Prologue. To fight fate

~Visions of Purpose~

Prologue. To fight fate

It had already been four months. Four months since I returned from Equestria to resume the life I had been violently torn from one late autumn evening. It had all begun so suddenly, but just like any true surprise it had not been something that I could’ve prepared for. The two and a half months I had spent in Equestria, give or take a few days, had been anything but dull.
But it always came back to that one night it had all begun.

A bad choice had set in motion a series of events that I still didn’t know if they had been orchestrated from the start, or if chance was the villain to blame. With a small sigh I looked at the clock at the corner of the laptop’s screen, 22:36. I guess now was as good a time as any to reminisce about the past. I had given up all attempts to forget. After all I wouldn’t be able to forget what had transpired in my lifetime anyway. Not when I had painstakingly written down all my encounters on this laptop for safe keeping.

It began that night with the lightning bolt striking me head on. I still don’t understand the theoretical aspects behind it, but if I had to guess the bolt generated the power necessary to transport across the veil between our dimension and Equestria. That being said without Grief’s and Rage’s bridges I would’ve probably just died that night. Anyhow when I next came to it took me quite a while to accept that I had somehow been transformed, and it took me even longer to realize that I was an Equestrian pony.

My first few weeks were rather dull in comparison to the rest of my time in Equestria, but without the time I spent in the Everfree, mastering my new body, I would’ve perished.
It must sound kind of grim when I describe it like this but unfortunately it’s the truth, in fact there were a couple of times when I actually got close to dying. But that’s further down the road. Now where was I? Oh yeah, the Everfree. It was towards the end of my stay here were I learned to use my wings for basic flight, for you see the pony type I had been transformed into was a pegasus. It was also this that allowed me to finally leave the Everfree.

The first real encounter I had was with the element of generosity herself and she more or less saved me. Well we saved each other in a way, but without her I may never had found my way to civilization. Rarity led me to Ponyville, and dropped me off by the hospital, since I had sustained an injury to my leg. Here is where I had my first, not so friendly, encounter with a pony named Swiftmend. A while later I had left the hospital with my injury healed and found an inn to stay at for the night.

It’s important to note that at this point I had fully fledged web of lies woven around who I truly was. I called the persona I had created Stormcloud. An add-on to my true name, Cloud.
I thought that I could simply solve my problems on my own and, not bother anyone in my immediate surroundings. Thus my next step had been to head to the library to gather information. Things had gone smoothly at first, but a certain incident became the catalyst that would shatter my web of lies.

One thing led to another and after a night full of long explanations and questions I felt at peace with myself. The mane six’s reactions had been mixed, but Rainbow definitely had the strongest one. She didn’t like me, and she made sure I understood that.

The very next morning the princesses arrived to verify my story. This was also the first time I met her, Celestia. She read my memories and somehow I read hers. We didn’t know at the time but that was another starting point, a starting point for something beautiful.

With my story confirmed the princesses bid their farewells to the elements and I, promising to return once they had found the proper spell to send me back home. True to their word I received a note a few days later from Twilight, informing me that they were ready.

My excursion into Equestria was at an end it seemed and I was ready to resume my normal life. I arrived at the library at the appointed time and bid farewell to the mane six before Celestia arrived and cast her spell. That should’ve been the end of it, but something went haywire. Celestia had somehow been dragged along when she cast the spell on me and now found herself stranded in my apartment transformed into a human. Needless to say she had been confused, scared and pretty desperate when she regained consciousness and realized just what had happened.

It took some time to clear up a few misunderstandings between the two of us, but eventually we could begin working on a plan to make sure that she could return home. During the time we spent together on earth our relationship grew from merely acquainted to close friends.

Although we managed to piece together a plausible theory on how to get Celestia home rather quickly, it took some extra time since Celestia needed to learn how to walk as a human. When Celestia and I revisited the place where it all began, we ran into a snag. The magic leaking over to Earth was not enough to send Celestia back, but it would be enough to send someone else. So in a Hail Mary attempt we tried to recreate the resonance effect that had caused this situation in the first place. The spell was successful, and Celestia and I both found ourselves in the Everfree forest, both of us again in pony form.

Since both of us had wings we took to the sky and started to fly out of the dark forest. After some time in the air I managed to convince Celestia to fly to Canterlot while I would fly to Ponyville and wait for her there. I thought it was important that she returned and showed her sister that she was alive ASAP. For you see I had realized that time ran differently on Earth compared to Equestria. A single earth day equaled a week in Equestria so Celestia had been missing for some time already. So we split and flew in separate directions.

When I reached Ponyville though I found the town to be deserted. I searched a few homes and all of them told me that the population had left in a hurry. So I set my sights on Canterlot and took to the sky again. Once I reached the capital I could confirm that there were indeed ponies here at least. So I flew straight to the castle gates to try to get in contact with the princesses again, or at least get some information. However the guards recognized me as a criminal for a crime I did not commit, and before I knew what was going on I had been hit by a spell that knocked me out.

The next thing I saw were the walls of a prison cell. In this cell I learned things that would change me forever. First there was confusion when Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack visited me, accusing me of working for two entities they called Grief and Rage. I was beyond confused at this point and I argued my case as best I could without actually holding any cards, except the voice of reason.

The next pony who visited me changed everything. It was a pony that I had only met briefly during my stay at the Ponyville inn. She basically claimed to be an emissary for what she called the grand stars. It soon became clear that she was the reason I was now in a cell, being accused of kidnapping Celestia. But her wild claims did not end there. No, she claimed that I was a direct descendant of pegasus mare who belonged to an ancient clan called Storm paragons. This mare had been trapped on earth as a human centuries ago to create a trap that I had unwittingly been the culmination of.

Needless to say I argued with this mare and raged against her outlandish claims, but deep down inside I had known. Known that there were shreds of truth to her statements, however it seemed that it wouldn’t matter in the end as she had left me in this cell to rot. So I sat in my windowless cell and listened to what had to be a huge storm building outside.

It was during this same night that the star spawn called Rage attacked Canterlot, and through dumb luck one of his attacks broke open one of the walls to my cell. I was going to have a shot at vengeance against those who had used me as a puppet it seemed. For about an hour I fought in the streets of Canterlot against a sort of spectral puppets controlled by Rage. During these scuffles I acquired quite a few injuries, but nothing life-threatening. Finally I observed the elements being fired and knew that this nightmare was about to end.

But it didn’t end. Rage’s protective barrier that I had seen absorb minor spells during the night withstood even the elements. In a last attempt to help I decided to accept the claims of me being a descendant of a pegasus. I devised a mad plan that involved getting struck by lightning on purpose and in the end dive bomb Rage with the collected energy.

My plan worked as I managed to break the barrier so the elements could finish him off, but the damage I sustained when I pulled that stunt was far greater than I had anticipated. I was alive though and I could probably recover. I had thought when I dug myself out of the rubble of house I had crashed into after my dive. However at this very moment I encountered the element bearers again, and for a while we argued once more whether I was evil or not.
At this point I was growing really frustrated with how much crap I had to take.

It was the arrival of Spike that finally seemed to clear my name to most of the gathered ponies as he came bearing words of Dreamcatcher’s escape. Enter Grief, who now was incredibly pissed at the loss of her last sibling. She launched a dark spell that hit Spike and seemingly stopped his heart. And with Spike dying Grief left just as suddenly as she had appeared. The time left was but moments before he was lost forever. So in a final act I gathered what remaining energy I could find in my body and tried to focus it like a makeshift defibrillator. I succeeded, but at a terrible prize. I had sacrificed even the electrical charge that kept my own body functioning. The last thing I remember from that night is my heartbeat slowly fading.

The next time my eyes opened I was tucked into a bed in Canterlot castle, all my injuries seemingly healed. To my side was the sleeping form of an alicorn I did not immediately recognize. The alicorn turned out to be Celestia who had regressed into a smaller state of herself due to a spell she had supposedly cast to save my life. To this day I have no idea what type of spell it was. Celestia and I spoke for a time and it slowly became clear to me that she might have developed feelings for me. At the time though I wasn’t certain on how to respond. But it turned out that I didn’t have to, as Celestia was called back to attend her duties as a princess.

My next visitor was an abashed Twilight, who expressed the heartfelt apology for her actions during the past few meetings we had. She was baffled at the fact I forgave her rather easily, but at the time I felt that I had to take the high road. I was after all supposed to be the older one of the two of us. Twilight’s problems didn’t end there though. As soon as she had my forgiveness she pleaded that I help her with a depressed Pinkie, claiming that I might have a connection to her depression. Not knowing what to make of the request I agreed.

Twilight then proceeded to lead me to Pinkie’s room and what met me there was indeed a situation that I was responsible for. I asked Twilight to let me talk to Pinkie in private as I intended to reveal some of my most personal secrets in an attempt to reason with the pink mare. She agreed and I set out to explain my innermost workings, it was the least I could do. It took some convincing and for me to agree to being Pinkie’s friend, something that was more of an honor than a requirement, to bring her back from depression. But I did succeed.

What followed was a streak of pranks by Pinkie and me. A streak that quickly grew out of hand, or should I say hoof. Before I knew it I was facing Rainbow dash in a sparring match as my atonement for the pranks pulled. I won the fight but only after Rainbow knocked some sense into me. As I headed away from the fight I had my second encounter with Swiftmend, who was currently stationed in Canterlot as extra medical help. Due to a previous agreement between the two of us we went into Canterlot city proper to exchange secrets. I think it was therapeutic for both of us, to just share our respective burdens.

It was in the evening of that very same day that I found myself on a rooftop with Celestia. It was on this day that we shared our first, true, kiss. The coming days were ones of relative bliss. I say relative because while I enjoyed my time spent interacting with Celestia and the rest I also spent time learning some of the darker secrets surrounding the Stars. I learnt who they were and more importantly how I was connected to it all. It turns out that the claims made by Dreamcatcher had been correct after all. To say that I was unsure of what my next step would be would be the understatement of the century.

Part of me wanted nothing but continue to live here in Equestria, while and equally large part argued that I should not forsake my previous life. A threat delivered in the dark sealed my fate. I would make one last gamble, with my wager being everything I had. And so I once again embarked on the road of deceit, my only ally being Swiftmend.

The final outcome? A pyrrhic victory on my part, the terrible price being to cut myself off from Equestria forever. While some may argue that my actions were those of someone acting for a greater good, my choices had hurt a lot of individuals that I had come to hold close to my heart. First and foremost I had singlehandedly torn the budding relationship between Tia and I to pieces and to me that was probably the heaviest cross to bear.

My name is Cloud and four months ago I betrayed those who trusted me for what I at the time perceived to be a greater cause. Now, I am dying…

Ch 1. Call of redemption

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Chapter 1. Call of redemption

Out we go, we’ve been ruthless
The tears of time, makes it endless
Give me another life
That will grant me with its solace

Watch it burn…

The need for light
That would guide us
Has gone away
While we progressed
Tell me now, does it die
When we turn our heads
And walk away

Walk away…

I have walked the path of deceit and I have seen what it can bring. I will try to atone for my transgressions but some secrets are best kept at heart. Under different circumstances I would’ve have continued to lecture about where this path will lead but my time is growing short. I’m afraid that I’m about to reach life’s great crossroad again, and this time most paths will be barred.

*~*

I didn’t have much time left. Was that fact sobering? No, nor was it tragic. Perhaps justified could be used to describe the situation I was in, but then again it didn’t sound quite right either. A bit too melodramatic if you ask me. However whether I could find a proper word to describe my situation held little importance in the end. The result would be the same no matter what I called it.

So here I lay, confined to this bed staring at the ceiling. Every breath was I took was a small battle of its own and the smell of antiseptic had already become the norm. It wasn’t that strange though, after having spent almost two full months in this hospital bed. I had already accepted that my fate was sealed, so all I waited for now was the final surrender of my body.

I understand that all this talk of my pending demise might be confusing, so let me take you back to the time when everything began to crumble around me.

*~*

I had finally managed to return to my normal routine. My life had been, more or less, restored and I felt that I once more had the power to forge a future for myself. It had been two incredibly trying months that had passed, and I had taken every measure to combat everything that would potentially remind me of Equestria. Among those measures, leaving everything related to MLP behind had been my first and hardest decision. It would only have served to rip open the floodgate of memories that I was trying to shut. But even with such drastic measures the months had been trying.

There’s no point in sugarcoating what I had been doing those first two months. I had been living life by just making up excuse after excuse to keep my thoughts away from Equestria and Celestia. I went out drinking with friends, had a one night stand, buried myself in studies and come yuletide I spent all my time surrounding myself with every activity I could possibly think of. Yes, what I did was nothing but to create another mask for myself to wear. One that was forged out of everything I remembered my old life to be.

In the beginning it was just something to hide behind, nothing more than a tool to cope with my actions. But just like my other masks it slowly turned into something I could assume and dispel at will. Yes after two months I had regained control over myself and my memories.
I don’t know if I want to refer to the incident that followed as karma or if it was just fate, since I normally believe in neither. The timing however seemed to perfect though, just like a lot of other things had been during my adventure.

I’m of course talking about the reason why I’m unable to leave this bed. It had not even been a week after I told myself that my life could finally resume. When that life knocked me down.

*~*

“Good, but you can be even faster!” my sensei called out.

“Hai!” the Japanese term for yes rang out in the dojo.

We had been practicing basic techniques the entire session by applying them to mock scenarios designed to improve two things. The first one being speed, as you may have already guessed, and the other being the ability to accurately gauge the range of your own attacks. In other words, we were to learn from which distance we could start to launch an attack and actually hit our opponent. It was one of my sensei’s favorite drills, and I have to admit that I enjoyed this particular style of practice as well. Especially if your “target” was allowed to counter your attack, should he or she see an opening.

The true challenge to something like this was to sell your feint though. Why? Because countering will always be faster and easier than going on the offensive. So without a feint that bought you that window of time to land your true attack, be it kick or punch, you were doomed. What I’m saying is that it will always be easier to be a defensive fighter. Personally though I have always preferred to walk in between offense and defense but I could not deny facts.

Currently I was sparring against what is called a “kouhai” in Japanese. It’s quite a broad term but in short it’s someone who’s in a junior position relative to yours. Be it time spent at a certain establishment or simply a difference in age, such as a senior student versus a sophomore. Given this situation I had to lower the skill ceiling so that I was hovering just out of reach for my kouhai. This served one major function and that was the rapid improvement provided by trying to reach an obstacle that while challenging was not unattainable.

I was grateful for not having to perform at my max though. Throughout this session I had been feeling more strain than usual, and my breathing was already quite labored. It wasn’t anything that worried me though, no one will perform at his or her top capacity a hundred percent of the time. So this was likely just one of those days when my performance had taken a small dip. Perhaps I was coming down with a cold or something? I thought idly.

“Yame!” sensei’s command rang out and all activity in the dojo ceased.

He waited a few seconds for everyone to exchange the ceremonial bow and murmur of thank you very much in Japanese before speaking up again.

“Take a short water break and then return to your original positions.”

As one body all of us moved over to our water bottles and in my case a towel. I quickly wiped the sweat off my face and went to observe my fellow students. Counting myself there were currently five black belts present besides sensei. A pretty decent turnout seeing how we had a total of eight black belts practicing at our dojo currently. My observations were cut short as I felt a rising need to cough, so I raised the towel that was still in my hand to cover my mouth. A surprisingly violent cough later I lowered the towel and dropped it next to my water bottle, had I been paying attention I would probably have seen the red flecks that now adorned it.

“Okay brake is over! Get your gloves and mouth guard’s and grab a new partner.” Sensei called out.

Looked like sensei had decided that we were going to have a bit more freedom now. I caught the eye of a fellow black belt named Cassandra, or Cas as everyone called her, and picked a spot in the dojo. Cassandra and I were quite evenly matched when it came to skill and speed but I had one advantage over her, and that was my reach. Standing just above six feet tall I had quite the unfair advantage when it came punches and kicks. Cassandra never complained though, she just smiled and said that it was good practice. So with a bow we signified that we were ready to beat the living daylights out of each other.

Cassandra struck first and I quickly stepped out of reach, followed by a counter attack of my own. For a few seconds we danced back and forth like this, then quick as a viper Cassandra dashed in. With a quick leg feint she got me to lower my guard before delivering a quick strike to the side of my head.

“Great job Cas.” Sensei said as he passed by us before heading down towards a couple of less advanced students who were awkwardly trying to use techniques they hadn’t quite grasped yet.

We settled back into our respective stances again, and this time I took the offensive almost immediately. But as I attempted a high feint, mostly to close the distance, I once again felt the urge to cough rise rapidly. I hoped back and held up a hand to signal a short break, before coughing into my elbow. Still unaware I lowered myself into a fighting stance when the coughing died down and was surprised to find that Cas was looking at me, clearly concerned.

“Hey are you okay?” she asked.

Confused I started to say that I was fine, but I never got further than opening my mouth before I devolved into violent coughs again. I threw up my arm to cover it out of reflex and suddenly I realized what had had Cassandra concerned. The normally white Gi that I was wearing was speckled red with blood on the arm I had coughed on.

I tried to look up, to formulate a response to Cas, but the coughing didn’t seem to die down. And suddenly it was getting harder and harder to breath. I could feel myself slowly start to get lightheaded as I coughed and struggled to keep air coming in. Somewhere in my subconscious I was aware that someone was trying to talk to, no shout something to me. The last thing I remember from that day was someone supporting me so that I didn’t fall before darkness overtook me.

*~*

I had been rushed to the very hospital where I still resided, and after a multitude of tests the cause of my collapse had been found. Pulmonary carcinoma or in layman’s terms lung cancer. Everyone was in a state of chock and no one could piece together where it had come from. I had no history of smoking nor had any type of cancer ever been present in my family. To make matters worse it was already in a stage were chemotherapy and surgery were deemed impossible. Yet despite all this I knew, I wasn’t sure how but I knew that this was the final act of Grief. The entire idea of me beating her had been a misconception, she had simply been changed into the most malignant form possible when crossing the veil.

At that point, at that realization, everything that I had pushed away and all the walls I had built to make me forget came crumbling down. I had cried, and when the tears dried up anger had replaced them. I would lash out at everything, and everyone who came to visit. Until even my anger waned. I was left with an empty feeling and so I started to write, to document the events that had lead up to this point, for I had nothing else left. Slowly I came to accept my pending end at the whims of this tumor. And over the two following months my strength was quickly sapped, until I could do little else but write.

For two long months I spent the time I had left compiling my experiences in Equestria, planning to leave it as a file for my family to find. While we’re on the subject of my family I think it’s important to note that they seemed to have taken it harder than I have… no that’s not quite right. I was definitely the one who took it the hardest, but compared to my family I had come to terms with the inevitable. It may be because I could connect my situation to my actions or it might be something else entirely. The important point though was that I could focus on leaving my tale behind. Whether it would be read and more importantly believed I could not control.

It had of course not only been family that visited. During the first month there had been a lot of activity from friends and fellow students, both from practice and the university. One type of phrase I had quickly grown to despise was when they expressed how surreal it all felt. Often I had wanted to scream out in anger that if it was surreal for them guess how I felt. But such visits had died off more or less after the first month, and now I only got the occasional visit from those I regarded as my closest friends. We couldn’t do much except talk or play a game or two of magic the gathering, but it comforting to know that they cared.

I felt a cough building so I closed the lid on the laptop I had been using before collapsing into weak coughs. The hand used to cover the mouth quickly showed a couple of small blood droplets, as it did most of the time now. The coughing died down and I tried to draw breath again only to realize that I couldn’t. My brain quite hazy from different pain meds was slow to register it as a problem. So I tried again but was met with the same result.

A strangely subdued feeling of panic started to rise as memories of being chocked by Dreamcatcher’s magic surfaced from my subconscious. In my drug addled weak state I was only vaguely aware of the increased beeping of the machinery around me. My vision was growing dim and I could barely distinguish my right hand, reaching for something, anything. But I was alone, alone in the dark. Not like this… A final thought ran out before I felt my last shred of consciousness start to slip.

*<>*

Discord had noticed the moment he was released for his so called reformation that things were different. Not that he cared all too much, but mainly out of curiosity he had dug around for the cause. He had been quite surprised at what he found at first, but had eventually filed it away as useful for getting under Celestia’s skin. Oh yes, a most marvelous and cruel joke could be constructed from this.

That had been his thoughts about a year ago, but that had changed now. What he once sought to turn into a practical joke was a shining beacon of what he regarded as a last chance. Two weeks back him doing what he was planning would’ve have been unthinkable to him. But with the recent betrayal of Tirek, he felt that perhaps this might help him to start to walk the path of redemption.

Discord snapped his fingers, summoning a large grandfather clock, for the fifth time in what had to be less than two minutes. The arms of the clock were slowly moving backwards and in about ten minutes they would stop. His timing in this had to be perfect, and that unnerved him. For the first time in a bit more than a millennia he would try to actually force the chaotic nature of his magic to do his bidding. Unlike pony magic chaos magic always had to be balanced. Create something here, something would have to disappear there. But you could circumvent it by pulling something straight out of your personal magic well, if you were of draconequus descent. The only problem was that the well was a limited source that would slowly replenish when not used. And now he was probably going to use every last bit of his currently stored up magic.

Accessing his well was an act that he normally reserved for emergencies, as it would leave him in a precarious position if he burnt it at a regular basis. It was a common misconception that he was actually all powerful. Well, he had never said he wasn’t and he hoped to keep it that way. But enough of that he was getting off track, he needed to focus he would only get on shot at this. With another snap of his fingers he vanished, it was almost time. When he reappeared he was in a pocket plane of sorts, one that only he knew of and he visited often.

“Hello again sister.” He murmured.

He was met with silence, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. His sister had not been able to speak for many millennia after all. He looked around at the white marble walls and at the area in the center where his sister rested. Nothing here had changed, it never would unless he made it so. And yet he was about to do just that wasn’t he?

“I think I finally understand you now sister. Why you did it. It was never just to rebel as I had always believed.” He said again, addressing the center area.

He snapped his fingers a third time, summoning the grandfather clock once again. Two minutes. He began to mentally draw the spell matrix he had frantically been working on over the past two weeks.

“Well this is good bye for a while then sister. The next time we see each other it won’t be in this dusty old place, I hope. Oh no, don’t give me that look I’m sure you will like him just fine.” He exclaimed jovially.

With a final snap of his fingers he reached for the personal well of chaos energy that was inside of him and feed it into the matrix. He felt his body enter the ether and from there he focused his energy to tear the very fabric of reality. Just like he had expected he met resistance but eventually a tear formed, satisfied but drained Discord floated away in the ether. His now empty well would refill, but that would take months. Well perhaps some time away from everything would be a welcome vacation. After all the soul will do the rest. He thought idly, as he floated in darkness.

*<>*

My eyes flew open as I sat up with a desperate gasp for air, before devolving into a now familiar cough. My throat felt dry like a desert and everything around me was brightly illuminated which forced me to close my eyes again. I slowly opened my eyes to a squint, and was met with the blurry image of a chamber that definitely couldn’t belong to the hospital.

Ch 2. The antechamber to adventure

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Chapter 2. The antechamber to adventure

Turn around from this vicious cycle
Turn around from the things you can’t explain
Turn around from the fear inside you

What fear?

Fear does not matter to me
If you want to be, anything better
Let me, save you from yourself

It would be many months before I learned just what had transpired that night, and it would be even longer than that before the true implications of what Discord had done came to light.
No one, and I say that in the sense of no inhabitant on Equus, could’ve predicted the chain of events that followed. The one exception would be Discord himself, but something tells me that he too was unaware of what he had done at the time.

*~*

As my eyes slowly got used to the bright room I now found myself in, I also came to realize that I was breathing easier than I had for a very long time. I carefully sat up, groaning at how stiff my muscles felt. After rolling my shoulders, which felt oddly heavy, I brought up a hand to rub out some of the stiffness in my neck. When the tension finally started to relent I let the hand drop, and with a strangled sound that would’ve been a satisfied sigh I froze. My hand was currently brushing against something of a very strange, but somewhat soft, texture. What even stranger was that I could feel my hand touching whatever I was feeling on my back.

I slowly turned my head around to observe whatever had happened to me, and had it not happened to me once before I would probably have freaked out. But there on my back was a pair of large blue grey wings. With an effort of will I tore my gaze away from the wings and to the rest of my body. First I took to slowly observing my hands and arms. Secondly followed my torso area and finally my legs. But the only conclusion I could draw was that this was my body, my body when had been at its peak. Not to mention that the small scars and other blemishes I had acquired over the years were present, further cementing the fact that the body was indeed mine.

But for some forsaken reason that I could not grasp I had wings. What was worse was the feeling of me having ghost wings had returned with a vengeance. Only now it wasn’t just a trick of the mind anymore was it? To make matters worse, all the clothing I was currently wearing was a pair of briefs. Not that I’d be able to wear a shirt again with these wings. I lamented. Not that it really mattered what I wore at the moment though as the temperature was rather comfortable in this room. It was neither hot nor was it cold, instead it seemed to hover at a steady pleasant temperature.

With a sigh I cracked my neck to get last kinks out of it before standing up. My first course of action should be to find out where I had ended up this time. Although I think it’s safe to rule out Equestria since I burned that bridge. I thought as I let my eyes wander across the room. From what I could gather the room was a large circle with a dome like ceiling, only the shape was far too perfect to have been constructed by anything but the most advanced technology. Yet the marble like walls gave no hint as to just what could have been used in their construction. What was even more baffling was the fact that I could not discern a light source anywhere, yet the room was basked in light that seemingly came from everywhere. The effect was the complete lack of a shadow on my part, which left me quite weirded out. In the center of the chamber, roughly sixty meters away from me, I could see what seemed to be a raised platform of sorts. A dais if you will.

Curios as to what might be over there I carefully approached the platform in the middle. Also seeing how there was nothing else of immediate interest on the walls that I could see, the center seemed to be the best choice for some answers. As I got closer I noticed that there was something lying on a low pedestal on top of the dais. That something turned out to be a long bladed spear, and from what I could tell this was a masterwork weapon. The blade was double edged and its silvery metal gleamed in the light, and the shaft seemed to be made out of the same silvery metal. Together they gave the spear a total length just shy of six feet as it was shorter than me but not by much. Where blade and shaft met a large unidentified orange gemstone sat, fastened by some kind of obsidian like material that had been cut in the shape of an eye. An eye in which the gemstone formed the iris. Whoever had made this weapon must have made a fortune selling it. I thought as I almost subconsciously reached for the spear.

Mere inches away from touching it I stopped myself. I had just come to realize just what might happen should I have gone and touched what was clearly the most expensive thing in this otherwise empty room. Well empty from what I had seen so far but that was beside the point. I had seen enough adventure movies and played enough RPG’s to know that this was probably trapped. So instead of mindlessly grabbing the spear I decided to check the rest of the chamber first.

I walked around the dais, intent on checking out the other side of the circular room but stopped as I found a dark brown, single strap duffel bag propped against the steps leading up to the dais. Perhaps I’m not alone in here after all. I contemplated before calling out.

“Hello!? Is anyone here!?” My voice croaked, but all that answered me was echoes.

Still not entirely convinced that I was alone I left the bag alone for the time being and decided to check the entire room for any sign of an exit. But after carefully walking the full circuit around the room I was no wiser as to how I would leave this place than when I first woke up. Is this limbo? An unbidden thought came to me. I had to admit that it certainly seemed like a plausible explanation for the situation I found myself in. My last memories before this was of my slowly suffocating in a hospital bed after all. So if I’m dead and I have wings does that mean I’m an angel? I questioned myself before giving an amused snort. I’m probably one of the least deserving of becoming an angel by being an atheist and all, but let’s roll with it for now. I thought with a small shake of my head.

“So if this is Limbo and there is no visible way out of this room there has to be something I have to do.” I rasped to myself as I walked back to the dais.

Perhaps it was as simple as selecting either the bag or the spear. I mused as I once more found myself beside the bag. Well picking the spear will most likely send me to hell if this is a trial of my greed or something like that. I reasoned before turning to the duffel bag. If there indeed was a choice here as I perceived it to be then this choice should be the safe one.
So without any further delay I sat down next to the seemingly normal bag and opened it. The first item I pulled out was a canteen, and judging by the weight and the sound it made it was filled with some sort of liquid. After thinking for a second I put it aside for the time being and continued to dig. The second item was a hooded grey cloak which seemed to be pretty warm, thirdly I pulled out two pairs of pants made of sturdy cloth. They were strangely reminiscent of cargo pants except they lacked pockets and a few other minor differences. A single white tank top followed before I uncovered the last item that was a pair of simple sandals made of wood, straw and cloth.

I shook the bag a few times to make sure it was indeed empty before turning my attention to the items now arranged in front of me. My initial thoughts that this had been some sort of test had been proven false by the lack of a reaction, but perhaps I could get a clue by studying the items. So I reached for the canteen with the thought that I might as well check what it contained before moving on to the clothing articles. I unscrewed the lid and took a careful whiff of the liquid, if it was something noxious I’d rather limit my exposure. When I smelt nothing of the sort I went on to my next test. While the liquid may not be directly poisonous it may be acidic or possibly basic, either way I would rather not come into contact with it until I was sure. To test this I carefully dipped a small part of the tank top’s hem into the canteen before pulling it back out to wait and observe.

When I nothing happened I decided to throw my last bit of caution in the wind for a quick taste. Luckily for me the liquid turned out to be water and that made my previous caution seem a bit silly in hindsight. But this entire scenario was new to me so I guess I had the right to be a bit paranoid. With my first examination complete I re-attached the lid before moving on to the clothes. But no matter how much I turned and carefully searched them I could find no clue as to where or how they had been made. They were after all of a quite simple make but were clearly designed to be sturdy. So with a final glance around the room I decided that I might as well wear them. I quickly found that while the pants and sandals had been easy to get on the tank top was another issue. Even if it theoretically should allow for my new wings to poke out at the sides it was pretty much a chore to get the wings through the garment. But with a bit of violence and quite a few select curses I eventually managed to get it on.

With my struggle to get dressed I had inadvertently come across the fact that these wings did not move as easy as the wings I had had as a pegasus. The muscle structure throughout the wings felt similar in some ways but most of it was rather alien. I had also taken note that the wings, although much larger than the ones I had as Stormcloud, were too small to realistically support flight. It remained to be seen if I would be able to fly with these wings though, especially since it looked like I would need to relearn how use these wings.
Not that any of that would matter if I couldn’t leave this place. I thought as I turned my gaze toward the dais. My last bet of finding a way out of here was that spear, hopefully it wasn’t just another death waiting to happen. Or can I die when I’m already dead?

I cracked my neck and started to stuff the cloak, the extra pair of pants and the canteen back into the bag. When I was done I swung it over my right shoulder and stepped up to the pedestal with the spear again. As I approached the pedestal I noticed something that had not seen before on the side of the marble like structure. A small plaque of what seemed to be the same obsidian like material was present on the pedestal. Perhaps I had been too enraptured by the spear itself to simply notice it before because the plaque gave a clear contrast to the otherwise almost white surfaces. But as I hunched down to read whatever could be written I was met with a blank surface.

Of course it’s blank, it would be to easy otherwise. I grumbled in my head. But as I started to rise one of my hands brushed past the plaque and almost immediately golden lines started to trace over the surface. I stared, almost hypnotized by how the lines slowly started to form words until two sentences could be read:

“Behold, for I am Imagination. The blade that cuts reality.”

Oookay, so the first piece of information I got was the supposed name of this spear. The last part might be reference to this place.
I pondered as I felt my excitement rise. The spear itself is likely the key that allows you to leave. But I might be interpreting it wrong.
I argued with myself. After a few moments of back and forth with myself I decided that I may as well try to grab the spear. I wouldn’t get anywhere without exhausting all my obvious options anyway. So I reached for the spear but stopped my hand inches away from it again, feeling hesitant if I really should do this. Then I steeled my resolve and snatched the spear from the pedestal with my right hand.

For a second nothing happened and I started to breathe a sigh of relief when an incredibly sharp pain spike shot through my hand. With a pained yelp I tried to drop the spear only to find myself unable to as the pain traveled up my through my arm. My eyes were already watering from the intense pain, and when the pain reached my head I wasn’t sure if the world was warping around me or if my vision was simply swimming due to the fact I was about to lose consciousness. Seconds later my world suddenly became darkness, as my brain forcefully shut down to save itself from the psychological stress induced by the pain.

*~*

The first thing I noticed when I started to come to again was the light breeze. Perhaps it was even the cause for me regaining consciousness, I will probably never know. Next though came the smell of dry soil and the sense of my cheek being pressed against the rough ground. I opened my eyes and was met with a mix of blurry brown and grey. With a groan I pushed off the ground so that I came up to my hands and knees, before slowly standing up. After using a hand to rub my eyes in an attempt to clear my vision I made a second attempt to survey my new surroundings.

It was immediately clear that I had left the dome like room behind for now I found myself in what seemed to be a badland of sorts. The mix of grey rock formations, sun dried soil and the occasional green bush or patch of grass stretched on for miles in all directions. The constant slow breeze caused the bushes and grass to sway lightly, which gave the otherwise uninhabitable terrain an almost serene feel. A particularly strong gust caused a rustle through my wings and a dust cloud to swirl up only to almost lazily disappear in the distance. The sun burned up ahead in the sky, but I could not tell whether it was heading for a sunrise or sunset.

The important thing though was that I had gotten out from the first challenge, but what awaited was a trip through this seemingly endless badland. It led me to wonder whether I truly was in Limbo or if this was something more akin to “the Divine comedy.” Was I to wander the through the hells to finally reach heaven just like Dante had? The thought was not a welcome one. Deciding to take stock of what had actually come with me to this location I pulled the bag off my shoulder and sat down.

As I started to open the bag I caught a glimpse of something red on my right wrist, turning it so that I could see properly revealed a red silhouette like image of the spear etched into my skin. Confused I looked around quickly and found the spear nowhere to be found. Curious as to what would happen I touched the tattoo like image and nothing happened. I don’t know what I was expecting. I thought with a sigh. Absentmindedly I traced the image from bottom to top with a finger as I reached for the bag once more. The air suddenly shimmered and warped as the spear materialized in my right hand before disappearing just as quickly when I dropped it with a surprised yelp. Is this what the second line meant by cutting reality? I questioned bewildered as my heart rate started to settle down from the surprise.

My gaze eventually settled back on my wrist where the spear symbol still sat innocently, hiding whatever magic had been used to bind the spear to me. Had it been the act of tracing the image from top to bottom that served as the trigger for this phenomena? I pondered as I started to duplicate what I had done just seconds before. Again the air warped and the spear materialized in my right hand, only this time I was prepared and did not drop it. The unknown metal felt cool against my hand, and it gleamed as it caught the light of the sun. It was a beautiful weapon, I would not deny that, but I somewhat lamented the fact that it wasn’t a bō staff.

That would have been something I could have used without needing to practice. This spear however was balanced very differently from the staff I had experience in wielding. Not that the spear was poorly balanced though, quite the opposite really. It was clearly a weapon designed for combat and not a show piece. But even so using it properly would take time. Especially if I wanted to adapt any bō techniques when learning how to wield this spear. That is if I’ll ever need to. I still don’t know exactly where I am. I thought before letting go of the spear, causing it to once again disappear into the ether, void or wherever it went. My attention went back to the duffel bag next, as there was one precious commodity in there that had suddenly become very important. Not to mention that I was curious now if there had been any additions to the bag seeing how the spear was now connected to me somehow.

Rummaging through the few items that were in the bag did not take long, and it looked like every piece of clothing and gear I had acquired were present. That being said there were nothing else in the bag except what I had already put back in it earlier. But the most important thing was that the canteen of water was still there. Since it was unlikely that I’d be able to reliably find drinkable water in this region the water would prove to invaluable. I weighed the canteen in my hand, trying to approximate how much water it could contain. Ultimately I decided that it probably held at least one liter, but not more than one and a half liters. I would have to ration it carefully if I want to maximize my chances of surviving. But unless I find something edible I may collapse from hunger before I run out of water. I pondered before stuffing the canteen back into the bag.

With my available gear sorted I stood up again and slung the bag over my right shoulder once more. After throwing a glance at the sun I saw that it had traveled further down on the sky which of course gave me a sense of direction at least. Well I’m just going to assume that the sun is setting in the west, then that would be north. I contemplated as I turned to face what I hoped was indeed north. I guess heading north would be rather detrimental to my chances given the kind of clothing I have so south it is I guess. I continued to ponder as I turned around on the spot. Not that any particular direction seemed to matter this point as the same rocky terrain met my eyes no matter where I looked. Well if things end up going south I can just blame it on this one decision. I thought with a half wince and half chuckle at the terrible pun. And so I set out in the direction of my choosing hoping that it would not prove to be disastrous.

*~*

I covered what felt like a good amount of ground on what remained of the first day, but as the sun started to dip behind the horizon to my right I decided to break for the night. Since I had no way of telling direction except with the help of the sun this was my safest option, lest I’d risk walking in circles. The climate during the day had not been cold per say but it hadn’t been particularly warm, so I opted to grab the cloak from the duffel bag. It would help ward off the cold that would undoubtedly be brought by night. I hadn’t seen any wildlife throughout the day and was morbidly curious to see if I’d find any type of sustenance out here.

As the sky eventually turned purple and started to darken further when the last rays of sunlight escaped behind the rocky landscape I swept myself in the cloak and went to lie down. The duffel bag became a rough pillow and soon I found that sleep was just a few breaths away.

When I next awoke the sun had already started its ascent into the morning sky and I stretched my stiff body with a large yawn. I took care to stretch my wings as well and contemplated whether I should try to fly. But in the end I opted against it, the risk of just burning what precious energy I had was too great. As if to respond my stomach growled, serving as a painful reminder that I had already gone one day without eating. I forced myself to ignore it as I took a few careful sips from the canteen. I had consumed almost a third of the water already and that was for perhaps half a days’ worth of travel. This was becoming a quite serious issue already it seemed. With that in mind I gathered up of my few belongings and set out again, doing my best to keep a steady pace and to keep my mind off food.

It was around midday when I had the first break in the monotonous rock formations and slowly dying patches of grass. Some sort of bird of prey called out from above, its shrill shriek drawing my attention as it circled above. I let myself observe it for a few seconds before continuing my journey, thinking that it was positive to see that there was life out here. The rest of the day passed without any other interruptions and soon I found myself looking at the setting sun again as I contemplated if I should push on for a few more minutes or make camp for the night. In the end making camp had won out and I repeated the procedure from the previous night. First though I shook the canteen, lamenting the fact that barely a third of its contents remained. However if I consumed it all tomorrow it would make little difference as I had already become slightly lightheaded today due to the lack of food combined with physical exertion.

Knowing that the risk of me not having the strength to continue on after tomorrow was met with mixed feelings. First I still didn’t know where I was and secondly I still wasn’t sure if I was actually dead already. Hunger was definitely a thing but then again in Norse mythology the heroes of Valhalla still had to eat. I could probably spend hours if not days trying to come up with theories relating to my situation but none of them would do me any good in the end. With that I sat down, my back against a large boulder like rock, and tried to fall asleep to my growling stomach.

I awoke at dawn of the third day and was instantly greeted by the gnawing sensation of my empty stomach. Going any further than today without food would probably be impossible if I didn’t find anything edible. Without bothering to stretch I gathered my things and started to walk as quickly as my body allowed. I felt slightly dizzy but covering as much ground as possible today was paramount. Every rock formation I passed could potentially hold a saving grace so every step I was able to take counted.

I did my best to try and keep a positive outlook despite the situation and towards the afternoon I spotted what I thought to be trees in the distance. Spurred on by the thought of perhaps finally getting a lucky break I changed my heading, and after what could not have been more than an hour of walking I stumbled onto a broad dirt road going straight through the badlands. My choice of direction did not change however as the road seemed to go towards the trees in the distance. With stumbling steps I started down road, trying my best to ignore how my head was spinning due to the lack of energy I had been feeling the past few hours.

The sun was already in low in the sky when I finally started to see a clear outline of the forested area up ahead, and I thought I could see smoke coming from what I hoped was a chimney. That being said, my vision had been going between focused and unfocused for the past hour now but with possible salvation within reach I stubbornly pushed on. And as the sun finally started to set I stumbled into the shade of the large trees. Up ahead I thought I saw a large building by the side of the road, but in the dying light coupled with my lightheaded state I could have been mistaken.

So I stumbled on, my eyes trained on the ground, otherwise I was sure that I would trip and fall. It wasn’t until I heard a voice call out that I tried to raise my head. However the action had been too sudden for my weakened body and In my already dizzy state the resulting headrush was the final straw that caused me to collapse on the road. Too exhausted for any coherent thoughts I passed out before whoever had called out was able to reach me.

Ch 3. The Rusty feather Inn

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Chapter 3. The Rusty feather Inn

Fear is a device
So quiet and precise
It’s not what I allow
Not in my world now

Deep beneath the light
A spark will now ignite
And you will see me now
This is my world now

The Rusty feather Inn was the true starting point of my journey. Well it was the point when my theories shattered and reality caught up with me. It was also where I learnt that I had some demons of my own to exorcise before I would be back to one hundred percent. I guess what I’m saying is that my way of pushing problems of the past out of the way isn’t always the solution to said problems.

*~*

Stella had been put in charge of watching the unexpected guest that had suddenly come stumbling down the emperor’s road. It had been her big sis that had seen him first and had called out to him, only for him to collapse right there on the road before anygriff had a chance to respond. At least she thought it was a he, she had overheard her dad and sister talking about that he had parts for both a he and a she. They had stopped talking immediately when they noticed her though, just like they always did. It wasn’t fair, she was ten already! She was old enough to be called mature, right? She bristled for a few seconds before assuming an annoyed pout.

Well it wasn’t really that she minded watching the guest though, all in all it was pretty interesting really. She had heard the stories from when her sister studied in Equestria, of all the different races that lived there. Stella had even seen a few minotaurs when they visited the inn during the trading season. But this creature that lay in the bed before her was something new, and neither her sister nor her father knew what he/she was either. It was the first time that her father hadn’t been able to answer a question for as long as she could remember. He had been a lieutenant in the Gryphus army before he had to quit due to a bad leg or something. Perhaps it was the scar on his left hind leg? Her sis had said there was another reason too. Something about when their mother passed away, but Stella had been too young back then to have any real memories of that.

But back to the guest. Was he going to sleep all day? There were so many questions she wanted to ask him. Like, who he was, where he came from, what he was and so on. He looked so weird with that pale skin, blue grey wings and brown tuft of mane on top of his head. Also for some reason she couldn’t really figure out he wore clothes. Wasn’t that just for fancy things? She thought as she lifted the blanket that covered the guest slightly, so she could look at the baggy pants. She just couldn’t figure out this… Well whatever he or she was. It was all very confusing but exciting at the same time. Stella let the blanket drop back down and turned her head to look at its head again. It was looking back with surprisingly clear golden eyes.

It took a second for her young brain to register that the guest was awake before she burst into motion, rushing out of the room while hollering as loud as an exited ten year old could.

“Daaaaaad! Giiildaaaa! It’s awake! It’s awake!”

*~*

I watched the young griffin scamper off while shouting in a voice that had to belong to a young female. I had woken up just moments prior to this so when I had seen the griffon my thoughts had run rampant. Ranging from the obvious, no this is impossible to perhaps this is just a dream. I didn’t have time to even begin to formulate a response as the griffin had turned her head and had found me to be awake. I had been about to call out after her but my mind was still in the process of a small mental break down, so I may have misheard the shouts. But it had sounded like she shouted Gilda and that made me pause.

Was this the Gilda? I wondered. From what I had seen in the show there had never been mention of a sister. But then again I had left that world behind so there may have been some sort of redemption arc for Gilda after I stopped watching the show. Whatever is about to happen I’m going to go in without any unfair advantages this time. I realized and a part of me felt at peace with this. Before I had a chance to delve any deeper into just what being back in what I now assumed to be part of Equestria steps could be heard from outside the room.

A second later the young griffin burst back into the room, excitement written all over her face, and following her were two other griffons. One was clearly older than the other two and was the only male besides me in the room. The last griffon was one I definitely recognized, that was Gilda alright. Just as I wondered whether I should say something the male, that I assumed to be the father, spoke up in a deep voice.

“Glad to see that you’re awake son. When you stumbled in late last night and passed out we didn’t really know what to think.”

“I don’t really know what to say but thank you, and I’m sorry for giving you any trouble.” I said once my brain settled on a response.

“No think nothing of it. It was the right thing to do. I’m Ranger and these are my daughters Gilda and Stella.” He said, motioning to both of his daughters.

“A pleasure, I’m Cloud.” I said with a small nod, almost pausing before deciding to go with my real name.

“Now I don’t want to seem rude but-“ Ranger started to say but was interrupted as the young griffin now identified as Stella burst out.

“Hey, hey Cloud what are ya?”

I could see how Ranger resisted the urge to face palm, (face claw?), before looking at me apologetically.

“Yes, what my daughter just asked.” he added, visibly holding back a sigh.

“I’m human, or at least I think I am.” I said as I started to sit up in the bed. It felt rather rude to just lie there and talk.

“You think you are?” Gilda spoke up for the first time since entering the room. She sounded confused.

“Yeah, humans don’t usually have wings.” I said, pointing with a thumb over shoulder.

“But since I really don’t have anything else for you to call me we’ll just go with human.” I continued to explain.

Ranger who had been nodding thoughtfully was next to ask a question.

“Okay Cloud I have plenty of more questions but I need to have this one answered first. What were you doing that led you to our home?”

“Ah, well… How do I put this without sounding completely insane? Three days prior to me arriving at your home I woke up in the middle of nowhere with only the duffel bag I had with me, the clothes on my back and a canteen filled with water.” I explained, carefully leaving parts out.

Ranger raised an eyebrow and for a second it seemed like he was going to drop the issue but then he continued with one more question.

“Okay, what were you doing before ending up in the middle of the badlands then?”

“Honestly, I was lying in a bed. I have no clue as to why I suddenly woke up outside.” I answered truthfully.

“Hmm, I’ll take your word for it. Now I have never heard of a human before so you have to again excuse me if I come off as rude but are you male or female?”

Now it was my time to raise an eyebrow. Where had that question come from?

“I’m male, but why do you ask?” I asked, giving voice to my confusion.

“Oh it’s just that you have the male parts and well.” Ranger said motioning towards my chest that I until now hadn’t realized was bare.

“Ooooh.” I began, as it suddenly dawned on me what he meant. He was confused by the fact that I had teats as a male.

“That’s just a leftover from evolution, you see my kind is related to primates.” I explained.

“Hmm, that brings another question though. I have never heard any kind of intelligent monkeys anywhere on Equus, just from where are you?” Ranger pressed on.

“Nowhere from Equus I’m afraid. I hail from a place called Earth.”

Given the look I was getting from Gilda and Ranger I had just managed to convince them that I was indeed insane, but Stella cried out her excitement none the less.

“You’re an alien! That’s so cool!”

“Yeah I guess I am.” I said with a slightly nervous smile. When Gilda and Ranger still didn’t change their look I launched into further explanations.

“Okay let’s start with what you know. You have said that you’ve never seen or heard of anything like me before, right? This is a world with frequent magic use so a lot of things that previously was impossible may become possible the next day, right? And while I’m not sure how I arrived here, no matter how improbable it may seem to you I’m telling the truth here.” I elaborated, borrowing a bit of logical reasoning from Mr. Holmes.

“I guess that makes sense.” Ranger said after a while.

“Well, I have no more questions that need to be answered this very this moment at least. The rest of us had breakfast about an hour ago but you’re free to get something to eat, you have to still be pretty hungry after all.”

I was hungry that was true. But not as hungry as I would’ve expected. I thought a bit of confusion finding its way back. I should rightfully still be out cold from lack of nutrition.

“Yes something to eat would be wonderful, but I don’t want to be a burden.” I started say, but Ranger cut me off.

“Nonsense all we got you to eat yesterday was some cold leftover soup so once you have something to eat Gilda can show you around.” Ranger stated with finality.

He started to walk out of the room before pausing and turning back to face me.

“I almost forgot, welcome to the Rusty Feather inn. Now come along Stella you’ll help me with cleaning the yard in the morning and then we’ll work on your reading skills.” Ranger said first to me before turning to his younger daughter.

“Aww, but I wanted to talk to the alien!” Stella cried out but followed her father out as they left the room, leaving only me and Gilda. And soon a somewhat awkward silence had managed to manifest itself.

“Sooo-” I began, in an attempt to break the silence. But my attempt only seemed to snap Gilda out of whatever type of funk she had been in.

“Ok, listen up new guy. Since dad asked me to show you around I will do just that, but you will not waste my time with any bull crap, you got that?”

Ah, there was the Gilda I was more familiar with. I pondered, while trying to hide a smile. Apparently I failed since Gilda caught on and questioned me about it the very next second.

“Did I say something funny to you?!”

Okay, now Cloud remember be polite. They took you in after all. Were my first thoughts, but nothing said that I couldn’t have a bit of laugh to disarm her attitude, right?

“Oh no it’s just that I’m flattered but you’re just not my type, also I think you’re a bit too young for me.” I said a mischievous smirk hiding what was a storm of laughter.

“What the feathering Tartarus are you talking about?” she answered sounding confused again.

