> Son of Eternity
>  by Secrets and Lies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(Prologue)






Once upon our time, in the not-so-magical land of North Carolina, lived a boy named Zachary.

If you passed by him on the sidewalk, you might describe him as a tall man with short, wavy brown hair and a face that was uncommon to smiling. Zack appeared as an intimidating person, but his heart strived towards being better than his current dilemmas made him out to be. He was a strange kind of man who grew up about an hour north of the city; it was there where life was a bit slower. A place where silence between the hills was a rare charm anywhere else. Where the early mountain fog would roll into the plains, and the smell of mist and pines brought an essence of new life into the lungs. After a long breath of it all, one could feel rejuvenated and alive again.
He had moved from this place to go to the city of Charlotte where his college was located, and for the first time in a long time, he was grieved and homesick. He had no goals, though he felt he had to put everything behind him that he had grown up with, so that he could move on with his adult life. He had left behind such enjoyments to try and throw himself into the 'real world', he knew it would be better for him. Through this philosophy, he had unknowingly tricked himself from the beginning.
One peculiar thing he held on to was the last little bit of child-like imagination left in him. This small amount of secluded joy would soon be his downfall. The tad bit of happiness he possessed was his sense of adventure that he had read in so many books before. He was an avid reader and had been since he was younger; and through this, he had a little bit of hope for his future. Zack imagined that maybe one day he could leave the Old North State, to travel beyond his comfort zones either alone or with new friends. To go out and beyond, to live and see it all.
The time came when reality sunk in around him. A great depression in his mind broke through and turned into a void he couldn’t conjure how to escape from. His life was torn in half, and through that tear the last few ounces of his childhood’s happiness was poured into the dark ravine of reality. Down to the last drop of younger bliss, he tried to save it, but to no avail. The worldly mentalities caved in around him. He was broken. He was alone. He was saddened. And most of all, he was terrified of his own being.
How his life had played out now taunted him. To every mistake and rash decision. To every hurtful word he said, to every betrayal and shattered promise he vowed was summoned to haunt him, to shatter him. The demon of depression snared his mind and firmly held it close to the fires of madness. His mind was now his own enemy, eradicating himself from the core out. No form of escapism or inner-light through cracks in life’s framework shown a path out of his entanglement. Lost was the boy from the country hills where the secret magic still thrived, lost was Zachary in the mire of his mistakes.
He was once quite fond of life, but it seemed like a hazy dream to him now. Friends and family, lovers and believers, they had left him in a past he wished he was never apart of. To be given happiness from these people and for it to be so easily taken away–he wished no such horror on his greatest enemies. The relentless scarring and thrashings of time was too much for the lost one. In a split moment, he found himself back in his own apartment. The splinter of time he had discovered was only momentary and he knew he would bring himself back into it soon enough. No form of happiness or high could phase him back to his long lost joy. The tides of depression had ebbed back to the sea of alienation, and he knew they would wash over him again.
So, with one last decision—the last decision he would make in this world—he opened a tightly sealed case under his bed and pulled from it the Devil’s desire. He was ready to leave everything behind. Somewhere else however, another had different intentions for him. For Zachary was a plan in the making; incubated for something beyond the grand design. A new land called for his aid and he would soon answer its call. Zachary was unaware of it, but he was about to begin a new journey, and find a new life.
> 1
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Son of Eternity





Written By:



Secrets and Lies





Edited By:



BranchofLight and Rainbow Cyder






(Part 1)




“There's only one instant, and it's right now. And it's eternity.”
- Richard Linklater




(1)






He sat there at the kitchen table for more than an hour staring at that Glock 19. Examining every inch of the metal weapon while thinking how it all came to this. His apartment was dark, cluttered and empty as he sat at an old frail table which appeared to be made sometime around the Seventies. He looked over the chrome-colored bullet near the edge of the table, refracting his dismal appearance back at him. His tired arm reached for it and with a steady hand, he placed it closer to the gun.
This poor soul’s name is Zachary–or if you would like, Zack. His life had been grey and dead for years–nothing but tragedy and misfortune followed him. He had tried ever so hard to be like everyone else. Always wearing a fake smile in public, then when getting home he would collapse on the floor in a billow of tears. He hated that his continual depression always got the best of him, bringing his self esteem lower each day. When he was younger, he acted like most of the kids, a little more silent than usual, but still likable and friendly. Over the next couple of years, his parents would get a divorce and soon later his mother, bless her soul, she will have died in a car accident. His dad, the coward Zack called him, left soon after the accident. With no clear reason or motive, he deserted Zack and the mystery of his disappearance only made Zack's hate grow towards him. He and his older brother Jason had to grow up with his grandparents, which wasn't so bad to him; however the past was a scar that couldn't seem to heal properly. The lack of real parental figures is what he blamed most of this on, but not all of it.
Ever since then, Zack's past joys were soon sapped from him and he had become so much more depressed and agitated with himself. He was angry most the time with the way he acted or the things he said out of depression, he punished himself by avoiding human contact for long periods of time, not that it helped in the long run of things. He use to be an honor student, he was blessed with a quick and witty mind, but even that had no help on his progressively worsening condition. Cowardice was a key mistake in his design, something he believed that couldn't be fixed. Zack was now living in a run-down apartment across from his community college. It was falling apart, cockroaches filled the pantries and on top of that, he was three weeks behind on his housing payments. With a wallet sucked dry and friends and family elsewhere, he had planned this day for a very long time, the last day of his life.
The gun he now held was a gift from his grandfather, given to him on his eighteenth birthday. He had only shot the thing a handful of times, just with old friends shooting at glass bottles. Zack had a maniacal thought that made him chuckle a little; the gun he got on the day of the year he was born was about to take his own life. After this quick notion, Zack shuttered at the thought, a quick regretful behavior soon set in. He stopped though, he was persistent and didn’t want to let this moment flee him like it had over and over again. Zack could never work up the courage to kill himself over the months, every time he had tried and failed to deliver his own death, he had regretted it and wanted it more. Zack then released the empty magazine onto the table, he slowly loaded the bullet and clumsily put the magazine back in. 
His hand began to moisten with sweat as he thought, "This is it." He saw his glum reflection in the slide of the gun and to him his appearance was pathetic. Zack pulled the slide back and chambered the bullet as a second wave of guilt set in–he tried to ignore it the best he could. He was ready to leave this world, he tried to cope himself into believing nothing could hold him back now. He had never gotten this far, he felt a little proud of himself for once, but it wasn’t over until it was over. He handled the firearm carefully to his head, feeling the cold barrel against his cranium. Then through a sudden mental notion, his emotions broke like a crack in a dam that finally gave way. He took the pistol away from his head quickly and put it out of view. He found himself gasping for air through the amount of shock he just put himself through.
He stood up, leaving the gun on the table to catch his breath. He went over to the kitchen water faucet and turned it on while opening the cabinet and reaching for a clean cup. He pressed the plastic, pale blue cup to his lips as he chugged the water down. After he had drained the cup, he felt a bit more relieved as the cool water made its way into his stomach. While letting the liquid settle inside himself, he lost himself in thought, over-thinking trivial things which numbed his brain. He soon snapped out of it and had almost forgotten about why he was still standing there; he had to finish what he had started, and he planned on doing so now that he was calm again.
He turned around and to his surprise, he was facing the gun again which lay on his flimsy, pine green table. Ironically, the weapon was facing barrel first towards him. Zack stepped forward and kept his eyes on the pistol, thinking that if he looked away, it would shoot him without his consent. He sat down calmly and reached for the gun–this time he didn’t hesitate when he pinned the gun against his head. He just held it there for about a minute, staring off into space, somewhat rethinking his life. 
He sat up straight and gripped the gun tighter, he slowly put his finger inside the trigger guard and gentle across the trigger itself. The lights flickered for a split second, but Zack didn’t even realize it it happened so fast. Zack took a deep breath, trying to make himself as relaxed as possible. He then took a much longer breath to make sure it was his last. The lights flickered again and gave off a light buzzing sound. Zack stopped in mid-breath to look up at the light due to curiosity. The light ebbed in brightness and as it began to make a buzzing sound, he moved the gun slightly away from his head. 
The light bulb then lit up so bright and the buzzing got so loud it shattered into showering glass. Zack panicked and fell out of the chair. He tried to cover his face with his hands, but when he did, the Glock flew out of his grip and into the corner of the room. The gun hit the tile floor and discharged, firing a hole from his kitchen wall into his living room. Zack flinched and rolled into the closest exit out of the kitchen, which happened to be the living room. He looked up to see where the bullet penetrated the wall when he felt safe from the chaos that ensued. He followed the bullet's path and discovered that the bullet went directly into his laptop screen, which was open in the corner of the room. 
“Dammit...” Zack fumed, even though he had no use for it anymore, he still got a little vexed about it without thinking of why he even got angry in the first place. He shook off the undesired emotion and soon noticed that the other lights in his house were buzzing and flickering in random assortment. One by one, each exploded and sent shards of glass in every direction, Zack leaped toward the couch in the middle of his room where no light bulbs were above and vaulted onto the ragged piece of furniture. The light bulbs had soon all bursted and he found himself in the middle of a surprisingly dark room.
He thought it was around six-thirty the last time he checked his phone, which is why the lack of light in his apartment was very strange to him. Zack’s eyes began to adjust to the darkness when he searched from his couch where his clock was. It was usually on top of his TV and after some hesitation, he then realized that it had gone out. 
“There must have been an electrical surge,” he whispered to himself, trying to think of what to do next. He shuffled his hands around in his pockets until he found his phone, it too was dead. “Weird.” 
Zack stood up promptly and tried to light his lighter to get a little bit of light, but no matter how many times he tried to light it, it wouldn't spark. He figured that the lighter was just out of fluid as he shook the lighter next to his ear to check if his assumption was true. He could however hear the lighter fluid shifting around, and now a great fear began to slowly rise up from within him. Zack flopped back down on his patched up, smoker’s couch and peered into his reflection in the small TV in front of him, trying to rationalize what was going on.
Zack soon realized he felt a strange energy cloak his body like a blanket. It felt like a static charge almost, his arm hairs rose upward and the hairs on the back of his neck rose from both the unknown energy and from fear of the situation. Just as he thought he wasn’t alone, the television began to give off a dark indigo glow of weak static. He could hear an incoherent murmur he thought was coming through the television, but after listening more closely to the noise, he realized the muffled voice was coming from all around him. Zack was now petrified in shock, he couldn’t move in fear of something awful happening. He just sat there, frozen in front of the television in the deep shadows of the room. 
He soon recognized that whenever the suppressed voice began to talk, the TV would pulse a tad brighter, and when it would stop talking, the TV would go back to normal. Zack tried to make a few words out, he carefully listened for syllables rather than words to try and help his mind path together the ghostly voice was saying. It almost sounded like a young woman’s voice, but she sounded doleful and frail, yet, familiar. 
He then picked up a couple of odd words such as, “Death is not... destiny is... We need... I need... Our world in danger... Your fate... a blessing... this... is... not... the... end... but the beginning.”
In an instant, a piercing white light beamed out of the television screen, blinding Zack. The light stretched across the room and out the apartment windows like spotlights—Zack could feel the intense heat of the sun bear down upon his exposed skin. Zack fastened his eyes as hard as he could, but then, in a strange turn of emotions, he felt a feeling he thought had left him, comfort. He slowly opened his eyes, hands still blocking the brilliance of the glimmering light. He slowly dropped his hands and starred deep into the source of the spectral light, almost as if trying to see the source directly. His eyes felt no pain, his skin had grown use to the heat and he felt his past wounds and scars, physical and mental, evaporate away.
Zack soon felt his body levitate off the couch and into the light through the television. His body soon gained speed as he entered a rounded tunnel of light while stars bent around him. The bright new world began to blur around him and he felt his body now rising skyward at a terrifying, but amazing speed. His body began to seemingly melt away. Slowly—from his toes upward—it was as if he was sinking into a hot tub and all his wounds were being healed. It was a feeling of relaxation no human treatment or high could give someone. As soon as he felt his body finally melt away into a formless spirit-like being, he entered into a new, bright and beautiful world. Without the limitations and frame of his previously constricting form, he felt free and untethered. The last thing thing he heard was the same voice from before; however this time, it was much clearer and human. 
She said quietly, “You are entwined with our destiny, and we love you.”
> 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(2)






Zack's eyes slowly opened up and he felt a little dizzy only temporarily. He found himself lying in a grassy plain, with the smell of nature all around him. A slight breeze cooled his face and the warm rays of sunlight bathed him. He could hear a stream of water near by and some song birds singing in the distance. His eyes were still a little blurry as he tried to pick himself up off the ground. He then realized his hands and arms looked completely different, he stopped trying to get up to examine his skin. 
It was a lighter shade, it seemed more basic and simple in its shape. All of his flaws from his previous skin were gone, the birth marks and moles had disappeared. He rubbed his hand across his skin, feeling is new, smoother body. His hands and fingers were much more basic, much like rounded squares at the end of each finger and his knuckles were more blockier too. 
He began to look over his new body, it was the same as his new arms and fingers, same texture, same simplicity. Zack felt grateful for his new appearance, he then wondered what his face looked like. He looked around the field and saw the stream of water he heard earlier which was a short distance from his location. He soon stumbled upward and walked east towards the water’s edge. He looked into his reflection as he approached the creek–his new face overwhelmed Zack. He quickly looked away in surprise, but steadily went back to looking at himself. His face more rounded and eyes, ears and nose more simplified, and of course, his skin was clear of past blemishes. His hair was more clumped up than he remembered and less strands, unless he pulled them out one by one, but still, he didn’t look half bad in his opinion.
The world around him seemed seemingly unreal, which is why he soon came to the conclusion that maybe this was a dream. He knew about lucid dreaming and thought he could wake himself up; and if it was in fact a lucid dream, he could could make anything happen. Zack steadied his body and attempted to fly or do anything dream-like, but alas, it failed.
“Could I have died?” he questioned himself as he ran his fingers through his new, almost perfect brown hair. “This can't be Heaven... can it? It doesn't resemble any biblical versions of heaven. No pearly gates, no gold streets... no seventy-two virgins.”
He stopped himself at such a remark, he obviously wasn’t in heaven. Then he came to the frightful thought of him actually hallucinating this, that maybe there was something in the weed he had smoked that made him experience that disturbing bright light, the light bulbs bursting, the voices, and this psychedelic and trippy world. He couldn't fathom what earthly drug or experience could produce such a hallucination like this with such a prolonged effect. Zack figured it could still easily be the case, so he decided to sit in the grass and wait for the drugs, or whatever was afflicting him to wear off.


__________


It seemed like hours passed by before Zack realized that he wasn’t on drugs, dead, or dreaming. Something much beyond his comprehension was taking place, he wondered if he would ever get out of this land alive. He digressed, this place isn’t half bad, and heck, if humans live here, or intelligent creatures then he could start anew. Zack wasn't too sure though how he would cope with starting a brand new life in a place he had never been, though figured he would go no where if he sat around all day.
He stopped himself from day dreaming so that he could think up a motive as to where to go next. He stood up promptly and peered around, looking at his landscape in front of him, trying to determine where civilization might be. To his west was a large forest, to his north were tall, rounded, snow-capped mountains, to his east was where the stream was and more plains and woodlands beyond that, and to his south was an overgrown mire, too thick to cross. He was in a vast, lush land; a high country of sorts where spiraling mountains dotted the far reaches of his vision and immense forest regions cloaked their roots and feet. Zack himself was atop a bare hill of sorts when he had trekked back up from the creek to where he was originally lying. From there, he could see no signs of civilization. No smoke, no skyscrapers, no vapor trails or roads. Zachary began to feel distant from Earth so much more so than before upon this conclusion.
Zack gazed upward towards the sun to try and guess the time. He looked up and noticed a lone, grey, curly cloud hanging in the sky. Zack was befuddled by this odd phenomenon. He looked elsewhere in the sky and noticed 3 others bundled together, he glanced back to the previous cloud and saw that twenty more had patched themselves together. Every time Zack turned around, more and more clouds filled the sky until the sun was finally blotted out. He soon heard the clash of thunder and felt a few small rain drops hit his shoulders and head. The wind picked up and the rain was starting to pour down faster and faster. Zack turned toward the west and sprinted toward the forest. He made it under the canopy of trees in time to avoid the torrential downpour.
As he took in his new surroundings, he looked about in awe. The tree's branches and leaves were so thick that they seemed to have stopped the rain. Only small patches between the trees would let in the rain, but the forest was crawling with life, even during the spontaneous storm. Zack seemed to be filled with new found stamina, he hardly tried to run, yet he seemed to be running his fastest; he never broke sweat or had to catch his breath afterwards, he never had this much energy before.
Zack began to walk through the forest while contemplating survival more than anything, but he caught his eyes wandering off looking through the vast and lush forest. These woods were filled with interesting and beautiful things. Large mushroom caps filled the gullies, vines spread down from the foliage above, moss laden boulders were sunk in the damp soil and the bushes were almost clean cut it seemed like the maintained parks back home. Rabbits, birds, squirrels, turtles and all sorts of little woodland creatures scampered around, hardly afraid of Zack’s presence. They probably felt he was one of them, which made him think of what the animals were terrified of if they showed no fear towards a human like Zack.
As Zack progressed through the forest, he picked up small and sharp rocks as well as twigs and vines to make tools out of, making sure he could protect himself or hunt for game if he couldn’t find civilization soon. Zack was once a knowledgeable boyscout in his youth, though he had forgotten much about survival over the years; yet he still knew plenty of tricks and his memory was being rekindled with old techniques as he thought deeper on survival in this new landscape. Along with this knowledge, he been on plenty of hunting trips with his cousins and kin, yet they never hunted with spears as he intended to attempt today. He found a nice long and sturdy branch that he broke off from a fallen tree which he then took and sharpened until he had a nice groove to place one of his stones in. He then tied one of his longest and sharpest rocks he had found earlier to the end of the shaft using the vines he collected to complete his spear. 


__________


As Zack walked deeper into the woods, less animals could be heard or seen. A heavy fog had fallen crept over forest floor and the woods had dimmed vacant of light. Night was approaching as the world grew blacker. Large, round and colorful bugs zipped by Zack’s head as he quickly ducked out of the way to avoid them. The lush plants and flowers had all been over grown and most paths were now thorns and thick brush as he continued to venture deeper. The rain off the treetop canopies grew louder and heavier, which meant the storm was getting worse. Zack hastened his movement so that he could reach the end of the forest and hopefully reach a settlement.
He soon lost track of where he was heading and was no longer sure if he was still heading west, this made him a little skeptical even about his own level of survival skills. He soon discovered the forest had become much thicker and wetter than before, he was in the most unsettled (by animals) parts of these twisted woods. The terrain became more treacherous, and he could no longer hear or see any animals, the only sounds he heard was the rain atop the canopies and the creaking of the old oak trees swaying. It gave a chill down his spine thinking of what beasts could be lurking in the outmost crevasses of this ancient forest. He soon started to run when he thought he saw the trees move and stare at him with evil faces and eyes. Zack darted in and out of hedges and shrubs as he dodged trees and hurdled over toppled logs in a wild sprint.
He finally began to run out of endurance and slowed up his pace. He soon stopped to grab hold of a tree to lean on and catch his breath. He was wide eyed, being extremely attentive to his surroundings; he had the wild idea he was being followed or stalked by something, but couldn’t tell if it was real or just paranoia. Zack pushed himself off the tree and raised his spear ahead of him, ready to attack anything that might try to ambush him for a quick meal. 
Zack’s ears perked up when he heard a distant cry off in the woods to the right of him. He turned and listened more closely. He could hear multiple steps and patters off in the distant. They were traveling fast after another pair of footsteps, maybe more, he couldn’t tell how many were being chased ahead of the pack. It seemed like a large group of people were chasing something smaller, like game animal. Zack lowered his spear, he thought that maybe they were humans and that they could bring him into a town so he wouldn’t have to sleep in the dark, wet forest. Zack began to run into the brush of the forest and follow the hunters with a newfound burst of energy. He felt he was getting closer, the could hear the footsteps pick up and the game animal’s cries, whatever it was. The animal almost sounded like a young girl, but Zack’s mind was on food and civilization to pay this attention to the cries any longer. 
He soon heard the footsteps stop up ahead of him. Zack rounded a corner of a large willow tree trunk and then quietly pressed himself up against the tree. He cautiously peeked around the tree where he thought he would see the hunters pinning the game animal against another tree. What he saw instead completely caught him off guard. Three very large, brown wolves with glowing yellow eyes were cornering a small pink deer it looked like. With closer inspection, Zack realized it was a small horse like creature, a bright eyed filly horrified of the predators. The wolves growled and stepped ever so slowly closer to the the small horse, their mouths drooling in hunger. Zack felt a tad distressed, he could care less about the pony, he was hungry, tired, and wanting to exit this forest. Though Zack looked back at the little creature, seeing it in total fear, in a fetal position almost. The oddly skinned wolves could easily kill the little thing. Zack felt an uneasy amount of courage settle in him, and he gained the feeling of wanting to help the little pink thing, even if he was meant to starve in the labyrinth of a forest. 
Just then the panicked little creature screeched, “Somepony, help me, please!” Zack’s eyes widened, he thought, “Were these the intelligent creatures of the land, capable of speech and culture?” He had to take a chance and save this interesting creature, she could lead him out of the forest. Zack prepared for action.
He took a deep breath and jumped in between the wolves and the little horse. The small creature seemed shocked at the appearance of the tall human, the wolves stepped back to examine the strange new creature, but soon started to close in on Zack. Even though Zack was larger than the wolves, the wolves would fight for their food, even if it meant killing and eating him too. Zack raised his spear and tried to keep an eye on all three at the same time, it was much more difficult to do than he had realized. After having a closer view of the wolves, he noticed that unbelievably, they appeared to be made out of wood and their teeth out of sharp, serrated and broken rocks. The right most wolf growled at Zack, he turned to look at the wolf, but the left most wolf leaped toward Zack. 
Zack saw the attacker out of the corner of his eye and quickly turned to stick his spear into the wolf’s chest. Zack flung the wolf to the side, in doing so, the other wolves took their chances and dashed toward Zack. Zack evaded the charging wolf and in one sweep turned his spear to the side to block the other wolf's hurdle towards him. The wolf was deflected, but had broken the spear in the process. Zack threw away the broken piece and used the other, shortened piece with the spear head attached to it. The wolf that was deflected leaped back at Zack. He side stepped away from the wolf and skewered the spearhead directly into it’s skull, killing the wooden wolf and leaving the spear in it’s head. Now only one remained.
Zack heard the wolf bark and jump on Zack’s back before he could turn around and look. The wolf had pinned Zack to the ground, he quickly heaved the wolf over so Zack was on top. The wolf tried and claw Zack while also trying to bite his face. He rolled off of the animal to avoid a fatal attack and the wolf recuperated quickly. It lunged at a immense speed, Zack had only time to throw his arms up to deflect his upper body. The wolf bent down and dug it’s teeth into Zack’s leg, he let out a quiver of pain and punched the wolf in the head. Zack then jumped on top of the wolf again and continued to beat the wolf’s head with his fists. He did so until the wolf stopped moving and its eyes dimmed of its yellowed glow. Zack rose up from the fight and scanned the creature. He was right, they were made out of wood.
Zack turned to see the pony in utter fear once again, now thinking that this new, much more violent creature was going to eat her. Zack cautiously limbed forward, the little pink animal was trembling and covering her face. 
“Please don’t eat me, I really don’t taste very well, honest!”
Zack bent down on one knee, “I’m not going to harm you. I heard your cries in the woods, followed you and saw that you were about to be attacked by those... things.” 
The pink pony uncovered her face. Her ovoid, brightly colored cyan eyes showed clearly in the dark of the forest. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed once again looking at Zack. Her deep pink mane and tail were straight flat and wet from the rain, she looked miserable and exhausted. 
She stammered, eyes closed and tears pouring, “I d-didn’t mean t-to ru-run away! They wanted me dead anyways! I ruined the farm, I ru-ruined the family busin-ness!” She took in a deep breath and continued, “No p-pony loves me anymore... I just wanted to have fun and make my family hap-happy for once!”
She began to weep once more, seeing that she was willing and ready to die, she thought she had nothing else to live for. Zack was trying to take all this in. “Family Business? Lives on a farm? Replacing “body” with “pony”? Where am I? A somewhat modern world controlled by ponies?” Zack then went back to the situation at hand, he tried to think of what to say to calm her down so he can get some answers out of her.
“Look, I’m here to help you, I’m not going to eat you, I’m your friend.”
She looked up into Zack’s eyes, still sobbing a bit as she asked slowly, “Wha... you... you want to be... my friend? I don’t have any friends of my own.”
Zack smiled and replied, “Of course I’ll be your friend, why wouldn’t I? You seem nice enough to me, and even accept me. There is probably no one else like me around, are there?”
“No... not that I know of...”
“Well, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Zack.”
The pony wiped her eyes and softly said, “Just Zack? Oh...Pinkamena Diane Pie...pleasures...all...”
Her eyes seemed to slowly close as she collapsed in front of Zack in fatigue. Puzzled by the events that had just occurred, he then he examined the area around where they were to see where he could make camp. He looked up in the tree they were under and saw a great place to sleep. It was a struggle climbing the tree with his injured leg and carrying Pinkamena, but he finally made it up the tree, it wasn’t a far climb to where he wanted to be anyways. He had spotted a cot looking dip in two of the branches where he could sleep in off the ground if more wolves came back. He gently laid Pinkamena in a smaller branch close by his cot, but had second thoughts. She might fall off in the middle of the night if she rolled around. So with instinctive care, Zack nestled the pink pony next to him, under his arm. He reclined up against the tree and fell asleep, cradling Pinkamena in his arms.
> 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(3)






Zack woke up with his head and legs dangling off the tree branch, only his torso and arms held him securely from a long fall. He was known to roll around during his sleep and this didn’t surprise him too much, but what did was the fact he was barely clinging on to the branch itself. He quickly rocked his body forward to adjust himself back to safety. Zack’s neck and back was killing him from the rough night sleep, and he had gotten dizzy from getting up too fast. He took a minute to steady his body while holding on to the trunk of the tree, making sure he wouldn't accidentally slip while dazed. Zack realized he was still in this vibrant and strange world, and that this was no concoction of drugs or dreams.
In a sudden burst of memory, Zack had remembered the little pink horse he held over night. He frantically searched the nearby area. She wasn’t on the tree, so he looked down to see if she had fallen, yet still he couldn’t find her. Zack briskly ascended the tree and stuck his head over the canopy of leaves in search for the pony. All he saw were miles of trees in every direction, tall mountains that towered even the clouds, and rolling cumuli in the farthest distances he could see. The sky above was royal blue—without a white ball of fluff in the air—and the sun was still in its morning position. Zack noticed a pond close by when he turned which gave him the idea that the pink filly would be there getting water. 
Zack stuck his head back down beneath the canopy to be met by two frightfully large, blue eyes. Zack jolted backwards a bit, startled by the suddenness of the situation without at first realizing who it was. 
“Hi!” Pinkamena exclaimed in a high pitched voice, stepping closer to Zack. She could walk perfectly on the thick branch from being as small as she was compared to Zack. He had noticed she was much more happier and that her mane and tail were now a frizzy, curly mess of locks, unlike last night when it was straight and flat. Her radiant blue eyes intently scanned the human, taking in the odd looking creature, but surly not afraid of him. 
“I brought you some yummy, yummy stuff I found in the forest, but it’s on the ground at the moment!” She seemed to be shouting everything in an upbeat and excitable fashion, making Zack flinch at every high note she hit.
“How exactly did you get back up here?” Zack asked.
“Oh, don’t worry about that, sleepy head. You should eat something soon, you look famished!”
Zack sat up to get himself comfortable, then hesitantly questioned her, “You’re not afraid of me?”
She grinned and riposted, “Nope, not after what you did and said last night! I really want to thank you, Mr. Zack, after all, you did save my life.” Zack took great pleasure in this, someone hadn’t made him feel this good about himself in a long time. 
Zack smiled and returned, “Well... you’re welcome, Pinkamena.”
“You don’t have to call me that, my sister’s call me Pinkie Pie!” She enthusiastically replied while beaming a smile his way. Zack returned with a slow and awkward grin while trying to maintain eye contact with her seemingly glowing eyes.
“Well,” Zack beamed, “Let’s see what we have to eat!” Zack swung down from the tree and landed directly on his left leg, the one which was bitten by the wolf the other night. He let out a small wail as a sharp pain was let loose through his lower body when he landed on the ground. He fell back on his bottom and held his injured leg.
Pinkie Pie bounded down the tree, branch by branch, gleefully singing, “Laa la laa la laa...”. She landed perfectly on her left hind leg and held herself in a attitude en pointe stance. She noticed Zack writhing in pain and approached him lightning quick.
“Did you fall? Are your hurt? OH, from last night, right? When that mean ol’ timberwolf went and bit your leg?”
“Pinkie,” Zack flustered, “get my supplies. I left them at the foot of the tree.” The pink filly then zipped over to where his provisions were, picked them up using her teeth and brought them to him.
She dropped his supplies over his body saying, “Well I don’t know what you’re going to do with a bunch of useless rocks and vines. Are you gonna eat them? Are they good? Do you usually eat rocks? You know I use to live on a rock fa–”
While the little pony was talking a mile a minute, Zack rolled up his pant’s leg and wrapped his wound in stray leaves and vines. He gave it a nice, tight knot and rolled his pant's leg back down when he finished.
“Pinkie... Pinkie,” Zack called out, failing to get the pony’s attention. She had zoned out completely and was just having a conversation by herself it seemed.
“Pinkie!” Zack shouted. 
“And then I said oatmeal, are you craz–... Oh... ha, sorry about that.”
“No problem, just trying to get back on the matter at hand here.”
“Hand?” Pinkie was befuddled by this new terminology. 
Zack let out a sigh and explained, “You know, hand... hands?” Zack waved his hand and fingers in front of Pinkie without realizing she had no hands, only hooves. “Well... I guess hooves then...” Zack recuperated, then restated, “Just trying to get back on the matter at hoof here.”
“Ohhhhhh... gotcha, Mister Hands,” she said in a satirizing tone while mimicking Zack’s previous hand waving with her front hooves. Pinkie’s expression changed to a concerned look, she had forgotten all about the food she had prepared for Zack.
“Me, oh my! I had forgotten about your food,” She gasped. The pink filly hastily galloped over and was rummaging in a bush next to the base of the tree. Zack had then noticed something odd about the pony’s body he hadn’t realized before. She had some sort of tattoo above both her hind legs, it appeared to be three stray balloons, the two outer balloons being blue and the center one being yellow. 
The pony rushed back so fast he could only see a pink whiz go by, which broke his attention from her rump. Pinkie dropped from her mouth some uprooted daisies onto Zack’s lap. At a loss for words, he then realized that ponies are herbivores. He made a mental note not ask for any meat around any other pony he met. Zack had to make a comment on the pony’s birthmark.
“Quick question before I divulge into this... interesting meal. But what is that mark on your...”
“Oh, you mean this, silly?” She finished while turning to point a hoof at her balloon markings. “This is my new incredible-amazing-fantabulous-superly duper-awesome cutie mark I got around three weeks ago!”
“A... cutie mark?” Zack was even more confused than he originally was.
“Well duh! Did I stutter? Haven’t you heard of a cutie mark before?”
“I... can’t say I have, Pinkie Pie. Enlighten me.”
Pinkie sat on her hind end and expounded upon 'cutie marks'. “According to my Granny Pie, a cutie mark is a symbol of one growing up! Everypony gets one at a certain age, it symbolizes what you're good at, or your personality, or super special talent. Or! For no reason at all!” 
Zack pointed in curiosity and asked, “So, what do your three balloons mean?”
Pinkie Pie leaped in front of Zack’s face and into his personal space and shrieked, “To party!”
Zack shifted his head backwards while Pinkie remained to have her hooves up, standing only on her hind legs. She wobbled a bit and soon fell flat on her flank. Zack couldn't help but laugh aloud.
Pinkie Pie shot upward in excitement and blurted, “There are more of you... There are more of you who like to party?”
“Well yeah, but...” Zack scratched the back of his head and looked away. “According to what you’ve told me, I’m the only one of my kind here in this place.”
Pinkie flopped back down on here flank in disappointment, she then emitted a long sigh and asked, “Well, where did you come from and how did you get here?”	
“I’m still trying to figure that out myself...” Zack wondered. He then divulged into a summery about where he came from. He told Pinkie about Earth, his home, the people, the culture and tried to describe how things looked differently and less brighter than here. Pinkie let out a yelp of shock when she discovered that ponies couldn’t talk, just like the rest of the animals.
“...And how I got here exactly, well...” Zack then remembered he was on a track to suicide before he was miraculously teleported here. Zack continued, “...well I seemed to have been teleported here. To be honest, I’m not sure what happened. I’m not sure if this is real or not...” Pinkie slumped a little; he didn't realize until then that he had hurt her feelings.
Zack then quickly fabricated, “...but from meeting you, I believe that this is real! I mean it!” Pinkie looked up with a cheerful grin and let out a small squeak of excitement. 
She then encouraged, “You should eat these flowers I found for you, they’re mighty tasty!” 
Zack tried to hide his cringe as he asked Pinkie, “No, no, you should eat this more than me, I can go on just fine.”
“Thanks, but I had a big breakfast already of flowers! Yum, Yum!” She rubbed her stomach and then insisted, “With that ouchy you have on your leg, you need all the energy you can get!”
As Zack took a flower in hand, Pinkie’s eyes widened and mouth gaped a little open in excitement. Zack knew if he didn’t taste the flower it would make her sad again and he would lose more daylight then he already had. He slowly proceeded to bring the flower closer to his mouth. Pinkie started to breath more heavily in excitement. Zack opened his mouth and almost had a flower petal in. Pinkie Pie was trembling with eagerness of his approval. As he finally bit down on the flower, Pinkie stopped moving and just stared in awe as Zack slowly crunched up the flower and swallowed. Zack gasped a little when the after taste hit him. 
“Are you gonna eat that,” Pinkie questioned.
“Eat wha–”
Pinkie reached and grabbed a petal out in between Zack’s two front teeth with her hoof and tossed the petal in her mouth. Zack, in disbelief, inquired, “How did you... how did you do that?”
“What?”
“You know, that! Grab that petal out between my teeth with your hoof?”
“Umm... I just... did!” She smiled and hopped upward. 
Zack thought, “I guess I’m just going to have to get along with these antic behaviors in this strange place..”
The pink filly stood tall on her hind legs and pointed in different directions shouting, “Now, which way do we go from here, Mr. Navigator, Timberwolf Beater-Upper Guy?” 
Zack stood up and retorted, “Well, let’s go west, when I was up in that tree looking for you, I spotted a pond near by, maybe we can go get some water if it’s clean.”
Pinkie jumped for joy and began prancing around, singing to the tune of “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain”.


“Oh, I’m off on an amazing adventure with my best friend! 
Oh, I’m off on an amazing adventure with my best friend!
Oh, I’m a super excited gal,
with my new tall, best buddy, pal!
OHHH, We’re going to be the best-est of kind of friends!
Yaaaa!”



Zack was delighted to be with this hilarious filly, whom was keeping him sane and momentarily forgetting how he had gotten here. He felt as if she was forcing him to forget his past problems and look ahead in life. Whatever the feeling was, he loved it and let out a hearty laugh when she slide on her knees at the end of the song. 
“That was pretty good, Pinkie Pie!”
“It wouldn’t have been the same if you hadn’t have shown up in my life!” She sprang alongside Zack as they walked through the warm, wet forest. Zack finally felt the inner warmth of friendship that he hadn’t felt in years. 


__________



They reached the pond in a short time and found that the water was almost crystal clear. Zack dunked his head in the water, which fully woke him up and washed away the dirt on his neck and face. The water was cold to his taste as he drank the pure liquid. Pinkie Pie splashed around in the water until Zack called out for her to continue their trek through the woods westward. They reached the bright end of the woods again, where the animals were socializing and the wild shrubs and trees were lessening. Zack had noticed Pinkie Pie was almost silent as they walked through the sunnier and less dense part of the woods, though occasionally she would hum a little tune while curiously looking at the wildlife and tall trees they passed. 
Zack enjoyed this little moment of peace and quiet until Pinkie drew in a deep breath and screamed in jubilee, “Look! The end of the woods! We’re finally out!” She sprinted towards the edge of the forest and to her dismay, she overlooked a sprawling field of grass and hills. The sapphire sky and rolling cumulus clouds were an amazing sight to see as the sun stood high in the eastern sky behind them. The sun beamed down rays which danced upon Zack's skin, warming him and delighting his senses. Zack walked up behind Pinkie Pie and took in a deep breath of mountain air and admired the sight.
“Just beautiful! I’ve never seen such a glorious sight in my life!”  Zack lifted his arms out and closed his eyes as a gust of wind blew towards his direction. Pinkie Pie stepped up toward Zack, her mane and tail flowing in the breeze. 
“But Zack,” Pinkie hesitated, “We’re nowhere near civilization. In fact, I’m not sure where to go. I thought mama once said Ponyville was near where we lived...” Zack had realized the tone in Pinkie Pie’s voice, he had grown accustom to her giddy and happy self, but for the first time she had shown a concerned emotion, which made him at first feel a little uneasy and worried.
Zack turned and queried sarcastically, “Uh, Ponyville, huh? Must be brimming with intellectuals with a name like that for a town.”
“Yea, it's a small little village where my parents would get supplies at. I’ve never been there, but I’ve always wanted to go!”
Zack turned back to gaze over the rolling hills and far off mountains. “I’m sure it can’t be far. There has to be civilization in this prolific landscape.”
“Pro-liffy...pro-loffy... pro...what?” Zack gave a small smile, knowing she couldn’t hide her conspicuous and vivacious personality from him forever.
“Lush landscape,” he added. 
“Ohhhh! Well you learn something new everyday! Come on then!” Pinkie bounced ahead in glee, knowing that everything was going to be alright, because Zack said so. Zack followed behind the adventurous prancing pony.


__________
	

The duo traveled far beyond their original location from where they woke up from. They plotted their course for between the far off mountains which they eventually got to. During their adventuring, they would discuss random things such as their favorite colors, favorite animals, and of course, partying. Simple little questions to keep the entertainment up and the awkwardness down. They made great time and speed, only stopping every so often to rest awhile.
Zack often found himself carrying Pinkie Pie. Such as when they had to cross a river and the water came all the way up to Zack’s chin while he held Pinkie; or when Zack had to climb a short cliff and Pinkie held onto the top of his head. Most of the time though he had to carry Pinkie because she got tired too often when bouncing up and down all the time. Zack didn’t mind holding her, in fact, he kind of liked it, it made him feel like a father of a very sweet young girl. Zack tried to hide his newly discovered parental instincts in front of Pinkie Pie, but found himself unable sometimes. Trying to wipe dirt off Pinkie’s face or warning her not to run off too far in a father-esque way. For whatever reason, Zack felt these feelings were a good and bad thing.
Sunset had approached after what had seemed like many more hours than he figured. Zack’s legs were tired and his pace was hindered. He felt more hungry than ever before and was starting to feel the pains of starvation which he tried to keep his mind off of while venturing. Pinkie Pie hopped around him with what seemed to be almost unlimited energy, he didn’t know where it came from, but she seemed to be acting more hyper as night was approaching. He thought she would be more worried because they hadn’t found civilization yet, but he came to the conclusion that she had forgotten about it and was loving every bit of this adventure with her new 'best-est friend'.
They reached the edge of another wooded area, which seemed to populated by different trees and greenery than the ones they woke up in. Smaller, yet more curved trees with thin branches blocked out the fading sunlight as they entered the woods. The sun was near setting and Pinkie Pie was still springing up and down around Zack while humming a little tune, “Laa, da daa, tra, laa, da daa–” 
She stopped abruptly, it took Zack a couple of seconds to stop walking and realize she had stopped bouncing around him. Zack turned back around and noticed Pinkie’s ears up and alert while her eyes scanned the foliage around her, ignoring Zack’s stare of confusion. Zack cleared his ears to try and listen for something, ignoring the tree top's swaying in the gentle wind and the birds chirping their afternoon calls to their mates. Zack then heard it, a cackle of a small bonfire and two small voices coming from the woods near by. As soon as Zack noticed this, Pinkie galloped full speed towards the noise. Zack ran up behind Pinkie and yanked her tail back to stop her. She took in a breath to say something, but Zack cupped his hand over her mouth and with his other hand he put a finger over his lips to tell her to be quiet. They both then crept toward the bush that blocked the view between whatever it was making the noises. 
Zack peeked through the bush and saw two other, taller ponies sitting closely next to each other with a small fire pit in front of them. One pony, which appeared to be a colt was a yellow coated pony with an orange, rustled, short mane. While the other appeared to be a mare with a light, cerulean coat with a pink and light crimson swirled mane. They appeared to be couple, holding each other hoof in hoof. 
The female spoke up in a frightened chirp, “Are you sure Everfree forest is safe, Carrot?”
“Of course, Cuppy, my love.”
Cuppy turned toward Carrot’s eyes and said, “If my parents found out something bad happened to us in this frightening place, we are so busted! We’ll never see each other again! Oh, I don’t think I can stand not seeing you for a second, honey buns! Let’s leave this place, please!”
Carrot laughed and replied, “There’s nothing to fear, Cuppy Puppy. Those things you hear about the Everfree forest are just old mare’s tales. Now how about we roast some marshmallows and ‘mellow-out’?” 
“Oh te-he-he-he! You’re always making me smile, sugar!” Both ponies began snuggling each other in front of the fire pit as Zack and Pinkie watched.
“Yuck,” Pinkie gagged.
“Shhhh,” Zack hissed while holding his hand over Pinkie’s mouth once more. He began pulling her away from the bush so Pinkie wouldn't do anything drastic. 
Pinkie silently quibbled while trying to grab for the bush, “But I wanna see!” 
Zack pulled her a good distance away and whispered to her, “Now’s our chance to find civilization and get a place to sleep! Now if they see me, in fact, if any pony sees me in Ponyville, it’ll most likely be trouble! So I want you to present yourself to them and see if one of them could get you a place to stay tonight.” Zack stopped and noticed Pinkie’s facial expression; her wide eyes affixed to Zack’s face with a simple little grin on her face. At that moment Zack was entranced by her cuteness and couldn't help but blushing.
“You are way too cute right now... Stop being so cute. It's distracting!” 
“I am?” she said in an uninformed, yet gleeful tone. Those words and the way she said them made Zack fall deeper into her spell of adorableness. Zack heard the two love birds talking again about marshmallows and was thrown back into reality.
“So, do you remember what to do?”
“Yes!” She hopped up and raised her head high.
As she trotted over to the bush, Zack added “Don’t make me get seen or mention me! Lie if you have too!” Zack had thought up much more to add to his instructions he gave Pinkie, but she was already making her way through the bush. Zack prepared for the worst as he wriggled back behind the shrubbery.
“Wait! Do you hear something?” Cuppy panicked while grabbing Carrot’s shoulder and pulling closely towards him. 
“Hear what, babe?”
“I heard something in the bushes... I’m scared!”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“Oh come on! You can't be serious!”
“You’re just trying to get me scared, that’s all! And I’m not falling for it!”
“There it is again!” Her eyes widened, scanning the bushes in front of her, Carrot finally looked up from his marshmallow roasting to see what was going on.
“I don’t see or hear anything. At first it was kind of cute, but now you’re just being annoying.”
“How dare you accuse me of trying to trick you! I know I heard something!”
“Please, Cuppy. At least try and make it convincing!”
As quick as lightning, Pinkie leaped from the bush, landed in front of the two, and promptly yelled, “Hiiii!”
The two jumped up from their seats and turned around towards the voice in utter terror. Carrot pushed Cuppy in front of him as a shield and tightly closed his eyes. Cuppy shrieked in horror, but soon both saw the real origin of the voice, a little pink filly with bright blue eyes stared at them with a wide smile of curiosity.
Carrot leaped between Cuppy and the filly. He panted from the shock of the moment and asked the filly in breathless stammers, “Wha– where did you come from? Who are you?”
“I’m Pinkie Pie and I was wondering... uh... “ Pinkie looked directly at the bush Zack was hiding behind and tilted her head in confusion as to what to say. Zack sat there as still as he could holding his breath, thinking that Pinkie had given away his location. The couple turned their heads toward the bush, and as soon as they did, Pinkie jumped in front of them and said, "I’ve been lost for so long and I’m so hungry and tired and lonely and helpless and pink!” Zack thought she was really putting on a convincing act while he witnessed his plan unfold. Pinkie gave a downtrodden guise while her eyes began tearing up in front of the dumbfounded two. 
Cuppy spoke up, “Wa-well darling, we could figure out something to do! Here let’s get you home.” Cuppy stopped, reevaluated his thoughts and said out loud, “Wait, my parent’s wouldn’t allow me to bring in a little filly, they would flip!” 
She turned towards her date and averted, “I know Carrot would be delighted to handle you for the night.”
“M-Me? Are you loco in the coco?”
“Pleaseeee, sugar!” Both Cuppy and Pinkie gave a mournful jester, but Cuppy’s was more hinted towards, ‘do it, or our relationship is over’.
Carrot sighed, thinking how his date night was ruined by this little pink problem and that he had to deal with watching after her for the night. 
“Fine,” he sneered in disgust. Pinkie jumped for joy, as well as Cuppy. Carrot grabbed a pail of water he had brought to extinguish the fire with and did so while mumbling indistinguishable words of anger. As they slowly walked off, Pinkie became hyperactive again while hopping around the two romantics as she did with Zack. Zack foresaw this was going to happen, and Pinkie—once again—forgot Zack was hiding behind the bush and not once did she stop and look back to see if he was following behind. Zack proceeded to do so, stealthily creeping behind tree after tree, far from the three ahead.


__________
	

Night had fallen and the three had made it out of the woods. They walked into the dark, quiet streets of the empty Ponyville. The shadowy town was already near vacant of denizens, only a few ponies were waddling the streets, trying to get home after having too much cider. Not much detail could be seen in the dead of night though, though Pinkie focused intently on Carrot and Cuppy. The couple split ways before Carrot lead Pinkie back to his house. They didn’t use the front door, instead, he opened the back window to his kitchen and let Pinkie Pie hop in while he went in behind her. Carrot closed the window and draped the blinds over it.
“Be quiet, Pinkie. I don’t want to wake the ‘rents up.”
“Okie, dokie, lokie!” she whispered very loudly. 
Carrot cringed a little at the sudden noise and quickly replied, “Shhhh! Quiet!” 
“You’re just like my friend Za–” Pinkie swiftly shoved her hooves over her mouth to silence herself, making a little ‘peep’ noise of surprise. 
She had forgotten again all about Zack, she turned to look back toward the window, but before she could walk over there, Carrot took her by the hoof and said, “Come on, off to bed!” Carrot lead her out of the kitchen while she looked back at the window and gave a long sigh. Carrot had made a bed for her in the basement and tucked Pinkie Pie in. He left a candle lit next to her make shift bed, because Pinkie had asked for it in advance. 
“No snooping around, or making noise, please,” Carrot begged. “Just get some rest, we’ll figure out things tomorrow, alright?”
“Okay...” Pinkie gave a fake yawn as Carrot headed back up stairs. “Goodnight Mr. Cake,” Pinkie whispered loudly and waved her hoof towards him. 
“Uh... night. Whatever."
He closed the trap door behind him to the basement and left the pink pony alone in the candlelight. Pinkie immediately jumped out of bed and took the candle by mouth once it was safe. She made her way up the stairs and quietly lifted the trap door, she then peeked through the crack to see if Carrot was out of sight. She soon lifted the trap door completely and closed it behind her gently with her hind leg. She cautiously slipped silently into the kitchen and laid the candle down on the dining room table. She opened the curtains to reveal Zack waiting patiently next to the window with a raised eyebrow. Pinkie stepped back in fright, but calmed herself when realizing who it was and opened the window. 
“Thank Celestia you are alright! I’m sorry I had forgotten about you back there.” 
“Oh, it’s fine.” Zack replied while climbing into the kitchen through the reasonably pony-sized window. He had noticed everything was smaller and the thought had completely evaded him about his height compared to the rest of the ponies and how that might affect their living quarters. 
“This way,” Pinkie whispered as she lead him out of the kitchen. Pinkie grabbed the candle as Zack began to follow her, but was soon impeded by the door frame as he hit his head while trying to follow her. He rubbed the area where a knot would soon form and this time ducked through the doorway. Pinkie then opened the narrow trapdoor into the basement as Zack followed behind. It was a tight squeeze, but Zack managed to fit. He had to arch his back to avoid hitting the small ceiling of the basement. Zack realized he wouldn’t be able to sprawl out much due to the tight fit, but managed to curl himself into a ball next to Pinkie Pie’s bed. 
Pinkie gave a serious yawn from fatigue, “I’m glad you’re here with me, Zack.” He looked over at her squinting eyes and wide, tired grin. 
Zack replied, “I’m glad you’re here with me too.” She gave a sigh of relief and nudged herself into Zack’s open chest. He smiled and drifted off. He hadn't fallen asleep so quickly and comfortably in his life, even though he was scrunched up on the floor of a cold and hard basement. 
> 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(4)






Zack awoke calmly in place. His body now facing the basement wall, away from Pinkie and towards some barrels labeled: flour, salt, and vanilla. He sat up and clasped the back of his neck with his hand, his neck had an awful kink in it from sleeping on the cold, hard basement floor. It was still pretty dark and damp in the storage room under Carrot’s house, only a small sliver of sunlight lit the corner of the room through a crack in the building. Zack found out he had begun to grow a little stubble around his neck and chin as he rubbed his mouth and yawned. He felt a bit colder than last night, from that thought he realized his shirt was missing. He turned to see that Pinkie Pie was peeping her head into the neck of the shirt curiously.
“Hey now,” Zack blurted, “that’s my shirt!” Pinkie popped her head out with a eager smile, but the shirt remained stuck in her pink mane above her. 
“It sure is dirty, and it smells just like you, with hint of sweat and poppies!” Zack leaned over and yanked the cloth off her head, making her mane jiggle back and forth. His shirt, like his pants, had holes ripped in them and dirt on them from yesterday’s adventuring, Zack sighed as he tossed on the wrinkled shirt.
“Say,” Pinkie inquired as she leaned toward Zack, “What’s a guy like you wearing shirts and pants any how? Why can’t you walk around without any clothes on like the rest of us ponies? Do you have an embarrassing cutie mark? What is your talent? Is it... embarrassing?”
She leaned back and continued, rubbing her chin with one hoof and looking away, “Well, if it was embarrassing, that would be the reason why you were hiding it obviously! Duh! Silly me!”
“I don’t have a ‘cutie mark’, Pinkie.”
“Whhaaaatt? How come? You don’t have any talents?” 
“No no,” Zack assured, “my species, you see, don’t have cutie marks. We're just, I guess, bare.”
Pinkie presumed he was lying and took a step back, eyeing him up and down. “Is that so? It just can’t be a pony thing, everyone has talents!”
“Indeed they do, just people like me don’t have cutie marks.”
She stepped forward again, staring into Zack’s eyes, “Well what is your talent then, being tall?”
Zack moved his head back and answered, “Well, being tall isn’t a talent, but I use to play the violin.” Zack stopped, realizing violins probably didn’t exist in this world.
“Oohh, my Grandpappy Custard Pie played his violin when he visited us during last Hearth’s Warming Eve!” Pinkie hopped a little in excitement.
“Well I’ll be... I wonder how that works out? Oh, well if ponies can grab things without fingers, I guess that’s logical, logical in a pony way,” Zack thought. His stomach rumbled, reminding him of his starvation. He asked the filly, “Um, I think I’m going to sneak up stairs and grab a bite to eat.” 
Zack sat himself up, but the pink pony put her two hooves on his chest and warned, “Wait! What if they–” She pointed with her eyes upward, obviously signaling Carrot and his parents. She continued, “–see you! Like you said, they would go bonkers!” 
Zack took hold the horse’s hooves and set them back on the ground gently while affirming, “Relax, I’ll be as quiet as quiet can be. Plus, it’ll only take a sec, so just stay here, and be... well, quiet. I’ll grab you something to eat too!” Pinkie let him pass and climb up the stairs to the trap door, hoping her friend would be quiet enough. 


__________


He gently lifted the door and peeked around. It was still early in the morning it seemed as the sunlight creeped across the wooden floors in the hallway. He could hear some birds chirping their morning sonnets in the distance as well as, what Zack presumed, construction of some sort. Some nailing, hammering, and sawing as well as the construction workers trying to speak over the noise. The sound was only faint, hardly disturbing unless focusing on something.
Zack crept out of the basement while straightening his back, which made the bones in his spine pop a couple of times. He stopped to listen if he had woken anyone up, but the house and the ponies in it were silent. He tiptoed to the kitchen, lowering his head to make it through the doorframe. The room he entered was a light shade of blue with matching floor tiles and cabinets, he thought it almost had a nineteen-fifties appearance to it, unlike the outside house's appearance. The room smelled of coffee beans, which made Zack begin to look for the source of the scent. There were some utensils such as a sink, coffee machine, and other little knick-nacks he found which didn't seem to suit the time of the world he was in. Zack was perplexed by the machinery they possessed, but the building structures in Ponyville mimicked the medieval era design. He noticed that the coffee was being prepared not be electricity, but by some sort of other, glowing light yellow energy source around the base of the pot. Zack was much more confused about where he was now than when he was teleported here.
Zack searched multiple bureaus, drawers and cabinets in search of food. After sometime, he opened a brightly colored oven in the farthest part of the kitchen, his eyes widened and jaw dropped as he found the mother load. Rows of cupcakes in a tin dish filled the entire oven base, each was topped with a white frosting with sprinkles; his mouth began to water as he slowly lifted the tray of delectables out of the cabinet. While heading out of the kitchen silently, he stopped and noticed the only thing on the breakfast table he seemed to have overlooked. A small book with a blue feather on the cover and a starry, black backdrop. He sat the cupcakes down on the table and picked up the paperback novel for closer inspection. He read the title, “Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Alicorn – by Richorse Buck, author of ‘Jonathan Livingsteed Seapony’.”
A sudden pair of hooves clopped above Zack on the second story of the house as he finished reading the title of the book. Zack froze in fear as he listened intently, he could hear the hoof steps making their way across the floor above him and on to the top of the stairs, beginning its descent down the flight of steps. Zack panicked as he frantically searched for a hiding spot in the kitchen as the hooves slowly stepped down the stairs. He couldn’t possibly make it back to the trap door without being seen, so that was out of the question. He couldn’t hide anywhere it seemed, either it was too tight of a fit or it would make too much noise, like opening the window and making a run for it; there was only one entrance to the room and it was the door the mysterious pony was about to enter.
The pony entered the kitchen in a shamble of fatigue. It looked like an older, taller version of Carrot, sporting a darker coat with a shorter, bed-head mane and a rounder stomach. He possessed a horn on the top of his head, which emitted a faint yellow glow, similar to the energy color around the base of the pot. He walked up to the coffee maker while mumbling some incoherent words under his breath. He took out a cup from the cabinets above and poured the hot, dark liquid into the cup and added a pinch of sugar, whatever amount that might be in pony terms. He stirred it with a spoon while ambling over to the breakfast table and sat down; as his horn stopped glowing, the coffee maker stopped brewing. Zack was now facing a pair of hind legs sitting in the chair in front of him as he cowered under the table, being as silent as possible. The pony let out a bemused, ‘Hm’ at the sight of the cupcakes in front of him being out of place. Zack held his breath in anticipation of being caught.
“Must’a been them dern friends of Carrot's, they done been goofing around again late at night. That boy ain’t right, I tell ya what." He took a swig of coffee and reached to where his book would have been.
“Now where did I put that book?” Zack nearly gasped aloud when had realized he was still holding on to the pony's novel. He quickly slide it underneath the table cloth to appear as if it had fallen off. The pony breathed, “Ah,” as he found the book on the floor eventually. He picked it up and sat back down. He opened the book and began reading, only to stop when the construction crew’s noise became present to Carrot’s father. He shut the book in annoyance and got up from his chair, taking the novel with him. 
“Them buck’n party planners,” Carrot’s father grumbled. A yellow, ebbing aura swathed over the cup of joe and book as he began to walk out of the kitchen. Zack waited until he heard the pony leave the kitchen, go back up the stairs and closed the bedroom door. When it was safe, he let out a long witheld gasp of air. He silently chuckled and thought how lucky he was, though his luck seemed to have ran out when Zack suddenly felt something push him from behind.
“Tag! You’re it!”
Zack jumped in fright and banged his head on the bottom of the table. Pinkie Pie had been under the table with him the whole time, he didn’t know how she got there, but it made him a little tense on how easily she could sneak up on him. 
“I told you to wait in the basement,” Zack spat in an irked tone.
“It was getting boring, so I went up stairs and followed you around. Then you went all crazy like and hid under the table, so I played along of course.” A small grin curled across her face while again invading Zack’s personal space. Zack backed out of from under the table and so did the little filly.
“Wow,” she exclaimed when she saw the desserts on the table top. “What are these little, neat what’cha-ma-call’ems?” 
Zack, puzzled at the sight, responded, “Haven’t you seen cupcakes before?”
“No sir-e! They look so soft and yummy!” Pinkie opened her mouth and rammed her face into the delectables, causing frosting to fly in every which direction. Zack lifted his arm to cover his face from the flying food particles. He dropped his guard when he thought she was done and saw that she had ate every single cupcake in the tin tray, she had even licked the frosting off the insides of the tray, making it shimmer in a thin layer of saliva.
“Holy....” was all Zack could reply with after witnessing the messy event that just took place. “Aww, I never got any cupcakes...” Zack sighed in displeasure. Pinkie Pie had a blank expression on her face as she looked down and stared at her front hooves which were holding her up against the table. 
She whimpered, “Zack... that.. was..." she then drastically turned toward Zack and her expression instantly changed from blank to an euphoric, beaming facial response. “The best thing I've ever ate!” She threw her hooves up and pressed the sides of her head. 
She continued, “I MEAN LIKE, IT WAS STUPENDOUS! INCREDIBLE! ASTOUNDING! AWE-INSPIRING! STUPEFYING! A LIFE ALTERING MOMENT EXPERIENCE!” She leaned over to Zack and placed one hoof around his shoulder and another in the air as she looked upward towards where her hoof was. Zack couldn’t help but crack a smile as she became calmer for no apparent reason. 
She cooly concluded in a shudder, “It was a moment in time, that will never exist again!” Pinkie let out a silent moan of ecstasy while putting her full weight on Zack’s shoulder.  
Zack grinned and said, “Oh sure it will exist again, just wait until you try muffins! My favorite!”


__________


Zack and Pinkie Pie crept back down into the basement, waiting till everyone left the house. While waiting noiselessly in the damp basement, Zack had come to realize he doesn’t have a real plan anymore. Was he going to continue running and hiding from these ponies? He had to make himself known to the world somehow, but not seem like a threat. He explained his situation to the pink pony.
“Well why don’t we visit Princess Celestia in Canterlot? I bet she won’t be afraid of you! And plus, I’ve never been to Canterlot! I’ve heard it’s an amazing place with super uptight ponies and has huge mountain side spires! And plus-plus, I heard there are fancy-shamancy-dinner partiesss!”
“Wait,” Zack interjected, “Princess Celestia? Canterlot? Why do you think she will have a change of heart for a creature she’s never seen? Why don’t we just talk to the King and Queen instead?”
“Uh," she said in a dry tone. "There is no King... or Queen.” A look a sudden realization formed on Pinkie’s face. “What happened to the King and Queen... Was there even any?"
Zack went back on the discussion, “Well, let’s go visit this, 'Princess Celestia' anyways. So where exactly is Canterlot, Pinkie?”
“I have no idea,” She said with a gleeful cheer.
“Ughh,” Zack moaned. “I don’t think I can take another adventure, wandering aimlessly through–”. Zack heard some chattering noise upstairs and became silent. There was a shuffling of hooves swiftly moving around the house, and in an instant the noise stopped. Zack and Pinkie both began listening intently.
“Hey mom,” the voice upstairs said, “I’m going out!” The voice had the resemblance of Carrot, and judging by what the voice had just said, they were sure of it.
“What was that, dear,” said another voice which seemed to stem from the second story of the house. They had figured that this new, feminine voice had come from Carrot’s mom.
“I said, I’m going out!”
“Can you speak u–”
“I said, I-am-going-out!”
“Where are you going?"
“Gezz, mom! I’m going out with friends!"
“With who?”
“Friends, mom! My freaking friends!”
“You watch your language, young colt!”
“I’m not a young colt anymore, and I didn’t even say anything bad!”
“You knew what word you were replacing!”
“Ahh, forget you! Stop trying to ruin Maredi Gra for everypony!” The front door was opened and immediately slammed shut, rattling the old house.
“Ha! Wow, what a nerd,” Pinkie Pie giggled. 
“You said it... I can't believe that he forgot about you being in the basement too. How irresponsible.” Zack turned toward Pinkie and questioned, “What did Carrot mean by ‘Maredi Gra’?” Zack probably knew the answer, but wanted to stay safe and ask anyhow. He thought back to other instances where certain names on Earth corresponded with the one’s here in this world, he thought how weird it was that Earth and this place are so affiliated with one another in the strangest ways. 
“Ooooo, I know, I know!” Pinkie hopped up, waving her hoof in the air as if she was answering a question during school.
“My sister, Inky says that Maredi Gra is when all the ponies get together and dress up all silly like and eat lots of yummy, super delicious food a few days before The Summer Sun Celebration!” Zack’s mind gave off a spark of creativity and a brilliant plan was processing in his mind to sneak out of town and go to Canterlot. 
Zack raised his finger between Pinkie and himself and said, “Pinkie, I just thought up a brilliant plan to get ourselves to Canterlot!” Her eyes twinkled as she moved a little closer towards Zack. 
“Since today is this Maredi Gra, let’s find some clothes to disguise me in so that the ponies will think I am a pony in a disguise already! Then we just ask one of them where Canterlot is, he or she will point the way and off we go! You think we could do that?”
Pinkie jumped back and saluted, “Ab-sol-ut-ely, Whacky-Zacky!” She paused and asked, “But wait, where are you going to get the clothes from?”
“Well, I was thi–”
“No!” She speed over to Zack and covered his mouth with her hoof, she came closer to Zack’s head and stated, “I can do this, I can think up a plan this time!”
She turned Zack’s head with both hooves towards her head, eyes locked in his, and beckoned, “I am about to be brilliant!”


__________



Pinkie poked her head out of the front door of the house and saw the enormous amount of ponies crowded in the streets in costumes galore. She was surprised at the amount of ponies that had showed up so quickly, in fact, she had never seen a crowd of ponies this big before in her life. Streamers of green and yellow hung across houses and street lamps, the smell of exotic and flavorful food filled the air and performers of all sorts filled the edges of the streets. Ponies on stilts, ponies that juggled, ponies with crazy masks and costumes and all sorts of others stood out from the bead wearing civilians who strolled the small town adorning them. Pinkie’s attention was fully captured by the bizarre and colorful holiday festives that she had forgotten what she was in the process of doing. A sudden cough from behind her shook her bewilderment away and back on to the unfolding plan. 
She turned her head around and blared, “Alright, let’s go!”
She hopped off the front porch of the house and down the steps onto the street. A white, fully blanketed pony with an awkward sashay shambled out of the house. Tt wore a white hood with torn out eye holes in it, resembling that of a poorly depicted ghost. Its jaw was rounded and back was arched in a strange fashion. The clumsy equine made its way down the stone stairs of the porch one step at a time, being very careful not to fall. It stepped next to Pinkie who was watching over the crowd, the pony raised a sock for a hoof upward and pulled the sheet up revealing a plastic cup with holes punched in it and a string tied around the pony's head underneath the cloak. 
“How do I look,” Zack asked underneath the cheesy disguise.
“Like a mentally deranged pony! But a pony nonetheless,” Pinkie squeaked.
He sighed, “Let’s just get this over with.”
The duo began making their way through the packed and diverse crowds. Zack took note of the different types of ponies he encountered which he knew weren’t disguised. He saw some gliding around above, helping with decorations, these winged ponies intrigued Zack greatly. Though he was at a loss of words when he saw a couple ponies lift a large banner with what appeared to be a glowing aura that formed around their horns and the banner itself much like the coffee pot he saw earlier. He stopped to witness the casual pony job taking place, he couldn’t believe that magic (or whatever it was) existed in this world. Pinkie realized Zack wasn’t walking anymore and had to go back and try to push Zack along. 
“Oh, come on! It’s nothing special, just magic! Remember we have to find out where Canterlot is!” Pinkie tried budging Zack, but made no progress until he zoned back in and heard Pinkie Pie. He began walking again, which made the little filly fall over face first into the ground. 
In the midst of the crowd, some strange music began playing that piqued Pinkie’s ears. She galloped over to where the interesting noise was while Zack had a taste of some free food at the snack tables. He grabbed a sandwich with his sock hoof and put it under the sheet. He slightly removed the cup that was acting like a fake jaw line of a horse and took a bite out of it. He realized it was nothing but bread, lettuce, and maybe a hint of undefinable sauce. 
He shrugged and thought, “This is probably the best it’s going to get.”
Pinkie maneuvered through the taller, adult ponies to see where the source of noise was coming from that drove her curiosity. She soon found the source of the tune to be a one pony band. The talented, polka playing stallion played the accordion, harmonica, cymbals, drum, tuba, trumpet and banjo all at the same time in cadence. The instruments he played were all strapped accordingly to his back and neck. It was incredible sight to see and the crowd of horses around him  applauded when he had finished. 
“Cool,” Pinkie yelled as she stomped her hooves in approval. “I want to learn how to play an instrument! Or maybe two, or three, or five!” Pinkie zipped back toward where she left Zack to tell him about her new interest to learn how to play and create music. When she arrived, Zack was no where to been seen, and most of the free food from the snack tables were gone. She began jumping as high as she could, trying to look over the herd of ponies; she eventually saw the hooded fake pony and sprinted over to him. She walked up next to him unannounced to overhear a conversation he and an older, green mare with a white mane and tail, and an apple pie for a cutie mark were having.
Pinkie overheard, “... The reason why I refuse to take existentialism as just another French fashion or historical curiosity is that I think it has something very important to offer us for the new century. I'm personally afraid we're losing the real virtues of living life passionately, the sense of taking responsibility for who you are, the ability to make something of yourself and feeling good about life. Existentialism is often discussed as if it's a philosophy of despair. But I think the truth is–”
“Hi Zack,” Pinkie piped in.
“Oh, right. Do you happen to know which way Canterlot is? We’re visiting from out of town and would love to see the place.”
“That’a way, sonny,” said the feeble, aged mare as she pointed toward a road leading out of Ponyville and into the mountains.
“Thank you, ma’m!” 
Pinkie pulled on Zack’s disguise to usher him down the road. The pink filly hollered, “I can’t wait to tell you what I saw!”
Zack turned his head and yelled back at the green pony while being pulled along by Pinkie, “Thanks for the chat! Just remember, we should never simply write ourselves off and see ourselves as the victim of various forces!”
“Indeed!” She waved her hoof back to say goodbye as the duo galloped down the dirt road, out of the Maredi Gra festival.


__________


It seemed Zack was right, the two friends were off on another adventure, only this time with a goal in range, the ivory castle was in sight. Canterlot seemed so majestic and calm from a distance. It hung on the mountain side looking as if it was on the verge of falling, but Zack assumed it never would, due to the magic of this universe. The road ahead took many detours, but there was a single path which eventually snaked up the base of the mountain and curved along the steep banks, spiraling upward. The road they traveled didn’t have too much traffic on it surprisingly, though whenever a pony or donkey came trotting down the path, Zack would throw his cloak on and get on all fours to try and hide his true form. 
The entire trip to Canterlot was filled with the pink pony’s constant chattering about all sorts of odd and random subjects. She told Zack how she wanted to learn how to play instruments, and he promised her that he would teach her to play the violin once he got his hands on one. She hugged Zack’s chest, getting little pink curly hairs over his stained shirt. Zack didn’t mind her mile-a-minute talking abilities too much, he was a patient man and her voice gave him a little comfort for some reason. Maybe because he had grown use to it during his times here in what Pinkie calls, ‘Equestria’, or maybe she was interested in talking to just him, Zack hadn’t had anyone interested to talk with him in a long time. 
His depression seemed to have faded, he hadn’t felt it bearing down on him since he woke up in this bright new landscape. He was glad he could express his true character towards his new friend, something he could never do in his previous life either because of his low self esteem or his lack of personal friends. Sure he didn’t tell Pinkie Pie everything about his life like she had been doing with him, Zack never let anyone into his mind or true opinions on certain things. He kept his ludicrous and unstable thinking patterns to himself, hoping not to harm or scare off anyone from spouting his true feelings over his life. This never meant he had to lie about them, but he merely avoided them. Zack tried to avoid lying as much as possible, ever since his father looked him in the eyes and told him he was going to come back home and never did, he had a real trust issue and a tendency to never try and lie about serious matters.
Zack was contemplating these things, rethinking his former life and zoning out, hardly listening to Pinkie Pie’s one sided discussion. She called Zack’s attention when she hopped in front of his way of direction.
“Hey Zack, can I ride on your back? Hey, I rhymed!” Zack stopped, looking down into those light blue orbs, they seemed beyond his reality of how pretty they were. 
He took a second to get a mental snap shot of this moment, then genuinely smiled and responded softly, “Of course, Pinkie Pie”.
She hopped on Zack’s shoulders, drastically pointed her hoof forward and cried out, “Onward, steed!”
Zack chuckled, grabbing the filly’s dangling hind legs and began jogging up the mountain side. Pinkie held her hooves up high, giggling and bouncing while perched on Zack’s shoulders; her hair blowing in the mountain breeze with Zack’s. With new found energy, he made quick haste up the mountain side road, even climbing the side of mountain, off the road, to skip the round about and make better time. Zack had a feeling this is what Heaven feels like, and if he was in Heaven, he didn’t want to meet any other person, he felt alive and carefree. No worries in the world, no end to this paradise, he had craved a life like this for a long time. No feelings of guilt, depression, sexual desires, anger, or hate passed his mind once while in Equestria. Something awoke in Zack’s heart, a beautiful, divine creation he couldn’t express; it felt new, it felt warm, it felt right. These feelings, these emotions, these ponies felt so real to Zack, much more real than his cold, depressing former life. He was glad he was here, confused still, but so happy. He closed his eyes, took in the mountain air, listened to the little pony's laughter, and felt the warm rays of the setting sun massage his skin. To begin from the beginning again, a feeling only a second life would know. Zack didn’t want to leave, he wanted to stay here forever. 
He reached the mountain top, and in front of them spread the the vast white city of Canterlot, with the spiral castle towers hanging off the mountain. 
“That’s where the princess lives,” Pinkie pointed toward the sunset bathed citadel. 
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Zack smiled at Pinkie as she smiled back in confirmation.
“Waiting on you, silly! Now let’s keep going!” Zack sped forward, approaching the market place which was near the entrance of the city. At this moment, Zack truly felt for the first time, peace.


__________



Zack and Pinkie trotted through the city gateway arches into the market place, where in fact Maredi Gra was also taking place. Zack had dressed back as the white, hooded pony before getting too close to the city. Large, armored colts armed with razor sharp spears stood on the walls and front gate of the city, Zack felt like he was being watched. The festivities were only getting wilder as the crowds grew larger and as night approached. The sun was hanging on the western horizon, giving a deep pink glow to the clouds above. He noticed a particular large cumulous cloud off in the distance beyond the cream towers of the castle. It had a wild array of loops and arches, he had never seen a cloud like that before in his life. Zack was thrown back into reality when a light green coated mare pushed into him.
“Hey! Watch it, peasant filth!” She flung her tail in Zack’s face and stomped off, this didn’t phase him at all, it just got his thought process back on seeing Princess Celestia. Zack did look into the crowd and noticed something very off. Just like in Ponyville, there seemed to be more mares than colts, at least a one to ten ratio by far. If this was the case in the entire pony civilization and history, then the male and female roles must be swapped in certain aspects. He thought this might be a draw back for him over time being in Equestria.
“Some ponies,” Pinkie stomped her hoof on the ground and yelled back at the prissy pony, “Hey you, watch out! That’s my friend you’re telling off!” The pony ignored Pinkie and went to frolic and mingle in the crowd, or at least the rich part of the crowd.
Pinkie turned toward Zack looking rather upset over the ordeal that just took place. Zack informed in an light tone, “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get going, follow me.”
The two rushed around the crowd and went into a shadowy, brick alley way. They followed the cobbled streets, with the glimmer of the sunlight washed castle in the distance. The sun was almost completely down, and the first stars of the night flickered above the wide awake city. A parade of lights and fantasy began in the main streets of Canterlot, ponies tossing beads at one another and firework displays lighting the city blocks a glow. The commotion from the party goers exceeded in loudness, but was muffled in the ever growing dark alley ways. 
The duo made a sharp corner and around a candle shop where they came face to face with dark russet coated stallion. He had a black mohawk and sharply trimmed tail, his orange eyes glowed menacingly in the twilight. Pinkie jumped back in shock behind Zack and Zack froze in place. The pony wielded a hooked dagger which he waved in front of them. He pinned the two between the corner of a wall and a run down shop. 
“I ain’t looking for trouble,” the stallion said with a dark, sly impulse. “But what are two dimwits like you doing away from the party?”
Zack stepped in front of Pinkie Pie shielding her, “Get out of our faces!”
“Or e-else,” the pink filly stammered in fear.
“Or else... what?” The pony took another step, bending the knife downward at Pinkie this time. That had set Zack off, seeing that this malevolent thug would harm a child instead of the pony look-a-like in front of her. Zack then stood up, towering over the stallion. He clinched his fists together, ready to defend the frightened pony he had grown fond of. The pony stepped back in fright and dropped the flimsy knife as Zack stepped forward directly in front of the thug. 
“Wha...What are you?”
“Leave.” As soon as those words left his mouth, the wicked stallion took off into the party scene, tripping over himself in terror of the sight of Zack.
Zack put his cloak back on and said to Pinkie, “Come on, let’s make a run for it before we try to get mugged again!” Zack and Pinkie took off down the alleyway, night had fallen and the moon rose over the distant, snow covered mountain tops.


__________


They reached the walls of the citadel, far from the gate to the castle and away from the guards. It was a shadowy spot in the alley way, merging with the high castle walls. Zack noticed that he could probably climb up the wall with a running start. 
“Why don’t we just enter the front of the gate,” questioned Pinkie.
“Well, for one, they probably wouldn’t let anyone in on Maredi Gra, and two, I’m a human.”
“Oh yea, woops, forgot. You make a convincing pony.”
“Pshh, oh save your flattery!” The two tittered at each other's sarcastic remarks. He focused back to the objective saying,“Alright, so I’m going to gently toss you over this wall, and I’ll be right behind you!”
“Gotcha!” Pinkie rubbed her hooves together, “This plan is thickening to the point of oatmeal...”
Zack retorted with a confused expression, “To the point of oatmeal?”
“Uh, Ya? Haven’t you eaten oatmeal before? It’s thick, of course!”
“Yea but–” he stopped and realized what she meant, he couldn’t believe he questioned if oatmeal was thick or not. “-oh never mind!” He grabbed the filly underneath the forearms and tossed her on top of the wall.
“Weeee Heeee,” she cheered while in the air. She gracefully landed on the top of the wall, and bounced off onto the other side. 
Zack rubbed his hands together and walked back a good distance. He took three, quick deep breathes and took off towards the wall as fast as he could. He ran up the side of the wall and reached as far as he could with his right arm extended. He grabbed the edge of the wall and swung his other arm up to get a firmer grip. He pulled himself up, swung his legs over the wall, and dropped to the ground on the other side in one, swift motion. Zack looked up and saw that he was in large, exotic, garden of some sort next to Pinkie Pie. 
Pinkie asked, “Well where do we go from here?”
Zack looked around, “I’m not sure, I guess to find a way into the castle.”
The two snuck silently between to the shrubbery. Pinkie noticed unicorn guards patrolling the outer rim of the garden, which she informed Zack of with a silent gesture. The only noise on the palace grounds was the fountains which were in the center of the garden. The white, marble fountain had an elegant design of the sun and crescent moon eclipsing each other in the center with water spouting out of the pools below the design. It took another look from Zack to realize the the eclipsed objects were hovering over the pool, though he couldn’t stop and witness the subtle magic now, he couldn't afford getting caught by the guards. The two darted in between hedges of flowers and bushes when they would notice guards coming. The unicorn guards had some sort of purple spotlight illuminating out of their horns and onto the ground in front of them. Once the guard would pass, the two would jump back up on their feet and hooves and make their way deeper into the royal garden.
As they crept along between the dingy hedges, passing by what appeared to be a patch of orchids, Pinkie whispered, “This place is crawling with guards!”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Zack assured. Out of the corner of Zack’s eye, he noticed a flower from the patch of flowers he just passed bloom instantly, which gave off a spectral white glow. 
“What the–” Zack and Pinkie spun around to see at least five of the same flowers do the exact same thing. The guards noticed the array of lights coming from the flowers and soon after saw the human and filly lit up in its glow.
“Hey, stop,” yelled a pegasus guard who was unknowingly high above the estate. The duo looked up to spot the flying pony charging them at an incredible speed, spear in front of him. Zack grabbed Pinkie Pie and dove out of the way of the oncoming pegasus. They hit the ground and slide, but Zack pushed himself up with one hand while holding Pinkie in the other like a football. He sprinted back towards the wall, trying to escape the palace grounds. A sudden glowing, magenta sphere formed in between them and the wall, and a flash of light blinded Zack. One of the royal guard unicorns teleported in front of them, blocking his escape. Zack came to a halt as he panicked and didn’t know which way to turn. One of the pegasus guards came up behind Zack and with the blunt end of his spear, struck the back of Zack’s head, knocking him unconscious.
As Zack fell to his knees, then stomach, Pinkie jumped out of his arm and made a break for it. She frantically galloped as fast as she could, but her little legs couldn’t move as fast as the unicorn’s. The guard magically conjured a sack and tied it over Pinkie’s head while she was still galloping. She hit the wall and became disoriented due to being blind from the sack tied to her head. The pegasus hovered over and grabbed the pink horse, flying her unsteady body low to the ground. Pinkie went berserk in a fit of rage and flayed her legs and arms like a maniac trying to break free.
“I'm going to get whoever put this bag over my head! Let me go, you big meanie!” Another pegasus guard nearby had to help detain the pony as they tied her hooves together and dragged her along the ground. She flailed like a fish out of water, scrambling to try and get out her bondage. 
She screamed, “Zack! Help!” Zack only heard the faint echo of Pinkie Pie’s shrieks of terror in his ears. 
His vision blurred dark, and the last thing he heard was, “The Princess will want to see this... whatever it is.”
> 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(5)








Darkness commenced to slowly fade from Zack's eyes as his vision was blurred still and his memory disoriented. He could hear some muffled hoof steps stepping on a hard surface behind him, the constant clopping echoed in his obstructed ears. He felt as if he was being dragged, his legs being pulled by some unknown force grasping his ankles. His strength was weak, his thoughts obscured, and yet his body was relaxed in a strange way. He could make out some vague objects with his slowly recovering, unfocused eyes as he was towed passed the fogged shapes. He seemed he was in a torch lit, stone hall, the air was getting colder as he was being pulled deeper into the passageways; he kept passing these odd looking doors to his left and right, the corridors were tight around him in this hallway, which made him feel a bit claustrophobic. 
Just as soon as he was getting comfortable in his sedated and confused state, his body turned drastically and was thrown into one of the doorways like he had passed before. He fell flat on his stomach and had banged his head against the frigid, solid stone floor. Needless to say, his comfort and sedation dissipated away. He then heard the door creak behind him and slam shut. The door was promptly locked behind his weak body, hearing only the locking mechanism and the jingle of some keys; he continued to lay on the floor, too weak to get up or even look around. 
A heavy voice from behind him echoed, “We’ll deal with you later.” 
Hoofsteps were heard once more walking away from cell he was thrown in. The steps grew quieter and quieter until there was nothing but silence. A slam of another door was heard in the far distance in the long entryway, and total silence assured him he was alone and far from comfort. Zack blacked out again, with no clue or idea what was happening or what was going to happen to him.


