> Fallout Equestria: Days Long Gone
>  by Raikage77
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: The Wasteland
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prologue: The Wasteland

"Everypony has a choice, but when it comes down to it, what would you do? Set fire to the enemy, or set fire to the world?"

The world was a beautiful place, once upon a time. Bright blue skies and green plant life growing for miles, even in the biggest cities there was color to be seen, rather it was from building, of the colorful fur of the creatures I'd come to love.

Looking back on it, I hated the world as it was now.

There was no color, at least not the way it used to be. All that was left in the world now was gray and brown, mostly. You could call it dull, or drab, though a better term for me was utter shit.

I sat outside the ruins of what once used to be a school. The building was a shell of it's former self, the roof was half caved in, the grounds of the once beautiful schoolyard was now filled with dead trees, rusted metal, and the few bones of the little ones who played there; enjoying their last fun filled moments, until it was just gone in a flash of fire and radiation.

And what made it worse, was that I knew some of them. I smiled a little, thinking of the looks on their smiling faces when we played around, and I let them ride on my shoulders.

I leaned back and starred up at the sky, but the gray cloud cover did nothing but take me out of the moment.

Now ...it was all gone, nothing was left, and I was still here to wonder the wastes until I died ...if I died.

The school I was in front of was called ...Haybell, my memory wasn't as good as it used to be. Not saying that I can't remember the more recent things that happen, because I can. But, it got harder to remember things from back then, the way things used to be.

Bang!

I ducked my head down, diving off the steps behind a low brick wall, just as some idiot took a shoot at me from the other side of the dirt road, somewhere in the trees. Back leaned up against the wall, I pulled back the right sleeve on my makeshift cloak, revealing the army green mini computer that was my PipBuck. I used the EFS(Eyes-Forward Sparkle) to get an idea of what I was dealing with; four red indicators showed up on the screen, two behind the trees and two others heading across the road to my left to try and get the drop on me while I wasn't looking.

I put my arm down and sighed. I didn't feel like this today. Then again, I didn't feel like dealing with this everyday for the past few centuries.

I pulled my nine-milimeter handgun free from it's holster on my hip. As I did so, the world became a red tint in my left eye, to anyone looking at me it would have looked like my eye got a sudden red glow in the pupil and around my cornea.

The first two enemies may have thought they were safe behind the trees, but they were sadly mistaken. My eye wasn't only a prosthetic, it was also a weapon prototype that was supposed to be used in the war.

I turned and peaked over the wall, catching sight of the two raiders trying to flank me. Another shot came from the trees, as another bullet missed my head by a few inches. My left eye caught the movement of the raider holding an assault rifle, his body outlined in red; I wasted no time and aimed my gun at the treeline and fired twice in quick secession.

The raider took hits to the head and shoulder and dropped dead. I turned the weapon on the other two, pulling the trigger. The first one's head snapped back in a spatter of skull, blood and brain matter, while the second turned tail and galloped towards the trees.

Turning my gun, two shots found his left flank and hid leg, and he went down, kicking up dust. "Ahh! Shit! Fuck!" I heard him shout, squirming in pain.

I ducked my head down just as the second raider in the trees started firing at me, bullets embedding themselves in the faded, aged brick. Eventually, he had to stop to reload. I peaked over the wall waiting, then when he leaned back out, gun aimed in my direction, I activated S.A.T.S. and pulled the trigger.

Bang!Bang!

The first shot hit the tree, but the second struck home; a bullet to the brain and the raider was off to meet his maker. I held up my PipBuck, checking to see if there were anymore surprises in store for me. When I saw nothing show up on the small screen, I stood and vaulted over the wall; the last remaining raider was trying to crawl away, using his front hooves, I walked over to him and stepped down on his wounded leg, getting a pained yell out of him.

"You know, this won't have happened, if you hadn't attack me," I said, putting my gun to the back of his head. "Life is already fucked up as is, and you raiders and slavers come out and make things worse."

"What the fuck are you?" The raider uttered in fear, looking at me from the corner of his eye. He could see right up my hood from this angle.

I smiled. Not a sadistic smile, but a smile of nostalgia. What he said reminded me of the first time I ended up in this world, back then.

So I said what I said back then. "None-ya."

"W-what?"

"None of your damn business." Then I pulled the trigger.

Once the raider was dead I began checking the bodies for anything useful. I found a few bottle caps and ammo, I also took the assault rifle. To my surprise the last raider I searcher had a tin full of Mint-als, it wasn't Party Time, but I'd take what I could get.

I stuffed the tin can into my fanny pack under my dirty brown cloak, then threw the rifle strap over my back and began my travel through the Equestrian Wasteland. As I walked, my boots crunching the rock and dirt underneath, I looked back at the decaying school of Haybell.

Memories flowing back to me like a river, to a time when I was truly happy, when Equestria was a greener, better place.
> Memory-1: The Princess's Birthday
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory-1: The Princess's Birthday

"If I could go back and do it all over again, I would. But, even if I did, would it really change anything?"

I let out a groan when I felt a sudden weight hit my body. For most, this would have been unexpected, but for me it was the way I'd been woken up every now and then for years, so I'd come to expected it.

"Dad! Dad! Come on, wake up! Daddy!" A girlish voice exclaimed in glee.

Between the creaking of my bed, and the four small hooves jumping up and down on my back, I had no choice but to wake up and face the day. Groaning, I began pushing myself up, the filly hoping off my back as I flipped over and sat up in the bed.

I brought my hand to my mouth, yawning, and wiping the sleep from my eyes. I really hated mornings, which was one of the reasons why I was glad I had an afternoon job. But, today I had the day off.

As annoyed as I was, I couldn't help but send a smile to the small unicorn filly who stood at the edge of my bed. Her coat and small horn wine red, and her curly mane a beautiful shade of hazel brown, and eyes light green. My wonderful daughter whom I had adopted back when I was younger, around age nineteen going on twenty, from Celestia's Orphanage of Canterlot.

"Rose Blossom, how many times do I have to tell you," I began, not a single hint of annoyance in my voice. "People don't like it when people wake 'em up like that, it's rude."

"But, I'm not a person, Daddy. I'm a pony," Rose Blossom stated with a smile. I let out a sigh; she was right, when it came down to it, I was the only one of my kind in this country ...the only human in this world full of colorful, magical creatures.

Rose Blossom must have noticed the expression on my face change, because her smile dropped. She trotted over to me, and nuzzled my cheek, apologizing. "I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean to make you sad, again."

My mouth formed a sad smile, as I rubbed her mane. "I'm not sad, Rose, I'm just a little tired, that's all."

She looked up into my eyes. "Are you sure?"

I nodded, my smile becoming slightly bigger. "I'm sure, sweetie." That was a lie, but I didn't want her worrying about me. The truth was that I was sad. Even though I had lots of friends in this world, it got lonely, being the only one of your kind. No one to relate to physically. It was one of the reasons why I adopted Rose Blossom, she was one of the things that helped shave away the loneliness and grief of missing my family, missing my old friends. But sometimes it was hard not to feel it, wrapping around me like a cold blanket.

"So, Rose, what did you wake me for?" I asked, glancing over at the clock. It was only ten-forty five, and though I wanted to go back to sleep, it wouldn't be much use since my alarm was set to go off in fifteen minutes. "We've got all day to go shopping, you know. The party's not until later on."

"I know, but I really, really wanted to show you something," the filly said, bouncing with excitement.

I grinned. "Really now?"

"Mm-hmm~!" Rose Blossom nodded. "I was reading that book on magic auntie Twilight gave me last week, and I finally got a spell done."

"Alright, Rose. Let me see."

Rose gave another nod, and turned towards the nightstand. Pointing her horn at it, face scrunched in concentration, her horn started to give a red glow, and that same glow surrounded the alarm clock. A moment later, it slowly and shakily rose, stopping a few inches above the nightstand's wooden surface.

"Look, you see dad," she said, happily, turning to me, horn aglow. "I can do levitation now, just like all the grownups!"

I beamed at her and clapped, pride swelling in my chest. She been trying to do this for the past week and a half, and now she finally got it. "Good job, Rose! I'm so proud of you, kiddo!" I congratulated, picking her up and hugging her.

Rose Blossom hugged me back, giving a small giggle. "Thanks, daddy."

I placed her back down on the bed, smiling. "Tell you what, since you did such a good job, how about I make your favorite breakfast. How does that sound?"

Rose Blossom cheered in delight as she hopped in circles on my bed, chanting. "Yay~! Strawberry pancakes! Strawberry pancakes!"

I chuckled, stopping her with my hand before she could bounce up again. "Okay, okay. You can stop, Rose," I said. "Why don't you go downstairs and let me get cleaned up." It wasn't really a question, but all the same, Rose nodded and happily trotted out the room.

I swung my feet over the edge of the bed, and reached under my pillow, grabbing my black power fist pick and started to fix my flattened hair. My Afro wasn't huge, but it was getting there, rather slowly if you ask me. I remember years back, when I'd first ended up in this world, with nothing but the clothes on my back and a backpack full of textbooks.

The first night I slept in the guest room of the Apple family's farm house in Sweet Apple Acres; I got a lot of laughs the next morning (more so from Apple Bloom then anyone else because of my bedhead) but it was easily fixed with some water and a pick.

After finishing my hair, I stood and walked into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and made sure my hair was fixed right. Then I went downstairs to and began cooking breakfast for both me and Rose Blossom.

As I cooked, flipping pancakes over the stove, I singed a tune from one of my favorite bands back in my original home world.

I still remember the night you tried to kiss me through the window.
I tried to settle for the taste of touching glass over the sound of
answering machines, because I love the way your voice
it says it's gonna get back to me someday.
As I brace my knees you hold me down with your eyes.

Someday I'll drive, close both my eyes.
We'll swim in circles in the blue lights,
it's gonna be the best day of my life.

"Dad," Rose Blossom interrupted, before I could continue the next verse. "Today, what do you think we should get for a present? I can't think of anything."

I put a finger to my chin in thought, then shrugged. "You know, I can't think of a thing to get Luna, either. What do you suppose would be a good gift for an thousand year old alicorn?" It was like having to get a gift for a vampire, only I think for a vampire, it would be much easier to choose.

Rose Blossom didn't seem to have an answer. "Um ...maybe, something moon related. I mean, Princess Luna likes the stars and stuff, right?"

"Well, of course." I chuckled, taking out the finished pancakes and adding more mix to make others. As they cooked, I bent down and checked the haybacon that was in the oven; I didn't eat hay, but when you have a filly who loves it as much as Rose, you learn to cook a lot of pony cuisine. "She is the Princess of the Night after all. It's apart of her job."

I put on a pair of oven mitts and took out the bacon. "But, how about we eat first. We have all day until we need to be at the castle, anyway."

"Okay," Rose Blossom said. "I can't wait to show everypony I can levitate things now!"

I chuckled. "I know you can't, Rose."

When breakfast was done, we both ate at our small circular table made for four, we never got many visitors, unless you count the picnics in the backyard, or the crusaders reunion. Rose Blossom was like a black hole, she could eat you out of house and home if you let her. But, I didn't mind, there was never an issue when it came to food.


XxxxX


The streets of downtown Canterlot were packed with ponies, either going about their daily work route, or shopping at the many food stands in the market place that we passed by.

Back when I had first ended up in this world, I got a lot of stares whenever I'd go outside, even in Ponyville. I found it quite strange to see ponies doing things like fixing houses or delivering mail, and I still wasn't quite used to them talking back then.

Thing was that the same way I found them strange, they found me strange as well, and some even feared me because of my ''weird'' appearance. Until Princess Celestia told them all they had nothing to fear from me.

Now I could walk outside without much problem, I still got stared at sometimes by ponies who had yet to see ''The Human Of Equestria'', but that didn't stop me from smiling and waving.

As I walked, wearing a blue button up shirt and a pair of dark jeans (thanks to my friend Rarity for making an exact copy of what I'd wore back then, as well as other clothes in my wardrobe) Rose Blossom rode on my shoulder, looking over the colorful crowd.

"Hey, daddy, look!"

It was at some point when we could see our destination just a few cobblestone blocks away, that I ran into someone ...somepony that I hadn't seen for almost over a year.

The mare's multi-colored burgundy and light pink mane was cut to one side, and her tail had grown out slightly longer then the last time I'd seen her. She had tanned brown fur, light green eyes and three freckles on each cheek; she was trotting towards us at jogging pace, and had on a pony version of a sweatshirt and pants.

It was only when she got closer, that she finally took notice of me. "Well I'll be darned," she said in a heavy Bronx accent, coming to a stop in front of me and Rose Blossom. "It's been a while, long time no see, Steven."

"Babs Seed, it's good to see you again," I said, smiling down at the mare. "What have you been up to? You didn't come to the last CMC reunion last month."

"Yeah ...sorry about that. I had a few things I need to take care of." Babs Seed said apologetically, blowing her mane-bang out of her eye. "As for what I've been doing, mostly training and such. You know I've got to stay at my best if I'm gonna keep ma hooves on the title."

I gave a nod. "As expected from the champ," I stated. Babs grinned, then turned her attention to the filly on my shoulder.

"And, Rose Blossom? I barely noticed you," Babs Seed said, playfully. "Ya look a lot bigger then the last time I saw ya."

Rose Blossom giggled, and waved a hoof at the mare. "Hi, Ms. Bad Seed!"

"Hey now, it's Babs Seed, not Bad Seed, little filly," Babs said.

Rose giggled again. "I know that, silly," she said, smiling. "Dad was telling me yesterday about the time you first met."

"Oh, did he know," Babs said, sending me a playful glare.

I smirked, and put up my hand that I wasn't using to hold Rose in mock defense. "Come on, I wasn't the one who started acting like a bully, Babs."

Babs Seed blew at her mane and pouted. "You aren't gonna let me live that down, are ya? I was nine."

I shrugged. "True, but the girls did make a pretty catchy song in honor of your bullying," I stated. A moment later, Rose Blossom started singing.

Babs Seed, Babs Seed, what we gonna do?
Got a bully on our tail
gotta hide, we gotta bail
Babs Seed, Babs Seed-!

"Alright, alright, you can stop singing," Babs Seed interrupted. She looked up at me. "You taught her the song, too?"

"What, it's just a song," I said.

Babs shook her head at me. "Whatever. Anyway ... I've gotta run. Finish up this roadwork then head on back to the gym." She said as she started trotting past us. "Maybe we can hangout sometime, get coffee or somethin'."

"Sure, I'd like that. And don't be a stranger, come by the house anytime," I said, smiling. She sent me a nod and picked up her trot, slowly disappearing into the crowd of ponies.

Babs Seed, one of my closest and oldest friends, she had come a long way from the blanked flanked filly I had grown up with in my teen years. Now, she was a champion pro-boxer (a relatively new sport in Equestria, and even somehow had gotten the same name. There were always an odd number of things in this world that were similar to my old one, like guns) and even had the cutie mark for it, in the form of two boxing gloves on each flank.

"We should get going now, dad," Rose Blossom said into my ear.

I gave her a nod and resumed walking. "Right, we still have to get Luna a gift, and buy you a dress for tonight," I said, before smiling. "It was really good to see Babs again, don't you think, sweetie?"

"Yeah," Rose answered. She was quiet a moment, then added. "I hope she can teach me some of her awesome boxing moves~!"

I chuckled. "We'll have to see about that. But, I'm sure she won't mind."


XxxxX


it was around seven o' clock when we made it to the castle, before that we had stopped at home to change into something nice. I was wearing a black suit with a white button up shirt underneath, and black dress pants and shoes. As for my adorable little angel, Rose Blossom was wearing a dark green dress with a bow in the back of it. Unlike me, who kept the same hair style as always, her hair was put into a ponytail, with one bang hanging over her right eye.

As for a gift: we ended up getting Luna a crescent moon pendent, made from a blue gem stone. Quite a few bits went into it, but it was worth it.

We were greeted by two guard ponies who kept watch over the front gate.

"Sir Steven," the one on the right greeted with a nod. "How are you this fine evening?"

"I'm well, and you two?"

"We're fine," the unicorn mare on the left said. "We had to arrest some earth pony last night, other then that, nothings changed."

"Really, what did the earth pony do?"

"Trying to smuggle drugs from the zebra nation into Canterlot," she answered. "He has been brought in for questioning. But he won't say a word about who he's working for, or where he got them."

Great. Even in this world, you have to worry about drug problems. "I'm sure he'll spill the beans, eventually." I said, smiling at the two. "Good job catching him, though, that's one less drug dealer on the streets selling their poison."

"It's no problem, it's our job after all. But thank you for the kind words." The unicorn mare's horn glowed and the gate to the castle opened with a soft squeal. "Please go on in, sir, the princesses are waiting for you."

I gave them a nod and walked down the pathway, while Rose Blossom shot them a smile, waving, as she skip-trotted behind me.

The inside of the palace hadn't changed much since the last time I had been here, which was around a few months ago, give or take. There were some new vases and such, one being an large slim blue with gryphon cultural art, that looked like something you'd fine in ancient Greece.

"Hmm ...Celestia seems to really like painting that depict history," I mused, looking over the vase as we went by. "Don't you think so, Rose?"

I didn't get an answer.

"Rose?" I turned, calling her name. She wasn't there, the corridor behind me was completely empty. I remember all the times I'd gotten lost in the halls of the palace, even now there were parts of it I had yet to see. If she wondered off somewhere when I wasn't looking-. "Rose! ...Rose Blossom!"

Alright, now I was starting to get worried. I searched both sides of the hall, then turned back around.

...Only to find myself nose to muzzle with a pink face!

"Surprise~!"

"Ahhh!" I stumbled back in fright and fell on my butt, hard. "Ow, jeez! What the hell, Pinkie Pie!"

The cotton candy maned mare went into one of her giggle, snorting fits, floating with a ton of balloon tie to her. There was also laughing coming from overhead, I turned my head up and saw the second culprit of the prank.

"Ah ha ha~! Wow, Steven, you are just too easy to get!" It was rainbow maned mare, Rainbow Dash, and in her forehooves she held Rose Blossom, who was laughing it up, too.

I sucked my teeth and pouted, gather myself off the ground. "That's not funny, I was starting to worry."

"Aw c'mon, big guy, Rose wasn't even gone for a minute." She said, descending to the marble floor, placing Rose back on her hooves. Rainbow was wearing her uniform, the one she got when she joined the new Equestrian Skyguard "You'll get us back ...one day, maybe."

"Yeah, daddy, I'm okay, see," Rose Blossom added, trotting up to smiling. "You have to admit it was a little funny."

I gave a small chuckle. "Alright ...you got me, baby girl." I turned back to Pinkie Pie; she was back on her hooves again ...wait, what happened to all those ballo- ...you know what, I'm not even gonna ask. "So ...uh, are you two the only one here right now? You know, besides the princesses, of course."

"Nope, everypony's here already," Pinkie Pie answered, bouncing up and down on her hooves. "You both were the last ones who didn't arrive, so me and Dashie came out here to check on you, and then when we found you, I thought, Hey, this could be a good time to pull a prank on you, so we did and I was like: surprise~! And you were like: Ahhh! And Dashie was like-!"

I stopped her by closing her mouth with hand, but she still mumble behind it. Pinkie Pie will always be Pinkie Pie, no matter how much time passes.

I sighed. "I get it, Pinkie. So, were are everyon ...uh, everypony now?" I asked, letting go of her muzzle.

Her smile widened as she answered. "In the ballroom! Come on! It's time for a ''happy one thousand years plus birthday party, party~!'' Then she went bouncing down the hall.

I shook my head and turned to Rainbow Dash. "Does she not have any days when she's, ya know, calm?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "When she's sleeping maybe, but even then, it's doubtful."

"Right. I'll take your word on it."

"Well, I like aunt Pinkie just the way she is." Rose Blossom said, trotting beside me as we began following the hyper pink pony(Rainbow Dash was still flying). "I don't ever want her to change."

I smiled down at her, and nodded. "You know what, I don't either. Pinkie Pie just wouldn't be Pinkie Pie, otherwise."

"That's one thing we can all agree on," Rainbow added with a smile.


XxxxX


-In the sky I see the stars,
And the moon, forever more
Under the light of this great,
and beautiful night.
So, baby, what am I to do,
but truly tell you, that baby, 
That baby,
That baby, I love you!

The ballroom was packed with ponies, dancing, eating and just having a good time. Sweetie Belle was singing one of her newer songs on the center stand; the song was both beautiful and comforting, it was obvious that she put her heart and soul into it.

I smiled, looking over at the area where Rose Blossom was, dancing with some of the other filly and colts who came with their parents or guardians.

It was well into the night, and the high class ponies were still giving their congratulations to the birthday mare of day ...or night, either works.

"-And a happy birthday to you, your highness."

"Thank you. We appreciate the gift," the Princess of the Night said, the gift box being covered in a blue aura as it floated over to the pile full of other gifts. Seeing the amount of gifts that she already had, most being bigger then the one me and Rose Blossom picked out, made me feel a bit self conscious. It only made it worse that Princess Celestia was standing next to Luna. I was around the same height as her, if not a few inches taller.

"So, what did ya get th' princess?" I turned to the voice and sighed. Apple Bloom had grown into a fine mare, and we had been friends for slightly longer then I had with the rest of the crusaders, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Turns out she ended up getting a cutie mark in building, and later became one of Equestrias most well known architects. Even the house that I lived in, she had a hoof in building it.

"Um ...actually, Rose Blossom picked it out," I whispered in her ear. "It's a necklace."

"Well, ya don't look too happy about it t' tell the truth," Apple Bloom uttered.

I sighed. "Do you see what those rich folks are handing to her?"

"An', so what," she said, shrugging. "As long as it comes from th' heart, Ah'm sure she'll like it."

"I sure hope so, Bloom."

The line eventually got shorter and shorter, until it was my turn to give the princess her gift. She looked at me and gave a nod, I did the same.

"Princess Luna," I began, taking the gift out of the inside pocket, holding it out to her. "I hope you like the gift me and Rose picked out for you."

The gift was pulled from my hands in a blue aura, but rather then putting it with the other boxes, she put it next to her on the table. That made me feel better. "Thank you, Steven, we shall be sure to cherish it," she said, with a smile.

Okay, scratch that, a lot better. "Great, Rose will be happy to hear that!"

"Hear what?" I looked down, just taking notice that Rose Blossom had trotted up between me and Apple Bloom.

I smiled. "The princess likes the present you picked out."

Rose Blossom turned to Luna, a smile on her face. "Really …? You really like it?"

"Of course, little filly, I'm sure it will be our best gift yet."

"Yay~! See, I told you it was a good present, dad," Rose said, happily.

"I guess you were right about that, baby girl." I smiled and picked her up, putting her on my shoulder. "Apple Bloom has a gift, too. Let's get out of her way."

"Actually, Ah gave the princess my gift already."

"Yes she did, it's was the designs for a school," Princess Luna said, smiling.

"Eeyep, some of mah best work yet." Apple Bloom said, cheerfully. "It took a while, but Ah got it done, an' Princess Celestia helped with it?"

"We ...thank you, we like it, really, we do," Luna said, smiling in sincerity. "Though, I'm not sure about the location still?"

"Really, what's wrong with it," I asked.

Celestia giggled, speaking for the first time, other then greeting guests. "We decided to build it in Crescent Moon Canyon? It would be a great place for Luna's school," she said, before turning to her sibling. "Don't you think so, sister?"

"Maybe, we are still unsure."

"Hey, if Princess Luna is making a school, can I go," Rose Blossom asked suddenly.

"Of course, Rose Blossom," Celestia said. "But only if it's alright with you, Steven."

I didn't feel too good about that. Mainly because of where the school would be built if I did decide to let her go. "I don't know, that's a bit too close to zebra territory."

"But, dad, the zebras aren't all bad. And I'm sure the school will be safe," Rose Blossom whined.

"She's right, Steven. There are friendly zebras there," Apple Bloom added. "Princess Celestia said so."

"I don't know ...I mean, how can you be so sure."

"Steven, the school will only have the best protection Equestria has to offer, and it's isolated, far away from the war zone." the Princess of the Sun said. "I can reassure that things will be fine."

I still wasn't entirely convinced. Then again, I could be over thinking it. I wanted Rose Blossom to learn magic, really I did. But, with this war going on, I ...I just didn't feel right about it. "It's just I have some bad experiences when it comes to wars," I uttered, frowning.

"Ah know you do, but she'll be safe. Ah only had the best security in mind when Ah designed the school."

I sighed, then gave a slow nod. "If you say so, I guess ...I'm okay with it." Rose Blossom cheered, and nuzzled my cheek, thanking me over and over again. I couldn't help but smile, maybe I was over thinking this.
> Memory-2: What's Worth Fighting For
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory-2: What's Worth Fighting For

"There's no such thing as true peace, if it were then the world wouldn't be the way it is now. Peace is just a word, nothing more."

About two months have past since Princess Luna's birthday, and within that time the school for young unicorns had been built; there were a couple of papers I had to sigh, along with around eighty bits to hold Rose Blossom's spot in the school. The princesses were even nice enough to give me a pretty generous discount on the bits that needed to be paid, so while others paid around one-hundred and ninety to two-hundred bits, I paid a lot less.

Luna's school was more like a boarding school, then anything else. The colts and fillies who attended would practically live there for weeks at a time, being taught by Equestria's best magic users, learning spells that would not only make life easier, but make it so they were well equipt to handle themselves in hostel situations.

If there's one thing that I learned from both the Discord incident, and the war with the zebras, it's that you can never be too prepared.

A while later, and the day finally came; Rose Blossom would be heading off to school, and the little filly couldn't be happier. We were sitting at the table like we did every morning, enjoying breakfast, and Rose was going on and on about how much fun her time at school would be.

"-The book said that I would learn so many spells!" Rose Blossom said, as she dug into her cucumber salad. "And if I'm good enough, I'll even get my own dragon, then I can send messages back and forth to the Princess, just like auntie Twilight does!"

"I'm sure your time at school will be great, baby girl," I chuckled. I was eating my food at a considerably slower pace. "But, eat your food a little slower, I don't want you to choke."

The levitating fork stopped in midair between her month and plate. "Oh ...that would be bad, huh," she uttered, letting the fork full of food float to her mouth a bit slower. It was quiet for a bit, before she said anything. "Dad," she began. "While I'm off at school, are you going to be okay here by yourself?"

I smiled. "Of course, why wouldn't I be," I asked. It was true that I would miss her, but what parent didn't miss their children when they went off someplace.

"I ...I just don't want you to be lonely, that's all."

Lonely, huh? Truth be told, it would get pretty lonely being in this house by myself. If I had to choose, I'd send her to a different school to learn magic, or better yet, get a tutor. But, Celestia and Luna were so nice about letting her go ...and Rose herself would be sad if I changed my mind all of a sudden.

So I just told her what I thought she wanted to hear. "Sweetie, everything will be fine. Sure, I'll miss you, but I'll have friends to keep me company," I said with a smile, reach my hand over the table and light touching her hoof. "You go to school, and do what you have to do, and become the best unicorn you can be, alright?"