“Did I misread you? Oh I’m so sorry, you see when a female back on earth acts all bossy it means that she is actively pursuing a relationship.” I said with a surprisingly straight face given how I hard I was laughing inside.

“I wha- Bu- I did- No- I-” Gilda sputtered as her face quickly grew bright red.

It may not have been the best way to break the metaphorical ice but I laughed at the reaction anyway. A good hearted laugh mind you.

“Relax Gilda, I’m only messing with you. A prank if you may.” I said as my laughter finally died down.

“That wasn’t fair.” Gilda said with a pout that made her seem much younger than before.

“No, but neither was your attitude earlier. But I’m benevolent so let’s say we just start over and I won’t have to tell your sister about this little incident.” I said with a glint in my eye.

Gilda however looked up horrified.

“You wouldn’t.” she gasped.

“Wouldn’t I?” I asked dead serious.

“You’re evil.” She sighed, before perking up.

“I guess you aren’t too bad. Name’s Gilda Rustfeather.” She continued, offering a talon to shake, which I grasped.

“And again I’m Cloud, just Cloud.”

*~*

I realize now that I never gave you a proper description of what the Rustfeather family members looked like. Let’s start off with Ranger, he is at least fifty percent larger than Gilda which I think is an adult female griffin. Compared to me I think he has more mass, but I am still taller should he stand on his hind legs. His coloration is a dark gold coat for the feline parts and white feathers with dark red markings around eyes and primary feathers. Stella seems to pretty much be a smaller version of Gilda but where Gilda has a light purple color for her markings Stella’s are darker. I wonder if the mother had blue markings to create the purple seen on both daughters. It’s a thought that I may explore in the future but for now I’ll leave this topic by mentioning their eye color. Ranger’s eyes border are yellow bordering on green, while both Stella and Gilda share the same rich yellow color.

But enough of that Gilda had led me down a set of stairs and into a large kitchen area, all while giving me a basic rundown of the inn. From our short walk I learned that while Ranger was the owner of the inn, Gilda and Stella helped out a lot during the busy seasons. In fact there were no other employees, other than the Rustfeather family. So after a quick “breakfast”, it was actually close to lunch from what I could tell, Gilda started to give me the tour of the inn.

The first thing of note that was introduced was the large yard facing the road. Here there was enough space for multiple merchants to park their wagons for the night, or just for a quick break. In the daylight I could see that area around the main building, a large thing of two stories and space for an attic, was kept very clean from weeds and the like. Out of curiosity I asked Gilda what type of trees the forest was made up of since I had not seen this particular type anywhere before. She gave a warning look at first, but eventually gave me an answer anyway. Turns out that they were something called Steel bloom oak, the name originating from the strangely hard flowers the tree produced during summer.

From here Gilda led me back inside and proceeded to show me around the first floor. I guess you could divide this floor into three main parts with a few smaller rooms here and there. The main parts though would be a dining hall that was directly connected to the kitchen and a common room of sorts. The dining hall was very reminiscent of what I would call a taverns main floor, with a large hearth for a fire and assorted tables. The common room was a simple room with a bit more comfortable furniture and a few bookcases.

With the ground floor done Gilda had us go back upstairs. Most of this floor was dedicated to guest rooms she explained, one of which they had put me in. The rooms were nothing special by any stretch of the imagination, but then again they were meant to be for a single night before the guest moved on. When I asked Gilda about the maximum amount of guests they could have staying for the night she was quick to run the numbers for me. Turns out that they could have ten guests staying the night and a little bit over twenty when it came to stopping for a quick meal. It was clear that this establishment lived on the amount of traffic the road outside got, and since they seemed to keep the inn in a good condition my guess was that they were doing pretty well.

Last on the list was the backyard area which served as a private area for the Rustfeather family. Here was a small garden for vegetables, a shed of some sort and a few fruit trees I couldn’t identify since they were about to bloom. Overall I had to admit that I was impressed that the three of them were managing this relatively large inn by themselves. I turned to look at the large main building again, it definitely looked inviting with its seamless blend of stone and wooden walls. The windows while simple in design supplemented the wall perfectly and a tiled roof with a large chimney finished the look.

“I have been meaning to ask for a while now, why haven’t you used your wings yet?” Gilda suddenly asked, causing me to turn around.

“Honestly, I don’t know how. Remember I got them a few days ago.” I answered truthfully to Gilda’s horrified face.

She seemed to have a small mental debate with herself and when she spoke next I had a hunch of what it might’ve been about.

“I guess I can help you with that. I mean it’s not like I have anything to do right now anyway. I mean we don’t have any other guests.” She offered, trying her best to sound nonchalant.

“Really? I’d owe you one if you did.” I said, having a hard time believing what I just heard. Perhaps she has matured more than I gave her credit for. Now I’m starting to become curious whether she patched things up with Rainbow.

“Yeah, I mean yes you’d owe and you better not slack off!” Gilda said, quickly jumping onto the safer path that I had offered. A favor could be a good excuse after all.

You really have changed, haven’t you? I thought before deciding to accept her offer. These wings should theoretically carry me given where I was, I had no real doubt about that anymore.

“Of course not, I’ll do my best.”

“Alright then let’s start!” She declared.

“Right here?” I questioned surprised.

“Yeah, why not? You agreed so you don’t get to back out now. So now extend those wings let me see what I have to work with.” Gilda pushed on.

Seeing no reason to not do what she said I fully extended my wings, which was accompanied by a, low but impressed, whistle by Gilda.

“Damn, you’ve got some large wings, but since you can’t use ‘em they’re pretty much useless.” She said smugly.

My response was to raise an eyebrow slightly and give her a deadpan look.

“Alright, alright, I get it enough joking around. Now let’s see you flap them.” She demanded.

I did as I was told, but instead of the lift I had been expecting the flap threw me on my back.

“Yeah I kinda expected that to happen.” Gilda said as her face appeared over me.

“Since your wings are on your back you’ll need to angle them appropriately during takeoff.” She explained calmly as I got back on my feet.

What followed was a long session of Gilda carefully instructing me on how to use the wings by going over muscle groups and useful tips on how to improve them. We also practiced how well I could move my wings in their current state, and once again improve performance.
So while controlled flight would still be far off for me I was confident that I could re-learn this particular skill. Throughout our session my respect for Gilda grew, the weak memory I had of her as a bully was slowly but surely being replaced by this mature and dedicated older sister. For if I had to guess it had to be Stella that had played a major part in her change of character.

*~*

We had probably been at it for hours for when Gilda finally called it for the day, the light from the sun had traveled from above us and to the west. Gilda had left with the statement that she had something to do, so I was left to my own devices for the time being. Without any real plan I walked back into the inn and eventually ended up in the kitchen. Seeing that it was empty for the moment I started to look around a bit. I had probably checked around sixty percent of the cupboards and drawers when someone cleared his or her throat behind me. I wheeled around and found Ranger observing me from the door leading into the dining room.

“You seem pretty familiar with your way around a kitchen.” He remarked.

“I guess you could say that.” I admitted, I was rather proud of my culinary skills after all.

“You’re free to use the kitchen if you want to, it’s normally my domain here at the inn.” Ranger offered.

I tapped my lower lip thoughtfully before throwing out a suggestion.

“Say how about I make dinner for the evening, it would only be fair if I do something to repay you and your family for the hospitality you’ve shown.” I said.

Now it was Ranger’s turn to look thoughtful, which I could understand perfectly well. I was a stranger that they had taken in and they didn’t know anything about me really.

“Normally I’d say no since I don’t like others in my kitchen but I have a feeling that I should allow you to try, call it a hunch or something.” Ranger finally answered.

“Alright, tell me what you had planned for the evening and I’ll make something along those lines.”

“Well what I had planned to make was a chicken stew, but you’re free to use any ingredients in the kitchen. Just take care with the spices on the top shelf of the spice rack they’re rather expensive.” Ranger elaborated.

“Aight, then I’ll have something done in about an hour.” I said, turning to the fridge to gather ingredients. As I did I heard Ranger give an affirmative before leaving again.

Alone in the kitcehn again I started to gather what I needed for the meal I had in mind. I had to thank this world for its screwed up technology progression though. Because even if they were behind in some technological aspects the kitchen was full of modern appliances like a stove, fridge and freezer. Whatever had caused this weird curve of development at least made my current job that much easier. I thought as I grabbed a pair of plucked chickens and got to work. My plan was simple as there was no need to go overboard, moreover I had the perfect recipe in mind.

The first steps took a bit longer than I was used to since I had to work with entire chickens rather than finished filets. But before long I was humming along as a knife flashed in the light streaming in from a large kitchen window. I was just about to flip a plate on the stove on when I noticed that I wasn’t alone in the kitchen anymore.

The big eyed form of Stella was observing my every move from a tall chair that she brought in from the dining room. When she noticed that I had seen her she smiled widely and asked.

“What are ya doin’?”

“Tonight’s dinner if everything goes alright.” I answered amused at the inquisitive look she gave me.

“Are you an alien chef?” She asked slowly.

“Ah, nope. But I’m pretty good at making food.” I answered as I added some cooking oil to a frying pan when it started to heat up.

“Sooo do you need any help?” Stella continued her barrage of questions.

I was about to say no when I noticed the slightly pleading look on her face. Ah what the hell I had been humming along already anyway. I thought as I reached over to a cupboard a pulled out a large bowl. I handed it over to her and showed her a beat that I wanted her to drum on it.

“Is this really going to help?” she asked cocking her head to the left in confusion.

“It’ll help I promise.” I said, and it wasn’t really a lie either.

“Okay then, here I go!” she declared before falling into the steady drum beat I had showed her.

Stella drummed on her bowl as I got back to work and steadily I began to sing, which caused her to redouble her efforts.

They came for him one winter’s night
Arrested, he was bound
They said there’d been a robbery
His pistol had been found

They marched him to the station house
He waited till the dawn
And as they led him to the dock
He knew that he’d been wronged
You stand accused of robbery
He heard the bailiff say
He knew without an alibi
Tomorrow’s light would mourn his freedom

Over the hills and far away
For ten long years he’ll count the days
Over the mountains and the seas
A prisoner’s life for him there’ll be

He knew that it would cost him dear
But yet he dared not say
Just where he had spent that fateful night
A secret it must stay…

*~*

The Rustfeather’s had eaten the curry chicken and rice dish I had made happily and were not shy of telling me that they had liked it. Well, Ranger wasn’t at least.

“That was one of the better meals I’ve had in a very long time.” he announced appreciatively.

“Say, it didn’t seem to me like you were in a particular hurry to get anywhere and the trading season is just around the corner. Would you be interested in staying to work here as a chef?” he offered.

That had come out of the blue but I had to ask myself. Was I interested? I had to admit that the offer sounded appealing. But what about Equestria and Celestia? Another part of me countered. Yes that was certainly another option now. I had to agree. But on the other hand, it had been what? More than two years? What right did I have to go back and to throw their lives into chaos once more? For all I knew Celestia could’ve found someone else. With that thought I extended my hand towards Ranger.

“I’d like that, I’m onboard.” I agreed, much to Stella’s delight as she near shouted.

“So you’re going to stay? Yes! We have an alien! We have an alien!” before quieting down after a stern look from Ranger.

“Thank you Cloud that’ll definitely help alleviate some of the stress coupled with trade season. I’ll go prepare one of the rooms in the attic for you, I hope that’s fine?” Ranger said as he rose from the table.

“That’ll be perfect, I’ll help you.” I offered.

“Nono sit back down, you made the dinner so I’ll do this.” he said over his shoulder as he left for the stairs.

The rest of the evening passed without anything else noteworthy happening and before I knew it we had all bid each other good night. I didn’t sleep well that night though, my dreams kept returning to a certain hospital room. And every time I found myself trapped on that bed, the same scenario would start to replay. In short it involved me starting to relive the slow suffocation I had experienced moments before waking up in that strange chamber, causing me to jolt awake drenched in cold sweat. In the end I left the bed in my small room and sat down in a corner. I wrapped the blanket from the bed around me and was finally able to find sleep albeit a fleeting one.

Ch 4. Rebuilding life again

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Chapter 4. Rebuilding life again

Deep inside your eyes it shows
You’ve been lost for too long
Out of touch
On the edge
I promise you will find a way
I found a pathway home
I’ll carry you
You’re not alone

The debt I owe the Rustfeather family will probably never be repaid in full. Nothing I can possibly do will ever repay that hospitality they showed. Not to mention how they more or less saved me from myself. If they were to ask me to become a guardian for their future generations so be it, I would carry such a burden with pride.

*~*

The first few days as the new chef of the Rusty feather Inn passed without much incident. I would wake up, head down to the kitchen and make breakfast. Next I would help out with various tasks around the inn, including helping Stella with her homeschooling and helping Ranger with whatever task he assigned me. When lunchtime came around I would head back to the kitchen to fix lunch for everyone. The afternoon was dedicated to my efforts to relearn flight and I had to admit that with Gilda’s help I was making steady progress. When dinnertime started to approach Gilda and I would call it a day so that I could once again return to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Next came the part that I had started to dread, sleep was still elusive for me. Sleeping in the bed that had been provided was nigh impossible as the nightmare’s that haunted me actually had me start fearing the bed itself. The option left to me was the one I had taken on my first night here, to grab a blanket and sleep sitting in a corner. But even this was no perfect ward against the nightmares and so I found that for the first time in my life I had trouble falling asleep at all.

So I started to sneak out at night, heading deep into the surrounding forest. Here I would practice my martial arts and with Imagination until the point of exhaustion, just so that I could finally fall asleep. Following this a shower was added to my morning routine, rather than taking one in the evening. However not everything was depressing when it came to these excursions. It was during one of these nightly trips out in the forest that I finally got my first clue to what the last part of the cryptic message on Imagination’s pedestal had meant.

I had forgotten to bring a towel to wipe away sweat with and had lamented the fact greatly when practicing with the spear. I had reached up to wipe my brow with my hand only for a towel to appear out of thin air, much like how Imagination itself did. I had jerked back in surprise of course but I had kept my hold on the towel. Perhaps my already tired mind hadn’t been able to fully register what had happened at the time but I had used the towel without complaint. When I released it, it had dematerialized the same way that I was used to seeing the spear vanish. I had tried to duplicate the summoning feat a couple of times but had failed. So I had left it for tomorrow, deciding to call it for the night.

Thus another part was added to my nightly trips into the forest, I would learn to wield this strange power that came with the spear. But I had no clue where to begin, so as it wasn’t critical for me to learn it ended up being a side project that I practiced rarely. My trips into the night did not go unnoticed forever though, in fact it took barely a week for it to be discovered.

*~*

I was panting heavily already but I pushed on, it was routine by this point. Keep moving, keep moving, keep moving. A mantra that I repeated in my head, as I refused to stop. I f stopped to rest the main purpose of this activity would be lost.

“So this is where you’ve been going every night.” A voice suddenly called out from the dark forest.

I whipped around in an instant, falling into a defensive stance by reflex. I quickly relaxed though as I saw Ranger slowly make his way out of the shadow of the trees. He stopped a few feet away from me, and in the moonlight filtering in I could see an unreadable expression on his face.

“I knew that there was something I recognized in how you carried yourself, and in hindsight I feel as if I should’ve seen it earlier. You have the bearing of a warrior, much like I used to back in the day.” he continued when I said nothing.

I opened my mouth to answer but I still couldn’t formulate a proper response. It didn’t help that Ranger kept his poker face, making it that much harder for me to figure out what he felt about this situation. Since I didn’t say anything Ranger spoke again his expression finally softening a bit.

“I’m not upset, nor am I going to ask for your reasons for going out here every night. We all have our personal demons to deal with and we have the right to choose how we deal with them. I have had a long time to come to terms with my own so I can safely say that I’m speaking from experience. However at times it can help to just talk about it, to get something off of your chest no matter how insignificant. If you don’t want to talk that’s fine too, but tonight I want you to listen. Listen to how I dealt with my demons and when the time comes that you feel ready to talk I will listen to you.” He spoke calmly.

“Okay, I will listen to what you have to say. But I don’t think I’m ready to share my own burden yet.” I conceded with a sigh. He wanted to help me and quite frankly I was currently somewhat broken inside, I showed the world my masks as I always had while the turmoil raged on within. Yet the irony of the situation wasn’t lost on me. Some time ago I had done something similar for a pony named Swiftmend.

“Alright then you better sit down son ‘cause this may take a while. First I want to make it clear that I feel like I can trust you Cloud. It may seem strange to you but I’ve always been a quite good judge of character, and I have yet to feel any malice from you. Not to mention that both of my daughters like you. That’s not an easy feat to pull off, especially when it comes to Gilda. Although she does not show it as well as Stella does. In short I think they are starting to see you as something akin to a brother. But for now it’s still too early to tell for sure. What I’m trying to say here is that I know that you mean no harm to my family and that I will help you should you require it.” Ranger began.

“Now then it’s high time I actually got to the part I talked about a few moments ago, namely how I ended up here. I wasn’t always an innkeeper, I’m sure you’ve figured that part out by now yourself. Before I lived my life here with my daughters I was a sworn blade to the Gryphus Empire. I held the rank of lieutenant and my world was my wife, Pixie, and at the time our baby chick Gilda. It was a simpler time and as Gilda turned eight our family grew again.” He continued, as a genuine smile crossed his features at the memories.

“Then things started to slowly go wrong I was called away more and more often to deal with troubles around the empire, and Pixie was often left to care for both our girls on her own. This left me worried at all times, and if two things don’t mix it is distractions and conflict. Before I knew it I had been gravely injured in my hind leg and while it wasn’t fatal my career as a soldier was over. While my injury healed slowly I was forced to rest and hold down the fort back home while Pixie went out to work. But we made due and we always kept a positive outlook on things, we were a family after all. Then Gilda came home one evening full of energy and excitement, apparently she had been given a chance to go study in Equestria’s school for talented young fliers. Pixie and I were so proud of her that day.” Ranger elaborated.

“With one daughter studying abroad we felt that perhaps this was the turning point to the low we had been experiencing and soon things indeed started to look up. I was able to return to the working cast of society and took any job I could find, building up an impressive repertoire of skills. For a while everything was just perfect again. Then came the year when Gilda turned eleven and Stella turned three. It started off as any year had before but in early spring Pixie fell sick. At first we thought that it was just something she would shrug off but slowly it became apparent that it wasn’t the case. We tried everything but in the end it was for naught and I was forced to watch my wife slowly wither away.” He spoke on, a sad tone had entered his voice now.

“The one who took it the hardest though was Gilda, Pixie was her idol. And since she had been away with her studies in Equestria for most of the time when Pixie slowly succumbed to her sickness, she was only able to spend the last few days with her mother. By then she was already very weak and couldn’t leave her bed. It crushed something inside Gil, to see her mother like that and when finally passed Gilda took her last words to heart. Be strong for me Gilda. It was meant to help her but in the end I think Gilda took them the wrong way. She returned to Equestria to finish her studies and I let her, thinking that it was the right thing to do. That was probably the biggest mistake I have ever made, I was blind to how one of my daughters was feeling. In the meantime I stayed in Gryphus to care for Stella.” Ranger said, the sad tone still present in his voice.

“Then six years ago I bought the Inn. I thought that with a fresh start I could go back to focusing on the two things left in life that I still found important, Gilda and Stella. Gilda would study for the last two years she had left in Equestria while making trips back during holidays to stay with me and Stella. She was very distant during these years and I often got letters from the school with complaints about Gilda ending up in fights and not respecting the teaching staff. I didn’t have heart enough to scold her though. I will admit that I wasn’t the father she needed during those two years, perhaps even before that. But then came the day where she moved back home and we became one family again, Gilda was fourteen and Stella was six. Gilda was still distant but I was happy to have the two things that still mattered to me close and Stella was overjoyed to have her amazing sister back home.” He narrated and I listened intently.

“This kept on for about a year, during which Gilda never really opened up to me but I could see that she had a haunted look in her eyes. One day she came to ask me whether it was okay if she visited one of her old friends from her time in Equestria and I approved it. As much as it pained me I hoped that she had somegriff that she could open up too, even if that wasn’t me. But when she came back, not a week later, a bundle of tears I had to finally get a grip and step in as the father I hadn’t been for a very long time. For the first time in years she opened up to me and she cried and kept saying that she had messed everything up.” He said with a small sigh.

“That was three years ago and every step from there has been a learning experience for us as a family. But we carry on even when life gets us down, because although it took time we learnt the lesson to trust each other. The one who truly saved Gilda wasn’t me though, no if Stella hadn’t been here I don’t think Gilda would’ve been able to recover. I know that this may not help you personally Cloud but my point is that no matter how dark things may seem life has a funny way of correcting itself if you allow it. Well that’s enough ramblings of an old griffin. I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast.” Ranger finished and rose from the spot where he had been sitting for the duration of his story.

He started to walk back towards the inn and before he vanished between the trees he turned back to me and called out.

“Oh and by all the holy feathers above don’t tell Gilda that I told you all this, I’d rather keep my wings intact.”

For a time I sat there without doing anything, not even thinking. Then whatever kind of sensory overload I had experienced stopped and I could start to process everything that Ranger had told. But no matter how I twisted and turned the new information I couldn’t find where to start. The secret, no the tale I had been entrusted with was a heavy one. I couldn’t help but feel anything but respect for Ranger, to openly be able to admit his faults and to share his not so bright moments. You may not have been the father that Gilda and Stella deserved in the beginning Ranger, but you certainly are now. I thought. I think I received your message and I hope that the day comes when I can share my tale with you, but for now I will cope in my own way. With that final thought I went back to the inn, and for once I managed to sleep through most of the night.

*~*

I awoke the next day, feeling that this was going to be my turning point. This was going test of my resolve and I would persevere. So I got to work, doing what my job as a chef required. I threw myself into my flight lessons with renewed vigor and during the nights I continued to struggle. To defeat my nightmares and to unlock the secrets of the spear. For the first few days I made no progress, and before I knew it traders started to arrive with their carts.

Days passed, and my workload increased with every guest that arrived. Thus I had less time to spend on learning to fly. On the bright side extra work helped me get tired faster, but the nightmares were still unrelenting. So I pushed on with my nightly exercises, but I made no real progress with Imagination.

Two weeks passed and the amount of travelers had increased tenfold, surprisingly they all took to my presence rather well. I grew more and more proficient in preparing meals for a large amount of guests. On the flight front I actually managed to get a few feet off the ground before I lost my sense of balance. While my dreams were still restless I began to experience that I could sleep the entire night occasionally and I actually managed to duplicate the feat of the towel summoning once.

One month passed and the inn had started to feel like home. New guests arrived daily to stay the night or to stay for a simple meal on the road. It seemed that word of me being here was starting to spread among travelers and a few had started to go here just to see me. I was able to joke with Gilda and Stella seemed to adore me. Sometimes I caught Ranger giving me a knowing look before he rushed off to take care of something that needed fixing. I managed to achieve shaky flight, but I still felt more comfortable on the ground. Not to mention that my wings felt weak in comparison to the rest of my body. Gilda said that it was since I wasn’t used to the many muscles in my wings.

It was around this time that I finally started to perceive how Imagination’s hidden power was to be accessed. But I still couldn’t manage to summon anything larger than a small towel. The unrelenting practice with the spear as a weapon was at least starting make itself known. The balance still felt awkward to me, so there would be quite some time yet before I could rely on it in a fight. But I was familiar with it to the degree that I could start to apply speed to my techniques. So while my body was growing stronger at an incredible pace, the recovery of my psyche seemed to have stagnated. For while the nightmares weren’t as frequent as they had once been I was still not free of them.

Another two weeks went by and I started to finally grasp the finer points of flying as a winged human. My body had finally started to forget what it was like to fly as a pegasus and that allowed me to improve faster. My skills with the spear continued to stay at a level unusable for combat, but I was well aware that martial arts were a time consuming endeavor. Instead I made progress in mapping out the rules tied to using Imagination’s power. I now understood that I needed a clear picture in my mind of what I wanted to create and once created I had to maintain touch for it to exist. Also depending on the size and complexity of the object the longer it would take before I could use the power again.

At the two month mark I had finally managed to regain my ability to fly with consistent stability, although I would need much more practice to perfect it. I felt comfortable with my lot in this life I had somehow ended up in and I enjoyed my time. The nightmares still haunted me and I still couldn’t stand to look at the bed, much less sleep in it. However I could manage it, it wasn’t too much for me to handle anymore. What was more I thought I had found another secret tied to the ever mysterious spear, I had been able to produce a certain area where the objects created did not vanish as I let go of them. For lack of a better term I called it a reality marble.

When I applied my previous discoveries I found that perhaps it was time to actually put my thoughts and discoveries on paper. This way I could actually keep track of what I knew.
And so I asked for some paper and a quill one evening when I was done in the kitchen.

*~*

Discoveries by Cloud regarding the magical artifact known as Imagination.

1. The spear seems to have fused with me somehow and can be materialized by tracing the symbol that was placed on me.

2. The spear itself holds the power to materialize other objects. Once a summoning has been completed it goes into a sort of recharging cycle. The cause for this is still unknown to me, nor have I discovered from where it draws energy.

A. Recharge time is confirmed to be affected by the items complexity

B. Recharge time is confirmed to be affected by the items size.

C. Multiple objects can be summoned but both rules above will apply.

D. Objects must remain in contact with summoner or they’ll vanish.

E. Food cannot be summoned for some reason I have yet to determine.

I tapped my lips thoughtfully as I read through that what I had written. I wasn’t sure if there were more rules than the ones I had found so far so I left some blank space under E. just in case.

3. A recent discovery shows that it is possible to create a field, a reality marble if you will, of sorts where objects can exists as long as the field is maintained. This allows the user to disregard supplementary point 2.D. It also important to note that if multiple objects are to be summoned it requires that they are summoned in the same session of thoughts. If it is not done this way you will run headfirst a recharge cycle and be unable to use the power again until the cycle is complete.

A. No recharge cycle seems to activate upon creating a reality marble.

B. The area of influence is visible as a light orange border.

C. Area is created by drawing with the tip of Imagination on the ground.

D. Area is destroyed by breaking the area border using the same method.

F. Possibility of a permanent marble? (Requires more testing.)

Again I paused, this was the newest discovery I had made and was still unsure of all the full applications of this ability. It opened some interesting doors but I didn’t want to go overboard. It was probably better to take it slow. So I went on to write a summary of my thoughts on the entire ordeal.

4. Overall I have to say that I do not understand this ability, nor do I understand why it was tied to this spear. While I have started to understand how to use its power I feel like a child playing with a gun. This power has its applications but its flaws make it strange to me. Who designed this weapon and why? All I can safely say at this point is that power definitely belongs to the spear and not me. Without it in hand I cannot do anything of what I mentioned above. I will continue to practice with it though, mastering or at least improving my understanding of this tool could be useful in the future.

I set the quill down and read over what I had written down so far. Putting my thoughts on paper had helped me to organize them, but it didn’t alleviate my suspicion towards the spear. Why had I been teleported to that strange chamber and what purpose did this spear serve. With a large yawn I decided that such thoughts could wait until tomorrow. Things were starting to look up for me in all fields of my life and I doubted the coming week would be any different.

I was so wrong…

Ch 5. Paragon revived

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Chapter 5. Paragon revived

Fall

Now the dark begins to rise
Save your breath, it’s far from over
Leave the lost and dead behind
Now’s your chance to run for cover

I don’t want to change the world
I just wanna leave it colder
Light the fuse and burn it up
Take the path that leads to nowhere

All is lost again
But I’m not giving in

I will admit that I was a fool for thinking that I could make a relatively quiet life for myself here. Rather than being surprised I should’ve been preparing for this chain of events.
But here I am, standing ready to face the world again. The legacy I thought I left behind still beckons it seems.

*~*

I awoke with a large yawn, I had stayed out far too late last night trying out the limitations of Imagination’s reality marble. From what I could tell so far the marble itself would not disappear unless I broke the area border. Coincidently objects summoned inside the marble’s area of influence would not disappear as long as they remained inside the border. The downside with this though was that the recharge would be halted until all conjured items inside the marble were removed or the marble was dispelled. So in short once you started summoning things inside a marble you had to think carefully about what you were going to summon. All the rules made the power incredibly impractical for combat, not to mention downright dangerous for the user should you attempt to use it for fighting. Needless to say I still hadn’t been able to figure out why a weapon had such a strange ability.

Shaking my head I went down to the second story from my room in the attic and into the bathroom on this level. A glance at the mirror caused me to grimace, during my two months here I hadn’t bothered with shaving. Something that was painfully obvious with the scraggly beard I had grown. Ok that’s it I’m asking Ranger if he has a razor or a sharp knife I can borrow. I decided, it was bad enough that Stella had taken to calling me the bush monster the past few days. So I left the bathroom to hunt for Ranger.

As I walked down the hallway I ended up almost walking into Gilda as she exited her own room, but a quick pivot on my part helped avoid a potentially painful collision.

“Good morning to you too Cloud.” She greeted with a raised eyebrow.

“What has you in such a hurry this morning?” she continued to ask.

“I’m looking for Ranger, I’m hoping he has a razor so I can get rid of this.” I said motioning towards the lower part of my face.

“Oh, so is this another thing like when you asked to borrow a claw file then?” She pressed on, a bemused tone had entered her voice.

Perhaps I should clarify what she meant. About six weeks back I had come to realize that my nails were growing too long to be sanitary for cooking. So being the idiot I am I had asked if they had any nail clippers only to receive a blank stare from the entire Rustfeather family. It had taken me a few seconds to understand why, and I had been forced to amend my request and ask for a file instead. I had been given the requested file but the tradeoff had been that Gilda got to laugh at my, as she put it, useless claws.

“Yes and no, this time I actually do mean a razor. Any sharp knife would do, but I would prefer it to be a razor.” I answered carefully.

“Hmm, I think dad has a razor.” Gilda said, adopting a thoughtful expression.

“Wonderful, I’ll go find him then. See you down at breakfast Gil.” I said before walking past her.

I only had time to take about two steps though before Gilda called out to me from behind.

“Okay, I don’t know anything about beards but what is you excuse for that?”

I turned around again, confused as to what she meant. “My excuse for what?”

“Your wings Cloud. They look like a disaster area, aren’t you preening them?.” Gilda exclaimed.

I cocked my head to the left. “I’m supposed to do that?”

Gilda face clawed with a groan. “I keep forgetting that you’ve only had your wings for just over two months. Okay no flight practice this afternoon we’re going to go over proper wing care.”

“Aight, thanks again Gil, you’re a life saver.” I thanked her as I started to move down the hallway again.

“Yeah, you’d be lost without me Cloud!” she called down the hallway after me. I just responded by raising a hand as I kept walking.

Luckily finding Ranger proved to be easy as I pretty much just had to walk down the stairs to the first floor. Just as Gilda had assumed Ranger had a razor to lend me, so moments later I was back in the upstairs bathroom. Since I had little knowledge of shaving with a straight razor, I had used one once or twice, I let the process take its time. Slowly my face started to reappear from behind the beard. Twenty minutes later I put the razor down, admiring the fresh look I had achieved. Well now it’s time to start today’s work I suppose. I thought with a smile as I headed downstairs to the kitchen.

I started to prepare a large batch of porridge and set up a couple of large pitchers, containing whatever morning beverage our guests would prefer. I also started to make a pot of coffee but those who wanted that would have to wait a bit.

*~*

The day continued to flow at what I considered a normal pace by now. We had the average number of new arrivals, which made this summer day morning quite enjoyable. Soon I found that lunchtime had come and gone, which meant that Gilda was already waiting impatiently in the backyard when I got there.

“About time you showed up. Come on we don’t have all day.” She greeted as she grabbed hold of my left arm and started to drag me over to a small stool.

Once I was seated she turned around so that she was facing me again.

“Okay so now could you extend one of your wings like this?” she said while extending her own wing forward so that she could reach it with her claws.

When I copied the motion she gave an approving nod before starting to lecture me on how to take care of my wings.

“Okay see here.” She said pointing to an area of feathers on my currently extended wing.

“That is what it supposed to look like, but all these feathers.” She said making a sweeping motion over quite a few bent of broken feathers. “All those need to be preened.”

“Okay so how do I go about doing this then?” I asked, idly wondering if this was going to be an arduous process.

“More often than not it’s actually a simple matter of just removing the misaligned feathers, like so.” Gilda said as she reached up and plucked a bent feather out of my wing.

I experienced a strange sensation of relief that flooded from the area where the offending feather had been irritating the surrounding ones. Oh I guess that is a nice trade for something that could be quite time consuming. I thought genuinely surprised. I reached out to remove another feather as Gilda watched me. With a bit of careful pulling this one came out too, once again triggering the relieved feeling.

“Yeah, that’s good Cloud. Now keep doing that with all the major feather you find that are damaged. Keep in mind though that sometimes it will be enough to realign a feather. I will be back in half an hour to check your progress.” Gilda said before she headed back into the inn, leaving me with my task.

By the time Gilda returned as she had promised there were quite a few feathers littering the ground around me. Gilda walked up to me slowly, taking her time to observe the work I had done so far with my wings.

“Hmm seems like you’ve grasped this pretty quickly Cloud.” She said approvingly.

“Thanks Gil, but it isn’t exactly rocket science.”

“Rocket what? You know what I don’t want to know Cloud. Anyway dad wants you to help with something.”

“Aight, know where I can find him?” I asked her and stood up.

“Yeah he should be on the roof, something about the roof tiles.” Gilda supplied.

“Mkay, I’ll go help up there then before heading to the kitchen to start prepping dinner.” I said as I prepared to jump onto the roof with the help of my wings. But then I stopped myself and turned to Gilda again.

“One question first though, where should I put all the feathers?” I asked, motioning towards the mess on the ground.

“Ah, don’t fret about it I’ll sweep that up. You just worry about getting up on that roof.” Gilda said, waving dismissively with a claw.

“Thanks again Gil.” I said and took the jump I had intended to make earlier. With a powerful flap I cleared the rooftop and landed on the edge. I could tell just from that flap just how much the preening had helped the overall feel for the airflow around my wings.

I spotted Ranger further down the roof as he waved me over. As I got closer he started to explain our task after greeting me.

“Ah good, you’re here Cloud. The merchant who stayed in the room bellow us right now complained that he had heard scratching from the ceiling. Which of course means that we have to check if there’s rats or even birds living under the tiles.”

“Aight so where do we begin?” I asked him.

“Well I thought you’d start over there and I start from this side, that way we’ll cover the area in question in an efficient manner.” Ranger suggested and I couldn’t do anything but agree that his reasoning was sound.

We had probably worked for about forty minutes to an hour when I heard Ranger call out.

“Aha! I found it Cloud! It was a rat!”

After we made sure that there were no other rats in the immediate area we started the process of replacing the tiles we had moved and we worked in silence. Well the silence lasted until I realized how much the sun had traveled over the sky and I quickly excused myself to head down to the kitchen. To which Ranger only expressed his gratitude for my help and said that he’d finish up the work at the roof.

*~*

The evening was going along swimmingly and the dining room was full of guests bantering and eating of tonight’s stew. I was currently locked in a conversation with a rather inquisitive merchant who had taken an interest in me. Well I couldn’t really fault him since I was indeed an oddity around these parts. Ranger and Gilda were moving along the tables, collecting dishes and taking up additional orders for food and drink. It seemed that the night would continue like this when the door was suddenly thrown open and five griffins in uniforms strolled in.

By now I recognized the style of the Gryphus army uniform since we had had a few guards visit the inn a few week prior. Those soldiers had been stern but polite when it came to asking me questions. The ones that had strolled in this time were a loud bunch if their initial behavior was to be any judge.

They moved across the floor of the inn and sat down around one of the tables as if they owned the place. I saw Ranger whisper something to Gilda before he moved over to the new arrivals. After a few quiet words from Ranger and a few not so quiet words from the soldiers Ranger made his way over to me. During the time Ranger walked I saw the griffin I assumed to be the leader scan the room and when his eyes finally landed on me he froze for a second. I didn’t have time to contemplate the meaning behind it as Ranger had stepped up beside me.

“Prepare food for the five of them, the faster they eat the faster we can have them leave.” He grumbled. It was clear that he disapproved of their general conduct.

“Oh and Cloud try not to antagonize them when you bring the food, I already told Gilda to stay away from their table.” He added under his breath.

I simply nodded and started to put five bowls of stew on a tray. I then steeled myself so that I wouldn’t say something dumb out of reflex when I served them their food.

“The flying feather are you? Some kind of mishap?” One of them exclaimed as I approached their table.

I suppressed the urge to bite back with a comment of my own and just placed the tray with the bowls on the table and turned to leave. However the leader barked out a few words causing me to turn back again.

“My soldier asked you a question creature. You’d better answer it or I’ll let him teach you what happens if you ignore us.” He said with a smirk.

“I’m human.” I said through clenched teeth. I had no interest in dealing with this type, but I’d rather not cause any trouble for the Rustfeathers.

“Sounds made up!” another soldier chimed in.

“I assure you it is the truth.” I said, trying to keep my tone neutral.

“I’ve never heard of humann before, have any of you boys heard of a humann?” The leader said to his soldiers, a malicious smile was present on his face.

“I think we’d better bring you for quest-” he started but was interrupted as Gilda suddenly appeared.

“I’m so sorry if our chef is bothering you but he needs to be back in the kitchen right now.” She declared quickly before starting to lead me away.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks for the save Gil.”

We only made it halfway across the floor though before we heard the voice of the leader call out again.

“I challenge your chef for the right of recipes!”

*<>*

“I challenge your chef for the right of recipes!”

Buck! Gilda thought, the rather fitting profanity from her time in Equestria bubbling to the surface. Why couldn’t they have just let him go? She thought frantically.

“Hey Gil, what’s that challenge?” Cloud bent down to ask her.

“It’s a really old thing were a patron is allowed to challenge the chef to fight for his recipes.” She quickly summarized.

“Ah okay, so if the challenger wins they get all of the recipes. What happens if the chef wins?” Cloud asked sounding curious. How can he be curious at a time like this! Gilda thought angrily but ultimately decided to answer.

“If the chef wins he can ban the challenger from the establishment, but don’t do it Cloud. They’re just trying to bait you. Just give them your recipes no griff will think any less of you.” She pleaded.

“That’s a problem though, all my recipes are up here.” Cloud said tapping his head with two fingers.

“Cloud come on, I know you’re pretty strong but you don’t know how to fight. These challenges continue until one party submits or is unable to continue.” She tried to reason with him again, but Cloud didn’t seem to listen.

Instead she could only watch with increasing unease as Cloud turned towards the soldiers and spoke.

“Aight I’ll accept your challenge. But this will be without any weapons, and if you lose you will leave this inn and not return.”

The grin that the leader gave didn’t help Gilda’s increasing feeling of dread, meanwhile the rest of the soldiers quickly cleared some space in the middle of the room. With a helpless feeling she watched as Cloud slowly stepped inside the makeshift arena. She had to do something Cloud was going to get himself hurt. With that thought she tried to move, only to be stopped by a large wing.

“Don’t Gilda, you’ll only put yourself at needless risk at this point.” Her father said as he lowered his wing again.

“But he is going to get himself hurt if he goes through with this.” She hissed angrily at her father.

Ranger gave her a small smile. “It’s good to see that you’re worried about someone else than me or Stella, Gil. But I don’t think you have to worry about Cloud.”

That left Gilda confused. What does he mean by that? Cloud didn’t have any experience in fighting, right? She thought as Cloud and the still nameless soldier walked up to the center of the table and chair less space. They then turned their backs to each other as one of the older merchants present instructed them too. How can he look so calm? Gilda wondered as she studied Cloud. She let her eyes wander over to his opponent and noticed that he was trying to discretely reach for something strapped to his uniform. Before she had time to bring anygriff’s attention to it the merchant that had given the previous instructions bellowed.

“Start!”

Cloud whirled around faster than she thought the human capable of moving but as soon as he had turned so had his opponent. The soldier stabbed out with the tube like item he had been reaching for, catching the unsuspecting human by surprise. Gilda could only watch in horror as a massive static discharge erupted between the weapon and Cloud, before he was thrown across the room and slammed into table. Her horror only grew when Cloud didn’t rise from behind the table that had been flipped on its side, and was now concealing his form.

“Oh how sad, I forgot to set it to stun. I guess we have a corpse to bring with us tonight boys.” The soldier said with a chuckle as he fastened the shock stick on his belt again. His subordinates laughed at their officer’s comment.

Something inside Gilda snapped at that moment, and she threw herself at the soldier in a blind rage. Or she would have if her father hadn’t been there to restrain her.

“Let me go! I’m gonna kill this bastard! Let me go dad!”

She continued to scream out her anger and the soldiers kept laughing.

“Aw look at the wittle chick, did we kill your fwend?” one soldier said mockingly.

“We should take her too boss, for threa-” a second started to say but the words died in his mouth as his eyes locked onto something on the other side of the room.

Everything has gone deathly quiet. Gilda suddenly realized, as she looked around the room to find the cause. Her mind almost went completely blank when she saw it though. Cloud was slowly standing up from behind the table while he carefully cracked his joints. The very air around him seemed to be filled with electricity and at times sparks would materialize around him. Then he threw his head back and laughed. A laugh that sent shivers down Gilda’s spine and she could feel her feathers ruffle involuntarily. Just what is he? She wondered, but couldn’t help to not feel a bit afraid of the Cloud that was in front of her. It didn’t help when the laughter died down to a dark chuckle and locked his gaze on the soldier who had tried to kill him.

“You two attack him!” He cried out, wildly pointing at two of his subordinates.

Before they had a chance to act though Cloud flapped his wings once, quickly crossing the distance between him and the closest soldier. An electrified elbow slammed into the soldier an instant later, causing him to collapse on the ground. Still chuckling Cloud turned and focused his attention on the second soldier that had been ordered to fight him. However after seeing what had happened with his friend he opted to flee instead. Seeing one of their comrades flee brought the remaining to goons out of their shock and they fled as well, leaving only the leader. The leader though had used the confusion to his advantage and now, to Gilda’s dismay, he held a struggling Stella in one of his claws.

*<>*

I had avoided any testing related to electricity so far during my stay. I hadn’t been sure if this particular gift had carried over, and a mistake could’ve been fatal. It seemed though that I was still very much a storm paragon, perhaps now more than ever as I hardly felt any strain on my body. I would of course have preferred to not find out at all whether I still had my paragon heritage, but beggars can’t be choosers. I guess that the cat is out of the bag no matter what I do at this point. May as well go all out. I thought with a sigh as I rose from behind the table, the electricity coursing through me numbing any pain. A second later I had assumed a mask I thought I wouldn’t have to wear any more, but I welcomed it.

The leader griffin or whatever shouted something and two of his henchmen turned to face me when my laughter died down to a chuckle. Amateurs. I thought as I crossed the distance between me and the first one and delivered a swift elbow thrust to his temple. He collapsed like a puppet that had its strings cut, but I was already turning to face soldier number two. As soon as I turned towards him though he panicked and ran screaming out into the night closely followed by the other two soldiers, leaving only the leader. The problem was that he was restraining a terrified Stella with a claw as he stared at me a wild look in his eyes.

“Stay back!” he cried out as took a step towards him, his claw tightening its grip on Stella.

At that moment I felt a cold rage start to build under the mask I wore. The Rustfeathers had suffered enough. I’m ending this.

“Let her go. This is the one warning I will give.” My voice was ice, trembling with barely contained anger.

The griffin didn’t seem to register what I was saying though, and started to slowly back away. Eventually his rear bumped into the wall behind him and in the moment when he threw a wild look over his shoulder I was already in motion. When he turned his gaze back to me I was already in the process of reaching for wrist of the claw that held Stella with my right hand. With my free hand I delivered a whip like strike to the side of his head, causing him to release his grip on the young griffin. And while he was still dazed my knee found the underside of his beak, making his head snap backwards. Carried by the momentum and by instinct my right hand let go of his wrist and soon found itself around his throat as I slammed the next to unconscious soldier into the wall, pinning him there. Slowly I started to apply more pressure intent on choking his life out until Ranger appeared in my field of view.

“Calm yourself Cloud, he’s done.” He said as he placed his claw on the arm I was using to pin the soldier with.

I slowly released the grip and closed my eyes. A deep and shaky breath later I opened them again and leaned down to the still, barely, conscious soldier.

“I suggest you leave, you’re not welcome here anymore.” I said, my voice carrying no emotion.

He responded by nodding weakly, fear filled his eyes, and then slowly starting to crawl towards the exit. With that I finally allowed myself to release my mask and I turned to look at the rest of the patrons and the Rustfeathers. They looked scared, they all did, with the exception of Ranger. That the patrons were scared I couldn’t give a flying fuck about. No, what truly hurt me was the look I was getting from Gilda and Stella. They were afraid of me.

“I’m sorry. I’ll leave first thing tomorrow.” I said quietly, but in the silent room it sounded like thunder.

I walked up the stairs with heavy steps. Another life in ruins. I thought bitterly. I slammed my clenched fist into a wall but it did little more than produce a dull thud, as the power from whatever had been used on me had dissipated from the repeated contacts made with other living things. Once I reached my room I entered and started to quickly stuff all my possessions into my duffel bag, it didn’t take long as they really hadn’t increased that much in quantity. I wanted to be ready to leave at sunrise so with that I sat down in my corner and tried to sleep.

*~*

As the first rays of sunshine started to filter in through the small window to my room I rose. I hadn’t really been able to get much rest but that wasn’t important now. What mattered was that I got away from here, it wasn’t just me running away I was also distancing myself from the Rustfeathers should retaliation come my way. I had assaulted Gryphus soldiers after all. But where was I supposed to go now? I couldn’t figure that part out. No I can worry about that after I leave. I resolved.

I snuck out of the in easily, and was greeted by a thick layer of morning mist, that the sun had yet to erase, covering the ground around the inn. I threw one last glance at the inn I had called home for the past few months before setting off down the road. I had just cleared the forest edge when I heard rapid wing beats quickly growing closer. Turning while expecting an ambush from yesterday’s antagonists I fell into a defensive stance but was surprised to see the form of Gilda approaching fast.

“Cloooud! Waaait!” She cried out, before going into a rapid descent.

She landed a few feet away from me, the mist swirling around her. When it settled I saw a Gilda with tears in her eyes and a hurt expression on her features. She looks so vulnerable. I couldn’t help but think.

“Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare leave without even saying good bye.” She exclaimed, her voice carrying a mix between anger and sadness.

I didn’t know what to say to that tear filled face. Gone was the tough girl act, gone was the confidence I normally saw in her. This is Gilda without any shields towards the world. The Gilda she truly is. I slowly came to realize.

“I understand why you have to leave dad explained it to me late last night when we finally got Stella to sleep.” Gilda spoke up again, taking the chance to talk since I wasn’t.

“But you could’ve at least have waited for one of us to wake up first.” She continued, using a claw to wipe her tears.

With a sigh I spoke up. “I thought you were afraid of me. After what happened last night I thought it was just better if I left.”

“I was afraid at first I won’t deny that, but you’re Cloud. I know you, and I know that you would never hurt anygriff in my family.” Gilda stated, locking her eyes with mine.

As I looked at those eyes, tinged red from crying I made a decision.

“Two and a half years ago I left this world thinking that I would never come back here.” I began and Gilda looked at me bewildered.

“Yes, I can see that you’re confused and I will only give you the quick version for now but hear me out.” I began.

”As I said I left this world two and a half years ago after a rather personal battle with two beings calling themselves Rage and Grief. Only my time was spent in the Equestria and I held the form of a pegasus. You see somewhere in my family line storm paragon blood was mixed with mine and that caused my form to change when I hoped between the dimensions. I think it’s the reason for my current appearance to some degree as well. I know that this will probably just give you more unanswered questions but it’s all I can offer for now.” I quickly summarized for her, I owed her that much.

“I- I see.” Gilda said after a while.

“Where will you go now?”

“Quite frankly I don’t know where I should go. I’m tired of having to rebuild my life again and again. But with last night’s display I think it’s safe to say that my cover is blown no matter what I do. I guess my only option left is to stop running and return to where all this began. I guess that means I’m going to Equestria.” I said tiredly. I had hoped to avoid this.

Gilda nodded and then started digging into a saddlebag that she had brought with her. A few moments later she drew out a long piece of silk like cloth of a shimmering greyish color.

“Here, it’s a scarf. We were planning to give it to you when summer was about to end since you don’t have feathers or a coat to cover you.” She said as she offered me the bundled scarf.

“Thanks.” I managed to force out as I had to fight back a few tears. I hadn’t been expecting that.

Judging by the length of the scarf that had been given me I would have to wrap it around my neck a couple of times just to keep the edges from dragging across the ground. I hunkered down so that I came into the same height as Gilda before opening my arms, offering a hug.
Something that she accepted after a split second’s hesitation.

“If you ever need me for anything Gil, you know where to come find me. I won’t exactly be able to keep myself secret once I reach Equestria.” I said as I released her.

She looked up at me as I stood up and nodded. “And you can come visit once things have calmed down big guy. No you have to visit.”

“I will.” I promised and went to stand up.

“Well then I guess this is farewell for now then Gil.” I said solemnly.

“I guess it is.”

“Give my regards to Ranger will you? Oh and an apology for this stupid human’s behavior to both him and Stella.” I continued.