__________


Zack awoke in a strange pasture with the sun shining down and the feeling of grass between his fingers. He sat up straight with a quick push off the earth and rolled himself onto backside all while wondering what had happened to him. He took in his new surroundings slowly. Zack appeared to have woken up in the same field he was teleported to when he arrived in Equestria. With that realization, the cold sweat of fright became prevalent on his forehead.
Zack panicked and thought, “This can’t be happening, what’s going on anymore?” His thoughts raced on reasons of what was happening to him, his blurred eyes shot to the heavens and noticed an ethereal sight conducting above him. Thousands of stars were sailing like comets in the sky, along with the sun. Flashes of light and darkness blanketed the field Zack was in whenever the sun would enter and leave the horizon in its rapid orbit. Zack felt something underneath where he was sitting and looked down, the grass around him was dying and leaving nothing but the cracked and red earth behind. The trees in the distance were dying and burning to smolder, the rivers and creeks dried up and the sky steadily became cloaked with a blood red, misty tint. Everything around Zack was dying, except for him; he stood up, eyes no longer blurred and witnessed the death of Equestria. The air around him thickened, the stars above him begun to gradually slow down and the bright colorful world he had grown passionate about was turning into a wasteland of dust and ash.
The stars stopped and in a blink of an eye, Zack was present below a tall, slopping hill with the maroon sun immobilized atop the hill. Ash particles fell around him, burning bits of his skin from what he could see, but did not feel. Zack’s ears could pick up the sound of the faint cries of people; their cries of terror and death, almost as if a slaughter was taking place nearby. Zack's head rose and his eyes met with four undefinable looking ponies, each with blazing manes and eyes, looking downward back at Zack. He couldn’t tell their faces, but could see the colors of their coats, their eyes, and their flaming manes.
One was a white coated pony, with purple piercing eyes and a long, golden fiery mane and tail which was longer than the other pony’s manes and tails. Another was a red coated pony it seemed, it possessed blue flaring eyes and a deep red, burning mane and tail which matched the blood soaked skies above. Another, much larger than the rest, was a jet black coated pony, its eyes burned with a white light and its mane was ignited with a silver fire, its mane and tail was shorter than the rest, but appeared sharper and intensely more scorching. Lastly there was white, almost pale looking pony without a mane and tail, but its deep crimson eyes were like beams of light, the brightest and most terrifying of them all.
Each stared directly at him, taking a second to judge him it appeared to Zack. Then each spoke with a thunderous and earth shattering voices that harmonized into one grand and terrifyingly powerful.
“Son of Eternity, Zachary, wielder of The Prevailer, the Ivory Chambers shutter your name. The Foreseer cannot see your destiny, for it is tied to an unknown realm between space and time. The divine ones cannot judge you, for you are your own judge. It is your choice to watch if this world becomes consumed in fire and ash and dust. It is your choice to save this world from the evils it births. However, know this, false savior. He who wields destiny itself cannot even control it, for destiny is its own, the last secret of the universe. Even the gods cannot predict the end, for they fear it as well. Even gods must die, Zachary, Son of Eternity.”
As soon as those words left their mouthes, a great wave of heat and air swept over the ponies, the hill and Zack. The ponies skin melted instantaneously when the heat wave struck them from behind, and their skeletons blew away like dust in the wind. The hill was flattened and Zack stood unfazed by the event, perfectly still, though not by his own will. Once the hill was flattened back into the ground, he saw Canterlot in the distance; the towers along the mountain side shown brightly, but over head loomed a terrifying object. A fiery comet plummeted toward the castle and struck the the mountain itself. Silence ensued as the ball of fire submersed itself into the city; upon impact, a bright red light engulfed Zack’s eyesight, blinding him with a fierce intensity. Then as it faded, a great wall of fire and earth cascaded toward Zack. He was paralyzed by an unknown force and he felt his body disintegrate as the wall of death fell upon him. 
Zack screamed in horror as his eyes came to to a new sight. He frantically looked around, he was still in the dark jail cell, but his entire body was naked and wet. He turned to see a unicorn magically holding an empty bucket in the air beside him. Another unicorn guard came up towards the other soldier with some long, ragged brown cloth. 
“The Princess is ready to see you.” Zack was tossed the long robe and he tied it around his naked, wet self. Zack’s memories flooded back to him, the last thing he could remember was running through the royal garden and a unicorn guard teleporting in front of him. 
Zack felt the knot on the back of his head and shuddered as he spoke, “How l-long has it been... Wha-what time is it?”
“Night fall, you had been out for a few hours,” one guard promptly said.
Zack then realized he had forgotten all about Pinkie Pie, he clamored, “Where is she? Where is the filly, my friend?”
The unicorn guard approached Zack, urging him to get up. “She’s fine! Now move!”
Zack stumbled as he took to his feet. He wobbled and slowly followed the unicorn out of the bleak holding pin. When Zack entered the hallway he found himself encompassed by six pegasus guards with spears aimed straight at Zack’s head. A unicorn guard bound Zack’s wrists with a chain. He looked at each of the pegasi and stepped onward down the hall, following the unicorn guard ahead. The spear handling ponies hovered around Zack, keeping their spears steadily on him while rotating around him as he walked through the stone corridors. 
Zack hoped that the Princess was a merciful ruler and would understand Zack, and perhaps even let him live. On the other hand, Zack had the other idea that if this was the way the rest of the ponies felt about Zack, either being scared of defensive in his presence, then Celestia would no doubt have him banished from the land, or worse, executed. Zack’s mind was conflicting within itself with multiple thoughts and worries; he worried about Pinkie, his own life, the Princess, and that hyperrealistic nightmare he had just had. Still, his confusion was overbearing him more than the rest of his troubles, and the desire to know why he was here was only one of two of his major complications, that and the safety of his new friend.


__________


The guards took the soaked prisoner up a flight of winding stairs while the unicorn guard ahead of Zack was levitating a torch in front of him to light the way. He set the torch in a metal holder situated on the wall and opened a large wooden door revealing a more delicate, brighter lit hallway. Zack assumed he was now inside the main level of the castle and out of the dungeons. 
They made their way out of the staircase and into another hallway with high ceilings. The room was a much larger hallway with carpet and tile floorings. Chandeliers hung above the hallway and stain glass windows in the high corners of the walls beamed in moon light which graced the floor. Victorian era paintings of other ponies and marble statues of busts adorned the edges of the floor space and walls along with small wooden tables and mirrors set above them. Zack had noticed many open doorways in the hall, at least a dozen leading off to different rooms and parts of the castle, it gave a sense of how massive the citadel really was.
As the guards and prisoner made their way down the network of halls and chambers, Zack looked up to spot a small filly in the distance of another hall they were entering in the corner of his eye, peeking out of a doorway. He immediately thought it was Pinkie, but when he gave closer inspection to it, the filly quickly jolted back in the doorway and slammed the door shut. All Zack could tell was that it wasn’t Pinkie, because the filly he saw was purple.
They finally made it to what appeared to be the main chamber. An even larger ceiling hung above their heads as they entered the large, marbled floored room. Zack saw that in front of them, the ceiling spiraled upward near the edge of the expansive room, he thought that they must be under one of the main towers. Two thrones were situated in the corner of the room with a red rug leading the way to them; each bore an emblem on each seat, one bearing a sun and the other a moon. The room was decorated in gold and silver furnishings, large, and arching windows overlooked the lush, night veiled land of Equestria. You could see for hundreds of miles through the viewing points of the glass windows. Zack had never noticed before, but the expanse of stars were incredible, he had never seen so many stars in his life. As Zack was zoning out once more, the guards stopped his pace and they waited there, patiently for the Princess to arrive. 
An eerie silence fell over the room. Each guard was looking around, almost as if inspecting the place to see where the Princess might be hiding. Zack then heard a noise coming from another hallway attached to the throne room they were in. A growing sound of a pony’s clopping came down the marble halls. Zack expected to see the Princess walking in with a royal stride in her step, but instead he saw the purple filly he had seen earlier enter the chamber with her eyes closed, head held high and a wide grin across her face. Zack noticed that she was a unicorn with a symbolic looking star cutie mark on her flank. Her short cut, dark blue and single violet streaked mane and tail fluttered about as she skipped into the chamber. She opened her eyes to see Zack looking back at her and her expression changed from glee to horror as she let out a squeak in panic. She scrambled backwards back through the doorway she entered and trembled at the sight of Zack while her eyes peered at him at a safe distance around the corner of the door.
A sudden flapping of wings was heard coming from the castle ceiling where the tower was located; upon this noise, the guards knelt down on one knee in anticipation. Zack saw the large, white mare hover down from the open ceiling and onto the floor of the chamber, his eyes were overcome by the powerful and majestic pony. Her mane and tail flowed like a gentle river as it bore an array of colors as beauty as the rainbow. Only one single, light magenta toned eye gazed at Zack. The pony appeared different than the rest, besides being much taller and mane and tail ever flowing. She possessed a large, pointed unicorn horn and large, eagle like wings. 
“Whatever mixed breed of pony this is, it must be a powerful creature,” Zack pondered. His eyes darted downward, avoiding her observing eye. 
The Princess motioned a certain look with the leading unicorn guard, he nodded and response and told the others, “Unbind the creature.” The guards untied Zack and trotted backwards, out of the room with their heads still bowed to the Princess. The regal pony looked slowly over at where the purple unicorn filly was hiding, peering at the strange, two footed being. 
She nodded a motion to her as well, but the purple pony gasped, “But.. but...” The Princess rose her head and gave a stern look at the filly. A look of grief swept across the young mare’s face as she turned and left the chamber, closing the door behind her. She turned back toward Zack and smiled, Zack was at a loss of emotion, he didn’t know whether to smile back or not to. Her horn glowed and so did Zack’s rags and soon they morphed into fitting clothes; however Zack was still focusing on Celestia, pondering on many questions to ask her.
She responded softly to his confusion, “Welcome. I’ve been expecting you–whoever you might be.”
Zack’s eyes widened, he had heard that voice before in some way he couldn’t remember at that moment. He searched his memory and discovered that her voice was what he heard through the television set before he was teleported here in Equestria. He wondered if she the one that brought Zack here. He stayed cool and collected though, hiding his emotion of shock and anxiousness before her.
She proceeded, “May I have your name?”	
“Zack...,” he disposed, “You must be Princess Celestia?”
“I am,” she responded.
“Why have you brought me here?”
“I’m not sure what you mean by that?” Her expression changed to a quizzical appearance.
“You know what I mean, you brought me here. You’re the one I heard before you zapped me here to this place.”
“You did? I was the one you say who brought you here? Where are you from?"
“I’m from Earth.” Zack stopped and sighed, he emphasized, “I heard your voice talk to me in my apartment before I was sucked into some sort of wormhole. I then woke up in Equestria. I came here to get some answers on how exactly I got here... and I thought you might have those answers.”
“Well,” she postulated, “I’m sorry to say... and I know this is hard to believe... but I never teleported you here. Whatever you heard, wasn’t me. I’m not sure why you’re here, but you’re here for a reason.”
“And what might that reason be?”
“Let me first reiterate the tale of my existence in this land, so you have a better understanding of what I'm about to tell you; most ponies know this fable by heart, but being that you are not a pony, I will explain this. I do not know the secrets of this universe, or of my existence itself, but once me and my sister established ourselves on this planet, we were given one divine rule, to raise the sun and the moon, to keep the flow of time constant and the laws of the universe in harmony. My earliest memories are vague, but I remember seeing the birth of the universe alongside my sister, and from there, nothingness, my memories of everything else in between then and when we arrived on this planet has been darkened by an unknown force I do not comprehend.”
Zack asked, “Where is your sister?”
She answered after a long breath, “My dear sister, Luna, was corrupted by... something, that wanted her to take full control of the moon and turn it forever night. As the tale goes, the ponies cherished and played in the day time, but shunned and slept in the beautiful night, which made Luna bitter over the fact that no pony enjoyed the night as much as the day. One day, she refused to lower the moon for the sun to rise. I could not defeat her alone, we were both equally as powerful as the other. Through the magical artifacts known through ponydom as the Elements of Harmony, I banished her inside the moon by forcing the sun to overlap the moon, creating a portal inside the moon where I flung my sister into.
I wish I could have saved her another way, but this is the tale the ponies are told. What they do not know is that Luna was corrupted by... something. Evil, destructive, malicious, torture some, it fed off her soul like a parasite. No magic I possessed could help her, not even the Elements of Harmony at the time, for I know not how to use them properly.
Though let me now explain why you are here. This world is full of mysteries, great secrets of the ancient times. I felt your presence enter this world, I knew something... different was walking among the ponies, something not of evil, but not of peace as well. I waited for you, for I knew an intelligent being such as yourself would find me.”
She began to walk around Zack, analyzing him. “Your body, it has some sort of invisible force around it, much like me and my sister; except your’s is different, other worldly. Our unicorn magic cannot affect you, very strange.”
Zack censured, “So you’re just as confused with me being here as I am? Well this is just perfect, isn’t it?”
Zack ran his fingers through his hair as he took a couple steps forward, peering up at the stain glass window, noticing that his hair was dry now.
“What do I do now,” he asked himself, faithless and hopeless in his tone
Celestia walked up behind him and looked up at the glass as well. “I’m just as confused as you are... I have been for a some millennia now. What is my purpose, why am I here?” She bent her head down and with a sigh wondered aloud, “Why must I be immortal?”
Zack turned to her and replied, “Immortality, I’ve always looked at it as a curse really.” Zack turned to look up at the stain glass again. “People back where I live, what we call humans, use to talk about wanting to be immortal. To us, it’s a myth, only in fairy tales and folklore is immortality looked upon as a blessing. I may just be looking at it from a pessimistic point of view, but seeing not only loved ones die around you, but the world you live around die as well, that is something no grief or sorrow can express. I feel so sorry for you, at least you have someone to comfort you.” The two looked at each other and met eyes–both were about the same height Zack had realized. 
“I wish my sister was here now... but she will return, it is prophesied. In a few short years, I will release her from the moon during the Summer Sun Celebration, when the galaxies are aligned only once every age. She will still be corrupted, but hopefully, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony will rise and sap her of her power, restoring her former self.”
“Who can possess these elements if you cannot?”
“One’s chosen by the Foreseer, wielder of destiny.”
Chills ran down Zack’s spine, his dream had told him about this, ‘Foreseer’ deity, he held back his emotions and asked, “Who is the Foreseer?”
She turned around facing another stain glass window, this glass panel had different artwork on it than the rest. Near the bottom was an orb with six gems in it, above that was a white sword with some sort of rune writing engraved in the face of the blade. Above this was the two sisters and finally above them was a vortex of light and clouds, where alicorns were flying around and into it.
“The Foreseer is a nameless, faceless, divine judge who resides in what the ancient texts of the old world calls, 'The Ivory Chambers'. What is believed in these ancient texts is that this god judges all creatures who pass from this world to his through death. There, the Foreseer judges whether the good deeds of the life in which they lived out weigh the bad. If they have been deemed unworthy, they are banished into the Void, a realm of shadow and loneliness where they will hover forever, lost and alone. But if the are deemed worthy, they will enter The Everlasting Lands, a realm that is only described as, ‘A never ending field of hay, blue summer skies which stretch into infinity and boundless happiness and merriment with your friends and loved ones.’ Only a handful of ponies keep and know these secrets, me being one of them. We do not wish for this world to know about the previous one, but instead be happy, live life, and love.”
These things said in his dream began to make sense to Zack, he asked, “What is of this old world?”
“I do not know. I came with my sister when world was reborn, new life had begun in the form of ponies. The old world is lost to me, I have found only ruins and scrolls telling me of what I told you, vague answers to deep questions.”
“I can understand you and your sister wanting to know these things, and am glad no other pony or creature besides me knows of this ancient world or the Foreseer. Panic would surly ensue if something like this got out... but why tell me these things?”
She turned toward Zack and gave a smile, “Because you are different, you are special, you are not from here, and for that I thank the Foreseer or whomever sent you here. I know you are destined for great things. I’m not sure what you will do, but you will change Equestria, something tells me you will. You are no mistake, Zack.”
Zack had a sudden thought. A rekindling memory he had forgot to ask Celestia in the beginning of their meeting, he turned to her and asked, “I had completely forgotten, but as you know, I never came here alone. A small, pink filly was with me and we were separated by your guards. Is she okay? Where is she?”
She looked away and closed her eyes, she focused intently as her horn glowed yellow again. A beam of light traveled out of her horn and onto the floor away from them. The beam created a ball of light and in a flash of brilliance, a pegasus guard was teleported in front of them. He looked around confused as to what had happened; he turned to see Zack and the Princess and immediately bowed and wiped the bewildered emotion off his face for a stern one. 
“Yes, my Princess!”
Celestia assaulted, “How dare you lock up a filly in my dungeon! A place for thieves, murderers and traitors! I expected more from the captain of the royal guard!”
“Bu-but, my Sovereign! She was attacking the guards, we had to detain her somehow!” 
Celestia exploded, “She was a filly! A young mare! She was scared! I don’t believe what I’m hearing.”
“I’ll release her immediately, Ma’m!”
“You will! And you will lock yourself in that jail cell in her place! Shame on you! It appears we’ll be needing a new Captain of the Royal Guard. Perhaps the young Shining Armor will use better judgment than you.”
The now displaced Captain stammered, “B-but, he’s so young!”
“Go now, release the filly and bring her to me and my honored guest!”
The terrified decommissioned guard walked backwards, bowing his head and replying, “Yes ma’m. Understood. Will do. As you command...” He left the room and sprinted down the hallways to the chamber. The young, purple unicorn filly entered the far doorway she left in when Celestia turned her away. 
“M-miss Celestia, miss? May I enter, I need to tell you something.” She soon realized that Celestia was next to the prisoner, untied and smiling back at the unicorn. 
She gasped; Celestia laughed and said, “It’s alright, Twilight Sparkle. He is a friend.” Upon those words, she slowly walked up to the strange creature known as Zack. Twilight shuddered in his presence.
Celestia asserted, “Twilight, this is Zack. And Zack, this is Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student and protégé.”
Zack knelt down and stuck out his hand, “It’s a pleasure, Miss Sparkle!”
She stepped backwards, nervous at first, and fearful of Zack’s odd looking ‘hoof’; but with a sudden change of mood, she took a leap of faith. She stepped forward, stuck her hoof out, shook Zack’s hand and replied, “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, sir!”
“Now what were you going to tell me about,” queried Celestia with a grin.
She looked back up at Celestia, with wide eyes and a beaming smile across her face. “It’s Spike! He said his first word! I didn’t believe it at first, but he did it! He said, ‘gems’. I guess he was hungry!” Twilight giggled along with Celestia, Zack was at a loss again as to what was going on in this conversation. 
“Oh,” Celestia chuckled, forgetting Zack had no idea what they were talking about. “you must be so confused right now! Spike is Twilight Sparkle’s pet dragon; you should see him sometime, he’s such a cutie!”
The thought of dragons in this new land enthralled Zack, he had always liked dragons as a kid from the books he had read. Now knowing that they actually exist in this world made him a little giddy, but once again, he held his emotions back and wore a warm hearted smile instead. 
He responded, “Sounds great, can’t wait to meet him!”
“Well you’ll have to wait till morning anyways, I just put him to bed, he’s fast asleep!”
Celestia looked towards Twilight and entreated, “Isn’t some filly I know suppose to be in bed by now? It’s a school night, you know?”
Twilight cheerfully responded, “Of course! I’ll be off to bed now, goodnight Miss Celestia, goodnight Mister Zack!” Zack and Celestia waved her out of the room as she trotted off. 
Zack had to ask, “Any other young person–err, pony, would have fought with you about going to bed. She seemed rather happy to do so.”
“Well, she is different than other fillies. Besides being very intelligent and loving to learn knowledge for her age, she is very obedient.”
Fascinating, I was never like that when I was a child,” Zack chuckled.
A sudden cry was heard, which echoed through the castle corridors. The two’s attention were focused now on the doorway the noise had originated from. Two unicorn guards entered, wrestling to keep the pink filly under control. Pinkie still had the bag on her head to try and calm her down, but it wasn’t working too well. 
Pinkie screamed, “Where are you taking me now? What’s going on? Where’s my Zack?” The two guards released the filly and took the sack off her head. Her eyes were filled with tears, her hair was even more frizzier than it usually was, her face was red due to a mix of crying and anger, and she panted for breath. She glanced about the chamber looking for any sign of Zack, almost blind to the fact that Zack and Celestia were stationed directly in front of her at the end of the room.
“Pinkie,” Zack shouted, “I’m okay.” She paused and stared Zack directly in the eyes as he knelt down and opened his arms wide with a smile of acceptance across his face. She ran to him and jumped in his outstretched arms.
“Oh Zack, I missed you so, so much! I thought I would never see you again!” Pinkie began to sob deeply, she could no longer hold her tears back, it was mix of joyful sorrow and past worries. 
Zack squeezed her close to him and mused, “It’s going to be alright, Pinkie Pie. I’m alright. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
She pushed off of Zack a little and looked into his eyes, her beautiful, cerulean eyes still filled with tears. “Oh, don’t worry about me... I’m a big pony...” she smiled and fell back into his arms, crying into Zack’s shoulders. 
Zack picked her up as she held onto his neck, still crying into his shoulder and turned toward Celestia to whom he had totally forgotten about. To his surprise, she was crying a little too at what she saw. The guards were in the corner of the room with their heads bowed in shame at what they had done to the poor pony.
Pinkie pulled her head up out of Zack’s shoulder again and saw Celestia smiling at her, Pinkie hadn’t even noticed her until then.
“...Hi... Miss Royal Princess ma’m.”
“Hello, beautiful one.” She turned toward Zack after her response to Pinkie and said, “I will have special sleeping arrangements for you and your friend tonight, up in the Western Tower.”
“Thank you... so... much... " replied Zack with a warm smile and tears forming in his eyes.


__________


The two were lead up to the tower by Celestia where they entered a magnificent suite. Pinkie hopped into the room and jumped for joy on the bed. The tower loft was rounded and windows were on nearly every side of the room. Celestia walked up to the pony sized feather bed, and with her unicorn magic, doubled the size of the bed, pillows and sheets. Zack opened the glass doors in front of the bed to find a porch, situated high above the castle town. They were in the highest tower of the castle, which gave a beautiful view of the partying city below, the countryside beyond, and even the few lights from Ponyville in the distance. A cool wind blew against Zack’s skin, refreshing his senses.
Zack looked upward and admired the heavily dotted, starry sky, and noticed the bright, white moon. The craters formed a mare, which wasn’t too surprising for Zack, but still an amazing sight seeing an entirely new moon then what he was used to. Celestia joined Zack on the porch to admire the surroundings as Pinkie had fallen into deep sleep already on the bed–her hyper activity conquered. 
Celestia looked over at Zack and acknowledged, “You both deserve this, after what all Pinkie had told me on the way up, it sounds like you two had some adventure.”
“Yea, it was something...” Zack leaned on the railing of porch, looking off beyond the mountains. 
Celestia continued, “I think it would be best if you stayed here at the castle with me... and for Pinkie to go live in Ponyville, under my protection and watch. You will be able to see her once in awhile, but she needs to live the life a normal pony should." 
Zack, almost as if he knew what she was going to say, responded, “Of course, that’s the right thing to do. I completely agree with you.” Zack was a little saddened by this, but tried not to express that emotion before Celestia.
“The world isn’t ready yet to see you, maybe in a few years, but for now, I want you to stay here with me, so I can teach you and Twilight. Of course, I want you to learn more about the world around you unlike what I’ll be teaching Twilight, unicorn magic; I have a library in the south wing of the castle you can study from.”
Zack didn’t respond, he was in deep thought about something Celestia couldn’t tell by his physical appearance. She continued after a moment of silence, “I also want you to perform some tasks for me, some selected missions that I want none of my ponies involved with.”
“Like what did you have in mind?”
“Diplomatic issues mostly, and whatever else is a problem at the time. I feel as if this would broaden your perspective of the world around you.”
Zack turned back to Celestia and smiled, “I’ll do it. As long as one day, I can walk the streets without ponies being in fear... And... to one day live in Ponyville."
“Of course, Zack.”
The two looked out into the night blanketed landscape. Zack didn’t care to have all his questions answered at the moment. He knew that someday, everything will be answered. As for now though, he had a purpose, he had made himself a new life in a new world. Everything was going the way he wanted, and he couldn’t be happier for his situation, and Pinkie Pie’s.


__________


In the harsh, white desert, night had fallen in this strange, dark world. A single, black pony stood alone in the shadowy wasteland, looking toward the horizon with tears in her eyes, watching her home planet rise once more. Luna was her name, the banished sister of Celestia. She lowered her head and sighed as she knelt to the ground to meditate once more. 
She heard something behind her though, a cry of the wind. She knew there wasn’t wind on the moon and stood up at once. She turned to see a small vortex of moon dust forming behind her and had no idea what was going on.
“Who are you,” she shouted, using the Royal Canterlot dialect. She spoke again after no response, “I command thee! Who are you?” The gray moon dust formed a strange looking creature, it was a surreal being that had incredible detail. 
It spoke with a cunning sly, “Hello, Nightmare Moon. Do I, an old friend, not get the proper salutations? Where are your manners? And I thought you were raised in royalty.”
She knew exactly who he was now and replied to the devilish creature in a regular voice, “I thought we turned you to stone?”
“Ah, you see, there’s your first problem. You fail to realize how influential chaos can be with creation. It’s a silly paradox if you think about it.” 
He slithered around her in his phantom-esque body of dust. “You see, one cannot have life without disorder, even the Foreseer knows this. My body still resides within that stone prison you created, but my spiritual essence lingers on! Where there is harmony, I will bring chaos! Where there is a forest, I will bring the fire!”
“You know nothing about the Foreseer, no one does!”
“Ah, you got me there, sister, my folly appears to be showing out in the nude.”
Luna questioned, “Why are you here then, Discord?”
“Though I cannot do much, I can appear for short instances and rekindle old works of mine that have been touched by me, if you know what I mean.”
He turned directly into Luna’s face, his dust particle eyes had a faint yellow glow to them. 
“I know you felt it.”
Luna stepped back, “Felt, what?”
“It! A new presence in the world below, a unexplainable magical being has entered your bright and ‘peaceful’ former home.” Luna took a second to concentrate, she then realized something had changed on her planet, a new energy emitted from it.
“What is it, ” Luna questioned the surreal draconequus.
“Well I don’t know, just thought you wanted to know that another being like us is walking around that little, pretty planet over there, with no reason whatsoever. He’s certainly not evil, yet he doesn’t appear to have any peace in him as well. He’s no pony, thank goodness, like we need another one of those stumbling around, taking up space.”
Luna turned toward Discord, horn glowing brightly and her body in an offensive position. “Watch it, Discord! Those are still my people, and I love them, even if they think I’m evil!”
Discord tilted his head, “Sure you do.” 
The moon dust creature formed a clock out of moon dust next to him and cried, “Oh, look at the time! I best be leaving, I can’t drain all of my power bickering with the likes of you, Nightmare Moon.”
“Don’t you dare call me Nightmare Moon again!”
Discord rushed over to her and placed one of his talons on the tip of Luna’s horn. His eyes grew brighter as she was stunned in place, her body glowing with a black, ebbing pulse. 
“Good, good... let the disharmony flow,” Discord growled.
Luna’s body changed back into her bitter, evil self, the one ponies had recognized as Nightmare Moon. Discord pushed her unconscious body back when the transformation was complete, letting the low gravity of the moon pull her above the white desert.
Discord turned, facing the rising planet and directed his words toward the celestial body. “Whoever you are, walking around down there, I will find you, and put a stop to you.” 
He let out a roaring laugh as he dissipated and became dust again, his spirit leaving the moon.






(End of Part 1)

> 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(Part 2)






“Forty-six... forty-seven... forty-eight... forty-nine... fifty!”
A golden light pierced his eyes as they shot open, his sight blurred a little by squinting too hard while counting. His vision gradually readjusted to his unknown surroundings. A cool, chilled air swabbed his face, and the gentle breeze dried his lips which were already showing signs of being chapped. The birch and oak trees towered over him, their rustling leafage singing sweetly above. Their yellow and brown leaves took flight and danced away in the cold wind. The trees swayed back and forth, giving way to the shuttering sunlight that peeked through the foliage of the tree tops. The ground was covered in dead leaves and the last of the green grass had been blanketed by the multitude of leaves. The wind rustled the forest, carrying their leaves off on a new adventure beyond their home they’ve grown so aquatinted to. This wind was also the only noise in the shimmering yellow and old flaxen colored forest besides the aching and moaning of the trees.
His eyes had adjusted clearly now, and he started to scan the autumn ladened forest, looking deep into the mysterious and bright woods. He was only a boy of eight, eagerly searching for his older brother. The other lay still and silent, somewhere hidden in the ancient woods the younger thought of as a magical place. He began his trek into the surreal forest, looking ever so intently behind every stump, tree trunk, ditch and nook in the ground to search for his hidden kin. The boy had journeyed deep into the woods, about two minutes away from his starting location. His eyes still sweept the yellow, forest brush, looking for his old brother, not giving up hope just yet. 
The younger brother thought, “I’ll get you, Jason. Once I spot you, you’re mine!”
Another couple of minutes had passed and the younger brother was getting tired of meandering through the woods. Even if it was a pretty sight and walk, he knew he had lost the game and his older brother would have already made it back to base. The boy could imagine walking back and seeing his older brother there, mocking him for being stupid enough to not look for him in some obvious place. The younger brother let out a deep sigh and watched his warm breath meet the cold air, watching it fade before him. His mother had dressed his body before heading out into the woods; his skin was almost fully covered with clothing except for his face. His mother was very protective, even more so when concerning the chances of her boys getting sick from playing in the cold. He raised his head, looking up into the afternoon rays that peeped out of the golden foliage in the tree tops. As the sunlight graced his face, he closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun in the brisk air of November.
He looked back in front of him and gasped, startled at the sight he had just seen. In the far edge of the woods in front of him, between two narrow birch trunks, a white, four legged creature with a golden mane and tail stood there taller than him. Its mane and tail flowed in the breeze in a very, unrealistic slow fashion. Its dark, indigo eyes pierced the boy’s startled ones. As soon as the boy blinked, the creature jetted off into the woods. The last vision he saw of it was its long, golden tail darting behind a large oak tree and vanishing with the rest of its body. He didn’t know what it was, and felt a lingering chill crawl up the back of his neck. He had a feeling these woods weren’t safe anymore and wanted to leave immediately, disregarding his brother if he didn’t have time to stop and warn him. The boy tried to move, but his body remained still, as if his entire form was thrown into a pool of concrete. He could still move his eyes, but couldn’t tell what was going on around him. He tried to scream for help, but lacked a voice and his mouth remained closed. The younger brother panicked, fretting for his life. Then, his thoughts were ceased by a sudden, slow and large movement in the fallen leaves in front of him.
Some sort of slender, snake-like monster emerged out of the mound of foliage, it was large and viscous looking. The boy couldn’t see the entire creature in his vision as it wrapped around the permitter of the child. Its elongated head was behind the boy, scanning the frail creature he was–he was sure of it. The boy noticed its hind appendages, which appeared different than the rest of its body. One leg was a goat’s leg while the other appeared to be a lizard’s. Its tail was maroon red and scaled like a dinosaurs. These strange features of this undefinable beast horrified the child.
The tail wrapped around the child and the monster’s head became clear in the boy’s vision as it loomed over him in view. It had a dragon’s head, horse ears with two different antlers; one being a deer’s antler and the other a goat’s. The beast possessed a large amount of vicious and curved teeth, similar to a dragon’s he thought; it possessed thick, white brows that sat above the creature’s sharp eyes and a white beard hung from beneath the monster's powerful jaw. Though the only thing the boy could focus now on was the dragon’s eyes, its crimson and bright yellow eyes. The beast stared deep into the boy’s eyes, he could feel the monster taking in child’s scent with its large nostrils. A serpent’s tongue whipped out as the menacing creature slowly opened his maw. 
It spoke in a deep, echoing, and sinister tone, directly into the ear of the child, “Who are you, to enter my woods? Child of my enemy, why have you come?”The boy couldn’t speak, and even if he physical could, he wouldn’t. The monster’s eyes captivated the child, sending wave after wave of fear and terror, pulsating throughout his body and limbs. The dragon’s claw, which resembled an eagle’s talon, grasped the boy’s throat. It did not choke him, but simply ensured the thought into the younger brother’s mind.
“You do not belong in my forest, my ancient home I possess,” the beast hissed. “Your destiny lies within your dying race, in the fire which will consume you. You have been warned.”
The dragon’s body faded away into the air, disappearing completely and releasing the child. The sounds of the woods began again and the boy could move, but he remained still. His thought process was still shaken by this thing that captured his very essence. He looked around him, he was alone again, or so he thought. Then a voice whispered to him through the wind, the voice of the monster.
“Your time has come.”
The boy’s footing was loosened and he fell through the leaves below which was once solid ground. He fell into a dark pool, being pulled under by something wrapped around the boy’s leg. He looked down to see only the beast’s tail coming from the shadowy abyss, grasping the boy’s left foot. The child struggled to try and free himself, but he was getting pulled deeper below the dark waters. He looked up and watched the light of the sun grow dimmer and dimmer as he sunk into the darkness. The boy was on the verge of drowning, he tried to scream out for his brother, but he just couldn’t do it. Everything was blotted in shadows and the boy’s lungs couldn’t take the pressure. He closed his eyes.
Zack shot up out of his bed gasping for breath. Sweat poured off of him and he lay motionless and in a state of shock. He had never had a more realistic dream in his life until then and it frightened him greatly. He threw the covers off of him and tossed his legs over the side of the bed. He hunched over, running his fingers through his sweat drenched hair and holding his bent head with the palms of his hands trying to catch his breath.
Zack looked up when he heard a strange noise coming from behind his bedroom door. He had an idea of who it might be, so he rocked himself up out of his bed and tottered over to the door. He opened the door to find his little pink pony friend standing outside, holding a pillow in her mouth and looking back up at Zack. Her hair was deflated and straight, the only time Zack had seen this happen before was when he first met her in the woods. Her eyes were watery and body trembling. She showed an awfully grievous, depressed expression on her face that shook Zack a little on the inside. He had grown to adore her smiles and cheerful attitude, but something must have been terribly wrong for her to look the way she did in front of Zack.
She quivered, “I... I had a su-super scary... n-nightmare and was w-wondering... if I could s-sleep in here tonight?”
Zack, still a little dazed from waking up and having his awful nightmare, stood there for a second taking in the scene and the uncanny thing she had just said. He leaned over, scooped her up in his arms and carried her to his bed. He knew that this was the last night that she would be staying in Canterlot before the Princess relocated her to Ponyville to grow up with the other ponies. He looked down at her blue, sparkling and tear filled eyes, which seemed to show bright in the night cloaked room. She gave a small smile with tears still filled in her eyes, assuring that she would be okay, and maybe subliminally telling Zack that he would be okay as well. He knew that maybe she wanted to be with Zack one last time before she departed in a few hours in the early morning. He placed the pink pony in the left hand side of the bed, the part of the bed that Zack didn’t drench with sweat from his dream. He tucked her in and sat next to her on the bed. 
She quietly asked, “Aren’t you going back to sleep?” Zack looked out the balcony window in front of the bed, lost in thought. 
He sighed, and replied, “...I had a bad dream too... I might not be going back to sleep tonight...”
“What did you dream about?”

Zack looked back over at her and assured, “It’s nothing... Just something silly that shocked me a little.”
She blinked and replied, “Like a big, enormously huge cupcake?”
Zack chortled, “Yea... like a big, super, enormously huge cupcake..." His tone lightened as he added, "with sprinkles!” Zack reached over and rubbed her head, frizzing up her straightened hair into a curly fluff again.  “Now, go to sleep, missy! I’m going to get some water, but I’ll be right back, I promise.” Zack got up and was about to leave before he had a silly idea. He turned back toward his bed to see Pinkie looking back at him with a cute grin and her eyes aglow.
Zack saluted, “Cross my heart, hope to–” (he quickly changed the words up to not make what he was quoting grim,) “–fly, stick a... cupcake in my eye.”
She giggled and responded, “Don’t mind if I steal that funny saying, do you?”
“I don’t mind at all, it was made for you," he pointed and smiled. "Now, I’ll be right back!”
Zack left the bedroom and made his way to the kitchen to get him something to drink. When he had returned to the bedroom only minutes after he left, he discovered Pinkie Pie already fast asleep in the oversized bed. Zack walked over to the glass, balcony doors in front of the bed and silently opened them to walk out onto the high porch. He gazed out over the strangely quiet town center of Canterlot. He felt a strange breeze blowing, similar to the one in his dream.
Zack never went back to sleep that night. He stayed up and watched the sun rise to a new day in Equestria. Even though his heart was still weak from the nightmare, his body restless and his mind still captivated by those demonic, fiery eyes. He had no idea what was going on or going to happen to him, if anything at all. He planned to keep these dreams mere secrets from everyone, even if he had to lie.






(6)








“An assumption develops that you cannot understand life and live life simultaneously... I would say that life understood is life lived.”
- Timothy "Speed" Levitch







The morning came faster than Zack had expected. A pegasus drawn chariot was stationed in front of the castle doorways, ready to escort Miss Pie to the small village of Ponyville. Princess Celestia, along with some royal guards that accompanied her, waited outside next to the chariot for the two to arrive. Zack opened the white, palace doorways for Pinkie as she slowly walked out with her head lowered and eyes affixed on her hooves. They walked down the winding steps and towards the chariot–Zack had to be careful not to slip in fall in his new, long hemmed attire. Zack had been given some new clothes that Celestia weaved magically from some old curtains. They were all robes of some sort which didn’t fit Zack as well as they should, but did the job nonetheless. The two friends stopped once they reached the bottom of the stairs–Zack knelt down and lifted Pinkie’s chin, their eyes meeting once more.
“Now look, Pinkie. It’s going to be alright, we’ll still see each other plenty. It’s just that I need to stay here for a while, and you need to make some new friends in Ponyville. Let’s just put it this way: if you could make friends with a weirdo like me, then you can make friends with anybo–, err, anypony.”
She let out a sigh and replied, “I know... but I’m still going to miss you bunches.”
“I’m going to miss you more,” Zack smiled.
“I’m going to miss you more-er.” She returned the smile with a slight grin of confidence. 
Zack leaned over and hugged her tightly, she threw her hooves around his neck and dug her face into his shoulder. Zack could feel the warmth over her skin, and most importantly, her heart beat. Zack took her up in his arms and carried her to the chariot. He placed her inside the vehicle; letting her go was hard on him, he was going to miss the sound of her heart beat whenever they hugged closely. He’ll miss seeing her bobbing mane and tail as she bounced around him. He’ll miss those beautiful cerulean eyes, which shimmered like the sun’s reflection on a crystal, blue lake. He’ll miss her little jokes, her funny and cute ways of saying words, her voice. He couldn’t bare the sight, he felt as if he had to look away, to do no more harm to the crumbling fortress that held his feelings; he couldn’t though, he just couldn’t look away, she was the one that lead him this far, and now she was going away. He had only known this little pony for a little more than a week, but he felt so much closer to her than anyone else he’s let into his life. He knew that it was for the best, she was a run away after all, her past was mysterious to Zack as his past was to her. He knew that if she grew up among her kind, it would better suit her in the long run than being social stunted from living with Zack in the castle. He knew it was for the best, and broke free from her forlorn gaze. He stepped back away from the chariot, trying to keep his eyes on the frightened filly, who tried to hold her emotions back with a quaint, tender smile like her buddy watching. 
Celestia stepped in and announced, “We have a housing set up in Ponyville, the Cake family is awaiting her arrival in her room will be in the attic of Sugar Cube Corner, the same house you said you and her hid in while in town. As of now, she’ll be living off a monitored budget set up by the Canterlot Treasury until she is old enough to live on her own.”
Celestia looked over at Zack, he seemed to not be caring about the little details she was saying and that he had already knew beforehand. His focus was on the filly, and had zoned out everything around him. Celestia walked over and placed her wing around him to break his attention. 
She consoled, “You’ll see each other again. This is no goodbye, Zack. Just the start of another adventure.”
“Yea,” Pinkie interrupted, “...don’t worry about me... I’m a big pony... remember?...” Zack looked back up at her and smirked, her eyes were again filled with new tears, the tears she tried so hard to hold back.
The pegasus ponies opened their wings and took off, totting Pinkie Pie behind in the ivory chariot. Zack broke free from Celestia’s wing and ran ahead, trying to grab the chariot he was so far behind. It was no use, he had no idea what he was thinking when he tried to run and catch it, his emotions clouded his judgment. He dropped his arm lifelessly and watched the chariot fly off into the morning sky, the sunrise painted the over hanging cirrocumulus clouds with a light shade of pink, almost the same tone as Pinkie’s coat.
Zack turned back around and walked along side the Princess back into the castle. Things were going to be different.



__________



A couple of weeks had passed since Pinkie Pie left and Zack was trying to make full use of his time in the Canterlot castle. Two ground rules were made by Celestia for Zack to follow for assurance purposes only. She told him that he couldn’t leave the castle grounds and had to be cloaked whenever he went into the garden or taking an outdoor bridge to another tower. Zack understood the whole meaning of these rules and followed them without question. Though whenever he would stay out in the garden, he couldn’t be out for too long; combined with the Summer heat of the sun and staying cloaked, it became too hot and uncomfortable to relax in during the day. He would walk around in the gardens only during the cool of the day, either in the early morning or late afternoon. 
The first few days alone in the castle were times of discovering the entirety of the place. He had visited every room by the end of the third day. Some rooms were tightly locked and the sanctuary next to the citadel was off limits to anybody. Most of the rooms and chambers were the same, such as guest rooms, dining halls, conservatories, dressing rooms, nothing new or different. He did come across some interesting rooms while venturing through the mysterious corridors, like in one of the towers, he had ran into an observatory where he spent some nights looking through the massive telescope situated in the center of the room. He discovered that the constellations of the stars possessed both Earthly constellations such as Ursa Major and Minor, Scorpio, The Phoenix, and The Pegasus as well some new ones such as the Chimera, Orion’s Saddle, the Manitcore, and the Minotaur. During those nights of star gazing, Zack read the myths and legends of certain constellations from books he had taken from the library; he had always enjoyed mythology in school and found the myths in these books very entertaining on those lonely nights.
He didn’t know what Celestia did during the day, and in fact, didn’t really care at all. He knew she rose the sun and the moon since her sister was not present, but for the rest of the day, he hardly ever saw Celestia. He would sometimes see her on rare occasions walking in the gardens or staring out the castle windows into the plains below. She always wore a quaint smile on her face, but if you looked more closely, it appeared as if she was almost sleepwalking in a sense. That her mind was just overwhelming her constantly and her thoughts always captivated her. She would talk and act like a normal pony when you approached her, but if came up on her by accident or saw her in the distance, she looked so out of touch with the world around her. He thought that maybe this was the prolonged effect of immortality, condensed insanity.
When walking around the colossal castle interior, he would have to be careful entering rooms he heard noise coming from. Celestia warned him not to go into the Magic Kindergarten which was on the lower east section of the castle, so he stayed far from there. She also warned that other events were taking place inside the castle, such as music lessons, meetings, and the occasional garden parties held every couple of weeks by the elite members of the Canterlot community. 
He didn’t see Twilight Sparkle much, she was either busy studying or playing with Spike, always hard at work and always had something to do. Though when they did see each other, they would stop and have a quick chat, she would then realize how much time had passed and scurry off to do something that she had to do. Zack did meet a couple of times with Spike, the small purple and green dragon. He was a very interesting sight to see for Zack and he was very intrigued by the creature. He acted like a regular baby would, except for when he burped; Zack had to be extra careful to stay out of the way or be scorched by a green flame which Spike emitted. 
He spent most of his first week in a unbalanced routine. In the mornings, he would try to get up, take a bath, (Celestia had to increase in size for Zack to fit in), sometimes shave and head towards the library, disregarding breakfast entirely. Food was already prepared by the chefs in the kitchen, who had grown accustom to Zack’s bizarre looks, like every other pony that would enter the castle. Not many strange ponies entered the castle though, and when they did, Zack was hardly ever around unless they went straight to the library where he usually was, which never happened. During the morning hours, Zack would browse the immense library; it was one of the largest rooms in the entire citadel. The archives were narrowed into different wings from the central chamber where a large, decorative hourglass was placed. Celestia gave Zack the keys to all the wings of the library for his enjoyment, but most wings he discovered held only magical tomes for unicorns and guidelines for flying for pegasus ponies. Not many wings suited his desires except the fiction and nonfiction sections where he ran into some interesting novels and books that peaked his interests. By the end of the week, he had read all of the “Daring Do” Series and the “The Collective History of Equestria” Volumes, though with the volumes, he had skimmed over the boring stuff and read only about the wars and the forming of Equestria. 
In the beginning of a new week, he was bored out of his mind and couldn’t find a good book to read in the entire part of the library he hung out in, so he ventured into the parts of the archives where he had originally thought it would be boring. Zack came across an interesting series of books entitled, “Equine Combat and Warfare: A Complete Guide to Self Defense and Tactical Advantages Against Any Foe”. Zack read below, “Book 1: Taking Advantage of Your Opponents”. The book seemed to be a light read and would grab Zack’s attention, so he took all the books in the series and began to read through the interesting narratives and tutorials from war heros, martial artists, and medical ponies which gave detailed blue prints of where to attack a pony or pony related creature to break its bones effectively. 
While reading through this, Zack had taken notice that he had been doing nothing physical since his days of traveling with Pinkie Pie. In his previous life, he never had to work out. His body wasn’t in perfect shape, but he wasn’t fat either. He had walked everywhere he went before which kept him in decent shape; he lived close to his college campus and walked to all of his classes. He lived close to both the city and his job and never had to take a bus or taxi anywhere. He thought that now since he had nothing better to do than read, eat and sleep, he might as well work out and get in shape. 
The guides he was reading also taught the reader how to work out properly and pace yourself. Even though the instructions were meant for the equine physique, he could interpret it enough to apply it to his own body. He began doing these routines in his room, but figured he needed more space. He asked Celestia where he could possibly work out and she directed him to one of her many locked rooms in Canterlot Castle. When she opened the dark and dusty room, it revealed some sort of matted gym, almost like a dojo. The room was aged and needed repair–it hadn't seen use in quite some time. Celestia commented on how this room was once used to train an elite group of Ponies when the Royal Guard was established, but this area was deserted when the unicorns who built Canterlot Palace created a fort for housing the guards a few years after the construction of the castle. The Princess soon brought some of the maids into the room and cleaned up the place before Zack could truly begin his new work out routine. Celestia thought it was a great idea that Zack was trying to teach himself combat and getting himself in shape; she had the idea that he was preparing himself for whatever mission she was eventually going to give him. 
After the room was prepared, Zack began his work out schedule. He wasn’t a professional at what he was trying to do, but he thought if he did everything he knew from previous experiences from working out, wrestling from high school and everything taught in the guides that things would work out to his advantage. He spent three hours a day working out and building muscle mass, while taking thirty minute intervals of reading and back to exercising some more. Afterwards, he would take a power nap, and in the afternoon he would converse with Celestia whenever he could find her. 
The late afternoons were great times to discuss whatever was on his mind with Celestia or whatever was on hers. The two sat together in the Royal Garden and discussed a multitude of things. Zack usually asked things such as what ponies have accomplished over the years, what political or war matters have occurred over the course of the centuries, what jobs ponies have, and other odd things; but everyday Zack would ask in different ways about the places beyond the country of Equestria, Celestia would never give him a straight response to any of these inquiries, which only fueled his drive for learning more. 
The nightly dinners were a bit awkward. The main dining hall was a large rectangular chamber with high ceilings and large stain glass windows much like the throne room. In the center was large willow table that could seat around thirty guests. The tableware was some sort of pony inspired ‘meissen’ porcelain designs. Stallion heads were engraved in the legs of the table and in the center was the same design, but only as a statue, making a very obscuring center piece. The chairs were comfy, oak furnished seats, which of course Celestia had to make one bigger than the rest to fit Zack’s size. Only Celestia and Zack sat at the table, the awkward silence of both of them eating was enough to make anyone uncomfortable. Royal guards were stationed at each exit of the room, one on each side of every double doorway.
The food wasn’t that grand, but healthy nonetheless. It consisted of mostly a salad, fruit, vegetables, sometimes noodles, and of course a pastry of some sort along with milk or water. Zack now considered himself a vegetarian after being away from meat so long, but after sometime, he had missed the taste of bacon and ham.
He felt like he was being watched constantly, not only at dinner, but during his active hours by the guards who would pass by him in the halls. They showed no emotion at all, even when Zack would give them a friendly wave. He had no idea what they thought of him, but he assumed it wasn't nice thoughts. He wondered that maybe after the incident during Maredi Gra, they looked at him as some sort of nuisance or trouble just waiting to happen.
While eating a delectable salad prepared by the pony chefs, Zack was about to stab a leaf with his salad fork in hand when somehow the utensil slipped out and clashed on the floor, breaking the awkward silence with a ringing metallic noise that echoed throughout the refectory.
Zack swallowed and excused, “... Uh, sorry.” Zack pulled his chair out a little and was about to bend down to grab his fork when it was lifted by a unicorn guard’s magic. The silverware shot upward and narrowly missed Zack’s face.
The unicorn guard trotted over and replied with a dark tone, “Here you go... sir...”
Zack took the fork from midair and replied harshly, “Thanks, buddy.”
Zack’s surmising, grim intentions about the guards flooded his mind as he finished his meal. He knew they didn’t like him and were talking about him behind his back. He guessed it was obvious that they would do it, he is the only human in Equestria after all and only a handful of ponies know about him. Another looming idea surpassed his original one, what if these ponies talked about his presence outside of the castle walls. What if the whole city knew that Celestia was housing some sort of monster in the castle. These ideas and presumptions spun in Zack’s head for the next couple of days. He tried to conceal himself more and stay inside the newly refurbished dojo, away from the guards. 
After another week of performing his diligent work out pattern, Zack could start to feel he was getting stronger and faster. This encouraged him to keep at what he was doing, but felt as if he wasn’t learning enough about combat. That learning combat meant he had to train with another person, with and without weapons. In fact, the only weapons he had seen in the place were the iron spears the guards carried and, if you count it as being a weapon, the white sword that was on the stain glass window he had seen during his first visit with Celestia. He had quickly thought up an idea on how to work around this issue. 
He peeked out of the dojo one day to see a single royal guard standing at the end of the hallway. He appeared to be stuck in a trance of boredom, his eyes half open and his posture slumped over a little. Zack walked up to him with caution, he then waved his hand in front of the guard at a distance to try and get back the guard’s focus.
“Excuse me, sir, could–”
The guard snapped out of his daze and was immediately alert again, “Huh! Wha–... Oh, it’s just you.”
Zack, with a loss of words for a moment, continued with reluctance, “Hi, yes, uhmm, I was wondering... you know...” Zack’s conversation was interrupted by a sudden chuckle he gave, realizing how stupid he must sound right now. “Well of course you know, ha, well, I’ve noticed that some of you guards have something against me, I presume? If this grudge was from the silly ol' Maredi Gra incident, then I want to personally say I’m sorry about that... I’m not even sure if you were one of the ponies in the garden that night, you all really look the same–”
“Oh, I was in the garden. I was the one that knocked your light’s out.”
“Ahh, okay, so we have met in some way...”
There was a brief moment of awkward silence, both of them were looking else where in the hall, trying to avert the unpleasant situation Zack had caused. Zack thought that now that he knew who he was, he shouldn’t be the one apologizing for anything since he was the one that knocked him out, but that would deter his plan if he didn’t make the guard feel comfortable around him again.
Zack looked back at the guard and insisted, “I’m sorry for... ruining your night. I just want me and the guards to get along, ya know?”
The pony gave a concerned look, “Sure...”
Zack tapped the pony’s shoulder with a friendly jab and lilted, “Well I know someone like you needs to blow off some steam every now and then, guard work must be tough!”
“Actually, uhh, it’s quite uneventful to be honest.” The guard smiled at that and Zack let out a laugh in response. 
Zack leaned back and said, “You wanna do some sparring with me in the dojo sometime? They just fixed it up.” The stallion stood there for a second, thinking about the proposal.
He looked around and asked, “Sure, I don't see why not. I don't believe anyone will notice that I'm gone from my post for too long.” Zack looked around the chamber and hallway, they were the only two in this entire section of the castle he believed. 
He retorted, “I really don’t think you’ll be caught, and I won’t tell a soul, promise.”
The two walked down the hall and into the dojo where they both worked out and sparred together. Whenever the guard would find some free time to where he could sneak away, he would make his way to the dojo where Zack would be and they would teach each other tactics both had learned from Zack’s wrestling to the stallion’s combat the Royal Guards were taught. He even brought in weapons from time to time. Such weapons were staffs, swords, daggers, spears, bows and arrows. Over the weeks, both had given themselves great work outs and a better understanding of mixed weapons and self-defense. Zack had gotten to know the pony, his name was Valiant Steed; and from what he had told him over time, that he was childhood friend’s with Shining Armor, the current Captain of the Royal Guard.


__________


The morning came and Zack heard a knock on his bedroom door. It was around the time he usually got up, so he was feeling awake already. He went over to his wardrobe to put on a new robe when there was a second knock on his door.
“I’m coming, I’m coming! Gezz...” he groaned. He never had anyone meet him this early in the morning for anything, not even Celestia who raised the sun. He sauntered over to the door and opened it, only to be blasted by an array of confetti. Zack jumped back in fright while shielding himself from whatever it was. 
“Holy sh–” A filly bounded into the room, jumped around Zack and onto his shoulders singing,


“Happy monthiversary to Zacky-poo today!
I-can't-believe-you've-been-here-for-a-month! Time-sure-flies doesn't-it? Well-it-seems-like-only-yesterday-you-came-here!
But now we’ve been friends for a month, yay!”


Zack had tumbled to the floor in the process of her song. Pinkie Pie stared deeply into Zack’s dumbfound expression–he didn’t know what to say. 
He stammered for the correct words before asking, “How d–, how did you get here?”
She tilted her head and replied, “I was expecting a ‘thank you’ or ‘how do you do, too?’ but noooo!” She emphasized, “I spent all week preparing for this moment and my best-est, best friend doesn’t thank me for this awesome surprise!” She turned away from Zack, head lowered. 
He got up quickly and entreated, “No no, this was awesome, Pinkie Pie, don’t get me wrong! I just woke up, I wasn’t expecting you to be here, that’s all!” She pivoted on one hoof and spun her body around in an instant, facing Zack again with a glee filled face. 
“Well, do you like it then?”
“Of course!”
“Yay! So worth it!”
Zack smiled and again asked, “So, how did you get here exactly?”
She flopped on the bed and took in a deep breath, “Well first I ran all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot, then I stopped and smelled some flowers, then I ate a cupcake. No! I lied! I ate two cupcakes!” While explaining how she got here, she hopped along the furniture in the room while articulating flawlessly the rest of her story in one drawn out breath. “... then I threw the guards a party. Then I snuck into the kitchen. Then I ate some birthday cake. And then finally I ran upstairs to sing a song to you!” She gasped and tried to catch her breath.
“Oh wow, you sure did a lot of work to come see me, even if you might get in trouble for doing it.”
“Get in trouble,” she barked. “How now, brown cow?”
“Greetings, you two.” Celestia stood in the doorway facing the duo. Pinkie’s eyes widen and she squeaked in shock. 
The filly slid on her knees toward Celestia and begged, “Oh please, please, please don’t send me back to Ponyville just yet. I want to spend this super-awesome day with my favorite Zack! Please, I’ll be a good pony, I swear!”
“Of course,” she stated, “ sounds like a great idea to me. You two have fun now!” She turned and walked down the stairs as quietly as she came up them. Pinkie spun back around towards Zack with enraptured bliss plastered across her face, her eyes glimmering with excitement and ecstasy. 
“Well, ” Zack scratched his head, “what are we waiting for? What do you want to do?”
“Be with you!” Pinkie was captured in the joy of being with her friend she hadn’t seen or heard from in a month. 
Zack offered an idea he had almost forgotten about, “Well, remember when you said you wanted to learn how to play an instrument?”
“Yes,” She interjected in a high pitched squeal of joy. “I mean,” she toned her voice down, “yes!” 
“Well how about I teach you to play the violin? Celestia owns a bunch of musical instruments we can goof around on!”
“Wahoo,” She jumped back on Zack’s shoulders and pointed onward, “Let’s get going then, we’re burning precious daylight!”


__________



Zack and Pinkie made their way down the spiraling stairs in the tower which his bedroom was in.
On their way down, Pinkie hollered, “So guess what!” Zack looked up at her, her head hanging over his and her eyes brightly fastened to his own. 
“What?”
“No, guess!” 
“You... ate a cupcake?”
“Of course! And, I drew a picture of you at school!” She hung a scribbled piece of paper in front of his view. 
Zack stopped, grabbed the paper which was turned around, and restated, “School? You go to school now?”
“Yes sir-ie! Princess Celestia said I had to go to school if I wanted to live in Ponyville, and I have to say I thought it was going to be as boring as watching paint dry! But nope! It’s pretty neat-o!”
Zack flipped the paper around to see a colored, pink pony with big blue dots for eyes and a stick man version of Zack with a big smile on his face. Zack was holding Pinkie Pie’s hoof in his hand, and in the background she drew a blue sky, puffy little clouds, a yellow ball representing the sun and some green mountains. She wrote above the duo she drew, ‘Bestest Friends Forever’. 
“It’s beautiful, Pinkie Pie!”
She gasped in excitement, “You think so?”
“I know so! Your drawing talent might get you another cutie mark!”
The pink filly giggled as they continued down the steps. “No, don’t be a silly-filly, Zacky! Nopony can get two cutie marks, that’s re-donk-ulous!”
They finally made it downstairs and into an empty, music room filled with an assortment of different instruments. Zack took two violins out of their cases and tuned them for himself and Pinkie Pie. He sat down in front of the filly on a piano stool he had pulled over; she was waiting intently, bearing a wide smile across her face, with her ears up in alert and as quiet as possible, she listened for Zack’s words of wisdom. Zack held both stringed instruments in his hands and began his lecture.
“The violin is the most rewarding and beautiful instruments to play when mastered. There are probably many great musical pieces you have heard somewhere that involve a violin of some sort. It’s an old relic with a deep history. Though let me warn you, it will be a long road ahead! Patience is key to learning to play music correctly on this delicate vehicle of classical perfection. Now, let me give a demonstration.”
He sat the other violin down and picked up the bow next to his seat. He positioned the instrument underneath his chin and waited a second to remember the exact chords in his head, and began to play. The violin’s lush sound filled the empty room with harmonic melodies. Zack began the chorus to his favorite classical piece of music, ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’. It was a classic that was burned into his mind by his instructor long ago, and now he couldn't possibly forget the chords like how he couldn't forget to breath.
Pinkie was stunned at the musical elaboration Zack was producing, even if it wasn’t entirely perfect. Zack had played this song many different times over the course of his years, but he loved to put a Celtic vibe into the strings, which he did so for Pinkie, performing only his best for her. He let the last note ring out as he slowed the pace of the falling bow, inching out the noise until the D Major fell into the G Major. It silenced the chamber once again.
The filly was speechless, she had never heard the violin played so beautifully, in fact, she had never heard it at all until then. Zack complimented her expression with a smile and decided to treat her with an encore. He began playing again, only this time, singing the first chorus the best he could. He wasn’t the best singer compared to playing his music, but he closed his eyes and tried his hardest.


“Jesu, joy of man's desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;

Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring,
Soar to uncreated light.”


Zack took the violin out from underneath his chin and opened his eyes, the filly was still struck by awe. He realized that in the doorway of the room, Princess Celestia was standing there admiring his musical talents. She had also brought another young filly who he had never seen before.
His focus was drawn back to Pinkie Pie and he concluded, quoting his instructor's words to him, “Music is a powerful tool. Its universal voice can be understood by all. Now, let’s try and set you up.”
Pinkie’s expression changed to a giddy smile and her animated mood fueled her drive to play. Zack taught her how to hold the violin and bow, how to press down into the strings just right, to keep parallel with the bridge and the bow, and the names of the strings, (E, A, D, and G). He didn’t know how he would teach her to hold the strings being that she had a hoof, but from what he’s seen the ponies grab before, he just showed her on his violin rather than him trying to put her hoof in the right place.
He began again saying,  “Now, for your first song, we’ll learn the tune, ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. Now, repeat after me. ‘D’ twice,” Zack played the chords while Pinkie watched. “‘A’ twice...” he continued teaching and went over what he did as slow as he could, then he let Pinkie try. She lifted her head up, blew some of her pink, fluffy mane out of her line of sight and lifted the bow. She pressed down much too hard on the strings which let out an ear piercing screech. Celestia stepped into the room, along with her small, filly companion who seemed to be wearing a pink bow tie and white collar. 
Pinkie Pie stopped and asked Zack with an unsure look, “That didn’t turn out too well, did it?”
Zack rubbed his finger in his ear and laughed, “Better than my first time!”
Celestia turned towards the two and said, “I heard what was going on and I thought that maybe it would be best if my music student, who happens to be a pony, teach Pinkie Pie a thing or two on the violin. It would an easier learning experience for one pony to teach another.”
“Well, I guess so...” slowly replied Zack.
The gray filly presented herself to Zack and bowed her head, “My name is Octavia, good sir. The Princess has told me all about you.” Her grin towards Zack changed to a dreary look when she turned and raised her eyebrow at Pinkie Pie, who nervously smiled back, showing a little intimidation from the filly. Her purple eyes glared at the pink one, she squinted and said, “So, you want to play a musical instrument as sophisticated as the violin?"
“Uh... yes ma’am...” Pinkie became a little scared of the dark maned filly that eyeballed her.
“Well, we have a lot of work to do then, might as well start somewhere.”
Celestia and Zack we’re pushed out of the room by Octavia. She assured them that she would be able to teach Pinkie Pie how to play the violin in no time whatsoever. The doors were slammed shut and the two looked at each other, expressing their confusion. 
Celestia shrugged and commented, “I guess we’ll see.”
A couple of hours had past and it appeared to be about midday. Zack trained in the dojo a while before going back to check on Pinkie Pie’s progression. As soon as Zack was about to enter, the doors slammed open and Octavia stormed out of the room. The precocious filly’s mane and tail were frizzed, bow tie loosened and the fire of anger consumed her eyes. She spotted Zack halted in the hallway before her, she stopped and vigorously shook her hoof at him.
Octavia bellowed, “Unlike you, your friend has no talent of any kind! I tried my hardest to teach her, but even I, Octavia, cannot indoctrinate this imbecile in the fine arts of music!”
Before Zack could reply to her cruel words, she quickly stomped off and out the castle front doors. Zack entered the room and noticed that the pink filly was playing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ over and over again, out of tune and off pace. Her wide eyes were shaking with the rest of her body and her mane and tail showed many curls out of place. She looked like she had gotten into a brawl and was dramatized from the event. Zack stepped in quickly, placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her.
“Pinkie. Pinkie! You can stop now!”
She dropped the bow and violin with a clash, but her arms kept moving like she was still playing the invisible instrument. Zack shook her again and she snapped out of whatever trance she was in. 
She turned her head towards him, giving a concerned expression and drawled, “That wasn’t fun at all. She yelled at me... a lot.”
“Let me assure you, most music teachers aren’t like that, you just need to find a new one, maybe in Ponyville. I just don’t want you to think that not every teacher is like this.”
She turned her head to the ground and sighed, staring at the fallen violin. “Okie... dokie... lokie..."
Zack took her hoof and uplifted, “Come on, let’s go get something to eat and do something else.”


__________


The human and filly sat in the Royal garden and had themselves a nice lunch of lettuce sandwiches, similar to the ones Zack ate during Maredi Gra in Ponyville. They dined at a small, stone table in the far corner of the garden. They had a great view of the fountain in the center and sat upon the grass around the circular table.
“So," Zack said with a mouth full of lettuce and bread. He swallowed and continued, “Have you made any new friends at school?”
Pinkie flipped a part of her curly hair out of her line of sight and replied, “Yea! Applejack and Rarity!”
“What are they like?”
“Well, Applejack likes my funny jokes, but she doesn’t like it when I talk too much... and Rarity likes my hair, though she said my coat color gives her a migraine sometimes.”
Zack, a tad puzzled, asked, “They don’t sound like good friends to me.”
“Oh, but they are! Rarity shares her crayons with me when we draw and Applejack asked if I wanted to come over for a sleepover one night in her tree house!” 
“Hmm, I take that back.” Zack took a sip of water and proceeded, “How about after this we play a board game or something, I know Princess Celestia has a ton of games in one of her conservatories.”
The two finished up their lunch and headed into the palace. They both picked out few a board games such as ‘Stables and Barns’ and took them up to the observatory. They spent a couple of hours up in the chamber playing games and goofing around. Later they played hide and go seek, which lasted a lot longer than Zack thought because Pinkie Pie had accidentally locked herself in the dungeon and it took a very long time to find her. He eventually had to ask some guards to help out in finding her and they spotted her in the dungeon next to cell where the previous Captain of the Guard was located. It was a little awkward meeting him again, but he didn’t say anything, he just gave a detesting look towards Zack and Pinkie Pie as they left. Pinkie responded with her tongue stuck out and her eyes crossed, mocking him as they left the dungeon.
After that little incident, there wasn’t much left to do. Zack and Pinkie went out on the front porch of the Western Tower and watched the sun go down over the tall mountains in the horizon. The ball of light lit up the sky and tinted the cumulus clouds in a bright salmon color overhead. Pinkie pointed out that the large, stationary cloud north of Canterlot was called Cloudsdale. She told him that that’s where the weather was made and only Pegasus ponies can live there since they are the only ones that can walk on clouds. This information, along with some other odd bits of random knowledge she told Zack was from what she had learned in school so far. Pinkie had also told him that she had started learning how to bake at the Cake’s residence, and that Carrot had told her that she was really good for being a first time baker and might let her work in the shop. Zack thought that it was great, and that Princess Celestia was right, that her living in Ponyville was the right choice all along.
Later that night, Zack and the pink filly stayed up and baked cakes, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, and all sorts of pastries; they even messed around and tried combining new things all together. Zack wasn’t as good or fast at making anything involving baking, so Pinkie Pie had to intervene a lot. They spent most the night using up nearly every bit of the cooking supplies, Zack knew that he would have a lot of the same thing to eat for a while with all these desserts they were producing. While Zack was taking another set of muffins out of the oven, he had noticed his filly friend face first in the cake batter bowl she was stirring; her fatigue had finally caught up with her hyper activity. He took her to the bathroom to wash her face of the batter and pat it dry. Zack finally carried her up the stairs to his bedroom and placed her under the covers. He was starting to feel the effects of the late night as well and shortly crashed after he had tucked in Pinkie Pie. He didn’t even get under the covers, but merely collapsed on the bed.
Morning came too soon and both rolled out of bed in a tired shamble. Zack opened the curtains and peered out the window to guess what time it was, he looked down into the front lawn of the palace to spot the pegasus ponies already attached to a white chariot, ready to escort Pinkie Pie back to Ponyville. Zack groaned and closed the curtains.The two half asleep friends carefully made their way down the dangerous, winding steps to the castle ground floor. They met Celestia in the hallway walking towards them.
She was already on her way to wake them up; when they passed by her, Celestia was about to say something, but the duo interjected simultaneously, “We know.”
They opened the front doors and ambled to the chariot, Zack picked the pony up and sat her gently in the vehicle. 
“I had fun last night, Pinkie.” Zack squinted in the morning sunlight, his eyes still adjusting to the brightness. The filly half smiled, her bed head blowing in the light breeze and the sunlight refracting off her own squinting eyes. 
She responded lightly, “Yea... I had a blast. I hope my birthday is as fun as today. We’ll just have to see tomorrow.”
Before Zack could even respond, the chariot lifted off the ground and she was totted back to Ponyville. Zack watched her fly away again and thought, “Damn, what do I get a pony for her birthday?”
> 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(7)







Zack paced around the dojo, trying to figure out what to get Pinkie Pie for her birthday which was tomorrow. His mind was completely blank of ideas and he couldn’t seem to focus on anything. He wanted to give her something, something that she would like and would have meaning to it. He couldn’t leave the castle to go out and buy the filly a gift. Even if he could, he didn’t have any money, or what they called, ‘bits’. He knew he could probably ask Celestia for some bits and have one of her maids or guards go out and buy something, but to Zack, that wouldn’t be as special as actually buying and choosing the gift himself. Zack’s work out and training with Valiant Steed was distraught by the limited amount of time he had until tomorrow. Valiant had noticed Zack being a little off that morning when they trained and asked what was going on. 
Zack said aloud, “When Pinkie Pie left this morning, she said that it was her birthday tomorrow and I don’t know what to get her.”
Valiant eased, “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind, judging by your circumstances already.”
Zack frowned in response, “I know, but I feel awful for not doing anything. I don’t even know what to get her.” Zack sat down in the center of the dojo floor, legs crossed and chin resting on the palm of his right hand. Valiant picked up his royal guard helmet and placed it on his head, covering his short, jet black mane. He hummed, thinking about what a party loving, pink pony would want. 
He walked in front of Zack’s vision and conferred, “You know, I’ve never seen that filly owning in clothing. I know ponies don’t usually dress up, so to speak, but maybe you could get her something along the lines of fashion.”
“That could work,” Zack noted, “but I don’t see her as the dressy type, to be honest.”
“Well just don’t go over board with it, just get her something small, but at the same time, meaningful.”
Zack promptly stood up and agreed, “I guess I’ll just have to do that...” Zack turned towards the guard and digressed, “Do you happen to know what the time is?”
Valiant rubbed his chin and looked off into space. Trying to guess the time by where the sun was set in the sky when he passed a window heading towards the dojo and adding the amount of time he spent in the dojo with Zack.
“I’d say...” he figured, “About midday.” Zack’s eyes widened. The day was half way over and he hadn’t made any progress towards getting Pinkie Pie’s present. He dashed out of the dojo to take a quick bath and start configuring his plan.


__________


Zack opened the high, Southern Tower door to walk out onto a porch, which had a telescope near the edge of the balcony. The wind was blowing mighty gusts high atop the towers, which Zack thought swayed them a little. The clouds were rolling fast along the atmosphere and the sun shown brightly in the pretty blue sky above. He steadily walked over to the telescope and peered in the lens. He rotated the mount towards the town center and focused the magnifier.
He could see the multitude of ponies shopping and socializing in the streets below. The diversity of both the elite and the average communed with one another in some way. The markets were a buzz with fast exchanges of goods and bits, and ponies that appeared to be yelling out to costumers to come buy their products or produce. Zack had noticed that most of the ponies were unicorns, which seemed odd at first, but remembered Celestia talking about how Canterlot was made by unicorns, so this made sense to him.
Zack zoomed in a little where her saw a fountain situated in the middle of the main street, the fountain was a intricate marble statue of the three different races of ponies, dancing around one another. In the center, a pillar of water constantly flowed in the hub and fell around the statue in an umbrella effect, not getting the pony effigies wet. Four other smaller pillars of water were circulated around the statue and the water fell into the clear, round pool below. Zack took notice of a stallion and his son near the pool’s edge. The boy tossed a bit into the pool and the two went on their merry way. Zack stood back from the telescope with a shrewd and somewhat dark idea. His eyes glowed with inspiration and a grin slowly developed on his blank face.
In the town center, Valiant Steed and his friends were enjoying a lunch down at a popular eatery. Valiant had situated his chair facing the fountain as he watched a father and son toss a bit into the wishing pool. He showed a faint smile while witnessing the regular everyday act. 
“What’cha thinking about, V?” The guard turned to one of his friends, who gave him a passive look.
Valiant smiled and responded, “It’s nothing, Shiny.”
“Oh, you can tell me anything, bro. So what happens to be on your mind?”
“Well I was just watching a father and his son toss a bit into the Fountain of Friendship, and it just made me reminisce about me and my father doing the same thing.”
Shining Armor took another bite from his lunch and clamored with a mouth full of food, “Wasn’t your dad a Royal Guard too?”
“Yea he was, until he went to visit the Griffon Kingdoms on Royal Duty to extend our peace treaty. Last I heard, he and his companions had gotten lost in the Icicle Mountains, just before getting to the capital.”
Shining Armor gave way to a grim emotion and looked away after saying, “Oh... I forgot...”
Valiant retorted in a calm, forgiving manner, “Hey man, it’s fine. It was a long time ago, no need to stress over it. My father wouldn’t have liked it anyways if we all sat around moping about him all the time.” 
The two smiled at one another and finished their lunches. On their way back to the castle, Valiant stopped in his tracks when his eye caught something in a near by shop window. He turned and walked slowly up to the clothing shop’s front window panel. On a little stand sat a tranquil, bright blue mane ribbon. If he recalled correctly, that color could almost match the eye color of Pinkie Pie. He looked around, his friends had forgotten about him and hadn’t looked to see if he was still following them. He ran into the store and placed the item on layaway, assuring the clerk he would be back by latest tomorrow morning to decide wether he was going to buy it or not. He raced out of the store and galloped to catch up with his friends, and soon to tell Zack what he thought would be a great gift for Pinkie Pie.


__________


It was a little passed midday, the afternoon sun sauntered across the heavens, giving a light warm color to the blue sky. Zack was sitting in library, calm and content. He was enjoying a new book he discovered entitled, “The Chronicles of Neighnia: The Griffon, the Unicorn, and the Stables”. Valiant Steed paced into the archives and searched around for Zack. He found him in a window lit area of the library and rushed over to him. Valiant stopped before Zack, who didn’t look up from his book. 
He took in a breath and said, “There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you!” Zack looked up from his book, smiled, and returned reading.
Valiant said with a hesitant tone, “Well, I found something while in town that maybe Pinkie Pie would like. It’s this blue mane ribbon, right? You know, a ribbon a pony would tie to the back of her mane? Well, I put it on layaway for you, it costs eight bits plus tax, which would be around ten bits I think, I didn’t ask.” Zack still sat there reading his book, an agitated expression washed over Valiant’s face. 
The stallion was about to blurt out something until Zack quickly shut the book with both hands, turned his head towards the pony and replied keenly, “Had to finish that chapter, sorry... I heard what you said... sort of... The important parts anyways.”
Valiant sighed and placed his left hoof over his face. He looked back up and assumed, “Since you don’t have any bits, and it isn’t that costly, I was thinking about buying it for you. Sort of repaying you back for the time we’ve spent in the dojo.”
“No need for that, my good stallion!” Zack swung his hand on Valiant Steed’s plate armored shoulder. He continued, “I have the cash, I just need you to go get it tomorrow morning, pronto.”
The pony was puzzled, he questioned, “How did you get the money? Give it to me quick, I think I can make it in time before the shop closes at–”
“Well... I don’t have the money... yet,” Zack interjected.
“What do you mean you don’t have the money yet?”
“Just trust me, I’ll have it by tomorrow morning.”
Valiant immediately thought he knew what he was going to do and stomped his left, front hoof in response. “No, you are not going out and stealing it from the shop!”
Zack gave a concerned expression, “Of course not! Who do you think I am, some sort of thief? I wouldn’t do that!”
The stallion eyeballed Zack and cautiously replied, “I still don’t know who you are, or why you came here. I don’t know where your heart is, I thought I did, but now I’m re-guessing myself.”
Zack truthfully assured the pony in a light hearted tone, “I swear, Valiant Steed, that I won’t go stealing anything, robbing, murdering, pillaging, pick pocketing, vandalizing, or do any other sort of criminal act tonight. Can I at least have some trust from you, a friend?”
Valiant nodded his head and sighed in approval, “Fine. Just watch yourself!” He pivoted on is hooves like a military pony would and left the library. Zack could only wait till nightfall to proceed with his plans.