Nodding, Rose Blossom smiled widely. "You can count on me, Daddy! I'll be the best unicorn in Equestria and make you proud!"

"I'm already proud of you, Rose. Nothing you do could make me anything less." I turned my head, checking the time of the wall clock: eight-thirty five was what it read. "It's almost time go, we don't want you to be late for the train."

"That would be so uncool, missing the train on the first day. I'd be a laughing stalk!"

"Then I suggest we hurry along with breakfast."

"Mmm-hmm~!"

Rose Blossom pick up her pace, going back to her speed eating, completely forgetting what I'd told her a few moments ago. I shook my head and sighed. I really was going to miss having her around the house; but this was her education we were talking about here. When it came do to it, that was one of the most important things in a child's life.

After breakfast, I washed the dishes, while Rose ran up stairs to get herself ready. Her suitcases were already near the door, filled with things she would be needing in the following weeks. Rose came back down stairs a few minutes later; I was waiting at the door.

She was magically brushing a brush through her curly mane as she trotted down, but couldn't quite get it right.

I smiled, knelling down next to the filly. "Let me see that, sweetie." She levitated the brush to me, and I used it the straightened her hair slightly to one side. Her hair was longer when it was straightened out, going a bit past her eyes. "And, done."

"Do I look okay," she asked, a nervous look on her face.

I placed the brush into her saddlebag, and gave a nod. "You look fine, Rose," I answered, then adding a moment later. "How about you take one more ride on my shoulders, huh?"

"Sure~!"

I placed her on my shoulders from behind, her hid-legs hanging in front of me. Rose had her fore-hooves wrapped around my Afro, giggling as she nuzzle it like a pillow. It would get messed up, sure. But it was easily fixable with a pick. I lifted up her two suit cases in one hand, then stood and opened the door with the other.

"You ready to head out, sweetie?" I asked. I felt her give a nod, and I opened the door, stepping out into the front, before locking the door behind me. "Make sure you hold on tight."

"Okay, isn't this gonna mess up your hair?"

"Don't worry, I'll fix it later."

The walk to the train was, as expected, uneventful. Though, we did talk; I went on as we strolled down Mane Street, telling Rose about my first year in high school. The kids I met and friends I had got in trouble with, both old and new. Even the time we started a food fight, and almost got suspended.

I quickly told her afterward not to do what I did. That she could still have fun without getting into trouble and making a mess of things. She giggled, promising she would be on her best behavior.

When we got to the train station, we had made it just in time to catch the princess starting her speech for the crowd of parents, colts and fillies. There were even a few news reporters there as well. I took notice that unlike all the other times I'd seen her, Princess Celestia was no where to be seen. The only one that was here, were Princess Luna and a handful of lunar guards.

She was usually asleep during the day, then again, this was the opening of her school, so it made sense that Luna would be here rather then Celestia.

Luna was standing on a stage made outside of the station. Everyone listened to her as she spoke, the steam from the train could be seen just ahead over the station roof.

"Our follow ponies," the blue alicorn mare began. "We would like to thank you for coming out and being apart of this wonderful day, for today, Luna's school for gifted unicorns officially opens." The ponies clopped there hooves on the ground, and I just clapped softly along. Luna waited for everyone to stop before she continued. "We know that it has been hard on everypony, with this struggle with the zebras and the short on resources. Our sister would have been here today as well, had it not been for paper work keeping her busy. But know that she also gives you all her thanks."

"But even through all this hardship, we ponies will stand strong and overcome this time like we have countless times before. From Nightmare Moon, to Discord, we have always managed to overcome somehow. Now it is time for us to teach the next generation of ponies, what we have learned in the past, and will continue to learn for generations to come. How to be kind, how to be gentle, generous, happy and loyal, but most of all, how to be strong."

"Once again, we thank you all for coming, and wish the colts and fillies the best of luck." As her speech finished, the applause began again, only this time louder.

When everything settled, it was time for the children to board the train. I walked into the station with the other parents, sending a smile to Princess Luna as I passed her, Rose giving her a cheerful wave from her spot on my shoulders, which Luna returned.

I handed Rose Blossom's luggage to the earth pony never the train, then took her off of my shoulders and put her back on her own four hooves.

I knelled down to her level, my smile turning slightly sad. My little girl was going off on her own for the first time, this wasn't like the time she spent a week at the Sweet Apple Acres with Apple Bloom, I knew she'd watch her, but now she was going to have to take care of herself.

Maybe I was just being over protective. "Rose, take care of yourself, ya hear" I started, my voice wavering a bit. "Be good, listen to your teachers, and if someone tries to start a fight with you, do what I would do."

She grinned. "You mean, talk about their mom, and knock em' flat," Rose Blossom replied.

"What? No! Absolutely not," I shook my head. "I mean what I would do in a work environment."

"Ooh ...you mean tell em' to stop, and if they don't, tell someone."

"Yep, that's the one."

The train's whistle went off, and a pony shouted out. "All aboard!"

Rose Blossom hopped up, wrapping her fore-hooves around my neck as she nuzzled my cheek. "I'm gonna miss you, dad. I'll make you proud."

"I know you will, Rose." I pulled back and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't forget to write, and if you forgot something, let me know, I'll send it to you as soon as I can."

"Okay."

We parted after that. Rose Blossom ran onto the train, following after the other colts and fillies. I stood there silently, watching as the train pulled off; Rose stuck her head out one of the windows and waved.

"Bye, dad! I'll be back before you know it!"

I waved back, the train going into the distance. Well ...there she gos, I guess, didn't make feel much better, though. I'm just glad she's happy, that's all I can ever ask for.

"Steven." I turned around, seeing Luna standing there with two of her lunar guards. She smiled at me, "would you like to join us for tea? We are sure it will take your mind off things."

"Uh." It's not like I had anything to do at the moment, I thought with a sigh. I didn't have a reason to refuse. "Sure, why not. Lead the way, princess." And off we went, though I couldn't help but cast a glance in the direction the train had gone in.


XxxxX


The week and a half that past afterward was tough. I'd work and go out, find things to occupy my time, I even tried fishing. But, I soon ran out of things to do. So, I decided it was time to visit Ponyville again, I hadn't been there in some time and I really missed the tiny town.

The day after I made up my mind, I caught the train heading to the rural town.

The town hadn't changed at all since the last time I had been here three years ago. It never occurred to me to visit often, but now that I was back, smelling that fresh air, and running into a few familiar ponies, I was happy that I came.

Ponyville was a place where you could get a lot of exercise, rather it be jogging, racing or swimming; my favorite thing to do though, however, was apple picking, which was exactly what I was doing now on the Apple family farm.

Of course, I had a bit of help.

"Hey, Mac, I'm done over here!" I picked the last two apples at the top of the tree, and held them over the side, dropping them into the basket. "You done with that last tree, yet?"

"Eeyep!"

There was a loud thud from the tree next to mine, followed by the sound of apples falling into the baskets around the trees trunk. I stood up on my branch, keeping myself balanced with the tree trunk, looking at the hills of apple trees. When I first appeared in Equestia, this was where I stayed. I helped out around the farm, picking apples and such, even made me a few bits doing it.

I smiled, and began my climb down the tree, jumping off into a tuck and roll when I got down from to the last branch. I picked up the huge basket of apples, then me and Big Macintosh started towards the barn.

Like his siblings, Big Macintosh, or Mac, as I called him, was an earth pony. He had green eyes and a red coat, with an orange mane and short cut tail. Being as silent and soft spoken as he was, there were a few times when I thought he was mute; I learned a while back that Big Mac didn't make nonsense talk, if he had something to say, he said it, if he didn't, then he stayed quiet. Plain and simple as that.

"So, Mac, I forgot to ask, but hows Cheerilee," I asked, suddenly during our walk. The barn was just coming into view. "Last I heard from Applejack, you two had a foal together."

"Eeyep," Big Mac said, with a sort of pride in his voice. "She's our lil' Cranberry Apple."

"Really, well congratulations, Mac! How old is she?"

"'Bout three going on four months. Ah'll tell ya, she's a handful."

"Aren't they all, though." I stated, smiling at the wheat chewing stallion. "Rose was the same way, I mean, she was five, but still it's hard raising kids." Stopping for a moment, I continued. "When I think about it now. I can't help but wonder how I even did it."

"Well, it don't take a genius t' see that ya loved th' little filly," Mac said, before giving a small grin. "'Sides, who knows, maybe that's yer special talent."

"Hmm ...maybe, if I were a pony. But how would you even find something like that out." We finally reached the barn, dropping the baskets in front of the apple cellar. "What would a good father cutie mark even look like?"

"Beats me," was all Mac had to say.

Today was calm, like most days. Back in my own world, things were always hectic. It got worse when New york got nuked; after that, it was all out war, and nothing was going to calm the people's thirst for revenge except blood.

"Mac," I began, bringing up a topic we hadn't talked about in a while. "Are you still planning on joining the military?"

Mac gave a nod, spitting out his old piece of wheat. "Since Cranberry Apple was born, Ah had t' think about it long an' hard. But if worse comes t' worse, t' protect Ponyville from them zebras, then yes, Ah am." No 'Eeyep', no 'maybe', he said 'yes'. From that alone it was easy to see how serious he was. Mac turned towards me. "What about you, ya asked me fer a reason, right?"

I sighed, nodding. "I've never really been the type of person to run head on into danger. My dad ...back at home when the war started, he was the first one in my family to join the army. He was just a simple cook, never thought about fighting a war in his life," I said, looking down at the grass covered ground. "When I asked him why, he said it was to protect us, to make sure we stayed safe. I guess, that now that I have Rose Blossom, I understand a bit of what he was saying."

"Yer pop sounds like he was a good stallion," Mac commented.

I smiled, slightly amused at my dad being called a stallion. "Yeah ...he was. You know something I've always wondered, though, for a long time?"

"...What?"

"Did we win the war, how did it end, and most of all," I looked up at the sky. "Did dad ever make it back home."
> Memory-3: Apple Family Dinner
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory-3: Apple Family Dinner

"I want to make the world a better place, to end this war. That's our job, isn't it? To bring peace without bloodshed."

The rest of the day passed quickly, between working the field and feeding the animals. Soon, the sun set, and a full moon took it's place in the sky; the one thing I could say was that Luna made some beautiful nights, there were even some days when I preferred the night over the day.

We were all gathered at the table in the Apple family house, me being seated between Applejack and Granny Smith, who didn't look a day older then when I'd first met her. And Big Macintosh sat next to Cheerilee, after having put Cranberry Apple to sleep in, what used to be, the guest room.

If there was one thing the Apples were good at, it was making apple related treats. Having apple pie wasn't really what you would call a healthy dinner, at least not back at home, but here it seemed just fine.

I hadn't gotten fat yet, at least.

"So, what made you guys choose the name, Cranberry Apple?" I asked the two parents, picking up another piece of pie from the pan at the center of the table. I was already working on my third slice.

Cheerilee was the first to answer. "Well, we didn't decide to name her that at first. I wanted to her after my great grandmother, Cranberry Sauce," she said, actually taking her time eating, rather then scarfing it down like the rest of us.

"And Ah wanted t' name her after ma great aunt, Apple Turnover." Big Mac added, wiping some of the pie crumbs off his mouth with the back of his hoof. "But we couldn't really choose between th' two."

"So, we decided to combine the names. We wanted to try Apple Sauce, but there's already somepony named Apple Sauce," Cheerilee giggled. "Cranberry Turnover didn't sound like such a good name for a foal, so we went with the next best thing, Cranberry Apple."

I nodded, smiling widely at the two. "The old naming fusion, huh," I mused, laughing a bit. "I remember back at home, there was this girl who got pregnant. A totally loose chick, mind you. The baby's daddy was between two guys, but not one of them wanted to own up or even take a test. Their names were ... Davon and Tray, you can imagination what the girl named the kid."

"...She named 'er foal after th' both of 'em," Applejack said, eyebrows raised. "What was it, Vontray or somethin'?"

"That's close," I replied, smirking a bit at Applejack's face. "She named him, Trayvon. I'll tell you, out of all my friends, I probably felt worse for the kid, being named under those circumstances." I shrugged, "but that's what happens when you sleep around, and don't use protection."

"Well, that won't be Applejack or Apple Bloom, Ah c'n tell ya that much," Granny Smith said, with seriousness in her voice. "They're gonna follow Big Macintosh's example and get married first, before there are anymore foals runnin' 'round this house."

I raised my cup of apple cider to the old mare. "Spoken like a true grandmother, Granny Smith," I said. I took a slip and laid it back down. "My grandma was the same way. Though, she did give us more leeway then she did our dad. At least that's what she said." I smiled, going over the memory as I talked. "When my older brother started dating, she didn't find out until later, and my grandma hated being the last one to find out things. She had three rules about dating." I took another bite of pie. "If you dating someone, you'd better be honest, cause she ain't raise no cheaters. Be safe, and if you're having sex, it better not be in her house, and it for damn sure better not be on her bed."

"Wait, why would somepony have ...intercourse on a bed that's not theirs," Cheerilee asked, not completely understanding.

I clarified it for her, chuckling. "Oh, you've got it all wrong. When I say her bed, I don't mean her bed, grandma meant our beds. Because according to her, she brought the beds, there for, she owns em'. And the other thing she couldn't stress enough is use protection, and you'd better not break the rules."

"An' what happened if ya did break th' rules?"

"That's easy, Mac," I said, plainly. "She threatened to slap the black off us both. Or her other favorite, slap us into another nationality."

"Slap ya into another nationality. Don't ya think that's kinda harsh," Applejack uttered, drinking some cider. "How would that even work?"

"Simple, it's like, for example, Granny Smith slapping Big Mac so hard, he turned into a pegasus. It's funny, but grandma was dead serious," I laughed. Finding the image of Big Mac as a pegasus funny.

Big Mac laughed as well. "Ah'll tell ya, yer grandma sounds like she was one tough lady," he said. "Must 'ave been hard on ya."

"Believe me, she was," I replied, with a nod. "But it was all out of love. If not for her, I probably would've acted a fool and got thrown in jail at some point."

"Sometimes, tough love is th' best type o' love, sugar cube," Applejack said, smiling.

"True, I've seen it work wonders," I agreed. A moment later, "by the way, where is Apple Bloom?"

"She had a job to do in Manehattan," Cheerilee answered. "A project for Sliver Spoons' father, you remember her right?"

"Oh, Yeah. I remember her." How could I forget, damn filly wouldn't leave me alone when we were younger. Her and the other one with the stupid crown. talk about mean girls. 

Dinner continued like that. We talk and laughed, just having a good time enjoying each others company. When I first stayed here years back, I was mad at everyone; not that it was their fault I was stuck here. I was upset, and I needed to take it out on someone. And, I ended up making Apple Bloom cry after saying some pretty harsh things.

She forgave me. But, it's still something I regret doing when we were younger.

At some point, I ended up suggesting something to Big Macintosh.

"Aye, how about tonight we go to the Silver Hoof …?" I finished off the last bit of pie, feeling as full as can be. I had to have eaten a whole one to myself. "I haven't been there in a while, was wondering if anything changed."

Big Mac thought on it, then shrugged. "Ah don't see why not. Ah ain't been there in a long while, either."

"It's settled then! We can have a guys night out!"

I got up and took my plate into the kitchen, putting it in the sank. As I did that, I heard Cheerilee talking the Big Mac in the dining room.

"Well, if you two are going out. Have a good time, just be sure not to stay out too late, Mac."

"Don't worry, sugar plum. Ah'll only be out for a lil' while."

I came out the kitchen just in time to see Big Macintosh giving Cheerilee a peck on the lips, waiting for me at the door. In some ways, I envied Mac; taking care of Rose, finding the right girl never came to mind. But somehow, it only reminded me that I didn't belong here, even if my friends made me feel welcome.

Despite my inner conflict, I walked up to the happy couple with a smile on my face. "You ready to go, Big Mac?"

"Eeyep." He answered, with a nod. I saw he had another piece of wheat in his mouth. Did he have a stash somewhere? I won't be surprised if he did, to be honest. Shrugging it off, I opened the door and we walked outside, following the trail towards Ponyville.


XxxxX


"Reach out,
don't regret what you could have,
Cause, honey, it'll be fun,
Falling for each other,
In this shinning life of ours."

Over the sound of the jazz singing mare song on nicely decorated stage, another talked loudly to me over the music. "-And, when tell you ponies in Fillydelphia know how to get down, they know how to get down. The party had to have lasted until like, seven in the morning! Best. Party. Of this year, hooves down," the electric blue and light blue maned mare said.

The mare next to her sighed. "Vinyl, dear, you've told this story five times this week," she muttered.

"Aw, c'mon Octavia, lighten up," Vinyl Scratch smiled, giving the mare a playful nudge. "Besides, he did ask what I've been up to. I'm just answering the question."

"Whatever you say, Vinyl." Octavia uttered, before returning her attention back to Big Macintosh, who was sitting beside me. "Anyway, Big Macintosh, how are Cheerilee and the foal doing? Fine, I hope."

"Eeyep, their jus' fine, an' with Granny Smith Applejack's help, Ah'm sure we have everything we could ask for," Mac answered, using his hooves to take another sip of apple whiskey. "Though, things have been pilin' up. Th' army's been placin' more an' more orders fer apples everyday, it seems like. But, we Apples ain't no strangers ta hard work. Ah'm sure we c'n handle it."

"I see." Octavia nodded. "That's good to hear. I've always wanted foals of my own. I just can't seem to find the right stallion."

"Maybe that's because you keep runnin' them off," I heard Vinyl muttered into her magically levitated drink, to which her roommate turned to the DJ, eyebrows raised.

"What was that, dear?"

"N-nothing ...nothing at all," Vinyl stuttered. She drank down the berry blue colored beverage, and slammed the shot glass down on the table. There was no doubt in my mind that she'd be hammered by night's end. As for myself, I decided to go with apple whiskey like Mac; I was never much of a heavy drinking, hell, I rarely drank at all, so I went with the lightest thing on the menu.

The Silver Hoof was a jazz club on the east side of Ponyville. Unlike most stores and shops in town that opened in the morning and closed by nightfall, the Silver Hoof was the opposite. But, even so, it still got a lot of customers, and was one of the more famous places on Ponyville's map, it was also where Sweetie Belle started out her music career.

"So, Steven, there's something I've been wondering," Vinyl said, suddenly, starring at me as she filled up her shot glass again. "You ever find that special somepony yet?"

I raised glass up to my lips. "Uh ...no, I haven't planned on it," I said, my voice in a tone that pretty much said 'can we please not talk about this'.

Vinyl didn't seem to catch it, though. "Really? Please tell me you at least got laid by now." That caught me off guard, and I ended up coughing, almost choking on my drink. The older mare seemed to get her answer from this. "Seriously, you haven't gotten laid! Not once!"

"Vinyl, this is not something you speak about out in public," Octavia said sternly to the DJ. "What Steven does in his sex life is noponies business but his."

"But, he has no sex life! Wait, dude ...are you a virgin?"

"Vinyl," Octavia said in a warning tone. "Leave it be."

"But ...but, c'mon-."

"Can we drop this, please," I uttered. This was starting to get super embarrassing.

Vinyl starred at me. Seeing the expression on my face, she sighed taking another drink from her shot glass. "Fine ...I've got one question, though."

"...What?"

"What's holding you back, guy? I mean, you helped save Equestria from Discord, plus you saved Ponyville a bunch of times with Twilight and the others. You're not ugly, (weird looking sure, but I could say the same for griffins) and you're sorta popular. All this time, I was expecting ya to come to town with a mare clinging to you. So, what's stopping you from finding a marefriend, huh?"

"Ah have been wonderin' th' same thing," Big Macintosh added, turning the me. "Is there a reason ya ain't found a mare, yet?"

Oh God, now Big Mac's interested in my love life! What the hell! "Look, it's just ... I'm a person, alright ...I'm human, and well, they're ponies," I answered, exaggerating. "It just can't happen, alright."

The three ponies at my table raised an eyebrow, and turned to each other. There was an awkward silence.

"What, are you secretly prejudice against ponies or something," Vinyl asked finally.

I shook my head. "No, not at all!" I tried to took a quick drink of my apple whiskey, only to find the glass empty. I groaned. "Look, it's got nothing to do with being a pony or not. It's just ...I'm different, it would be too ...awkward. I don't know, it just wouldn't be right."

Vinyl snickered, grinning. "Oh, I see. It's because you're a different species, am I right?"

"Exactly," I answered, glad that she finally understood. "That's it, I'm just too different from a pony, it would be wrong."

"Ha ...well, if you ask me," Vinyl began, smirking. She leaned forward with her hooves on the table. "I think that's a bunch of horseshit."

I frowned. So much for her understanding. "Why do you say that?"

"Vinyl, this really isn't-."

"Just let me talk, Octavia. I got this." Vinyl said to her roommate, before turning her attention back to me. "Listen, I'm not gonna try and get you to change the way you are, cause at the end of the day, you're gonna do what you want," she said, taking a sip from her shot glass. "But being different, that has nothing to do with anything. I've DJ'ed at a lot of parties, and some of them just so happened to be weddings. There was the time when a buffalo married a pony in Appaloosa, hell, last month a pegesus pony got engaged to a zebra from Zebratown, ya hear me, a zebra. That right there should be evidence enough that being different don't matter. The only thing that's stopping you, is you." She then pointed her hoof at my head, nudging my forehead a bit. Much to my annoyance. "You're thinking too much, or better yet, you're not thinking enough. Tell me, do you plan on makin' it back to your home world sometime in the near future?"

I opened my mouth, before quickly closing it. I didn't have an answer. It would be lying to say I planned on going home in the near future, but at the same time, I haven't lost hope.

...At least, I don't think I have. If I could go home, I would, without a doubt in my mind I know I would. Thing was ...I couldn't. I didn't even know how I got here to begin with, and both the princesses and Twilight, as smart and resourceful as the three of them are still couldn't find a spell to help send me back.

After a week, I was fine. After a month, I still had hope. After a year, even less so. After almost a decade, though ...I didn't have such high hopes anymore. And that was something that tore me apart; it's not that I didn't want to go home. It's that, as far as anyone knew, I couldn't go home.

I had a daughter now, even when I thought I never would. I have made friends with a large number of ponies, formed bonds with even some non-ponies. So ...was being in a relationship really out of my reach?

"No, I ...I guess not," I uttered, sadly, looking down into my glass. I really needed another drink.

Vinyl put a hoof on my shoulder. "I didn't want to make ya upset or anything. But, I'm gonna tell you something ma old stallion told me. Live life to the fullest, and if you want something, go for it. I've done that everyday of my life so far and those words haven't failed me yet." She leaned back in her seat, smiling as she levitated the bottle on the table, poring another drink into her shot glass. "Just some food for thought."

I didn't know what to say to that. But, right now I really needed a drink. "Waitress," I shouted to one of the finely dressed mares closest to us. "I'd like another apple whiskey, if you don't mind!"

"Make that two, ma'am," Big Mac added, putting down his now empty glass.

The mare smiled at us, and gave a nod. "Comin' right up, boys~!"


XxxxX


Walking back to Sweet Apple Acres was slightly more difficult then the walk to the Silver Hoof. My vision was out of focus and my steps were staggering; it was a good thing Big Macintosh stopped drinking before I did, then we would have had a real problem.

At least I could say that I was better off then Vinyl Scratch, though. As I suspected, she got so hammered! So much so that Octavia had a fruit cart around the side of the club ready to get the disk jockeying mare back to their house; we said our goodbyes and the cellist pulled off with the drunken pony, who was babbling nonsense no person or pony would even care to know about.

I stumbled a bit, nearly tripping over a rock as we walked through the wooden gate leading to the apple farm.

"Ya alright there, partner?"

I sent a nod to the red stallion, giggling. "Yep ...everything's okie dokie loki~!Big Macaroni~! Ha, Macaroni!"

Mac shook his head, sighing. "Ah really think ya should'a took it easy on th' drinkin', Steven."

I mumbled something to him, as I hang on to that wood farm thing around his neck for dear life (my mind being way too fuzzing to remember what it was called.) I suddenly found myself thinking about what Vinyl had said earlier.

Was I really stopping myself from being happy? I mean, I've always wanted to find that special someone, but that's what it's always been, someone, not somepony. I'd be lying if I said I didn't find most mares cute, Fluttershy being one example, even Twilight had that nerdy, bookworm cuteness about her. And, Rarity, she was gorgeous, at least from a pony's point of view.

But, I can't really say I've felt much of an attraction. Even when I was a hormonally driven teenager I thought of supermodels and girls from back home.

"Hey, Mac," I began, shyly. My words most have been slurring. "Do ya think that Vinyl was right, about me not living my life to the fullest?"

I felt the red pony shrug. "It depends on you, do ya think yer not livin' yer life t' th' fullest?"

"Well ...no."

Mac smiled. "Then jus' continuing yer life the way ya want t', an' take care o' yer little filly."

I smiled at that. That's one of the reasons why I liked talking to Big Mac so much. Life seemed a lot simpler when I did. "Thanks, you're a good friend, buddy."

"Ah'm jus' keepin' it real as you say."

"Ah ha~ and simple, right."

"Eeyep."
> Memory-4: To Be Judged 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Memory-4: To Be Judged


"Listen, it's all gonna be cool! They're gonna fight it out, then they'll party hard and it will be like the war never happened! Ya, know, forgive and forget and all that crap."


Dear, Daddy

I'm having a great time at school! The teachers are really nice and I've made lots of new friends. Our levitation's teacher, Ms. Buttercup, is so cool!
She used to be in the army, but she had to leave because she got hurt really bad.
I feel so bad for her. I can't imagination having to live with a fake leg.
Oh, yeah! And you won't believe who else is here!
Pumpkin Cake goes to the school too, isn't that awesome!
We have lunch together everyday. Ms. Buttercup says that me and Pumpkin are her top students.
Who knows, maybe I'll be able to levitate you soon.
I really miss you, dad.
But don't worry, I will be home before you know it!

Love, Rose Blossom.

P.S – Tell the Apples I can't wait to meet the new baby!


I smiled.

After reading the letter, I put it in my nightstand, along with the others. There were three letters in all, this being the latest one sent, that just got delivered this morning.

Apparently, the train to Luna's school stopped at Ponyville to pick up any students from the small town that also got in; I had no idea that the Cakes had sent their daughter there as well, but I was happy that Rose had at least one good friend that she already knew.

I sat up off my bed, and walked into the living room. I had just gotten back from my visit to Ponyville the other night, and I was happy the town was doing so well. Twilight's dragon, brother, assistant, Spike, had gotten bigger. He was no longer a baby dragon anymore, but he was far from a fully grown dragon.

Years ago, the dragon only came up to a little bit above my knees, now he was about up to my side. We hang out a little during my stay; Spike still had a crush on Rarity (no surprise there), that was hard to miss, but he wasn't as head over heels as he had been.

"Let's see, what should I do today?" I mused to myself. I had two weeks until my little Rose Blossom would be coming back home on break. Something I couldn't be more happy about.