“I will Cloud, good bye.”

“Good bye Gil.”

With that final farewell I turned and continued down the road, my few possessions had increased in number. And I knew with certainty which one I treasured the most.

Ch 6. Homecoming

View Online

Chapter 6. Homecoming

I’m not the same as yesterday
Ooh… It’s hard to explain
How things have changed
But I’m not the same as before
And I know there’s so much more ahead
I can barely believe that I’m here
And I won’t surrender quietly
Step up and watch me go

Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when you know deep down just how much you’re going to miss that individual or group of individuals. Sometimes though saying hello will be just as difficult. It could be that girl you fancy and quite haven’t worked up the nerve to talk to yet, or it could be someone you have to apologize too for something you have done. I’d like to think that even acts like this represents true courage, because after all is said and done we’re facing something that we fear.

*~*

My travels through Gryphus were hasty to say the least. Had I not been trying to cover as much ground as humanly possible each day I would probably have stopped an hour or two at the small towns I passed along the road. Despite the warmth of summer I kept the cloak on with the hood up. Well at least I did wear it every time I approached a town or encountered others on the road. It was easier to just hide behind a new mask for each conversation I was forced to have.

So far my masks had involved lies about me being a rare diamond dog breed, a minotaur and a breed of furless yetis. It was safer in the long run to minimize the information I spread about myself. For that matter I did not seek conversation as I wandered and I tried to keep my expenses low, since I had a finite amount of money from my time at the Rusty Feather inn. But I had procured provisions that would last me at least another week of travel.

My present heading was for what I assumed was a coastal town by the name of Sky reach. Namely because I kept hearing mention of ships and the dock from other travelers. And currently a ship would be perfect for me since it would grant me a way to leave Gryphus quickly. Not to mention the fact that Gryphus seemed to be situated on the other side of an ocean from Equestria. With a bit of work I expected to be able to reach Skyreach by the end of today, for now though all I could do was to continue to walk.

Then as the day started to end I finally got my first view of Skyreach. I think that the first thing that came to my mind was that I had been wrong. Skyreach wasn’t a coastal town, the sea wasn’t even visible. Next came realization of what exactly I was looking at. In the center of the relatively large town was a huge cliff that seemed to have been hollowed out to serve as a base of sorts. Because surrounding the cliff were dozens of airships of varying sizes and shapes. Many in the process of docking or undocking from a multitude of wooden bridges suspended in the air. No base isn’t the right word, it would still be called a dock or a harbor, wouldn’t it? I thought as I felt the pieces start to come together.

Well it’s not like my plan will have to change. I thought with a wing shrug. So after I dug the cloak out of my bag I resumed my walk down towards the town. Judging by the distance I wouldn’t reach it before nightfall, but again it mattered little to my plans. Soon putting on the cloak was justified, as traffic on the road steadily increased the closer to Skyreach I got.

Much like I had predicted the sun had already set when I finally passed the first few buildings on the edge of the town. This close the cliff looked like a lumbering behemoth with all its bridges stretching out like arms under the night sky. But in its shadow I could move quite easily through the night. Most of the town was asleep by now, although around the harbor there was still a decent amount of activity. For now though all I really had to do was to find a ship leaving for Equestria and I would be set. Paying for a ticket had never been a true option, I was most likely a wanted man after all. So I started to scale the cliff, and by using my hands and wings I achieved a level of dexterity that no human could ever hope to achieve. For that matter I doubted that any race on Equus was on par with me when it came to climbing right now.

I spent the major part of the next hour silently moving along the bridges and the general outside area of the harbor cliff. Searching for those vessels that were crewed by mixed, or pony only sailors. Out of the four alternatives I found, a large pony crewed ship seemed to be my best bet. It’s not like I’ll be any worse off on that ship compared to staying. I reasoned with myself. So with that I snuck aboard. A surprisingly easy feat, since the few guards they had stationed were watching the ramp between the ship and the bridge. All I had to was to silently glide under the ship and use the many ropes hanging off the sides to climb up on deck. A few tense seconds of crossing the deck as stealthily as possible later, I found myself in a large cargo hold.

So this is a commercial vessel then. I mused, that would make it even easier for me. The fact that there would be no other passengers than me and probably a relatively small crew meant that I had less eyes to hide from. After sneaking around the crates stored in the hold I found a small nock where I could spend my time on the ship in relative obscurity. Well it wasn’t foolproof but if I kept on my toes and limited the time I slept I should be able to remain a ghost on this trip. Continuing to look around in the immediate area of my nock revealed nothing useful to me, so I decided to take this chance to get some rest before tomorrow came. So I sat down against one of the larger crates, wincing slightly as my still bruised tailbone touched the crate. It was a memento from my fight at the inn. And had been a constant reminder the past few days, that despite feeling invincible while under the influence of electricity I was not. I was just lucky that it only hurt when I sat down or applied any direct pressure on it, otherwise the progress I had the past few days made would’ve been much shorter.

I moved around a bit until I found a comfortable position and then closed my eyes in an attempt to sleep. If I was really lucky there would be no nightmares to haunt me tonight.

*~*

I awoke to the sound of muffled steps and voices above me, and judging from the motions that could be felt through the floor the ship had begun its journey when I was still sleeping. Well here’s to hoping that this ship isn’t headed deeper into Gryphus. I thought, crossing my fingers. Hopefully the trip wouldn’t be longer than what my remaining food could support either, while I currently had no qualms about being a stowaway I’d rather not steal food. It may not have been the most rational part of my brain that came to that conclusion but for the moment it made perfect sense to me.

I wish I could say that the trip was exciting but since I was confined to my small nock there was nothing to do except waiting really. Moving around would only risk me drawing unwanted attention towards myself, something that wasn’t’ very attractive. Especially since we were traveling over what seemed to be an ocean. I had been able to confirm that much from a pair of small windows further down the wall in the hold. There was only one incident that had me worried. One time when I woke up and heard voices really close to my hiding spot.

*~*

“I’m sure I heard someone snoring down here in this area yesterday.” A voice said.

“For the last time you probably imagined it, you’ve always been jumpy. Remember that time in Minos when you thought the dock keeper was going to punch you?” A second voice said tiredly.

“In my defense he bent down really quickly, how was I supposed to know that he meant to shake my hoof?” The first voice replied.

The other voice let out a long sigh before talking again. “Tell you what, if you still feel that someone is sleeping down here once we have sold the cargo in Trottingham you’re free to search to your heart’s content. Just leave me out of it.”

“Aw come on, let’s just check behind this box too.” The first voice whined.

“No I’m tired and I’m going to bed. We have the night shift tomorrow too.” I heard the second voice reason before I heard four pairs of hooves move away from the crates I was hiding behind.

After a few minutes of silence I allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief. That was too close. I thought as the tension started to wear off. Well at least I know where I am headed now, and by the sound of the name it’s somewhere in Equestria. At least I had gotten that positive piece of information from my near discovery.

*~*

As I mentioned before, my luck stayed for the rest of the trip as I remained undetected during the following two days. And towards the end of the fourth day I saw land rush past bellow the ship once again. It was high time that I abandoned ship before they started to unload the cargo. So I retrieved my duffel bag from where I had hidden it and put my cloak on. My hopes were that we wouldn’t arrive in Trottingham until later tonight or in the best case, sometime tomorrow. That would give me plenty of time to slip away in the night and find my own way from there.

Of course this was the time my luck decided to run out as I started to hear muffled cries of Trottingham being sighted from the deck above. Well that means my best bet is to leave now. I thought bitterly. This would probably end with me being spotted but it was better than being arrested for being a stowaway. Steeling myself I moved as silently as I could to the staircase leading up to the main deck. Seeing that there was no one guarding the stairs I carefully walked up them until I reached the door leading out to the deck. I opened the door carefully so that I peer through a small crack. There were ponies on and about all over the deck, and by estimations there were at least fifteen of them.

However it seemed that luck hadn’t abandoned me completely for I could only count four pegasi among them. I steeled my nerves once more, I was going to make a run for it and hopefully the element of surprise would be enough. I pulled the hood up, obscuring my face. Okay now or never! I thought as I kicked the door open and went into a mad dash for the railing. Surprised shouts erupted, but by the time they had started to actually realize what was going on I had already taken a dive over the rail. I let myself continue to dive, the wind whistling past me caused the cloak to flap violently. Then I extended my wings, starting to angle myself so that I would reach level flight. What I hadn’t accounted for was the sudden impact of G forces that started to force my blood down towards my legs due to the change of heading.

So after a near blackout due to my stunt I managed to land safely, although on rather shaky legs. I turned my gaze skyward and found that the ship had continued on its course without bothering to send pursuers. With the knowledge that I was safe for the moment the rush of adrenalin that had kept me standing left my system, and I planted my rear hard on the ground. That could’ve gone better, but at least I’m alive. Now hopefully there won’t be too many rumors from my anything but subtle escape. I thought tiredly before stumbling back onto my feet. If I moved quickly I had a good shot at finding somewhere to replenish my supplies and get directions before any potential rumors caught up with me.

As fortune would have it I managed to locate a small village sometime after night had fallen. Seeing that the inhabitants were asleep though I decided it would be best to wait for the next day. So I set up camp a bit away from the village border, although I used Imagination to summon a bedroll for me to sleep on. And come sunrise I awoke to the sound of the village slowly starting to wake up. After eating a quick breakfast from may remaining rations I entered the town, expecting the ponies to avoid me. But despite my cloaked appearance they didn’t seem to mind much. I guess it’s just Ponyville that’s prone to panicking then. I thought as I entered a small marketplace area. When I say small I mean small, there were only four stands selling their wares.

When I left the town not even an hour later I had acquired all the supplies and information I needed. I had gone with a story of being from diamond dog descent again, and none of the ponies I had interacted with had questioned me on it. So with two weeks’ worth of supplies and a map over Equestria I left the village behind me. It would take me at least a week on foot to reach Ponyville or Canterlot, I had yet to decide which one I should head to. But for now the heading would be the same so I had time to make my choice. And until I knew for certain where I wanted to go I would not shorten my trip by flying.

*~*

It was through heavy rainfall that I approached Ponyville, just under a week after I had set out. The darkness of night had already settled in about an hour earlier, so given the circumstances I had my hood down. I hadn’t been blessed with a chance to wash myself properly during my travels so the falling rain was most welcome. The famous town was however still just a spec of light in the distance, but since there was light at all meant that someone was still awake down there.

As I steadily got closer the rain started to slowly be accompanied with wind and soon I found myself in the middle of a summer storm. Yet despite the storm calling to my inner paragon what lay ahead held my full attention. The light I had seen earlier was much clearer at this distance, and it didn’t belong to a home. A large pinkish sphere had been raised around a large structure that I couldn’t say I recognized from my previous knowledge of Ponyville. Not knowing what to expect I quickened my pace. I did not know what was going on, but my instincts told me to hurry.

For the next few minutes all I heard was the steady thumping of my feet hitting the wet grass, the rain pelting the world around me and the wind’s howling. The closer I got the more details I was able to discern. The shielded building, for it had to be some sort of shield, had towers sprouting without any real symmetry making it look like a crude copy of a tree. Then a bolt of lightning split the night and I saw them. Black shapes the size of a pony were circling around the sphere. I slid a about a foot over the wet grass as I tried to stop my own momentum, the situation had changed. I did not know the intentions of the shapes outside the sphere, perhaps they wanted to help. Although that’s unlikely given that they were outside the sphere. But nonetheless I needed more information now before I ran headfirst into whatever was waiting for me.

The next few minutes were spent in a few quick consecutive dashes as I tried to get closer to the bubble. Once I got into Ponyville proper it would become that much easier to move, but for now it was run, check if I had been spotted and run again. I repeated this process until I managed to reach the first few buildings on the outskirts of the town. This close I could easily see the pony like shapes around the shield, but I still couldn’t tell what they were due to the pouring rain. All I knew so far was that they were around a dozen of them, give or take a few. It was hard to keep track of them as they moved around the shield. I need to get even closer. I thought as I prepared to dash further into town.

When I finally made it close enough to observe what the black shapes were I had a hard time understanding exactly what I was seeing. They seemed to be some sort of mix between ponies and bugs if the buzzing wings were anything to go by. However from what I could tell they all had horns, which made me wonder if they were related to alicorns or something else entirely. They didn’t seem to be actively trying to get through the bubble shield, instead they seemed content to just continue their patrolling. This close to the shield I had hoped that I would be able to see through it and get a grasp of what was hidden on the other side. However the constant pelting of rain caused small ripples across its surface, effectively distorting what I could see. I’m willing to bet that Ponyville’s residents are hiding in there but if I make a mistake I could end up attacking something innocent. I’d better pull back for now and gather more information before I make my move. I thought as I started to slip back into the shadows of the building I was hiding behind. Or I would’ve had I not been interrupted by an inquisitive chirp behind me.

I turned slowly and came face to face, or rather face to waist with one of the insectoid ponies that were circling the shield. This close I could easily see the bug like wings and chitin like exterior, making me question just what type of hell spawn this actually was. However the strange creature did nothing but carefully observe me. Just as I was sure that it meant me no harm the damned thing burst into emerald flames, causing me to jump back with a surprised yelp. It was what emerged from the flames that caused my eyes to truly widen though. The damn things are shape shifters! I growled internally as perfect copy of me stood four feet away from me were the bug had stood, a malicious grin on its lips. But when it proceeded to charge straight at me one critical key point became apparent. It hadn’t gained my skillset, just my body.

The charge was stopped cold when I delivered a powerful kick into the copy’s abdomen, causing it to double over from the combined force of my kick and the momentum. The kick had been too swift for the shape shifter to even notice, which led me to believe that it had little to no experience when it came to fighting against or as a biped. It coughed and hacked as it tried to draw breath but I didn’t give chance to recover. My next attack, a knee to the head, sent it sprawling on its back as it landed in the muddy street. It weakly tried to move a bit on the ground before once more bursting into brilliant green flames, reverting back to its original form. So they don’t maintain their form if they’re knocked unconscious. I observed mentally, as I could still see that it was breathing.

Unfortunately for me the heavy rain had not been enough to cover the flash of light the green fire had caused. Four additional shapeshifters quickly approached from the shield each chirping or screeching out whatever they were feeling. Two of them landed about ten feet in front of me and hissed angrily, while the other two circled around, heading for the one I had downed already. I tried to keep track of both of the pairs, but when it became apparent that the pair by the unconscious one only wanted to carry it away I turned my full attention to other pair that was still there displaying anger. I wonder if they are meant as a distraction or if they actually intend to fight me? I wondered warily.

When both of them charged simultaneously I had my answer. I fell into a defensive stance deciding to take the easier path by just countering what was thrown at me. It all went well until another bolt of lightning split the night. Suddenly unbidden memories burst to the surface.

I was panting, the rain soaked streets of Canterlot lit up as lightning bolt split the sky. A crude construct made of a star filled smoke with the shape of an earth pony charged across the cobblestones.

A strangely shaped hoof less than foot away from my face brought me back to reality and I threw myself into a backwards roll with the aid of my wings. I saw the bug pony pass over me, and had its face been able to convey more emotions I would’ve said it was surprised. I got up from the roll in a smooth motion and now found myself with one bug in front and one behind me. The position I was currently in was bad and I knew of only one way to tip it back to more manageable territories, attack. I burst forward towards the bug pony in front of me, delivering two quick strikes with a roar. The shape shifter reacted just like any other creature would when it feels threatened and tried to scramble back from me. I had anticipated this though and as it scrambled backwards from my two opening feints it entered the perfect distance for kicking. With a reverse side kick my heel connected with bug pony’s temple knocking it down on the ground, it did not rise again.

That left one bug, and as I turned I found it to be watching me warily. It pawed the ground and chittered angrily but instead of charging me as I had expected it lit its horn. Shit it can do magic too? I thought for panicked second, except instead of attacking me it fired a green bolt of energy up into the sky where it proceeded to explode. Soon I heard the buzzing of multiple angry insect wings and within seconds I found myself to be surrounded by the remaining shape shifters. I counted seven in total, excluding the one unconscious, meaning that the two that had left earlier with the first one I encountered weren’t here. At least I hoped that they weren’t, and while we were on the subject I truly hoped that these were the only ones here. Even if I was more skilled than these bugs in a fight, seven to one odds were not good. Okay what are my options? Fly into the storm clouds and hunt for a lightning bolt? No I’m not sure of how much strain it actually causes on my system this time around. Not to mention that they will be on me in a second if I try to fly. Well that left one option, summon the spear.

I had not achieved a level of proficiency that I could rely on my skills in fight with it yet. However in this case every little thing that could go in my favor counted, even if it was to just serve as an intimidation factor. With a now well practiced motion I swiped my fingers across the image, and when the spear had fully materialized I was already in a ready stance.

“Your move!” I called out over the wind and rain, not fully sure if these things understood me.

As the spear appeared though the bug ponies started to chirp wildly among each other. Just as quickly as they had arrived they grabbed their unconscious comrade and flew off into the night, leaving me to stare after them. For a few long seconds I waited, convinced that this was some sort of ambush tactic. But when nothing came rushing out of the wall of rain I started to relax. I’m not sure what just happened here. I admitted to myself as I let go of Imagination, not even bothering to look as the spear vanished. I slowly made my way back to the bubble, but found that all the shapeshifters seemed to have left Ponyville for now.

Hmm if the shapeshifters are gone why is the shield still up? I contemplated as I studied the pink dome. Perhaps I should try to contact the ones on the inside, to tell them the coast is clear. I continued to ponder as I reached for the shield with a hand but then stopped, my hand hovering a few inches away from the barrier. On second thought, perhaps this isn’t the best time to come presenting yourself as a never before seen species. Not to mention that I’m not sure what I would happen if I touch that. I berated myself.

So instead I turned around and stalked off into Ponyville, seeing how every house I passed was completely dark only reinforced my previous thoughts that they were all hiding inside that big structure behind the barrier. Well I’m not sleeping in the rain. I decided and proceeded to pick one of the many houses at random. The door on that house was locked and since I didn’t want to break anything I tried the next in line. I continued this process until I reached my sixth house where the door swung open. Good to see that ponies are still somewhat trusting. I mused as hunched down and stepped inside. The interior was cramped for someone my height to say the least, but after getting out of my wet clothing and putting it to dry here and there in the small house I settled in for the night. I would just take a quick rest here before leaving Ponyville. It was better to come back at a later date when things had settled down a bit.

*~*

I awoke to the muffled sound of chirping birds and sunshine filtering in through a window opposite of the wall I had leaned against last night. I didn’t know what time it was but it mattered little, it was high time to move. So without bothering with breakfast I got dressed, deciding to skip the tank top since it was still slightly damp. The cloak was still a necessity in my eyes though so I put it on even though it slightly damper than the tank top. The first thing I noticed when I exited in the house was that the barrier was still very much active. This only heartened me at the moment though, as it meant that I could take my time to exit Ponyville.

So at a casual pace I set off down the main road of the town, and before I knew it I had reached the edge. I kept my pace though, seeing no reason to rush. It was sometime around mid day though, it was hard to tell with the lingering clouds, when I came to regret my decision.

“Hey, you there! Stop!” A voice called out, and I did the only thing that seemed reasonable at the time. I bolted.

A heard angered cry behind me but I didn’t care, I just kept running. For a few blissful seconds I believed that I had been able to shake whoever had shouted. Only for a familiar rainbow blur to shot past me a second later. A very angry Rainbow Dash landed in front of me, forcing me to come to sliding halt on the dirt road.

“Okay buddy you’ve got one more chance to come with me.”

Damn it all to hell! Why did it have to be Rainbow Dash? I cursed my luck. I was about to answer when yet another memory bubbled up to the surface.

An angry Rainbow Dash was shouting at me in Canterlot castle. I was refusing to fight her with my all in the fear that I would hurt her. Rainbow dash charged in…

I came back to reality with Rainbow Dash already closing the distance, and for the second time in less than twenty four hours I had to make a backwards dive with aid of my wings.

*<>*

Rainbow Dash was bored. First she and the girls had been called out to the middle of nowhere to hold “peace” talks with Chrysalis. Only that the changeling queen had never shown up, so now they were walking back slowly to Ponyville. She had hoped that there would be at least some action, but noooo. She thought as she lazily blew some air at her bangs. She hopped into the air. Ponyville shouldn’t be too far away now, right? I mean it’s mid day already. She questioned herself as she strained her eyes. Wait isn’t that the barrier, shield thing Twilight set up for the castle?

“Hey Twi, I think the castle shield is up.” She said turning to her alicorn friend.

“What!” the young princess cried out.

She concentrated her gaze back to the direction Ponyville lay and there was definitely something pink in the distance. “Yeah it’s there alright.”

“Okay gather round girls we’ll do short teleport jumps until we reach Ponyville.” Twilight ordered.

A few quick flashes later they arrived at the outskirts of Ponyville, and Twilight spoke up again. “Okay girls here’s the plan. Rainbow and AJ could you two check around Ponyville to see if you can find out if whatever caused this is still here? Oh and if you find the cause return to the rest of us.”

“Sure thang Twi, but what’re the rest of ya’ll gonna do?” Applejack asked.

“Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie and I are going over to the shield to check on the ponies inside.” Twilight replied quickly.

“Alright meet back at the castle in an hour if we don’t find anything then?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah that sounds good, okay let’s get to it girls.” Twilight declared.

So Rainbow and AJ started to head deeper into Ponyville while Twilight and the others went the other way.

For the first few minutes they didn’t really think much of it but then the eerie feeling of the empty streets started to settle in. There was something about all the empty buildings that just felt claustrophobic to Rainbow, so she jumped up into the air again. Hovering just above the rooftops she saw further than before, and on the opposite side of Ponyville she thought she saw something. Before she could confirm it though Applejack cried out from below.

“Hey Rainbow ya see anything from up there?”

“Maybe, I’m not sure.” She said. But had there really been something down that way?

“Why maybe?” Applejack asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“Well it’s too far to tell for sure, but we need to go that way to make sure.” She answered her friend while motioning with a hoof.

“Let’s git goin’ then.” AJ agreed.

For a few tense minutes they headed in the direction where she thought she had seen something and just when she started to think that she had imagined it all she caught another glimpse of it. Oh no you’re not getting away from me! She thought triumphantly before rushing off after it, the cries of Applejack for her to wait falling on deaf ears.

As soon as she got close enough to the unknown thing lazily walking ahead of her she cried out for its attention.

“Hey, you there! Stop!”

Instead of listening though the figure burst into a sprint, leaving her hanging in the air dumbfounded for a few seconds. Did it just… Oh no, you are not escaping from me!

With a few quick flaps she started to move forward again, and she kept flapping her wings until she shot past the figure. With a powerful counter flap of her wings she killed her forward momentum and landed smoothly a couple of meters in front of the figure. This close she could easily see that whatever it was its features were covered in a cloak with a deep hood, hiding almost everything except a furless chin. This thing has to be at least two meters tall. She thought in wonder before she remembered that she was supposed to be angry with it.

“Okay buddy you’ve got one more chance to come with me.” She addressed it sternly.

When it seemed to refuse to answer she just rolled her eyes. If you wanna play it that way so be it. She thought before dove in for an attack.

But a mere fraction of a second before her hoof landed two large wings shot out from the cloak, and with a quick flap they threw the creature backwards. It broke its fall with a somewhat clumsy roll before coming back up onto two legs again. Aw come on that was just luck!

She pressed her attack, moving even faster this time. But now the creature was ready, it deftly diverted her hoof with furless arm that shot out from under the cloak only to disappear again when it was no longer needed. So she tried to attack again and again and again. Each time the creature responded by diverting her attack or simply moving out of range. Its reach is downright terrifying and I get a feeling that it’s toying with me. She thought as she grew more and more frustrated. It’s like it’s reading my every move I haven’t had this hard of a time to land hit since I fought Cloud! With the last thought she froze, her opponent silently observing her without moving. But that’s impossible! He left over two years ago, this can’t possibly be him! She reasoned with herself.

Now she had to know, the creature was going to drop that hood if that was the last thing she did. She flared her wings and with a mighty flap she shot towards the creatures head, only to be foiled in her attempt again. Argh, that’s not going to work. Think Rainbow, think. There has to be something you can do to give yourself an edge. She thought frantically. If only AJ was here she could distract it… Wait that’s it!

“Good, now get it AJ!” She cried out and much to her joy the creature whirled around with terrifying speed.

Before she could even begin to move though the wings shot out from under the cloak, effectively guarding its back. But she didn’t need to get the hood off the creature anymore. The rapid turn coupled with the wings movement had caused the cloak to flap up in the air revealing the creatures back. There on right side was a small but recognizable X shaped scar.

“Cloud?” she asked carefully.

The creature let out an audible sigh before folding its wings again. When it turned back to face her it lifted one of its arms to push the hood back, revealing an alien face with a pair of very familiar golden eyes.

“Hello Rainbow, took you long enough.” Cloud answered in a tired sounding voice.

Ch 7. Reunion waltz

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Chapter 7. Reunion waltz

I
Have wondered about you
Where will you be
When this is through?

If all
If all goes as planned
Will you redeem
My life again?
My life again

To admit that you’ve fucked up is not always an easy task. I have been there multiple times, however this time the problem wasn’t admitting that I was to blame. My problem was that I hadn’t been in this particular situation before, and because of that I didn’t know just quite how to act. Down the rabbit hole I go.

*~*

“Hello Rainbow, long time no see.” I said, sounding more tired than I felt.

If Rainbow Dash’s disbelieving look was anything to go by, I guess that she hadn’t really expected it to be me under the cloak. To be fair I probably wouldn’t have expected it either and I’d probably be quite shocked too. Actually, is she just staring out into space? I moved a hand in front of her eyes, trying to get a reaction. Yep, definitely staring out into space. I thought as I waited for Rainbow to recover. But when nothing happened during the following minute I reached over and snapped my fingers next to her ear, causing Rainbow to return to reality with a start.

“Ah! What the hay Cloud!” She exclaimed.

“Welcome back to Equestria Rainbow. You know I expected you to have more questions.” I commented.

“Well I’m sorry for not thinking that the tall thing I saw for the first time a few minutes ago was once a pegasus I knew.” She replied snarkily.

That only brought a smile to my lips though, it was good to see that Rainbow was still the same old Rainbow I remembered.

“Nice to see you too Rainbow. Is it only you here?” I asked, having a hard time keeping any mirth out of my voice.

My comment caused Rainbow’s ears and expression to drop. “Hay feathers, I forgot about AJ. I kinda flew away at full speed when I caught sight of you Cloud. Come on we can catch up when we get back to AJ.”

Without waiting for my reply she started to trot down the road, back towards Ponyville and I had no choice but to follow. Well this should be interesting. I thought as kept Rainbow’s brisk pace. Fortunately we didn’t have to go far before we saw Applejack come running down the road and she came to a screeching halt in front of Rainbow Dash.

“Whoo’wee, don’t go runnin’ off like that on me Rainbow. Tha’s just not good manners.” She berated the Pegasus before turning her attention to me.

“Now what’s this thing? Some sort of critter? Was this the thing ya saw? Why did it follow ya here?” She started asking Rainbow while taking a closer look at me.

“Ah gotta say that despite bein’ this tall it seems pretty docile. Got pretty nice lookin’ eyes too.” She observed while Rainbow was trying really hard not to laugh behind her back.

However since being subtle had never been a skill that I knew Rainbow Dash for it didn’t take long before a chuckle escaped. Applejack turned around almost instantly.

“What’s so damn funny Rainbow?!” she demanded.

Deciding that I’d better stop things before it got out of hand I spoke up.

“Thanks for the compliment Applejack, I always thought you had beautiful eyes too.” I said, causing Applejack to wheel around again.

“Now, now, close your mouth Applejack.” I said as I hunched down and used two fingers to close her open mouth.

Applejack worked her mouth without making a sound for a few seconds as Rainbow lost control over her efforts to not laugh.

“Rainbow Ah’ demand an explanation, who is this?!” Applejack said, turning to Rainbow again the moment she regained her ability to speak.

“You know you could just ask me Applejack.” I told the orange farm pony, since Rainbow failed to answer due to her laughter.

“Alright, alright, how do you know my name? Did Rainbow put you up to this?” She asked, sounding slightly weary.

“No Rainbow did not tell me your name, I knew it since before this meeting. We’ve met before you know, although last time was about two and a half years ago.” I said, and as the last sentence left my mouth Applejack’s eyes widened.

“Land sakes, is that you Cloud?”

When I nodded Applejack started asking questions just like I had expected Rainbow to do earlier.

“Ah’ don’t even know where to begin. When and how did you get back? What’s up with that form? No, why are you back?”

“Whoa, slow down Applejack. Now to answer your questions before they become too many. I got back about two months ago but I have been traveling since then, as for how and why I couldn’t honestly tell you.” I started to answer, telling a half truth about where I had been and choosing to misinterpret the why. I dared not full on lie to Applejack, and it would seem that she had caught something but I pressed on before she any more time to dwell on it.

“Oh, and this is what I am supposed to look like. Well except the wings.” I said quickly unfolding and folding them again. “The pony form I held last time was extremely weird to me at times, but I managed quite well I think.” I finished.

“Come on you two we need to go meet the others, I can’t wait to see their reactions!” Rainbow interrupted any further questions.

“Ah, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I replied, much to the surprise of both Rainbow and Applejack.

“Why would’ya say that Cloud? Ah mean Pinkie’s gonna be super happy to meet ya again.” Applejack reasoned.

“Yeah, but entire the reason I didn’t stay in Ponyville today was so that the ponies living here would have a chance to calm down from yesterday.” I explained patiently.

“Wait, what do you mean yesterday?” Rainbow asked as she hopped into the air, flying up to eye level with me.

“Well the entire shield thing and the bug ponies. I just thought I’d let a day or two pass.” I said looking between the two ponies, trying to read their reaction.

“Bug ponies? Wait a gosh darn second, do ya mean changeling?!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Does a changeling look like a black pony with holes, a horn and insect wings? And does it transform by bursting into green flames?” I asked the two of them. Huh, so they were called changelings. I’d better remember that.

“Yeah you just described one perfectly Cloud.” Rainbow Dash supplied in a grim tone.

“Those darned varmints actually went here instead of the meeting!” A fuming Applejack snorted.

While Applejack was still muttering about all the horrible things she would do to the changelings when she caught them I turned to Rainbow.

“I take it you girls have a history with those changelings then?” I asked her.

“Yeah you could say that. Their leader queen Chrysalis was impersonating princess Cadence when she and Shining Armor were about to get married.” She answered, the meaning of course flew miles above my head since I didn’t know either of those names.

“Eh, I got that Chrysalis is the changeling leader. But who’re Cadence and Shining Armor?”

Rainbow facehoofed. “Sorry I forgot that you don’t know these names, and believe me we were kinda shocked too when we first heard about it. Shining Armor is Twilight’s brother and Cadence is the princess of the Crystal Empire.”

“You know Rainbow that answer just gave me another five questions I want to ask, but I’ll stay on topic for now. Did Cadence and Shining Armor get married in the end for real, and when you say princess do you mean ‘princess princess’ or just regular unicorn Noble?” I asked, somehow already knowing what the answer would be.

“She’s an alicorn if that’s what you mean by princess princess, the alicorn of love in fact. And yes they did get married, I got to do the most awesome sonic rainboom at the wedding too.” Rainbow exclaimed happily.

I sighed mentally. Another alicorn huh? And she just happens to be married to Twilight’s brother I bet she lives in that building behind the barrier.

“So I take it she lives in that place behind the barrier then?” I asked, giving voice to my thoughts.

“Naa Shining Armor and Cadence live in the Crystal Empire, aren’t you listening?” Rainbow asked quirking an eyebrow.

“Right, right, sorry it’s just a bit hard to keep track of all the facts flying around. I mean next you’re probably going to tell me that Twilight became the alicorn of magic or something.” I with a small smile, however Rainbow just laughed awkwardly and proceeded to run a hoof through her mane.

“Alicorn of frie-” she started to say but I interrupted her with frustrated cry of my own.

“Oh come on! Why not make it a damn alicorn bargain sale?!”

Wow, I didn’t know that I still cared that much. I thought as I my mind started to catch up with my reaction. Apparently Rainbow thought it was weird too.

“Woah, Cloud didn’t know you had something against alicorns. Isn’t that kind of weird since you and princess Celestia had a thing going o-” She started to rant before I interrupted her again.

“No I don’t have anything against alicorns, it’s is just that… You know what, forget I ever said anything. Now shouldn’t we be doing something other than just stand here and argue?” I said, trying to deflect the subject.

“Alright, alright, fine. I’ll drop it, that being said we’d better get going again. Come on AJ!” Rainbow agreed, and turned to Applejack.

“Okay we’ll go, but first. How do I know that neither of you two are changelings?” Applejack asked, and I had to agree it was a reasonable question.

“When I pranked you two in Canterlot I added excessive amounts of spice to your food. Is that good enough?” I answered Applejack, who nodded and turned to Rainbow.

“Do we really have to do this?” She complained but withered under Applejacks stern gaze. “Okay, okay I’ll prove it!” She exclaimed and leaned in to whisper something into Applejack’s ear which she seemed to accept as proof.

“Okay fine, I believe that neither of you are changelings.” Applejack said and turned around towards Ponyville.

Only for her to be forced to turn back again when Rainbow decided to accuse Applejack of being a changeling. Both mares continued to bicker back and forth a bit, before I stepped in to separate them.

“Can we please decide that none of us are bug ponies and that me going through Ponyville right now isn’t a good idea?” I pleaded.

It was Rainbow who answered me. “Heh, sorry Cloud. Well I can see why you don’t want to go straight through Ponyville the day after the changelings left, but where are you planning to go?”

“Hadn’t thought about that, I guess I’ll just stay in the Everfree for a few days.” I said with a shrug.

“Over mah’ dead body. You can stay in the barn Cloud. It’s not much, but it’s better than the wilds.” Applejack offered.

“Then I will happily accept, shall we go?”

“Alright let’s get goin’.” Applejack agreed, but we only walked for about a hundred meters before Applejack stopped again. “Shoot, I forgot that we were supposed to report back to Twilight. Rainbow can you rush back and get Twilight and the rest to come down to the barn? Oh and please make sure mah’ family is safe.”

Rainbow dash just saluted and flew off in a burst of speed, leaving Applejack to lead me to the barn. Hmm I never visited Sweet Apple Acres when I was here last time, this should be interesting. I had time to think before Applejack started to talk again.

“So Cloud…”

*<>*

Rainbow Dash touched down about twenty meters away from Twilight outside the pinkish barrier, just under five minutes after she had left Cloud and Applejack. Great Twilight was easy to find, now to get her to come with me. She thought as she briskly trotted over.

“Hey Twi!” she called out.

“Stop right there!” Came Twilight’s sharp reply.

What the hay? That sounded hostile, why is she… Oh yeah she must’ve heard about the changelings from the rest of the villagers. She realized.

“Hey it’s okay Twi I’m not a changeling!” Rainbow called back.

“Wait how do you know about the changelings did you and Applejack find one?” Twilight asked and started to move over cautiously.

“Not quite, and I’m not a changeling. If you want proof just ask me anything.”

“Alright, what style of learning works for you Rainbow?” Twilight asked, stopping a few meters in front of her still behind the barrier.

I guess she means that time she figured out that I remember what I see when I fly. Heh, figures the egghead would pick that. She thought with a smirk.

“It’s unconscious learning, right?” she said proudly.

Twilight just facehoofed before answering. “It’s you alright Rainbow, and it is subconscious.”

“Oh that’s just a minor detail.” She said waving a hoof dismissively as Twilight opened a small hole for her to pass through the barrier.

“Okay Rainbow before we go to this thing you found or whatever it is I need you to help out with some things here.” Twilight quickly supplied when the hole in the barrier closed behind her.

“Alright, what do you need?” She asked, the quicker they got done here the quicker they could move to Applejack’s barn.

“Well first I need your help with…”

*<>*

Twilight had to agree that whatever Rainbow and Applejack had found intrigued her, but right now she needed Rainbow’s help to calm down all of the ponies that had taken shelter in the castle. So for the next few hours she and all her friends, except Applejack, worked furiously to make sure all ponies were accounted for. Luckily it seemed that everypony had made it to the castle safely, that only left coaxing all of them into leaving the castle. For a town as skittish as Ponyville that was a task easier said than done.

Eventually though, sometime between the afternoon and evening, they finally managed to convince Ponyville’s residents that the town was once again safe. Twilight turned to her friends.

“Thanks girls, I couldn’t have done that without you.” She said appreciatively.

A chorus of no problem and don’t mention it filled the air for a few seconds before Twilight continued.

“Alright then, next on the agenda Rainbow and Applejack found something-”

“Somepony.” Rainbow interrupted.

“Yes thank you, somepony outside Ponyville and Applejack stayed behind to bring this individual to her farm. Rainbow hasn’t said who it is because it would and I quote ruin the surprise. ” Twilight said with a sigh.

“Anyhow who wants to come with me and Rainbow to the farm?”

“I’d love to find out who this mysterious pony is darling, but I’d like to take a few minutes to check on my family first.” Rarity spoke up.

“Um, and I would like to check on my animals and critters. You know if that’s okay…” Fluttershy said carefully.

Twilight just nodded and turned to Pinkie, or would’ve if the party pony hadn’t gone missing. She looked around wildly for a few seconds but couldn’t’ find her.

“Where did Pinkie go? She was here a second ago.” She asked without even hoping to get an answer. “No matter she’ll show up later, she always does. Okay so it seems it’s just Rainbow and I for now then.”

After a quick set of see you later and similar phrases Twilight and Rainbow hopped into the air started flying towards the large apple orchard that was Sweet apple acres. Throughout the flight she tried to pry any sort of clue she could from Rainbow, but the polychromaticly maned mare refused to budge. So when they landed outside the Apple family barn, she knew nothing more than that there was somepony waiting inside. As they approached the barn one of the doors swung open to reveal Applejack.

“Hey there, what took ya so long?” She greeted.

“Sorry ‘bout that AJ there were a lot to do regarding the villagers. Oh and Applebloom, Big Mac and Granny Smith are all fine they should be heading over here as we speak.” Rainbow quickly summarized.

“Thanks Rainbow, so Twi you here to see him alone? I would’ve guessed the rest would be interested to meet him again too.” Applejack said, raising an eyebrow.

“They probably would be if Rainbow had told us who it was instead of just saying that it would ruin the surprise.” Twilight said tiredly.

“Ya didn’t tell her?” Applejack said, turning to Rainbow with a disapproving look.

“Naa, it’ll be much more fun this way.” Rainbow said with a grin.

With a sigh Applejack turned back to Twilight. “Well, you’re in fer a surprise Twi.” She said before stepping to the side, allowing Twilight to go inside the barn.

Despite the afternoon sun outside the barn was dark, the only light source being the open door. So she did her best to strain her eyes to pierce through the darkness, and just as she was about to cast a spell to banish the darkness a distinctly male voice called out.

“I gotta say that I was skeptical at first when I heard about it. But those wings suit you Twilight Sparkle.”

She looked around trying to find the source, she barely caught sight of a motion from one of the large beams in the ceiling before something dropped down in front of her. Slowly the thing that had landed in front of her stood up, it was tall, but she still couldn’t tell what it was due to the cloak the thing wore. But as it turned to face her eyes quickly widened in recognition. That is definitively a human. He clearly knows me but who could it be? They shouldn’t be able to cross over to this world with the mirror right now. She thought frantically. And for that matter shouldn’t he be a pony if he’s in this world? Her mind continued to supply before coming to a dead stop when the human spoke again.

“You okay there Sparkle butt?”

Cloud. Her mind finally worked out before the world around her went dark.

*<>*

Eeh, did Twilight just faint? I wondered as I slowly approached the small alicorn. Well shit, she did. I thought. Unable to decide what to do next as I carefully poked Twilight with a finger. Just as I started contemplating if I should call Applejack or Rainbow Dash in here the purple alicorn started to stir again.

“I had the strangest dream.” She murmured to herself as she started to scramble on to her hooves, her head facing away from me.

“Yeah, no dream Twilight.” I said in a neutral tone, but seeing how fast Twilight’s head snapped around I might as well have been shouting.

“Cloud, but how? Why now? You are not possible! The rift was closed, why are you here if you aren’t possible?!” She started ranting, growing louder every passing second.

I couldn’t help but sigh before holding up a hand to silence her. “I’m beginning to think that I’ll hear that question a lot in the coming days but I’m afraid that I can’t answer neither how nor why. Well at least not yet.”

“Then at least tell me why you are here of all places? Are you going to just up and leave again?” She demanded.

“I guess I can tell you that much. I don’t intend to leave Equus again but then at the same time I’m unsure of what I should do. As for why I’m here, I came here to show those I know that I’m back and then to see where life takes me.” I answered. I really hadn’t planned any further.

“When you say that you came here you imply that you’ve been somewhere else before coming here.” Twilight remarked.

“Yeah I’ve been living in Gryphus for the past two months.” I added before I could stop myself.

“Two months! You’ve been back on Equus for two months and you just now decide to show up and tell us that you’re back?!” She near shouted.

I had forgotten how good Twilight was at pushing my buttons when it came to situations like this. For I could feel a very familiar frustration rising within as Twilight continued to rattle off one accusation after another for how I had acted.

“Well perhaps I didn’t want to be the cause of any more chaos in Equestria! Perhaps I just wanted to stay in Gryphus and live out my life in peace!” I cut in, my voice rising in sync with Twilights.

“Well perhaps you should’ve thought a step further then! You should know that we cared for you even after you just disappeared that day! Not to mention Celestia, do you know exactly what she went through?!” Twilight responded in kind.

“Yes I’m quite aware of just what I put her through, and that’s one of my main reasons for not coming back here! What right do I have to waltz right back into her life and throw whatever relationship she has now into a maelstrom of confusion?!” I shouted back almost instantly.

“What relationship?! There’s no pony alive that even dares to even ask her on a date! You gave her a taste of something that she hadn’t had for over five hundred years!” Twilight shouted back.

That caused my anger to go out like a match in a rainstorm.

“Could you repeat that please?” I asked the irate mare carefully.

Twilight snorted angrily. “Yeah you Cloud! Your actions caused long lasting problems for Celestia but unfortunately it isn’t my place to tell you what!”

“No the part about her not seeing anyone.” I asked again.

“She hasn’t been seeing anypony since you left, not that she has allowed anypony near her really. But I will not allow you to contact her! Not right now! This needs to be handled with care!” Twilight barked out, stomping her hooves at the end of every sentence.

I was barely listening at this point though as my thoughts had started to spiral away at the confirmation that Celestia hadn’t entered a new relationship. In the background Twilight was ranting again but I didn’t care what she said right now. I needed to get to Celestia, it was high time that I stopped putting this aside. So I held up a hand again to silence Twilight.

“I need a few minutes to clear my head Twilight, I’ll answer any questions you have after that. But for now I just need to take a quick walk.” I told her.

“I don’t know Cloud, you aren’t the easiest individual to trust.” Twilight stated.

“I’m well aware of that but please, it’s not like I’m going to be able to make a run for it with these two legs.” I said.

“Alright then I suppose you’ve got a point, but you’d better answer everything after this.” Twilight conceded grumpily.

“It’s a promise.” I said as I walked past her and out of the barn.

I forced myself to keep my pace calm as I headed deeper into the orchard, but as soon I couldn’t see the barn anymore I broke into a full sprint. I kept up the sprint for a few minutes before I took to the sky with a few mighty beats of my wings, my heading being Canterlot. I thought I told you not to lock your heart away Tia, this is not what I had hoped for you! I thought, not sure if I was frustrated or happy.

*<>*

Applejack and Rainbow had just enough time to let Twilight into the barn with Cloud before the Apple family arrived at the scene. After some hasty explanations that a long way guest was meeting with Twilight in the barn both mares started to help granny smith to prepare an early supper. Soon though heated voices could be heard resonating from the barn, something that kept up for quite some time before suddenly growing quiet again.

“Hey Applejack, you think she knocked him out?” Rainbow suggested with a grin.

“Naa, Twi wouldn’t do that. But I think it’s awfully quiet. Should we check on them?”

Rainbow just nodded and together they excused themselves to granny Smith before heading out and over to the barn. Inside they found Twilight sitting by herself with a heavy scowl, however she perked up when she saw who it was.

“Hey girls, you didn’t see Cloud on your way in?” she greeted them.

“No, why?” Rainbow asked, sounding somewhat confused.

“He said he needed a quick breather after I mentioned Celestia to him.” Twilight answered.

“Ya let him leave Twi?” Applejack demanded.

“No of course not, but he told me he needed a few minutes to clear his head.” Twilight defended.

“Yeah but ya left him without anypony to watch him. Whatever made that seem like a good idea? Especially after telling him about princess Celestia.” Applejack pushed onwards.

“I don’t see what the big deal is here? I mean it’s not like he’s going to fly away, humans don’t have wings or anything like that.” Twilight stated with certainty.

Applejack exchanged a quick look with Rainbow who quickly shook her head in panic, they both knew what was going to happen when Twilight caught on. But as fate would have it Twilight had become a rather perceptive pony over the years and noticed the silent exchange between her two friends.

“He doesn’t have wings, right?” she said, a slightly crazed tone had entered her voice.

“Err, about that Twi’ we may have forgotten to mention that small detail.” Rainbow said carefully.

Twilight’s right eye started to twitch nervously and a rather creepy smile started to slowly appear on her face. “This is bad, this is bad, this is bad…” she chanted all while she kept unfolding and folding her wings.

“Hey Twilight calm down, come on breathe or something.” Rainbow suggested, sounding unsure of her own suggestion.

“CALM! How can I be calm?! This is a disaster, I need to get Spike and send a message right away!” Twilight shouted before vanishing in a flash.

“Woah! Where is Twilight going?” Pinkie Pie asked as she entered the barn with Spike on her back.

Rainbow and Applejack exchanged another, this one being one of what are the odds combined with don’t question it, it’s Pinkie.

“So where is the new arrival? I need to know when I should start my welcome to Ponyville act.” Pinkie said to the groan of both Rainbow and Applejack.

*<>*

Celestia walked slowly through the corridors of Canterlot castle, another day had passed and she knew she should be grateful that it had been a peaceful one. Especially with all the business regarding Tirek about four months back, and not to mention Discord’s mysterious disappearance just two months ago. But despite all this she couldn’t help but sigh to herself, life had become monotonous once again and she had started to feel detached from everyday life. Twilight was shaping up to becoming a fine princess, Cadence had the Crystal empire to worry about and Luna was steadily regaining popularity among the citizens. Why has it become so hard for me to be happy for them? She thought to herself as she reached her personal chambers, barely acknowledging the guards stationed outside.

Seeing how she had lowered the sun already the room was cast in relative darkness, and through the large balcony window Luna’s moon could be seen slowly rising. Is that a small draft I feel? She let her eyes wander across the room. Odd, did I forget to close the balcony door today? She thought as she noticed that the reason. She trotted over to the door while simultaneously removing her regalia, and after closing the door she turned around dead set on getting some sleep. She tucked herself in and closed her eyes, it shouldn’t be all too hard to find rest.

“I thought I told you not to lock your heart away Tia.” A familiar voice rung out in her chambers.

Ah, it’s this dream again. It had been nearly eighteen months since the last time she had one of these. Now any second Cloud is going to say something again. But when there was no second line coming from dream Cloud she became confused. That’s odd where is the continuation? She thought as she strained her ears.

“Come on Tia not even I fall asleep that fast and that’s saying something.” Cloud’s voice suddenly said much closer.

Startled by the proximity of his voice she sat up in her bed and turned to towards the direction she had heard him. This dream Cloud was way more blunt tha- her thoughts stopped working as she saw Cloud in his human form leaning on one of her beds posts.

“Hi there Tia, long time no see.” Human Cloud said cautiously.

For a few long seconds her mind remained in the nonfunctioning state it been put into just moments prior. But as her mind once again started to work she slowly got out of bed and lit her horn.

“Two and a half years, and now you show up nonchalantly like nothing ever happened?” She questioned, surprising herself with how deceptively calm her voice was. Although it seemed that Cloud started to catch on as her bed was enveloped in the same golden glow as her horn.

*<>*

Light Keeper let out a relaxed sigh as princess Celestia went past him and Fog Light to enter her quarters. She seemed to be in one of her darker moods this evening and he didn’t want to do anything that could provoke his princess. What many ponies failed to understand was that despite being incredibly powerful and wise princess Celestia was still a pony under all those walls others saw around her. The truth of matter was that it was only the close staff and her sister that ever saw this side of her.

“Did she seem a tad gloomy to you Light?” Fog whispered from his position to the left of him, mirroring his thoughts with his question.

“Yeah, she never really recovered from the incident two and a half years ago. And it wasn’t’ made better by the fact that Chrysalis showed up and beat her when she was still recovering from that spell.” Light Keeper replied to his fellow guard.

Even though he technically outranked Fog Light he didn’t mind the fact that he addressed him without proper respect. They had gone through basic together and had found to have a lot in common. Although the main difference between the two would be the fact that while Fog was ever as good of a soldier as Light Keeper was, he had a tendency of finding trouble. Not the serious kind but enough to keep him from advancing in ranks.