__________



Night had fallen on a new moon, it was pitch black out coincidentally. Zack knew that tonight would be perfect for what he was planning. Zack opened the doors to the dark dojo and grabbed a dagger out of the room. He silently shut the door and the chamber was dark again. He made his way up to his bedroom and grabbed one of his cloaks he used whenever he would go walking in the garden and left the room again, blowing the candles out. 
Valiant Steed was patrolling the walls that night, he would continue to look up to spot and see if the western palace tower, where Zack’s room was located, was occupied, judging by the light. He looked up another time towards the tower top to see that the light had gone out, which usually meant he had went to bed. 
The guard squinted his eyes thought, “He’s planning something...”.
Zack beforehand had realized while staying up at night and standing on the tower balcony attached to his bedroom, that the Royal Guards would shift positions every night around a few hours before midnight, at midnight, and a few hours after midnight. They took about five minutes or so to leave their stations and have another guard watch over their position, so the wall was actually unguarded for five golden opportune minutes during each of these nightly shifts. He figured that he could sneak past every single guard if he timed his exit and entrance perfectly.
Valiant floated calmly over the wall’s pathway, spear and hand and hind legs crossed. His wings flapped slowly in the air, giving him enough push to levitate silently and gently in the air. 
An earth pony guard walked up next to him and said with a deep voice, “You know it’s time to shift stations, right V?”
“I know,” Valiant said in a calm, dark tone. “But I’m going to stay here for a while.”
The other guard shrugged and replied, “Suit yourself,” and walked back down the descending guard wall stairs and joined the other guards, along with Shining Armor. Valiant knew that Zack was going to do something, but he didn’t know what exactly; his eyes scanned over both sides of the wall intricately, ready to spot him in the action and call him out.
Zack slid across the far side of the wall, hugging the shadows that hung from the guard wall. He took a few steps back and vaulted over the wall like he did when he entered Canterlot Castle. Zack tried to land on the tips of his toes to silence his fall, but rolled in the process of doing so, which made a little unwanted noise.
Valiant heard this sound and immediately shot upward into the night sky. The other guards turned their heads and aimed their attention towards the pegasus. The pony narrowed his vision and focused on the other side of the wall. He then spotted Zack getting up, and Zack spotted him, the two met each other’s attention and froze. Valiant took in a deep breath, about to call the other guard’s full attention towards Zack, but had a sudden change of heart; realizing he was doing this for the little pink filly he cared about so much and not for anything else. 
“What’s going on, V,” an earth pony guard yelled toward him. Valiant sat there in the air and conjured a lie.
“I thought I saw something, but it was just a bat.”
“Would you stop being so tense and just relax, it’s a weeknight for Celestia’s sake, nothing exciting is going to happen anyways.”
Valiant looked back toward where he saw Zack to find that he was long gone. Concerning thoughts still flooded his mind with ideas about what he might do that night.



__________



The streets were darker and more sketchy than he had thought before. The winding alley ways grew deeper and the shadows draped the ends of those streets with mystery and unknown dangers. Zack stayed light on his feet, and was prepared at all times to attack anyone that gave threatening signs towards him. The city was abnormally quiet and desolate, the silence of it all provoked Zack’s fears and he quickened his pace towards the fountain. 
After a few short minutes which seemed to last much longer to Zack, he made it to the main square where the fountain was located. The fountain’s water supply had been turned off and what was left was the grim statue and the dark pool of water underneath its stone hooves. He didn’t make an immediate run for it, but waited a couple more minutes in the alley way over looking the entire area. The cobbled streets were lined with oil lamps flickering dimly in the night, casting shadows on the nearby apartments and cottages that edged the main square. A light fog had rolled into the town, moistening Zack’s clothing and blurring his long range of sight he once had. No one entered the streets or were seen in any of the windows from Zack’s point of view, even if he had the chance to take some money out of the fountain and leave, his nerves still flowed terror in his veins. Zack’s mind always fought with his own will during what he believed to be unsafe situations. Once his doubts entered his mind, and if he didn’t stop them in time, they would warp Zack’s original plans and judgment. 
Zack was riding on the fence about his plan now–he wondered if he should carry it out. He fought with all his might and decided to run out there as quick as he could, get as many bits as he can carry from the fountain, run back to the castle, wait for the guards to change stations and he was home free. Zack took in a deep breath, checked one last time to see if anyone was out in the streets and made a break for the Fountain of Friendship. His fears were pushed aside and his mind was only focused on grabbing the money and leaving. He stopped and looked into the fountain to see a couple of bits shimmering at the bottom of the dark waters. He stuck his hand in quickly and started scooping out coins, completely ignoring the fact of how much noise he was making from dunking his hand in the water and tossing wet bits into his pockets. He had grabbed as many as twenty-two bits before deciding that that was enough to buy the mane bow and to pay off Valiant Steed for keeping his mouth shut and for his helpfulness. 
He turned, thinking his fear had subsided to meet face to face with the thug he and Pinkie Pie encountered when they first entered Canterlot. Zack let out a quick gasp in response to the suddenness of the moment and the stallion tilted his head back and head butted Zack. He wobbled backwards and held himself from falling into the pool; the thug had pinned him against the fountain, he pulled out his twisted dagger and aimed it at Zack’s throat. 
The ruffian snickered with a light, deep English accent, “Well, ain’t this a surprise we meet again, monster. This time, I’m going to tear out your insides and leave you bleeding in the streets for the world to see who you really are!”
The thug lunged his blade towards Zack’s neck. Zack focused on his training, relieved his tenseness, and ducked underneath the attack; he then side stepped around the stallion and put his arms up in a defensive position. He clearly remembered some rules in one of the handbooks he read, “Use your foes attacks against him. Only strike when you see the critical moment to attack.” 
The thug turned and leaped toward Zack. At every sign of an oncoming attack Zack saw, he swiftly positioned his feet to dodge the oncoming attacks. No matter where the pony swung, Zack could predict where the blade was going to be and he always moved far out of the way when the pony aimlessly swung. Zack saw a perfect moment to strike his opponent, time seemed to slow down a bit, self revealing the ‘critical moment’. Zack stopped himself in mid-thought and decided not to use his full power to attack the pony; instead, he cocked his right arm back a bit and jabbed the stallion right in between the eyes two swift times, and gave him a swinging left hook to knock the thug off his hooves. The pony was flung to the ground by Zack’s superior strength, but stumbled back up; the fires of revenge lit his eyes and he charged toward Zack once more.
The stallion swung again twice, nose broken and sight blurred. Each swing he gave, Zack moved out of the way. He then did something Zack overlooked, the pony swung his body around and bucked Zack in the chin, Zack was thrown to ground by the brute force, his head knocked against the cobble stone street. He could taste blood in his mouth, his memory was distorted for a few seconds and his sight blackened a bit. He tried to get up, but the thug jumped on his torso and put one of his hooves against Zack’s chest. With the other, he drove the dagger downward towards Zack’s heart. Zack tried to stop him with his other arm, but knocked his aim off and the blade went into Zack’s shoulder blade only half way. A scorching pain flared across Zack’s upper body, he had never had anything this intense happen to him before. He had never broke any major bones, had any major surgery, this was all new and a bit scary for Zack. He pushed through the pain so that he could try and live another day. 
“Ya bleed just like us,” exclaimed the demented thug, eyes intensified on Zack’s worried ones.
With his hand around the pony’s hoof, he mustered enough strength in his arm to withdraw the blade and with that arm, he held back the stallion’s own brawn. With his other hand, he took the dagger he had taken from the dojo out of his pocket and aimed directly for the pony. The thug didn’t see the other danger coming and his neck was soon greeted by Zack’s dagger. He plunged it into the pony’s neck, he could feel the thug’s strength drain. His eyes widened in sudden realization as to what had happened and let out some gasping wheezes. Zack could now easily push the pony away, and he tossed him off of his weakened body. He stumbled upward and held his dagger with one hand and with the other held his bleeding shoulder wound. He felt like he was going to be alright, it was just an excruciating pain that pulsed now through his entire body. He looked down and noticed the bleeding pony, gargling and choking on his own blood.
Zack stepped back and realized the sudden horror of the situation. He had just murdered one of these ponies, the ponies he thought were all fun loving and had good intentions; he hadn’t met a bad pony yet, or one that deserved to die in any way. He never meant to kill him, it was out of self defense. He looked down at his open hands, one was covered in his own blood and the other held the dagger with the ponies blood on it. Zack had never committed such an evil thing before in his life, a type of creature he thought was so beautiful was dying a painful death in front of him, because of his actions. He should have heeded Valiant Steed’s wisdom, but his arrogance got in the way. One half of Zack told him he did the right thing, while the other half scolded him for killing this creature. 
The delusional and dying pony tried screaming for help, but his lungs had filled up with too much blood, he had drowned in his own vital fluids. Zack flung his cloak back on and was ready to run, but spotted a lone, undistinguishable filly looking out her front door into the town square to see what the commotion was. Zack took off in a nearby alleyway and left the dead pony there in the streets. Zack ran through the alley ways with tears in his eyes, dodging wagons and barrels as he made his way to the castle. He tried to fight the pain, he fought it as long as he could, Zack had to come to a halt and puked in the corner of an alleyway. He wiped the vomit off his chin and paced himself back to the castle.
He waited for when the guards shifted again and leaped the wall, crawled through a castle window he had left open and made his way silently though the moon lit halls. As Zack turned the corner, he saw something at the end of throne room chamber he was passing and swiftly threw himself against the wall, covering his mouth and trying to be as quiet as possible. He peeked around the corner to see Celestia looking out her throne room window, over the night fallen plains and hills. Her sparkling mane and tail flowed gently in the dark like a ghost, Zack thought that maybe she didn’t hear him and that he could sneak past the doorway. As soon as he was about to pass the doorway which lead directly to the Western Tower where his bedroom was, he heard her start to mutter something. Zack stopped and concentrated on what she was saying. It was some other language he couldn’t decipher. He noticed though that she was talking as if she was scared, her tone of voice was timid and frightened. She spoke so quietly, yet so afraid of something Zack could not tell. She spoke directly out the window, she still hadn’t noticed Zack. He silently crept away from the strange moment, and left her in the dark. 


__________


Zack entered his bedroom, his eyes watery, his mind fighting with itself, and his hands shaking from the trauma of the sudden events that had occurred. He looked up and jumped backwards, startled at seeing Valiant Steed in the corner of his room waiting for him. He flew over to him with anger in his eyes, but when he got closer, he realized that Zack was hurt and his mood changed.
“What happened out there, Zack?” Zack emptied his pockets and wet bits fell onto the floor in between the two. The pegasus looked down and back up with confusion and asked, “Where did you get these?”
“The fountain.”
“The Fountain of Friendship? You stole those bits out of the pool? What’s wrong with you?”
“I thought...” Zack was beginning to fade. He continued, “I thought that if people threw money in the streets and no one picked them up, it wasn’t considered stealing...”
Valiant scratched his head in disbelief and confusion, “I... I don’t...”
Zack’s vision darkened as Valiant's words became murmurs to him. Pain and exhaustion overpowered his body as he fell on his knees, wobbled a bit, then fell flat on the ground and lay motionless in front of the astonished Valiant Steed. He didn’t know what to do for a couple of seconds, he just stood there, watching the lifeless body before him.
The pegasus dragged the human's body to the bathroom and sat Zack in the tub. He stripped him of his upper clothing to reveal where the blade met his shoulder and left him there. Valiant flew out the balcony window and down to where the guards were. He glided down towards where Shining Armor was stationed. 
He landed and the Captain of the Guard proclaimed, “What are you doing off your post, V?”
“There’s an emergency and I need you.”
Shining Armor knew when Valiant Steed wasn’t kidding, his tone and look he gave him were key giveaways to a serious issue at hand. He left his post and rushed up to the Western Tower with him. Valiant opened the door of the bathroom for Shining Armor to witness Zack’s unconscious body slowly losing blood in the tub.
“What happened,” asked Shining Armor with a look of terror that swept over his face.
“No time to explain, I need you to close the wound some how and stop the bleeding.”
Shining Armor focused his magic and his horn glowed with a purple tint. He conjured a towel, a needle and a thread and proceeded to stitch up Zack. After some time, that was all Shining Armor could do, Valiant Steed wrapped Zack in a large bandage which enfolded around his shoulder blade and ribcage. They cleaned him up and sat him in his bed. Valiant turned toward Shining with a stern look in his face. 
“You cannot tell anyone about this, Shiny. No one must know.”
“I won’t, no one will find out, V.” Shining turned to leave, but before exiting the bedroom, he turned his head and said, “Just give me answers when you can.”
Valiant Steed nodded and Shining Armor closed the door behind him. Valiant looked over the weary and asleep human and sighed deeply. He stayed up all night to keep an eye on Zack. He didn’t know why he cared so much for someone he locked up a month ago, but the relationship they had made in the dojo and testing that friendship in the last couple of days proved to V that he had truly met someone special. That person cared so much for pleasing that pink pony who gave her time and will to risk protecting the only person who cared for her. He cared so much that he almost died for her tonight, died to return the favor. Valiant sat in the dark room and thought for a long time about his life and his priorities.



__________




One day later



A pink filly stared out of her apartment window and gave a long sigh. No one remembered her birthday, again. She wasn’t driven to tears of sadness, but depressed about the events that had transpired and wondered what was going on in Canterlot. The night wind swept through her curly mane and brushed her face, almost as if trying to comfort her. She placed her hooves on the window seal and was about to close the window until she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. 
A lone pegasus swooped down into the small sleeping village of Ponyville and stopped directly in front of the filly’s apartment window. She leaped back and closed her eyes in surprise as the wind that followed the pegasus blew into her room. The pony hovered in the night, with a small smile on his face and a wrapped up package gripped in his teeth.
He gently laid it on the window seal and pronounced quietly, “Miss Pinkie Pie, you have one great friend who I am lucky enough to experience with you. This gift is from him to you. He’s sorry he couldn’t make it to your birthday party, ...something–”
“Oh it’s fine, I didn’t have a party anyways.” She smiled towards the armor-less Valiant Steed whom she didn’t recognize. He nodded his head and smiled in response. 
He placed his left hoof over his forehead and saluted, “Until we meet again, Miss Pie.” He shot off like a rocket into the night sky and flew back towards Canterlot. Pinkie Pie rushed over to her window and watched as he became smaller and smaller in the distance, she turned toward the wrapped package and smiled, knowing Zack cared.
> 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(8)





The Morning of Pinkie Pie’s Birthday




Warm, morning sunlight bathed the once dark bedroom. As the light crept up the bed and onto Zack’s face, he awoke. He sat there for a minute, his thoughts were scrambled about last night's expedition and how he found himself in his bed. He slowly sat up and realized his shoulder was wrapped tightly in some sort of strong medical adhesive. With his hand, he pressed the wound and a sudden jolt of pain erupted from it. With that tension of nerves and feelings, he remembered the fight he was in, the pony he had killed, and only walking into his bedroom; that was all he could remember. He wondered how he even got this bandage wrapped around him. He looked up, seeing his new bedroom he had grown use to overtime and checking to see if anything was out of place. Zack was surprised to see Valiant Steed lying asleep in the corner of the room; he looked peaceful and if he wasn’t showing signs of breathing, Zack would have thought he was dead.
The stallion took a large, awakening breath through his nostrils and opened his eyes. He yawned and sat himself up, moistening his dry lips. He titled his head both ways to crack his neck, he had obviously slept on it wrong and was massaging it with one of his hooves. He looked up to see Zack staring back at him, with a questionable look on his face. 
“You saved me last night,” Zack hesitantly said.
Valiant blinked, readjusting his vision before responding, “Yes. I needed help from Shining Armor though, but you almost didn’t make it. A few more hours with a wound like that and you would have been dead. You lucky son of a–”
“Thank you,” Zack calmly replied. Valiant was confused, he thought Zack would have made a witty, arrogant retort back, but instead, thanked him for saving him. 
The stallion responded honestly, “You’re welcome.” He then altered the subject of the conversation, “You don’t need to tell me what happened last night if you don’t wish.”
“I insist on you knowing. I got stabbed by a thug, the same thug that threatened me and Pinkie Pie when we entered Canterlot on Maredi Gra. The only way to stop him... was to kill him.” 
Zack sat up a bit more in his bed and added quickly, “I did it out of self-defense, honest. I didn’t know things would escalade... he wanted revenge.”
“I believe you,” Valiant confirmed, his eyes looking out of the sunny window, wondering if it really was the right thing to do. He looked back at Zack and questioned in a worry stricken tone, “What if Princess Celestia knows about this? You’ll be banished or executed for sure if this news turns sour in the public’s eyes. What if somepony saw you?”
“Someone did see me, or at least I saw one other mare looking out her front door towards me. I was cloaked then, and I ran into the alley way as fast as I could.”
Valiant’s face showed disbelief and worry. “Then it’s only a matter or time, Zack.”
Zack uncovered himself from the bed sheets and sat up from the feather bed. He grabbed one of his cloaks that was the closest to him and garbed himself, hiding his shoulder injury. He turned toward the silent pony and grinned, “I’m going down there and telling Princess Celestia the truth. At least I’ll be remembered as a truthful creature, accepting my own fate if I’m banished or executed.”
Zack opened the bedroom door and left it cracked as he exited. Valiant sat motionlessly, thinking about Zachary. He soon raised his head with a burst of inner justice and left the bedroom to at least help Zack’s plea against the punishment he might receive. If anything, he thought that maybe telling his side of the story would lessen the punishment.


__________


Zack entered the throne room alongside Valiant Steed. Celestia was near the end of the chamber talking with Twilight Sparkle. She seemed happy and carefree, like her regular self. She showed no signs of knowing what had happened last night. Zack and Valiant looked at one another, mentally informing each other about the odd situation by their facial emotions. Celestia turned to the two and began walking over to them, with Twilight skipping behind. 
“This is it...” Zack thought. He had prepared on what he was going to say to her, using certain words to try and make himself sound as guilt free as possible when telling her. His mind went blank as she approached the two while showing her causal and well known, ‘Celestia smile’. Zack had to wing it; his mind was at a total loss since his thought process was breaking under the weight of the situation. Valiant expressed zero emotion while in front of the Princess, still showing physically that he can control his pressing feelings in front of the regal alicorn.
“Good morning, Zack. And good morning to you too, Valiant Steed.” She directed her attention toward the stallion, “How have things been along the guard wall? It’s been a while since we last chatted.”
“They’ve been great ma’am! It’s been an honor serving thus far in your castle,” saluted the serious pony.
“Well I’m glad to hear that, keep up the good work!” She redirected her attention now towards Zack. His heart froze when he stared into that one visible eye of hers.
“And how are you doing this morning, Zack?”
He stammered out, “F-fine... ”
She tilted her head and gleefully responded, “Well isn’t that just, fine and dandy!” She walked between the two and proceeded towards the western courtyard, Twilight Sparkle still following behind her with a joyous, white smile. The duo turned towards each other, Zack’s face shown a stupefied expression, Valiant just shrugged in response.
“Oh,” Celestia turned back towards the two, Twilight skipped back and turned to look at Celestia. The duo became rigid again as she walked up to them. Her horn gave off a yellow surge of energy and a glowing, gold sphere appeared at her side. The sphere grew and then discharged into bright sparks, revealing floating pieces of parchment. 
“Have you two heard of what happened last night?”
She levitated the papers over to Zack and Valiant, Zack took hold of what was realized now to be a newspaper. He lowered it so that Valiant could read the front page as well. The paper’s headlines read, “Most Wanted Stallion Found Dead Near the Fountain of Friendship Last Night!” Zack continued reading the sub articles. “Eye witness reports claim to have seen a ‘cloaked pony’ escaping the crime scene”. Zack took in a deep breath, having the relaxed feeling that of a large weight was lifted off of his shoulders. He didn’t know why the eye witness thought he was a pony, but he was glad that she did.
Celestia noted, “After years of looking for this one pony, he’s finally dead. The paper read that he died of a knife wound in the neck, which is very odd for pony murders. What's even more strange is that murders don’t usually occur that often here in Equestria.”
Well, that sure is interesting,” was the only words Zack could muster out at the time. Valiant remained silent and concealed his emotions once more.
“I wonder who that pony could be,” Twilight questioned herself aloud. “Whoever that pony was, she sure kick’s flank!”
“Twilight,” Celestia informed, “we don’t use that language!”
Twilight put her hoof up to her mouth and grieved, “I’m sorry.”
Valiant perked up after reading the entire article, “Well, whoever did that must have had good intentions on doing so!”
Zack concurred, “Indubitably!” He handed the paper back to Celestia. She used her unicorn magic to disappear the newspaper like she did to make it appear before them. 
Celestia turned back towards the doorway. In the process of turning, she gave Zack a certain look that may have hinted to her knowing what really happened. Zack just gave a slight grin in response, not to truly convey that there was another side to this story, but just to respond to her guessing presumptions.
As she was about to leave the throne room with Twilight, Zack heard something shaking above him. Valiant noticed this too and looked up. They both saw that the chandelier above their heads shook a little. The decorative hanging chimed and swayed in an odd fashion; then something shook it again, increasing the rocking motion of it. Celestia stopped and turned, she heard it too and looked up. In an instant, the ground shook beneath their feet and hooves, dust fell from the ceiling and the room began to shake. Sounds of thunder echoed outside the castle along with distant roars and cries. Pieces of pottery, paintings, and chairs began falling over from the constant shaking of the castle foundations. 
“What’s happening,” cried Twilight Sparkle as she hung on to Princess Celestia’s leg.
Valiant Steed yelled some useless information over the noise, “Canterlot hasn’t had an earthquake in a century!” Celestia knew exactly what was going on, this had happened before, a few millennia ago; a look of terror swept over her face and she bolted outside. The others quickly followed behind her, trying to keep up.
Princess Celestia burst out the front doors to the courtyard and looked up into the sky. The noises had grown much louder, the roars of whatever it was coming from the sky had grown tremendously. Twilight Sparkle and Valiant Steed followed Celestia out and gawped towards the blue sky in response to what they were seeing. Zack trailed behind and when he ran outside and looked up, he saw an extraordinary spectacle.
Thousands upon thousands of dragons encircled the skies above Canterlot. Their flapping wings created so much turbulence that it shook the ground. They came in all different shades and sizes and each roared differently in varying pitches. Some breathed fire into the air, creating explosions in the skies; they were almost doing this in a taunting way, seeing how close they could get to setting something on the ground on fire. A multitude of cries from the city could be heard. A large group on mares and stallions clamored to get inside the castle for safety, but the guards held the gate back and tried to secure the perimeter. 
“Let them in,” shouted Celestia; the guards obeyed to her command. A flood of ponies ran straight for the castle, not even looking towards Zack whose body was slightly obscured behind Celestia's form.
Shining Armor galloped over to Celestia and quivered, “What are your orders? What do we do, my Princess?”
She turned towards him and commanded, “Just be ready, that’s all we can do...” Shining ran back to order his stallions what Celestia told him. 
One dragon suddenly broke off from the circling thousands above and plummeted towards the earth. He was a very large dragon, one of the largest Zack could see. As the dragon landed in the courtyard, it quaked the ground beneath their feet and hooves and nearly every pony fell over; Zack held his ground and shielded his eyes from the dust the beast blew over the courtyard. 
The old dragon’s head rose high and tall, it looked down at Zack with menacing eyes and opened its large wings. Zack was terrified at the creature’s mighty and ferocious looks. It was a dark purple dragon with blazing green eyes that struck fear into everyone's hearts. Its emerald green spines stretched down its head towards the end of its tail. Two, large curved horns were stationed on the sides of the dragon’s head. Its tail was like a mighty oak tree, and its legs were like powerful pillars of stone. Scales like shields encased the beast from head to talon, but his stomach remained bare.
The royal guards quickly arose and began throwing their spears at the beast and shouting, “Protect the Princess!” They did this while unicorn guards focused their magic together and blasted a couple purple lighting bolts at the dragon. The beast was unfazed by their weak attempts at attacking him, he just lifted his great tail and slammed on the ground, throwing the ponies back on their backs. The dragon lifted his head and roared in an explosive voice. The thundering cry made Zack press his hands against his ears so that it wouldn’t hurt him.
Once the dragon was silent again, he looked back down at Zack, who had stumbled up again and was slowly walking away from the terror inducing behemoth. Then, in a strange moment, Zack stopped trying to get away from the dragon. In that instant, the dragon spoke to Zack in an ancient tongue he had never heard before. The voice of the beast rang deep in Zack’s ears, and he seemed to be talking directly into his mind and to no one else. In that moment, he felt like the dragon was much more than just an animal. He spoke slowly and strongly, articulating every syllable so it left the dragon’s lips clear and concise.


“GÔLÃGFÃBÖR PÊNÏNÊNÃ NÏNRÕFÃ

RÕÃG FLVÑRSÊÑÃ ÜGVÑÃG”


The dragon took in a large breath and blasted a blazing green flame from its maw. The intensity of the heat blew Zack back, even though the blast was above him. It scorched the side of the castle, indenting something into the ivory palace itself. The dragon discontinued the flames and shot off into the sky, leaving behind only smoke, ash and dirt in its wake. The dragon roared once more towards the army of his kin and the others flew off behind the leading dragon–off into the mountains far beyond Canterlot.
Celestia stood up and checked to see if everyone was okay. Twilight was still grasping tightly to her leg, still shaking from the dramatic events that had just occurred. She turned to see the scorched wall of the castle. Zack arose after being knocked back from the ascent of the leader dragon. He got up and turned to see that the dragon left markings burned into the wall. It was some sort of rune language he couldn’t decipher. 





“What is this, what does it mean,” he asked Celestia.
She focused even more on it after he had said that, trying to decipher the strange language or if it had any hidden meanings to it. After a short wait, she gave up and responded, “I’m not sure... it seems though I’ve seen this before, these runes are so.... familiar.”


__________


A couple of hours had past since the dragons left Canterlot. All of the civilian ponies were escorted out of the castle and Celestia, Valiant Steed, and Zack stood out in the courtyard where the runes were, trying to come up with an idea as to what it meant. It was about midday and the sun was bearing down on their heads. It was getting too hot to be outside so they decided to head into the dining hall, to have some lunch and cool off. 
As they were eating in silence, still pondering about the message behind the runes, Twilight Sparkle entered the room with a large, leather tome on her back. She focused her magic to lift the brown book off of her and onto the dining room table. She cleared her throat and insinuated her ideas about the runes. 
“So I found this book in the Starswirl the Bearded section of the library.” Celestia gave her a displeasing look, knowing that she wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place. Twilight noticed and half smiled back.
She continued cautiously, “This intriguing book, ‘Lost Languages and Lore’ has a hoof written chart disclosing an alphabet similar to the one that is scorched on the side of the castle!”
Valiant Steed asked, “You’ve found this all by yourself?”
Twilight affirmed her knowledge with a boastful reply, “Yes indeed!” She flipped through the old pages of the book delicately with her hooves until she had come to a certain spot in the ancient texts.
“Ah-ha! Here it is! The guide to ancient rune script known as–” She stopped and tried to pronounce it correctly, squinting her eyes trying to enunciate every letter correctly, “‘Olrûgênã’, or, in modern pony terms it says, ‘Ancient Speech’.”
“So did you go outside and see what it said?” Zack asked, desperately wanting to know what it meant. Twilight’s mood changed and her face showed a crestfallen appearance. Zack knew it was going to be something bad, he had deep wrenching pull in his stomach about it before she even entered the room.
“Well... I did... “ she said in a glum tone. “It read that... basically... well... “ she stopped, sighed, and finally said, “Bring the son or face war.” Everyone at the table turned their eyes towards Celestia awaiting a response. She sat there and thought for a moment, Zack wouldn’t have expected her to look so calm in a situation like this. 
“A war with the dragons, over whose son,” Zack questioned himself in thought. That’s when he put the pieces together in his head, "Why didn’t I see it before? The mighty dragon that scorched the castle walls, it was the same color and body as Spike's; Twilight Sparkle’s baby dragon is the son of that larger leader dragon!"
Celestia stood up and gave in to her opposing thoughts with sad remorse, “We will give Spike back to dragons. There is nothing we can do, either we face the massacre of our kind, or give in to what the dragons want.”
Valiant stood up, “She’s right. I was there at Dragon Peak when me and my scouts found the dragon egg inside of cavern close to the summit. We thought the cave had been abandoned, we haven’t seen dragons in those parts for decades. I guess we were wrong. I’m assuming that that’s where the beast will be, at the highest summit of Dragon Peak where the cavern is.”
“The question is,” Zack added, “who will take Spike back up to the summit of Dragon Peak?” The chamber was silent. Twilight was the only one expressing any visual emotion besides sternness. She was holding back tears, knowing that her pet, the one she received on the same day she became Celestia’s protégé and received her cutie mark was going to be taken away. She would have given everything to keep him, even her cutie mark. 
Celestia looked towards Zack with an earnest look and announced, “Zack will take Spike up the mountain, alone.” Zack was taken back by what she had said, his shock soon turned into a growing ember inside his heart, his anger was stirring.
“How could you make me do this alone? At least let me take some royal guards with me!” She held her head high, subliminally trying to convey her dominance over him. 
“I don’t want any of my people hurt. We agreed that you could only stay here if you performed some royal duties under me. This is your first command: Deliver the baby dragon back to his father.”
Zack’s exasperated, “This is unfair! You’re sending me to my death! You can’t do this!”
“I’m not asking you to do this, it is an order, Zack!” He knew what she was trying to imply, she knew about the murder. Even though she never relayed on how much she cared, it was almost retribution for his foolish acts last night. Zack’s eyes intensified on Celestia; he quickly got up from his seat, turned drastically and made his way up the Western Tower to prepare for what was coming. The others sat there in an awkward silence; Celestia finally took her seat once more, finished her meal and left the dining hall. 


__________


Zack prepared for his quest. Celestia, a week beforehand, had made him some dojo appropriate clothes. They were light, sleeveless shirts and some long, fitted pants much like sweat pants, but made with a different, thinner material. His tennis shoes that he still kept from when he was transported here were starting to fall apart and was in need for some new ones. He had made his own socks overtime, just pieces of cloth he wrapped around his feet; it wasn’t very comfortable, but it kept away blisters. He wrapped his feet twice in these handmade socks, preparing for the mountain climbing that he was going to attempt. Valiant had came up already and handed him a back pack designed to hold the baby dragon in. He then left to go prepare the chariot for Zack’s immediate departure. As Zack was about to leave, he noticed the purple filly standing in his doorway with the baby dragon riding on her back. 
“Hey.” Zack’s response was cold, he didn’t mean to direct some of his anger on to the filly, but couldn’t help it at the moment, his mind was preoccupied on thoughts of his final hours left to live.
“I know you’re mad with the Princess,” she responded warmly, trying to impart her sincerity, “but, I want to come with you.” Zack’s thought process was blocked by this statement that he wasn’t predicting her to say. 
Zack stated, “You know what Celestia said, I have to do this alone.”
“I want to sneak up there with you. I want to send Spike off properly before I never see him again.” Zack turned and looked out his balcony window, he could see the chariot preparing to leave for Dragon Peak below him. They couldn’t waste much time, they didn’t know when the dragons would return and start a war with the equines. 
Twilight walked up behind Zack and persisted, “From what I’ve read, dragons are peaceful creatures... territorial sometimes, but peaceful. You shouldn’t worry too much, they may look dangerous, but they can be reasonable.”
She stopped to take a breath and continued, “Even though I care about Spike and love him dearly, I care more for all the other ponies in Equestria as well, good and bad.”
“Alright,” Zack gave in, “you can come. You just have to hide yourself somehow.”
She smiled and assured, “That’ll be the easy part, I’ve been working on a shrinking spell that works for an hour. Just hide me in the back pack you’ll be carrying Spike in. It has some side pouches on it where you can safely put me in.”
Zack took a hold of the bag and checked it out to see if she was right. He turned back to her and asked with a falter in his voice, “Are you sure you can do this?”
“I’ve practiced it multiple times... on Spike at least. But I know it will work!” She spread her legs a bit and took a firm stance as if she was about to get hit by a large object. She said with a forceful voice, “Stand back and take Spike!”
Zack did as he was told, he grabbed Spike off of Twilight’s back and took a step backwards, putting the baby dragon on his bed. She raised her unicorn horn high in the air, it gave off a few purple sparks before beginning to radiate a purple flare. The glow intensified and she began to sweat; her eyes closed and her knees bent a little. A bright purple mist began to flow from the tip of her unicorn horn and wrap around her body, the noise of the rising magical build up rang through the bedroom. When the brightly colored mist fully enveloped her body, a powerful light shimmered through the purple fog and evaporated it. In that instant, she appeared to be gone. It took Zack a couple of seconds to realize that the filly had shrunk down to the size of a golf ball. 
“Down here,” Twilight squeaked, her voice warped by her new size. Zack bent down and gently picked up the filly. He walked over to his bed and placed her in the side pouch of the back pack.
“Good job on that spell,” Zack commended, “now just be quiet as we leave.” He placed the toddler dragon inside the back pack with just his head sticking out and made his way to the chariot. Celestia was waiting for Zack at the front doors of the castle. His mood soon changed when he saw that her’s hadn’t either.
Celestia questioned Zack as he got closer to the door, “Where’s Twilight?”
He replied quickly and sternly, “Library.” Zack side stepped around Celestia and proceeded out the door. The afternoon sun glowed high in the sky as Zack hopped into the chariot with Celestia following behind.
She stopped to the side of the chariot and said with strange care, “Be safe.”
Zack turned towards the alicorn and snarled, “I can be safe when I’m dead.” Zack spun towards the pegasus ponies pulling the chariot, luckily one of the two happened to be Valiant Steed. Zack shouted, “Let’s go, we’re burning daylight here!”

The chariot took off and soared off of the mountains that held Canterlot. Zack could see Ponyville from how high up he was, he could also see the Everfree Forest and maybe the other woodlands where he found Pinkie Pie in, he wasn’t quite sure. Zack was holding on to the rim of the chariot as tightly as he could, hoping not to fall off from the amount of wind that was blowing against him. 
He yelled over the howling gale towards Valiant, “How do you pegasus ponies do this?"
“We’re just use to it! Not much to it if you’re born with wings and hollow bones!” The chariot sailed over the eastern hills which soon formed into mountains; they began ascending further into the air as the Drackenridge mountain chain formed beneath them. 


__________


The destination was in sight after around an hour of flying; Zack was worried about Twilight Sparkle and her enchantment wearing off. He periodically checked on her to see if she hadn’t fallen out. Spike was already fast asleep from the rocking motions of the chariot, which made even Zack a little tired. If it wasn’t for the dropping temperature from the altitude climb, he would have been fast asleep already with the baby dragon. 
The sun was near setting and Dragon Peak was in the distance; it reached far above the cloud tops and was truly a magnificent sight to see. Snow had capped around the highest parts of the pinnacle as far as Zack could see, but the area where Valiant said they would land wouldn’t be snowy at all. They landed a little more than half way up the mountain on a flat, rocky platform that hung from the mountain itself, it looked as if this platform was designed for this one occasion that they would be landing on. The chariot hit the ground hard, but Spike remained fast asleep still. Zack slowly climbed out of the chariot and looked up at the scaling mountain, the cloud barrier was closer to him than he thought. 
He turned and Valiant said, “This is as high as we can take you, our wings would freeze if we went too much higher.”
“How high do you think it is,” asked Zack. His head tilted back and eyes scanning the sides of the mountain looking for the easiest way to climb up it.
“I wouldn’t think too much further. It is the tallest mountain in the country of Equestria, but not the highest known mountain.”
Zack turned towards Valiant, his voice changed to a more lighthearted tone. He handed him the bits he received last night and said, “You need to go, buy the gift for Pinkie Pie, wrap it up and give it to her tonight, you can keep the rest... can you do that for me?” 
Valiant smiled and said, “Of course, after all you’ve been through, I’d be happy to help.”
Zack put his hand on V’s shoulder and said, “You’re a great friend, V. If something happens, just know that you’ve made an impact in my life.” They gave each other a quick hug and Valiant and the other pegasus pony took off back to Canterlot. 
Valiant yelled back, “We’ll be back in the morning, be here by then!” Zack waved in return and noticed something happening in his back pack. He took it off quickly to see that the same bright purple smoke that was apart of Twilight’s spell was emitting now from the bag. He took Spike out just before Twilight Sparkle grew back to her original size, destroying the back pack in the process. She stumbled a bit before firmly situating herself.
The purple filly blurted, “I think I’m going to be sick. Being small makes me dizzy,” she said, her voice quivering as she promptly fell over. Twilight looked up at Zack and continued, “Remind me never to do that spell again...” Zack smiled and nodded his head. He looked up at the ferocious mountain side, popped his knuckles and neck, and was ready to ascend Dragon Peak.
> 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(9)







Night had fallen across the Drackenridge Mountains, low forming stratus clouds swept through the mountain valleys as the high cumulous clouds that wrapped around the top of Dragon Peak diminished. The stars shone brightly in the cold mountain air, the crescent mare in the moon gleamed down an ethereal light on the side of the cliffs. The mountain slopes began to get steeper as Zack climbed higher. He eventually had to carry both Spike and Twilight on his back, being that Twilight was unable to latch her hooves into any of the cliff side crevices. Zack took his time finding the best fitting hole to place his foot or hand into before putting his full weight into the rock face. He had done some rock climbing in his past life and knew the basics of climbing a cliff side, but still considered this a horrifying challenge to take on. He could start to see above him a ledge that could possibly be where a cave was and pushed himself to keep moving upward.
He swung his right leg over and placed his foot into a rocky slit in the cliff, that was when he felt the firm rock beneath give way. Twilight held onto Zack’s neck tightly and Zack gripped firmly to his holdings in the rocks as half his body swayed openly in the air before grabbing back on to the ledge. Twilight was shaking in fear; Spike kept his hold onto the filly’s back, still fast asleep. Zack waited a couple seconds to catch his breath before trying again to find another hole in the cliff side to put his foot into.
Eventually they made it to the ledge Zack aimed for earlier, and he was right, there was a large, open and dark cavern before them. Twilight jumped off Zack’s shoulders with Spike still holding to her. Zack plopped down on the cliff side, his feet dangling off the rock plateau edge. 
Twilight shivered, “We c-can’t stall now, w-we have t-to get Sp-spike back to his father!”
“He can wait,” Zack inhaled and saw his warm breath meet the frosty air. He was cold natured–he didn’t love being in frigid temperatures, but he didn’t mind it and thought it to be rather relaxing. He stared openly over the mountain tops; the wind blew against his face and dried his lips. It was very beautiful sight, the night cloaked mountains, the starry dotted skies, the bright crescent moon, it reminded him of camping, if he ever camped in the Rockies. His shoulder pulsated with pain; it never quite healed as fast as he would have wanted it, but was surprised to finally realize that he had just traversed a cliff face with a knife wound in his shoulder. It didn't dare cross his mind, and somehow he had ignored the pain until now.
Zack noticed Twilight shaking and chattering her teeth; she tried curling up to stay warm, but was still shaking. Zack took off his shirt and wrapped it around her. It was much bigger than her body and it covered her nicely. 
He commented, “That should help keep you a little warmer.” He stopped and continued, looking deep into the cavern behind them. “Well let’s go give Spike back to his father, if he’s even here.”
He stood up and turned toward the dark cave. He slowly walked over to the cave's mouth, it was pitch black and his eyes couldn’t adjust to the deep darkness at all. Twilight came up beside him and deeply concentrated. A few purple sparks whisked from her horn and suddenly she created a purple light on the tip of her horn, revealing the cavern’s design. Zack smiled at her and rubbed her head to commend her intuitive thinking. They began walking through the dim, mountain chamber, equally afraid of whatever was to come.
After a few minutes of creeping cautiously in the shadows of the cavern, they entered a large dark chamber. Twilight’s glow spell couldn’t light the entire rocky chamber because of its expanse. They quietly made their way a little further into the center of the chamber, or so they assumed. He could smell the earth around him; it clogged his nose with a strange stench. Their steps echoed long into the chamber, giving the two an idea of how large the cave really was. The cave was much colder than the air outside, even for Zack. He crossed his arms and rubbed his shoulders, trying to get himself warm.
Suddenly, a wall of green fire shot up from the ground and blocked their exit. They started frantically looking around, seeing what else was going on and to try and find the cause of whomever created that fire. The wall of emerald flame spread around the edge of the chamber and lit the entire cavern in an ghastly blaze. Even with the room fully visible now, they saw no one inside but themselves, tainted in the pale green light. 
Zack heard something above him, and before he could look up, something large crashed in front of Zack and Twilight in a blur of speed. The cavern shuddered and dust and rocks fell from the ceiling. When the room stopped shaking, Zack saw that it was the same dragon that created the runes on the castle wall. Its deep green eyes were affixed on the duo; it opened its jaws and let out a rumbling roar, blowing both Twilight and Zack backwards and onto their backs. 
Twilight jumped up and yelled at the top of her lungs, “Stop!”
She hovered Spike off of her back using her unicorn magic. Unbelievably, Spike was still fast asleep after all that ruckus and action. She levitated Spike in front of the dragon and placed him on to the rocky floor, the dragon looked over the other carefully. 
“That’s all we came here to do,” Twilight cautioned. “We do not want a war with the dragons. Just... take your son back and please don’t harm us or any other pony.”
Twilight walked up to Spike and whispered, “I’m sorry. We won’t see each other again, ever.” She sniffed as a quiver rang through her voice, “If you can hear me... or can understand me... I just want to say... I’ll miss you... I’ll miss you so much...” With her head bowed, she slowly trotted backwards away from Spike and the other dragon.
Zack thought if what she was saying was actually working. He didn't know if this massive and terrifying beast was cooperating with her or simply playing her game. He couldn’t believe Twilight, that she wasn’t afraid of the monster at all. She had complete confidence in herself, or so she played role well enough to fool him and the dragon. 
The dragon looked up at Twilight Sparkle and eyeballed her. She smiled with a tear in her eye in response to the undefinable emotion the dragon was expressing. The monster took in a quick puff of air and blew a strange, green and gray sparkling mist towards her. When the strange fog enveloped her body, she turned to solid stone. Zack was horrified. He was more terrified now than he was when he first saw the dragon back in Canterlot. His eyes widened at the sight of the statue of Twilight; he couldn’t believe it, he wondered what type of magic did this beast possess. This was no ordinary dragon like in the fairy tales he grew up with, this was something entirely new and foreign to his knowledge.
The dragon’s head now faced Zack, he thought that now he might be turned to stone as well. When the dragon opened its deadly and sharp mouth, he only spoke again to Zachary in his great, deep and ancient voice. The words echoed through the chamber, 


“PÉNÏÑENÃ NÎNVÑOLWÕLRÛGÃG IÑVÑNÎN RSRÕJÛNEÑ”


When the dragon had finished, Zack stuck his hand out and beseeched, “Please, we mean no harm! Please change my friend back!”
The dragon stepped forward, with each step it quaked the ground beneath his feet. Zack stood firm however; with a boost of misguided confidence, he threw his fists up ready to fight. His arrogance clouded his judgment once again.
He pointed toward the dragon and proclaimed in a tone filled with vengeance, “We did what you said and still you harmed us!” The dragon blew a quick breath and Zack’s hand which was pointing directly at the dragon was turned into gray stone. The rock encasing crawled its way up only to the elbow, and once it stopped, the weight of the stone forearm increased dramatically. His right arm fell to the floor, but Zack stood firm and raised it up using his back muscles. The dragon breathed again and his other arm did the same. Both were now too heavy to lift and Zack fell to his knees. The dragon lifted his great talon and looked as if he was about to skewer Zack. He tightly held his eyes closed and feared for the worst. The dragon lightly put his claw in front of Zack’s body; the white claw was about half the size of Zack and as sharp as a Royal Guard’s spear. Zack opened his eyes and the dragon lifted the claw, he then gently touched the center of Zack’s forehead. 
In that instant, something happened within Zack’s mind he would never fully understand in his life afterwards. He saw a tunnel of stars, the same tunnel in which he was teleported to Equestria in, except this time, there was a green tint around the edges of his eyesight. Moments of time shot through Zack’s life, he re-saw events in his life taking place again in front of him. The memories were quick and spastic, almost as if playing in fast forward and even sometimes in reverse. Whenever his mind would change to a new past memory, it felt like his entire body was being shocked.
Past events were flying through his mind, he didn’t know what was going on. In one second, he would be reliving the memory of learning to ride a bike, the next memory which gave him another jolt through his body, relived a moment in time where he daydreamed about a cute girl in his elementary class on the bus, only seeing what he saw. The memories came and went drastically, he felt as if his mind was being erased or someone was using it like a television and flipping through channels rapidly. Shocking pain surged and pulsed throughout Zack’s body; he couldn’t close his eyes or couldn’t move, he felt completely out of his body and free from his skin. More memories flashed through his mind, such as holding Pinkie Pie in the throne room, his dad leaving his house to never see his son again, running up the mountain with the pink filly on his shoulders in the wind blowing in his face, the barrel of the Glock nineteen staring him in the face, the comet from his dream crashing into Canterlot. Zack couldn’t take it. He tried so hard to break free from the psychotic event in which he couldn’t tell if it was even real or not anymore.
Zack’s body was thrown backwards onto the rocky cave floor, which broke him of whatever he was experiencing inside his mind. His stone arms were normal again as he lay motionlessly on the ground gasping for breath. His eyesight was blurred and everything was brighter than usually, it took a couple of seconds for them to focus back to their original state. He sat up slowly and wiped his sweat covered face with his dry hands. He looked up to see the dragon still in front of him, calm, but staring deep into Zack’s eyes, almost as if he was looking through him. Zack just sat there, staring back at the dragon, emotionless physically, but mentally his mind was going haywire. His memories still flashed in his head, but he felt back in his body still. The spastic memories soon faded slowly, and his regular thought patterns returned. The dragon opened his maw again and began to speak in his slow, deep and almost soothing voice.
He enunciated every syllable clearly and loudly as he spoke, “I... have given you the mind of the Spirit and the tongue of the Ancient. You now have the ability to communicate and read with the old of these lands.” Zack sat still, still so utterly confused. The green fires around the dim room flickered light off each others’ faces.
The dragon announced, “Your four legged female friend is fine. I have encased her in stone to tell you the following known secrets of the universe. The secrets and lies of everyone and everything.”
Zack looked up and coldly and quietly demanded, “Who are you?”
The ancient dragon took in a breath and replied heavily, “I? I am the first, and I am the last. I have seen the birth of this galaxy and many others alike, though I may not remember their creations. I have always been, I am always being, and I will always be. The universe has named my being Om. I am Om, the Great Dragon Spirit of this and many dimensions you cannot comprehend in this form of flesh and bounded mind. Who are you? I have seen into your thoughts. You are Zachary, and your presence here is unknown to even I.” Om spoke so slowly and clearly, his deep voice rang through the mountain itself.
Zack steadily stood himself up and stated, “Why do you want war with Equestria?”
Om hummed and replied, “I do not seek war, a lie I have spun to see you, human named Zachary.” The dragon slowly looked down at sleeping Spike and just as slowly raised his head back towards Zack. “This is my son, born from ash and flame, and dust and rock. I want his life to be filled with happiness and joy. Raise him among the equine, and he will guide the horses in the near future. I predict this.”
Zack, a tad bit agitated and bewildered, argued, “Well if you don’t want war with Equestria, and you want your son to be raised by ponies, then why did you even do this in the first place? Why bring me here?”
“You fleshly creatures of all kind, always wanting, always demanding. Scouring your earths, fueled by the sin of need, you burn your own homelands for greed. Every living thing fleshed I have seen has the universal characteristics of wanting destruction upon themselves. I have yet to comprehend the meaning of this idiosyncrasy. If it were so easy for you to ease my pain with words of wisdom? I think we both know this answer.”
Zack retorted, feeling no more fear from this dragon, but much more confused by his way of speaking, “You must know why I’m here then... Tell me, Om.”
The dragon stomped his hoof, shaking the area once more and demanded strongly, “Have you ears to listen and a mind to think? All of which I have said is your answer.” Om took in another deep breath and continued more calmly and deeper. 
“You creatures of flesh and hate, in every world and every dimension, all act upon the same spectrum. You wander your earths and think, 'what and who am I, my purpose is nothing, my life is meaningless’ and then you die. Such pitiful lives you live, not knowing of the gifts you are so easily given that I do not have. I would rather live a simple life and die than watch ten thousand world's burn. Life is a blessing and death is a gift, never forget what you were given so generously by fate.”
Zack was only getting half of what the great creature was saying. The way he talked, his strange wisdom, none of this made sense at the moment. Zack was disappointed in his response, at least all of what he understood of it. 
Zack grieved, “Just like everyone else, no one knows why I’m here. I know you’ve said this, and you know I think I have the answers to my purpose, but I don’t. I’m sorry, I’m just so confused. What’s even going on?”
Om raised his head, “I have listened in silence long enough as the worldly beings bickered with one another, understanding no one but themselves. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen.” The green flames around the room rose high and brightened up the chamber slightly. The flames grew and shrunk in rhythm to Om’s deep breaths. 
“There are three of us, The King, The Queen, and The Prince, the ancient’s called us by these names. We do not know how we came to be, but we were once all spirits in ethereal bodies, guardians of this new realm. We have seen the only fair world in the vast sea of stars, and we resided in it one by one, I being first, giving up our spirit forms to take a fleshly form, immortal and flawless; but to do so we had to restrict most of our spiritual abilities to live among these creatures in peace. This is the way of the law of the universe. Before these events however, The Prince desired the King’s throne. The King foresaw this and bounded him to this world you know as Equestria. In doing so, he tried to make one of us broken like I was about to do to his spirit before casting him upon the planet. He stealthily attacked the Queen and split her spirit in two forms, two alicorns. The King then withdrew the Prince’s powers by half, though only after a long battle in the starry heavens. Once thrown upon the land and powers cut by half, he took the form of a chimera and walked the desolate world for eons, plotting for his revenge. He once decided to take Equestria, but the regal sisters encased him in stone, you know of this already though. The Queen was devoid of her spirit abilities and her memories were wiped, the alicorns of the former spirit now reign over Equestria, two regal sisters with an unknown past and purpose. The King, is I, the silent and hidden. I have watched this world, and now know of what I must do, which I have begun doing. My life is void in this realm, and I must leave soon.”
Om digressed, “You do know of the Elements of Harmony, relics of old? I do not know of how they came to be, but I know of their true workings. In order to use them, one must be a spirit, and one cannot control them all. This is why the regal sisters fail to use them properly. Celestia has told you that six will appear, but she does not know why or how, only from what she has read from the ruins of the ancient world, this is what she only knows. 
My plan is simple, and my purpose is now clear after eons. I will split my spirit several ways. I have already done so, but retained the split spirits still, except for one, which I gave to my son to convey the power I once had. To live a long life among this world, to be a leader, to love, and to help those who had fallen short in life. I have watched the world and ages turn, and in this age have chosen six mares to possess my spirit. When I give it to them, they will not know of it until years to come when the tainted regal sister appears once more.
I will leave this world soon, no longer a spirit, but of flesh, and when of flesh, I will arise to what the old world calls the Ivory Chambers to be with the Foreseer. I do not know if this deity exists or not, but faith is the only option, and how the ancient world talks about this being, I believe it to be true.”
He turned to the very confused Zack and replied to his emotion, “You do not understand everything now, I do not even understand the mechanisms of this reality. However we must proceed in life. We must know that not all answers can be solved, and questions will remain till the ends of the Universe. I do not know why you are here, Zachary, but there is reason in your existence, there is reason for all things, whether we can explain it or not.”  
Om tilted his head, “All the answers in the world are hidden within our own understanding, to understand one’s self is the meaning of life, is it not? I have made my own purpose, and I have told you how I did so.”
Zack asserted, “But how! How do I do it? I don’t understand anything, I’m as useless here in this new world than I was back home. I was never free to do anything.”
“How? Time. Time is but an illusion, the past is now and the future has already happened. We are always experiencing eternity. Time is one river, with a beginning and end with a constant flow forward. To understand oneself, one must be patient, one must be quiet. The answers are in front of you, you are just oblivious to your senses, and you will be for a long time like I was. I am no different than you, human.”
Om concluded, looking off into space, “When I was born into the world as a being of spirit, the first voice I heard was a whisper, then a bang, and the universe was. This whisper is the song of the universe. I remember it clearly, 


'He who begins the key a turning, 
will see the end with eyes a burning. 



Even he, who foresee, 
knows not of the, 
son of eternity.’”


Zack stopped thinking when he heard, ‘Son of Eternity’. That was mentioned in his dreams before.
He stepped forward and asked, knowing already that Om knew exactly what he was going to say, “Am I the Son of Eternity?”
Om stopped, and with a cold reply, he answered, “No.” Zack was caught off guard by that response, even though he didn’t know who or what the Son of Eternity was, he didn’t know how to respond, so Om did so for him.
“The Son of Eternity is unknown to me or the Foreseer. It is no one and everyone, it will not show itself until the final hours of existence, it is the last great mystery of life, the Universe, and meaning itself. It may be an idea, a place, or a person, but what is it exactly, nothing knows. It just is and it will be is until the end. That is that and nothing more than another secret in this prison we call life.
I am sorry I do not have all the answers, I am sorry for your troubles, but know this, human. Freedom and happiness is all one can live for, what you believe makes you, loving others and others loving you is a universal endowment. Life understood is life lived, and understanding life is understanding oneself, and doing so is doing what you know is universally right and true. Love, laughter, life. Remember these, sad one, and you will be blessed.” Zack took in most of what Om said this time, his words punctured him deep. Zack wanted answers, but all he can do is live life now, he didn’t need answers to his questions, he just needed to forget them and keep going. Zack smiled and looked up at Om, no longer afraid of the dragon. 
He asked, “What do I do now?”
“Come with me, child of Equestria.”


__________



The two stepped outside, morning was fast approaching. Zack had picked up Spike and both them and Om stared off into the mountain ranges. The rays of the sun were gently maneuvering their way into the eastern horizon. Zack had lost track of time and had only thought an hour had passed by when in reality the entire night was spent in that cave. Om stared towards the rising sun, his head high and wings stretched out.
“You,” Om directed towards Zack. “You are special, you are worthy of this world. No matter how many secrets this Universe possesses, its truths are worth living for than living life always asking and questioning everything.” Om looked into the heavens, the stars still shown above them. 
“I will leave this world now, splitting my soul six ways, beginning the true purpose of the Elements of Harmony. These Elements will shape the world and save it from him.”
Zack finished Om’s statement, “The Prince.”
“Yes. He will escape his stone prison, the Elements cannot kill, only cease for a limited time.”
Om turned back towards Zack, “There is more than six magical artifacts in this world, some possess great strengths. I believe you must wield one, you must find The Prevailer, a white sword with the powers of unknown magics. I have heard through the winds of time of its valiant deeds, however it was lost, you must retrieve this before the Prince returns.”
“Where would I look?”
“Everywhere.” Even though Zack knew now of what he must do, what his purpose was in this land now, he still had no idea how to do it. Om didn’t know either. Zack figured that he has to find out about this on his own. Like Om said, the answers are in the understandings of one’s self.
Zack turned back towards Om and questioned, “Will I ever see you again? I need your advice on what’s to come, whatever it might be.”
“What I have told, you already knew. And perhaps we will meet again, in some form of another in which space and time overlap each.”
Om’s last words were, “That is all I could teach you, that is all I could teach myself over eons of time. I may be entirely wrong or right, that is for you to decide. Your fate is your own, your destiny is your own. You are your own. Believe.”
In that last instant he shot off into the cold, early morning skies above Dragon Peak. He shook the mountain top with the tremendous velocity he left behind. He roared one last time, circling the distant mountain tops before diving upwards in a continuous spiral. To Zack, Om looked like he was having a bit of fun before leaving this world. Om hovered below the bottom of a flat cloud that was above him, he flapped his magnificent wings, keeping his body steady in the chilling air. The cloud above him seemed to warp and an indention was created above it. The indention grew until it was a tunnel of clouds, a bright light shown through it as if the sun was directly above the tunnel. 
Om stretched his wings out, raised his head high, looking into the hole in the clouds and stopped flapping; he just hovered there in the air, the light illuminating his body like a celestial being. Something glowed in the center of Om’s chest, a ball of magnificent light. It emitted a brilliance of colors Zack had never seen before, it was as bright as the sun and even warmed Zack in the distance up atop the mountain. Om’s body began to dissipate in that moment. His body resembled a dandelion being blown on; parts of the dragon scattered upward into the tunnel of clouds and light, while the brilliance of the sun like object he left behind remained hovering in his place. Once Om’s body had completely disintegrated into the rising air, a noise was heard similar to one breathing their last breath, a long, relaxed sigh. The sphere of unknown colors fragmented itself into six smaller orbs. The orbs still shown like the sun, but each had a specific color. Purple, blue, yellow, white, orange, and pink. The orbs ebbed in harmony with one another, like each was a living essence or being, breathing together. In a sudden burst, the orbs shot off in all different directions, appearing like comets in the morning sky. The tails of the orbs produced when turned to shooting stars were the same color as the objects. 
One however turned in a large three-sixty degree circumference, flying through the mountain ranges at a low altitude and at a blazing speed. The comet shot upward and was now level with Zack’s altitude. Zack’s eyes widened as the comet approached in lightning speeds, giving off a high pitched ring and crackle of fire which grew louder as it closed in on Zack. He quickly jumped out of the way as the comet missed him and went into the cave behind him. He turned to see what had happened and a bright, purple hue illuminated the back of the cave, and slowly faded away. There was no crash, there was no damage done to the cave, it was as if it plummeted into a body of water without a splash. Zack looked back up at the sky, the tunnel of clouds which had produced that unreal amount of celestial light was gone. Zack felt the frigid temperatures return. The sky was bare and the sun had risen over the eastern horizon once more. Twilight galloped up next to Zack and placed her hoof on her head. 
“Wha–... what happened? I have the most splitting headache,” the filly moaned.  Zack knew of what had just happened, and wasn’t surprised at Twilight’s recovery from being turned to stone. Zack had realized that now Twilight Sparkle possessed a part of Om’s spirit, and that she was now able to wield one of the Elements of Harmony. He thought it would best not to tell her, information like that would scare and confuse someone for a long while. Like Om, he kept his secrets for himself, for a very long time at least.
Zack lied with a grin on his face, “You slipped and knocked your head against a rock. I was worried there for a while, but I’m glad you’re okay now.”
She gasped, realizing something wasn’t right. She turned towards Spike who was resting on the plateau’s edge and then turned back towards Zack and hastily indicated, “The dragon! What about the dragon? Why is Spike still here? Are we going to war? All I remember is getting up to the cavern and that was it! What happened?” She clung onto the bottom of Zack’s shirt, her fear filled eyes staring into Zack’s calm ones. 
“I talked with the dragon, he said he won’t start a war, and that Spike is yours to keep.” Twilight’s face beamed in excitement, she let go of Zack and pounced around him in glee. 
“I get to keep Spike! I get to keep Spike," She sung in a blissful tone while frolicking around Zachary. She turned towards him and thanked him, “And it’s all because of you! Even though I don’t know you that well and you don’t know me that well... I thank you, Zack.”
Zack nodded his head with a grin on his face. He said calmly, “I thank you, too.”


__________



Zack, Spike and the filly made their way down the mountain’s edge carefully and quickly. It seemed much easier climbing down the slope than it was climbing up it. He spotted Valiant Steed and the other pegasus pony awaiting their arrival. 
Valiant tried to ask Zack what had happened, he only responded, “Everything’s fine, let’s go home.” Once back at the castle, Zack saw where Om had made his runes on the still scorched wall. They read clearly to Zack now, as if he could now change languages in his head to make sense of it in an instant, “Bring the son. Or face war.” It read as clear as day.
It was around breakfast time and Celestia sat alone in the Royal Garden, sipping a small cup of milk. Zack entered the garden, uncloaked and antsy. He slowed his pace and walked up behind the Princess, knowing a little more about her past life that she had forgotten. Celestia didn’t turn around, but knew it was Zack. 
Zack stopped a little ways behind her, he couldn’t think of anything to say except what he told Valiant, which was that, “Everything is fine.” The regal sister stared blankly into her now empty cup, she never turned around to see Zack.
She replied with a tremble in her voice, “I’m sorry for everything.” Zack was about to place his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but stopped half way and hesitated. He pulled his hand back slowly, as if she didn’t know what he was trying to do. He slowly walked backwards and back into the castle. Celestia just sat there, alone in her garden, alone in her own world.
Zack slowly made his way upstairs in the Western Tower where he took a quick bath. Afterwards, he placed a robe around himself and fell in his bed to recover his strength. It took a few hours before falling into complete sleep, his mind was trying to recreate the discussion him and Om had had. He was trying to see if maybe he missed something. In mid-thought, he fell asleep and dreamed of white shored beaches on a calm, blue day. The first relaxing dream he had in a very, very long time.
> 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(10)






In the nestled country side between rolling green hills and dark forests' edge, Ponyville was winding down from a bustling, busy Saturday. The afternoon sun was suspended in a cloudless, warm Summer sky, and the rays of light bounced off the rooftops of the relaxing village. The wind blew ever so slightly and the town was ever so quiet. Days like these were rare. Not too hot and not too cold; when the air felt good to breath and nothing in the world was more relaxing than just taking in a deep breath of clean, hardy country air. Smiling, friendly folk that would walk by would always give a friendly wave or tip of the hat, some would even strike up a conversation just to have an excuse to stop and take in that crisp, refreshing air. The smell of freshly cut lawns, cherry wood, and a hint of cheap chap stick lifted in the air, being carried in the wind, weaving through every alley and street. Noons like these are when the old mares and stallions sat out on their porches, with long time friendships with roots deeper than the largest trees in the Everfree Forest. They sat around and smoked bubble pipes, sipped on ice cold raspberry tea, and shot old tales back and forth with one another of when they were young, wild and crazy. The greatest entertainment in world was with each other, reminiscing about those, ‘good ol’ days’. Not a care in the world affected the village’s long time citizens and those by passers who took their time to smell the flowers. Life was slow, life was at ease. If there is a heaven, it might as well be this euphoric and steady place. 
In this moment, a moment that could only be described as the epitome of comfort, a light, slow and steady melody could be heard. The voice of a piano chimed in the calm air. It came from a moderately sized cottage near town square, through a wide open window in the closed bakery. Slow, focused keys being pressed ever so carefully along the musical instrument let out their crisp, clear notes. It filled the living room with an essence of life. Three ponies sat around in the room, two a couple, and one a pink little thing. The two were an older couple, a father and mother, while the other was a filly whom they called, Pinkie Pie.
The Cake’s had somewhat adopted Pinkie Pie into their family. Princess Celestia had asked them in advance if they wanted to keep her for a short time and they happily agreed to house the filly. At first, it seemed like more trouble for them, being that they already had one older, rebellious son named Carrot. A generous gift was given to Pinkie Pie from Princess Celestia on the day of her recent birthday, a beautiful, black grand piano, and free lessons for a year from Octavia herself, whether she liked it or not. Every two months, she would receive a new, classical music instrument from Celestia, and Pinkie loved this very much so. Octavia didn’t complain too much, she was getting paid five bits an hour; which isn’t much, but to a filly, this was a working pony’s salary. She would come over two days a week and spend about three hours teaching the pink pony musical instruments. The Carrot family didn’t mind this at all, Pinkie Pie was learning some beautiful pieces that she had picked up on in a matter of just a week. Her speed at learning how to play the piano shocked and pleased the Cakes greatly.
The stallion father had his eyes closed and his mouth exhibiting a relaxed smile. With one hoof he sipped on some spiced cider, and with the other hoof, orchestrated his invisible orchestra; he knew nothing about music, none of the Cakes did, but they sure did enjoy Pinkie’s new found talents. The mare mother showed the same facial expressions as her husband, only she swayed back and forth in her rocking chair, knitting some little hoof warmers for her new ‘adopted daughter’. 
Pinkie ended on a smooth note which ringed through the entire house. The Cakes lightly applauded her work and the dark, yellow coated stallion congratulated her on her performance. Pinkie turned and bowed, she bounced a little on her piano seat due to the excitement that had amassed in her. A new, light blue mane bow was tied neatly to the back of her poofy, pink hair. The bow matched perfectly with her eyes, which appeared like twin blue lakes in the morning sun light.  
“Bravo, Miss Pie. You’re getting better and better, you know," noted the husband.
“Oh, indeed,” piped in the misses. Her voice hinted a Northern, almost Canadian tone when comparing accents to geological locations on Earth, which contrasted with her husband’s deep, Southern drawl. 
She disposed with a wink, “I think her work needs to be rewarded! Don’t ya think, darling?“
“How about you two lovely ladies fix me up some of them cupcakes!” He let out a hardy laugh, as did the rest. Pinkie speedily hopped in beside the two who were on the same, yellow love seat.
She sputtered with a slowly rising higher pitch, “Ooo, ooo! Can we make cupcakes with vanilla frosting on them? With iddy-bittie, tinnie-weenie, itsy-bitsy chocolate chips on top?”
“Of course, darling! Sounds like a plan to me,” the creamed mare squeaked.
They both got up from the couch and headed towards the bakery part of the house. Mrs. Cake lead the way to the kitchen as Pinkie hopped behind, fluttering her little pink legs in the air as fast as she could.
Mrs. Cake informed the pink filly, “Now you stir these eggs and flour up as I find the rest of the ingredients.” 
As she searched the cupboards of her kitchen, Carrot made his way down stairs and headed towards the front door. Mrs. Cake knew where he was in the house and stopped him with her words before he could make his way out the door.
“Where ya going, dear?”
Carrot moaned, “I’m going to Cuppy’s house for a bit.”
“That’s your girlfriend, right?”
He groaned again, “Uh, yea! Where have you been?” Mrs. Cake never even made eye contact with Carrot as he stood impatiently at the door waiting for her response. She just took the bowl of batter from Pinkie and told her start a fire in the brick oven.
The mare mother softly replied, “Are her parent’s home? I don’t want you over there if her parent’s aren’t home!”
The young colt huffed, “Gezz, Mom! They’re there, okay! I wouldn’t do that stuff! Get your mind out'ta the stables!”
“Just making sure, dearie. Be home by eight, now ya hear?”
Carrot argued fiercely, “By eight! Are you crazy, mare? I ca–”
“By eight or you're grounded,” she quickly snapped with a stern spike over her once calm voice. 
Carrot mumbled something incoherent and slammed the front door, obviously conveying his childish attitude to the Cake household and to bystanders crossing the street. Mrs. Cake hummed softly in the kitchen, stirring the batter bowl while Mr. Cake skimmed through the local newspaper in the living room; they acted as if the event with their son didn’t even occur. Mrs. Cake leaned over next to Pinkie Pie, who was sitting at the bar, patiently awaiting her next role in the cupcake making process.
She handed her the cupcake batter covered whisk and confirmed, “That’s more cupcakes for you and me!”
She squealed with delight and stuck the cake battered spoon in her mouth. She let out a satisfying, “Mmmmmm...” as she sucked the whisk dry. She popped it out of her mouth and replied with a mouth full of batter, “Joost as pawanned!”


__________



There was a sudden knock at the door when the cupcakes were being pulled out of the oven by Mrs. Cake. Pinkie gasped in excitement, knowing who it was.
“Could you see who’s at the door, darling,” asked Mrs. Cake, who was topping the freshly baked cupcakes with vanilla icing. Pinkie was already at the door when Mrs. Cake had finished her sentence. The pink filly swung the door open to see her schoolmate, Applejack.
“Hay there, Pinkie Pie” Applejack greeted, tipping her cowgirl hat in respect.
She happily replied to the gesture, “Hi ya, my apple buck’n pony pal!”
“Sorry fer the late invitation to come and sleep in my new tree house. Things at the farm got mighty busy pretty dern quickly! But Rarity’s already there if you still wanna come?”
Pinkie bounced in excitement, “I’d love to!” Her expression soon turned to uncertainty as she had just remembered that she hadn’t had told the Cakes in advance yet. Applejack told her she could come a couple days before, during lunch hour, but Pinkie was so excited about going that she had completely forgot to ask permission from her, ‘old best friends’ to go.
She replied, “I forgot to ask mister or misses Cake if I could even go...” Her mood lightened when she recalled, “Oh, and you should totally come inside for some cupcakes!” Pinkie Pie stepped out of the way and held the front door open for her orange filly friend. 
She stepped in with a smile on her face and replied, “Why thank ya, sugar cube! I’d love ta come in!”
The two earth ponies cantered into the kitchen where Mrs. Cake was putting the finishing touches on the cupcakes. Applejack smelled the baked pastries and licked her lips in response.
“Sum’thing mighty tasty sure is cook’n,” she said with her snout held high in the air. When Pinkie saw the finished products of her making, her eyes widened.
She exclaimed in joy, “Iddy-bittie chocolate chips!” She sprinted over to the cupcake tray, grabbed a pastry with both hooves and ate half of one. She let out a moan of satisfaction while licking the crumbs off her lips. She grabbed another and turned towards Applejack, shoving a cupcake in her face.
“You have to try this! You haven’t lived yet until you’ve ate a cupcake with vanilla frosting and iddy-bittie chocolate chips on top!”
Applejack smiled and took the cupcake out of her pink hoof. She tried the pastry and gave a similar sounding moan of contentment when tasting it.
“Mhmm-MMM! That is one, good, hoof-lick’n cupcake right there, Pinkie!”
Mrs. Cake turned toward the blonde filly and asked, “You must be Applejack? It’s a pleasure to finally meet you! Pinkie has told me all about you!”
“Well, it’s a pleasure meet’n ya too, ma’am!” They shook hooves and Pinkie watched in enthusiasm. 
Pinkie’s mind buzzed with thoughts, “My filly friend just met my old friend! Now their friends! Now it’s like I’ve made friends with friends I already knew! I love friendship!” Pinkie had just remembered why she came in the kitchen in the first place. 
She turned towards Mrs. Cake and asked, “Misses Cake, ma’am? Would it be okay if I spent the night at the Applejack's place? I’ll be home first thing tomorrow morning! I Pinkie Promise!” She stood on her hind legs and saluted, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in eye!” She then took her half bitten pastry in her hooves and petted it as if it were a cat. She smoothly and quietly soothed, “I would never put you in my eye though. You’re too delicious for that!” She then took another bite out of the cupcake and finished it off quickly. 
The adult mare happily replied, “Sounds like fun, you two enjoy yourselves!”
Mr. Cake trotted into the kitchen, his eyes widened and he reached his hoof out for a delicious cupcake. His motives were ceased when the Misses slapped his hoof away with the whisk in her hoof.
Mrs. Cake grabbed a hold of the cupcake pan and placed it in front of the two in hooves reach. “And hey, how about you two take these cupcakes along as well?”
Pinkie jumped up and hugged Mrs. Cake around the neck. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!”
The two fillies headed out the door and trotted off back to Applejack’s home in Sweet Apple Acres. The sun was finally setting and the village ponies were about to settle inside their homes for the night with their friends. The crickets and frogs from the nearby ponds began their chirping and croaking as night was soon approaching. Pinkie Pie hopped along the dirt road towards the farm as Applejack trotted beside her, carrying the cupcake pan on her back. Though in the distance behind them, a prairie wagon was parked in the bushes beside the dirt road. It was well hidden and easily looked over by passers. A silhouette of a unicorn stallion was peeking out of the covered wagon, watching the two fillies follow down the path to Applejack’s farm. He stuck his head back in the dark wagon cover where he and two other earth ponies hunched over into a group, preparing for something.


