly obvious, it was as though someone had gone out of their way to make it seem so.

Nightmare Moon mused to herself that it was likely because there was nopony else that could dream-walk quite so expertly. There was no need to hide the familiar signatures of magic lingering throughout the faint mental landscape if nopony else would look through it, or argue against its presence there in the first place.

But now there was another who could see it. And she was not happy.

Willing herself to focus once more, she opened a familiar connection in the back of her mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not more than a few feet away from where Nightmare Moon sat and where Jeremy slept, Chrysalis stood with a less-than-animated frown. While to Nightmare Moon the two might as well have been worlds upon worlds away, to Chrysalis the alicorn was sitting perfectly still across from her, her eyes closed and magic shimmering.

They were not floating within an indecipherable void made up of abstracts and fiction derived from the faint stray machinations of the minds of ponies and other creatures alike. They were in a simple bedroom, sat in absolute silence save for the barely perceptible sounds of a human's restful breathing.

Once again, Chrysalis had been forced to play the waiting game. She was getting quite sick of it at this point.

She licked at her lips absentmindedly, still remembering the taste of pure love that had so effectively washed out the bitter taste of residual magic. Her eyes glanced at the human in the bed next to her. She watched as his chest rose and fell with each breath, a far-off part of her mind making some vague mention of just how peaceful he looked when he slept.

"Ironic," she thought to herself, "considering how dangerous those dreams might just be to us all now."

"Yes," another thought came, this one not her own, "and we intend to resolve that."

Chrysalis felt her eyes narrow ever so slightly as the sound of Nightmare Moon's voice entered her mind. She wondered if she had been thinking aloud, but decided not to entertain the concept any longer than she had to.

"So have you found anything yet?" Chrysalis asked, shifting her stance in the physical world so that she may provide an even stare at the form of Nightmare Moon. Obviously, she wasn't expecting any sort of visual return of this gesture; it was more out of habit whenever they had these mental conversations.

"It is just as we theorized. Our 'other self' has been searching through his dreams, at the bare minimum." Chrysalis didn't notice as her lips thinned ever so slightly. There was certainly the beginnings of something at the pits of her chest, but she couldn't quite pin down what it was. Anger? Frustration? Fear, even?

She chalked it up to simply being concerned about Luna learning about them, as well as how much information she may have gained already. It didn't quite line up with it what she felt - if anything, these emotions seemed more in line with something aimed for the sake of others rather than herself - but she made herself believe that it did.

"Brilliant. So, what happens now?" Chrysalis sneered, flicking her changeling equivalent of a mane to the side as a stray strand or two suddenly seemed to be far more annoying to her than they should have been.

"We shall endeavor to capture our other half within the recesses of Sir Jeremy's psyche. Should we do so, we would be able to instead take root through her mind as she has been doing to Sir Jeremy." While on paper the plan seemed sound enough, Chrysalis nonetheless found her brows furrowing as she heard it.

"And you'll have the power to do so? You don't exactly have a thousand years' worth of stored-up magic to use this time around." She warned. In return, she received a brief flash of concern and hesitancy.

"We are aware of this. If we deem the idea a lost cause, we will simply rid Sir Jeremy's mind of this incursion. Once our former self is out and away from his dreams, we shall seal them away so that none may enter without our permission."

"And if that isn't possible?"

"Prithee, what other choice would we have than to try?"

It was Chrysalis' turn to close her eyes, taking in a deep breath through her nose as she skimmed through her thoughts. Try as she might, she could not think of a better plan. This opportunity, while not ideal, had been presented to them seemingly out of nowhere. If they can get a glance into the mind of one of Equestria's princesses, even for just a moment, there would be a limitless amount of potential behind what information they might stand to gain.

If not, at the very least it was a matter of absolute necessity to kick the princess out of Jeremy's dreams, as well as seal off the dreams of the others at a later time. They could not risk having to worry about their dreams betraying them every time they took so much as a nap.

"What do you need?" Chrysalis asked, resigning herself to the role of spectator, seeing as she had no real inclination towards dream magic herself.

"Time. Searching through the depths of another being's mind is not simple. We will need time to do so if we want to find what we are seeking. During this, Sir Jeremy must stay asleep and we must stay in a state of uninterrupted focus, lest our search comes to an abrupt end." Nightmare Moon explained, drawing a curt physical and mental nod from Chrysalis.

The changeling monarch stood from her place next to Jeremy's place, giving the sleeping form of the human one last glance before walking towards the door that lead out of the bedroom. Her horn glowed a deep green, a similar aura enveloping the room's walls, floor, and ceiling before just as swiftly dimming once again.

"I've cast a soundproofing spell on the room. I'll make sure that you aren't disturbed until nightfall." Chrysalis mentally spoke, opening the door to the room as she made her way out.

"We thank thee." Nightmare Moon returned with an earnest sense of appreciation in her tone. Chrysalis scoffed at this, shaking her head as she enveloped the wooden door in her magic.

"Just don't buck this up."

The green glow surrounding the door intensified somewhat as it was violently slammed shut. Yet it did not make so much as a peep.

One last soundproofing spell, it seemed, had been cast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ever so faintly, Nightmare Moon could note the far-off sounds of hoofsteps fading away. She felt some strain in the back of her mind; a reminder that she wasn't quite as adept at dream-walking as she used to be.

Before, she would be able to have entire coherent conversations with others while she quartered off a portion of her mind to look through the dreams of the many sleeping citizens of Equestria. Now, she couldn't even risk opening her eyes, having to remind herself again and again how to navigate through the magic of the dreamscape.

It was like having to blink or breathe manually. Certainly not impossible or difficult, but it would take at least a bit of time before it became easier again.

She looked towards the orb of dust that had finally settled into shape, gleaming in an unknown light to form a corona of light as though it were some overly gaudy soap bubble. With a look of confidence on her face, she stepped forth, breaching the thin boundary that separated her mind from the dream before her.

In the past, many had wondered what it was like to enter the dreams of others. Even to this day, the sentiment remains. Was it some grand show of magic that split space and time at the seams? Was it the forming of a bridge of light, shining the path through a tunnel of darkness? Or was it all so rudimentary for the princess of the night that such a monumental feat came as easily as moving the moon?

The answer was disappointingly anticlimactic. To the princess of the night - whichever form of her there might have been - entering dreams was the equivalent of walking through a thin layer of fog. There was no theatrics of a grand scale, no upheaval of the laws of the universe to bend at their will. Instead, it was just a moment of 'one second you're here, the other second you're there'.

The vastness of the dreamscape faded, abstract shapes and colors suddenly taking note of their own inconsistency as they rapidly worked together to provide some kind of understandable image. Within seconds, Nightmare Moon found herself standing in the midst of a small field. The breeze was cold, but not unpleasantly so. The sky above was that of the night sky - one which she could not recognize despite her best efforts. Stars glinted and shone down upon the world like beads of shattered glass, too small to identify with a glance. Each of these lights seemed to provide a faint glow to the green and damp grass that tamped underneath her hooves.

Nearby, there was a small hill, just barely tall enough to be considered one. And resting on that hill, bathed in the glow of the almost pulsating moon directly above, was the familiar form of a human.

Nightmare Moon's eyes shifted between her personally deemed knight and the moon above, her lips pursing ever so slightly as she felt an odd sensation of familiarity towards the celestial body above. Unlike the stars, this moon had been far too familiar to her. It was as out of place as... well, as Jeremy was in the world of ponies. And Nightmare Moon knew the reason.

Steeling herself, she made her way up the side of the hill. The cold and wet feeling of the grass made her shudder as she climbed the slight incline towards Jeremy, who was lying on his back against the floor. He did not seem to mind the wet ground beneath him. Rather, he had seemed to be taking it in stride, arms crossed behind his head and legs upon one another as he looked up towards the moon with a simplistic smile on his face.

Were it any other situation, Nightmare Moon might have taken a moment to enjoy the sight of her close friend seeming so relaxed. Especially as he enjoyed the night sky above. But she knew what this all was.

A façade. One made not by Jeremy or his mind. Her eyes narrowed at the moon above for just a brief moment, well aware of who the true culprit was.

Cresting the top of the hill, the alicorn leaned her head directly over Jeremy, blocking his sight of the lunar body above.

"Sir Jeremy," she called, "are you well?"

The human, in turn, blinked hazily at her, the simple smile on his face never leaving. He gave a giggle of sorts for a moment as he took to opportunity to shift slightly in his position on the hill. Something about the way that Jeremy was carrying himself was off. In the back of Nightmare Moon's thoughts, she recognized another sensation of familiarity.

"Oh, hi Moony." He spoke cheerily, his voice peaceful as he did so. Nightmare Moon blinked, caught ever so slightly off-guard by the sudden cute abbreviation of her name. "Been a while since I've seen you in here."

Again, Nightmare Moon blinked, markedly more emphasized than before.

"You... have seen us here before?" She questioned. Whatever she had been focused on prior was momentarily taking a backseat of sorts as her curiosity and confusion took the forefront of her mind.

Jeremy raised an arm and waved it as though shooing away some stray fly that had flown too close to his personal bubble.

"Oh yeah, a few times. Mostly for hugs. Preening your wings was a bit of a new one, but I blame Gilda for that one." Nightmare Moon's eyes widened ever so slightly at Jeremy's words. At first, she thought that Luna might have taken her form in an effort to extract information from Jeremy. But as she looked upon the idea, she realized that there were a few flaws that were quickly making themselves known.

Jeremy's arm suddenly reached up, closing the gap between him and Nightmare Moon. He passed his hand over her muzzle briefly, drawing a twitch from the alicorn, before resting it steadily and kindly upon her cheek. Nightmare Moon felt a warmth make its way over her, settling upon her face. A small part of her insisted that she pull away from the sudden contact on instinct. A notably larger part of her, however, was all too keen to note how wonderful it felt to have the human gently caress her cheek with the base of his thumb.

"Your fur feels a lot softer than usual. It's nice."

Nightmare Moon would be lying if she said that she had wanted this moment to end. She could feel her eyes close as she allowed herself to focus on the feeling of Jeremy's hand, leaning into its grasp as it supported her in turn. Everything else suddenly seemed so much less important.

Yet, despite the small part of her psyche that so desperately hoped for this moment never to end, Nightmare Moon frowned. Her eyes opened as she looked down at Jeremy, watching as the human returned the gaze with seemingly no hint of thought in his eyes. The frown deepened as she realized why this seemed so vaguely familiar to her.

With nary a word, Nightmare Moon's horn shone for a moment. The light focused near the very tip of her horn, growing smaller and thinner with every passing moment. It built pressure inwards of itself, like a microscopic balloon that was being squeezed tighter and tighter until, finally, it burst. The bead of magic sprang forth from her horn, small as a needle yet swift as a bullet directly into Jeremy's forehead.

The human held no outward reaction to what should have been a fatal blow, only looking up in childlike curiosity and wonder as the light left little to no indication of its existence where it had punctured him. The effect it had, however, was instant nonetheless.

All at once, cloudiness that Jeremy never realized he had began to clear from his mind. Thoughts that would flow freely and without any real rhyme or reason behind them suddenly became concise and organized. They began to follow a pattern that Jeremy could recognize as that of his usual form of thinking. In as little as an instant, Jeremy was suddenly very aware of who he was, as well as where he was.

"... Nightmare Moon?" He asked, closing his eyes blearily as he abruptly realized how much of an immense amount of strain was behind them. He moved his hand away from Nightmare Moon, to her disappointment, and used it to instead sit upright.

Nightmare Moon could vaguely note the fact that the cool breeze from before had vanished. The grass suddenly seemed far duller. Even the many stars of the night sky seemed dimmer than before.

"Where... the fuck are we?" Jeremy suddenly queried, confusion clear in his voice.

"Within your dream, Sir Jeremy." She responded calmly. She had some far-off recollection of the fact that sometimes ponies would need a moment to reorient themselves to the fact that they were no longer in the physical realm. It was best to ease them into it when this happened.

"Dream?" The human echoed, glancing back to the alicorn next to him before returning his gaze to the vista around him. He could be heard muttering under his breath, repeating the word as though it were suddenly a foreign concept to him.

"Yes, Sir Jeremy. A dream." She took a step closer to him, a wing of hers flaring before brushing ever so gently against his side. He held no reaction to the sudden sensation, which Nightmare Moon took to mean that it at the very least was not unwelcome. "Do you recall how you came to be here? The circumstances of our presence in the dreamscape?"

The human scratched at the side of his head, less because of an itch he had need of scratching, more because he felt he needed to do something with his hands.

In truth, everything was garbled. He was suddenly aware of the world around him. In fact, that was the issue. It was as though he was too aware. Like a fever dream, where everything feels overly sensitive and overtly omnipresent. Every sensation was on overdrive. His skin took in shifts in the wind as knives across his flesh. His mouth could taste the blood coursing through his tongue. His ears could hear his heart more than they could the world around him. His nose felt clogged, yet burned with the sensation of air so crisp it might as well have been made of glass. Even his sight betrayed him, providing him some odd sensation of believing he was looking at some off-putting variations of hallucinations, mirages, or tricks of the light all at once.

He was so truly, superbly, horrifically aware of the world around him. The only thing that seemed real - that seemed right at that very moment - was the alicorn standing next to him. Whenever he focused his thoughts on her presence, all else would seem normal at a glance.

He gathered himself, thoughts and all, while subconsciously leaning towards the soft feathers of the alicorn's wing that grazed his back.

"Yeah, yeah, I-" he paused for a moment, rubbing at his eyes, "I remember now. I think? Christ, it's hard to think like this."

Nightmare Moon grimaced as she watched him. Most ponies would need, at worst, a few seconds to adjust to the realization that they were dreaming. And even then, their adjustments would typically just be a matter of them taking in their surroundings and accepting them as a pseudo-reality.

Jeremy did not follow this pattern. He could not see the world around him as a fake. The human mind was simply not fashioned in such a way. There was imagination. There was thought. There was emotion. There was reality. And somewhere between all of those intermingled parts, there was the part that made a person who they were. There was no space for delusions or secondary planes. Only things that could be supplicated by medicines, mental physicians, asylums, and shock therapy would allow for those kinds of concepts.

To put it simply, it was a lot to get used to.

In the back of her mind, Nightmare Moon wondered if this had something to do with the fact that there was no magic in Jeremy's place of origin. He had mentioned before to her that dreams had no real guardians, after all. Not to mention the lack of magic.

She took note of the fact that he seemed to favor the wing against him as he spoke, a cavalcade of memories regarding dream theory flashing through her mind before she settled on one. The need for an anchor, of sorts. Something to serve as a reference as to what was real so that the mind would be able to tell the things apart, and hopefully adapt.

She held no reservations this time, treating Jeremy as she did when she had first met him in physical form. Her forehooves wrapped around him, bringing him back into her body while she enveloped his small world of sense in her wings and body. She leaned her head down towards him as he gave a grunt, hushing gently as he grunted and struggled against the sudden embrace.

"I- You- What the-"

"Shhhhhh, all is well, Sir Jeremy." She cooed, nuzzling against the top of his head with her own as she did so. At the moment, it was just them. There was no dream. No landscape. No anything. It was just her, him, and the feathers of her wings serving as blinders to the world around them. "Use this moment to orient yourself. Remember, you are in the dreamscape. We are here with you. We are real. You are real. That which is not us is a fabrication. No more, no less."

Jeremy's struggles slowed. The sensations that had been overwhelming him calmed, bit by bit. They were still there, like an itch in the back of his neck that he simply couldn't scratch, but he was now able to form more coherent thoughts. Longer thoughts.

He was Jeremy. The alicorn holding him was Nightmare Moon. They were in his dream.

Details filled his mind. Things that, while present before, seemed to have been slowly but surely dragged out of whatever filing cabinets he had mentally held them in earlier. He made an effort to put the office room of his psyche back in order.

The possibility of Luna looking into his dreams. The idea of having Nightmare Moon look into his dreams too to check, as well as an act if that were the case.

He took in a breath of air, filling his lungs to capacity.

Gilda propositioning him for sex yet again in front of the others. The fact that he had been essentially been given over a dozen small good night kisses from Chrysalis in order to put him to sleep. Everything he had just told Nightmare Moon about his prior dreams, as well as caressing her cheek.

He half-choked on that same breath of air. He hazarded a glance at the alicorn that was nuzzling against him, a part of him praying for an aneurysm to take him in his sleep suddenly.

Nightmare Moon looked down at him benevolently, a soft smile on her face as she saw flashes of Sir Jeremy that she knew finally reestablished themselves fully.

"Better?" She asked, receiving a nod in turn.

"More or less." The human in her grasp sighed, earning a giggle from the alicorn.

"It will have to do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't mourning the loss of my great throne.

No, I'm not referring to the one that I had in my hive. That time of mourning had passed long ago. I was referring to the smaller throne I had made out of pillows and cushions in my boredom.

Alas, one has to make sacrifices in the name of progress. Especially when some of that progress involves hunting down one of Equestria's princesses in their astral projection.

What was even more irritating was a recent discovery I had been made well aware of. One of true horror and pain that I would not wish upon any being, sentient or otherwise.

"You can't just ignore me, skeleton-skin. I know you can hear me."

"Inside and outside your head."

The alicorn had apparently added the griffon into the mental link we shared alongside the human.

I had gone through all that effort to soundproof that room for her, and how does she repay me? By making it a chore for me to soundproof my mind.

I took in a deep breath as I summoned forth whatever amount of will I could to keep from removing the bones of the griffon next to me.

"Why must the Empress torture me so?" I muttered as I laid my head down on the arm of the couch.

The griffon was laid on her back next to me. Her legs were crossed over one another, kicking gently to the beat of some invisible tune that was likely playing in her mind. She lazily bobbed her tail back and forth, on occasion swinging one of her arms towards the appendage, lightly batting at the puff of fur at the end of it.

"You know, I can't really guess," Gilda responded coyly. She did little to hide the smarm behind her tone, and her emotions only failed to make it even more obvious that she didn't care.

I still wasn't quite a fan of the fact that this was how the griffon chose to entertain herself whenever Jeremy wasn't around. And I never would be.

A part of me missed the feeling of boredom I had before.

Another part of me was taking great joy in noting the reactions of the griffon whenever I threw a rightfully earned barb or two her way.

And another part... was distracted.

I'm not sure quite how much time passed since I had arrived in the living room, filled in the other two about what was going on, and then taken the opportunity to rest on the couch again, but one thing was absolutely certain.

The griffon was the only being, aside from me, that had spoken the entire time. The mare, Halfy, was silent.

Yes, on occasion she would nod or shake her head when addressed, but she never so much as spoke a word. At first, I believed it to be her usual breed of timidity.

One glance at her emotions shot that theory down rather quickly.

There was so much turmoil within her. So much confusion, anger, sadness, uncertainty, betrayal, insecurity, and the list goes on. It was a veritable whirlwind of emotions constantly circling in place. Eventually, even the brain-dead being next to me could take notice, slowly but surely easing on the overuse of their vocal cords until they were all but silent.

Both the griffon and I stared at the mare, whose eyes were focused on the floor and furrowed in contemplation.

"Yo, Halfy, you good?" Gilda asked, her attention no longer on her own tail as she allowed it to lazily fall next to her.

The bandaged mare flinched, startled from suddenly being so directly addressed, before turning her attention toward us. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, before speaking.

"Oh, uh, y-yeah. I'm fine." She lied. A poorly made one, at that. I scoffed but otherwise didn't make a comment.

"Sounds like a crock o' pigeon shit to me there, bud," Gilda replied, no less unconvinced than I had been. By now, she had abandoned her lax posture, sitting herself upright as she looked towards the earth pony. The pony shrank ever so slightly under the griffon's new position and gaze.

"I-Its nothing, really." Halfy once again lied.

Honestly, it was pathetic just how bad of a liar she was. I had seen foals have an easier time fibbing about their 'boo-boos' and 'ouchies' than this mare did lie about her emotions.

"Clearly it ain't. Now, how about ya spill it? What's got you so hung up?" Gilda removed herself from her place on the couch, making her way over to Halfy's side, never removing her gaze from her the entire time that she did.

Halfy grew nervous, uncertain as to how to respond, but found a good portion of that nervousness swept away as the griffon took her under her wing. Literally.

"Look, I ain't great with the mushy talking-about-your-feelings junk that you ponies do, alright?" Gilda began with a roll of her eyes. Halfy looked up at her with a raised brow, watching as she went on. The griffon paid it no mind, tossing one of her forelegs over the mare and pulling her close, as though into a gentle one-armed headlock while retracting her wing. Halfy gave out a squeak at the sudden proximity but otherwise did not make any complaints known.

"So, with that in mind, what say we skip the gooey 'you can always talk to your friends junk' and just get right to the 'talking about it will make you feel better' garbage? Sound good?" Gilda smirked as she spoke, bobbing up and down as she looked down at the earth pony in her grasp.

The mare did not speak. Her emotions flared once again. Doubt and hope fought against one another as wild animals did over a morsel of food during a famine. She was beside herself, unsure if she should go one way or the other. All she needed was a little push.

And while I wasn't personally inclined to be that push, per se, I was at least enjoying the moment of not being the center of the griffon's attention. So, if I kept this going, I could avoid it for just a few moments more.

"Just take the hint and let the egocentric pebble brain do her good deed for the day." I all but sighed, resting my head on one of my hooves as I watched the display before me.

The griffon, obviously, was not very appreciative of my assistance. Yet, it was the assistance that had worked. The hope within Halfy won out, though just barely, as she took in a breath to gather herself.

"... Do you both remember what my cutie mark means?" This drew a questioning look from both me and the griffon.

"Uh, yeah, it means that you can, like, see if some folk are good or bad, right?" Gilda recalled, proving once more that her memory skills were at the very least at a grade school level.

"And how is that important?" I queried, drawing a shake from Halfy's head. Her mind was getting fuzzy again as she put together a variety of emotions through her subconscious.

"Growing up, it was always obvious what would happen. Bad ponies will end up doing bad things, good ponies would end up doing good things." It was a simple enough concept, obviously. And by the sound of her voice, as she said it, it had been one that she had practically made into a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy in her mind. Something that she lived by. Yet, her expression hardened somewhat. "But there were always... exceptions."

" ' Exceptions'?" I asked. I didn't have to wait long for an explanation.

"Nopony is perfect. They make mistakes, they get turned around and they get scared. W-whatever it is, they end up doing bad things while still being good."

I noted just how much that related to all of us. The invasion of Canterlot during the wedding of one of Equestria's princesses, the attempts at taking over the world, and even the less severe loss of friendships through strained personal relations. While they were varying degrees of severity, they could technically be considered to be 'bad things done by good ponies'.

Personally, I wouldn't have called myself 'good', as it were. 'Utalitarian', 'deceitful', 'opportunistic', those all fit the bill of what made up a changeling just fine. But 'good'? I had always seen that as a stretch.

"What are ya getting at?" Gilda had taken the opportunity to ask a question of her own.

The mare's eyes wandered downwards again. Then, much to my earnest surprise, she narrowed them. It was as though she were trying to burn a hole into the floor below. Her emotions reflected this sudden change, hints of anger beginning to fester just at the tail-end of her mind.

"I... I saw the 'good' that made up Princess Celestia."

Before, she had my curiosity. Now? She had my undivided attention.