“Yeah, that was a fiasco with the changelings alright. For us guards I mean.” Fog Light agreed. “Well she has been forced to pretty much work nonstop since then too, I guess it’s good that lady Sparkle ascended to ease some of the burden.” Fog continued.

“Yeah tell me about it, sometimes I wonder just what is wrong with our country. There’s just one great villain after another.” Light Keeper lamented.

“At least we have Discord on our side.” Fog added.

Light Keeper had to agree with that, Discord had proven to be useful right up until he had betrayed them again. He was just about to point that fact out to Fog when his ears caught something from inside the princess’s quarters. Was that talking? He held up a hoof to make sure Fog stayed silent and strained his ears, leaning slightly closer to the door. It could of course just be princess Luna that dropped by, but he had to make sure.

“…ike no… ..ing …er …appen…” His princess’s muffled voice could be heard through the door.

“..ia ..alm …own. …ut …own the …ed!” A male voice could be heard responding to his princess. Before his mind could begin to even start contemplating what an ed was, or who the voice might belong to the large double doors he and Fog had been guarding were torn to splinters as Celestia’s bed came crashing through them. Wide eyed Light Keeper stared at the broken mass of carved wood that had once been a set of doors and a bed. He slowly turned his head back towards the princess’s chambers and managed to just catch a glimpse of a tall shape rushing past with a very angry princess hot on its heels.

*<>*

How dare he dodge?! The irrational part of Celestia’s mind screamed as she dove after Cloud when he made run for it. Her hooves slid across the marble floors as she came rushing out of her rooms and out into the corridor. Cloud was already quite the way down the corridor keeping quite the pace for a bipedal, but she would be damned if she gave up at this point. With flap of her wings she gained a burst of speed and continued her pursuit of the individual that held her ire.

Her hooves thundered across the castle floors as she ran, the doors lining the walls nothing but a blur. Yet despite her best efforts she couldn’t seem to close the gap between her and Cloud. It didn’t help that he could take corners much more smoothly than her at these speeds either. Oh let’s be honest here Celestia. A quiet voice whispered in her head. It’s been a while since you actually had to push yourself. She pressed it down refusing to acknowledge that any fault was hers at the moment.

“Come back here this instant!” She cried out, as Cloud turned another corner up ahead of her.

This path leads to the upper guard quarters. She realized. With all the noise we’re making there’s bound to be activity up there! She cheered, knowing that the fight would soon be over. Her glee was short lived though as rounded the corner in time to see Cloud dive over a group of surprised guards and continuing to run after a quick roll. With a small growl she flapped her wings and soared over the guards, refusing to let herself be beaten.

The guards cries for her to wait fell on deaf ears as she pressed on, it was clear that Cloud was running without a plan and if luck was on her side he would eventually take a wrong turn and end up in dead end. Or I could block his path by using magic. Using her innate ability she reached out towards a door ahead of Cloud and flung it open, only for him to make a small adjustment to his heading in the last second. And after the failed attempt to stop him with a door she no more chances to duplicate the trick, as he stayed away from doors. Grabbing him directly with her magic was also out of the question since he was changing direction way too often for a telekinetic field to properly form around him.

That left stun spells which quite frankly she hadn’t used for a very long time, not to mention the risk of hitting a random bystander. After all they had rushed past plenty of servants by now that had either dove out of the way or had simply stood frozen in shock as one of their princesses, without any regalia, had come leaping over them.

“Stop running!” She called out as the shape of Cloud rounded another corner ahead of her.

But as she came around the corner and saw Cloud’s form disappear up a set of stairs, instead of down, she knew that the mad chase was about to be over. Hah! That stair leads to a tower lookout. She cheered triumphantly as she ascended the stairs. She found Cloud standing on the guard railing facing her, behind him the night sky spread out in a beautiful vista of stars. He can’t be thinking of jumping, right? She thought as she slowly walked out from the stairwell.

Her eyes widened though as Cloud gave a two fingered salute before falling backwards and out of sight. With an involuntary gasp she hurried over to the rail only to see a pair of large blue grey wings burst out from under the cloak Cloud was wearing. Still frustrated she dove in after him and just above the ground she finally caught him.

They landed in a tangled heap of limbs and clothing. But this time Celestia was the faster out of the two of them as she quickly freed herself and pinned Cloud to the ground. In the moonlight she finally saw his face clearly, he looked tired. Not the exhausted kind of tired but the kind she had been feeling every day since he left. Deep down she still knew why he had done it, but now she just wanted to be mad. Despite her efforts though she felt her previous anger start to ebb away to give way for something else, tears. She quickly scrambled away from Cloud, she didn’t want him to see her cry. She wouldn’t cry! But she couldn’t hide her sniffles, and before she knew what had happened Cloud had enveloped her in a hug.

“I’m sorry Tia, this was poorly handled of me. I just… I’m really bad at this sort of thing.” He explained, carefully trying to choose his words.

The combination of what she had yearned for so long and the rampaging emotions she felt became too much for her at that point and she broke down into full on crying. She could feel Cloud’s wings envelop her too as he gently rocked her back and forth.

“You’re real aren’t you?” She managed to ask between sobs.

“There, there Tia. I’m really here, but for now just listen to my voice and what I have to say.” He said soothingly.

“To be perfectly honest your anger with me is completely justified, and I won’t have any illusions of you forgiving me for what I did. In fact I suggest that you don’t it, will help you to be rational for the days to come. But we still need to sit down and talk Tia, there’s a lot of things that were left unsaid between us. When you feel that you are ready for that come find me. I’ll be staying in the Ponyville area.” He explained and all she could do was force herself to nod.

“Then this is farewell for now Tia.” He continued as he slowly released the embrace and stood up.

He took one last look at her as she looked back, a small smile on his mouth, before hoping into the sky and disappearing into the night. Things were going to change again.

*<>*

It was on tired wings that I flew in over Ponyville, but I couldn’t allow myself to rest just yet. No I pressed onwards a bit further so that I came to the road leading to Sweet Apple acres, and after following it for a few hundred meters I touched down on one of the hills. From my hill I could clearly see Ponville, Sweet Apple acres and what I assumed to be Fluttershy’s cottage. This place is as good as any. I thought as I summoned Imagination. After creating a wide border for a reality marble I sat down with the spear across my lap, I was going to need a new home.

Ch 8. Highs and lows

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Chapter 8. Highs and lows

And there it goes
He’s so close to a remedy
A painful host of his time
And he’ll never show
to the world how his life’s supposed to be
Drenched by the dark in his mind

Sometimes I think that my thoughts are my worst enemy. They lead me down dark paths, creates assumptions and causes me to overanalyze things. To make matters worse they have a tendency to make me perceive new physical enemies, and in the worst case scenario I make one. If there’s one thing I should’ve learned throughout my travels it’s to act more on my instincts. While I’m making some progress in this field it’s not fast enough. What’s that old saying? It’s impossible to teach an old dog new tricks?

*~*

Twilight awoke groggily to the sound of somepony hammering on her bedroom door. When did I get in bed? Her still sluggish mind produced as she lifted hoof to rub the sleep put of her eyes. Whoever was hammering on the door seemed determined to not stop since the sound continued to echo throughout the room.

“Okay, okay! I’m up! Yesh, can’t a mare get some sleep!” She called out to whoever it was on the other side of the door.

Then again what was I doing before I was sleeping? I remember looking for Spike and I remember finding him. Did I want to send a letter or did he give me one? She thought as she moved over to the door. A quick unlock later the door flew open and Rainbow Dash burst into the room.

“Come on Twi, you gotta come. The rest of the girls are already assembled in the entrance hall.”

That was weird, Rainbow didn’t normally have this much energy at this time of the day. What time was it anyway? She wondered.

“Where are we going?” Twilight asked, still confused as to what the fuzz was about.

“Well we think it’s Cloud’s doing, but it could be Discord as well. You’d better come see for yourself.” Rainbow said before rushing off towards the lower levels of Ponyville castle.

Cloud, that’s right! She thought as the memories of yesterday came rushing back to her. The frantic chase after Spike, her episode growing worse and worse. Until she finally found Spike, but then it had turned out to be too late already. And finally the overload when Luna had sent a note via dragon fire to inform them what had transpired in Canterlot. Oh dear, went a bit overboard again. She realized with a groan to herself. I guess I better make sure I didn’t cause any damage like last time. Oh and I better hurry down to the girls to see just what has them so bothered. She decided.

So after a quick brush through of her mane she trotted downstairs where she found her entire circle of close friends to be already waiting. Rarity was the one who spotted her first and the others did so soon after her initial greeting.

“Glad to see you’re finally awake darling. I didn’t know what to think when I saw Applejack and Rainbow cart you home last night.”

Oh so it had been Rainbow and Applejack that had helped her home. She needed to remember to thank them later. She thought and made a small mental note.

“Yeah, I just want to say I’m sorry for overreacting yesterday.” She said truthfully.

“Pish posh, it’s all water under the bridge Twilight. And all things considered I think you were a bit justified in your reactions, it is Cloud were talking about after all.” Rarity began with a small smile. “Although I have to admit that I find it quite hard to believe that Cloud is back after all this time.”

“Oh he’s back alright, but ah don’t think you’ll recognize that it’s him at first glance.” Applejack chimed in.

“I bet I will~” Pinkie’s cherry voice joined in.

The random call outs continued for a few minutes, most of them being supplied by Pinkie, but eventually Rainbow seemed to grow restless.

“So are we going today?” She asked impatiently.

With a chorus of agreements they left the castle, and headed out into the summer day that was waiting there. Twilight had a hard time to tell the precise time but it seemed that it was definitely still morning hours.

“So where exactly is it we’re going?” Twilight asked as they trotted through the streets of Ponyville.

“I could say you’ll see, but seeing how well that went yesterday I’m going to settle for I can’t really explain it.” Rainbow Dash spoke up.

Of course it has to be something of Cloud’s special brand of weird. She lamented as they continued to walk, but as soon as they cleared the town border they stopped.

“Girls can you please tell me what exactly I’m looking at?” Twilight said, not believing what she was seeing.

“It’s a house of course, do you need glasses Twilight?” Pinkie asked, sounding confused.

“Thanks, but no thanks Pinkie. I can see that it’s a house but why is it on damned floating island?!” She said, already starting to feel frustrated again and they hadn’t even seen Cloud yet.

“I don’t know Twilight, why do you ask me? It’s not like I usually know weird tidbits of information.” Pinkie said with a completely serious look before bouncing off towards the house.

“Calm down darling, I’m sure we’ll have our questions answered in time. Now come on, otherwise Pinkie is going to get too far ahead.” Rarity said calmingly.

“I guess you’re right, thanks Rarity.” Twilight said after taking a few deep breaths.

The five hurried after Pinkie, who had already reached the edge of the island. When they caught up two thing immediately became apparent. First the island wasn’t tethered to anything but nor was it moving. Secondly it wasn’t floating as high up in the air Twilight had first assumed, in fact it hung lazily about a meter above ground. And that was measuring the between the lowest point of the island and the ground below. A small set of uneven but relatively flat stones, also flying freely in the air, created a sort of stair leading up to the island.

“Ah guess we’re goin’ up?” Applejack said, breaking the silence that had formed.

After ascending the improvised stair they were met with another strange view. A house unlike any they had seen before, at this distance they could easily tell that the proportions of the house were not designed with a pony in mind. It seemed to be a two story building with large windows and grey painted wooden walls. A chimney poked out of the roof, but no smoke was coming out of it. Spending but a few moments to share determined looks with each other they pushed onwards over the small yard, and up to the large front door. This close they could clearly hear muffled music being played from inside, but it wasn’t a song that any of them recognized. Seeing as there was no doorbell or anything Twilight reached out with a hoof and knocked.

For a few seconds they waited but nothing happened. So Twilight reached out and knocked again, a bit harder this time. The process repeated itself another two times, before Twilight gave a frustrated cry towards the sky.

“Um, perhaps he isn’t home?” Fluttershy suggested carefully.

“No he’s definitely in there!” Twilight said with certainty.

“Maybe we should come back later though, he is probably not ready yet.” Rarity said, adding her thoughts.

“No we’re going in now. In fact I will teleport us right to him!” Twilight stated as the frustration got the best of her once again.

And before any of her friends had a chance to object she had lit her horn. A quick flash later they reappeared inside the house beside Cloud. That’s strange, why did it suddenly become so humid? It’s like I entered a- Any further thoughts were cut off as she came realize just where she had teleported herself and her friends. In front of her, in the middle of taking a shower stood a very unaware and very nude Cloud. Since he didn’t seem to notice his sudden guests he just continued to carefully clean one of wings under the falling water. A small gasp, possibly from Fluttershy, seemed to catch his attention though. He turned his head slowly to face the six ponies that had suddenly appeared in his bathroom, a humored smile appearing on his face when he saw what had caused the sound.

“Not that I mind you dropping by, but I’m kind of in the middle of something here. So if you don’t mind could you please wait outside?” He said, clearly entertained by the development.

Twilight and company could only nod while making blubbering attempts at speech as they hurriedly filed out of the bathroom and quickly closing the door behind them again. Stunned and embarrassed silence reigned among the ponies, many having a hard time understanding what had just happened. Unfortunately for Twilight her analytical part of her mind had taken in quite an eyeful of Cloud’s form and found it exceedingly hard to focus on something else. To make matters worse her friends who had thanks to her also been granted a free view of Cloud started whispering among each other as they regained their ability to speak.

“I didn’t expect him to be so tall.” Rarity managed to say still portraying an embarrassed blush.

Thanks Rarity I really needed to have the entire scene play out in my head again. She thought sarcastically.

“Ah’ wonder where he got that nasty bruise on the lower part of his back.” Applejack said, sporting a blush that could rival Rarity’s.

And now I’m focusing on his butt, damn it AJ. She ranted.

“Wings…” Fluttershy murmured not quite blushing but embarrassed nonetheless.

And we move on to his surprisingly large wings. She thought feeling like it was time to give up.

“I knew he was pretty tough but damn, that body.” Rainbow said appreciatively.

Huh, that’s actually a topic I can appreciate thanks Rainbow. She thought smiling despite herself. His body structure is different from the humans in the world beyond the mirror, which means his world must be unconnected. His muscle structure is clearly defined but lean, a probable cause for this would be a body trained through repeated exercise rather than body building. In short he has an athlete’s body much like Rainbow’s.

“Wait so nopony is going to mention the length of his-” Pinkie began to say cheerfully but was interrupted by a unanimous “PINKIE!” as their faces quickly grew red.

“What? I was going to say mane. It looked really rough.” Pinkie said, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Oh thank the maker. Twilight thought before Pinkie shattered the small respite with her next comment.

“Wow you girls need to get your mind out of the gutter, did you really think I was talking about his dick?”

*<>*

A clearly audible groan could be heard from outside my bathroom door, just in time for me to have turned off the shower. For the first time in weeks I felt truly clean again and I relished the feeling as I reached for a towel. As I quickly rubbed down my body I let my thoughts wander, for one I hadn’t accounted for the girls arriving this early. I guess it was to be expected though, the house I currently called my own had sprung up overnight after all. But the biggest challenge on my horizon would be to see if I could make a life here again. I had no plan, no grand scheme, just what I had conjured and my lasting nightmares. I had suffered them again last night, the same dream I always had about the hospital bed. This had been the worst night in a while. With an effort of will I wrenched my thoughts away from the dark subject, and wrapped the towel around my waist.

I went over to my clothes and started to quickly get dressed, lamenting the fact that they had become rather worn down over the months I had spent here. Hopefully I could commission a new set of clothes from Rarity later today though. Once dressed I stepped out through the bathroom door and came face to face with a half circle of ponies. I let my gaze sweep over them, taking in their familiar colors and shapes. They all definitely seem more mature since the last time I saw them. I thought to myself approvingly before addressing them.

“Okay, now we’ll talk. Follow me.” I said leading the ponies down to the living room.

“I’d offer something to drink or eat but I haven’t got anything of the sort right now.” I added once everyone had been seated on the large sofa or various chairs or pillows. “Now who wants to go first?”

Silence reigned for a few seconds before Rarity cleared her throat. “If nopony’s going to say anything I might as well start. Where did this house come from? And pray tell why is it on a floating island?”

“Ah, about the island thing that was a mistake. I only intended to summon the house when I started but one stray thought led to another and suddenly the simple home I had envisioned had become something else. I guess I shouldn’t have attempted to do it while near exhausted.” I explained, drawing confused looks from all the assembled ponies.

“Cloud would you mind running that by us one more time? You summoned this house? Do you even realize the amount of magic that would require?” Twilight said, the disbelief written all over her face.

I facepalmed. “Oh damn I’m stupid, I should probably have shown you this first.” I said, summoning Imagination.

A collective gasp was heard from the girls as the spear materialized in my hands. Once it was fully formed I held it out so that they could get a good look at it.

“What is that Cloud? Some kind of artifact?” Twilight asked me, turning her gaze away from the spear to face me.

“I was actually hoping you could help me with that, since I’m not entirely sure of what it is. All I know is that it allows me to summon objects and that it doubles as a spear.” I answered her truthfully. She seems to have cooled down from yesterday, good. I hope it will stay that way. I pondered.

“I have never seen or read about anything like this. Could you summon something though perhaps that will give me a clue as to how it works?” Twilight asked hopefully.

“Eh, about that. That will be impossible.” I answered carefully.

“What! Why?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Well you see, to maintain the summoning of the island, the house and everything in it I had to put up a special zone that would keep the objects here. To be able to summon anything again I would have to remove that zone and wait for the spear to recharge.” I explained patiently.

“Okay so do that then, we have time to wait a bit.” Twilight pushed on.

“Yes but here’s where the second problem comes in. Size and complexity will affect the time required for the spear to regain its charge, and going by the house and island alone we’re probably looking at a five years minimum here.” I finished my explanation lamely.

“So you’re telling me that one of the perhaps most important discoveries in this era is nothing more than a spear right now?” Twilight said, sounding defeated.

“I’m afraid so. But it would have been hard for you to study it anyway Twilight. Look what happens as soon I let go of the spear.” I said while releasing my grip on the weapon, causing to disappear.

“Now I can’t let you see it action any more than what you just saw, but I can offer you my research notes.” I offered the studious mare. “Although now that I think about it, I left the duffel bag with my stuff in your barn Applejack.” I added thoughtfully.

“I guess that will have to do.” Twilight said dejectedly. “I have one last question though. You say that the island was a stray thought, could elaborate on that?”

“Ah, I never explained that part, did I? Well once I start the process of summoning, I must continue to summon objects without pause otherwise the process will come to a halt. So once the thought of the island popped into my head I was forced to go along with it. Not my brightest moment if I may say so.” I told them.

“So the entire floating island is a mistake?” Twilight asked.

“Sort of, yeah…” I answered her.

“That’s-” she began.

“Awesome!” Rainbow cried out.

Okay, this is going better than I had hoped. Perhaps the shower incident mellowed Twilight out a bit. I kind of expected her to rip me a new one after what I pulled yesterday. I thought. But there was still one major topic that had to be addressed and judging by the silence that had fallen again perhaps it was finally time to talk about it.

“So… I guess it’s time to address the elephant in the room then?” I said. In hindsight I should probably have used another set of words though.

“There’s an elephant in the room?!” Fluttershy cried out happily and at the same time Rainbow said.

“Ele what?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “It is a figure of speech, there’s no actual elephant here. It means that perhaps it finally time to talk about the thing we’ve all been avoiding but still are very much aware of.”

“Ooooh.” Pinkie said. “And what is that?”

“Sugarcube, Ah think he means why he left Equestria the last time.” Applejack chimed in.

I only nodded, taking some time to carefully study all of their faces. In them I could see, curiosity, nervousness and determination. I closed my eyes and took a deep calming breath of air, and as I exhaled I opened them again. It was time that I explained to them just what had transpired the last few days during my last visit.

“This is going to take some explaining, so please hold any questions until I’m done. You are of course free to condemn me if you so desire once you’ve heard it all but at least let me get the full story out there first. Does that seem fair to you?” I asked the ponies in my living room.

Since no one spoke up at first Applejack took the opportunity to do so. “Sugarcube we just want ta know, we all figured out that it had somethin’ to do with the Stars but not more than that.”

“Alright, we’ll the time when things started going down the drain was the day before I left. And yes I say left because the final choice was mine. Now I had just entered my quarters and was about to retire for the night…”

*~*

“So then you didn’t leave on your own volition?” Rarity asked, breaking the silence that had formed after I had finished my retelling of my last encounter with Grief.

“Oh no, just as I claimed before I told you this the choice was mine Rarity don’t ever mistake that for something else. But the all I had were two relatively bad options from my point of view and I picked the one that I perceived to carry the least amount of risk.” I countered, the tale had put me slightly on edge so my response was a bit harsher than intended.

“You’re the one that stole my research.” Twilight accused.

“Technically no, I persuaded someone else to steal it. I guess the end result was the same anyway though.” I countered.

“If ah had known about what that snake Dreamcatcher was doing I would’ve-” Applejack began but I interrupted her.

“Would’ve what Applejack? I had no idea how much power she could wield so I took a gamble, and guess what? I won. That was what my I felt that my entire stay was like, a big gamble. I’d like to think that I played the game pretty well for someone who was intended to be a disposable piece on the board.” I shot her down. She didn’t deserve that kind of talk from me, but this topic brought forth dark things in me.

“But what you did wasn’t fair to any of those that cared for you Cloud. The way you talk you make it seem like it was just another choice for you. I guess what we want is to know why? No, how. How could you just throw everything away like that?” Twilight questioned ruthlessly.

“How? You ask me how? How did I pick between the two? Let me assure you that was the single most difficult choice I had ever had the displeasure to make.” I was growing angry now.

“Imagine this, you have all your friends on one end and the rest of the world on the other end. You have a chance to save one of the two, so you make a choice when neither option seems right. Have you ever had to make such a decision Twilight Sparkle?! Because I hadn’t before that point, and it nearly broke me! In fact I’m not sure if it did in fact break me!” I finished, at some point I had stood up and had flared my wings as I shouted.

I looked around at the ponies again, Fluttershy was trembling, Pinkies mane was hanging straight, Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity just sat there stunned and Twilight was staring down into the floor. Fuck my life, I just crossed the line. I thought as I sat back down, burying my face in my hands. Not moving I spoke again, in calmer tones this time.

“I’m sorry, you’re not the ones that should’ve taken that anger. It’s just, this entire topic brings out the worst in me. It seems that I still carry something of a wound from that time, it’s no excuse but for what it’s worth. I- I’m sorry….” I trailed off.

Again a pressing silence reigned over my living room. It was clear that I still had a long way to go before I could talk about this in a calm and collected manner.

“Yes…” It was Twilight who spoke next, she sounded tired. “Yes I have been in that situation before Cloud, just a few months back actually. I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have pushed the subject. I think we’d better call it for today.”

“That might be for the best.” I agreed.

They said their farewells and filed out of my home and just as I was about to close the door on their retreating forms Pinkie turned around and rushed back to me.

“Here, I hope you enjoy it.” She said, pulling out a cupcake from nowhere.

“Thanks Pinks.” I said as I offered her a weak smile, which she returned with one of her own.

“Don’t mention it Cloudy, and if um…If you need somepony to talk too I’ll be happy to listen. You once did it for me.” She said before rushing back to her friends.

I closed to door and leaned my back against it. Greet fucking job Cloud. Now they’re sure to be terrified of you. Perfect timing to finally break down. I thought sarcastically as I slowly slid down the door until I sat hunched down, a hand over my face. Eventually dropped the hand from my face and took a closer look at the cupcake Pinkie had given me. It was relatively small thing with pink icing spelling out the words. Welcome back Cloud.

Suddenly my vision blurred and my throat felt thick, I brought a hand up to my eyes and was surprised when I felt a wetness. Am I… crying?, not quite sure of what I was feeling I let my tears fall.

Barely half a day had passed, and it wasn’t over yet.

Ch. 9 To admit your faults

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Chapter 9. To admit your faults

Save all your prayers
I think we lost today
There’s no morning after
And no one’s around to blame

I’m not afraid to bleed
But I won’t do it for you
A star among hypocrites
The melody of our time

So say goodbye to the world
We are the dead that walk the earth
Scream your lungs out
Wait for laughter
You don’t have to wait forever
It’s the next disaster

If it hadn’t been for two particular individuals I may have just continued running after what transpired in Ponyville that day. But thanks to these two wonderful mares I managed to get my life back on track. I owe them a great debt, and it would seem that I’ve started to collect those. This metaphorical toast goes out to you Pinkie and surprisingly to you too Luna.

*~*

I don’t know how long I just sat there on the floor, staring out into space after my tears had dried up. And yet I was still none the wise about the cause for my tears. Was it a reaction to the flowing emotions that had passed, or was it due the heartfelt offer Pinkie had given me? Everything was a mystery to me at this point but eventually I stood back up. Dwelling on it would do me no favors, and seeing how I had always tried to live life in the now something like this would go against everything I believed in. So instead of sitting there I started to inspect the home I had created more closely, there were plenty of objects that my subconscious had added after all.

My work went rather slowly since I had gone quite overboard with my summoning. But seeing how it had been impossible to stop midway to change something I would have to accept my situation. I wasn’t quite sure of how the running water worked, but I wasn’t going to complain as long as it did. As for power to the more modern appliances, and other electronic stuff I had summoned for my convenience, the solution had been simple. On the roof I had multiple powerful solar panels arrayed and a system to store the power for later use. Basically I had imagined a futuristic battery of sorts and the weird logic of this world had done the rest. It was probably a safe bet to assume that the recharge for the spear’s power to come back would be at least ten years or so. That was of course a combined total for all the objects in the house, the house itself and the island.

Anyhow the second floor was dedicated to a second smaller living room, a bathroom, and a couple of guest rooms. Nothing of real interest there, the first floor on the other hand was what my original plan had been. A large kitchen combined with a living room with a fireplace created an open feel for the center of my home. On this floor I also had a small study with books and the like. However it was only filled with books I had read before, I had tried to create new books during my tests of Imagination, but they had all come up with blank pages. I had yet to figure out why I had been able to create the power storage but not the books, not that I could do much about it at this point. Next was a laundry room, and so far this room had been one of the few that had actually seen any use. There was one room I had left relatively empty on this floor too, and that was the room I had intended to be my training room. Lastly I had my bedroom, and I could for the love of me not figure out why I had put a large bed in there. I had tried to sleep in it yesterday but had just ended up staring at it until I eventually turned away from it with a shudder.

With my tour finished I sat down in my living room, but not before turning the music I had paused earlier back on. Ah, yes the music. Much like the books I had only been able to recreate things I had heard before, but having heard more than a thousand different songs in my life that was no problem. In fact I was just glad that I had succeeded in making the music a reality. But enough about the music and my summoning binge, I was going to be forced to buy all the things that I would need to keep this house running. That included food, clothing, additional towels and all the other things I would need to keep my home clean.

It’s not the most entertaining way to spend a summer afternoon, but I’ll have to reap what I sow. I thought as I started to make a mental list of what I was going to try and purchase tomorrow. My first stop would have to be Sweet Apple acres though since my money was in the duffel bag I had left in the barn. I guess I need to find a job as well. I realized. The money I had made in Gryphus could hopefully sustain me for another couple of weeks. But that was assuming that prices here were manageable, I had around eighty bits left and the upcoming expenses kept piling already.

Well what do I do now? I thought. The day still had a few more hours of sunlight and going to sleep now… Well let’s just say that I didn’t trust myself to actually sleep if I tried. So into the training room I went, after scarfing down the cupcake. The training would be a good way to clear my thoughts and to tire myself out, just like it had done for me in the past. I started slow, working through martial arts katas and moving on to practicing the flight techniques Gilda had taught me. Time flew by as I managed to lose myself in my training and soon hours had passed.

I found myself breathing heavily, sweat oozing out of me, as I stood in the center of the room. That’ll do for today. My mind produced sluggishly as I started to turn towards the door leading out of the room. However a flicker of motion in one of the windows caught my attention. Was that? But why did she? Ooh. I thought as I realized just who it was outside my window. Better get this over with.

“If you’re going to end me Luna could you please do it when I’m facing you rather than hiding?” I said loudly while looking towards the window.

There was a brilliant flash and the princess of the night appeared, in all her glory, in the room. She looked calm and collected which made me hesitate for a second before she spoke.

“My my, I don’t remember you being quite this acidic young Cloud.” She remarked.

“Well, I can’t really say that I’m thrilled about my own death, can I? That’s why you’ve come isn’t it? The promise you made me two years ago?” I questioned, some of my earlier frustration slipping back into my voice.

“So full of assumptions and anger, you truly have changed haven’t you Cloud? The individual I remember was calm and quick of wit.” Luna half said, half asking.

“Well yeah. I’ve had a pretty crap day so I’m going to think myself justified to be a bit frustrated.” I said, feeling drained. Luna didn’t deserve any of my ire either. “Well? Will you answer my question? Are you here to fulfill that promise?” I asked.

“I will not lie by saying that the thought didn’t cross my mind when I heard about you return from Tia, but I’ve decided to not hold a grudge. I have some experience with grudges after all, and my personal facts say that they rarely gives you anything but misery.” Luna answered me in a stern tone.

I let go of a breath I had been holding during her answer. “Okay, I thank you for that Luna. But we will have to continue this conversation some other time, I was about to head off and sleep.”

“Not so fast young Cloud.” She began, keeping her stern tone. “I believe that I can help you, in fact I might be one of the few that actually knows of a way to help you.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t like Luna, I just didn’t like the way she made it sound like she knew something about me that no one else did. I don’t know if it scared me or if it angered me but it made me instantly switch to rejecting the offer instead of considering it.

“Whatever you think you can help me with Luna, I assure you I have everything under control. Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.” I said starting to turn away from the blue alicorn.

“A hospital bed, the feeling of slowly suffocating, a hand reaching out to grasp someone, something. Anything really, but no help is coming until it’s too late.” Luna said, causing me to slowly turn back and look at her.

“Those dreams are yours, are they not?” She said, studying my face.

I felt whatever hostility I had in me evaporate and I sat down heavily on the floor. “How? How do you know those dreams?” I questioned, disbelieving.

“One of my many titles is Warden of dreams, Cloud. And for the record I didn’t figure out just who this particular nightmare belonged to until my sister informed me of your return. It had baffled us for many a night as we could see the dream but not enter it.” She explained slipping back into her old speech patterns on the last sentence.

“So you can make them go away, I can finally go to sleep without having to worry about waking up gasping for air?” I asked, letting a bit of hope enter my voice.

Luna looked at me sadly. “Alas I cannot, I don’t know why but since I can’t enter your dream I cannot directly interact with it. But do not give up hope Cloud. I know these dreams are terrible, I fought my own demons not shortly after my own return so I know how it is to try and deal with it by yourself. And despite what you may think I wish to help you, what I’m saying is I know the struggle you’re currently fighting.” She said.

“Then what? What can I do to help myself sleep again?” I asked her, almost begging.

“We can talk, dreams are often tied to happenings in the real world. And I’m sure that if we talk we can pin point the source of your night terrors.” Luna stated calmly.

I did my best to keep my face neutral but on the inside I had gone cold. If I couldn’t talk about me leaving, something that happened six months ago. How am I going to talk about something that is so much more recent? I thought, as I felt my hopes for a quick fix drain away.

Luna seemed to sense that something was amiss for she immediately asked if I was alright. “Is everything alright young Cloud, your facial expression has once more gone rather sour.”

“Yes and no Luna, I appreciate your offer but I cannot accept it. I blew up completely unprovoked just today over some questions about my reasons for leaving last time. The reasons for nightmares, for I know the reasons very well are much more recent than that. I am afraid of what I will do should I start talking about this subject.” I admitted to her.

“I see…” She began. “That will not do, the last month of summer ends in two weeks. You will have that much term to come to term with this, then you and I are sitting down to sort out any remaining issues. Even if it ends up being all of them. I will not have you in this state!” She finished sharply. It had not been an offer, it was an order.

“But I may end up driving you away too.” I attempted lamely. Truth was I was torn between terrified at the prospect of what I may do, and hope that it might work.

“We are a grown mare, we can take a few harsh words young Cloud. Now I must bid you farewell though, we have obligations to take care off.” She curtly shot down my attempt at deflection before teleporting away with a flash.

Alone once again, I turned my gaze towards the ceiling. Two weeks huh? I guess I might as well go through with it. It’s not like it’s going to make things worse. I don’t seem to have a say in the matter anyway. I resolved as I pushed any thoughts about escaping out of my head. For now though I was going to go and attempt to sleep, I was definitely exhausted enough to get some rest. Tomorrow I’ll have to apologize to the girls as well. That should probably be the first thing I do. I planned as I headed to my bathroom for a quick shower. About ten minutes later I found myself on the living room couch, the blanket from my bed over me as I tried to find some elusive sleep.

*~*

The following morning was spent in relative silence as I got dressed, went to wash my face and to shave any stubble. I knew Applejack was an early riser and that suited me perfectly fine right now, naturally that made Sweet Apple Acres my first stop this morning. Being able to apologize, retrieve my bag and eat something from the rations inside it would efficiently kill three birds with one stone. So once I was done with my morning rituals I stepped outside of my house and took to the sky. One thing I had overlooked with my house was a way to lock the doors. However seeing that no object could travel outside the marble border I wouldn’t have been able to use a conjured key anyway. From my view in the sky I could see Ponyville slowly start to wake up, or at least some of the early risers like bakers and other similarly employed ponies were starting their day. That probably means the Apple family has been up for some time already. I thought as I closed in on the orchard I could see, not far off in the distance.

A few minutes later I swooped in over the apple trees, but I kept my altitude until I reached the barn. I angled myself into a shallow dive and as I got close to the ground I flared my wings. With a few controlled beats I killed any remaining forward momentum, before finally landing in the dust cloud that had formed. I could hear activity coming from inside the barn so I decided to knock on the open door before entering.

I was again relatively dark in there but the light coming from the door illuminated it enough for me to see the form of Big Mac working on moving farming equipment around. At the sight of me he stopped though.

“Hello there, what brings you to Sweet Apple Acres?” He asked politely.

“I came to get the duffel bag I left here two days ago, and I came to offer your sister an apology.” I answered the red stallion.

“Bag’s over there, and mah sis’ should be in the northern field right now.” He said simply before returning to work.

That went rather smoothly He didn’t even ask what I was or who I was. Perhaps Applejack informed them about me. I thought as I grabbed my bag and headed over towards the north field. It didn’t take long for me to spot the orange mare, as she walked among the trees, carefully taking her time observe that the fruit they carried was developing properly. As she seemed to be quite enraptured by her work I cleared my throat so that I wouldn’t give her a scare by suddenly just appearing. Applejack threw a look over her shoulder and stopped in place when she saw me.

“Hi there Applejack, good morning.” I began awkwardly. “I dropped by to apologize for yesterday, you didn’t deserve any of the things I ranted about yesterday.”

Applejack studied me for a few seconds before answering. “Don’t mention it Cloud, we’re partly to blame too. We assumed that the two years that had passed would’ve been enough time for any old wounds to heal.”

Oh shit they didn’t know, or didn’t remember. My own memory was fuzzy about if I had ever told them about the different passing of time in our dimensions. I realized moments before actually giving voice to my thoughts.

“Applejack, it has only been about six months for me since I left. The time in my worlds flows more slowly compared to this one.” I explained.

“So then you, oh mah stars Cloud. I’m so sorry.” She began to apologize but I held up a hand to silence her.

“No, don’t apologize the fault lies with me for not properly informing you of all the facts.” I said sternly.

Applejack seemed to think about it for a second before nodding. “Well then Cloud if you say so. I better get back ta work, but why don’t you drop by later fer lunch?” She offered and I couldn’t do anything but accept.

About two minutes later I was once again airborne and I was heading towards Fluttershy’s cottage. This was probably going to be hardest one I had to apologize to today, and that was mainly because I knew that I had scared her yesterday. If she hid from me it would make an apology a very difficult endeavor.

True to my predictions I barely had time to land before I heard an “Eeep” and the door to Fluttershy’s cottage slamming shut. And after about ten minutes of trying to apologize to her door I was ready to give up. I guess she needs some more time. I thought and spread my wings but stopped as I heard a soft rustle directly to my left. However looking to my left revealed nothing, shrugging my wings I prepared to take off again only for me to hear the rustle again. This time I looked down and found that a large snake had approached me through the somewhat tall grass. It looked at me expectantly like it was waiting for me to something. So I hunched down to take a closer look, when the snake still did nothing I reached out with a hand slowly ran along the side of the snake. And when I got to the middle part my fingers ran across something bumpy, disrupting the otherwise smooth scales.
It couldn’t be. I thought, eyes widening.

“Hisserton?” I addressed the snake which let out a hiss that strangely enough sounded pleased.

I sat down continuing to slowly pet the snake as it slowly slithered up into my lap where it coiled up to bask in the morning sun. For a few minutes I sat there, just baffled at this strange turn of events, but then I heard the door to Fluttershy’s cottage open again. A few careful hoofsteps could be heard and as I slowly looked up I heard them stop. Fluttershy stood a few feet away from me a hesitant expression on her face. In an attempt to calm her I gave her a small smile and a nod, but nothing more.

Seeming to gather courage Fluttershy crossed the remaining distance between us. “You know Hisserton?” She asked in a low voice.

“You could say that, I kind of saved her when I first got here six months ago.” I said to the yellow mare.

Fluttershy looked just as confused as Applejack had so I launched into the same explanation that I had gone through with her. Deep down I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time I had this conversation today either.

“Despite all that I owe you an apology Fluttershy, I should’ve foreseen that I might react harshly and should’ve warned you all.” I finished.

“It’s… okay. I think.” She said softly. “I don’t’ want to keep you though Cloud, you seem to have a lot to do today given your explanation.” She said, and we bid our farewells.

Two down four to go. I thought as I took off from Fluttershy’s home. Things were going very well so far given the circumstances, well the only bad part so far had been a somewhat frustrated Hisserton that had not wanted to be moved from my lap. A bit of coaxing from Fluttershy had solved that though, and I had ended up promising that I would return to visit sometime in the near future. What waited for me now though was Ponyville. Would my presence cause panic, or had the ponies here grown a bit of a back bone? These were questions that circulated in my mind as I flew in over the town border. As I scanned the town from high above I came to realize something strange, I couldn’t find Twilight’s library anywhere I looked. That put a halt on my immediate plans to talk Twilight next, so I quickly bumped her down a step. This way I could continue with my apologies and ask where Twilight resided at the same time. So towards the next major landmark I flew, and that happened to be Sugar cube corner.

However seeing that it was still early the street where Sugar cube corner was situated was still mostly empty, with the exception of one or two ponies. That meant I probably wouldn’t cause a widespread panic just yet, and so I went in for a quick landing. As I approached the door I remembered something that I hadn’t even considered to be a problem since my first night here. The fact that the height of the door was shorter than I was, meaning that entering and exiting a pony home would indeed be a recurring nuisance. Hunching down I noticed that a sign on the door said open, so with a small wing shrug I entered the building.

“Hello and welcome to Sugar cu-” The happy voice of Mrs. Cake greeted only to abruptly stop when she noticed what had entered her shop.

This was something I had been expecting to happen anyway today so it didn’t even faze me as I walked over to the counter still slightly hunched over due to the overall size of the room I had to move inside. I stopped in front of the wide eyed Mrs. Cake before speaking in the most polite tone I could muster.

“Excuse me miss but could I please have a word with Pinkie Pie please?”

Mrs. Cake just nodded before quickly disappearing in between a set of double doors that I assumed led to the kitchen area. From inside I could hear snippets of conversation between her and what I thought to be Mr. Cake.

“…seems to be… ….sort of winged minotaur… …asked for Pinkie.”

“Are you sure… …is he… …debt collector?”

“…you thinking it’s a gambling…”

“…too polite…”

A familiar bubbly voice from behind me tore my attention away from the pony couple busy freaking out behind the kitchen doors.

“Heya Cloud what brings you here?” Pinkie asked, and I turned around to face her.

“I came to apologize for my behavior yesterday, and now I think I’ve caused the cakes to have a small breakdown. The last part was completely unintentional though, I just asked if I could talk to you.” I quickly summarized.

“Oh that’s silly Cloud they’re not having something as bad as a breakdown they’re freaking out.” She said with a smile as she marched past me and into the kitchen.

I was left to wonder how freaking out was better than a minor breakdown, as I heard Pinkie join the muffled voices coming from the kitchen doors. A short time later all three ponies emerged from the kitchen, Mrs. Cake cleared her throat.

“Pinkie has assured us that you are a friend of hers.” She began.

“She also said that you are something called a human?” Mr. Cake interjected almost questioningly.

“We would just like to apologize for our initial behavior when you first entered.” Mrs. Cake continued.

“It’s okay, no it really is. I may be the only one of my kind that’s here right now so your reaction was justified.” I said, raising my hands in calming manner.

“If you say so, it still feels a bit awkward for us though dear are you sure it’s fine to just leave it at that?” Mrs. Cake asked.

“I’m positive, but if it’s not too much trouble do you think I could borrow Pinkie for a bit? If she’s with me it might help prevent similar reactions.” I suggested.

“Hmm, the breakfast hours are the ones that requires the most attention so it is really ill timed.” Mr. Cake answered thoughtfully. “Why don’t you stay here and have a bit of breakfast as an extended apology and then when the rush is over Pinkie can tag along with you?” He went on to suggest.

That was a very intriguing offer since I hadn’t had anything to eat from my remaining rations yet. So as I saw no harm in staying a bit longer I accepted. I was quickly directed to a table, but when it became clear that the chairs were too low for me to use I just sat down on my knees on the floor beside the table. Soon I nursed a cup of coffee between my hands and a tasty bagel sat on a plate next to it. Then like a spell had been cast the relative calm that had existed in the bakery shattered as ponies started to flood in to get their breakfast. In the beginning I just sat there observing them as I sipped on my coffee. I got a multitude of looks ranging from wonder to fear, and eventually a brave few dared to walk over to talk to me. Most seemed interested in just what I was and what I was doing there, so I told them the truth and that the house that had appeared over night was mine. There were only a few conversations that lasted longer than that as almost all of the ponies here were heading off to work, but hopefully they would spread positive rumors about me. It wasn’t a surefire method, but I hoped that if I just acted polite and calm in these short interactions I would make a good first impression among the Ponyvillians.

Eventually the stream of ponies tapered off and Pinkie appeared, all smiles and bounciness, by the table I was still sitting at. So after bidding the Cakes farewell Pinkie and I set out into Ponyville. There were definitely more ponies out and about now, but at most it was the same reactions as the ones inside Sugar cube corner except on a larger scale. Pinkies presence seemed to help prevent the all-out panic I had feared though, something I was very grateful for.

“Say Pinkie, I never did get a chance to fully apologize in there. So I’m sorry about yesterday.” I addressed the pink mare bouncing beside me.

“Hmm I dunno Cloudy, there’s one thing that might make me forgive you.” She said, looking at me with a playful grin.

“And what would that be?” I asked curious as to what she had in mind.

“Well, this!” She exclaimed happily as she pounced onto me. She then proceeded to quickly climb up so that she was riding on my shoulders, her fore hooves resting on top of my head.

“Enjoying the view?” I asked her, not bothering to keep my amusement out of my voice.

“Yep! You’re a great taxi Cloudy, I should do this more often.” She sighed happily from her human shaped lookout.

“Well do you think you could point towards the library? I couldn’t seem to find it when I was flying over.” I asked my passenger.

“Oh, the library is gone Cloudy. Tirek went and destroyed that.” She said sounding a bit disheartened before switching back to cheerful.

“But it’s okay, Twilight is recreating it in the Friendship castle, but we mostly just call it Twilight’s castle. She’s the only one of us that lives there after all, did you want to go visit Twilight next?” She quickly blurted out.

“I had planned on it, but if she’s all the way over at the castle we might as well visit Rarity first. Who’s this Tirek though?” I asked as I shifted my heading.

“Tirek? He was this big bad red and black goat guy who stole all the magic in Equestria, but the Twilight received all the alicorn magic and went all Imma smash your face…” Pinkie launched into her explanation with her own brand of fast talk and choice of graphic descriptions.

As she talked I came to realize just how close to home my comment yesterday must’ve hit Twilight. Yeah I guess that I couldn’t continue to have this day go perfectly, I’ll need to have a serious talk with Twilight. I thought, but I didn’t allow myself to dwell on it. That would only serve to sour my mood, and right now I needed to radiate polite and friendly rather than grumpy and introverted. Instead I asked Pinkie what she had been up to the past two years and she happily told me about her adventures, occasionally making small pauses to wave or greet a pony passing by. Surprisingly the act of Pinkie riding on my shoulders seemed to further disarm any notions of me being dangerous.

“…and then I decided that it would be for the best to seal the entrance to the mirror pool.” Pinkie finished another crazy tale, just as Rarity’s Carousel boutique came into view.

“You know Pinkie if I lived a life half as Crazy as yours I’d probably end up arrested.” I told the party pony as I walked up to the door and knocked.

“It’s open~” Rarity’s voice called out from inside.

As we entered Rarity started her boutique slogan but paused when she saw who entered. “Hello Cloud, Pinkie.” She greeted us both cautiously.

“Hello Rarity, are we interrupting something?” I asked her.

“Nono, not at all. I wasn’t expecting you to show up after yesterday though.” She said, still a bit cautious.

“About that, that’s the main reason for my visit today. I’d like to offer an apology for my actions and an explanation for my reaction.” I replied.

Rarity just replied by nodding, prompting me to go on and explain again just how long it had been for me. When I finished Rarity nodded thoughtfully.

“Alright Cloud consider your apology accepted, but please try to remember things like this in the future. It’s not entirely pleasant to get yelled at like that, even if I was just a bystander in this case.” She told me, causing me to grimace a bit at the end.

“Now I believe that you hinted at another reason for visiting me?” She inquired.

“Yes, I’d like to see how possible it would be to commission a few extra sets of clothes from you. Also I’d need to know what the pricing for such an order would be.” I quickly summarized.

“Well dearie that all depends on the order. Do you want gems? Simple cut or something more elaborate? There are many variables at play here.” She explained.

“I see. Well I don’t need gems and the clothing needs to be durable enough to support everyday usage. Simple style would be preferable, something similar to what I’m wearing now would probably be the best option for now.” I replied thoughtfully.

And so Rarity and I dove into the process of setting up an order of two extra sets of clothing for me and extra underwear. Given my budget both of us came to the agreement that we’d limit the price for now but Rarity received a contract from me. She would be my sole Equestrian provider of clothing, effectively securing a future source of income from me. I also left the choice of fabric and color to her, trusting her expertise in the area to make something workable. When I finally left the boutique, with Pinkie, Rarity had already taken my measurements and was busy sketching on a few designs. She had also invited me over in a few days’ time to have a chance to look at the designs before she started to work on the clothes.

From Rarity’s Pinkie and I started to head for the large tree-like castle that I now identified as Twilight’s castle. I was surprised at the amount of ponies that had gotten onto the streets by now, and judging by looks I was getting the rumors were doing their job. Despite that I did see a few ponies turn and hurry away as walked down the street with Pinkie now bouncing beside me. I guess that it was unavoidable to not have a few of them be suspicious about me. I thought, as I walked in silence. Pinkie noticing this took a sudden leap onto my back, where she quickly crawled up onto my shoulders again.

“Not going to allow you to go all broody moody~” She announced before letting out an infectious giggle.

Soon both of us were all out laughing as Pinkie steered us down the roads of Ponyville towards the castle in the distance. Our good mood seemed to spread to the ponies around us, as quite a few came up beside us to say hi to Pinkie or ask who I was. Again I kept things rather simple and just gave my name, race and where I lived without elaborating further. Because while I wanted to avoid a Ponyville fears me type of situation, apologizing to the mane six was still my priority. On that front I only had two left to go, and by the look of things I could get it done before lunchtime. Without Pinkie’s help I doubted things would’ve gone even close to this smoothly.

When we got closer to the castle the amount of ponies coming up to say hello had dropped significantly, not because they weren’t interested it was just the simple fact that the castle was situated in the outskirts of Ponyville. This close and with the force field down I could truly appreciate what the crystalline structure actually looked like for the first time. Thanks to Pinkies stories I also knew vaguely how this castle had come into existence. As I walked up to the castle’s main entrance I reminded myself of just why I was there, and just how much I had fucked up yesterday. I was going to act like a damn adult and apologize not only for my outburst but also for what I had said in ignorance. With that in mind I reached out and knocked at the door. For a few seconds I waited but heard nothing from inside, I reached up to knock again but Pinkie stopped me.

“Try using the doorbell instead. It’s a big castle after all.” She said, and I was left wondering why I hadn’t thought of that myself.

So instead of knocking again I rang the very obvious doorbell that I had somehow managed to miss. A melodious chime could be heard from inside, a few more seconds passed and eventually activity could be heard from inside. The door swung open, revealing a relatively short but familiar green and purple dragon.

At the sight of what had rang the doorbell though the poor dragon seemed to freeze. While he was no stranger to weird stuff around Ponyville the sight of Pinkie riding on the shoulders of an unknown species had to be something else. When a minute of silence passed I started to grow worried and decided to speak.

“Uh, you okay there Spike?” I asked.