I turned on the radio in my living room. Then, I walked over and threw myself down on the couch, lying on my back, and picked up the book I had yet to finish on the coffee table. There were a large number of radio stations to listen to. My favorite being, what I called, the old fifties station (which in Equestria, that style of music is pretty modern nowadays); I didn't know rather to blame or thank grandma for getting me hooked on her favorite genre, having listened to it so many times growing up. Not that it mattered, the music was hip, and smooth, especially the saxophone.

"...And that was The Topcoats with their new single 'Open Your Heart'. Now for the news." The deep voiced stallion spoke from the radio. "Folks, I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, but since some of you couldn't figure it out on your own, let me inform you." He took a breath. "The zebras in Zebratown are not, I repeat, are not the enemy folks. Their Equestrian citizens, just like the rest of us, some of them were even born here. So take that hate out of ya hearts, ponies, because rather then writing prejudice crap on their buildings and breaking their windows, show them what we ponies of Equestria truly stand for: love, tolerance, and compassion."

"And to the zebras of Zebratown, stay strong, and forgive the ignorance of our Equestrian brothers and sisters. This next song goes out to the mares and stallions fighting on the front lines; soldiers, we salute you!" He finished. The next song started playing a moment later.

I shook my head in shame, sighing. no matter where you go, there will be prejudice individuals during times of war, rather they're ponies or people. Ya can't get to the enemy on the battlefield, so you get suspicious of the whole race. The same thing happened during World War Two with the Japanese Americans getting taken from their homes and put on reservations, even though there many Japanese were soldiers fighting on the side of the Americans.

A part just hoped ponies would be different. But the hate was there, and has been for some time.

My stomach growled a little about ten minutes later. I looked at the clock, seeing that it was half past two, and I had yet to eat lunch. I leaned over, saving the page of the book by bending the corner inward, then I got up, headed for the kitchen.

Or at least that's what I was about to do, until a knock rapped on the door, followed by the bell ringing.

Knock! Knock! Ding dong!

"I'll be there in a minute," I yelled towards the door. I pulled my pick out of my back pocket and swiftly fixed my Afro to it's full puffiness, and put it right back in my pocket. I strolled over to the door. "Who is it?"

"Who does it sound like to ya, the new mailmare?" A mares voice said back in playful sarcasm. It was Babs Seed. "C'mon, open up."

I unlocked and opened the door, smiling as I saw the tanned coated mare. She wasn't dressed in a sweatsuit this time, rather, she was her own natural pony self. "Bads, how's it going," I greeted. "I thought you were in Manehattan?"

"I was, but I had ta come back on business, so I thought I'd take you up on that offer and stop by."

"Well, I'm glad you did. I was getting kinda bored her by myself," I stepped aside, opening the door wider. "Come on in, I was just about to make lunch. You care to join me."

Babs grinned. "If you're offering free food, I'm not gonna turn ya down," she replied, trotting inside. I closed and relocked the door, "Nice place ya got here, by the way."

"Thanks. Sweetie help design the place, you know. I tell ya, that mare knows her stuff when it comes to architecture. I would've probably just messed up everything, again."

"Aw, c'mon, you're not that bad when it comes to buildin'."

I raised an eyebrow. "Am I the only one who remembers the tree house incident?"

Babs Seed laughed. "Oh yeah, ya caved in the whole thing! And we had to make a new one," she said, giggling. "But Apple Bloom should be thankin' you, if not for that, she wouldn't have tried to remake it and she never would have gotten her cutie mark."

I remember that week well; it was around the time Sweetie Belle had gotten her cutie mark, her special talent being singing obviously, even when she didn't have the mark, it was clear what her talent was. I had gotten the bright idea to try and fix up the Crusaders HQ, which happened to be Applejack's old tree house, that she passed down to her little sister.

It had been falling apart for sometime, and I thought I'd try to be a handyman for once. That was a big mistake. I ended up just making everything worse.

Some hammering here, some drilling there, I really thought that I was doing something. Something that would surprise everyone. Then, out of no where, the roof caved in.

I swear I'd never heard a louder crash in my life! The noise got the attention of every pony in Sweet Apple Acres (mostly because the tree house was, like, a five minute walk from the barn). By the time Big Macintosh and the Crusaders got there, I was busy trying to pull myself out from the wreckage of wood and metal. I wasn't badly hurt, thankfully I only got a few cuts and bruises, but the damage had been done.

The tree house was a disaster.

I felt bad, not just bad; embarrassed. I completely screwed up, big time.

Of course, I got yelled at by the CMC (all except for Babs Seed), but it wasn't for the reason I expected. They weren't upset because I messed up the tree house, they were upset because I tried to fix it on my own and ended up getting hurt.

It was then that I realized something; even though I was new to Ponyville, and I wasn't a pony myself, they still cared about me. That made me feel happy, and not so bad about being stranded on an alien world.

Afterwards, Big Mac offered to help fix up the tree house, but Apple Bloom refused, saying we would do it ourselves. It was Crusaders HQ after all.

The red maned filly worked on the designs for three days straight (only stopping to eat, sleep and whatever else was necessary), and even borrowed a few books from Twilight's library. A week and a half later and we were done building. The old tree house had been destroyed, and in it's place, something new and incredible.

It was then, a moment later, that Sweetie Belle gasped. We all followed her eyes to what she was starring at. There on Apple Bloom's flank, was an image of a hammer and protractor, her cutie mark had finally appeared (to which she literally bounced around, cheering with happiness) and we had only then just noticed.

That night we threw a party, just as we had for Sweetie, and Babs later on when she got her cutie mark.

It was on that day that one of Equestria's top architects came to be, All thanks to my fail.

"I guess it's true what they say." I smiled, motioning for the mare to follow me as I walked into the kitchen to start lunch. "Some things happen for a reason."

Babs Seed trotted up besides me. "Yeah, but ya can never count out chance," she added, grinning. "Sometimes ta get what you want, a pony's gotta take a gamble."

I gave a nod. "A gamble, huh? ...That works, too."


XxxxX


I sat back on the couch, sipping on a bottle of soda. For lunch, I had made something fairly simple and easy, Greek salad. Bads had a normal salad, with vegetables like carrots and tomatoes, that sorta thing. As for me, however, I had a chicken salad. There wasn't a lot of meat in the house to make, but I made due with what I had brought from the local griffin market (simply named, Griffin Mart).

Right now, me and Babs Seed were sitting in the living room, enjoying a nice, cold bottle of Sparkle~Cola. Though, even with it's name, I highly doubt that Twilight had anything to do with it. In a way the beverage reminded me of Coke-Cola, only it tasted carroty in favor.

"-Yeah, so, training been going fine, though my last few fights have been tough ones," Babs said, taking a sip and placing her soda bottle on the coffee table. "There's this mare, Swift Shot or somethin', she wants ta have a go at me for the championship belt."

"Are you going to fight her, then?"

Babs gave a nod, grinning smugly. "Of course, I'd never turn down a challenge like that." She put up her two fore-hooves and jabbed forward, with blurring speed. "If she wants to meet the hooves of Manehattan's best, I ain't gonna stop her."

"You sound pretty cocky, Babs," I said, turning my head, grinning at the mare. "You sure you aren't letting a few knockouts get to your head?"

"I sure. Believe me I can take some Filly mare, no problem," Babs snorted, before picking up her cola again, drinking it down rather then just sipping it this time.

From what I've heard, Fillydelphia and Manehattan have had a rivalry of sorts, going back to around the time both settlements were founded. No matter what sport; baseball, soccer, and even martial arts. When the two cities met on the field, it got heated, fast. I've seen my fair share of Equestrian football fans to know that for a fact.

The music on the radio changed a moment later, going from one of Sapphire Shores songs, to one of Sweetie Belle's earlier songs from her first ever album.

The beat started off with a saxophone solo, then the drums were added in the background, slow sounding at first, then it began to pick up as it hit the first verse.

"I remember when I was younger,
walking through the streets of this old town,
Always kept my friends close,
As ponies tried to stop me, and keep me down.
So I worked really hard, but no matter what, I always failed.
My sister told me, you've got to try your best, never give up,
and soon you'll get there!
Look at me now, look at me now, I'm on my way.
Look at me now, look at me now, tryin' my hardest everyday!
Through the toughest skies,
up the tallest mountain, I'm on my way,
I'm gonna get there, no matter what those ponies say!"

"No matter how many times I hear it, Sweetie's voice never stops amazing me," Babs Seed commented with a smile.

I nodded, sipping my cola. "I know what you mean," I agreed. A moment later I plainly added. "You ever notice she's singing about Diamond Twat and Silver Douche, right?"

My words had the exact reaction I hoped I'd get. Bads Seed burst out laughing. "Ah ha ha~ oh, Celestia! Did ya really just call em' that!"

"What, it's not like I'm lying, Babs," I laughed as well.

We laughed for a good minute before we calmed back down; Babs was never the one to usually giggle, but when she did, it was kinda cute to hear. It made her sound girlish, a change from her usual tomboyish ways ...or would it be tomcolt ...I'll have to ask about that.

"Oh man, that was funny," the boxing mare giggled as she wiped a tear from her eye with a hoof. "I haven't laughed like that in a while."

"Well, you know me, I'm always here for a laugh~," I said, winking at her.

She grinned, and playfully punched me in the arm. Her grin widening when I rubbed the spot. "Anyway, I've got to get ready to go. The train headed for Manhattan will be here soon." Babs slid off the couch onto her hooves. I got up and walked her to the door, though a part of me was sad to see her leave so soon. "Thanks for the lunch. Ya sure know your way around a kitchen."

"No problem," I replied. I unlocked the door and opened it. "And the next time you're in town, let's go out to eat. I know this great place in downtown Canterlot."

Babs trotted out the door. "Sure. Tell Rose Blossom I said good luck in that new school, she's gonna need it."

"I'll be sure to do that," I replied, waving at her. "Bye, it was good having you again."

"See ya around, Steven." The tan furred mare waved, then began her trot out of the front yard. I closed the door behind her with a sigh. Goodbye friend, hello boredom; though it would only be until work.

"A nap wouldn't hurt," I uttered to myself, after locking the door. So, that's what I did, I went to my room and took a nice long nap before I had to leave for work, with the sound of jazz music as my lullaby.


XxxxX


When I was little, there were a bunch of things I thought I'd be. A cook like my dad, a fireman, the first black president of the United States (totally got beat in the race for that one). I had high hopes that I'd be doing something great with my life.

And I'll tell you right now, being a bodyguard for a five star night club and restaurant was not one of them. Not to say that I hated the job, I was happy to have it. But if you were to ask me is this something I see myself doing, like, five years from now ...uh. No, no it is not.

Regardless on how I felt about it, though. I had a job, and until something better came along, I was going to try my best to keep it.

Nothing happens most of the time, asides from the occasional drunk. But ... today was different.

"Listen, I don't want any of you in my restaurant!"

My head turned when I heard the manager's voice. Shrugging, I walked towards the front entrance to see whatever teenagers he was yelling at this time (you needed an ID to get into this club), only to see that he wasn't yelling at teenagers at all. He was going off on a young zebra couple, and they were both dressed up quite nicely too.

I walked over to my boss, utterly confused. "Um ...is there something wrong here, Silverware?"

My boss, Silverware, turned to me, a scowl ever present on his face. He was a middle aged stallion, short, with a dull gray coat and a graying brown mane. "Of course there's a problem, kid," he muttered, raising his hoof at the two zebras. "These black an' white striped devils really think I'll allow them to eat here. The nerve!"

I frowned at that. The zebra mare gasped, and it was quite apparent that her companion felt just as offended.

"Silverware, now I've know you for a while. We're friends, but I have to speak up and tell you you're not being in the slightest bit fair to them. They are are guest here, or have you forgotten how to treat guests."

"I don't care if they're guest or not, and what's not fair about it! Their whole kind causes problems," Silverware spat, glaring at the two. "If it's not making us ponies fight in a war for our resources, it's somethin' else. I'm done here. So do what I pay you for." He turned with a huff, trotting off towards his office. As he did he muttered loudly, "I want those two stripes out of my building."

I tried to change his mind. This was something he'd never done before, at least not as long as I'd been here. "S-Silverware-."

But he didn't even let me talk past his talk. He turned his head to me and kept trotting. "Now, I mean it! The last thing I want is for them to blowup my restaurant in the name of their Caesar."

I sighed, and turned back to the zebra couple. I could say with complete honesty that I felt utterly embarrassed, not even just for me, but for them as well. That whole scene had almost all of the ponies in the restaurant looking in our direction.

Not to mention that the zebra mare looked like she was about to cry. Poor thing.

"I'm really, truly sorry about that, you two." I gave them my sincerest apology. "He's never acted like that before. I'm not gonna defend him, that was totally out of line. I am really sorry."

"I-it's okay. There is no need for you to apologize, you weren't the one who said those terrible things," the zebra mare said, sadly. She had a slight accent, but she spoke the language perfectly, which meant she was probably Equestrian born.

"This isn't the first time this has happened." The stripped stallion added, angrily. He accent was stronger then the mare's. "I'm so sick of these ponies treating us like this. I came to Equestria for a better life and this is what I get!"

"Look, I feel horrible about this, and if you're not welcome here, I know another place," I said. I pulled out a pencil, and reached over to the desk by the front entrance and tore off a piece of paper. "This place is nice, me and my daughter go there whenever we happen to get the chance. It's a griffin place, but they sell vegetarian if you don't eat meat," I explained as I wrote it down. "Just tell then that Steven sent you," with a whisper. "And if you ask me, the food tastes better then here." I held the paper out to them; the zebra stallion took it with his mouth.

"We'll be sure to take a look," he uttered through his teeth.

The mare nodded. "Yes. And thank you for being so kind to us, Mr. Steven."

I smiled a little. "Don't worry about it. I know things are tough, but I'm sure it'll get better. And again, I'm really sorry about what happened."

"That's quite alright, goodnight to you, Steven."

"Yes, and thank you for this. We appreciate it."

I gave a nod. As the two zebras left out the door, I groaned, rubbing the bridge of my nose. This was something I never wanted to do during this job, throw out a couple of troublemakers, fine. But, to tell someone, or somepony, that they couldn't eat here because they weren't the same as normal ponies. It made my heart feel cold

"Tch, looks like I'll be turning in my badge today," I muttered, walking back to my post. I hope Celestia didn't mind helping me in my little job search after this. Then again, she didn't have a problem with it before.

I just hoped things would get better, soon. This war was twisting Equestria into something ugly that not even the Elements Of Harmony can fix.
> Memory-5: Come Home Soon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory-6: Come Home Soon 

"Don't be held back by someone else's bullshit in fake memories. The one path that you've chosen yourself, is the truth of your universe."

I hate searching for a job. Even with the help flyers, it seemed like I was getting no where at all. I really didn't want to ask Celestia for help just yet. You'd think there would be ponies lined up to hire the guy who helped in stopping Discord, right?

You'd be wrong.

Sure, I'll be one to admit I'm nothing special. Not like Twilight and my other friends. But, I thought that at the very least with my accomplishments over the years, I wouldn't have to look as hard for places to work. It had been close to a week now since I had quit my last job, much to Silverware's dismay (to him I was one of the best bodyguards he'd had in a while). Thing was, I just couldn't work for a pony who treated others like that, and I was sure he understood my views.

...At least, I hope he did.

I walked down Mane Street with one last flyer in my hand, looking it over. The next place I was going to check out was a shooting range that had just opened up about a month ago, a little ways from the griffin market. And, since I had no problem with firearms, it seemed like a good place to check out.

There were lots of ponies out enjoying the sunshine, most of them were unicorns with some earth ponies and pegasi mixed in. Canterlot was the unicorn capitol of the world, as well as being the capitol of Equestria. Some ponies smiled and waved at me, and I did the same. Today seemed like it was going to be a good day, and despite not having a job at the moment, I was in a pretty happy mood.

Eventually, I stood right in front of the building from the flyer, the muffled sound of gunshots coming from inside. It was a two story warehouse type establishment with a sign over the front doors that read: Celestial Shooting Range, just like the flyer(that also added: Equestria's first choice in firearms training).

Yep, this was the place. I smiled a little and folded up the flyer, putting it into my pocket. Then, I walked forward and pushed open the double doors leading inside.

Bang!Bang!Bang!

It was much louder, the sound of semi-automatic weapons became even clearer. It made my ears ring a little bit, not being used to being so close to guns this loud. The actual range was a few meters to my left; in two of the six booths, side by side, were two ponies, a unicorn mare and a earth pony stallion. They looked like they were having a challenge of some kind.

"Ah'll show ya who th' best shooter is, partner," the earth pony said, after dropping the handgun out of his month to reload it. "Gotta try better then that."

The unicorn mare in the next booth, snorted. "Oh, please, Shuffle. Guns were made for unicorns, you know that," the mare taunted. Her gun was floating in the air, surrounded by a light blue aura. The empty magazine fell out, and a new one magically slid itself to take it's place.

I knew that guns existed here, and have for a while now, but the only ponies I'd ever seen fire one was either Big Macintosh, or Applejack. They were both earth ponies, so I was used to the whole -tongue the trigger- thing(as weird as it was seeing it at first). I'd never seen a unicorn fire a gun, though. Seeing it now, it just made clear the fact once again that magic made everything easier.

Big Mac can reload pretty fast, but seeing the magazine actually float into the gun, which was also floating, with such ease. I don't know, it was kinda like cheating to me.

The gunshots started up again when the two went back to their challenge. The gun using magic recoiled a bit. Compared to the earth pony way of shooting, though, it was minimal.

"Those two never know when to call it a day," a elderly female voice said in amusement behind me. I was expecting to see a mare, but when I turned around, I was surprised to see that the speaker was a griffon. "They've been at it for almost three hours now."

I starred at her, noticing that one of her claws were covered in large scars going all the way up to her shoulder. I didn't mention anything about them, out of trying to be polite. "What are they trying to prove?" I asked the elder griffon. It was more so to keep the conversation going then anything else.

The griffon rolled her eyes. "Who's race is better at shooting. Though, it should be clearly obvious who's better out of the two."

I turned back to the firing range. "It's the unicorn, right? I mean, levitation just seems a lot easier then using your mouth."

"Exactly what I said. But Shuffle doesn't seem to agree." the griffon said with a grin. "Though, I'll give it to those earth ponies, they are a persistent bunch. I would've never believed they could shoot a gun, let alone hold it, it I hadn't seen it for myself first claw. It's a pretty weird method." So, looks like I'm not the only one who thought that the tongue to trigger thing was odd. Nice to know. The griffon then added, "But there is a race that's better then both, ya know."

I looked back to her. "Really, who? Pegasus ponies?" Wouldn't they have to use they're mouths, too? Or, could they use their wings as fingers? I've seen some pegasi, including Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, do push ups with them.

The griffon gave a hearty chuckle. "No, of course not. It's griffons, ma boy, we're the best when it comes to weapons of any kind," she said, her beak forming a cocky grin. "Others just don't compare. You've probably never been told this, hell, half the ponies shooting guns don't know, but firearms were originally made by griffons."

I blinked. This was news to me. "Really?" I said in surprise.

She nodded. "Yep, come over 'ere for a second, child, I wanna show you something." She motioned me with her scar covered claw. I followed her over to one of the tables holding the antique guns that were just for show. She picked up one of the handgun models(a nine-millimeter cutlass), the same way an ordinary person would. "Look closely at the design. The grip. The trigger. Do they look like they were made for hooves?"

I shook my head. "Actually, no. They don't," I answered.

She gave another nod, then stood on her hid-legs, aiming the gun with both claws. "That's because guns were never intended for pony use, at least not at first." She put the gun back on the table and went back on all fours. "They were made by griffons, for griffons. And trust me it's a lot easier to shoot when ya have claws. Or, whatever those dull claw things you have are."

"They're called hands, ma'am," I corrected her.

"I see, hands, huh." She uttered, before getting back to the conversation. "Anyway, ponies may have taken the designs and such that the Griffon Empire traded with them for gems years back, and took them a few steps forward. I'm sure you heard of the magical energy weapon prototypes. But the original idea, that was all us, baby." She finished, with more then a hint of pride.

That ...actually made a whole lot of sense, and here I was thinking ponies made guns first. Though, that did raise a good amount of questions. One of them being the one I was highly curious about at the moment.

"Where did the idea for guns even come from?" I asked the griffon.

She motioned for me to sit down in a chair next to the table, which I did. After taking a seat in the chair in front of me, she began answering my question. "Now, if you want to know where the idea came from, you need to know a bit about griffon history," she started. "You don't mind, right?"

"Uh, well-."

"Of course not. If you did ya would have never asked an old hawk like methat kind of question." She interrupted, grinning. "Ya see, child, the Griffon Empire is united under one flag. But, the same couldn't be said around three hundred years ago. At that time the entire country was split up into five different states after the fifth emperor had died from sickness fifty years before, though most speculate that he was poisoned. Anyhow, Each kingdom was ruled over by a warlord. This was known to us griffons as the Great Division. Any questions so far?"

"Uh, just one," I said. "Did they ever find out who poisoned the king? If he was poisoned at all."

She shook her head. "Not exactly, though there are theories out there, one being that it was the emperor's own brother trying to get his claws on the throne."

"So, there's no actual proof?" I asked.

"Not in what we've found, no. Not that it really matters now, the damage caused by the old emperor's death has already been done and over with. Shall I continue?" I gave a nod. "Alright, so during that time, the five states that came about after the emperor's death were in constant war with each other, fighting over things like land and resources. Hell, back then I wouldn't be surprised if they fought over a bad trade."

"Wow ...that bad, huh?"

"Yep, there's one thing you should know about griffons, child. When we fight a war, we go all out; griffons are known as a warrior race for good reason." She explained, tapping her left index claw on the table. "It was no different back then, we followed a warrior's code(most still do), and the one thing you never did was break a contract. If you swore your allegiance to a warlord, it stayed that way until the contract was completed." She stopped for a moment. "Now, as for firearms, the griffons had many inventors trying to make names for themselves. The warlords soon began spending large amounts of money on new weapons and styles of armor, in a race to out do each other. At around that time one inventor, Silver Talon, drew up the design for the first firearm ever made, far more advanced then any crossbow, and just as deadly. She called it a musket."

"The first four warlords she went to didn't take her design seriously because of a few minor flaws, so she took them to the last warlord, who ruled over the east. He gave her a chance, unlike the others, supplying her with a limited amount of money to make it. She had enough to make three, and she proved their power by using them to kill a manticore."

"Whoa! Hold up a moment, she killed a manticore, with a musket?" I interrupted, not meaning to be rude. "Are you sure?"

The elder griffon chuckled, not seeming offended that I was questioning her tale in the slightest. "Well, it's either that, or she killed a dragon as some say," she replied. "I, for one, think that's just something griffons came up with over the years, a manticore is much more believable, don't you think?"

"I guess, when you put it that way, killing a manticore might not be impossible." A dragon would be impossible to kill. Even with a modern gun, I knew that for a fact without even having to witness it being tried.

"Anyway, after that," she continued. "The eastern warlord started having smiths help produce muskets for his army from better materials, using them, and later, bigger and better firearms to crush the other warlords, uniting the states under one banner, his banner. The empire's been like that ever since."

"So, this is this something all griffons learn in school?" I asked.

She smiled. "Of course, all children are taught the history of their country, rather their Equestrians or the zebra nation," she replied. "As I've said before, though. Griffons are warriors. Yes, we teach our young academics like reading and such, but we also teach them how to hunt, how to fight, and how to survive in the wild. We are hunters, after all."

I guess it's true what they say, you learn something new everyday. I never knew much about griffons to began with, but I've been curious, so hearing something new about their culture from the mouth of one was welcome.

"Thanks, I have something new to tell my daughter now," I said, smiling. "One of our old neighbors used to be griffons, so she's always wanted to know more about them."

"Well, I'm happy to share. Though, I don't think you came here for a history lesson for an old hawk, am I right?."

Oh, right. God, I hate it when I get sidetracked so easily. Ya came here for a job, Steven. "Uh, right ...you see, I found this flyer," I pulled the flyer out of my pocket, and placed it on the table. "It said you were hiring, and that you were looking for someone to lend a claw around here."

"Yer quite right, as you can see," the griffon said, gesturing around building with her claw. "This is a big place, and I'm not as young as I used to be. So, I need help keeping it cleaned and presentable."

"Soo, you're looking for a cleaner of sorts, then," I asked, plainly. Cleaning really was not my thing.

"Yep, that's right." The owner must have sensed my disappointment, because she then added. "There will be other benefits, of course."

"Benefits like what, exactly?" I asked, curiously.

The old griffon grinned. "Firstly, you'll get to use the range for free, as well as one other if you decide to bring a friend. It's only fair since you will be cleaning up the place. And, since I like you so much, I'll teach you a thing or two about firearms."

Alright, this was something I had to think about. I put my palm under my chin, tapping my finger on my cheek; I hated cleaning, if anything, the house was only clean because I never let it get too messy in the first place. One the other hand, however, I could use the shooting range for free(and never fire a gun before, so it was a plus), along with being taught by someone who had years of experience with guns. I'd also be getting paid, it was a job.

The latter out weighted the former in my mind, and the bits I had saved up would only last so long.

My mind was made up. "Well, ma'am," I said finally, a minute later. "Looks like you've got yourself a deal."

"Great, I thought you would," she replied. She held her claw out for a shake. "By the way, the name's Hawkeye, ex-member of the GSF."

I smiled, as I shook her claw. "Nice ta me ya, Miss Hawkeye. I'm Steven. Um ...if you don't mind me asking, what's the GSF?"

"It's the Griffon Strike Force."

"Ah, I see, so you're a military veteran," I stated.

She gave a proud nod. "You bet. Almost everyone in my family is military in one way or another."

After we broke the hand-claw shake, Hawkeye got up from her chair. I stood up also as she spoke. "Now that we're introduced, you can come back to my office and sign the paper work." She motion for me to follow her with a claw and began moving towards a gray metal door at the back of the building.

I raised an eyebrow, but followed. "Paperwork?"

"Yes, paperwork, child. A contract of sorts. I told you that griffons follow contracts, so you sign, and your job here is official."

"Alright," I uttered. What was with that grin on her face, and why did it feel like I was about to sign my life away.


XxxxX


For the last week almost since I began my new job, things have been going well. I didn't want to admit it, but being a cleaner wasn't as bad as I had first thought. Sure, I hated cleaning bathrooms and cleaning the range of bullet casings; true to her word, though, Hawkeye began teaching me how to shoot.

My stance was getting better, but I had yet to actually shoot at any targets, because, as the elder griffon had stated: 'stance is everything, you must master one before you can get better at the other'. She was like an old martial arts master, and in a way, she was a master. Her skills using guns were no joke, and I witnessed that for myself first hand when she bulls-eyed two paper targets at the same time with a pistol in each claw.

I felt bad for admitting it, but that was something no pony other then a unicorn could possibly do.

"I can honestly say that I love you,
so why can't you say it, too.
All the times we've spent together,
on this night that'll last forever."