I watched the griffon's feathers ruffle ever so slightly as I raised my head from the couch rest. There was no anger from Gilda, but a rather distinct idiosyncrasy.

"Dude... No way." She uttered. A smile made its way onto her beak as she jerkily grabbed and turned Halfy to face her, eliciting another noise of surprise from the mare. Forearms on either side of the mare's shoulder, she looked her dead in the eye and jostled her as excitement rose in her mind. "That stuff works on Celestia?"

She was practically giddy with excitement, as though she were some secondary school student that was just about to learn about a particularly juicy bit of gossip. In hindsight, that shouldn't be a surprise to me. She certainly fit the role of someone that never grew far past that phase in their life.

"W-well, yes. But that's just it. I... I don't understand exactly what I saw." She paused for a moment, eyes darting down to the floor, up to the griffon, and eventually back to me. I raised a brow, crossing my forearms in front of me as I leaned my head forward.

"How so?" I asked.

"I-I mean, she- I don't-" She stumbled over her words, again and again, trying and failing to parse her thoughts as she grew more and more frustrated at her inability to explain what she so desperately wanted to. The little embers of anger from before grew like sparks in a pile of hay, threatening to burn down not just the hay, but perhaps the entire building that might have been used to store it.

This was the first time I had ever seen her show such powerful emotion. There had been sadness. There had been hope. There had been happiness. There had been fear. But anger?

I had been doubting that she was ever even capable of it for a while.

"She was good." She finally said with a grunt. Then, as if not satisfied with her own words, she stomped her hoof onto the floor. "No, she wasn't just good, she was practically twice as good. L-like I was looking at two good ponies in one!"

The griffon tilted her head as she looked down at the mare in her grasp.

"Uh... okay? I was kinda hoping for some big 'the princess of the sun is secretly evil' twist." She responded. There were some clear signs of discontent from her. Evidently, she believed she had suddenly been robbed of some exciting event in her life at the last moment. All that build-up, just to be told something that she had been likely been told by other ponies throughout her entire life.

The griffon shrugged, pushing past some of the apparent disappointment she felt.

"So, like, what's the problem?"

Halfy shook her head and stomped her hoof into the floor yet again.

"I-I've never seen anypony so good. Anywhere. So why? W-Why is there so much bad happening because of her?" Her voice was beginning to rise, far higher than any whisper or muttering she had provided before. "Why were you and Nightmare Moon locked away from the rest of the world? Why was Jeremy tortured? Why did she threaten us? Why did my dad have to-"

She paused.

Like a single pane of glass somehow managing to halt a rockslide, the silence was unexpected yet fragile. Her emotions flared for one last time, giving one mighty roar, before dying out. They were hidden away in the confines that they were normally held behind once again.

The griffon and I were silent, glancing at one another wordlessly as we watched the mare sit in silence.

"I just-... What's the point of seeing the good in others if they can still do bad things anyways?" Her voice grew silent as she spoke, returning to its usual tone and volume. Seemingly without thinking, she reached a hoof up towards the bandage across her eye and grimaced.

Under any other circumstance, I would have pressed her about what she had just said. After all, it seemed like a rather pertinent bit of information. Perhaps I had grown softer over time. Perhaps I was simply uninclined to focus on such a thing at the time. Whatever the reason, I didn't push for it.

"You said it yourself," I instead scoffed, drawing the attention of the two before me. "Nopony is perfect. In the over a thousand years I have been alive, I have witnessed all kinds of things. The changing of seasons; the beginnings and endings of wars. And, of course, the stumbles of self-proclaimed heroes and protectors into their own abysses of self-pity and wallowing."

The memories were practically fresh in my mind. I never truly forgot the faces or names of any of those creatures I had come across and witnessed in my formative years. Granted, I never had any particular connection to them either, but they certainly provided me with ample experience regarding manipulating the average mind.

"Anypony- any being, really, can ultimately do bad things in the same way as any being can simply choose to ignore their own conscience. Typically though, those mistakes are on a small scale. A stolen carrot, a lover's quarrel, the betrayal of a friend."

I found myself leaning forward, eyes narrowing as my voice grew deathly serious.

"But add to that the attention of an entire people? A civilization looking towards and relying on your decisions, big and small, just so that they can decide whether or not they should wear one type of clothes on a certain day of the year or another, and suddenly it doesn't matter how 'small' those mistakes seem to you. The consequences are always immense."

I knew this very well. The consequences of my mistakes could be found loosely buried in thousands of shallow graves miles from there. That is, for those that we even had the time to give a burial to in the first place.

"I'm not personally one to play Discord's Advocate. By all means, the only hopes I have for Celestia are those that involve her being suspended inside of a capture pod, as I had managed not so long ago. If you want to do what all ponies do when confronted with something evil and try to solve the situation with 'the magic of friendship', however? At least you know that it seems possible now." I focused my gaze on Halfy. "Otherwise, how would you be speaking to most of us?"

As I finished speaking, I was once again greeted by silence. I wasn't sure if my words had really provided anything. I was fine with that. I would happily have said that the words were much more for my own sake than for that of the mares.

Something swiftly broke that silence though. The griffon spoke up, providing her own subtle take on all that was said.

"... You're how old?"

Oh, my mistake. Did I say subtle? I meant to say 'shovel'. As in, I wanted to bury her out back after beating her head in with a 'shovel'. A novel mistake.

To my surprise though, the griffon's poor attempt at following along with the conversation seemed to have drawn a reaction from the mare that was still in her grasp.

All at once, her volatile emotions were vanquished. More than likely, the response had been so absolutely ridiculous, yet so cartoonishly on brand for the griffon, that Halfy broke down laughing.

She chortled. She guffawed. She snorted. At one point, she gave vague pleas for air as the only thing keeping her from falling over onto her side was the griffon that held her. When that didn't work, she simply found herself leaning her head into the chest of her companion for support.

This threw the griffon off guard, evidently, as she raised her arms into the air as a sort of surrender. Yet, she did not make any motion to remove the mare from her place.

As her laughter filled the room, Gilda slowly began to join in. Before long, it was no longer a one-sided affair of one using the other for support. Instead, the two held each other desperately, doing their best to keep from falling over while they tried to keep from passing out due to lack of oxygen.

I watched the scene as it played out before me silently. I felt as though, in some way, I would never understand other beings that were so driven by emotions.

They could be manipulated. They could be tricked. They could be volatile. They could be unpredictable.

I was used to these concepts. I knew how to take them. To twist them. To use them to my advantage and move forwards with them as a kick spring. And I also knew how to keep myself from falling into the poor habits that came from indulging them.

This was why it was so odd that I found myself smiling as I watched the two before me...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeremy rubbed his eyes for what must have been the third time since they had begun walking. Despite his best efforts, he just could not rid himself of that feeling of mental fatigue and a lack of focus that lingered in his mind. He had nearly run into several trees, bushes, and, on one occasion, a small creek.

The only reason that he had been able to keep himself even relatively on track was due to the presence of the alicorn that walked next to him. Any time that he felt as though his lack of focus was starting to get to him, he would simply allow his eyes to wander in her direction. Within moments, he would feel clear-headed. Of course, even that only lasted so long.

"How are you proceeding, Sir Jeremy?" Said alicorn asked, turning her head back towards the human just as he was in the middle of one of his stares in her direction. Under normal circumstances, he would have been somewhat embarrassed to have been seen gazing upon her in a way that he could only imagine to be 'creepy'. On this occasion though, neither he nor Nightmare Moon held any issues.

"I do not like magic, I'll tell you that much." He sighed. Nightmare Moon gave an affirmative hum as she glanced around the forest around them. Some parts of it were strikingly detailed, as though taken directly from the real world. Others, however, were much more blurred and uncanny. Mimics among mimics, brought together within the mind of another being by several forms of magic to provide some semblance of reality to a realm of dreams.

" 'Twould seem that magic does not favor you as well." She replied, taking note of one particular tree that struggled to hold any corporeal form whatsoever, seeming more like a blotch of paint on the horizon.

Jeremy found that to be an understatement, but decided against voicing his thoughts. He was much more inclined on hoping that things would get better as they proceeded.

Not long after Nightmare Moon had found him, she explained that she would be bringing him along on her dream-walking expedition into his mind. When he had asked why she gave a few rather significant reasons.

For one, this would ensure that Luna would no longer be able to look into his memories. This whole dream had been something entirely fabricated by the Princess of the Night. A sort of stasis that could be used to keep someone's mind safe, stable, and, more importantly, in one set place so that she could look through the inner depths of his psyche without issue or interruptions.

Jeremy had mentioned that this would probably tip Luna off about the fact that something was going on, what with him suddenly being aware of everything and Nightmare Moon's presence in the dream, but Nightmare Moon used the opportunity to assure him that it likely was not the case. Dreams, evidently, didn't follow the concept of time quite as simple as one might think.

In the same way that a being might fall asleep for what seems like a moment only to wake up hours later, or swear they had been asleep for days only to awaken a few minutes later, dreams had a rather similar effect. Even to those fluent in dream magic, it seemed.

Of course, all that really meant was that there was a decent chance that it would take Luna some extra time to realize what was going on. There was still no guarantee that she wouldn't realize it sooner rather than later, and she was bound to find out at some point no matter what. In other words, despite how abstract, unclear, or even illogical time might have been now, it was still very much of the essence.

Furthermore, Jeremy's presence was needed for another reason. Normally, it takes quite some time to burrow deep into the minds of others through their dreams. In some cases, it might even take days, depending on how complex the mind of an individual might be. Which was where Jeremy came in.

The mind, naturally, is not inclined to allow foreign entities into it. Just like you wouldn't be able to hear someone else's thoughts no matter how hard you focused, you wouldn't be able to do so easily through dreams either.

The being which owned these thoughts in the first place, however? Well, they could go as far in and out of their mind as they liked. All they needed to do was wander around in their own heads, like daydreaming during a particularly boring lecture or uneventful day. Like pulling a loose string from a sheet, one thought that would expectedly lead to another, then another, and then another. If one isn't careful, they end up far deeper in the depths of their own minds than they would have expected, up until they are snapped out of their musings.

Jeremy, in essence, was following that string, even if he was not aware of it. Simply by being aware enough to wander in his own dream, he would naturally follow his psyche further and further into his own mind, serving as a guide to both himself and Nightmare Moon through pure instinct and blind luck alone.

He couldn't help but be at least a little intrigued by Nightmare Moon's explanations of this. Not only because it wasn't every day that someone could hear somebody else talk so deeply and intricately about their fields of expertise, but also because Nightmare Moon seemed so incredibly pleased to have someone to share these concepts with. To her, it was like sharing a vital piece of her identity with someone she truly cared about. And watching him listen to her in such an enthralled and interesting way was positively intoxicating.

Jeremy raised a few questions, such as whether or not those concepts even could apply to the human mind just as well as they applied to the pony mind. Nightmare Moon, in exchange, stated that while his mind might in fact be different, the general direction of dream magic throughout every other species of being in Equestria, pony or otherwise, always followed the same pattern. There would be some adjustments to make, sure, but overall it shouldn't be an issue.

"So," he eventually asked, watching as an ear of hers twitched at the sound of his voice, "what exactly are we looking for then? Do we just randomly end up deeper in my mind while we're walking?"

"Nay... Well, mayhaps?" She grunted, pursing her lips as she searched for the right words to use. "The entry we seek further into your mind can come in many forms. 'Tis entirely dependent on what you would find to be... familiar."

"Familiar?" Jeremy asked.

"Yes. Something that your mind would find to be comforting or logical. For some, simply appearing in another place would be akin to their thoughts taking a sudden shift into an entirely different subject without warning. 'Tis not uncommon, nor is it likely. In laypony's terms, it would be best for us to seek something that simply seems to make sense."

"Like, say, Zecora's house?"

"Perchance. Prithee, why do you ask?" Nightmare Moon queried as she turned her head entirely to look toward the human just next to her. Jeremy, however, was not looking toward Nightmare Moon. Instead, his gaze was centered on the familiar-looking tree hut that lie in the middle of the seemingly endless forest around them.

He wasn't sure exactly when it had popped into view - and he would certainly describe its sudden appearance as just that, 'popped' - but when it had, there was some sort of clarity to it that nothing else around him held. Besides Nightmare Moon, of course. Once this sight had caught his attention, he simply could not lose track of it. It had become a permanent part of his perception of the world around him.

Following Jeremy's gaze, Nightmare Moon was just as swiftly able to spot the unique tree among the land of facsimiles, her brows raising at its sudden intrusion into the land around them. A smirk made its way onto her features as she shared a knowing glance with Jeremy.

"You are already an expert in trekking through your own mind, it would seem." She teased, drawing a chortle from Jeremy as he took a slight lead ahead of her toward the house.

"Hardly. I'd more attribute this to dumb luck and magic than how good I am at organizing my thoughts. If we were really finding stuff based on how I think, we would have walked another few miles just to get to the point."

Out of habit, Jeremy rapped his knuckles against the hollow wood of the door. He mentally chided himself as he did, remembering that, since this was a dream, it wouldn't be likely that Zecora would be there to answer for him.

Before he could reach for the handle though, the door took the initiative of responding to his polite request for acknowledgment. It creaked and shifted before, on its merit, it opened outwards for those who wished to enter.

Jeremy blinked, surprised by what he had witnessed, but ultimately pushed it aside as some combination of magic ridiculousness and backward dream logic.

Glancing inside, he noticed that he could not actually make out anything within the house. Rather, it was as though he were staring into a pure black void. No light dared enter, nor dare it escape, plunged into an inky darkness that would put even the purest forms of oblivion to shame.

Jeremy frowned at this, looking at Nightmare Moon questioningly as he pointed to the rather disconcerting sight before him.

"Any chance this isn't it?"

Nightmare Moon, the foremost expert on dreams, walker of the void between the dreamscape and the realm of waking, and former protector against nightmares and the terrors of the mind alike, shrugged.

Dreams were inherently unpredictable, after all. Even more when they regarded a species from another world.

Jeremy deadpanned, irked by the less-than-helpful response from Nightmare Moon. Nonetheless, he returned the shrug, shifting his gaze back to the entrance before him looking rather nonplussed.

In the past, this bleak and unknowable darkness might have scared him. Now? He simply greeted it with open arms, walking into the house as though he was walking into the comfort of his own bed. Nightmare Moon was barely a step behind. From the point of view of anyone that might have been watching, the last thing that would have been visible of the two as they entered was the azure shimmer of Nightmare Moon's abstruse tail, just before the door shut violently behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first ones to arrive were always the problematic ones.

Were it up to Celestia, she would simply call them 'misguided'. But deep down, she had far harsher words to describe them.

The ones that had little else to do with their time than wait in line at the crack of dawn just to bring up some small inconvenience or complaint that they had.

A crack in the sidewalk here, an imaginary grudge from a stranger there, things that could easily be handled by several other members of the city council besides one of their princesses.

Normally, she'd handle these sessions of day court easily enough. She would eat a quick breakfast while reading the news and responding to any letters that may have been marked as urgent, take a deep breath, and put on that nurturing smile that her little ponies knew her for before either kindly providing them with places in which they could refer their issues that might actually receive a proportionate response, or simply sigh and provide a reason as to why she could not aid them.

On rare occasions, something worthwhile would be brought up for her to hear. Something that actually necessitated my involvement. This was not one of those occasions.

As if that wasn't problematic enough, she was having some difficulty keeping with her usual pace and pattern as subject after subject came with their issues.

"You did this, you know? Spoiled them rotten with generations of babying, rather than teaching them to solve their own problems. All because you can't help but feel needed."

That same voice in the back of her head. The one that had been plaguing her for days and nights on end. Try as she might, she could do little to soothe her stress than to take little breaks when she could. Only then would the voice quiet somewhat, placated by Celestia's ministrations of minimizing her frustrations and points of contention.

Day court, however? What was practically a 10-hour straight hodge-podge of complaints from the nobility, questions about tax breaks, assurances from foreign dignitaries, and offers from those that wished to pitch their businesses: there was no escaping it.

On her good days, Celestia would blink and the day would suddenly seem as if it had ended in the blink of an eye. She would need some of her scribes and assistants to recount any important business that may have come up while she was evidently on auto-pilot, but otherwise, she would do away with whatever memories of the day there might have been and resolve to take a long bubble bath.

On her bad days, she was well and truly aware of each small complaint. Of each misspoken coo and poorly made bit of flattery. Of every major issue that plagued her ponies. Of every piece of hay that was stuck between some pony's teeth because, though they may have been more than happy to wait in line for hours on end, they could never risk wasting the time to so much as brush their teeth after having lunch before they came to see her.

This was one of the bad days. Celestia could tell because she knew how many ponies had evidently taken advantage of the recent surplus of hay fries that had come in after a shipment error.

"Like foals that can't even clean themselves up properly."

Her sister, Luna, had her own court to take care of as well. Well, at least she normally did. They had recently been postponed on account of recent events. Yet, she was never worried about falling behind or disappointing her subjects.

In her first few weeks after opening night court after her return, Luna had been nervous. She feared that others would see her for her former self, rather than who she was now. Worried that nopony would dare to show up for fear of being consumed by the mare on the moon herself.

It deeply hurt Celestia to see her sister in such a state, and she had offered to allow her to take some more time to grow used to the changes that had come about in her absence. She offered her time to reacquaint herself with the populace some more. But her sister was adamant.

'If I don't do it sooner, rather than later, I will never stop making excuses for myself,' she had said. Celestia couldn't help but be proud of her sister's bravery.

Especially when she found out just how well Luna was handling things some time afterward. While, yes, night court had been relatively empty early on, soon it would be positively packed with some of the more night-oriented members of Equestria: Thestrals, Griffons, late-night workers, the list went on.

Yet, Luna was never overwhelmed. She had made certain of that. There was no annoying noble providing a grievance over a small issue, nor was there some random citizen asking her to overreach her position to do something that said pony could have found other means to do on their own. Luna had made it absolutely clear since early on in the life of her night court: only issues that truly needed the help or aid of the crown should be brought forth.

It took some time, and more than a few uses of the Royal Canterlot voice, but eventually all those that went to Luna's night court learned their lesson.

Luna had suggested that Celestia do the same some time ago, during one of her particularly bad days, but Celestia could never really bring herself to do so. Small as some of those issues might have been, they were still the issues of her citizens nonetheless. She felt as though she would be failing in her duty to watch over and care for her citizens if she brought about such a drastic change without warning.

"You have already failed your duties. Many times."

She would bear the stress as she always had.

"They are still out there. Your sister suffers because of your hubris."

She could not afford to fail them again.

" It's not just your 'ponies' either, is it?"

She would not fail them again.

"You failed others far, far worse."

Never again.

She stifled the growing pain clawing at the back of her throat and threatening to seep from the bottom of her eyes as she reminded one of her citizens that the sale on alfalfa would be next week, rather than next month.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The surrounding darkness was ubiquitous. Omnipresent. Inescapable.

The two that entered found that there were no notable features to welcome them. Furniture, walls, ceiling, even a floor was absent. They could hear their footsteps and pony equivalents, yet they could not make out what surface they were even stepping upon to make such noise.

For a time, Jeremy was worried that he would lose his way. Whatever that 'way' may have been, at least. Nightmare Moon, however, had no such worries. So long as she followed Jeremy, they would ultimately end up in the right place, unknowable as it might have been.

True to her beliefs, they did, in fact, eventually come across something.

Another door, far larger and more uniform in both size and shape than that of Zecora's hut, could be seen not far from where they trekked. Once more, Jeremy was the first to spot it, despite the complete darkness that surrounded them as well as Nightmare Moon's advantage in regards to her natural visibility of the dark. And before long, the two found themselves leaving the realm of nothing, instead entering something comfortingly cozier.

The two found themselves surprised by the fact that the door was relatively well-sized for them.

They had long grown used to doors being more aptly sized to ponies by now, which of course meant that they had a tendency of needing to slightly lower their heads every time they entered a building unless they wanted either an impromptu concussion or to open up a hole in the frame of the doorway. It was practically second nature for them to do this, by this point.

This door provided no such issues.

Furthermore, they had been greeted by a rather small room. One that seemed like a bedroom, of sorts.

A single wooden dresser stood against one wall, its chestnut wooden frame housing a wide variety of shelves for all sorts of purposes. Atop it stood a small number of knick-knacks, paraphernalia, and discarded books. Opposite the dresser, placed just into one of the corners of the room, was an adult-sized bed, seemingly barely able to fit the form of Jeremy if he had decided to get into it, with a decently sized pillow and fairly thick sheets atop of it. A pair of bifold doors colored a stark white in the room of cool blues stood embedded into one of the walls, seemingly leading into another small room. Another door, similar to the one they had entered from, stood opposite of them. Finally, a decently-sized metal drafting table, positively covered in several half-finished sketches, stray pencils, a pair of open books stacked atop one another, a tipped-over picture frame, and a single desk lamp providing a dim light to the entire room that the desk took up a good portion of, alongside the rollable office chair that sat before it.

Nightmare Moon and Jeremy found themselves looking around the snug room curiously. Jeremy because he was overall unsure of where they were. Nightmare Moon because most of what she saw was rather... odd.

While the door to the room was much more welcoming to one of her size, the room itself was still a bit of a tight squeeze by alicorn standards. So she had to take care as she maneuvered around it, brushing up against Jeremy a few times as she did so.

She found herself drawn to some of the many objects that were strewn atop the dresser. Strange little figures of familiar, yet somewhat off-putting, animals that were made of some sort of ceramic. An odd set of dice of varying sizes and shapes. Some stray keys and letters. And, most interestingly of all to her, a small key-chained size globe of a world that seemed entirely unfamiliar to her.

Taking the globe into her magical grasp, she gave the item a once over before glancing around the room once again, confirming a very real detail that she had noticed not long after entering. Everything was oddly... 'human-sized'.

"Sir Jeremy, could this be a dream of your home world?" She asked.

Jeremy, in the meantime, was busying himself looking over the many items splayed lazily atop of the desk. He pointed the desk lamp directly towards the wall away from him, growing a bit nervous too close to the light, before paging through the many papers and items before him. In the back of his mind, something was eating at him. Everything around them, every last little detail, gave such an odd sense of nostalgia, but he just couldn't pinpoint why. That is until he turned over the picture frame on the desk.

Staring back at him, though oddly blurred in some places, was a photo of a small family of four. In it, two older-looking adults could be seen, though he was struggling to make out their faces. It was almost like the image had begun to age somewhat, smudging any notable features to the point of being near unrecognizable. The other two individuals in the photo, however, were much more recognizable. One of them was him, dressed in casual attire that one would stereotypically wear when at a beach or resort, smiling in some half-formed laugh that seemed to have been forming as the photo was taken. The other was a somewhat smaller, but strikingly similar-looking person, dressed in their own stereotypical vacation wear as well as a decently sized sunhat, practically covering half of their face. Jeremy could recognize that face anywhere.

It was his sister, Beatrice.

"... This isn't just my home world. This is my old apartment." He finally replied, dumbstruck by the realization.

How had he not noticed? The same paint, the same walls, the same poorly made sketches from when he was trying to come up with some designs for a small architectural firm he worked in at the time. The fact that it took him this long to remember was practically a shock in itself.

That feeling came and went quickly, replaced instead by feelings of elation and wonder as he took the opportunity to grab the office chair next to him and take a seat. It even had the same wobble to it from when he had been missing a screw that should have come with the set while he was building it.