Spike shook his head. “I’m fine but who’s asking?”

“Oh! Oh! Let me answer this one!” Pinkie cried out and hoped down from her vantage point.

“In the red corner, hailing from a mysterious land that only the oldest and wisest of us have been. An excellent fighter with ties to Equestria’s past and a newcomer in the current world balance. He is a marv-”

“Pinkie! Just cut to the chase.” I interrupted her.

“Ah, party pooper.” She complained but went on after a stern look. “Spike allow me to reintroduce Cloud.”

“Cloud? Woah, you look different!” Spike exclaimed, the surprise clear in his voice.

“Yeah, guess you could say that. I’d love to catch up at some point Spike but I have some urgent things I need to talk to Twilight about, is she in?” I said, feeling a bit bad for having to brush him off.

“Yeah, but she has been in a weird mood since yesterday. She’s in her room on the second floor, you can’t miss it.” He said, pointing towards a large crystal staircase.

“Oh and Cloud, good to see you again.” He said as Pinkie and I stepped inside.

I responded with a nod to the dragon, now that I saw him in comparison with Pinkie he seemed to have grown a few inches. He was just shy of the average female pony height now, I idly wondered how he had evolved as a person too. But such ponderings would have to wait for now though, I had a purple alicorn to talk to.

After heading upstairs I found the aforementioned door easily, and a knock later the door swung open to reveal a tired and disheveled looking Twilight.

“Err, hi Twilight. Got a minute? I’d like to apologize for yesterday.” I said to her, keeping a bit of caution in my tone.

“If anypony should apologize it should be me.” She said, sounding depressed.

“But the things I said yesterday-” I began but Twilight interrupted me.

“Hit right where it hurt Cloud. I’ve been up most of the night thinking about it.”

“Then all the more reason for me to apologize, I spoke in ignorance not knowing what you had been through, not to mention that my behavior was far past the line.” I argued.

“Then I’m guilty of the very same thing you are, I am the reason you overreacted. I’ve been trying to find out why I did it, but I can’t seem to find an answer. And then you show up now the very next day to ask for my forgiveness? Why Cloud? I just can’t decide if you’re the most annoying or the easiest individual I have ever had to deal with.” She ranted, while giving me an almost pleading look.

I went down to one knee so that I came down to almost eye-level with her. “The reason I acted like I did yesterday was because I had less time to cope with everything than you girls had. It has only been six months since I left for home last time, and it appears that it wasn’t enough time for me to digest everything and move on.” I told her. And so I gave Twilight the full story on how time worked differently between our respective dimensions, something her inner scientist seemed to appreciate. In return I asked her to tell me about her latest foe.

“Okay then now what?” She asked me after elaborating on her experience with the Tirek fellow.

“How about we agree that both of us were in the wrong? I know it will probably be awkward between us but I’d still like for you to be my friend Twilight. I’ll even try to keep you in the loop every time something weird happens.” I offered.

Twilight thought for a second before giving me a weak smile. “I’d like that.”

“Great.” I said before grabbing my duffel bag. After a bit of digging I managed to find my somewhat mangled research notes on Imagination.

I held them out to Twilight who grasped them with her aura. “What’s this?” She asked.

“A peace offering of sorts.” I said, motioning for her to read the improvised title I had put on the top of the first page.

Twilight’s eyes widened and the first real smile I had seen since she opened the door bloomed on her face.

“Thank you Cloud, with this I might actually learn something about your artifact.”

Twilight quickly got absorbed into the notes I had presented and was busy pulling reference material from a few personal bookshelves when Pinkie and I left a few minutes later. That left only Rainbow Dash to apologize too, and her home wouldn’t be difficult to find. In fact I had seen it most of the morning ever since I entered Ponyville. It was kind of hard to ignore the house built of clouds, spewing rainbows. Since Pinkie had been away from Sugar cube corner for quite some time now and lunch hours were approaching we decided that it would be for the best to split up for now. So while Pinkie bounced off, back into Ponyville, I took flight and headed for Rainbows home.

When I started to get close to the house a thought struck me. I wasn’t sure if I could actually walk or manipulate clouds in this form. But as I carefully touched down on the pillowy surface of the cloud it became clear that such worries had been unwarranted. I knocked on the door only for it to produce no sound whatsoever. Oh yeah it’s made of Clouds. I thought, resisting the urge to facepalm. Instead I searched for a doorbell, and quickly found one that I rang.

“I thought I told you Thunderlane, this is my day off and I don’t wa-” Rainbows angry voice was heard through the door until she opened it. She looked frustrated and the expression did not change when she saw I wasn’t the Tunderlane fellow she had assumed I was.

“Oh it’s you.” She said in a flat voice.

“Yeah it’s me. Listen I came by to say I’m sorry about yesterday.” I started, feeling a bit like a broken record by now.

“Yeah that wasn’t cool at all Cloud. I mean you and I have had our fair share of shouting matches in the past but that one came out the blue.” She berated me.

“I know and I like for you to know the reasons behind it if you’ll listen.” I offered.

“Hmm, naa. Although I have a better Idea on how you can make it up to me.” She said with a smug grin.

Part of me dreaded what she could be thinking but the more sensible part of me told me to man up and accept. I couldn’t afford to make the same stupid mistakes I had made last time.

“What did you have in mind?” I asked, pleading internally that it wasn’t something weird.

“You can teach me how to use those weapons you never taught me all those years ago.” She replied with a grin.

Oh what have I just gotten myself into? I questioned myself as I held out my fist towards Rainbow.

“It’s not going to be easy and I’ll have to drill you in the basic forms for a long time, are you prepared for that? You might even find that it’s completely incompatible with a pony.” I half asked, half told her.

Her grin just widened further as she bumped her hoof against my fist. “Deal!” She exclaimed happily before shooting off inside her home coming back with a training bag.

“So we start now, yes?” She asked.

“Not so fast, my schedule for today is pretty cramped as it is. Come by tomorrow after five pm. Then we can decide on a schedule for this.” I told her.

Rainbow’s excitement seemed to wash out of her, but a small smile remained. “Alright then, but you better promise me at least three times a week.” She bargained.

I couldn’t do anything but agree, three times a week should be manageable. As I left Rainbow’s home I felt good, it had been a really hectic morning but I had managed to clear the air between me and the main six. They had certainly matured a lot since my last visit here and we had been able to discuss things like adults, for the most part. It was just unfortunate that I had brought this incident into being in the first place. What awaited me now was lunch at Sweet apple acres, a hunt for a job and to buy food and supplies in ponyville.

Author's Notes:

Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was one of those that kept growing and so I had to force myself to create a stopping point. What follows will be me own personal rant about the chapter and the writing process I went through for this one, you may skip to the end to see the working title for the next chapter.

Now first off a few things about this chapter. First you may have noticed that the chapter title has changed from what i originally had intended, Night before a new day. This came to be since the chapter just kept growing in length and I realized that i could spend another full week writing if i didn't push things back to later chapters.

Next on the agenda is the pacing of this chapter, I could've gone into detail with every interaction Cloud had with the mane six but that would've made a very long chapter or several long chapters that would've been very repetitive. I'm already afraid that this chapter comes across as a bit repetitive.

Lastly I wanted to get through all of the mane six in this chapter and drag it out, all the characters are capable of acting as adults so i don't see any reason for them refuse an honest apology. Thus there's no reason to make it a, no screw you scenario. I think that would be in direct conflict with the character profiles.

Next chapter working title: Imagine that...

Ch 10. Imagine that

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Chapter 10. Imagine that

How can you expect to see it
How can you expect to believe it
When all you do is turn your back

To know the world you feel
Without, without turning around
You have to breathe and see
The sky is always open

We all know that life isn’t a cakewalk most of the time, but there are instances when it is. Such occasions are easy to forget in the torrent of things that can go wrong in our lives, not to mention drowned by everyday stress. I urge you to take a moment to treasure times of happiness and times when you feel just right. However, there are times when it feels like your path is about to brighten only for it to stay in this weird twilight. Kind of like getting the answer to a question only to not get an answer to the follow up one.

*~*

It was still a bit early for lunch when my wings carried me into the airspace over Sweet apple acres. However seeing that I wouldn’t have time to either search for a job or to do any real food shopping I had decided that it probably was for the best to fly myself out here. If anything it would give the ponies some more time to digest the fact that I was here now and that I had no intentions of leaving. If there were bumps in the road ahead I would deal with them as they presented themselves, what mattered now was that I had gotten back onto relatively good terms with the girls. The two things that still needed attention currently were my nightmares and Celestia. Seeing her again had reawakened so many memories, and now that I had some time to think again my thoughts veered towards wanting to fly over to Canterlot just to see her. I had to sternly remind myself every time I strayed down that path that I had more or less promised her time to sort her own thoughts out. A part of me had also started to think that perhaps going through with Luna’s therapy session might be good before I talked to Tia.

In fact after my first order of business had been concluded today, I had started to view the pending talk with Luna in a new light. Ranger had wanted to give me time to sort things out at my own pace. That was definitely a viable method and at first this had been the one most appealing to me. Mainly because I didn’t have too many options and the fact that I was still running from my past. Luna’s forceful declaration had shaken me since it was so different from what I had been doing previously, but after having time to process it I could see the appeal. I wanted to rid myself of these nightmares, and perhaps this type of shock therapy was the key to doing so.

For now though I’ll have to keep up with what I have been doing to combat my sleep deprivation. I concluded as I landed outside the Apples’ home. Despite being a bit early I thought that it would be best to announce my arrival or at least introduce myself to the remaining Apples. So far I had only really talked to Applejack and had a brief run in with Big Macintosh, meaning that Apple bloom and Granny Smith still had no idea who I was. So I walked up to the front door but before I had a chance to knock I heard voices coming from the other side of the house.

“Ah’m tellin’ ya girls he doesn’t look like a pony. Big sis said that he’s really tall and would stop by fer lunch today.” A young pony voice, carrying the distinct southern twang I associated with the Apples.

“I don’t know AB, we’ve been running around all morning and we still haven’t seen him. Do you think that it’s a prank form your sister?” A tomboyish voice said next as I started to go around the building.

“It could be, but Ah don’t think so. Ma sis is awful at lyin’ after all.” The first voice said.

At this point I was pretty sure who the voices belonged to but when a third, rather squeaky, voice joined in I certain that I was about to find the Cutie mark crusaders when I got around the house.

“I don’t think they’re lying, my sister mentioned him too. I think she called him Cloud.” The third voice said.

I rounded the last corner to reveal the crusaders huddled together, studying something on the ground in front of them. Suddenly Scootaloo threw up her fore hooves in frustration.

“We’ve looked everywhere, I don’t think this guy exists!” She declared.

I choose this moment to reveal my presence. “Oh? Have you looked behind you as well?”

Three filly heads snapped around to see who had spoken, and three sets of eyes widened in surprise when they found me. Apple bloom was the first one to recover as she shouted triumphantly.

“Aha! Ah told ya he was real!”

What followed was me answering pretty much every question the CMC threw my way, although I kept the questions away from topics related to my recent past for obvious reasons. They accepted the fact that I didn’t have a cutie mark nor would I get one rather easily, there were a lot of species in Equestria that didn’t’ have them after all. But the question had me wondering for a bit if I would get one since I was part pony in this form. As the questions continued though I dropped that line of thought.

The crusaders’ seemingly endless energy reminded me a lot of Stella and I idly wondered how the Rustfeather family were doing. The questions were cut short by the arrival of Applejack and her brother, and after a more proper introduction to Big Mac we all went inside the Apple homestead. When Granny Smith had first seen me she had just made note of that I wasn’t a pony and that I was a pretty tall fellow, but had then gone on to reassure me that if her granddaughter vouched for me I was alright in her book.

Lunch was a pleasant happening and it was the first real food I had had in days that wasn’t something from my rations. Well if you overlooked the bagel I had eaten at Sugar cube corner it was at least. Throughout the lunch I made polite conversation with all the Apple members but also Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, that also were present. I also caught Big Mac and Granny Smith throwing glances between me and Applejack occasionally. This made me question if the two of them thought there was anything else going on. However instead of leading the conversation towards such an awkward topic I choose to ignore it, unless they instigated it of course. But since nothing about it was uttered I just filed it away under the fact that I was something new. Perhaps they just wonder how Applejack got to know me in the first place. I pondered as I finished the last scraps on my plate.

I left the Apples and the Crusaders about half an hour later to return to Ponyville. Now came the remainder of my plans for today. First off I needed to take stock of what types of work were available and then I would have to start asking around. Whelp here goes nothing. I thought to myself as I landed on the outskirts of the town again.

*~*

A few hours later I sat on a bench in one of the many parks in Ponville just staring at the sky. Turns out that while the ponies generally weren’t afraid of me they didn’t want to take the risk of hiring a completely unknown creature. That being said there were a few that had shaking in fright of me when I had entered their shops that I had been forced to leave. Those incidents had left a bad taste in my mouth but I couldn’t really blame them, I couldn’t really blame any of them for anything. But the issue of having no job and thus no income still remained. I can’t have tried to apply for everything yet, right? I encouraged myself before exhaling slowly. I was about to stand to up when I heard voices come drifting towards me, by the sound of it they were coming closer.

“I’m telling you Lyra he has to be here. This is the only place we haven’t looked so far.” A voice I couldn’t recognize said.

“I still think we should’ve checked at Sugar cube corner again. I heard he spent the entire morning running around with Pinkie.” Another voice replied to the first.

I turned my head in the direction of the voices and moments later two ponies that I identified as Lyra and Bonbon came walking around a bend in the path that ran through the park.

“Oh oh, there he is!” Bonbon cried out excitedly as she waved to with a hoof.

Feeling rather confused as to what was going on I waved back which prompted them to trot over and start to introduce themselves.

“Hi there, I’m Bonbon and this is Lyra.” The earth pony in the duo introduced them.

“Hello I’m Cloud, new neighbor to Ponyville.” I said, sitting up more straight on the bench and extended a hand to shake.

For a few seconds both of the ponies stared at my hand seemingly confused about what I wanted, then a light seemed to go up for Lyra.

“I think he wants us to shake it Bonnie, you know? Like the griffins do.” She said to Bonbon followed by her turn to me for confirmation.

“I had intended it to be a shake, yes. But a hoof bump will work fine too.” I told them, closing my already extended hand.

After exchanging a hoof to fist bump with both mares I continued speak. “So what can I do for you two? I can spare a few minutes but after that I need to return to my job hunt.”

“So that means you haven’t found one yet?” I shook my head. “Good.” Lyra said with a smile.

“I’m sorry, but I fail to see how that is good?” I told the mint green unicorn, quirking an eyebrow.

“Don’t mind Lyra she can be a bit hasty with things.” Bonbon said, giving Lyra a stern look. “What she should’ve said first was that we have a friend who probably would want to hire you. Her name is Berry Punch and she owns a bar combined with a diner here in Ponyville.”

“Okay you’ve got my attention, just what exactly would this job entail?” I asked immediately perking up. At this point I would gladly take any job.

“Well we’re not quite sure ourselves anymore she just keeps changing the job description, but we thought it would be best if you had a chance to talk to her yourself. That is if you’re still interested of course?” Lyra supplied quickly.

“Oh yeah, just let me stand up and we can get going.” I said before doing just that combined with a quick stretch.

“Woah, they weren’t kidding when they said you were tall.” Bonbon commented.

“Indeed.” Lyra agreed, before adding a question. ”Sorry if this seems rude but what exactly are you? We’ve heard probably a dozen different names for your species this afternoon alone.”

“Oh, I’m originally a human. The wings are an extra through my pony heritage though.” I said, giving the most extensive description of my background yet. Well to a pony that hadn’t known me before my return at least.

“So you’re part pony?” Bonbon asked, sounding excited as they started to lead me back into Ponyville.

We walked and talked all the way back to diner that Bonbon had mentioned, and during the time it took us to reach it they bombarded me with questions. It seemed that they were incredibly interested in the fact that I was part pony, the reason for it escaped me though. All in all they were very polite in their questions and before I knew it Lyra announced that we had arrived. When the three of us had entered the establishment Bonbon greeted a pink mare with a grape colored mane and tail.

“Afternoon Berry, we brought you somepony who’s interested in the job.”

The pink mare looked up from the bar she had been polishing prior to Bonbon speaking. “Oh hello Bonnie, Lyra.” She greeted them before turning to me. “And you must be the one they’re talking about.”

“Us and the rest of Ponyville.” Lyra chimed in as the same time as I said “Yes.”

“Alright then, first off I’m Berry Punch. The owner of this little place here that I named The silver grape.” She told me.

“I’m Cloud, a human that’s looking for work.” I told her.

A quick smile flashed across Berry’s muzzle. “See that’s what I’d like to hear. Now have these two told you anything about the job I’m offering?”

“Not too much, perhaps a more detailed description would be good.” I suggested diplomatically.

“Hmm okay, well you see I’m in need of…”

From there Berry laid out an extensive description of what she needed, and I started to realize why no one else had taken the job so far. Turns out that she wanted someone who could mind the bar when she wasn’t working there, at the same time the employee needed to be able to work as a bouncer for the occasional rowdy guest. And on top of it all the position required you to be comfortable with odd working hours, given the fluctuating schedule. With all that information I could easily see why she hadn’t been able to find a pony that was suited for the job. That being said it wasn’t exactly the job I would prefer, but seeing how I had little to no choice right now I decided that I would at least try it.

“Alright I’m interested, I can’t say that I’m familiar with bartending so you’ll have to give me a crash course in that should you decide to hire me. When it comes to the working hours and working as a bouncer though everything is green.” I told Berry as she studied me thoughtfully.

“Hmm, I guess that I could show you bartending it’s not exactly hard to learn and you seem social enough to be able to do it. However do you have anypony that can confirm the fact that you can work as a bouncer?” She asked.

“If you want a pony to vouch for my martial skill you can ask Rainbow Dash, in fact I could probably arrange a sparring match with her tomorrow if you’re interested.” I replied almost immediately.

“Hmm.” Berry hummed, as she sat there in silence, more than likely debating with herself if I was qualified enough to fit the job she had offered. “It’s probably a bit late for this question, but do you have any previous experience working in this business?” She added after a few seconds of thought.

“I worked for two months as a chef in Gryphus before coming here.” I said with a wing shrug. At this point the interview, or whatever this was, had to be a test of my patience. Or at least I thought it was something like that, either way I had to guess that ponies found Berry’s interview style to be quite random. I know for a fact that I did at least find it to be confusing if nothing else.

“Hmm.” She hummed again and turned to Lyra. “Hey Lyra you’re a Still way specialist, right? Could you test him to see if what he claims is true?”

Lyra facehoofed with a groan. “Berry, for Celestia’s sake are you going to scare this one away too? Even if I were to spar with him it wouldn’t be fair, not unless he’s capable of magic himself. And no before you ask again I will not spar with him, he already offered to show you what he’s capable of.”

“Alright, alright fine I’ll stop stalling.” Berry grumbled, and turned back to me. “Cloud was it? Consider yourself hired for now, I expect you to show up here tomorrow at eight thirty in the morning.”

“Aight, thank you Ms. Punch I will not make you regret this decision.” I said offering my fist for her to bump.

“Oh lighten up, just make sure you’re on time tomorrow.” She said with smile, bumping her hoof onto my fist.

*~*

As I left the diner Bonbon ran out after me. “Hey wait a sec Cloud.”

I turned around to face the cream colored earth pony. “Yes?”

“Congratulations on getting hired and sorry about not warning you about Berry’s interviews. She can have a tough time actually making a call at all when it comes down to it.” She said, sounding apologetic.

“Naa, it’s fine really. I mean without you and Lyra I never would’ve known about this in the first place. So there’s no need to apologize.” I said giving her a smile.

“Ok, see you around then Cloud!” She exclaimed happily before trotting back inside, humming happily to herself.

Right, that was strange. I thought as I watched Bonbon disappear into The silver grape once more. I turned around and headed in the general direction of the market place that I had spied earlier during all the times I had flown over Ponyville today. As I walked I made a point to smile and wave to passing ponies, but on the inside I couldn’t help but feel that there was something about Bonbon and Lyra that I was forgetting. Eh, it can’t be too important. I decided with a shrug.

What followed was plain and simple shopping. And while it was a rather tedious experience I did come to realize about halfway through that I was supposed to be haggling with the vendors about the prices. I silently lamented all the bits I had probably lost in the beginning. Now I understand why all of them seemed so pleased when I left. I thought with a sigh. Refusing to dwell on it I returned to my remaining task for the day, to stock up on food. So after acquiring a wide variety of different ingredients I left for home. The find that had surprised me the most but had been welcome indeed was a fish vendor. Not that I was particularly fond of fish, I preferred meat, but it would do for now. I could perhaps look into having meat delivered to my home later, however it was probably for the best to not light a potential fire about my eating habits just yet.

I landed on my doorstep feeling tired but glad that I had accomplished everything I set out to do today. I entered my home and walked over to the fridge to dump the food into it.

“Let me help you with that.” Luna said, walking up beside.

Finally things were going my way. I had managed to get a job, the girls had been briefed on my immediate situation, they had also received my apology and even Luna was helping me unload my groceries… Wait, that doesn’t seem right. I thought, turning my head to find Luna humming away as she levitated food from my bag into the fridge.

“Err, what are you doing here Luna? I was under the impression that you were very busy?” I asked once I managed to find my voice. A feat that took a full minute due to the bizarre situation.

“Why am I here? I’m definitely not bored and or hiding from our duties as a princess.” Luna said, following it up with a somewhat forced and loud laugh.

“Right… It’s not like I can force you to leave if I tried.” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“Good! Now that we have established that I’m here completely guilt free there’s a question I forgot to ask last yesterday. How did you manage to make this house and the island it rests on?”

Better to just play along for now. I surrendered mentally before answering her.

“Oh, I used this.” I said, summoning Imagination.

Luna’s eyes widened in shock. “Where did you get that spear?” She all but stammered out in a disbelieving voice.

“You mean you actually know something about it?” I asked, feeling some degree of excitement stir inside me.

Luna swallowed audibly. “Yes you could say that. Tia and I spent many years trying to find one of these weapons when we first tried to deal with Discord. But we ultimately came to the conclusion that he had managed to destroy them all. Why this one was spared we may never know since Discord has been missing for a few months.” She told me, her eyes locked on the spear in my hand.

“Why were you trying to find these? I thought you used the elements to defeat Discord? I inquired, feeling a bit confused.

“The elements were not our first option young Cloud, back then we didn’t even know that the elements of harmony existed. But we had found mention of a type of weapon used in the old wars.”

“And those were like this spear? What were they called?” I interjected.

“I’m afraid that we never found a name for them in the ancient texts we managed to recover, but what we did learn was that it probably was going to work against Discord. We needed to stop him by any means possible even if it meant killing him, and if we didn’t do it fast there was probably not going to be a future for the budding nation of Equestria. Although with the discovery of the elements of harmony our search for these fabled weapons fell into oblivion.” She said, looking up from the spear and fixing her gaze on my own. “What you hold in your hands was our first real way to stop him all those years ago.”

“And just how is this spear able to stop a being that can warp reality?” I asked, meeting the gaze of the Lunar alicorn.

Luna answered with a question of her own. “Do you know the one thing a draconequus cannot change?” I shook my head and Luna elaborated. “The one thing they cannot change is one of their own. If I’m correct Cloud you’re holding the last weapon of its kind in your hands. A weapon imbued with the soul of a draconequus. In practical terms it’s a weapon that cannot be transformed into something harmless, should it threaten the life of one capable of changing it at a whim. Naturally it makes it immune to other types of transformation magic as well.”

I was stunned as I stared at the weapon in my hands. A weapon that had been forged using the soul of another living being.

*<>*

“And you are sure that’s what you saw?” She questioned the smaller form in front of her.

A series of shrill chirps emanated from it and a smile split her muzzle, revealing two impressive fangs.

“You’ve done excellent work commander take a day to rest, you’ve earned it.” She praised her soldier before turning away.

At last she had found a way to deal with the last obstacle, now she would only need to put that unknown creature under surveillance so that she could learn its weaknesses. Today had become a most excellent day and what better way to commemorate ones happiness but with a laugh. She thought as she threw her head back to let her laughter echo through the dark caverns she and her hive called home.

Ch 11. Truths overdue

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Chapter 11. Truths overdue

Consume the curse
That brings you down
A fading liar
Who wakes up alone

It’s there
In front of you

Invert this tragedy to come
And reclaim your future
This is a call to arms
One quest at a time

No one is infallible. Not me, not Luna, not Celestia. Especially not the three of us actually, but the lesson here is that no matter who you are you will have flaws. However, flaws helps define who you are. For example my greatest flaw would probably be my glaring pride that keeps getting in the way. But even that’s makes me the person I am, life would be awfully boring if everyone was a Gary Stu married to Mary Sue. In fact such a world would be downright terrifying.

*~*

I had been wielding a weapon with the soul of a dead draconequus all this time? How? No why had I been the one to find it? My thoughts kept spiraling without any semblance of control.

“Are you okay Cloud?” Luna asked, partly breaking me out of my stunned state of being.

“Yes… I mean I think I am. It’s just quite a lot to take in, and even more to accept so suddenly.” I answered slowly.

“That is understandable Cloud, but I’m afraid that I have more questions to ask. To begin with where did you find this?” Luna pressed on with her questions.

“It was just after I died, I woke up again i-” I began before stopping, I had spoken without thinking.

“Did I say died I meant eh, I meant…” I began, trying to find the best possible way to talk myself out of this situation.

Panic rushed through me and my mind began trying to make up excuses for what I had said but it was already too late, Luna had heard me perfectly.

“Cloud!” Luna’s full strength Canterlot voice blasted through my house, effectively snapping me out of my rising panic.

My eyes locked onto the lunar alicorn while my breathing slowly went back to normal, and as I felt the panic I had before leave me I sat down heavily in one of the living room chairs. All I had left was a strange deflated feeling as I turned my eyes away from Luna, instead focusing on the ground in front of me.

“There’s no use hiding in trying to hide it anymore, is there?” I asked, my gaze still locked onto the floorboards.

“Cloud.” Luna began in a softer tone. “That is not a secret one carries and expects to retain ones sanity for long. In fact it’s quite astonishing that you’ve been able to sleep at all.”

“It’s not like I sleep soundly when I do!” I bit back as my temper changed. “Sorry, sorry I… I didn’t mean to snap at you.” I apologized almost instantly, the irritation fading again.

“Apology accepted. Although tell me Cloud, why are you trying to solve everything on your own? This is just like what happened last time you were here, trying to shoulder it all on your own. Have you learnt about asking for help from us ponies?” Luna questioned me.

Still refusing to look at her I released a heavy sigh before speaking again. “I guess that’s just who I am Luna. There are many times when I just want to drop it all and there are more times when I do. However my pride has a tendency to get in the way, and I may have a slight problem when it comes to asking for help. I just don’t want to be a bother most of the time.”

“Cloud.” Luna said again, almost sounding sad. “Your friends here care about you, they would listen to your problems. It also doesn’t help that you’re almost as good as my sister at hiding behind a façade that you show the world instead of your true face.”

“Yeah because that would be a wonderful way to open a conversation. ‘Oh hi, what? No I’m doing good. By the way did I mention that I think I’m actually dead?’” I bit back again, the sarcasm thick in my voice.

Luna however seemed to just ignore my sarcasm and continued. “I’m sure that they would listen and help you without question Cloud.” She said, causing me to lift my head and look at her a scathing retort ready. But before I had time to say anything she continued. “For now though I will listen to you, however there’s another that should be present for these talks.”

“No, not her. Luna I can’t-” I began, realizing just who she meant but got cut off by Luna.

“No! After all this time and what you did she still loves you, even if she won’t admit it openly when asked. But I can tell that her heart still yearns for the thing you two had, you owe her at least this explanation. It will do both of you good.” She reprimanded me sharply.

I drew breath to retort only to come up with nothing so instead I ended up releasing it as a sigh instead. Ultimately I just nodding in agreement.

“Then it is decided, I will return momentarily with my sister.” Luna declared and teleported away.

Meanwhile I was left to sit with my own treacherous thoughts, as they came crawling back with Luna’s absence. First I contemplated fleeing, but that would do me no good. Then I contemplated hiding, but in the end that seemed even more childish than running. In the end I found myself sitting there unable to act due to the combined feeling of confusion, and fear for potentially lashing out against Celestia. As my thoughts gradually turned darker I let out a frustrated scream at my own inability to maintain my psyche. I hastily stood up, still fuming at myself, and walked over to the nearest wall. After rearing my head back I slammed my forehead into the wood paneling, producing a dull thud from the impact and a pained grunt from me. But as I stood there, with my now aching forehead, I felt my thoughts clear up. What good will it do if I freak out? These past few days have been a damn parody of how I should act. I berated myself as I started to pace back and forth. For I feared that if I sat down again my thoughts would return.

No more than fifteen minutes could have passed before Luna reappeared in with a flash, this time accompanied with Celestia. Luna’s eyes scanned the living room until her gaze landed on me, where I had stopped my pacing. Her sister on the other hand seemed to be wondering just where Luna had teleported her. If I had to guess Luna had just told her that she would be going to talk to me, not where they were going. Finally, Celestia’s gaze ended up finding me as well and she was the first out of the three of us to speak.

“Hello again Cloud, my sister says that we have to talk and it sounded serious.” She greeted me, a wondering tone in her voice.

“Hi Tia.” I greeted her, surprising myself at how tired my voice sounded. ”Sit down, please. This is going to take… Once I start talking I’m not going to stop if I do I don’t think I’ll be able to start again. So please sit down and I will tell you all that happened since that night so long ago.” I said, feeling something between being terrified and relieved.

“I will take my leave then.” Luna announced, moving towards my door.

“No you will stay.” I stopped her. “You have a right to know what happened as well.” I told her, making her head towards the couch instead.

I wanted to get it all of my chest, to just surrender to it all, to make it all a thing in the past. But how I lost control and how it pained me when I talked about scared me to no end. So when Celestia got seated in my couch, a now worried expression on her face, I took a deep breath.

“That night that I disappeared I went to face Grief and Dreamcatcher alone…” I began my story. And once I started it was like a faucet had opened for the words were pouring out of me like flowing water. I told them about how I had theorized a plan to beat grief given the information I had gotten from Luna. I told them of how the final moments in Equestria had played out for me, something that I had dumbed down for the girls when I talked to them. I spoke of how I had been balancing on the edge of staying in Equestria and leaving but had come to the conclusion that I was expendable and Celestia was not. I spoke of my first few months back home and how I had cut connections and had done everything to try and forget.

When I arrived at the point where I had collapsed during my martial arts practice I had to force myself to continue, but continue I did. I tried my best to detach myself from what I was saying, as I described how I had wasted away in that hospital bed before ultimately succumbing to my irreparable lungs. At this point both sisters had almost same expressions, with clenched yaws and hard to read facial expressions. And so I continued to speak, I spoke of waking up again and finding Imagination. I told them about my beliefs at the time, that I truly thought I was dead. Then I told them of ending up in the care of the Rustfeathers and how I had realized where I was. I described my reasoning for staying and how I had started to build a life again, despite being weary of having to start over.

Then I got to the final events that had led me here. “…so you see I’m still terrified. Terrified that I’m still on that hospital bed, and all of this is just a sort of bastion for my dying mind. A final happy thought before I truly die once and for all.” I finished, having finally revealed my deepest fear. My throat and mouth were now dry and my voice was barely louder than a whisper.

*<>*

He had truly loved her! Her heart sang, and after all this time he hopefully still cared for her. When he explained everything that had been going on behind the scenes those last days so much became clear. But then as he went on to describe what had happened to him after he had returned home her exuberance slowly turned to guilt. What he had gone through almost exactly mirrored what she had done after he had disappeared. When he reached the point where he had been told that his time was running out she had wanted to leap up and embrace, to tell him that everything was okay now. But he had asked them not to interrupt so clenched her jaw and endured. She endured until his story started wrap up and by this point Cloud had since long ago turned his gaze away from Luna and her.

As the last whispered syllables left Cloud’s lips she had already decided what to do. He had suffered just as she had, and it was time that she repaid him for all the kindness he had shown her when she thought herself lost. It was her time to be a rock to lean against, like he had been for her when she had ended up in his home more than two years ago. It was time that she told him the secret she had been holding onto ever since that stormy Canterlot night when she thought she had lost him the first time. If anything it will be to calm his soul. She thought as she approached the silent form of Cloud.

She carefully extended one of her wings to gently brush aside his uneven hair so that she could meet his gaze properly. His eyes were bordering on emotionless, but they still sought hers and a small flicker of activity could still be seen if one searched for it. She gave him the most comforting smile she could manage, but she was afraid that her own eyes betrayed the sadness she felt for him.

“It’s okay Cloud, I’m here. You don’t have to fight anymore. I know that you’re alive, that you’re real and that you’re you standing here in front of me because you share my soul.”

Cloud’s lips twitched slightly and he managed a weak smile. “I’m sorry Tia but I don’t know what to trust anymore.” He told her.

“No you don’t understand Cloud and that is my fault. I should have told you this the first time you asked me but I was afraid. Afraid of what you might think of me, afraid of me influencing your free will, but no more. Had I only been honest and steadfast that one time, I could’ve saved us both so much sorrow.” She told him, and he adopted a quizzical look.

“It is time I told you what happened that night you collapsed after saving Spike’s life…”

*~*

Finally! She cheered as the barrier around her quarters started to dissipate. She burst out of her apartments through her balcony door, heading straight towards the location Rage had been just minutes prior. She had seen it all from her window as she worked furiously to break free from her confinement. But now she needed answers to the questions she had. Like, who was responsible for that massive bolt of lightning? Or if all the elements were alright? Her instincts told her that if she headed for the last place Rage had been she would get the answers she now sought.

She pumped her wings furiously and like an arrow she shot through the grey skies, barely aware of the drizzle that remained of the earlier rainfall. Then she saw it, the area where the massive lightning bolt had struck. No, before seeing it she could feel it as she rapidly closed in on it. She could feel how the area was somehow devoid of magic and it wasn’t until her eyes saw it that she finally understood. Somepony had been able to create a large magical nullification zone, possibly by using that large bolt of lightning. The next thing she saw was the element bearers that stood crowded around something hidden from her view form the air. So she entered rapid dive, only to come to a hasty landing that caused her to skid across the wet stones of Canterlot’s streets.

“Princess Celestia!” Her student’s voice cried out, most likely in surprise over her sudden appearance.

She turned around to face her little ponies and to congratulate them for their victory, but that was as far as her thoughts got. The moment she turned her eyes fell upon the bruised, broken and above everything else unmoving form of Cloud. Everything else in the world fell away at that moment as her mind tried to desperately deny what was in front of her. No… She thought. Nonono! This isn’t real, he can’t be here. He was supposed to be safe!

To her side she heard Twilight try explain what had happened, but she couldn’t make out the words. In a desperate attempt she tried her magic but the null zone made even basic levitation impossible. Instead of wasting any more time on attempting to use magic she quickly moved over to the Cloud’s side. To her side Twilight’s tone had changed to a worried one since Celestia had yet to respond to her, but right now all she could care about was Cloud. She bent down and by using her wings and fore hooves she carefully scooped his lifeless form up and onto her back. His cold form filled her with dread as she broke into a sprint, leaving the confused element bearers behind her. Every second counted if she wanted to have a chance to save his life. And the moment she cleared the magical dead zone she came to an abrupt stop, using her magic to levitate Cloud off her back. A series of quick magic scans filled her only with despair though as they revealed Cloud to have passed on.

No! I refuse to let this happen! She thought angrily as she prepared a spell she had thought she would never use. A spell theorized by Clover the clever, a forbidden spell but not necessarily a dark one. That being said it was definitely a dangerous one, although right now it was the only option she could think of. Invoking the ancient spell matrix she felt her power drain rapidly as a part of her soul broke lose. Her power drained further as she felt the shard of her soul vanish into the aether in search of its intended target. Now came the part that had made the spell a mere theory for Clover the clever, maintaining a constant stream of magic into the spell matrix until the soul shard returned. A normal unicorn mage simply didn’t have the magical resources for a spell like this, but an alicorn on the other hoof was a different matter. She grit her teeth and focused, and slowly the passing seconds turned into minutes.

Then she felt it, a strange indescribable feeling but if she had to put it into words she would call it a distorted echo. The small shard of her soul returned, suddenly materializing in the air front of her, but this time it wasn’t alone. Accompanying her small vibrant soul shard was a larger electric blue soul that had been led home through the void. She didn’t waste any time, so instead of admiring the alien display of her soul shard orbiting Cloud’s reclaimed soul like a miniature sun she directed the soul and shard towards the form in front of her. The shard and soul seemed to merge seamlessly with Cloud’s body and in the next second his body lit back up with the flame of life. Releasing a shaky breath she allowed herself to release the feed of magic into the matrix, as she could see Cloud’s wounds slowly mend themselves.

I did it… She thought sluggishly as the stress of the magical exhaustion started to hit her. His soul was safe and his life had been restored, now she just needed to pray that he woke up soon. Then another thought struck her. Wait… What if he sees this as a debt? What if he takes this the wrong way? I mean right now his life is tied to mine and in turn mine is tied to the sun. She came to realize slowly. Cloud was going to share her time and he had not even had a say in the matter. How would he cope with the news that he would share her lifespan? The lifespan of a sun?

*~*

She looked up, her tear filled eyes seeking Cloud’s. “So you see I know it’s truly you. For I can feel the resonance of our souls.” She told him softly as she gently placed a hoof on his chest.

For a few seconds Cloud stood there just looking at her, an unreadable expression on his face. It came to the point where she started to fear that he would reject her and ask her to leave him alone. Then suddenly he enveloped her in a hug, using both his arms and wings.

“Thank you Tia, thank you.” He whispered softly as the warmth of his embrace soothed her own troubled soul.

“No thank you for returning to me.” She whispered back as she returned the hug.

She didn’t know how long she and Cloud spent there, arms, legs and wings intertwined, but when they finally released each other she was certain that things would work themselves out. If it would take time so be it, she wasn’t going to let Cloud go again without a fight. Time was after all a thing they both would have in abundance. She studied Cloud’s face as he studied her, he looked much calmer than before but that was to be expected given the burden he had carried.

“The two of us are hopeless at dealing with our problems, aren’t we?” He asked her, giving her a hesitant smile. But it was the first real smile since she had arrived.

“We are, we most definitely are.” She agreed, returning his smile.

“I have to ask though, where does this leave us Tia?” Cloud questioned her, sounding a bit reserved.

“As far as I am concerned I’m not ready to give up on us, Cloud.” She told him warmly, causing him gently to wrap his wings around her again.

She had spent enough time away from him to bother with the details now, and if there were any troubles on the road ahead they could deal with them as they presented themselves. But for now her future looked as bright as the sun she governed over. Yes, things would only become better from this point. She thought as she leaned into his embrace, just enjoying the closeness and the feeling of him gently running his fingers through her mane as he held her in his wings.

Ch 12. To those you owe your time

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Chapter 12. To those you owe your time

Don’t let the light you see
Restrain you
Don’t put your trust
In the dark outside
There will be more
Than you ever could die for
This momentary bliss is a lie

To only hear what others want you to do can be a deceitful poison, especially when you feel that you owe a person something. And what exactly do I mean by that? Am I saying that helping others is a bad thing? Of course not! However you must take great care to not lose yourself and what you want in the process. Cultivate your own interests so that you can have something to call your own, whatever it may be. And if it turns out to be that helping out is what you yourself wants to do, then all I can say is carry on my friend. Your path is yours to walk as you see fit.

*~*

After that fateful night, were both Celestia and I had shared all the things we had never been able to say, life took a turn for the better for me. While my nightmares still remained, and my strange phobia for beds was as strong as ever I was making progress. Not every night required me to force myself to the point of exhaustion to actually be able to fall asleep, and there were again nights when my dreams left me alone. To summarize it all I would have to say that my mental state was stabilizing. However the information that Celestia had revealed that night had brought on new questions for her to answer. Just as I had to answer the new ones she had.

For example, I knew now the extent of the spell that had been used to recover my lost soul. And how that had caused the regression in size for Celestia. The size thing had been the easier part for her to explain as it had been a simple matter of her body having to recover all the magic she had spent. When it came to the impact the spell would have on my life though things got a bit tricky. The small part of Celestia’s soul that now resided within my own apparently created some sort of bond between the two of us. Thus I had asked early on if this was some sort of immortality, but as she continued to explain it became clear that this wasn’t the case.

Through the bond I would share Celesita’s long life, which she explained by both being an alicorn and by being tied to the life of Equus’ sun. That meant that while I could live an incredibly long life now, I could still fall prey to fatal injuries or sickness. Although while it was sobering to know that it wasn’t true immortality Celestia did point out that sharing an alicorn’s soul could have effects on me in the long term. It was possible that I would begin to recover faster or perhaps get a closer connection to something here on Equus. But for now such topics were just pure speculation from Celestia.

While I was sure that my mind still hadn’t fully grasped the concept of living for potentially thousands of years I wasn’t going to complain. Instead I would just be happy for what I had regained and leave the darker parts of my past behind me. Although due to Celestia’s part as leader for Equestria the time we could spend together was a bit more limited than last time, but we made sure to take the chances we got. That being said we hadn’t really had any opportunity to actually have any real dates, most of the time it was just Celestia stopping by at my home when she had some time to spare. But neither of us felt the need to make things go faster, in fact I believe that the slower pace was a good thing right now.

What was more frequent though was the amount of times that I found Luna sleeping on my couch. For some reason she had taken an extreme liking to my home and used pretty much every wild excuse she could come up with to go there. It took me a while to realize that she was trying to figure out what all the technology in my house did. When I finally found her one evening trying to start the laptop I used to control the entertainment in my home the pieces started to fall into place, fast forward two hours and Luna was hooked on Star Wars. Although she had started questioning the title before I explained that there was no correlation between her stars and it. I didn’t really mind the visits from Luna though, and it was nice to see that Luna had a more relaxed side to her rather than the responsible younger sister I had thought her to be.

All the royal activity in my home didn’t go unnoticed for very long, and soon I had ponies frequently coming up to ask me about it. Although through some sort of miracle I had managed to keep my newly resumed relationship with Celestia a secret. Well mostly a secret, Pinkie had been able to guess it a few days after the night in my home. She had made one of her famous promises to keep it secret on my behalf though and I trusted her to keep it. Speaking of Pinkie, another thing that had become a quite common sight around Ponyville was Pinkie riding along either on my shoulders or by half hanging, half standing on my back. When I asked her about it she just replied with a smile and repeated that I made a good taxi. So since it didn’t really bother me I just let her continue with her antics.

However it wasn’t Pinkie who first found out that the princesses were visiting my home frequently. No, the first pony to find that out was Rainbow Dash. The very next day after I had gone home from my first day working for Berry Punch, Rainbow had suddenly come around knocking at my door. I had been confused for a few seconds before remembering the promise I had made her the day prior. Incidentally Luna had decided to use that moment to teleport into my home announcing that she was bored. When Rainbow had asked Luna had happily informed her that my house was her new hang out spot. At this point I had started to remember that I had invited Berry Punch to witness a sparring match between me and Rainbow. Which of course led to me starting to consider calling the entire thing off since I was wondering how much stress I could actually take.

The problem solved itself though since Celestia intervened that very moment by teleporting in to drag Luna back to Canterlot, all while apologizing for her behavior. With my home again relatively calm I turned to Rainbow who was staring, mouth wide open, at the spot where the two royal sisters had been a second ago. After some quick explanations to Rainbow, we were set to go again. But before we had a chance to start practicing Berry along with Bonbon and Lyra arrived, making me do the entire tour of my home. When that entire business was done Rainbow and I had the sparring match I had promised Berry, and luckily it appeased her doubts about me. With that out of the way Rainbow and I could finally start working on what I had promised her. Although she was a bit upset by the fact that I insisted that she’d have to learn my style of Karate before I taught her weapons. But that was one of those things that I would never back down on. You needed to understand the origin technique before practicing it in an applied environment.

One thing that I didn’t anticipate though was the fact that the news of my sparring match against Rainbow had spread. So every so often we would end up with a small pony audience when we practiced. Not that it bothered me really, though one thing was certain and that was that it didn’t bother Rainbow. The most positive thing about having ponies watching us though would have to be the fact that my positive reputation grew. I attributed much of that to Rainbow being the one I was teaching though. Since they respected her and she respected me some of it seemed to carry over. It also helped that my job as a bartender and/or bouncer enabled me to interact with the Ponyville population on a daily basis.

Speaking of my job at The Silver grape I had managed to pick up bartending with relative ease, just as Berry Punch had predicted. Overall I’d say that the job was a socially rewarding one, so I was kind of happy with it. Furthermore Bonbon and Lyra had seemed to make a point out of showing up at least once a week, either at home or at work, to visit me. They were a welcome addition to my growing circle of friends though since they had a tendency to take everything in stride.

On the topic of Lyra and Bonbon, I had finally managed to remember a few things about them. Or rather what the fandom had made them out to be, which had turned out to be pretty far off the mark in this instance. Allow me to elaborate; Lyra, while quickly becoming a close friend to me, held no particular interest in what I was. Nor did she have a strange fixation with hands or anything of the sort. However when it came to Bonbon I had a creeping suspicion that she had some sort of a crush on me. She would often just sit and look at me when she thought I wasn’t paying attention, and blush at times when she saw that I was. She had never acted on it so far though so I simply let her be. Just in case there was something I was misinterpreting though I had gone to Twilight to ask for a book on modern pony social culture or anything similar. She had lent me a book out of her newly restarted collection after I had promised to be extra careful with it.

Another useful source that I sought for advice about social culture was Rarity. Given that I now had a more stable income I had taken the opportunity to commission extra sets of clothing from the fashionista. And more often than not we would converse about the things going on in our lives when I dropped by to pick up an order or to make a new one. Turns out that if you just kept the more intimate details to yourself talking to Rarity was a gold mine when it came to the finer points in pony culture. At first I had thought that she only had eyes for the upper crust and what was popular there, but after many conversations I had come to trust her expertise in much more than making of clothing.

*~*

I found myself walking down the road leading into Ponyville one autumn morning, the warmth of summer still lingering in the air. It was hard to believe that I had been living here just over a month already, and had it not been for the leaves on the trees slowly starting to shift in color I would’ve thought time stood still. Today seemed to be a day just like any other though, well except for the small jar I was bringing with me to work today. I had started a few small cooking projects in my spare time and I was using my pony friends as a taste testing subjects. I wish I could say that I always was successful with my culinary experiments but there was one area that I had learnt to avoid.

As I finally started to grow closer to my destination I had already passed through a large portion of Ponyville, and had greeted quite a few of the ponies that I had passed. After one month with me in close proximity they were more or less used to my presence, which of course was incredibly helpful for me. No longer would I get thrown out of shops or be denied service because of fear. There were a few disbelievers still though that were resolute in their ideas of me being terrifying. Although at this point I had stopped caring about it if it didn’t directly interface with my day, and even if I did come across one of these ponies I just made a point of ignoring it.

I gave up any further ponderings as I turned the corner to the street were The Silver grape was situated. There was no activity worth mentioning here yet as the businesses here hadn’t opened for the day yet, the Silver grape included. With brisk pace I crossed the remaining few meters to my destination, and pushed up the door.

“Good morning!” I called out as I entered the now familiar diner and bar.

“Cloud!” Came a happy reply from further inside quickly followed the sound of hooves against hardwood floors.

A few moments later Ruby Pinch, Berry’s daughter, came bounding up to me. Barely managing to stop before she ran into my legs. She looked up at me, eyes sparkling with the excitement of youth.

“Good morning Ruby aren’t you supposed to be at school by now?” I asked the small unicorn filly.

“Naa, Cheerilee was sick today so we got the day off. Now onto the important stuff, do you have anything cool with you today?”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Ruby had been one of the first to want to try the things I cooked and had been using the leftovers from my failed projects for pranks. However she had also become quite adept at noticing a pattern when I was normally bringing something new with me.

“As a matter of fact I do Ruby but I want a few more ponies to gather before I-”

“Why didn’t you say so sooner! I’ll go get mom!” She cried out excitedly before rushing off deeper into the diner.

I was left alone with an unsaid ‘That’s not what I meant.’ Hanging in the air. Ultimately deciding that it already was too late I followed Ruby into the diner and eventually found her in the kitchen. As I stepped through the doorway she was in the middle of trying to convince Berry and the chef, Grand Buffet, to come with her. On that note I don’t believe I have introduced Grand Buffet yet. Grand Buffet is a tan unicorn stallion that had been introduced to me as simply the chef, but it had later become clear that he was indeed married to Berry. That being said I wasn’t sure that Buffet was Ruby’s father or not, and I hadn’t wanted to pry. Anyhow I cleared my throat to get the attention of the ponies in the room.

Berry was first to speak once she saw me. “Oh hello Cloud, now I see understand why my daughter is so eager. Another one of your little food things I assume?”

“Yeah, but I had intended to wait until this afternoon before having you try it.” I admitted.

“Well good luck with that. Now that Ruby knows about it she won’t stop harassing you until she gets a chance to try it.” Buffet chimed in.