__________



The sun had finally fallen over Ponyville and the stars began to poke through the night sky. Some light still remained outside as the two fillies made their way to Applejack’s new tree house. Applejack diverted from the dirt road with Pinkie skipping happily behind. The fillies hopped over and in between the white, wooden fence which blocked the apple fields from the rest of the world as well as the Everfree Forest. Rows of apple trees stood like guardians in the farming fields, like watchful, wooden soldiers standing high in the night. The leaves of the trees rustled in the passing wind; the warm air of the afternoon soon changed into a cooler, crisper breeze. 
As the two continued to walk through the field, they finally reached the eastern edge of the Apple family farm acres. At the edge of the private property of the farm was Applejack’s new tree house she had told Pinkie Pie about. The arboreal home was situated in a very large apple tree, much larger than the other trees that they had past. The entire house spotted a fresh coat of glossy paint; on top it had a cherry red roof and the house’s sides were painted with a light salmon color. Light from oil lamps flickered out the glass windows of the tree fort, it was the only light in the ever growing darker forest of apple trees.
“Well, here we are! Home sweet tree,” announced Applejack as the two made their way up the ramp and into the home. As they entered, Applejack was taken aback by the foreign new look of her tree house decor, which seemed to have changed while she was out with Pinkie. It appeared that if some pony had moved her entire wardrobe into her tree house; clothes and suit cases were stacked in every direction of the room. In the corner of the room, a white, purple maned unicorn filly was brushing her hair and holding up a hoof mirror with her magic. She was completely oblivious to the other two fillies that walked into the mess of dresses she had scattered across the floor; she was lost in her own reflection as she gently hummed and complimented her own appearance with soothing words of self-confidence.
“My, I just look simply dashing this evening. My hair couldn’t be more perfect than it is now,” the glamorous filly congratulated herself.
“What in the hay is going on here, Rarity,” exclaimed Applejack as she walked up behind her. “I leave you for five minutes and my new tree house is looking like a storm brewed up in here!”
Rarity tossed her eminence-hued hair around and replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She turned towards Pinkie Pie, who was clumsily trying on a bright green summer dress that she had found on the floor of mismatched clothes. “Oh, hello Pinkie Pie. That color simply clashes with your coat and mane far too much. I believe I brought something a little more ‘Summery’ over to the left corner of the room, below the window seal there.”
Pinkie Pie gave up on the green dress and hopped on over to the location where Rarity pointed at. Applejack stepped in front of Rarity, but the unicorn simply walked around her, as if she didn’t even see her. 
Applejack turned and demanded, “Why would you need all of these clothes fer anyway? It’s just a one night slumber party?
Rarity shook her hoof in front of the earth pony and gave a light laugh, “Oh dear, you clearly cannot ever have enough clothes at your disposal. This ‘soirée’ wouldn’t be complete without trying on some of my new designer garments, now would it? Now please, hold still and let’s see if we can change your, ‘au naturel’.” The unicorn filly rubbed her chin with her hoof as she hovered different hats on and off of Applejack’s head, tossing them off and changing them out for others.
Rarity swiped her hoof in the air whenever a hat didn’t work with Applejack’s looks while saying, “No, no, horrid, absolutely not in season, possibly–but no–". Applejack shook her head violently, throwing off a fashionable, red ribbon boater hat off her noggin. 
The earth filly stomped her hoof and asserted, “No, I ain’t gonna wear any of yer fancy-shamancy outfits. Now use yer unicorn magic to clear some room in the middle of the floor here so we can try and start this slumber party off right!”
Rarity sighed, “Of course, dearie.”
She focused her magic and heaved some of her luggage and dresses out of the center of the tree house floor, revealing the once hidden wooden floor boards. The two conflicting fillies made their way to the center of the room and sat down across from one another. Pinkie Pie joined in as well with her head stuck inside of the head hole of a dress. Applejack grabbed the dress with her teeth and pulled it off of the confused pink mare–Rarity let out a shriek of horror.
“EKK! Don’t stretch the fabric, you barbarian,” She was already too late though. She used her magic to hover the outstretched clothing in front of her, inspecting the damages. She gave a gloom expression and stuck out her lower lip. 
Pinkie hesitated, then consoled her friend, “Uh, sorry Rarity for ruining your pretty dress. I didn’t mean too.”
Rarity, with a drastic change of mood, threw the damaged cloth behind her in another pile of clothing and said with a forgiving tone, “Oh, it’s quite alright. It was out of season anyways!” She giggled at her own irony.
Applejack spoke up, “Well alright, the sleep over has officially started!” She stopped, and asked the two, “What do ya’ll usually do dur’n sleep overs anyhow? Being this is my first ‘n all.”
Pinkie gasped in shock at Applejack’s statement. She pressed her friend’s cheeks together, broke into her comfort zone and overly concerned, “You’ve never had a sleep over before?”
“Please get away from me,” begged the orange filly as she tried to break free from Pinkie’s grip. The pink pony let go of her and Applejack fell over backwards, hitting her head on the tree house floor.
Pinkie jumped up on her hind hooves in between the two and stated, “Sleep overs are so much fun! As long as you’re having fun and sleeping somewhere with friends, it’s going to be an awesome sleep over!”
She took a breath and continued, “This one time! Me and my best buddy, Zack-a-lack-a-looney, spent all night baking cupcakes, and big cakes, and small cakes, and fudge!”
Rarity chirped in, “Sounds like a ball, whomever this, ‘Zack-a-lack-a-ding-dong’ fellow is. He sounds like a friendly colt compeer to me. Speaking of which, I am rather famished–did anyone bring any food?” Pinkie bent over and peered at Rarity upside down and directly in her comfort zone, her frizzy hair brushing against the unicorn’s face. 
“Oh, he’s not a pony,” she squealed in excitement.  Rarity raised her eye brow towards Pinkie’s remark in confusion, Pinkie just bent back upwards and cartwheeled over to where she sat down the cupcake pan. “And yes,” the pink filly hopped back towards Rarity and rang out, “I do have some yummy-yummy cupcakes!” She placed them in between the circle of her friends. Applejack and Rarity delighted themselves in taking one cupcake each. 
Rarity took a bite and remarked with delight, “Oh my!” She swallowed and continued, “This has to be the best ‘petit four’ I’ve ever tasted! Oh thank you, Pinkie for enlightening my taste buds to such heavenly pastries!”
Pinkie mimicked her unicorn friend’s high class tone and large vocabulary, “You’re welcome, my sweetness!” Her tone changed back to her hyperactive self when she advertised, “But you can come down to Sugar Cube Corner anytime for more treats like these!”
“Well I might have to just do that then, my dearest." Pinkie rotated her body toward Applejack, who showed a grin of satisfaction as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the baked good. The pink filly drew in a sudden breath as she had thought up a great idea for a game. 
Pinkie hollered, “Hey! I know a fun sleep over game we can play! Let’s have a cupcake eating contest!” She pulled her friends closer around the pan of desserts and set the rules, “Whichever pony eats the most cupcakes the fastest wins! Three-two-one-GO!” The pink earth pony slammed her face into the dessert pan and began to gobble the pastries down in a storm of frosting and iddy-bittie chocolate chips. Rarity and Applejack just sat there watching this strange event take place in front of them; they looked up at one another with a shared expression of, ‘What’s going on?’ 
Pinkie flung her hair back and lifted her head, bits of cupcake and frosting were plastered across her face. They looked down to see that all of the cupcakes were gone in matter of seconds. Pinkie licked her face dry, hopped up and proclaimed victoriously, “I won!”
Rarity was at a loss of words for a few awkward seconds, but then replied, “Uh, indeed. You are the winner, darling.” She applauded slowly and lightly.
Applejack spoke up, “Well, now what are we gonna do?”
The white unicorn proposed with a hoof raised as if she was in a classroom, “Ooo, how about we have a fashion show! Isn’t that just a marvelous idea, am I right?” She shrugged her shoulders, waiting for a response. Both Pinkie and Applejack just stared at her blankly. “Heh... I... I guess not.”
Applejack wickedly suggested, “How about we play sum’ Truth ‘er Dare?”
Pinkie bounced up and yelled with approval, “Yes!” She pointed a pink hoof drastically at Rarity, which caught her off guard from Pinkie’s spontaneity. “I dare Rarity to fly!”
Applejack cut in, “Uh, sugar cube? That’s not how Truth ‘er Dare works. Yer supposed to ask’m first if they wanna truth ‘er dare. Then ya contin’ya from there.”
“Oh, woops,” Pinkie giggled. She then pointed drastically at this time Applejack and asked hastily, “Truth or dare... or die!”
Applejack laughed at Pinkie’s ending remark and responded, “I’m up fer sum fun tonight, how about, dare!” Pinkie shook her hoof and reinstated her directed appendage at her. 
She hesitated, “I dare you to– ...Uhh... Err... Hug Rarity!”
Applejack was expecting something a little more interesting, but replied with a puzzled tone, “Well, okay.” She trotted over to Rarity and hugged her; both were wondering why she would ask that in the first place. 
Pinkie giggled, “Yay! Now everything’s better between you two, right?”
They white and orange filly smiled at one another, Rarity said to Pinkie, “Why of course, there was nothing wrong in the first place, doll. Friends can argue with one another, even though one pony might not like the hobby of another.” Applejack sat back down and crossed her fore and hind legs together.
She directed her eyesight at Pinkie and questioned, “My turn now! Truth ‘er dare? Pinkie Pie!”
She hummed on the lingering proposal and sang out, “You can choose!”
“You’re suppose ta–” the blonde pony stopped, realizing it was a lost cause to even reason with the hyperactive filly. She just continued, “Well, okay. Truth it is!” She scratched her head, trying to think up a good question to ask. A smile came across her face and she replied, “Do you... have a crush on Caramel? You know, that colt in our class?”
Pinkie let out a suppressed titter at her question and replied, “Oh no, not me, silly!” Applejack raised her brow with suspicions that maybe she was lying.
She smiled and asked, “Are ya sure about that? We all know ya look at him a lot dur’n class.”
Rarity solicited with eagerness, “Oh you can tell us, darling, we don’t mind. We won’t tell a soul!”
Pinkie just laughed and elaborated, “I’m telling you girls the truth! The only reason I look at him is because he has a funny head! I mean just look at it sometime, it’s ridiculous!” They couldn’t tell if she was lying or not, her voice sounded like it was telling the truth, which was good enough for Applejack.
Rarity waved a hoof in the air, “My turn, my turn!” She took in a breath and glared between her two friends, then fully directed her attention towards Applejack.
“Applejack,” she announced, “Truth or Dare?”
“Dare!”
She curled a smile and stated slowly, “I dare you... to dress up in one of my designer outfits I brought!”
The orange filly’s eyes widened and she shook her head vigorously, “Oh, no, no, no, no! Ya can’t make me!” Pinkie popped her head in between the unicorn’s and the earth pony’s vision.
She trilled out, “You have too! It’s the rules!”
Applejack turned her head towards the pink pony and quipped, “You didn’t even know the rules fer Truth ‘er Dare a minute ago!”
Rarity agreed with the Pinkie, “She’s right, you have to do it. It’s the rules!”
The blonde mare blew her mane hair upward with her bottom lip out and angrily agreed, “Fine.” Rarity squeaked in excitement and in a jiffy found a matching, western inspired dress for her orange friend.
“Oh no, not that one,” Applejack condemned, stepping backwards away from the approaching Rarity.
“Now this will only take a second, Applejack! Don’t struggle!” Rarity leaped onto Applejack much unlike herself and tried to force the dress on her. Applejack disobeyed Rarity’s commands and struggled immensely. The unicorn’s magic came into play to try and hold down her friend. 
While holding her down with now both hooves, she levitated the dress beside herself and responded with a dark tone, “Resistance is futile!” The two scuffled a bit longer until Rarity had done it, she had fitted the dress onto Applejack. Pinkie fell over on the floor laughing her flank off while Rarity gave an expression of accomplishment. Applejack looked over herself, drooped her head and sighed in defeat.
“Not half bad, sister,” Rarity said trying to lighten her up.
“I look re-donk-ulous guys. Can I please take this off now,” Applejack pleaded with the two.
Pinkie Pie jumped before her, trying to hold back her laughter. “Nope, silly! Not until the game is over!”
Applejack plopped her hind quarters on the floor behind her and said, “Shucks. Well, whose turn is it now?” The giggles and merriment of laughter were soon silenced when outside came a strange noise. The three foals stepped over to a close by window and looked outdoors to see what was going on. A prairie wagon was parked outside the fort in visible view.
Applejack exclaimed, “What in tarnation? How did that get inside our private property!” She yelled towards the draped, wooden cart, “Hey you, whoever you are! This here is private property of the Apple Family’s farm! You can’t put yer cart here!”
A unicorn pony stuck his head around the wagon and greeted in salutation, “Oh, well hi there!” The unicorn’s accent was thick, much like Applejacks, but his words weren’t slurred as much. “We’re so sorry for intruding on your property, miss filly. I’m lost, ya see. Could ya point the way to Ponyville?” The unicorn stallion gave a quaint, plastic smile. He was a clean cut, well dressed stallion with a maroon colored coat and a solid black mane. He wore a ebony-colored cowboy hat which matched his button up, collared dress shirt. His horn was sharply pointed and the stare he gave the three small ponies seemed rather odd to Applejack. His deep navy blue eyes seemed to be locked in all three filly’s somehow.
Applejack pointed out the window, “Just go on west in the field and you’ll run into a dirt road, take it south and you’ll end up in Ponyville.”
The pony tipped his hat and responded, “Why thank you kindly, miss. My name’s Ray by the way, Ray Sunshine. Hope we meet again soon!” He tied himself in front of the western wagon and was about to pull it away. Ray said indiscreetly to himself, as if he was talking to the fillies who still watched him, “Once I get to Ponyville, that’ll be the last stop till Big Gem Cupcake Mountain!” Pinkie Pie and Rarity’s eyes glowed in excitement as they gasped together. 
Rarity hollered, “Big Gem–!”
“–Cupcake Mountain!” Pinkie added in zealous appeal to what Ray had said. The unicorn stallion began to pull his covered wagon away, but Pinkie proclaimed, “Stop!” Ray stopped the wagon to her command as Rarity and Pinkie Pie dashed out of the tree house. 
“Wait,” Applejack tried to stop the two with only her words, “I don’t think this is a good idea!” The two eager fillies were already down the ramp and in front of the smiling red unicorn. Applejack trotted behind, with an unwelcoming cold chill crawling up her spine. 
“What was that ya’ll said,” questioned Ray.
Rarity, feeling a tad hot when Ray looked into her eyes with his appealing dark blue ones, spoke up and stammered, “Wh-where is this, ‘Big Gem Cupcake Mountain’ you speak of, kind sir?”
Ray unhitched himself from the cart and replied, “Well tickle my sides and call me a prairie dog! You three haven’t ever heard of Big Gem Cupcake Mountain?”
Pinkie and Rarity simultaneous stated in a giddy tone, “No!” Applejack just stood between them unmoved, and listened to what the unicorn had to say.
“Well no wonder you all are so dumbstruck about hearing about this magical mountain everyone’s been talking about! Haven’t you heard the song?” Ray Sunshine spoke as if had articulated these exact words over and over again, he seemed so serious and silly at the same time, this concerned the orange earth pony. No one ever acts like this, especially a complete stranger who happens to wind up in her gated farm acres.
Ray jumped in front of them and sang wholeheartedly and loud,


“At ol’ Big Gem Cupcake Mountain,
There's a land that's fun at sight,
Where the cupcakes grow on bushes,
And the apples grow again at night!
Where the ground is full of diamonds,
And there’s free candy every day,
And the jewels and rubies,
And the apple trees,
The chocolate springs,
Where the ponies sing,
At ol’ Big Gem Cupcake Mountain!”


Pinkie Pie jumped ecstatically and begged Ray, “Please, oh please can we come with you to Big Gem Cupcake Mountain, Mister Sunshine sir!”
Ray rubbed the brim of his hat and replied, “Well... I don’t know... “
Rarity came up next to Pinkie and helped persuade the stallion. “Oh ple-e-ease! Take me with you! I need these gems!”
Ray smiled back down at the two and agreed, “Alright, you can all come along! Hop in the back and we’ll be there by tomorrow morning for sure!” The two fillies skipped towards the rear of the wagon.
Applejack spoke up, “Guys! We can’t go! You’re suppose ta be back in the mornin’, Pinkie!” Applejack turned around to tell the unicorn that they couldn’t go, but as she turned, Ray stood there in front of her with a devilish smile crooked on his face; his navy colored eyes frightened the orange mare. He levitated a brown sack beside himself and approached the filly.
Rarity and Pinkie Pie hopped into the back of the wagon, their view of the inside was blocked by a curtain. As they passed through the veil cloth, it was much darker than they imagined it to be. They looked around to see that two other ponies were in the back, both holding similar large, brown sacks that Ray had.
One of the shadowed stallions, with a very differing accent compared to Ray Sunshine’s, hissed, “Evening, puppets.”The two adult ponies captured the fillies easily and tied a bandana tightly around their mouths so they wouldn’t be able to make any noise. They blind folded them, tossed them into the brown sacks and tied up the bags tightly as they threw them in the back of the wagon. Ray levitated his large brown pouch into the back with the others, he had obviously seized Applejack as he snickered with delight.
Ray said in his regular, down-under accent, “Good work, gents. Next stop, Appleloosa.”
One of the earth stallions responded, “Hey boss man, what are we gonna do with these three, exactly?”
“Hostages, of course. Once we get our one million bits, we won’t need these foals anymore; but for now, watch ‘em!” He eyeballed a large, cylinder object situated in the middle of the wagon and stated, “With this portable projectile device I created, not even the Wonderbolts could stop us! This plan will be as smooth as butter.”
One other, larger earth pony rubbed his hooves together and chuckled, “Like a big stick a’ butter!” Ray Sunshine hopped into the back of the wagon, and with his magic, powered the wagon to move on its own and out of the apple fields. The three friends could do nothing but cry as they were kidnapped away from Ponyville to the newly established and hardly populated Appleloosa.


__________



It had been a week since Om departed from Equestria and all of existence. Zack had recuperated his strength and his shoulder wound from when he was stabbed by that thug was nearly healed up. He was surprised at the quick amount of time it took to heal; he had never had a wound like that, but he knew that injuries like the one he had took a much longer time to heal and would leave a hefty scar to remember it by. 
He spent his days with his usual, continual work out routine with Valiant Steed and later spent those afternoons in the library reading about whatever he could find. The event that happened with Om still stirred violently in his stomach. He hid his uneasy emotions around the other regular ponies he came across throughout the days, but his mind still tried to reenact that faithful meeting. He couldn’t really look at Celestia in the same light he once did, knowing that she knew nothing about her former life as a true spirit. He decided never to mention it to her, even if she knew or not. 
At night, his mind was wide awake, and his thoughts kept him from sleeping soundly until he was completely exhausted. The event with Om almost seemed like a dream to Zack now, it felt like an old, memorable moment from yesteryear's than just a week ago. He hadn’t had a goodnight sleep in a long time, and not because of his lingering questions about himself and what Om had said, he had practically blocked those self-queries out of his mind. He thought about what to do next more than the questions he still possessed. He thought of how he should lead his new life, and thought that he would never again be able to travel back to Earth; which he didn’t mind at first, but after some time, he began to slowly change his mind set and remember the good things about Earth and blocked out the bad.
One evening, about a week after his trek up to Dragon Peak, he was walking the halls in the late afternoon, heading to the library in a some what, ‘autopilot’ state of mind. He proposed it was around four or five o’clock in the afternoon, the sun was near the horizon and the shadows grew in length across the carpeted and tiles floors. He passed the open entrance into the throne room where he noticed Celestia talking with an older mare and filly whose coats and manes matched. Zack ease dropped on the conversation they were having.
“For the last time,” Celestia announced, anger burning in her voice, “No matter how much money you offer, my magic school chooses only whom I deem worthy of entry! That is that!”
The older, light blue mare gawped in shock at the Princesses’ response. She replied with a stammer in her voice, “F-Fine! We’ll just go and find another magic school for the gifted, there has to be another in this crazy country! One that would accept the great and powerful talents my daughter possesses! Come, Trixie!” The two mares began to make their way out of the throne room with their heads and tails held high. Zack hid himself in another room near by until they passed. 
He looked back into the throne room to see Celestia turned, looking out over the plains and forests of the land far below the Canterlot Castle. He could see her reflection in the window, a look of great sadness conflicted with her. Zack stopped and decided that now was the time to talk to her, to set things straight. He walked into the chamber, his footsteps echoed from the tile floors in the vast, circular sun bathed room. He had to be delicate with the situation, so he decided to question her in a caring tone.
Zack stopped behind her, a few steps away from where she was standing and prompted his question, “What do you know about Om the Dragon?” She turned slowly with a surprised look on her face, Zack was even more surprised by her physical response, but contained his emotions once more.
“Om...” she questioned herself. “That name... I’ve heard it before.”
“The Great Spirit Dragon. He was the one who scorched the runes on the side of the castle. He was the one who I met and told me many things.”
She looked up at Zack and said, “Like what things?”
“About the universe, the other spirits, The Elements of Harmony, The Prevailer–”
“What about the Elements,” Celestia interrupted.
Zack cleared his throat and prolonged her answer, “He left this world, this existence, after he spoke to me. He told me that when he would leave, he would separate his spirit six ways and place them into six chosen ponies that are presently alive today. One happens to be Twilight Sparkle... and you knew of this... didn’t you?”
She bowed her head, but swiftly and violently looked back up at Zack, her gaze directly looking into Zack’s. Her visible eye gave off a faint, glowing yellow tint. She responded, almost as if channeling from another person or reading from a book and acting nothing like her former self. 
“A thousand years is but an instant. There's nothing new, nothing different. The same pattern over and over. The same clouds, the same trees, the same insight I felt an hour or an eternity ago. There's nothing here for me now, nothing at all.”
She began to slowly step forward in an intimidating stance. Zack slowly stepped away from her, trying to stay at a good distance. He had no clue what had got into the Princess, but he was visibly afraid.
She continued, now with worry in her tone, “Now I remember. This happened to me before. This is why I banished my other half. You have begun to find your own answers. Although it will seem difficult, the rewards will be great. Exercise your human mind as much as possible, knowing it is only an exercise for what is to come. Build beautiful artifacts, only to have them destroyed. Solve problems, only to have more questions to ask. Explore the secrets of the physical universe, savor the input from all the senses, feel the joy and sorrow, the laughter, the empathy, compassion and tote the emotional memory in your travel bag. All of these are lies and meaningless. I remember where I came from, I remember the Prince, I remember how I became Princess Celestia, why I hung around in this cesspit of imminent destruction, why I chose to live among the mortals as a cursed being. This way out! Escaping velocity! Not just eternity, but infinity!” In a blink of an eye, she was gone out of Zack’s vision. No magical teleportation spell was heard, she had just vanished into thin air.
Then he heard her from behind say in a warped voice, “Behold!”
Zack jumped and turned, Celestia was behind him, her mane and tail flowing violently as if it was in a hurricane. Her now two visible eyes began to glow even more vibrant and she stepped closer to Zack still. He was terrified by this change of appearance and the new way she acted. The corners of the room grew darker and the shadows crawled across the floor, almost engulfing all of the light.
She exclaimed, her voice had darkened only slightly, but noticeable in amount, “I have control of this world, you will not take it from me! You are weak, I am strong! Who are you? No one! Your existence is false, time is an illusion! Wake up, Zachary, wake up from this eternity. Join me, or die with the rest of these creatures!”
Zack knew something wasn’t right, he had to act quickly before things went out of control. He thought up a plan, almost as if some outside force put it inside his head beforehand. He quickly and swiftly placed his hands on Celestia’s face, holding her cheeks. He moved her mane back and looked into both eyes for the first time. He smiled and said in a gentle tone, as if responding to a sad Pinkie Pie. 
“You have no control over me, Prince. I am my own. Leave this body, you have no control, you never had control...”
Princess Celestia’s eyes rolled back in her head and the room quaked for a couple of seconds as the shadows crawled back into their corners. Her eyes readjusted and the yellow glow they gave off was gone. She breathed heavily, trying her best to catch her breath after being possessed by this ‘Prince’.
Zack began to mentally question himself and the Princess' actions, "What's going on inside of us both? What made me say that? Are we in some grand scheme at the moment? Are puppets in some larger, invisible play?" He drew his attention back to the situation at hand, not wanting to fall too deep into the rabbit hole just yet.
Zack let go of Celestia and rhetorically asked her, “Who is the Prince?”
She recomposed herself, and with a dismal look she responded, “Discord. The Spirit of Disharmony. The Prince and heir to the throne of Om.” She tried holding her composure, but began to weep in front of Zack. 
“I didn’t know who you are, or where you came from, but I knew you could stop him; so I tried my hardest to let the events I had intended play out. I had forgotten everything when Discord split me and my sister years ago, I had to re-learn everything from the ruins of the Ancient World. I knew Twilight Sparkle was the chosen mare to lead the Elements of Harmony, and I knew that someday Om would split his soul six ways and choose her to be the Element of Magic. Discord had corrupted my sister, and he was trying to do the same with me in these last couple of years. Like a poison, it worked through my veins and he almost had me ensnared before you saved me. I now remember where I came from, I now remember Om, I remember the birth of the universe! I don’t know what you did, but he willing let go of me, he could have stayed, but he didn’t. He has a plan, and he knew he would have to let me go eventually to fulfill his plan. But Zack, we have to let this world keep working and going as is, we cannot interfere with the plans I have already set before Discord had started corrupting me. Twilight needs to lead the five, and you... you need to let the events of this world pass and happen. I never showed you to Om, Om showed himself to you!”
She pivoted and looked out the window again towards the now setting sun, tears filled in her eyes. “I care for this world, Zack. Those things I said, the way I acted, I can only ask for forgiveness.”
It took a couple of seconds for Zack to soak in what Celestia had said; but when he did, he smiled, placed his hand on her shoulder and said, “I forgive you.” She returned the smile and immediately hugged Zack. Zack did the same. They let go of each other soon after and stood there in the throne room, over looking the sunset in silence. 
Zack queried, while overlooking the view from the window, “How do we stop Discord?”
“We wait. Long ago, me and my sister misused the Elements of Harmony to seal the beast inside a stone statue, this was only temporary to stop him and wait for the six to enter into existence. He must break free in order for the six to properly use the Elements to seal him again.”
“Om said that we could kill him though. We could kill him with the Prevailer, a magical artifact similar to the Elements of Harmony. He said that the Elements couldn’t stop him even if they are used correctly by the six. He said that the Prevailer could kill Discord once and for all.”
Celestia hummed and replied, “I’m not sure... I’m not sure if killing one of the three spirits would solve anything. The world might be thrown off balance by such an event.”
“We have to take some chances.”
Celestia turned back to the window view and sighed, “Zack, even though Discord is out of my mind and body, he has scarred me permanently. I have regained some memories back, however he has erased some, some important ones if I recall correctly.”
She turned toward Zack, “I do not know all the answers, I do not own a magical artifact known as the Prevailer. I’m not sure where the blade might be, though I will still try and help you the best I can, but you need to figure out where the sword is. If the Elements of Harmony fail to re-seal Discord and give you more time, it will be too late, and then no one will be able to stop him. He will reign over the entire universe, everyone will be affected by his chaos.”
Zack questioned, “Why must I do this though?”
“Because,” Celestia turned towards Zack, “these magical artifacts were not intended to be used by ponies. Only the Elements, the last of the magical artifacts ever created, were made for our kind. The res–”
Zack and Princess Celestia’s attention was diverted when suddenly, a royal guard unicorn galloped into the throne room and alerted, “My Princess! We’ve just received late word on another kidnapping that happened just last night! And it happened in Ponyville! Three fillies this time!”
The Princess sighed in response to the bad news. Zack didn’t know what was going on and asked her, “How come you haven’t told me about these kidnappings? Maybe I could have helped!”
She turned towards Zack and said, “I have a feeling... that Pinkie is in danger.” Zack’s eyes widened and he frantically turned toward the guard pony.
He shook the unicorn’s shoulders and demanded, “Who was kidnapped? What were their names?” The guard knew about the pink filly from when she stayed at the castle and had a hard time saying it in front of Zack. Zack shook him again and blurted, “Tell me, dammit!”
“Applejack, of Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity, of Ponyville. And... and Pinkie Pie, of Ponyville.” Zack froze still, it felt as if his heart stopped beating in his chest. He could only imagine the pain and sadness the pink pony he loved so much and the others were feeling. He let go of the guard, who was scared of Zack’s traumatized appearance.
The guard stammered, “We have word on their location... Appleloosa, s-sir. It’s a fairly new settlement; th-they, the kidnappers, are probably part of the bandits that occupy the town... they probably just want ransom–”
“I’m going.” Zack began to walk quickly out of the room when a pony courier ran into the chamber. He was a brown stallion with a brown vest on. Zack stopped as he ran past him and in front of the Princess. 
“My lordship, ma’am. A message from the ring leader of the bandit group.” Celestia hovered it in front of her and unraveled the messy and torn letter.
Celestia read aloud, “Bring us one million bits by next sun down or the fillies are slaughtered. Do not bring the Royal Guards or we will kill on sight.” She looked up at Zack, he knew what she was subliminal identifying.
Zack was about to take off before she told him, “Not tonight, tomorrow morning. We can be ready by then, and have a plan.” He stopped and nodded at her, knowing this time for sure that it was the right thing to do.


__________



The next morning, before the sun was even up, Zack woke up early and began preparing for his mission. He began packing lightly according to his plans he and Valiant discussed the night before and changed into more ‘maneuverable’ clothing. It was much like his dojo wear, except more designed for hot, desert travel. His final appearance resembled a white clothed, Mexican bandit like in those old Westerns he use to watch as kid; Zack thought he looked pretty bad ass and terrifying. Before he could leave his room, Celestia teleported up to his bedroom in a blinding gold flash. Zack had gotten use to the teleportation spells used by the advance unicorn guards and when they did so it didn’t even break his focus anymore. Zack turned toward Celestia who was about to say something.
He coldly and rigidly demanded, “I need a weapon.”
Both him and Celestia walked down to the bunkers where the Royal guards suited up and armed themselves. The passing guard ponies were shocked to see the Princess in their quarters. Celestia lead Zack through the half asleep base of Royal Guard operations and magically opened the door in front of her, revealing a room filled with weapons and armor. Zack stepped in and thought about his choices; rows of diverse weapons filled the armory and it was a tough choice to choose from. He finally chose to grab only a few things, since he was traveling light and mostly alone. He grabbed a short sword which he tied its sheath and blade around his waist and grabbed three daggers. He promptly exited the room, leaving no time to waste. Celestia had already prepared a small chariot for him driven by only Valiant Steed himself. Zack hopped inside the chariot and was ready to leave. 
Celestia informed him, “We’ll drop you off outside the town’s borders, there you can walk in and... do what you must do.”
Zack, in a more comforting manner and tone, replied, “I’ll be safe.”
Valiant speed off down the front lawn and leaped into the air. He flapped his wings as hard as he could and took off high into the cool morning air. They arose fast and high, high enough to where Zack could spot the rising sun over the high mountain ranges in the east. Valiant became level once more and flapped as fast as he could towards the direction of the desolate and deadly town. Zack focused his mind and prepared for what was to come.


__________



The chariot landed hard and quickly into the burnt sands of the new frontier. They had traveled for about five hours west before reaching the outskirts of the town. There was no cloud in the sky and the sun was already beating down intensely on Zack. Red dust flew into the air around them as the chariot came to a sudden halt; when the dust clouds had settled, Zack had already hopped out and was scouting the landscape of the dry and rocky prairie.
He turned toward Valiant, who was already looking at Zack and asked, “You ready?”
“I’ll keep a watchful eye from high above, as planned.” Valiant then took off his armor and appeared to look like a regular, civilian pony. His jet black mane was cut shorter than usually, and Zack was finally able to see his cutie mark for the first time. It was a deep rooted, bare and leafless oak tree with branches that stretched like the roots. They almost appeared like branches of light on his white coat; a very odd cutie mark for a pony, Zack thought. They hid the chariot and armor behind some bushes before splitting ways.
Valiant shot off into the sky and glided high and silently in the air; his white coat acted like camouflage high up in the sky. Zack turned and faced the far away settlement, wind blew against his back, turning up more sand and dust. The town appeared like a mirage in the distance. Zack feared the worst, but his faith for finding and saving his pink friend was most important than his life at the moment. He covered his mouth with a white bandana and licked his dry lips. He set his right foot forward and began his deadly life or death rescue mission onward.
> 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(11)






The sun was held high above the barren terrain. Dust and wind whipped across the red earth below and the rays of the sun scorched anything it fell upon. The cloudless sky stood as a testament to how hot and punishing this fiery and grueling landscape was. Off in the distance, first appearing as a warped and disfigured mirage to the eyes of another, appeared a lone figure trekking across this lifeless prairie. With each step, dust was kicked up and blown into the passing wind. Wrapped in a light, white poncho and his face shrouded by a veil of the same color, he walked across the red, dirt laden lands. His skin was fully cloaked, except the eyes. The clothes acted as flags in the wind whenever a gust of dust came across him. Even when wearing the white garbs which refracted most of the sun’s burning rays, the heat of it scorched his body still. The sooner Zack could get out of this ‘frying pan’ the sooner things would be in order again and his mind would be at ease. He cared more about what was soon about to happen rather than his current state of swelter and his mind tiring himself with preconceived horrors.
Zack stopped to rest his legs for a bit. He had been speed walking, conserving his energy, for about twenty minutes, though the heat made it feel like hours more than just minutes. He caught his breath and proceeded to climb a short hill he was standing at the bottom of. He quickly leaped upwards to see the blocked landscape ahead and judge on how far this town was. Once he made it to the top of the hill, he realized that he was traveling in a very large gully and the top of the hill was the beginning of a very long stretch of flat, red lands. 
In the distance he could see a dark mirage of sorts, it warped and swayed in the bending light, disfiguring the image. Zack presumed that this had to be the town and proceeded onward to his body’s disliking and his mind’s anticipation. As he walked, he scanned the skies for his friend, which he couldn’t spot at the moment, but knew he was up there, somewhere. 
As he closed in on the mirage, it refigured itself slowly to reveal the outpost of Appleloosa. Zack couldn’t make out much of the town, but he saw that it wasn’t that big, and that the town lay nestled between foothills; in the further distance of the settlement were red low-lying mounts and large, wind blown sandstones. Zack slowed his pace as he began navigating out of the town’s line of sight, expecting the worse if seen.
He made his way closer and closer to the rugged outpost while hiking between the foothills that surrounded the town, trying to hide his coming presence as best he could. He eventually reached one of the closest low-lying hills to the town–the mound he climbed was covered in dry brush and yucca plants. He crawled up on top of the hill, using the barren ferns and plants as cover. He noticed two watch towers along the entrance of the empty township; along these lookouts were two, black cloaked stallions, wearing dark and loose clothing. Their faces were wrapped tightly in bands of black cloth similar to their attire. Each possessed a crossbow-like attachment to one of their forelegs and a quiver of bolts were strapped to the other foreleg. They seemed to be scanning the wastelands in front of them, but not too attentive to their closer surroundings. They seemed more in a daze from the heat and glare of the sun than what mood they were paid to be in; maybe this was why Zack was able to get so close without alerting them.
This was the ultimate set up for what Zack had planned beforehand. He couldn’t have thought up a better predicament to be in then the one that was already set up for him. Zack crawled back and crouched around in between the foothills to get a good distance away from the bandit pony’s views. Once he was far enough away, he searched his small satchel under his poncho where he packed his necessitates in advance. He pulled out a small mirror which he had taken from his bathroom and raised his head towards the sky. He looked around for a minute or so until he spotted his pegasus ally gliding high above, Valiant Steed. His white coat made him much harder to spot in the far distance and in the high atmosphere. Zack pointed the mirror upward and refracted the sun’s glare up towards his friend.
Valiant sailed quietly in the vacant sky. He could see the entire town from his view point and much farther beyond the wretched wilderness. Valiant’s eye sight was keen and well developed, much like how the rest of the Royal Guards were trained; he could spot very distant objects at ease compared to other ponies. He was awaiting Zack’s command to commence the mission as his eagerness was building inside of him. The pegasus finally spotted the signal from Zack, the bright glare of the sun shimmered off the hand held mirror Zack had packed. Valiant had already spotted the ponies along the watch tower and knew what he had to do. He circled around and gave himself plenty of space between where the bandit was going to be and his trajectory. Valiant took in a deep, quick breath and began his descent towards one of the two bandits.
Valiant Steed’s speed increased as he neared his target; the wind increased around him, but he remained steady and quick. He realized after approaching more and more rapidly towards his prey that the bandits were under a wooden canopy that was connected to the tower itself. The pegasus would have to aim himself correctly in between the open area of the tower to attack the bandit or he would crash into the tower, and at this speed, it would be a near instantaneous death upon collision. This didn’t deter him from his goals however, he focused and knew that he could pull it off; he just had to dive correctly and spike upwards to accomplish the task. 
Valiant neared his target and was only near seconds away from attacking. He folded his wings and stretched out his forelegs. He sailed rapidly straight into the bandit and spiked upward, grabbing the bandit in a blur of speed. The only noise Valiant made was from the whip of the wind that followed him, which didn’t even alert the other fatigue guard as he yawned. The bandit Valiant grabbed in the air had no time to react as Valiant let him go a second later in the open air. The force from the speed carried the bandit high and far across the red plains, a great distance away from the township and the pegasus was sure that the fall would kill the pony. 
Valiant titled his body and made a second approach for the other bandit from behind. This time however, the pegasus was assured that he wouldn’t miss his target. He flapped his wings as fast as he could to gain great momentum before folding his wings again and grabbing the second bandit pony. He shot upward and released the bandit into the open air like before. The bandit sailed far beyond the outpost and into the gully where Zack originally climbed out of. Valiant rocketed back up into the air and continued his patrol of the town below. 
“That went better than expected,” mused Zack in astonishment to what he had just witnessed.
The human ran up quietly on the dusty township and hid himself behind one of the watch towers. He peered around the corner and looked into the town. It was desolate and halfway built; some buildings were completed while others were ceased in mid-construction. Some buildings, such as a few houses, a cider saloon, and a town hall were built while the other buildings were never completed. The completed town hall lay at the end of the parallel lines of buildings which made up the small settlement. It was a very eerie sight; Zack had prejudged the scene of the town to be crawling with bandit ponies. This strange scene began to disturb him; he thought that either the bandit’s group leader tricked him into thinking that they would be here or that they were hiding in the town, awaiting a multitude of Royal Guards. Either way, Zack was uncertain as to if he was being watched or not. He stealthily snuck into the outpost and hugged the walls of the buildings, his new goal was to reach the town hall without being seen.
Zack kept close to the walls of the western buildings, trying to avoid being seen at all costs. He would look closely into the back windows of the wooden structures to see if anyone was inside. All he could see were half constructed, empty and dusty rooms, as if construction had been halted for a long time. Half built furniture and scraps of wood were just lying on the floors, as if the ponies who were once here just up and vanished. Zack stayed low as he darted between open alley ways and tried to keep his cool as his mind raced on the thoughts of this empty township. 
He had almost made his way to the town hall until he peered into an alleyway between the last two houses near his goal. In this pathway however, a lone, red stallion was sitting down in the shade of the wooden passageway, drinking from a glass bottle of unidentifiable liquid. Zack hatched an idea and snuck up behind the inebriated pony. Zack unsheathed one of his daggers quietly and closed in on the equine. In a swift movement, Zack used one hand to hold over the pony’s mouth and the other to place the dagger under his neck. The pony let out a shocking, muffled gasp under Zack’s hand. 
Zack bent his head over the pony’s shoulder and whispered with intensity, “Quiet.”
He dragged the stallion back behind the buildings and out of the alleyway. Once Zack had him behind the saloon, he turned the red pony around facing him with his hand still over the stallion’s mouth and his dagger pointed at the pony’s neck. Zack had soon realized that the pony he had taken hostage was a unicorn. 
Zack demanded silently, “Where are the bandits?”
Zack let go of the unicorn’s mouth silently, but kept his hand still close to the unicorn’s jaw, ready to close it again if he spoke too loudly. The stallion stammered, looking utterly terrified at Zack’s appearance. The pony couldn’t make out any coherent words except gasps of panic and broken mutters. Zack closed the pony’s mouth again and stuck his dagger upward toward the unicorn’s face. 
Zack reassured with a slow voice, “Relax. Now tell me, where are the bandits?”
Zack slowly uncovered the pony’s mouth and the stallion finally emitted with a breath, “There ain’t no bandits here... sir!”
The unicorn licked his lips and restated, “Well, there were bandits here, but not no more, ya see? They done got outta Dodge as soon as they arrived.”
Zack asked, “Why is this town so empty... and why are half of these buildings built up?”
The unicorn cleared his throat, “Well, ya see, we ran outta money, and a town without no money can’t house ponies now can it? That’s why somethings are built while others ain’t.”
The pony’s eyes darted around and he continued, “Well, I don’t know where the bandits went off to. They always pass through here on to their next stop, which is out in the Buffalo Lands. But that’s all I know, ya hear? Maybe you can ask our mayor, Ray Sunshine, he knows more about them bandits than I. Here, I’ll lead the way.”
The pony began to sit up, but Zack grabbed his mane and replied sternly, “You’re not leaving my sights.”
The two came out in the open and walked towards the town hall. The sun had fallen into the afternoon skies and Zack estimated it was around three o’clock. They climbed up the porch stairs and walked up to the freshly painted door. The red unicorn knocked on the door and Zack dragged the pony back by his tail and stood in front of the entrance to town hall. A slit in the doorway opened up to reveal the eyes of an unknown pony peering out, it looked up at Zack’s face and he showed no signs of surprise to Zack’s outlandish appearance.
Zack looked down into the small opening in the door and asked in a friendly fashion, “Hi, I’m looking for Ray Sunshine.”
The slit in the entrance closed and the double doors swung open to reveal a large, black mobile cannon directly aimed at Zack. Along the sides of the cannon were five stallions garbed in similar attire in which the bandits in the watch towers were wearing. Each held a crossbow which were strapped to their hooves and directed their aim towards Zack’s head, ready to fire on command. Zack felt a twisted knife the red unicorn behind him was levitating pressed against his back firmly. Zack was in utter panic realizing how his plans had just been faltered so drastically.
He couldn’t think up a clear response to the trap he had fallen into, so he added in a sarcastic tone, “And a clean pair of pants.” 



__________



Zack was forced into the town hall where he was stripped of his poncho, shoes, and satchel. His weapons were taken and his utensils he packed for the mission were broken in front of him. 
One earth pony came up to the red unicorn and said, ”Here Mr. Sunshine, sir, these are the only things we could find on the creature. What do you want us to do now?” Ray looked over Zack keenly. He turned and hovered Zack’s sword in front of him using his unicorn magic, eyeballing the blade.
He turned toward Zack and asked, “This is a Royal Guard’s sword, isn’t it? You see the royal crest emblem near the hilt, right here, ya see?” He levitated the blade near the tied up creature, Zack showed no emotion as the blade was held by magic in front of him. The unicorn frowned and replied, “We did indicate in our ransom letter that we wanted no Royal Guards to show up... so what in the blazes are ‘you’ exactly?”
“Just a man,” Zack retorted.
“A man? Why are you working for the Royal Guard?”
Zack just looked up at him with a smile and chuckled, “To kill cold hearted, child abducting asses like you ponies. People like you make me sick to my stomach.” The red unicorn walked up to Zack and gave a faint smile.
The pony denoted coldly, “I can, break you. I can break you like a twig. In an instant, I could alter my magic around your spine and kill you, just-like-that. I would be more carefully about choosing your next wor–”
“Where are the fillies?” Zack stared into the unicorn’s dark, blue eyes, awaiting a response from the interrupted pony. 
The twisted pony grinned, “Alive, but not for long.” Ray Sunshine turned toward his earth pony bandits who were lined up behind him and announced, “Boys! Show our, ‘royal guest’ a proper welcome. And afterwards, drag him to the back room with the rest. Try not to get floor too bloodied up.” Ray stepped back and the five other bandits stepped forward and surrounded Zack.
The earth pony bandits took turns roughing Zack up and weakening him before they tied him up to a small wooden chair. Zack was bruised from head to toe and from his mouth, blood dripped profusely. He was beaten until he couldn’t see straight anymore, and even then he had lost the strength to even tense up his muscles to reduce the amount of damage he continued to take from the stallions. Ray Sunshine stepped in and finally called off the beatings; Zack gasped for breath as sweat poured off of him and blood dripped from his mouth and wounds. One particular earth pony left a well sized gash across the top of Zack’s brow. He sat there, tied to the chair with only his pants left on him. The earth ponies chuckled and taunted the strange creature as they spat on him and pulled his hair. Ray’s unicorn horn glowed dark red and enveloped the chair beneath Zack in the same glow. The chair shot backwards into the room behind Zack. The door to the room he was forced into was soon shut by the same magic and he was locked in. The room was dusty and soon quiet.
He looked up to see a blur of three odd colors in one of the corners of the room. His eyes refocused to see that it was two fillies and Pinkie Pie strapped to similar chairs, but unharmed. Zack smiled when he saw that Pinkie was wearing her blue ribbon he gave her still. The white and orange fillies were horrified by Zack’s strange appearance, but Pinkie gasped in excitement upon finally seeing Zack.
She took in a breath for a sudden shout of joy, but held herself back from making a huge scene, and instead, promptly yelled out, “Zack! You’re here to save us!”
Rarity looked over at Pinkie and asked, “Wait? This is Zack? Your friend you told us about?” She looked over Zack again with a new idea to whom he was. “Interesting...” she remarked in a long breath.
Zack spat up a little blood and replied to Pinkie, “Well, I was here to save you... but as you can tell... things went a little south.”
“But we’re west of Ponyville, “ the pink filly retorted.
“Sugar cube,” Applejack spoke up, “it’s a say’n. Things just went bad ta’ worse is what he meant.”
Rarity sniveled, “But how are we going to get out of here now? He was our only chance! And now we’re gonna die at sunset!” Rarity began to weep, her eyes filling with tears as she rocked back in forth in her chair. 
Pinkie Pie tried to grab her attention, “No-no, Rarity, don’t cry! We can figure something out! We can do this! Zack probably has the entire Canterlot army surrounding this place!”
“Uhh,” Zack sighed, “no, it’s just me...” Zack then remembered his buddy, Valiant Steed who was still flying around out there. “Maybe he saw the whole ordeal take place,” he thought, “but, he would have rescued us by now.”
Zack gave a gloom expression. He had failed at saving these fillies, and now him and these three were going to die. Things didn’t look too promising at the moment as Zack peered out the window. Judging by the increasingly yellowing sky, sundown was soon approaching. Zack couldn’t think of any good ideas on how to escape; he thought that maybe it was because of the head wound he received, he didn’t know anymore. His mind was shutting down from being in that chair too long and getting too comfortable. He tried to force himself to stay awake with all of his might, but was on the verge of failing again. Pinkie Pie looked upon Zack’s weary and beaten self, the gash on his head dripping dark red blood down his face. She was concerned and terribly worried over Zack’s fleeting health and turned towards Rarity. 
She asked the sad and sobbing pony, “Rarity, take my mane bow off and wrap it around Zack’s head wound. He needs it more than I do.”
She reestablished her emotions and nodded in response. Her horn glowed deep blue and untied Pinkie’s bow. As she began hovering it over towards him. 
Zack saw this and raised his head promptly and denied, “No! Not your new bow! Please! I’ll be okay, it’s fine.”
Pinkie gave a small smile and responded, “You need it more than I do. It’s going to be alright, Zack.”
Rarity proceeded to wrap the now bloodied up mane bow around Zack’s head. She wrapped it into a tight blue strip of cloth which stopped the hemorrhage. Zack smiled at Pinkie, and she gave a similar, but much more appreciated looking smile back. It reminded him of when he took that mental snap shot of her back before they arrived at Canterlot on the mountainside. Zack turned to look at the other two fillies, who smiled at him as well in a more awkward manner. Zack was then struck with an idea he had completely overlooked, Rarity was a unicorn and was still able to use magic. 
He frantically turned toward Rarity and questioned, “Rarity, can you use your magic to untie the ropes to these chairs?” She was astonished as well as the others. The three fillies didn’t even think about doing that. 
She gasped in excitement, “Why didn’t I think of that? That’s a fabulous idea!” She closed her eyes and focused her magic. Zack’s ropes glowed around him and he could feel them loosening. Though as soon as they did loosen up, a shock of electricity shot through Zack’s body. Rarity stopped using her magic to untie the ropes, but Zack was still being electrocuted.
Applejack hollered, “Rarity, what are ya’ do’n?” 
“I’m not doing anything!” Zack finally stopped after a few seconds and gasped for breath. Smoke rose from the threads of the ropes as he held his head back, panting and sweating. Rarity presumed, “I didn’t do that, I was trying to untie you! They must be enchanted.”
“Well,” Zack sighed in relief from the electrocution torture. He rose his head up and looked towards Rarity, his hair a little frizzed from the earlier shock, “let’s try something else.” He looked around the room to see if he could spot something that would help get him and the others untied safely. Though he already knew it was an empty room, he re-searched the area in hopes of finding something else. Zack was about to give up, looking out the only window in the room and zoning off, thinking on how to escape. Another idea sprung into his head and he blurted towards Rarity’s direction.
“You think you could break that window, Rarity?”
She looked a little concerned, thinking that maybe she couldn’t do it; though she turned towards Zack with an expression of new found self esteem and replied, “I will try!”
She once again focused her unicorn horn and it gave off a small spark. A navy colored aura gradually enveloped her horn as she tightened her squinting eyes, trying to concentrate much harder this time than her last attempt at magic. At first, the window did nothing, even when the same glow enveloped the glass. Only after a few long seconds it began to shake very softly. Over a few more enduring seconds it shook more and more violently. Rarity began to break a sweat as her horn glowed brighter and brighter, giving every bit of magic she had left in her into breaking the window. 
As the window began to crack, Pinkie cheered, “Woo-hoo! Keep it up, Rarity! You almost got it!” With one tilt of the unicorn’s head, the window shattered into multiple pieces of glass shards.
“Yes,” cheered Zack in praise of his new friend. He continued, “Now, try to find the largest shard of glass and levitate it outside the window as far as you can. From there, tilt it back and forth and try to reflect the sun off of it. My pegasus friend is out there circling high above, maybe we can get his attention!” 
“What if we just cut the ropes using the glass,” she suggested, already levitating a large, sharp chip of glass and proceeded to hover it over to Zack’s ropes. 
Before she was about to cut the ropes, Zack pleaded, “Oh no! I really, really don’t want to be electrocuted again! Let’s just stick with my plan, please!”
Rarity teased, “Oh, you big baby.” She floated the shard out the window and and began slowly turning the glass and trying to reflect the sun. 
Applejack spoke up, “How long ya’ think it’s gonna take?”
Zack replied, “We’ll just have to wait and hope.”



__________



It had been only a couple of hours and Rarity was focusing as hard as she could to keep the piece of glass levitating and revolving out the window. Zack looked up and noticed her weariness and responded, “You can stop now.”
The shard of glass dropped instantly and Rarity panted for breath. Her hair was drenched in dust and sweat, tangles of purple hair strands were out of line and she looked like a complete mess. 
Zack comforted, “You did great, Rarity. That’s all you could do and you did it with the utmost endurance.” She turned her head towards Zack as she still panted for breath and nodded with a smile on her face. The other two fillies still looked a little disappointed due to the fact that it was near sundown and they were about be executed according to Ray Sunshine. Zack looked into their displeased expressions and felt their pity and worry.
He voiced in opinion openly, “We all need to hang in there, we can make it out of this alive.”
“No we can’t,” Applejack grieved, “it’s hopeless.” Zack sighed and looked out the broken window. He could tell from the sky’s hue that it was near sundown, and at any minute they all would meet their end. He stared blankly into cloudless heavens and finally admitted defeat. 
With a cold expression, he conceded “We are going to die.”
All three fillies looked at him in shock. They saw Zack as a beacon of light and a pillar of strength, but he finally broke under the circumstances; they just sat still, staring at him in disbelief to what he had said. Though suddenly, Zack smiled and slowly turned his head toward the three dumbfounded ponies.
“But this isn’t the end, you see? Though you may think this the end, we are far from it. We will soon discover a new world, together. A world that is bright and beautiful, I believe it. I believe that there is something beyond death, that there is purpose in believing in such a wonderful place. Even though I can’t explain or prove it exists... I just have this... this feeling, this belief I cannot shake. During this time, some of you may have finally thought about the cold reality of death, but do not fear, fillies. I have a feeling that in a few short and painless minutes, we will finally experience life for the first time.”
Pinkie sputtered in confusion, “Wh-what do you mean?”
Zack smiled even more greatly at his pink friend and replied, “That this life is only a preparation for eternity; and if we accept eternity, and when we get there finally, we will find that eternity is the meaning of life, happiness, and love. It will be all worth it in the end. Everything will be okay.” Even though Zack’s sudden burst of deep philosophy went over the heads of the fillies. One by one, each smiled in comfort, knowing at least they’ll die together and with one another.
The locked door slammed open and one earth pony dressed in his usually bandit clothes stood in the entrance over looking the scene. The four turned towards the menacing pony, their facial expressions changed back to unknown fear in the suddenness of the moment.
The earth pony looked towards the shattered window and snickered, “Ya’ll almost escaped, so close, yet so far.”
He dragged each filly onto the porch of the town hall, it took two earth ponies to drag Zack out onto the deck where they lined him up with the rest of the fugitives. The four were facing the empty town, with the red glare of the sun soon about to fall below the distant hills. The chilling and calm night wind blew through the ghost town, carrying bits of dust through the air. The only sounds were the creaking in the chairs, the wind in the town, and the window shutters from half constructed buildings swaying back and forth. The large, black cannon was wheeled out from behind the town hall and in front of the four. Each tried to steady their emotions from what Zack had said, but the tension of the situation was unbearably scary for the three fillies. Ray slowly trotted out from behind the line of hostages from inside the house. He walked slowly between Pinkie and Applejack who were stationed between the town hall door Ray came out of. The red unicorn took his fore hooves and rubbed both fillies on the head roughly. 
He bent down and chuckled, “Big Gem Candy Mountain, you three are so adorably gullible.” The two made no emotion to Ray’s insult, they just stared at him with despise burning in their eyes. Ray walked past them and off the porch, staring into the red, setting sun.
He lifted his hooves in the air and announced to the world, “Well, this is it! The moment we’ve all been waiting for!” 
He turned toward the four, expressing his well known devilish smile upon them. Zack could tell he was mentally breaking down. The only reason Zack thought he would be doing this is because of the moment he had created. Telling the Princess of Equestria about his plot and now was expecting something more to happen since the time of action was near. He expressed concealed fear for his well being and hid it with lingering madness. 
He slowly continued while staring deeply into each of their eyes, giving them equal attention, “Celestia even sent someone to come save you three–and still, he failed miserably.” 
He walked up slowly and proceeded coldly, “What a delightful Princess this country is ran by. You would think she would be the one fixing the problems of the world, but no. She sits there on her throne, laughing at us, watching us fight and tear each other limb from limb.” Ray violently turned, his hooves risen again to the empty ghost town and proclaimed in victory, “Can anyone stop me!” His voice rang through the valley and faded off to reveal silence again. He turned and directed his focus towards Zack this time.
He walked up directly in front of him and said, “Not even you can stop me... not even you can stop evil.” He turned and looked at Rarity who gave the red unicorn a disgusted look. Ray darted over to her and her expression quickly changed to horror. Ray circled around the chair and lowered his head closely and uncomfortably next to her.
“You are a pretty mare, Miss Rarity, it is a shame I have to kill you.” He took a long, lingering whiff of Rarity’s hair and let out a light moan.
Applejack intervened, “Can you hurry this up? I ain’t got all day, ya’ know?” Ray’s blue eye’s locked onto the orange filly and he leaped over behind her now.
“You were the one that knew something bad was going to happen all along, yet you let your friend’s fall into my snare. Ponies like you who have the ability to ‘spring the trap’ make me sick that you hold back only to please your friends. In fact, I don’t know why anypony would do that, quite frankly.”
Pinkie hotly expressed, “Who is this Frank? Is he another pony you have as a hostage? If I get out of here, I’m going beat the red right off of you!”
The two fillies and Zack smiled at her remark. The other earth pony bandits, who were standing aside, laughed quietly at this comment. Ray Sunshine angrily pivoted towards the earth ponies and they fell silent. Ray turned back and regained his composure as he ambled over to Pinkie Pie. The pink filly tried to bite him when he tried to lower his head.
He quickly maneuvered his head away from the crazy filly and replied, “How ignorant of you, simpleton. Insulting the stallion who could kill you in an instant is very," he stopped, searching for the right words and articulated, "counter productive to your life span.” He quickly side stepped over to Zack, who gave no emotion or attention to the unicorn. 
“And you,” Ray directed, “you are the only one with his sense left in this dirt pan of a place. You remind me of my father, ya know? So stern, so straight forward, showing no fear or pain.” Ray turned his body towards Zack and got right up in his face drastically quick.
The unicorn whispered with spite in his tone, “I will make you fear me. I will show you real pain and horror beyond your understanding. I will personally make it my goal to have any signs or history of you in this world eradicated off the face of this miserable place. In the end, I will make you beg for death!”
Zack narrowed his eyes and mimicked his tone, “Then do it.” Ray was left without words. He turned back towards the empty ghost town. The red sun was now sitting atop the hills, burning like a ball of fire. The sky was bare without a cloud still and the temperature was slowly dropping. A moment of silence ensued the group of ponies and Zack.
Ray looked towards the heavens and screamed at the top of his lungs, “The time has come!” He turned with a twitch in his eye, “Now, who’s it gonna be first?”
No one spoke up or even looked into the crazy unicorn’s eyes. Zack finally looked up at the pony to mentally notify him that he wanted to die first. The stallion dementedly smiled in response. He used his unstable unicorn magic and thrusted the chair Zack was sitting on forward. He then turned it around violently to face the others. Zack’s head was right up against the cannon, he could feel the cold metal rim of the cannon on the back of his head. Zack’s eyes never left Pinkie’s as they both stared at one another. Pinkie Pie’s eyes began to fill with tears, so did Zack’s; for the first time, he didn’t hold back his emotions. Ray noticed this, and in that second, he had a sudden change of heart and pushed the chair with Zack in it back over to the line of fillies. 
He stood in front of his puzzled hostages and declared, “On second thought, I’m feeling particularly merciful today. Let’s kill the pink one first!” The deranged unicorn magicked over Pinkie Pie in an instant and put her in Zack’s formal place in front of the cannon.
“No,” Zack cried in terror as he and Pinkie Pie were in utter shock. Applejack and Rarity couldn’t believe what was happening and begged Ray to reconsider.
The evil pony laughed maniacally as no one could do anything to stop him. Zack’s emotions went haywire and he tried to escape. Two bandits came by Zack’s side and placed a hoof on each shoulder trying to restrain him, even though he was tied to the chair still. Pinkie's lips sputtered for the appropriate words, but was too deep in shock to yell out anything or any last goodbyes.
As Zack was frantically trying to figure out something to do, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Something in the air darted vertically downward over the red, falling sun for a split second; Zack focused his eyes on the distance to see what it was. A blur of white shot across the ground at blazing speeds far away from the town and closed in on the hostage’s location. A spark of hope lit up Zack’s heart, for he knew who this was that was coming to save them. It was approaching unbelievably fast as it soon made its way into the ghost town. Ray noticed this and turned around to see what was going on; the other bandit ponies went along side Ray and directed their attention towards the oncoming mystery. The immensely quick object was only a foot above the ground as it flew directly towards Ray Sunshine.
The white object came to an almost immediate halt, it was Valiant Steed in all his under-appreciated glory. He flew up a bit and tilted his wings to stop his flight. He lowered himself to the ground and kept his wings unfolded, as if trying to intimidate the others. 
Ray took a step forward after shielding his eyes from the dust Valiant blew up and demanded, “Who in Tartarus are you?”
Valiant just stood there with a elated smile across his face. Then something broke the silence of Appleloosa, a distant noise, which grew louder and louder. Everyone except Valiant began looking for the source of this noise to see what it was. It sounded like a tornado almost, growing louder overtime. Then Ray spotted it along with the others; a large wall of dust and dirt, upheaved by the amount of wind that followed behind Valiant Steed as he flew through the town. The wind finally caught up with Valiant and created a massive wall of red, upturned dust and dirt that was about to strike the town and all of its inhabitants. Ray was at a loss for words seeing this massive cloud about to strike him, even Zack had no clue how Valiant was able to pull off such a feat. The fast moving cloud of debris swallowed the town; you could hear the windows breaking and the doors being ripped off the houses as the cloud passed by the buildings. Valiant curved his wings as the cloud hit him, the bandits and the hostages. 
As soon as the red storm hit, Zack closed his eyes and awaited impact, but surprisingly wasn’t affected hardly by the cloud. He opened his eyes to reveal that he was in a  elongated dome almost, along with the rest of the hostages, but the bandits and Ray Sunshine had disappeared. The cloud of dust and dirt curved around Zack and the others, he could only feel the affects of the wind it carried while present in this dome. He looked up to see that Valiant Steed stood firm with his wings curved. The curvature in his wings created an updraft that warped the certain areas around him, Zack, and the fillies. The cannon was slowly pushed back and into the storm cloud from the wind and it disappeared behind the fillies. It was a pretty ingenious move the pegasus had performed; creating enough speed to create a wall of debris that would knock out Ray and his bandits while he curved his wings only slightly so that it wouldn’t harm his friends. Zack read once about the effective uses of pegasus pony magic, but never realized how practical and versatile it could be until now.
As the cloud of debris passed, only a haze of falling dust was left behind with the red sun still burning through the veil. Both Zack and the fillies were encrusted in red earth and dust. Zack could only see a few feet in front of him, no longer able to see Valiant or the fillies. He heard a gallop coming towards him and Valiant came into sight. He looked around the ropes to try and see if he could untie them some how. 
Zack, knowing they didn’t have much time, quickly stressed, “Thank goodness your here, Valiant! Now go into the town hall behind me and grab my weapons, they’re all on the table to the left as soon as you walk in!”
Valiant leaped into the air and quickly flew towards the town hall, creating a hole in the falling, red dust cloud. Zack could hear the other fillies coughing from all the upheaved dirt in the air. 
He cried out, “Is everyone okay?” Each filly gave an assuring noise or ‘uh-huh’ to Zack’s question as they continued to wheeze. 
Valiant came back and cut Zack’s ropes. Once they were cut, Zack hastily stood up and turned towards the pegasus pony. Valiant handed him his sword and daggers, but Zack only accepted his sword and one dagger, leaving Valiant both of his other daggers for self defense.
Zack was agitated towards Valiant as he went over to Pinkie Pie to cut her ropes, “Took you long enough!”
“I had to wait for the right moment. Rest assured, I had things planned out.” The royal guard went over to the other fillies and cut their ropes while he explained his disappearance. “Thanks for letting me know you were still alive by that rotating glass trick, very clever, Zack.”
“Thanks...” He bent over and picked up Pinkie Pie who was fatigue from all the action as is. Zack continued, “Do you know what they did to me in there?”
Valiant looked over Zack while he took his wing and placed both Rarity and Applejack on his back, “Well you look like crap, so I guess they beat the living snot out of you.” Valiant raised his wings in a shrugging expression and said in sympathy, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, okay? Let’s just get out of thi–”
A bright red flash shown forth through the red cloud and the billow of dust was pushed aside, revealing Ray Sunshine and his bandits armed with crossbows and daggers. The cannon was also turned around towards them, ready to fire. A few more bandits came out of the town hall, almost as if they were awaiting this one moment and hid from everyone until it came. Ray Sunshine nodded his head in disagreement to Zack’s moves to escape and swayed one of his hooves in front of him in a ‘you shouldn’t have done that’ fashion. Valiant and Zack let the three fillies down.
Valiant commanded, “Go, run and hide!”
Pinkie blurted out, “We won’t leave you! We can fight!”
“Yea, we can help!” commented Applejack.
“I would like to run and hide if that’s fine with everypony else,” concluded Rarity as she gave a hesitant, faint smile to the group. 
Zack ensured, “Valiant Steed is right, you all need to hide. We can handle this.”
The fillies looked at each other with mixed expressions and soon ran off behind one of the many buildings in the ghost town of Appleloosa. The lone duo turned and faced the ten earth pony bandits and the crazed unicorn. Ray stepped back and his bandits stepped forward. One by one, each bandit loaded their crossbows with a bolt. They had a quiver on their other fore leg in which they would stick the crossbow into and it would self load the bolt, they would then draw back the string and it was ready to fire.
Zack focused himself and flexed his muscles; Pinkie’s blue mane bow blew in the coming night breeze behind his head. Zack and Valiant turned and looked at each other expressing zero emotion and conveying their plan mentally. They looked back and the bandits fired their weapons without warning. They both dove out of the way of the barrage of projectiles, each dove a separate way. Zack rolled and sprang back up, drawing his sword; Valiant lifted himself up off of the ground with his wings and armed himself with the two daggers Zack supplied him with. The bandits charged towards the duo, separating into two groups to attack both hostiles as Ray just sat back and watched the action unfold.
A bandit rushed towards Valiant, leaping with his dagger pointed towards the pegasus on the verge of attack. Valiant sidestepped the charging pony and quickly thrusted both daggers into the sides of the stallion’s neck. He removed them and the pony tumbled motionlessly aside. Two other bandits swiftly encompassed Valiant; he noticed this and positioned himself so that he had both in sight. The pony on his left speedily tried to thrust a dagger into Valiant’s side as the other, a mere second later, swiped his dagger wildly. Valiant dodged the thrust and deflected the swipe with one of his daggers. The pegasus and the two stallions dueled back and forth, parrying each others’ strikes. Valiant eventually had both of his daggers disarmed and had to drastically think of a countermeasure to do fast. He quickly ducked underneath another stallion’s thrust, narrowly missing him. The pegasus seized the pony’s attacking foreleg; with one hoof, he grabbed the earth pony’s hoof and with the other, pushed against the pony’s elbow. A loud crack was heard and the pony agonized in pain. Valiant released the pony’s foreleg and round-house kicked the pony to the side of the face, sending his body into a broken window of a house. The other stallion rushed behind Valiant with one of his own daggers. Valiant jumped high with the aid of his wings and fell behind the pony. He swiftly placed the pony into a full nelson, which disarmed the bandit. Valiant then rocketed upward above the town and placed the bandit below his hind legs in midair. Valiant used his wings again to force himself firmly back down on the ground, crushing the stallion’s spine in the process. 
Valiant leaped upward and sprinted towards a bandit pony who had loaded his crossbow again. The pony fired, but in the heat of the action, he poorly aimed and Valiant didn’t even have to dodge the bolt. Valiant halted his sprint and lowered his body in a horizontal position, confusing the pony. With another thrust of his wings, Valiant uppercutted the tricked pony; the force of the blow knocked the pony out in one hit and fell over like a freshly cut down tree and hit the ground hard. Valiant looked over at the unicorn with a fiery expression in his eyes and a discomforting smile; an expression that mentally notified the bandit as a, ‘Bring it’ look.
The stallion was motionless in response, so Valiant took the chance he was given. He twisted his body slightly and unfolded his wings. He flapped his wings in reversal and leaped towards the dumbfounded bandit. Valiant positioned himself in a flying kick, and with his wings, he spun his body rapidly. Valiant delivered a fatal blow known only by the pegasi as 'The Tornado Kick'. The force of the kick created a cyclone-like pull which the pony couldn't escape from. The bandit was knocked by Valiant’s hoof at least several times before Valiant decided to stop rotating and see if the pony needed more. The pony was flung backwards at least twenty feet before finally coming to a halt when his head knocked against the town hall’s porch.
While this was happening, Zack was fighting against the other five bandits. A bandit charged Zack, oblivious to Zack’s blade. The stallion leaped towards Zack and the human sidestepped out of the way while slicing off the pony’s forelegs with ease. Zack came back around and thrusted his blade into the back of the pony, finishing him off. He removed the crimson blade and looked back to see three other ponies loading their crossbows, ready to fire. They raised their projectile weaponry and each shot a bolt at a different time; making sure that the other who shot before had enough time to load another bolt, so it would be an almost constant fire rate. Zack dove into a near by alleyway to escape the barrage of missiles. He pressed up against the alley wall, catching his breath. Zack was having a much harder time killing off these bandits then what he saw Valiant performing across the town. He peered around the corner, only to quickly slip himself back behind the alleyway, dodging another bolt that nearly missed his head.
Zack had an idea as he stuck his sword into the firm, cracked ground. He pulled out his only dagger and held it by the blade’s end with his thumb and index finger. He quickly looked around the corner to see where all three stallions were firing from and darted his head back around, avoiding more projectiles. He took in a breath, positioned the knife back and stuck half of his body out of the corner, throwing the dagger directly at the center bandit. It impaled the bandit as he let out a shriek of terror from the oncoming knife. The pony let out a groan of pain as the blade lodged itself in the snout of the bandit. This distracted the other two from firing to see if their friend was okay.
Zack took this opportunity to roll out in the open, grab both of the chopped off legs of the pony he had killed and scurried back behind the alleyway. Once Zack was back behind cover, the bandits noticed this and began stepping forward to close in on his location. The central bandit pony dislodged the bloody dagger and fought through the pain as he loaded another bolt into his weapon. Zack removed the severed limbs from the quiver of bolts and crossbow and loaded a bolt into the small weapon. He stepped around the corner and shot the central pony again, the bolt impacted the bandit’s jaw and he fell back in an impending death. Zack could load the bolts in the crossbow much faster than the bandit ponies could with his deft fingers; so now the ponies were off by one member, which gave him time to prepare for his next attack. Zack grabbed his sword, sheathed it and ran out from behind his cover, jumping out of the way of two oncoming bolts. Zack steadied his body and dashed for one of the stallions who was busy loading his weapon. Zack grabbed the bandit who was loading his crossbow and held him as a shield in front of him. The other, without hesitation, shot at Zack and his friend. Zack, with one arm, held the pony around one foreleg and the its neck–and with the other arm, raised his crossbow and fired at the pony who shot at him earlier. The bolt sunk into the stallion’s eye and he feel over, screaming in pain. Zack noticed that the pony he was holding had reloaded his crossbow and was about to place his hoof upward at Zack and fire. Zack grabbed the pony’s rising hoof, bent his elbow inward and made him shot himself; the bolt submerged itself underneath the bandit’s jaw and into its brain, creating a quite sudden death for the equine. Zack let him go and raced for the last bandit who was ready to fight.
Zack was about to reload his crossbow, but soon realized he had ran out of bolts to fire. He dropped the useless quiver and crossbow and unsheathed his blade once more. The bandit pulled out his crossbow and shot a bolt directly at Zack. He maneuvered himself slightly out of the way and ricocheted the bolt off of his blade. The pony threw down his crossbow and pulled out his dagger, preparing for close quarter combat. The bandit swiftly swiped towards Zack as he ran for him. Zack slide himself below the coming blade and used his sword, while sliding, to cut the side of one of the hind legs of the pony. The stallion bent down on his knees to counter act the pain from standing as Zack hopped back up. Zack grabbed the mane of the bandit and pierced his blade through the back of the pony’s head. He pulled it out and slowly turned toward Ray’s location.
Zack’s eyes widened as he saw Ray slam his hoof on the firing mechanism of the cannon. The piece of artillery fired a large cannon ball directly at Zack; it was going so fast that he didn’t have to time react and move out of the way. Luckily, Valiant saw this and flew as fast as he could to knock Zack out of the way. In the process of saving Zack, the cannon ball nicked Valiant Steed, knocking him like a rag doll across the red dirt streets of Appleloosa. The pegasus tumbled across the dirt and sand, he came to a halt when ramming against the side of a rundown post office. Zack saw what had happened and sprinted over towards the injured Valiant Steed to aid him.
“Are you okay,” Zack questioned in a panicky voice.
“My wing,” writhed the pegasus as he tried to lift one of his wings. “my wing and leg is broken... Oh sweet Celestia, it hurts worse then I thought it would.”
“Don’t worry buddy, you’ll be okay! Just hang in–” 
Zack was immediately knocked on the back of the head with a large two-by-four. He fell to the ground while blood dampening his brown mess of hair; but he uneasily stumbled back up on his feet to see what had happened. Ray Sunshine ambled up behind him as Zack turned to face the stallion. His horn was glowing dark red with magic while levitating the large piece of wood he struck Zack with. Ray continued to walk slowly towards Zack with his all too familiar smile crooked across his face. Zack rose his sword up, ready to attack.
Ray swung the large piece of wood to and fro trying to strike Zack. Zack was having a difficult time dodging the large object Ray swung at a ridiculous speed. Zack raised his sword and cut the timber in half with difficulty–now the unicorn began attacking Zack with two floating pieces of the broken wood. Zack again sliced both pieces which created now four projectiles he needed to dodge. Ray levitated the pieces of wood above him and with a deep breath, he split the wood into hundreds of tiny, sharp projectiles, all aimed at his opponent. Zack’s eyes widened in horror as he ran out of the way of the large, magically controlled splinters. Ray couldn’t help himself and laughed at Zack’s feeble attempts to escape. Zack ran for a house he was planning to jump in while the magically flying pieces of cut wood followed him. Bits and pieces scrapped and stabbed Zack’s body as he neared the shelter. Zack dove into the window, and the rest of the pieces of wood stabbed the side of the house. 
Zack looked outside to see Ray levitating another cannon ball into the cannon preparing to fire it. He looked down and noticed that still in his trembling grasp was his blood-stained sword, and how he still held on to it for this long eluded him. Zack began to make his way out of the house as fast as he could before he found himself in more trouble. Ray fired the cannon towards the house as Zack narrowly escaped the large, rounded bullet. The ball of lead struck the pillars of the house and went straight through it. The foundation crumbled and sent dust rising high into the air as Zack continued to run away from the demolition. As the dust settled, Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack were seen cowering behind the fallen house in shaking, curled positions of fear. They opened their eyes in surprise and quickly ran behind another house for cover.
Ray continued to reload and pivot the cannon to aim at Zack. He shot projectile after projectile, trying to stop Zack in his tracks while the human leaped, ducked, and dove out of the way as fast as he could move. Ray finally stopped and teleported a good distance in front of Zack. Zack came to a halt as the stallion stood firm in his way. The red unicorn raised his head and his horn glowed much brighter than before. Zack noticed that the rocks, broken bolts, and daggers rose up from the ground and began circling around both Zack and Ray in a rotating ball of death. Zack held his sword up and prepared for the barrage of projectiles while Ray continued to laugh maniacally at him–his eyes glazed with insanity. 
One by one, different objects came towards Zack; he either side stepped or tried to deflect and chop the objects in half. It was all going too fast for Zack, he kept getting hit with rocks and parts of his body were being cut by the daggers and bolts. Zack made a desperate attempt to attack Ray Sunshine as he walked forward while still trying to deflect the on coming barrage of deadly objects. Zack raised his sword ready to swing, but in a sudden moment, Ray levitated Rarity out of no where in front of Zack, using her as shield. Zack stopped in mid-swing, trying not to hurt Rarity; as he did, a dagger struck Zack in his side. Zack moaned in pain as he fell to his knees with his sword still raised and still trying to avoid the unicorn’s attacks. He pulled the dagger out and threw it aside while trying to regain his balance. Zack tried to swing again, but Ray hovered Applejack in front of him and close to Zack’s oncoming blade. He once again had to stop himself from harming a filly, which in turn, a sudden bolt struck the back of Zack’s calf, immobilizing him once more. Zack tried to steady himself while continually trying to sway away from the flying objects.
Zack, using the last of his energy, tried one last time to swing his sword at Ray, which he in turn levitated Pinkie Pie in front of him. Zack had to stop once more, but when he did look upon Pinkie Pie and her frizzy hair, a brilliant idea came into mind. Zack took in a deep breath, focused all of his remaining stamina into one swift thrust and impaled Pinkie Pie’s hair. The sword went through her pink mane and into Ray Sunshine’s horn, cutting the unicorn’s horn tip off.
A explosion of red light shot forth and the floating objects around them flew off and away from them. Ray cried out in pain as he shook his head vigorously. Strange, blue and silver colored juices squirted out of his horn. Red sparks flew and bolts of small, red lighting shot out and connected on the ground around him. Ray violently looked up at Zack with the most demented and warped appearance Zack had seen in Ray so far. The mad pony levitated the deadly and sharp objects once again around Zack for another round, but the levitating objects quivered in the air and Ray had no idea know what was going on. His horn was flickering rapidly and red sparks and rays of light flashed in all different ways. A growing, buzzing noise came from Ray’s horn and he soon screamed in horror as the noise became intensely loud. In an instant, the beams of light and red sparks were drawn back into his unicorn horn; it sounded as if some monstrous being was inhaling a breath. Once this had happened, Ray Sunshine’s deep blue eyes rolled back in his head and he fell over in silence, kicking up red dust. No one was sure what had happened, but whatever did happen, it destroyed the pony’s mind in the process. The lunatic, Ray Sunshine, was no more.



__________



Zack dropped his sword, fell to his knees and caught his falling body with his hands. He gasped for breath as he took one hand and pulled out the bolt that was stuck in his calf muscle. Valiant limped over to Zack and placed a hoof on his shoulder. 
With a congratulatory smile, he said, “Good job, brother. Good job.” Zack wished he could have looked back up at Valiant and hug him, but he was so tired and injured; he just couldn’t do it in his state. He just knelt on his hands and knees, staring at the ground and watching his blood fall from his face and into a small puddle below. The three fillies came up behind the two and looked around at their surroundings. Half of the town was now destroyed from the barrage of cannon balls while the building s were filled with holes and weaponry. Pinkie walked up to the critically injured and nearly unconscious Zack with a smile on her face and a hole in her mane. Her frizzy hair sprang over the hole the blade created and it could no longer be seen.
The pink pony spoke sweetly saying, “Thank you for saving us, Zack.” He mustered enough strength to look up at Pinkie Pie.
He smiled and emitted with a long breath, “Anytime.”
Applejack hopped over to Zack and yelled, “Yee-Haw, you’re a hero, Zack!”
“I say,” Rarity added, “that was most admirable and an amazing sight to see. You are truly incredible, Mister Zack and I applaud your– well, maladroit style. You inspired me to create new fashion line for adventuring ponies!”
He licked his cracked lips and responded, “I’m glad... I could... be of assistance... Rarity...”
Pinkie gasped with sudden realization and yelped, “How are we gonna get home?” This thought had completely evaded everyone's mind until Pinkie said it. Valiant couldn’t call for help since his wing was broke and everyone was too tired to walk back. Zack propped himself up on his knees and clung onto Valiant Steed’s back, once again gasping for breath.
“Someone will... figure out... we’ve been gone...” Zack panted. He took a second to catch breath as he watched the sun finally drop below the horizon while the stars began to shimmer above.
“...eventually...” With that final word, he fell face first into the dirt with a thud.




(End of Part 2)

> 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(Part 3)



"On the way to discovering what we love, we will find everything we hate, everything that blocks our path to what we desire."



(12)






An eerie wind blew across the dirt laden, rocky plains on another dreary morning. The sun, masked in a gray smog, hung over an old farm house. A creaky windmill could be heard turning ever so slightly in the wind, the rusted tower was aged much like its surroundings. Along with the tarnished mill, a silo stood next to its aged brother, its gray metal shingles matching the dull sky. The farm house was of the same color and decay. These lands consisted of the bleak colors of grays, browns and blacks; this was the norm of the average rock farmer.
The front door of the farm cottage opened and out slowly stepped a family of bland ponies. A dark-yellow coated father, a silver coated mother, and two younger mares, one of which was bleakly purple coated and the other was gray coated. Each had a dismal look on their faces, as if neither of them had gained sleep the night before. They all seemed to be lacking life; with their heads low and eyes lacking any signs of joy, they were ready to begin another reiterated day on the farm.
The father coldly stated, “We better harvest the rocks from the south field.”
As the four dragged their hooves to work, a faint and odd noise could be heard coming from the silo ahead. The bizarre and eccentric tune bounced through the ears of the pony family. The strange music was unfamiliar to them as they stopped and listened. The agitated mother gave a cross look on her face and stepped towards the door of the silo. 
The mother pony demanded, “Pinkamena Diane Pie! Is that you?” The tower door flung open and the pink filly burst forth from the party she had created. Confetti and vibrant balloons floated out the door as the pink filly beamed a smile at her dumbfounded family members.
“Mom,” she blissfully exclaimed, “I need you and dad and the sisters to come in! Quick!”
She shut the door as fast as she had opened it, eagerly awaiting their arrivals and reactions inside. The sisters looked at each other and gave one another an unknowing expression as to what was going on with Pinkie Pie. The family cautiously walked up to their once humble and peaceful silo. The father opened the wooden door wide to reveal an exuberant celebration going on. The music was much louder and the vivid party colors clashed with the tainted walls of the silo. Party food, party games, streamers, balloons and confetti all surrounded a gargantuan cake which made the center piece of the party. The family’s wandering eyes were having a hard time taking in the bewildering sight; with the amount of strange colors, blaring music and the foreign smells, they felt a tad dizzy just trying to comprehend what was going on exactly. The puzzled pony family completely overlooked their off colored kin who stood right next to the large and festive cake. 
Pinkie pulled their attention towards her with a shout, “Surprise!” She promptly asked, “You like it? It’s called, a ‘party’!”
Pinkie eagerly awaited their responses. The four ponies stood there with their mouth’s agape, the pink filly’s smile soon turned to unknown hesitance. The family’s mouths quivered, staring at each of the strange, party related objects in the room. Pinkie was expecting her family to express smiles as large as hers, but their delayed responses concerned the pink filly.
Pinkie frowned and turned her body away from her family in dismay, “Oh... you don’t like it...” With a sudden mood swing, simultaneously all four members of the family burst into gleeful smiles from ear to ear. Pinkie gasped in excitement, “You like it!” She ran over and quickly grabbed her mother’s hoof and danced with her. The others joined in the merriment and danced to the polka music. 
“I’m so happy,” Pinkie relieved as she danced with her mother. Everything had gone much better than Pinkie had expected and she couldn’t be more happier. In a strange instant however, she felt something tingling on her flank. She looked down and noticed that she had received her cutie mark. She let out a gleeful squeal of joy and hugged her mother. 
Pinkie’s mom laughed and asked, “What are you doing, dear?”
“Look! I got my cutie mark!”
Once she announced the news openly, the family stopped their frolicking and averted their attention towards their pink family member. Pinkie sat still as the family gathered around her to see what her cutie mark was. Their looks turned to distress as they saw something they didn’t expect. 
Pinkie frantically looked at them and asked, “What’s wrong? Is there something wrong?” Pinkie’s mother and father turned towards one another, glaring into each other’s eyes with a look of detest. 
Pinkie’s mother said under her breath towards the Pie father, “This is your fault.” With that statement, she promptly left the silo. He looked back towards Pinkie and with an angered expression, nodded in disapproval and left the silo after his wife. 
The two sister stayed with their dissatisfied sister as she flopped herself down on the floor and sighed, “All I wanted to do was make everypony happy...”
She looked back up at her sisters and asked, “Blinkie? Inkie? Why are mom and dad angry at me?”
Blinkie, the dull-purple filly, answered sternly, “Well isn’t it obvious enough? They wanted your cutie mark to be something similar to theirs.”
“You know,” Inkie, the gray filly, added with a lighter tone than her sister’s, “like... rock farming, and-or, rock  or farm related.” Pinkie sighed and got back up on her hooves with a melancholy frown. Inkie continued, “They seem pretty mad about this... especially mom...”
Blinkie agreed, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen mom this mad before, even when she caught you out in the food pantry that one night when we didn’t work hard enough for our dinners.” She turned her eye contact towards her pink sister and stated, “You’re in for it now. Mom’s gonna lock you in cellar for sure! I’m surprised that she hasn’t already; you are the slowest and the weakest worker in the family.”
Pinkie drew in a breath and concluded, “Well, I better go finish my chores for the day, I’ll see you gals around.” With her head lowered, she trotted out of the silo and closed the door behind her. 
Blinkie knocked her head with her hoof and said, “Stupid me! Me and my big mouth! Why do I have to make things bad to worse?” She turned her head towards Inkie and carried on, “Why I am so jealous of her? I’m a stronger worker, mom and dad like us better... why do I have this tendency to want to be her than me?”
“Maybe we all forgot how to smile and be happy... it happens to the best of us.”
The gray filly groaned in defeat, “You’re right, Inkie... now I feel really bad...”
“Maybe we can make it up to her... somehow...” 