"Jesus Christ..."

Jeremy was speechless. He looked over the papers before him once again, vaguely recognizing some of the designs he had made seemingly years ago before allowing his eyes to wander around the room.

Nightmare Moon had occupied herself by spinning the small globe in her magical place over and over again, doing her best to commit its image to memory. It was not often that one could see an entirely different world, let alone get such a scale view of it. Narrowing her eyes ever so slightly, Nightmare Moon's horn glowed ever so slightly brighter as she cast a spell or two, digging into her memories of the arcane to preserve the image before her through more effective means.

Once she was satisfied, she turned her attention to Jeremy, only now noticing just how overwhelmed he seemed.

Placing the charm back onto the dresser, Nightmare Moon gave an empathetic frown as she watched her human compatriot.

"Sir Jeremy?"

The human gave a slow, half-hearted nod in acknowledgment.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm... I'm fine. Just-"

He slid the chair back somewhat, filling the room with the sound of its small wheels spinning while he leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands.

"Just hard to believe I'm back here again, is all." He finished with a shake of his head.

"The realm of dreams is an unpredictable, yet boundless one. Just as easily as dreams can be brought forth from memories, so too can the inner depths of one's mind." Taking a few steps towards Jeremy, she once again reached out one of her wings, encompassing the human from behind in a gentle and soothing barrier of feathers and warmth. "Even memories we may have once thought to be lost to time."

Jeremy accepted the sensations of her wing just as readily as he had before. For a moment, he allowed himself to close his eyes, breathing in what he could practically swear was the same scent that he could only faintly remember lingered in his room, much like a child might recognize the smell of an old classroom that they came back to some years later.

A part of him wanted to stay where he was. He wanted to bask in the familiarity and nostalgia of everything around him, just for a little longer.

That fuzzy feeling in the back of his mind stopped him from lingering on it though. Try as he might, he was well aware of the fact that none of this was real. This was all, as literally as it possibly could be taken, in his head.

There were more important things to take care of.

Taking another breath, Jeremy stood from his seat with a grunt. He gave Nightmare Moon his thanks for trying to comfort him before carefully brushing past her in the small room and moving towards the door opposite of where they had entered. Once he was certain that Nightmare Moon was shortly behind, the two nodding at one another with small albeit melancholy smiles on their faces, he twisted the doorknob and entered the next room that awaited them.

Or, at least, that was what he had expected. Which was why it was so odd for both he and Nightmare Moon to end up finding themselves coming through the exact door they had entered in the first place.

Once more, he was in his old room, with everything just as he had left it.

For a time, he assumed this was a fluke. Uncertain, unlikely, completely random dream nonsense.

He was just as quick to assume that the second time it happened. And the third.

By the fourth, it was no longer amusing. By the seventh, it was downright infuriating. By the twelfth, Jeremy had taken to sprinting from one door to the other, crossing the same room again, and again, and again, hoping to see some semblance of change.

There never was.

At some point in this madness, Jeremy found himself back in the office chair from before, panting as he wondered how a person could feel tired in a dream. Nightmare Moon had, in a much more lax manner, taken a place on Jeremy's old bed. In fact, she sprawled herself across the relatively small mattress by about the eighth time they had looped back into the same room, simply taking the opportunity to watch Jeremy as he tired himself out leaving through one door, then entering through the opposite over and over again.

She was well aware enough of the mind to understand what was going on, and while she could have told Jeremy about it, she felt as though it would have been easier to do so once he was much less animated about leaving.

His being tuckered out on the office chair would suffice for that.

"If we were to hazard a guess, 'tis likely that we are within the part of your mind linking to sadness. More precisely, on this occasion, loss."

Still somewhat exhausted, much to his confusion, Jeremy shifted his gaze over to the alicorn that lay across his bed.

"Huh?"

"We are simply referring to the eight primary emotions that the mind cycles between." Nightmare Moon said with a shrug, gesturing to the room around them with a simple flap of one of her wings.

"Eight primary emotions?"

"Yes. Do you not have such concepts regarding the mind and its machinations within your world?" By now, Jeremy had sat himself up completely and spun his seat around to face the alicorn.

"...Maybe?"

As one might expect, there was, in fact, not such a theory within the world of humans. Or at the very least, there wasn't one that Jeremy was well aware of.

Much like humans had their own thoughts and curiosities about the mind and how it worked, ponies just as well had their own questions and concerns. However, unlike humans, they had a very clear and simple way of getting the answers that they needed. From the mouth of the one pony that could look through the minds of others as she could look through their dreams: Princess Luna.

Over a vast period of time, ponies had evidently compiled quite a bit of information based on Luna's wanderings through the minds of many individuals in Equestria. All of that information, eventually, lead to a rather popular and presiding theory about the makeup of the average pony's mind. That theory was colloquially known as the 'Primary Emotions Theory'.

At a base level, ponies were creatures of emotion above all else. Yes, they could learn, they could create, and they could adapt, but ultimately they all held a very close relation to their own emotions. Even the most battle-hardened, quick to anger, and stoic of military commanders could just as easily find himself tearing up if he saw a cute little rabbit trip and hurt itself falling down a hill.

Jeremy remembered some of the overly emotional ramblings of other ponies well enough to understand where this theory had merit so far. The memory of one particular mare that would always scream about 'the horror' whenever something that was even somewhat inconvenient troubled her before fainting made that much clear.

So, from that, ponies developed a theory that the mind was simply a series of emotions constantly layering itself atop one another depending on what was occurring in the life of a pony. More accurately, a pony would constantly be cycling between three of any of the eight primary emotions that tend to affect a pony most often. Happiness, Sadness, Love, Fear, Anger, Relief, Guilt, and Envy.

And from there, emotions would branch off into several smaller and more specific forms.

Even non-ponies seemed to have a tendency of falling under this curtain of psychological theory, though some were more likely to cycle between certain emotions than ponies. For instance, dragons had an increased tendency to cycle between the emotions of Envy and Anger, and Griffons tended to cycle between Anger and Happiness. Ponies, most commonly, cycled between Happiness, Love, and Sadness.

It was certainly an interesting take on the subject, and Jeremy wasn't inclined to disagree with it. However, there were some doubts that clouded his mind the more he thought about it.

For one, wouldn't that be overly generalized? It didn't really account for a lot of the smaller nuances behind why someone might act the way they did so much as it focused on why they might feel the way they did.

Also, what would that have to do with the situation that they were in now? How would sadness stop them from progressing any further in his mind? And for that matter, why did he apparently feel sad now? If anything, he felt as though he should have been more mad, considering how he had felt before he went to sleep, what with just finding out Luna was looking through his memories.

Regarding the former, Nightmare Moon asked Jeremy about how it was that humans organized their understanding of the mind. After all, they were an entirely different species with an entirely different way of acting, so it may not have been too far off to assume that their minds worked in different ways. Or, at the very least, it would provide an interesting point of comparison between cultures.

Jeremy was, most certainly, no expert. He didn't have a degree in psychology, nor did he have a near photographic memory of random trivia that would aid him in this discussion. The most he had was a murky understanding of basic psychology from a class he had taken back in college when he needed an elective for the credits.

While there were many theories that humans had about the mind and how it worked - certainly not as set in stone and certain as ponies had been about how their minds worked - one that Jeremy recalled well enough was the idea that the mind was split between three portions. The Id, the Ego, and the Super-Ego.

The Id focused on a person's primal needs and instincts, like the need for water or food. The Ego referred to a person's wants and sense of reality, like, say, wanting a candy bar at a convenience store. And the Super-Ego was their expectations and morals. It's what would prevent the person from simply stealing the candy bar despite wanting it. Then, it would be up to the Ego to decide between what was presented by the Super-Ego and Id as to what it, and by extension, the person, would do.

Nightmare Moon found the concept novel but felt it failed to deliver quite what was necessary in the same way that Jeremy felt the Eight Primary Emotions Theory had done.

Eventually, the conversation led to the question of what those emotions had to do with why they were stuck there in the first place.

When a pony goes to sleep, according to the theory, their mind defaults to the emotions that had been most present recently. So, a pony that had been having a rough few weeks might have a mind cycle between anger, sadness, and fear while they're sleeping, which usually leads to dreams expressing similar patterns. In other words, it was pretty common for dreams to originate based on these emotions.

Sadness and loss, for example, might lead to dreams based on revisiting that which was lost, or feeling stuck in place.

Which was rather apt, considering their situation.

Jeremy, however, was more likely to believe that they were in the Super-Ego of his mind, what with the world that he grew up in being the one that taught him all he knew about morals and how to act. He figured that, perhaps, it was just a roadblock presented by the Super-Ego to keep others from seeing parts of the mind that were less inhibited.

In essence, the two were at an impasse about what was happening.

Now, Nightmare Moon could very well just mention that she was far more experienced at this sort of thing than Jeremy was, but she couldn't forget just how different the human mind had been so far. Plus, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't having at least some fun in this little disagreement of theirs.

So, with no other way to prove who was right, the two came to a silent agreement. Whoever found the way further into Jeremy's mind would be declared the victor.

Chapter 34: To Come Crumbling Down

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Memory can be seen as many things--a sight of what once came to pass; information that is stored for later; an abstract form of filing all your important hopes and least important nuances into a neat little box. In many ways, memory can be interpreted as many things.

At this moment, memory was currently being interpreted into the image of a once-clean apartment bedroom being reduced to a realm of rubble.

Pages of several unfinished projects, sketches, and notes riddled the floors. Books were torn and strewn from place to place. The dresser that once stood firmly against the wall now leaned against it for support, relieved of its drawers like a gutted fish awaiting its fate on the plate of a family. At some point, even the bed frame was emptied and shattered in two, with the mattress that normally came bundled within it now stuck to the ceiling with a gratuitous overuse of magic.

On the floor of the bedroom-turned-warzone was Jeremy, who lay sprawled on his back, panting, and he recovered from the past few moments of exertion. Nightmare Moon lay next to him, her legs bundled beneath her as she searched the room inquisitively, all the while absentmindedly fanning Jeremy with one of her wings.

"I'm exhausted..." Jeremy panted. "How the fuck am I exhausted? I thought this was a dream?"

"Nay. Not a dream, but a part of your mind." Nightmare Moon corrected.

Jeremy lazily raised a hand and waved off her words before just as swiftly allowing his arm to fall back next to him.

"Yeah, whatever. Still doesn't explain why I feel like I actually just flipped my old room upside down."

Nightmare Moon didn't so much as glance at Jeremy, far more preoccupied with trying to solve the ordeal they were in. The entire room had been searched top to bottom, and then some, and yet they were no closer to finding a way out of this loop than they had started.

From time to time, they would open the door out or into the room in an effort of seeing if anything had changed. Yet, as one might be able to tell from the fact that the same walls, floor, and ceiling surrounded them, they had made no progress.

Of course, this meant that their journey to find and deal with Princess Luna as she roamed through Jeremy's mind was effectively at a halt. But, more importantly, it meant that neither of them would be able to say 'I told you so' regarding how the mind is organized without being able to proceed.

"You feel fatigued because you believe you should be fatigued. 'Tis your mind acquiescing to your inherent thoughts." The alicorn clarified as she floated over a few of the papers strewn about the floor to her face. She was hoping she might be able to ascertain something from them that might allow them to continue. The human next to her rose a brow at this, glancing at the alicorn as she flipped from paper to paper.

"Wait. So, like, if I believed I could fly, I would?"

"Nay."

"What?!" His exhaustion present, yet currently forgotten, Jeremy sat straight up as he looked indignantly towards Nightmare Moon. "Bullshit. How does that make sense?"

"Were this a dream, you would be allowed certain freedoms that you would not find elsewhere. However, as this is your mind, it can only envision what it is familiar with. Hunger, memory, emotions," she spared a sly glance to the human next to her, "the sensation of breaking a bed frame in half, and all the weariness that comes from it."

For a moment, Jeremy remained silent, seething at just how unfair the world truly was in the same way a child might when not given ice cream. A part of his mind also chided him about how many possible jokes and euphemisms that Gilda might have come up with at the moment had she been hearing any of this regarding how much of a mess the room and the bed he and Nightmare Moon had made.

"Still bullshit..." He mumbled, working out an odd kink in the back of his neck from the stress of rapidly emptying and throwing several cabinets' worth of clothing and stray objects within a single breath.

Nightmare Moon chuckled at his antics, returning her attention to the papers before her.

They were interesting enough, providing clear showings of some of the detail and differences between the average architectural plannings and goings on of Jeremy's world when compared to that of ponies, but none of them had what they were looking for. Granted, even Nightmare Moon wasn't exactly sure what they were looking for, but whatever it was was not there.

"Assuming that your theory of our being in your... 'Super-Ego' is correct, what do you believe would be the best course of action for us?"

"Not sure. I learned the theory, not really the application. What about that 'Eight Primary Emotions' stuff? How do you usually get past the whole 'sadness' aspect of it?"

" 'Tis entirely dependent on the complexity and depth of the being's mind. What could be a simple linking of logical components to one might just as easily be seen as a leap of illogical faith to others. Furthermore, the mind of a human still has nuances to it that we are uncertain."

"In other words, you don't know either?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"Fucking fun." The human groaned, placing his hands on his face as he relished in the very real possibility that they may accomplish next to nothing despite their attempts.

Finding nothing of interest, Nightmare Moon allowed the papers that were in her magical grasp to fall to her side as she sought out the next immediate object of interest in the room. As the picture frame that held Jeremy and his family in it came to eye level, Nightmare Moon raising an eye in curiosity at the blurred form of his parents, Nightmare Moon once more made her thoughts known.

"Sir Jeremy," she began, glancing towards the prone form of the human, "if there were something that you would say that you have a great need to see again from the human world, pray tell, what do you believe it would be?"

The human shrugged, not bothering to look at the alicorn as he kept his hands on his face.

"I dunno. My family, I guess? Just so I could let them know I was doing alright, at least." He allowed his hands to slip slowly down across his face, watching as Nightmare Moon gave a slight nod before standing and making her way over to the closet. "Why?"

Nightmare Moon did not answer, opening the door to the closet while the family portrait that she held in her magical grasp floated next to her. For a moment, she gave it another look, giving a slight smile at the expression of happiness and joy that her friend held on it while being next to his kin, before floating it into one of the corners of the relatively messy place for storage and clothing.

Jeremy watched on in confusion as she did this, getting up from his place on the floor with a grunt before moving next to her as she quickly closed the closet door yet again.

"What are you-" He began to ask, only to pause as he suddenly found himself needing to find his balance as a result of a massive tremor seeming to shake the room around the two of them. Jeremy blinked, looking towards Nightmare Moon in confusion while the alicorn simply gave him a look of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Before he could ask what was clearly on his mind, one of the doors to the room seemed to slam open on its own, causing Jeremy to flinch in surprise. However, rather than leading to the same dark hallway that it would previously have taken him to, there was now a staircase in its place.

"... It was that easy? Just putting a picture frame into my closet?"

"One could see it as your mind accepting the bereavement from your past life, but focusing instead on what is necessary to move on."

Jeremy took a moment just to stare at her. Long enough that she could very easily see the doubt that was scrawled along his features as he shook his head in silence. To him, this sounded like grasping at straws.

Nightmare Moon paid this no heed, however. She rolled her eyes and gestured towards the newly opened staircase before them.

"Must you see everything so dubiously?" She questioned, instead drawing a deadpan from Jeremy as he walked past her and towards the door.

"I live in a world where ponies talk, giant space bears are a real thing, and most everything can be explained by the use of the word 'magic'. Frankly, I'm surprised I take anything without a pinch of salt nowadays."

Nightmare Moon simply hummed in response, weighing his words for a moment before allowing them to ebb away with a chuckle. In her mind, nothing that he had just described seemed to be anything besides natural. Of course, that was exactly the issue, but she was unlikely to see that any time soon.

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

For a while, the two wandered silently, following the ever-winding and turning stairs in the dark expanse of infinity and oblivion that they existed. There was no support or rails for them to rely on, so they did so carefully as well, far too aware of how disastrous it may have been should they miss a step and go tumbling down.

Nightmare Moon had wings, yes, as well as magic, but she wasn't too keen on tumbling head-first for a few flights before she could recover. Jeremy, on the other, did not have those advantages. So his care was triple.

Every now and then, they could swear that the sound of the stone steps between them quieted for a few seconds, giving them time to truly take in the endless void around them, just before returning as though nothing had gone wrong in the first place.

At one point, Jeremy tried to speak, hoping to pass the time a little more easily, if not to take his mind off the somewhat daunting atmosphere around the. To his confusion, however, any noise that escaped his mouth was lost to the void just as easily as the sound of their footsteps.

Had he been thinking clearly, he would have simply resolved the issue by talking to the alicorn using the mental link they shared. However, for a multitude of reasons--not least of all the fact that the realm of dreams still made his mind foggy beyond belief--he was not. Fortunately, fate seemed to smile upon the slowly panicking human and the much more calm and collected alicorn behind him.

Much like last time, a break in the absolute darkness eventually greeted them. A pair of sliding doors, akin to the kind one would see on a train, dimly lit a series of steps below. Where it had appeared from, Jeremy was unsure. As far as he was aware, his eyes had been following the nothingness around him for as long as he could have.

He decided not to question it, pushing the whole concept aside as 'more dream nonsense' shortly after reaching the final step that stood before the doors and pulling them open with a muted grunt.

Before anything else, Jeremy became distinctly aware of the sudden burst of wind that rushed into the empty chasm of a stairway he had come from. A primal fear of falling backward nipped at the back of his mind, pushing him to all but leap forward into the doorway to keep it from becoming a reality.

He stumbled as sound, air, and existence alike returned to the world around him. His heart was in his throat, beating with an intensity he hadn't felt in some time, as he took in the sights of the world around him.

The familiarity of the Canterlot train station was undeniable, as well as the far-off castle from which the diarchy of Equestria ruled. The buildings were plain, and simple, as though only a basic version of what usually should have been there. Unlike the previous room, which had every detail correct down to the last dent on the wooden bed frame from rolling into it with a chair, the sight before was quite lacking.

The sun held no place in the sky, nor did the moon, providing darkness that was only barely lit by a series of small, snow-like bubbles that were falling at a constant pace.

Each one shone, swirled, and bubbled within its own limited forms, with no two looking exactly alike. On occasion, some would be bigger, some would be smaller, and some would blink away from existence with little to no warning or reason.

One thing they all shared in common, however, was the fact that they never quite hit the floor. They came close on more than a few occasions, barely inches away from making landfall before disintegrating the moment they came close to any sort of solid surface whatsoever. None came close to Jeremy purely because of the small roof over his head, provided by the station itself.

As he gazed upon this sight, his breath steadying bit by bit, he could only barely take note of the sound of hooves hitting the floor behind him.

"Dreams."

Jeremy glanced back to Nightmare Moon, raising a brow as he watched her gaze fall on the odd phenomena before them with a hint of nostalgia in her eyes.

"Uh... Dreams? But, we're in a dream, right?"

Nightmare Moon shook her head, never taking her eyes off the strangely crafted cityscape before her.

"Again, we are in your mind. Not quite a dream, just a representation that we can understand and trek through. What you were held in before we found you was a dream. This-" she gestured to the entirety of Canterlot that stood before them, "is where some of them originate from."

"In the Ego?"

"Within the second emotional layer, yes."

Jeremy didn't ignore the fact that she had not-so-subtly taken to rebutting his theory on how the human mind worked, but rather he elected to focus on the more pressing questions that ebbed at him.

"There's... an awful lot of them?" He noted. For a split second, he considered trying to count them as they fell. That split second was quickly thereafter followed by another split second of his mind calling him an absolute moron for even trying as he lost count after the first handful.

"Quite. Dreams can be rather..." She took a moment to search for the right word. "chaotic, in nature. Yet, there is harmony to the chaos. A sort of fragile balance that exists within the realms of one's mind at all times."

Having had to go through several years of higher education just to get a degree in engineering, Jeremy understood the concept of organized chaos. Especially when it was nearing time for finals, or when he had to organize a thesis on the value and viability of preconstructed bridges when compared to more time-consuming, yet more effective methods. That was a period in time in which Jeremy was almost certain that anyone who might have walked in on him would have likely assumed he was living the life of a hoarder with a fetish for paper, energy drinks, and microwave foods.

To this day, he can hardly stomach the sight of noodles.

"People only end up having one dream though, right? Why so many, if that's the case? And why are they all here?"

"That is a common misconception, actually. Perchance, have you ever held a dream that seemed so vivid, so incomprehensible and wild in nature that, despite yourself, you end up with nary a memory of it when you awake?"

The human blinked for a moment, taking a second to split apart her words, before hesitantly giving a nod.

"There are likely several hundreds, if not thousands more dreams that you experienced even before the very dream you forgot; lost to memory like a dust sprite within a vortex of wind and turmoil. Like a silent war held within your psyche whenever you sleep, dreams constantly vie for that one place within the focus on your mind's eye, all for the faintest chance of leaving some pleasant or unpleasant mark on your mind when you awake. Even if they will be forgotten mere moments later."

Jeremy crossed his arms as he looked towards the alicorn, taking note of just how enthusiastically she spoke of what may as well have been a philosophical epiphany. Then again, this was her forte.

"As to the reason why they all seem to appear here, of all places, the answer is simple." She turned her head away from the sights before her and looked directly toward the human with a knowing smile. "Why not?"

"... That doesn't answer my question."

"Dreams often do not. Typically, they pose only questions. Questions which you must find the answer to."

Jeremy deadpanned at the alicorn. She had been doing so well at not providing vague answers up until now. Now, the human could only find himself muttering something about 'pseudo-intellectual cop-outs' while the alicorn giggled at his clear frustration.

Truth be told, there were many philosphi-ponies and wise mares that had held similar questions towards Nightmare Moon in her past life. It was something that was, to anypony besides her, simply impossible to fully understand. It was a favored hobby of hers to mentally note the variety of annoyed, confused, or downright angered reactions they all provided when she gave similar answers.

She marked Jeremy's reaction down as one of her top three.

He could have been higher, but she could never forget how Starswhirl The Bearded all but chased her out of his study wielding one of his spell books and a vial of invisible ink.

"So, where to next?" Jeremy asked, pushing aside his annoyance as he began to take a step forward into the city. Before he could get far, a large blue wing halted his progress.

"To begin, it would be best that you do not come in contact with any of the dreams forming before us, lest we have to begin this journey all over again as we are forced out of this layer of your mind." Jeremy grimaced at this. He really didn't want to have to go through a Groundhogs Day-esque experience with a looping series of rooms in his mind again.

Before he could question what Nightmare Moon might suggest, seeing as there was practically nowhere around them that wasn't being absolutely showered in these conceptual baubles of dream snow, the alicorn began to step forward instead.

Her horn glowed ever so gently as she recalled yet another spell from her past. With a flicker of her head and a wave of her horn, Jeremy watched as a faint azure light appeared above her, starting from a point before spreading and falling around her form like a dome.

As she walked out from beneath the cover of the train station, the snow no longer fell near her. Rather, she served as a sort of dam or umbrella, the snow diverting its path whenever it came even somewhat near her before disappearing harmlessly into the ether.