“Well we haven’t opened for the day yet so I guess that we can give it a try.” Berry said but hastily added. “It’s not anything made of flowers again is it?”

Remember that I mentioned one area that I had learnt to avoid? That area would be flowers, and I had after multiple failed attempts at creating some sort of food that the ponies would enjoy been more or less banned from using flowers in my cooking. Well at least the ponies I tested my food on had adopted the habit of asking if I had tried using flowers again when I presented something new.

“No it’s not flowers, I’ve learnt my lesson.” I started, addressing Berry’s concerns. “And don’t I know it.” I continued, turning to Buffet.

“Okay then if it’s not flowers it should be good. You’re an excellent chef otherwise.” Buffet praised me.

I offered him a grateful nod before digging into my bag to retrieve the small jar I had stuffed into it earlier this morning. I placed onto one of the tables in the kitchen and the ponies looked on with interest.

“This,” I began “this is marinated garlic cloves.”

Berry and Buffet looked at me bewildered, probably trying to see if I was joking or not. In response though I only smiled until Buffet gave into the urge to outright ask me.

“You’re not serious, right Cloud?” He said.

“Nope, I’m completely serious. Now who wants to try it?” I asked them, still keeping my smile up.

Ruby’s hoof shot up in a split second, a clear indicator that she was hoping for something weird again. Berry just sighed before muttering something that sounded like; Let’s get this over with. Lastly Buffet was studying me, possibly still trying to discern if I was joking or not.

Deciding that it was probably better to just have them try it without delaying any further I went over to one of the kitchen drawers to retrieve a spoon. Stepping back over to the jar I removed the lid and used the spoon to fish out one of the cloves.

“So did you decide wants to go first?” I asked still smiling.

Buffet let out a sigh. “I guess I’ll do it.” He said.

I offered him the spoon and he grabbed it in his aura, for a few seconds it hovered in the air in front of him then he quickly moved the spoon to his mouth. He chewed carefully for a few seconds before stopping, his eyes widening in surprise before quickly swallowing.

“What did you say that this was Cloud? Marinated garlic?” He asked, his tone of voice betraying his excitement.

“Yep, marinated garlic.” I confirmed as I scooped up another clove and passed it to Berry.

The process of careful chewing followed by approval was repeated by Berry, although Ruby wasn’t too fond of the taste. But for such a small pool of testers I was going to call two thirds a successful experiment for now. Hopefully I could get a few others of the staff for Berry’s diner to test it as well during the day.

“You come up with the strangest things Cloud, but as I’ve said before you have a good grasp on cooking and a tongue for tastes.” Buffet had time to say before Berry cut in.

“This was a pleasant surprise for the morning, but we have job to do that starts in about twenty minutes so get to it.” She ordered me and Buffet.

I snapped a quick mock salute and marched out towards the bar, among my tasks during the day I was to handle the cash register and to take orders from the patrons.

*~*

Most of the day passed relatively quickly, and soon I found myself at its end the arms on the clock behind the bar counting down the last few hours of my shift today. I was currently busy entertaining one of the regular patrons, a sky blue unicorn by the name Minuette. My first meeting with Minuette hadn’t been here though, no I had ended up at her dentistry clinic when I was searching the town for toothpaste and a toothbrush. As soon as I had entered she had all but jumped me, almost pleading for a chance to study my teeth. Apparently having both incisors and molars was something incredibly fascinating to her.

“So you’re telling me that the soda back in your land is so full of sugar that you wouldn’t let Pinkie drink it?” Minuette asked me, a horrified look on her face.

“Yeah, I think she gets enough sugar as it is.” I replied with a smile.

We had been talking about different drinks for the past minutes and I had mentioned Coke as a drink I enjoyed. One thing led to another and after describing the contents of a normal can of coke she had a hard time believing me.

“Pretty much all of the soda from my home is like that, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I added.

“But your teeth-” She began to argue.

“Are mine to with as I please.” I stopped her firmly.

We had been through that argument before and last time it had ended with her wanting to pay me to go have regular checkups at her clinic. She had stopped by herself at that point though as she had realized that she was coming across as a bit creepy.

“Humph, suit yourself.” She said looking away.

If hadn’t been for the fact that we had played this game many times already I would’ve thought I had offended her. And true to my predictions she turned back again with a smile.

“Aw, you’re no fun. The first time you were too busy facehoofing to notice the fact that I was joking.” She said with a chuckle.

That was true the first time she had pulled this act I had been at a loss for words. I hadn’t been able to fathom why she had been upset over the fact that I had denied her trying to have me sign a legal agreement to never eat any sweets in Ponyville.

“Yeah, but as I recall your attempts at catching me off guard had more planning to them back then.” I answered her with a smile.

“Hmm, perhaps you’re right. But then again it’s been a busy week at the clinic so that means less time for planning. Speaking of the clinic though I gotta head back, talk to you later Cloud.” She excused herself, and I just offered her a quick wave before returning to cleaning the bar with a rag.

Damn it, I forgot to have her try the garlic. I cursed to myself, as the realization struck me. Hopefully I’d be able to convince her to try one next time we met. That was if I had any left by then. But that was a problem for the future, and since the overall reception of the garlic had been positive I was planning on making more anyway.

I had just enough time to settle back into my routine at the bar when the door was thrown open and I stumbled a pink earth pony with a blonde mane, I believe she was named Lilly.

“Oh the horror! The horror! Rainbow Dash is fighting with that scary griffin again!” She cried out. And by the time I leapt over her, heading out of the door, she was in the middle of fainting.

*~*

Fluttershy’s day had started out great. She had gotten all of her little friends their food, talked to Big Mac about the choir, had a quick lunch at home and placed an order for some more birdfeed in Ponyville. Fluttershy’s day wasn’t going so great anymore. She was currently busy cowering from the same griffin that had appeared and yelled at her all those years ago.

The griffin was trying to ask her something but she was too busy murmuring “Please go away.” To herself to even notice what was being said.

“Hey! Get away from her!” A familiar voice called out.

Some shuffling could be heard and she gathered her courage to sneak a peek at what was happening. The griffin was currently staring at Rainbow Dash that had arrived at the scene, and it was Rainbow who broke the silence that had fallen.

“I thought you decided that we were losers.” She sneered at the griffin.

Rainbow’s words seemed to affect the griffin as she visibly flinched and something hurt flashed across her already tired face.

“I don’t have time for this Rainbow, I need to find a tall creature that calls himself Cloud.” The griffin eventually replied.

“Oh no, not happening!” Rainbow shot back.

“Please, I need to see him!” The griffin said, starting to sound frustrated.

“You’re not getting past me!” Rainbow declared.

“Fine, then we’ll do this the hard way!” The griffin answered.

Fluttershy could only watch in horror as both the griffin and Rainbow leapt at each other, then suddenly in a flurry of motion Cloud was in between them. Somehow he managed to stop both Rainbow and the griffin’s attacks simultaneously, and in the dazed moment were neither Rainbow and the griffin knew what had happened he spoke a single word.

“Enough!”

“Cloud I-” The griffin began but got interrupted by Rainbow.

“Cloud don’t trust her she-” She had time to say before Cloud her cut her off.

“Rainbow quiet!” He said and his voice carried so much command that Rainbow only sat there in surprised silence.

Cloud turned back to the griffin, who he clearly knew somehow, and asked in a much softer tone. “Why are you here Gil?”

“Cloud, they… They took Stella.” The griffin managed to get out before collapsing.

Ch 13. Forecast

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Chapter 13. Forecast

What has come over me
What madness taken hold of my heart
To run away, the only answer
Pulling me away
To fall upon the night
The source of my recovery
Sweet shadow taking hold of the light
Another day has been devoured
Calling me away, begging the question
Why

Something I learned early on as a martial artist was what my teacher called unshackling the beast inside. And as self-explanatory this may sound it is a bit more complicated than you might think. The so called unshackling pretty much boils down to tapping into that primal part you know exists in your brain and letting it rule your actions. I should point out though that this isn’t something unique to martial arts. Many people act like this on instinct or learn from common brawling to utilize this. However what sets a martial artist apart from a common brawler is the ability to exercise control. To re-shackle that beast in a split second, should the need arise.

*~*

At first I hadn’t known how to react at Gilda’s desperate proclamation. But once I had regained my senses I had left that entire scene in Ponyville behind me, the unconscious form of Gilda in my arms. The ponies had just parted before me as I walked away, although I knew not if it was out of fear or respect. Right now returning to work, to tell Berry where I had gone, was but a ghost of a thought. My only objective right now was to get Gilda to my home, but most importantly out of Ponyville. The poor thing must have been traveling without any real sleep for days to reach me, if the state of her feathers and coat was anything to go by. What she had managed to say before succumbing to her exhaustion worried me though, but before I could ask her what was going on she needed to sleep. And it was probably for the better too that she had collapsed when she did. This way there would be no further complications involving the ponies of Ponyville and I could talk to Gilda in the peace of my home.

I made the trip back home quickly, but seeing how the griffin that I was carrying was still unconscious I went upstairs and carefully put her in my master bedroom. Again I stopped to stare at the ragged form of Gilda, I couldn’t begin to fathom what she had been through trying to reach me. Her saddlebags had contained nothing but a hastily packed blanket and a few meager meals. A knock coming from the door downstairs brought me out of my thoughts and I hastily tucked her in under the blankets before heading downstairs. Opening the door revealed the worried looking pair of Bonbon and Lyra.

“Hey there Cloud, Ponyville is buzzing about how you knocked out a griffin and then brought it with you here.” Lyra greeted me.

Yeah, leave it to Ponyville to distort the truth in a matter of minutes. I thought tiredly before answering the mint colored mare. “Hello to you too Lyra, Bonbon. Now I didn’t knock her out she passed out from exhaustion. And I brought her here because I owe her a great debt. But that’s not something we should be discussing on my doorstep, so please do get inside.”

Lyra walked past me at my invitation and headed for my couch in the living room, Bonbon however stayed at the doorstep. “Are you sure everything is alright Cloud? You seem very troubled.” She asked me.

“Quite frankly no, I’m not okay. But right now Gilda, that’s the griffin’s name has it way worse. Now come on in I’ll give you the short version of what’s going on. Well from what I know at least.” I told Bonbon. In response she nodded and walked past, heading for the couch as well.

Once both ponies had seated themselves I moved one of the chairs so that I was sitting on the opposite side of the coffee table in front of the couch.

“Aight, the short version.” I began, but changed my approach as I realized that a bit of backstory was probably a good start. “Actually I think I should start by telling you who she is. Gilda is, or perhaps was is a better word an old friend of Rainbow Dash but due to outside circumstances that culminated with her latest visit here in Ponyville they went their separate ways. How she acted last time here can be explained but not by me, that’s entirely up to her.”

“I remember that a griffin visited a few years ago and caused a bit of a commotion.” Lyra commented.

“Yeah, so I’ve been made to understand.” I agreed, not wanting to go into the fact that I had seen it play out.

“Well, anyway now you know who she is and that she has a bit of history with this place. Here’s where I come into the picture.” I went on.

When neither Bonbon nor Lyra said anything I continued to speak. “Both of you know that I’m not from here originally, and when I first arrived I was woke up in the griffin badlands with some clothing and a canteen with water. For days I wandered among the rocky formations on those plains, not knowing where I was or where I was heading. Eventually my water ran out and without having had anything to eat during those days things were looking bleak. At the end of that last day when the water was spent I collapsed just before reaching a house in the woods. That was Gilda and her family’s roadside inn that I had collapsed outside, and without a second thought they took me in. They gave me a job and an end to my aimless wanderings. But after only two months circumstances forced me to leave them.” I finished my short recap.

A few moments of silence reigned, and when it was broken it was by Bonbon. “Wow, that’s… I mean there’s more to that story I can tell that much but I can see why you want to help her.” She said.

“Thank you for understanding. It is as you say, I would do almost anything to help Gilda and her family. They have done so much for me and it’s time that I repay some of the kindness and support they have shown me.” I told her.

“Don’t mention it.” She said hastily.

“Yeah, just tell us if there’s anything you need help with.” Lyra chimed in and I offered her a thankful smile.

“Thank you for offering Lyra, and I think I will take you up on that offer right away.” I told her.

“Okay, what do you need?” Lyra asked.

“I will need someone to stay here and watch Gilda in case she wakes up.” I started to explain.

“We should be able to do that, but where are you going?” Bonbon questioned.

“I’m going to first go over to the Silver grape to explain to Berry what’s going on and hopefully be allowed to take an indefinite leave. Then I’m going to buy rations and gear for the trip back to Gryphus with Gilda. She needs a friendly face to wake up too if she does so while I’m gone.” I explained to my two friends.

“Alright, you can count on us Cloud.” Lyra spoke up after a moment’s consideration.

“Yes, we’ll make sure that she is safe.” Bonbon added.

“Thank you, both of you.” I told them sincerely before standing and walking over to the door. I paused with my hand on the handle. “I won’t be long, hopefully.” I added, looking back at the two ponies on my couch before opening the door and stepping back out into the autumn air.

*~*

I had retrieved my bag from the Silver grape and while there I had also informed Berry of what I intended to do. After a few minutes of discussion and explanations she had agreed, although she had done so hesitantly. I was glad that she had seen reason with my unreasonable request, but the truth of the matter was that I would have left even if it would’ve gotten me fired. A job was just a job after all, and right now I didn’t feel like such things mattered. Currently I was going through the open market purchasing fruits that I knew would last a few days and also rations of salted crackers. Once I finished the round of purchases and started to head back home, lamenting the fact that I hadn’t thought to order a set of warmer clothing from Rarity a week or two earlier. Now there was no way that she would be able to finish them in time. Gryphus would be much colder than Equestria this time of year since it was that much further north.

Before I could even leave the market place though a familiar orange mare wearing a Stetson came rushing up to me.

“Cloud thank Celestia that Ah’ found ya. We’d like a quick chat with ya at the Suger cube corner.” She said.

“If you’ll be quick about it my time is quite limited right now AJ.” I told her.

“We’ll make it as fast as possible ya have mah’ word.” Applejack promised, motioning for me to follow her.

The trip to the Corner was a quiet one, making me wonder just what was going on. Although I had my suspicions about what this was about, I wasn’t going to give into my assumptions. Luckily the trip from the market to the famous bakery wasn’t a long one, otherwise the pressing silence would probably have gotten to me. When we arrived Applejack held up the door for and I entered without hesitation. Inside I found the girls gathered around one of the tables, save Fluttershy who was nowhere to be seen.

“Cloud, please have a seat.” Twilight addressed me the moment her eyes found me.

Somewhat wary of what they had to say I did as I had been asked and took a seat by the table. I let my gaze wander over the girls and I could see nervousness, hidden away under more or less impressive masks of calm.

“I’m not sure if you know this already Cloud, but the griffin you took in has a bit of bad reputation here in Ponyville.” Twilight began.

“Let’s not tap dance around the issue here Twilight, what is it that you’re truly afraid of here?” I cut in.

“Alright, I’ll just be blunt then. We’re afraid that you were planning on leaving again.” She told me, hitting the nail on its head.

“You’d be correct in that assumption, I intend to leave with Gilda the moment I know what is going on and that she has recovered.” I replied, meeting Twilight’s searching gaze.

“You’re what!?” She almost shrieked. “You’re planning on just throwing everything away again?”

“That I intend to help Gilda is not something you can change Twilight, in fact nothing any of you say can change that. But I do intend to return here once I have done so though.” I told them.

Four of the five mares at the table had adopted contemplative looks after I shared that last bit but one would have none of it.

“You simply can’t trust her Cloud! She’s is a-” Rainbow began, unintentionally stoking the fire that had been building slowly in my subconscious.

“No! You don’t have the right to call her anything at this point! I owe Gilda and her family not only my life but my sanity too. You don’t even know the full circumstances surrounding her last visit. Nor did you, her supposed friend, see that she was hurting inside. Unfortunately it is not my place to share the full story, for what I was told I was told in confidence. So if you truly want anything to do with this matter I suggest you talk to Gilda, and when you do you start by extending a hoof of friendship instead of one of violence.” I rebuked the rainbow maned mare.

“Then the griffin family you stayed with was-” Twilight began but I cut her off.

“Gilda’s family, the Rustfeathers yes. Now if you excuse me I have somewhere to be.” I said before turning my back on them and marching out of the bakery.

Had I stayed just a second longer I would’ve heard Applejack’s last comment. “Well that was definitely faster than Ah expected.”

*~*

Instead of walking back like I had intended to do before Applejack caught me I took to the skies. Not only would flying get me home faster, but it would also help me to clear my mind. On the inside I knew that the girls only were worried, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be wrong. At the same time though I couldn’t explain to them just what was wrong, seeing how it was Gilda’s tale and not mine. As my previous irritation started to subside I couldn’t do more than let out a sigh at the complexity of the situation. Perhaps things would solve themselves, perhaps they wouldn’t. At any rate I shouldn’t try to solve this now, acquiring knowledge about Stella was the most important thing right now.

When I finally landed on my floating island the sky had started to change in color alongside the descending sun. I entered my home and found Bonbon and Lyra still sitting on my couch, quietly chatting with each other. The sound of me closing the door made them look up though.

“Welcome back Cloud, did everything go okay?” Bonbon asked, her tone giving of a sense of worry.

“More or less, has everything been okay back here?” I answered her with my own question.

“Yes, we just checked on her about ten minutes ago but she was still out cold then. And besides a few murmurs she hasn’t done anything.” She summarized for me.

I let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you again, both of you. Chances are that I’ll leave Ponyville early tomorrow and be gone for a while, so this might be the only chance I get to thank you for today.” I told them.

“You really like to say thank you, don’t you Cloud? You are our friend you don’t need to keep saying thank you all the time.” Lyra said with a smile.

I returned her smile with a small chuckle, it felt good that I could rely on them. “Okay, I’ll keep it in mind. That being said I can take care of things from here.” I told the two mares on my couch.

“Alright, but promise that you won’t hesitate to ask if you need anything else.” Bonbon said, hopping off the couch.

I accompanied them to the door and Bonbon stopped as if to say something but offered me a final nod instead. She started to walk towards the floating stones that made up the improvised staircase I had made, but Lyra stayed a moment longer.

“Bring back a souvenir or something.” Lyra said happily, before following Bonbon.

Bonbon just gave her mint colored mare a disapproving look as she caught up, and the last thing I saw was Lyra seemingly asking something along the lines of ‘what?’ before I closed the door.

I stayed there by the door for a few seconds, my hand still on the handle. Then I turned myself around and headed upstairs to check on Gilda. While I didn’t doubt Bonbon and Lyra when they said that they had just checked on her I felt a strong sense of responsibility when it came to the griffin upstairs. But as I entered my bedroom I found that Gilda was indeed still out cold. So instead of doing nothing I went downstairs again to prepare something to eat, she would probably be hungry when she woke up after all.

I quickly threw together a vegetable and fish soup, and put it onto the stove to simmer for a bit. I was personally getting mighty tired of fish, but I didn’t have too many options in getting my required protein consumption. So in the end fish it was, the bright side though was that I had invented more ways to serve fish than I thought possible. Although I lamented the fact that I had no idea how to properly make sushi. Without any real thought I walked over to the laptop, intending to start some music. Instead I just ended up scrolling through the folders, as nothing seemed to fit my current mood.

My mindless browsing was interrupted by a brilliant flash. I didn’t need to turn my head to see who had arrived but I did so anyway. Much as I had suspected Luna had teleported into my living room and was looking around the room until she found me.

“Ah, Cloud I see you’re already setting up for a movie?” She greeted me.

“Not quite, and tonight isn’t a good time Luna.” I replied, causing Luna to tilt her head in surprise at my serious tone.

“What is the matter Cloud? Is it your nightmares again?” She asked, her voice concerned.

“Ah no, but I have a guest.” I answered her.

“Oh, I’m sorry to intrude Cloud. Perhaps tomorrow then?” She asked hopefully.

However given the circumstances I had to deny her again. “I’m afraid not Luna, I’ll have to leave Ponyville for a few weeks to help my guest with a few things. It shouldn’t be too bad.” I told her, withholding the important parts.

“So this is a business thing then? Something to do with your food?” Luna asked, tilting her head to the side again.

“Yeah you could say that. Could you tell Tia that I’ll be away for me?” I said, glossing over my lie with a question.

“That we can do Cloud. Best of luck on your trip then and fare thee well.” Luna said with small nod.

“Yeah, I’ll have Spike send a letter when I get back. But for now it’s good bye.” I replied, as she charged up her horn for another teleport.

With flash Luna was gone as quickly as she had arrived. Although thanks to her timing I had managed to inform the royal sisters that I’d be out of town. However my lies brought me a strange feeling. I was probably going to do something incredibly dangerous and foolish again. And while it was for a good cause I was essentially lying to Celestia again, and that left a bad taste in my mouth. No, even Celestia would help save a child before saving me and that’s just one of the qualities that I have come to admire about her. I thought. Yes, it’s just a lie of omission. A small white lie. I tried to reassure myself. I’m at a loss about just what happened to Stella though. My mind produced as an afterthought. And for the first time since Gilda’s sudden appearance I allowed myself to worry, not only for Gilda but also for her sister whose fate was unknown to me still.

Shaking my head I walked over to the stove to turn down the heat. The soup had simmered long enough and now only needed to be kept warm until it was time to eat. With that small task done I walked upstairs again, thinking that since I wasn’t able to focus on anything else I might as well watch over Gilda.

When I entered the room she was murmuring something and seemed to be trying to reach for something, but as I walked over to her she stopped moving settling back into normal sleep. I sat down beside the bed and waited, and as the last few remaining streaks of sunlight disappeared from the room Gilda started to stir.

“Stella!” She cried out, suddenly fully awake. She looked around wildly for a few seconds and once her eyes fell on me she started to stumble over her own words in the rush to get them out.

“Cloud- I- Stella taken- Dad- Broken wing-” She produced before I put a calming hand on her shoulder.

“Relax Gil, you’re safe here. Now let’s go downstairs and you can tell me what happened.” I told the visibly distraught griffin.

My words seemed to have calming effect as Gilda slowly managed to compose herself. She then managed a quick nod before hopping out of the bed, following me out of the room and down the stairs.

“Cloud I-” She began again, but was interrupted by a growl from her own stomach.

“We’ll eat first, then you can tell me. Come on I made soup.” I told her gently as I led her over to my kitchen.

Dinner was a quick and quiet affair, mostly due to the fact that Gilda devoured the food with such haste that there was no time for words. But given the circumstances I could understand her. She had probably cut meals as well to make the trip go faster and I guessed that she wanted to tell me what had happened as soon as possible.

When she finished the few remaining pieces of vegetables in her bowl, she looked up at me expectantly.

“Okay Gil, now we’ll talk. If you could start from the beginning please.” I said to her.

She looked as if she was fighting with herself to complain or to comply with me but in the end she drew a deep breath and began her retelling.

“Well, it all started about a week after you had left…”

*<>*

Gilda woke up with a start. What had awakened her she didn’t know, but from what she could tell it was still dark outside. Confused she settled back down into her bed, thinking that it must have been some kind of random occurrence. But before she could even close her eyes she heard something. The sound of somegriff knocking was heard echoing through the otherwise quiet inn. With a groan she got herself out of bed, and while she walked down the stairs to the main floor whoever was outside the door knocked again. It’s too early for it to be a traveler so this better be important. She grumbled to herself as she unlocked the door and peeked outside. What she found was guard patrol consisting of four armed griffins, but not any of the ones that had started the fight about a week back.

“Excuse us for disturbing you in the middle of the night miss.” The closest one began.

Meanwhile her mind was preparing for the worst case scenario, they had to be after Cloud. But as the unknown soldier continued to speak she became first confused then angry.

“We are searching this area for a band of deserters, they will most likely still be wearing official guard garb and they would be rowdy bunch. Have you seen anything like this miss?”

Cloud had been forced to leave because of this?! By a bunch of dishonorable jerks?! She fumed.

“Miss? Miss?!” The guard in front of her called out, making her realize that she had been staring angrily out into space.

“Yes, sorry. They were here about a week ago and caused some trouble but we haven’t seen them since.” She replied hastily.

“Would you happen to know which direction they headed in after they left?” The guard questioned.

“I’m afraid that I don’t.” Gilda told them earnestly.

“Well then, thank you for your time miss. And again sorry for disturbing your night.” The guard said and turned around.

*<>*

“We were so happy the morning after that Cloud.” Gilda told me.

“It meant that once the trading season was over Ranger or I could leave to go look for you and hopefully bring you back. But then, just at the edge of summer, they came back. The deserters you had driven off...” She continued.

*<>*

Gilda re entered the inn from the backyard just in time to catch the last part of something her dad was saying.

“…are not welcome here! Now leave!”

That’s odd. Dad almost never raises his voice. She thought as her curiosity got the best of her. Moving through the inn she soon saw her dad through the open front door, continuing her approach revealed a group of griffins she had hoped she would never have to see again.

“Come on old you old goose we just want to have a chat with the mishap you had working here.” One of them taunted and the rest laughed.

“No you will leave this property right now! I know that you’re nothing but deserting trash.” Her dad bit back.

The mood changed in an instant and with a snarl one of them leapt forth and brought down a cudgel on her father’s wing. A sickening *snap* accompanied with the pained cry of her dad signaled that the wing was broken.

Before she could help herself she cried out. “Dad!”

Unfortunately this brought the groups attention onto her. “Oho! Look at that boys it’s the feisty one!” One of them said tauntingly.

“Gil, get back inside!” Her dad called out to her, the pain obvious in his voice.

“Oh no, you shouldn’t go anywhere little chick. Why don’t you stay here and play a bit with us.” Another one called out, starting to slowly walk towards her.

“What are you waiting for? Take Stella and run!” her dad called out again.

Snapping out of the fear that had been building inside her she turned on the spot and ran back inside. She made a straight dash through the inn and out into the backyard where Stella was still playing. Ignoring Stella’s surprised yelp she scooped up her sister and dove headfirst into the forest that stretched out behind the inn. For a few seconds she believed that she had managed to get away but then she heard rapidly approaching wing beats.

The next thing she knew her path was cut off by one of the assailants, and this one she recognized. It was the same one that had challenged Cloud, and had lost to him. He wore a malicious smile as he approached her slowly.

“Now there’s no need to run little chick. You and I are just going to have a bit of fun is all.” He said in low voice.

“Stella run!” She told her sister.

“But-” Stella began.

“Now!” She cried out harshly, and luckily Stella took the hint and ran.

The male griffin gave a frustrated shriek and dove after her sister, but Gilda body slammed him as he reached for Stella. He tumbled to the ground but was up in a matter of moments, delivering a heavy back hand to Gilda’s face. She felt herself lift from the ground before crashing back down into it. Before she had a chance to recover the male griffin was over her a wild look in his eyes.

“You shouldn’t have done that little chick. Now I have to hurt you before I have my fun.” He told her in a cold voice.

Her previous fear returned, this time five times stronger than before and suddenly she couldn’t move. Her body was refusing to comply with her flight instinct. Only when she felt a claw close around her left front leg did she regain the ability to move. So she began to struggle and shout but it did little against the larger male. Then out of nowhere a stone came hurtling through the air striking the unnamed male in the head.

“Get away from my sister!” The angry voice of Stella called out from the right.

With an angry growl the deserter leapt of Gilda and over to Stella. From her position on the ground Gilda could only watch as the male towered over sister. She saw how Stella tried to take a terrified step backwards, before the male delivered a blow to her temple and she collapsed in a heap.

The male turned his head towards Gilda, madness in his eyes. “This is what happens when you go against me! I’ll be taking this one, if you want her back you better give me that mishap of a creature!” He called out before grabbing the unconscious form of Stella and flying back in the direction of the inn.

*<>*

“Tha- that was the last time I- I saw her. I helped dad get to a hospital in the nearest settlement and the rest is just me trying to- to re- reach you.” Gilda finished her tale, breaking into tears.

I had been hugging the poor thing for quite some time now, carefully patting her back. But now I was happy that she couldn’t see my face. Her tale had lit something inside me, a rage I hadn’t known myself capable of. Only once before had I felt such hate for another being and that was Dreamcatcher. But now it seemed that list had to be increased by a few nameless griffins.

I sat with Gilda until she seemingly cried herself to sleep. She had to be tired still from her trip. I thought as gently picked her sleeping form and moved her over to my bedroom again. And after tucking her in, I went back downstairs. I needed an outlet a luckily for me my training room would be perfect for this. In fluid motion I summoned Imagination and began to move through the bō katas that I had adapted for the spear, attacking the imagined opponents more fiercely than I had ever done before. Ultimately bodily exhaustion forced the rage burning inside into a smoldering pyre. It wasn’t gone but a pyre was more easily manageable than the previous inferno. Feeling that I had done what I could I went to shower and then to bed. Tomorrow we’d set out as soon as Gilda was ready and we’d head straight for the nearest airship headed to Gryphus.

*~*

I was already up when the first tentative rays of sunlight started to find their way into my home. I had not been graced with much sleep this night, since my nightmares had mixed with the worry I was feeling. Nor did it help that I had been unable to quickly fall back asleep every time I woke up. However it seemed that Gilda had been able to find some sleep at least, because all I waited for now was for her to wake up so that we could leave. So while I waited I grabbed my duffel bag to go over what I had packed so far. But besides my cloak, some camping gear, my scarf, some spare clothes and food there was nothing I felt that I would need.

The hour wasn’t long before I heard Gilda making her way downstairs, her saddlebags already equipped and ready. I offered her something quick for breakfast, which she again devoured in silence. However I did nothing to break it as the mood from last night was still hanging in the air. Once she was done we simply gave each other a nod before heading out of my front door and towards Ponyville. My plan to reach Gryphus was simple, take the train to Canterlot and from there find an appropriate airship. I hadn’t presented this plan to Gilda but she seemed to trust my lead without question right now.

But as we entered the outskirts of Ponyville we came upon a group of four ponies, four ponies that I knew but had not expected to see together. There stood Lyra and Bonbon, but also Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Given the gear they were wearing I could only come to one conclusion, a conclusion Twilight confirmed to be true once she greeted me.

“Good morning Cloud, the girls and I talked yesterday and we came to the conclusion that some of us should come with you!” She called out in a half shout over the distance between us.

“We are coming too!” Lyra chimed in as Gilda and I got closer.

Instead of answering them I glanced at Gilda who was looking at me. She seemed to carefully avoid looking at Rainbow Dash, or any of the other ponies for that matter. I drew a deep breath and was about to start protesting, but stopped myself. For a moment I could have sworn that I had heard Luna’s voice berating me for trying to shoulder everything on my own again. Well Gilda does need all the help she can get now, and if they end up causing more trouble than they’re worth I can always send them home. I reasoned. So instead of telling them no, I offered them a chance.

“Fine. You can come with us. However it will be at our pace and you will not question any decisions we make. If you cannot comply with that you’re better off staying here.” I told them.

And to my surprise there were no complaints or anything for that matter. Just a few sharp nods and a quick salute from Lyra. But then again I couldn’t see the fire in my own eyes.

Ch 14. Sweeping winds

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Chapter 14. Sweeping winds

Never have to worry
For all that we know
The truth be told
As we lay down low
Walking the thin line
Let the happiness in
For now it’s fine
We’re living the lie

When the light breaks
Another way to matter
All questions somehow answered
When life comes crushing
At the early break of day
We’ve only come so far

When comes to interacting with other there’s no one that can say that they can get along with everyone. There’s always that one individual that somehow manages to get under your skin. But if you are one of the lucky few that is struggling with just a handful of individuals you can count yourself lucky. Most of us will find things irritating about others at a pretty steady pace, we were simply not made to like every individual we meet. Take heed though to not dismiss people with just a glance, some who may seem nothing but annoying at first may prove to everything but that. Sometimes people will need a second or even a third chance to prove their true worth, and the opportunity for that chance lies with you. But why should you listen to my ramblings about life? These are not what you are here for, right?

*~*

It was a quiet group that left for Canterlot that morning, but given the circumstances I suppose that it was to be expected. I could safely say that everyone now involved in this mess had their own reasons for keeping quiet. However so far only Gilda and I knew the full truth of what we were about to embark on. With that said, I knew that at some point we would have to fill everyone in on the nature of this trip. But I hoped that there would be time for that later. Right now the most important focus was to find an airship with the destination Gryphus. And if the travel time between countries was anything like my last trip, there would be plenty of time to talk during the transition. Also there would be time to come up with a more solid plan than what I had been able to conjure in my mind so far.

Once the train came to a halt at Canterlot station I caught Twilight’s attention. My reasoning being that if she was to come with us, she might as well start by showing us the way to the sky dock. True to the earlier promise she gave to follow mine or Gilda’s orders she began to lead us through the streets of the cliff side capitol. Needless to say our group attracted quite a bit of attention, consisting of an alicorn princess, a griffin, a pony from every race and me. By the time we entered the wharf like area that was the Canterlot sky dock I was sure that I had heard every remark possible about me from the Canterlot elite. If there was one thing that I had been able to confirm by coming here, it had to be that the snobbish ponies here weren’t afraid to complain. In fact that might’ve been the only thing they were good for.

There would be no need to care though as they would soon be but a memory I repeatedly told myself as I looked around the large sky dock. Now the next step of my plan began, finding a ship with the appropriate heading. I quickly gathered the group around me and informed them of what we needed to find. A chorus of different acknowledgements rang out as they scattered to search for a ship. I wasn’t worried that we would end up getting scattered as I had ordered them all to meet back at the entrance we had come in through in about half an hour. And so I too began to search for a potential ship, the thoughts in the back of my head being those that I hopefully wouldn’t have to sneak onto a ship this time.

Walking among the docked ships I spied the others on occasion as they were talking with various crew members from different vessels. I had to admit that it definitely was easier to search with a party of this size. My one fear though was that finding a ship that could accommodate six extra passengers on such short notice would be difficult.

And as if my fears were some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy I was unable to find a ship that was willing to take six passengers no matter how hard I searched. It was with a defeated sigh that I started to head back towards the entrance when the half hour started to near its end. All I could do at this point was to pray to whatever deity was listening that one of the others had been luckier in their search. When the entrance came into view I found Twilight and Rainbow already waiting there. But from their drooping ears I could tell that neither of them had been able to find a ship either, so in short I barely reacted when they informed me of their findings. I hated to admit it but with half the party having failed already I wasn’t too sure of our chances to leave Canterlot in a rapid fashion. When Gilda returned and just gave me disappointed look with a small shake of her head I had pretty much given up. I knew that Lyra’s social skills were subpar at best, and that left Bonbon. To be perfectly honest I had a hard time placing Bonbon into a character. Given her obvious affection towards me I had never really come to grasp how she interacted with others.

As luck would have it though, it seemed that my decision to bring the ponies along for this would result in a positive turn of events right off the bat. For I had barely begun to lose my hope for a quick resolution when Bonbon appeared out of the crowd, a smile on her face.

“I found a ship!” She declared happily as she approached.

I could feel the group release a collective sigh of relief, as the cream colored earth pony delivered the good news. All we had to do now was to wait for Lyra to show up and we would be set to go to this ship that Bonbon had found. In fact the moment we saw Lyra we started to approach her, no one wanted to risk that the spots on Bonbon’s ship got taken by another group. And seeing how Lyra had been as unsuccessful as everyone but Bonbon, she was more than happy to just go along with the group for now.

We followed our group’s earth pony to one of the farthest docks available in the harbor. There were only a few ships docked here but all of them were of the larger variant. We continued to follow Bonbon until she stopped beside a very large ship that seemed to be some sort of cargo ship if all the crates and barrels being loaded were anything to go by.

“Ah, you’re back again miss.” A dark yellow pegasus wearing a dark green bandana called out to Bonbon as we a approached.

“And you brought the group you were talking about I see.” He continued, his eyes sweeping over the group.

“Let’s see here one earth pony, one Pegasus, one unicorn, one griffin and one-” He began to list but stopped as he saw me.

“I believe human is the term you’re looking for. But don’t sweat it we’re pretty rare.” I offered the now visibly shaken sky sailor.

“Yes, thank you.” He said hastily. “But wait you said six where is your sixth member?” he asked confused.

“Oh sorry I got distracted by the ship design.” Twilight’s voice called out from the right.

The pegasus threw a glance in Twilight’s direction. “Ah so another unicorn-” He began but paused.

He slowly turned his head so that he could clearly see Twilight, his eyes flickering between her horn and her wings. I could see how his eyes started to widen when the realization of who she was started to dawn on him.

“I’m so sorry for my rudeness your highness!” He cried out in a strangled voice, dropping into a quick bow.

A string of hasty apologies followed before we finally were able to board the ship, and from what I had seen from Twilight’s interactions with the pegasus I had to admit that she had turned into a quite convincing princess. However I also realized that with Twilight being an alicorn she was very easy to identify. I made a note to bring that up in a conversation some time during the trip. If she couldn’t present a solution by the time we arrived she would have to go back to Equestria. I was here to help rescue an individual I cared for, not to help cause a political incident. That being said the risk for such a turn of events was already high, but if Twilight was recognized there would probably be no doubt about it happening.

Anyway, as I was saying with that little incident out of the way we boarded the ship and were led to our respective cabins. There were three of them in total and while they were relatively small we would be able to fit two of us into each one. It turns out that we had been lucky to find places on this ship at all as it normally only was a cargo vessel. But given how a couple of the normal crewmembers were indisposed at the moment we had been able to procure their rooms. The asking price for the rooms was kind of high though, however the urgency of our task outweighed any thoughts of economic efficiency.

And so this is where our party found ourselves now. On the airship one day out from Canterlot, with an additional five days of travel to go.

*~*

Restless. It was the one feeling that had been haunting me for the past twenty four hours. But no matter what I did the ship would still take another five days to reach Gryphus. It didn’t help that the crew was giving me weird looks when they thought that I couldn’t see them. And by going through Bonbon I was able to find out that I was viewed as some sort of omen. Apparently wild tales had sprung up during the past month and a half. Tales about a large winged being that haunted airships. It didn’t take me long to connect the dots that I was the cause of these tales. My hasty exit from that one airship I had arrived on had without a doubt caused the crew to start talking as soon as they docked, possibly even before that. And now those stories had morphed into some sort of strange sailor’s story.

With an annoyed exhale I turned away from the railing I had been standing by and headed back towards the cabin I was sharing with Gilda. The pairings had been quite obvious when it came to the cabins. With me and Gilda being paired, the other two pairs had been Bonbon and Lyra in the second one and Twilight and Rainbow in the last one.

As I entered the hallway where our cabins where located I almost bumped into Twilight.

“Oh sorry Cloud, I was just about to come get you.” She greeted me.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What for? Is something amiss?” I asked her.

“Oh no no, nothing like that. It’s just that we have been talking a bit and would like to know just what this little excursion is all about.” Twilight told me carefully.

Ah yes. I thought. Truth be told I had been expecting something like this to come up soon. And quite honestly I am surprised that it didn’t come up sooner. I pondered as I simply nodded to Twilight. A relieved expression came over her features as soon as she saw that I agreed.

“Right this way then.” She said and led me into the cabin she shared with Rainbow.

Inside I found not only Rainbow and Twilight though, but also Lyra and Bonbon. Well that makes things easier, I guess I won’t have to have this conversation twice now. I thought as I sat down facing the four of them with my back against one of the walls. Since no one spoke I assumed that they were waiting for me to speak and thus I proceeded to do just that.

“Well, I will give you what information I can.” I began but changed my mind. “Actually I will tell you everything Gilda told me, and I will take questions afterwards. However keep in mind that some questions are for Gilda to answer, so in short do not pressure me if I tell you that I cannot share something. Are we clear so far?” I said, letting myself glance over the ponies.

A series of nods and agreeing sounds was the reply I got before I launched into my elaboration of the mission they had volunteered for.

“Okay, first off this is a search and rescue task you have agreed to help with.” I began, causing the ponies eyes to widen.

“I can see that it wasn’t what you expected, but that is true nonetheless. The one we’re trying to find is Gilda’s sister Stella, our first stop will be to swing by Gilda’s home to speak with her father. Any questions so far?” I continued.

“I have one, why can’t the Gryphus authorities deal with a missing griffin?” Twilight asked, raising a hoof.

“Good question.” I said before expanding on the topic. “The real problem lies in the fact that she isn’t simply missing. From what I’ve been told she was kidnapped by a group of deserters from the Gryphus army a little more than week and a half ago.” I said to the collective gasp of Lyra, Bonbon and Twilight. Rainbow had a clearly tormented expression on her face.

Twilight raised her hoof again before asking another question. ”Why would a group of deserters kidnap a young griffin?”

I let out a sigh. “That is probably my fault. Remember that I said that I had to leave Gryphus due to circumstances? Well those circumstances involved me ending up in a brawl with this group. They challenged me over some sort of old recipe thing and I ended up defeating them. I thought that I had assaulted real Gryphus guards at that time, and so I ran before things escalated. It is only now when things have already gone bad that I realize that a grudge is held against me by this group and that they will use any means to hurt me those they know I care for.” I explained.

There was a sort of stunned silence that followed once the mast few words left my lips. I could see on my friends’ expressions that they were trying to digest what I had said. It was Lyra who finally broke the silence.

“That’s… that’s a lot to digest Cloud, but we did agree to come without asking what we were getting into.” She said.

“Yeah Lyra is right on that point.” Bonbon agreed, causing Twilight to nod thoughtfully.

“Thank you for not freaking out.” I thanked them before continuing. “Okay, this next part may seem blunt. But if you are done with your questions I’d like to ask a few.” I spoke up again.

“Okay, shoot.” Lyra said.

“Right, so first off I’d like to know if any of you would like to turn back home now that you’re fully aware of what is going down. I will not hold it against you if you do.” I told them.

“I will stand by you Cloud.” Bonbon said, being the first to respond.

“As will I.” Lyra added a second later.

Twilight looked contemplative for a few seconds longer before sighing deeply. “I know you Cloud, and I have already said at least once before that I wouldn’t distrust your judgment again before. I will stay.” She declared.

With Rainbow being the only one left to respond I turned my gaze towards her and found her still wearing that tormented look on her face just staring out into space.

“Rainbow?” I called out to her, but got no response.

“Rainbow!” I called more sharply, causing her to turn her head jerk in my direction.

“Are you going to stay?” I asked again.

“I… Yes! Of course I’ll stay. You can’t leave me behind on this!” She blurted out nervously.

I felt a headache slowly start to build in the back of my head as I observed how skittish the otherwise brash pegasus was acting. Alright that’s it. She will have to talk to Gilda, and if they can’t come to an agreement I will be forced to send her home. I decided in that instance. I couldn’t have her walking on eggshells around Gilda when things got bad, if they got bad.

“Rainbow could you come with me for a second?” I asked her, while standing up.

“Sure!” Came the hasty reply.

“This won’t be long.” I reassured the other ponies in the room before leading Rainbow out into the hallway outside the door.

I carefully closed the door and motioned for Rainbow to follow me to a spot a few steps away from the door we had just come from.

“Rainbow this isn’t going to work.” I told her bluntly.

I could see her draw breath to protest but I continued on relentlessly. “I can’t have you acting like this. I realize that you feel like shit right now for what you said to her previously, and what you tried to deny her. That’s a pretty big fuck up, yes. But hey guess what? I have fucked up before too, and I have survived those fuck ups so far. So here’s what you’re going to do. You are going to go to Gilda right now, you are going to start by apologizing for what you said in Ponyville and you are going to come to some sort of agreement. I’m not asking the two of you to instantly forgive each other but I will not have this current fools dance. Are we clear?”

“Ah, yes but-” She began.

“No, I said are we clear?” I repeated, catching her eyes with a stern gaze.

Rainbow visibly withered under the gaze before managing to croak out a “yes”.

“Good then get to it.” I said before turning and walking back to the room with the other ponies, having no doubt that she would do what she had been told to do.

As I reentered the remaining three ponies looked up at me, and a second later their expressions turned into questioning ones. I didn’t need to be some kind of genius to figure out what they were wondering though. So before they could ask I provided the answer they were most likely seeking.

“I had Rainbow go talk to Gilda. If they can’t solve their little issue, or at least put it on ice for now I will have Rainbow go back home.” I said.

“But-” Twilight said before I silenced her by holding up a hand.

“But nothing. You agreed to listen to either Gilda or I when it came to decisions and this is one of those decisions. I have my reasons for doing this, and I realize that both parties are somewhat at fault here but it has to start somewhere. That is all you need to know regarding this topic for now.” I told her and she nodded reluctantly.

“Good, that allows me to bring up another issue that I have been thinking about, namely you Twilight. Or rather the fact that you are one of currently four alicorns. Do you have any way of disguising yourself through magical means? I’d much prefer that we do not cause an incident on a national scale.” I continued.

“Hmm, that’s actually a valid point.” Twilight replied thoughtfully. “I suppose I could disguise my wings with a concealment spell.” She went on to suggest.

“No, it might not be enough. Don’t get me wrong Twi, it’s a good idea but I’m assuming that your appearance is rather well known by now and just hiding the wings is a risky gamble. What else do you have?” I countered.

“Ah, I suppose that’s true. Well I could transform into something else, like a griffin perhaps.” She suggested.

“That sounds good Twilight, however I sense that there’s a but tied to that suggestion.” I said raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yes. You see I’d have to spend time acclimating myself with the griffin form as I have never transformed into one before. That would take quite a bit of time, a week at best.” She said, sounding dejected.

“No, that sounds like the best option we have for now. In fact, you should perform this spell as soon as this conversation is over. With a bit of luck and hard work you can at least learn to move around to a passable degree before we arrive in Gryphus.” I told her in an encouraging tone.

“Alright then I’ll give it a try.” She replied, not sounding all too convinced.

“Aight last topic then, I need to know the skills each and every one of you poses. Given how I have worked closely with Twilight and Rainbow before I know a lot about their capabilities. That only leaves you and Lyra.” I said, turning my head to look at the earth pony and the unicorn.

Bonbon looked around, surprised by the sudden attention I had turned towards her. “Well, I wish I could say that I’m something amazing like an alicorn princess or a skilled martial artist but I’m just a plain old confectioner.” She said in a disappointed tone.

“Hey don’t sell yourself short Bonnie! You have an amazing way with words and I’m sure that you will find that you will be very useful.” Lyra interjected, catching her friends tone.

“Yeah, I’ll just offer those soldiers some sweets, right?” Bonbon replied snarkily.

I decided to intervene at point before an argument broke out. “No Bonbon, Lyra’s right. The fact that you have decided to stay despite knowing what you’re getting yourself into is admirable enough. Despite everything I say regarding this issue I’m honored that all of you want to help me and Gilda.” I told her.

“I… Thank you Cloud.” She mumbled, a light blush working its way onto her cheeks.

I offered her a final nod before turning to the last pony in the room. “Aight, finally we have you Lyra. What are you bringing to the table?” I asked her.

“Eh, well besides being an amazing lyrist I am also a former guard specializing in the modern style of Still way.” She quickly summarized.

“I keep hearing mention of this Still way. What is it?” I asked curious as to what it actually was.

“Oh, Still way? That’s an old combat form developed by unicorns during the time of tribes. But given how effective it was and still is today it has been kept as the standard CQC method used by unicorns in the guard. It is said that-” Twilight launched into a winding explanation about the history of the Still way martial art, and all Lyra, Bonbon and I could do was to exchange not so subtle glances as Twilight entered her zone.

Ch. 15 A hint of rain

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Chapter 15. A hint of rain

I can feel the sands of time
Passing through the hour glass
And it shimmers in my eyes
As I linger in the wake
I begin to realize

We’ll walk a thousand miles to see for ourselves
Look behind our eyes
Find our hell
And in the light of the sun we go
Through rain and raging snow
To find the things we do not know

No one enjoys disappointing those you care for. That creeping feeling of dread when you start to sense that you will end up failing someone important in your life. That moment of despair when you realize that you’ve passed the point of no return. And that awful feeling of guilt that remains afterwards. No, disappointing someone can be a terrible burden to carry. But sometimes there are ways to rectify your mistake, and sometimes you can take measures to lessen the impact of the final result. One thing always stays the same though, and that is the act of promising yourself that you’ll never end up in such a situation again. We draw knowledge from our mistakes after all.

*~*

Rainbow paced back and forth outside the cabin that Cloud shared with Gilda. He had all but ordered her to speak with her or else she would be forced to return home. No wait scratch that. He had ordered her! She realized. But even if it was an order, gathering the courage to face her old friend did not go swimmingly. It had been so long since that first incident, and she had felt torn after that one. So now with a second incident in recent memory, were she had pretty much played the bad guy, she was anything but calm. Argh why does this have to be so hard?! I’m supposed to be the element of loyalty for Celestia’s sake! She thought angrily.

“Buck!” She cursed loudly moments before giving her wings an irritated flap.

As chance would have it Gilda had picked that very moment to open the door to the cabin she had been outside. She gave Rainbow a withering look before turning away from her, heading towards the upper deck. Smooth Rainbow, just smooth. She berated herself. But now I don’t have to knock anymore. I just need to call out. She realized. Rainbow opened her mouth but no words would come out. Come on she’s right there! She thought angrily, trying again. But was only able to produce a strangled sound as Gilda reached the stairs leading up and out. Come on! She thought, somewhere between angry and desperate.

“Wait!” She managed to croak out, causing the griffin to pause and turn her head.