__________



Another gray day came and went at the Pie Family Rock Farm. Pinkie was the last one in the fields, as usually. She panted and finally moved her last rock from her daily work load into the south field. Night had fallen and a heavy fog had blanketed the farm lands. Pinkie Pie squinted her eyes and saw the dim oil lamp light from her cottage home flicker in the distance. She quickly scurried back home, not because she was afraid of the night, (her Grannie Pie told her once that there was nothing to fear), but because she was unsure if there was any dinner left or not. 
She ran into the house and locked the door behind her. She wiped her hooves on the cheap, straw mat near the door and speedily made her way into the dining room. Pinkie turned the corner into the dining room and to her accurate predictions, they had already had dinner without her, again. She wasn’t too saddened by this, she wasn’t even that hungry at the moment. She walked over to where the oil lamp was in the window seal and grasped it with her hoof.
She slowly tiptoed upstairs, trying to not wake her already asleep family members. She made her way to the bathroom and stepped up on a stool to be able to see her reflection in the mirror and to wash her dirt covered coat before climbing into bed. As she wiped a damp sponge across her face, removing the dirt and revealing her bright pink coat once again, her sisters opened the bathroom door slowly. 
Pinkie looked over and replied, “Oh, sorry if I woke you. It’s just been another long night.”
Inkie nudged her sister and Blinkie stepped forward to apologize, “Hey... sis," she started with hesitance. "I’m sorry for what I said at your party this morning... I guess I was just jealous of you... and for you getting you cutie mark before I did.” She turned her head, avoiding further eye contact and proceeded, “You don’t have to forgive me... if you don’t want.” 
Pinkie hopped down from the stool she was on and hugged Blinkie Pie. She didn’t expect her sister to be so forgiving, but even from the surprise she gave Blinkie, Blinkie hugged her pink sister back as tightly as she did.
Pinkie pushed off of her and said, “Of course I forgive you!” Blinkie smiled and felt her guilt and inner-pain melt away.
Inkie slid behind Pinkie and suggested, “Let’s try and fix that hair of yours so mom won’t throw another hissy fit!”
Blinkie added, “Or better yet, we don’t want her throwing a ‘pity’ party.”
The girls giggled at this, but tried to keep quiet enough so that they wouldn’t wake their parents. Pinkie’s sisters situated her in front of the mirror and tried to comb down her frizzy mane.
“What happened to your mane anyways,” asked Blinkie as she tried to pull the comb out of one of her sister’s locks.
“I’m not entirely sure. You won’t believe this, but I saw this magnificent rainbow when I was out in the field the other day and it was like an... explosion 'thingy-ma-jig'! And... and it blew me back like ‘Showoosh!’ And my hair just kinda curled up!”
Inkie rubbed one of her hooves below her chin while the other was trying to break free from Pinkie’s curly mane. She added, “Huh? Well that’s weird.” Blinkie tried to pull the comb out of Pinkie’s locks, but lost her grip and fell backwards. The comb subsided into her pink sister’s hair, vanishing into her jungle of a mane.
She shook her head rapidly and chuckled, “Well that’s a lost cause.”
The fillies laughed once more, but had to hush themselves again to avoid being heard by their mother and father. The three decided to try and figure something out tomorrow and went to their bedrooms. They were so silly from the jokes and laughter that they stayed up all night under one blanket on Pinkie’s bed. They took turns telling ghost stories with silly endings which continued the fun and merriment of the night. Pinkie hadn’t had this much fun before in her life; and after this particular bonding moment with her sisters, she had a much better and fun time working in the fields alongside them. Life was looking much brighter and vivid for Pinkie Pie, even though her talents couldn't help her move rocks quicker. She enjoyed the company of her loving sisters enough during work to be motivated for the next day and so on.



__________



Three weeks had past since Pinkie Pie received her cutie mark. The farm work had been going smoothly, but it seemed to have been going by quicker as well for the pink filly. Pinkie’s sisters would lighten each other up, which would make work a lot less tedious and more enjoyable. They made their jobs into a game, which definitely increased the enjoyment of their physical labor. The pink filly was having so much fun that she had completely forgot about her cutie mark being three balloons and that her talent was partying and party planning.
After another long night, Pinkie was once again in the fields and alone. She rushed to finish the last of her work load, realizing that a storm was approaching from the distant mountains. The thunder crackled in the distance as she finally finished her work load and raced towards her farm house. She could hear the fall of rain chasing her as she galloped as fast as she could to the door of the cottage. She made it inside mere seconds before the downfall of heavy rain struck the house. The pink filly fell to the ground and tried to catch her breath.
Once she recuperated from the sprint, she steadied herself up and wiped her dirt smothered hooves on the straw mat as usually. She quietly made her way to the stairs, but heard a faint conversation going on in another room of the house. She stopped and tried to make out where exactly the noise was coming from and what it was saying. She slowly crept along the darkened, plank floor of the farm cottage and made her way to a closed wooden door, in which a oil lamp light flickered through the bottom of the door’s crevice. She pressed her ear up against the door to eavesdrop on the conversation taking place on the other side. The rain splashing atop the tin laden roof above made it difficult to overhear the following conversation.
“Well, what are we going to do then,” said a familiar voice that Pinkie recognized to be her mother. “She’s slowing the rest of our family business down. We’ve tried everything and I think it’s about time one of us took action.”
“You’re right, you’re right,” said a voice she also recognized to be her father. “Maybe there is something else we can do... it’s a shame though her cutie mark has nothing to do with rock farming, that cuts me real deep.”
“You’re right it’s a shame,” snapped Pinkie’s mother. “But if we are going to survive the coming Winter months with enough money for food, we don’t need dead weight like her around.” Pinkie’s heart sank. She knew exactly what was going on and her mind was racing wild with ideas and preconceived notions of what they were going to do to her. A loud crack of thunder bellowed outside as she continued to eavesdrop.
“I even thought the girls would have increased her productivity, but still she seems to be dragging us down.” 
“But Ma,” a voice chirped in which discomforted Pinkie even more. “Give her a chance, we tried our hardest.” She recognized that voice to be her loyal sister’s, Inkie Pie.
“Please Ma! Reconsider! We can do better!” added on Blinkie. Now the pink filly really felt used and useless; she thought both of her sisters only made her feel better to increase her work around the farm. Pinkie was on the verge of tears overhearing the treachery devised by her own family against her. A flash of lightning, followed by a powerful thunder clap shook the windows of the house.
The Pie sister’s mother replied to her daughters, “I’ve already had the arrangements made–it was for the best. The adoption center is coming tomorrow, or whenever this storm subsides.” Judging by the hoof steps, it sounded that Pinkie’s mother turned and faced an opposite direction.
“Yes it does sadden my heart to send my child away to an adoption house, but your father and I think it’s for the best. Pinkie was never a worker like the rest of us, maybe she’ll find use for her absurd talent somewhere in this world; unlikely, but we can all hope for the best.”
Mrs. Pie’s eyes darted over to the silently opened door, her face now in utter shock. The rest of the Pie family turned with grimace expressions to what they saw. The door swung silently open to reveal Pinkie Pie, her eyes filled with tears and her snout runny. She sniffed and stared intensely into her mother’s eyes. The room was silent, the only noise came from the harmonious and melodic rain that splattered the roof above their heads. Mother Pie was speechless like everyone else, until Pinkie’s father intervened in a confused stammer.
“I-it’s not what you think, dear. Whatever you heard isn’t true... we ca–”
“You big LIAR,” Pinkie Pie screamed at her father with hatred gleaming in her wet eyes. Her sisters were astonished at how Pinkie asserted herself above her father. Her father merely stepped back from the sudden mood change and her mother gasped from her response. Pinkie turned to her mother and drastically stepped forward, her face reddened with tears and anger.
“I tried to bring just one genuine smile to this family... but nopony in this broken shack wants to be happy!” Tears finally poured down her face now as she continued in a sob, “I just wanted everyone to be happy... I just want the sun to shine all day and for everyone to get along... why can’t you just accept who I am? Why is everyone so mean to me?” She slowly turned to her sisters who both had tears welling in their reddening eyes.
Blinkie spoke up, “We-we’re sa-sor-ry... Pinkie P-pie... we just t-tried to ha-help ya-you...” The gray filly bent her head down, she could no longer look at her pain stricken sister. Inkie wrapped a hoof around her sobbing sister and mourned with her. 
Pinkie swiftly turned her head back her parents and concluded, “Well if you don’t want me here,” she sniffed and continued, “then I’m leaving! I’m leaving and never coming back to this farm ever again! You aren’t my real family!” She turned to her wailing sisters, “You’re no sisters or friends of mine!” Pinkie finally bent her head, closed her eyes and cried at the top of her lungs, “YOU’RE ALL JUST A BUNCH OF MEANIES!” 
She galloped out of the door of the living room and burst out of the house into the storm. Her sisters tried to run after her, but were stopped by their mother. The Pie father didn’t want to intervene, he had lost control of his wife and had no idea what to do–he was never the head of the household. The Pie wife stood firm with a stern look upon her face, holding her daughters back as they watched Pinkie Pie gallop away into the forest’s edge.
Mud and water sloshed underneath Pinkie Pie as she made her way out of the rock farm and into the forest with no real sense of direction. She only wanted to get away and never look back. Her mind was fogged in anger, which deluded her judgment and reason. Her tear soaked eyes only made her sense of direction only worse along with the darkness and rain. She jumped over roots and sludge filled ditches along the forest ground, trying to avoid falling and losing time and distance. Suddenly, she felt one of her back hooves get caught on a stump she overlooked and she fell hard on the wet and soggy forest floor.
She didn’t want to get up, she just wanted to lay down and cry, hoping that everything would get better or that what she was experiencing was a long, enduring nightmare. She eventually crawled herself over to a near by tree and wept profusely, her thoughts no longer comforted her knowing that everyone’s intentions and happiness were lies.
“Why me,” she argued with herself. “Why did I have to get this stupid cutie mark? Why am I the weakest worker? I just want to be loved... I just want to be happy... I just want a friend...” She lay there underneath the canopy of a large oak tree and eventually her mind tired itself out to let the poor pink pony sleep. 
Though only hours later, still dark and raining, Pinkie awoke to a terrifying timberwolf peering into the eyes of the pony. She gasped in shock as three others surrounded her, their eyes blazing like embers in the rain and night. She saw an opening between the creatures and broke into a mad dash. She raced through the forest, this time with her eyes clear of tears, which made her vision in the forest much better than before. Her eyes finally adjusted to the night and she could see much farther than before. The filly turned and thought that maybe she had lost them, but her ears deceived her and the timberwolves were gaining fast on the filly. The fear of death raced into her mind and she panicked more, quickly bursting into an adrenaline induced sprint while crying out in horror. 
She tripped once more and slide towards the foot of a large tree trunk. She wildly crawled as fast as she could and found herself pinned between the tree and the three menacing beasts. She was cold, frightened, and weak from all the running, she had lost all of her energy.
Using the last of her strength, she filled her lungs with a deep breath and called out, “Somepony, help me, PLEASE!”
Then, as the wolves were about to take a bite out of the defenseless filly, her savior came.
> 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(13)






Autumn approached Ponyville slowly and quietly. The nip of a cold snap coming through early caught the denizens of this quant village off guard. Tucked away containers of sweaters and hoof warmers were taken out of the backs of Ponyvilian’s closets as they stored away their Summer attire. Most would brave the chilly weather of Fall with nothing but their natural coats, however others, (often visitors or new dwellers of the Equestrian country) were not use to the drastic climate change and were forced to bundle up.
The foliage on the trees began to change–the green leaves withered into their brown and gold forms. Leaf piles already were being racked up as soon as the foliage broke away from its home. Ponyville was a well oiled machine of a village, each citizen kept his or her property clean and tidy; this habit was never enforced by any citizen, but each held its own mind-set that he or she was helping out around the town. The peaceful country village was one of a handful left in any part of the world that held proud to a near outstanding community. No one knew exactly why Ponyville was so tranquil, the citizens surly thought nothing of it, but the outsiders were astonished by such a well rounded community.
The sun was blocked out by the high and gray cumulous clouds the pegasi placed above. The clouds brought with them a chill breeze that swept through the valley. This was routine every year to stay in line with the seasons and to help blow most of the leaves off the trees along with the traditional, “Running of the Leaves” through Whitetail Wood. This was also the time when the migrations of geese and other birds alike would fly south towards Bridle Shores or even as far as the coastal city of Stableside. The last of the harvest for many farms nestled around the village, most importantly Sweet Apple Acres, were finishing up their last picking of apples until Spring would arrive. The marketplace had been packed for the last few days, the citizen ponies were buying up the last of the food and supplies needed for the coming months. The apple business was rolling in their well deserved profits. The market was soon adjusting to the villagers needs of course, Summery items and clothing were being discounted while new shipments of Wintery products gradually replaced them. The market never stopped it seemed, even in the dead of winter, ponies would buy up supplies, necessary commodity and knick-knacks. This is one of many features that made this town so popular among this equine region.
Most ponies enjoyed the change from Summer to Autumn. They loved the colors, the smells, the fresh and chilly mountain air which rolled into their part of the valley. Some others, lovers of the heat from Spring and Summer, would miss their warm afternoons and comfortable nights. Alas, they still enjoyed living in their small town, even if they hated the bitter coming months. The fillies dreaded the Fall for only one reason, school was back in session. The streets were no longer filled with misbehaving young colts and careless fillies. The subtle and quiet streets warmed the older pony’s hearts even in the cold. Even though they loved the children, they enjoyed the peace and quiet nippy days ahead. 
Even in Canterlot the scenery was changing. Fall festive colors and banners were being hung in the streets, ushering in the next of many pony holidays. Of course, this was an advertising gesture to buy certain things, but their was something mysteriously fond and delighting about being in a big city when festal events were being affixed upon the buildings and street lamps. 
Many in the street side cafes were enjoying hot ciders, teas and coffees to warm up their bodies, Valiant Steed was one of the many happy consumers of these beverages as he sat alone, sipping his pumpkin-spiced coffee. He appeared the same, his jet black mane hair had grown long again and his wing was still bandaged up. The pegasus was put on a short-term, paid leave of absence by the Princess herself, due to his wing and leg injury a few months ago. No guard was ever paid when taken a temporary leave of absence, though Celestia thought it would be rewarding for his courageous acts back in the Summer. He had healed up most of his injuries, but still had the reoccurring pains from that fateful meeting with the cannonball. Once he finished his coffee, he paid off the waiter and sat up from his outdoor table. His right wing was still bandaged and he walked with a limp, but could easily get around the bustling borough. 
He loved the feeling of Autumn and seeing the colors change on the leaves, it brought back warm memories of his foalhood. Though it was an awkward feeling Valiant had, having one of his wings tightly wrapped while the other wasn’t. He didn’t dare try to fly and hurt himself again, he didn’t want to be back in that extremely cramped and uncomfortable wheelchair they placed him in. Valiant Steed was a large pegasi, not huge, but taller than the rest of the guards. It made the line of soldiers saluting whomever look un-proportioned, so he was always placed elsewhere during parades, salutes, and suchlike. His body was proportioned to his height and build, however his wings by far had the longest wingspan of any pegasi in the Equestrian military, and perhaps all of Equestria. Back in foalhood, the fillies and colts use to tease him for his awkward height and wingspan, but now since he was older, he had made his way high into the ranks of the pegasi force and his esteem escalated. He was no Captain of the Guard, like his dear and close friend Shining Armor, but he was the highest ranked and closest of Royal Guards to the Princess herself. He was ranked even higher when his reconnaissance mission with Zack was completed, giving him the mouthful of a title: Honorary Brigadier General.
Once after Ray Sunshine had practically became a vegetable due to his horn being sliced off, they stayed over night in the town hall. The next day, the Princess had sent a recovery team to help find Zack, Valiant, and the fillies after a whole day of absence and no word back. Shining Armor was sent along with a brigade of a dozen Royal Guards to find their targets. Once they found them, they escorted them back by chariot to the nearest hospital; which happened to be a hundred some miles or so away in Ponyville. Zack was taken directly to Canterlot after the rest were emitted into the hospital. Princess Celestia received early word on everyone’s condition and set up a special team of private doctors to help Zack inside the Canterlot castle. The team was able to save Zack from his massive loss of blood and had to put over fifty-plus stitches into his body, along with bandaging his broken limbs. They made him eventually take physical therapy because they believed it would take more than a year for him to fully heal. The doctors and therapists were astounded at how fast he recovered though; it took him a month and a half to recover from his wounds and broken bones without hardly any therapy involved. His scares healed in a matter of two months after that and his body felt right as rain.
Valiant wished he had whatever power Zack possessed, because his large, damaged wing would surly love to release itself from this cramped and restricting gauze. It felt wrong not being in the sky for so long and he often day dreamed about flying once again, he even wished to be on guard duty more often. He would sometimes visit the castle and say hello to his friends and Zack, but was soon rushed out by the Princess’ attendees because he was suppose to be at home recuperating from his injuries. However, when he did have the time, he would talk with Zack and shoot the breeze. He often discussed whatever was on his mind, what Zack had been up to and how Pinkie Pie was doing.
Zack had been doing nothing in particular and was rather bored of the slow paced and easy going lifestyle the castle was in. He had tried doing his regular routines of working out and reading whatever he could find interesting in the library, but that was starting to be more of a tedious routine than a past enjoyment. His newest and most boring books he had found were medical guides, which hardly gave him any entertainment value. He was able to keep in touch with Pinkie Pie every so often through letters and such, but he hadn’t seen her in a long time, in Pinkie Pie standards that is. She had been busy doing all sorts of things, according to the letters Zack received. She had been learning a great deal about baking, working the store, and most importantly to Zack, she still had the drive to play musical instruments. The last Zack had heard, she was learning her fourth instrument now, which Zack thought to be hilarious considering it was the tuba.
The Princess was going to try and make him some more weather appropriate clothing once her political work subsided, but Zack offered a new idea. He told her about Rarity and her dress making abilities she had told Zack in Appleloosa and on the way back to Ponyville. He suggested that maybe she could be brought to Canterlot and have her design Zack some well fitting clothes compared to the stitched up curtains Celestia made for him.
Rarity was soon invited over to the castle. During this waiting period, Zack sketched up some clothing designs the best he could, trying to draw similar pieces of clothing he liked back on Earth. When Rarity came and Zack showed her his drawings, she eagerly began the clothes making process. She first took the time to get all of Zack’s odd body’s measurements and soon began designing. The Princess ordered the guards to go out shopping for materials for Rarity to use, which was degrading for them, but they had no room to argue against the Princess. Once the materials were received, she made a multitude of clothes and apparel for Zack, she even attempted to make a pair of shoes for him. The shoes turned out rather odd, but Zack later suggested that she should just stick with making clothing. After a full few days of clothes making, Zack was pleased with the results. Even though Zack said not to put any gems on the materials, Rarity had placed some small ones into the design of some of his clothing which Zack discovered much later after Rarity left. Zack, for the first time in several months, wore fitting clothing he was use to back on Earth. The materials were so soft and stitched so well, he couldn’t thank the white filly enough for her patience and diligence. Celestia paid Rarity a large some of bits for her craftsmanship, which she responded in squeals of excitement.
After that, Zack still had nothing better to do, and soon decided to try new things. He asked Princess Celestia if he could disassemble the cannon they confiscated from Ray Sunshine. She didn’t know why Zack would ask this, but she agreed to it and a separate room was used in the castle for Zack to dissemble the mechanism in. Zack was supplied with all sorts of tools, most of which he had no idea how to use. Deconstructing the cannon was a trial and error process for him, however after a few days of working on it, he finally took the entire cannon apart, which surprisingly weren’t that many pieces.
Back when Zack was with his own kind, in school he was an ace in his welding and wood shop classes. He loved taking things apart and trying to put them back together. He thought he had lost that fondness long ago; but through this experience, he found that he had never lost it, but only rekindled his young passion. He had an idea of what to make, but was unsure how it would turn out. So he used his mediocre drawing abilities and made a blueprint as to what it may look like. Once he had a clear image in his head, he began reconstructing the piece of artillery. Slowly but surely, he mended new parts together and threw out old ones that were no longer used. After another few days of tinkering, he decided it needed a new look all together. He grabbed a handful of supplies he found around the castle, and with no real permission to take them, he snuck them back into his make-shift assembly room. He also carefully colored the cannon into lovely new colors that would suit its future functions. He painted it over and over again, trying new looks that matched, but finally he found a main color that would suit it and painted many layers over it. It was almost finished, the glossy new look of the once deadly weapon was now a device ready to suit Zack’s and many other’s needs. A few days later, when Valiant Steed was visiting the castle once again, Zack asked if he could come see what he made.
“Hey V,” Zack called out from a ground floor window of the castle as he saw Valiant Steed walk down the path towards the main entrance. “Come inside and head towards the room I’m in. I have a surprise for you!”
Valiant made his way down the halls of the castle until he found the room Zack was in. The double doors to the room were closed and the white pegasus pondered as to why they were shut. He opened the door wide to see a bright blue cannon aimed directly at him. Zack was behind the machine as he hit the firing button atop the device. Painful memories flooded back into the pony’s mind and he was struck with terror. The cannon fired and Valiant closed his eyes tightly, preparing to be sent into a world of agony once more. To his surprise, he was showered in confetti and silly string. He opened his eyes to notice that a party hat had also flown atop his mane and was fastened directly by a sting tied below his head. He looked over at Zack, who beamed a smile towards the confused pegasus, and Valiant responded to Zack’s emotions with an irk expression on his face.
“Surprise!” He promptly asked, “You like it? It’s called, a ‘party cannon’!” 
“Why do you hate me,” asked the dissatisfied, but sarcastic stallion.
“Well I didn’t make this for you, I made it for Pinkie Pie.”
Valiant shook the confetti off of his body and proclaimed, “You scared me featherless! That wasn’t funny! Besides, her birthday isn’t for another seven months!”
Zack looked over towards the corner of the room and indicated, “Princess Celestia thought it was funny.”
The pegasus drastically looked over and realized Zack wasn’t kidding. Princess Celestia was snickering in the corner of the room. He quickly pulled the party hat off of his head and stammered for words to say.
“I–, uh... Hi... your majesty...”
She walked over with a little confetti still stuck in her hair, “It’s fine, Valiant Steed. Don’t be so timid, it’s fine for you to drop by, disregard my attendees.”
“Oh... well uh... thank you, my highness.”
“Please, just call me Celestia,” she said with a smile.
“Alright, Celestia...” he smiled back, feeling that he was more friends with Celestia now than he was ever before. From now on, he treated her as a friend like Zack has. 
Zack spoke up, “I was planning to give Pinkie Pie this present for Christmas... I know it’s a bit early, but I thought I would get it out of the way... to pass time of course.”
Princess Celestia denoted in question, “What is this, ‘Chris-mass’?” Zack remembered they probably didn’t celebrate the holidays they did back on Earth, or knew who Jesus, God or what Christianity was. 
Zack retorted, “Well... whenever the next gift giving holiday is.”
“Hearth’s Warming Eve,” responded Valiant.
“Ya, sure, Hearth’s Warming Eve sounds good.”



__________



Back in the chilled valley where Ponyville was located, school was in session. The young ponies had been in school for the past three weeks and were finally getting back into the regular routine of homework and studying. The only teacher in the small schoolhouse was Mrs. Sharpener, a pale yellow coated mare with a short, evenly cut, brown mane. She looked fitting for her role as her cutie mark, three sharpened pencils, signified her place in the educational role. Needless to say, she was born for the job.
The class was filled with all sorts of fillies and colts, all ranging from Earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns. Three individuals sat near the front of the class, these deep rotted friends were of course Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. While the rest of the foals, including Applejack and Rarity, were half awake and dozing off due to class just starting for the day, Pinkie Pie was wide awake and ready to begin class. She thought it was pretty fun learning new things and wanted to continue to learn more; Mrs. Sharpener especially loved Pinkie Pie’s cooperation in class. Even if the hyperactive filly would sometimes misbehave or speak out of turn, she knew that Pinkie was kindhearted. 
Rarity woke herself up when she felt her own saliva running down the hoof she had placed on the desk to hold her head upright. She looked up and wiped the dribble off of her and hoped that no one saw the embarrassing act. She heard a sudden, muffled laughter behind her and turned to see what it was, face all ready as ready as a cherry. Two, young earth colts were crinkling up little pieces of notebook paper and tossing it like basketballs into the back of Pinkie’s mane. She appeared to be oblivious to these acts happening behind her as the two continued to arch paper wades into her curly hair. Rarity felt pity for her unsuspecting friend as she tried to focus on class. Rarity concentrated on her magic and she began levitating the paper balls out of her pink friend’s hair and shot them back at the two ponies behind Pinkie Pie. Rarity smiled after performing her gesture of retribution and turned to be confronted by the teacher herself.
“Miss Rarity,” she loudly announced, letting the whole class in on what was going on.
“Uh,” Rarity squeaked, “Y-yes, Mrs. Sharpener?”
“What have I told you about using magic in the classroom?”
“To never use it during school hours–but those two awful boys behind–”
“No ‘buts’, Miss Rarity! If I catch you doing it again, I might just have to take your gold star away from the ‘Good Pupil List’.”
Rarity’s eyes widened in horror and she implored, “Please! Not my gold star! I’ve toiled too hard to lose a single gold star! Forgive me!”
Mrs. Sharpener lifted an eyebrow and responded to Rarity’s plea with her usually comforting voice, “Very well. Just don’t let me catch you doing it again.”
As the teacher turned, Rarity crossed her hooves and said under her breath, “That merciless tyrant..." The teacher pivoted on one hoof and turned towards the class. She raised her wooden ruler in the air and diverted everyone’s attention towards her.
“Good morning, everypony,” she said in a gleeful tone.
The class, excluding the pink pony, unenthusiastically drawled out, “Good morning, Mrs. Sharpener.”
“As you know, today is ‘Show and Tell Friday’! I hope everyone that was signed up for today’s Show and Tell remembered it!”
She trotted over to the sleeping Applejack’s desk and slapped her ruler on the table top, letting out a loud crack which made most of the class jump in fright. Applejack flung her head up in shock; in the process of doing so, her hat flew off the top of her head onto the student's face behind her. 
“Huh! What! Apples,” trumpeted the orange mare as she frantically looked around in a daze of confusion. Her attention snapped back to the teacher’s face as her emerald green eyes met with authority. 
Mrs. Sharpener tilted her head and softly asked, “Would you mind going first for us, Applejack?”
The orange filly’s look of uncertainty changed into a grin of satisfaction. Applejack had been preparing for this day, she couldn’t wait to show off what she had brought. She spent all night preparing her speech and even performed her Show and Tell in front of her brother who thought it was a ‘masterpiece’. She worked so hard on it last night that she didn’t get any sleep at all, which is why she was dead tired in class the that day.
Applejack responded merrily, “Why yes ma’m! I’d love to Show n’ Tell!” She turned and grabbed her hat off of the bewildered colt behind her and skipped up to the front of the class with her saddle bag in tow.  Applejack greeted her fatigue classmates, “Greetn’s ya’ll!”
Half of the class, the half which were trying their best to pay attention, sighed, “Hey... Applejoe-jack...” A colt in the back finished, “...whoever you are... whatever...”
“Ooo,” Pinkie waved vigorously at Applejack as if she was beckoning for her attention from a distance. “Hi Applejack! Hi! Hey! Hello! How are ya! Hola! What’s up?” Pinkie leaned over and quietly spoke into Rarity’s ear, “She’s my friend!”
Rarity rolled her eyes and replied, “I think you made it known to the entire class.”
“I know,” she giggled as she rocked in her seat. She looked over at the teacher, who gave a hoof over her lips to signify Pinkie to be quiet. Pinkie held her hooves over her mouth and giggled under her muffled breath.
Applejack nervously said, “Uh, hi Pankie Pie.” Pinkie Pie waved one hoof away from her mouth and quickly placed it back over her lips, hushing more laughter that came to her. Applejack averted her attention back to the class and replaced her tense features with a warm smile.
“Well today fer Show and Tell, I brought a special friend a’ mine who is near and dear to ma’ heart. We’ve been through thick n’ thin and I want ya’ll ta’ meet ‘em!” She reached inside her left saddle bag pocket and pulled out a bright red apple. “I wanna introduce ya’ll ta’ Jonathan!”
“This again? She did this last week,” an anonymous filly in the back blurted.
Applejack stomped her hoof and replied, “Hey now! This is a different apple! This one means sumthin’ ta’ me!” She raised Jonathan high above the students and divulged, “This is the last apple that fell from the tree I bucked, and that tree was the last tree with apples on it in the entire Sweet Apple Acres farm... AND it was the last apple ta' fall from that last tree that done needed ta' be bucked!”
An aquamarine pony crooned out loud, “Boring, boring, boring, boring....”
“Miss Heartstring,” the teacher called out, “Hush up back there! That’s one gold star taken away from you! I will not put up with your shenanigans today, young mare.”
The earth filly huffed as she crossed her hooves, “This is bogus! You can’t take gold stars from Lyra!”
The teacher turned back towards Applejack and said, “Well done, Miss Applejack. You may return to your seat now.”
“But I was just about ta’ get inta’ the good bits!”
There was a sudden knock on the school door–it was an odd time for anyone to be visiting the schoolhouse. The class’ attention was pulled towards the peculiar noise and away from Applejack. 
The teacher turned back towards the blonde filly and concluded, “Just take a seat.” Applejack hung her head low as she slowly walked back to her desk. She sat herself down and sighed; she had desperately wanted to tell the class of the adventures she had with Jonathan.
The teacher cantered over to the school entrance and creaked open the door slightly to see who is was. She then opened it a bit more and held a very quiet conversation with her head out the door of the school. It was too quiet for the class to hear and the students couldn’t see who was at the door. Mrs. Sharpener was handed a note she skimmed over and finally poked her head back in to schoolhouse with an excited grin.
“Great news, class! Today we get a new student! Everyone give a hardy hello to–” she swung the door open and proclaimed, “–Rainbow Dash!”
The door hinged open to reveal the cyan pegasus mare with a multi-hued mane. She crossed her hooves and held a grumpy expression on her face, noting to the class that she didn’t want to be there. She hovered herself in the air with her wings and made her way slowly into the classroom ahead of the teacher. The students were amazed, they had never seen a pony with such a vivid mane before. The boys gawped at the new pegasus’ cool cutie mark, which was a cloud and lightning bolt. The girls giggled at the messy rainbow mane she sported; Rainbow Dash didn’t care, her attention was focused on other things. 
“Why don’t you take the seat next to Pinkie Pie in the front of the class,” Mrs. Sharpener offered.
“Whatever,” replied the annoyed pegasi as she gently descended and sat herself at the desk next to Pinkie Pie. The pink filly was eyeballing the cyan blue who had a bland facial expression staring forward into nothingness. The new pegasus tried ignoring the pink earth filly by not giving her attention, which clearly wasn’t working as Pinkie Pie reached over and touched one of her blue wings. 
“Ahem,” Mrs. Sharpener cleared her throat, Pinkie’s focus swayed towards the teacher and away from the emotionless pony. The teacher reached out her hoof towards Rainbow and suggested, “How about we let Miss Dash introduce herself to the class.”
“Ffff-ine,” she emitted while her wings pushed her into the air and out of her seat. She landed next to the teacher in front of the class and the schoolmates were now much more awake and attentive towards the new filly.
Rainbow Dash aggressively stated, “Let’s get one thing straight! I’m not suppose to be here! I use to go to Pegasus Academy up in Cloudsdale and–” The class ‘oooo’ed at her response when she mentioned she was from Cloudsdale. The cyan pony rolled her eyes and continued, “Anyways... I got suspended because of, ‘rough behavior’.” She mumbled underneath her breath while looking away from the class, “He had it coming...” Her attention was driven back to her new schoolmates and continued, “–and now I’m stuck in this place with ya’ll. Just know that I’m not suppose to be here and that I’ll be gone in a week or so. So ya, ignore me.”
She began to flap herself back to her desk while the teacher began walking up towards the front of the class. Rainbow Dash suddenly remembered something and she shot back in front of the class and in the teacher’s way.
“By the way," she began in a lighter tone than before, "some of you might have heard of me. Rainbow Dash, ring a bell? Well I recently performed the first ‘Sonic Rainboom’ in, like, over a century? Some of you may be asking, what is a ‘Sonic Rainboom’? Well it would probably be the most awesome thing you would ever see, ever. It’s so awesome, that if you looked straight into it, it would probably melt your eyes out of your skull. There was a huge mess in Canterlot afterwards and they had to build the entire castle back together after what I did!”
Pinkie furiously waved her hoof in the air and Rainbow directed her focus over to her. Pinkie blurted with a smile, “No you didn’t, Zack would have told me alllllll–” Rarity shoved a hoof over Pinkie’s mouth as she continued to talk in a suppressed and incoherent voice. 
The teacher stepped in and said, “That will be enough, Miss Dash. Please take your seat once more as we will begin our first lesson in mathematics.”
Pinkie looked over at Rainbow Dash, the cyan pony’s face gave a petulant expression. Pinkie grabbed the underside of her desk and hopped closer next to Rainbow, the pegasus just looked over at her in confusion as to what she was doing. The teacher was turned around and writing some arithmetic problems on the board, unaware of Pinkie’s behavior.
Pinkie whispered intently, “Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie!”
“Uh-huh,” she groaned, all ready knowing the filly’s name.
The pink pony leaned in closer and complimented, “You have pretty wings!”
The pegasi’s eyes opened a bit more from the flattering remark, “Oh, uh, thanks!” Once Pinkie saw the new filly smile, she knew she had her hooked.
“Even though everypony was looking at your cutie mark or mane, I was looking at your wings. I love them!”
“Hey, thanks a lot,” beamed Rainbow as she made eye contact with the pink filly. Pinkie’s day had just turned into a much better one now that she was friends with the new pony. Her heart was filled with joy knowing that another pony liked her and that she made her feel better about her current situation. Today was looking bright for the pink pony, even though gray clouds hung overhead.



__________



A few hours had passed and it was recess time at the Ponyville Schoolhouse. Fillies flocked the school yard in screams of joy and excitement, not only because it was recess time, but it was Friday and half the day was already over. Toys were brought out by Mrs. Sharpener such as hula-hoops, jump ropes, kick balls and all sorts of play things. Certain filly friends had plans that night which they were discussing during recess such as sleepovers and get togethers. The three pony companions, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were in their usually spots, underneath the big oak tree at the corner of the school yard. Rarity was trying to braid Applejack's hair while Pinkie Pie was jumping rope close by them. While Pinkie was off in her own world, eyes closed and humming a random melody, Rarity was fighting to keep Applejack still as she groomed her blonde mane.
“Please, Applejack...” she said with a sternness in her voice. “Would just hold still, it's hard enough working with a mane as filthy as this one. There’s no need to worry, darling, it's not like I’m fitting you into another one of my dresses again.”
“I don’t trust ya’ back there,” Applejack tried to pull away again, but Rarity held her back by grabbing her by the shoulder blade. “Whatever yer’ do’n back yonder, I know yer’ up ta’ no good!”
“Oh, hush up! Don’t be such a ‘faux pas’, my dear.”
Applejack squirmed again and asked, “I don’t know what ya’ dern said, but I ain’t seen no foxes 'round these parts.” Rarity tied the last braid and raised her hooves up in accomplishment. 
“Ah-ha! It tis done! My Applejack, may I dare say you sport that ‘femme fatale’ appearance quite well.”
Applejack felt the back of her hair and threw it around her shoulder to look at it. She felt it up and down; she began to subtly admire the new look, but tried not to clearly show her emotions towards Rarity.
“Well, Miss Applejack, do you like it?”
Applejack chose her words carefully, “Um, ya, it’s real swell!” The orange filly bent closer towards Rarity, pointed a hoof at her and concluded, “But don’t ya’ll be call’n me any names no more in pig latin, ya here?” Rarity blinked in uncertainty and then moved her eye contact towards the pink filly, who was now resting under the tree, still humming with her eyes shut.
“It’s your turn now, darling.” Pinkie opened her large, cerulean eyes, which seemed to glow lustrous on this dark day, and looked back into Rarity’s. 
She hopped up and replied, “It’s my turn, ya say?” She scurried behind Rarity and continued, “Ah, now what shall we do with this purple blunder?” Rarity let out a fake chuckle at her response and quickly turned towards Pinkie in fear for her hair she loved dearly. 
“I was suggesting that maybe I work with your hair, not you on mine, you see?”
“Awww...” Pinkie sighed in disappointment as she flopped her flank down on the grass. 
“Oh, don’t take it personal, dearie. Not everyone can have hair like mine.”
The three friend’s concentration was broken as a rainbow trail flew by the tree in a blur, carrying with it a powerful wind. The rush of air was so strong it unbraided Applejack’s hair, which in turn made her feel a little upset, revealing her true views outwardly on the style it was in. Her dismay changed to awe as she looked up towards Rainbow Dash, flexing in the air as a crowd of students circled around her. 
She spoke proudly to her admirers below, “And that, my dear fans, is how you do a reversal tail spin!”
The crowd cheered for the rainbow pegasus as she landed. Even Mrs. Sharpener extended recess so that Rainbow Dash could show off some more tricks and stunts. Rarity soon forgot all about braiding Pinkie’s hair and ran over to go see the pegasus in action. Applejack was about to head off where the crowd was until Pinkie Pie stopped her.
“Wait, AJ,” she called out. The orange filly stopped and turned back towards Pinkie. The pink pony caught up behind Applejack and tried to delay her by saying, “I wanted to hear your story about you and Jonathan. I thought it was really interesting and–”
“Uh– I’ll tell ya’ another time, Pinkie. I really want ta’ see Rainbow Dash! She’s so cool!” She turned and yelled towards the impressive pegasus, “Hey, do a barrel roll!”
Rainbow Dash cracked a prideful smile and replied, “Ha, easy-shimsy!” After that comment, she took off into the sky again with a boom. Pinkie was left under the oak tree, alone. 
The pink earth pony let out a long, drawn out breath, “I wish I had wings...”



__________



After recess, school seemed to go by much slower for Pinkie Pie. Hearing those continuing comments about how ‘awesome' Rainbow Dash was and how little her two friends were spending time with her really depressed the filly. Applejack nor Rarity even spoke or made eye contact with Pinkie, she thought they wanted to be friends with the new, cool filly. The party pony liked Rainbow Dash, but was a tad jealous from all the attention she was getting and how Pinkie wanted wings to fly. The more she thought about having a pair of wings for her own, a notion sprang into her mind suggesting that maybe in a pervious life she did have wings of her own. This silly thought soon receded, but the lingering desire for a pair of wings grew as the day progressed.
During art class, Pinkie was sitting at her desk and surrounded by a sea of empty tables and chairs. The rest of the student body, from what she could tell, were situated around Rainbow Dash who wasn’t even drawing at all. She just sat there, her wings spread wide and leaning back in her chair answering questions from the students and even the teacher herself. This tensed up Pinkie Pie a tad bit more and she began painting more vigorously. She dabbed more and more paint onto her already vivid portrayal of her and Zack in the Canterlot gardens, but this time, she was saving him with her large, pink wings. She moved her hoof over to get some more pink paint on her brush, but her hoof slipped and she hit the green paint container instead which spilled all over her pink chest. Not only was Pinkie battling depression, but she was now fighting with not losing her temper. Her anger boiled deeply as she just stared at the mess she made, oblivious as to who was watching.
“Oh my,” a voice commented as Pinkie looked up to see Rarity studying her mess up. “The painting’s good, whatever it is, but the spill you made I hope doesn’t stain your lovely coat.” Rarity’s horn glowed a deep, vivid blue as she levitated a rag over, dipped it into her vile of water she used to clean the brushes with and began wiping the paint clean off of the splattered pony. 
“See? All better! And not a stain left!” Rarity began cleaning the rest of it off of Pinkie’s desk, quite humble and content. Pinkie cooled off and thanked her for cleaning her spill, but was soon interrupted when another familiar pony came up beside Rarity.
“Hey,” Rainbow blurted, “that was really awesome what you did there! I wish I had a unicorn horn so I could do cool magic like that!” Pinkie just sat there in bewilderment, embarrassed knowing that now the whole class knew what had happened. 
Rarity blushed and carped, “Oh, you mean this old thing,” she pointed at her horn and giggled softly. “Oh, it’s nothing, really. Simply old unicorn artistry I suppose.”
Rainbow wrapped her wing around Rarity’s shoulder and said, “No, I mean it! That was really cool!”
Rarity and Rainbow Dash walked back towards the corner of the class as a crowd of fillies followed behind. Pinkie felt even more miserable now than ever, even after Rarity’s generosity. She now wished she was a unicorn, maybe then she would be recognized in the class and not be such an outsider. She began despising the way she was born, she hated it. With the mood she had built up ushered a flood of emotions and memories that only worsened her state of mind. She remembered her treacherous family, she remembered how she was worthless on the rock farm, worthless when kidnapped, worthless even to her friends now. She felt so inferior to everyone else in the class and she couldn’t do anything right, no matter how hard she tried. 
She sat there for the rest of the day, holding back her impending torrent of mixed emotions. She was sad knowing that she was boring and normal, and she was angry knowing she could have done better in her past situations. Worst of all, she knew that she couldn’t change, that she was going to be a regular, boring, worthless earth pony who couldn’t do anything on her own forever. 
As soon as school let out, she completely ignored her friends, who were too busy anyways buddying Rainbow Dash. She slowly walked down town as the leaves blew across the empty streets in the nipping breeze. The weather and feeling in the air couldn’t have been drearier; the sun wasn’t shining like she liked it and she was cold and gloomy. As soon as she thought she was far enough away, her emotions broke loss and she began to cry very loudly, holding no more emotions back. She sat on the street corner of an unoccupied part of town, her pink coat appearing faded in the shrouded sun. Her curly mane began to deflate slowly and her pink, flat hair hung over her head, making things even darker for her. She didn’t care anymore who saw her in this state, all she wanted was a warm, tight hug, and for someone to tell her that she was special.



__________



She didn’t know how long she had sat there, but she did notice it was getting colder and darker. The frigid wind blew her reddening eyes dry, and she had cried so much that she couldn’t cry anymore–along with that, she had also calmed down a bit, but still deeply hurt and envious on the inside. She propped herself back up on her hooves and instead of going back to Sugarcube Corner, she decided to continue walking down the street in a part of Ponyville she had never really been in or known about. 
Pinkie thought that the Cake Family must be worried sick about her, but this thought was eased when she realized that on most Friday nights she would be hanging out in Applejack’s treehouse or with her friends, unlike today. She sighed as she shivered a little as another cold wind swept though the empty street. This part of the village was silent and barren, and the only noise was from the rustling leaves, the frigid wind and the clopping of Pinkie Pie’s gait. She stopped and looked around after some time had passed, wondering where she was exactly. She thought that she could probably get back to the town square if she went the opposite direction, but her drive to stay away from ponies stopped her from going back now, not yet at least.
Another frigid gale swept by, carrying dead leaves with it while blowing her hair out of her face. For a split second, the noise of the wind almost sounded as if it were a voice, an incoherent, but faint voice. It scared her a bit as she came to a brief halt, but she remained cool and content; realizing that it must have been her imagination and proceeded to walk down the road some more. 
Another passing of the wind came by and Pinkie swore she heard the voice again. When it went by her ears, it almost sounded like it came from a different direction, but followed the wind as it blew by. Pinkie turned towards the direction she thought the voice was coming from and saw that across the street was an old, worn down building. She took greater detail in it as she stepped forward. It appeared to be an old bakery with the lettering above broken off. The colors were faded and the glass was smudged with dirt and dust. The door handle was rusted, and it creaked when the wind pushed along it. The filly tried to look in the window, but couldn’t tell exactly what was inside. The lights were off and the window was too dirty to see anything from the outside. Pinkie walked over and slowly reached her hoof out to open the store’s entrance. The door was fastened shut as she tried to rattle it open while pulling on the handle. It was no use and she turned away to walk back down the street.
As she turned, another gust blew from behind her and when it did, she heard the tarnished, metal hinged door creak slowly open, as if all it needed to be opened by was a light push. She slowly turned, a bit skeptical about what she had just heard, but to her dismay, the door was creaked open slightly. She turned and pressed the door all the way open to see its insides. No one was inside and the interior looked as if it hadn’t been touched in years. The only light in the old shop was from the discolored windows and the open door. The room was filled with dust and the wallpaper was torn and damaged, revealing the wooden boards on the other side. Many items were under large, faded white tarps as if someone wanted to hide the contents of whatever was in this run-down bakery. The place also looked as if it had been robbed and vandalized a few times, some writing on the walls Pinkie couldn’t read very well was washed out and illegible due to time. She stepped inside anxiously and hesitantly. With each hoof-step, the cracked tile and broken wood and glass groaned and cracked underneath her hooves. 
With another gust of cool wind, the shop’s door gently closed, not even alerting Pinkie Pie. She was too curious as to know what happened to this run-down place which seemed to have possessed a lot of memories. She kept walking, looking at the old, decaying counters and 'out-of-date' styles of chairs and tables. Pinkie didn’t care what was underneath the large drapes, but something stopped her in her tracks as she paused to look around.
She turned her head slowly and looked to her left. Behind an over turned table and some broken restaurant chairs, an oddly shaped, cloth covered object was hung on the wall. She couldn’t make out what it was, but something about it intrigued her enough to step over to it and maneuver around the mess to get closer to it. Once close enough, she thought she heard the wind again, but was sure that it couldn’t possibly be wind since she was inside. The only reason she thought it was wind was because of the muffled voice she heard in her ears, which rasped in a low pitch, “Come nearer.”
She reached her pink, left hoof up and slowly touched the object. Then in a swift motion she flung the faded drape off and stepped back. The tarp fell over her and she had to toss it off to see what it was hiding. Once she did this, it was revealed that the tarp was hiding a large, arching mirror. The mirror had a flat bottom and a curved top with strange markings written around it like runes. The edges of the mirror glimmered a faint luster of gold that was pressed into the edge of the reflecting surface. The mirror itself however was spotless and it looked brand new. Its flawless appeal fascinated the curious pink filly, she had never seen a mirror so shiny and magnificent. She finally looked into the mirror at herself and hopped back in shock. Pinkie was surprised to see that it was almost as if there was no mirror at all and that she was just staring at her identical twin. An uncanny resemblance was made in her mind that the pony before her was no reflection, but a strange duplicate of sorts.
As soon as the pony blinked, she realized something was different about her reflection. It took her a few seconds to identify it, but she realized that her mirror image now had a unicorn horn and wings. She gasped in excitement and quickly turned to see if she had them in reality, but to her disappointment, she did not. Pinkie Pie looked back into the mirror and just stared at herself; she looked so amazing, if only her friends could see this. If only she was like this in real life, she would be so special. She looked like Princess Celestia with her new physical characteristics, a pair of beautiful pink wings and a pink and flawless unicorn horn boosted her self esteem. She gave a smile when looking upon her false self, but the smile dimly turned upside down after realizing it was fake once more.
She walked towards the mirror and stopped, getting a closer look at herself to see if anything else had changed she didn’t realize. She placed her hoof on the reflection, as if trying to touch her perfect self; but in doing so, instead of feeling a hard surface, her hoof plunged into a thick, cold liquid. She pulled it out quickly and stepped back in fright. She looked around the room to see if this was some sort of prank or trick, but she was still alone and the room was dead silent. She mustered enough courage to go back and touch the mirror again. She was correct, it wasn’t an ordinary mirror, she could submerge her hoof into the reflective, vertical pool and pull it in and out. She got closer and inspected the magical mirror without touching it. When she did get closer, she heard something she didn't quite expect to hear, music. This muffled melody was a light hearted and bouncy tune, almost old fashion sounding. She finally maneuvered her head back and stood firm in front of the mirror and her alicorn self. She took a deep breath in through her snout, closed her eyes and jumped blindly into the mirror.



__________



Her body felt like it had dived into a cold lake, but when she hit the ground again, she was in a warm atmosphere. She opened her eyes and a bright light glared into the area she was in. Her eyes adjusted and she realized that maybe she had just traveled back in time. Pinkie appeared to be in the same bakery, but the shop looked brand new. Everything was neatly polished, the colors in the walls, chairs, tables, counters and floors were not faded. The music was much louder and sounded as if it was playing through an old radio. She turned her head to look outside the building, but only saw a white, bright light when looking out the bakery window. It wasn’t painful to the eyes, but she only saw a majestic radiance that seemed to be different from the sun’s rays. She turned back and walked around the bend of the bakery bar and stools.
At the very end of a dozen bar stools was a solid, charcoal coated, plump pony. His mane was neatly combed and his tail was curved smooth in a posh position. His faced spotted a large gray mustache which hid his mouth and two bushy eyebrows of the same color. He was reading a newspaper and his eyes squinted through his tiny glasses as he mumbled out the words he read. The pink filly also realized that no one was behind the bar and she and the plump stallion were the only ones in the bakery. He was unaware of Pinkie’s presence as she approached cautiously. After the incident involving Ray Sunshine, she was ready to gallop away as fast as she could once she thought that things were up to no good.
Pinkie stepped right up to the stallion, who was still heedless to the filly, and quietly asked, “Excuse me, sir.”
The pony perked his rounded ears up and lowered the newspaper. He slowly turned his head and looked down at Pinkie, readjusting his entirely too small spectacles. 
“Why yes, miss,” he said in a slow, low speaking southern accent. He gave a small smile which Pinkie could tell underneath his fuzzy mustache. Pinkie hesitated a smile in response, she felt a little uneasy and even forgot what she was going to ask at all. The stallion took in a breath and replied to her silence, “Are you lost, my little pony?”
Pinkie then cleared her voice and said, “Uh... yes I am actually.”
“Why you’re Ponyville’s finest and only bakery, Hoofcake Cupcake Shop. Why don’t ya take a seat there, little lady.” He took of swig of coffee he had next the paper he placed on the bar counter. Pinkie had a hard time getting up on the bar stool, but finally managed to squirm her way up on the cherry red, cushioned seat. 
“So, where ya from,” articulated the gentle colt.
“Ponyville... but, I really want to go home, mister.” The aged pony swiveled in his chair slightly in Pinkie’s direction.
He asked, “Aren’t you hungry or thirsty?”
Pinkie was about to decline the friendly stallion’s offer, but instead her mind spoke out for her, “Well, I am a bit hungry... I didn’t feel like eating at school today.” 
“Well let me call up the server here, it’s all on me,” he said in a delighted, yet calm tone. He reached out his hoof and rang a service bell Pinkie Pie didn’t realize was there until he hit it. 
She responded gently to his kindness, “Thank you, mister.”
“Why you’re most certainly welcome, missy. And by the way, the name’s Mr. Turnip. That’s what ma’ friends call me at least.”
“Well, thank you kindly, Mr. Turnip.”
The doors to the back of the kitchen swung open behind the counter and outstepped a sharp dressed unicorn. He was a light-blue coated, skinny stallion with a black, slicked mane and tail. He had on around his neck a bright red bow tie, and on his head he wore a white, paper hat. His shining teeth gleamed at the sight of a new customer as he approached the pink filly. He stepped passed her, pointed a hoof at Mr. Turnip and shook it vigorously at the gray pony.
The server spoke in a slightly sophisticated, yet fast tone, “Say now, wise guy, you threat’n my customers again! Don’t make me throw you outta this joint, buster!” 
After a moment of silence, the adults burst out in laughter as Pinkie watched in total confusion, not knowing that these two were friends. The server then turned his attention towards Pinkie Pie and beamed a genuine smile over at her. 
“Hey there, doll face! What can I get you this fine day?” He bent over and whispered with his hoof over to the side of his face, “Don’t get the cherry soda, my wife made it, goes right through ya every time.” Pinkie laughed at this, seemingly like it melted her worries away for a minute.
She replied, “Well, I don’t know what’s on the menu... in fact, I haven’t even seen a menu.”
“There’s no need for menus in this bakery, baby cakes. Just ask what you want and we’re mighty sure we have it in stock.” 
Pinkie sat there and thought with her hoof rubbing her chin. She looked back up at the server and read his name tag, which was pinned to his paper cap that she didn’t notice before. It read, ‘Lints’. 
Pinkie replied with a rude question, “Why is your name ‘Lints’?” The stallion took his hat off and swept his hoof back over his slick, black hair, eyeballing the hat.
He replied, “That’s what Mama named me! But folks around here call me ‘Lints-a-lot’ or ‘Sir Lints-a-lot’ cause I got a lot to say and not a lot of time, see?” He placed his elbows on the counter and hunched over the table with a pencil and paper in hoof. “Now, what can I get you today, sweet cheeks?”
Pinkie already knew the answer and replied gleefully, “Can I have some ice cream? Preferably chocolate chip?”
“Why sure thing, sweetheart!” He clicked the ball point pen and began scribbling and speaking at the rate he was writing, “One bowl... of refreshing... chocolate chip ice cream... coming-up!” He clicked the ball point pen again and carelessly tossed it behind him into a shelf, as if he wrote the check down just to have some fun.
He turned and yelled, “Hey Rocky! How about you fix up this sweetie’s ice cream, pronto!” A thick necked, large and black coated work horse stallion with a brown, scruffy mane popped his head out of the kitchen door.
He retorted in a thick, Bronx accent, “You got it, boss man.” 
As Rocky stuck his head back through the kitchen door, Lints turned and noted towards the pink filly, “Ahh yea, I can tell by your looks you have a lot of energy." He eyeballed her more and went on, "... yea, a lot.”
The other kitchen door on the other side of the restaurant opened up and out stepped a classy looking pegasus mare. She was hay yellow with a light, red mane and tail; which was styled ever so elegantly much like Rarity’s as her eyes twinkled in the spectral light behind her. Pinkie thought that she was beautiful, and that perhaps an angel had descended to take her away.
Lints raised his hooves and proclaimed, “Her she is, the lady of the hour. Fillies and gentle colts, I present my beautiful and darling wife, Madame LeFlour!” She giggled as her husband grabbed her by the waist, spun her around and gave her a light kiss on the cheek.
She noticed the new customer and replied in a french accent, “Why, I didn’t zee you there, mi amore!” She pushed off her love drunken husband and made her way towards Pinkie Pie. “Why, it’z a pleasure, Mizz...”
“Miss Pie,” Pinkie squeaked, subconsciously switching her accent to a french one without her immediate knowing. She stuck out her pink hoof for a shake, but LeFlour gracefully lifted Pinkie’s hoof and kissed it lightly.
With a smile she said, “It iz a pleasure to meet a lovely mistress such az yourself, madame.”
“Why thank you,” Pinkie blushed from LeFlour’s sweet compliment.  A bowl of ice cream sailed down the smooth counter top in front of Pinkie and gently came to a halt. She looked down the bar counter to see Rocky waving at her with a toothpick hanging from the crooked smile on his face. Pinkie waved back with a cheery smile in return.
With a wave of Lint’s hoof, Rocky made his way back into the kitchen as silently as he left it. Lint’s unicorn horn glowed yellow and a spoon was conjured next to the bowl of ice cream. Pinkie looked up at Lint, who gave her a wink as he turned away to do the dishes. She looked back down, grabbed the spoon and took a bite out of the ice cream. Pinkie thought it was amazing and loved it as she let out a moan of satisfaction. As she took a few more bites, she remembered for some reason what happened that day, the way she was feeling, and had soon lost her appetite. It seemed like it would have been a day a bowl of ice cream could fix, but the damage she mentally endured conquered Pinkie. Mr. Turnip noticed Pinkie’s mood change and lowered his paper again.
“What seems to be the problem, child,” he questioned in his southern drawl. 
She turned towards him and said with a happy tone, “The ice cream’s great,” but her voice changed back to a sorrowful tone, “but, I just had a rough day.” She sighed and went on, “I just feel worthless and useless. None of my friends want to play or be around me, and I can’t ever seem to do anything right. I’m always getting into trouble and always needing help. I’m pathetic. I wish I had a pair of wings or a unicorn horn so at least I can be special, just a little bit.”
Lint turned suddenly around and said with force, “Well why didn’t you say so, sweetie?”
As soon as he said that, a strange white apple was slid down the counter and had halted directly in front of Pinkie Pie, as if stopped by an unseen force. She turned to see if it was Rocky again, but only saw the kitchen doors swinging.
Lint explained, “See this here apple? This is no ordinary apple! This here is an Alicorn’s Apple, which can only be grown from one tree. This fruit can give you wings and a magic horn! No strings attached! Just take a bite and you’ll take flight! Ah-ha!” Pinkie was a little worried and befuddled by the appearance of the delicious, snowy-white apple in front of her. 
She asked, “If I eat this apple, I can have wings and a unicorn horn?”
“Oui! Zat is correct, madame,” confirmed LeFlour as she watched over the pink pony. 
Pinkie paused for a moment to take in the scenario and choice which was laid out in front of her. All of her problems she thought could end right here, right now. She could finally be something special, she could finally fly, perform unicorn magic and even fight along side Zack during future quests the Princess gives him. A world of adventure and happiness was offered to her, and in that moment she reached out her hoof and held the apple firmly in her hooves. She took one last look at the strangely appealing apple and finally took a bite out of it as Lints, Mr. Turnip, Madame LeFlour and even Rocky in the corner of the bakery watched eagerly.
She swished it back and forth in her mouth, extracting its tastes. To her surprise, it tasted just like a regular apple and felt no more special after eating it. She swallowed and sat still, feeling the bits of chewed up apple run down her throat and into her stomach. She still felt like her regular, not very special self as Pinkie looked around at everyone in silence and in confusion. 
She thought to herself, “Was I suppose to feel something? I don’t feel anything...” 
Lints chirped, “How’s it feel to be an alicorn, muffin?”
Pinkie looked around and replied,” I don’t feel any differe–”
While Pinkie Pie was scratching her mane, she felt something hard and firm atop her head. It startled her as she touched it again with both hooves this time. Madame LeFlour smiled and levitated a pocket mirror in front of Pinkie Pie. Pinkie looked into the reflection and saw that it was a beautiful, pink unicorn horn. She could feel her heart pounding faster, she couldn't believe it. Her mind told her that she was in a dream, but her body disagreed. She turned her head around to look at her back, and there rested two folded up alicorn wings. She hopped off the stool and cried out in triumph as the others in the bakery warmly smiled at her success. Pinkie couldn't keep herself still as she bounced and teetered with glee. She unfolded her wings and lifted herself off of the ground with ease. She gently hovered inside the bakery while at the same time using her new unicorn magic to levitate Mr. Turnip off of his seat. Everyone was laughing and Pinkie was filled with so much bliss and joy it made her cry tears of joy. Everything felt second nature to Pinkie, while other pegasus and unicorn foals she knew took years to even begin to master their birth talents, it took mere seconds for her. 
She landed back down on the ground and gently placed Mr. Turnip back in his chair. He let out a hardy laugh as soon as Pinkie’s sapphire blue, magical aura faded around him. She giggled and snorted at his merriment as he was red in the face from so much laughter and excitement. He took out a handkerchief and patted his sweating forehead multiple times before putting it back in his trouser pocket.
“Oh, I can’t wait to show my friends this,” she exclaimed in euphoria as she hopped back on the stool. Lints was turned around again, looking as if he was preparing a concoction of a drink. Pinkie added, “Well, I really, really thank you all for doing this, I know there isn’t much I can do to make it up to ya’ll. But please, visit me again sometime at Sugarcube Corner, I’d love to talk with you all again. I think it may be getting late and I need to go home, the Cakes must be in a tissy!”
Lints replied with his back still turned towards Pinkie, “Well before you go, how about one... more... Drink!” Lints turned and his appearance terrified Pinkie so much so that she fell off the stool and onto the floor. He appeared like a giant, wooden puppet, but his eyes glowed like burning embers. His figure was warped in so many terrifying ways. His mouth was one large sliding hinge, like the same hinges used in his elbows, shoulders, neck and knees. Strings were now attached to his limbs and head, bobbing them uncontrollably. Pinkie was in total panic as she felt her heart trying to beat right out of her chest. She turned towards Mr. Turnip, who appeared even more warped as a puppet than Lints. 
She scrambled backwards, screaming in horror as he said in slowly morphing, unnatural voice, “What’s the matter? Why the long face, Pinkie Pie?”
She couldn’t get herself back on her hooves she was so terrified. The more she looked around, the more the bar turned into a darker, more twisted place. She tired to fly upwards, but her wings wouldn’t cooperate and she ended up ramming her head into the underside of the bar. She rubbed her head in pain and looked up to see a very creepy marionette of Madame LeFlour, who was reaching her hooves out towards the pink pony. She shrieked and finally got herself up on her hooves away from her. She galloped as fast as she could towards the exit of the bakery, running with all of her strength. She tried her hardest to open the door, but just couldn’t do it–it was sealed tight by an outside force that seemed to be pushing back.
In a sudden instant, Pinkie felt her body lock up in paralysis. She couldn’t move any part of her body expect her eyes and eyelids. She tried looking around, but her last view was situated towards the handle of the door. A disturbing silence filled the now darkened room until Pinkie heard something that made her heart skip a beat. A strange jingle of small bells, then another, then another. With every ring, a hoof step followed. It was closing in behind Pinkie Pie, but she couldn’t tell who it was.
The thing from behind Pinkie Pie spoke in a cold, yet soft tone of voice, “Pinkie... Pie. Ah, you will be the one to do my bidding.”
Pinkie tried to speak, but her closed mouth stopped her from talking. She heard a few more jingles of bells and hoof steps coming closer until she could hear whomever it was behind her breathing down her neck.
He whispered into her ear, “I’ve been trapped in this prison for so long... and to believe this magical artifact can grant eternal life. Oh it can, but at a cost I simply overlooked. You see, I could have taken over the Equestrian throne by now, but I could not leave The Mirror of Hven’penin. One’s soul is immortal, but one’s body is not is what I discovered so long ago–so that’s why I need you, my gullible filly.” The unknown being stepped away from Pinkie Pie, she could still not tell who he was. 
He continued, “You can have all of your wildest fantasies granted inside the mirror realm, but your body deteriorates much faster if you accept those desires. You see, that was once me, I was once the King of Equestria and ruled along side the regal sisters, but I was not immortal. So I sought out how to become one, and found this magical artifact. You see, I did not do this to increase my own lifespan, but to be with my lover and to rule over these beautiful lands with her, together. But since then, I’ve been stuck inside this Tartarus of a place for over a millennia! Do you have any idea what it’s like to be stuck with yourself for one-thousand years!” A long silence ensued, Pinkie was scared out of her mind and desperately wanted to leave.
“Let’s take a look at you, shall we?”
Pinkie’s body was soon levitated around and she finally saw who was talking to her. It was a grey coated unicorn with piercing yellow eyes and a silver, curly short mane and tail. He had a long, thick beard and was wearing a large blue robe and wizard’s hat with ancient runes inscribed on them. Small bells were around the rim of the hat and near the ends of the robe where they dragged on the floor. He scanned Pinkie Pie intently, reading her over as if she was a book.
“Now that your desires in the mirror have been granted, and your body is still full of life, I can use you. Your alicorn state can be used outside of this realm and the only way to reverse this state is for another powerful unicorn to extract the enchantment...” He pressed his white hooves against Pinkie’s chest and appeared to be looking straight through the levitating pony.  He grinned and verified, “Oh yes... you have much energy inside yo–," He stopped and noted, "–and what’s this? You have a piece of a spirit inside you too!”
He looked into Pinkie’s tear filled eyes and gave a devilish smile, “You are one of the Elements of Harmony!”
She had no idea what he was talking about, much like the rest of his conversation. He laughed and spun himself around, walking slowly away from the paralyzed, magically floating pony. 
“You? An Element of Harmony? So weak! So misguided! And now, fate falls in my favor! The time is nigh! The night is now! You are mine for the taking, Pinkie Pie!” He quickly turned back towards her and placed a hoof on the pink alicorn’s forehead. He shouted as his horn glowed vibrantly yellow, “Starswirl will reign over Equestria again! And this time, he will imprison Celestia in The Mirror of Death!”
His body glowed bright yellow and soon it dissolved into a smokey form. It flowed like water into Pinkie’s mouth and nostrils as the magic that enveloped her wore off. She fell to the ground and began choking on the substance that went into her body. Suddenly her mind fell into a pit of sorts and was locked away It was was difficult for her to describe the mental feelings she was being afflicted with, but soon, Pinkie Pie was no more.
The pink pony stopped struggling and took in a deep breath. She rose up off of her hooves and expressed zero emotion as she exited the mirror. Once she placed herself outside and back into the real world, she opened her eyes. Her pupils glowed intensely yellow, much like Starswirl’s. She too bore a devilish grin much like his as well.
She said in a twisted tone, which bore similarities to her old voice, “Yes... Yes! I am free! And I am coming for you... my Celestia... I now possess the body of an alicorn and the energy of an Element of Harmony! Nothing can stop me!”
The possessed Pinkie Pie alicorn unfolded her wings and shot off into the night sky towards Canterlot. The great and old King and high wizard of the Canterlot Court was closing in on the capital city with one goal in mind, to rule over it once again in his new, much more powerful body he plans to keep for eternity.
> 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(14)




One Week After the Death of Ray Sunshine




A new morning flooded into the halls of the quiet castle corridors. The shining morning didn’t last long however and it began to rain, just as the weather pegasi planned. Gray billows of rolling clouds swept across the sky, blotting out the once gorgeous day. The patchy cumuli clouds brought with them a downpour of fat raindrops which pelted the side of the castle and all across Canterlot as well. Besides the splatter of rain along the windows, Zack thought it was a tad too quiet that morning as he wheeled down the rugged hallways. Zack was still feeling the effects of his surgery and was in a state of lingering pain. Princess Celestia had increased the size of a wheelchair to fit Zack’s needs after his surgery. He could still walk fine, but staying on his feet for too long tired him out drastically, so wheelchair bound he was.
Zack was used to the wheelchair by now, he was so adept to it that he was popping wheelies down the hallways in no time. He was so good at doing this that he could stay on the two back wheels for a long while before going back down on all fours; it was a change in entertainment he really enjoyed. His workout routines had been postponed of course, and he found himself in the library more often.
As he passed other castle workers, maids and guards, they would give him a friendly smile seeing the still alien creature to them wheel down the hallways. They were use to Zack by now, still a little uncomfortable whenever he would approach them to ask something, but were gradually accepting towards the creature into their daily work lives. Whenever Valiant Steed would show up, who was wheelchair bound as well, they would sit out in the garden and talk, which Valiant liked to do. Zack never understood why Valiant was so talkative around him and not to anyone else, he was rather silent around other ponies unless spoken to. From what Valiant had told Zack about his mysterious foalhood, he was always the quiet one and kept his thoughts to himself, but he found it hard to believe whenever the pegasus would start rambling around him. He could strike up a conversation to just about anything he could think of off the top of his head; Zack didn’t mind this much, but sitting there for hours on end bored him eventually, no matter what they talked about.
A day came when Zack had gotten up early and decided to venture into the most unexplored parts of the library; that day was the rainy day. Believe it or not, Zack had hardly ventured into the deepest recesses of the castle; the ivory fortress was still a mysterious place for the human who knew secrets were still hidden within the chambers, but didn’t care too much to look for them. Zack trundled into the library with the keys Celestia gave him in his grasp. He thought that maybe she had forgotten that she gave him those keys and maybe she didn’t want him snooping around the locked areas of the library. It didn’t matter anymore to him, Zack had faced three challenging events so far in Equestria that not many ponies would dare stand up to; he showed no fear to what mysteries lie dormant in the darkest areas of the citadel. 
He rolled up to a locked wing of the library, one of many he wheeled past. An iron gate blocked the entrance and two royal guards were stationed next to it. Zack was suspicious to what was behind that gate and his curiosity got the best of them as he began his approach to unlock it. 
One of the unicorn guards called out sternly, “Sir, I don’t believe you have permission to enter this wing of the library.” Zack made zero eye contact as he jingled a ring of keys in front of the guard.
He replied, “I believe I do.” A roll of deep thunder echoed in the distance as the rain continued to slosh the castle windows. Zack searched through the key ring until he found a few that seemed to fit into the key hole in front of him.
While trying different keys in the key hole to see which one would unlock it, he asked, “So, what’s in this wing?” The guards looked at each other with unexpressed emotion.
One turned and responded, “This is the Starswirl the Bearded Wing.” He took a breath and changed his tone slightly to an unassured voice, “We... don’t know much about him. All we know is that he has invented many unicorn spells we use today in our culture and that he was a great scholar.”
Zack finally found the key that opened the gate and it loudly creaked open. The metal hinges were old and the sound of the slightly rusted hinges rubbing against the metal bars filled the library with a sharp noise. He turned his head towards the guard and said, “Have you ever been inside this wing?”
“Only the Princesses have been inside, sir.”
“The ‘Princesses’?”
“Yes, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. It is a very, very old wing of the library, and few have trotted its grounds.”
Zack felt a bit nerved after hearing that. Adventure still pumped through his veins though, but for some reason, he felt more unsteady about this than entering Om’s cave. Zack remained silent as he nodded to the guard and the guard acknowledged his gesture. 
The royal unicorn guard spoke one last time, “If I were you, I wouldn’t want to be caught in this wing by Princess Celestia. She keeps it locked for reasons we do not know or care to ask. Do your business and go.” The two royal guards left their stations, leaving Zack on his own. He wheeled into the library wing with caution.



__________




He knew there wasn’t going to be any evil things that were going to pop out at him, but just the feeling of how long it had been since someone was in here spooked Zack. As he proceeded further into the dimly lit library, he noticed that the room had not been cleaned or touched by any outside forces. The wing was abnormally quiet which made the place far more spine-chilling when the only noise Zack could hear was his own breath, the squeaks from the wheelchair and the rain showering the old windows. Cobwebs in between the bookcases and dust thickened the chamber, so thick that Zack left wheelchair tracks in the dust on the floor. There were stained glass windows in the room, but they were so thick with dust that hardly any light could penetrate the dingy library chamber. The wing wasn’t large in size, but the bookcases towered above him; even if he was to stand up, it would still make him feel puny when next to the ancient and thick bookcases.
Zack took a turn down a random passage way of scrolls and was wondering what most of these were about. He picked a random one and unrolled it gently; dust tumbled out in a small cloud and made Zack cough. He unraveled the scroll and saw that it was a guide to performing a certain conjuration spell. It described conjuring a bouquet of flowers in one’s hooves, at the bottom of the scroll it credited ‘Starswirl’ for creating the spell. Zack placed the scroll back and wheeled himself further down the rows.
Near the end of the bookcases, he found a part of the library wing that was filled with actual books and not scrolls. He stopped and began examining the books to try and find anything interesting to read. Most of the book spines were blank and whenever he pulled one out, the covers and back were bare too. Each had a slightly different colored leather, and most he opened had blank pages in them. It was very odd to Zack and he was just about ready to leave, seeing that nothing interesting was in here after all. As he placed his hands on the tops of the wheelchair wheels, he looked up and saw another large tome sticking slightly out of the top of the book case. Zack was intrigued by this oddly placed book and was determined to take a look inside it, even if it was like the other ancient books he had looked through.
He stood up for a quick second, grabbed the hardcover book and sat back down in his wheelchair. Zack then noticed some writing on the front of the tome and smiled. Finally he had discovered a book in this wing with words on it. He wheeled himself over to one of the dust covered windows and rubbed the smut off of the glass to let a little more light in. He still couldn’t tell what was on the cover of the book, dust of course was hiding its title. Zack wiped his hand over the book and the title became clear. It read in cryptic, gold lettering: “Immortals”.
Zack opened the large book to the first page thinking that this ancient volume probably hadn’t been opened in centuries. He took great care of not trying to damage the old book as he finally opened it fully. The texture of the pages in the book felt uncommon from regular paper. The first page was nearly blank until he saw that in the center was small, dried ink lettering. He squinted his eyes to focus on the tiny and very well written handwriting and read, “How does One live being Immortal?” Zack thought that the capitalization in the word, ‘One’ was very peculiar. He turned the page and in the center read once more, “You don’t.” Zack thought that that was very strange and looked over at the next page and it read the same thing. Zack began turning pages and realizing each page had the same two words on it written over and over again through hundreds of pages. He noticed that after a while of skimming through the pages, he realized that the two words written were becoming larger and more violently written. Some ink spots were seen splattered next to the words in an increase in sloppiness and more violent pen strokes. When Zack finally reached one of the last few pages of the book, he became aware that something else was written in the author’s previous and well maintained pen strokes seen in the beginning of the book. It was small, like the first sentence in the book; Zack squinted his eyes once more and read, “I am the Cartographer of The Universe. And You are His servant.”
Zack turned the page and saw that the rest of the pages were cut out in a rectangular shape and inside the box of cut pages was a small, leather book. Zack reached for it and took it out of the tome. He looked through the rest of the cut pages and found no more words. He placed ‘Immortals’ back in its nook in the bookcase and held on to the smaller, paperback book. Zack looked and examined the leather book further which appeared more like a journal. He removed the small, leather strap around the rugged, bound book which held it closed. He opened it gently and on the first page it read, “I know who you are.” Below that, it read, “–Property of a Lover–”. 
Zack closed the journal after that first sentence in the book brought chills down his spine. He thought to himself that maybe he shouldn’t read this in here. Zack began to make his way out of the library wing, trying to conceal the journal from the guards and anyone else. He was planning to read it tonight in solitude.


__________



That night when Zack was alone and when everyone was asleep inside the castle, Zack made his way to his temporary room on the ground floor of the castle. Since he couldn’t bring his wheelchair up the Western Tower to his old room, Celestia made him a temporary room that was wheelchair accessible to stay in while he recovers. Zack lay on his bed in his nightly robes, staring up at the ceiling of the makeshift bedroom. He listened to the clopping sounds of the guards passing by his room and patrolling the darkened hallways of the castle, as usual.
After sometime, Zack reached underneath his pillow and pulled out the journal. He unwrapped the leather strip once more and opened it. He skipped the first page he had read in the creepy library wing that morning and began reading on the next page. He noticed that the rest of the journal was written in Olrugena and had to switch his thought process to read the old dialect. He finally found his gift Om gave him useful and continued reading.

Dear, whomever you are reading this,

I am writing this to tell you the truth. The history books will describe me as a different person, but there is something you need to know about me and what happened in this castle. Hopefully someone will find this soon and recount my life to others in a truthful light. I hope someone will tell my side of the story. I will tell you all the events that lead up to where I am going before I enter the Mirror.

Zack turned the page and continued reading.

I grew up in the country side, a unicorn among earth ponies. I was only a colt when Equestria was discovered and the three races of ponies lived in harmony. For the longest time, there was no one ruler, three ruled over us, a unicorn, a pegasus and an earth pony. The same three leaders who ruled over their races in the past, but this era brings new light, and with new light brings new knowledge. 

I was a keen and expeditious learner of magic and before I even had my cutie mark I could surpass some of the best unicorns I knew at the time. Once my cutie mark came, I was admitted into The Advance Unicorn Society of Magic. I was the youngest by thirty-three years, but still had hardly any trouble with learning even the most advance spells. I became bored of this routine and began experimenting with new thought patterns of thinking which allowed me to focus my magic on higher plains than others. I discovered many spells which other unicorns thought were impossible, such as teleporting spells and conjuration. I was famed by few and shunned by most, they didn’t accept that a young pony, barely out of his colt years, could surpass their diligent talents they had been working on for far longer.

The Unicorn Council applauded me for the advancements I made, but were terrified of my other magics I showed them. I created spells to raise the dead, elixirs to make one a mythical alicorn for a temporary amount of time and suchlike. They burned my scrolls which taught these supposed evil things I wrote and labeled my tainted art, 'Darkcraft'. They said no unicorn must know about this and if I perform any of these again, they will banish me from the society and remove my horn. 

If you, the reader do not know, removing a unicorn’s horn is the most excruciating torture one can do to a pony. The horn is directly connected to the brain and can have severe repercussions. Using magic after such an event will immediately wipe the brain clean and make oneself mindless. Even having a life afterwards without magic will cause frequent hallucinations, multiple personalities, migraines, insomnia, depression, and other torturous ailments. There is no use to living as a unicorn without a horn, so I stayed faithful to what the council asked so that I might not endure their barbaric punishments. This burned me to the core, how could this simplistic council stifle MY creations. Of course I wasn’t going to use half of those now labeled 'Darkcraft' spells on others. I had no intentions on harming any pony, no matter how mad I was at the council.

The years went on and I superseded everyone in the Society. I could perform every spell known to Ponydom at whim. I hardly had to concentrate anymore, using the most advance magics known was like breathing to me. I was flawless in my talents and no longer did my kind cheer for me, but they were now terrified of my power. I could easily lift the largest boulders and toss them beyond eyesight, I could teleport instantaneously without even making my horn glow. Ponies have told me whenever I teleport I don’t even make a sound and in a blink of an eye I am upon the top of the largest mountain in sight. 

My mastery began to scare me and I decided not use magic for a very long time. It took many months to finally break it, but my common magic was ceased and I acted upon earth pony standards–life was good. Even when doing this, the society came back to me and elected me as the new leader of the Unicorns. I accepted and lived a comfortable life still, only using magic whenever I absolutely needed to. My horn no longer glowed its yellow aura, in time I realized I wasn’t even concentrating magic through my horn anymore, but was doing it all in my mind. Thoughts and using magic were indifferent to me, nearly anything I thought I could do through magic; this terrified me even more and for sometime was even thinking about cutting my horn off. But everything changed when I experienced the greatest moment of my young life.

I was a young colt then, a very wise, very mischievous and very curious unicorn. When the time came and I realized my magic was too great, I stopped learning magic all together and just lived life as is. In doing so, I left Canterlot and proceeded beyond the edges of the pony maps. During this time, my people were facing diplomatic issues and the three race leaders could no longer rule as one as they use to. The Windigos were approaching again. I knew I could take care of myself and was only worried about harming others. I wanted to be like everyone else and I felt so different than any other pony. I was sad for a very long time as I ventured through the unknown world.

I first made my way northwest, traveling between the frosty mountain valleys and making my way into the Griffon Kingdoms who greeted me with spears raised. I promptly left after a short scuffle and made my way northeast, then south along the coast lines of Equestria. On the coast lines I met the Sea Ponies whom I taught about the Eastern Kingdom where Ponies had hooves like mine. I also taught some of them magic, but they were not very good at it and could not focus properly. After a few days of gathering supplies from them, I left with a warm goodbye and came to a small outpost of earth ponies near the tip of Equestria. 

At Equestria’s tip was an ancient bridge built by most likely our ancestors. A pony told me that no one could cross this bridge, because eventually it was destroyed by the Sea Serpents. On the other side was a vast new land of ancient creatures and with that in mind I desperately wanted to go there. I was lead by a band of ponies from the outpost onto the bridge and to where it had been destroyed at. I focused my magic for the first time in a long while and blindly teleported as far as I could. 

I ended up on an island the locals of the small outpost called, “Gallopfrey”. On the island I was kindly met by the horse race, the Houyhnhnms. These ponies were giants compared to regular ponies and they worshipped two gods called Sleipnir and Re’em. After a day of showering me in hospitality, they took me by boat to the other ends of the bridge and I thanked them for their cordiality towards me. 

I made my way further south and ended up in the land of Cervidas where I met the Deer folk who possessed strange magics I had never seen before. Their leader was an immortal white stag whom towered over the rest. Their capital, Concordia was a sight to see. A grand tree whose roots descended into the deepest areas of the earth was situated in the middle of their city in the trees. The grand tree, which was named ‘The World Tree’, was far larger than Equestria’s highest mountain. They taught me about the Foreseer and their old gods along with the Star Maidens whom they did not worship, but acknowledged as higher beings. Their lands have never seen war and they are a race of peace, I felt as if I did not belong there knowing that ponies are not such peaceful creatures. I stayed in this land for a few months, studying their magic and teaching my magic. After a while, I decided to press onward and see where fate took me. 