The alicorn then laid herself down, her hooves folded underneath her, as she provided a sharp contrast of form and presence to the expansive show of uncanniness around them. She looked back at Jeremy with a smile before gesturing to her back with a bob of her head.

"Shall we then?" She asked. Jeremy took in the sight before him, absentmindedly taking note of the apparent elegance of her form among the parting shimmers of the dreams dancing around her form, before giving out a sigh.

"Is it wrong that I'm getting used to riding on your backs?" He questioned, pushing aside whatever faint sense of awkwardness waving at him that he held.

"Prithee, we could offer to have you return the favor, if you truly feel so pitchkettled about the experience."

"I choose life, thank you very much."

"Oh? Are you mayhaps calling us fat?"

"Depends. How much do you weigh?"

"Sir Jeremy!" She gasped in faux indignation. "You should never ask a mare what they weigh!"

"Okay... How much does Luna weigh?"

Nightmare Moon paused at the question. One could clearly see the gears in her mind moving as she sought a rebuttal to this technically entirely fair response to her statement. She hummed for a moment, considering her options, before settling on the rather brilliant response she had heard used against a royal just the other day.

"That is stupid. You are stupid."

Jeremy barked out a laugh at the familiar phrase.

"Touche, moon pony. Tou-fucking-che." Jeremy laughed, using the time provided for his apparent 'defeat' to sink in in order to take his place on Nightmare Moon's back. He didn't comment as her mane swiftly began to wrap around him where he sat, having expected this as he gave a roll of his eyes at the experience.

Nightmare Moon gave a self-satisfied nod, both at his admission of defeat and the sudden weight on her back, before standing herself upright. She took a cursory glance at their environment, seeking any tale tells signs of where they might need to go. By the looks of it, while not quite a perfect rendition of the city, this image of Canterlot was rather sizable.

The forest from before had been large, yes, but it was rather open and easy to see anything that stood out within it. Here, there were various different buildings and sights, each with its own perfectly viable entrances and exits that could very well lead them into the last layer of Jeremy's mind. If they walked, it might take quite some time. A time that they could not really afford to spare.

So, Nightmare Moon elected not to walk.

Taking in a breath of cool air, Nightmare Moon suppressed a sensation of giddiness as she began to take a few slow steps forwards. It was faint, but one could easily hear that each step she took became faster than the last. Bit by bit, her slow walk turned into a trot. Then a canter. And, eventually, a gallop.

Jeremy, who had been taken along for the experience, found himself bracing against her as she sped up. Before he could question her odd behavior, he noticed that her wings were beginning to shift and occasionally flutter.

"... No..." He commented.

Nightmare Moon's pace continued, the world around them seemingly dragged backward as it struggled to keep up with the alicorn, all the while replaced by the quickly arriving world before them.

"No, no, no..."

Her wings, held to her side for so long, used for little more than stretching or small gestures and movements, opened to their full expanse, taking up the better part of the road she galloped down.

"No. No. NO!"

All it took was one breeze. One isolated tickle of air danced around her feathers like a strand of hay faintly titillated against the side of one's cheek before instinct and reflex took over. The dreams that danced and scoured around their forms were practically flung away from them as a mass of air was sent below and outwards. And with it, she, as well as her passenger, were swiftly sent upwards.

Jeremy's screams and curses could be heard well into the distance of his inner mind's illusions, yet Nightmare Moon was far more focused on the sensation of the air rushing around her form as she took to the skies for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

Perhaps she wasn't technically flying in real life, what with this all simply being an astral projection of herself into the mind of another, but the experience was still there. To her, one who saw dreams as an extension of reality rather than a separate entity, this was as real as anything else.

It was only once the two could completely overlook the entirety of the city that she allowed herself to focus on the world around her once more, taking the opportunity to glide in the several updrafts that came and went at their altitude as she looked back to the human that rode with her.

Jeremy, for his part, was bracing himself tightly against Nightmare Moon's back, his full form sprawled against her from behind while tightly gripping parts of her fur as his legs circled around as much of her as he could. Consequently, much of his view was shrouded by Nightmare Moon's formless mane, which took the opportunity to further grip him. In an odd way, the mane's sentience and need to keep him close provided some sense of security, much like a seat belt or a safety blanket.

Jeremy was much more focused on the seat belt aspect.

"We take it that you are no longer used to this, Sir Jeremy?" Nightmare Moon tittered.

"IF I WEREN'T ON YOUR BACK RIGHT NOW, I WOULD ACTIVELY BE FINDING OUT IF I HAVE THE CAPABILITY OF CHOKING A PONY." Jeremy yelled back, though his voice was somewhat muffled by the sound of the wind and the presence of Nightmare Moon's mane.

"Come now, Sir Jeremy. 'Tis perfectly safe. Surely, you would like to partake in the sight of the city from our place in the skies?"

"HUMANS DON'T FLY, NIGHTMARE MOON. THE LAW OF AERODYNAMICS, THERMODYNAMICS, AND WHATEVER OTHER 'SCIENCEY-SOUNDING' WORDS I CAN THINK OF IN A MOMENT OF PURE PANIC DON'T ALLOW IT. "

"Did you not previously mention flying contraptions that were no more than large entities of steel that were held aloft by small explosions and spinning rotors?"

"THAT'S... different." He replied, unconvincingly.

"And do ponies not also hold the means to make themselves fly at present, even without wings or magic, despite their technology being dwarfed by that which you have mentioned exists in your own world?"

"I mean, technically yes, but-"

"And do you truly believe that we would do anything to risk you?"

"... No." He relented with a sigh, parts of his body going against their better instinct as he started to force himself to relax.

"Then allow yourself to enjoy the experience. It can be rather... freeing, in a sense."

Taking in a breath -- and vaguely noting the oddly present scent of blueberries -- Jeremy eased his grip on Nightmare Moon's fur and elected to humor her, if only for a moment. Oddly enough, the mane that held him eased its grip as he moved. It did not outright release it, still tightly bound around parts of his waist and stomach, but it allowed him to sit himself up with nary a bit of resistance. Jeremy silently gave thanks for the fact that it was both so willing to let him go and hold on to him at the same time as he raised himself from his place on Nightmare Moon's back.

The wind whipped against him more and more as he exposed himself to the elements around them. For a moment, he wondered if he could even be able to open his eyes for more than a few moments before the wind forced him to close them again. Nonetheless, he forced himself to try.

At first, the sight before him caused his stomach to drop. His natural inclinations of fight or flight -- which, ironically, was very much reminding him that he could not literally fly-- momentarily began to kick in as his grip on Nightmare Moon's back tightened for a moment. The mare in question, however, simply looked back at him. Her eyes met his as she offered a reassuring smile to the human, as though silently reminding him that she was here for him.

That calmed his heart by some amount, allowing him to once more take a series of deep breaths and finally begin to truly take in the sights around him.

The vast expanse of the world as his mind imagined it from this height greeted him. Fields of green as far as the eye can see, gently disappearing into the horizon; the mountain that held the city of Canterlot, now something that he could seemingly hold within his hands; the city amidst a mass of rock, sat next to the seemingly gentle waterfall that fell down the side of the mountain; the snow-like dreams that fluttered, spun, twisted, turned, and hovered around them as they cut through them like knives through butter; the clouds that occasionally interrupted the sight before him, some fluffier than others, some barely held together by their will to exist within this world.

Jeremy could understand what Nightmare Moon meant about the sight being freeing. In a way, it was as though the world as a whole was no longer their own. They had become spectators, looking over everything below them in the same way one would a terrarium or an art piece.

"I... okay, yeah, that's... definitely different." He murmured, though Nightmare Moon could still very clearly hear the amazement in his voice. She found herself beaming before she knew it, happy that her knight was allowing himself to enjoy the affair after all.

"We are honored to be able to provide you with such a... 'different' experience." She spoke with a chuckle.

"The honor's all mine." Jeremy earnestly replied. He wasn't sure if he would really remember any of this, what with it all technically being some weird version of a dream. But he very much hoped that he wouldn't forget this, at the very least.

"Pray tell, where might you suggest we go first, Sir Jeremy? After all, your guidance will naturally lead us further into the depths of your mind."

Jeremy blinked, shaking his head as he reminded himself what they were here for in the first place.

"Uh, right, right. So, if we were following the Theory of Primary Emotions, what would this place technically be?" He asked, hoping that an alternate perspective might give him some ideas. The alicorn hummed for a moment as she looked down towards the city below.

"As is, the world presented before we could mean many things. You have been through sufficiently varied experiences that the sight of Canterlot might indicate a variety of things. However, there is an air of calm in this iteration of your mind. Tranquility, even. Were we to hazard a guess, 'tis likely that we are within an emotional representation of happiness. A showing of what you felt for this place before-..." She trailed off, glancing at the human on her back. He offered a nod in return, understanding what she was implying.

"Right... Okay, so, 'happiness'. Or, alternatively, we're in my 'Ego', or sense of reality, considering this is literally where we are right now."

"Hm. Perhaps..." Nightmare Moon commented, the flap of her wings kicking up another mass of air beneath them as she had to compensate for a poorly situated updraft.

"To get out of my Superego, we had to do something that went against what it wanted: hiding some of my memories of the world that gave me my morals."

"Or accepting your loss and moving on from it to escape your sadness." Nightmare Moon added without missing a beat, to which Jeremy nodded.

"Right, or that. So, if I had to guess, maybe we would do something that goes against my sense of reality. Or... hides away the happiness?" Jeremy offered, glancing at Nightmare Moon uncertainly.

She nodded again, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"And, how would you suggest we do that?" She queried.

Jeremy hummed in thought, looking down to Canterlot as the two slowly circled around the mountain from the air. He wondered how one might be able to go about denying reality or hiding away that which gave him happiness. It was as they were flying, when a cloud once more interrupted his view of the city, that he had an idea. Something that could fulfill both of those possible conditions at once.

"Out of curiosity, how high do you think we can go?"

The alicorn raised a brow at the question, slightly turning her head back to face him.

"Wherefore do you ask?" She questioned. Jeremy smirked somewhat, his gaze shifting to the featureless night sky above them.

"When it comes to reality, like I said, humans don't fly. I have no way of possibly understanding or imagining what it's like to be so high in the sky without anything to keep me up there. So it's outside of my own reality. And when it comes to happiness, if we go high enough, we won't really be able to see what used to make me happy anymore either, will we?"

Nightmare Moon simply looked at him for a moment, taking in his reasoning before giving a smirk of her own.

"In that case," she began, her wings beating a couple more times as she forced herself out of the smaller updrafts she had been gliding upon, "you would do well to hold on."

Jeremy acquiesced, leaning forward against Nightmare Moon to grip onto her from behind. Her mane allowed his hands to sink in, slinking between his fingers like small serpents as it allowed itself to be held, as well as held him in return. The cool sky around them became a whirlwind of motion and sound as Nightmare Moon's wings pounded against the air, launching her through the atmosphere at breakneck speeds. Jeremy had to brace himself as the sudden movement and shift of speed and perspective fought with his mind's understanding of the world, as well as his body's sense of equilibrium. At some point, he could swear it felt as though they were going as straight up as they possibly could, like climbing a wall of ozone and vapors.

He chanced a glance behind him, watching as the world below seemed more and more distant with each passing second. In his mind, he knew that things should have been changing. The air should have been thinning. Nightmare Moon should have had difficulty keeping herself in the propelled as the atmosphere that she swam through became more and more shallow. But then again, this wasn't Earth. This world was different. Its physics were different. And, more importantly, it was a world of magic, on top of being a representation of one in his mind.

There was a lot that he couldn't understand. In this instance, that's exactly what he was counting on.

Soon, the world below him was nigh undetectable, hidden in the dark, starless, moonless night that surrounded them. As they flew, the whistling of the wind grew quiet. The beating of Nightmare Moon's wings became still. The only indication they held that they were moving in the first place was the constant stream of dreams flowing around them like little glass beads, yet even those were becoming more and more scarce.

Before long, it seemed as though they would eventually reach the absolute limit of where they could possibly go. Yet, not far from where they were, there was a shimmer.

There, in the sky, serving as a sort of impossible-to-understand ceiling, was what seemed like a large body of water. A veritable ocean within the skies, moving and flowing with some invisible force that kept it in motion.

Nightmare Moon did not slow as she caught sight of this phenomenon. In fact, the smile on her face grew as she forced herself to go even faster. At some point, Jeremy lost his sense of direction completely, not sure whether he was going up or down as they closed in on the water before them. Once they were so close that they could practically see their reflection, he flinched, waiting for the inevitable sensation of water impacting against his skin like cement from the speed they were going.

Yet, no matter how long he waited, the feeling never came. After some time, he allowed his eyes -- which he unknowingly closed during their approach -- to open once more.

He was met with a scene of nonconceptual objects and colors; skies warped by near-constant auroras of blues, grays, and occasionally deep reds. The ground seemed to drip upwards into the vast expanse around them, disappearing to a land where nobody could possibly follow.

Under normal circumstances, one might call the sight to be beautiful. However, every once in a while, the formlessness of the world created something. It was never there for long, nor was it so much as slightly identifiable, but every time it gave Jeremy a sense of deep, immeasurable unease.

In the distance, flashes of images could be seen. Any that saw them might have assumed that they were hallucinations or tricks of the mind. Jeremy, however, could recognize each and every one of them. After all, they were his memories, shot back and forth through the horizon like a series of random clips and photos from a broken movie.

Nightmare Moon, her breathing somewhat strained from the sudden burst of effort she had put forth, as well as having not flown in quite some time, gave a cursory scan of the landscape around them. She felt herself frown as she did so, easily sensing that same feeling of unease that stood in the back of her mind that Jeremy had.

"Fear." She commented. Jeremy gave a concerned hum in response, watching as some of the figments around them seemed to take on larger forms if he focused on them for too long.

"Or the Id. Still, fear seems pretty goddamn appropriate too." The realm of baser instincts, at least according to human theories. For many, it can be recognized by a variety of names. The unconscious. The self-centered. The need for survival. What better place could there be for something as primal and ever-present as fear?

"This should be the deepest depths of your mind. If we are to find our former selves, it would be in no place other than here."

Jeremy could only wonder where they would even start to look. The flat expanse was seemingly infinite, stretching on for miles upon miles on end. Yet, nothing stood out, save for whatever illogical forms were present at some random instance of time.

With a grunt, Jeremy raised a leg over Nightmare Moon's back before landing on the floor next to her. He had figured that, if there weren't any other dreams raining all around them, it wasn't quite as necessary for him to keep riding atop his friend's back.

The ground reverberated around him as he landed, as though a pebble had been thrown into a puddle, moving outwards into the infinite realm around them. Out of reflex, Jeremy took a step back at the unexpected sight, sending out another ripple as he did so.

Parts of the expanse shifted and churned under the motions brought about by Jeremy's movements, with some of the figments disappearing entirely before being replaced with new ones. More curiously though, some of the figments broke off, like large cells dividing from their source, floating in place before becoming more and more definable. They circled in on themselves, smoothing out their rough, hard-to-perceive surfaces as they became dark, almost pulsating bubbles of pitch black.

In an odd way, they were reminiscent of the dreams from before. However, they were much, much larger, with the biggest one that Jeremy could see being the size of his torso.

Next to him, Jeremy could hear the sound of Nightmare Moon inhaling sharply. With a glance, he could see that she was looking at these bubbles with a sort of disgust, her eyes narrowed as she watched them slowly descend back down into the floor before melting back into the mass of liquid that made up the surface they stood upon.

"You okay?" Jeremy asked. By far, Nightmare Moon had treated everything else within the dreamscape with some margin of knowledge and understanding. There had been nothing that she had seen, incomprehensible, illogical, or otherwise, that had so much as thrown her for the slightest of loops. So for her to have such an expression of contempt, it was only logical that Jeremy was curious as to what was going on in her head.

"Sir Jeremy," Nightmare Moon uttered, her tone even and clear, "take care not to approach any of those... things." She gestured to one of the other bubbles as they disappeared into the murk they had originated from. "My magic will not be able to keep them away from you, no matter how close you might be to me."

"Uh, okay? Noted. What exactly are they, though?"

"Nightmares." She responded, practically spitting out the word with the same venom one would the name of a horrible criminal. "Our... our namesake."

Taking a few steps forward, Jeremy watched as the alicorn looked further out into the landscape, her horn shining ever so slightly as she cast some form of spell that he could not identify. He took note of the fact that, unlike him, she did cause any reverberations in the floor below them.

"Lot bigger than the dreams from before," Jeremy muttered, crossing his arms as he looked toward the flashing memories that played arbitrarily in the far-off distance. Some of the memories that popped up caused him to furrow his brow, seeming like far-off things that he could only just remember. There were even some images that, try as he might, he simply couldn't identify whatsoever.

It was like the experiences or explanations that went with them were on the tip of his tongue, but the more he thought of them, the further away they seemed. It came to a point where he wondered what it was he was trying to remember in the first place, and why he had even bothered.

" 'Tis a result of them being birthed from much more extreme emotions. Dreams fight for your memory. They seek your attention in the hopes of posing you questions for you to answer, or moments of bliss amongst a time of difficulty." Her eyes narrowed again as her horn lost its glow. She gave out a sigh, having not found what she was looking for. "Nightmares are entirely different entities altogether. They need not fight amongst each other to hold a place in your mind. Rather, they are guaranteed that place just by existing. They surge, they corrupt, and they extinguish; like hounds hunting rabbits for their next fill. They use your mind as the hunting grounds."

The alicorn turned back in the direction of Jeremy. Her face had shifted from one of contempt and disgust to one of loathing and regret.

"And we... we took advantage of that, in the past." She spoke with a mournful sigh.

"You mean back when you and Luna were one person?" He blinked, realizing what he had said. "Er, pony." He swiftly corrected. Nightmare Moon nodded in return.

"Yes. Nightmares are sources of pure, unadulterated emotion. Emotion in its barest form. And emotion is an essential aspect of magic. Without it, magic has very little to draw from." She took a few steps in Jeremy's direction, walking past him as her horn glowed like it had just moments again. "A pony can form magic in whatever shape they please; provide the magical matrices, geas, sigils, runes, or whatever form of focus they might wish. Yet magic still relies on emotion in order for any of these forms to hold true."

Her horn lost its glow yet again. This time, there was definitely something she could sense. A faint presence. A distant, yet ever-near signature of dream magic that was not her own. She was on the right track.

"Kinda like how changelings need love?" Jeremy offered, following Nightmare Moon as she began to walk in what seemed like a completely random direction. He did his best to avoid any stray bubbles that popped up as a result of his walking. Thankfully, they were few and far between enough that it wasn't really any sort of issue.

"In essence, yes. Changelings are able to feed off of love naturally in the same way that we used to feed off nightmares through dream magic." She kept her eyes focused in front of her, keeping an eye out for the slightest bit of difference in the vastness of Jeremy's deepest recesses of his mind. "The experience was-" she paused for a moment, scowling at what she was about to say. "... Invigorating. Empowering."

"So some of the stories about you feeding off the nightmares of others weren't exaggerations?"

"Regretfully, no. Of that, our tales were quite frighteningly accurate." Jeremy gave a nod to nobody in particular, looking ahead of them to see if he could spot anything. Unsurprisingly, he could not.

"So, if you get stronger from eating nightmares, why don't you? Is it because you haven't been able to use dream magic until recently?"

The alicorn shook her head, once more casting the same spell as she tracked down the faint magical traces from before.

"Were it only so simple." She mumbled.

Her horn dimmed once more. But this time, her eyes went wide as she recognized a distinct difference in the magical signature from before. It was much more detailed. Far more pronounced and easy to make out.

Her eyes closed as she focused on a different spell this time, Jeremy watching from behind her with a mix of confusion and curiosity. The realm around them seemed to shudder, the air becoming thick as the magic that Nightmare Moon called upon seemed to cause everything to distort.

Nightmare Moon grimaced, channeling even more magic into her horn as she forced the realm they were in to twist to her command. To her chagrin, it resisted, far more than she could ever recall any other being's mind or dreams resisting in the past. She pushed the thought aside -- it wasn't important at the moment -- as she pulled and fought against the realm's attempt at self-preservation.

She was the princess of dreams, eons passed be damned. And as the spell finally found its mark, she made sure that anyone could see it. With a grunt, the distortions of air and space coalesced, bringing forth something that was once unseen.

A grand doorway, high as the skies themselves and wide as an entire building, appeared before the two, its midnight blue wood and pale silver accents shining in clear rebellion to the formless and far less regal landscape around them. Jeremy blinked, surprised by the sudden appearance of such a freakishly large object, as he took a step back to get a better view of it. It did very little, only serving to give him a greater understanding of just how obscenely oversized the arched pair of doors was.

"The fuck?" He brilliantly summarized, rubbing at his neck as the imaginary strain provided by his brain from looking so far upward began to annoy him.

"Our former self's work. A gateway they cemented within the depths of your mind to provide them direct passage in and out as you sleep."

"No kidding..."

Jeremy moved his hand from the back of his neck to his head, scratching some unknowable itch he felt as he walked by Nightmare Moon and stood right before the doors. He took another moment to take them in, metal accents and all, before unceremoniously giving them a swift kick.

Unsurprisingly, they did not move. However, they did seem to shimmer and blink, threatening to disappear completely, before recodifying themselves as they were intended.

"So, are we just supposed to get rid of it, or something?" He asked, looking back to Nightmare Moon as he did so. The alicorn, a bemused expression on her face from watching Jeremy's less-than-elegant test of the door's sturdiness, briefly shook her head.

"If we were to find no other options, then perhaps." Nightmare Moon took a step or two towards the doors as well, resting a forehoof against the wooden frames as she took a moment to drink in the sense of familiarity they provided her. It was rare that she ever made such passages into the minds of others in the past. Yet, she could not help but see the doorway into her old mind as something of an old friend. "We must first find the one responsible for this path's existence in the first place. While they are here, attempting to force this gateway closed could lead to... unforeseen consequences."

"Of that, we are agreed."

Nightmare Moon and Jeremy both froze, the sound of an all-encompassing yet eerily familiar voice ringing through the empty world around them like an echo through a valley. They looked around their immediate surroundings, hearts quickening as they searched for the source.

"Luna." Nightmare Moon uttered, her calm and even tone betrayed by her now aggressive and ready stance, wings flared outwards and horn aglow as she lowered her head and waited for the slightest glimpse of her foe.

"So much for needing to look for her." Jeremy thought, taking a half-step closer to the alicorn.

"Are you surprised? Truly? Did you really believe that I wouldn't see through your ploy to find and trap me within a dream of your own making?" The liquid floor tremored beneath them. Only slightly, but it was enough to see that something was agitating it. "Of course you did... A thing like you only sees others as vermin to be trodden upon and exterminated at their leisure, don't you?"

Nightmare Moon glanced at Jeremy, ensuring that he was safely by her side, before taking a commanding step forward.

"Petulant foal. Thou art aware that extermination was never our plot. Our mind was blinded by jealousy; corrupted and stretched upon entire furlongs of uncertainty and miasma. Lest thou forget, t'was two voices that rang out through the smog of our minds at the time, seeking to let themselves be known." She yelled.

"That corruption was you. You, mimic of hope and false promises, were what clouded my mind."

"Our minds!" Nightmare Moon returned. "We, thou and us, were one and the same! Our mistakes were-"

"I am not YOU."

Nightmare Moon was able to see what came next far too late to react.