Gilda raised a questioning eyebrow as she looked at her, but again Rainbow’s voice failed her. For a few more seconds they stood there before Gilda scoffed and started moving away again. Panic filled Rainbow as she realized that she was running out of time. She drew a deep breath and just shouted the words she had been trying so hard to say.

“I’m sorry!” The words bounced around in the cramped hallway, sounding almost hollow. But it caused the griffin to stop again.

Slowly Gilda turned her head to face Rainbow once more and this time she wore a difficult to read expression. When nothing but silence followed Rainbow forced herself to continue.

“I’m sorry for what happened the day before yesterday, I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, I’m sorry for how I acted and I’m sorry for what happened those years ago, but back then you were at fault too!” She blurted out in hurry, leaving her gasping for air.

Gilda stayed there observing her for a second. Then she lifted one of her claws and moved as if she would take a step towards Rainbow. But something flashed across her face and she turned back towards the stairs and left Rainbow behind in the hallway. At that point Rainbow felt whatever energy and courage she had managed to muster leave her all at once. At that point Rainbow did something she rarely did, she gave up.

She sat down on her haunches, head hanging and ears drooping, and wallowed in her self-pity. She had tried and failed. Am I going to go home now? She wondered to herself as she stared at the floorboards. And as she sat there, seconds slowly ticking away becoming minutes, she lost track of the world around her. Her mind conjuring the disappointed faces of her friends and in the forefront she saw Gilda turn and walk away from her. She wanted to cry out again, to tell her to wait again. But her subconscious failed to produce a sound just as much as the real one had.

Then suddenly, as the bleakness she was feeling threatened to consume her she felt a weight on her shoulder. She sluggishly turned her head to see what had caused the sudden weight and found a familiar hand resting on her shoulder.

“You tried didn’t you?” Cloud asked, his tone very different from what he had used before.

With Cloud right there in front of her she felt her eyes begin to water. She hurriedly turned away from him again, trying to wipe her eyes with a hoof.

“I failed…” She managed to whisper out.

“Oh, did you now? Did Gilda tell you that she never wanted to see you again? That you should leave? Cause if she did that then yes, you have failed.” Cloud said patiently.

Gilda hadn’t said that. She realized. “No.” She said, her voice still quiet.

“Then as far as I’m concerned you haven’t failed yet Rainbow. But I needed to know if you were willing to at least try to patch things up with her.” He said calmly as if he had stated something obvious.

Her anger flared for a brief moment and she gave it words. “You had me do that just to prove that I wanted to save our friendship?! I could have just told you that!” She barked out.

In an instant Cloud’s eyes were like cold flames. “Yes! I had you do all that because in situations like these actions ring truer than any words! Without the proper desire to take action, to prove that you want to make things right. Words are, however pretty, meaningless.” He admonished her sternly, and she shrank back from his ire.

“But you tried.” He began again in a softer tone after letting a few seconds pass. “You tried and proved that you want to try to make things right. I will talk to Gilda, I know that deep down she wants to make up with you too. But a lot of old wounds have resurfaced for her lately. Not to mention that trust is one of the hardest things you can try to regain. So you will have to give her time. Perhaps more time than this mission will take, perhaps less. I cannot tell you with any sense of certainty how long this will take.” He told her, his voice again the very essence of patience.

At this point she was drinking in every word Cloud was saying, silently praying that what he said was true. She knew that she shouldn’t doubt him, that he wasn’t one to sugarcoat things. But then again, he wasn’t exactly the most trustworthy of individuals at all times.

“So I am not going to have to leave?” She asked, trying her best to keep her voice neutral.

“Not unless you really fuck it all up again no. I meant every word I said earlier you know, however I didn’t expect this to be something you two would solve with just a talk. That being said I needed you to stop tip toeing around the issue like a nervous wreck.” He told her, his eyes flashing dangerously again.

She could only nod and swallow as his latest words started to sink in as well.

“Good, as long as you understand that’s fine. Now if you excuse me I have griffin to talk too.” He said before standing up and walking away in the same direction Gilda had gone earlier.

He has definitely gone back to the eloquently blunt Cloud I first got to know. She thought as she watched him leave. Strangely enough that felt reassuring, Cloud back then had been dependable. Even when everypony had been turned against him he had forged his own path, seemingly without a care in the world. She had never told anypony, not that she would admit it anyway, but the state Cloud had been in when he had returned had troubled her.

*<>*

I ascended the stairs leading to the upper deck while pondering what I had learned from my most recent talk with Rainbow. All in all things had gone as I had expected them to, but giving Rainbow Dash a forceful push in the right direction wouldn’t be enough. My pending talk with Gilda would play a big part here and even without that the determining factor would be time. The future for their friendship was uncertain, it may mend or it may end up breaking further. However one thing was clear to me, and that was that I could only act as a mediator. The real choices had to come from them, whether they realized this or not I did not know though.

Pushing open the door that led to the upper deck revealed the ship’s sailors working away at a multitude of tasks which purposes exceeded my understanding of nautical transportation. The inquisitive part of me wished that I could spare some time to ask them about their activities and learn from it. However I doubted that my troubled mind would retain anything that was explained to me at the moment, not to mention that I was in fact looking for Gilda. And so I let my eyes sweep across the deck until I spotted her familiar shape near the bow of the ship.

Making my way over to where Gilda stood proved to be an easy task. Although I still heard the occasional whisper from the sailors, my presence still unsettled them it seemed. I ignored their superstitions though as I stepped up beside Gilda. But instead of saying anything I just sat down, looking out over the bulwark into the vast sky and the water rushing past a few hundred meters beneath us. The silence lasted for a few minutes before it was broken by Gilda.

“Rainbow tried to talk with me earlier.” She said, still looking straight ahead at the skyline. And instead of answering I opted to remain silent.

“She said that she was sorry, sorry for a lot of things. I didn’t know what to do Cloud. There’s so much that I don’t know how to deal with right now.” She continued, still not turning her head.

With that she fell silent again, as if carefully pondering her own words. Then after a few more minutes of silence she spoke again.

“So have you come to make me talk to her?” She asked, finally turning her head to look at me.

I meet her gaze for a few seconds then turned my head skywards, observing the large balloon above us as I answered. “No, that is entirely up to you. But I believe that you probably already have decided whether you want to talk to her or not Gilda. I know that the two of you were friends once but that doesn’t decide your future. That choice always belongs to the present. Although if you are uncertain about what to do you can always ask me.” I offered diplomatically.

“I want to be her friend again, she was the only real friend I had. However I’m not sure that things can just go back to how they were. Not to mention that I’m worried sick about Stella.” Gilda said after a few moments of silence.

“Then let it take its time. No one is expecting you to just bury what happened in the past. Sure things may be awkward for a while but at least you know that your heart is in the right place.” I told her, turning my head to look at her again.

A weak smile appeared on her features. “It’s not fair you know. How you do that. How you just walk up here and know exactly what to say.” She accused me.

“Oh I don’t know if half the things I say will end up infuriating someone or not. If I truly knew what to say I wouldn’t have to resort to my lies, I wouldn’t have had to leave in the first place and I wouldn’t have ended up causing those I care for so much stress. No, I truly don’t know what to say. However I will speak my mind even if the words end up being harsh.” I told her, turning my gaze towards the horizon.

In my periphery I could see Gilda quietly observing me, most likely processing what I had just told her. At this point I doubted that there would be any further exchange of words though. After all with the matter of Rainbow Dash having been more or less addressed her thoughts would more than likely return to Stella, just like mine already were in the process of doing. With that I closed my eyes and let myself fall backwards onto the deck, the afternoon sun still pleasantly warm even though summer had passed. And surprisingly I found sleep on that sun bathed deck. For when I opened my eyes again the light had changed. I sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, and found that the sun was now nothing more than a bright orange sliver about to disappear over the horizon.

*<>*

She watched Cloud lean back onto the deck, his eyes closed, and soon she could hear his breathing change into the steady pace of somegriff sleeping. How can he possibly fall asleep like that? Isn’t he worried at all?! She thought with an angry huff, but almost instantly regretted it. She shouldn’t be angry with him, he cared for Stella like a sister. Or at least she thought he did if the anger he had displayed when she was threatened was anything to go by. I guess I should be glad that at least one of us will be able to find some sleep. She thought instead, as she watched his chest slowly rise and fall with his breathing.

She stayed there beside him for another couple of minutes before her restlessness got to her and she stood up once again with the intent of going back to her cabin. She only had time to take a few steps though before one of the sailors came rushing over.

“You don’t intend to just leave that there do you?” The sailor who happened to be a unicorn mare blurted out.

At first Gilda was confused as to what the mare was referring to, but as she followed the sailors gaze she came to realize that it was Cloud she was talking about. I wonder why they are so afraid of Cloud? She thought idly before answering.

“So what if I am?” She challenged.

“Nono, you can’t! It will bring the omen! The omen I tell you!” The mare all but shouted.

Gilda’s right eye twitched in irritation. “Listen here lady. That one that you keep calling an it is as close to brother that I ever had! So I suggest that you start referring to him as a living being or ask if you can use his name. You read me?” She growled out.

The mare shied back a bit before weakly protesting. “But the omen-”

“You keep saying that, do you even know what that omen is?” Gilda interrupted the sailor.

Before things could escalate further another sailor cut in, this one being slightly familiar. And after a moments’ thought Gilda identified him as the sailor they had met right before they boarded.

“Breeze go help the chef prepare dinner.” He addressed the mare in a no nonsense tone.

The mare now identified as Breeze quickly disappeared from the upper deck all while muttering about the omen.

The male sailor turned to Gilda after having watched his fellow sailor leave the deck. “I’m sorry about Breeze, she has a tendency to get worked up about the smallest of things. Well in this case I guess it’s quite understandable, your friend has caused quite the stir in the crew after all.” He said to Gilda in an apologetic tone.

Gilda just nodded instead of answering she didn’t really feel like holding a conversation right now.

“Not one for words, heh? Well I won’t keep you miss. Again I’m sorry about Breeze.” He said, turning to walk away.

However one question seemed to bubble up to the surface of Gilda’s thoughts. “Wait, I have one question.” She called out before she knew what she was doing.

The still nameless pegasus stopped mid step and turned back around to face her again. “Alright, what do you want to know?” He asked.

“Why are you seeing Cloud as an omen?” She inquired.

The pegasus stayed silent for a second before answering. “I’m afraid that it has to do with superstition. We sailors are an easily spooked bunch when it comes to seeing signs. It can be old things like rain on the first day carries promise of a safe return, or the sighting of a natural rainbow which often leads to profitable opportunities. However every so often new signs pop up, and about a month ago stories started to circulate about a large winged creature that had appeared on a ship just outside of Trottingham. The stories spread and soon the creature was synonymous with an omen, but ever since then there have been no more sightings. Until your friend showed up and caused a stir among the crew that is.”

“Well that’s a load of made up nonsense if I ever heard it. Cloud isn’t some sort of omen, he’s my friend and he is something called a human. Now if you excuse me.” She told the pegasus before walking past him, not waiting for an answer.

All ponies are crazy! She thought with an irritated snort as she pushed open the door leading below deck. She just wanted this ship to hurry up so that she could resume the search for Stella. Hopefully her dad had found out something regarding where she was, or at least had found somegriff to help.

*<>*

Outside the barred window she could hear the rain gently pelting the walls of her prison. She knew every inch of this room by now and that didn’t change a single thing. Sure she put up a brave front but the truth was that she was scared. No, not scared she was terrified, all she wanted was to scream and not stop screaming until she got away from this horrid place. But making noises didn’t sit well with her captors and she didn’t want them to hit her again like they had done last time she made an unwanted noise.

The sound of metal scraping against metal followed by a loud clicking signaled that somegriff had just unlocked the door. One of her captors entered, and without sparing her a glance he all but threw a plate with some unidentifiable excuse for food onto the ground before leaving the way he came. Trembling she approached the plate, almost gagging at the smell of its contents. She felt tears creep into her eyes as she did her best to muffle her oncoming sobs. Please, I don’t want to be here any longer. She thought desperately.

Ch 16. Clouds gather

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Chapter 16. Clouds gather

Far, to me it’s so disgusting
Wrong, I’ll push myself away
Far, my sanity is rusting
Wrong, I look the other way

This is a war I can’t fight
I can’t let you tear me down
I will ignore all these lies
You will never tear me down

Now that I look back on the Gryphus incident I’m amazed that no one called me out on a lot of the things I did during the course of it. My reasoning was loose and my moral compass wasn’t pointing north a lot of the time. Out of fear for what my friends might say if they knew the full truth I have never revealed the full story to anyone. Better for them to see the hero they think I am rather than the avatar of vengeance I was during this whole endeavor. Perhaps if they had seen more than parts of the things I did things would’ve been different. Perhaps then they would’ve berated me like they had a right too. I did not know what was waiting for me in the future though, things that would make the actions I took in Gryphus seem trivial.

*~*

It was to a grey skyline that our airship crossed over shores of Gryphus. The air already felt colder, giving me a reason to actually use the scarf I had received what felt like an eternity ago. Now only hours remained of the trip that had felt so much longer than a couple of days, and our party was feeling the restlessness radiating from Gilda and me. The only silver lining was that we at least had a plan on where to start our search and a contingency to that should we end up without leads. Simply put we would first find Ranger and see what he had managed to learn and from there try to contact the guards that had been tied to the case of the deserters. They may be careful in dealing with them but at least we hoped that they could provide some information.

As for the current state of morale in our group, well it wasn’t the best but at least it wasn’t at rock bottom. Comparatively Twilight, Lyra and Bonbon were at seemingly neutral level, being the least affected. Rainbow was still slightly anxious around Gilda but had made vast improvements during the past days. Meanwhile Gilda, understandably, was the one most distressed. And finally I had myself to evaluate and it was not an easy task. Outwards I wore a mask of calm and confidence, letting it dictate my actions and decisions. However underneath it all a maelstrom of resentment and worry churned relentlessly, threatening to consume me should I ever let it. The worst part was that part of me wanted to let go and let my emotions control me once we had confirmation of Stella’s location.

I let out a long exhale before methodically cracking my neck to the right and then the left. I knew that I should return below deck to inform the rest that we’d be arriving in a few hours but given that it was barely morning I was having second thoughts about it. The only reason I was up and about was because of my nightmares. It was the first one I’d had in while and the uninvited return of it had left me somewhat shaken. A gust of wind rustled through my wings and caused the ends of the scarf, which were hanging along my back, to flap gently. Yeah it’s definitely colder in Gryphus. I thought idly. However the cold wouldn’t really be a worry, unless it went below freezing of course.

I didn’t think that my first time using the scarf I received would be at a time like this. I thought as another puff of wind grabbed ahold of the scarf again. Truly the only real problem that remained was Twilight’s control over her transformed body. And if I was going to be perfectly honest it wasn’t that much of a problem anymore. She had done well to master it to the current degree given the time she had had to practice. I will have to remember to tell her that she’s done a wonderful job. I told myself. It was a gratifying feeling to have friends that would go such lengths to help you. But how far would I go for them? I had to ask myself but almost immediately pushed it out of my head. I had been down that path many times already during this trip, and no matter how I tried to justify my actions to myself I always ended up in the same loop.

I would reason that I was justified in going to save Stella, while another part would argue that I should’ve at least told Celestia the full story. It always ended with me feeling miserable overall, and at this point it was too late to change anything really. I had played my first hand and now I could only wait for the next one. With a sigh I finally turned away from the scenery rushing past the ship and headed inside again. Perhaps it was time to wake the others after all.

*~*

Hours later our party stood gathered on the upper deck, watching the large dock of Sky reach come closer with every passing second. The first part of our journey was coming to an end, and now it was finally time to actually do something. Gilda impatiently kept resettling her wings which in turn caused me to do the same, and judging by the sighs and occasional pawing at the deck our impatience seemed to infect the others in our group. But no one dared to complain, or at least that was how I perceived the current situation. So we stood there in a determined albeit impatient silence.

Just as the ship was making its final approach to one of the docks the same pegasus that had overreacted when he had first seen Twilight walked up to us.

“It has been an honor having you onboard princess.” He addressed Twilight the griffin.

It had been something of a pet project of the crew to help Twilight out with her practice to move around as a griffin. And they had never asked any questions as to why she was doing it. I could only imagine what wild theories these sailors had come up with to explain why one of their princesses was traveling disguised as a griffin.

“Oh, no need to be so formal Tide. You and the rest should have learnt to relax a bit around me by now.” Twilight answered him in a friendly tone.

Had my mind not been preoccupied with other things I would probably have admired Twilight’s ability to make new friends. In her own way she was quite possibly more skilled than Pinkie in acquiring friends, or at least on par with the pink pony.

“Ah, sorry about that princess but I must insist in this case. Direct order from the captain you see. More to the point, he wishes to extend a standing offer to travel with The golden chance whenever our paths cross again princess. Also he has pretty much told us that if the crew as much as breathes your name to anypony outside of the crew they will lose their job faster than you can say salty sea breeze. So you can rest assured that we won’t tell anypony that you’re here princess.”

Twilight turned her head towards me before deciding to answer and I gave her a near invisible nod. “Thank you Tide, I’ll keep that offer in mind. And extend my thanks to your captain, both for the offer and for the foresight to keep my presence a secret.” She told the pegasus sailor.

“Think nothing of it Twilight, we were just happy that we could help you and your friends.” He told her in a sincere voice before turning towards me.

“I’m sorry for how the crew has acted around you sir, but they are an easily spooked bunch.” He told me, catching me off guard. I hadn’t expected him to address me directly, and quite frankly I was surprised that he cared at all.

“Apology accepted.” I said, unsure if I should’ve said more. But the pegasus that was apparently named Tide just nodded before walking off. My eyes lingered on him for a few more seconds before I turned to address the ponies in our party.

“Alright, once we dock we will be following Gilda to where her father currently is. We will be keeping a rather high pace so make sure that you don’t fall behind.” I told them and was met with determined faces.

No more words followed, just a tense silence. I think that the reality of the situation may have begun to sink in for the others besides Gilda and me. So when the ship docked and we were allowed to disembark Gilda led us, at a brisk pace, through the streets of Sky reach until we ended up on the same road that I had traveled months ago. However even though we kept a high pace it would take days to reach the town Gilda had brought her father too. I knew this from experience having had to travel these roads myself, and Gilda knew it for the very same reason. The ponies on the other hand seemed to expect us to arrive within the end of the day and I had not found it in me to break the news to them yet. The morale of the group was higher than it had been during the past few days, well at least for the ponies, so I didn’t want to destroy that quite yet. I knew that I soon probably would have many serious discussions, and tough decisions to make. So while it lasted I wanted to just focus on the road.

When the light of the first day on Gryphus had dropped to the level where further travel would be difficult for a group we made camp to the side of the road. The ponies where informed of the actual distance we needed to cover and that we were going to keep the high pace the next day. Again there were no complaints and for that I was grateful, having planned an early start for the next day our party went to sleep early with me taking the first watch. The night passed without anything out of the ordinary happening and come sunrise we were already making our way down the road again, expecting to reach the first small town on the road sometime during midday. To be perfectly honest we probably would’ve have traveled faster had we flown, but seeing how two of our party members lacked wings that wasn’t an option. All I could really hope for was that we reach our destination sometime tomorrow.

The day went by in a blur, and we only made for short break to resupply on water and other necessities in that first town we reached. If my estimations were anything to go by we held roughly the same pace as the one I had held when I left Gryphus the first time. While we wandered we were spared from rain but a relatively strong wind kept howling and the skies remained in a steel gray state. In the monotony of our walk my thoughts turned inward as I pondered what possible courses of action I was willing to consider as actual options. If possible it would be nice to avoid direct conflict, to arrive at the place where Ranger waited to find that the situation had already been resolved. But such hopes were unlikely and were bound to only lead to disappointment. Thus I considered possible scenarios we could come to face and what I could possibly do here to find Stella as fast as humanly possible.

Although no matter how much I imagined possible scenarios I was well aware of the fact that all the thinking I was doing would probably be of no use when things got real. They say no plan survives first contact and all that. Even though I realized this I kept running scenario after scenario, if anything it was a way for me to keep myself focused.

The second day ended just as we reached the second settlement on the road, deciding that it would be better to regain our strength rather than push onwards. With a bit of luck we would be able to reach the town where Gilda had left Ranger tomorrow. And so we resumed our journey early again, the sun nothing but an orange glow on the horizon. By now I could tell on the ponies that they were tired, they weren’t used to this type of continuous high pace. Well the exception would be Lyra, it would seem that she hadn’t lied about her being a former guard if her stamina was anything to go by.

We forged onward to the third and last town on the road that I knew of, this would be were Ranger was. But as we reached the small clinic where Gilda had left Ranger, before rushing off to find me, we were informed that ranger had excused himself only a day after he had been treated. I could see that the information was starting to get to Gilda so I took her aside and did my best to calm her down. In the end I managed to get her to a relatively calm state, telling her that Ranger probably just headed back to the inn, and so we had new destination.

On my order we didn’t stay in the town but continued walking after a quick break to eat. I could tell that the atmosphere had changed in our party now though. Gilda’s increased worry was starting to affect the ponies to a greater degree now, especially Rainbow. But at this point in time there was little I could do to alleviate the tension. My only hope was that Ranger actually had gone back to the inn and was waiting there, or at the very least had left us more information there at least. Quite frankly I was surprised that he hadn’t left a note or anything for us at the small clinic, but seeing how he had to just as worried as Gilda I understood how that could have slipped his mind. The night had already fallen over the Gryphus badlands when we spotted the large forest where the Rusty feather inn was located. At the sight of the forest Gilda hopped into the air and hurried ahead of the rest of the group at a frantic pace.

“Ah, damn it!” I cursed before launching myself into the air.

“Cloud wait!” I heard Twilight call out from behind me.

I stopped midair. “Just follow the road and you’ll reach the inn. I have to catch up with her, it could be a trap!” I called out hastily before chasing after Gilda.

The cold night air rushed past me as I flapped my wings furiously, trying to keep up with Gilda’s barely visible form. Almost subconsciously I reached towards my forearm, getting ready to summon Imagination at a moments’ notice. Before me I saw Gilda vanish into the forest and a few seconds later I also crossed its border. In here the darkness was almost pressing as the trees, which had yet to drop their leaves, shut out the light from the stars and the moon. However in the distance I could see a hint of a light, a light I hoped was coming from the inn. With a few more rapid, but mighty flaps, I shot past the last few trees that had obscured my vision. Before me and quickly approaching was the Rusty feather inn, looking exactly as I remembered it. Just before I was about to crash into its walls I flared my wings, coming to an abrupt halt.

Despite the fact that there was a light coming from inside and that the door was left open, most likely from Gilda barging in in a hurry, I felt a need to take every precaution possible. With a practiced motion Imagination shimmered into existence, and with spear at the ready I slowly made my way into the building. At first I heard nothing so I strained my ears, seconds passed and then I thought that I heard faint voices coming from upstairs. Keeping my guard up I made my way over to the staircase and started to ascend towards the second floor. However as I got closer to the source of the voices I could clearly tell that they belonged to Gilda and Ranger. Breathing a sigh of relief I let my weapon dissipate before continuing onward, the previous tension I had felt fading. Once on the second floor I saw light from an open room spilling out into the otherwise dark hallway. Coincidently the voices were coming from the very same direction.

Naturally I headed towards the room, and rounded the corner just in time to catch the last few words of something Ranger said.

“…not going to be able to help myself, but I did manage to find something.” The older griffin was telling Gilda as he held gently stroked the feathers on her head in calming manner.

I cleared my throat to announce my presence, causing both griffins to turn their heads towards me. An expression of relief flashed across Ranger’s face as he saw me while Gilda wore a slightly sheepish look.

“Hello again Ranger, I wish this reunion could have been during happier times.” I addressed him, and before my eyes he seemed to age twenty years as worry returned to his features.

“You and me both Cloud, you and me both. Come I’ll tell you everything I’ve managed to learn.” He said, sounding incredibly tired.

“I know that you want to do everything you can Ranger, but I have to ask that you hold that thought. We have four more that are coming here to help. They should be arriving at the front door in just a few minutes.” I told the older griffin.

“Okay, let’s head downstairs then we can discuss it all in the common room when your friends arrive.” He said, moving to stand up.

I followed him and Gilda downstairs to wait for the others to arrive. I had caught glimpse of the cast on Ranger’s wing but I had opted against mentioning it. Something told me that it was nothing but a sore reminder of the current situation to him. Fortunately enough my prediction that the ponies were a few minutes out proved to be correct, meaning there wouldn’t really be any impatient silence to speak of while we waited. They announced their presence long before we saw them though as I could clearly hear their hooves thundering down the road before coming to an abrupt stop. If I had to guess it was probably because they had spotted the inn. A few seconds later I heard Twilight call out from the entrance.

“Cloud? Are you in there?”

“Aye! We’re right over here, just hang on a sec and I’ll come and show you the way!” I called back. And after giving Ranger and Gilda a small nod I hurried over to the entrance to meet with the rest of the group.

“Okay follow me and we’ll get started.” I greeted the group before they had a chance to say anything.

“I don’t understand what’s going on. Can’t you slow down and explain what just happened first?” Twilight questioned me.

“I’m afraid that’ll have to wait a bit Gilda’s father has information to share and that information takes priority right now.” I answered her truthfully.

“Alright, alright. I understand can I at least drop the transformation spell? I’m feeling rather drained after having had it running throughout the entire day.” Twilight asked.

“Even if it’s unlikely I’m not sure if Ranger has any guests here at the moment. If he does I’d advice against it. But tell you what I’ll ask him about that right away, for now though come along.” I answered, motioning the ponies and pony turned griffin to follow me.

As we reentered the common room I found Ranger talking in a reassuring tone to Gilda again, but he stopped as I led the ponies into the room. He studied the new arrivals one at the time, seemingly taking note of their pony type and coloration. His gaze rested a second longer on Twilight, as if trying to figure out how a griffin could have that color scheme.

“Okay so are these all the extras you were bringing Cloud?” He asked me and I nodded before answering.

“Yes, that’s all of them. Although before we begin I need to ask are there any others here beside us?”

“No there are no one else here beside the ones in this room right now.” He said, an unasked question hanging in the air.

With the inn being confirmed to be safe from prying eyes I gave Twilight a nod who proceeded to release her transformation spell with a sigh of relief. Ranger’s eyes widened visibly as the griffon before turned into one of four alicorn princesses. His eyes turned to me and I could see the disbelief written in those eyes.

“Is that a bloody alicorn Cloud? Just how did you?” Ranger managed to get out.

“Yes, this is Twilight Sparkle.” I began to introduce the ponies. “That is Rainbow Dash, Lyra Heartstrings and Bonbon.” I continued, pointing at the ponies in the order of introduction.

Ranger shook his head. “You know what I’m not going to ask how or why right now. What’s important is that there’s more help than I expected, further more it is high time that I shared what I’ve managed to find.” He said.

“Let’s see, where to begin? The day after Gil left to find you Cloud I reached out to the old contacts that I still have from being a soldier. From them I learned a bit about the group that took Stella from me and Gil. You already know that they are deserters but the group that has stirred up trouble for us is only about a fourth of the actual number of deserters. So in short there could be around twenty ex-soldiers where they have Stella. However I do not know where they are keeping her but I have managed to find a lead. In the first town after the road through the forest there’s a garrison. I have been told that there should be some kind of investigation team over there so that’s the best bet for more information.” Ranger quickly summarized.

“I take it there’s a reason you haven’t gone to ask them in person yet?” I asked Ranger.

“Well yeah there’s two reasons actually. The first one being that I’m not really in a condition to make the trip and the second one is that I wanted to relay the information to you and Gil.” Ranger replied.

“Aight, I understand. We will set out for this town at day break tomorrow.” I told him. I didn’t need to be a psychologist or anything to understand just how much this endeavor had to be draining him. My unconditional help was now not only due to the debt I felt towards the Rustfeathers but also because I knew what Ranger had been through already.

“Okay, I’ll be upstairs if you need anything. And to you ponies I’m sorry if I’m not the best of hosts right now but I’m a bit stressed out.” Ranger told us a group before heading out of the room. I exchanged a quick nod with Gilda before she followed after her father.

Silence reigned in the common room before it was broken by Rainbow Dash.

“So that’s Gilda’s father huh? She never really talked much about her family.” She said.

“No, she doesn’t.” I agreed, and soon after the room was once more engulfed in silence.

There had been no quick solution to the problem, but such wishes almost always ended up being pipe dreams anyway so I wasn’t taking the news to badly. At least we still had a lead and hopefully we’d able to find something of value to our search in the next town over. After all, this was not one of those times were I was allowed to give up.

“Come on, I’ll show you where you can sleep tonight.” I said to the ponies, once again breaking the silence in the room.

Ch 17. A storm held at bay

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Chapter 17. A storm held at bay

You’ve got to fight for your life
There’s nothing to fear but fear itself
The devil dances in idle minds
Fight for your life

Fight for your life

Fight for your life
I won’t turn back now
This will be no slow surrender
I won’t turn back now

It was in Gryphus where I got my first hint at where my adventures were leading me. What I had started to transform into during my first visit to Equestria. But a hint is not enough to understand, nor is it enough to make sure that the path will not lead you astray. Nevertheless Gryphus played a pivotal role to my future choices and I can’t say that I look back at them with regret, such thoughts just aren’t me. However I understand that all this sounds cryptic and strange but I’m afraid you’ll have to read my words to understand my journey and my destination. I can tell you this though, I am not becoming a damn alicorn.

*~*

Our group left the rusty feather inn early the very next morning after having arrived. Reaching the town on the other side of the forest would be a two day trip, and thus we had hit the road with the same haste as we had during our previous days. So in the cold autumn air our collective steps were the only sound to be heard throughout the otherwise silent forest. No words of encouragement had been needed either since we all felt it. We had a target and we were getting closer to our goal. And even if I mentally prepared myself for the worst possible outcome with this lead I dared to hope that this would lead to a breakthrough. For if I dared not hope, what hope was there to be found?

As we walked through the forest I thought back to the words I had exchanged with Ranger once the rest of the group had gone to sleep. Most of them had been words of encouragement from Ranger, and I understood the reason well enough. He wanted to anything but fall into that same pit of helplessness he had been in when his wife had fallen ill. But some of the words towards the end had been those of just two individuals making observations and conversations based on those observations. What I’m saying is that there had been room for talk between the two of us. Although it had been rather stiff, and at times even forced. Given the circumstances though neither of us had really been in a position to complain about quality conversation. In the end it was all the same, a small moment of respite from the thoughts that would otherwise haunt us. In that regard Ranger and I were very similar. Sure we may be griffin and human, and he may have years of life experience on me. But in terms of mentality and how we could accept the present for what it was we were similar. Of course there were differences there too, but we understood the value of letting ones’ mind rest.

However the most important piece of information that Ranger had shared was that he didn’t blame me. Since he hadn’t exploded in my face when I had first seen him I had dared to hope, but actually hearing it was valuable to me. The one issue that remained though was that still partly blamed myself. But if anything I would let my actions speak for themselves, I would find Stella and I would bring her back safely. Anything that stood in my way would be dealt with one way or another, if not for my own sake it was for Stella’s. With such thoughts bolstering my commitment the first day passed in a blur, ending with us just having cleared the forest. Again I volunteered to take first watch and as the rest settled in for the night I overheard something that brought a small smile to my lips. The hushed voices of Rainbow Dash and Gilda could be heard and given the words I managed to catch Rainbow had finally gathered enough courage to ask some questions. Most of it seemed to deal with how Gilda had gotten to know me but despite being a bit curious I decided to zone out from the conversation. I had no intention to eavesdrop if I could help it, the distance between them was theirs to cross after all.

*~*

I awoke the next day to the rumbling of thunder in the distance, however refusing to lose time due to bad weather conditions I hurried to rouse the others. There were some grumbles at the forceful wake up process I had them go through, but after having the others eat a quick breakfast while packing up the sleeping gear we were soon ready to go nonetheless. We even managed to make about an hour of progress down the road before the first raindrops fell. But onwards we went, mostly due to the fact that I didn’t stop. And towards midday the rainfall had increased to a steady stream water from the grey skies. It wasn’t enough to hinder vision although the roads themselves had long since turned muddy and hard to traverse. And hadn’t it been for the fact that we had managed to spot the next town about fifteen minutes ago morale would probably have gone straight down. What was driving the group forward now was the collective wish to get away from the weather.

At least that was what the ponies wanted if the mutters about the rain was anything to go by. Strangely enough I had started to feel at home in the rain pelting the ground and light wind scattering the raindrops. I could feel the buildup of lightning in the distance long before the flash and even longer before the thunder. The last time I had felt something similar to this was that one night in Canterlot where I had actively sought to connect with the storm. At present time though this was nowhere close to the connection I had experienced that time. No this was a more subconscious thing, but there definitely was a connection serving as a reminder of my heritage. A build up straight ahead caused me to focus my gaze forward moments before a flash lit up the sky. Ahead I could see our destination, much more clearly than before, its walls seeming almost imposing in the rain.

Speaking of the town we were heading to I realize that I haven't mentioned its name yet. This town, being the first griffin town I had seen with a wall, was called Heralds’ Roost. And every step now brought us closer to this fortified town that easily rivaled Sky reach in size. Within the next two hours our morale rose quite drastically as the other started to notice just how much closer we seemed to get to our destination. And during the third hour we finally reached the wall. After being screened by a couple of guards at a large wooden gate we were allowed to enter the town, although I had to question why there was a wall in a nation of flying creatures. Such questions were not of importance though, no our first step should be to find an inn and after that see if we could get in contact with Ranger’s former associates.

As our party walked through town I was subject to stares and hushed murmurs, something I had once again grown accustomed to during the past few days. But from what I could gather they weren’t the whispers of disgust I had heard in Canterlot, here they were instead of the curious nature. I was something new, or perhaps they had heard about the weird creature from a few months back that worked at the inn a few days down the road. Whatever the cause may be I was still grateful to slip away from their gazes as we entered a three story building of stone that advertised itself as the Wolf’s rest tavern and inn. I let Gilda handle the talk with the inn keeper, but I had asked her to make sure we got three rooms. As soon as we had our rooms ready I caught the attention of everyone in our group and motioned for them to gather around me.

I waited a few seconds to take in their expressions before speaking. “Aight, we’ve come this far. Now the next step will be to try to get into contact with Ranger’s old friends, however I don’t think we should bring the whole group with us on this.”

I saw Twilight nod thoughtfully at my words, while Bonbon and Rainbow seemed rather indifferent. Lyra was the one to actually speak up and ask the question I had been expecting though.

“So how many will go then? And who of us will go for that matter?” She questioned.

“I’d say no more than three and I was thinking it would be me, Gilda and Bonbon.” I told them. And at this information Bonbon’s expression changed from indifferent to surprised.

“Why me? I can’t bring anything useful to this, can I?” She asked.

“On the contrary I believe that you can. You seem to have a way with words and I believe you may ask questions that Gilda or I would otherwise overlook.” I told the cream colored mare sincerely.

“Okay then I will do my best.” She promised, a small blush blooming on her cheeks.

“Well that reasoning is all well and good, but what about the rest of us?” Twilight interjected.

“Ah, yes. I was getting to that.” I said, pausing for a second to collect my thoughts before continuing. “I want the three of you to ask the population in the town about the deserters. Right now we can’t turn away any piece of information so we will cast our nets wide. However keep I mind that you might ask the wrong individual the wrong question so make sure that you have at least one of the others within shouting distance. We have entered uncertain territory now.” I told them.

The faces of the ponies in front of me, save Twilight as she was in her griffin form, were determined. They knew that I counted on them and they looked hell-bent to try their best to find as much information as possible out the population of Herald’s roost.

“Alright then let’s do it.” Rainbow spoke up.

“Yes let’s get going. We’ll meet back here later tonight to go over the information we’ve gathered.” I agreed, before we split into our group into two. Now was the time to act.

*~*

The group I had led towards the garrison had found Ranger’s contact easily, and they had been more than happy to share what they knew. It even seemed like Ranger had had the presence of mind to give them a prior warning that I wasn’t a griffin since they didn’t even raise an eyebrow at my appearance. The other guards at the garrison though seemed mildly intrigued at what I was, but not enough to interfere with our business at the garrison. However the more Ranger’s friends spoke the more our dismay grew. It started to become apparent that the progress that had been made on the case regarding the deserters was minimal at best. So instead of the major breakthrough I had been hoping for we had taken perhaps half a step forward. With an effort of will I held back my bitterness as I thanked the group of griffins we had been talking to for their time. As we rose to head towards the exit one of the older griffins we had talked to, Elli I though her name was, offered to show us out. And as she led us through the corridors towards the exit we passed another group of soldiers that were heading in.

Normally I would have just ignored them but seeing how one reacted very differently to the other griffins I had seen today he caught my attention. This one griffin with yellow markings did not seem surprised to see me, quite the contrary actually. This griffin seemed to recognize me, but the moment he noticed that I had seen him he hurried along down the corridor, quickly disappearing from sight.

I turned to our guide. “What was that group that just passed us?” I asked her.

“Those? They were members of the investigation team.” Elli supplied.

“Oh.” Was all I said in response, but in my mind my thoughts had started to race.

I had no memory of ever seeing that particular griffin before which meant that someone had to have described my appearance to him before. Furthermore the way he had hurried away from me just made it all seem that much more suspicious. Have I stumbled on a key here? I questioned myself as we exited the building, finding that the rain that had been falling earlier had stopped.

“So what do we do now?” Gilda asked in a disappointed voice, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Well split up and ask questions like I sent the others to do, it’s too early to give up. Although stay with Bonbon for now Gil.” I told her. I didn’t want to tell her about the soldier that had recognized me yet should it prove to be just a coincidence.

“Okay, meet you back at the inn then.” She agreed after a moments silence, sounding doubtful.

I nodded in agreement and stayed in place just long enough for Gilda and Bonbon to disappear into the crowd that had formed on the street before bursting into action. I needed a spot where I could observe everyone leaving the garrison. I had to know what connection that soldier had to me. So without wasting any more time I extended my wings and with a few quick beats I took to the sky for short flight up onto a rooftop. Once on the roof I settled down to sit and wait, and I was willing to wait for as long as I had to for the griffin to exit the military compound. So wait I did with the first hour passing before I knew it, one hour would turn into many more before the unnamed griffin showed his face at the entrance. He cast a few glances up and down the street before hurrying off into the crowd that was still slowly milling about in the street.

I hurried to my feet and started to follow my target from above, skipping from rooftop to rooftop to avoid being seen. And it wasn’t just the particular griffin I was trying to stay hidden from, no I anticipated that I would cause a stir if I walked around in the streets and that would give away my position. So on the rooftops I stayed, doing my best to keep up with the griffin as he moved through the crowd. I followed him through a couple of streets, taking note to be extra careful as the crowded streets slowly emptied in sync with the decreasing daylight. Eventually he entered one of the smaller buildings, and from first observation it looked to be a pub of sorts. This posed a dilemma for me as I was unsure whether to follow him in or wait outside for him to exit. Then in the middle of my ponderings I saw a window open and small bird the size of a Pidgeon flew out. My eyes widened as quickly ran the implications of this development and with a curse I launched after the bird. If that was a message sent to warn those we were hunting this would be my only chance to intercept it.

The small bird flew in a straight line towards the northern border of the town but I had no trouble keeping up with it. And as soon as I had put some distance between the town and myself I went down low to scoop up a handful of small pebbles. I took care not to lose track of where the messenger bird was as I flapped my wings to get some elevation on it. I would only get one shot at what I was going to attempt, so I made it a point to align myself carefully. Then I dove, throwing the pebbles in wide spread some which struck the smaller flyer across the wings. The pebbles had the desired effect as they stunned the bird long enough for me to swoop in a catch it. Bird in hand I landed on the ground and grabbed the small capsule that was attached to the bird’s leg. Keeping the bird firmly in my left hand I struggled slightly to open the capsule with my right hand. When I finally got the small strip of paper out of the capsule and started to read my expression turned into a frown.

The message, although readable, seemed to be in some sort of code and without a proper cipher I wouldn’t be able to read the true message. Shit, I guess I need to go back and try to find that griffin again. I thought bitterly. Perhaps I could force him into telling me the message’s contents, or perhaps I could bluff him into admitting to having a connection. Whichever method I ended up having to resort to I needed to move fast, there was a small chance that I could still catch the griffin as he left the pub he had entered earlier. With a frustrated growl I snapped the bird’s neck before taking to the sky again. I reasoned that it would be better for no bird to arrive at all than for a bird without a message to show up. Deep down I realized that my actions so far were completely unjustified but my instincts were telling me that the griffin from earlier was the key to everything. So I discarded whatever feelings of right and wrong I currently had, if I had to become a devil to find Stella so be it.

On swift wings I flew back towards Herald’s roost, crossing over the wall not twenty minutes later. From the sky I searched for the pub where I had last seen the griffin, sweeping back and forth over the streets. Just as I was about to give up hope due to the dying light of the day ending I flew over a familiar building. Not that I had any idea what the building was but I remembered it from when I had followed my target, and from this building I was able to retrace my steps to the pub from earlier. After landing in front of the entrance I reached for the door handle but hesitated. If I entered there was a risk that I would spring a trap, but I needed to know if the griffin was still in there. It’s worth the risk. I ultimately decided, but carefully made sure that I could throw off the cloak at a moment’s notice.

I pushed open the door and stepped into a rowdy bar room with plenty of griffins enjoying either a drink or piece to eat this autumn evening. My presence had barely caused a stir yet and so I took advantage of those few moments of respite to scan the crowd. My eyes darted back and forth trying to identify the griffin again, but every face I let my eyes fall on was wrong. I let my gaze sweep up towards the bar, just in time to catch three griffins exiting through a back door. Quick steps carried me across the room, announcing my presence to the room. But I didn’t care about the murmurs that were spreading, nor did I care about the complaints from the bartender as I pushed the open the backdoor.

I found myself in a dark alleyway, the three griffins I had seen exit hurrying towards an intersecting alley. Having no intention of losing them I rushed after them, despite having no confirmation that the griffin I was looking for was one of them. In front of me the trio turned the corner, disappearing from sight and about four seconds later I had reached said corner. But as I started to round the corner a flicker of motion caused my reflexes to kick in as one of the griffins I was following came leaping at me claws first. Before I knew what had really happened I had already moved out of his path while simultaneously grabbing one of his wrists with one hand. The other hand I quickly placed behind his head as I ended up slamming him into the ground using his own momentum against him. He never rose from after the impact, but I didn’t have time to check for damage as another of the three griffins was already approaching. I a swift motion I threw the cloak of me so that it wouldn’t hinder any movements.

An almost manic grin split my face as the second griffin, this one a female, reared up on her back legs claws raised to strike. What would’ve been possibly fatal attack on another creature only ended up being a perfect opening for me though. Something this female griffin learned the hard way when a palm strike carrying my full body weight impacted her exposed abdomen. I heard the forced exhale accompanied by a dry retching sound as her body attempted to empty the contents of her stomach. Normally I would’ve stopped attacking at this point as this opponent was clearly disabled but I wanted to have my back free as I confronted my original target. So without a shred of remorse I lashed out with a leg, my heel connecting with the side of her head causing it to jerk violently the left before she collapsed in a heap. I turned away from the female, looking down the alley they had come from only to find the griffin with the yellow markings backing away slowly. The fear in his eyes became more and more apparent as I started to slowly walk after him. Then finally with terrified yelp he turned to run, but the moment I saw him move I dashed forward. I reached out felt one of my hands close around the tip of a wing. With a quick, but determined, pull I caused him to stumble. Using the time I had just bought myself I readjusted my grip, adding my second hand before turning him around just to slam him into the alley wall.

By pressing my forearm to his throat I effectively pinned him against wall as I stared him down, my mouth locked in a vicious snarl.

“Now you will tell me exactly who you are and what you know.” I demanded in a low voice.

A defiant light awoke in the previously terrified eyes of the last griffin. “Do you really think they’ll just let you walk after I tell you that you attacked me, a selected investigator?” he questioned with a smirk.

I applied more pressure to his throat as dug out the note I had intercepted earlier. “Do you really think they’ll trust you after I show them this?” I answered with my own question, waving the note in front of his eyes.

The terror returned to his eyes as he started to babble, he told me how he got the position after having been in contact with the deserter faction for quite some time. How he had agreed to work from the inside to keep any real investigations from finding the deserters and how he had become a trusted asset to them. But that wasn’t what I needed to know.

“I don’t give a damn about your life story! I want to know where you’ve taken Stella Rustfeather!” I growled out.

“Stella? Who is that?” The griffin asked.

I applied more pressure to his throat. “The little griffin that you fuckwits kidnapped, now speak.” I growled again.

“I think they took her to the fortress, that’s a four day trip from here to the east.” He croaked out.

I paused at that and eased up on the pressure slightly. I needed to tell the other somehow of what I had learned just now.

“Now what?” he asked, sounding drained when he realized that my questions had ended.

That was a good question. Now what? I thought to myself before a plan started to form in my mind.

“Now you will go and turn yourself in at the garrison. And you will confess to the others what your crimes are with the condition that the griffin by the name of Gilda Rustfeather gets to take part of the information you tell them. You will tell them everything you just told me, however you will not mention anything of what transpired in this alley. Do I make myself clear?” I told him, still pinning him to the wall.

“Nonono, I need to run when the deserters find out that I told you they will hunt me down!” He forced out in a panicked voice.

With an almost jagged motion I let my right arm slip past left that I was using to pin the griffin, fingers brushing across the image of Imagination. With a clanging sound I brought the spear into the wall just next to his head, causing him to stop struggling as his eyes fixated on the spears blade about two centimeters from his head.

“I can end your life right here and now if you feel that’s a better option.” I told him through clenched teeth.

He swallowed loudly once. “I- I will go to the garrison right away.” He stammered.

I kept him pinned for a few seconds longer before slowly easing up on the pressure, and at the same time I let Imagination dissipate.

“Then get going.” I told him, my voice was iron. He nodded hastily before taking a shaky step away from me.

“Oh and one more thing.” I said, causing him to freeze in place. “Don’t even think about trying to run, if you do you’ll wish that the deserters were the ones that found you.”

He gave another sharp nod before scrambling away into the dark, leaving me in the alley with the two griffins I had disabled earlier. I released a shaky breath as I forcibly dropped the mask of anger I had just worn. What the hell am I becoming? I questioned as I stared at my hands. I had just casually threatened to kill him if he disobeyed me. And I would’ve done it. I realized, causing my head to spin violently as felt my legs start to give out. I reached out with hand to steady myself against the wall, and a few shaky breaths later I stumbled away from the alley. Stopping only momentarily to pick up my discarded cloak and to check on the two griffins I had fought earlier. Seeing how both were breathing I left them where they were, although the one I had slammed into the ground had a cracked beak. And as I made it out onto the real streets of Herald’s roost I swore to myself that the others in my party would never hear of what had transpired this night.

*~*

Upon my return to the inn the others all but ambushed me, asking if I had found something. However seeing how I had already vowed to share what I had just done I told them that I had found nothing. What followed were the quick reports of what the others had been able to find out, and from what I heard they had done a good job at gathering information. Although from the information they had been able to find little was of use to us. It would seem that Gilda had come to the same conclusion as I had as she looked rather depressed. Had it not been for the fact that I had already been able to find the location of our goal I would’ve more than likely mirrored her feelings. So I displayed a mask of calm outwards, hoping that it would spread to the others.

Before any further planning was made though, a pair of soldiers from the garrison entered the tavern’s ground floor. They let their eyes sweep across the few patrons that were still there before approaching our table.

“Is any one of you Gilda Rustfeather?” One of them asked.

Gilda tilted her head in surprise. “I am her, what’s going on?” She asked, sounding confused.

“Could you please come with us.” The same soldier said, his tone betraying that it wasn’t a request.

Gilda looked over at me, her eyes hesitant. In response I just nodded reassuringly to her. She rose from the table and walked up to the guard, her steps still betraying a bit of hesitance something the other soldier seemed to pick up on.

“Don’t worry ma’am we’ll escort you back here once we’re done.” He told her in a soothing voice.

After throwing a final glance at us Gilda agreed to accompany the soldiers, leaving me with other four members of the group. And as speculations as to what was going on I acted just as oblivious as the rest of them were. I even pitched in with a couple of made up theories to further shift any potential suspicion that I was somehow involved.

When Gilda finally returned it was late in the night, and the ponies had already retired to their rooms. Tired but full of determination Gilda marched up to the table where I had been waiting since she left. With quick words she retold everything I already knew, but I made point to continue playing the part of someone just being informed. I embraced her in a quick hug and agreed that we would set out immediately tomorrow, or at least after we had resupplied our rations.

And as the next morning came about we shared the new information and our new plan with the ponies. I could tell that the information was well received although Twilight did seem slightly skeptical. From that point the morning progressed in a high pace to get everything done, and Twilight seemed to just accept that we were heading out again without any questions. About an hour after we had concluded our breakfast we were outside of Herald’s roost and traveling down the road. In about a mile or so we would reach an intersection and from there we would head east.