I tapped my foot to the beat of the music as I sat on the couch. I didn't have to be at work for another two hours, so I decided to relax until then, just listening to the radio in peace. It was only nine in the morning; I was still quite tired, but if I went to sleep now, I'd wake up late, and I doubt that would be the type of excuse my new boss would want to hear.

A little while later, I got a knock on the door.

Bam!Bam!Bam!

Actually, it was more like banging then knocking. I rose up from my stop on the couch and walked over to the door, unlocking and opening it. Standing there on the porch was one of the princess's earth pony guards, and from the way he was breathing, it seemed like he galloped all the way here from the castle.

I raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a look of concern. "Uh ...are you okay?"

The solar took a few more moments to catch his breath, then looked up at me. "Sir Steven, Princess Celestia needs you to come to the palace at once," he said, sternly. "It's urgent! The elements are being gather as we speak."

The elements? That meant that she was calling on Twilight and the others! I starred down at the guard. "What happened?" I asked, with the up most seriousness.

"The princess will brief you when you arrive. But, right now we must make haste! Please, come with me!" The guard didn't even wait for a response, he just turned and galloped off towards the palace. I quickly closed and locked the door, then sprinted to catch up to the blue earth pony.

If the guard was acting like this, it had to be serious. But, exactly how serious? Did some old enemy of the princesses past come out of hiding? If that was the case, then what the hell did they need me for, I couldn't use magic; sure I was highly resistant to it, but that didn't help much in the past. I could still be effected if the caster was strong enough.

"Whatever, I'll find out when I get there," I uttered out, as I turned down the next street.


XxxxX


The throne doors were magically pushed open by one of the unicorn guards stationed outside the door as I walked in. The long red rug leading up to throne where the princess of the sun and the moon sat, both looking as divine as they had before. From what I could see everyone was accounted for, including a few extras like Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

"So what's up-!"

I would have continued greeting them all, but the looks on their faces kept me from doing so. It was complete expressions of either sadness or grief, or both, even Pinkie Pie's mane had deflated for crying out loud, and that didn't happen often. I stopped near the steps of the throne, my mind was racing to try and think of a reason.

What in the world had happened to get everyone like this?

"What's going on here? Is it Discord again?"

Oh God, what if this was Discord all over again. The last thing I want is for that crazy dragon, thing, whatever he is, to twist my mind again. Being that guy's jester, almost hurting my friends. Not to mention I needed so much therapy to get over the complete mind fuck he put me through.

Celestia gave me a sad look, then shook her head. I didn't like that expression, whenever she was sad, that meant something was terribly wrong. "No ...compared to something like this, I would rather it had been Discord." Oh no ...this has got to be really, really bad for her to say something like that.

Apple Bloom trotted up to me with her head down, when she looked up at me, I saw that her eyes were red and puffy from crying. She put a hoof on the back of my hand. "Steven ...Ah, Ah don't know how t' tell you this, but," she stopped for a moment. "There's been incident at Little Horn."

I felt my heart run cold. Little Horn ...oh God, please don't let it be the school. "Incident! What incident?" Apple Bloom sniffle, but said nothing, so I turned my attention back to Celestia. "What's going on? What happened at Little Horn?"

Luna answered me this time. She sounded just as sad, if not sadder, then her sister. "We got a report this morning," she began. "A guard charged with protecting the school opened fire on a zebra convoy wagon that apparently got too close, thinking it was enemy troops ...he was wrong, and one of the zebras-." The night blue alicorn didn't look like she wanted to continue, so Celestia took over.

"It was a terrible mistake. The wagon was full of refugees, but by the time they noticed, it was already too late. One of the zebras retaliated by sneaking into the school and setting off a pink cloud agent."

"Wait ...p-pink cloud, as in cotton candy pink cloud, right?" I knew of no other pink clouds besides those. Or, maybe that was what I wanted to think in some form of hope.

Twilight shredded that hope into tiny pieces. "No, this is way worse then anything Discord would make," she replied in an angry tone of voice. "This pink cloud is made from necromantic magic. It was made to kill, and kill slowly at that. The cloud itself has high levels of magical radiation, so staying in the cloud for too long is harmful, even if you are wearing a radiation suit. We have medicine for the radiation, but even if that doesn't kill you, the toxins in the cloud will."

Celestia gave a nod, then added sadly. "One of the teachers, Sergeant Buttercup got her class out in time by levitating them out of the second floor window, but ...I'm sorry, Steven, Rose Blossom. She wasn't among those students."

At that moment, it felt as if my whole world came crashing down around me. They was an uncomfortable silence in the room. The only thing that coursed through me was disbelief at what I had just heard.

Out of nowhere, I gave a small chuckle, getting a surprised look from everypony. "C'mon, guys, this is just mean," I said, nervously. "Y-you shouldn't joke around like that." Denial.

"Steven ...darling, you should know us better then this. We're not joking in the slightest," Rarity said, sadly looking down at her hooves. "I'm sorry. But, this is the truth."

"No, no it's not." I argued. "Things like that don't happen in Equestria. They just don't." I turned, giving a weary grin. "So stop kidding around, and tell me what's really going on. I mean, who put you up to this, you can't honestly think this is funny."

"Steven." Celestia trotted down from her throne until she was on the last step, right in front of me. Way was she looking at me like that? "I know this isn't something you want to hear. Believe me I do." She reached out to put a hoof on my shoulder, but I stepped back, knocking it away. Her expression saddened even further. "Steven ...Rose Blossom is-."

Deny it! God damn it, deny it!

"Stop lying to me!" I turned and faced everyone of them, glaring as I backed away from Celestia. "All of you, just stop! Joke's over!"

"We would never lie to ya 'bout somethin' like this, sugar cube," Applejack said.

I shook my head, ruffling my hair with my hands. This was not happening! This was not real! Rose was coming back home! She was!

I tripped over my own feet, falling on my backside. "You can't expect me to believe something like that!" I continued. "My baby girl's coming home. She gonna show me all the spells she's learned. And, and she gonna be just fine and happy as always!"

I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I glanced up, seeing that it was Apple Bloom. She was crying.

And, I didn't seem to notice.

But my tears were starting to break to the surface as well.

I starred up at her with pleading eyes, trying to hold back the sobs that threatened to come forth. A part of me wanted this to be a lie, but another part knew that my friends would never lie to me.

"Apple Bloom," I said. "Please tell me that this is not true ...Rose Blossom, she's okay, right?"

"Ah wish Ah could, Steven. But," she sobbed a bit. "Ah'm sorry, R-Rose Blossom's gone."

The denial had set in, and now it has passed, leaving me with nothing but an ache in my chest. It felt like, my heart was being squeezed by cold hands. My little girl ...my pride and joy was ...I didn't even want to think about it.

I let out a small cry, placing my hand over my face, my other hand gripping the rug. "No ...oh God, no. My little girl." Apple Bloom hugged me, trying to comfort me as I broke down into a sobbing mess.

"Ah know …Ah know it hurts, but Ah'm here for ya. We all are," she whispered gently. "It's gonna be okay."

"N-no it's not," I uttered. "Rose Blossom, all she wanted was to make me proud, to show me that she could handle herself without me. I made a mistake, I should have never let her go. I knew something like this would happen."

"Ah loved Rose, too. That little filly was like a niece t' me. This is all ma fault, Ah should have never built th' school ...if Ah hadn't, none of this would've happened."

I was upset. I was heart broken. But, I couldn't blame Apple Bloom for this ...no, someone else was at fault. The soldier who opened fire on innocent refugees, the zebra who bombed the school. At the core of it all, though, there was only one who could be blamed for all of this grief and misfortune. And it wasn't Apple Bloom.

"No, Apple Bloom. It's not your fault." I muttered. I pushed out of the hug as gently as possible, and stood up, glaring at the one mare who caused all of this. "This is all your fault, Celestia."

The others gasped. Twilight was quick to jump in and back up her teacher. "Steven, I understand that your mad. We all are, but how could you say that? The princess is hurt by this just as much as we are."

"Twi is right, it ain't no ones fault but them zebras," Applejack added. "Ya can't blame the princess fer this."

"Oh, really. Fine, then tell me this. Who was the one who picked the soldiers who'd guard the school, Applejack, huh?" I began, before pointing at the princess of the sun. I was angry. I had to blame someone, and Celestia was the first one to come to mind. "Who picked where the school would be built, right at the border of the same nation we're fighting. Celestia, that's who!" I turned my attention back to the alicorn, glaring. "I told you. I warned you that putting the school that close to the zebra nation was dangerous. But, you said it would be fine, that nothing would go wrong, the zebras were friendly. You promised me that it would be safe for her, Celestia. Now thanks to you, and your poor decision, my little girl ...she's gone, and she's not coming back, ever!"

Everyone in the room was speechless, and Celestia looked down, utterly defeated. I let out a shaky breath, I couldn't stay here anymore, I needed to leave. Without a second thought, I turned and started walking towards the double doors of the throne room.

That was when Scottaloo's tomboyish voice called out to me. "Steven!" When I did stop, she flew over to me, hovering just above my shoulder. "You can't just leave, we have to talk about this. I-I don't think you should be alone right now."

"There's nothing to talk about," I said, glancing over at her. "I want to be alone." I continued walking.

"But-."

I stopped and turned. "Just leave me alone! What part of let me be do you not understand! Do I have to say it another way!" I yelled at her. Scottaloo stop in midair, a hurt expression forming on her face. I frowned. I walked the rest of the way and shoved open the doors, getting the two unicorn guards attention. Nothing needed to be said, they didn't say a thing to me, but the looks of pity they were giving told me that they knew about what happened.

When I got home, the whole house seemed ...different, empty. Rather then being homey, it was complete torturer, the memories of all the times me and Rose had played here. The birthday parties and even the small conversations at dinner.

And what made it all worse, was that Rose Blossom's birthday was coming up in a few months. My little girl was suppose to turn ten. I fell next to the coffee table and started sobbing loudly ...there was no more angry, just crushing regret.

I should have kept her home, put Rose in another magic school. If I had went with my gut, Rose would still be here now.

"I'm so sorry, baby girl," I cried. "I'm so sorry."

Little did I know at the time, what would happen to my little girl could be seen by most as something worse then death.
> Memory-6: First Of Her Kind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Memory-6: First Of Her Kind


"It is impossible not to feel loss, rather it's loss of love or loss of life, we must all go through that pain. But, it's up to us rather we endure it or give into grief."

The sun was shinning overhead, and the rocking motion of the train seemed to have a calming effect. I sat in the seat closest to the window, with my head leaned up against the glass. The past few weeks had to have been the hardest time of my life. Finding out that Rose Blossom was gone ...it hurt, and I mean it hurt bad.

It felt like a cold pit was in my chest whenever I thought about her. The only thing that seemed to make anything feel better, was the burning sensation of apple whiskey. It was too bad that drinking was not allowed on the train, if it was I'd probably be drinking at the moment, rather then starring out the window, watching as the hills passed by.

Babs Seed was sitting across from me, quieter then I've ever seen her. No jokes. No conversation; I guess I was just giving off that aura that said: leave me the hell alone. When she had first found out about Rose, she was devastated, my little girl was a huge part of her life, and even though Babs wasn't around all the time, Rose looked up to her, sorta like a mother and sister in one, Babs had even been there when I first adopted her.

We were on our way to Ponyville for Rose Blossom's funeral. I wanted her to be buried there, a place where she had the most fun, and felt the most safe, the small rural town was the best place I could think of.

Rather it was running around helping Fluttershy with her animals, or harvesting apples at Sweet Apple Acres, we loved it there. The home of my best friends, and the place I spent majority of my teen years.

After a half hour of so of quiet, Babs finally decided to speak. And I was sorta happy she did.

"Hey, do ya remember that time last summer, when the three of us went stargazing," she brought up, smiling a bit. "We all had a blast. It was close to Fluttershy's cottage, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's actually where I wanted Rose to be put to rest." I smiled at the memory, the telescope I had gotten Rose Blossom for her birthday was still in her bedroom. "Rose ...she loved that hill. Before you went with us, we went stargazing there whenever we visited Ponyville with Fluttershy, and even Big Mac a few times."

"Really? I didn't know that," Babs replied.

I sighed, and starred back out the window as I spoke. "I-I wanted us to do that again, when she got back for school break. You should have read the letters, Babs, she was having so much fun there ...I ...I," I stopped and let out a shaky breath, a few tears welling up in my eyes. I quickly whipped them away with my shirt sleeve. "I don't know what to do anymore Babs ...where do I go from here? I miss her so much."

Babs Seed placed a comforting hoof on my lap. "I know you do. I do too. But, it's gonna be alright. And I'm here for you, ya know that."

Sniffling, I gave a nod. "Thanks, Babs. I'm really happy your here for this, I can't thank you enough for all the help you've been to me."

"There's no need to thank me, we're friends, crusaders forever and all that. It's what we do for each other," Babs said with a smile. "No matter how much changes, friendship will always stay the same."

"I know. But, even so, thank you."

The train pulled to a stop at Ponyville station an hour or so later. I stood up and grabbed both my and Babs Seed's luggage, then we walked off the out the car with the rest of the passengers. I looked around for a moment, and smiled when I saw that two of my best friends had come to meet us. Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom began trotting over, after finally taking notice in us. We met them half way.

"Hey, cousins." Babs Seed hugged Apple Bloom and Big Mac, and the two farm ponies returned it.

"Hey, Babs. How ya holdin' up?"

After they ended the hug, Babs gave a small smile. "I'm as fine as I can be, I wish I could have visited under better circumstances."

Big Macintosh nodded. "You an' us both." He turned his attention to me, and stood up on his hid-legs, giving me one of those hugs you'd give to a brother. It caught me off guard for a moment, but I didn't push away, I just leaned into it. "Ah'm sorry for yer lose, Steven. When Ah heard about it on the radio ...Ah couldn't believe it. We all care for 'er, but ya loved that filly ta pieces. Ya were th' best father a child could have."

"Thanks, Mac."

He pulled back out of the hug, still keeping his hooves on my shoulder. "If ya need somethin', anything at all, let me know, ya hear?" I smiled and nodded. Big Mac got down on all four hooves, and using his head, signaled for us that it was time to go. "Let's head on home, everypony is wantin' for us at th' farm."

And with that, we began our walk from the train station through Ponyville. The rural town didn't seem to ever change. But, there seemed to be a sadness in the air, the town wasn't as peppy up as it usually was. As we went through town hall, I noticed a small mamorial had been made.

I stopped and starred at it; the wooden poll was surrounded by lit candles and stuff toys, along with other kids things. On the was a sign that read: To the victims of the Little Horn Massacre, may Celestia help their souls find peace.

It gave me a happy feeling, seeing what the town had done to honor the memory of all those who had died. There were a half dozen ponies around the hoof-made memorial, some giving their respects, while others were placing hallmark cards and stuffed toys. Among those ponies giving their respects, I saw the Cake kids, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake.

I felt relief, knowing that that the filly I had helped babysit from time to time had made it out alive; Pound must have been trying to comfort her, because Pumpkin looked miserable. I decided to talk to her, and at least try and make her feel better. I hated seeing her like this.

"Guys, hold up a minute," I called out, before the others could get too far. They stopped and turned to me, as I continued. "Can you wait ...I want to talk to the Pound and Pumpkin for a minute."

Big Macintosh looked over in their direction, then gave a nod. "Go on, we ain't goin' no where without ya."

"Thanks." I walked over to them and placed my bags on the ground. "I'll only be a moment." And with that being said, I starting walking over to the memorial. A few ponies placed down a toy and left just as I approached, they stopped and gave me a sad greeting, along with their condolences, before continuing on doing whatever they were doing.

When I got next to the Cake children, I tried greeting them with my best smile. A smile I wasn't feeling in the slightest. "Hey, you two, I didn't expect to see you guys out this early," I said with a waved.

Pound Cake turned to me, a wide smile forming on his face as he launch himself at me. "Uncle Steven~!" He shouted out, hugging me around my torso. "It's great to see you again, I haven't seen you in forever." He looked up at me, his smile giving way to a sad frown. "I-I heard about what happened to Rose. If I was there, maybe I could've beat those bad zebras and saved everypony."

I patted his head. Even if he didn't know the zebras weren't completely at fault here, I appreciated him trying to cheer me up. "I know you would have, champ," I said, before turning my attention to his older sibling. "How is your sister doing?"

Pumpkin let go of me, and began to hover in the air next to my head. "I don't know," he said, sadly. "She won't talk to anypony. Not to mom or dad not even to me, and we tell each other everything. Pumpkin just stays locked up in her room most of the time. I ...don't know what to do."

"I'll try to talk to her, alright."

Pound Cake nodded. "Okay, but if she yells at you. Please, don't get mad."

"I won't, don't worry. It take a lot more then yelling to get me upset," I replied.

I walked over to the quiet filly. She had her back turned to me, starring sadly down at the ground in front of her hooves. I heard her sniffle a little, as if she was trying to cover up the fact that she was crying. I knelled down next to her, and pat her gently on the back.

"There, there, it's okay. Everything's gonna be okay." I didn't feel that way, but if it would help her, I felt I might as well say it.

Pumpkin Cake hiccuped and sniffled. "N-no ...no it's not gonna be okay, Rose Blossom's dead ...all because of me."

"None of this is your fault."

"Yes, it is!" She shouted turning to me, her eyes were red and fresh tears were rolling do her muzzle. The ponies around faced us at the sound of her shouting. "If I hadn't been so stupid and forgotten our project! Rose would still be alive! She wouldn't have had to go to the other classroom to get it! If ...if I had gone instead, Rose would be here right now." She broke down in a fit of sobs.

I picked her up and hugged her to my chest, gently stroking her mane. So that was it, she blamed herself. I guess I should have expected that. "Listen, Pumpkin, I know your hurting. And, I miss Rose, too; I'd give anything to have her back. But, if you had gone instead of her, how would your parents feel? What about your brother?" I said, softly. "The pain of losing someone is hard. Trust me, I know first hand. But you can't blame yourself for something you didn't know was going to happen." I stopped for a moment. "Pumpkin, you're coming to the funeral, right?"

"I-I'm not going," Pumpkin uttered. "It's my fault she died. I can't go. I-I don't deserve to go, and even if I could ...I don't want to see her like that."

I put her down in front of me, and she sniffled, starring back at her hooves. I used my finger to get her to look at me. The last thing I wanted was for Pumpkin Cake to blame herself for this. I didn't want to her have to go through that type of self guilt.

"If you don't want to go, I won't be mad." I said, giving her a sad smile. "But, I think you should. Ya know, to say goodbye to her. You're Rose's best friend, and I would like you to at least think about it. Will you do that for me, Pumpkin?" She glanced down, then gave a slow nod. I ruffled her mane a little. "Thank you. And remember what I said: stop blaming yourself, there are a lot of ponies at fault here, but you aren't one of them."

Pumpkin looked down at her hooves, not saying a word. I gave her one last short hug and stood up and walked over to Pound Cake, who was back on his hooves. "Pound, watch your sister, and try to talk to her when you get home. She might not want to, but let her know that you're there when she's ready to."

He nodded. "Okay, see you later, uncle Steven." Pound gave me one last hug, then flew over to his sister.

When I got back to the others, Apple Bloom was the first one to speak.

"How are th' kids doin'?" She asked.

I sighed. "Well, Pound seems to be okay. It's Pumpkin that I'm worried about," I answered. "She blames herself for what happened to Rose. And from what Pound told me, this is really getting to her."

Big Macintosh shook his head. "Poor girl ...she lost 'er best friend." He said. "Ah felt th' same way when ma and pa died, and Ah even blamed myself for a long while 'til Granny Smith talked ta me." He frowned, kicking one of his fore-hooves in the dirt. "Damn zebras. Ah don't care if they weren't the ones ta start shootin', takin' it out on innocent colts and fillies is jus' low, even fer them."

"And I agree with ya one-hundred percent on that, cuz," Babs Seed added.

"We should probably keep going," I said, picking up the lounge I had left on the ground.

"Yea, we don't want ta keep everypony waitin' on us." Apple Bloom said.

Big Macintosh nodded, and we started back down the dirt road again, headed towards Sweet Apple Acres. As we did, I glanced back and saw Pound hugging his sister. I smiled sadly, they say that tragedy brings people together, and it seemed that the same thing went for ponies.

I just wanted things to get better. For this war to end. I don't think I could take losing anyone else.


XxxxX


Tomorrow was the day.

I was still trying to prepare myself for the funeral, that final goodbye, but deep down in my heart I knew that I would never be ready, no matter how long I took. I had to at least try, though. It's not like I could pull an Edger Allen Poe and keep her body at my bed side until I was ready to let her go.

That would be just creepy, and unnatural.

This was the right thing to do, both for Rose, and even if it hurt, for me as well.

Breakfast had been a quiet affair. There had been a few conversations here and there, but it we mostly ate in silence. I had the feeling that I was still giving off that depressed aura, even when I was trying not to. Afterward, I went out into the orchard with Big Macintosh and Applejack, to try and take my mind off of things for a little while through hard labor.

Thud!

The sound of hooves connecting with wood came from under the branches were I sat. Applejack another swift buck, and the apples from the next tree over went falling into the wooden baskets below. At the moment, Big Macintosh was else where, taking care of another part of the orchard.

As I sat on a branch on the highest part of the tree I was in, a small radio played on a wood cart that would be used to take all the baskets of apples to the barn when we were done with the harvesting.

"-And now, for the news." The radio stallion from Canterlot spoke when the last song had ended. "Folks, I'm certain you've all heard about the tragedy that happened a few weeks ago. What some are now calling the Little Horn Massacre, if not, then you'd best clear ya ears, or read a damn newspaper for Celestia's sake."

"Anyway, I've just gotten some info from sources inside Canterlot castle; it seems that some very important ponies from the solar court and the lunar court are calling out to the princesses to put Equestria into a full scale war. ...Yeah, you heard me, folks. There's a chance the zebra nation will officially become our enemies. But, is that truly what we want?" There was a pause, as if he was waiting for someone to answer the question. "No, no it is not, my follow ponies. Ya see, if we go to war, not only will we be paying taxes from hell, but there will be even more lose of life then ever before. So before you patriotic ponies out there go signing forms for the military, I want you to stop and think for a moment, ask yourselves: what am I really signing up for? And, is it worth my life?"

"This next song goes out to those children who passed away at Little Horn; may you rest in peace, little ones."

"Sleeping on a cloud made out of rainbows,
and what do I see,
The whole world seems smaller, then
I thought it would be,
above me, the stars twinkle in the night
and I thought of you,
Darling child of mine."

I could feel tears starting to well up in my eyes. I was so sick of crying, but I couldn't help it. This was one of Rose Blossom's favorite; the memory was so clear, all the times we'd sing and dance around the living room to Swing songs, me holding Rose up by her fore-hooves so she could dance the same way I did.

I'd never be able to spend times like that with her anymore, and it killed me inside knowing that.

"Damn it. Out of all the songs to play, they had to pick this," I uttered, wiping my eyes with my shirt sleeve. I had been up in this tree for too long, so I began to climb down. There weren't anymore apples to pick, anyway.

When I hopped down from the last branch, Applejack trotted over to me, a worried expression on her face.

"You alright, sugar cube?"

I wanted to say I was, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. "No ...I'm not ready, yet," I said, frowning. "The funerals tomorrow, but it still seems so surreal, you know. This wasn't suppose to happen, Rose wasn't suppose to die, but she did. I know that burying her is the right thing to do, I'm-I'm just not ready to let her go."

"Ah know it's hard." Applejack placed a hoof on my hand. "Everything's gonna be okay."

I gave a chuckle, but it was humorless. "Everyone keeps saying that. I even try to tell myself that. But, I keep finding it harder and harder believe." I didn't feel the need to fix the term 'everyone', simply because I didn't feel like it. Applejack understood what I was trying to say. "What do I do after this? I keep asking myself that. I just can't seem to find an answer, though, even when I talk about it with somepony."

"You'll find a way t' keep goin', Ah promise ya that. It like Granny Smith says," Applejack said with a small smile. "All wounds heal, ya jus' have ta give it time." The cowpony let her hoof fall back to the ground and we got back to work; Applejack was bucking trees and filling the last few baskets with apples, and I took the ones already filled and loaded them into the cart. I was in the midst of doing just that, when I heard my name being called.

It wasn't Applejack, or even anypony else who was on the farm at the moment.

"Steven! Steven!" It was kinda distant at first, but when it got closer I noticed who it was immediately. ...Scootaloo. I sat the wood basket into the cart, and turned towards the sound of her voice; she was flying through the air a few meters away from me and coming in fast. The purple mane mare caught me completely off guard when she hugging me, spinning me in a circle, then coming to a stop, hooves on my shoulders.

I blinked at her, confused. "Scoots, what is it?"

Scootaloo beamed at me. Looking the happiest I'd seen her in days. "You've got to go to Twilight's, like right now," she said with glee. "It's a miracle! A Celestia damned miracle!"

"Calm your wings a moment ...what the hell are you talking about?"

"It's Rose, she's alive!"

I blinked. I didn't know what to think at that. I had to have heard that wrong. "What?"

"What was that ya said 'bout, Rose?" Applejack asked, trotting up next to me.

Scootaloo was more then happy to repeat herself. "I said, Rose is alive! I don't know how, but a doctor came by Twilight's from the hospital and said that two ponies for the funeral home were getting her ready for the tomorrow and she just ...woke up, came back from the dead." She explained. A part of me was filled with more joy then I could stand, but the other part, the more rational part, kept saying not to get my hopes up. That what Scootaloo was saying was completely impossible. Scoots continued. "Now, I don't know all the details, you'll have to ask Twilight. I'm just passing everypony the news."

"Scoots ...your sure you heard right," I asked. I needed to make sure. If my little girl ...if Rose Blossom was truly alive, I'd be the happiest man in the whole world, times ten. "You didn't mishear anything Twilight said?"

"Of course not, I was right in front of her when she told me to come get everypony."

Rose was truly alive …?

I ...I had to see for myself, if this wasn't true the heartbreak might just kill me. But, I was willing to take the chance.

I turned to Applejack. "Are you alright, loading the rest of the cart on your own?"

The blonde mare smiled, giving a nod. "Eeyup, Big Mac should be back any minute now. He'll help me with th' rest," she said, waving a hoof at me. "Now you run along, go see Twilight. It's hard t' believe, but if Twi's calling everypony, it's gotta be true."

I smiled. I was off before another word could be spoken, sprinting towards Ponyville with renewed energy. It was as if I hadn't been working the farm for most of the morning. Along the trail, saw Big Macintosh coming up over the hill, hauling a cart of apples behind him.

The red stallion stopped in front of me. I didn't stop running, though. "What's th' big hurry, partner?" He asked as I passed by.

I turned my head to him. "Scootaloo said that Rose is alive!"

Big Mac raised an eyebrow. "What, now?"

I continued on my way. A few minutes later, Ponyville was coming just over the next hill. I prayed over and over again in my head, hoping to God that this was true. I never believed much in miracles, but if there was one, please let this be it.