A blast of raw, cosmic energy interrupted the incomprehensible world around them. It crashed into the side of Nightmare Moon, streams of iodized magic carrying her into the distance with little more than a silent whir, followed shortly thereafter by a large thud as she eventually landed somewhere in the distance, hidden behind the malformed and shifting landscape around them. She barely even had the opportunity to cry out as Jeremy watched her be forced away, the beam having come so close to him that he could still feel its warmth.

For a moment, Jeremy just looked wide-eyed in the direction she had gone. It had all happened so fast, his mind needed a moment to catch up. Once it did, instinct was the first thing to kick in.

"Nightmare Moon!" Jeremy yelled, calling out to his swept-away friend. He tried to run to her, wanting to check if she had been hurt. However, a force kept him in place, his feet held firm by the floor beneath him.

Looking down, he could see tendrils of shadow, similar to ones previously formed by Nightmare Moon save for a much more gentle blue color, held his legs down to where he stood. He struggled and strained against them, doing his best to free himself from the appendages, but he could not manage so much as an inch of solid movement.

With a scowl on his face, he turned his head to the direction that the beam of energy had come from, trying to get an idea of where it may have originated from. What met him instead were the cobalt blue eyes of the princess of the night, having already closed the distance between herself and him some time ago.

"And you-" she spat, her voice having lost the booming volume that it had held previously. She looked the human over for a moment, her eyes trailing up and down his struggling form as his fight to escape his bindings grew. At one point, he reeled back an arm, thinking that perhaps he could disrupt her focus as he saw that her horn was glowing, indicative of her using magic. She did not so much as flinch, merely raising a brow as she sent even more tendrils up to restrain him further, tying him in place from the top of his shoulder to the bottom of his feet before he could so much as move another inch.

"I do not see why my sister believes you to be such a large threat, nor do I know what that pestilence seeks to gain from bringing you here." She said simply, narrowing her eyes as she brought her horn closer to him. "Whatever the case, it would do you well to simply return to our dream while we deal with matters here."

Jeremy tried to move anything he could, the distance between him and Luna's horn growing smaller and smaller. However, he was far too restrained to put up any resistance. All he could do was stand and watch as the horn of the alicorn closed in on him, eventually coming into contact with his forehead as the glow behind it intensified... and immediately faded to nothing.

"What?!" Luna exclaimed, her expression shifting to one of confusion as she reeled back and looked to her horn. For seemingly no reason at all, the spell she had tried to use had been snuffed out entirely.

Before she could even begin to process this, the sound of a distant boom, as well as a rapidly approaching voice, pierced through the ether.

"Do not thee dare touch him!"

This time, it was Luna's turn to hold an expression of surprise as she was unable to react to the mass of Nightmare Moon slamming into her at full flight speed.

There was a loud 'oof' as the air was practically tackled out of her form, alongside a powerful gale of wind that followed behind the alicorn that had rapidly displaced it in her haste. The tendrils that held Jeremy in place were all but disintegrated as he had to steady himself from the sudden lack of support, watching as the two alicorns tumbled along the ground before him.

Luna regained her focus in the turmoil just long enough to let out another blast of magic, hoping to catch her opponent. Nightmare Moon, however, was far more prepared this time, leaping off from Luna's form to avoid the attack as it veered off somewhere into the distant sky.

With Nightmare Moon's weight no longer upon her, Luna gave out a growl as she flared out her wings, halting the momentum that had been carrying her along and swiftly righting herself in place. Her rival had taken her own place just opposite of her, the two adopting identical stances of battle readiness that could only have come from having shared the exact same experiences all those years ago.

With the two standing near to one another, Jeremy could now easily compare the two.

For one, Nightmare Moon seemed somewhat larger than Luna. It wasn't by much, barely a few inches, but the difference was there. Especially in regard to their horns. Furthermore, Nightmare Moon's fur was a far, far darker shade of blue than that of Luna, more akin to black than it was blue. Even their eyes were different, with Nightmare Moon's having a much more azure shade, not to mention the slits for pupils that she held in comparison with the more round and normal of Luna's.

Anyone that saw them might have easily thought them to be entirely different ponies. Yet, there was that air of uncanniness to them, like swearing that you had seen someone before but not quite being able to put your finger on it. And their voices; from what Jeremy had been hearing so far, their voices were far more similar than he would like.

"We will make you regret intruding upon the sanctity of his mind, fustilarian!" Nightmare Moon growled, to which Luna gave the faintest of scoffs.

"The only regret I will have on this day is not having done away with you with the first blast."

Nightmare Moon gave out a yell as she fired forth a blast of her own magic; a torrent of inky blue rushing towards the alicorn opposite of her. Luna beat her wings in response, swiftly avoiding the blast and taking to the air, not keeping her gaze away from her alter ego for even a moment.

Nightmare Moon kept on the offensive, simply shifting her aim, as well as the beam that came with it, following Luna's movements through the air as she evaded the beam time and time again. Luna closed the distance between the two of them, circling around the beam during a particularly violent shift of its movement and surrounding herself in a dome of magic as she rushed toward Nightmare Moon.

Seeing as her efforts with the beam had failed, as well as the closing distance between the two, Nightmare Moon released the destructive spell, taking her own defensive measures as she seemed to sink into her own shadow mere moments before Luna stomped into the ground where she previously had been.

The world around them seemed to tremble at her actions, Jeremy going so far as to lose his footing and having to catch himself before he hit the floor.

Luna looked at the floor where Nightmare Moon had disappeared and grit her teeth in frustration, searching around her for the presence of her foe.

"Where are you? Show yourself, coward!" She screamed, her voice echoing as it was propelled outwards in what seemed to be an impossibly loud manner.

The response she gained, ironically, was but a whisper. The sound of the mare on the moon tickled her eardrums as a thin, shadowy form snuck its way around her form.

"We never left."

The shadow launched itself in a random direction, dragging Luna with it as she was pulled behind the dark entity, ground against the floor the entire time.

Luna bared the pain, ignoring the screaming of her body, the screeching of the wing that was taking the brunt of the experience as it was dragged beneath her body, as she gave out another yell and surrounded herself in an aura of magic. The shadow that had been holding onto her burned and fizzled, earning a screech of pain from Nightmare Moon as she was forced to retrieve her tendrils from the horrid sensation.

Luna immediately seized the opportunity, allowing herself to tumble until she was face up again before immediately taking to the skies, despite the ache she felt in one of her wings. She followed the shadow as it zoomed through the landscape with ease, firing forth another devastating beam and following its movements as it moved desperately to evade it.

The land quaked and gave out wherever the beam touched, the liquid-like mass seeming to fall endlessly into whatever small abysses were formed by the powerful magic blasting through it. From one of these abysses, Nightmare Moon saw an opportunity, separating parts of her shadow into separate, less-than-sentient forms in an effort to confuse Luna while she shifted from one abyss to another.

The princess of the night fired several separate, smaller blasts of magic to compensate, watching as each one was snuffed out in the very same instant they so much as entered her line of sight.

Another scream of battle could be heard as the madness went on, though Jeremy found himself struggling to tell who exactly it had been from. In fact, Jeremy was struggling with quite a lot, at the moment.

With the two battling before him, he quickly realized just out of his own depth this entire situation seemed. Granted, he had known for a while that Celestia and Luna were powerful, but this was the first time he was seeing either of them, as well as Nightmare Moon, really go all out. Suffice to say, he felt rather small in the grand scheme of things.

Yet, even he could easily notice something. A very real, very concerning fact that nagged at him like a voice of doubt.

As Nightmare Moon shot upwards alongside all of the stray shadows she had been creating, using each and every one of them as small shields to divert the blasts of energy that were sent at her, Luna once more fired another series of small, yet swifts blasts of magic. Most of the shadows were destroyed, but it had been just enough for Nightmare Moon to close the distance, once again tackling Luna, though this time dragging her upwards through the air as she readied another beam to fire point blank.

Luna had accounted for this, reeling back her hind legs as much as she could muster before kicking them outwards, hitting Nightmare Moon square in the chest. The two were forcibly separated by the force of the impact, Nightmare Moon reeling from the attack before Luna focused magic into her horn once again. The horn shimmered and shined, ions of magic turning to electrons of energy as they shifted from smooth and elegant to sharp, coarse, and electric.

Nightmare Moon recognized the spell with ease, quickly shaking off the feelings of pain she held as she seemed to surround the lunar diarch with a series of perfect copies of herself, demonstrating her mastery of illusions. Luna's teeth ground as she watched the replicas of her greatest failures in life circle around her.

"Enough!" She howled, finally releasing the spell she had been preparing as a series of wild and dark lightning bolts shot from her form, blanketing the area in their icy cold shine.

Each illusion did its best to avoid them, flying between bolt after bolt as they came, but they could only travel so fast as the magical lightning pierced through and dispersed each and every one of them.

Eventually, one of these bolts hit its marks, crashing into what might have been one of the illusions, only to come in contact with the real, physical form of Nightmare Moon as she was forced to put up a shield to reflect the spell.

Now aware of which of the illusions were real, Luna focused her spell, forcing all of the bolts of lightning to converge on the bubble of defensive magic that housed Nightmare Moon. Try as she might, there was only so much she could repel the magic, and as each bolt of lightning zapped and crackled against her magic, a very real, very unavoidable suspicion confirmed itself to her just as it had been for Jeremy throughout the fight.

Her magic was still far too weak.

A crack formed in her magic, and the lightning brought forth by Luna's spell took full advantage, sinking in between the smallest, most insignificant, and barely existent cracks in an effort to snuff out the individual hiding behind them. Nightmare Moon tried to force herself to teleport through the shadows once again, but the spell pounding against her did not give a moment's rest. Within seconds, her shield was shattered as she was forced to take the full brunt of the lightning being sent in her direction.

She was sent flying downwards towards the remnants of the floor below where their fight had been taking place, a loud yet audible crack echoing through the room as she finally made impact.

"Nightmare Moon!" Jeremy called out again, powerless as he could only watch his friend as she lay on the ground, struggling yet unable to stand, twitching as remnants of electricity sparked along her body.

His breathing began to strain as panic set in, though he forced himself to steady his thoughts and try to find something he could do.

For a moment, he looked at the doorway next to him, the first thought to pop into his head being that maybe he could open it and find something, anything that could help. Despite his best efforts though, the door would not budge, staying statuesque and strong before his pathetic attempts at pushing it open using the full weight of his body.

With each step he took to brace himself against the door, the land around him continued to react, sending out ripple after ripple as his feet came in contact with the floor. The result of his constant and strained movement became rather evident quickly, with more and more masses separating from the ooze they originated from, slowly but surely taking the forms of bubbles one after another.

However, something different occurred this time around. Whereas the bubbles had been sporadic and scarce before, they were now far more copious as a result of Jeremy's strained and hurried movements. As the space between them became thinner, the larger ones began to absorb the smaller ones, growing in size little by little as they took the essence of their weaker family members into themselves.

It was only once a few of these bubbles were large enough to be comparable to Jeremy's form that he finally took notice of them, tearing his gaze away from the door he had been struggling against to watch them as they floated harmlessly in place.

It was then that another thought came to him.

How Nightmare Moon had told him that she had once used Nightmare's as a source of power.

Had his mind been clearer, he might have remembered that there was supposedly a reason that Nightmare Moon had not been feasting on her namesake besides not having enough dream magic saved up. Had his mind been clearer, Jeremy might have pondered how he could possibly transport the nightmare to his friend, what with the largely destroyed landscape that separated them as a result of her fight with Luna.

But his mind was not clear. It was muddied. It was fogged. It was panicked. It only held the simple need to help his friend in some way. So, he turned his attention toward one of the larger nightmares, rushing towards it with his arms held out in an effort to grab it.

Nightmare Moon, in the meantime, was putting every bit of her will into standing up, to keep herself from simply lying down and allowing her other self to have absolute reign over the thoughts and memories of her friend. As it was, she was barely able to keep herself corporeal, the astral projection of herself she had sent into Jeremy's mind flickering in and out of existence.

Should that projection of herself be bested, even she was not aware of what would happen. There had never been another being that could enter the dreams of others, nor could they ever hope to stand against the magical might of an alicorn. For a faint moment, Nightmare Moon considered retreating; casting a spell to send herself back to her physical body and waking Jeremy so that they could reconvene and seek an alternate method. That hope was dashed away as Nightmare Moon was ensnared by the very same tendrils that had previously held Jeremy, forcing her to the ground as they held her from hooves to horn.

She felt whatever link she had to her inner magical reservoirs die out, a sign that an enchantment had been cast to keep her from manipulating her magic anymore. It was a simple enchantment, one that was typically used to incarcerate lower-level magical beings. Yet, as she was, it proved more than effective for her battered and weakened self.

"I have been haunted by your existence for long enough..." Luna uttered as she touched down mere inches away from where Nightmare Moon was restrained. Gazing up at her, Nightmare Moon could see Luna's expression of pure hatred as she looked down upon the creature that had made her suffer through several lifetimes of guilt and regret. "All those years on the moon, all those lonely nights with nothing but your venom and malice echoing in my ears as company. And for what?"

Nightmare Moon opened her mouth to speak, but found her voice silenced as another tendril tied itself around her muzzle. She leaned her head down towards her other self, her voice seeping from her throat in a forced whisper as she struggled to contain herself.

"That my sister showed you any sort of mercy was a mistake. One that we-" she paused, grimacing as she slipped back into her old tongue. She narrowed her eyes further as she looked back to the being before her, hating with every fiber of her existence just how much of her past it reminded her of, down to the way she spoke. "One that I intend to correct."

Nightmare Moon could do nothing except struggle and glare up at her previous self, watching as she once more began to focus magic into her horn. Evidently, Luna was preparing herself to rid Equestria of a plague before it could spread once again.

However, before she could, she was given pause by an odd sight.

As Nightmare Moon and Luna looked at one another, the world around them began to darken. It was faint at first, hardly noticeable to anyone that wasn't seeking it out, but it became clearer and clearer with each passing second. The constant auroras in the sky died out one after another, seeming to burn and singe the skies as they were snuffed out like flames in an airtight jar. The floors beneath them began to seep an odd, dark, non-euclidian fluid from the several cracks, crevices, and chasms that their fight had brought about. The far-off images in the distant horizons began to flash one after another even faster, becoming more and more intense as the world around it began to shift further and further.

"What...?" Luna questioned, watching this phenomenon as she found herself taking a step back in a state of discomposure. She looked towards Nightmare Moon, gauging to see if this was her doing, but only a similarly confused expression in return as the corrupted alicorn observed the changes in the dreamscape as well.

Then, they felt it.

Dreams were, by their very nature, tied to emotion, much like magic. It was for that reason that ponies developed the psychological theory of Eight Primary Emotions, to begin with. So, for the two alicorns, they had long grown to spot and sense the small nuances and sensations of dreams; things that would allow them to identify just what emotion a dream was tied to. But one emotion, in particular, was unique.

It was an emotion that brought about the unique dreams that many ponies feared; the dreams that one of the two had long been named after. The two's eyes widened as they recognized what was going on.

Nightmare Moon was the first to react, her body jolting -- albeit uselessly against her restraints -- as she struggled to turn her head in the direction of her companion.

Sure enough, she could see his form standing by the doorway that Luna had created some distance away. Or rather, she could see what was left of him. Luna followed her gaze as the two watched and witnessed as Jeremy looked at the mass of fluid that he had grabbed in a blind panic as it surrounded him, taking away whatever sensation he held of the world around him as it sucked him into the world it wanted him to be a part of.

Jeremy, in a state of shock, could only watch as bits and pieces of his body were surrounded until only his head was left. He looked around in a fugue state, all possibility of gaining an understanding of the world around him being lost as the fuzziness that had been in the back of his head gradually overtook him.

Some part of him saw Nightmare Moon and Luna, who were watching him with expressions of confusion and concern respectively. Some part of him cried out for help. Some part of him could only utter out one last, pathetic whimper as he fell to the last thing the human mind had when disallowed anything else; when confronted with something that it could rarely, if ever, hope to understand: Fear.

For the three within the realm, everything fell apart with a mighty far-off roar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whether it's a good thing or not, I really don't know what to tell you, but I don't actually remember a lot from that night. There are bits and pieces, sure, but they're so... far in the back of my mind, that I can't really get a clear picture of it if I tried if any at all.

But this? I remember every second of this without a single goddamn problem.

God knows Nightmare Moon has been trying to help whenever it pops up again from time to time in my dreams, and it definitely helps, but that first time? No, I can't get rid of it if I tried.

I groaned as I got up from bed, that annoying alarm clock that I had bought on a whim at some flea-market-esque event in Ponyville and brought along to Canterlot ringing loud enough to cause my eardrums to feel like they were on fire.

Supposedly, the reason it had been so cheap to begin with, was that it was louder than it should have been. I don't know how the hell that worked, but it was definitely anything besides a lie considering how it felt like my teeth were chattering whenever I was near it.

I hit the alarm clock over the top of its figurative head, muttering to myself about how I would definitely get a new one when I could. You know, like a liar.

As I scratched at an itch on my back, I looked around my bedroom, seeing that everything was exactly as it had been when I had gone to sleep at night. Something in the back of my head told me that there should have been something else there, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I assumed that maybe I had left something at work. I told myself I would get around to finding it later.

Speaking of work, I chose that time to give another glance at my clock, seeing that the two small hands on it were pointing to the 7 and the 12 painted on its face.

I had about thirty minutes before I had to be at work.

That gave me just enough time to go through my usual morning routine. If I was lucky, it would be Even Out's turn to bring coffee while Top Suit brought bagels. There was one occasion where the two tried switching who did what, but that ended poorly when half of the workers ended up either hammered before 2 PM after drinking the pony equivalents of Irish Coffee or stuck in the bathroom as a result of some energy-mix multigrain bagels with extra cranberries and prunes to really 'get the system running'. And believe me, whatever was 'running' that day, it was a little more than just the system.

At least according to whatever poor ponies may have been working at the sewers at the time...

I made my way into the bathroom and slapped the light switch as I usually did. Yet, instead of the lights turning on, I was left in the dark.

I raised a brow as I looked up to the ceiling, then back to the switch. I gave it another couple of test flicks. Sure enough, nothing changed.

I sighed as I guessed that something must have been wrong with the magical circuitry. Again.

I had been unlucky enough that the house I lived in was one of the few that was apparently near one of the weaker branches of the magical circuitry lines throughout Canterlot, so every now and then, it would just go out for a while. Evidently, today was one of those days.

In times like these, I missed plain old, non-magical electricity. But hey, what did I know? I just drew up plans for a living.

Plans for the very buildings that those circuits had to be enchanted into later on, but hey, why listen to the only human in Equestria, right?

I elected to just save my complaining for whatever other letter I would have to send to the mayor of the town. Or was it the princess? I don't know, I just dropped a letter off at some building every time this sort of thing happened. By now, I'm pretty sure they should know me on a first-name basis.

With no other choice, I just went about my routine in the dark. I washed up, put on some slacks, and gave the house another once over as I tried my damndest to remember what it was I could have been missing before shrugging my shoulders and making my way outside.

Taking in a breath of the fresh, cool outside air, I noticed that the sun had yet to come up. I blinked, looking around to see if anyone else was awake and active. Besides myself, there wasn't a single soul in sight. No lights were on, there weren't any carriages going about, and I couldn't even smell the overly pungent colognes of other ponies that had so many syllables in their name that it might as well look like you puked up alphabet soup.

That should have set off some red flags in my head. I know it should have. But, for the life of me, I just couldn't connect those dots. It was like I was actively trying to justify it for no reason whatsoever.

At the time, I just told myself that maybe Celestia was late. Maybe there was some weird pony version of daylight saving time that I just didn't know about yet. There was already plenty I wasn't aware of the specifics of, so what was one more thing, right? As for the missing ponies?

You know as well as I do that until the sun comes out most of them are the equivalent of hibernating bears.

I look at my wrist. I don't know why, but I always look at my wrist in it, like there's supposed to be some kind of watch there. I haven't worn a watch in over a year, why would I-

... Yeah, sorry, I'm fine. It just feels really stupid and obvious when I talk about it out loud.

Anyways, once I'm done looking at my 'watch', I just shrug my shoulder and start heading to the Hooves N' Elbow Grease building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At different ends of the city, a pair of alicorns try to reorient themselves in what seems to be an entirely different landscape than they were in just moments prior. What was once a strange and abstract visage of colors and auroras was now replaced by the much more familiar, much more easily definable appearance of the city of Canterlot in all its glory.

Nightmare Moon, who had been forcibly released from her restraints during the sudden change in scenery, gave out a pained grunt as she forced herself to stand. Overall, she was rather worse for wear. While there weren't necessarily any physical wounds that one could see on her form, as was the nature of astral projections, her mind reeled as it translated what should have been physical pain and exhaustion into her psyche. Much like before, she struggled to keep her mental projection in check, having to will herself to keep focus so that she may retain some physical form.

For some time, she was in a state of confusion more than anything else.

Where was Luna? Where was Jeremy?

Her counterpart had similar questions, but at the very least, the two were able to recall just enough to realize what had happened.

At some point, they had been forcibly hurled out of Jeremy's mind, all the way back to the outermost layers of his psyche. At the moment, where they were was something that the two were very familiar with.

No, not just a dream: the scent in the air was far too sharp. The sight of Jeremy being engulfed within that black void was far too clear.

This was a nightmare.

As Luna searched her immediate surroundings in the hopes of finding Nightmare Moon, unwilling to let her escape when she had her on the ropes. Nightmare Moon used the opportunity to try and use her magic to find her way back to her physical body in the waking world once again.

Her horn wasn't able to conjure so much as a shimmer, still partially affected by the anti-magical properties of the restraints that had bounded her earlier, as well as from the immense amount of magic she had suddenly used in her fight against Luna. Nightmare Moon cursed under her breath at the revelation. She would need to wait for the last remnants of the spell's energy to fade from her system before she could cast the spell she needed.

Angered by the escape of her alter ego, Luna stomped a hoof into the ground. Her lips pursed as she raised her head to give out a cry.

"You will not escape so easily, foul corruption!" She had meant to shout, a cry to both instill fear into her missing opponent wherever she might have been as well as allow some of her frustration to be known. However, not a sound came from her muzzle. Instead, there was only a silence that was rivaled by the cold and empty streets of Canterlot around either alicorn.

Luna's eyes shifted from expressions of anger to befuddlement. Some distance away, Nightmare Moon was making her own discoveries, noting just how loud her heart seemed to ring within her ears compared to anything else.

In the back of the two's minds, something primal urged at them. A sensation like a thousand knives pricking their skins all at once; like portions of their fur standing on end, awaiting some cruel being's attempts to pluck them out as birds would a worm from the dirt, squirming and wriggling as it struggles against its inevitable end.

One wanted more than anything to find their quarry, the other suddenly felt the distinct and ever-present urge to find their friend.

Like being in the eye of a storm, there was a calm. Something so ostensibly present and all-encompassing surrounded them, yet had not quite hit them in full force.

A wave of fear like no other.

They moved quickly before the nightmare truly began to take form.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first time it happened, I met a pony on the way there. It doesn't always happen, usually meaning the entire walk would be quiet, but this time it did. They were taking their trash out at the time. A well-dressed unicorn, clad in a small yet freshly pressed blue vest with a fake collar attached to it, as well as a tired expression on his face.