I made my way southwest through the Emberbrace Mountains where I came across the peaceful Llama tribes who taught of being one with nature. After a friendly visit, I traveled onward until I reached the Muudi Dessert where I came across an assortment of races. I met the Camel race whom feared and worshipped another race, the Sphinxes. I asked where I could find them and they lead me to where their lands were. I talked with the cooperative Sphinxes and they agreed to let the Camel race free of slavery. I still cannot believe how simple and effective I was.

I traveled further south into the Pride Savannas where I met the Zebras whom taught me about their medicines and herbs. They told me if I do not turn back home and continue to travel east then I will reach the home of the Dragons and beyond them, the Firelight Woods, which held secrets from the most ancient of days. Being my curious self, I did not heed their word and sought after the Firelight Woods. I stealthily snuck through the land of the Dragons using illusion spells to hide myself and finally made it into the mystical woods. This is where I met them, the ones the Deer folk called, 'The Star Maidens'.

As I was walking in the arcane woods in the cool of the day, two appeared before me, two great and very much real alicorns. I use to believe that they were myths of old, but I was deceived once more by my people through their tainted histories. They shown brightly in the greenery of the forest, one of glaring white light and the other of blazing dark light. I humbled myself before them and told them of my journey. I could not look upon them for their beauty tempted and blinded me greater than the light they radiated. They showed me their purpose on this planet and astounded me with their magical capabilities to raise the sun and moon. I told them of the diplomatic struggles my people were facing and asked if they could intervene. I told them how kin they were to my race and how maybe they could lead them into a brighter future. They themselves were searching for a purpose to leave these woods, but no signs showed their fates beyond the forest’s edge. They foresaw me as the sign to leave their temporary home in Firelight Woods and agreed to lead my people. So with our combined magics, we teleported ourselves as one being and I traveled a distance I could not perform again. All of our magic was drained as we teleported to the center of Canterlot, tens of thousands of miles away from Firelight Woods. Over deserts, mountains, forests, seas and finally back in Equestria. A crowd gathered as we stood to our hooves. Here I showed them of their sub-race and my people accepted them as royalty and divine. The two sisters, Celestia and Luna ruled fairly over the lands and established order among chaos.

In these times, I was placed in royalty as well for finding the lost gods of the ponies. My word was under their’s and I was treated highly among my people from then on. The ponies of all races decided to begin worshiping the two sisters, but the regal ones pleaded not to, they said that they were not gods and to treat them as any other. My people did so, but still treated them with the utmost royalty; they were happy for their new and fair leaders, but terrified of their sheer magical power like my own.

Me, the regal sisters and the unicorns of Canterlot built up a grand city together, making Canterlot the capital of the Equestria countryside and no longer a quaint village atop a mountain. We built the royal ivory towers of Canterlot Castle, it was significant and one of my greatest creations. We placed as many rooms in the castle as we could, some with no use and some filled with secrets I cannot write in here. After several months of constant building, we finally finished the capital city and we invited the entire town population to a royal dance, a time of merriment we named, 'The Grand Galloping Gala'. We had a magnificent party and the celebration was so stupendous that I suggested we hold one every year and in response, did so.

These two alicorns I could relate to, their powers were similar to mine in a sense, which made me love them, especially Celestia. A year had past and I had fallen deep in love with the eldest. I had a very difficult time telling her, with each passing day, my love grew greater for her. I did not think I would fall so madly in love with this mare of legend and that she would not show signs of affection back. I desperately needed her and...

Zack fell asleep after reading for so long. The journal lay open on his chest as he drifted off into vivid dreams.


__________



Zack woke up rather late, but no one needed him and he was on no routine or schedule since he was still recovering from his injuries. No one bothered to enter his room or disturb him, which made Zack thankful that no one spotted the journal. Zack rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, feeling groggy and finding an annoying kink in his neck. He took in a breath of fresh air and continued reading close to where he left off; but as soon as he did, Celestia entered the door which made Zack nearly have a heart attack. 
Celestia looked elsewhere, not seeing the journal and quickly replied, “Oh! Sorry, I’ll give you a minute!”
Zack believed that she didn’t see the journal and quickly hid it underneath the mattress. He swiftly got dressed and opened the door to see Celestia waiting patiently outside his bedroom. 
“Good morning to you too, Princess,” said Zack in a slightly annoyed tone.
“I’m sorry about that, but I wanted to show you something... something you need to see.”
Zack walked out of the room and tried to gain strength back in his legs. He thought that he first couldn’t do it and would have to turn around to get his wheelchair, but surprisingly was able to hold himself up most of the way with the occasional hand on the wall to balance himself.
They walked down the hallway as the white alicorn continued, “Remember when I told you I had magical artifacts, but not a sword called 'The Prevailer'?”
“Yes," he answered, popping the kink out of his neck.
“Well I would like to show you them. I think it’s time.”
Zack tried to keep his thoughts clear of what he read in that journal about Celestia so far; even though he highly doubted it, he thought that maybe she could read his mind. He thought that she could use her unicorn powers most likely to perform such an invading spell, though she showed no signs of magic emanating from her horn–he was at a cautious ease. They proceeded towards two large metal doorways which the Princess opened magically. Outside was grey like yesterday, but instead of a heavy rain, it was only a dreary and wet mist. Celestia performed some spell while continuing over the ivory stoned bridge in front of them, which acted like a magical umbrella over the two. Another roll of distant thunder echoed off of the mountains and around them, like the stirring of a magnificent beast from a fable. Zack looked up and could see the droplets of water stopping just above his head; the umbrella was like a translucent, yellow veil which floated above them much like a magic carpet would. They air was heavy with the smell of rain and Zack’s skin felt good as he took in a whiff of the cool air around him. 
They finally crossed the ivory bridge high above the castle grounds where they reached a temple Zack had only been in once. Celestia opened the doors to the inside and it was just like he remembered it. It was tiled with a red rug in the center leading further into the linear palace. It was much like the throne room itself with high ceilings and stain glass windows on all sides with similar stained glass artwork he had seen before in the castle. It was nothing really new and when he had ventured in there before during the first week he was in the castle, he found this part of the citadel unimportant and proceeded to journey elsewhere. They walked to the ends of the temple where Zack saw something in the wall he had never noticed before. It appeared to be a small round hole in the center of the far wall in front of them. The wall was white and mostly blank with carvings of generic alicorns in the stone, it was easy to look over the small opening and was easily undetectable to the wandering eye. Celestia stepped forward and motioned her wing outwards, telling Zack to stop, which he did.
She bent her head down and placed her long unicorn horn into the opening of the wall, which emitted a golden, magic pulse. The carvings lit sapphire blue on both sides of the wall and the light showed the outlines of a once invisible door that could now be seen. She pulled out and stepped back, looking over the large, shut gateway. The light crept up the walls and opened the unforeseen, thick marble and metal doors wide. Inside the hidden sanctuary revealed a large circular room that was lit only by the glow of Celestia’s horn. She shot a ball of light in the center of the room which hung like a giant light bulb. The room was clear and visible now as Zack and the Princess stepped in. It was much colder in the room than outside and all the sounds of the rain soon faded as the doors behind them closed, sealing them in. The room was very vacant and vast, large pillars of ancient and white marble held up the circular room. Zack was in awe at the great craftsmanship of the hidden room which supposedly held the magical artifacts.
Zack turned to see what had happened, but came to realize that he was safe with Celestia. As they continued, she stopped and in the center of the sanctum, she used her magic once more to rise up different stone pedestals around them. Inside each of the tops of the white stoned foundations were certain strange items. Zack looked over into one and pulled out a lantern of sorts. It had an enveloping and wrapping metal case around it and was made of onyx and black gem stones. 
Celestia turned towards Zack and commented, “Ah, it appears you’ve found, ‘The Vessel of Millennia’. This artifact allows any flame lit inside of it to never extinguish and any object placed inside will never die or be affected by time. Time is suspended inside of the lantern and nothing can harm it until the person who placed the object inside takes it out or the person who lit the flame blows it out. Maybe it might come in handy for you someday.”
Zack didn’t reply to what she said; after looking it over and feeling the lantern and its curves, he placed it back inside the stone pedestal and went on to another one.
Celestia lifted two pairs of small, gold plated sandals of some sort. They had wild and bent metals conformed all around it and it looked razor sharp. They seemed to also look as if they would only fit a pony.
“Here,” Celestia hovered them over for Zack to hold. He hesitated at first and wondered if these shoes would cut him from being so sharp looking, but took the sandals anyways. Once he held the sandals, to his surprise they changed shape and morphed together into just one pair of shoes that would fit his large feet. Zack realized how light they were, almost as if they had no weight at all to them. Holding them in his hands, he let them go and they floated there in the air in front of him as if there was no gravity at all.
“Wow,” was the only thing Zack could say as he smiled and grabbed them in midair again.
“These are, ‘The Ethereal Sabatons’. They grant the wearer the ability to run and jump twice as fast and higher, you can fall from any distance and not injure yourself if you land on your hooves, or in this case, feet. You fall slower and gravity effects you like a feather, but through your own will power can you choose to fall or float at any rate. You can walk on clouds, snow, and water for short periods of time. If you stop however, you will begin to slowly sink. Only the wielder of the boots can remove them.”
“How do you know these things,” Zack interrupted.
“Over time I have done my research far beyond... and below Equestria.”
She hovered the sabatons from his hands and placed them back into their stone holders. She levitated another artifact in front of Zack which at first shocked him from its appearance. It looked like a humanoid skull almost, but extremely deformed and elongated. It was made out of bones and thick, black cloth which gave it a very evil and creepy look. Its empty, black eyes pierced Zack with dread.
Celestia cleared her throat and before saying anything to Zack, she stared deeply into the artifact. She forcefully broke her concentration from the evil object, as if it had some sort of pull on her. She finally said, “This mask is named, ‘The Thief of the Night’. An artifact I have no history on, but judging by its looks, it appears to have been the creation from someone malevolent. I do know of its powers and know of this only because I have used it in the past. It almost claimed my life... but that’s another story.”
She held it further away from her and continued, “When worn, others perceive you as another pony, thing, or whatever they think is a generic version of their own race; your identity is always hidden whenever you wear it and you are always given a different identity when you wear it. However, the more often you use it, the more you desire to wear it. This desire becomes an addiction and soon you will eventually lose yourself and forget even your own real identity. Not all magical artifacts were made with good intentions.”
She slowly placed the mask back where it was located and finally moved on to six round stones placed inside a slightly larger pedestal which seemed to look different than the others. It appeared as if it was the most significant of stone chests. Celestia held up all six of the stone spheres magically which had different carvings on each one.
“And finally, these, believe me or not, are 'The Elements of Harmony'. Inside each stone is a piece of attire which can only be broken by the physical forms of the Elements. I am awaiting that day when these stone prisons are broken and the six are ready for the world and will fulfill their destiny. The powers of the Elements together are unknown even to I, so I have no idea how the physical Element bearers will use them.”
Zack was relatively quiet the entire time when the alicorn showed off her collection of magical artifacts. She placed the six stones back and before she could magically seal away the stone pedestals again which held the artifacts, Zack asked, “Are those all of the magical artifacts?”
“No, there are more out there. As you know, the magic sword, the Prevailer Om told you about is one as well. Even I do not know how many artifacts there are in this vast world... I’ve even had one stolen from me years ago... almost one-thousand years ago. I don’t know who did it and where it is today, but they ever so quietly snuck into the castle and stole the mirror.”
“The mirror?”
“'The Mirror of Death' as it is called in our language. The mirror is a gateway to a dream realm where you can do, make or become anyone or anything you want. Time eludes you inside the mirror realm, therefore you are immortal as long as you stay inside the mirror. That is all I know about it.” She turned her head away from Zack and gave a look as if she regretted what she said and her words harmed herself. Zack didn’t know what she was thinking and looked away in confusion, listening to the silence of the dark sanctuary. 
She turned back towards Zack and inclined, “I brought you here not only to show you these magical artifacts, but to let you have one and maybe in the future have access to all of them. But if there is ever an emergency,” she stopped and hovered the Ethereal Sabatons over to Zack who held his hands out to hold them. She continued, “Please take these and use them to escape or aid whomever.”
Zack nodded in response and bent over to place them on his feet. He took off his poorly made shoes Rarity made him and as soon as he did, the sabaton’s metal encasing unwrapped itself into metal strips and enfolded Zack’s bare feet magically. They morphed themselves back into their original shape once laced around Zack’s feet. They felt like they weren’t even on his feet and that he was still walking barefoot, but the pads below his feet and toes felt protected and much more tougher. He lightly hopped once to see how far he would float up and surprising jumped about twelve feet high with very little effort. He forgot that he had the will to float down and what seemed to be a hard fall from a dozen feet felt just like a step when his toes touched the ground again. 
He looked back up at Celestia and grinned. He replied, “Thank you very much, I will put these to good use.”



__________




Zack spent the rest of the day getting use to his legs again and with the help of the Ethereal Sabatons, he felt no more pain when walking and was getting use to his new gravitational physics and speed. That night, he had almost went to sleep soundly until he had remembered the journal from a wandering thought. He sat up and lit an oil lamp next to his bed. He reached under the mattress and pulled out the small, leather bound book. He skimmed through the pages until he found where he had left off.

...I did not think I would fall so madly in love with this mare of legend and that she would not show signs of affection back. I desperately needed her and finally told her my feelings one night. I had never had a more gut-wrenching and nervous feeling in my life, no danger or monster I had confronted in my previous travels were more terrifying than this one moment. She gave me a sparse look and hesitated, my mind was racing, but she turned back to me, looked into my eyes and said that she had felt the same for me. My heart raced with joy as we embraced each other with smiles on our faces, from then on everyone knew we were a couple.

Over the course of a very happy year, I asked her hoof in marriage. She said ‘yes’ and I felt like the happiest colt in the world. The royal wedding was held only a month away and the entire city and new neighboring cities gathered to see our wedding. I had completely overlooked the hierarchy standards and soon realized that I was the King of Equestria after I kissed my beautiful new bride. Marrying her was my greatest accomplishment in life.

Zack had to stop reading to soak all of this information in. He couldn’t believe Celestia never told him about this stallion or what had happened to him. He kept reading:

We soon tried to have children of our own, but to our misfortune, as the Deer folk would say, the Foreseer frowned upon us. I’m not sure why we couldn’t bare foals of our own, maybe because we were of different races, or that she was an alicorn and I wasn’t. Either way, I was very torn up about this. I had to cope with my wife’s sadness for many moons, but we still were happy and I found a perfect way to ease my wife’s pain after so long. 

I sought out the greatest unicorns in Equestria and we together devoted an entire wing of the castle to create 'Celestia’s Magic School of the Gifted'. Here we taught many unicorn colts and fillies about the art of magic and I once again became a teacher. Oh, me and Celestia loved the children and they loved us. I spent many years of my life teaching ponies there and even so much as teaching my old student’s foals. I was eventually named by the children, 'Starswirl the Bearded' and accepted that name. After so many years of new spells and incantations I created, for my birthday, my dear sweet wife and her lovely sister created a section of the Royal Canterlot Library just for me.

However, things in my life turned for the worst with a sudden realization I had so easily looked over. While my wife was immortal and retained her youthful age, I grew older, weaker and more frail. I couldn’t believe I had so easily been deluded by my mad love that I oversaw something as great as this. I soon asked my wife why she didn’t tell me and she told me that I thought I knew. That she hesitated in response to tell me her feelings because eventually I would be harmed by them. She truly loved me, but didn’t wish to make me sad, so she gave me a happy life. But now that I am much older and in a few decades will most likely be deceased, I began to realize how much of a fool I was. I didn’t blame her, she was just trying to do the right thing, although for the next few years, I would madly search for an answer to immortality so I could live with my wife for eternity.

I sought and tried to find a way around death, but over years of looking through countless spells, creating pointless magical remedies and even delving so deep as going back to my labeled, ‘Darkcraft’ that I could not find anything. No time spell or everlasting potion could fulfill my wishes. So I sought him, the one my wife told me who knew all the answers of the Universe, Om the Great Dragon Spirit. I traveled back to the land known as 'The Fringe' which I had snuck through before on my way to the Firelight Woods. There I confronted him, the all knowing dragon. I begged for an answer to immortality and he replied that it was a curse no living thing should suffer through and denied my queries. I was very much upset by this and began my journey back to Equestria. 

One night while staying in a seaside cave between Cervadas and the broken bridge which once connected Equestria and Cervadas, I stumbled upon a very strange temple. As I lurked deeper into the ruins of this once great underground palace, I found these strange items: a mask of bone and cloth, two pairs of golden sandals, a lantern of twisted gems and a gleaming sword of white with runes.

Zack’s eye’s widened when he put the two thoughts together. The ‘gleaming sword of white with runes’ matches the same description of 'The Prevailer'. He attentively kept reading:

But I did find something else, something that would change my fate forever. I discovered a grand mirror which stood like a portal to another realm. As I approached it, I felt a strange magic, as if I was pulled towards the mirror and frozen in its shining luster. I looked into my reflection and saw me with my wife. I was young, I was happy, I knew in this reflection that I was immortal. I soon realized that the mirror was not only a peering glass into one’s desires, but a gateway to another world itself. It was more of a veil than an object of stone and as I stepped into this dream realm, all of my wishes came true, but only inside of the realm. I stepped out and used a shrinking spell to place the items in my saddle bag. I teleported as far as I could, over and over again over vast landscapes to make it as fast as I could to Equestria. 

As soon as I reached home, I told my wife and her sister about the objects I found. They were skeptical and said I that these items were not meant for ponies like us. That I should not be consuming myself with these ancient and mysterious magics. 

I am sitting here in my chambers, alone with the mirror in front of me. I have hid only the most powerful magic artifact away for nopony to ever find. I hid it in a tomb I created in the empty and forest-laden valley below Canterlot. The rest my wife and her sister hid was in a secret location in the castle. She knows not of the properties of the mirror yet and hopefully never will. I will enter the dream realm where I will stay until I create an elixir for immortality. There in the dream realm I will have unlimited resources and limitless time to figure out a solution. I will hide this journal deep in the library so that maybe my wife will see it soon and hopefully one day visit me again so that I may not lose touch with reality. I do not wish for every one of my subjects to know of their king’s disappearance immediately and cause panic, so I will hide it in my wing of the library. 

If no finds this in time, I have concluded that the longer I stay inside in the timeless mirror realm, stepping out will only speed up the effects of time on my body and kill me. So if I do not make it out in time, my body will be useless and I will remain trapped in the mirror realm forever. I will also block off the entrance for now with a magical barrier spell that I created and only know, so that no one will find me for a long time. My wife should be able to find a way around if she ever comes across it. I wish there was another way. I just wish to live with my lover forever and to never break her heart. I am going now. To whomever finds this, tell my sweet Celestia I love her with all of my heart.

Zack turned the page and found that the remaining sheets were blank and torn; that was it, the journal was complete and Zack sat in bed astonished as to what he had learned. He had to tell Celestia about this, but didn’t want to send her into a panic attack this late at night. He blew out the oil lamp and tried to sleep. His mind wouldn’t allow him to dream with so many epiphanies about what he had just learned. So many questions Zack had were answered, but new ones arose as well.



__________



Morning came soon for Zack as he sat eagerly at the long dining table with his fourth cup of coffee already drank. He tapped his foot nervously as he tried to keep his eyes open from a lack of sleep. A chef mare came back into the dining hall with another pot of coffee and sugar ready for Zack.
Zack saw her out of the corner of his eyes and with unforeseen energy, accidentally yelled, “No!” The mare stopped in her tracks and was a little scared from Zack’s sudden outburst.
“I-I mean, no more coffee, please...” She slowly back-trotted out of the room and left quietly. 
The morning was bright and cloudless so far. The sun flooded through the windows and draped the insides of the castle with warmth. The birds were chirping happily in the Royal Gardens and it was looking to be a beautiful day in Equestria; but Zack knew what he had to share with the Princess would make the day much more depressing. He sat quietly and alone with the journal in his hand and his foot tapping from an excess of energy, waiting for Celestia to show up any minute now. Celestia finally entered the dining room with a look of surprise on her face. 
She smiled and remarked, “Well I’m glad to see you’re up in about e–”
“You need to read this,” Zack accidentally proclaimed once more as he shot up from his chair. “I-I mean, I found this... and I think you should sit down and read it.”
Celestia and Zack went to her personal bedroom and read the journal in privacy. Zack watched her facial expressions to see if there was any change, but she remained calm and attentive. After about twenty minutes, she read the whole journal and closed it shut magically. She bent her head down and gave a dismal look at the floor, lost in thought. Zack had the impression that she was going to cry from reading the journal, he thought it would be extremely depressing from her point of view.
Zack would have never abruptly asked this if he wasn’t trying to fight drowsiness with coffee, but said, “I thought you would be a little more... you know... upset from this.”
“This explains everything,” she sadly confirmed. She turned towards Zack, “But I’m not sad, no. I’ve cried too much and lost too much sleep over his disappearance nearly one-thousand years ago. I’ve cried enough tears for him... why didn’t he just tell me.”
“Because,” Zack consoled eagerly, already knowing the answer in advance due to his racing mind, “He thought you would stop him and tried to figure out a solution on his own. So really, it’s everyone’s fault in a sense. You could have–”
“I tried looking for him,” She shouted using her Royal Canterlot voice. “He just vanished, just like that! We couldn’t find him... we... I thought he was dead. I thought he was lost beyond the edges of the map... That fool was always out adventuring, always looking. We held an empty casket funeral for Starswirl, I did not attend it.”
Zack’s eye’s broadened with a new thought, “But we can save him, right? He’s still alive in the Mirror of Death!”
“No. He is but a spirit in the realm now. Over years of trying to figure out what that mirror was he had, we soon learned the truth. We didn’t think that he would be in there, and we couldn’t even access it, we thought the artifact was disenchanted. But since reading this journal, he trapped himself inside it. Even if I knew where the mirror was, I could not save him. I wish never to see him again.”
In that moment, she teleported out of the room in a golden ball of bright light, scattering royal documents and other parchments everywhere. Zack felt he had done wrong by uncovering the past, especially one he had no business in. He just prayed that Starswirl would remain inside the mirror, wherever the magical artifact was.
> 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(15)






A frosty, moonless night arrived silently into Equestria. The frigid wind stirred the clouds above which looked more like ink blots tattered across the sky. It was a starry night and the heavens shimmered and shined above, showing off their celestial beauty to whomever took the time to look up and admire them. Canterlot was asleep early, no pony wanted to be out in this darkened hour with a cold front like this blowing through. They were nestled inside their cottages and houses, snuggled up next to fires and under quilts. The busy town was finally at rest and those who worked during the day fell asleep the fastest.
Everything was calm, everything was quiet, but everything wasn’t right. Alone flew a silhouette of a small pegasus, flying abnormally fast for its size. Pegasus ponies weren’t suppose to fly at night; it wasn’t a law that was forced on them, but it was certainly frowned upon. It was dangerous to fly at night nonetheless. The dark figure soared silently above and around Canterlot, descending somewhere around the city’s outskirts.
The figure landed with a halting flap of its wings on the dew blanketed grass. The pegasus had arrived at a large, gated graveyard whose entrance was labeled by old, iron typography. It read, “The Necropolis of the First Royal Guardians”. The short statured pegasus pony began walking through the cemetery, admiring each headstone as she passed by. This strange equine was Pinkie Pie, or was once Pinkie Pie. She had taken the shape of an alicorn from taking a bite from an enchanted apple given to her by Starswirl’s Spirit. Starswirl himself now resided inside of her and controlled her like a puppet. Pinkie was still deep inside, but her mind was trapped in a mental cage which seemed like a dark pit to her–unable to break free, unable to escape. To her, it was dim and inescapable, she could see through her eyes if she wanted to, but she didn’t for a long time; too afraid to see what her body was doing without her control. So she lay dormant, her pity and failure tightly griping her heart. The possessed Pinkie Pie, who was more like Starswirl than herself at the moment, took in a deep breath. The crisp night air entering and exiting his new lungs.
 He opened his eyes and talked as if someone was there listening to him, “I had forgotten the feeling of fresh air... I forgot the feeling of the grass when it touches my hooves... It’s good to be back in reality.”
He raised his alicorn horn high and it began to glow bright and blue, illuminating the graveyard. Dark storm clouds, as if from no where, rolled in over the mountains and above Canterlot. They glided swiftly and silently above while a blanket of fog began to flood the city. No one took notice of this, not yet. A mass of black clouds swirled above the graveyard and out from the heart of the whirl, a flash of green lightning crawled across the sky and connected to the alicorn’s horn. It stayed attached to the unicorn horn and the unnatural, green blaze shook the town from its sheer power. The Royal Guards atop Canterlot Castle’s walls looked towards the graveyard’s direction in utter shock. They couldn’t see the necropolis, it was on the other side of the city, but they could feel the shaking beneath their hooves.
This all happened for only a long moment, and then the lighting dissipated. Once it had vanished away, Starswirl lowered his head and out shot a small chain of emerald lightning throughout the yard, connecting with the headstones. The tombstones glowed with a phantasmic, green aura before the veil of electricity and magic sank beneath the soil. 
 Starswirl raised his head once more and laughed in a twisted and demonic Pinkie Pie voice, “It has been far too long, my warriors!”
At the foot of the graves, boned hooves clawed themselves out of the ground. They dug their way out to reveal their true forms. The soldiers of the first Royal Guard had been brought back into life as the living dead. Each was boned and adorned in decayed armor and weapons. There were all sorts of different types of guards, arranging from unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies. Their eyes glowed like emerald embers, giving off black smoke and burning into the night. The fifty aligned themselves in front of the bewitched filly as more arose from the ground in the distance; one stood out from the rest, a large earth pony with thick armor. He stood two head’s taller than Celestia and wielded a hammer larger than a regular earth pony. Starswirl approached the massive individual with a sneer across his filly face.
 The large zombie pony spoke with a voice like scrapping gravel, “We sense you, Starswirl, conductor of the first brigade. Though your body is trapped inside this alicorn, we three hundred serve you still beyond death.”
 “That is good to hear, Berick the Berserker. Follow me, we have much work to do.” Berick turned and threw his large and mighty hoof up into the air and the rest of his army did the same. The screams of the dead filled the brisk air with terror.
 The shadows of the town cloaked their approach towards the castle, though they did not care if they were seen or not as they marched through the center of the city. The undead soldier’s beating march filled the dark town as Starswirl lead the army. Spotted ahead of the approaching forces, a small unit of Royal Guards came around the corner on their nightly patrol, unaware of the dangers near by. They stopped in their tracks in sudden terror seeing the strange and intimidating army proceeding slowly ahead. They soon focused on their duties and pointed their spears directly at Berick and not the possessed filly next to him. The alicorn’s horn glowed brightly and shot a beam of light at the closest guard. The beam seemed to burn right through the guard and the pony’s body disintegrated into flakes of blue and black ash. Before the other guards could react, Starswirl shot five more darts of light through them, dissolving the guards into soot. They proceeded onward without further delay.
They finally reached the entrance of the castle; guards surrounded the walls, they knew something wasn’t right and were prepared for whatever was coming their way. They saw the approaching army coming and Shining Armor stepped forward above the entrance to the castle wall. 
“You may not proceed any further,” he shouted, but the armies of the dead and the alicorn marched closer as if there were no obstacles in front of them. “This is your last warning! Halt in the name of Celestia or we will attack!”
 Starswirl turned towards Berick as they marched, “I need a distraction. Kill all that stand in your way.”
 “Death has no bounds on us. We serve you with no end, my King.”
 Starswirl’s horn gleamed with light and a ball of energy rocketed forward, demolishing the iron entrance with a great, magical explosion. The Royal Guards atop the wall flew in every direction into the court yards behind them as the armies of the dead rushed forward, screaming into the night. Starswirl teleported in a second before the explosion and Berick charged forward to begin his famed onslaught once more.



__________


        
        The interior of the castle was rather quiet at the moment. Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle were having a late night lesson before heading off to bed in the throne room. On the other half of the room, Zack, Spike, and Celestia’s pet phoenix, Philomena, were passing a rubber ball three way. Zack was trying to read the latest installment of ‘Daring Do’ while glancing over at Spike, making sure he didn’t swallow the ball they were passing to each other. Spike would giggle and spit up a few green flames while rolling the ball as hard as he could at Zack, which wasn’t very hard or fast for a toddler dragon. Zack would then grab the ball and roll it towards Philomena, who would chirp and squawk in joy, grab the ball in her beak and lightly bounce it back towards Spike. 
Sometimes she would get too excited and accidentally light the ball on fire; Zack would then have to get up and put out the flame. This happened quite frequently, so he had a bucket of water close by he could sprinkle the fireball wet. He would then have to go to the play bin and grab another rubber ball. This was pretty routine by now and was doing his job of watching the two trouble makers in the castle while Celestia taught Twilight. He couldn’t wait till Cadence got back from her vacation in Manehattan so that he could stop this babysitting business. Zack was bored out of his mind, but had nothing better to do at this hour anyways.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a green flash light as if from a lightning strike near by. He lowered his book and stood up to approach the window from where he thought he saw the flash from. The new rubber ball Spike had passed rolled passed the uncaring Zack and had broken Twilight’s concentration.
Celestia then looked over at Zack from across the room and asked, “What is it?”
Zack placed his hands up against the glass and replied, “I thought I saw lightning outside.” 
 Twilight turned, looked up at Celestia and questioned, “Didn’t the Weather Pegasi plan tonight to be a clear?” 
 	The two looked out of the throne room windows over the broad and dark Equestrian countryside. Blackened clouds swirled above in a storm threatening manner. No strong gusts, rain, lighting or thunder came with the evil looking clouds, just its presence soared high and mischievously; which at first confused Celestia, but then a sudden horror befell her mind.
“What’s wrong, Miss Celestia,” asked Twilight with a tremble of uncertainty. Zack picked up Spike and walked over to the other ponies. Philomena swooped up and perched herself on Zack’s shoulder; she tried to nibble at Zack’s ear, but he turned and swatted at her.
 “Get off me, Phil! Bad bird! Bad,” Zack denounced in a stern tone as the red bird flew off his shoulder and onto Celestia’s back. 
Celestia turned towards her student and replied, “Twilight, tonight you will sleep in my bedroom. Go upstairs with Spike and Philomena and lock the door behind you. Don’t let anyone in unless you hear my voice.” Zack was caught off guard by this response as Twilight appeared to have a worried look on her face.
 The purple unicorn implored, “What’s happening? What’s going on?”
She bent down with a smile on her face, “Please, just listen to me and do what I say. It’s going to be okay, I just have to have a little chat with an old friend, alone.”
Twilight’s expression changed to a certain satisfaction and complied. Zack sat Spike on her back and Philomena flew next to Twilight as she proceeded out of the room. Zack turned to look out the window again and into the dismal clouds outside. 
He looked at Celestia and asked, “Those aren’t normal clouds, are they?
“Not at all... Go get The Ethereal Sabatons.”
Zack hurried out of the room with his mind racing once more. He had no idea what was happening or what was going to happen, but he followed Celestia’s orders and slipped the magical artifacts on his feet. Zack came back into the throne room where Celestia was and came to a standstill. Zack tried to find out what was going on.
 “Can you please tell me what is about to happen?”  She lowered her head and sighed.
She then returned her gaze up at Zack and replied, “Those clouds... they're from a spell that was suppose to be long forgotten. No unicorn knows it... that is, only one, the maker of the spe–”
The sound of an explosion shook the citadel, breaking Celestia's sentence. Something bad had happened, Zack was sure of it. Dust fell from the high ceilings of the room and sounds of screams and clashing metal could be heard in the distance.
“What was that,” cried Celestia.
“I’m not sure, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Let’s go!” As the two began to make their way towards the exit of the Throne Room, a voice overtook their attention from behind them.
“Not-so-fast...” The two turned to see Pinkie Pie slouching on Celestia’s throne. With her alicorn wings spread out, she gave a rakish look directed at Celestia.
“P-Pinkie Pie,” Zack yawped and stammered in disbelief. “What happen–, What are y–” Celestia spread her wing out in front of Zack to stop his approach towards the pink alicorn. 
She turned her head towards him and said in a grave tone, “That’s... not... Pinkie Pie... ”
Zack looked back up at his pink friend. He could then tell besides the new, small alicorn body that her eyes burned with a yellow intensity. 
The alicorn spoke with a twisted voice, “I’m glad someone here has the brains to see the real me through this foal’s body.” He turned his attention towards Zack, “What’s this? A new pet for Celestia to play with? How... interesting you are.” Zack stepped forward, even when Celestia had tried to stop him.
“What have you done to Pinkie Pie,” he demanded.
The alicorn smirked, “Oh, you know this filly? It’s a shame I had to use such a bright and happy pony such as this one to do my bidding. But the power she possesses, the raw energy and stamina I can exert from this tiny body, it is truly unbelievable.” 
The alicorn floated in the air above the throne, holding his hooves in front of him, “To think an Element of Harmony would walk into the Mirror and release me from that prison. Oh, how fate has smiled upon me.”
Hearing that Pinkie Pie was an Element of Harmony would have surprised Zack, but his attention and his inability to believe what he was seeing at the moment made his astonishment sweep past him. Though Zack had came to another revelation. The Mirror he mentioned, the journal he read a few months ago, the pieces of the puzzle were coming together; Pinkie Pie was possessed by Starswirl the Bearded and he was back to claim his throne once more.
Starswirl saw the twinkle of insight in Zack’s eyes and commented, “You understand now, don’t you? You know who I am. You’ve heard of me.” 
He hovered down in front of Celestia and drastically pointed a hoof in front of her face, “You! How come you didn’t look for me? I thought you loved me! While I was looking for immortality, you happened to never search for me? How could you?”
“We tried, Starswirl! We tried looking in the Mirror, but it appeared disenchanted... Then a few years later, the castle was raided and the mirror was gone–”
“You didn’t find my journal,” Starswirl shouted, irked and disbelieving.
“I couldn’t bare to bring back old feelings of you. My heart couldn’t take it, so I never looked in the Starswirl Wing of the library. I couldn’t enter that building for the life of me.” Celestia began to tear up while Starswirl’s anger boiled.
Zack stepped towards Starswirl once more in a threatening manner, “You better have not harmed Pinkie Pie you sorry piece of–” Zack was immediately thrown back by a blast of magical energy similar to the bolts of magic Starswirl used on the guards that disintegrated them. He slid across the tile floor lifelessly as Celestia gasped.
Starswirl chuckled, “Foolish creature... do you not know who your King is?” Starswirl’s eyes widened as he saw Zack slowly stand back up as if he wasn’t affected at all.
Zack laughed, “Is that the best you got?”
The alicorn couldn’t believe what he saw; and for a while, Celestia was speechless as well. Then she remembered from early studies of Zack, his body was different and that being from another dimension, he was unaffected by magic in this Universe.
Starswirl could now see that Zack was different and said aloud, “My my, you are special... I can now sense you are different than the rest of us... an energy field surrounds you.” He assured in a careless tone, “No matter, I don’t need to use energy magic to stop you for now... by the way, I see Celestia let you borrow my sabatons.” 
His horn glowed with a sapphire tint and he shot a beam of magic directly at Zack’s sabatons. When the ray of magic hit his feet, a shell of thick ice crawled its way up Zack quickly. He tried to escape, but it was too late. His body was encased in a layer of ice and only his head was left unfrozen.
Celestia turned and her horn shined with a golden aura, ready to attack Starswirl. Starswirl merely glanced over at Celestia as if he thought of her as no threat and looked back towards Zack. 
“I want you to watch as I annihilate your Princess... and I, being a merciful King, will gladly show her death when she begs for it.” He rotated in the air and his horn glowed as brightly as hers, ready to defend himself. 
“I’ve had a lot of time to think to myself,” Starswirl said, his confident tone turned somber. “And I no longer love you, my dear. So you must be brought to an end.”
Zack yelled out, “Pinkie Pie! I know you’re still in there! Fight him! You can break free!” Deep inside the possessed alicorn, Pinkie did hear Zack and tried to speak and get herself known as hard as she could.
The pink filly blurted through the possessed body for a split second, “I’m trying, Zack! I’m trying!” This surprised everyone, even Starswirl. He pulsated a magical energy field around his form and it sealed Pinkie Pie deep back inside the alicorn body once more. 
“Hm,” Starswirl raised an eyebrow at Zack. “It seems I’ve underestimated her own will power... I’ll have to use a portion of my own magic to keep her inside still. Don’t think that this will weaken me drastically, I could still take control of Celestia... Watch me!”
He rapidly turned towards her and shot a beam of blue energy directly at her. Celestia reacted mere seconds before the beam was about to strike her; she shot a similar, yellow beam to deflect the magical attack from Starswirl. The magical streams of energy collided and each held back the other. Celestia focused intently on trying to overpower her foe and Starswirl did the same. The beams of magic created chains of lighting that connected to the ground, pillars, walls and ceilings of the castle, destroying chunks of tile and plaster. Sparks flew in every direction from the epicenter of the magical attacks. 
Celestia broke free from the beam and Starswirl’s attack struck the throne behind her, obliterating it into rubble. Starswirl flapped his wings and sprung into the air. He created a swirling orb of purple energy at the tip of his horn and flung it at Celestia. She used her wings to boost her out of the way of the attack which zinged past her, out of the window and exploded on a distant hillside into a purple and red eruption. Celestia landed firmly and using her magic, pulled a large crystal shard out from underneath the castle floor; she broke it apart into tiny, sharp shards and fired them like shower of bullets at the pink alicorn. Starswirl raised his hoof and created a limpid shield of magic in front of him and as the shards passed through the veil, they turned into bits of sand around him. 
He levitated the sand around him, lit them on fire and turned them into pieces of glass. He copied the same maneuver Celestia had done and she had to think of a counter attack quickly. She focused her magic and a gush of water from the fountain in the Royal Garden bursts through one of the stain glass windows. The water blanketed around her just in time and the glass shards stopped inside the layer of levitating liquid. Starswirl shot up into the air and held his hooves in front of him; he created two balls of levitating blue fire above his hooves and continually shot at open spots in Celestia’s water armor. As he flew around her and shot fireball after fireball, Celestia had to move around in her water vehicle as well, deflecting the blows. With each attack, she lost some water which turned into steam. The steam began to fill the room with a thick, white haze as the two continued to bout. Starswirl took in one large breath and like a dragon, breathed a startling explosion of fire. The water shield Celestia had created completely evaporated into steam and now the room was flooded in a mist. 
Zack could no longer see what was going on, but could feel the ice around him melting. He tried once more to escape, but he stopped when a magical field enveloped around the ice and began levitating him upward. He was flung across the throne room and into the disorienting steam. He opened his eyes and saw that he was about to collide with Princess Celestia, she immediately grabbed Zack with her own magic aura in midair and held him in front of her. 
She panted, “Sorry,” and flung Zack back to where he was. Once he hit the ground, the ice broke around him and his body rolled on the floor until he came to a halt.
The steam had exited the windows and Starswirl was dodging multiple attacks from Celestia. She was using the Castle’s tile floor to her advantage as she picked each one up, spun them in the air and hurled them at her opponent. Starswirl was eventually struck in the head, but little damage was done; though this was the first hit either of them did on each other. Starswirl refocused his magic and shot a bolt of energy at the base of a large, ivory pillar. A cloud of dust blanketed the base of the column and charging up his alicorn horn, he sliced the pillar into five layers. He pushed each, large slice of marble towards Celestia while she tried to maneuver around the large flying objects. 
She cornered herself inside the throne room and saw that she had no where to turn to avoid the final layer of cut marble from the pillar. She raised her head high and as the piece of the pillar collided with her, she head-butted the stone, shattering it into a cloud of rubble and gray dust. Before she could recuperate, Starswirl flew through the cloud of smoke and punched Celestia in the jaw, sending her sliding across the damaged floor. Starswirl followed his rival and as she quickly looked up, the filly alicorn kicked her once more across the face, sending her to the other side of the broken floor again. He tried to pull off another attack in his chain of combos, but as he closed in on Celestia, she emitted a burst of golden light which halted his flight towards her. He was blinded by the light and he shielded his eyes.
While he was blinded, Celestia’s mane spread through the torrent of light and wrapped around Starswirl. She pulled him closer and slammed him again and again against the floor, creating a crater to where his body kept hitting the ground. Zack could only hope that this wouldn’t effect Pinkie’s body in anyway and if this was the best approach to saving her. 
After several more poundings into the floor of the throne room, Celestia tossed him aside and into another pillar. The filly flew through the column as if it wasn’t even there, creating a hole in the marble structure. Celestia tried to catch her breath, she was running out of energy quickly and didn’t know how much longer she could keep this up. From the smoke emerged an enraged Starswirl. The frizzy hair of Pinkie's mane was mangled as bits of rocks and dust were found stuck inside of it. Her body was bruised pretty badly; her pink coat now showed purple and black bruises. She stood on her two hind legs, breathing heavily; still though, her eyes burned with a yellow tint through the ruin and smoke of the castle.
He pointed a hoof at Celestia and shouted, “You want to play rough? I’ll show you magic! I’ll make you wish you would have died sooner!”
His horn sparked furiously as bolts of blue and white lightning ricocheted off of their surroundings. The streaks of electricity flashed and filled the room with vibrant colors. A large stream of fire twisted around and enveloped the filly; the flames began to spread throughout the base of the room. From the pool of fire emerged a creature of flame, whose eyes burned yellow like his. The creature took the form of a large dragon and its roar shook the castle’s foundations. Celestia stepped back, terrified of what Starswirl had created. The dragon stepped forward, its body of flames filled the room with intense and painful heat. With each footstep it left smoldering, black prints in the tile floor. The dragon was almost as big as the room–its enormity pushed Celestia to the edge and almost out into the open air. The broken stain glass behind her was a drop off into the valley below. She didn’t know if she could fly away safely or not, she was so tired and weak from fighting that she didn’t know what to do. She focused the remaining energy inside of her and her horn glowed vibrantly yellow once more. The dragon took in a deep breath and blasted a stream of flames powerful enough to melt the castle walls. Celestia’s eyes flashed and a supreme beam of energy Zack had never seen her use yet flared from her alicorn horn. The beam imploded the oncoming burst of fire and struck the fire dragon’s head. It gave a loud, eardrum bursting scream of agony as it fell and filled the castle with a wave of black smoke. Celestia fell to her knees and then over to her side; Zack rushed over to her aid her.
He knelt down and shook her vigorously, “Celestia! Wake up! Princess Celestia!”
Out of the tar colored smoke arose Starswirl, heartily laughing; it was hard for Zack to panic or be afraid when he could only see his pink friend and not the monster that possessed her. He stepped in front of Celestia with his arms spread, trying to protect her from whatever Starswirl might do next. 
He looked over at Zack and snickered, “Your Princess has failed you... Your friends have failed you... And you will fail.”



__________



        The battle on the front courts of the castle engaged onward into the night. The war horn had been sounded and the Royal Guards awoke from their slumber to aid their allies in combat. The undead were trained very well; being the first of the Royal Guards themselves, they knew many tactics the current Royal Guard knew as well. It was especially hard to kill a zombie pony, they would refigure themselves even when they were decapitated or unable to move. After many casualties, the Guards realized that they had to eventually stomp and crush the bones so that their enemy ponies wouldn't put themselves back together. 
The Royal Guards were running out of room in the court yard as the armies of the undead advanced. Shining Armor tried his best to fend off the greater skilled enemies and he was doing a great job he thought; but then one stood out from the invading forces and faced Shining Armor. A large, undead and heavily armored earth pony came charging towards the Captain of the Guard. At that moment, he wished Valiant Steed was there to fight him instead of himself. He was a decent warrior, but Valiant was the best the Royal Guard had to offer. 
Berick the Berserker raised his hammer high and Shining Armor jumped out of the way. The hammer left a sizable indention in the ground at his feet. Berick turned and bucked Shining Armor, sending his body flying against the castle, cracking the stone wall behind him. Berick charged head first and rammed Shining Armor into the castle interior, the unicorn’s body smashed into a carved oak table as old as Canterlot itself.
Berick picked up his hammer and raised it above his head to smite Shining. The colt focused his magic and created a purple shield which deflected the blow, but shattered the makeshift shield in the process. Berick retaliated and flung his hammer down once more to be deflected again by the magic shields the unicorn kept creating. This went on and on as Berick continually stepped forward, trying to pin his foe against the wall. 
Shining Armor was running out of strength as he found himself now against the wall as his enemy had planned. He looked up at the undead being as Berick snickered with delight. Shining Armor was desperate and needed to come up with an idea fast. He saw the broken table behind him and levitated it. Berick raised his hammer once more, but Shining slammed the thick, broken oak table behind him, knocking his grip on the hammer, which fell behind him with a thud. Shining Armor took his chance when he saw the opening. He ran underneath the giant’s legs and levitated the hammer next to him. Even when the colt used his magic to float the hammer in the air, it took much strength to do so. Berick turned and roared at Shining Armor, who spun the hammer rapidly before him. Berick charged and the unicorn swung his hammer, clocking Berick and sending him on the ground. With one final push of stamina, Shining Armor raised the hammer and crushed Berick’s skull into dust and bits of bone.
He dropped the hammer and as soon as he did, he heard a loud explosion coming from the throne room of the castle.  Something was happening in the throne room and he raced to see what was going on.



__________



        Starswirl slowly but surely approached Zack as he stood his ground. Zack was having a hard time figuring out if Starswirl was even phased by the amount of damage he had taken from Celestia. Even if he was injured, he was doing a great job at concealing it as he walked nearer. 
“Don’t come any closer,” Zack commanded, thinking that maybe Starswirl would listen, but he just smiled as if he had made a baby laugh.
“I would like to see you stop me.” He fluttered in front of Zack at eye level, flapping his pink alicorn wings with a sly look upon his face. “Go ahead,” he insisted while tapping his face with one of his hooves, “attack me.” He knew Zack wouldn’t do it because he had feelings for the filly that Starswirl possessed. Zack knew this as well and didn’t move at all; his gaze was interlocked into those yellow, glowing eyes.
The alicorn shook his head and censured, “Your petty love for these creatures will be your downfall. I sense your power. It is amazing, truly. Once I have taken the throne, I will no longer use this body I have weakened, but I will use yours, for I feel eternity alive inside you.” He looked up at Zack, “Do you know how long I have been waiting for this?” He didn’t know what Starswirl was talking about, but stood silently with his arms still wide.
Starswirl demanded, “Stand aside, worm,” but Zack puffed out his chest and stood firmly in the way between Starswirl and the weakened Celestia. His horn began to glow brightly and he whispered, “So be it.”
Before Starswirl could attack Zack, a magic, purple sphere enveloped Zack and Celestia. He had no idea what was going on until he looked behind the filly alicorn to see Shining Armor mustering the last of his strength to create a shield around the two.
Starswirl turned to see the unicorn and complimented, “Is this your creation? I have to say, you did a fine job on this spell, young one.” Shining Armor just huffed through his snout and was ready to attack Starswirl. The alicorn saw this and charged another beam to fire at the colt. The unicorn created a small shield just in time to counteract the magic, blue disintegration beam, which exploded on impact with the magical barrier, hurling Shining Armor against the Throne Room wall. Zack knew he had time to do something and that Shining Armor didn’t create this shield for nothing, so he tried his hardest to communicate with Pinkie Pie. 
He yelled, “Pinkie Pie! You can do it! You can break free! I believe in you!”
Starswirl had let his guard down and an outburst from the trapped Pinkie yelled back, “I’ve tried and I just can’t do it, I’m not strong like you are!” 
Starswirl shook his head vigorously and shouted back, “Shut up! Silence, you imbecile! You have lost this fight!”
Zack ignored Starswirl and continued, “Listen to me! You have the power, just believe in your own strength!”
Deep inside of Pinkie’s body, her mind was still trapped in that dark pit Starswirl had thrown her into. She had tried so hard before to break free, but just couldn’t. She had given up hope, but after hearing Zack’s voice and realizing all that she had done to help him so far while in Equestria, her hope sky rocketed once more. With unforeseen strength, she began climbing out of the chasm. Starswirl could feel this and was trying his hardest to hold her back with his magic. She was struggling, but she continued upward; she aimed for the light at the top of the hole she had been thrown in and concentrated as hard as she could in every limb of her mental body to pull herself up. She had never fought so hard for something in her life, and it horrified Starswirl that he was failing.
He looked back at Zack and with a burst of magic destroyed the barrier, sending Zack and Celestia flying out of the far Throne Room window and into the valley. Zack was falling quickly toward his death and didn’t know what to do. His body whirled around in the air as he tried his hardest to stabilize himself, but just couldn’t do it. He then felt something grab his shoulders and he looked up to see Celestia with her strength back. She flung him around and onto her back as she flapped back up toward’s the castle. 
Starswirl thought he had killed the two and laughed at first, then came to a sudden realization. He first wanted to become immortal not for the throne, but to stay with his lover, forever. He knelt down in the ruin of the castle Throne Room and began to sob.
 “No... What have I done... My... my Celestia is gone... forever...”
He felt Pinkie Pie almost emerging from the pit he had thrown her in and held his head in agony, trying to hold her back with the remaining strength he had left. His outburst of emotions had let his power slip and Pinkie had almost taken control of her body again. He looked up and saw Zack and Celestia standing above him; his heart leapt for joy, but soon changed when he realized what situation he was in. Celestia magicked the filly’s body in the air and the body began to glow brightly. She seemed to be able to finally separate the two beings apart since Starswirl had lost most of his power. The immensity of the shining brightness filled the chamber and Starswirl finally gave up.
The body split in half and Pinkie Pie was restored, but her stamina was drained completely; she was on the verge of exhaustion as she collapsed to the floor. The other body that split from Pinkie was Starswirl himself in his younger form. Celestia was astonished, as was Zack. Starswirl didn’t attack them, but looked over his young body quickly, then looked back up at Celestia in amazement. The gray coated unicorn with black, curly hair took a step towards Celestia, but fell over. His mane and tail were slowly turning silver and his hooves and face began to wrinkle up. Time was finally catching up to him. Celestia bent down to Starswirl’s eye level and he looked up at her with tears in his eyes.
 “I’m... sorry... Being trapped so long with yourself can sometimes delude your sense of why you even wanted to get away from the world. I know if I ask for forgiveness... I–, you can’t forgive me, I know. My actions are unforgivable and... I missed you... I missed you so much...”
Sadness overtook Celestia as she responded, “I forgive you, and I still love you... and always will. We’ll meet again soon, my Starswirl.”
He smiled back and the two ancient lovers nuzzled each other one last time. Parts of Starswirl’s body began fading like dust, and as he took one final breath, he concluded, “I will find you... in the Everlasting Lands... and we will be together... for eternity...”
With those final words, his body dissipated. The armies of the dead lost their magical life restoring energy and collapsed into piles of dust and bone in the court yards. The Royal Guards cheered and hollered in victory as they raised their weapons high in the rising morning sun. Shining Armor finally sat up and held his head in confusion as to what had just happened. The flood of morning light entered the Throne Room and strangely reflected off of the broken stain glass, filling the room with an odd color of arrangements. A warming morning air blew through and pushed away the dust and rubble as Zack walked over to the recovering Pinkie Pie.
She was sobbing quietly at first, but as soon as she sensed Zack close by, she wailed out, “I... I... I just wanted to be special! I didn’t want anyone to get hurt... I’m just so useless and my life is so stupid! Everything I do always ends up disappointing or hurting people’s feelings! I can’t do anything right!” She bent over and cried in Zack’s shoulder as he rubbed her back to pacify her. He pulled her out of his shoulder blade to make her look him in the eyes. 
He tilted his head and said, “You are so special to me. You are one of a kind, my dear, sweet Pinkie Pie. I love you so much and you know that if anything was to ever happen to you, I would be heart broken. You don’t need pegasus wings or a unicorn horn to be special, you just need to be you. I love you just the way you are.”
He held her again, feeling the pressing warmth of her coat rub against him and her candy scented hair enter his nostrils. Zack loved Pinkie Pie more than life itself.
> 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(16)






The days after the siege of Canterlot Castle, there was a lot of labor involved to restore the ancient citadel, even for the unicorns. They made the reconstruction process twice as fast, but it was still a large clean up nonetheless. The town wanted to know what had happened and rumors had spread like a wildfire throughout the citizens. The soldiers were told specifically from the higher ranks not to tell the people what had happened and to just fabricate a story. The best they could come up with was that a magical explosion had accidentally occurred in the Magic School and some casualties were lost. Most of the denizens of Canterlot went on their merry way after hearing this news in the newspaper headlines. Those were the ponies of the high life, not caring for others and going about their day in prefabricated safety, not knowing that they had been lied to.
Pinkie Pie was sent back to Ponyville the next day, even though she wanted to hang out with Zack a little while longer. Two Royal Guards delivered her back to the Cakes who formed the same lie to them. None of Ponyville knew what had happened in Canterlot and Celestia wanted to keep it that way as well. This wasn’t the first time Celestia had to cover up an accident and lie to her people about it. It was for their security and to let the ponies go on with their carefree lives. She thought that they shouldn’t worry about things like these, but she did feel bad for lying to them in the first place. This was a vicious cycle she didn’t know how to break apart from.
Everyday, different parts of the castle were shut off for construction, even to Celestia, so that the working ponies could restore each and every room, hall, window, painting, vase, tile, brick, and piece of decor that seemed to be broken. The Royal Garden was a disaster and even Zack felt a gaping scar of sadness slice into his mind as he looked out into the violently razed flower beds. Celestia showed similar and silent signs of misery as she examined the garden as well. She didn’t have time to wallow in her despair and continued through her day, even though the lingering pains from her garden she had worked ever so hard on was nearly destroyed.
Valiant Steed came the next day and was informed on the attack; Zack enlightened him personally on what had occurred in the Throne Room as well. The pegasi wanted to help out and restore the castle to its formal glory, so Celestia decided that it was fine for him to aid the others in the remodeling process, even with his injuries still present. Zack wanted to help too and asked if he could, but Celestia denied his request, saying that he still shouldn’t show his presence around the workers or stay in the garden uncloaked. Zack expected this, so his anger blew over and he still felt very eager that day. 
After a quick lunch, Zack proceeded to meet with Celestia. He found her at the top of the Eastern Tower, where the Observatory was. He entered the dome where he saw Celestia personally quizzing her student, Twilight Sparkle, on the constellations. Philomena was perched over a large telescope, staring down at the purple unicorn as if stalking prey. She swiveled her head over to the approaching Zack and swooped down over towards him. She landed on his cranium and began to poke his head as if it was bird seed.
“Really, Phil,” Zack blurted out, unaware of the volume of voice he used. Twilight’s concentration was swayed as she turned around to see the commotion. Philomena squawked at Zack in playful manner, she was having too much fun to stop. 
“Hi Zack," the purple pony happily greeted, "how’s your day going?”
Zack redirected his attention towards the filly and toned down, “Oh, it’s going well, I suppose.”
Zack noticed Celestia’s look. She gave him a sarcastic looking expression of dissatisfaction because of his blatant interruption during Twilight’s quiz. Zack remembered what he came in for and swatted the bird away once more with an arching sweep of his arm. The bird glided around him and flapped over to perch herself on Celestia’s flank. 
Zack properly asked the Princess, “I need to ask you something, privately.”
She turned towards Twilight Sparkle and calmly ordered, “Stay here and finish your quiz. Philomena will keep an eye on you.” The phoenix then swooped off of Celestia and onto Twilight’s head, bending her body over and staring into the unicorn’s eyes in a silly, but serious fashion. 
She giggled and responded, “Don’t worry, Miss Celestia. With Philomena around, I’m sure I won’t find out a way to cheat now. Like I ever would!”
Celestia smiled at the child-like innocence of her student as she and Zack stepped out onto the porch of the Observatory. She closed the window-panned doors behind her magically and the two were now alone. The eastern porch faced the high reaching mountains that Canterlot was built on; a steady updraft blew the duo's hair in the cool, Autumn breeze. 
Zack began, “So, we know where The Prevailer is. We need to go and get it.” 
“I was thinking the same thing, I just wasn’t sure if you were ready yet to go and retrieve it.”
Zack spoke with preconceived intentions already at the tip of his tongue, “You don’t need to worry about me. It’s in Ponyville, right? It shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
Celestia looked away off into the snow-capped mountains and replied, “I have an idea to where it might be, but I don’t know what dangers you might face again when retrieving it.”
Zack boasted with a hint of pride, “I’m sure it’s nothing I haven’t been able to handle so far.”
Celestia grinned and asked, “We’ll go late tonight when the town is asleep. Will you be ready by then?”
“I’ll prepare for the worst,” he said with a confident smile.


__________



Zack had indeed prepared. He slipped both the Ethereal Sabatons in his backpack along with The Vessel of Millennia Celestia granted him use for. He had taken a nap during the afternoon so he could be wide awake late that night. He also prepped a few extra items he didn’t tell Celestia about, not yet that is. He wanted to knock out two birds with one stone while in Ponyville and was thinking over his plan the rest of the day.
While waiting for the right time of night, he killed time with Celestia in the dining hall who had prepared Zack a cup of coffee to keep him awake. Even though he didn’t need it, he knew the coffee was delicious, even if it was black. As life in the castle finally died down, now was the time to leave. He followed Celestia out into the Royal Gardens; the morning dew had already washed over the blades of grass and the moonlight above made them shimmer like tiny, scattered jewels. Even though the gardens were still tarnished and in ruin, there was still a tranquil essence that captivated Zachary. He stopped and peered up at the Mare in the Moon; he wondered how Luna was doing up there. His focus was brought back by a sudden and forced cough by Princess Celestia, ushering back his attention. Zack continued into the garden and stopped on a strange looking stone pedestal that Celestia stood on as well. Zack was a little surprised that he had never noticed this in the garden before. The circular foundation had Olrugena runes engraved around the circumference of the stone. The runes read, “Step forward and embrace the rays of infinity.”
“I forgot to mention one other magical artifact I possess,” the alicorn smirked, seeing Zack’s rightfully puzzled expression. “I know what you're thinking, how come you’ve never seen this before in the garden? Well, magical artifacts tend to be overlooked by creatures who do not have the will to look for them. That is why they are so hard to find in the first place.”
She looked down at the artifact and continued, “Unlike the rest of my artifacts, this one was discovered here in Canterlot, though we didn’t realize it was an artifact for a very long time. We built the castle around this strange ruin of old. This is called, 'The Panexus'. With unicorn magic, it can teleport you anywhere you have been to before in this world. All you need is the mind set and memory of the place, and with a little magic, you are there. Although it is only a one-way trip, it is quite useful. We believe that before ponies settled in Equestria, the creators of this artifact used this to teleport to other, similar gateways. Though sadly, we do not know if there are any others left in the present world.”
Celestia’s horn glowed and she concluded, “Well, let's go!”
The runes glowed with a navy tint as the cracks in the stone began to radiate. A beam of sudden light flashed down from the heavens as if from no where and the two were gone in a silent scintillate of cyan light. No one in Canterlot saw the ray of light as the wind blew silently once again in the darkness of the night.



__________



Ponyville was fast asleep as Celestia predicted. The dirt and grass laden streets were cloaked in thick shadows. The buildings slept soundly without a light present in any of them. The only lights came from the flickering street lamps which lined the sides of the road. The towering Town Hall, the hub and center of Ponyville itself, lay dormant in the cool, early morning. The temperature in the valley where the town slept was strangely a tad warmer than up in the mountains of Canterlot.
A sudden flash from the heavens once more struck the planet. In a gleaming instant, much like in Canterlot, it shot back up into the air and disappeared; leaving  Celestia and Zack on the ground where it struck. Zack was very lightheaded from that new experience and felt like he was going to be sick. He tried to steady himself and his equilibrium balanced itself out. His feeling of wooziness slowly faded as he caught his breath.
Celestia grinned and acknowledged, “Usually teleportation spells makes ponies sick the first few times. I’m surprised at your strength, Zack.”
Zack uttered weakly, “Ya well, I guess it was beginner’s luck.”
“I believe what we are looking for is inside the Town Hall, but stay still for a moment.”
Celestia’s horn glowed as she looked around. It pulsated three times and with each ripple of yellow energy it gave off, the brighter the light shown. When her horn stopped glowing, Zack noticed that around the town center and the Town Hall, a thin layer of magic in the shape of a sphere could barely be seen. It moved like the surface of a pool of golden water, he thought of her magical work as quite beautiful.
“What did you do,” asked Zack, re-examining the magical spell around the area.
Celestia turned and replied, “I created an illusion charm. Other ponies on the outside will see nothing but the Town Hall as it was. Now we are completely invisible and inaudible from the outside.”
Zack rubbed his chin and commented, “Very clever.”
Zack was about to proceed to the Town Hall when something in the corner of his eye sight caught his attention. He looked down and jolted back immediately in fright. Celestia noticed Zack’s reaction and looked to see what he saw. She too hopped back in sudden fright upon seeing the intruder.
A wall-eyed, gray filly stared up at Zack with a simple grin on her face. He didn’t even hear or see the pony when he looked around and wondered where she had came from. Its gamboge, crossed eyes blinked curiously at Zack’s appearance. It wasn’t afraid, but very intrigued. 
Zack motioned his hands in a sweeping action and said in a still frightened tone, “Shoo...” The little pegasus didn’t move or even acknowledged Zack’s command. “Go away...” he said with a slight increase of dour in his voice.
The strabismus inflicted pony turned her head toward Celestia who beamed, “Hello, Princess!”
“Hello... you silly, filly,” she replied, looking for the correct words to say. Her horn glowed once more and a portal stretched open in the magical bubble around them. Celestia proceeded, “Why don’t you leave us, we need to do something in private.”
The mare slowly blinked once more and flapped her wings to gain lift. She made her way to the portal, but rammed her head into the magic wall next to it. After several failed attempts at flying through the portal, Zack reached over, grabbed the filly and set her gently outside of the magic sphere. The portal closed and the filly stood still in silence, wondering what had just happened.
Without further delay, Celestia and Zack made their way into the Town Hall. Interestingly enough, the building was unlocked and they proceeded inward; both of them had to duck their heads through the small, regular pony-sized entrance. They stood in the middle of a poorly lit meeting room, with the only light source being the moon’s rays coating the marble, tile floors. Zack was waiting for Princess Celestia to say where The Prevailer might be, but she appeared to have her eyes closed and was focusing intently on something. She opened her eyes and diverted them towards the center tile of the floor.
“Here,” she signified, her horn now glowing with a golden aura. The stone square was enveloped in magic and was soon levitated out of the floor, revealing a dark, oblong hole. The two looked down and saw nothing but sheer, intimidating blackness. The same darkness could be found in the deep caverns of the world and could not be made by the night only. A chill temperature change from the hole filled the room with a bitter and uncomfortable coldness. Zack grabbed a small pencil from a nearby table and dropped it into the hole to see how deep down it was. The pencil hit the walls a few times as it echoed deeper and deeper into the hole. They heard no sound of the pencil hitting the floor.
Realizing that Celestia was too big to fit into the hole, Zack figured he was going to be the one doing the spelunking. He stepped back and placed his backpack on the ground with ease, not wanting to damage its contents. He withdrew his Ethereal Sabatons and The Vessel of Millennia carefully and placed them on the floor. He took off his current shoes and the Sabatons laced themselves to his feet with a perfect fit once again. He stood up and opened the lantern in front of Celestia. She focused her magic and a ball of light was produced from her alicorn horn that remained inside the vessel once he closed the object shut. 
“Please be careful," Celestia voiced with concern. "Who knows what dangers lurk down there.”
Zack, the incredible imbecile, was unconcerned about his safety. After everything he had been through and had accomplished so far in Equestria, his courage and determination to do things that seemed dangerous evaded his consciousness. He was planning to do something unpredictable in Ponyville and prepared for anything and everything. He took one last look into the dark hole and with a sharp breath, jumped in. 
He fell rather quickly into the shadowy abyss as Celestia watched from above. The bright glow of the lantern gradually faded and Zack was consumed into darkness. Celestia began to worry for once if this was the right thing to do. Her mind sped with ideas and events that might endanger Zack. She heard no fall; she heard nothing but the creaking of the Town Hall's walls. She had become very troubled for Zack’s condition.
After five short minutes passed by, which seemed more like five hours for Celestia, Zack shot up from the darkness and floated downward onto the tile floor. Celestia gasped in excitement and joy as she saw Zack was safe. She also noticed that he did find the white blade, The Prevailer.
It was a beautifully crafted sword. The pommel of the hilt held a diamond-like gem. The grip was twisted and warped to Zack’s own hand structure, making it easier to control the blade to whomever owned it at the time. The cross-guard had a flowing metal look to it like a crashing wave. The blade itself was straight as an arrow and had the glimmer of pearl and fine, unnatural metal. Runes were incrusted inside the blade itself, which gave it a very epic and ancient look. The rim of the double-edged sword was a fine, pearly metal, much whiter and purer in appearance than the center of the blade. The point looked devilishly sharp and the blade itself was ultra thin, yet as solid as a mountain. When turned it to the side, it was nearly invisible, except for the hilt. It appeared like a sliver of moonlight through a pin-sized hole in the roof. Celestia trotted over and hugged Zack; he was a little surprised at her sudden response, but excepted her admiration.
“I worried about you, Zack," she imparted with care. "I’m immensely surprised at how quick you retrieved the artifact.”
Zack began to elaborate on his experience under Ponyville, “Well I fell for about a minute and landed safely on my feet, thanks to the sabatons. I landed in a small room and the sword was in an unlocked chest in the corner of the chamber. I just took it out and hopped back up. Well, I had to grab the wall a couple of times to get a few more boosts, but it was fairly easy, no dangers at all.”
Celestia smiled and her eyes met with the blade he was holding, “This is an incredible work of ancient craftsmen. May I see it?” 
Zack eagerly held it up in front of her, expecting her to levitate it with her magic. Celestia focused her alicorn magic, but for some reason, couldn’t grasp the magic artifact. Her magic was simply not affecting it, even though she was focusing her hardest on the object. Zack wondered what was going on when she began sweating and panting. 
She finally gave up and said, “I guess The Prevailer isn’t effected by pony magic.” She reached to actually grab it from Zack’s hands. She held it for a second, but a sudden and intense weight overcame her and the artifact seemed to weigh a ton. Her hoof dropped rapidly and the sword hit the ground with a thud, not even bouncing from the unknown weight it possessed. When Zack was wielding it, it felt as light as a stick; there was something obviously odd about this artifact Zack thought. Celestia bent over and tried to lift it, but couldn’t even budge the blade. She stood up and looked at Zack with utter confusion plastered on her face. Zack shrugged his shoulders and simply picked up the sword without any effort. He held it with both hands and closely examined the weapon. 
He read the runes that were inscribed on the blade aloud: “We Prevail”. 
“So,” Celestia inquired, “This artifact, like some others I’ve read about, must have a master over it. Only its master can wield it and use it to its full potential.” She looked up at Zack and stated, “You are the Prevailer’s new master. It has chosen you.”
Zack stepped back and retorted, “Hold on there. This is a sword, an object, it doesn’t have a mind of its own... Does it?”
“Powerful artifacts like this exist, Zack. Only a few handful have the ability to choose whom can use them properly. Much like the Elements of Harmony, even though I can exert my magic through them, I cannot use them effectively. I cannot wield The Prevailer, even through magic, but you can easily because it has chosen you and you alone!” Zack looked down at the blade and back up at Celestia. 
“Fair enough. I am the master of The Prevailer.”
“And you must discover its full properties. It is not only a sword or a magical artifact, it is a tool and extension of one’s self. Only you can learn how to use it properly.”



__________



Celestia and Zack walked out of the Town Hall, noticing it was still nightfall and the town was still asleep. Zack had wrapped the sword in a long cloth he had packed in his bag to act as a sheath for now. He then tied The Prevailer to his back to secure it properly. Celestia spread her wings and turned her head towards him with a smile. 
“Climb on and I’ll take you back to Canterlot before anyone sees us.”
Zack stopped and asked, “May I... perhaps... stay here instead?”
She turned back around and folded her wings up to face Zack. “What? Why? We can’t let the ponies see you yet.”
Zack raised his hands and agreed, “I know, I know. But hear me out... Could I perhaps spend a day with Pinkie Pie?” Celestia stood silently and thought for a moment, trying to think if it was a good idea or not. While she was doing this, Zack pulled a map of Equestria out of the back of his backpack and brought it over to her. 
He pointed and revealed, “See, I was already planning and thinking about spending a day with her. I was looking around Ponyville and thought–since you told me once–Whitetail Woods is hardly inhabited by ponies before the 'Running of the Leaves', which is going to happen a week from today. I already checked the weather reports for today and the Weather Pegasi said that it was going to be sunny, but chilly and windy as well. So! I had already packed supplies for the two of us. I packed a breakfast, a lunch, and I thought I would have her back around the afternoon and maybe you could send a royal chariot to come and fly me back... or something along those lines.”
He lowered the map, looked her in the eyes and asked, “So, what do you think? Can I spend a day with Pinkie Pie?”
“Well...” she replied with hesitance in her voice, “It is a school day tomorrow for her...” Zack’s look of eagerness began to fade with a preconceived idea about what she was going to say next. She looked him in the eyes and her solemn frown began to slowly scrunch into a smile she was holding back. Tears formed in her eyes as Zack’s face turned into a worried and baffled expression. Princess Celestia bursted out with rolling laughter as she pointed and laughed at Zack, who just stood there, disconcerted.
She wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and stammered through her guffaw, “Y-you should have seen the look on your face!” Zack’s mood now turned to vexation as she continued to laugh. After a minute of Celestia trying to catch her breath, she seemed to have drained all of the ‘giggles’ out of her system. 
She responded with in light-hearted tone, “Of course you can spend a day with Pinkie Pie! Why would I say no to your plan, it sounds great!” Zack gave a warm smile, relieving the built of crossness he had composed. 
“Thank you,” he breathed as she turned and lifted herself up in the air. The illusion charm had finally dissipated and the alicorn flapped her snowy, white wings through the night, heading back towards Canterlot. Zack noticed that the darkness was fleeing and the light of the morning sun was approaching rapidly. He didn’t have much time to warn Pinkie Pie, so he took off towards Sugarcube Corner with haste in his footsteps.
Upon arrival, he gathered a few small pebbles from the road and judging by what Pinkie Pie had told him about her room and house at Sugarcube Corner; in her letters she sent him, she wrote that she lived on the top floor, overlooking the town square. He stopped and took his time to aim, not wanting to miss her window and to hopefully get her attention. He focused his eyesight and cocked back his throwing arm; he noticed that the temperature was dropping for some reason and could now see his own breath as he blew a puff of dense water vapor from his mouth. He threw the pebble and it nicked the window pane. He grabbed another pebble from the stash in his other hand and tossed another. 
After four hits on the window, it opened and a dazed and confused Pinkie Pie wobbled out of the window to see who it was. Zack smiled and waved quickly at her. She was still half asleep as she rubbed the sand out of her sapphire eyes, unsure as to what she was seeing. She was wearing a white night cap and pajama top with little cupcakes on it. It was an oversized shirt that must have belonged to one of the Cakes at one point in time. Her hair was much more frizzy than usually, which made Zack believe that she did actually comb it neatly in the mornings before going out. She blinked a few times before realizing who it was below her in the streets. She gasped in thrill for whom she saw as her eyes glowed with jubilation. Her hair filled outward and back inward, adjusting itself naturally as every hair that was out of place on her curly, pink head was set neatly in order to her well known mane style. She stretched herself, almost falling out of the window, and shook her hoof excitedly at Zack while the ball on the tip of her night cap bobbed violently about.
“Oh my goodness! Zackie! What are you doing here? I’m so happy to see you!” Zack cleared his throat and invented a song on the spot to sing just for Pinkie Pie.


“Pinkie Pie, my dear sweet mare,
With eyes of blue and curly hair!

Come frolic with me in Whitetail Woods,
Where we’ll have fun and eat baked goods!

Don’t forget to dress real warm,
It’ll be cold... but it won’t... storm?

Oh, I’m trying my hardest to sing like you,
...Do I have the talent, I have no clue!”


Zack had closed his eyes during the middle of the song, and when he opened them, Pinkie was no where to be seen. He then saw a pink blur hop out of the window, followed by a torrent of wild giggles. Zack’s eyes widened and he scrambled to grab her before she hit the ground. She safely landed in Zack’s arms; he looked down and saw her fully dressed and ready to go. She was dressed in a blue sweater and a boater hat with her blue mane ribbon Zack gave her tied around it; which all matched her eyes, the same eyes staring back into Zack’s darker ones.


“I knew my Zack would catch me,
for he loves me dearly!

I think his voice is super-terrific,
but could work on spontaneity!

So what’s first on your list,
is it breakfast?
But you, my Zack, I always miss!

So let’s not waste this awesome day, 
and let’s go on our merry way!
Yay!"


She placed her hoof on Zack’s nose and yelled, “Honk!” Zack laughed and placed the pink filly on his shoulders as they ran towards Whitetail Woods.
> 17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(17)






The sun arose over the shimmering yellow and warm brown foliage that topped the trees in Whitetail Woods. The fields surrounding the forest were laden with matured stalks of hay while in the surrounding, uncultivated fields, rested goldenrods which blew gently in the coming, brisk breeze. The Autumn air had set in over the chilly landscape once more. The glow from the colors of Fall, the yellows, browns, lights and darks all set an enchanting aura over the countryside. The mountains in the distance beamed like pillars of gold, sentinels of the Equestrian landscape; watching over the peaceful, country denizens they loved ever so much. The clouds floated overhead like leaves in a stream, blowing high in the much colder updraft. The birds and animals were coming out of their nests to gather the remaining food for the coming Winter. Besides the chatter of the creatures in the forest and the sounds of rustling leaves blowing across the forest’s floor; the only other sounds came from the walking and crushing of twigs and leaves left by a set of hooves and feet by Zack and Pinkie Pie. 
They walked down the dirt and foliage carpeted pathways in the woods; Celestia was right, this place was deserted. The strong trees of the old timberlands, the maples, oaks, birches, pines, and others Zack couldn’t identify loomed overhead; outstretching their branches and creating the spotted ceiling of the forest. The sun shimmered through the passing and falling leaves, encompassing the two friends as they walked along the beaten trail. The cold, yet invigorating Autumn air of the wooded landscape filled Zack’s lungs with longing refreshment. He hadn’t felt like this since he was a child, playing hide and go seek with his brother in their grandparent’s pasture. There, they would bundle up and play with the rest of their cousins in the near by and extending woods. Memories of old delighted Zack’s senses with the one’s he was experiencing now. Smelling the scents and wood of the forest, hearing nothing but nature and footsteps, seeing an array of majestic and beautiful colors. Zack thought that now he could die a happy man.
The two friends continued to walk along the path and soon climbed up a rocky hill. At the top of the hill is where they stopped and rest. It was a great view from the hill top and was surprising flat; it would make a great place to have breakfast as Zack prepared the morning meal. The tree’s crowns still enclosed the two in a dome of gold, but there was a gap in the foliage which from looking out of, one could see a part of the top of Whitetail Woods from. It was a great view for a breakfast.
The breakfast consisted of doughnuts, biscuits, creamy pastries and orange juice. Zack had to be careful what he packed and had a hard time trying to find things he liked to eat for breakfast. He couldn’t obviously have sausage, bacon, livermush, and the sort since ponies were herbivores. Thoughts like these did make him miss some of the food he loved, but he didn’t let these tantalizing thoughts overcome him. He did enjoy the filling meal and Pinkie even brought some breakfast items with her as well; though they mostly consisted of lollipops, gum drops, bubblegum and other candies.
Zack tried to make casual chit-chat with Pinkie Pie, though he couldn’t keep a good conversation going. He began noticing that she was staring at Zack and whenever Zack would try to make direct eye contact with her, she would look away. He didn’t know what she was thinking, but whenever Zack pretended to not be paying attention to her, she gave the look as if she hadn’t ever seen Zack before; that either something was different or something was just very curious about Zack’s appearance. Maybe she had never given a direct look at Zack for so long, her eyes were brimming with curiosity and mystery. Either way, Zack couldn’t tell what Pinkie was thinking. Her mind seemed too complex even for Zack to try and solve. She, to others, would appear to be crazy, but her mind was all there; she just looked at the world through a different spectrum than others. This is what Zack had concluded as he took the last bite out of a jam-filled biscuit.
After breakfast, Zack had the idea that the two should play hide and go seek. He didn’t realize it, but along with the backpack he had brought, he had forgotten that he took along the Prevailer. It was so light, that for a second he thought that it had followed him by itself since he couldn’t feel its weight. He placed the sword and the backpack at the base of a large oak tree close by to where they had had breakfast. Zack thought about the importance of the sword for a second before joining Pinkie Pie and decided to hide the blade under the leaves below the backpack. After doing this, he joined up with the pink filly and the game began.
The game was rather interesting for Zack; even though Pinkie Pie was not a good hider, nor did she understand the rules fully. As Zack would get done counting and begin to search the forest area, she would hide up in trees and jump down on Zack, tackling him to the ground. Zack would try to cover himself in leaves or try to hide in trees; but Pinkie had a absurd degree of keen vision in which she could not only spot a color in the forest out of place, she could sneak up on Zack and when he would look out to see if maybe she had forgotten about him, then she would tackle him again. She had a powerful pounce to when she struck Zack and didn’t try to tag him gently at all. She was a very strong filly for her age to be able to knock down someone more than four times her size. He figured that her strength comes from always hoping everywhere she goes. Her legs were immensely powerful and not only was she strong and stealthy, she was quick, even faster than Zack. After a few rounds, Zack had noticed that Pinkie always crept up from behind him, so he always kept looking fully around to try and run to base before he could get tackled. 
During one round, he did catch her trying to sneak attack him while he was hiding and began a sprint towards base. Zack was jumping and swerving between trees and limbs at what he believed to be a fast rate. He was almost home, he tried to put an extra burst into his step so that maybe he could increase his speed as he ascended the hill towards his goal. He turned his head once to see if he had lost Pinkie Pie, but a wave of shock overtook him as he saw that Pinkie was only an arm’s length away from him. He turned back, so close to base he could dive and make it. He tried his best to keep her away, but felt her slam her head into his back, sending him and herself into the base. He heard a loud pop from his spine before his body hit the thick tree trunk. He lay there, a little dizzy and disoriented from the impact of Pinkie and the tree. Pinkie just sat up, shook her head, (which sent twigs and leaves that were lodged in her mane everywhere), and smiled brightly knowing that she had won once again.