XxxxX


"I've never seen anything like this before in all my years. I was a doctor early on in the war during the very first battles, one of which, included a pink cloud attack. The lucky ponies who survived the attack got out of the cloud within a few seconds, those who were exposed longer then a minute suffered horrible internal and external damage, along lung complications. They died a few days later."

The doctor went on as me and Twilight followed him down the corridor towards Ponyville General Hospital's intensive care ward. Spike had been left to take care of things in the library when we had came to the hospital, during our walk, the purple unicorn mare told me what little she knew about the situation. She had sent a letter off to Princess Celestia, informing her of what had occurred before I had arrived, and in return, the princess had sent back a letter of her own, saying that she would be coming to Ponyville as soon as she could.

I couldn't help but grow more and more nervous. I was happy; the doctor had confirmed that Rose Blossom was indeed alive. What made me nervous, though, was the fact that he also added there being something seriously wrong with her. We turned down the next hall, into the corridor of the intensive care ward.

Walking through the hall, we passed doors with different numbers and names on them: 16, 25, 34 and finally, the door we stopped at, room 101. In bold black the name 'Rose Blossom' posted under it.

I reached out for the nob to entire. My little girl was right on the other side. But, the doctor's voice stopped me. "Before you go inside," he began, suddenly. "I'd like to warn you. Rose Blossom, is having a hard time."

I dropped my hand and turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"It's nothing life threatening, is it?" Twilight added.

The stallion sigh, fixing the glasses on the bridge of his muzzle with a hoof. "As I've explained before, the pink cloud does both internal and external damage. Rose's internal wounds are healing at an alarming rate. But as for the external damage, that may never heal, it may even get worse if not treated." He said, sounding as professional as a doctor should. "Her body was badly scared, she also suffering from mane and coat loss. I wanted to keep this from her until you showed up, but one of the nurses reacted quite hysterically when entering her room. Poor girl saw her reflection for the first time. She ...didn't take it well. Rose won't let anyone in her room, so we can't examine her further."

"I-I see. I'll go in first then, and talk to her," I muttered. Turning back to the door, I rose my fist to it, pausing for a moment, taking a breath, then knocked.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Go away! I told you all to leave me alone!" Rose Blossom's voice came through the door. She sounded like she had been crying.

"Baby girl, it's me."

"D-daddy ...?"

"Yeah, it's me, baby girl," I answered. "Can we come in."

"I-I don't know-."

"Please, I want to see you, Rose."

"I ...okay, b-but only you daddy. No pony else!" A moment later, I heard the door unlock.

I sighed, and turned to Twilight and the doctor. "Sorry, you heard her."

The doctor waved a hoof, dismissively. "Don't worry about us, Mr. Steven. If that's what she wants we won't argue with it."

Twilight nodded. "Go to your daughter. A miracle like this rarely happens," the purple unicorn said, before adding sadly. "There are so many who would jump at a chance like this."

Twilight was right. I was nothing special; compared to what unicorns and pegasi, and even simple earth ponies could do, I wasn't special at all. Asides from my different appearance, I really had nothing going for me. I may have been resistant to magic, but I couldn't use it like Rose or Twilight, I can't fly, and although I'm not weak, I no where near as strong as your average earth pony.

And yet, this miracle was given to me. Out of all the parents who suffered the loss of a child, I got mine back. I was grateful, more grateful for this then anything I'd ever been given before ...but why me?

Did I really deserve such a thing?

I shook my head; thinking things like that wouldn't do me any good. Rose was here, she was alive, and that's all that mattered.

"Your right, Twi. I should cherish this ...no, I'm going to cherish this."

I then turned to the door, and placed my hand on the nob. Then I walked inside and closed the door behind me. The room was medium sized and white, clean of any dirt or foul smells. It was as clean as a hospital room could get; there was a wide window right in front of me, and before that, a big bed with white sheets. Sighing I walked over to the bed and sat down in the chair stationed there. Rose had yet to say a word to me, the reason being she was nothing but a lump, hidden under her blanket.

I reached out and touched her over her blanket, getting a small flinch in response. "Rose, can you come from under there," I asked, gently. "I want to see you."

Rose shook her head quickly. "No, I don't want to."

"Honey, the doctor already told me. I just want to see you," I said, stroking where I could feel her mane through the blanket. "Everypony misses you. I miss you more then anything, even Pumpkin misses you."

"...Pumpkin's okay ...she didn't get hurt?"

"Yep, she's fine, baby girl. Now can you come from under the blanket ...please?"

"O-okay, but promise you won't say anything."

"...I promise."

There was quiet movement of the blanket being shifted, then Rose used her magic to remove it from herself. I practically had to force myself not to gasp as she looked up at me, probably unsure of how I would react to her appearance.

My breath got caught in my throat, and I shakily let it out. As I looked closer, a horrified expression appeared on my features. I was no longer starring at Rose Blossom's face, but at her coat on her upper body and flank. There were large patches of fur missing on her once smooth coat, and some of her mane had fallen out as well. It was horrible, I never expected something like this.

I felt like I wanted to cry, and I probably looked close to doing so. Rose must have been in so much pain, so much agony ...I didn't even want to think about what she had gone through to end up like this.

I reached my hand out to touch her, flinching my hand back a moment later. I didn't want to. I was afraid to. She looked so fragile, I thought that me touching her would cause more of her coat to fall off.

"Rose, you-."

"I know, dad, you don't have to say it," she uttered, looking down at the sheets on her bed. "I'm ugly."

"No you're not, that's not what I was going to say."

"Yes I am! Look at me!" She cried, tears falling from her already puffy, red eyes. "My coats falling out, and even my mane. You always said my mane was pretty, now I'm losing it all."

I placed a hand on her hoof. "It's going to be alright, baby girl."

"No it's not, almost all my friends are dead, and they didn't even do anything. The nurse told me." Rose Blossom sobbed, falling to her hunches. "Firefly, Ladybug, Bluebell ...their all gone. All of them, even Miss Sue."

I leaned over and pulled Rose into a hug, not caring if some of her coat got on me or not. My little girl was hurting. Her appearance had been ...altered, and her friends were gone. I wanted to tell her that everything was gonna be alright. But how could I. I didn't even believe that myself.

"I don't know what to do, dad. I can't go outside. I-I don't want anypony to see me like this."

I sighed. "Baby girl ...I don't even know what to do. I thought I lost you, and here you are. It's not gonna be easy, but I promise, we'll get through this, just stay strong for me, alright?"

Rose Blossom gave a slow nod. I pulled back, then tilted her head up to me my gaze. I smiled. "Now c'mon and give me a big smile, you remember what your aunt Pinkie said, right?" Rose sent me a small smile. I wasn't focused on that, though, what caught my attention was her eyes. Her left eye had a pink taint in the iris, and the whites of her right eye was slightly pinkish. When noticing all this, I continued to smile as best I could. "See, that's the cute filly I remember."

She a sudden frown formed on her muzzle. "Thanks daddy, but, I know your just lying to make me feel better," Rose muttered. "You're my dad, you're suppose to say I'm cute ...even when I'm not."

"Rose-."

"I miss everypony, daddy. I really do." She back-trotted away from me, and used her magic to cover herself with the blanket, leaving only her face exposed this time. "I just don't want to see anypony else right now."

"If that's what you want, it'll just be me and you for today," I said, bring her into another hug, with my ear against her side. "I'll always be here. Whenever you need me. I promise."

"Okay," Rose sighed, leaning into the hug. "I love you, daddy."

"I love you, too, baby girl."

It was then that I noticed something else, something that shocked me to the core. I couldn't hear anything, not the usual pulse or even the lightest pulse. Even though Rose's body was still warm, I couldn't hear her heart beat at all.
> Present Time-1: In Freedom's Name
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Present Time-1: In Freedom's Name


"Everyday Ah worked those fields, an' Ah ain't never complained. After this is all over, Ah'm gonna go back ta that small town, and work those same fields. It's ma callin', what Ah'm good at." 

"Let's go! Move yer ass, or do you want to feel ma whip again!"

I frowned as I kept low behind a large piece of debris, a little ways away from the caravan. I had been tailing them for the past few hours, and with good reason. This particular caravan was a slaver transport caravan.

It was a good thing this old ruined house was right here, I'd hate to waste a StealthBuck just to get close enough to hear what was being said, and get a clear picture of what was going on.

This was as close as I could get without being spotted by the guardbuck on top of one of the wagons (he was most likely a mercenary, if his armor was anything to go by). From what I could see, one wagon was filled with scavenged food and supplies, while the other was a cage type wagon with a wooden top, holding the much younger or injured captives.

For the time being, however, the caravan was halted because a pony at the front of the slave line refused to move, or just plain couldn't.

The red coated unicorn slaver hissed at the young jade green mare again. "I said walk, damn it!"

The mare whimpered. "I can't, my leg hurts, something's wrong with it," she tried to explain through sobs. Her left fore-hoof was bent slightly upwards, obviously from whatever pain she was in.

The unicorn didn't seem to care one bit. "Listen, girl, you either walk, or," with a glow of his horn, the slaver took a long, leather handled whip from out of his saddlebag. "You get this, and we both know ya don't want that."

"B-but, my leg-."

"What th' fuck, Cast Away," another slaver spoke from further ahead. "Get 'er ass moving, we're already runnin' late as is!"

"I know that, Browning!" The red coated slaver replied, keeping his attention on the mare. "Fuck it, move!" He raised his whip, and brought it down on the mare's back, leaving a bloody line an inch above her flank. The mare let out a wail in pain. "Move now!"

The mare sniffled. "Okay! O-okay."

But, she could only go a few feet before she had to stop again, which resulted in another lash from the whip. "I don't feel like doing this all day," the unicorn slaver muttered in annoyance. "You stop again, that's five lashes for ya, understand."

"I-I'm trying."

"Well, then try hard, we ain't got all day!"

My frown deepened; no more watching, it was time to act. They were stopped in the middle of no where with no back up for miles, it was as good a time to attack as any. Still keeping my attention on the scene in front of me, I took off my travel sack and began rummaging through it.

I dug past the food, pouch of caps, ammo and healing potions, and pulled out a pony altered zebra weapon: a Mist Talisman. It was a lavender and purple oval shaped device, first used by zebras later on in the war to cover a whole twenty-five meter area in a thick blanket of mist, much like a pink cloud bomb.

Unlike the pink cloud, however, it was non-toxic.

The bad thing was that it was a one time deal, and the cover only lasted for about five minutes tops. So I had to be fast, in a cloud that left me with close to zero visibility. That just made for another reason why I was happy about my prototype eye prosthetic, even if the way I lost my real eye hurt like a bitch(it's hard to forget that type of pain).

I pressed down on the black button on the talisman, and tossed it with all I had towards the caravan. It hit one of the bars on the cage wagon, catching the attention of the guardbuck and the slaves that were sitting inside it.

"What the-?" There was a series of loud beeps, then the talisman let out a hiss as the mist cloud began to escape from it, slowly covering the area from the ground up. A foul yelped, and the captives in the cage tried to back away from the white cloud, in fear that it might be harmful.

"Where th' hell is all this mist coming from?" One of the slavers shouted. "Are we under attack? I don't see anypony."

"The mist is coming from some weird thing that just got thrown over here," the guardbuck announced. The cloud rose up from the ground, covering the area below the cage wagon roof in white cloud.

The voice of the one known as Cast Away joined in, yelling. "Stay on guard, it might be raiders near by."

Oh, how wrong he was.

I unstrapped my assault carbon, and using S.A.T.S I locked on to my first target, the guardbuck on top of the cage wagon. "Sorry," I uttered. "But you chose the wrong ponies to work with." My left eye tinted red as I zeroed in on his head. I took a breath, and pulled the trigger as I exhaled.

Bang!

The guardbuck's head snapped back, exploding in a mist of crimson, then he went toppling into the mist screen below. A part of me felt bad for killing someone so young, but he was a merc, he knew what his job entitled when working for the slavers. So to me, he was no different then them.

"Shit! BlackBerry!" One of the slavers shouted, just before the mist shrouded the rest of them.

"One down," I uttered. The captives were outlined in yellow, while the other slavers(and any other hostile threat) were outlined in red; there were more then six red pony outlines. I activated one of the StealthBucks, making it impossible to even see my invisible form in the cloud cover.

I slung the assault carbon back over my shoulder, and pulled out my Saber-Blade; my favorite sword based energy weapon. I began sneaking further into the cloud, the only thing telling I was even there was the soft hum of the purple energy blade.

By the time anypony heard it, though, it was already too late.


XxxxX


"So, how does your leg feel?" I asked as I finished bandaging up the mares wounds. I found out when I started treating her that her name was Morning Glow, an odd name but hey, I wasn't going to judge.

Morning smiled. "It feels much better, now. Thank you for saving us." 

"It was no trouble at all," I replied. I pulled a healing potion out of my travel sack and handed it to her. "Drink this, it'll help make sure that the wounds on your back don't leave any scars." She nodded, and took it into her hooves. I gave her one last pat on the head, before I stood up. 

If there was one thing I hated about the Equestrian Wasteland, it was that it turned some ponies into horrid creatures, even more so then the mutated animals that lived among the wastes. At least with them, you know that it was for food or because somepony was stupid enough to walk into their territory.

Raiders were another thing entirely, they found sick enjoyment in tormenting others, and didn't have a moral bone in their body; rape, murder, and all of the above was just everyday life for them, in short, there was close to nothing a raider wouldn't do, they came close to second on my hate list. But the one thing I hated most of all, were slavers.

Back in my previous world, growing up being taught about how my ancestors had been enslaved against their will and the terrible things that had happened to them, and the pain they had suffered and endured to achieve freedom.

Naturally, this gave me an extreme dislike for slavers or all kinds, pony or human, it made no difference. If you were were a slaver, you got no sympathy from me. That was a rule I'd gone by all these years, and would until the day I died (which, considering how the wasteland is, would most likely be in a storm of lead and plasma).

With that in mind, I didn't have to think much about rushing to the aid of slaves in a slaver caravan on a march through the wasteland to where ever they exported slaves. Considering where I was on the map, it was most likely that they were being taken to old Appaloosa; Braeburn would be turning in his gave if he could had see what's become of the old town he once protected.

I wasn't stupid. I knew there was no way I would be able to enter Appaloosa and free every last pony that had been captured, only an idiot would try that and not think things through.

As for a slaver caravan, however, though it would be a challenge, it wasn't impossible since the number of slavers they had weren't many, around a half dozen or so I'd say. A StealthBuck didn't hurt to use either, sure I had only one left at the moment, but to me it was worth it for what I had accomplished.

That had been earlier today.

At the moment, I was sitting around the campfire I had made, watching the flames cackle and pop as I carefully added another log of dry wood. The wasteland was full of dead trees, and as sad as it was from how green Equestria used to be, even dead trees had there uses.

Most of the group of slaves had crowded around the fire to stay warm in the cold night air; we had used the three transport carriages to make a circle around us, with three of the much healthier looking ponies of the group keep watch for whatever might come our way, holding weapons that they had taken off of the dead slavers.

As I sat there, hands held out in front of me to feel the heat, I felt a nudge on my shin. I turned my head and saw that it was a small colt with a black and white striped coat and snow white hair, I would have thought he was a zebra, if not for the horn.

"What do you want, kid?" I asked, tiredly.

The colt just continued to stare at me, then shook his head. "Uh ...nothing, I was just wondering what you were, that's all." He said, shyly.

I smiled a bit. "Well, I guess I could tell you," I said. "I'm what you call, a human."

"A human? I'll never heard of a human, before," the colt said in wonder.

"Really, never? Not even in books?"

"I can't read very well. What is a human? Are you related to dragons," The colt asked.

I sighed, and answered. "Not in the slightest, believe me I wish I was related to a dragon," I replied. "Thing is, I'm the first and only human in the entire world."

"Oh ...it must be lonely, huh."

"Yeah, it is a bit lonely, but I've managed this long, plus I have a few friends here and there. True friends are hard to find in the wasteland, kid, when you find em', keep em' close and don't let go, got it?" The colt smiled and gave a nod. I smiled back, before nudging him towards the small cots that had been laid out. Dirty, yes, but better then sleeping on the hard ground. "Now go get some sleep, I'm sure it's past your bedtime."

"Aw, do I have to?" The colt whined.

I nodded. "Yep ...look, tell ya what. Go to sleep, and tomorrow, I'll tell you a story about one of my many adventures through the wasteland."

"Oh, wow, really," he asked, excitedly. I nodded again. "Okay, g'night mister." He grinned and trotted over to the makeshift cots. The other ponies had left me alone, either too tired to talk or, like the fillies and colts, already asleep. I took this time to check my PipBuck to see what in my inventory needed repairs. Everything was in pretty good shape, the only thing that needed some patching up was my Saber-Blade, but I could handle that at a later date.

An elderly earth pony mare sat down near the campfire next to me, with a small grin on her muzzle. I didn't get her name, but I did know that she was a medic, she had used some of the healing potions and other meds the slavers had left behind to help heal the wounded. She wasn't the best healer I've come across; out here, though, you take what you can get.

The mare spoke when I lowered my arm. It felt nice to know that there were still some polite ponies out there. She just sat on her hunches and waited until I was done. "That was quite the show you put on earlier. Never thought I'd see slavers getting picked off like a bunch of radhogs to the slaughter. Not that I could see much. All the same, though, thank you fer saving us."

"Think nothing of it, ma'am," I said, pulling out a pink balloon designed tin can from out of my pants pocket. I took a gumball out for myself and held out one for the mare. She politely shook her head, and I shrugged, putting the extra one back. 

Smiley Bombs was truly extraordinary gum, there were even words under the label ("It's like a megaspell explosion, in your mouth~!"). Two-hundred years old, and didn't taste a day over thirty. Pinkie Pie had really outdone herself when she had made it, claiming that it would be 'the gum to top all gums', kids would chew it for days and it wouldn't loss any taste, though I'd admit it was oddly addictive.

The world ended two days after it came out in stores, a true shame for something doing so well to end so suddenly. I tore the paper casing off and popped a gumball into my mouth; I missed Pinkie Pie, having her in this dark and gloomy world would cheer up so many.

"You know, I prayed fer this." The elderly mare said, "I prayed to the goddesses fer a miracle, that someone would come and save us from those fiends, then you showed up and broke us free of our chains."

"I was just doing what I thought was right," I muttered. I wasn't a hero, that was the last thing I wanted to be seen as. I turned to her. She must have been a decadent of the Apple family, I could see the features in her quite well. Blonde coat, graying brown mane, and her cutie mark was of a caramel covered apple. "If you don't mind me asking, though, how did you all get caught by slavers? You seem like you all know each other."

"That's because we all come from the same town. Well, what used t' be our town, it's not there anymore," the elder mare said, frowning.

"What happened?"

"Raiders, that's what happened. A tribe of them invaded our small town and killed the stallions protecting us, then to make things worse they burned it to the ground. Every last house. Those of us who got away found each other and we began scouring the wasteland for a new home. That was when we were ambushed by the slavers. We tried to fight back, but we aren't exactly strong, or many in number."

"I see. I'm sorry to hear that, no one should have to loss their home, especially not like that," I said, sadly. I turned to her. "What are you going to down now, miss?"

The elder mare shrugged. "There's not much we can do. We had no place to go before the slavers captured us, and we still have no place to go now."

"Well, if you need a place to stay, there's a settlement someways away from here." I lifted my arm again, and looked into how far the settlement was in my PipBuck, as well as how long it would take to reach on foot. "It's about a weeks trot from here, near the Baltimare Ruins, they don't have a problem taking in new ponies like yourselves."

Her face lighted up a bit. "Really?" I nodded. "But even if that is the case, we don't have any food or water for the trip. And some of the little ones are injured."

"As far as food and meds go, I have a small shack in that direction, it'll only take a few hours to reach. It had enough food and water for the trip, as for the injured, we'll just take the wagons. Not like the slavers have anymore use for em'," I said, smiling at her. "I'll go with you so that the tribes who guard the route to Baltimare will let you pass, they know me, so they should let us through."

The elderly mare gave me a wide smile, and took my hands in her fore-hooves. "You truly are a blessing from th' goddesses, young one, may Celestia shine brightly on you." I chuckled a bit at being called young, I may not look ancient, but I'm positive I was way older then the mare in front of me.

"Thank you for the kind words, ma'am, but I'm no blessing. I saw you needed help, so I helped, it's as simple as that."

"Even so," the mare said. "We can't thank you enough for saving us, and even now, you offer to guard us on our journey through the wasteland. I would be a fool not to see you as a blessing after praying so long for this."

I could see that me talking wasn't going to change her image of me. I was no hero, and I wasn't a villain in the slightest, I was just a man living his life day after day hoping for, what most would call, a warrior's death. But if she wanted to see me as some sorta savior, hell, I wasn't going to try and change stop her.

"Well, ma'am, I guess I can see where you're coming from," I replied. "If you don't mind me asking, I'd really like to get your name, if that's alright with you."

The elderly mare, let go of my hand. "Of course not, it would be rude of me not to," she said, holding her hoof out for a shake. "The name's Apple Stick."

"So, you're Apple family then?"

"You betcha, youngin'!" Knew it, if there was one thing most Apple's had in common, no matter how far down the family tree they went, it was the freckles and apple affiliated cutie mark.

I grinned and shook her hoof. "Nice to know. Name's Steven, I'm human if you wanted to know."

Apple Stick gave a small nod. "Well, Steven The Human, please take care of us."

"You can count on me, ma'am."


XxxxX


"Alright, listen up everypony. I know you've all had a rough time, being taken by slavers and all. I just wanted to warn you that even though route fifty-six is one of the safer roads, it doesn't mean that we can't be attacked. Keep your eyes sharp and your weapons ready at all time, got it." I was met with nods from the ponies in front of me. "Good, then lets get going, we should reach a place to restock on food in a day or so, after that it's on to Baltimare."

The sun had risen a few hours ago, with daylight poring through the gray clouds cover. I began to lead our little group in the opposite direction of Appaloosa; from my Pipbuck's calculations, it seemed that the slaver town was a few days away. Which meant that by the time someone decided to come looking for their friends, we'd be long gone by then. Of course, I made sure to cover up whatever tracks we left on the road just encase.

The wagons were pulled in single file, with me walking next to the first wagon.

"Um, mister Steven." I turned my head to the little colt I had talked to late night, he had a bored expression on his face as he sat behind the bars of the slave wagon. "Do you think, you could, um, tell me that story now?"

I cracked a grin. "What, feeling bored already?"

He nodded. "Sorta ...yeah."

"Alright, I guess I could tell a few stories to pass the time," I said. The black and white colt smiled. Putting a hand to my chin, I thought on what story I should tell. "Let's see, how about the time I had to fight off a pride of manticores?"

"Whoa! You fought a manticore? Are they, like, really big like everypony says?" He asked in excitement.

I smiled. "Yes, and yes. I was lucky to get out of that situation with my head still on my shoulders. I'll tell you right now, kid, getting swatted by a manticore hurts like hell. I was feeling sore for days after that. How it happened was-." I went on to tell the young colt some story, as promised. While also giving him some wasteland survival tips that would come in handy when he got older, things I had to learn through blood, sweat and a lot of pain.

Watching the excitement on the colt's face, it reminded me so much of my little girl, back when she was that age. Oh, how I missed her.

I hadn't seen her in some time; right about now going back to the Baltimare Ruins didn't seem like such a bad idea.
> Present Time-2: Ease On Down The Road
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Present Time-2: Ease On Down The Road


"Out here you got to choices, ya fight, or ya die, and Ah'll tell you one thing, Ah Ain't dyin'."

The fire crackle softly, as the sounds of the mutated wild life could be heard far off in the distance in the forest near by. Our slaver turned traveling caravan had finally made it to the supply stop an hour ago, a few minutes after sunset; I packed up most of the food and medicine into the wagon, and kept the rest just encase I ended up coming back this way in the future and needed to restock like usual.

I was laying down on one of the makeshift cots, and the colt that I had talked to most of the walk here, named Milkspot, was sitting next to me on his own cot as the radio from my living room in the shack played tunes. It didn't work at first, but after changing the old spark-battery inside, the radio played like new.

No pony around the campfire said much. Well, everyone but Milkspot, who was telling me something about his dad. It was a quiet night, and I didn't really mind letting the kid speak his mind.

Looking up at the sky, I couldn't help but wish that I could see the moon and the stars, hell, I wished I could see the sun most days.

...Damn pegasi, the war's been over for the past two centuries, and they still didn't let up on the fuckin' cloud cover. What the hell were they scared of? Or did they just enjoy watching everyone on the surface in such a gloomy and depressed state. My mom used to always say 'the sunlight helps put people in a good mood', thinking of that now, it was no wonder the world got so bad after the megaspells went off.

Even so, ...this world still had some good qualities, they were just so damn hard to see past all the killing and fighting to stay alive day after day; you keep living like that, and soon you forget what true living is.

"-So dad saw I was in trouble and took out this huge gun. I can't remember it's real name, but dad called it 'Big Red'." The black and white colt continued, happily. "And he shoot the radigator right in the face, and the thing turned into sparkling dust! It was so cool! You should have seen it!"

"That quite the story, Milkspot," I said. "Your dad sounds like a really cool guy."

"Yeah ...he was. H-he died when the raiders attacked our town." Milkspot gave a sad sigh, and laid his head down on his fore-hooves. "I really miss him. The day before he died, dad said he was gonna teach me how to shoot Big Red. He even said that I could go radhog hunting when I was good enough at shooting a gun."

I lifted my hand, and gave the saddened colt a gentle pat on the head. "C'mon, now, I'm sure your dad misses you, too," I said, smiling a bit. "He died fighting to protect you from the raiders. All dads are like that ...at least, my dad was. Just remembered that even though he might not be here physically, he in your heart, and in your memory."

Milkspot smiled, sadly. "Thanks ...hey, mister Steven?"

"Yeah?"

"When we get to Baltimare, are the ponies there really going to take us in?"

I gave a nod. "Yep, I'm sure of it," I answered, confidently. "The town I'm taking you guys to, Newport, is just outside the Baltimare Ruins. They've been taking in ponies who've lost their homes since the day it was founded a few decades back. I'm sure they don't mind taking in a few more good folks."

"Oh, well that's good." The colt replied, "I'd hate for us to get all the way there, only to get turned away."

"Trust me, kid, that won't happen. I wouldn't be taking you all there if they'd do something like that." I flipped over on my back, and placed my hands under my head, still facing him. "Now, enough talk, let's just enjoy this calm night, huh?" Milkspot nodded, shifting a bit to get more comfortable on his cot.

The radio continued playing. When the next song ended, the radio stallion began to speak, his voice a smooth and cool tone, what you would only hear on the coolest of cool bucks.

"Hello out there, everypony and fateful listeners, this is Jazzy Fresh, speakin' to you from ma radio station in the town of New Port, giving you the news from here to Manehattan," he said, calmly, the sound of shuffling papers clear in the background. "Anyway, speakin' of news; it seems that the good ol' Stable that never opens: Stable Two, has opened up for the second time in a row this week. What the hell is goin' on down there, a broken water talisman, somepony runnin' away from home? Your guess is as good as mine, folks."