He gave out a quiet yawn, just barely holding his voice back as his jaw stretched from his apparent exhaustion. I mentally commented on how much I understood the feeling, just barely keeping myself from yawning in return as I witnessed him.

I walked past the unicorn without so much as a wave, just focusing on getting to work. Most folks in Canterlot didn't really bother with the whole 'good morning' and 'how you doing' spiel. I tried it a couple of times before, but at best I would just be ignored as the pony had more important things to do. At worst, I would get some sneers from a couple of nobles wondering what such an odd creature was doing off their leash in the city.

The only ones I bothered to greet anymore had just been my coworkers and bosses, as well as the occasional vendor.

I could vaguely hear the sound of the pony making their way back to their home, their hooves clip-clopping against the stone-paved floors as they made their way to the door. The sound of them opening the door was deafening compared to the silence of the rest of the apparently sleeping city, with even the sound of them turning on the lights being louder than it had any right to be.

What drew my attention, though, was the lack of a door closing.

I glanced behind me. A meaningless glance, just a bit of curiosity at the back of my mind asking me to get a glance to the pony to see what might have been holding them up.

There, in front of the doorway, in the light of whatever lanterns or gems enchanted with magic, they were using to see in the darkness was a freshly pressed, notably empty, blue vest.

I looked at the limp and formless article of clothing for a moment, watching as a soundless wind caused it to sway ever so gently in the breeze. I squinted my eyes, wondering why the hell the unicorn would have just taken it off, let alone left it outside without so much as closing the door to their home.

But something dragged me away. This want, this need to just move the hell on. It told me that it wasn't my problem. That I had more important things to do.

I gulped down a mouthful of spit, not sure why I suddenly felt so tense over what was being assured to me was nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two alicorns flinched as a wave of fear washed over their bodies. The emotion washed over them like the chill one would experience from nausea, causing the two to stagger as their bodies were wracked with pinpricks of ice. Luna, who has been vanquishing such nightmares from the dreams of her citizens for quite a time, pushed aside the sensation as she continued her search for Nightmare Moon.

She could feel that she was not yet gone. She still resided in the dream alongside her. It was absolutely impossible to ignore.

Call it instinct. Call it her magic reacting to the spells she had recently cast upon her. Call it her taking note of a magical presence that is ever so vaguely similar to her own. Call it whatever you like. She was there.

The quarry she was seeking, in the meantime, was dealing with their own issues. As fear washed over her, she did not react like a being that was sickened by what it felt.

She felt drool begin to pool in her mouth as the scent permeated her senses, like a starving dog upon being offered a big juicy steak. Her legs trembled as an age-old addiction reared its ugly head, her mind clouding as it asked her to seek the source of what was once lost to it.

She sucked in oxygen like a land-locked fish would the smallest puddle of water, finding some minimal comfort in the pressure that built up in her lungs as she filled them to capacity, and then some. She counted to three, steadying her thoughts for just a moment longer, before allowing the air she held captive to escape.

It was only once the worst of it passed that she then was allowed a moment to feel some sense of disgust. Not towards the thick odor of fear, nor the chill that it brought, but towards the sudden delight she felt in its presence.

A weakness of hers from her time before being banished. Nightmares were, after all, little more than pure emotion. An essential aspect of magic. To bathe in the taste and savor the flavors of said nightmares would be the equivalent of suckling power unimaginable. It was through said power that she was able to rival even Celestia in all her own magical might.

The irony did not escape her mind as to just how similar this was to what changelings experienced on a daily, when it comes to their need for love. But, that was just it. For changelings, it was exactly that. A need. Something that, while they could very easily overindulge in and greed for, ultimately kept them alive. For Nightmare Moon, it was little more than a want. A disgusting, self-indulging want.

There was a danger to it. One that could be traced back to the very origins of magic itself.

Power, in its simplest terms, has quite the tendency of corrupting.

Nightmare Moon knew this from her experiences against Discord in her past life; she knew this when a mad unicorn created an amulet that channeled their deepest, most powerful emotions to provide them magic to rival an alicorn; most importantly, she knew this from when she became obsessed with the idea of preying upon the nightmares of others, becoming less a mare, more a rabid animal than she already was.

Her state of mind, while she shared a body with Luna, was already questionable at best. The sudden surge of power and realization that she could gather it whenever she wished by feeding off of the nightmares of others rather than sweeping them away made it all far, far worse.

Time was running out.

She could feel it down to the sole of her hoof.

The storm was beginning to move. Soon, the eye would leave them behind, forcing them to bear the brunt of the nightmare and everything that came with it. She tried desperately to use her magic again. But, once again, she was unable. She needed to find Jeremy before it all came into full swing.

Another wave of fear washed over her, dropping her to her knees as a jolt of need shot up her spine.

It was directly in front of her.

Surely, Jeremy would be as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time I got to work, I had started to see a few more ponies show up. It was still dark out, but at least I was starting to see others show up.

On occasion, I would see them just walk past me, near me, or away from me. Never once did they acknowledge my existence. It was as though, to them, I was absolutely invisible.

I brushed it off as the nobles waking up on the wrong side of their 2000-bit beds, or maybe it was just a situation of them not being early-morning folks.

What a stupid thought. There wasn't a pony alive that wasn't a morning person in some small way. It's practically embedded in their culture at this point. That's just me getting off-topic though.

Sometimes, I would see the glints of lights from within the houses as they turned them on and filter through their windows, usually with their curtains drawn. Any time that I did, something begged me -- screamed at me to turn and run.

But I didn't listen. I wouldn't listen. I had work to get to. I had a job to do. I had ponies to talk to.

I filled my head with inane thoughts. If you tried hard enough, maybe you can find some thread that connected each thought together. But realistically, it was the equivalent of trying to unwrap and unravel an entire hobby shop's worth of yarn. There was no end, nor beginning, to where my thoughts came from or went off to. I wondered what day it was. I wondered what year it was. I wondered how my sister might have been. I wondered what my last work assignment had been. I wondered if I had left my desk clean when I left.

It felt like my own thoughts were screaming at me. I had to close my eyes from time to time, just to gather myself and force my own head to shut the hell up. Even the smallest thought would cause a veritable landslide of others, each one more vivid and absolutely batshit than the last.

I felt like I was going crazy.

I walked and walked and walked, never wondering for even a moment about how close I was to work, or if something was wrong.

I needed to get to work.

"What time is it again?" I wondered, some small, barely comprehensible part of my mind arguing about how stupid it was that the only clock that there was publicly available in the town was back at the train station. I didn't question why I asked what I just asked. I didn't question who it was I was asking.

I just started imagining a tick-tick-tick-tick everywhere.

One second. Two seconds. Ten seconds. Six seconds.

7:20. 7:45. 12:45. 9:00.

So many different times, but I could never focus on one.

My head started to hurt again. I rubbed at my temples, wondering why the sun hadn't come up just yet. It should have been up.

I-...

Panting? I'm panting?

O-oh... Yeah, I guess I am...

Fuck, I really do get screwed up whenever I try to remember it, don't I?

Look, I appreciate it, I really do, but... I need to get this out.

I can't afford to let myself forget. Not anymore.

At some point, I stopped seeing other ponies again. I stopped hearing anything, too. Not even the sound of the wind rushing past me. It all just seemed to freeze.

I looked up ahead of me, taking my gaze away from the floor. I don't know when I focused on it in the first place.

I could see the company building: Hooves N' Elbow Grease.

It was a relatively old building, with Top Suit and Even Out having budgeted for it and renting it for a good while before they eventually had enough profits to buy it outright. Rumors had been circling that there might be some renovations in the future. The company had been so far in the green after some more recent major projects over the last couple of years that they could afford to build entire new locations in other cities if they wanted. Some of the coworkers were suggesting better lights or more expansive break rooms. I personally asked for bathrooms that didn't feel awkward as hell to use for non-ponies.

I took a step forward.

7:20. 7:45. 12:45. 9:00.

It should have been up. The sun should have been up.

The screaming in the back of my head stopped. I was finally at peace.

I gave out a sigh, taking another step toward the building as the night sky slowly began to fade away.

I took another step.

It was taking its sweet time. I noticed how slow it was compared to usual. This world's sun wasn't like the one back home. It shouldn't take so long to rise. Usually, the princess would move it to different positions in the sky as the day went on. She was enjoying this sunrise a little too much.

I took another step.

Light began to filter through the gaps of clouds and buildings. I was, apparently, in the shadow of one of the buildings.

Something clawed at my stomach as I saw the outline of the shadow become crisper.

I took another step.

I finally saw another pony. They were walking out of Hooves N' Elbow Grease. They seemed tired, smacking their lips as they stretched out a couple of their limbs. Behind them, just past the doors, I could barely make out the forms of a couple of other ponies, casually talking among themselves.

I remembered the name of the pony I saw. A coworker of mine named Sweet Treat. She was a nice mare. Never said so much as a single rotten word to me or anyone else. Damn good at her job too. If you wanted someone to design and build a shop for you that would attract everyone's attention, she was the one to get it done. Her best work was easily a candy store on the west side of Canterlot. It was easier to count the times there was breathing room in the store from how packed it usually was than it was counting how often there wasn't.

She looked up at me and blinked her eyes a few times, ridding herself of whatever bleariness she evidently still had. A small smile made its way onto her muzzle as she realized who or what she was looking at, and just like always she gave that same wave in my direction.

I took another step forward. I was right on the edge of the shadow.

I waved my arm to wave back at her. It was such a small gesture, but she was so pleasant to be around. I did my damndest just to make sure I didn't curse while I was around her. She was as sweet as her name implied.

A cloud parted. The sun shone down ever so slightly brighter than it was before. The shadow of the building I was in wavered, then solidified. Then, I smelled smoke.

In the blink of an eye, the building was gone.

It wasn't that it had disappeared. No, it wasn't given that mercy. Rather, it looked like it was atomized. In a matter of milliseconds, it blackened under the rays of the sun. It cracked. It crumbled. It gave.

Within a second, the building that was previously there was no more than ash, collapsing in on itself before being blown away in the wind.

Sweet Treat was still smiling as she waved, not paying any mind to the fact that the building behind her was gone, alongside her coworkers. She was still smiling as her body blackened underneath the sun's light. She was still smiling as her ear fell off, turning to a cloud of dust as it hit the floor. She was still smiling as she was blown away in the wind, leaving nothing in her place.

I froze, looking at where the building had been just a moment ago. I blinked. I blinked again.

Yet, it was still the same.

I shook my head and rubbed my eyes, thinking that maybe I was just seeing things. I had been having a rough morning, after all. My right eye was much itchier than my left one. I tried to scratch at it with my right arm while scratching my left eye with my left arm. It still itched.

I looked down at my hands, wondering if maybe something was in my eye. As I did, I saw only one appendage instead of two.

My right arm -- the one I had waved to Sweet Treat with -- had left the shade for all of a moment.

I blinked one last time.

The burning didn't wait for me to blink a fourth time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They both had seen it. They both had felt it. How could they not?

It wasn't a wave this time. It was a veritable tsunami of fear, practically knocking the wind out of both of them.

Luna was the first to recover, her affinity with dream magic screaming at her to hide beneath something quickly. With a thought, she formed a magical barrier, bathed in the blue of her magic as she looked for what might have caused her instincts to go so haywire.

She saw nothing, only the empty streets of Canterlot as the light of sunrise slowly peered into it, entering slowly from the sideways cracks of buildings and alleyways, as well as the occasional opening between clouds. It wasn't until the sunlight so much as glinted by the magical barrier that she understood.

Her horn felt hot. Far hotter than it had any right to be. It felt as though it burned at her scalp, as though it threatened to singe her fur, as though it would boil her brain and cause her eyes to bubble if she kept it up. Flashes of seemingly random images relayed through her mind: images of a cold, dark, cell; sensations of hunger and thirst; visages of ponies with cruel and twisted expressions on their faces as they leered at her.

She cried out at the sudden, inexplicable sensation, staggering backward into the shade of a nearby cloud. Her barrier lost any semblance of physical composition that it may have held as she was forced to release the spell, gasping for air that she apparently had been doing a poor job of keeping in her lungs during her cries of pain.

She looked up towards the sky, pure confusion evident on her face as she slowly pieced everything together.

The sunlight was the nightmare.

She was absolutely beyond astonished, her mind racing as it tried to put together something she never would have thought she would have had to put together in the first place.

Beings had been afraid of many things in her eons of dream walking. Beasts, heights, other ponies, dragons, spiders, small spaces, clowns, you name it. But the sunlight? And what had been those images that she had just seen?

She paused, watching as a nearby lantern lit itself seemingly without any external interaction, only to disintegrate the very metal and wax that held it in place.

"No," Princess Luna realized, "not just sunlight. All light..."

The cloud was beginning to drift forward, forcing her to follow its pace, lest she suffer the same fate as the nearby lantern or her barrier.

Luna's horn began to glow once again as she focused on another spell. One that would allow her to leave the dreamscape without so much as a moment's notice. Whether Nightmare Moon was present or otherwise, this was becoming far too dangerous. Far too risky.

She did her best to ignore the cries of agony she heard in the distance.

Nightmare Moon, whose magic was still affected by her alter ego's ministrations, was not so fortunate as to have a barrier to shield her.

As it stood, she found herself crumpled inside an alleyway, outside of the light's reach as she took in gasps of air through her teeth. She glanced to the stump where one of her wings had been just seconds ago, singed and lightly searing as it stared back at her uselessly.

She had been lucky enough that she was only partially out of the shade when the sun had intensified. But that's as far as her luck had gone. There wasn't a single doubt in her mind at this point. The nightmare had fully formed. They were no longer in the eye of the storm. Now, they were right in the middle of its maelstrom.

Her magic still unavailable to her, she watched as some of the buildings around her slowly but surely began to suffer similar effects as her wing did under the gaze of the sun. She was out of options.

She loathed the part of her mind that cheered as she raised herself to her legs, pushing aside the sensations of agony that spiderwebbed outwards from where one of her wings had been. She had to clear this nightmare away at the source.

She followed the fear like a bloodhound, using its scent to guide her as she moved from shadow to shadow. The occasional cloud served as a stepping stone. The buildings served as her slowly disappearing safety nets. Her pace was slow and careful. She had already suffered the effects of this incomprehensible nightmare before. She could not afford to risk doing so again.

As another building disintegrated behind her, she wondered for a moment if she was heading the right way. She wondered if, perhaps, she could simply wait out the worst of the nightmare after all. Could she really risk falling into the abyss that was her deep, long unsatisfied craving that she had done her best to hide away after all her time on the moon?

A single distant scream brought that option before her eyes and shattered it like the most fragile of glassware. The sound of her friend, Jeremy, crying out in pain.

At that very moment, two alicorns did something that they had not done in a long time.

As Luna stomped her hoof into the ground in frustration, she pushed away her thoughts of leaving as she tore shreds off the dreamworld away around her like paper from what should be nonexistent walls. How many ponies had she been neglecting her duty for in the past few weeks? How many citizens had cried out for her help as they fell into the despair of their nightmares? How many ponies lost their precious sleep; had accidents at work; began to fear going to sleep again -- just because she was not there to do her duty and watch over them?

And here was another being, suffering from an unimaginable nightmare with such fear and emotion that she hasn't felt in years, and she was just supposed to allow them to suffer?

Enemy or otherwise, would she truly be any better than her alternate self if she allowed his to go on when she very much had the ability to put a stop to it? Nobody deserved such a horrid fate.

Nightmare Moon ignored her concerns about self-preservation and mental stability. The cravings that tugged at her brain stem could scream and yell and holler all that they liked. Her friend was suffering.

At that very moment, two alicorns did something that they had not done in a long time. They shared the exact same thought.

This nightmare must be purged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have never -- never -- felt anything like this before. The closest thing I could compare it to was like having glowing hot shards of glass being shoved into my bones, starting from my arm socket, where my arm should have been, before radiating outwards to the rest of my body.

I could barely breathe. I could barely think. I could barely fathom even the slightest bit of information besides just a single part of my mind that was screaming at me to run. To fight. To plan. To do something.

Despite all the less-than-helpful suggestions though, all I could do was fall and scream until my voice felt like it grinding down my vocal cords to nothing. I screamed as I pathetically kicked myself away from the edges of the shadows, hugging the building that was providing it. I screamed as every part of my body reminded me of so many things all at once, none of them pleasant.

I screamed as it felt like my ribs began to poke uncomfortably inside the skin that held them, as though bent in the wrong way. I screamed as I felt like my tongue was beginning to dry out to the point where it felt like it would snap off at the slightest of breezes. I screamed as it felt like my stomach began to feel like it would melt from the inside.

The only time I stopped screaming was when I realized that nobody would hear me. I stopped as the building behind me began to slowly but surely fall apart, leaving me with less and less light. I watched as the light closed in on me bit by bit.

By the time it got close enough to reach my legs, I couldn't scream anymore. All that came out was a strange gurgling noise and blackened spittle as my vocal cords finally gave up on me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shred after shred. Portion after portion. Wall after wall.

Luna cursed under her breath as yet another of the many rifts she opened sealed itself just as swiftly as they had been torn open. Normally, dreams bent and shifted to her will without issue. She could rid a being of nightmares just as easily as one could trim a rotting branch from a tree.

However, the nightmare around her resisted. For every action she took to remove it, it simply held fast, as though unaffected by her magic.

For a moment, she recalled how this was not the first time that her magic had failed to work upon the human, thinking back to how she was not able to force him back into a dream of her creation despite casting a spell on him to do so. She wondered if it had to do with the fact that his species was so different from any other in this world. After all, much of his inner mind seemed to hold some differences to it as well.

She elected to save her thoughts on the matter for later as she was forced within the shadows of another passing cloud, panting as she just barely avoided sharing the same fate as a nearby potted plant that was reduced to ash within seconds. The light was getting more and more intense with each passing second. Buildings that previously took minutes at a time to disappear were now beginning to crumble within little more than seconds.

Once again, she gave out a grunt as she attempted to rend the nightmare at its seams. Once again, she was greeted with the same results of her futile actions. By the looks of things, the only way that she would be able to bring an end to this was to try to rouse the human from the grips of the terror around them. If he was made aware of the nightmare's nature, the realm around them would be likely to fall apart as he lost his grip on the fear that was constantly feeding it.

Luna used her horn to make another barrier around herself. She steeled herself for a moment as the cloud she was walking under began to close in on another series of shadows that were being cast by the light. Once she was close enough, she dashed over the short distance within seconds. Her horn once more began to burn at her skull as the light of the nightmare tore at its very existence, she began to feel as if her ribs were on fire as her body replicated what her mind assured her was being done by the ponies from before, but fortunately, she was able to keep the exposure to enough of a minimum that she was able to recover from the sensation without too much issue.

She walked between a series of crumbling buildings, using her magic to seek out the source of the dream as she followed the ever-present sensation of fear to its source. On occasion, she would have to slow down or speed up her pace as different portions of the shadows she sought cover in were shortened or lengthened with the ever-changing world and light. Yet, she never faltered in her mission.

Time after time again, she would be forced to use her magic just to keep her progress. Time and time again, she would experience those awful images popping into her head. She was able to piece information together as it came. The fact that the ponies seemed to be wearing gold and white armor, similar to that of Celestia's guard was among the most notable.

She could not help but wonder why these images kept on appearing any time that she was within the light. She had never seen anything like this while she was searching the mind of the human.

Then again, it was plenty difficult to gather anything while she was searching through his memories. More often than not, it felt as if she was reaching in and grabbing whatever first thing she could get ahold of and make sense of. After all, looking through memories was hardly a natural part of her repertoire.

Rounding a corner, Luna found herself closing in on the northern part of the city -- or rather, what was left of it -- as she finally caught sight of the nightmare's source. There, leaning pathetically against the remnants of a mostly burnt-away building, was the form of the human. He had, evidently, not been spared the fate of most of the city. The shadow he was in was meager, hardly worth mentioning at all, yet it provided him with just enough protection to keep his head, torso, and one of his arms safe. The rest had, seemingly, long since been disintegrated.

It was a wonder that he was able to keep himself sat up as he held his arm tightly around his own chest, his breathing sharp and unsteady as he gazed blankly at the floor below him with tears flowing freely down his cheeks like a scared little foal. He seemed to be saying something under his breath, muttering the same words over and over for nobody to hear, but Luna was too far in order to make out what it may have been.

The princess of the night hesitated for a moment, simply looking on at the human's state with what could only be described as pity. Was this really the creature that her sister had warned her about? The one that would inevitably bring disaster to Equestria?

The sounds of stone crumbling from above drew her out of her thoughts as she reacted quickly, taking a couple of steps backward as a portion of the wall from one of the nearby buildings collapsed in front of her.

She let out a silent breath of relief as she looked on at the wall, some parts of it fading into oblivion as a result of the light. She did not have much time left. The sun was beginning to rise higher into the sky. Soon it would be noon, and there would be nowhere for her to hide for cover.

She looked up towards the human, pondering whether she could close whatever distance was left between her and him. There was about a 50-meter distance between her and the human. By all means, it was hardly anything. But most of it was out in the open, with nary a shadow in sight for her to make use of. Furthermore, there didn't seem to be any other clouds within her immediate vicinity.

She scanned the environment. She could hear the beating of her heart in her ears. Should she attempt to form another barrier? Would she be able to cover that distance before it inevitably fell apart?

Her thoughts were thrown off by movement off in the distance, drawing her attention as she looked to another set of surviving buildings opposite of her and the human. Her eyes widened as a familiar form of Nightmare Moon took its position in the opposing shade, looking back at her with what she could imagine was a similar expression of surprise.

Then, Nightmare Moon looked towards Jeremy, her eyes widening even more as she saw what little remained of him.

Her thoughts raced, her breath quickened, and her craving was forgotten as she stared at his broken and meager form.

Luna watched Nightmare Moon for a moment, still in a state of shock over the fact that she was here in the first place. She blinked, following her gaze to Jeremy before realizing just why she might still have been there in the first place. To Luna, there was a being that was suffering between the two of them. However, she surmised that Nightmare Moon saw it differently. A source of pure fear and emotion to feed her power.

The two's gazes met once more, Nightmare Moon giving a look of certainty and conviction while Luna returned a look of anger and disgust. The two were at another stand-off, it had seemed. However this time, it was not one that could be decided through the use of brute force, magic, or clever plans, or platitudes. No, this was a show of will.

The two were, by all means, separated from Jeremy and the shadow that he hid within. Luna was about 50 meters away from the human, but Nightmare Moon had lucked out and found a path that left her relatively closer, with only about 20 meters of open distance separating her from her friend.

Another building crumbled to ash and dust not far away from the scene as Luna took the initiative, conjuring another barrier as she began to sprint toward the human. If she could rip the nightmare open from its source, surely it would all follow shortly after. She could not allow Nightmare Moon to get to him first.

Nightmare Moon, in the meantime, grits her teeth, cursing at her hesitation as well as how quickly Luna had taken advantage of it. She tried to flare magic through her horn yet again. Still, there was no response.

Luna's magic was already beginning to fail. The light had only continued to intensify, after all. A series of images involving a hoof being thrown full force into her face caused her to stagger, but she regained her footing as she ran on.