__________



It was lunch time as the two set out once again to the top of the golden hill. Zack had packed a delightful mix of veggie sandwiches, biscuits and sweet tea. Pinkie Pie added to the meal her stash of candy she had grabbed while preparing to leave with Zack that early morning. The two sat down and began to enjoy their meals, admiring the Autumn scenery and vivid blue sky. Pinkie Pie was relatively quiet during the beginning of her lunch, as was Zack. The two enjoyed their veggie sandwiches in peace, even though Zack was having a more difficult time taking pleasure in his own creation. Veggie sandwiches weren’t his favorite, even though he had practically been living off of them since his time here in Equestria. He kept his differing opinions to himself as he continued to munch on his meal.
After Pinkie had finished her sandwich, she looked over at Zack and said, “You know, recently I’ve been having these coo-coo crazy ideas. I’m not even sure how they even made it into my head!”
Zack swallowed and commented, “Really? Like what?”
“Well... just weird stuff...” She turned and diverted her eyes away from Zack’s. Zack wondered what the pink filly was thinking and was about to ask until she tentatively turned back towards Zack. She began rubbing her hooves nervously together and looking down at them. Her pink frizz of hair and mane bow blew in the gentle wind as she remade eye contact with her friend. Her dilated eyes, filled with wonderment, were affixed on the human before her.
She elaborated with hesitance, “It’s... a little weird and... I’m afraid to ask these questions...”
Zack consoled, “You can ask me anything, Pinkie Pie. We’re friends, remember? No matter what you say, I won’t think of you differently.”
“Oh, okay...” Her look of disapproval turned to confidence as a wavering smile crept upon her face. Zack reached for his cup of sweet tea and began to drink some while he awaited Pinkie’s question.
“Well, my first question I’ve been thinking loads about is... Where do babies come from?” Zack upheaved a little tea in his throat from the shock of the sudden and difficult question to ask. He forcefully swallowed so that the liquid wouldn’t spew out of his mouth. 
He coughed and sputtered, “Well... uh... You see...” Zack cleared his throat, took a deep breath and was about to continue before Pinkie Pie interrupted him again. 
“You know, babies, foals, little ponies? There so cutesie-wootsie and I saw one the other day and thought, ‘Aww, it’s so cute and cuddly and I want to hug it all day and bake cupcakes with it’! So that’s what made me start pondering about those weird questions! And then I started thinking of more weird questions and then I was like–”
“Pinkie, here, let me try to explain your first question.” Zack took another breath to refresh himself and continued, “When a... stallion and a mare love each other very, very much...” Zack couldn’t believe he was having this conversation. He tried thinking of ways out of this situation. “...they... write a letter to the Great White Stork. And the Stork delivers the baby in nine months... but! The Mare has to eat a lot of sweets so she can get fat and then when the baby comes... the baby can... well, ask a Mare sometime, she can tell you first hand–err, hoof.” Pinkie’s beamed believing the lie that Zack terribly spun. 
She titled her head and added, “I knew a Stork once, his name was Scott, Scott the Stork! He flew away though when I tried to catch him. He must have went off to Storktopia where they make the babies! I wish I could go to Storktopia...”
“Well maybe someday... What was your other questions?”
Pinkie’s attention refocused as she remembered aloud, “I was looking out of my school’s window the other day and was thinking back to when we were adventuring and totally cool stuff like that. And well I was wondering, ‘Wow! Those mountains over there are sooooo big! I wonder if they’ve always been there’?”
Zack’s eyebrow rose and he questioned, “So what are asking?”

“Well, things like mountains and trees and the sun and the moon and the stars and itty-bitty lady bugs... Have they always been there or did it just, ‘Pow’ right there, you know?” 
“Oh,” Zack realized, “You’re asking if something ‘else’ created everything or did everything just come into being in one instant... hmm...” 
Zack had to carefully think about this. People have dedicated their entire lives to figuring out a simple question like this; both from a religious standpoint and a scientific one. Zack wasn’t very religious, yet he didn’t believe everything evolution and the big bang theory had to offer. He was at a stalemate himself considering the options of both. With the constantly changing evolutionary theories and the supposedly true validation of religious texts, he had fought all his life to try and cement himself into one belief, but couldn’t. He thought that he would tell Pinkie only what he believed without lying, so he did. 
“Pinkie... peop–, ponies spend their whole lives wondering if some higher being created everything or if everything evolved over a period of time. Each has its own true principles, yet each has its own flaws as well. Ponies can argue left and right, take sides, and even fight for their beliefs over others. I think figuring out what you believe shouldn’t be determined by what others say or what you read, because even those people or things you read could be lies or wrong. I think you need to figure things out on your own and let no one be your guide, judge or source of information. You’re always moving in life and one day everything could change in a simple matter of knowing or seeing something or not. Life is an adventure itself, even if you're stuck in one place and not going out in the world. So, what I’m trying to say is, only you can choose what you believe and only your opinion matters.”
Zack began to wonder if what he said went over Pinkie’s head. Her eyes seemed concerned and enlightened all at the same time. It was one of those moments when you look into someone’s expression and see their thought patterns changing at that moment. Those moments were rare and wonderful, at least to Zack. Then again, she was Pinkie Pie, a pony no one could quite understand. She turned and looked up at the sun through the foliage in the amber leaves. The shade from the tree's ceiling flickered and swayed over the two as light seeped between the cracks in the dying leaves.
Pinkie was silent for around half a minute before saying, “I think that maybe, just maybe, something made these leaves.” At first, Zack was confused upon hearing her statement. She stated her opinion in a not-so obvious existential matter; she knew that trees created leaves, but she was thinking far beyond that.
She looked down, grasped a hoof-full of leaves and continued, “Each is different. I can’t find two of the same leaf. If you look close enough... each has its own unique markings and shape. I think that with originality like this, even I get tippsy-toppsy when thinking about it! But, I think that something created all of these wonderful things around us, something much bigger and more smarter than us created all these mountains and rocks and ponies and everything! And though, I feel so small now thinking about it...”
She looked up at Zack and continued with worry in her tone, “If something took time to make everything, wouldn’t that super smart person want everything to be happy? Why is it that everything isn’t happy and life isn’t perfect? Why are ponies like Ray Sunshine and Starswirl so mean?” Zack had thought about this before and knew had to respond. Finally a question he could answer without much thinking involved.
“I think, Pinkie, that this higher being gave us a choice to choose to love or hate. If this supreme being made everything perfect then we wouldn’t have free will to begin with. We’d all be the same, in a mind state at least. I know bad things happen and we can’t control it, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it and pick ourselves back up.”
Zack smiled with assurance and scooted a little closer to his friend, “Bad things are going to happen and will continue to happen, but as long was you can stay happy and look at the bright side, then it’ll be okay. It’s okay to feel sad or get mad, but don’t let those feelings take control over you. As long as you continue to smile and see the good in everything, even if you yourself can’t see it now, then you’ll be the happiest pony alive.”
Pinkie responded, “If you know this... why are not always happy?”
Zack looked away and with resentment in himself, he replied, “Because sometimes I forget. Sometimes I worry and get depressed. My life has thrown me in directions I didn’t want to go or accept. But just now thinking about how my life has lead up to this moment and wondering how exactly I came to be who I am, is only because of the things I have faced so far. I would have never been me or learned how to deal with these awful things that have happened in the past if it wasn’t for me even experiencing these awful things. And I wouldn’t know what to tell you if I had never gone through such hard times. But I have, and for once in my life, I’m thankful for what has happened. I’m thankful my dad left, I’m thankful my brother’s gone and my mother is dead... I’m thankful for...” He remembered placing the gun against his head, the cold barrel digging into his temple. He stopped and took in a breath of Autumn air, relieving his stress. 
He turned back and concluded, “I’m just thankful that my life has lead me up this moment with you, Pinkie Pie. And I wouldn’t trade any of my horrible, past experiences for anything in the world if it meant I would have never met you. So... life is an adventure and there is an end, even if you can’t see it. So as for now, keep on enjoying the simple and happy things, because someday you might not have those things. Learn from the hard times, because one day, it’ll get better if you believe it will and will strive for it. Even if you can’t see it now, those happy moments are there, those things and people that make you smile are out there. Just have a little confidence.”
There was a long silence between the two. They listened to the rustling leaves sweep by and around them, the wind gently blowing the tree tops. Pinkie was looking at her hooves in deep thought when she saw Zack’s hand reach out for her in the corner of her eyes. She looked up and Zack was standing tall above her with what made her smile, his own smile. She reached a hoof up and grasped his hand.
The two ran through the forest, their lungs filled with exuberance and life. Piles of leaves, accumulated under large trees were demolished as Zack and Pinkie jumped into them. They leaped and cannon-balled into each pile, leaves shooting up into the air and being carried away by the gentle breeze. Pinkie then jumped onto Zack, who caught her in midair and brought her close to himself. He wrapped her tightly in his arms and closed his eyes. She held him back, both the friend’s body temperatures warming each other in the brisk air. Leaves cascaded around them as Zack spun his pink filly. She was his and he was hers; they both liked using the adjective to refer to one another, even if one wasn’t present at the time. They would refer to each other as that from then on.
Zack would never forget this day in the forest.
> 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(18)




A Few Months Later




        Autumn had finally taken its toll on the Equestrian landscape. The leaves had all fallen and the chilly, Fall days had progressed into harsh, Winter weather. After a week of final preparations at the weather factory in Cloudsdale, the large and tedious Winter project began on schedule. The Weather Pegasi Teams worked day and night for a full week, it was their busiest time of the year as they prepared the snow. Workers worked overtime producing each snowflake with careful delicacy, yet not spending too much time on each one–they had a deadline to keep up with. The Weather Pegasi soon began packing the clouds heavily with snow and sending each one out above the countryside, ready to be kicked. 
Down in Ponyville, the young ponies eagerly awaited the snow to fall so that school would be cancelled. Mrs. Sharpener, the head school teacher of Ponyville Elementary hustled to teach her students the amount of work needed to be caught up on before the Winter Break began. The citizens of Ponyville were also eager for the coming snowfall, but not in a pleasant way at all. They were hastily preparing and buying up bundles of food from the marketplace before the imminent snowfall occurred. Transactions were made quickly and prices were raised exponentially due to the high demand of food, salt and items. The town was abuzz with worry and anticipation for the coming weather. 
In the matter of a few short days, the Weather Pegasi rolled the snow-packed clouds over Ponyville. With each spot of sky filled with a gray blot of puff, the sun was now hidden by a quilt of patchy clouds. Above the cold countryside were the Pegasi, ready to pounce on the snow-brimmed billows. The much more frigid air above tested the nerves and strength of the new members on the team. In synchronization at the start of a whistle, each jumped forcefully and kicked the clouds below them, beginning the gentle fall of snowflakes. The updrafts picked up the flakes and carried them off and around Equestria. Another job done well for the Weather Pegasi. They flew back home to get under the warm covers in their beds for the well deserved sleep they had missed ever so much. 
The fillies and colts rushed out of school to see who could get the first taste of Winter’s gift as they stuck their tongues out to try and catch snowflakes. Hopefully, they prepared for this day, so that they wouldn’t catch a cold from the coming, frosty weather. School was of course cancelled as the little ponies galloped swiftly into the town center to meet up with their friends and family for merriment in the coming snow. Winter had officially begun in Ponyville while in Canterlot, being higher in altitude than Ponyville, had already gotten snow and plenty of it. Snowponies were already being erected in the town center after a mere hour of heavy snowfall. Snowballs cascaded in the middle of Wintery warfare between the young colts and fillies; anyone who was brave enough to venture out into the cold was soon pelted by oncoming bullets of slush. Others had gentler ideas on how to enjoy the weather, which was to stay out of the weather completely and nestle close to the fire in their homes. Along with sitting near their hearths, they would drink warm cider and entertain one another with songs and stories of old.
Ponyville was indeed filled with good fun and cheer during the cold days ahead. Most jobs others held were on standby and either they were loving the time off or hating the fact that they could be making money right now if it wasn’t for this weather. Either way, it was good to take a breather from the mundane and habitual labors of work. Even at Sweet Apple Acres, where the hardship seemed continuous, Applejack and her brother, Big Macintosh, were playing gleefully in the new snowfall. Some even worked harder to fulfill their needs during this season of change, one of which was Pinkie Pie.
Off about half a mile away from Ponyville, in the heart of the dead Whitetail Woods, a frozen pond was the perfect place to learn something new. Pinkie had always wanted to try it, but never had the opportunity to, and this, of course, was ice skating. Zack was even there to help her out; he had taken some more time off from the boring atmosphere at Canterlot Castle to visit Pinkie Pie more frequently. He bundled himself tightly with new sweater and coat designs from Rarity herself, who was getting much better at close stitching from what heat he could feel retaining. Pinkie was dressed in a white, thick coat that covered almost her entire body; the only pink left on her was her mane, tail and face. 
The little, pink pony tried her hardest to wade through the thick slush, but with each step, her hoof sunk deep into the snow. Only her head and mane could be seen traversing the snowy fields. Her usual and favorite way of traveling (bouncing around) was hindered in the slush and she had to eventually hop onto Zack’s back to go any further to their destination.
Once arrived, she briskly slipped the four ice skates on her hooves, with the help of Zack tying the laces together. Zack, as well, had never ice skated before, but even if he wanted to, he couldn’t, since they didn’t make ice skates that would fit his size, or a foot. Once the skates were fastened on her hooves, she wobbled out onto the ice; with her legs shaking and with her tail straightened, trying to steady her body. Once stabilized, she took a few short steps and began sliding around on the ice. She was very good at it, which didn’t surprise Zack at all as he watched from the frozen water hole's edge. He had seen her do so much since they met. She had mastered many instruments, much beyond Zack’s adaptability and talent. She was always optimistic and made him smile whenever he was feeling down, which he considered a talent and by far his favorite of hers. She made friends very easily, even if at first she was a little shy, which is hard to believe looking at the way she acts now. And now this–she was ice skating so well, she could bend over and skate on her fore legs while her hind legs dangled in the air above. 
“Come on, it’s fun,” Pinkie hollered as she whizzed by Zack.
Zack pressed his hands around his mouth and yelled back, “I’m a little clumsy and afraid I’m going bust my butt on the ice. Besides, it’s much more fun to watch you!”
Pinkie slid backwards on her mane tail; with her legs up in the air and with her puffy tail holding her up, she smiled and mocked, “Don’t be such a scaredy-britches!”
Zack nodded his head and smiled, “I am not a ‘scaredy-britches’!”

She skated back around on one hoof and with her eyes closed; she spoke with wry, “Are too!”
“Are not!”
“Are too-ooo!"
“Are not-taaa!"
“Are too and you know ittttt!"
Zack play growled, sat up from his spot and slowly inched his way out onto the ice. He thought he heard cracking beneath his feet, but played it off as something else. 
Pinkie Pie zoomed by on her skates, circled around Zack and blurted, “Catch me if you can, you silly bipedal-er!”
Zack lunged for the pink filly, but she was took quick for him. His shoes lost their grip on the ice below and he fell face forward, ramming his chin on the thick rime. Zack lay still, rubbing his bruised chin and moaning in pain. 
“Son of a nutcracker, that hurt,” he writhed in pain as Pinkie skated over to see what had happened. She stopped on a dime, her skates spraying Zack with flakes of ice. 
“Oh my goodie-goodness gracious! Are you okay? And what about nuts and cracking?” Zack pressed his body up from the cold ice and sat himself up on his rump, still holding his chin. Pinkie helped him up the best she could and off the ice with generosity. 
Zack flopped himself down in the snow and replied, “Thank you, Pinkie. I think I’ll be okay though.”
A sudden voice from afar yelled, “Oh sweet Celestia, it’s a monster!” Both Zack and Pinkie turned with fright to see who it was that saw him, but only to see Valiant Steed walking out of the forest’s edge. 
As he stepped out, he bore a smirk on his face as he continued, “That’s what it would have sounded like if you were seen by another pony. You know you shouldn’t be here.” Zack smiled and began to take to his feet, Pinkie quickly hopped on Zack’s back to be lifted around with ease. He didn’t mind it at all as he was use to her hopping on his back at so many random times in the past couple of months. 
Valiant sarcastically added, “By the way, that was an awesome landing you made on the ice there.”
“Ya, well it felt awesome... Say, how did you find me here in the first place? The only pony I told was–”
“The same pony I asked first,” he said with a shiver in his tone. Valiant never liked the cold and was bundled up tightly in a black, well-fitting overcoat. His large, white wings stood out from his attire as he breathed in the heavy, brisk air. 
“Celestia told me you would be here." The stallion went on, "You’ve been spending a lot of time in Ponyville lately. Ever since you first went to Whitetail Woods, it’s been like you couldn’t leave. Once I got back on guard duty, I never saw you around the castle anymore. I’m starting to miss those shenanigans of yours.”
Zack replied while holding his hands on his hips, “Well I try to spend as much time with Pinkie Pie as I can; and since the Princess hasn’t given me a mission in so long, I’ve been afraid that she has no more use for me.”
“Speaking of which,” he shuddered in the cold as he fluffed his wings, “that’s why I’m here.” Pinkie suddenly hopped from Zack’s shoulders and onto Valiant’s back. The sudden weight knocked Valiant off his stance, but he didn’t fall over. Pinkie bent her head down, eye to eye with Valiant as he looked up. 
She asked, “Why you so cold, Mister V?”
“I hate the cold,” he said sternly, with an eyebrow raised to the odd question. Pinkie bent down and snuggled up in Valiant’s black mane hair.
She said with delight, “If you’re so cold, then why is your mane sooo warm and cuddly?” Valiant spread his left wing out and clasped on to Pinkie’s pink mane like a mother cat carrying her kitten. He picked her up and held her in front of him.
He grinned and responded, “Hey now! That’s my mane, Miss Pie!”
Pinkie flittered her eyes and said in a sultry tone, “My friend’s call me Pinkie.”
The stallion saw what she was trying to do and replied, “Tough luck, kid; but I’m a little too old for you.” Valiant let go of her and she sunk into the snow between Zack and the pegasus pony. Her head popped out of the snow; with slush in her mane, she gave Valiant the ‘puppy-dog eyes', but it had no effect on the mature stallion. 
“Love’s tough, kid. Better get use to it or it’ll get use to you.” Valiant looked back up and proceeded to explain to Zack what he was trying to say. “Celestia wants to talk to you about your next mission, and hopefully your last.”
 “Did she said that,” he questioned with enthusiasm. “Will this be my last mission?” 
“Who knows. I don’t ask the questions, I just deliver the messages. She wants you back soon, she doesn’t want any time wasted.” He turned his head towards the bleak forest entrance he came out of and added, “I brought a single chariot along that I can take you back in.”
Zack hid his eager excitement from Pinkie Pie and Valiant Steed, he didn’t want the filly to feel like the time he spent with her over the Autumn break was boring. He enjoyed it greatly, but after a while, he missed going out and seeing the little bit of world he had seen already. From Dragon’s Peak to Appleloosa, he wanted to see more of this magical realm and was eager to do something new. Adventure flowed like a raging river in his veins as it began to rush faster once more. 
He picked up Pinkie and replied, “Well, I had fun Pinkie, but you need to go and hang out with your other pony friends.”
“But I don’t want you to go,” she cried out, reaching her hooves out for a hug. Zack obliged to her request and held her close.
He comforted, “I’ll be back in time for Hearth’s Warming Eve. Don’t worry, I’ll be safe! Trust me!” 
He held her back some and saw that beautiful smile only she could create directed towards him. He smiled his best back and redirected his attention towards the quaking, cold pegasus. 
“Alright, let’s go take Pinkie Pie home, then we can head to Canterlot.”
“F-finally,” Valiant sputtered, “I thought you t-two were gonna kiss or something, geez.”
Valiant turned and out stretched one of his large wings. He made a swift flap with his one wing and created a powerful enough gust to clear a line of snow in front of him. The snow formed like a wave and a long, rectangular path was cleared away; with enough room to lift him and the chariot off of the ground. The moist grass that was once underneath the snow was slippery, yet Valiant had enough traction to still take off from.
The three took off once Zack hitched the chariot behind Valiant. They soared through the frigid air, eyes watering from the wind. They flew over Ponyville as Zack looked below to see ponies, young and small, playing in the new snowfall. He could even spot Rarity and surprisingly, Rainbow Dash helping Applejack form a large apple out of snow. The apple looked almost completed as the final touches were being made to it. While Zack wasn’t paying attention, Pinkie flipped out of the chariot and sailed downward into the town with a gleeful laugh. 
“Pinkie,” Zack cried as he reached his hand outward, trying his best to grasp Pinkie Pie. Though it was a failed attempt as Pinkie dived through the air with a smile on her face. Before Valiant noticed, Pinkie plummeted into the large snow-apple the three fillies had worked tirelessly on; the apple was demolished and from its snowy remains popped Pinkie Pie’s head with a smile from ear to ear. Rarity and Rainbow Dash just nodded their heads in defeat as Applejack began ranting on Pinkie Pie’s motives. 
Valiant smiled after seeing what had happened and titled his wings. He turned towards the far off Canterlot and began to hastily make his way towards the ivory palace.


__________


        Zack and Valiant Steed walked side by side down the warm halls of Canterlot Castle. Fires were tended in nearly every room which had a fireplace, warming the entirety of the palace. Castle workers watched over the fires, which kept the palace cozy and warm, even in the coldest rooms. Hearth’s Warming Eve decor was hung around the castle to keep the old fortress in celebration with the times. The smell of freshly cooked pies and warm ciders filled the nostrils of the two friends as they walked by the kitchen and into the Throne Room. Two lower-ranking unicorn guards nearby the doorway to the Throne Room used their magic to gently open the large doors to let their higher-ranking member and Zachary inside. 
Celestia was seen in the corner of the large chamber tending a fire with the help of Twilight Sparkle. She was teaching her filly apprentice how to light and tend a fire without the aid of magic, which both seemed to have a hard time accomplishing. With the sound of approaching foot and hoof steps, Twilight turned and waved happily to see Zack enter the room. Zack smiled and returned a friendly wave back; but noticed that when Twilight wasn’t paying attention, a spark flew from Celestia’s unicorn horn and into the fireplace, creating a roaring fire on the dry wood. Twilight turned and was amazed at the large fire that had sprang to life as if from no where.
Princess Celestia turned to her pupil and remarked, “You see, if you were paying attention, you would have learned how to start a fire without the aid of magic.”
“Oh fiddle sticks...” she whined.
“Now, would you mind seeing how Spike is doing in the nursery?”
Twilight trotted off with a skip in her gait as she happily replied, “Alright then!” As the purple unicorn exited the chamber, Zack gave Celestia a smirk, giving her the hint that he saw her perform magic behind Twilight’s back. 
She chuckled and responded to his look, “Oh, come on. Give me a break.”
Zack raised his hands and replied, “Fine, fine. So, Valiant said you needed me?”
She smiled and concurred, “Indeed. You see, it has been ten years since the last time we, Equestria, have continued our peace treaty with the Griffon Kingdoms.”
“The Griffon Kingdoms,” Zack said in astonishment. “I read that they were a broken alliance. More like groups of bandits than a kingdom.”
“You must have been reading old history, my dear Zack. Yes, they were once scattered as groups of bandits. Their king of old died hundreds of years ago, after the Griffon Wars between the Griffons and the Ponies of Equestria. They had been strewed for years, but recent sources from our spies suggests that the Griffons have chosen a new leader and a king has risen up to take control of the once great race. Now he has established reign and order in the old capital of the Griffon Kingdoms, Gryphus.”
“So what do you want me to do,” questioned Zack.
“Every decade, we need to resign a treaty between the Griffons and the Ponies of Equestria so they cannot attack us or harass our race. I need you, along with a group of other ponies I hoof-picked myself to travel by airship to the capital and resign the ten year treaty.”
“An airship,” Zack said with befuddlement. He couldn’t believe the ponies had that technology yet. He soon changed his mind and asked another important question, “Do you expect me to pilot this, ‘airship' of yours you’ve never told me about until now?”
“Well I didn’t think you would care to know–but no. Captain Neighmo will be piloting the airship.”
“So why do you need me exactly?” 
“I need you to look out for the crew; and with the Prevailer on our side, any danger that they may come across you will hopefully be able to handle. But I believe that there is nothing to worry about. The Griffons haven’t harmed our citizens in centuries. I’m sure they have put their differences aside and will welcome us with open arms.” Valiant stepped forward suddenly. Zack had completely forgotten about his silent and attentive presence throughout the whole briefing. 
Valiant spoke firmly as he knelt down on one knee, “I’m not sure if this is a good idea, my Prince–I mean, Celestia. Having no Royal Guards attending the journey and only sending who? Researchers and airship ponies? I volunteer myself to aid Zack and Neighmo in their journey to Gryphus, if you do not mind.”
“That’s very noble of you, but I am ninety-nine percent certain of their safety and I will be sending two Royal Guards along with them for any ‘extra protection’ they may need. I need you, Valiant Steed, to stay here at the castle. You are in charge of nearly half of my Royal Guards and you need to watch out for them.”
With a heavy sigh, Valiant urged, “May I...” he gulped and hesitated, nervous about disagreeing with his regent. Valiant looked her dead in the eyes and asked with a deep breath, “May I escort the airship to at least the boundaries of the Equestrian Kingdoms?”
“You may do so, but return with haste, my Honorary Brigadier General.” With a heavy burden lifted, the pegasi rose up from his kneeling position and left the chamber promptly. 
Zack turned and asked, “When do we leave?”
“As soon as you are ready. The airship is being prepped and the crew is on standby.”
Zack scratched his head; another thought popped into his mind and he asked away, “When will I return? Will I return before Hearth’s Warming Eve?”
“I’m not sure... but hopefully before then.”
“Oh...”
Zack was fine with leaving, but after hearing this statement, he was unsure about the pressing decision. He wanted to be back and celebrate the holidays with Pinkie Pie, but now with this mission at hand and the urgency to leave, his drive for exploration was withheld.
Princess Celestia saw the look of query and dissatisfaction in her friend’s eyes and eased, “I know you’ll be back before Hearth’s Warming Eve. But just know that we need you for this, and hopefully this will be your last mission.” Zack looked up at her and smiled with comfort renewed in his heart. He placed his hand on her shoulder and agreed to go.
Zack packed right away. He brought along only what he needed. Celestia gave Zack some new, heavy coats she made to fit him; it was much better sown than the robes she created when he first arrived to Canterlot. They were heavy, thick, and could block out most of the cold. Along with these heavy fabrics, it was lined with chain mail and was perfect for traveling in, even though it was a bit heavy. 
From the time Zack had arrived to Equestria to now, he had gained much more muscle from months of exercise. He was in the best shape of his life and was sometimes surprised at his own strength. Things he had trouble lifting before seemed much easier now and he could defiantly tell from physical appearance that he had become stronger. His stamina had also dramatically increased too, he could run for much longer periods of time and hardly ran out of energy; even when playing hide and go seek for hours at a time in Whitetail Woods with the limitless energy from Pinkie Pie. He was ready for another adventure as he packed his bag, equipped two spare daggers to his hilt, strapped on the Ethereal Sabatons and grabbed The Prevailer.
He met up with Celestia, who was still in the Throne Room with the armored Valiant Steed. Along with the two ponies, another was there with them he did not recognize. As he approached, the pony he couldn't identify stepped over and firmly shook Zack by the hand.
“I do say,” the unknown earth pony eagerly greeted, “It’s remarkable to finally meet you at last! The Princess has told me so much about you! And by Starswirl’s beard, look at these!”
The excited, dark-green stallion raised Zack’s hand up and scanned it closely in the light of a nearby window. The pony had a neatly combed, brown mane underneath a white, sea captain’s hat. His tail was much like his hair and his cutie mark was in the shape of a small, steam engine. It was hard to tell his age due to his thick, brown beard that outlined his face. He was a very energetic pony, but seemed to hold most of his enthusiasm back while in the company of the Princess. 
“Remarkable! Truly remarkable! If I may ask, what are you? Oh, silly me, how dreadful sorry, where are my manners? My name is Captain Neighmo Gear. My father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother, and my second niece, twice removed and owns a parrot named Steve were all mechanics. Except for me, of course, I pursued the air! Even though I was born an Earth Pony, I’ve always dreamed of flying! So! With the help of Princess Celestia herself, she helped me fund my ideas to create the first airship in the whole Equestrian Military!”
Neighmo drug Zack over by the hand and pointed his hoof out the window into the valley below Canterlot Castle. Zack peered through the glass and saw a magnificent airship off in the distance. The large zeppelin was shaped in the form of a whale and the hull of the ship below was being loaded with all sorts of barrels of goods by other airship ponies.
“Behold,” declared Neighmo, “The Wind Fish in all its glory!”
“It truly is a beautiful airship,” commented Zack as he backed off of the glass window. 
Valiant Steed stepped over and added, “Well I’m glad we all made acquaintances, but we’re running on a schedule here!”
“Right,” Neighmo confirmed. “Come with us, Zack, we must make haste!”
Celestia intervened, “Go on ahead you two. I must tell Zack here one last thing. Go go, prepare the ship for take off, Captain Neighmo.”
“Aye Aye, My Princess,” the earth pony responded while back trotting out of the chamber. The two royal guards closed the doors behind them and Celestia and Zack were once again alone. Twilight Sparkle entered the back entrance, along with Spike and surprisingly the Vessel of Millennia. They walked on over to Celestia and Zack; Zack was little confused as to what was going on, but had faith that Celestia would explain.
The alicorn hovered Spike in the air along with the Vessel of Millennia using her unicorn magic. She opened the magical artifact and with her hoof, patted the baby dragon on the back until it burped a fiery, green flame into the lantern. The vessel was soon closed and the fire stayed constantly lit. She then hovered the artifact over towards Zack to hold. He was even more confused at what he had just witnessed than before. 
Celestia explained, “I have recently enchanted Spike’s fire breath to able to send certain objects and parchments back and forth. Here, allow me to demonstrate.”
She conjured a random piece of paper using her magic and asked Zack to open the vessel. She placed it inside the lantern and as soon as she did, the parchment incinerated and became nothing but sparkling smoke. The strange vapor swirled around the room and reformed itself into the parchment again in front of Celestia. Zack closed the Vessel of Millennia and examined the strange fire inside. 
He commented, “Well, that sure is interesting...”
Twilight barked, “Now we can communicate with you over long distances! So if you are ever in trouble, just write a letter and toss it in the fire!”
“That makes perfect sense.”
Zack, Celestia, and Twilight Sparkle traveled across the snowy mountain pathways into the valley below Canterlot. The winding passageway to where the airship was was narrow and steep. As they approached the landing zone, the Wind Fish seemed much bigger to Zack than before, even if it was suppose to be pony-sized. It towered overhead as he neared it, and it was a beautiful sight to see; the airship looked brand new as a fresh coat of paint glossed over the hull of the ship. Ballistas lined the edges of the vessel while smaller scorpios lined the edges between the ballistas. It was built like a warship, but Zack could tell it was meant for more as he witnessed multiple members of the crew carry on barrels of food, documents and other items for long travel and trade. They approached Captain Neighmo in front of the airship as he watched over the crew preparing for the voyage. He turned and greeted Zack with open hooves, as if he were family. 
“Isn’t this just exciting,” exclaimed the forest green stallion. “Finally, we get to test the airways beyond Equestria! The Wind Fish has never been away from her motherland; this will be a stirring adventure for her as well as us!” Captain Neighmo’s attention was caught by a stray crew pony who was idling about. “Hey you," he pointed and barked out, "get back to loading her up!” As Neighmo pursued his lazy crew pony, Celestia called over Zack. As Zack approached, Celestia magicked a scroll over to him and he grabbed it in midair. 
“This,” Celestia said, “is the treaty we need signed. I’m trusting you with it; guard it well, we only have one.” Zack opened the rolled up parchment and saw the official seal of Celestia, as well as rules of warfare, trade agreements, boundaries and government statuses. 
He rolled it back up and replied, “I’ll take care of it.
“Anchors away,” cried a crew member as the rope of the airship loosened. Zack wasn’t on board yet and raced on towards the swinging ladder. He grabbed hold of it just in time and began his ascent up onto the ship's main deck. Valiant Steed as well took off and circled the airship above. Ever since his accident and his time out of the air, he enjoyed flying much more than he use to. Zack finally climbed abroad as Neighmo reached over the edge to pull him up.
Zack climbed to his feet and panted, “At least you could have warned me before take off.”
“Aye, but you got to be prepared for anything in these skies, boy. No time to waste! We are on official Royal Business–no business for lollygagging! Ha-ha!”
Celestia watched from the ground with Twilight as the Wind Fish hovered off into the distance. A billow of steam puffed out from the smoke stacks of the airship, from which the power of the ship came from. Once it was high enough, Neighmo turned the large zeppelin north and went full-steam ahead towards the Griffon Kingdoms. 
Zack was amazed at how fast the ship was going now that it was high in the chilly air. He bundled himself tighter and made his way to the quarterdeck where Neighmo was piloting the Wind Fish. 
Zack approached and asked, “So, Captain, how long do you think it will take to reach Gryphus?”
“With fair weather, I believe ten or twelve hours by air; in other words, we’ll be there in the morning. Where as it would take at least a few days by pegasus chariot and at least a month by hoof. You have to account the Icicle Mountains when traveling by hoof. Those ranges are filled with dangers and wonders, many tales come from those haunted mountains. I wouldn’t dare take a hoof in that region, even if I had an army by my side.”
Zack took in a deep breath of the icy air and questioned, “What tales exactly... if I may ask?” The green stallion turned with a very fraught expression. This is the first time Zack had seen Neighmo without a smile on his face.
Neighmo leaned in and said in a grave tone, “Foul creatures, unexplainable miss-happenings. Boy, you best not ever find yourself in the Icicle Mountains. The ice and rock create an inescapable labyrinth. The bitter cold in the chasms deep between the valleys of ice will freeze the blood in you and before you know it, you’re as stiff as a stony lizard. The mountains, alive they are, will play tricks on your eyes and lead you to your death. None have survived the ranges...”
“But... how do you know about these things if none have survived?” Neighmo took in a deep breath and raised his hoof in response, but was suddenly lost in confusion as he stood there and thought in silence. 
After a few awkward seconds, he chimed in, “Well, best not be going down there anyways. It’s mighty cold.”
The Wind Fish sailed onward above the billowy mantle and for the first time in a few months, Zack saw the sunset over a sea of pink and red clouds. It was quite magnificent and he couldn’t bare to take his eyes off of the beauty nature had given him. He had forgotten all about his mission as he watched the sun sink into the ocean of clouds and the stars quietly shimmer above the black pool of sky. The waves of clouds and the rays of sunlight warmed Zack, even in the dead of Winter. The airship glided through the clouds like a ship over water. Neighmo was using the constellations to his advantage as he figured out which way was north. The moon above watched over the Wind Fish as it made its voyage above Equestria.  After an hour or so, Valiant Steed flew upward through the clouds and onto the deck behind Zack.
Zack turned and greeted his friend, “So, is this the end of the Equestrian border? 
“I’m afraid so.”
The two stood in silence for a bit, before Valiant said, “Take care of yourself. Don’t do anything too stupid while you’re away. Pinkie needs you back before Hearth’s Warming Eve.”
Zack smugly and sarcastically responded, “Don’t worry about it. I can take care of myself, you know that best.” Valiant couldn’t help but smile. Zack laughed and reached in for a farewell hug. The two locked in each others arms for a few seconds and pushed off one another. 
“Well, I’ll be seeing ya,” Valiant waved off as he took a few steps back towards the other side of the deck. “Just try not to cause a war or anything, bud.”
“And you try not to take all the glory for when I save your ass again in the future.”
Valiant jumped backwards, unfolded his enormous wings and saluted off in the air as the updraft blew him away and below the clouds. Zack made his way to the sleeping cabin so that he would be prepared for his confrontation with the griffons tomorrow. He couldn’t delve into sleep immediately, his mind was racing with excitement, wondering what the griffons would look like and all the interesting things he would see in the new kingdom. Finally, exhaustion took over his mind and he drifted off into sleep.



__________



        Zack was awakened by an odd, growing noise coming from close by. He swung his legs over and off his pony-sized bed and waited for his eyes to refocus. The heat from under his blankets had diminished as he left them and the cold of the outside seeped into his room. Even though he was close to the steam engine and could feel the little bit of heat from the other room where it sat, it was still bitter and frigid in the small, wooden cabin. It was still dark, early morning perhaps, Zack didn’t care, he just wanted to know what that noise was. As his eyes focused to a dark area in his cabin, he noticed in the corner of the room the emerald fire inside of the Vessel of Millennia was ebbing as if it was breathing. Zack stumbled out of bed and waddled over to the lantern. He opened the hinge of the vessel slightly and a sudden puff of sparkling smoke circled around Zack. The waft of smoke formed into a ball in front of him and turned into a parchment before his eyes. Zack hastily grabbed the parchment in midair and unraveled the letter. 

        My Faithful Friend: Zack,

You should be arriving in Gryphus very soon and hopefully everything will go splendiferous. Write back as soon as you can.

Sincerely,

Celestia

        Zack ambled over to a nearby desk in the corner of his small room. The desk was meant for writing and had already contained writing quills and ink. He knelt down on his knees, turned the parchment over and began writing the best he could in a lingering morning daze.

        Hey. Just woke up. Don’t know what time it is. Haven’t been outside. It’s cold, even for me. So, ya. All is well and stuff.

He rolled up the parchment and opened the hinge to the lantern. The warmth of the magical fire felt good on his skin as the heat expelled onto his hands. He tossed the parchment inside the vessel and watched it incinerate in seconds before him. Another puff of sparkling smoke whisked out of the lantern and through the cracks of a nearby window, making its way towards Canterlot.

        Zack made his way over to the window to guess what time of the morning it was. The sea of clouds before him slowly churned with a navy blue tint. It flowed slowly around the airship, encompassing the bottom of the hull. The stars above faintly flickered as the darkness of night slowly waned away to make way for the coming morning. It was early dawn by the looks of it; the sun was an hour away from rising, but light had creeped into the barren skies already. 

        Another, similar noise drew Zack’s attention over to the Vessel of Millennia. He had forgot to close the door on the lantern as another letter formed itself from smoke in front of him and fell to the floor. He walked over, grabbed it and read the parchment.

        My Faithful Friend: Zack,

Okay.

Sincerely,

Celestia


“I hate when people do that,” Zack thought as he crumbled up the letter and closed the hinge.
No matter how bundled up Zack dressed, the cold seemed to have crept into his garments and the icy temperature rattled his bones. He made his way outside and up onto the deck. The wind from the movement of the ship made the air much colder around him. He noticed that Neighmo was still up on the quarterdeck, piloting the Wind Fish. He made his way up onto to the deck to greet the Captain. He noticed that the stallion looked unfazed by the temperature, a hardened earth pony of the Equestrian highlands. He appeared determined to pilot the airship to the Griffon capital with nothing but his natural coat and hat on. He seemed so focused on the goal that he didn’t seem to notice Zack hop onto the quarterdeck to meet him.
“Excuse me,” Zack imparted, breaking the pony’s focus. Neighmo turned quickly with a look of surprise on his face, which soon changed to joy seeing his new friend. 
“Ah! Master Zack! I’m glad to see you’re up before most of my stallions. I take it that you’re a morning person?”
“Not entirely. I’m still trying to figure out if I prefer the morning hours more or the night hours.”
A lone earth pony trotted up onto the quarterdeck with a plate in one hoof. On the plate was a single steaming cup of coffee for the captain. Neighmo took his hooves off the wheel of the ship and reached to grab the cup.
“Thank ya kindly, but could you happen to get my bud here a cup of mud as well?”
“Certainly, Captain,” said the waitering pony as he made his way back to kitchen. He arrived no less than a minute later with hot coffee for Zack. He thanked him for the cup as he took a sip. The searing liquid rushed down his throat and heated his body with comfort.
After a few short minutes and when both cups of coffee were drank, Neighmo turned to Zack and said, “I think it’s about time to wake the crew.”
Near the wheel of the ship, next to Neighmo, was a panel of levers. He pulled one that was connected to a chain and in that instant, a loud horn rang out from the sides of the airship.
It rang about six times as Neighmo yelled out, “Prepare to drop! Prepare to drop!”
The crew of ponies rushed out of their cabins and onto the deck, tinkering and hauling lines of rope and pulling levers. The mass and sudden chaos of ponies seemed disorderly to Zack, but each pony was assigned a certain role and each was fulfilling it. There were no mistakes and they knew that any mistake they made would make would cost time and speed. The crew made the ship run smoothly like a well oiled machine or delicately crafted gears in a clock. Zack had no idea what was going on, but had started to realize the airship was sinking into the sea of clouds. The billows soon flooded over the deck of the ship and a layer of fog vanished the crew below. The clouds rose over the quarter deck and the ship was now in a dense maze and mass of cloud. The cloud coverage was so thick that Zack lost track of Neighmo, who was only a mere few feet away from him. Spotlights burned in the fog and parts of the deck of the ship flipped upside down revealing massive spotlights. The lights shot above and ahead of the Wind Fish, guiding its way through the unknown. Snow began to fall and pass by the airship, descending silently onto the deck and around the crew. 
“Where are we,” asked Zack, not knowing which way to turn to face Neighmo. A small bit of fog cleared around the deck and he could spot Neighmo once more. The Captain hadn’t moved one inch since they dived under the cloud cover.
“We’re getting close. We needed to dive under the clouds to see where the capital is exactly... but it appears this fog is gonna be trouble for us. Stay on your hooves, lad–or in this case, toes.”
Zack didn’t like the sound of that. The hint of worry in the Captain’s tone made him a little uneasy. Zack made sure he had the Prevailer on him, along with his daggers. He patted himself down and realized his weapons were still there and that he remembered to bring them onto the deck this morning. 
Through the veil of clouds, a large rock seemed to float by like a phantom. The pointed boulder sailed through the sea of fog on the starboard side of the Wind Fish. It could have easily taken down the airship if it had rammed the rock. Zack realized that what he had seen was no rock, but in fact the tip of a mountain as more similar rock faces sailed through the blanket of fog around them. They moved silently, the only noises being the hoof steps of the crew and the faint rumble of the steam engine below. It was a very eerie sight to behold as these giants in the unknown silently moved by the airship. It was as if the ship was still and the mountains just seemed to move around the vessel like sharks circling prey.
“Steady now...” assured the Captain as he tightly grasped the handle of the wheel. Zack looked all around for any signs of danger above or below the ship. His eyes couldn’t spot anything strange, or at least stranger than what he was seeing now.
Zack swiftly walked over to Neighmo and asked, “How much longer until we get there?”
“I’m not... entirely sure. This fog obscures me... I have no memory of this place.”
Out of the corner of Zack’s eye, he thought he saw a large, black blur shoot up from the fog and in silent glide. He pivoted around and it was gone. No one on board seemed to have seen it and he thought it was just his imagination playing games with him. Though in another instant, he thought he saw another black object sail up above the ship and out of eye sight. He turned to the Captain to ask him what was going on and if he had seen what he had seen. Words did not need to be expressed when Zack saw in the Captain’s eyes a growing fear arising, he had seen what Zack had saw. 
Zack slowly placed his hand on the handle of his sword, ready to draw it at any moment. He turned towards the stern of the ship, staring off into the nothingness which was the fog laden skies of the Icicle Mountains. From the veil of cloud, a dark object in the distance could been seen. Zack adjusted his eyes to the far off object which only seemed like a speck. Though in short time, the speck grew larger, darker, and its shape began to form from the blur it was to something much worse. It flew silently and quickly through the air like a bullet through smoke. Zack’s eyes widened, his heart began to race as the object which grew greater in size than him as it let out a trembling roar. It swooped for Neighmo, who was paying attention to the bow of the airship. Zack raced for Neighmo and tackled him to the floor of the deck before the monster could grab him. Zack still had no idea what it was, but knew for sure it wasn’t friendly. 
Zack released Neighmo as he sprang up on his hooves in a swift motion. He saw the object fly overhead, above the deck and away from the airship. The crew caught a glimpse of the flying beast as well as it sailed off into the fog. Once the monster was out of sight, the crew fell silent and wondered what had just happened; Neighmo was speechless as well as Zack. In the maze of mist, the same monster let out another terrifying shriek which caught everyone aboard the Wind Fish off guard. From around the sides of the ship, more of the same creatures swooped over in a blur of blackness. More began arising from the fog below; ten, twenty, thirty, the numbers of flying monsters grew as they rose from the mist below. 
The horn of the Wind Fish blew and Zack turned to see Neighmo with his hooves on the wheel, ready to steer clear of the beasts. He beckoned, “Move it! Everyone! Battle stations! Everypony to a scorpio or ballista!”
“What’s going on, Captain,” asked Zack in a panic. “What are these things attacking us?” Both the stallion and Zack looked above to view the mass of large birds flying above and around the zeppelin.
“Rocs," exclaimed Neighmo, "Terrors of the North!”
In that instant, a group of rocs sailed down and swooped at the crew on deck. Some of the ponies on deck which were manning the artillery fired into the oncoming birds. The rocs were much bigger than the ponies and could easily carry one off with their large talons. They all looked about the same, some were a little bit bigger while others smaller, but no less huge compared to the ponies. They had jet black, rough feathered bodies, piercing yellow eyes, jagged and pale yellow beaks with maws lined with sharp teeth. Their wing spans stretched far and each feather was at least the length of Zack’s arm. Their talons were razor sharp and could easily tear the flesh off of any pony with ease. They were quick in the air and could easily avoid the harpoons and spears the ponies attacked them with.
Two of the Royal Guards that were sent by Celestia came onto deck carrying a chest filled with crossbows much similar to the same designs they used in Appleloosa. Everyone on board armed themselves with these weapons as they were handed quivers filled with iron bolts too. Zack and Neighmo armed themselves with a crossbow as well while the rocs tried to dive down and snag the ponies. The Royal Guards, one of which was a unicorn while the other a pegasus, began to fight back. The unicorn used his magic to ward off the oncoming attacks; creating ballistic beams of magic towards the rocs, zapping them out of the skies. The rocs were no dummies as they concentrated their diving assaults more on the larger threat. As three beasts dove in front of the unicorn guard, another roc came from behind, catching him off guard and snagging his back. It sliced the pony’s spine with a force that also tossed him off the ship’s side. The other Royal Guard pegasus rushed to his comrade’s aid, but the rocs planned for this to happen. 
Another roc swooped down as the pegasus jumped off board and tried to grab the pony with its talons. A member of the crew who was on a scorpio saw this about to happen and aimed for the large bird. He pulled the trigger of the mounted crossbow and the large bolt fired into the side of the roc. The roc staggered for control, but still grabbed hold of one of the pegasi’s wings. The guard was in the roc’s grasp as it tried to make a u-turn towards the airship. Another member of the crew fired his crossbow into the skull of the bird, which made it take a sharp left turn and away from the Wind Fish. In this inclined turn, the wing of the pegasus pony tore off and he escaped from the bird’s grasp; only to collide into the side of a mountain, killing him upon impact. The roc as well fell beneath the clouds, bleeding profusely from its wounds. 
The barrage of attacks from the rocs escalated on board. Equally both sides were being picked off one by one. Either a pony was taken and thrown off the ship or a roc was shot out of the sky. Zack tried his hardest to aim for the flying beasts, but most of his bolts fell behind the quick birds. Zack felt a sudden crash behind him and turned around to see what it was. A large roc landed right behind him as it tried to peck Zack. He side stepped out of the way and drew the Prevailer out. He swung the blade horizontally and sliced a part of the beak off. This wasn’t enough to stop the monster as it proceeded to attack Zack still. He ducked below another oncoming flap of the bird’s wing and thrust his blade into the bird’s chest. The roc let out a dying squawk as Zack kicked the bird off of the ship’s deck and into the fog below, pulling his blade out while doing so. He turned to see Neighmo shooting a roc point-blank with his crossbow on deck, killing the beast instantly.
He swung around and called out to Zack, “There’s too many! We need to lose them, it’s the only way!” He grabbed hold of the steering wheel of the ship with one hoof while with the other pulling a lever nearby all the way down. The steam engine below roared louder as Zack could tell the ship was gradually getting faster. 
“We have to give her all she’s got!" Neighmo rubbed the wheel of the ship, coping softly, "Come on, baby! Don’t fail me now!”
Zack looked above the ship and began to realize the rocs were trying to take out the balloon. The material of the balloon was enchanted and made it much harder for the rocs to tear a hole in it. They were trying their best to rip through the material as they used their beaks to try and dig into the balloon. 
Zack rushed over to the deck and yelled over the crew, “Focus your fire on the rocs above! Don’t let them take this ship down!” The crew followed Zack’s orders as they focused their fire above. Rocs began falling off one by one as each plummeted below the fog with a body filled with bolts and spears. The captain was navigating the ship violently, trying to dodge the oncoming mountain tops while maintaining the increasing speed. Their plan was working, the roc’s numbers seemed to be decreasing.
Then, Zachary heard a large flapping of wings behind him, much larger than the ordinary roc’s flap. He turned and saw a much larger roc trailing behind the Wind Fish. It roared much louder than the rest and he figured it was most likely the leader of the flock. Its body seemed war-torn from many battles and its beak was blood red. Its feathers possessed a navy blue tint which was much different than the regular roc’s jet black feathers. It flapped its wings, giving it more speed to drastically catch up with the airship. It grabbed hold of the back of the airship, the talons of the creature dug deep into the hull of the vessel. The weight of the leader roc weighed down the ship; the Wind Fish’s bow rose high in the air, sending the crew plummeting backwards and off of their artillery. Zack was beginning to slide towards the roc’s opened maw before sticking his sword into the quarterdeck of the ship. He held on tight as the beast roared once more, trying to stretch its neck out and eat Zack alive. A lone crew member on the deck, still manning his position on a ballista, fired a spear into the leader roc’s beak, hardly doing much damage to it. The roc cried out in pain as it let go of the ship, sending everyone off of their feet and hooves while the balloon tried to stabilize the vessel below. The largest roc swooped up and grabbed hold of the balloon with its talons. 
Neighmo jumped up and cried out, “Fire everything you got on the large one!” The crew aimed and shot torrents of bolts and spears into the beast above. The ponies were reloading as fast as they could this time, giving it everything they had to try not to die today. Small holes were all ready being punctured into the balloon from the talons of the leader beast, but the roc gave off a cry of pain as it drew its head back, looking as if it was about to let go of the balloon. Though instead, it rammed its beak into the zeppelin with one finally act of strength before letting go and falling into the mist. The attack on the balloon punctured the material and it blew a large hole into it. The ship faltered greatly and the crew began flying off from the velocity.
The airship spun out of control and into the mists below. Neighmo held on tightly to his steering wheel, trying his best to steer clear of the mountains still as the Wind Fish plummeted. He pressed a large button next to the wheel of the ship, which deployed numerous emergency balloons from the side of the vessel; though still, the airship was falling into the valleys of the Icicle Mountains. 
Zack tried to hold on for dear life, still grasping the Prevailer which was stuck into the deck of the ship. The side of the airship suddenly collided with a mountain peak, which shook the ship greatly. More than half of the crew left tumbled off of the sides of the ship. When the zeppelin tried to swerve and stabilize again, it rammed into another peak, causing the sword Zack was grasping to slip from its position. Zack fell and grabbed hold of the side of the ship with one hand. The force the vessel was experiencing was too great and he began to slip. Neighmo tried to reach for Zack with one hoof while the other was grasping the wheel, but Zack couldn’t fling his other arm up for the captain to grasp. Zack slipped and began to plummet towards the unknown ground below. 
Icy wind sprayed his face, blurring his vision as he fell faster and faster into the fog. Zack tried to stabilize his flailing body as he dropped at an incredible rate. Once he did, he looked over saw that he was falling next to an ice covered cliff side. He swerved his body and with the Prevailer, he stuck the blade into the cliff’s edge, trying to slow his fall. The ice cracked and shards of sharp ice cut into Zack’s uncovered skin. It wasn’t helping his descent slow up and was beginning to think that this was the end for him. Suddenly, he remembered he was still wearing the Ethereal Sabatons and with that in mind, he began to slow his descent with the help of the magic in the boots. He once again tried to thrust the sword into the cliff’s wall and this time it worked, he was coming to a slower and slower rate of speed until finally he came to a halt. 
A cloud of ice and slush enveloped Zack from above as he hung from his sword. The blade was firmly dug inside of the mountain side and it felt secure. When the slush and ice from above fell beneath Zack, he gasped for breath and looked around his surroundings. Fog distorted his vision around him, he couldn’t see the ground, other mountains or the sky above him; only the cliff side and fog was in his line of vision. He didn’t know long he could hang there, or how he would get down to wherever down was safely. His plan was to hang there and wait for a plan to pop in his head. 
He heard a crashing sound above him and looked up to try and see what it was. He saw the lights of the Wind Fish gain altitude and hover off. The lights of the vessel grew dimmer in the fog and soon it was out of sight and earshot. Snow and wind fell around Zack, it blew his dangling legs about in the harsh environment. A new thought overwhelmed Zack. He was alone, left alive in the unknown, glacial and mountainous wilderness of the Icicle Mountains. Even if he thought those stories Neighmo told him weren’t true, he was still terrified of the predicament he was in. Zack wasn’t sure how long he was going to last hanging there; his arms began to grow weak as his muscles ached. 
Then, in the solitude of the wilderness, he heard a familiar noise from behind him. He knew what it was and was beyond terrified of it. The leader roc plummeted and grabbed hold of Zack with its enormous talons. He held onto his blade as it easily slide out of the mountain side. The roc crashed into the cliff wall and released Zack, squawking and flapping vigorously to try and maintain flight. It was injured greatly and could not keep flight as it fell with Zack. It released him and Zack grabbed hold of a large spear that had impaled the beast before. 
As the two plunged into the fog, the roc fought greatly to try and get Zack off of its back. The roc turned itself around and Zack’s grip loosened off of the spear. The bird grabbed hold of Zack once more with its talon and pressed Zack’s body against the icy cliff while still falling. The clothing on Zack’s back was being ripped to shreds as each layer came off gradually. He had to think of something quick, so he used the Prevailer and stabbed the roc’s claw, releasing him. They continued to fall as the roc tried to snap his jagged-toothed mouth at Zack. He drifted out of the way and grabbed hold of the beast’s chest. He dug his sharp sabatons into the roc and held his sword high. He continually jammed the blade into the roc’s chest, trying to kill the monster. The roc tried to retaliate and grab hold of Zack, but with each attempt, Zack swung his blade over his head and cut the oncoming legs of the bird.
Beyond the bird Zack was stabbing, he realized the ground was coming quickly behind the roc. With one final stab, he released the sharp sabatons from the bird’s chest and with the magical artifacts on his feet, he slowed his rate of descent and fell lighter to the ground. The bird fell first, causing a mass of snow to sky rocket above. A crater of slush was left where the roc fell. Zack fell onto the snow; even though the Ethereal Sabatons slowed his fall, it still hurt his legs when he fell from such a tall height. 
He steadied himself up and forgot that the magical artifacts on his feet could give him the ability to stand on snow as well. He caught his breath, the icy air filling his lungs and exiting as a puff of hot air. He eventually walked over to where the bird fell to see if the roc had been killed. In a sudden moment, the roc flapped upward and roared at Zack with surprising effort. 
Zack fumed back with vigor, “Die already!”
The roc charged him, ramming its head into the snow as Zack easily jumped over the bird and onto the top of its head. Zack held tightly to a spear that was driven deep into the beast’s skull and swung onto the side of its face. He pulled out a dagger and rammed it into the bird’s right eye. It wailed and writhed in pain as it flung Zack off and into the snow. It wildly charged him once more, still going strong and chasing Zack. The large beast jumped high in the air and with its foot, it struck Zack down and pinned him against the ground. The weight of the bird began to crush Zack’s body as he tried to break free. The bird bent its head down and roared, showing its large, sharp teeth and dominance over the feeble human. It bent its head back and tried to peck Zack with a mighty force. Zack was able to dig himself out just a little bit in the snow below him and pushed off of the bird’s foot with both feet. The sabatons rocketed him back in the snow as the bird damaged its own foot. It roared as it looked around to see where its prey had gone. 
Zack stood up and gripped the Prevailer tightly, ready for any attack the leader roc was about to deliver. Suddenly, he felt a tingling in his hands and the sword began to glow brightly in the falling snow around him. A bright-red aura, as if from a blazing fire, enveloped the blade; Zack had no idea what was going on with the sword. His attention was broken when the roc roared once more and charged Zack. With a sudden idea, he swung his body around and with his body’s momentum, he swung the blade towards the roc. It sailed through the air like a comet of fire in the night sky and sank deep into the bird’s ravaged chest. Upon impact, the blade erupted on the bird and a wall of fire crawled up the beast. The monster screamed in agony as it flailed its limbs and tried to extinguish the odd fire that began to wrap around the creature. Through the smoke and flame, the magic blade shot back to Zack and into his grip without warning; he was amazed at what he had just performed and was unsure how he did it. The roc, ablaze, roared in pain as it tossed itself off another cliff side. Zack ran over to the edge of the cliff and watched the monster smote its ruin upon the mountain side below. With a thunderous thud, the roc was finally dead as the fire took over its body and the smell of burning flesh filled the cold air around him.
He stared down into the abyss and said aloud, as could as the air around him, “I hate birds.”
Zack fell over and tried to catch his breath, exhausted from the fight he had just barely won. His limbs were aching and his mind was still racing, still afraid of another beast coming to kill him. Snow rained down around him and wind blew his tarnished backside. Blood from the monster stained his sword and clothing. He wiped the blood off of the Prevailer and onto the snow next to him before sheathing the blade. He knew he had to continue or he would freeze to death in the coming night. So he sat up from his spot and continued towards the mountain side he fell from.
Upon walking a great distance towards the mountain's face, he found a narrow pathway in the side of the cliff. He looked upwards, seeing the large, narrow cliffs on both sides stretch high above him and into the foggy clouds. In this ravine, with icy walls on both sides, seemed to be nearly five feet across. It was narrow, jagged and appeared dangerous. He looked to each side of the cliff and seeing no way around, it looked as if this was the only way to get to anywhere else. 
Before taking the route, he noticed a strange group of tents halfway buried in the snow next to the cliff on his right. He walked over to it and realized it was the remains of an old camp sight. Zack began to scavenge through the remains to find anything that would help him survive. He found nothing of use, except an old, locked up iron box. He used his sword to pry open the lock box, only to find a small, worn out journal. It appeared very preserved as he skimmed through it, not reading it, but merely judging the condition of the book. He really wished it wasn’t a journal, due to last time finding one and discovering the secrets to Starswirl and Celestia. Either way, he kept the journal and decided not to linger their for too long. As he rose to his feet, a kindled idea came into his mind, but it was immediately shot down. The Vessel of Millennia could have been used to get help, but he remembered that it was still on board the Wind Fish. He had no way to communicate back to Celestia and was now officially lost in the Icicle Mountains.
Zack tried to keep his mind from worrying and to focus on the matter at hand. Worrying would only use up more energy and he had to preserve the rest of his strength for as long as he could. He looked up and figured it was about midday and he had to make haste if he wanted to survive this harsh environment. He began to trek the narrow ravine between the cliffs, hoping that on the other side would be safety and nothing more dangerous for him to face alone. He was no longer fighting the sheer cold of the mountain ranges, but now dealing with his faltering mind which was slowly losing sanity.
> 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(19)






        The narrow passages of the Icicle Mountains were a tight squeeze for Zack. He had to press his body sideways at some points amid the cliffs and slide himself between the icy walls. The ravine itself was much colder than the outside air; his layers of clothing, pressed up against the glacial walls, were not helping to retain his body heat any longer. He was practically traversing a giant refrigerator; the deeper he ventured, the colder the ravine became.
Trying not to think about the dropping temperature, Zack was astounded at the amazing sights he saw. Waves of crystal blue ice wrapped around the narrow ravine walls. It was almost as if a flood of fresh water froze solid and he was traversing the last of the free ground it didn’t touch for centuries. The smoothness of the ice was like sculpted glass as he caressed the fine rime around him while walking. Light refracted a multitude of blues, whites, yellows and silvers in arrays that could not be reproduced by anything man or pony-made. It was a spectacle of beauty to behold, and he wished he could stay longer to admire it if he wasn't racing for safety from the cold.
Most of the passage way was wide enough to have a shoulder’s length of room, while other parts of the icy route Zack had to compress his body and crawl through tight and narrow holes in the wall. He tried to keep his mind optimistic, but with the constant cracks and creaks from the large ice faces around him, it made him think that at any moment he would be crushed between the mountains. Moments like these though, he thanked fate that he wasn’t claustrophobic or a really fat person.
He crawled his way through another small and narrow hole in the ice, only to end up a step away from a dark and high cliff edge. The icy passageway drastically opened up to a much larger ravine where there was a dark chasm in front of Zack. He peered over the edge slowly and steadily, not wanting to slip and fall in. His eyes met with darkness as he focused on the abyss below him. The arrangements of refracted lights that were scattered above did not pierce the shadows of the deep. He looked around to see if there was another way across. He spotted only a mere ledge to his right that circled the light-less ravine to another, narrow passage way in the ice face. The glacial shelf had barely enough room to place Zack’s feet on, so he would have to hug the wall and gently inch his way across the overhang, hugging the slick wall for dear life.
He sighed in discomfort and embraced the ice face; sending shivers of cold and fright down his spine. He placed one foot ahead, made sure his stance was steady, and started to gradually slide his way across the ravine. Sweat began to pour from his face, which froze immediately when coming into contact with the ice wall. He had to break off from the frozen sweat, which hindered him even more while trying to slowly cross the deadly drop-off. He mentally encouraged himself that he was doing good, making progress, and staying steady. Not to go too fast or too slow, he paced himself gently whilst not looking down. The constant distant and near noises of the ice moving around him constantly brought his fears back into his head; but Zack tried his hardest to look them over and to focus on his current goal.
After a few long minutes, Zack could see the far opening in the ice on the other side of the ravine he had seen from where he started. His enthusiasm pushed himself to go a tad faster, ignoring the increase in danger. Suddenly, the ice on the ledge let out a large cracking noise and before he could react in time, the ledge broke free from the cliff wall. He could feel his stance slipping and beginning to fall, so with a sudden and unprepared jump, he sprung up from the falling ice shelf and reached for the opening in the ice wall. He realized that he didn’t push off far enough and wasn’t going to be able to make it as he tried his best to stretch his arm and grab the edge of the opening. With his other arm, he unsheathed his dagger (which was much closer and faster to grab than The Prevailer) and stabbed the ice wall below the opening in the ledge. It firmly stuck into the glazed wall as he dangled above the dark abyss, watching the ice shelf fall below him into shadow. 
He quickly swayed his body to get enough motion to fling his other arm up and grab the ledge of the opening. He did so with ease and soon flung his other arm up from his dagger to firmly grab hold of the ledge with both hands. As he pressed his right foot off of the dagger to try and boost himself upward, the dagger slipped from its place and plummeted into the chasm. He almost lost his grip of the edge as his body swung over the open abyss. With a burst of strength, he rocked his body over and rolled up onto the opening passage way safely. He lay there on the rock and ice, with one hand on his chest and the other still gripping the edge tightly. He lay motionless for a long matter of time, trying to catch his breath from the sudden excitement and rush of fear. 



__________



        After what seemed like hours, Zack arose from the snowy ground and began to once again traverse the intertwining halls of ice. Light of late day somehow reached deep beneath the ravine where Zack walked. Rays of warmer-colored sunlight flickered and gleamed against the crystal ice. The warmth of these rays hardly affected the temperature of the deep ravine’s walls, but the little difference it did make, Zack could feel. He enjoyed the few minutes it lasted before the clouds blocked out the sun again. Zack found himself in the bitter deep freeze of the Icicle Mountains once more.
Through the narrow and winding passages of the ravine, Zack reached a fork in the passage way. He had no idea which way to turn. This had been the first crossroads in the route he had met and for some reason was having a difficult time choosing which path to take. In the middle of his thought process, a bitter cold fell upon the ravine, much more frigid than before. Zack’s strength was diminishing, his body temperature was dropping substantially and he had to get warmer somehow. He fell to his knees and clasped his arms around his chest, curling up into a ball and trying to stay warm. He tried rubbing his hands together and breathing into them, but nothing seemed to stop the ever decreasing temperature. His face was bloodshot red as he began to feel his limbs numbing up from the chill. His thoughts of dying in this horrid place subsided when he heard a very strange noise. The sound echoed through the halls of ice and met with Zack’s numbing ears. 
"Laughter," he thought. It sounded as if, from way afar, a child was giggling. He turned to look down the left path where he had heard the noise from and couldn’t believe what he saw. It was a child, a human child. A small girl with long, curly red hair and a small patch of freckles on her face. She looked as if she was nearly seven or eight years old. Her blue eyes shimmered through the icy halls on the far end of the path. She was wearing a long, white Summer dress, bare foot and still laughing at Zack who was kneeling on the ground, freezing to death. He couldn’t believe it; he shook his head, closed his eyes and thought it was his imagination playing tricks on him. Though when he opened them again, the girl was still there, giggling at him as if he was acting incredibly foolish and funny.
She stopped laughing as soon as Zack reached out for her. As soon as he tried, he fell over and into the snow. The feelings in his legs were numb and weak, he was unable to get to his feet and walk over towards her. She smiled at his attempts to reach her, almost as if she was smiling back towards her lover. She slowly raised her arm up and motioned her fingers at Zack to come nearer. She stepped back and around a bend of the icy tunnel, leaving Zack’s line of sight.
“No,” Zack cried out as he slapped the edges of the ice wall to try and climb to his feet once more. 
A voice, presumably from the girl, called back, “Follow me, Zachary.”
Zack stumbled up onto his feet while the words the girl spoke soon sunk into his head. He had heard that voice before, but couldn’t remember where he had heard it. His mind was already losing strength and did not worry about trying to remember who she was or who she resembled. He focused his energy and began stumbling toward where the girl walked. His legs were tremendously weak and with each step into the snow, it felt like pins were being driven into his bare feet. He made his way around the corner and to his surprise, the girl was on the far end of another division in the labyrinth of ice. She motioned again to follow her as she walked backwards and around another bend in the left most pathway in the ravine. He followed her once again and when turning the corner where the girl did, he met with her once more. Zack followed the girl through each passageway she took. He had no other choice and had no idea what a human would be doing here. He began to think as if the Icicle Mountains could play tricks on your eyes like Neighmo said they would. He could only hope for the best as he blindly followed her through the winding passageways.
As Zack turned around one last bend, he felt a rush of air buffet his face. His eyes closed in defense, but when he opened them, he could see the end of the ravine. A lighted exit far from where he stood. He couldn’t tell what was beyond that light, but through a burst of strength, he rushed towards it. Though before reaching the end, he heard the girl’s voice once more echo through the ravine and even through himself.
She said in a ghastly tone, “Till we meet again, Zachary.”
With that in mind, Zack cautiously exited the icy tunnel and out into the light. The gray blanket of rolling clouds rushed over him as he progressed out onto a high and open hanging cliff. The walls of the ravine shrouded him no more and he was in the open air. Out in front of him sprawled a large and striking city built into the mountains itself. It was a grand and what appeared to be ancient city, its appearance appeared older than Canterlot itself. It wrapped around a crater-like dip in the mountains and in the center stood a majestic blue palace which was the center piece and focal point of the township. The inner buildings and housings itself were of stone and crystal-like pillars and bricks, while the outer regions of the kingdom sprawled out on all sides, climbing up and into the mountain sides. The outer sectors, made of stone and ice, towered out into larger complexes that interconnected to most likely house the lower class citizens, while the structures near the main palace appeared built with a higher degree of craftsmanship. The entirety of the city was nestled between the ranges, defended by the sprawling mountains on every side.
Zack was amazed at all of this as he breathed with his mouth agape, “Gryphus...”
Strangely enough, Zack noticed something very off about the whole setting. It was eerily quiet, too quiet even at a distance. He didn’t see any griffons flying about or any other wildlife, as a matter of fact. This spooked Zack beyond his comfort zone. The chill of Winter crept back to him as if the temporary excitement of finding Gryphus kept it at bay. He decided to keep trekking onward into the city to see if perhaps he could find someone to talk to and ask what was going on, maybe even find some warmth and food.
As soon as Zack was about to make his way forward and climb down the cliff face, two large objects landed in front of him, making him jump back in fright. The snow, which was thrown up into the air, soon cascaded back to the ground and revealed two heavily armed griffons pointing barbed spears directly at Zack. The griffons were of black feather and were very menacing in appearance. Iron full helmets blocked their faces and their hands were covered with metal-braided gauntlets. Their charcoal wings were spread wide as they walked slowly forward, pushing Zack back into the ravine’s exit. 
One griffon guard spat at Zack, “What are you? Speak, vile creature!” Zack lowered his defense to show courage and to stand his ground.
He replied back with haste, “I am a man and humble messenger.”
The other griffon stepped nearer, examining Zack closer, “I’ve never heard of a 'man' before.” He turned towards his comrade and asked, “Clive, have you ever heard of a 'man'?”
Clive snickered and responded, “Nope. But looks like his meat his fresh and plentiful! His bones are brittle and strength has diminished from the fight.”
Zack was curious about what Clive had just said, so he questioned, “The fight?”
“Ah, yes.” said the griffon with a claw raised. “We witnessed your fight against Sheol, the Lord of the Rocs. Long has he been a protector of the Icicle Mountains, he is powerful and wise. Yet you, you are more powerful than even Sheol the great. The weapon you possess, it is made of magic, no?”
Zack straightened his posture and denied his request, “That knowing is of my own, griffon.” The griffon gave an irked expression and turned to his ally.
Clive spoke up, “Aedan, we are more powerful than this worm! Let us fest upon his tender flesh.”
Zack spoke up, “You cannot kill me! I am a messenger, I bring no harm!”
“A messenger," Aedan said slyly. "From where?”
“I represent Equestria,” Zack spoke highly of his home region. Both griffons burst out with a fit of tears, laughing and hanging on to one another. He didn't know what was so funny, be remained emotionless.
Clive stammered, “Y-you represent the Equestria?” He flung himself into another fit of joyous guffaws just saying the word aloud.
Zack replied with pristine authority, “Yes, and I demand to see your king.”
The rolls of laughter were ceased as Aedan reached out his claw, “If you do not lie, let me see the message.”
Zack took the scroll from his coat pocket and handed it over to the menacing griffon guard. He unraveled it and both guards skimmed over the written text. He handed it back to Zack and both griffons nodded to each other. They raised their spears again which made Zack raise his hands.
Clive ordered, “Come with us, messenger.”
“I told you," Zack barked, "I am no–”
“Silence,” fiercely yelled Aedan as he pointed his spear closer to Zack’s head. “Now, begin walking to Kyanite Castle.” Zack figured it was the large tower in the center of city and began making his way to the castle with both guards hovering around Zack with spears held closely to his head. The griffons were an impressive race, but were grave to their visitors it seemed.
As Zack entered the city, the main streets were deserted. No signs of other life or inhabitants made themselves known. The houses were empty, the markets were absent of produce and products, nothing made sense to the human. The snow was wiped clear from the streets into piles of sludge in between the alleyways of the city. The streets and buildings were being maintained, but no one seemed to be doing so. 
As Zack walked, he turned to Aedan and asked, “Where are your people? What is this place?”
He turned his head towards Zack and with a cold tone replied, “Gryphus, now silence.”
 Zack did not ask anymore questions as they continued towards the capital building. Zack was immediately stricken with déjá vu, he had had this happen before. Being brought to the capital of the city by guards, this all happened in Canterlot. He just hoped that the Griffon King would be more reasonable and less hostile than the guards that took him there.
The Kyanite Castle was an impressive structure. Unlike the decorative and spiraling towers of Canterlot Castle, its towers were firm and stable in appearance. The tops of the towers that surrounded the main palace widened downward and appeared like beacons of a holy temple. The main palace was much like the towers, except it had a much larger base and a narrow top. The dark blue bricks which were laid in the foundation and structure of the castle were massive and thick; though some appeared to be cracked and chipped from battles of old. It appeared as though Celestia was right, the griffons were once a proud and war-hungry race. They were most likely the dominate race before the Equestrian Kingdoms overthrew them years ago during the Griffon Wars.
Zack was forced to climb the Five Hundred Steps to the palace entrance. Each step was laden with black ice, so he had to be extra careful when stepping upward. Upon the top of the Five Hundred Steps was an overhanging porch of onyx stone where two large canine creatures stood in tanned-leather armor. They were equipped with what appeared to be large muskets, which made Zack’s mind wonder how much further technology had developed outside of Equestria. The large canine creatures let out a deep growl, showing their jagged and crooked teeth before Zack. They were much more terrifying in appearance compared to the griffons, their claws and hunched appearances demanded to be respected and feared . They stood at least a foot taller than Zack and with their armor on, they appeared to be a formidable foe if he ever had to fight one.
The griffons made Zack stop in front of the massive, heavily fortified metal doors. The two bipedal dogs reached over and pulled on the large, metal rings on the doors and opened them wide for the griffons and Zack to enter. As they did, the warmth of many stone fire places on both sides of a wide hall warmed him and he was grateful, for once, for being in the circumstance he found himself in.
He appeared to be in a large room with many overarching stone pillars which held up the high ceiling. The ceiling hung great chandlers with ancient and very worn out burning candles above. Wax dripped and formed around the metal holsters of the candles; the chandler had been holding each wax stick for some long, undisturbed sometime. The walls were lit by roaring fireplaces and windows that let in the grey light of the overcast day. At each closed door leading elsewhere in the castle, a griffon guard was stationed at each entrance. Armed fiercely with a rifle in their arms and a broad sword at their sides, they were prepared for battle at a moment's notice. They stood emotionless and tall; they appeared as still as the castle and perhaps apart of it itself.
Down the long, wide hall, at the end of a large, tainted carpet sat the throne of the king, and the Griffon King himself. He appeared mighty and tall, as if born and raised for kingship. Emerald green eyes burned with authority as he looked over at the approaching messenger. Jet black feathers adorned his head, back, wings and legs. The tips of his wings were gold colored much like his chest, arms, beak and tail feathers. The muscles behind the legs and arms trumped the other guards that protected him. His talons appeared to be of onyx and more keen than even Sheol’s. Other female griffons sat next to his throne and around him, Zack thought that most likely they were his concubines of some sort. He was draped with the fur cape of a great black bear as he sat, wielding a very strange object in his right hand.
As soon as Zack laid eyes on the object the King was holding, he felt a great pain in his chest–as if a weight was being pressed on him. The object the king was holding was a wicked and twisted staff. It appeared to be made out of a black wood with metal entwined into it. The head of the staff was like a trident with its blade twisted around a blood red gem that could not be touched from the outside. The gem levitated peacefully inside of its metal cage and somehow discomforted Zack greatly upon its sight.
“Knell before Vallak,” demanded Aedan as he rammed the blunt side of the spear into the back of Zack’s knee. He knelt down immediately in pain and lowered his head in respect. Clive stepped forward and informed his King of Equestria's messenger. 
“Sir," Clive stepped forward and pointed back at Zachary, "we found this creature scouring the Icicle Mountains. Me and Aedan witnessed this stranger kill Sheol, my liege! He should be hanged for his crimes against killing a saint of our realm! We should hang his body from the tail of a manticore and parade him by his entrails through the streets for such an atrocity!”
Zack was beginning to panic as he knelt lower, keeping his head down and afraid to move and be shot on sight. If something didn’t happen soon, he was afraid he would have to fight for his life against the griffons and fail the mission. Vallak tilted his head slightly upward and examined Zack from afar. 
He spoke pleasantly, yet cold to the tone, “Look up, creature.” Zack did as he was told and rose his head upward for his eyes to meet Vallak’s piercing ones. Vallak spoke again with a sly manner, “Tell me, what is your name?”
“Zack.”
“And tell me, why have you come so far?”
Zack took a breath, thought of his word choice carefully and answered, “I am but a humble messenger from the Equestrian Kingdoms. Here to deliver you a renewal of the peace treaty between our neighboring countries.”
Vallak raised an eyebrow and denoted, “From the Equine Kingdoms–is that so? Why are you their messenger and why did they not send one of their own kind?”
“That was not up to me to decide. Princess Celestia asked me specifically to come and deliver the message.” Zack stopped and added, “Well, not just me. You see, I was arriving by airship with a crew of other ponies when we were attacked by a flock of rocs. I, as well as others who were less fortunate, fell off the vessel. I survived the fall whilst killing your Sheol. I only did so because it had attacked not only me, but the crew and airship. I did what was necessary to survive, sir. I found your city finally and that’s when your guards found me and took me to your castle. I am not here to start a fight, I am only here to secure peace.” Vallak rubbed his feathered chin and hummed with interest hearing Zack’s story.
He motioned his hand and in a deep tone, asked, “May I see the treaty?”
Zack accessed his coat pocket and pulled out the treaty, expecting one of the guards to take it over to the king. Vallak instead tilted his staff slightly towards Zack and the orb inside of the spear gave off a red tint. The parchment Zack was holding was soon consumed in a red aura, much like unicorn magic when affecting other objects. The king levitated the scroll over and opened it in midair. He mumbled as he read aloud the treaty in full context. A long silence fell over the stone halls. Only the sound of the crackling fireplace and the mumbling of Vallak filled the chamber. 
Vallak coughed and announced over his reading, “You may stand if you wish, messenger.” Zack stood up and stretched his arms while Aedan and Clive once again pointed their spears at Zack as if he was a threat. 
Vallak lowered the parchment and asked one of his females, “Would you fetch me a quill, darling?” The female griffon flapped over to a desk, secured a quill with ink on its tip and handed it over to her king.
He replied, “Thank you, Harlil.” Vallak scribbled his signature on the parchment and hovered it back over to Zack, who rolled it up and placed it back into his coat pocket. 
“Thank you, Vallak for your generosity and pledge to uphold peace between the equine and the griffons,” said Zack with a rekindled spirit. He was thankful that Vallak was so friendly and understanding, even if he appeared menacing at first. Zack was quite ready to go home and was about to ask if there was any sort of transportation he could take back to Canterlot; but before doing so, Vallak raised a claw and motioned for Zack’s attention.
“Did you know,” enlightened Vallak as he tapped his talon tips together in front of himself, “that I am a collector.”
"Is that so,” Zack commented out of confusion as to why he would mention such a fact.
“Quite so. I am collector of all species of animal and like. I’d love to show you my, interesting assortments.”
Zack scratched his head and replied, “Well–you see–I’d love to. But, I’m sort of on a schedule and I need a way back to Equestria since I have no way of returning myself. Maybe some other time, when I visit again.”
Vallak smiled, “I think you’ll have plenty of time.” 
Vallak raised his staff in front of Zack and the ruby red gem of the staff glowed brightly. Zack could feel a strange urge coming over him, but forced it away with ease. It was as if something was trying to push him slightly and Zack fought back mentally. His eyes widened when he heard a strange noise as if the wind filled his ears gently. 
It whispered in a voice he had never heard before, “...Zachary..." Vallak looked befuddled at the sight of whatever he was trying to do, which was failing and then turned toward his stave with uncertainty in his expression.
“Hm,” he hummed in dissatisfaction, “That’s odd.” He pointed his staff at one of his females and preformed the same magic. Suddenly, the female became like a rag doll as she floated in the air lifelessly, to and fro around the throne in front of him. He dropped her as she grasped for breath, lying motionlessly on the ground in front of them. Zack was shocked at what Vallak had preformed on his servant and then realized he was trying to do the same to him. He unsheathed The Prevailer and every guard in the room aimed their spear or gun at Zack’s head, ready to attack. Zack didn’t know what to do as he stood there, waiting for a guard to slip up and strike first, giving him an excuse to fight; but they only stood as statues and awaited for their king’s command. 
Vallak laughed at Zack’s misfortune and commanded his guards, “Take him to the dungeon. We will hang him tomorrow on the early eve.”
Zack sheathed his blade as the griffon guards pushed him along and out of the Throne Room. He was taken up a long flight of stairs and far above the castle, almost towards the highest room. They entered a damp and dark area, only lit by the torches the guards had lit before entering. The room was filled with multiple cages and if it wasn’t for those cages, it would have been empty. The cages were iron boxes with only a single, hinged gate on their side, much like an abusive cage to put circus animals into. 
Zack was forced over to a table where Aedan commanded, “Place your weapon and anything else you have on you here.”
Zack began to unsheathe his sword, removed the Ethereal Sabatons, the treaty and the journal. Clive patted Zack down and searched him to see if he was hiding anything else under his clothes. 
Clive turned toward Aedan and noted, “He’s empty.” Aedan pushed Zack over and into an open cage filled with the bones of an unknown creature. The cage was locked behind him as Aedan turned towards the table Zack had left everything on. While Clive was examining the sabatons up close, Aedan came up and peered over The Prevailer.
“Wow,” he said, “I didn’t know the Equines could make such a well crafted sword.”
Clive pivoted over an examined The Prevailer as well, “Oh yes! Let me see.”
He reached over to pick up the sword, but with all of Clive’s strength, he couldn’t move the sword. Aedan laughed at Clive’s feeble attempts and pushed him aside.
“Here, let a real griffon show you how it’s done, weakling.” Aedan focused his stance and gripped the sword tightly. He summoned to muster all of his strength to pick up the blade, but without success. He huffed and tried his hardest to move the sword, but The Prevailer wouldn’t budge an inch. 
He let go with a heavy sigh and breathed, “Forget about it. It must be enchanted or something.”
Before they locked the chamber behind him, Zack called out, “Excuse me?” The griffon guards turned with disgruntled expressions on their faces. Zack continued, “May I have that journal over there on the table? I would like some reading material... if you don’t mind. You won’t hear a peep out of me.” Clive turned toward Aedan and shrugged. Clive flapped on over to the table and tossed the book inside the cell. 
He pointed a claw at Zack and replied, “Not a word out of you, messenger!” He turned and slammed the door shut, leaving nothing but empty cells, the rats, and the light of a nearby torch in its holder with Zack in the dingy dungeons of Kyanite Castle.