"And also, for all of you young ponies out there listenin', I can not stress this enough, stay out of the Baltimare subway lines. Those gates are closed for a reason, rather it's to increase your rep or show you've got the stones, it's not worth your life. And parents, watch your kids, we don't need anymore accidents." There was a loud sigh.

"Anyway, For our next song, we've got a special request from our favorite teacher, Ms. Blossom. Firefly Nights by Sweetie Belle and Lone Star, comin' right at cha." The song started off with a short piano and saxophone solo, then it sped up slowly when the lyrics started to play.

"Trotting down this silent street,
thinking of dreams that I once had.
Stories of lost love, hopeful,
even though I'm still feel so sad."

Then a southern accented male voice joined in.

"Thinkin' of dreams that were never truly mine.
Hope seems so far, an' then Ah see them shine.
Ah'm sittin' here alone."

Then they both sang together in duet.

"On this night, lit by fireflies.
Slowly, thinking of you again.
No matter how much I want to forget,
the times that we once shared."

I closed my eyes, the light cool breeze blowing at my face as I listened to the music. I remember meeting Lone Star back in pre-war Appaloosa, before he was a famous country singer. He was a distant cousin of the Apple family(not that it was much of a surprise, since their family was so big to begin with). Sweetie Belle and him had had a thing for a time, but it didn't last long. Even after the breakup, though, they still stayed good friends and even made music together. Eventually, Sweetie met somepony else, an old friend from our younger years in Ponyville.

He was quite the lucky stallion, I could honestly say.

The music was soothing, like a lullaby, and pretty soon I found myself falling asleep, but still very much alert of my surroundings.


XxxxX


When I sleep, I rarely dream.

Dreams are a sign that I got too comfortable when I'm suppose to stay on guard, and after that incident with the radroach that damn near ate my hand, I promised myself to never let it happen again.

So it was weird for me when I found myself falling down a dark tunnel, and a moment later, being literally spit out by a mouth into an upside down version of my home city back in my old world, Philadelphia.

I've had dreams similar to this before. The fact that it was happening again after all these months of being dream free, only pointed to one thing. The thing I dreaded the most.

He was visiting, again.

"Oh God, why me?" I uttered, rubbing my temple.

"Well, that should be quite obvious, don't you think," a cackling voice echoed through my dream-scape. I looked around, but still couldn't see him. "No, I'm not over there. To your left, you're getting hotter. No, no, to your other left. Now your getting colder."

I frowned. "I'm not playing these games with you, just come out already."

"And what would be the fun of that?" The voice said. "But, if you insist, just look up, or down, not that it ready matters."

I did so, and turned my head upward. Only to go completely still when I saw the barrel of a cannon pointed at my face. I blinked, then opened my mouth to speak.

Boom!

I didn't get a word out. All I got was a face pull of dessert treats, a pie sliding down my face as the one responsible laughed from just behind the cannon, his lion paw holding the string attached to the back of the cannon. My eye twitched. I didn't feel like this right now. Was one night of peace too much to ask for?

"That was hilarious~! You should see your face!" Tossing the pink cannon to the side as if it weighted nothing at all, he continued to laugh. I just starred at him. A moment later, the idiot finally decided to calm down. "Oh, come on, there's no need to stare at me with such animosity, dear boy," he appeared over my shoulder in a flash of light, curling his body around my neck like a scarf. "I'm just stopping in for a visit."

"Why are you here," I muttered. I cocked my fist back to hit him in the face, but he was gone before I could even do it. "And how many times have I told you? Say. Out. Of my head!"

The being appeared in front of me, a sly grin on his face as he floated there on a hammock being suspended by candy canes. I really hated him. His mismatched body, his lion paw, goat leg and eagle talon. Discord was a true pain in the ass, and his pranks were even more so(even if it was just inside my head). The worse part was that I was the only one he could torment to any degree.

"How many times? ...Well, I'll admit, I never really keep count anymore. It got boring after one-hundred." Discord said in thought. He glanced over at me and frowned. "And what is with those clothes, so dull, and gray. Let me fix that for you." He snapped his eagle claws and a flash appeared on me, replacing my frosting covered clothes with something different.

I frowned, glancing down at the tight fit clown suit I was now wearing. One side yellow, and the other side was bright red, with huge buttons and a badge of the draconequus' face over my heart. The same suit I wore when he turned me into that Godforsaken jester version of me, and I almost hurt twilight and the others.

"Ah~ much better."

"What do you want, Discord?" I asked, glaring.

He gave me a fake look of hurt, placing a paw over his heart(if he even had one). "You wound me, Steven. Is it not normal for a friend to visit a friend?"

"We're not friends," I stated plainly.

Discord made an expression of shocked realization, as he began to slowly float around me. "Oh, because I'm the enemy, right? I'm the one who fought in a war that turned an entire country into a wasteland. I'm the one who failed so many. I'm the one who got their subjects killed ...no, wait," the draconequus stopped just in front of me and casually pointed a claw. "That was you, you and your friends. Oh, and let's not forget the princesses." He grinned. "Ya know, I'm really starting to wonder who the real villain is here."

"Shut up! You don't know a damn thing!" I didn't want to hear about my failure to save those I cared about from him! I tried ...I really did.

Discord chuckled. "I don't, huh?" He said, before shrugging. "You may be right. Though, you must admit it is funny ...in a almost sad way." He teleported next to me in a flash, tossing his lion pawed arm over my shoulder. I would have tried to punch him again, but what he said next really struck something inside me.

"Such a heartbreaking tale, Luna did something that even I, with all my power, could not do. Break apart the Elements of Harmony, and she didn't even know it. Twilight Sparkle ending her friendship with the Element of Laughter because of drugs, Lil' Dashie against poor, defenseless Fluttershy, absolutely no trust. And, tell me this, when was the last time you visited Fluttershy's tree, or your daughter, even?"

"I don't need you bringing up what happened or what I haven't done," I muttered.

"Fine, then at least answer me this, why do you still go around saving ponies? You said a long time ago that you don't care anymore, and yet you still try and fight for the innocent, why?" The sound in Discord's voice told me that he was truly curious.

So I answered him. Not sure why, but I did. "Because, I want to make up for those I couldn't save back then," I said, sadly. "Even if it's only a few ponies."

"You know, you could save them," Discord said, grinning. "Everypony that died. If you do one simple thing."

I turned my head, glaring at him. "I'm not setting you free. The world is bad enough as it is, I won't be responsible for adding you to Wasteland's list of problems."

"Okay, alright, fine." Discord pouted like a child, and gently began to float upwards. The funny thing was he actually had the nerve to look annoyed. "Be that way, but I will break out eventually. And Much sooner then you think."

"...What are you talking about? You'll be stuck in stone for the next eight-hundred years!"

"Yes, that is quite true, under normal circumstances," Discord smiled. Unlike the last time, though, it was almost evil. "But you see, there has never been an era like that of the Equestrian Wasteland in pony history. This is even worse then when the three tribes were fighting each other; so much death and violence, what would you say that is?"

I starred at him. I had no idea what Discord was getting at, but I didn't like it. "Mayhem, complete and utter mayhem."

"In other words: chaos. The very thing that I get power from."

The realization of what he was trying to say dawned on me. He got energy from chaos, and almost every thing about the wasteland was chaos! "W-wait, your not saying that-?" Discord laughed, curling his body around my arms and torso (a little bit too tightly I must add), pointing me on me cheek with his claw.

"That's right, dear boy. You were there the last time I got free, when your little friends were fighting in front of my statue. The chaos they gave off, gave me the last bit of energy I needed to escape my stone imprisonment, so just imagine how much energy I'm getting now," Discord said. "If things continue how they are, I'll give myself two or three-hundred year until I'm at my strongest."

"We'll have new Elements by then, we'll put you right back in stone."

"Oh, I highly doubt that you'll find anyone with the ability to use the elements," Discord said, smugly. "But by all means, try, you've got a few centuries. So, take your time." He grinned at me, as his body slowly began to dissolve from his goat and dragon leg on up. "Speaking of time, looks like mine is up for now. But rest assured that when I do break free, stronger then ever, the first one I'll visit is you. Then we'll spread chaos around the entire world as king and jester, just like before."

"Not gonna happen," I spat.

"We will see, won't we. Until next time, dear boy, and do keep an open mind for me, having to knock down so many walls to get in here is quite annoying~!" And with a wave, he was gone in burst of sparkling, pink dust.

"Mister Steven! Mister Steven!"

And now someone was trying to wake me up, just great. The voice was distant, but it was clear enough to hear. My dream world began to shatter, then it was all gone.


XxxxX


"-ister Steven! Mister Steven!"

I opened my eyes, groaning, starring at the colt who had been shaking my body, his fore-hooves pressed against my torso. "I'm up, I'm up," I said, tiredly as I sat up. "What is it?"

"Well, you were tossing and turning in your sleep. You were talking pretty loud, too."

"Oh, sorry," I said, yawning. "Did I wake you up?"

"Yeah ...what were you dreaming about, anyway? You sounded like you were fighting someone," the black and white colt asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.

I sighed. There was no way in hell I was about to tell a little kid I was talking to Discord, of all things. "I was being swarmed by a bunch of radroaches, without a weapon. I hate those things ...all bugs, actually." What I said was partly true, I did have a slight fear of radroaches. And who wouldn't, they're freakin' huge! A shiver went down my back, just thinking of them gave me goosebumps.

"I hate radroaches, too," Milkspot admitted, smiling shyly, making circles with his hoof in the dirt. "But my dad, he used to make the best radroach stew in the entire town; Ms. Morning Glow knows how to make it, too, I bet she won't mind whipping some up if you ask her."

If my skin tone was a bit lighter, I might have turned green. "I think ...I'll pass, not much of a bug person, remember." Shaking my head to rid myself of the distasteful image of roach stew(hairy twitching legs and all), I looked at the time on my PipBuck. It was close to four in the morning, which meant I had been asleep for a good six hours. But, I was still tired, and from the yawn Milkspot gave, so was he.

"Go back to sleep, Milkspot," I said gently, lifting the colt and placing him back on his cot. "I'll wake you for breakfast. Maybe even tell you a few stories later."

"Okay." Milkspot crawled under my cloak he was using as a blanket, and sighed. "Good night, Mister Steven."

"G'night, kid." I laid back down on my cot, starring at the campfire. It was much lower then it had been when I had drifted off to sleep. Still, it gave off enough warmth to be comfortable.

Laying there, I couldn't help but think: if I had tried harder, if I had watched the ponies that were under me better, the world won't be the way it was today. Milkspot would be doing what colts and fillies are suppose to do; going to school, making friend and forming bonds. Not having to worry about slavers and raiders.

I wished I could go back. Change things for the better.

A lot of ponies know about the zebras megaspells being fired off on The Last Day. But, what most didn't know was that the zebras didn't start it first, and that memory ...that guilt, forever haunts me to this day.
> Present Time-3: Through Undead Eyes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Present Time-3: Through Undead Eyes


"I never asked to be this way, none of us did. So you can take your prejudice and shove it up your ass ...or do I have to do it for you?"


~ ~Rose's POV~ ~


Rose, the first part of my name I was given by two parents who I had never met, and could barely even remember. I used to think that a pony's name hinted at what their cutie mark would be; Luna controlled the stars and the moon's lunar cycle, Applejack had a talent for working with apples like most of her family, and Pumpkin Cake had a cutie mark of, well, a pumpkin and a cake.

As for me, though. The first part of my name didn't fit me at all. I didn't feel pretty like a rose ...at least not anymore. I didn't smell like a rose. By Celestia, my cutie mark didn't even have a thing to do with a rose or flower of any kind.

But, as for the second part of my name. I guess it fits me well enough. Over the long years I've lived, I could honestly say I've changed. I've adapted to the wasteland, and all the things in it. I've struggled and fought for my life, worked through blood, sweat and tears to make to where I am today.

Even if my body hasn't changed since that horrible incident happened at Luna's school. I have grown mentally and emotionally; I've blossomed to survive the world around me, and make it to the point where I could start to help rebuild. I became a teacher to help young ponies understand right from wrong, to learn that the world wasn't just black and white, to take the time to understand others(which was one of the reasons the war got so bad to begin with), to be as just and fair as they could be in a world that constantly asked for blood to be spilled.

Before the megaspells fell, I was a blank flank, constantly trying to find my purpose in life. My special talent. But, no matter how hard I tried, I never got my cutie mark. It was thought that because I was a abnormality before getting my cutie mark, I would never get one.

...They were wrong.

I was wrong ...and it wasn't until one-hundred years after the Old World ended that it finally came to me. What I was meant to do, and ever since that day, I've been helping ponies start over; recreating what the world used to be, and at the same time, making it better.

I might not be a rose, sure, but I have blossomed into something more then I once was. And it was my special talent to help other ponies blossom into something better, and as a result, make the world blossom as a whole.

In that sense, I took great pride in my name: Rose Blossom.


XxxxX


Most nights, when I sleep there's nothing but a calm darkness. Other nights, I dream about my life before the megaspells, walking through the city of Manehattan among the local residents like a ghost, able to watch but not touch or interact with anypony at all. Ghouls don't usual require sleep, and to this day, it's still not clear why. But, I enjoyed the calm of it.

Last night, however, was the first time in a long time, that I've ever had a bad dream.

It was about that fateful day at Luna's schools. I could remember it so clearly, walking down the hall from the levitation's classroom, greeting the few friends and teachers I encountered in the corridor. The only mission on my mind was getting the magic report for Ms. Buttercup.

Then it happened. The loud sound of automatic gunfire, that stopped almost as instantly as they had began. Nopony knew what was going on, and I felt worried at first, fearing the worst.

Maybe the guard ponies were shooting at a monster or something?

But, that wasn't likely since the Everfree Forest was miles away.

A few minutes after the gunshots were heard, things calmed down and I continued down corridor and taking the steps down to the next floor, but once I got the the landing in between the two floors, I heard screams from teachers and students a like just eight steps down. I froze. Too scared to go down stairs, but still wanting to know what was wrong with my friends.

The pink cloud appeared out of nowhere. One second the hallway below was clear. The next, pink began covering the entire second floor and starting climbing up the stairwell almost touching my hooves.

I galloped so fast to get away. I had no idea what it was, but I knew that cloud was dangerous, the smell it was giving off made my noise burn, like the time when dad sprayed too much cleaning stuff in the kitchen.

I tried my best to get away, and even locked myself in a storage closet in my panic. I took towels and sheets, whatever I could and pressed them up against the bottom of the door. Not that it was much use in the end, the cloud still got in through the cracks in the doors, slowly filling up the room. There was nowhere the run! Nowhere to hide! My eyes burned so much. I rubbed them and rubbed them, tearing up heavy, coughing and hacking so hard I could taste blood. It was too much.

I feel over onto my side, scared and alone, stuck in a stupid closet in more pain then I'd ever felt in my life. Like my inside were being set on fire. I weep and I moaned, just wanting the pain to stop, for somepony to help me.

The last thing I could think before everything went black, was that I wanted was my daddy.

I'd wake up shorty after that, out of breath and tearing up.

I wanted nothing more then to forget about that horrible day. But things like that aren't easily forgotten. So I tried my best to live with the memory. All the while keeping my nightmares to myself, wishing that Luna was still here to help me through them.

If only-.

"Sis," a voice spoke suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. "Are you alright? You're spacing out again."

I looked up from the inky black coffee inside the cup, starring at the the leaf green colored earth pony in front of me, across the table. I gave a nod. "Uh ...yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about things."

The buck raised an eyebrow. "Alright," he said, before going back to eating his breakfast that conceited of canned pre-war apples and yams. He was still young, not quite a stallion yet, but too old to be called a colt anymore.

His mane was dark yellow, while his eyes were sea blue, and on the left side of his face right under his eye was a small tattoo of a sludge hammer: the symbol of the Hammerhead raider tribe.

There was a lot of unspoken rules among ponies in the wasteland. One of the big ones being: No Tolerance for Raiders. Most thought that they were too far gone for redemption, and shot raiders on sight. My dad was one of those who thought this and didn't hesitate to kill them at first glance.

But there was one pony who proved that some raiders could be changed if given the chance. That pony was the not-yet stallion in front of me, my adopted brother, Bloody Ratchet, though most in town just called him Ratchet.

How Ratchet came to be in my care is a story most ponies in town know.

It was about ten years ago when I was still traveling with dad. We did a lot of things for money, some things that I regret even now, though dad didn't regret it at all. We were given a simple assignment for a large amount of caps. Apparently, a small town we had made our way to was being harassed by a tribe of raiders; after being given the location of the raider's hideout, we did what we normally did.

A simple extermination.

We went in guns blazing. Dad and I wiped out the entire raider den down to nothing more then a few radroaches and a still roasting pot of pony meat. They were nothing but vermin, making the world even worse than what it already was. A job well done, and we were congratulating each other.

That was until ...well, a bullet when whizzing past my ear, and another caught my dad right in the chest. It was a good thing we had armor on, or he'd finally have found out the answer to if he could still die or not.

At first, I thought it was a regular old raider that we had missed, and in a way, I was right. But I was surprised more then ever to find a five-year-old colt in stained rags that couldn't even be called clothing anymore, pointing a gun at us. I had no idea what to do. I had never expected raiders to care much for kids, and by the look on dad's face, he didn't either.

There was no way we were going to kill a colt, that was one thing we would never do. So we did the next best thing. We got the gun away from him(which was easy since he was mostly shooting at the flipped over table we took cover behind until the magazine was empty) and knocked him out, then tied him up.

What happened afterward was pretty simple; we took him back with us. He was still young, but even so, the raider way of life ran deep within him. It took a long while. And a lot of biting and bucking. Longer then I expected, but we eventually taught him that the way his clan had been living was wrong. Of course he still had those raider tendencies, like making death threats when he was angry, but other then that he was a good pony who made me proud everyday.

"You should probably get ready to leave, sis," Ratchet uttered, not even glancing up from his plate of food. "The school's gonna be openin' up soon. You don't wanna be late."

I gave another nod, and wrapped my magic around the steaming cup of coffee as I brought it up to my lips. I half smiled, taking a sip. Two-hundred years old and the coffee still tasted fresh. I've always wondered what pony ever got the idea for long lasting food; it was as if somepony knew the end was coming before anypony else did.

Being a ghoul, I didn't need to eat or drink to survive like everyone else, but I still enjoyed having a Sparkle~Cola or a hot cup of coffee every now and then. The small dining room was quiet, save for the sound of sipping and Ratchet's loud chewing(which was annoying by the way, but I didn't feel like getting on his eating habits again at the moment).

A half hour later, I was floating my saddlebags over my flanks, standing next to the front door.

"Remember to lock up when you leave out," I said to my adopted brother, using my magic to unlock and open the door. "And behave yourself at work, guarding the gate in serious business."

Ratchet smiled, and nodded. "I know that, Rose ...oh, and make sure to check and see if the liberty has that book I was looking for," his smile turning into a slight frown. "They still won't let me in after the, um ...incident."

"Well, that'll teach you to think before you go rutting a mare in a public bathroom, in a liberty, at that." Came my smug response with a grin. His frown deepened.

"Hey, it wasn't just my fault, ya know. Sunny Rays is just as much to blame, here."

"Yes, yes. Of course," I said, waving a hoof as I trotted out the door. "See ya later, bro~!"

"Bye, Sis." Ratchet muttered, before closing the door.

I changed my trot to a skip as I made my way down the road, smiling. I got few hellos and a smile and wave from the other residents of Newport that passed by, some were wearing Stable Nineteen guardbuck uniforms, while other worked as simple merchants, builders or farmers.

"Morning, Ms. Blossom," an older mare greeted me, trotting towards the opposite direction.

I stopped and waved. "Morning, Pecan! Have a nice day a work!"

"You know I will, stop by the shop later and we can talk over sweets."

"Sure~!"

Even after all these years of living, I still retained some of my more foalish tendencies. Maybe it was from me not being able to mature physically, or maybe it was something totally different. Still, it helped me grow closer with my younger students, so I was alright with it. I was treated as a mare by most, but there were still those how treated me like a normal filly, either because they did know me or just found it amusing. I didn't mind, though, I enjoyed being treated like a kid sometimes. As odd as it sounds, it made me feel normal. Something I'd never be again.


XxxxX


Riinngg!

Using my magic to open the classroom door, a redish pink glow appearing around the nob, I trotted happily into the classroom already filled with young children. I set my saddlebags on the back on my chair and levitated myself into the seat cushion, laying out my personal textbook (more of an old, worn journal then anything else) on the desk in front of me.

"G'morning, class," I said, smiling at the excited and bored faces of my students. "I hope you've all had a nice weekend, and slept well enough late night." I levitated another book out of my saddlebags, along with a pen, the book just inches away from my face. I even put my favorite pair of reading glasses on. I didn't have an eye problem, but I never teach without them. It made me seem a little bit more teacherly. "Okay, now I'm going to do role call. Just say 'here' when your name is called: Aqua Lime!"

"Here!" A yellow coat and green mane filly announced, raising a hoof.

"Adisa!"

"H-here," a young zebra colt with a slight accent said.

"Black Hawk."

"Here!" A young light brown griffon answered.

"Bluesky."

A light blue and white maned earth pony colt raised a hoof. "Here!"

"Crystal."

"Right here, ma'am!" One of the older fillies answered, a grin on her muzzle, and her black mane filled with rainbow colored streaks.

Roll call continued like this until all thirty students in the room had answered. My class was pretty diverse, much like the town of Newport itself; there were zebras and a few griffons, but most of them were ponies, with only two pegasi, one being born to two earth pony parents, just as Pound Cake had been.

"And lastly, Zahara." After a few moments when no one answered, I looked up from my roll call list at the class. "Zahara? Is she not in today?"

Adisa raised his hoof as he spoke. "Um ...Z-Zahara's out sick today, t-teacher," the zebra colt said, shyly. he had always had a small stuttering problem, and got teased a lot for it, so he barely talked unless it was needed. Adisa was one of my top students. I helped him try to improve in his speech in any way that I could. And he was doing much better then he had last year. "Her m-mom said something a-about r-radiation sickness."

"So, Zahara was the one who went down into the subway tunnel a few days ago?"

"Y-yes, Ms. Blossom."

"I see, that's good to know." I floated the checklist book back into my saddlebags. "While were on the topic, before we begin class, there's something I need to talk to you about. All of you." I hopped up onto my desk, still starring at my class. Dad once said when I started teaching, that it looked more like a filly trying to play school than an actual classroom. I could understand why he would say that(at least now I could). I've had countless times were parents with new students would come in and ask for the teacher, even though I was sitting at the teacher's desk or going over a lesson. It was annoying. But it's what I had to live with. "Let me make one thing clear: the subway is off limits, that goes for every last one of ya ...I'm looking at you, Rebel Lancer."

"What did I do?" The red and dark brown colt in question uttered in confusion.

I rolled my eyes, and went back to what I was saying. "Anyway, the radiation down in those tunnels in no joke, unless you want to die a painful death, turn into a ghoul or just love the taste of RadAway and Rad X, stay out of there." I hopped back into the oak chair, my serious look turning into a much cheerier one. "Now, class, please take out your homework from last week. I'll collect them when the lesson is over. Today we are going to be continue talking about pre-war history, and one of you're favorite ponies, Sweetie Belle. Can any of you tell me about her, other then the fact that she was a famous singer?" A smaller then average earth pony, with a pink mane and hazel brown coat, wearing glasses put up her hoof. "Yes, Bolder Dash."

The small filly adjusted her thick glasses slightly on her muzzle, and began answering. "She was one of the founders of Stable-Tec."

"That's very good, Dash, looks like you've been paying attention," I praised the filly. She smiled, and I went to the next student. "Anyone else have anything to add?" An older, close to teen zebra colt raised his hoof first, before five others. "Let's see ...Nuru."

"She married the pony who made the first virtual war simulator in Canterlot, right?" The striped colt asked, uncertain.

I smiled and shook my head. "Nice guess, Nuru, you got part of it right," I said. "But she actually married him in Ponyville, Sweetie Belle was proposed to in Canterlot. Remember that, it'll be on the test." I levitated the journal up to me, and opened it, starting on the page that I had left off on. "Now we are going to begin on page thirty, I'd recommend everyone open their journals to take notes." A few of the children did take my advice, as for the rest however, they just listened as I read out loud, which was perfectly alright with me. As long as they did well on the test, it was no problem.

"Sweetie Belle, as you all know, was also the sister of Rarity. The leader of the Ministry of Image, and the Element of Generosity. Being as there was so much work to be done during the war, the two sisters never got to see each other much outside of business. After Sweetie married her husband, a earth pony named Button Mash, they moved from Fillydelphia and began a quiet life in Ponyville. With Sweetie Belle, being Stable-Tec's Head of Public Relations, having to travel around Equestria, and Button's job as Head of the Virtual War Simulator Project, or VWSP, in the Ministry of Wartime Technology, they didn't get to spend much time together, but their bond stayed strong-."

As I continued reading, my mind began to wonder a bit to the time when I was still in that facility after the Little Horn incident. My normal life was over. I couldn't learn with a class or friends. My education had been stopped because of what had happened to me.

And even to this day, I hate needles. I hate clinics and doctors. One of the good things about being a ghoul, was that having to go visit a doctor was rare.

Not much was known about my kind back then, though.
> Memory-7: What Really Counts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory-7: What Truly Counts

"This facility has only the best of the best, ponies who are trying to make a difference. It was here before the war, and it will be here long after it."

White.

That was the only color that could be seen everywhere I turned my head within my small, but spacious, room. White walls, white floor, white ceiling, even bed sheets were white. The only thing not white in here was the small brown desk that sat near the foot of my bed.

It was almost blinding, but I was slowly getting used to it. The fact that I had a big window I could look outside through helped a bit as well.

The Manehattan Research Facility of Science, that was the name of the place where I would be staying (though dad said it wouldn't be for a long time). During the carriage ride here, Daddy told me what little he knew about it. He said that the scientists here were going to help me. Try to make me better. But it didn't seem like it, I wasn't calling Dad a liar, I know he's loves me and wants to see me get back to the way I was before, I just had a hard time of seeing the scientists as 'helping me' when they constantly stuck me full of needles and starred at me like I was some type of lab experiment gone wrong.

...But, maybe they weren't wrong to look at me that way. The doctors told me, and even my dad agreed, even though it was hard for him to. I should be dead, just like Tea Leaf and Autumn Rain and all my other friends and teachers. I wasn't saved, I didn't get away from the pink cloud.

And yet, here I was. Alive, and at the same time, not very alive at all. I was a freak of nature in every sense of the word. I was a ...I was a monster.

I groaned, and rolled over to my side. This place had everything a pony needed to live, but it was missing one simple thing, there was nothing fun to do. There were no games, or toys and not many ponies to talk to aside from the doctors and the unicorn janitor, Mr. Side Sweeper, he was nice and even brought me candy from outside. It was still boring in here, though. I didn't die from the pink cloud, but I was gonna die from boredom if I didn't find something to do soon.