With few options available to her as she watched Luna close the distance to Jeremy, Nightmare Moon steeled herself for what was to come. Her remaining wing flared outwards as she sprinted out from the shade she had been in. It was only 20 meters. She would only need to hold out for a couple of seconds, at most. The moment she entered the light, she turned the wing over herself, allowing it to provide some semblance of shade from the sun.

The pain was instant; millions of tiny knives stabbing at the very atoms that made up her feathers, muscle, bone, and tendons. She could not afford to falter. She did not have the magic to keep herself safe as Luna did. Only her own body, which she was well aware wouldn't last long.

Unbeknownst to Nightmare Moon, her mane began to act on its own, spreading itself outwards across her body as a thin membrane against the light that burned against her as well. It sizzled and popped within instants, but held in her subconscious effort to hold out for whatever time that she could.

Time seemed to crawl as the two raced toward the human.

Nightmare Moon's wing was reduced to nothing within a second, leaving the alicorn with one less component that made her an alicorn in the first place. Tears formed in her eyes as the pain overwhelmed most parts of her system, but she focused more on the strain in her legs in the hopes that it would get her mind off of it. Luna's horn felt as if it were going to melt through her skull, the magic of her barrier being beaten down and starved of energy more and more as she made her way through the sun's rays.

Nightmare Moon's mane, having provided some semblance of relief, was all but eradicated, leaving the mare in the bare rays of the sun with nothing to protect her. The distance she had left was barely 8 meters. It would have to have been enough.

With a grunt and a kick of her legs, she jumped forward with as much force as she could muster, clearing what remaining distance remained as she quickly circled her forelegs around Jeremy and tucked as much of herself into the shadow he was in as she could.

Her hind legs burned away; parts of her barrel were beginning to melt; her horn, which was just barely exposed, cracked and turned to dust. Pain. There was so much pain. Pain greater than anything she had felt before.

She looked at Jeremy, one of her eyes clenched shut as she looked down at his form, able to hear him as he muttered the same thing over and over again.

"Turn it off. Turn it off. Turn it off." He pleaded, voice hoarse and hardly more than a shift in the breeze as his tears and blackened drool ebbed off his chin.

The sight pained her more than anything she felt now, as did what she had to do next. She could still hear the hoofsteps of Luna as she continued to close the distance between them, likely hoping to stop her as she opened her muzzle as much as she could manage.

Many ponies thought that Nightmare Moon's appearance was little more than a series of coincidences. A collection of small things that aided her in drawing out as much fear from ponies as possible. To an extent, it was true. However, to a greater extent, it all had a purpose. Slit emerald eyes allow her to gaze through the darkness in ways that no other creature could. Fur with darkness so grandiose and infinite, she would be all but invisible on even a cloudless night. A mane so ethereal that it practically had a mind of its own, all while allowing it to take whatever form it wished. And finally, fangs so sharp they could pierce through anything.

Including the flesh of anything she wanted to absorb the nightmares of.

A taste of copper filled Nightmare Moon's maw as she bit into the side of Jeremy's neck, just where it met with his torso. Her mind screamed in equal parts disgust and ecstasy as it realized what was happening, but she did not pay it any mind. Instead, she focused on a part of her magic that could never possibly be tainted or withheld from her. A part of her magic that was driven by instinct alone.

The taste of copper faded as, instead, it was slowly but surely replaced by one of indescribable texture and flavor. It oozed into her mouth and down her throat, yet she felt no sensation of needing to swallow as her body offered no resistance to the pure essence of the nightmare that she chowed down on.

Luna's eyes widened as indistinguishable liquid similar to what had been seen in the human's inner mind began to escape from the small gaps between Nightmare Moon's mouth and the human's skin, enveloping Nightmare Moon's form as she continued to close the distance to her.

The nightmare around them seemed to scream, trembling as Nightmare Moon used it as a superbly unconventional yet exquisite beverage. No longer was the nightmare interested in leaving a mark on the psyche of the human. Instead, the amalgamation of fear was now shrieking for its life, its death throes ravaging the dreamscape around them as Nightmare Moon continued to use its essence to sustain herself.

Luna could only give out a yell as the nightmare shuddered, losing its form entirely before melting into a near-infinite expanse of black liquid, drawing into the one point within their mass that had the goal of adding them into its own potentially endless mass.

In the face of Nightmare Moon, no nightmare could dare to be more fearful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't know when everything faded away.

One second, I was watching my legs turn to nothing while counting down the moments before the rest of me did too. The next, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Well, except for her, of course.

Nightmare Moon stood directly in front of me. Or at least it looked like her.

It was hard to make it out, and as I said, my memory is hazy about a lot of this. The best way I could describe it is a silhouette. An all-black outline of her, head to toe. There weren't any details that you could make out if you tried, except for her eyes. And even then, you couldnt see her pupils, or iris, or anything. Just pure white.

She stared down at me, not saying a word, and I just sort of looked up at her. My throat still hurt like hell, so talking definitely wasn't an option. Though, in the state that I was in, I don't think that it ever really was. I think I was still piecing together everything that had happened.

At some point, I think I reached out to her, holding my hand out in some faint hope that she would respond. In exchange, rather than say anything herself, she leaned her head down into my hand. She nuzzled against my palm, never taking her eyes off me for even a second, as though saying "Don't worry. I'm here for you, and I don't plan on leaving."

And crazy as it sounds, it genuinely, *genuinely* did make me feel safe.

In fact, I struggle to say there were many times I've ever felt more certain that everything really would be okay.

I think it stopped being a nightmare around then...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With the dreams of Jeremy all but collapsed, Luna couldn't help but glance around her surroundings in shock as the familiar dreamscape that existed between the dreams of others surrounded her. At some point, she had well and truly been hurtled out from the mind of Jeremy within the chaos of everything that had occurred. However, she was not the only one.

Before her, the form of Nightmare Moon stood, gazing at her silently and emotionlessly. Her limbs, which had been seared off not moments ago, were once more a part of her complete form, as though nothing had ever happened. More pressingly, there were some other, more notable changes that had come about between then and now.

The once bare alicorn was now clad in a very familiar set of midnight blue armor that encompassed much of her head, chest, and some of her legs. Furthermore, her mane seemed far, far more vibrant and voluminous in nature, seeming to circle well around her entire form like an all-encompassing shroud. Finally, her eyes held a light to them that had not been there before. One of frightening familiarity to Luna.

The lunar diarch watched her alter ego, now in her full glory as told in legends, absolutely stunned.

"You... what did you do?"

She received no response. Princess Luna felt her teeth grit, ignoring the burning she still felt from her horn as a result of the nightmare they were just in as she began to send magic through it again.

"Answer me! What did you do?!"

Again, she received no response. Nightmare Moon simply continued to stare at her in silence.

Feeling more daring, Luna took a step forward, somewhat closing the distance between her and her other self. In her mind, she felt as though she was already aware of what had happened. She just needed to accept it, was all.

"You indulged in it, didn't you? That revolting addiction of yours?"

Nightmare Moon blinked, giving what Luna could only see as a form of confirmation. It wasn't, really, but the Princess was far too incensed to believe otherwise.

"So that's the reason? The reason for you to keep that human? A source of power for thine horrendous compulsion, then?!" She yelled, once more slipping into her old Canterlot accent as she spoke. She took another step forward, glancing behind her to the several hundreds of other freely roaming dreams that surrounded the two of them. If she escaped here, there would be no telling what kind of havoc she might wreak on the several other citizens of Equestria.

Lowering her stance in the same way she had before, Luna readied herself to fight off the would-be invader of dreams before her. She had beaten her once, after all, so surely she could do so again.

With a cry, she blasted out a bolt of magic toward Nightmare Moon, watching as it closed in on her form in mere moments. However, Nightmare Moon did not react. Instead, she simply stood on and watched, not giving any inclination of emotion as a part of her mane came forth and seemed to swallow up the magic whole into its endless mass. From there, the mane shot forth, following the magic to the source, whereupon it simply grabbed hold of Luna's horn, keeping her from casting any more spells.

The alicorn looked up to the mane wide-eyed, unable to react as the rest of her body was suddenly pinned to the floor, tendrils of shadow having somehow worked their way underneath her in the one moment she had been distracted before keeping her in place.

Perhaps it was a result of how much of Luna's magic she had to use in the human's dream. Perhaps it was because of the emotion that Nightmare Moon had absorbed from Jeremy's nightmare. Whatever the cause, one thing was guaranteed. The difference between the two's power was now far more night and day than it had ever truly been before.

Chapter 35: Foundations

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There was a shudder in the dreamscape on that night. Any pony, griffon, zebra, minotaur, dragon, or even diamond dog that might have been asleep at the time would have a chance to recount the exact same experience. Whatever dream they might have been having, however warm, pleasant, strange, or nonsensical, seemed to grow ever so slightly colder. Even in the territory of dreams, where the hope of said dreams was to leave some memory within an individual's mind, this one moment was cemented inside the minds of many others. And there was a reason for that.

It was the moment where the dreamscape, the natural ebb of the less-than-waking world, had witnessed something long since abandoned—the consumption of another dream. Even worse, the defeat of their caretaker. As it stood, there was a resolute silence within the realm as two opposites, yet equals, faced off against each other for the third time.

Nightmare Moon, not so long ago beaten, battered, broken, and almost disintegrated, silently breathed in through her nostrils, taking in the familiar ebb and flow of the world between dreams. Her armor, long thought to be a concept that seemed more like a fever dream to her, yet consistently described in the many stories and retellings of her tale, held taut against her furred exterior. There was no weight to them. How could there be? They were little more than a natural part of her at one point, after all. She had never thought about it before, but now that she was once more held within the confines of the familiar metal layer of magical protection, she realized just how bare she had felt this entire time.

Her former self, Princess Luna, no longer stood against her foe. She couldn't, restrained as she was. Her magic was weakened by the collapse of the human's dream, as well as her efforts within it. Furthermore, her horn, wings, and legs were being held within the grasp of Nightmare Moon's all-encompassing mane, practically serving as a semi-sentient veil over the small area around them as it shifted and shuddered with its newly gained freedom. Forms of all kinds came at the whim of the mass, similar to those that had previously been seen within the mind of the human's innermost machinations. Yet, these were not threatening in nature. Yes, one could certainly see them as threatening, especially when in the position of the princess that was held down by them, but there was more of a perception of understanding and deeper thought within them than one of violence and fear.

Luna struggled against these forms, caring not for their deeper meanings, as she instead prioritized her escape. She wanted to do something. Anything, really. But as it were, if the mass around them so wished--or worse yet, if Nightmare Moon so wished--any of her limbs that were held within the mass could be snapped like a twig. As it was, she was within the frog of Nightmare Moon's hoof. However, the princess of the night would not simply allow herself to be the damsel, nor the abiding hostage.

"So, how was it then?" She spat, adding as much venom to her voice as she could muster. "How was it to use the emotions of another to placate a hunger thou perpetuated?" She had given up on trying to correct her Canterlot accent. There was no need anymore, really. "T'is all that other beings are to thee, after all. A source of thine own personal vigor. T'was just as all those many moons ago..."

Nightmare Moon stared at her opposite for a moment with all the interest as one would a small spider they had found in their bedroom. One that could easily be crushed at their own pace. She rolled her tongue through her mouth for a moment, faintly regarding the fading sensation of copper between her teeth. A remnant of her recent activities.

She could almost swear that her fangs had sharpened. Or perhaps 'sharpened' was not the accurate word. They had been 'satiated', rather. They had found relief for something she had not even known she was suffering from, like a foal that was teething for the first time. She held her eyes closed for a moment, searching her rabble and incessant thoughts.

"... T'was..." She paused for a moment, hesitating to speak as the sound of her own voice seemed alien to her. It was so much closer to how it had been when she and Luna shared a body.

She could not hear the voices. The ones that had been screaming at her to feast not moments ago. The ones that brought about invisible aches and stabbed into her mind with all the sharpness and precision of a freshly-forged yet red-hot needle. More importantly, though, there was no sense of abject happiness. There was no sensation of sick satisfaction or odd curiosity that had been solved. No false hunger had been sated only to ask for more. Instead, Nightmare Moon was left with a terribly bitter aftertaste.

"Vitriolic..." She struggled not to gag. She struggled not to spit and choke on the sensation in the back of her throat. She struggled just trying not to wipe off whatever foul taste may still have remained around her lips in front of her other half, who now looked towards her with a bemused yet darkly tickled expression.

Like a rat that sought out the promise of crumbs of its favorite meal from the garbage of another, only to be met with a mouthful of poison and rot, her cravings were silenced in the same way that a child would suddenly come to the grim realization of how painful it was to touch a hot stovetop. There was no joy. There was no satisfaction. Only a sick sense of disappointment, shock, and betrayal. A faint whisp of thought wondering what they had found so enthralling about this practice in the first place, about what had changed.

Luna gave out a mirthful low chuckle at the words of her other half, using the opportunity to spit out more of her frail poisonous barbs in the hopes that it would at least wound the ego of the one that held her in their magical grasp.

"Oh? Mayhaps the dreams of humans are not within your tastes after all?"

Keeping herself from giving out a shudder as her body once more tried to deny the sensations that slid down her gullet, Nightmare Moon gave a moment of thought to the words of her former self. The words of a certain changeling rang through her mind; ramblings and theories about pure sources of water that were far more stained by even the smallest of toxins than any less pure source might have been.

But as she searched through her mind, a brief glimpse into her memories as her dying cravings wondered where everything had gone wrong, a realization came.

When had been the last time that she had consumed a nightmare? A dream of any sort, really?

She focused her gaze on the fallen princess before her, her muzzle giving a slight twitch as the last of the horrid dregs of the nightmare were swallowed within the depths of her body in earnest.

"... 'Tis not the flavor of the dreams that have changed, " she stated, walking forward with an elegant yet deadly practice that seemed to cause the very realm around them to shudder with each step, "but rather, we are the ones to have changed."

Luna was taken aback by the odd reply given to her by the being before her, her eyes narrowing as she watched them come closer and closer to her.

"Glutton. Thou require even worse nightmares, then? Thine time without cravings being fulfilled has dulled thine palette so deeply that thou art no longer able to gain satisfaction from only the worst, most craven delusions of those that might fall victim to thee?" She struggled against her restraints, teeth practically grinding against each other as she assumed the worst from the creature before her. Nightmare Moon gave an unconcerned glance towards the restraints that held her down, noting that they weren't budging so much as an inch. "Pray tell then, creature, how dost thee plan to find that forbidden ambrosia of thine? Hast thou begun to create worse nightmares for the human under the pull of thine strings and silvered tongue to suffer for benefit?!"

The restraints that held Luna so effectively tightened even more. Another tendril shot forth from the floor, like a serpent striking an unwitting target, before wrapping tightly around the lunar diarch's throat. It was not enough to suffocate her, but the pressure was certainly there, pulling at her from behind and forcing her to raise her head painfully and awkwardly so that she could more directly gaze into her captor's eyes.

Nightmare Moon, for her part, provided the most subtle of reactions. A twitch of an eyelid, barely perceptible to anyone save for those that might have been searching for it. She did not personally will the shroud surrounding the two of them to do as it had done, but evidently, some part of her mind was more than willing to take the opportunity. She held no reason to argue or fight against that part.

Instead, she leveled her head to be on equal ground with her other self, her voice low as she spoke.

"You will not speak of him." She warned, slit irises within oceans of bluish-green reflecting off the more rounded irises within two similarly colored oceans. The two simply glared at one another for a moment, an air of still tension surrounding them as they simply searched one another's eyes for any signs of weakness or retreat. Neither provided such signs. "And you seem to misunderstand. As we said, 'tis not the flavor of the dreams that have changed, but rather," she jabbed her armor-cloven hoof just barely into the chest of Luna, "we are the ones to have changed."

She allowed her hoof to stomp down onto the floor between them, letting out a breath through her nostrils which caused Luna to flinch as a result of their proximity.

"We are, after all, only half the being that we were prior."

Luna blinked, allowing a moment for her words to sink in before she could practically feel her heart beating against her eardrums from fury.

"Thou art suggesting that our presence within the body thou stole caused thine cravings for the nightmares of others?" She fumed, her chest heaving at the very notion.

Nightmare Moon scowled, allowing her eyes to close first between the two's impromptu staredown as she picked her words.

"We stole nothing. Our time as one was just as much chaos for us as you believe it to have been you. Yet still-," she leaned ever so slightly closer once again, the tip of her muzzle barely touching that of her original self, "you accuse me of crimes while invading and manipulating the dreams of another for your self-defined sense of justice and law. You have them fear their own dreams, just as you dreaded your subjects did when we were first created, as well as how we both ensured that they would in our time together. You show contempt for actions while repeating the very same past that brought them about in the first pla-"

"We are not the same!" Luna yelled, denying not just what was being told to her, but the very idea of listening in the first place. Nightmare Moon's earlier elegance and careful tones were shattered, much like her patience.

"PRECISELY, YOU DALCOPPED SOW!"

The dreamscape shuddered under the cries of one of their irked visitors, drifting away ever so slightly faster from the two foreign yet familiar entities walking among them as they sought refuge from their anger.

"We--niether you nor I--are not the same! Not anymore! What we were when we were together was an entity that was nothing like we were when we were separated! In body, in mind, in our very essence, we were neither you nor ourselves. We were something entirely different! Two parts of a woefully uncontrollable whole!"

Despite her somewhat ringing ears, the lunar princess did not back down.

"Thou does not change. We spent enough time with thee to know that. Vividly."

Nightmare Moon gave out a frustrated grunt as she once again stamped her hoof against the floor beneath her.

"Then why do we not simply fulfill your beliefs, then?" She growled, eyes full of rage as a faint glow came over her horn. The parts of her mane that held Luna in place pulled and tightened even more, causing her to strain just to breathe, as she was forced to watch as Nightmare Moon leveled her horn. All it would take was one spell. One simple amalgamation of magical foci, incantations, emotion, and intent to end it all. A perfect way to deal with the princess before her. To seal her within the dream realm in a sort of eternal sleep, never able to return to her physical body so long as Nightmare Moon willed it.

Luna said nothing, simply staring at the horn pointed toward her with narrowed eyes and absolute focus. She would not play the damsel. She would not simply close her eyes and attempt to hide from the reality of the world around her; not like she did all those years ago when Nightmare Moon first began to whisper in her mind.

Nightmare Moon spared one last glance towards her other self, their two similar yet different eyes meeting one last time before a bright flash enveloped the both of them, changing the fate of the dreamscape and all that rested within it for the rest of eternity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I blinked as I looked up at the ceiling. The first thing I noticed was how uh... damp, I felt? Actually, no, that doesn't really get my meaning across. Do you know how some folks talk about waking up in a cold sweat? Okay, multiply that by some random factor of, like, ten, and you'll understand just how wet I was from sweat. So, already a lovely state to wake up in.

Add to that the fact that my entire body felt as though it had just about gone through every conceivable exercise known to man, with my spine and neck seeming to take the worst of it as they throbbed with soreness that seemingly came out of nowhere, and you might just be able to understand why my first few words upon waking up were along the lines of:

"Fuck me with a silver spoon and two forks, I regret so many things right now..."

As I muttered the words in my somewhat less than fully conscious state, the first instinct that came to mind was for me to rub my eyes to at least try to rid myself of the bleariness that they held. And whereas one of my arms was able to raise without issue, the palm of my hand massaging my closed eye, the other found itself rather occupied. Specifically, it was dealing with some weight cast over it, keeping it from moving. A rather furry one, which was now giggling directly into my ear.

"Be cautious of your wandering hooves, Sir Jeremy. We are not very inclined to move at the moment."

I blinked, suddenly far more awake than I had been before, before turning my head towards the source of the voice. The next thing I know, my entire vision is flooded by the eyes and snout of Nightmare Moon, who was partially laid down right next to me with a rather smug expression on her face.

I took a moment or two to piece things together in my head, totally not looking like an absolute idiot in the process--trust me on this one--before finally being able to remember enough bits and pieces to understand the situation I was in.

"Uh-huh... No hooves, remember?" I replied simply, raising my free arm and wiggling my fingers ever so slightly so as to accentuate my point. I watched as her eyes shifted, turning their attention towards my hand as I provided my example.

"Hm. Yes, we suppose you do not." She stated just as simply, returning her attention to me not long after. I decided to address the elephant in the room bluntly.

"So, did your magic need you to sleep next to me to go through, or...?" Nightmare Moon responded to my unfinished question with a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes.

"Nay."

"Then is there any particular reason that you're laying on me?"

"Do you dislike this particular occurrence?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"Nor you ours."

There was a silence between us as we stared one another down, our expressions deadpan as we waited for the other to give. Evidently, though, I wasn't in a very competitive mood, considering I just ended up looking back toward the ceiling. The edge of my lips practically raised on their own as I just softly shook my head.

"So... how'd the dream magic go?" I ultimately asked.

"You do not recall?"

I shrugged my shoulders--at least as best as I could, considering the circumstance--and let out a sigh as I continued to sort through the small fragments of memory I had. It was more than a bit of a struggle to remember what I had just dreamed about, frustratingly enough.

"Bits and pieces," I answered, shifting slightly as I did my damndest to layer my thoughts. "I remember my old room; Canterlot; Snow..." I stiffened ever so slightly as the next portions of my memory came through concerningly clearly. "... A lot of sun."

My sudden tenseness hadn't gone without notice, it had seemed, as I felt the form of Nightmare Moon seems to shift closer to me as if doing her best to distract me from my thoughts. To her credit, it kinda worked, because there was another memory that her presence there reminded me of.

"Did-", I turned toward her slightly, "Did you take me flying? Or am I going nuts?"

Her expression, which now held some form of concern and sadness to it, softened as I asked this.

"Yes. Yes, we did."

I nodded, closing my eyes for a moment as I took in a deep breath of air.

"Okay. Cool. Not as nuts, then."

Another giggle echoed near my ears as the soft sensation of a wing gently slapping against my chest made itself known.

"Crazy is hardly the word we would use."

"I... didn't say 'crazy'."

"Correct."

I could practically feel her smirking against me. I didn't even need to look at her to know the expression on her face.

"Have you and Chrysalis been talking more? Because I swear you weren't this sassy or sarcastic before." I mused.

"We've no idea what you are speaking of. We have always been quite keen on our use of wit."

"Uh-huh..." I replied, less than completely convinced.

"You doubt us?"

"Weren't we having an argument about something in my dreams?"

"You ended up conceding it to us, as we recall."

I sat up completely at this, squeezing myself out from under Nightmare Moon's form as I looked towards her with a raised brow and crossed arms. She seemed less than pleased by this occurrence if the little noises of protest she made were any sign to go by, but I was far more occupied with the fact that she had very clearly pointed out an inconsistency in her little story.

"Really? I gave up the argument? You sure about that?"

"But of course," she responded, allowing herself to sit up just as well, regaining her position on the floor next to my bed as she nonchalantly craned her neck from side to side to work out any stiffness she might have. "We are rather convincing, as you might recall."

"You mean stubborn?"

"Do you know of the comparison between the pot and the kettle?"

"Do you have that answer about how much Luna weighs?"

"You remember that, of all things?"

"Just that stubborn, I guess."

"Indeed."

Again, the two of us stared one another down. And, again, it didn't last long.

This time, though, I'm proud to say that I wasn't the only one that broke first. Instead, it was both of us that ended up falling into silent chortles and laughter, finding some sort of amusement behind just how ridiculous of a conversation we seemed to be having. Hell, I was so caught up in it, I never asked about what else had happened in the dream.