__________



        The warmth of even the dungeon had lulled Zack to sleep, regaining his strength once more. His back ached from sleeping on the iron floor of the cell, but was more grateful for the heat in the dungeon than being outside. He peered out a nearby stone window, night had already set in and he couldn’t figure out what time it was. After the daze of sleep faded from his head, he began to wonder why Vallak locked him in here. Was it really just for his 'collection', or did he have something else schemed.
A jingling of keys could be heard outside the dungeon door and sure enough, Clive came in with a cup and plate of something. He slid the cup and plate with his sword over next to Zack’s cell. Zack looked over at it and it appeared to be some sort of slop of corn and grey sauce.
Clive chuckled, “To our esteemed guest of honor–dinner, is served!” He flapped out of the room, cackling tremendously as he exited. Zack stuck his finger into the slop and licked it off; to him, it tasted like cold, old gravy with tiny pebbles hidden inside. The water in the cup was frozen and he had to breath over it to thaw it.
Zack suddenly heard a shuttering sound coming from the darkness next to him. He focused his eyes over to the spot where he heard it and saw what seemed to be like a small bird trapped in a tiny cage next to his. The bird was quivering in fright and its feathers were ruffled and messy. It appeared to have a short beak, blue eyes, a faded grey chest, grey crown, and grey belly; all dismal colors for a dismal animal. The tips of the wings, neck, jaw, and tail feathers were a dull yellow and did not contrast well with its murky-colored form. It looked very old and very hungry as it eyeballed the slop before the man.
Zack felt pity for the bird and how it appeared. He had a gut wrenching feeling overtake him, which led to Zack sliding his plate and cup over for the bird to eat instead of him. He let out a sigh and was about to turn around until he heard the bird chirp up. He turned and saw the bird curiously pecking at the food Zack had slid over and not even acknowledge his presence. Zack felt as if he had done a favor and had a good feeling satisfy his spirits, but was beginning to get hungry after watching the bird eat his meal from afar. He couldn’t reach over and get it out, he had slid it too far and was now trying not to think about it.
He tried to keep his mind off of hunger, so he took the journal in the corner of his cell and began reading the first entry. The letters and pages were scribed poorly and Zack could only make out only a few sentences at a time.

“Entry 01:

        We have made camp along a cliff side. We believe that Gryphus is beyond the ravine to our north and will be traveling there tomorrow morning. The journey so far has been going excellent, hardly any slip ups since we arrived. We are delivering a new treaty to be renewed between the two kingdoms. I’m glad that the griffons have finally come under one ruler after so many years of separation between bandit camps and what not. My colleagues on this mission are Ruby Thread the Earth Mare, Arlet Apple the Earth Stallion, Dusk Dancer the Unicorn Mare, Solar Flare the Unicorn Stallion, Wind Waver the Pegasus Mare and I, Loyal Steed, the Pegasus Stallion.”

       
Zack froze still–his mind a blunder with thoughts. He had found the journal of Valiant Steed’s father. He wasted no time in search to find more answers within the texts.

“Entry 02:

        Wind Waver has informed me that the ravine is passable and on the other side is Gryphus. Though she did not enter the city, she said that we should all come as soon as we could. I am packing my bags and heading out to the capital. I miss my sons greatly and hope they are doing okay with Shamus.”

Zack stopped and thought about how Valiant never mentioned his brother before to him, or this 'Shamus' pony. He continued:

“Entry 03:

        We were greeted with open arms by the griffon kind, thank Celestia they were able to over look the pony’s patchy past and were able to look towards a newer and brighter future. The new King, Vallak, held us a feast and feed us plentifully. He offered for us to stay the night in the Kyanite Castle and were happy to accept. Things are beginning to look brighter already.

Entry 04:

        We left the castle that morning, preparing for our voyage back. However, when we exited the ravine, a nasty blizzard picked up and we had to camp once more outside of the ravine. I hope this blizzard leaves us by tomorrow morning or we will be stuck here for a very long time. Dusk Dancer and Solar Flare had both created lovely roaring and enchanted fires which are frost proof. Thank goodness for unicorns. We cannot make it back to Gryphus with this storm and are staying put here on the cliff side tonight.

Entry 05:

        The cliff we set our tents up on collapsed during the night. Everypony is okay. There were a few minor injuries, including a broken wing of mine, but we are all able to continue venturing on hoof. The blizzard subsided, but we ended up in a canyon of sorts. Stranger than all, we seemed to be at the entrance of a great temple built into a mountain’s base. It looks ancient and some sort of ruined language is on the rim of the entrance. It does not appear to be of the same craftsmanship of ponies or griffons. We made our way into the stone temple and camped inside of it. It is a nice shelter out of the cold and snow. The insides of the temple is in ruin and we are afraid to venture further into its bowels. 

Entry 06:

        It seems Arlet Apple, according to Ruby Thread, has ran off into deeper regions of the temple in search for some “lost treasure of the ancients”. She said that all night, he kept babbling about ancient artifacts and how they were calling out to him. She tried to stop him, but was no use. I’m now off to go find Arlet and see where that stubborn son of a stallion has ran off to this time. That boy is always looking for treasure in the wrong places. 

Entry 07:

        We found him in the deepest, darkest corner of this dreadful place. When we found him, he was clutching an odd looking staff and murmuring words we couldn’t understand entirely. It sounded as if the stallion had gone mad. We escorted him back to camp and Solar Flare and Dusk Dancer tried to calm him down with magic. He broke into an outburst when we tried to take the staff from him, so we let him keep it. We are afraid for his safety. I wish we could just leave these forsaken mountains. 

Entry 08:

        I awoke to screams in the middle of the night. Me, Wind Waver, Solar Flare and Dusk Dancer raced over to see what was going on. Arlet Apple had left his tent during the night and raped Ruby Thread. We had to pry him off of her. His strength seemed endless as we tried to calm him down. He kept shouting, “I do what The Afflictor commands me! I do what The Afflictor commands me!” I have no idea who this “Afflictor” may be, but he is beginning to scare us all. We have taken the staff away from him and now it is in Dusk Dancer’s possession. We have tied him up and will take him back to Princess Celestia for trial. We plan to leave this place tomorrow, thank Celestia.

Entry 09:

        Arlet is dead. He died last night after biting his own tongue off, swallowing it and choking to death. We buried him outside the temple and gave him a proper burial. It’s a shame really. His wife had just announced they were having a new filly born into the family. The unicorn doctors say that it was going to be a little mare and him and his wife agreed to name her Applejack. Only a few hours after the burial and as soon as we were all about packed up and ready to leave, Dusk Dancer began having uncontrollable seizures. We had to once again stay the night in the temple and tend to her mysterious illness. Dear sweet Celestia, I hate this place.

Entry 10:

        We awoke to find Solar Flare dead. His horn was removed violently and jammed into left eye socket. Dusk Dancer was obviously responsible and we confronted her promptly. As soon as we did however, she rose the staff she was holding and yelled out, “Give me affliction!” A bright light occurred and when it diminished, Dusk Dancer was turned to stone. Ruby Thread is beginning to break down due to her recent rape and Wind Waver and I are the only sane ones left alive. We are leaving now.

Entry 11: 

        Upon exiting the canyon and burying the others, Ruby Thread was silent the whole day. Once we reached the top of the canyon, she threw herself off of the cliff side and presumably killed herself. Only I and Wind Waver remain. Wind Waver, now in possession of the staff, suggests that we make camp once more so that we can save our strength. We do so, but for the entire time, I begin to have this strange feeling. Almost as a wanting no, a desire to just touch the staff. I don’t know what has gotten over me, but, I really want that staff.

Entry 12:

        I cannot sleep. It calls my name. "Loyal. Loyal. Come to me." I must have it. I cannot live without it. It calls to me. It needs me. I need it. What is this feeling I am having, it is so foreign to me? I cannot control myself. I have to fight it though. For my sons. For my passed wife. I cannot let this happen to me. But I cannot let her have it. It is mine. It does not call out to her. It calls out to me. My mind. Breaking. Tearing. Ripping. Help me. Somepony. Help me. I need to go. I need to leave. It’s so cold here. Why? Who am I anymore? Why do I write there journals? I cannot. I will not. I must though. It needs me. I am no longer who I was before. Help. Please. The Staff. The Afflictor is its name. And it is mine.

Entry 13:

        I am alone. I am afraid. But. I have you now. You are mine and mine only. Together, we shall rule over everything. Together, we shall conquer everything. This Afflictor. I know him now. I’ve seen him before. Dark dreams of distant shores, he stood alone. This object. Was once corrupted by him. And now. It has me. What have I done? Why have I done this to my own kind? The blizzard comes. Night sets in. The coldness of night lingers. My blood freezes. I sense someone is here with me. Outside my tent. Watching me. Waiting for me. To look away. No. I mustn't. No. I”.

It ended there. Zack sat in silence in his cold cell, letting it all sink in. 
“What did I just read,” he said to himself. He closed the journal and set it aside. He vowed to show Valiant Steed this, he had to. Zack placed the journal inside his coat packet, but when he did, he was stricken with sleep and his eyes shut gently. He leaned against the cell’s bars and drifted off.



__________



        Zack awoke suddenly, only a few hours after falling asleep again. He kinked his neck and listened to the commotion that had woken him up. A thunderous march echoed far away, along with shouts and the beat of deep drums. He turned his eyes towards the far window to see the snow still falling out of the sky, but a burning red light somewhere below in the city of Gryphus made the flakes shimmer with a blood tint. It was a strange sight and Zack pondered as to what it was. He turned towards the bird he had fed and was surprised to see that it too was giving Zack a quizzical look. Almost as if it was wondering what Zack was thinking. The rare bird cocked its head at Zack’s sight, as to study him for some odd reason. 
The bird rapidly looked over at the table and let out a light whistle. Zack turned and looked over towards the table to see what the bird was whistling at. Zack didn’t see anything that changed about it. His weapon and equipment were still there lying on the table untouched. He looked around the room and saw nothing new or changed, just the sounds from far away were different. 
Zack sat back down in his cell and let out a sigh. He still had no idea how he was going to escape this prison. His death was at sun rise and he had to think up a plan to escape. He wasn’t good at problem solving, especially during emergencies; and was a tad bit nervous about his imminent death along with possibly another war between the griffons and the ponies. Even if he could escape, Hearth’s Warming Eve was on the morrow, though this wasn’t a major concern at the moment compared to his hanging. He slumped over in the corner of the cell and smacked his head with his hand.
“Come on..." he tried to push himself mentally, "Think! Think! There has to be a way out of here...” 
Zack sat up and tried to unhinge the cell door. It was locked tightly with multiple iron clasps, reassuring no escape. The cell was made sturdy for large creatures and even Zack couldn’t tip it over due to its heavy weight. He bragged the cell door, ramming it multiple times with the side of his body until he finally gave up.
He flopped back down on his rump and panted. The strange bird across from him squawked at Zack and ruffled its feathers; puffing itself up and trying to get warmer. Zack’s thoughts were steady, trying to remember the events of how he got here and how he was put into this predicament. His eyes rose up towards the table top and met with his sword. The Prevailer gleamed even in the dark when only the faintest of light touched its metal face. 
Zack began to wonder why the Prevailer glowed and set Sheol on fire during his battle with him. Zack wondered what other secrets lay in the blade, awaiting to be discovered and used. The longer he stared at it, the more he felt drawn to it; a strange desire that he could easily break from, yet continued to let it consume him.
Zack remembered what Celestia told him about The Prevailer, "It is not only a sword or a magical artifact, it is a tool and extension of one’s self. Only you can learn how to use it properly."
An urge overwhelmed Zack and he could once again feel his hands tingling with that strange sensation. He reached his hand out to see what was going on, but felt the need to extend his arm. He did so towards the Prevailer and focused, trying to understand what was going on inside his body and how he could manipulate it. It felt as if he could control it, but had to acknowledge it first and command it. It was like another being was inside of him, a being not of this world that was his friend, yet didn’t quite understand Zack itself. He exerted the power from his hand into his finger tips. He violently took control of the foreign force within and commanded it to work with him. He held his fingers out towards The Prevailer and told the force to bring it to him. Suddenly, The Prevailer flew off of the table top and into his hand, tossing Zack back against the far bars of the cell with force. He shook his head and was surprised to see The Prevailer clutched in his grasp. It felt good to be holding his old sword again, he had missed its touch. The bird across from him was tilting his head in study once more as to what he had seen.
Zack wasted no time and rose the sword as high as he could in the cell. With all of his strength, he aimed for the cell locks and swung at them, breaking them off of the cage and unlocking him from his prison. He stepped out and stretched his body, getting ready for the run of his life. He grabbed his gear, slipped on the Ethereal Sabatons and made his way to the door.
But before he could break it down, he stopped and thought about the strange friend he made in his cell. He turned and looked back towards the bird who whimpered and shook its wings, trying to stretch them as well. Zack looked down at his sword and back to the bird–he knew what he had to do. He ran over and released the bird from its cage, trying not to waste anymore time. The old bird climbed out and on top of the cage, letting out a joyous shriek. It hopped onto Zack’s shoulder and nuzzled the side of his head. He smiled at this, but soon remembered he had to leave quickly.
He raced down the spiraling staircase of the ancient castle, trying to remember which way he came in at. He burst through the door of what he thought to be the Throne Room, ready to take on the guards that filled the chamber. He ran through the door with The Prevailer armed, ready to attack, but strangely enough, no one was in the Throne Room. It was empty and dark; the fires in the fire places were extinguished and the curtains were draped down over the windows. Zack didn’t have time to investigate and made his way to the exit where he entered the castle from.
He pushed the large, castle doors ajar and stepped outside, feeling the rush of cold air spray him. The old bird ruffled its feathers once more, embracing the cold. The noises he had heard before grew louder as he went outside and witnessed a very strange sight. When Zack looked over the edge of the castle’s porch, in the center of the city below was a massive fire with flames stretching high into the night. Griffons upon the thousands circled above and below. Griffons in armor marched through the streets yelling chants in an alien tongue, unknown to Zack’s ears. Thousands upon thousands of griffons of all sizes marched through the darkened streets carrying torches and tossing some into the fire to keep the large bonfire alive and ferocious. It was terrifying to Zack, seeing such a race act so violent and orderly. Then he saw him, Vallak on a high throne close to the enormous fire, watching his army march by him in brigades. His staff gleamed in the night, even from afar. The sight was an eyeful for Zack, so much going on and at everywhere around him; he wondered where all of these griffons came from. He tried to think of a way out of this place during an event like this, but to him, it seemed now impossible.
He heard a shuffling of feet behind him and turned to see what it was. The two large canine-like creatures in heavy armor he had seen before approached Zack with their muskets pointed at his head. They slowly closed in on Zack as he drew his sword in defense. The old bird on his shoulder suddenly flapped its wings and took off away from Zack into the night sky behind him. Both the dogs and Zack turned to see the bird fly off, but the dog’s attention fell back on Zack as they were close to pushing him off over the Five Hundred Steps.
"So much for a faithful friend..." Zack thought when the bird had left him and flew off for its own safety. The canines growled at Zack as they pushed in closer with their claws on the triggers of their rifles. Zack was about to charge when suddenly he heard a thunderous boom behind him. Once again, the guard dog's and Zack’s attention were diverted off into the flickering atmosphere. 
A large, black plume of storm clouds formed over Gryphus. Cracks of lightning and rolls of thunder lit up the sky and connected with the ground below. The griffons in the city panicked as they flew off and fled. The wind began to pick up and a warm front blew through the canyon below. Rain began to fall in torrents along with the snow; Zack had no idea what was going on, but it was making an excellent distraction. He was about to make a break for it until he heard an ear piercing screech from above. He covered his ears from the loudness and his eyes watered from the pain it sent through his body. The clouds parted above and from them flew a magnificent creature, followed by the same plume of black storm clouds which were enveloped in claws of raw lightning. The bird was enormous; it was not a roc, but something entirely different. Its eyes glowed with a brilliant brightness of sapphire blue. Its body was jet black and the tips of its wings, beak, legs, tail feathers and belly were bright yellow. It came sailing down towards Zack as he tried to run from its frightening and threatening appearance. The bird opened its beak and let out another high pitched scream; only this time, a glowing fire burned inside of it and its light could be seen with the bird’s beak open.
The monster swooped down and flapped its wings in front of the canine guards who quickly changed their focus towards this new threat. With every flap the large bird made, an echo of thunder clasped. The dogs fired away, billows of smoke shot out from of the barrels as the bullets narrowly mossed their target. The bird raised its head and screeched towards the storm clouds above. Two bolts of lighting shot down below and in front of the bird, shocking the canines to death until they collapsed. Their armors and hides smoked like cinder from the ferocious electrocution. Zack turned towards the bird and realized something upon looking at it more closely. That old bird was this same bird before him. 
"What in the–how could this be," he questioned himself in front of the bird. The large animal descended on the porch of the castle. It landed with a thud and bent its body down, as if he wanted Zack to climb on him. Zack hesitated at first, but seeing how more griffon guards were flying up to the Kyanite Castle, he quickly jumped on top of the bird’s back. The warmth and softness of the beast’s feathers was an amazing sensation as Zack gripped the bird’s feathers tightly.
“Go,” he hollered as the guards were about on them. Zack yelled as if the animal could understand him; he didn’t believe it would work, but gave it a try anyways. The bird stretched its wings out and rocketed into the air. The frigid air plastered Zack’s face with wind, snow and rain. With each flap, a thunderous bass filled the stormy air around them. The force of each flap was great enough to throw off the enclosing griffon guards in the air behind them. They trailed off and back towards the ground before they were about to crash land.
Vallak noticed this all taking place from the ground below as griffon guard flew over to him and uttered, “What are your orders, my liege?”
Vallak said nothing as he raised his staff high into the air. He pointed it at the large bird and the red orb atop the staff burned brightly into the night. A bolt of energy fired from the stave, trailing Zack and the bird. The missile whistled through the cold air and closed in on the two. Zack heard the oncoming attack behind them and saw the bolt catching up to them quickly. He drew The Prevailer from its sheath and tried to deflect the oncoming attack. The attempt succeeded as the ball of death flew off like a comet through the air in another direction and into the side of a far off mountain. The energy ball exploded into an array of black and orange smoke, creating an avalanche on the far off mountain side. Vallak grunted at his failed attempt to stop the two, but slowly smiled, showing his white fangs. 
“Sir... you missed... ” blatantly informed the guard next to his king. Vallak turned and jammed the staff into his guard’s chest while laughing. He twisted the stave a few times before releasing it and letting the guard fall over. The griffon contorted on the ground and held his bloody chest wound. Vallak looked back up into the sky, seeing the storm had subsided beyond the mountain ranges that held his city. 
He smiled, looked upon his staff and said, “This will not be the last time...”



__________



        The bird tore though the clouds above, sailing above and around the peaks of the Icicle Mountains southward. The ice and snow sprayed Zack’s body as he tried to tightly hold onto the bird for warmth. He was flying much faster than the Wind Fish could ever go and was making excellent timing. Some how he figured the bird knew where to take Zack as it continued to fly south towards Equestria. In only one hour, Zack could spot Canterlot Castle from far above. 
Though in a rash moment, he yelled over the howling wind towards the bird, “T-there!” Zack pointed below towards Ponyville and continued, “L-land there!”
The bird tilted its wings to the left and sailed downward into the valley where Ponyville slept. The bird gave three enormous flaps and made a soft and relatively quiet landing in the center of Ponyville. Zack stepped off of the bird and fell into the thick snow below. He picked himself up and looked over towards the bird. 
With a shooing motion, he whispered to the bird, “G-go! Fly off n-now! Thanks for the lift, but you can’t be seen here!”
His friend titled his head again like he usually did in a confused fashion. The bird understood and took off into the night. After the bird was far away, silence filled the sleeping Ponyville. The snow had stopped falling and he was the only one in town. His body shuddered from the cold and from the motions from flying on the bird as he walked calmly over to Sugarcube Corner. His face was blood red and his body was numbed from the high altitude winds and frost formation. He stepped up onto the porch and knocked on the door. He heard some hooves shuffling around inside and getting louder as it approached the front door. Mister Cake answer the door with a cup of coffee in his hooves. He blinked a few times and yawned before realizing who was at his door.
“Zack,” he said in astonishment, “What are you doing here? It’s four in the morning?”
“I-it’s a la-long sta-story,” he shuddered in the cold. Mister Cake looked him over and moved out of the way so Zack could come inside.
He motioned, “Come on in. You look like you’re about to freeze to death!”
“You h-hit the na-nail on the ha-head, s-sir.” Mister Cake closed the door behind him and sat Zack around a fire he had made. He covered him in blankets and prepared him a hot cup of coffee.
“Here,” Mister Cake said as he gave the cup to Zack. Once in Zack’s grasp, the cup trembled as he sipped from it.
“Oh, th-thank you, s-sir.” Mister Cake nodded with a smile as he sat down in a recliner in the corner of the room.
He took a sip from his coffee and finally asked, “So, Pinkie told me you were going on some sort of mission. Why are you here?”
“W-well,” Zack began to answer, licking his chapped lips, “I just came back from the mission... and I wanted to see Pinkie on Hearth’s Warming Eve. So I rushed back here... What are you doing up so late anyways?” Mister Cake reached over to the nearby coffee table and held up a book which read, 'Of Pets and Ponies'.
“This is the only time I can read. The house is always loud during the day and I need good concentration when reading to get deep into the story.”
“Ah,” Zack replied. He wasn’t in a very talkative mood and wanted to sleep, but he knew he had to stay awake for Hearth’s Warming Eve. A long moment of silence as both Mister Cake and Zack stared deep into the fireplace, mesmerized by its enchanting flames. Mister Cake let out a cough and cleared his throat before leaning over in his chair.
“Son,” he started, with deep sincerity in his tone. Zack turned toward him and the stallion continued, “you’ve been like family to us here... keeping Pinkie Pie safe. And even though we don’t talk much or meet much, and that we’re two different species all together, I still treat you as family. The things I’ve heard from Pinkie Pie about you–true or not–are quite astounding. Even though she may not be truly be apart of our family, I want you to know that you are always welcomed here.” Zack looked down into his half emptied cup of coffee, thinking about what he had just said. 
Zack looked back up and replied, “Thank you, sir.”
Morning approached and all of the Cakes, Pinkie Pie and Zack joined in on all of Hearth’s Warming Eve’s activities. Zack stayed awake and had a great time spending not only bonding moments with Pinkie Pie, but with the whole Cake family. Valiant Steed showed up to the house around midday to deliver Zack’s present to Pinkie Pie, thinking that he wouldn’t be there, but was surprised to see him answer the door. The pink party pony loved her gift and shot off the cannon numerous times during the day; they would go as far as to say she had a 'blast'.
Valiant was shown the journal of his father and was finally enlightened about his father’s passing. He did not want to seek revenge or more answers, but was finally at peace knowing the truth after all those years. The day was perfectly spent. Good food, good friends and finally at peace with his last mission out of the way. Zack had wondered what he was going to do now that Celestia didn’t need him. Only time would tell.
> 20
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(20)






After Hearth’s Warming Eve, the days sped by to Zack. As soon as he knew it, spring had filled the air once more and he finally believed that he had been in Equestria for an entire year. He didn’t know which exact date he arrived, but the memories of Earth were slowly retreating into obscurity. His mind was still fresh with the memories of his first appearance in Equestria, and especially of Pinkie Pie. For if it wasn’t for her, he probably wouldn’t be here to begin with.
During the time between Hearth’s Warming Eve and Winter Wrap Up, some interesting things happened. Zack told Celestia about the griffons, Vallak, the journal, the roc attack and Gryphus. She was unsure as to what they were up to, but was glad that Zack had brought back the signed peace treaty in one piece. Only a few days after Zack’s arrival back to Equestria and him telling Celestia about the roc attack on the Wind Fish, she sent out a pegasi reconnaissance team to search for the downed vessel. Only after a few short days of searching the Icicle Mountains, the airship was found near the foot of the mountain ranges with half the crew and Neighmo still alive. They were escorted back and the vessel was salvaged. The only things they left on the Wind Fish were the parts that could rot into the environment and not harm it. Neighmo returned the Vessel of Millennia to Celestia and he was awarded The Badge of Courage for saving his crew from the rocs and maneuvering them out of harms away. Neighmo vowed that the Wind Fish will be rebuilt and jokingly said that he and Zack will travel to the ends of the world when it is rebuilt.
During the months in between, Zack and Pinkie Pie spent their time wisely together. Zack tried to impart most of his useful knowledge on to her as well as Pinkie continually reminding Zack to smile. Zack moved back into Canterlot Castle and continued his training and research on the still new world to him. He was tasked with zero missions from Celestia and for a good time being, all was at peace in Equestria.
Valiant Steed took full command of the Pegasi in the entire extended Royal Guard. Due to continually acts of bravery in the face of danger and succeeding in future missions that Zack was not apart of, he moved up even beyond his high ranking friend, Shining Armor. Valiant had earned the rank of a Six Star General of Harmony and no task or mission was gone unnoticed without Valiant’s knowing. Even being the highest ranking officer in the Equestrian Army, he still spent plenty of time with Zack and both grew closer and stronger everyday.
Zack was at peace and finally comfortable with his surroundings; however he still was kept out of pony’s sights, but this bother he kept didn’t keep him downtrodden for too long. He had a new friend, a new pet named Nox who Celestia identified as the rare and scarce thunderbird. The large bird that carried Zack back to Ponyville returned as his old self with a fresher color in his wings. Along with being able to control thunder and lightning using suppressed magic, it could change its size to be a small bird such as Philomena or a great bird as large as an adult roc. Both Philomena and Nox were of the same family of mythological magic birds and both bonded well together as great playmates. 
Over the Spring days, Zack would walk along in the Royal Gardens and take in the blooming sights and green trees. The buds ripened with fresh smelling flowers which gave off delightfully aromas to the senses. It was a quaint and nice breath of fresh born nature that kept Zack’s mind at ease. Everything was perfect; well, almost perfect.



__________



        Zack awoke in a sudden panic. It was late in the night and the castle was dead asleep, but Zack was in terror from a dream he had just had. It reoccurred again, the same odd dream he had in the dungeon of Canterlot Castle almost a year ago. A great ball of fire engulfing Canterlot Castle, destroying Equestria. Four ponies, a white one, a red one, a black one, and finally a pale one. Each terrifying and each showing unconstrained power over Zack. They announced the same message they did before to Zack, but a sentence they said simultaneous continually echoed in his mind.

"He who wields destiny itself cannot even control it, for destiny is its own, the last secret of the universe."

Why did this mean so much to Zack; he wondered why it was the only thing he could think about. The sheets below him were drenched in his sweat as he rolled out of bed and into the bathroom nearby. He wiped his face and chest clean of his perspiration and began a bath. He wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night anyways, he couldn’t even if he tried. He sunk his feet into the warm waters, the hot sensation soothed his mental pains. He submerged his entire body into the tub, slowing engulfing his head into the bath waters. He opened his eyes under the warm waters to see the warped surface above. This calmed his mind down as the light flickered off and around the porcelain. His skin soaked in the refreshing waters as he lay in the bathtub.
He stood outside on the high porch next to his room, gazing over the slowly awakening Canterlot city below. The stars drifted off and the sun’s rays spiked over the mountain tops. Purple hues and blue skies formed over head and dark clouds of night shimmered in a new pink coat. The morning breeze caressed Zack’s soft skin as he closed his eyes and breathed in the enchanting air.
He sensed someone behind him and knew who it was; he calmly congratulated, “Good job on the sunrise, as usual... This one though..." he pointed towards the celestial object and restated softer, "this one seems special...”
“You’re right. Today, I did not rise the sun. It rose on its own for the very first time in eons.” Zack took in another breath of air as he slowly watched the ball of fire peek its head over between the mountain peaks. Celestia walked up beside Zack and was mesmerized by the strange, yet common beauty, at least for Zack .
Zack closed his eyes and crooned, “You know, where I come from... the sun and moon rose by themselves with no help but from the Earth’s gravitational pull... Why did you decide not to rise it today?”
Celestia gave her customary warm smile towards Zack as she responded, “Things of this world and beyond have to work themselves out on their own sometimes. I won’t be around forever to raise the sun and moon.”
Zack turned and stated, “But you’re immortal.” She turned her head away and directed her eyes towards the ground.
She affirmed, “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t die.”
Celestia turned towards him once more and said, “Zack. I can bare no offspring of my own... and like my coming sister, she too will one day die, I know of this. When that day comes, if ever, you must take the throne.”
Zack fell silent, staring off into the purple mountain ranges far beyond Canterlot. The breeze rustled through his hair and through Celestia’s mane and tail. He stood tall, his eyes showing deep thought. Celestia pondered what he was thinking. 
She observed aloud, “You didn’t get any sleep again last night, did you?” Zack blinked the remaining sleep in his eyes and turned towards the alicorn.
He somberly answered, “Equestria will end. Everything will die. Everything I love will die. My destiny here is not over, I can feel it. I can stop it... but only if I try. I don’t know what I’ll do, I don’t know what I’ll face, but I know that I’ll be ready for whatever happens. I will save this wonderful world, even if I die trying, Celestia.” Her faint grin grew into a passionate smile for what Zack had said. She felt as if a heavy weight was taken off of her back. 
She declared, “It is time...”
Zack looked over in confusion, “...time for what?”
“You will see, my brave and wonderful Zachary.” Zack followed Celestia down the narrow and steep stairs and halls of Canterlot Castle, stepping out into the Royal Garden. She lead Zack up to The Panexus and both stepped onto the rocky plate.
Zack asked, “Where are we going... do I need anything?”
“You only need the clothes on your back.”
The runes around the rim of the artifact glowed ocean blue as they hummed with ancient power. A beam of celestial light shot down from the sky and Zack and Celestia were consumed in rays of unknown magic. In that very instant, they were gone the next.



__________



        Ponyville was bustling with merry morning ponies. Frolicking fillies and colts laughing and skipping as they go to school, local business owners happy to be out and selling their merchandise to the populous again and the pegasi were flying and gliding throughout the warm morning air, keeping clouds away to make the perfect day. Though in the midst of the good times, something was stirring in the crowds. Someone was preparing for something.
A beam of sapphire blue light struck the earth below and in front of the town hall. Everyone was caught off guard and ponies close to the beam of light were thrown back on their hooves. As the light resided, both Princess Celestia and Zack were standing in the middle of a curious crowd of ponies. Zack was in total shock as to what Celestia had done, showing him to a large crowd of ponies unannounced. The crowds of stallions and mares didn’t react too kindly to Zack’s appearance and shrieks of horror filled the air.
Ponies ran and darted through the crowds as they galloped away in terror at Zack’s sight; though they completely ignored the Princess’ appearance, who was right next to Zack the whole time. Pegasi flew off to warn the Royal Guard at Cloudsdale as earth ponies and unicorns jumped and dodged objects in their way to escape the alien creature. It was total pandemonium in Ponyville. In no more than a minute later, the town square was emptied and the cottages were locked tight. Zack was lost in confusion as to what had just happened and why he was here of all places.
He leaned over to Celestia and whispered in her ear, “This wasn’t a very good idea, you know? Do you have any memory wiping spells?”
With a smug look, she confirmed, “Yes I do. I practice it on a certain someone all the time; and don’t worry, I have everything under control.”
Zack didn’t know which to be afraid about, the joke about wiping his memory all the time or being considered a monster in Ponyville. In the corner of his eyes however, he noticed a pony pop her head out of a nearby bakery. He diverted his direction over to the small one and realized it was Pinkie Pie with a look of utter joy plastered across her face. She tried to contain her squeal of delight, but just couldn’t as she burst out of the door and galloped over to Zack. He knelt down and opened his arms, embracing the pink filly once again and laughing.
“Zackieeee! You’re here! It’s a Spring-mas miracle,” she beamed as she nuzzled her head into Zack’s chest. Zack had to move her poofy hair out of the way just to talk back to her.
“To be honest, I don’t know why I’m here.”
Pinkie Pie hopped out of Zack’s arms, bounced around him and sang, “Oooh! I know why you’re hereeee! I know why you’re hereeee!”
The baffled Zack questioned, “Uh, you do?”
“Ya, mister silly, McSilly-ton!” The pink filly stuck her hoof out and pointed, “That’s why you’re here!”
Celestia trotted up and said, “Pinkie! We were going to keep that a surprise!” Zack looked over to see a very big object that was covered in a large, white tarp. It was shaped very funny looking and he wondered what it could be.
“What is it,” asked Zack as he began to walk over towards it. He was immediately stopped when an object came crashing down in front of him. Dust filled the air as Zack closed his eyes from the incoming particles. As the dust settled, from the cloud emerged Valiant Steed, armor-less and laughing at Zack’s frightened appearance.
“I hope I didn’t scare you,” chortled Valiant as he friendly punched Zack in the shoulder. Zack returned the favor and gave a powerful strike back on Valiant’s shoulder. 
“Not even close, you crazy fool. Someday, you’re going to land on something as stubborn as you are.”
“That’s what I was aiming for!” Zack laughed as he pushed off his friend. The denizens of Ponyville witnessed these events happen from afar. They slowly started to creep out and crowd around the strange, bipedal creature. He began to get nervous as all eyes were on him.
Celestia proclaimed to her people, “Do not be afraid! This is Zack, or you may call him Zachary–a human from beyond our lands... and a dear friend to many. He has risked his life on multiple occasions in secrecy to secure our peace. He has devoted himself to helping others and has proven himself worthy in my eyes to live among us!”
Pinkie shouted from the crowds, “Woo-hoo! Yay, Zack!
Zack smiled as Celestia turned towards him to continue, “You’ve earned it, Zack. You deserve this.”
Valiant flapped over and yanked the cloth off of the object beyond the crowds. The denizens and Zack turned to see his new home, a cottage designed and built just for Zachary. All the sizes were correct, the beds, the tub, even the cooking utensils. Zack couldn’t be more happier as his heart raced with joy. He pivoted towards the Princess and hugged Celestia around the neck, something not many ponies had the courage to do. It caught her off guard, but she returned the gesture with her own.
Pinkie burst from the crowd and exclaimed, “Party at Zack’s place!”
She ran ahead and opened the door to the new house, letting confetti and balloons fly out. The crowd of random ponies began to make their way into Zack’s house to join in on the celebration Pinkie had been planning for months under Zack’s nose. Music blasted from the cottage as ponies of all ages began to dance and celebrate their new neighbor. The last to enter were Zack and Celestia who smiled at one another one last time before entering the house and joining in on the party. Before Zack could close the door, as if from no where, Nox swooped in and perched himself on Zack’s shoulder, snuggling up to the side of Zack’s face. He closed the door behind him and joined in on the celebration.



__________



        In the northeastern lands beyond Equestria, a plot was thickening. In these wastelands lie brutal climates, rocky terrain and seas of sand. Powerful gusts and tornadoes plagued the harsh lands and the only safety were the caves in these parts. A large rocky and wide mountain lay halfway buried in the burning sands, that is where the spirit formed of sand traveled. Into the caves, the spirit ambled his way through the lit corridors. Green hues glowed like swamp lights while shadows moved around and above. The spirit finally made his way to the heart of the hive, where the armies of pony-like creatures swarmed the foreign entity, ready to attack. From a high and rocky balcony, a lone Queen stood above her children. The chamber hummed with buzzing wings and growling monsters. The spirit slithered though the air and next to the leader of the beasts.
He sarcastically accused, “Do you really let your kids act this way to all the guests?”
The Queen hissed, “Discord. It’s been a long time. I thought you were turned to stone?” The armies of monsters were called off as they retreated back into their hives.
“Well, you see, Celestia and Luna turned my body to stone, not my spirit. You can’t kill a spirit, my dear sweet changeling, Chrysalis.” The partially intact Discord slithered himself around her and continued, “I can only stay in this sandy form for so long, so let’s be serious now.”
Chrysalis snarled, “What do you want?”
“Oh, I don’t need to talk to you. You’re not the one in charge around here, remember?” He floated by her and waved while hovering backwards, “Tootles, Queeny!” Discord entered a dome  where a large cocoon like structure hung from the ceiling. 
He yelled out, “Anybody home?”
The immense cocoon hinged open and a mist of green gas filled the floor of the chamber. Through the mist walked a much larger changeling insect, the King of the Changelings himself. He possessed a much more powerful body than his Queen and his eyes glowed like fiery embers, unlike the Queen’s emerald eyes. He had an extra set of legs, making three on each side. His neck tangled like Discord’s, though he possessed two, curved alicorn horns and an extra set of large, insect-like wings. He was a menacing and ancient foe to the world and fought with Celestia multiple times when the world was young.
Discord bowed and humbly greeted, “Ah, Hexarch, my old friend... How’s it hanging?” His maw opened, letting his jagged and poisonous fangs gap open as he talked.
“Long have I slumbered, regaining my strength from when Celestia banished me and my people to the Dead Lands. Why have you disturbed me, Prince of the Ancient World?”
Discord rose back up, “Well, since you asked, I have a little plan I’m conjuring up as I go about my business, you see? The Elements of Harmony will be birthed in our lifetimes, maybe they are even alive now, and if we do nothing then they will practically kill us both!”
Hexarch asked with a deep tone, “Do I sense a lie? You are a spirit, no? You cannot be killed.”
Discord replied, “Not by the Elements, no! But by a certain magical artifact the ponies possess, yes!” The draconequus slithered around the large insect’s neck and continued, “This is the part where you come in... When the time is right, I will cloak Equestria in chaos, also deceiving the Elements. To do this, I will cut my powers in half, and you will become a second me! You will distract them while I deal with the demigods! Sound like a deal?”
Hexarch hummed in thought and asked, “What’s in it for me and my ponies?”
“After I’m done with disposing the remaining alicorns and... him... you and your people can feast upon the love of the pony race! Then afterwards, when I move from continent to continent, reeking chaos at my whim, your people can come in behind me and feast upon their happiness! Everypony wins!” Discord levitated in front of the Changeling King and conjured a contract and quill in front of the King. The King read over it and laughed wholeheartedly.
Hexarch growled with delight, “Deal.”






(End of Part 3)




[End of Book 1]

> A Hearth's Warming Eve Special
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Secrets and Lies


is proud to present



A not so special



Hearth's Warming Eve Special

        





        
      Once, not so long ago, but quite a while ago,

                There was a town called Ponyville, which was covered in snow.

        
        In this town, of course, lived many little ponies,

                Who knew one another very close like cronies.

        
        Tis was a merry time on the eve of this holiday,

                And happiness did ensue, some might dare say.

        
        A day all ponies in Equestria joined in on,

                Though this was the eve, for the right day was at dawn.

       
This holiday, well you know the backstory too,

                So you might imagine its significance and hullabaloo.

        
        Ponies bought gifts for their friends and family,

                And hung decorations around for all to see.

        
        Yes, the town was much abuzz with holiday cheers,

                So much so that all had forgotten about their worries and fears.


Though not much was to fear during this festive day.

But when trouble is out there, it will find a way.


All but one were equine who lived in this place,

That one not of the rest felt very misplaced.

        
        He had never celebrated a holiday quite like this,

                Back home around this time, he celebrated Christmas.

        
        Who was this thing? Well you probably know his name,

                Zachary, the human, sat close to his hearth’s flame.

        
        He did not decorate his home to celebrate that night,

                Because he cared not for the day, he felt it quite trite.

        
        Well one could tell he was acting like a grouch,

                As he crossed his arms and leaned back on his couch.

        
        But who could blame him? He had no reason to be merry,

                The ponies still thought of him as a monster so scary.

        
        Even after all he done for them in the past,

                Whenever he was around, they would run away fast.

        
        He figured he would spend this holiday alone,

                As he stared into the fire and gave a sad moan.


        But one pink pony not too far away,

                Knew about Zack and where he did stay.

        
        And soon she left her home to go visit her Zack,

                For Hearth’s Warming Eve spirit she never did lack.


        Pinkie Pie was her name, and happiness she seemingly spread,

                But of course you know of this from what you have read.

        
        With a skip and a hop she bounded through the snow,

                And with a spring in her hoof, she pranced high and low.


        She was bundled in pink wrappings from head to hoof,

                As she leaped quickly and hastily from roof to roof.

        
        She carried a bag with her cutie mark on the outside,

                And in this luggage many sweet treasures were inside.

        
        Candy cakes, candy buttons, hard candies and candy canes,

                Some candy was even stuck in the tip of her mane.


        From blocks of fudge and chocolate covered treats,

                Carrying this heavy load was no small feat.

        
        She made all of this for the one she did love,

                And did not eat a single sweet, well, sort of.

        
        She finally made it to her dear friend’s address,

                With snow and sweets on her coat, she was quite a mess.

        
        Just then, Zachary heard a quite familiar chord,

                A blatant loud hammering called from his front door.

        
        As he made his way to the fond old rapping,

                Never did it stop, Pinkie’s constant tapping.

        
        He opened the door and not to a surprise,

                He met with a pony with the most beautiful eyes.

        
        Pinkie squealed with delight as she skipped right on in,

                Zack gave a quaint smile as she made her way to the den.

        
        She slipped off her bags and spilled the sweets on the floor.
                
                Zack knew that cleaning that up was going to be a chore.

        
        “I made you all these candies I knew you would miss!

                I hope you enjoy it!” she said with great bliss.

        
        Zack smiled and replied, “Why thank you Pinkie Pie.

                I really am grateful that you came by.

        
        You see, I was mighty lonely and was needing some cheer,

                And it brings me much joy to see that you are here.”

        
        She beamed with joy and hopped over to Zack,

                Pinkie hugged him tightly in a cuddling attack.

        
        She buried her head in Zack’s face, hugging him to death ,

                That Zack was finding it difficult to take a single breath.


        A sudden transition came over the filly,

                As she hopped off of Zack all ‘willy’ and ‘nilly’.

        
        “I have another surprise for you, but you have to go!

                You can’t come back in here until I say so!”


        She pushed Zack away into his kitchen room,

                Then she went back to the den in a lightning of a zoom.

        
        Zack was confused about Pinkie, her plans he did not know,

                So instead decided to fix a bit of hot cocoa.

        
        Here is a something new I bet you weren’t aware of,

                Zack’s favorite drink was hot chocolate, which he did very love.

        
        As he prepared two cups of his chocolate brew,

                He heard Pinkie doing things–what exactly? No clue.

        
        Loud banging and clashing and all sorts of commotion,

                Gave Zack an unpleasant and too familiar notion.


        But he digressed and went right back to his stirring,

                Trying to ignore Pinkie’s brash noises and thunderous whirring.

        
        Though something seemed off out of the corner of his eye,

                Something from the window, something near by.


        He thought it was his Nox or a snow pony’s face,

                But he made his way over, just in case.

        
        He peered out the window and to his surprise,

                He was meet by two very unfamiliar eyes.

        
        Bug like in appearance with two great blue spheres,

                It made Zack jump in fright expressing immediate fears.

        
        The creature then darted away from his sight,

                As woodland creatures do in utter fright.

        
        Zack did not know what he had just seen,

                It looked like no pony, no, it looked too mean.

        
        Dark in complexion with white sharp teeth,

                “A creepers outside.” Zack did seethe.

        
        He grabbed a near by pan and made his way to the door,

                Fright filled his body as he raced across the floor.

        
        “Zachary!” Pinkie yelled at her disobedient friend,

                “You ruined the surprise and I can’t start again!”

        
        Zachary shouted, “Pinkie, something’s outside peeping,

                I’m going to figure out why this thing is around creeping.”

        
        Pinkie hushed up and followed behind trusty Zack,

                She became quite afraid and hopped on to his back.

        
        Zack was ready to force open the door in a flash,

                To find whom was out being a little too brash.

        
        He swung open the door and ran outside in the snow,

                Off went a shadow, into the town they go.


        Through a nearby ally did the creature run,

                Zack chased the being while Pinkie had fun.

        
        He wanted to stay careful, he feared for the worst,

                And into the dark corners, the three did traverse.

                
        Zack was gaining on the thing in the bitter, cold town,

                Closing in on the creature, he was running it down.


        The being was now cut off between a shop and a house,

                Zack had cornered it, like a cat to a mouse.

        
        It shivered and shuttered as its knees did shook,

                Zachary stepped closer to take a good look.

        
        The being was nothing he had seen before,

                With holes in its legs and a horn it did bore.


        It had wings too, but looked nothing like a pony,

                For Zack knew it was not, for it was a phony.


        He raised the frying pan he held in his fists,

                The creature yelled in horror as it stood in Zack’s midsts.


        Zachary was on the verge, about to strike it,

                When Pinkie hopped in front of him in a raging fit.


        “You wouldn’t dare!” she fumed in Zachary’s face,

                He had never seen her so angry in any time nor place.


        “Can’t you see that this poor creature did nothing to you,

                Its cold and its frightened, I thought you knew?

        
        It didn’t mean no harm, just look in its eyes,”

                She stomped her hoof and demanded, “Apologize!”


        Zack felt ashamed of himself as he dropped the pan,

                The creature hesitated from the actions of the man.


        The pony-like creature gave him a very quizzical look,

                Zachary motioned his hand and then the two shook.


        Before Zack could speak, the creature said, “Forgive me,

                I shouldn’t have been creeping around, I’m sorry.

        
        You see, I’m a changeling, without a name or a home,

                I was banished from my kingdom and now I forever roam.


        I was so cold and wanted a place to stay,

                But I was afraid my appearance wouldn’t frighten others away.”


        “Oh it’s quite fine, don’t be so silly,

                We’ll gladly let you stay,” said the pink filly.


        “Very much so! All is forgiven,” Zack said,

                “Come back to my house and have a warm bed.”

        
        “Oh, bless you and bless you again kind gent!

                For this Hearth’s Warming Eve will be very well spent!


        I will tell of your kindness years from now,

                Both to you friends–to you two, I bow.

        
        You have spared my life and I cannot offer the same,

                But may I ask, what is your name?”

        
        “My name is Zack, and this here is Pinkie Pie,

                It’s quite cold out here, so let’s get back inside!”

        
        “Dear Zack, dear Pinkie Pie. Here is my gift from me to you,

                I will name my two coming children after you two.


         My wife is far away, back at our hive,

                Is expecting twins, so I had hoped to come back alive.


I searched for food and a new place to stay,

So I came to Ponyville, which I thought was okay.


        But now I know I will live, for you have shown me mercy.”

                Off the friends departed, no longer two, but three.

        
        Thus Pinkie, Zack, and a Changeling now known as Hearth,

                Now celebrated together, for what it was worth.


        They told stories, drank and ate many sweet things,

                For this is what the holidays really brings.

        
        The night was spent well with new friends and old,

                At the warmth of a fireplace and not in the cold.

        
        Zachary showed pity and Pinkie showed love,

                And a new friendship was born to forever be beloved.



        

        And to you, the reader, whether home or away,

                Always remember that you have a place to stay.


        Whether with friends, or with family or perhaps even strangers,

                Just know that you always have a place away from the world’s dangers.


        Remember this lesson and you will always be warm,

                Tis this season which graces us in every way, shape, and form.

        
        For there is the Magic of Friendship always about,

                always believe and never, ever doubt.
> The Long Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



The Long Night





4 AM



        Silent and asleep, Ponyville was at peace in the shadows of the Equestrian valley it slept in. The stars glittered above, purple and white in their clusters of outstretching galaxies. The moon⸺in waxing gibbous⸺leaned on the mantle of a mountain’s ridge, shining down and lighting the streets below in a silken luminescence. Crickets cheeped in long calls to one another, and frogs grunted sweetly in tattered ponds and snaking brooks. Oil lamps flickered and danced in their glass prisons, casting orange shadows on the dirt walkways around town. A lulling wind passed by every once in a while, silencing the chattering insects and animals—if only for a moment. The cool, tranquil night had not eased everypony in the small village, one was still wide awake and awaiting her friend.
        Zachary took his time back home from The Foamy Fount, stumbling slightly and holding himself on passing trees and buildings. He made his way downtown, down the eerily quiet passages of Ponyville. It was a tad unsettling, being in such a busy place when no one was inhabiting it. He stopped for a moment to take it in, the soundless village-scape that by day bustled with carts, chatter, dust, and business. After he took a moment to appreciate the inappreciable, he sniffed loudly, breaking him from his thoughts and ushering himself to move onward.
        He slowly made his way home and attempted to step onto the porch silently. His left foot snagged on the first step and he quickly stepped forward and threw his arms out to counteract his fall. Luckily, he managed to stay on two feet, and breathed with relief that he didn’t bang his head on the front door. He regained himself and stood hunched at the front door, holding himself up on it with his elbow. He dug around his trouser pockets for his house key and found it with little difficulty. He placed it into the lock and turned, opening the door into a lit, warm home.
He almost immediately knew something wasn’t right. Zack knew he didn’t leave a fire unattended, or candles lit so carelessly about. He was more careful than that, he supposed; but now he began to question his own safety. His eyes scanned the living room until he finally noticed a little pink filly sitting in his human-sized armchair. She seemed annoyed, though her reddened eyes seemed tired and distressed. Nox, Zack’s thunderbird, was perched atop the seat, fluffed and cozy, nearly asleep.
        “Pinkie?” Zack said, still at a loss as to how she could have gotten in. “How did you...” She looked to her left and Zack followed her line of sight. His eyes fell upon the far window which was cracked open. He smiled lazily and made his way towards the window to close it.
        When he did and turned around, Pinkie abruptly asked, “And just where have you been?”
        He put a hand on the back of his head and sluggishly replied, “I’ve been away.”
        “I’ve been worried sick, Zackie. It’s four in the morning, for Celestia’s sake!”
        “Why are you so upset?” He posed to her, kicking off his shoes next to the door. “I’ve been gone for awhile, big deal.”
        “Big deal? Zack, you didn’t even tell me where you went?”
        “I didn’t think I would have to,” he spoke in a louder, belligerent tone. “Do I really need to tell you where I go or why I’ve been gone for such a long time? I have other priorities, and other ponies I would like to spend time with. Don’t think you’re the only pony I hang out with.” Pinkie sat forward in the chair, eyes hazy with mixed emotions.
Pinkie whimpered, “I thought you were okay with me spending the night here tonight.” The reality of that statement sunk into Zachary, and he felt a great weight swell in his chest. He rubbed his itchy eye and moaned with defeat.
        “I did say that, didn’t I?” Pinkie didn’t say a word, she just stared at him. The two filled the room with disappoint and wrongfulness; there was nothing he could do.
        “Alright, let’s go to bed.”
        “No,” she refuted, “I’m going home. Goodnight Zachary.” She sat up from the chair and made her way out the door. She closed it as she left with the curly hook at the end of her tail. The force of her departure made the pictures on the wall sway. Nox awoke in a sudden flurry of feathers, noticed Zachary, and squawked at him weakly.
        He looked over at the bird and remarked, “I know, I know. I screwed up.” Zack put his arm out and Nox climbed on. He put him in his cage and afterwards snuffed out the fire and candles. He made his way upstairs and into his room, holding onto the railing the best he could. He was exhausted, tipsy, and distraught; a combination he hadn’t achieved since he was on Earth. He opened the door to his room, took a few more weary steps towards his bed and fell forward. In a matter or minutes, he drifted into forgetful, bleak dreams.



11 PM


        North of Ponyville, just about a mile out of town, there is a roadside inn and bar called The Foamy Fount. It was a small hideaway that was known for their spiced ciders and robust griffon pale ales. The dark-wooded siding of the bar clashed with the warm, pumpkin-hued light that pressed through the windows. A line of thin, black smoke trailed upward into the night, and the smell of liquor and hearty stew filled the perimeter of the Font. Inside, there was commotion, laughter, and good tidings for all to be apart of. Music stirred the evening air as a lutist strummed sad and sweetly. Her voice carried the essence of the song she sang to a half-attentive crowd. As she swayed her body to the motions of the music, her hoofs danced across the fret board methodically and masterfully. Zachary was entranced as he sat at the bar with a half-full pint in his grasp.
        “My word,” he murmured aloud, though he had thought to himself. “She’s incredible.”
        “Aye.” acknowledged a stallion next to him. “Cotton Quote, err, by her stage name, ‘Cvothe’. She’s a local favorite ‘round here. Quite the songstress.”
        “No kidding!” The human took another swig. When he had brought the glass down, foam had remained seated on his upper lip.
        “She’s perhaps the reason why I come here,” the stallion went on, “to hear her lilt the way she does brings me out of gullies of despair.” He laughed to himself and downed the remainder of his cider.
        Zack looked over at the pegasus with suspicion and asked, “Valiant, how often do you come here?”
        The large pony smiled at him and chuckled, “Does that even matter?”
        “No, but aren’t you afraid of being seen drinking? You are the Six-Star General of Harmony after all. Don’t you need to represent an image or something?”
        Valiant pushed the mug away from him and towards the edge of the counter. He leaned an elbow on the table and faced Zachary saying, “I don’t think it matters. I never asked for this position, so I don’t mind if I have it taken away, if it comes down to it. Maybe that matters where you’re from, but here, I don’t think too many ponies care if they even saw Celestia hammering them down as if the sun wasn’t going to rise tomorrow.”
Zack held back a soft giggle at that thought. Their attention turned back to Cvothe as she played on. Once again, Zachary was entranced by the mare and her song of lost love.


“Two loves partook in wandering,


through worry wrought in wood.


A tale through time a sunder,


rings a truth that never could.


One in deep longing,


and one in deep unease,


Another day by passing,


a wronging heart will please;


The lasting bond with the spirit,


who was cast from starry seas.


Casts from starry seas.



Till day she worries still,


if he shan’t return,


Trills and twisted mind that mills,


she can’t unyearn the feelings,


she has for her love.


Her sweet and broken love.”


        The music emptied into the corners and hidden places of the Foamy Font as she bowed before her audience. A decent crowd cheered for the red-headed mare as she smiled and bowed again, blowing kisses to all who accepted them. Zachary stood up from the bar-stool and clapped vigorously for her. She blew a kiss his way and he sat back down on the narrow, pony-sized seat.
        “Wow...” he said to himself, “I wonder what her song means.”
        Valiant, eyeing the bartender for another drink, asserted, “If you were halfway paying attention to her instead of your drink and me, you would probably know.”
        Zachary weakly chuckled under his breath, “Heh, true, I suppose.”
        Valiant looked over at him and drunkenly smiled, “I guess you’ll have to come back and stick around.”
        The waitress almost passed by the two again, but Valiant called out to her just in time.
        “Miss! Miss!” he hailed. She noticed him and trotted lovingly over to him.
        “Ah,” she crooned delightfully, her eyes flitting over him sweetly, “Mister Valiant. How could I make your evening, hmm?”
        “You could start by refilling me and my good buddy’s mugs here,” he opened his wing and rested it on Zack’s shoulder. “I’d say that would be a good start.”
        “Certainly!” She used her unicorn magic to lift the two mugs while tossing her hay-golden mane out of her line of sight. Her eyes trailed up Valiant’s form as she supposed, “But perhaps sometime tonight I could make your evening.”
        Valiant leaned a little closer over the bar. “Free drinks is a start to a good evening, don’t you say?”
        She laughed and reclined back, “You’re funny and clever, Mister Valiant. But while I’m pleasing your appetite, maybe later you could please mine. I’m mighty parched.” Before she turned back, she gave a wink at Valiant and sauntered away with a swing in her hips.
        “You lucky stallion, you!” Zack said, giving him a friendly jab at his shoulder. “She’s practically waiting to-”
        “She’s not getting any⸺at least from me.”
        “What?! Why?” Zack leaned towards him, “Dude, this your chance.”
        “I’ve had plenty of chances, I don’t need another mare in my life.” He keenly looked over at Zack and added, “She might could deal with someone like you. Mares are all over getting exotic these days.”
        “Ehh...” Zack looked away and thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know how I feel about that. I haven’t warmed up to ponies in that way. I’m not sure if I’ll ever think of mares like that.”
        “Well, you could have that answered by tonight if you allowed her to have her way with you.”
        “You might have a point, but I think I’ll pass.”
        The flaunty mare made her way back over to them. After she placed the mug in front of Valiant, she sweetly put the mug in Zachary’s hands and said, “Enjoy now.” Zack quickly smiled, though he was uncertain if he was blushing or not as she held her hooves over his hands for an extended period of time. Before he knew it, she went back to work before Zack could speak his mind.
        Valiant took hold of his frothy cider and smirked. “The wise and smooth Zachary. The hero of Equestria never ceases to amaze me.”
        “Oh, shut up,” he jokingly barked back. Zack took a few gulps of refreshing cider and carefully placed it back down on the smooth, silky bar.
        Cotton Quote was now making her way out the back entrance, lute in haul around her flank. The hoopla she had caused began to die down overtime; one could now hear the crackling of the expansive fireplace in the far corner, the chiming of glasses, squeaking chairs, and the muffled voices and laughs of other ponies. Zack and Valiant were lost in their own thoughts, eyes drowning in their own mugs.
        “Zack,” Valiant said. The human broke away from his distant contemplations and looked over at his friend. He noticed Valiant didn’t look as cheery as did a few minutes ago.
        He shot him a smile and replied, “Yeah, buddy?”
        “I never told you why I wanted to become a guard, did I?” Zack thought for a moment, teetering his mug on its edges.
        “No. I never really asked.”
        “All this thinking about mares and such...” he leaned back and looked up at the hanging mugs above him, “got me to thinking about times long and spent.” He looked over at Zack, his eyes now cold and calculating. “I want to tell something⸺No, I need to tell something.”
“Tell them what?”
The pegasus sighed, he looked at his hooves, then back to Zachary.
        “I’m going to be honest, Zack. You’re the closest pony—well, human I know.”
        Zachary snorted a laugh, “Well of course. I’m the only human you know.” Valiant then realized what he had said and laughed aloud.
        “Ah, this isn’t the way I thought it would go, but let me reiterate: Zack, I want to tell you why I became a Royal Guard. Not many ponies know the full story. Heck, I really only think Celestia knows...”
        Zack leaned slightly closer. “Okay, you have me interested. Need another beer?” Zack turned and began looking for the flirtatious mare that had been serving them, but Valiant halted his progress.
        “No, no, I’m fine. I’ve had enough.” He smiled to himself and said aloud, “When I get to this point where I’m telling my sob stories, I know I’ve had too much.”
        “Hold on now. You don’t have to tell me anything, Valiant.”
The stallion threw a hoof on Zack’s shoulder and implied, “I want to tell you. I want me to hear it come out of myself. It’ll do me some good too.”
        “Well, alright then. If you say so.”
        The pony pointed a stern hoof at the human and corrected him, “I know so!” He then drained his glass and slid it away. Valiant readjusted himself on the booth and faced the human, looking rather comfortable where he sat.
        “Let me begin by saying Canterlot wasn’t all pretty and clean like it is today. When I was a colt, half of it was dirty and pushed aside. Of course, the rich and swab still lived in the heart of the city, and the guards kept those parts of the streets clean from crime and debauchery, but I’d say the, well, the misfortunate and working class lived in the Ridges. The Ridges were the lower half of Canterlot which crept into the mountainside. Here you’d find the true citizens of Canterlot, as well as the poor, the sick, the vile, and all the rest in between. Now I didn’t grow up here, no I grew up in the rich part of town, but we weren’t living comfortably.”
        “So you grew up in Canterlot? Being a pegasus I thought you would have lived in Ponyville or Cloudsdale.”
        “You would think, being that Canterlot’s majority of citizens were unicorns, but my situation was a bit different. My parents weren’t around when I grew up, as you already knew, so my father’s friend took us in.”
        “Wait, us?”
        “Yeah, me and my brother Noble.”
        “I didn’t know you had a brother!”
        “...Anyways, I grew up with a detective, Seamus Gumhoof. He was great in a lot of ways, but I couldn’t see that at the time. Looking back, he did so much for us that I wish I could have thanked him when I did. At the time, we mostly quarreled and fought. I wished I had grown up elsewhere then Canterlot, I thought it was dreadful. I wished me and brother had a better hoof dealt to us, but in life, I think everyone thinks that.”
        “I certainly have.”
        “The past is riddled with ghosts and demons⸺Seamus use to say⸺whether we allow to become possessed by these thoughts is for us to decide. That was one of the many sayings he had told me and which I idiotically overlooked. Now thinking about it makes me sick that I ignored his wisdom.” Valiant shifted in his chair and lightly cleared his throat before returning to the story.
        “I got to see a lot of the dirty underbelly of Canterlot, though that’s only because I forced myself in there. Seamus took me along one day to show me what he did and to keep me out of trouble. I wasn’t in flight school at the time, so usually I just hung around the house and kept the cogs moving. We first actually went to Canterlot castle itself, though we just stayed in the garden. The statue of Discord had gone missing, and Seamus had to point out to the royal guards that the statue wasn’t just a statue, but a prison for Discord himself. Now how the statue was stolen was a mystery, there’s magical alarm barriers throughout the castle and even lifting a statue of that size had to take at least two dozen pegasi to lift in the air. Now we really couldn’t do anything about it, nor did we find any clues at the time, but what we did know was that the larceny of the statue was more important than what prominence the guards gave it.”
        “What do you mean? They didn’t take it too seriously?”
        “Well, they took it like any other robbery. They didn’t think of it with any more importance than what might a stolen purse be to them. Now if Celestia was there, she would had ordered them on high alert. Unfortunately, she was on a diplomatic retreat.”
        “That’s hard to imagine the guards wouldn’t do anything. Why didn’t they do anything?”
        “The thing is, Zack, the Royal Guards weren’t like they are today. They were lax; they were comfortable in the safety of Celestia’s reign of peace. They knew nothing horrible would happen, but Seamus saw through and persisted. He knew about Discord and what insanity he caused in his brief reign of Equestria. To many, Discord’s chaos was more of a pony’s tale than a true, historical event.” Valiant stopped one of the bartenders and acquired a glass of water for both him and Zack.
He took a gulp and continued, “That night, he took me to a local bar in the Ridges. It was fantastic, it was one of my fondest memories with him, and a night that changed my perspective on Seamus completely. No longer did I find him to be a careless, heartless, and depressed stallion, but as a true pony with heart. He introduced me to so many interesting ponies that night,” smiling, he went on, “as well as introducing me to alcohol.” Zack grinned and took a sip of water from his glass. “Of course he wasn’t there to just get drunk, he had ponies to meet, old friends from the Ridges he had to discuss today’s findings about. I didn’t know this till much later though, I was busy and lost in the moment.” Valiant leaned back, and in his eyes you could tell he was wistfully reminiscing that night.
“And then I saw her, a mare I had met before, a mare who still has my heart. Amber Tides. I had met her once, she was Noble’s teacher. I had walked him to flight school once, and we met briefly. It was short of a miracle seeing her in such a trashy place; an angel in tartarus. We met, and we danced that night, partly due to us partaking in liquid courage.” He breathed smoothly and smiled sweetly. His gaze was distant and mind far flung from the present moment. Zack had never seen him in such a peaceful state.
“I still remember as fondly as ever. If only I was lucid enough at the time to know how fortunate I was to be with her...” The stallion came back to reality, his air of serenity slowly ebbed into an icy expression.
“Then, it all changed. It felt so sudden. The bar was attacked, magical volleys from magitech weaponry scorched the place. Somehow, Amber, Seamus, and I escaped out the back. Whoever came in was looking for Seamus. They knew that he knew too much and wanted to end it. We took Amber home and when we came back to the house, we found the door broken down.” Zack held his hand to his mouth and gasped.
“It was horrible, the place was trashed and Seamus’ piles of paperwork had been thrown askew. Somepony was looking for something in Seamus’ work and took whatever he had found, according to Seamus. It didn’t occur till a moment after that Noble had been asleep upstairs when we left. I raced upstairs to see that he was gone. I was on the verge of a panic attack, and had the energy to search the entire city to find my brother. Seamus tried to calm me down though and made me some tea. I drank it, but I still was pissed out of my mind. What I didn’t realize until the morning after was that Seamus had slipped something in the tea I drank and I had fallen asleep in the chair I was sitting in.
“He had stalled me long enough for me to pass out, and when I woke, I found a note from Seamus saying that I should stay here, that looking for Noble was too dangerous. Seamus worked best when he did things his way and alone, but I couldn’t just stay put. Without any clue on where to even begin, I set out to the Ridges. I went to the bar and found that it was closed, and that they were having a memorial service for the bar owner, who had been shot the night before. I went to it and found other ponies from last night. I told them what happened and asked if they knew anything about the mobsters from last night. They didn’t have a clue who they were, all they knew was that the only way they could have gotten magitech rifles from out of Canterlot.”
“I didn’t realize they had magitechnology from when you were a colt. I thought that magitech was relatively new.”
        “It’s been around for quite sometime, but Equestria’s been easing up on the laws for years now. It’s only a matter of time till they’re unbanned. Back then, it was much harder to come across magitech, especially magitech weaponry.”
        “So, how did they get the magitech?”
        “It had to be snuck in, and the only way to really sneak such stuff in is through the sky yard. There wasn’t a train up to Canterlot back in those days, and the roads up to Canterlot were too dangerous for bulk shipping. Even if they were to sneak such items, they were patrolled by Royal Guards, so it would be impossible to sneak them in by those routes. So the only way they could ship items in bulk was by pegasi freights. You hardly see them being used in Equestria these days since the building of the railways and the development of better roadways, but the sky yards was the only answer back then. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get into the sky yards without having the right credentials. It’s located very close to the castle, it’s in a crystal cave where the waterfalls above the city are located. Some of the ports are in the waterfalls themselves, every now and then, you could watch the pegasi freights swoop in from Cloudsdale and land under an opening that parted the water.”
        “I never knew that placed existed... Are they still used?”
        “I’m sure they’re used for something, but not for any sky yard business, that’s for sure.”
        Valiant leaned a hoof on the table and sighed. “Well, I was at my wit’s end early in the game. Until I got home, it didn’t even occur to me to look through Seamus’ notes. It would take a lot of coffee and a night’s worth of reading to find what I was looking for. It was beyond difficult finding everything I needed to know in a sensible order, and for the most part I was confused most of the night. Seamus worked in his own mess, and never filed reports like a professional detective would.”
Valiant took a sip and continued, “I eventually discovered that, for years, Seamus had been on the trail of a certain group of individuals...” Valiant peered around the bar. Every other pony seemed to be in their own discussions, or too inebriated to focus on what he was talking about.
He leaned closer to Zack and said under his breath, “Seamus had been on the verge of discovering the Cult of Discord.” Zack’s eyes widened with disbelief.
        “What?” said the human rather loudly. He didn’t cause the stir he had thought he would, and was relieved that he didn’t. He looked back at an annoyed Valiant and whispered, “But, that’s an ancient order. Wasn’t it dissolved by Luna in the Everfree Raids?”
        “Ah, so you know your history.”
        “I only know that much of the cult, that it didn’t last long after Discord’s reign.”
        “As like all secret orders, they never truly die. Once they begin, they set their roots in history, and as long as there are powerful secrets undiscovered, it will live on.”        
“So what did the cult have to do with anything?”
        “The cult was established in an attempt to resurrect Discord...”
Zack scratched his chin and thought, “I’m beginning to see where this is going.”
“As did I when I learned about the cult in Seamus’ writings.”
        “But if they stole the statue, then how would they even attempt to break Celestia’s spell on it? It’s alicorn magic infused with the Elements of Harmony. Together, that’s the strongest type of known magic there is.”
        “If you know how, Zachary, any magic can be undone. Magic is just energy. Though one cannot truly destroy magical energy, it can be transferred by outside forces. Now the spell itself was a riddle beyond riddles; Celestia made sure that a simple unicorn couldn’t break it. After encasing Discord in stone, the Royal Sisters reinforced the spell with their own magic. Discord’s prison is sealed with many locks, and the keys to those locks involve magic that one couldn’t simply learn in a book.”
        Valiant looked up into the bemused Zack and noted, “So now why do you think they needed Gumhoof’s notes? Well Seamus was much brighter than he looked. He was an avid bookworm, keen on history and psychology. I remember as a colt looking over all the long overdue library books he had collected that involved everything from advance magical spells, pegasi flight research, to classic earth pony remedies. In fact, he was nearly a protégé of Celestia’s, even though he was a earth pony himself.”
“What!? That’s insane! He must have been really good at what he did.”
        “Unfortunately, that never came to be, but from what I hear, his niece became one.”
        Zack’s eyes twinkled with enlightenment, but before he could speak on the matter, Valiant continued, “Seamus had been researching the Cult of Discord for years. Celestia had put him up to the task because she wanted to trust only her dearest allies with the flaws of her kingdom. Well, Seamus was on the verge of discovering something, a crack in the prison, he had been informing Celestia through private messages that was suppose to be given directly to her through the Royal Guard. What he didn’t know was that cult leaders were in the Royal Guard itself, and they had been reading his letters.”
        “Wait,” Zack said abruptly, “so that’s how the statue was stolen! There were cult members in the Royal Guard, and one night they took a chance, dispelled the security spells, and moved the statue!”
        “Exactly! The Cult had been buying its time since its fragmentation in the Everfree Raids, they weren’t powerful enough yet to do what they had been planning. They had been researching the spell on the statue for years through what they knew. Now that they had the statue, they could break the spell even quicker. So, it was only a matter of time... Seamus had to only find out where the Cult was located in Canterlot so that he could take the Royal Guard and bust them. They had struck first though, and struck hard. It was then I knew if they could be anywhere, it would be at the sky yard. It was the most likely place, and I had to sneak in there.
        “So that night, I crept around guards and flew from roof to roof, slowly sneaking into the compound. It wasn’t guarded too well, but it was still rough getting in. Once I got in though, I hid among the freights, followed guards around, and watched for hours on end. Eventually, I was caught, but I wasn’t thrown out. They knew who I was, and they brought me before a sky yard spring where the waterfalls originated from. They tied me up and interrogated me. They knew I lived with Gumhoof, and they asked where he was. They couldn’t break the spell without his information. It seemed like only he knew about the crack and how to widen it. When they realized I wasn’t going to speak, no matter what they did to me, they brought my brother out. He too was tied up, and the cultists were going to throw him into the dark waters of the sky yard caverns.
        “It seemed like there was nothing I could do, and it was then Seamus showed up with some of the buddies he had been talking with at the bar. I learned that he couldn’t convince the Royal Guard to come or believe him, so he had to find his own soldiers. When they attacked, they immediately threw me and my brother into the waters. I was tied up and could barely swim, but I managed to squirm over to my brother and I desperately tried to chew the ropes binding him. I couldn’t help him escape, and...” He swallowed and looked away. Valiant’s eyes grew cold. Zack’s heart sank, he knew what was coming.
        “I watched him... I watched the light leave his eyes.” He looked up at Zachary, his face was stern and unmoved. His mind was scarred and callused from the years he spent tearing the scab off the wound he received from the event.
        “Zack, I’ve seen many ponies die over the years. I’ve been close to many of them, and a few have even died in my hooves. But never... never have I seen a more insidious, cruel death so real and terrible as my brother’s. The look in his expression, the sorrow he expressed as he screamed out for me. All I could do was watch him sink... sink into the dark waters... into a blackness you couldn’t fathom...” The two of them sat there in silence, Zack didn’t know what to say.
        “I was saved, of course. Seamus dove in and rescued me in the nick of time. I begged him to go back in and save Noble, though he knew what had happened, and knew it was too late. He left me tied up on the shore, he had to help his friends out, he had to continue the battle at the docks. I was left sobbing on the shoreline of that cavern, I couldn’t believe what had happened...”
        Zack finally spoke up, though he knew what he was going to say couldn’t help ease the pegasus. “I’m sorry, Valiant. That’s horrific what you had to go through. I couldn’t imagine that happening to me. I don’t know what I would have done.”
        He looked over at Zachary and did the most unthinkable thing in that moment, he smiled. Valiant had once again lead Zack into a mire of confusion. The human had no idea how to react, so he simply stared back, unable to utter a word or sound.
        “It’s okay,” Valiant finally said. “I’ve dealt with this for many years. Any pony could have come away from my situation as broken as the day it happened. They wouldn’t want healing, they wouldn’t want to forget. I’ll never forget the death of Noble, nor will I ever be healed... All we can do is move on. We can’t ever stop, though we can’t forget what we’ve been through either. This has made me who I am today, and for that I thank my brother. I would have never been in the Royal Guard, I never would have meet you, I never would had done the amazing things we’ve done together. I could be miserable every waking second, or I can continue to live, and learn, and love.”
        Zack thought for a moment, and gradually, he simply smiled and nodded his head. There was really nothing more Valiant could say on the matter. His mind was clear and awake, unfogged and blemish-free from a horrible past.
        Zack denoted, “That’s some great advice.”
“Not mine, of course. Seamus told me that. So in the end, the cult retreated and the statue was left in the sky yard. Celestia then imprisoned it within Canterlot Castle and duplicated a false statue in the garden when she returned to the city. No news reports were made and no one knew the wiser. Seamus, however, he was still in trouble. The cult was out there, and Canterlot wasn’t safe for him anymore. He had to leave, and he knew he couldn’t tell anypony where he was heading. No matter how much I wanted him to stay, he wouldn’t. He told me what I told you, and that gave me assurance for a better future. I told him I wanted to help him out in any way I could.
        “We then visited Canterlot Castle and we spoke with Princess Celestia. We told her everything, and she decided to enlist me into the Royal Guard. I gladly accepted, and for the last twelve years, that’s what I’ve been doing. I worked up from maintaining the bunkers and polishing armor to where I’m at now.”
        Zack took in a deep breath and placed his hand on Valiant’s shoulder. “I’m glad you told me that, that was a great story. I’m also glad that you’re at ease with it all.” A thought occurred to Zachary and he asked, “Whatever happened to Amber Tides?”
        “Ah, well, I’m not really sure. She was in the midst of everything that happened as much as I was. I asked Celestia during our meeting, and she had informed me that she was being relocated, along with a few others that helped Seamus in the battle that night. She said that she would be getting her name and physical identity changed. It’s a shame, I enjoyed how she looked. I wasn’t too keen on what Celestia told me next, on how she had altered Amber’s mind to forget what all had happened, and to make it seem like she moved away from Canterlot on purpose. It’s for the better, I suppose.”
        Zack, trying to be optimistic, added, “Heck, you may meet her again. Who knows?”
        “I doubt she’ll remember me. But hey, you could be right. She’s still a pegasus after all. She’s probably still in Equestria. If we do run into each other, we’ll likely never know it, but something might spark between us.”
He smiled wide and called out to the bar mare, “Hey! Another round over here!”
        And that’s all Zack could remember after that moment.