A few minutes later, I found myself playing with my pillow, kicking it up and down with my hooves. I found myself making a game of it to see how long I could keep it going without dropping it, when somepony decided to mess me up by knocking on the door. The pillow fell flat on my muzzle, and I used my magic to shove it to the side, before sitting up on my hunches.

"Rose Blossom, are you awake?" A feminine voice asked through the door. It was Doctor Isotope, she was sorta nerdy, but not in a bad way, not that nerds were bad.

"I don't need sleep, remember." I uttered. That was another thing that made life in this place boring, I couldn't just sleep the day away like I used to when I had nothing to do, because I never get tired anymore. Sleeping for me in just laying there with my eyes closed, trying to drift off.

"Oh ...right. Well, can I come in?"

"Uh-huh."

The door unlocked and slid into the wall, and there was Doctor Isotope. She was a peach colored unicorn mare, wearing her usual white lab coat with her name tag on the front pocket, and her long, black mane was tied back into a ponytail. The thing that stood out the most was that she wasn't wearing her big rimmed glasses today; she always had them on whenever I saw her, but not wearing them made her look different. In a good way.

She smiled at me as she trotted in, a clip board and pen hovering at her side. "Morning, Rose," she greeted.

"Morning," I said back, returning her smile.

She stopped next to my bed, placing the clip board and pen on the desk. "So, how are you feeling today?" She asked.

"Bored." I answered plainly, sighing. "There's nothing to do here! I don't even have any games to play with!"

Doctor Isotope nodded. "Trust me, I know how boring it can be around here sometimes. If not for all the work I have to do, I'd be at home right now." She said, before whispering. "It makes it worse since some of the others here don't seem to have a sense of humor, but you didn't here that from me." I giggled, understanding exactly where the science mare was coming from. Telling a joke to some of the other ponies here was like talking to a brick wall. Some of them didn't even crack a smile. The peach colored mare leaned up, still smiling. "Anyway, your father is here to visit today."

"Really~!" I hopped up onto all my hooves and leaped onto the white tile floor. "Where is he?"

"In the visiting lounge, he just got here a few minutes ago. He also said he has a surprise for you."

"Oh, wow, this is great. No, more then great, this is awesome!" I said in excitement as I skipped towards the door. "What are we waiting for, let's go!"

"Alright, just calm down a little, Rose," Doctor Isotope said, giggling as she followed me. We exited the room into the hallway, and the door slid shut behind us. The corridor was long, and had multiple rooms running along it, each baring a number. My room was labeled 45, across from that was 44, and right next to me was room 43; most of the rooms were empty since no one had much use for them at the moment.

The hallway was pure white(save for the posters and painting that decorated the wall), and nearly sparkling clean, not a smudge to be seen. It was a testament to how good the cleaning ponies like Mr. Side Sweeper were at keeping the facility germ free and spotless.

We trotted down the hall to the very end where the elevator was. Doctor Isotope pressed the down button with a hoof and we stood there silently waiting for it to arrive on our floor. A few moments later, there was a loud ding, and the elevator doors slid open and we got on.

As the metal cube descended towards the first floor, music played out of the speakers in the top right corner. It was easy to tell who it was, I knew Aunt Sweetie's beautiful voice anywhere.

"-The sun is shinning,
ponies so radiant and warming,
as I take the A-train to Manehattan square.
The clubs are booming,
the cats are chillin' out on the mid-night express!
Taking the A-train, down to Manehattan square!"

I found myself humming along with the song, I hadn't heard it in a while and it was one of my favorite tracks from her last album. Maybe, I could get a radio put in my room, of course I would have to ask the doctors first. But I don't see a reason why they wouldn't let me have one. It was my room after all, Doctor Isotope said so.

Ding!

"I take it you like Sweetie Belle's music?" The mare asked as we stepped off the lift.

I nodded. "Of course, who doesn't like her singing. Besides, her and my daddy are, like, bestest best friends."

"Really, I didn't know that."

"Yep. She visits us sometimes at home when she's in town, and this one time last year, she got me backstage tickets to one of her concerts for my birthday." That had been a great time, being able to watch my idol sing from so close to the stage. Aunt Sweetie even song happy birthday to me on stage in front of the entire audience. I was happy. Daddy was happy. Everything was just as it should be.

I stopped where I was. My thoughts on how much fun I had last year immediately saddened.

Would I ever be able to have fun like that anymore ...the way I was now?

Doctor Isotope must have noticed the saddened expression I had. She trotted next to me, giving me a look of concern. "Rose, are you okay?"

"Yes." My answer changed a moment later. "N-no. I was just wondering if things were going to get better," I starred up at the doctor with desperate, pink eyes. "I am gonna get better, right? Or-or am I going to stay looking like this ...this thing forever?"

The doctor sighed, sadly. "To be honest, hon, I just don't know. No one does. There's never been a case like yours before, most would be long dead, but you lived somehow." Isotope said, putting a hoof on my shoulder. On one of the areas where my fur hadn't fallen off. "But, as a doctor, I can promise you that we're going to try our best to fix whats been done to you. No matter how long it takes."

I smiled sadly. Knowing that Doctor Isotope cared so much for me, a filly that she had only known for a few weeks, now. It made me happy. "Thank you, Doctor."

"There's no need to thank me, little one," Doctor Isotope said. "Our job here is to help the ponies of Equestria have an easier life. Yours included. Even if it wasn't, we would still help in any way we could." She removed her hoof, and began trotting towards the way we were headed before. "Now, let's go see your father. I'm sure he's as excited to see you as you are to see him."

I gave a nod, following behind her. "Right~!"


XxxxX


The visitors lounge was the same way it was the last time I had seen it. A few of the doctors were spending time with their families who came to the facility to visit them; many of the ponies in charge of the big weapons experiments and medicine testing spent weeks away from home, living in the dorms that were provided. I asked Doctor Isotope once why she never seemed to leave, and she gave me a pretty simple answer: "the war could only end if one side wins, or both sides agree on a peace treaty. Since the second scenario was unlikely at the moment, and the war seemed to be getting worse rather then better, it was only logical that the side with the best weapons, medicine and tactics would win. Since the leaders of the military were in charge of tactics, it was up to the Manehattan Facility and other facilities like it to provide stronger weapons and better potions."

It was pretty sad knowing that so many ponies had to stay away from there families and friends to work on weapons meant to kill, but they were also trying to save lives too by making medicine.

In a way, I was sorta torn on how to feel about the whole thing.

...After what happened at school, I couldn't bring myself to care about the zebras much anymore. I used to feel sad for the way they were treated by other ponies. Now a part of me just didn't care.

Did that make me a bad pony?

I don't know. And at this point, it hurt too much to think about.

We walked around the other families happily chatting with each other. Every so often somepony would stop talking and would whisper to one another while glancing in my direction. My ears folded downward as I kept my eyes on the ground to try and block them out. I was beginning to regret coming down here. And all the starring from some of the other kids wasn't making things any better.

"Daddy's not here," I uttered.

"I'm sure he is somewhere around. Let's just find a seat, I'm sure he won't be long." Doctor Isotope replied. 

We found an empty table and took a seat, waiting for Dad. A few minutes later, the sound of chatter returned, though not as loud as before. Doctor Isotope tried making small talk with me, and I answered the best I could without making much noise to attract attention to myself.

That was when a younger pegesus foal from the next table over looked at us, before tugging on some middle aged mare's tail(she must have been his mother).

"Mommy?"

She turned her head to the little winged pony. "What is it, Sky?"

"What wrong with her eyes?" He asked, pointing in my direction. This did nothing but drawn the rest of the family's eyes on me. They must have not notice me when me and the Doctor walked in, now they were all just starring.

I felt like curling up into a ball and dying. And what the light red filly said next only made it worse.

"Eww, look at her mane, it's all gross and stringy," the slightly younger filly uttered loudly with a scrunched up face.

The filly's mom turned to her, frowning. "Pepper, that is no way to talk about somepony," she scolded. "Apologize. Now."

"But, Mom, look at her! She so ...ugh! I can't even find a word for it." 

That was all I could take. It felt like everypony in the room was starring. Judging me for something I had no control over. My eyes started to water, and I did the only thing I could think of to do.

I ran. I hopped out of my seat and ran for the door as fast as my legs would go and shoved it open the lounge doors as hard as I could manage with my magic.

"Rose Blossom, wait!" Doctor Isotope called out. I could hear her hooves hitting the tile floor just a few feet behind me. I soon found an opened closet, I hurried through the door and closed it behind me and locked it. This was exactly like what had happened at school, only this time it wasn't a pink cloud of death, but the judging eyes and whispers of ponies who didn't understand a thing at all.

The door nob moved a bit, but that was all.

"Rose, sweetie, can you open the door please?"

"Go away!" I shouted through the door. I fell onto my hunches and cried. I didn't went anypony to see me like this, not ever again. I turned to my left, and saw two glowing pink eyes starring back at me. It scared me half to death, before I noticed it was only my reflection in the closet mirror.

I frowned, glaring at the mirror. Ponies talked about me behind my back and gave me looks, but I couldn't even blame them. Just like that filly said, I was disgusting. I was gross. My mane was half gone and discolored, my fur was missing in patches. I couldn't help but think of what all those ponies must have thought when they saw me, both the things I could hear and what I couldn't quite catch.

"Oh Celestia, what happened to her face?"

"Eww, she's so gross looking."

"Her eyes are so weird."

"I should have died," I sobbed. "I should have just stayed dead." That's what I wanted more then anything right now. To go limp and not feel like this ...thing. It was better then having to go through this.

I kept starring at the mirror. And my refection starred right back. Those haunting pink eye, that face, that mane. I hated it ...I hated myself for looking like this, and I hated myself for feeling so much self hate.

What happened next was even weirder. Maybe I had been starring at the mirror for too long in this dimly lite room, because as I sat there sobbing I could have sworn my refection started grinning at me, and I snapped.

"Stop laughing at me!" I encased a paint can at my side in my magic and throw it at the mirror, shattering it almost completely.

"Rose! Open the door right now! Rose!"

I didn't pay attention to the doctor. I sat there breathing heavy and starred down at one of the larger pieces of glass. Maybe I could end it right now, just put the glass up to my neck and pull-.

That was when a few heavy knocks rapped on the door, but it didn't sound like a hoof.

I didn't say anything and the knocks came again, this time with a voice. "Rose, it's me." It was a voice I knew all too well. "Can you open the door, please."

"Dad ..?" I trotted over to the door and opened it slowly with my magic, the door handle encased in a red glow. And there he was, knelling in front of the doorway. The person I wanted to see more then anything in the world; with his blue button up shirt and brown pants, and the same big hair. I leaped up into his arm, my joy of seeing him causing me to momentary forget what I had been feeling previously. "Daddy!"

"Hey, baby girl," Dad said, smiling sadly down at me. Doctor Isotope must have told him what happened. "I'm sorry for not waiting. I had to talk to one of the doctors for a minute and lost track of time."

"Everypony being so mean to me, Dad! I didn't even do anything," I cried as he hugged me. "They just keep starring at me and whispering things about me."

"Shush, it's okay. Everything is gonna be okay." Dad cooed, as he gently rocked me in his arms, stroking my mane. It was something he always did when I felt sad or upset about something, and no matter how old I got, it still worked. "I know what it's like to be starred at and talked about, believe me I do. But it'll get better, you'll see."

"It doesn't feel like it." I uttered, sniffling. "The filly in the lounge said I was gross. And she's probably right, look at me. I'm ugly."

"You are not ugly, Rose." Dad put me down in front of him and gave me a stern look. "Don't you ever think that, cause it's not true."

"Of course you would say that. You're my dad, you're not suppose to agree with the bad things others say about me." I muttered. "You are just saying that to make me feel better."

Dad sighed. "I'm not lying, baby girl."

"Yes, you are!" I backed up a bit, starring him right in the eyes. There was no way Dad still found me pretty, not anymore. "Look at me, Dad, if I'm not ugly. Then what am I, huh?"

"Hurt," he uttered, sadly.

I blinked. "What?"

"You're hurt, Rose. Something terrible happened, and you got hurt," Dad said. "You're not ugly. You're scarred. But, they don't make you ugly, if you don't believe though, then maybe you'll believe her." He finished, pointing off to the side towards Doctor Isotope.

That's who I thought he was talking about at first, but when I turned my head, I was shocked by who I saw standing next to the doctor. Somepony I hadn't seen since the incident at school, my closest friend in the world.

"Pumpkin Cake," I breathed out. She was just sitting there starring at me, just like everypony else, but this time it was for a different reason then to judge me. I knew that because she was crying. "But when ...what ...are you doing here?"

She didn't say a word. Then out of no where Pumpkin Cake darted over to me and pulled me into one of the tightest hugs I've ever gotten in my life. I tensed up from the unexpected contact, but didn't dare push her away.

"You're really okay ...thank Celestia," the orange maned filly sobbed. I could feel her tears soaking my fur. She pulled back, looking into my pinkish green eyes with her tearful blue ones. "We thought you were dead. I-I thought I'd never see you again."

"Pumpkin, what are you doing here," I asked once again, my voice shaky. I didn't want her to see me, not like this.

"What do you mean? I wanted to see you, so your dad brought me with him," Pumpkin said. "My parents said he could."

I shook my head, and backed away from her. "No. No! Y-you can't be here," I stuttered. "You shouldn't have come here."

Pumpkin raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why not …? What reason is there not to see you?" I didn't answer. I just looked down at the white tile floor. "What, is it because of the way you look, do you really think I care about something like that? So what if you look different. You're my friend. My best friend. I-I thought you were dead, and then by some miracle you are alive. You really think I'd not come see you? What kind of friend do you take me for, Rose!"

I jumped at the sudden change in the tone of her voice.

"I don't care about your apprentice. None of that matters to me," Pumpkin continued as she trotted up to me and gave me another firm, but gentler hug. "I ...I just wanted my friend back."

The tears came and before I knew it, I was crying, returning Pumpkin's embrace. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Pumpkin," I sobbed.

"It's okay, Rose, you have nothing to apologize for," Pumpkin said.

All this time I'd only thought about what other ponies would think of me. What they would say, the way they would look at me. I was so worried about that, that I never occurred to me how my family and friends felt, and how much my death had effected them. Especially, Daddy.

I was being so selfish, and I hadn't even realized it until now.

"See, baby girl, it doesn't matter what other people think. You are you," Dad said with a smile, taking a knee next to Pumpkin. "The ones who truly care about you will never think of you any differently, and that's all that should matter. Actually, now that I think about it," Dad chuckled. "That's the same thing Granny Smith said to me when I was down about the way ponies reacted to me. They never gave me the time of day, always running in fear, boarding up their homes, some completely over the top stuff. And all that starring."

"So ...how did you get over it?" I asked. Pumpkin Cake pulled out of the hug, giving me a small nuzzle that I returned.

Dad gave a thoughtful expression, then shrugged a moment later. "Hmm ...that's a good question. The thing is you never get over it, not really, anyway." He said, "you just learn not to care as much. To focus on other things, like the folks you care about." He stood up, his lips forming a small smile. "That's all I can really tell you, baby girl."

"Oh," I sighed sadly.

"But today's not about other people, ponies, whatever. Today is about you, Rose, and I'm tired of all this stuff, how about we go get some ice cream from the cafeteria. That always helps me feel better."

Dad picked me up and put me on his shoulder, like he always did. As he began walking, I rested my chin on his puffy black hair, breathing in the scent of his Manehattan Party Hardy mane spray(proven to keep party manes fluffy, soft and perfect, no matter the weather). In the midst of this, I remembered something Dad probably forgot.

"Um ...Daddy, I don't get hungry, remember?" I said to him. "I don't need to eat. So you don't have to get me anything. I'm okay."

Pumpkin Cake seemed confused by this. "You don't need to eat," she said in disbelief. "But everypony needs to eat, even the princesses."

"Well, I don't have to anymore."

"Why not?"

I shrugged. "Nopony knows. It's been like this ever since I 'rose from the dead' as the doctors put it." If I had fingers like Daddy did, this might have been a good time to add air quotes. "I don't need sleep, either."

Pumpkin's expression, saddened. "So that means, you won't be coming over my house for sleepovers and sweets anymore?"

I was about to answer with an 'I guess', but Dad beat me to it. "Don't be silly, Pumpkin, of course she'll be able to," he said, happily. "You don't need to be hungry to enjoy sweets. You eat it because you want to, not because you have to."

"As for the sleeping, however," Doctor Isotope added, glancing up at us. More so Dad then me. "We may have a new potion to remedy that; it's a new medicine for ponies suffering from insomnia. Made from the leaves of the White Lunar Trees in the Everfree Forest. You can think Ms. Zecora for that."

"Ha good ol' Zecora. She never stops impressing me with her brews and potions," Dad chuckled.

"So ...I won't have to stay up the whole night, anymore," I asked with hopeful glee. If I was able to sleep for once, that would be nothing short of awesome!

"If it works for you," the doctor answered with confidence. "Then yes, you'll be able to sleep any time you want."

"You don't know how happy I am to here that, doc." Dad said, reaching his right hand up and patting my head over my ear. "See, Rose, bringing you here wasn't as bad as you thought it would be, huh? I guess I made the right call going to the princesses for help."

"I just hope I get to go home soon." I uttered, nuzzling the soft pillow of black hair.

Doctor Isotope replied. "Believe me, I don't want to keep you here, hon. We're doing our best to get you better, and I think we are getting closer to knowing exactly what it is that did this to you. This place isn't the funniest to be, but until we know what's happened, have patience, alright." The black maned mare said, looking up at me with a smile.

I sighed. "Yes, ma'am." There wasn't much else I could say, she was the doctor here, and I was the patient, so what she says goes.

We took a left at the end of the corridor and took a set of stairs down into the huge cafeteria area, which the sign on the wall clearly stated it was. In no more then a few minutes, we had gotten out ice cream and were enjoying each others company. The table we sat at was next to one of the large second floor windows, and the view of the beautiful outdoors was enough to make even the gloomiest pony feel happy and upbeat.

Pumpkin smiled as we talked. "Oh, and guess what, my mom's having another foal! I'm gonna be the older sibling this time around. You know how Pound loves to brag about being the oldest, now I'll have somepony younger then me to watch over," she said, happily. "I really hope it's a girl, though."

"That's so great, I'm happy for you guys, Pumpkin," I said with a small smile. I was happy for her. I truly was, but I was also feeling a bit ...jealous of her family as well. Whenever I spent time with the Cakes, they never seemed to have an upset moment. Sure, Pound and Pumpkin did argue quite a bit sometimes, but it never lasted long or put a dent in their relationship.

I'd always wanted a brother or sister. Then again, Babs Seed was sorta like an older sister to me; we hang out whenever she came to visit and she even took me to the playground quite a few times when Daddy was too busy to do it.

The best part about today(besides Dad and Pumpkin being here) was that unlike the normal food I had tired, the ice cream wasn't bitter and tasteless. If anything, the taste seemed to be ...better, somehow.

I decided to get two more bowls afterward, not because of hunger, but because it was great to be able to eat something that didn't make me want to spit it out.

I was in the middle of eating ice cream to the point of getting brain freeze, when Dad spoke to me. "Baby girl?"

I looked up at him, giving me full attention. "Yes, Daddy."

"Well, you're birthday is coming up soon, and I know you always wanted to see one of Babs' fights, right?"

"Uh-huh." My eyes widened. "Wait, does that mean you got-."

"Tickets for Babs up coming fight," Dad grinned. He dug into the breast pocket of his shirt and fulled out two light blue tickets. "Yep, and thanks to her, we'll even be able to watch the fight from her corner, up close, just like you wanted."

I leaped across the table and hugged him with all I had. "Yes! This is so awesome! You're the best Dad ever!"

Dad chuckled. "Well, I try to be." He said. "The fight is in a few weeks, so I'll hold on to the tickets until then, okay?"

I nodded in excitement, and nuzzled his cheek. This day just got better.


XxxxX


"Uhh~."

Thud!

The sleep potion didn't work.

...At least that's what it seemed like.

Doctor Isotope had given me a small dosage of it, to be on the safe side. It was pretty strong, and the last thing she wanted to do was have me overdose on it and end up in a coma. All I could do was drink down the potion and wait for it to kick in.

And, It didn't. It's been almost an hour since I took the potion and I wasn't tired in the slightest, I wasn't even drowsy. This had to be the worst thing ever. Not being able to sleep meant not being able to dream, and I enjoyed most of my dreams. Sure, there had been a few nightmares now and then, but they were rarely as bad as I thought they were when I was asleep. They just ended up being really weird, and sometimes even laughable.

So, tonight I was doing what did every single night since I began staying the science facility. Sitting in my room in boredom while the rest of Equestria slept for the night; the ones that weren't out partying at clubs, anyway.

"Uhh ...by Luna's mane, this is so boring," I groaned. I rolled over onto my back and starred up at the ceiling, the entire room was quiet, save for the ticking of the clock on the wall near the door. It was close to midnight; Dad had left a little while before sunset to take Pumpkin Cake back to Ponyville.

I turned my head, looking out of the window at the glowing moon and stars. They were beautiful tonight, just like most nights when me and Dad went stargazing on that hill near Ms. Fluttershy's cottage. "I wish I could see them a bit closer," I uttered to myself.

Saying that sparked an idea. Just because I was here as a patient, that doesn't mean that I have to stay in my room the whole night. It's not like I was a prisoner or anything. I would have to be at my sneakiest, but if I could get past all of the night guards, I'd be able to watch the stars from the roof of the building.

I smiled. That wasn't a bad idea, not a bad idea at all. "It sure beats having to lay down here with nothing to down." With that being said, I rolled off the bedside and land on the floor with a clop as my hooves hit the tile floor. I trotted over to the door and glanced up at the handle, it was way too high for me to reach it with my mouth, so I tried pulling it open with magic.

No such luck, the door was locked from the outside; I'd completely forgotten that the staff set the doors to auto lock after a certain time to keep patients from wondering the halls at night(Doctor Isotope told me that before they did this, there had been a problem with food going missing in the cafeteria). Unfortunately for them however, I learned I pretty basic unlocking spell that should work on a door like this ...if the lock wasn't wasn't charmed, that is. "Well, here goes nothing." I pointed my horned at the door and focused, my horn giving a pinkish red glow and the handle doing the same. It didn't seem to be working, so I focused a bit harder, and the glow got a little brighter. "C'mon ...c'mon." I squeeze my eyes shut in concentration.

Click!

I grinned as the lock gave. "Yes~!" I exclaimed at the sound, before quickly covering my mouth with my fore-hooves. "Alright, calm down, don't be stupid. You've got to be quiet." I whispered to no one.

Celestia, this room was starting to make my sound like a crazy pony.

I shook my head and cracked open the door. I peaked my head out and looked down both ends of the slightly dark hallway. It was empty, just the way I wanted; I opened the door a bit more and squeeze through, pulling it quietly closed with my magic.

I began making my way down towards the left end of the corridor. As I did I couldn't help but think about my teacher, who had taught me the unlocking spell, Ms. Lemonwater. She was a yellow coated mare with an aqua blue mane; she was a really fun teacher, and always made learning new spells fun and exciting. The unlocking spell was only one of the many spells she was going to teach us. I was looking forward to learning so much more ...to impress Dad and all my friends.

But, that's never going to happen. My teachers were all dead but one, and most of my classmates were dead; out of more then one-hundred ponies, only a class of twenty-two made it out in time.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, that I didn't notice that somepony had spot me as I trotted out were the hallway T-ed off.

"Mind tellin' me why yer wonderin' th' halls at night, lil' lady," a voice spoke, suddenly. I jump with a gasp and turned to my left, it was the janitor, Mr. Side Sweeper. "Ah'm pretty sure it's way past yer bedtime."

Oh, crud!

"I ...um, I couldn't sleep," I said. I wasn't exactly lying.

But, that did stop him from continuing to question me. "Ah c'n see that jus' fine, that doesn't explain why yer in th' halls sneakin' about." The cleaning pony didn't really look at me, he just gave me a few glances and continued mopping the floors, his horn glowing the same sea blue as the mop stick. "Ya should be lucky me that found ya an' not th' guards. They'd 'ave dragged yer sorry flank back to yer room, no questions asked."

I sighed. He was right about that, it happened to quite a few ponies. "...I was bored, okay," I admitted. "I was on my way to the roof to do a little stargazing, and that's the truth."

"Stargazin', huh?"

"Yep~!"

"Well, Ah've never been one t' rain on other ponies parades, so Ah'll tell ya what." He placed the mop in the large yellow bucket next to him and looked up at me with a smile. "You run off an' do yer stargazin' thing, an' Ah'll pretend like Ah didn't see ya."

"Uh, are you sure that's okay," I asked, confused. I was happy he was letting me go, but I didn't want him to get in trouble, or worse, lose his job because of me. "Won't you get in trouble for letting me run off ..?"

"Nah, as long as ya don't get caught by th' night guards, there shouldn't be any problems." The unicorn janitor said. "Now if ya want ta do yer stargazin', ya best be runnin' off." He pointed a hoof towards the direction just behind me. "Go down th' hall an' take a right, there you'll find a door leadin' to th' stairway, take those up an' you'll get to th' roof."

I nodded, smiling, and thanked him for being so nice, then began trotting off in the direction he had pointed. I did exactly what he said, took a right at the end of the hall and went down the corridor until I saw the door leading to the stairs. When I opened the door the stairwell was way brighter than the hallway had been. I blinked my eyes a bit, and started up the stairs; the wall near each of the doors held a number that increased as I continued onward (3-F, 4-F, 5-F, and so on).

When I got to the tenth floor there was only one door left. I focused my magic on the handle and gently pushed the door open. The breeze got stronger the wider I opened it. I gave the door one last shove and trotted my way through. The sight that greeted me was a large rooftop filled with a few planted trees and wooden benches. The door made a small click as it closed shut behind me, but I paid that no mind and went over to one of the benches and took a seat, gazing up at the moon and shining dots in the inky darkness of the night. The stars over Manehattan seemed to disappear, but the ones I were starring at were perfect, just like back in Ponyville.

The air was obviously chilly, though, oddly enough, it didn't seem to bother me at all. I still felt as warm as I had felt inside of the building.

As I continued my stargazing, a song that my Dad sometimes sung from his world began to play in my mind, and I began to sing, not noticing at first that I was starting to get sleepy for the first time in weeks.

"Fly me to the moon,
let me play among the stars.
Let me see what spring is like on, Jupiter and Mars
in other words, hold my hand
in other words, baby kiss me."

My eyes started to get droopy. I laid on my side, using my fore-hooves as a pillow.

"Fill my heart with song
and let me sing forevermore.
...You are all I...I long for
all I worship and
...adore...-"

I let the darkness of sleep overtake me for the first time in a long time, feeling like I was on air without wings. I felt at peace. And for once, I was able to dream and forget about the world for a little while.
> Memory-8: Birthday Ghoul
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory-8: Birthday Ghoul Part 1

"We aren't really that different, you and I. In the end don't we both want the same thing? To go back home where our loved ones reside."

I sat on my hunches on the hospital bed as Doctor Isotope continued my weekly examination. This time there were no needles or taking skin samples involved; it was just a normal check up to see how I was doing.