Nightmare Moon was more than willing to fill in the blanks, however. She was a bit surprised by how little I remembered, but, hey, pony dreams and human dreams work differently, after all.

Her explanations only seemed to slow as she got to the topic of Luna, and how we found her in my mind after all.

When I asked her how it went, she paused for a moment. She mentioned how Luna had overpowered her at first, how I had apparently purposely been consumed by a nightmare, and that she ended up getting an advantage because of said nightmare. She didn't go that far into detail about it, but, hey, I wasn't looking for details at the time. I just wanted to know if I was able to go to sleep from now on without having to worry about endangering everyone else from now on.

Her response was... well, I guess if I had to put it someway, I would say bittersweet.

************************

Nightmare Moon watched in silence as Luna sucked in air like a greedy dragon hoarded gold, a hoof against her neck where a tendril had, not moments ago, been all but strangling her. Her wings, her hooves, and even her horn were no longer restrained by the ominous presence of the mane that constantly flowed around Nightmare Moon's now unarmored form, allowing her to move as she wished.

The faint dregs of magic that faded away could still be felt in the air around them, remnants of the spell that Nightmare Moon had cast in order to suppress and hide away her own magic; a gesture that any unicorn with even the slightest semblance of magical knowledge and experience in combat could recognize as the equivalent of one sheathing their blade.

Now, rather than the prickling of fur under intense magical sunderance, or the grinding of teeth under great strain and emotional highs and lows, there was only silence. A newly formed tension; unbreakable and certainly not unnoticeable.

The dreams of the many watched from all around like living moths attracted to the slightest forms of light. They never closed in past a certain distance, keenly aware of their proximity to the two quarreling solid masses walking amongst them, but they tested that limit again and again.

"... What are-"

"We are not the same." Nightmare Moon interrupted, her voice firm as she looked down at her other half with an equally uncompromising gaze. "We were one. And now we are not. Of that, there can be no doubt. Equally, we --" She paused, forcing her eyes shut for just a moment before returning her attention to Luna. "I am not who I was. Who you think I was."

She took a step forward, closing the distance between the two by a few notches more. Luna did not react. Or rather, she was uncertain how to. The first time that she had been uncertain since the night had begun.

"And you are not who you were. Who you think you were. Time changes everypony. Even our sister, if what Sir Jeremy has been through is anything to go by."

Again, another moment of silence passed as the two looked at one another. Nightmare Moon opened her mouth as if to say something more, but ultimately no words came out. Instead, she spared one last glance at the alicorn before her, as well as the dream world surrounding them, and gave out a sigh.

"... You will leave us, and our compatriots, out from your walking of the dream world." She spoke with certainty in her tone. "I will be sealing their dreams in a realm where you cannot find them. They will be outside of even your purview. And in exchange," she glanced around her shoulder, as though seeking some invisible form that she believed to be alongside her, "you will be allowed to go free."

Luna, finally reacting to everything that was occurring, quickly stumbled onto her hooves, as though expecting some sort of imperceptible attack or trick to approach her from out of nowhere. But of course, it never came. Nightmare Moon simply continued looking behind her, in an almost melancholy mood.

"We-... I-"

"However," Nightmare Moon once more interrupted her voice once more taking on a deadly serious tone as she didn't spare so much as a glance back to her other self. Luna allowed herself to be silent once more.

"Should you dare to invade their minds again; to peer through the memories that they so treasure for your own means, however noble you might believe your intentions to be, then I will live up to the stories written of us. I will truly become- No, exceed the nightmare that every being in the realm of the waking and dreaming will fear."

Her mane began to sink, ebbing into the floor below as though it were tar, melting into the pseudo-existent floor until a small pool of blackened mire began to surround her immediate footing. Her horn glowed faintly as she began the incantation to return herself to her physical body.

Finally, finally, Luna found her voice as the guardian of the dream world.

"We shall not let thee harm a soul. Dost thou hear me? Not a one!" She yelled, piercing through the relative silence and quieted speech that had formed the atmosphere between the two.

Nightmare Moon's ear twitched, making it obvious that she had heard as if there were any sort of doubt. She showed no vitriol towards the threat returned to her. Rather, Luna could almost swear that she spotted a small, hopeful smile on her face.

"Good. Then the dream realm remains in safe hooves."

And with that, she vanished, alongside the dream of the one she wanted to protect from any more harm.

It would not be long before more dreams would disappear from the mass of dots that made up the dreamscape, imperceptible to Luna despite her best efforts. Yet right now, there was no thought of that. There was no focus on such a possibility. There was no care for such concepts.

Instead, the lunar diarch simply stood as a statue, looking at the spot where her former self had just been standing, suddenly with far more thoughts filling her mind than she ever thought possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, you let her escape then?" Chrysalis asked, far more than a little infuriated after hearing Nightmare Moon's debrief on what had happened during her time in the dream realm. Nightmare Moon, for her part, busied herself by simply enjoying a muffin that Gilda had purchased during one of her haggling escapades into Canterlot.

"We suppose-", she began, her voice somewhat garbled by food in her mouth before she remembered herself enough to swallow before she spoke. She put a hoof to her maw as if to excuse herself for the uncouth behavior, before continuing her response. "We suppose thou could see it that way. However, we much rather would focus on the victory that came forth from the expedition. Prithee, did thee not hear of our triumph, or was thine mind far too busy with the intricacies of the floors thou will be needing to scrub within the coming days?"

Chrysalis gave out a faint growl at this attempt at sugar-coating -- something which was not aided by the sudden evocation of her miserable work schedule that she would once again have to endure within the next 30-something hours.

"Seeing as I'm the only one earning the bits right about now, including the ones used to buy those muffins, I would strongly recommend you keep your mouth shut." She retorted, her eyes narrowed as she stared down the rather aloof alicorn that lay partially across the sofa.

"You know, she's not entirely wrong." Chimed in the human sat next to her, now sporting new clothes and somewhat damp hair from the shower he had taken just moments ago. He, as well, was enjoying a muffin. Evidently, their little detour through the realm of dreams had been more famishing than one would have thought.

"Ah, so you would take her side then? Truly, you wound me, Sir Jeremy."

"Says the one who left vampire marks on my neck." He responded coyly, reflexively finding himself rubbing at the pair of small, practically indiscernible, yet nonetheless present pinpricks on the side of his neck. They had certainly been a shock, at first, but fortunately, Nightmare Moon was able to calm his nerves somewhat when she explained how it had happened.

Her swallowing of nightmares was more than just an incorporeal thing, it would seem. Something that. if Jeremy would attempt to describe it, apparently had to do with the physical body and the magical body being invariably linked. It also served to provide just a bit more context on why Nightmare Moon had been laid so close to Jeremy when he had woken up, though the two had left that detail out when explaining things to Chrysalis, Halfy, and Gilda. Of which, Gilda was just as well occupied by their examinations, looking on at Nightmare Moon from her spot opposite on the couch.

"So... none of you think she looks taller? Like, at all?" She asked for what must have been the third time since Nightmare Moon and Jeremy had exited the bedroom. Of course, it was a far better train of thought to follow for everyone involved than the one mentioning biting, sweating, and subsequent hunger in another context, but still.

"W-Well, I wouldn't say 'taller', but she definitely seems... glowing, I think?"

Halfy's commentary, of course, was not helping the conversation away from the sexual.

Fortunately, Chrysalis was more than happy to intercede.

"Would the lot of you please keep focused on what's important? Our one-way ticket to having all of the information we needed is gone. Vanished. Let go without a trace and allowed it to make its way freely into the ocean of self-merriment and joy like a metaphorical 'Free Wally'!"

"You mean 'Free Willy'?"

"WHAT THE EMPRESS IS A 'FREE WILLY'?"

"Depends. What's a 'Free Wally'?"

Chrysalis' only response was to allow her face to fall into her forehooves, the sounds of frustration muffled by their presence as she did her best not to let out a scream so loud it would deafen the entire neighborhood. Jeremy, unfortunately, would have to wait sometime before he came to find out what this world's equivalent to a classic childhood movie from his world was about. Apparently, it had to do with a sea pony rather than an orca.

Halfy, ever as kind as she was, provided an awkward hoof to Chrysalis in her time of crisis, patting her gently on the back as she aired her grievances to the seat cushion below her.

"Chrysalis," Jeremy commented, "we're not any closer now than we were before. Believe me, I get that. And I get that it's frustrating. But, honestly, I'm just happy that we have one less thing to worry about. And besides," he added, motioning an arm towards the alicorn sat next to him, "she apparently has back a lot of her magic now! So that's a damn big bonus, I would say."

Nightmare Moon took comments in stride, seeming to beam with some hints of pride as she held her head high.

"Honestly, I'm jealous of ya, J. You got to watch two alicorns duke it out in plain view. Not many folks could say they did that!"

Jeremy simply scoffed, shaking his head somewhat as he leaned further back into his seat.

"I'd hardly say there's much to brag about. I couldn't tell you anything about how the fight started, ended, or anything in between. I'm just glad that Moony won out."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess that's fair-"

Just like that, the conversation came to a halt.

As though a pin was dropped into a quiet room or, more fittingly, a carriage had suddenly swerved off of the road and into a nearby orphanage. Whatever conversation, noise, or train of thought that might have been going on came to a sudden, violent halt.

Nightmare Moon and Jeremy continued eating their muffins, though it seemed only Jeremy took note of the sudden change in mood as he slowed his progress into the small delectable in his grasp.

"Uh... What?" He questioned, watching as even Chrysalis raised her head from her previous placement of anguish towards the many brain cells she undoubtedly had lost in the process of her knowing everyone present, just to look towards him with shock.

"What?" He repeated, glancing back and forth between all of those present.

Halfy, oddly enough, was the first to respond.

"You... Y-you called her 'Moony'."

Jeremy blinked, looking towards the earth mare with an unreadable expression.

"... No I didn't."

"Dude. You totally did." Gilda chided.

"No, I did not."

"You most certainly did say, and I quote, 'Moony'." Chrysalis added on, even going so far as to copy his voice to do so.

"No. I most certainly did not."

"Sir Jeremy?" Nightmare Moon then said simply, garnering the attention of everyone, including Jeremy, as she casually finished off what remained of her muffin. "... You did." She stated matter-of-factly with a slim smile. Again, Jeremy blinked. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he looked toward Nightmare Moon, unsure of how to respond. "There is no need for concern. We do not mind."

Despite her words, Jeremy could feel the warmth in his cheeks, neck, and ears as he came to accept the reality that he had, in fact, just been the victim of the Freudian slip, otherwise known as ye olde foot-in-mouth syndrome.

Without so much as a noise, Jeremy simply stood up from where he sat and pointed towards the kitchen.

"Anyone else wants some muffins? I'm gonna get a muffin. Maybe two. And a glass of water." He said stiffly, before then quickly powerwalking his way to the kitchen.

Sadly for him, he would not escape without some commentary as Gilda quickly followed behind.

"No way. No. Bucking. Way. Bro!" She commented, swiftly chasing the human as they attempted to retreat from the situation. "Bro, what happened in that bedroom?"

"Oh no, u-uh, Gilda, h-he doesn't need to answer that! It's probably nothing!" Halfy interjected, following behind the griffon in an attempt to keep Jeremy from suffering any more embarrassment. She was well aware of the feeling, and as such felt more than a bit of sympathy toward the poor human.

"Uh-uh! No way! We are not pony trotting around this subject! I knew you smelled way too much like her when you came out of that room!"

"Gilda I swear on all that is unholy: In a trunk. Off a cliff. Into a lake."

Chrysalis, in the meantime, elected against following the comedy brigade to... wherever in the house they were going. Instead, she simply shifted her gaze to Nightmare Moon, who in turn provided her with an innocent smile.

"A lovely night, is it not?"

For a moment, she could almost swear that she was being challenged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Within the castle of Canterlot, things were beginning to grow silent once again. The later afternoon had come, and with it, many ponies were beginning to make their way home. In these times, only the most loyal, dedicated, or hard at work would even deign to remain on the premises to continue whatever assignment they might have had.

Of course, there were exceptions. Some simply lived within the castle grounds, after all. Guards in barracks, some servants in servants' quarters, and, of course, princesses within the castle they simply referred to as 'home'.

One of these princesses, in fact, was in the midst of her dinner. One last moment of peace before rest. Of course, it couldn't be a complete rest, what with her having to fill in a few duties that her sister was having to leave behind in order to search the dreams of others as she had requested, but it was some degree of rest nonetheless.

Before her, a lovely dandelion, blueberry, tulip, and macadamia salad with a gentle vinaigrette. Some of her newer chefs would occasionally comment on her odd choice of food mixtures, mentioning that the rich, buttery flavor of macadamia likely shouldn't be paired with the sweet taste of blueberry and the... well, very concept of vinegar of any form, but she actually quite enjoyed the combination. An old habit from her youthful days, she supposed. That, and her enjoyment of cakes, of course.

She took hold of a glass of wine that sat nearby her plate of food with her magic, raising it to her lips before taking a careful sip of the beverage.

She held it in her mouth for but a moment, just enough to enjoy the intricacies of it, before swallowing it and giving out a content sigh.

In her state of momentary peace, she allowed her gaze to shift toward the other end of the table. Not far from her, she saw a specially made place at the other head of the table for her sister, with freshly shined and likely still entirely unused silverware, napkins, and cloth.

She chuckled as she looked at the evidently purely decorative pieces of dinnerware, well aware of her sister's tendency to forgo tradition and instead sit directly beside her older sibling, using what would apparently be the guest silverware without a care in the world, far more focused on spending time with her to make up for what had been lost. Even if they rarely ate together, differing schedules and all -- even if the few occasions that they did eat together typically resulted in the two of them only exchanging a word or two as they simply ate in silence, one their dinner, the other their breakfast -- they were enjoyable nonetheless.

A pang of guilt broke through Celestia's peace. One that reminded her that their rare instances of sisterly camaraderie had likely been made all the more uncommon because of her own fault, and nopony else's.

"Are you trying to leave her out again?"

She shook off such thoughts with a huff, instead far more intent on focusing on the meal before her.

Yet, fate would take it upon itself to be both kind and cruel at this very moment.

The sound of the dining room door opening was not a rare one, even at this hour. There were still ponies working, after all, and there would still be some skeleton crew going about during the night, ensuring that all the functions of the castle remained well-oiled and ready. Not to mention the members of staff that were specifically contracted with the night shift in mind, or that were simply working overtime to help further support their families.

However, the sound of silver-clad hoof steps was far too distinct to be mistaken for anything.

Celestia's gaze was quickly turned towards the door where, as she had assumed, her sister trotted into the dining room.

A smile worked its way onto the solar diarch's features as she greeted her sibling.

"Ah, hello, sister. I take it you are well?" She asked.

Luna, however, was seemingly unprepared for the greeting, jumping ever so slightly as she was broken from the thoughts she had apparently been far too focused on.

"Oh, uh, y-yes, hello, sister. We- I am well, thank you for asking." She responded, forcing herself back into the modern tongue. A small detail that Celestia did not miss.

Her lips lowered ever so slightly as she looked on at her younger sister. Since she had begun her lessons on attempting to commune more with the local changes in language and lexicon, Luna was quite careful she did not slip. In fact, it was rather rare nowadays whenever she did slip into her old habits. Specifically, it would only happen when she was far too focused on other matters to keep herself following her pieces of training.

Add to the slight nuances in how she walked, spoke, and even simply stood where she did; Celestia knew many things about body language. Another necessary concept to pick up when running a kingdom for as long as she had. Above all though, she knew her sister's.

"... Luna?" She asked, taking the opportunity to remove herself from her place at the table and take a step towards her sibling. "Is everything okay?"

Luna, in exchange, found herself reeling ever so slightly. Not out of fear, heavens no, but rather as some poor attempt at keeping herself controlled and calm.

"Yes, I-" She began, glancing around her as she sought pretty much anything else she could put her focus on. Yet, her eyes soon found purchase on those of her sister. And when they did, she remembered a rather important detail. This was Tia. Nopony else.

And so, she relented, allowing herself to give out a breath she had unknowingly been holding.

"... No, Tia, it is not."

Celestia, having long abandoned her meal, made her way toward her sister's side with an admitted amount of haste. As she did, her horn began to glow as she ensured that any doors to the dining room were closed. As well as that, she added a noise-dampening spell, to ensure that the two could speak in earnest, without fear of eavesdroppers.

"Luna, it's okay. You can talk to me. It's just us." Celestia cooed, finally closing the distance between the two of them as she nuzzled her head against her siblings caringly. Luna responded in turn, returning the nuzzles with some level of appreciation.

"Yes. Yes, I know. Thank you, sister." She responded, grateful that her sister was able to calm down and understand her so easily. Of course, she wasn't aware what had happened yet. "But I am afraid that I have unfortunate news."

Celestia leaned back somewhat, allowing her sister to speak to her eye to eye.

"What is it? Are you ill? If so, feel free to take the next few days off -- I understand that the recent changes to your schedule must have been less than favorable."

Luna simply shook her head.

"No. It is about... Nightmare Moon."

Celestia stiffened at that. Only for a second, really. A small, barely noticeable second. But, it was there.

"Did something happen?" She asked, her voice far more serious and concerned. Luna took in a breath, steeling herself to explain her failures to her sister.

"She discovered me within the dreams of the human. And in the process, she-"

"Were you hurt?" Celestia suddenly asked an amount of terseness to her voice.

"Nothing more than a headache and some soreness."

"So you were hurt?"

"Sister, please." Luna suddenly pleaded, piercing through her sister's concerns with both a tone and a look of earnest dismay. Celestia, for her part, grew silent, nodding her head and momentarily putting aside her worry for her sibling -- difficult as it might have been -- so that she may speak her mind.

"I... I failed. She has expelled me from the dreams of the human and sealed them away from the dreamscape. And I suspect that she will do the same for any others that may be involved with them. I couldn't beat her!"

"Luna, it is fine, we-"

"But it isn't! She is my responsibility! She-"

"Lulu, you are not alone. It is not your sole responsibility to react and seek her out. She is an enemy of the kingdom, of the world perhaps. And as such, we both bear the duty of the crown. You will lean on me as I will lean on you. No more. No less."

"But I-"

"No buts, Sister," Celestia stated, her voice far more firm. "You did not fail. You provided us with so much when we previously had nothing. We will make do. Of this, I can assure you." Once more, Celestia nuzzled against her sister, doing as best as she could to comfort her.

Luna took and returned the gestures in silence, her eyes closed as she simply accepted that there was nothing more she could do for now.

"Take some time to rest, sister. You need not worry about searching the minds of others for information on the escapees anymore. Focus instead on your own duties and health. For now, that is the best thing you can do for me."

Luna nodded, taking in her sibling's words with some bitterness in her mind, but accepting them nonetheless.

"Would you like to eat dinner with me?" Celestia asked.

"No, thank you, sister. But, I would like to return to my normal duties post-haste. So I feel it would be wise to rest for whatever remains of your day."

"I could always have the sun set a little later if you wish?"

Luna chuckled, the idea of ponies looking at their clocks with confusion as the sun continued to remain in the sky well after it should have been nighttime providing some semblance of humor to the lunar diarch.

"There is no need. But I appreciate the offer nonetheless."

"Very well." Celestia conceded, allowing herself to pull away from Luna as the two shared one last heartfelt gaze of understanding. Luna made her way out of the dining room, likely toward her private quarters, and once more Celestia was on her own.

As Luna made her way through the castle grounds, however, her mind was still muddled. More specifically, there was something itching away at the back of her mind that she just couldn't escape.

The nightmare she had found herself in not long ago; the visions that she had seen.

The hunger. The thirst. The pain. The fear. The light.

The words of her former self -- her other self, as she had stated to be -- rang in her mind.

'Time changes everypony. Even our sister, if what Sir Jeremy has been through is anything to go by.'

Just what exactly had she meant by that?

What exactly was this Jeremy? And, more pressingly, what had happened to him?

Celestia, just as well, was dealing with her own thoughts. Thoughts that were proving to be far less kind and logical.

"You did this didn't you?"

She made her way back to her seat, sparing another glance at the spot left for her sister as she picked up a forkful of salad with her magic. It suddenly seemed far less appealing than it had just moments ago.

"They probably figured out what was happening when you confronted them. How bold of you, endangering your own sister just so you could make another oh-so-important appearance."

She allowed her fork to fall back onto the plate, eyeing her glass of wine as her throat felt suddenly dry and parched.

"Or maybe it was because you just had to give another offer? Couldn't leave well enough alone and come to the understanding that maybe not everypony is willing to be friends."

She brought the glass to her lips, careful to take small calculated sips. Those sips quickly became more and more generous, however, until all she had left was an empty glass.

She blinked, looking at the glass for a moment, focusing on her reflection as she wondered if she even tasted anything at all on the way down.

"Who else are you going to hurt?"

Under immense strain -- strain Celestia had not been aware she had been putting on the glass with her magic -- the glass began to crack.

At the same time, a far-off train continued on its path, occasionally met with a small bump as a stray rock or uneven part of the track met its course. Aboard this train, a hooded being gripped at one of their bags, making sure that it never felt so much as a single tremor from the trip.

A bag that held an item of utmost importance to somepony she knew: one she could not afford to allow harm to come to, at least until it had been safely given to her once again.

Whether We Like It or Not

by Brightlight24

Prologue [Here Again]

Chapter 1: Time Passes [Here Again]

Chapter 2: Everyday Routine [Here Again]

Chapter 3: What Are The Odds? [Here Again]

Chapter 4: Time Suffers [Here Again]

Chapter 5: Freedom Comes With A Price [Here Again]

Chapter 6: Life Before Prison [Here Again]

Chapter 7: Visiting Hours [Here Again]

Chapter 8: A Friend Through These Walls [Here Again]

Chapter 9: Time In The Yard [Here Again]

Chapter 10: Tied To Another [Here Again]

Chapter 11: New Member, Great Impression [Here Again]

Chapter 12: Life Back Home [Here Again]

Chapter 13: Wake Up Call [Here Again]

Chapter 14: Another Visit For A New Place [Here Again]

Chapter 15: A Short Break From Monotony [Here Again]

Chapter 16: Keeping Each Other Going [Here Again]

Chapter 17: Taking Fault Where Fault Is Due [Here Again]

Chapter 18: A Friend's Troubles [Here Again]

Chapter 19: Change And Weakness Go Hand In Hand [Here Again]

Chapter 20: Change And Weakness Go Hand In Hand (Part 2) [Here Again]

Chapter 21: The First Step Is... [Here Again]

Chapter 22: Unforeseen, But Not Unwelcome [Here Again]

Chapter 23: Looking Back, Moving Ahead [Here Again]

Chapter 24: To Feel Each Other's Pain [Here Again]

Chapter 25: Even The Shortest Trip... [Here Again]

Chapter 26: Home Sweet Home [Here Again]

Chapter 27: House Warming Yet Again [Here Again]

Chapter 28: Work Before Play [Here Again]

Chapter 29: Except After Day

Chapter 30: Shows The Way

Chapter 31: Or So They Say

Chapter 32: Dare To Dream

Chapter 33: No Dream Too Big

Chapter 34: To Come Crumbling Down

Chapter 35: Foundations