"Alright," the mare said, floating the stethoscope tips into her ears, while placing the diaphragm on my right side. "Now I need you to take a deep, slow breath for me." I breathed in deeply and let it out. "Good." Doctor Isotope nodded, then placed diaphragm on my other side. "Breathe one more time." I took another breath. She nodded to herself again and floated the stethoscope onto the desk near the wall, and began taking down notes on her clip board.

I sat there patently, and waited until she was finished before I asked anything. "So, how does it look," I asked, anxiously. "I'm good to go right?"

"Well, everything seems to be in order. There's nothing new coming from your blood work besides what we already know so far," Doctor Isotope said in thought, floating the clip board next to her stethoscope. She then smiled. "But as far as I'm concerned, you've been in top physical form since the first time I checked you. Though, you did say that the sleep potion wasn't working as well as it used to?"

I nodded, frowning. "Yeah, it took only an hour or so to work before. Now I can't get to sleep much at all anymore."

"I see," the doctor uttered. "I'll look into it and see what we can do about that." She hopped down from her spin chair. "But, you just enjoy yourself for the next few days, alright. It's your birthday tomorrow, after all, you only turn twelve once."

I smiled and hopped off the hospital bed. Doctor Isotope trotted over to the door and opened it, letting me go out first before she followed. In the hallway, Dad was sitting in a chair reading a magazine. He looked up at us and stood up from where he was sitting and walked over to us. He was dressed in a red shirt with a right breast pocket, blue jeans, and his hair was pulled back into a ponytail of fluff, rather then being out like usual.

"So, how is she looking, Doc?" Dad asked.

The black maned mare smiled and gave him the news. "Well, there's nothing much to tell. There are no problems with her physically, and she is mentally stable; everything seems to be in order."

"That's good. For a moment there I thought something might have come up. I'm glad it didn't. Now I can spend time with my favorite daughter," Dad said happily as he bent down and picked me up, placing me on his left shoulder, using his hand to hold me in place.

I giggled. "Daddy, I'm your only daughter."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way, baby girl," Dad said to me, before turning his attention back to the doctor. "I can't thank you enough for this, Isotope."

"Oh, there is no need to thank me," Doctor Isotope said with a dismissive wave. "Just remember to bring her back here in a few weeks; she won't have to stay as long, only a few nights. It's just to see how she is doing and take new tests. There's still a lot we don't understand. I'll contact you if anything new comes up."

Dad nodded. "That's fine with me," he said. "You take care of yourself."

"I'll be sure to, and you have a great birthday, Rose."

I smiled widely. "I will." She gave a small smile back and turned, trotting back into the room, then the door sliding shut behind her. With nothing else needing to be taken care of, Dad started walking down the hall towards the elevator. As we stopped at the elevator doors, Dad pressed the button to call the lift. I looked over and saw Mr. Side Sweeper going about cleaning the halls. He looked up and I waved at him just as the elevator arrived at our floor. He smiled and waved back.

Ding!

The doors slid open and we step on, Dad being careful not to bump into any of the other four ponies inside. There were three guards dressed in black security uniforms, and next to them was a cage probably big enough for me to fit inside of, covered with a large tan cloth. The forth pony was a tan stallion in a lab coat, he was a unicorn as well, his horn glowing as he read over whatever was in the folder he was so focused on.

Then suddenly there was a loud hiss and bang from inside the cage. It sounded like some type of animal. A really big one.

"Shut it, you," one of the guards spat towards the covered cage, hitting his baton on metal bars. Dad didn't say anything, but I was getting curious, and Dad always said there is no better way to find out about something then to ask.

So that's what I did.

"Um ...excuse, mister," I spoke, feeling somewhat shy about breaking the silence.

The tan scientist looked away from his folder, right at me. "Yes?"

"Uh, what's in the cage?" I asked. From the look in Dad's eyes, he probably wanted to know too, but just didn't feel like asking. "Is it some type of animal, maybe?"

"Sorry, dear, I wish I could tell you, but it's classified information," the stallion said.

I pouted. "Oh, so you can't tell me." So much for asking questions. I would have been better off just staying quiet.

"You are right, though," the stallion continued, smiling. "It is an animal. I can't tell you anything more then that."

"Oh, okay."

The elevator got quiet again, and the scientist went back to reading the inside of his folder. The thing was him answering my question with such short answer just made me want to know even more; what type of animal is it? Where did it come from?

Maybe if I looked at the papers in the folder I could find out. I was high enough to read some of it; Dad told me all the time not to read over other ponies shoulders because it was rude, but I just couldn't help myself. Besides, it was floating in front of him, so technically, I wouldn't be reading over his shoulder.

I squinted my eyes and tried reading as much as I could of it before the lift reached to our floor.


File#16
Scouting Log 24
During our last day of searching the Badlands we finally found one,
it was a bit young, about the size of a filly, and it appears to be female.
The changeling must have wondered off from the hive;
it is only by luck that we were around to catch it when we did,
however-.


Ding!

The door opened and the guard ponies moved aside as we got off the lift. I turned around just in time to catch one last glimpse at the cage before the doors slid shut and arrow on the top meter continued moving, counting down the number of floors as the lift descended. This got me wondering so many things at once. Where were the Badlands? Why were they called that?

And must of all, what the heck's a changeling?

"Hey, Daddy?"

Dad glanced over at me. "Yeah, baby girl?"

"What's a changeling?"

Dad stopped walking in mid-step, turning his attention to me fully. "A changeling," he said, sounding somewhat surprised. "We're did you here about that, Rose?"

"I, uh ...heard about it. From one of the doctors. A few weeks ago." I replied, nervously. Dad had on his serious face. The face he put on when he knew I did something wrong. Not only that, but Dad didn't seem to buy my little white lie.

"A week ago," he said. "Really?"

"Uh-huh."

Dad raised an eyebrow. "And you're just asking me now, instead of asking me a week ago when I visited you?"

"Um ...yeah," I uttered.

"Rose, what did I tell you about lying?"

"It's bad, and makes it hard for people to trust you."

"And you are lying now, right?" He asked, a bit too calmly.

"N-no," I answered. He just looked at me with a blank stare and frowned. I decided then to change my answer. "I mean ...yes, Dad."

Dad's expression softened. "See that wasn't so hard, was it," he said with a small smile. "Now, baby girl, what really made you want to ask about changelings?"

"Well, because I think that's what was inside the cage on the elevator," I said.

"And why do you think that," Dad asked.

I sighed. "Because ...I sorta, read the file that pony was looking at," I said, meekly.

Dad let out a groan. "Rose."

"I'm sorry, Daddy. But I couldn't help myself, I just really wanted to know what it was," I whimpered. "Please don't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed." He said, sighing. That didn't make me feel better at all, if anything, it made me feel worse. "But, it was right there in front of you. So I can't say I blame you for snooping." He smiled, and stroked my mane. "Just try not to do it again. No one likes a nosy pony, baby girl."

I giggled, nuzzling his cheek. "I know, Daddy, you told me that before."

Dad chuckled as he began walking towards the road that ran in front of the research facility. "Our ride should be here soon, so until then," he put me down on the soft grass near the edge of the road and plopped down beside me. The gentle breeze blowing the loose and dead leaves off the trees around us. "How about I tell you about the changelings."

"Okay," I nodded, excitedly, happy to finally get some answers. And also because I got let off the hook for lying. "So, what are changelings? Are they like snakes? I heard hissing."

"Well, no ...it's kind of hard to explain," Dad said. He dug into his pants pockets and pulled out a small box of gum balls, then popped one into his mouth. Then held the box out to me. "Want some?"

I nodded, taking the box into my magical grasp. It took about three or four shakes before I was able to get any to come out. As we sat there chewing gum and soaking up the sunlight, Dad put the gum box back in his pocket and began talking again. "Anyway, about the changelings." He spoke in thought. "Well, for one, they scare the crap outta me."

"Really," I asked, surprised. This was one of the few times Dad ever admitted to being scared of something anything. He always acted so brave. "How come? Are they that scary looking?"

"Uh ...sorta," Dad said. "They look like bugs ...really big pony sized bugs." He shivered a bit. "I hate bugs. Can't stand em'."

"Is that why you made me throw that beetle out I showed you when I was littler," I asked, giggling at the look on Dad's face. This was rich. I have to tell Aunt Pinkie about this; oh, she might come up with so many pranks.

"Yeah." Dad frowned. "I hate bugs. Small ones I can stand to be around, but I hate them all, always have, that buzzing in your ear, the itchy feeling you get when they crawl on you-."

"Um, Daddy?"

"Oh God, and those creepy eyes. I had a hard time watching the science channel because of those close ups. Like really, it's not that serious-."

"Dad!" I interrupted before he could rant on any further. He turned to me, and I cleared my throat, giving a wide smile. "Um, you were saying something about changelings remember."

"Oh, yeah, right. Changelings," he said, before sighing. "Well, besides looking like pony sized bugs, a lot of things happened all those years ago. You were just a foal at the time, so you probably don't even remember when the changelings exposed themselves and attacked Canterlot and the neighboring towns."

"They attacked Canterlot! But, I never heard anypony talk about that before," I uttered. I wonder why they wouldn't teach that to us in school, we had current events class; nothing about changelings or an attack ever came up. "It's so weird."

"I know. You'd think it would be one of the most talked about subjects. Thing is, even though it happened, it's not something ponies like to bring up. They'd rather forget it, then admit we almost lost everything that day."

"It was that bad …?"

Dad nodded, solemnly. "Yeah. Some even say it was worse then Discord. They're wrong, of course." He said. "While Discord may have been a large threat(and a complete ass on top of that), he never killed anyone. The changeling queen on the other hand came closer to killing Celestia then anybody else ever had."

"Wait, but I thought the princesses can live forever. Nothing can kill them," I said with confidence.

Dad shook his head. "That's where you, and a lot of other ponies are wrong, baby girl. The princesses may have been around for a long time, but they can still die," he explained. "You're confusing longevity with immortality."

"...Longevity?" I asked, confused. I couldn't quiet remember what that meant. It was on the tip of my tongue, though.

Chuckling, Dad gave me the answer. "It means that you live for a long time."

"Oh, yeah. Granny Smith said something about that before. About Princess Celestia looking young for her age ...really, really young."

"Well, Granny's wise like that," Dad said. "I used to think the princesses couldn't die, too. But Celestia herself corrected me on that, I just wish she'd tell other more ignorant ponies the same thing. Anyway, back to the changelings. For one, they could change shape, and turn into anypony they wanted, no matter if they were a unicorn or an earth pony. They used that ability to sneak into Canterlot in plain sight. The other thing that made them dangerous was that they could feed off the emotional energy of others, especially love."

"But, how can you be evil if the thing that feeds you is love?"

"Because, there's a difference between earning love and taking it. They'd transform into a pony's loved ones, and feed on the love and affection being given to them, that wasn't meant for them in the first place. And if they kept feeding long enough, they could get into a pony's head and force out love whenever they wanted."

"Wow, that is evil," I uttered. "So, what happened after the attack. How did you win?"

"The same way we always do against a threat too strong for us to handle alone. Twilight and the girls used the Elements of Harmony and the rest is history," he answered. "The changelings took a rainbow trip back to the Badlands, and Equestria went back to normal. Ponies still have a huge dislike for them, even now, not that I could really blame them."

I gave a nod. The thing that still bothered me was how come they brought one of them here if they hated them so much. Was it to study it? Maybe experiment on it like the mad scientists in the radio plays? There were still so many unanswered questions! ...I sighed and continued chewing my gum in silence, laying my head down on Dad's lap and closed my eyes, taking in the sun's warmth. I doubt even Daddy knew what they were doing to the poor thing.

About fifteen minutes later, the sound of horse hooves were heard coming down the road. I sat up to see a brownish yellow earth pony pulling a taxi carriage. Dad stood up and I got to my hooves, as the large carriage stopped in front of us.

The door opened, and I was surprised to see Aunt Apple Bloom looking out, smiling at us.

"Well, howdy," she greeted us, waving a hoof. "Hop on in, we gotta get goin'." We got into the carriage, and it pulled off again towards the city. Dad sat across from Apple Bloom, and I hopped up on the same seat as her, getting a big hug from the farm pony. "So, how's ma favorite filly, huh?"

"I'm okay," I said, returning her embrace. I then pulled away, smiling at the red maned mare "What about you, Auntie Bloom?"

"Ah'm good. Works been keepin' me mighty busy, but Ah love it." Her smile dropped a bit as she turned from me to Dad. "Ah got some bad news, guys."

"No pony ...died, did they," I asked, feeling fear at what the answer might be. Auntie shook her head, and I let out a sigh in relief. "That's good."

"What's going on, Apple Bloom," Dad asked, his voice taking on a serious tone.

Apple Bloom sighed, and pat my head. "It's Babs, she's not gonna be able ta fight tomorrow."

"What!" I exclaimed, staring at me in wide eyed surprise. "B-b-but why?" Dad frowned. It had to be really bad if Babs wasn't going to fight. This was horrible!

"What happened?"

"Ah don't really know the whole story, but from the letter Ah read she got inta some type o' scuffle with some zebras." She said. "Ya know it's been a lot o' zebra and pony gangs goin' at it lately since the war started, and it got even worse after Little Horn. Babs somehow got caught in the middle of one and broke 'er hoof helping 'er friend out."

Dad leaned back in his seat, pinching the bridge of his nose, groaning. "God damn it. I knew it was getting bad ...but now there's gang wars, seriously. This is getting out of hand." he said, before uttering. "Talk about a blast from the past."

"Princess Celestia is plannin' ta send more guards out to Manehattan and Fillydelphia. Hopefully that calms things down a bit."

"Let's hope so," Dad said.

"Uh! This is so unfair!" I whinnied, falling out in my seat. "I waited two whole weeks for this fight! Now I can't even see it! Not fair, this is not fair at all!" I was suppose to see the fight up close tomorrow, and now this! Why does this always happen to me?

"I feel the same way, baby girl," Dad said, sternly adding. "But, throwing a tantrum won't make this any better. You're turning twelve-years-old soon, act like it."

I let myself go still, and let out a long, exaggerated groaned. Daddy was right, my birthday was tomorrow, and twelve-year-olds don't whine. But still, this sucked! All this time waiting, and for what.

Stupid zebra gangs ...stupid war.

"I really wanted to see Babs fight, though," I uttered.

"Believe me we all did," Apple Bloom said, sadly. "Babs must be feelin' pretty torn up over this. Ah say we pay 'er a visit at th' hospital before stopping at the motel."

Dad nodded, and replied. "I agree with you completely. I was just about to suggest we do that, too."


XxxxX


The carriage ride to Manehattan was a rather short one. The science facility was far behind us, and I enjoyed the view as we passed by the outskirts of town and entered the city. The noise was rather loud, but it made my smile seeing all the ponies go about their normal day selling things, running stores and whatever other jobs ponies liked to do.

The carriage was just pulling up to the Manehattan General Hospital when I started getting self conscience again. Dad may have said that your true loved ones are the only ones that matter, but that didn't mean I wanted strangers to gawk at, and whisper things about me, and there were a lot of ponies out on the streets right now(far too many to count).

"Um ...Daddy, is it okay if I stay in the carriage," I asked, shyly.

Dad turned from the window and looked at me. "Are you sure? Babs was really looking forward to seeing you again."

"I know, i-it's just, so many ponies out there." I uttered. "I don't want them making fun of me, Daddy. What if they laugh at me?"

"They're not gonna laugh at you, baby girl."

"How do you know? They might not do it openly, but they probably think it."

Dad sighed. He was about to say something else, when Apple Bloom spoke before he could. "Rose, Ah know you're goin' through a tough time right now. So Ah had Zecora make you this." Digging into one of her suitcases, she pulled out a hooded cloak with her mouth. She then continued, mumbling around the cloth. "It's a zebra cloak. If you don't want other ponies lookin' at ya, then just wear this. It'll hide yer face once ya put th' hood on."

I took the cloak in my magic field and opened it fully. The cloak was a dark brown color with weird looking design pattern on the back and front, sorta like vines. The hood being big enough to cover my face, and had a small hole in it to fit my horn.

I continued to look over it, then turned my attention back to the red maned farm pony. "Zecora really made this for me?" The zebra mare had always been nice to me, but I never expected this.

Apple Bloom nodded, smiling. "Eeyep~, Zecora knows what it's like ta have ponies stare at ya and treat ya differently because yer not the same. It was like that the first time she came to Ponyville, you know."

"And I may have told her about the trouble you were having after the incident," Dad added, sounding slightly surprised. "Though, I never expected her to make you a cloak. It looks similar to the one she wears sometimes, but different."

I pulled the cloak over my head, surprised by how well it fit me. It was as if Zecora knew my exact measurements(which I was pretty sure she didn't). It was loose, but not too loose, stopping a few inches below my knees. It was also very warm and comfortable.

"So, how do I look?" I asked.

Dad smiled. "You look fine, baby girl," he said in a gentle tone. He leaned forward and fixed the hood on my head, being sure to get my horn through the hole. "...There, now you don't have to worry about a thing."

"Alright, let's get goin', you two," Apple Bloom said. "We shouldn't keep Babs waitin' fer too long."

I hopped down from my seat, and wrapping the pinkish field around the handle, opened the carriage door with my magic. I leaped out onto the sidewalk, followed by Daddy, who was carrying two suitcases, and Auntie Apple Bloom. I began to look around nervously; ponies were trotting back and forth in herds like a river. I was in clear view of everypony, yet none of them paid me any attention.

A red and green maned mare trotted past me suddenly, and a dark red filly following close to her side turned her head and waved at me, beaming one of those party pony smiles(which she had to be if the puffy sea-green mane and cupcake and candle cutie mark was anything to go by). They were treating me like a normal pony. Not some thing. The cloak Zecora made really worked!

"Rose, let's go!" Dad called from ahead of me at the hospital entrance. I didn't even notice him and Apple Bloom had moved. "You don't want to get left out here, do you."

"Coming!" I trotted towards them, a smile forming on my muzzle. Dad pushed open the doors and let me and Apple Bloom go in first before he stepped inside. We made our way through the huge waiting room.

Some younger ponies were sick or injured, the grown ups reading magazines or talking to each other. It seemed to be like that in every hospital I've ever went to. We stopped at the receptionist counter, the brown earth pony on the other side was too busy sorting out paperwork to notice us a first, so Dad waited for a few seconds, then tapped the bell.

Ding! Ding!

The mare looked up at us. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," she said, sliding the paperwork to the side. "How can I help you, sir?"

"We're here to visit someone," Dad answered, smiling. "A mare named Babs Seed, she was brought in yesterday night."

"Babs Seed, huh. Just one moment, sir." The receptionist began searching through the papers on her desk. "Let's see, Babs Seed ...Babs Seed. Ah, here it is," she looked back up at us and smiled. "She is in room A-19." She then pointed a hoof towards the door at the far end of the room. "Just go through the doors and follow the hall until you see the number."

Dad nodded. "Thank you."

"Ya have a nice day, now," Apple Bloom added, politely.

The mare behind the desk gave a nod, then went back to doing what she had been doing before.

Just as told, we went through the side door and went down the hallway. Everything was clean and spotless; it really had me wondering why all hospitals seemed to have the same smell. Though, unlike the much larger research facility where I stayed for a good few weeks that was rather blank and completely dull, the walls here actually had color, and drawings created by young fillies and colts, as well as military posters were hung up on tack-boards.

When we got to room A-19, the sound of voices could be heard coming through the door. It was Babs Seed's and someone else I didn't recognize.

"-You didn't have to do that, I could have handled myself, Babs!" The unfamiliar mare's voice spoke.

"Really, 'cause it didn't look like that to me," Babs retorted. "Besides, what were you expecting me to do, sit back while my friend got pounded on!"

"They were just zebras, they can't even use magic!"

"That didn't seem ta matter, did it! Ya got your ass kicked, so I helped you out, try being a little thankful for once!"

There was a short pause. "You should have stayed out of it, you were close to having a chance at making your dream come true, Babs."

"Look, Aroma, a title fight is just that, a fight. But if I had to choose between fightin' for my friend and fightin' for fame and bits, which you think I would choose, huh?"

"...A friend."

"Exactly, so don't sweat it. 'Sides it ain't like my fightin' days are over. I'll get another chance at the title some other day."

Apple Bloom was the first one to say anything. "So, should we go in now?"

Dad gave a nod, raising his fist to the hard metal. "Might as well, staying out here listening in is sorta rude." Then he knocked on the door.

"Yeah?" The voice of the boxing mare spoke.

"It's us, cuz." Apple Bloom answered.

"Oh ...c'mon in then, the doors unlocked."

Apple Bloom opened the door and we trotted in after Dad. The door was then slowly closed behind us on it's own. The room itself was quite spacious, and a window across from us gave was a nice view of downtown. Babs was lying on the bed, her face covered in cuts and bruises, and her left fore-hoof sat in a sling across her shoulder. Sitting next to her bed was a cream colored mare with a light blueish green mane and eyes as blue as Aunt Pinkie's. Dad walked over to the bedridden boxer, smiling slightly.

"Hey, Babs Seed," He turned his head to the other mare. "Good to see you too, Sweet Aroma. It's been a while."

"I know. Sorry to have to see you under these circumstances, Steven." Sweet Aroma, standing on her hid-legs and hugging Dad around the weights. "You do seem to have gotten a bit taller."

"Not really, it's probably the boots that give me a few inches," Dad replied, stroking her mane. Then the cream colored mare let go of him.

Babs snorted. "Well, that's good, you're big enough as is. You don't need to get any taller." Babs added, grinning. "And here I was thinkin' you'd never make it here," she said, "You're late, as always."

"It's not my fault this time. The doctors wanted to keep Rose another day for blood work." Dad's smile turned into a frown. "So, mind telling me what happened?"

Babs sighed. "Life happened," she said, shrugging. I hopped onto the bed as the auburn maned mare turned her attention to me. "Well, ain't you a sight for sore eyes. C'mon, don't just stand there, I think I deserve a hug, don't you?" Babs smiled, holding out her good fore-leg in a hugging gesture. I smiled backed and leaped into it, catching her off guard. "Ugh ...careful, kid. Gotta broken hoof here."

"Sorry, Babs," I apologized, backing up a bit, feeling sheepish.

Babs Seed just continued smiling. "No need to be sorry. It's my fault I broken my hoof in the first place, that's what happens when you land a heavy punch to the wrong place." She said. "So, do I get to see the face of my favorite lil' filly. Or are you gonna keep being mysterious."

I sighed, then used my magic to pull back the hood, reviving my face. Sweet Aroma gasped in shock, but that was about it. The rest of the room was quiet.

"So that's what zebra weapons can do to a pony, huh," Babs Seed, uttered. She reach out and touched my cheek with her hoof. "...Celestia help those soldiers on the front lines. Do those burns hurt at all?"

I shook my head. "No, it's not as bad as it looks," I answered.

"Those zebras are just horrible, making a young filly have to go through such a thing." Aroma said, sadly, before adding with sympathy(sympathy I didn't want). "I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through, dear."

"Then don't try," I muttered, plainly.

Daddy frowned. "Now, baby girl, there's no need to be like that. Aroma was just trying to help."

I sighed. Even though it annoyed me to admit, Dad was right, Aroma didn't do anything to me, so I shouldn't be mean to her. "Sorry, Ms. Aroma," I apologized, sitting back on my hunches. "I just didn't want anypony saying they feel bad for me, anymore. I'm tired of hearing it."

"Oh ...It's fine. I ...I'll go get us all some Sparkle~Cola, that'll make us all feel better." Sweet Aroma then trotted out the room, leaving just the four of us.

Dad sighed, and took a seat in the empty chair at Babs' bedside, before speaking. "Babs, how come you never told me about these zebra and pony gangs before?"

Babs Seed shrugged. "I thought you knew already."

"I live in Canterlot. I won't exactly know about gang issues in another city," Dad said, before muttering. "Still, though, to think Equestria had gangs. Then again, I should have guessed since war and drugs are pretty common these days."

"Look, it's not like it matters, okay. Everything is fine now. No pony died(no pony we know, anyway) ... so lets just drop it, okay," Babs replied, sounding annoyed.

Dad's shoulders went limp as he sighed again. "Alright, fine. If you don't want to talk about it, I won't make you. But, be careful next time, Babs."

"If I was always careful, I would've never gotten ma cutie mark."

"As true as that may be," Dad chuckled, softly, gently rubbing behind one of her ears. "At least try to stay out of trouble, Babs, I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Babs gave a slight nod, and leaned into my Dads hand(cause for some reason ear rubs had that kind of effect on ponies). Then I notice something odd. I thought it was just me at first, but I swear a small blush was on Babs' cheeks. I tilted my head, and turned to Apple Bloom; she looked over at me, grinning.

Wait...?

...No way!

I looked at Babs, then back at my Dad, then back to Babs again.

The wheel was going off in my head as I pieced it together.

Babs likes my Dad! ...She likes, likes him!

But, she never showed it, did she? Or maybe I just never saw it before. I might be thinking too much into it(blushing doesn't always mean somepony likes somepony else, after all).

I was about to say something when the door suddenly burst open. We all turned our heads, to see Aroma panting with a expression that could have only been shock. "You guys won't believe what I heard on the radio," she said, loudly.

Babs was the first one to speak. "What's going on?" She asked. Dad pulled his hand away from her ear.

Sweet Aroma took a few seconds to catch her breath, then answered. "It's Princess Celestia, she-she's giving up the throne!"

Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "Tha's not possible!"

"You've gotta be jokin'!" Babs added, her voice mix between shock and disbelief.

"Aroma, you're sure the radio said this?" Dad asked, sounding just as shocked. "You didn't mishear anything?"

Sweet Aroma gave a nod. "I'm sure, the radio stallion said: Princess Celestia announced that she'd be abdicating the throne. There's no way anypony could mishear something like that."

My eyes widened. There was no way that was true, the Princess would never do something like that. She's been ruling Equestria since before I was even thought of, she would never give up the throne.

...Would she?
> Rewrite Announcement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has been years since I last updated this story, and I honestly don't know how to continue, much less remember what I had in mind as far as the stories plot goes. Not only has my writing style changed and  gotten better over the years, but so has my personal life. However, even after all this time, the one thing I can say is that I've wanted to continue this story for the longest time. So, that's what I intend to do; I plan on editing and rewriting the story from the first chapter and starting fresh! Through out MLP there have been tons of new characters  and plot twists, and while I don't intend to use all of them, I have a few ideas in mind for characters that have shown up in the later seasons.

Plus, I'm also nearly finished Fallout Equestria since I have gotten back into Kkat's awesome and twisted world fusion, and have been playing the Fallout games since I found out about them years ago almost daily to get all the different ending in Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

But, the first rewritten chapter won't be out for about another week or so, I'm trying  to work out the kinks in the plot line and brain storm where I want the story to go first, that way I don't get stuck like I did years ago with this version of the story. But, rest assured that once I have everything down, I'll start uploading the new rewritten version of my story, so be on the  look out for that!