*~*

Four days later we finally found ourselves in sight of the so called abandoned fortress. However in the quickly decreasing daylight we could clearly see that the fortress was anything but abandoned, especially considering there was small airship currently in the process of dock with a small bridge. I turned to Twilight with a question that had been on my mind for quite some time now.

“Twilight, is there any chance that you can use a spell to find out if Stella is in there?” I asked the alicorn turned griffin.

“I could cast a quick scrying spell but I’d need something of Stella’s to allow the spell to home in her specifically. Otherwise the spell will not be able to distinguish between her and the other griffins in that fortress.” She told me thoughtfully.

I turned to Gilda. “Do you have anything like that with you Gil?” I asked my griffin friend.

Gilda paused for a moment before digging out a small locket from one of her saddlebags, handing it to Twilight. Twilight dropped her transformation so that she could utilize her horn again. Closing her eyes I could tell that she was concentrating as her horn lit up and a familiar pink aura enveloped the locket. The aura seemed to pulse like a slow heartbeat for a few seconds and then Twilight’s eyes snapped open once more.

“Okay, the good news is that Stella definitely is in there.” Twilight said causing my hope to rise.

“The bad news though is that there are way more than the twenty griffins Ranger predicted. In fact I think there’s closer to fifty of them in there.” She continued, causing my emotions to land in some weird sort of equilibrium.

Ch 18. A storm without clouds

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Chapter 18. A storm without clouds

Who will protect you from these dog like vultures?
And I know they’re small but their teeth are sharp

We’ve been sent with eyes to see them
And ears to hear their steps
Our hearts are softer than the sheep

We’ve been known to calm the storm
And silence the ocean
With strength to spare you from their teeth

That night my emotions flickered as wildly as an open flame during a windy day. But such fluctuations were to be expected given the nature of my plight. Not only was the fight against opponents that I had convinced myself to hate, but also against myself in some regard. Losing yourself to the fight, to that lust for carnage, is something I had thought about before. However I had never considered that it would ever become a real scenario for me.

*~*

With a small sigh to herself Celestia gave the sun a slight push, making it start its decline across the sky. Another day was coming to an end and quite frankly she felt that it was high time that it did. She allowed a smile to graze her lips as she pondered what she would do now that she had some well-deserved free time. Perhaps I should go pay Cloud a visit? She thought before stopping herself. No wait, he’s still on that trip. Helping his friend, was it not something like that Luna said? I wonder how he’s doing.

Letting out another small sigh she turned her head to gaze out of the window to her left. Outside lay the grand city of Canterlot, with all of its many businesses and homes. Ponies just going about their daily lives without a care in the world, but she wasn’t seeing the proud city. No Celestia’s gaze was at this time stuck on the horizon for some reason she couldn’t understand, not that it truly was something that bothered her. However unknown to Celestia the direction she was staring was straight towards the location of a certain fortress in Gryphus. The bond they shared making itself known in the simplest of ways.

*<>*

“F- Fifty?!” Bonbon cried out in disbelief.

I held up a hand to silence her. “Calm down, this just means we need to rethink our approach to the situation.” I told her. However part of me had to agree, fifty was quite the number compared to the twenty I had been expecting.

“You can’t seriously say that we are going to be confronting them?” Twilight questioned as soon as I had finished my sentence.

“I never said that we’d be doing anything like taking them on head to head, although we still have cards to play. Even in this situation.” I said, turning to Twilight instead.

Rainbow opened her mouth as if to say something but ended up staying quiet for a few seconds before closing it again. I understood their feelings all too well right now. Fifty against six were not good odds, especially when they had a hostage. Despite the worsened situation I was not about to give up though, not when the Stella was so close.

“Now first off, Twilight how precise is your spell? I mean could you tell me with any accuracy where Stella is being held in that fortress?” I asked her.

“Well, yes. She’s being held somewhere on the third floor of that fortress. But the location seemed to be someplace in the back which means that we’d have to go through the entire fortress to reach her.” Came her answer.

That was definitely an obstacle, but it wasn’t an insurmountable one. “Aight, then here are my thoughts right now.” I said, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“First off we’ve confirmed that fighting all of them will not be an option, so then we’ll have to rely on subterfuge. Secondly I don’t see us successfully infiltrating with a full group of six. This means we’ll have two break into two smaller groups of three. Any questions so far?” I started.

“Well yeah, I have one.” Said Rainbow. “I’m guessing one group will go and get Stella, but what will the other group do?” she asked.

“Why the second group will be making sure that our exit strategy will work of course.” I answered a small smile grazing my lips. My plan was nothing short of outrageous.

“Oh, and what is your exit strategy then?” Twilight interjected.

“Well, it’s that.” I said pointing up towards the fortress.

The members of the party turned their heads in the direction I was pointing, their confusion written plainly across their faces. Then the light of understanding started to slowly ignite in Lyra’s eyes.

“No… You can’t possibly mean-” She began before I interrupted her.

“Oh, but that’s exactly what I had intended we do.” I said with a grin.

“That plan is reckless if not insane, but I think that it might work just for those reasons.” Lyra said returning my grin.

Meanwhile the others were exchanging confused glances. “What exactly are the two of you talking about?” rainbow demanded.

“Isn’t obvious? His exit strategy involves stealing their airship.” Lyra said, putting my exact thoughts into words.

As Lyra spoke I could see the expression on the others faces change from confusion into disbelief. For a few seconds they kept looking between me and the docked ship as if expecting me to suddenly proclaim that I was joking. But when it started to sink in that I was in fact serious Twilight was first to question me.

“That’s an interesting plan Cloud, but have you even considered the fact that we might not be able to fly it?” She asked.

“Ah, no I hadn’t considered that. However should that prove to be the case the second group’s mission will instead be to disable it. We wouldn’t get far if they retain use of that ship when we get Stella out. So if you just set it on fire that should bring a lot of attention towards the ship, allowing us to slip past them.” I quickly amended my initial plan.

“I suppose that’s a valid point.” Twilight said, nodding to my reasoning.

“Wait, wait, wait! You can’t seriously be considering this plan? I mean there’s fifty of them!” Bonbon protested as she looked at Twilight, Lyra and I as if we had grown extra limbs.

I hadn’t expected Bonbon to be the one to protest against a plan I had come up with. However given the plainly ridiculous idea that was the base for the plan I had to admit that her reaction was the most fitting among the party members. I would probably even go as far as to call it the only normal reaction to my plan so far.

“I understand your reluctance Bonbon, however please understand that this is plan born from desperation. As a result of that there will be plenty of what ifs that can occur. I know I’m asking a lot right now but unless you can present a new plan right now this will be the one were going with.” I said, turning to face Bonbon.

Bonbon looked at me as if she wanted to continue but ultimately she released a deep sigh.

“Fine, this seems to be the only option open for us at the moment.” She said, sounding only halfway convinced.

I would’ve preferred to convince her fully or even have her make another suggestion for our plan, however this would have to do.

“Alright, then let me get into some details on how we will pull this off. First we’re going to…” I started to explain.

*~*

My silently feet touched the deck of the ship, the fact that there had been no response yet proved that I had managed to approach undetected. Now the first obstacle would be to take out the two guards that were patrolling on the upper deck. Well to be honest calling it patrolling was to give too much credit, they were taking it with surprising laxness. But then again they were more than likely not expecting anyone to actually sneak in, and even less for someone to attack them. And luckily for us that would be the opening we needed to pull this off.

On the opposite side of me I saw Rainbow silently come gliding in towards one of the two guards, signaling that it was time for me to move. The timing here would be everything but I had no intention of backing down no matter how slim our chances were. So on silent feet I crossed the deck and before the guards had chance to react my right arm was firmly hooked across the throat of one of them. And before the second guard even noticed his struggling companion Rainbow had swooped and grabbed him too, mirroring the takedown I was in the middle of performing with ease. Given that we had managed to catch the first two guards by surprise their struggle was a short one, and the moment they lost consciousness Rainbow moved over to the railing to signal the others on the ground that the coast was clear. I would’ve moved over with Rainbow but a familiar object on one of the guards had caught my attention. It was one of those shock sticks that I had been hit with months prior, after throwing a quick glance towards Rainbow to make sure she wasn’t watching I quickly grabbed it. And after hiding it in one of my pockets I rushed over to Rainbow just in time to see the others approaching from bellow.

Favoring speed over stealth Gilda and Twilight, since she was back in griffin form, carried Lyra and Bonbon up to the deck where Rainbow and I waited. Lyra got off Gilda’s back on steady legs although the same couldn’t be said about Bonbon. The moment her hooves touched the deck she stumbled and fell, her disorientation from the rapid flight showing clearly. But this was a critical part of my plan so I could not spare any time worrying about her at this point. Instead I turned to Twilight deciding that it was time to break up the party in two groups.

“Aight, this is where we part ways. Remember your objectives and make sure that the ship is completely empty. Any questions?”

“None that I can think of no.” Twilight said before adding one more thing. “Good luck.”

“Same to you, your time limit will be until you see our signal. If you haven’t figured out how to operate this ship by then, burn it.” I told her before turning towards the fortress proper.

“Gil, Lyra let’s get going. We have a rescue mission to complete.” I said with more confidence than I felt. But no matter what it was too late to turn back now, the dice had been cast.

*<>*

Before Lyra knew it she had already taken the first few steps after Cloud. Is his presence really that commanding right now? She had to question herself as she continued to follow after Cloud. Sure he had been the driving force the entire time during this entire excursion to Gryphus, but just now she had just obeyed as if it was the natural thing to do. I haven’t experienced anything remotely similar to this ever since I left the guard. She realized. He may not have noticed it himself but he has the qualities to make a wonderful guard captain. Well he might need to improve his fighting technique a bit before that is entirely true. She mused to herself as she thought back to that sparring match against Rainbow Dash he had shown them when he applied for the job back in Ponyville.

“Aight, this is it. From here we’ll need to minimize every sound we make.” She heard Cloud say suddenly.

It would appear that they had reached the wall of the fortress and seeing how the main entrance had never been an option they would now scale the wall to attempt to enter from the battlements. She looked over towards Cloud, catching his gaze. There was no need for words since this part of the plan had already been discussed, so after a quick nod to Cloud to signal that she was ready he wrapped his arms around her barrel. With a few strong flaps they shot upwards, Gilda following close behind. A few seconds later they had cleared the walls height and went in for a rapid landing. For a few tense seconds they waited for any sign of them having been spotted, but as the seconds continued to tick by it seemed that luck was still their ally.

“Right, let’s find a way inside. We need to get down to the third level from here, and then start searching for Stella.” Cloud whispered, motioning them to follow him.

As one they began to slowly move towards what looked like a tower built into the wall. Disregarding whatever purpose the tower had served during the days this fortress had been in use it was bound to have a stairwell inside it. Once inside it quickly became apparent that this part of the fortress didn’t seem to be occupied by the deserters, at least it was that way if the pressing darkness was anything to go by. Although that particular development just served their purpose perfectly, giving them an incredibly clean entry so far. It was almost uncanny how well it was going almost as if this was a prelude to some kind of terrible disaster. Nono, you can’t think like that Lyra. That’ll just lead to you jinxing the progress we’re making. She berated herself. However as they went down the stairs and entered the third floor such worries proved to have been premature.

She pushed any further thoughts along that line of thinking out of her head as she followed Cloud through the dark corridors of the fortress. However as they entered the fourth corridor the fact that this fortress was not abandoned became abundantly clear with a flickering light, most likely cast by a torch, at the end of said corridor. That light could only mean that the easier part was now over, and from this point onward there would be an increased risk of running into patrols. The same line of thinking seemed to have been on Cloud’s mind as approached the upcoming corridor with great care. Just as he was about to take a peak around the corner though the sound of a door opening caused him to freeze in place. Not that it didn’t have the very same reaction on her, no she was equally frozen with her heart pounding in her chest. Is our luck about to run out right here?

“Ugh, I can’t believe that we’re stuck guarding that damn kid!” An annoyed voice rang out from around the corner.

“Yeah I’m with ya but the boss had plans for her or something.” A second voice answered the first.

“I know that but I just wish could rid of her! Well let’s get going at least our shift is over.” The first voice lamented.

What the two voices were talking about fell away after that point as it became abundantly clear that they had started to move in the direction where Lyra and the others were hiding. She felt her muscles tense in response to the potential scuffle that might happen and in front of her she saw Cloud’s body tense and relax. Then the two griffins stepped into view and Lyra felt herself inhale but due to some unending stroke of luck the two griffins just went past them without even sparing a glance in their direction. The voices of griffins slowly faded away as they went further down the corridor until they could no longer be heard. As one the three of them exhaled loudly.

“Aight we were just disgustingly lucky, so we may be able to pull this off cleanly yet.” Cloud whispered almost as if reassuring himself.

He carefully approached the corner again and took a quick peak before waving that the coast was clear. Lyra hurried to follow Cloud as he entered the corridor ahead of them. The new corridor was the same as the first few ones that they had already gone through with the exception that there were lit torches here. The brightness stung a bit in her eyes after having spent the past few minutes in the dark. Ahead of her Cloud had already stopped in front of one of the doors lining this corridor’s walls. She continued to observe him as placed his ear against the door to listen. She had to agree that taking such precautions seemed to be a good idea so with a couple of quick steps she went past Cloud to get the next door in line. For a few quiet but furious seconds Lyra helped Cloud and Gilda to check if the rooms where inhabited. Then at the fourth room she happened upon a room where she could hear subdued sobs from.

“Cloud, Gilda! Over here!” She hissed out as loud as she dared.

Both them hurried over their faces betraying the concern that they had been trying so hard to hide from the others up until this point.

“What’s up Lyra?” Cloud asked.

“I think we’ve hit the jack pot with this door.” She replied with a small smile.

“Really?!” Gilda said in a loud voice moments before trying to open said door.

However the luck they had experienced up until that point decided to pick that moment to run out as the door proved to be locked tightly. Gilda kept trying to open the door a couple of more times before Cloud placed a hand on her arm making the worried sister turn to face to him. He gave her a small shake of his head before whispering to her.

“Calm down Gil, we’ll get her out.” He reassured the griffin before turning to her. “Say Lyra is there any chance of you breaking this door down?” He murmured, still keeping his volume on the low side.

That question made her stop and think for a second. I definitely have enough magical strength to pull something like that off, however if I do that all hopes of future stealth will be gone. In the end she decided it would be best to talk to Cloud about it.

“I can destroy the door no problem but you do realize that it will cause a lot of noise, right?” She half murmured back.

“I’m aware but I think that right now this option is better than trying to find a key.” Cloud reasoned.

“Alright then, take a step back please.” She agreed before starting to charge magic to her horn.

I wonder what type of spell will be best for this or should I just use raw magic as a blunt instrument? She pondered as she felt her peak for magic capacity approaching. Eh, to hay with being conservative I’ll just use a shatter spell. She decided as she started to form the required spell matrix. As she released the spell the door gave a long groaning *creak* before snapping inward, a clearly vertical break down the middle, spraying splinters everywhere.
Lyra turned her to towards Cloud and Gilda again to tell them to hurry but before she even had a chance to open her mouth Gilda had leapt over her and into the room.

“Stella!” The older griffin cried out looking around the room wildly.

“Si-sis?” A weak voice rung out from one of the room’s corners.

Lyra turned her towards the direction of the new voice to see a much smaller griffin peek out from under a badly damaged bed.

“Stella!” Gilda cried out happily as she went over to the younger griffin, scooping her up in a tearful hug.

“Gil, you c-came.” The younger griffin sobbed.

“Thank whatever deities there is that you’re alive but we need to get moving, now.” Cloud’s voice said behind Lyra. However the relief was clear in his voice.

The younger griffin looked up from her sister’s shoulder and a weak smile spread across her features as her gaze found Cloud. “Cloud, you’re here too!” She said.

“Yes I’m here Stella.” Cloud said in soft tone that was very rare for him.

It seemed however that Gilda had heard Cloud’s previous order to get a move on so she was already relocating Stella so that she could ride on her back. As soon as the younger griffin was securely seated on Gilda’s back, Gilda began moving towards the door. It was at this point that Lyra finally got a good look at the smaller griffin as the light streaming in through the broken door illuminated the sister pair. She didn’t have to be an expert in griffin physiology to understand that Stella was severely malnourished at this point. Wordlessly she stepped out of the way for Gilda so that she could exit the room and then threw a glance at Cloud. She was not exactly surprised to see him with balled fists, slightly trembling at the scene. If someone dear to me had been put through something similar I’d probably be mad too. Lyra thought to herself before nudging Cloud’s leg slightly with a hoof.

“Hey what’s the plan now?” She asked him.

Cloud shook his head slightly. “Oh sorry. Now we run, we’ll escape the same way we came in.”

Lyra wanted to sigh, she wanted to say well here comes the hard part but instead she just nodded her head and fell in line as Cloud started to lead them back the way they had come.
With their first objective completed with the retrieval of Stella things were looking up again but that nagging feeling from before that things were about to go wrong still smoldered at the back of her head. However with Cloud quickly taking point such thoughts would have to wait. As they headed towards the unlit area they had come from Lyra decided that she would take the role of rear guard. They even managed to make it as far as the intersection before Lyra’s feeling of impending disaster proved to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The sound of somepony quickly approaching from behind caused the group to hurry their steps. Mere moments later an angered screech could be heard from behind them, sending echoes along the corridor. By pure chance Lyra decided to throw a glance in the direction of the screech only to find a large griffin in the process of loading a large crossbow. At that point her old military training kicked in and Lyra found herself turning to face the threat.

On rapid hooves she started to charge towards the griffin using her magic to form a directional barrier in front of herself. With the magic she had left after that shatter spell she would be able to deflect one bolt easily, but a second one was doubtful at best. Everything hinged on her reaching the target before he had time to get a second shot off. With that fact firmly planted in her mind she pushed herself harder as the griffin finished loading the first bolt. Wait something is wrong with this picture. A sudden realization shot through her mind. The griffin she was charging towards wasn’t even looking at her, his gaze was locked at something behind her. I can’t rewrite the shield matrix fast enough to change the direction it’s being projected. A fearful thought shot through her mind. She needed to reach her target and take him down before he had time to shoot once.

No, she wasn’t going to make it! She realized, as a feeling of dread started to spread through her body when the griffin she was charging towards leveled his crossbow. With a roar she pushed herself to close the distance but as the recognizable *twang* of the bolt being launched rang out the world seemed to slow down around her. As if moving through a dough like substance she felt her body turn ever so slowly as she attempted to catch the bolt with her magic but deep down she knew it was too late. Then out of nowhere Cloud arrived faster than her eyes could track, suddenly he was just there right next to the bolt. She felt her eyes slowly start widen as his right hand closed around the bolt, effectively catching it midair. His entire figure radiated an aura of previously hidden power and malice. It was as if the air itself had been electrified. For moment longer time continued to flow at a reduced pace for her and it seemed almost as if the long scarf that Cloud had taken to wearing since coming to Gryphus was flowing in an ethereal wind that only touched the scarf. But the very next moment, time resumed its normal flow and the scarf dropped back down. I guess I must’ve imagined it, but for a second it almost looked like that scarf behaved like princess Celestia’s mane. She thought. No wait a second! That’s not the important bit. She followed up her own thoughts as a sudden realization struck her. How did he cross that distance so fast? There must’ve been at least fifteen meters between him and that bolt’s path! Just what are you Cloud? She thought, not sure whether she should be in awe or be afraid of this new side of Cloud that she hadn’t seen before.

*<>*

I felt a twinge of pain as time seemed to resume its normal pace, a quick glance over my shoulder showed that my left wing had become dislocated. It had probably happened during the weird surge of speed I had experienced, a feat that I had no idea how I had performed. I looked back down at the bolt in my hand small residual sparks of electricity jumped between the metallic tip and my hand. I had reacted on instinct and done something that should’ve been impossible and yet it had felt natural like it was meant to be. However seeing how my wing had become dislocated as direct result it was abundantly clear that my body couldn’t handle the strain of this new technique I had stumbled upon. A roar from Lyra brought my attention over to the griffin she was busy beating up with precise telekinetic strikes.

If the rest of them have crossbows as well going out into the open will be a bad idea. At least if their attention is focused on one point. I thought to myself.

“Lyra come on! You’re on point for now!” I called out to the mint green unicorn.

“Alright, follow me!” Lyra responded quickly, rushing past me to take the lead.

I fell in line behind the others while continuing to shout out orders. “Come on we need to pick up the pace and Lyra, I want you to signal the others as soon as we get outside.”

“Roger that!” Came Lyra’s spirited reply as she increased her speed.

But as we ran I gradually slowed my pace so that the distance between started to increase, and then ultimately I stopped entirely when the others disappeared around a corner. I’m sorry guys but it has to be my job to do this. I won’t be able to get off the wall with this wing anyway, and waiting for Gil to carry Lyra down and then help me will take too long. I thought before I turned and started to run in the opposite direction. To my right windows flashed past me as I ran towards what I hoped would not be the end of me.

I threw a glance out of one of the small windows to my right as I rushed past it, unknowingly staring straight in the direction of Canterlot. I’m sorry Tia but it might take a bit longer before I can return to you. I thought as I steeled myself for the task that awaited me. At that time I believed that I was doing something noble in giving my friends a better chance at getting away. Later in my life I would view this moment as the first time that I strayed down a darker path. For in the end all I was doing was to give in to my own sense of revenge.

Ch 19. Fangs of the storm

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Chapter 19. Fangs of the storm

Throw it all away, throw it all away
I keep on screaming but there’s really nothing left to say
So get away, just get away
I keep on fighting but I can’t keep going on this way

I can’t keep going, can’t keep going on like this
They make me sick
And I get so sick of it
Cause they won’t let me, they won’t let me breathe
Why can’t they let me be?

Why can’t they let me be?
Why don’t I know who I am?
I force this hate into my heart cause it’s my only friend
My lips are sewn shut, I watch myself bleed
They push and pull me and it’s killing me within

There are those that claim to have lived life without regret and if that is their true belief I ask them to keep that point of view. However I have to ask myself just how much thought the majority of those who makes such claims have put into such a statement. Regrets are not something to be feared and look deeply enough everyone single one of us has something that they regret. No regrets are part of what makes us human, no it’s part of what makes us individuals.

*~*

Six! I counted as my latest foe fell into twitching heap of limbs, occasional sparks of electricity accompanying the twitches. So far I had been able to dictate rules of engagement to my liking, taking my opponents on one at a time. However I was relying heavily on the shock stick that I had acquired earlier to allow me to push past the discomfort of my dislocated wing and fight at full efficiency. My way of fighting right now was nothing short of reckless, just like that time in Canterlot. And although I knew the limitations of my own body well, and I knew that I was stronger than I had been before. The moment I added my inherent powers of a storm paragon to the mix all that I knew might as well be thrown into the trash. I had never really fought under the influence of electricity for an extended period of time, all I knew was that it caused an incredible strain on my body. Although that analysis had been by Swiftmend when my body was that of a pegasus, so even that fact was bound to have been altered in some kind of way.

“Over here! That freaky bastard is over here!” A scream rang out.

Oh well now’s not the time to think. I thought before a humorless smile split my features. Right now I didn’t need to think, I didn’t need to feel, all I needed to do was fight. Without hesitation I launched myself towards the newest idiot that had appeared before me. My body moved purely on instinct as I slipped past his guard to deliver a whip like blow to the side of his head. My opponent let out a pained screech as the electricity kept within me leapt over to him in a flash of light, but he didn’t go down. It was sign that the latest shot I had taken from the shock stick was waning again. Still with his body’s muscles being effected by the relatively high voltage a, straight, follow up kick between his eyes caused him to collapse with a low groan. Seven! Without looking back I moved ahead, my steps echoing throughout the corridor. And as I was about to round the corner to the next corridor my hand was already reaching for the stolen shock stick.

I rounded the corner and was forced to jump backwards almost instantly as a pair of talons came slashing through the air. The female griffin that I had almost gotten me snarled in anger as she pressed her attack and behind her I could see another griffin approaching quickly. Quick steps allowed me to flow backwards at the same pace as my attacker advanced in. A chuckle escaped my lips as I placed the shock stick against my thigh mid step and triggered another surge of electricity to flow through me. The moment my feet touched the ground from my latest step my left arm shot forward in a palm strike towards my assailant, but by dodging backwards at the last second she managed to avoid it by a fraction of an inch. The griffin female hastily retreated to safe distance her eyes locked with mine, displaying nothing but determination. This one would likely be a bit more of a problem than the others I had fought so far. The first give away was that she was the first one to actually pay attention to my eyes rather than my limbs, not to mention that she had realized the danger and pulled back in an instant. However I was already committed and couldn’t have any drawn out fights without running the risk of getting overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

With my situation reaffirmed I chased after her, trying to finish her off with a quick strike towards the head. However as I had feared she expertly kept out of range silently evaluating my speed and reach, a quiet snarl plastered over her features. Then came the moment where the second griffin I had spied approaching earlier actually reached us, and my situation instantly went from challenging to bad. So instead of continuing my assault I fell backwards into a more defensive stance. But instead of attacking me together that I had anticipated it was only the new arrival that took the initiative, pushing past his comrade. Again acting on instinct I danced backwards from the wild strikes coming from the new griffin. However my situation hadn’t really changed all too much yet, meaning I still had to deal with both of my opponents before it got even worse. As such I deliberately let the guard on my left side down, attempting to lure them into reach. With my current charge all I really needed to do was land one decisive strike and my target would go down. And as the newer griffin dove in, thrusting one of his claws forward my smile turned into an almost predatory grin. In the periphery of my vision I could barely make out a look of dawning realization start to spread on the female griffin’s features.

“Wait you idiot he’s just baiting you!” She cried out.

“Eh?” He responded, but it was too late for him to stop his attack

My left hand shot forward, knocking away, and grappling the talon in one swift motion while my right hand found itself grasping his face. The air crackled loudly as sparks flew everywhere before the griffin in my grasp slumped lifelessly in my grip. Eight! Without sparing another thought I threw the lifeless griffin to the side, again revealing the female that had been momentarily blocked from my view. Her eyes displayed a mix of fear, rage and if the tears was any sign, sadness.

“You… You bastard!” She screamed as she charged at me.

The previously calm and collected fighter that had been the griffin female now attacked me with a ferocity that I hadn’t encountered in this world before. Why are you making that face? What right do you have to make such a face? And similar thoughts floated just outside the edge of my consciousness as I threw up my guard to protect myself against the unrelenting assault. Predicting her attacks was not hard per say but it would be impossible to block them all without sustaining any damage. Such is the truth when fighting an opponent without care for his or her own wellbeing. So instead of attempting something I knew I couldn’t pull off I attacked, deciding to put faith in my speed to allow me to land a decisive strike before I took too much damage.

Claws flashed in the torchlight as the gap between us vanished in an instant. And for a second or two we just stood there, like statues of some kind of titanic struggle of past warriors. Then the light in the griffin’s eyes slowly dimmed and she fell backwards, revealing the fist that had found itself landing a clean blow to her abdomen. Nine… I took a step past the lifeless body of my latest opponent only to stop as I felt a sudden wetness start to spread my left arm. Turning my head to get a better look revealed a long gash along my arm just beneath my shoulder. So that’s where was aiming huh? I thought as resumed walking down the corridor. Had it not been for the difference in height and reach her claws would’ve found their home across my throat. But I couldn’t stop now, I had to keep going until I had bought enough time for the others to escape. So I reached for the shock stick to replenish the charge I had just used, ignoring my bleeding arm.

*<>*

She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t noticed that Cloud had disappeared until they had reached the roof and it was time to send her signal. Currently she was in the middle of arguing with the others that had managed to get the airship under their control.

“What do you mean we can’t turn back!” Lyra cried out angrily.

“Look I don’t like it either but if it’s Cloud it will be all right, probably.” Rainbow said trying to placate her.

“How can you be so calm? Cloud’s in more danger than any of us has been during this entire visit to Gryphus!” Lyra continued to rant not losing any anger.

“In danger? Yeah most likely, although Cloud is most likely the one that can survive the longest against impossible odds.” Twilight said, joining the conversation.

“Like hay he can! Bonbon and I saw that sparring match when he fought Rainbow, and he was barely holding his own against her!” Lyra shouted.

“Oh, that sparring match? That wasn’t Cloud at one hundred percent, he was perhaps at around fifty to sixty percent back then. Or that would’ve been fifty or sixty percent back when he was a pony. Knowing him he’s probably much stronger now, and the last time I fought him at a hundred percent he destroyed me.” Rainbow interjected.

“When he what?” Bonbon spoke up.

“He destroyed me. Complete defeat on my part.” Rainbow explained patiently.

“No not that, the part about him being a pony.” Bonbon specified.

“He hasn’t told you two that yet? Darn he’s still keeping stuff to himself. Well when we first encountered Cloud about three years ago he was actually in the form of a Pegasus. He had been unwillingly transported here and wanted to find a way home. So after a bunch of incidents were he actually went home for a while but somehow brought Celestia with him he returned.” Rainbow quickly summarized.

“Wait! Brought Celestia with him? Is this related to that time she went missing and the incident with those star things?” Lyra asked, now sounding confused.

“Yeah, but as I was saying the next time we met him he was arrested for kidnapping Celestia.” Rainbow tried to continue but was interrupted once more.

“So he kidnapped Celestia?!” Bonbon cried out in surprise.

“Nono he hadn’t done anything like that at all. Now stop interrupting me and allow me to tell the story. Anyway we thought he had kidnapped her so he got thrown into prison due to that. But somehow he got out of his cell when that star dragon attacked, and from there he started to fight those shadow minions that it created. And he was also the cause of that big lightning bolt that struck the dragon towards the end, destroying its anti-element protection.” Rainbow explained, feeling that her previous patience was running out.

“He what? How? What exactly is he?” Lyra questioned, her own confusion growing by the second.

“Well we didn’t know the full story until recently either, but from what he has told me the others he’s the descendant of a Storm paragon. You know those pegasi that were the first to tame storm clouds way back before Equestria was a thing.” Rainbow elaborated.

“So is that why he managed to catch that crossbow bolt in there?” Lyra asked curiously.

The moment the last words left her lips Lyra knew that she had something she should’ve said earlier as Twilight’s expression turned into a worried one.

“He did what? Lyra please tell me what happened with as much detail as possible.” Twilight requested urgently.

“Well before he disappeared in there, he caught a crossbow bolt meant for Gilda in midair. He suddenly just appeared next to it.” Lyra began.

“Yes, yes you’ve said that but what about Cloud did he look any different?” Twilight interrupted.

“No, not really. It felt like the air was almost static for a second and I think that his scarf was behaving oddly.” Lyra said, starting to get worried again.

“Hey Twilight you don’t think that he’s doing that again do you?” Rainbow asked her alicorn friend.

“I’m afraid that he might be. Actually I’m quite sure that he is, he has never been one to do things halfheartedly.” Twilight said in a resigned voice.

“Okay what’s wrong? I thought you said that he would be okay?” Bonbon chimed in again.

“Well to put it bluntly Cloud may be killing himself slowly right now. The last time he used his inherited powers repeatedly his heart stopped. So the situation may be much direr than we originally thought.” Twilight said in a grim tone.

Twilight’s words hit Lyra like a hammer blow. “We- We have to do something.” She started to say again.

“I agree with Lyra now Twi. If only to have a chance to give Cloud a piece of my mind we have to get him out of there.” Rainbow added.

“I agree too. I refuse to leave him there a second longer, he’s like my brother after all.” Gilda said, joining the conversation.

“Oh, did you get Stella to sleep?” Rainbow asked the griffin.

“Yeah, I managed to calm her down just a few minutes ago. So now I’m ready to help again.” Gilda replied.

“Yes but what can we do?” Bonbon voiced her concerns.

“You don’t have to do anything, I’ll go!” Rainbow and Gilda said at the same time.

“No! Neither of you will go.” Twilight cut in, holding up a hoof to quell the protests when they started to flood in from the pegasus and the griffin.

“I will go.” Twilight said, silencing any further complaints.

*<>*

With a curse I dove back into cover as another crossbow bolt buzzed past like an angry hornet. The shock stick had long since run out of charges and it hadn’t taken long for the enemy to figure out that I had discarded it. Huh, when did I start to think of them as an enemy to be defeated? I wondered absently. The real problem had started way before then though if my recently acquired injuries was any type of indicator. In addition to my dislocated wing and the cuts along my arm I now sported multiple bruises. Including swelling around my left eye making it somewhat hard to see from that eye. Lastly a few minor lacerations spread unevenly across my body summed up the state I was in. Since I had been injured worse than this in the past I was able to ignore it to an extent, even without having the numbing benefit of electricity in my body. Despite being able to persevere it wasn’t exactly pleasant though. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t envisioned things turning out like this, but to be fair things had started to escalate before I had been forced to stop using my paragon powers. After that first wound to my arm I had slowly been losing my pace and the fact that the deserters started to come at me in groups hadn’t helped either. Well, fighting fifty armed and trained griffins while thinking that I could win had been a pipe dream to begin with. Even if they hadn’t had been soldiers previously I would’ve been hard pressed to win against fifty opponents.

I exhaled slowly, listening carefully for the steps of the crossbow wielding griffin. Guess he’s smarter than that. I thought as no steps could be heard. Well he has the definite advantage right now. I continued to ponder while looking around the room, that I had ended up diving into earlier, for a way to distract him. But as fate would have it the room was barren of things I could’ve used, having only broken furniture and dust in it. However staying in this room would mean certain death, for despite being in a pretty bad spot overall I hadn’t given up my chances of surviving. The only option left was leaving it to chance, perhaps I could avoid the second bolt while closing the distance. No matter what I needed to leave this room soon or I ran the risk of more griffins showing up. And as much as I hated to admit it there was no way I could win if I had to fight melee attackers while worrying about having to dodge crossbow bolts. Nor would I be able to escape this place if I had someone with a ranged weapon pursuing me. Ah, I’ve really fucked up this time haven’t I? I thought with a sigh before steeling myself for what I needed to do.

Pushing my discomfort away I came out of the room full sprint, the griffin giving a surprised squawk. It was clear that he hadn’t expected me to pull such a reckless stunt but to his credit, and my detriment, he recovered quickly. His eyes tracked me carefully as I approached. Then suddenly his eyes widened slightly, giving me split second warning that he was about to fire. So as the twang of the crossbow rang out I was already airborne after taking a leap to cross the remaining distance. A moment later I crashed into the griffin, managing to wrench the spent crossbow out of his grip. The ensuing struggle was a short one that ended with me grabbing the feathers on top of his head to slam it into the ground repeatedly. But not before he added few more slashes with his talons across my chest. Fifteen. I went to stand but stumbled and fell almost immediately as a sharp pain shot through my right leg. Looking down revealed the crossbow bolt firmly lodged in my thigh. My eyes started to tear up before the pain subsided to a dull throbbing.

“Shit!” I cursed loudly.

By slowly crawling over to the wall I managed to slowly stand up. At this point I realized that escaping might join that pipe dream of winning against the fifty griffins. Well fucking done. I thought to myself. This has been a plain retarded set of choices, I probably could’ve left a long time ago. Now I’m as good as dead, killed by the next griffin I encounter. If I don’t bleed to death first. I thought morbidly as I hobbled along the corridor. Up ahead I could see a hint of a room rather than a new corridor. Was this path leading me to a last chance or was this a path to my end? All I knew was that I’d rather die on my feet rather than bleeding to death, so in the end my choice was simple. I would continue down this hallway to see for myself what lay at the end. And so I shambled onwards until I eventually reached the end of the corridor, emerging into a large, well lit, room.

However, much as I had anticipated, I was not alone in this room. A griffin force of at least twenty was waiting for me, standing in a wide half circle around my point of entry. I could see griffins of both genders and I could see that all of them were armed this time around. Although the thing that stood out the most was that I could see fear in their eyes. I could feel a chuckle bubble up to the surface. For some reason the entire situation suddenly seemed so amusing to me. It could very well be due to the blood loss that I found it to be so, or it could just have been the absurdity of having twenty or so armed opponents show fear towards an unarmed and badly wounded one. Whatever reason it was though my chuckle soon evolved into full blown laughter, causing the griffins to look even more afraid. Which in turn caused me to laugh even harder. This may not be the worst way for it to end after all. I mean how many can say that they frightened a room full of previous soldiers in the state I’m in. I thought to myself as I let my eyes run across the griffins. I’m sorry Tia, I’m afraid this is my limit. I thought, turning my eyes down towards the ground as I felt them start to get blurred by tears. It was a strange conflict of emotions I felt at that point, a second ago I had been laughing completely ready to face my end. But now, just after thinking about her, my resolve had crumbled. I didn’t want to go through all this again, the wait for something inevitable.

Then suddenly a blindingly strong light lit up the room, accompanied by the surprised shouts and pained cries of the griffins. It was as if someone had taken the light of a sun and stuffed into the middle of the room I was in. The only reason I could still see anything was due to the fact that I had been looking down when the light appeared. That being said what I could see was limited to very vague shapes of the things in my immediate surroundings. Furthermore had my eyes not already been teary they would have been made to tear up by the light.
And due to these circumstances almost missed it, a flash in the middle of the light and the appearance of shape a shape that felt somewhat familiar. So despite not feeling entirely sure of what had just happened I opened my mouth to speak.

“Tia?” I said questioningly.

“Not quite.” A voice I knew very well answered.

“Twi.” I said, letting my relief into my voice but it may have just sounded exhausted.

“Come on let’s get you out of here.” She said.

The world around me warped and the next thing I knew was the cool outside air against my skin. I briefly felt my feet touch a wooden floor before I collapsed onto my side as my injured leg couldn’t support me. All around me I heard worried cries from those I had come to regard as my friends, so summoning the remaining strength I had I forced myself to turn my head towards the nearest voice. The blurry faces of Rainbow Dash and Lyra came into view, both which looked incredibly concerned. For a moment a memory flashed before my eyes, one of Rainbow standing above me, shouting something I couldn’t hear while I just smiled at her as the darkness closed in on the edge of my vision. I felt my lips forming a weak smile as I opened my mouth to speak.

“I’ll be fine. I just need to rest a little bit.” I said before I let the exhaustion that had been building consume me.

*<>*

When Twilight returned in a flash and she saw that she had brought Cloud with her she wanted to cheer. But in the next instant her mind registered the state that he was in. How can anything survive that? Lyra’s mind screamed as she watched Cloud topple to the side the moment his feet hit the deck of the ship. One of his wings hung limply, possible broken, across his left arm were to long gashes that were still bleeding and in his right leg sat the bolt from a crossbow. Before she knew it she was already in motion towards her human friend, and as she got up close she saw that he was covered in even more smaller injuries. She held her breath when she saw him slowly move his head in her direction, soon revealing a swollen left eye. A weak smile formed on his lips and he opened his mouth.

“I- fine. Need rest a bit.” He murmured before collapsing. His breathing becoming weak but steady.

Twilight pushed past them to carefully roll Cloud over to his back before putting an ear to his chest. A few seconds later she looked up at the others again.

“It’s okay, he has just collapsed from exhaustion. Now come on let’s tend to his wounds we ask him about everything once he regains consciousness.” Twilight said in a calm yet commanding tone, snapping Lyra out of her worries.

You really are something else Cloud, do you know that? She wondered as she hurried over to help Bonbon with a first aid kit she had found.

Ch 20. Favorable winds

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Chapter 20. Favorable winds

On this day I see clearly everything has come to life
A bitter place and a broken dream
And we’ll leave it all, leave it all behind

On this day it’s so real to me
Everything has come to life
Another chance to chase a dream
Another chance to feel
Chance to feel alive

Where does one start to explain the inner workings of one’s mind to another? And before that how do you truly learn to understand yourself? I will not claim that either scenario should be viewed as simple. Think for a second about all the times that you came to realize that you have changed your opinion about something. Think about all the times that you’ve decided to forgive or all the times that you have been forgiven. Are not all of these times when you have learnt something about yourself or have changed as a person, and in turn you’ve come to understand yourself better? In understanding parts of ourselves we can share it with others, and then perhaps they can bring about an even deeper comprehension.

*~*

I’ve been told that our return to Herald’s roost caused quite the stir with the garrison there. Not only did we sail into a no fly zone by going over the wall, we did so with a ship that was registered to belong to one of the deserters. Ultimately it led to everyone getting detained until the full story had been told, which ended up taking a while since I was out cold in the beginning due to my injuries. And while I was rushed over to the medical facilities to treat the damage that hadn’t been possible to treat with a simple first aid kit the others had been forced to go through questioning. Of course I had later been subject to the same questions when I was once again awake and lucid. That had been a strange experience to say the least, sitting there in a bed almost completely wrapped in bandages answering one question after another. Most of the time my head had been somewhere else though, as I was fretting over what to say to the others. If anything was a fact it was that I definitely owed them and that I was the one to blame. However I had no clue of what was safe to share and what I should keep to myself. And when the time finally came that we were allowed keep traveling it came as a surprise to all of us that we had been allowed to keep the ship. Through some weird griffin law deserting apparently led to you losing the right to own anything and thus any previous possessions became everyone’s. To me it just sounded like a very roundabout way of saying finders’ keepers, however as a result we would be able to save quite a bit of time on our return trip. As a side note I promised myself that would read up on griffin law at some point since it seemed to be based off something completely different from what I was used to.

Whatever reason given I felt that it was a bit too convenient, and wondered just what strings had been pulled and for what reason. Not that I could take any time to ponder on the reason though, for the moment we all had boarded the ship again I was called to answer for my actions. I am not proud of the web of half-truths I wove that day, but in my mind it was a necessary evil. For how do you tell your friends that which had started out as a simple gamble to buy more time had turned into you losing yourself to the fight? More precisely losing yourself to the worst kind of emotions. I had not walked the path of the warrior that night, instead I had strayed onto the path of vengeance. So while they only got the barebones of what I had been doing at the very least my apology had been sincere. For I realized that without them I would’ve perished in that fortress, senselessly throwing away the second chance at life I had been given. And thus the circle of individuals that I owed my life grew once more.

If I make it sound as if the conversations about my actions had been calm I’m sorry for making it sound like that, truth be told they had been anything but. Lyra, Twilight and Rainbow had been furious with me, spending probably an hour divided between them shouting at me. And as I had nothing to say for myself I accepted it, after all their anger with me was justified. Lyra had actually been trying to hit me at one point but had been held back by Bonbon who had been with her at the time. Not all the reactions had been those of anger though, both Gilda and Bonbon had been incredibly worried for different reasons. I’ll guess I’ll start with Bonbon since it became apparent that I hadn’t hurt her nearly as much as I had hurt Gilda. When it came to Bonbon it boiled down to the fear of losing a friend or if read her correctly someone she was also rather infatuated with. My conversation with her had been one mostly consisting of reassuring words, promises that I would be fine and apologies. When it came to Gilda though how it had affected her wasn’t really apparent at first. The talk I had with her started off very similar as the one I had had with Bonbon, but ever so slowly I managed to unravel more of what she really felt. To put it bluntly she felt betrayed, she had trusted me to get everyone out safely and then I had gone and pulled that stunt. Our talk lasted long into the evening and I think that I got my sincere feelings through to towards the end, but a seed of guilt still remained inside me. Part of me knew that with time things would be okay again though, we had walked through the fire and emerged mostly unscathed. Even if things would be slightly awkward between us all for some time, having succeeded in saving Stella made up for all that in my book.

As for Stella, the experiences she had been put through had left their own scars on her. Nightmares plagued her most nights and she couldn’t even fall asleep without having either me or Gilda near her. It was a situation I could relate to all too well to, and had it not been for the fact that I felt the need to stay strong for the little griffin I may very well have had a relapse myself. So I would soldier on, despite the awkward atmosphere I would soldier on for her. In a way it wouldn’t be that different from what I had done for the longest of times, wearing a mask that is.

*~*

“You look terrible Cloud.” Nothing more than statement had been the opening line from Ranger when we finally reached the Rustfeather inn. Well it was the first thing he said to me anyway, before that he had been thoroughly occupied with hugging his daughters. But that simple sentence filled with gratitude had been a breath of fresh air for me. I knew he would’ve questions about how came to accumulate my injuries and he would without a doubt judge my actions. But for now we could just talk like we always had done before. He was after all one of the few I felt that I could completely drop my guard around. And perhaps now it was finally time for me to tell Ranger the full story of who I was.

“Yeah, I guess I do look terrible.” I agreed with a weak grin.

“Well don’t be strangers come on inside and we can all talk, like where you managed to get that ship for example.” Ranger said, nodding towards the ship that was anchored to a tree by the Rustfeather’s inn.

“We’ll gratefully accept that invitation Mr. Ranger.” Said Twilight before I could reply myself.

As a group we moved into the common room, and for some time we talked about happier things. Although that lasted only for so long, at one point Gilda went away with Stella to give the rest of us some time to relay everything that had happened to Ranger. What he received though was again a barebones version of our travels and the situations we had faced. Something that he seemed to pick up on rather quickly as he sought my gaze sometime during the middle of the explanation. All I could do though was to give him a near invisible nod, hoping that he would take the hint and don’t question the version he was getting right now. Since he didn’t say anything I could only assume that he got the hint, and before I knew it the day had already reached evening. For old times’ sake I had offered to prepare the meal for the evening but as it became apparent that my injuries hindered me from working at my normal efficiency in the kitchen it had turned into a joint task between me and Ranger.

“Say Cloud, I’m not impatient but when can I expect to know the full story of what happened?” Ranger asked sometime during the middle of our preparations.

I had been expecting something like this so I already had an answer. “You know that place out back?” I asked him, and he responded with a nod.

“Let’s meet out there later tonight and I’ll tell you everything.” I suggested.

Ranger once again responded with a nod since Bonbon chose that moment to enter the kitchen and ask if we needed any help. Seeing how Ranger and I had no good reason to turn her down she was put in charge of preparing a dessert. Together the three of us worked in almost perfect sync, and once the food began to get close to being done the rest joined in taking care of tasks such as prepping tables. What followed was a sort of victory feast you could say. With everything that had happened this was the first time we actually had even thought of just sitting down to dine and eat together without any worries for a long time. To make it short without too much elaboration it felt good to have life start to return to a more normal state. Well as normal as you could call living in a magical world filled with creatures that are supposed to myths at least.

Eventually the evening slowly came to an end, and one after one my friends excused themselves as they went to retire for the night. Last to go was Ranger and Gilda, the former carrying the already sleeping form of Stella. Before he left the room though he turned and looked over at me for a second, he didn’t need to do more than that I understood what he meant. So as soon as I heard him make his way up the stairs after Gilda I reached for the stick I had taken to using a crutch while my leg recovered. And soon I was outside heading down the familiar path to the area where I had spent so many nights this past summer. A plethora of memories slowly started to come back to life as I walked, including not only good ones but also those of my early struggles with my nightmares. And as I eventually reached my destination I turned my gaze up towards the starry autumn skies. I’ve come quite far these past months. I thought as I studied the skies. My nightmares while not completely beaten have lessened significantly and I have plenty of individuals that I trust. Rustling from the forest caused me to cease my pondering but I didn’t turn my gaze from the skies as I spoke.

“Do you remember what we talked about last time we met here?” I asked him.

“Aye, although neither of us could’ve predicted the turn of events that were about to follow though.” Ranger said as he walked up to stand beside me.

“Yeah, that’s true.” I replied, and for a time we just stood there gazing at the sky in silence.

“I believe it’s high time I told you my full story Ranger. I’ll warn you right now though the things I’m about to say may sound crazy and hard to believe but if you have doubts about it you can always confirm it with Twilight later.” I said, breaking the silence.

“Alright, then as promised I shall be the one to listen this time.” Ranger said, and I heard him sit down. For the time being I remained standing though, my eyes not leaving the skies.

“Well, it all began close to three years ago your time. I was heading home one stormy night when I got struck by a bolt of lightning…” I began to retell my tale from the start.

*~*

“…and that should cover all of the important parts up until now.” I finished my tale an unknown amount time later, but given how the moon had traveled across the night sky it must’ve been a couple of hours at least. I had told Ranger an almost unabridged version of everything that had happened up until this point, making him the one individual that knew the most about my schemes and secrets for the moment.

Ranger exhaled slowly. “You were right, your story is quite the tale and there’s quite a lot of unexpected darkness there as well. I will not judge you, it is not my place to so. Especially not regarding this last incident. Had it not been for my daughters safety I would probably have been tempted to do the same thing.” He said.

I let out a sigh. “Hmm, you might be right but in the end I was the one who lost sight of what was truly important back there. I have made mistakes before, but I truly believed that I had managed to leave this part of me behind.” I lamented.

“Cloud, you will stop that line of thinking right now.” Ranger said sharply.

“But-” I began but Ranger interrupted me.

“No, no buts. True you may have strayed a bit from what you had to do. Though in the end you can’t possibly deny that it’s a part of who you are, right?”

“But-” I said again.

Ranger chuckled. “I thought I said no buts. I know you Cloud, for you are similar to me in many ways. And probably not similar at all in an equal amount of ways, however if you strayed from your path that just means you have to adjust your heading and begin walking again.” He said as if stating the obvious.

Is it really something that simple? I thought, but the longer I pondered the more I came to see solution hiding in plain sight. It wasn’t a case of me truly worrying, but I guess I just had needed to hear it from another person. Someone that could reaffirm that I still could change for the better, or perhaps I viewed it as a way to justify my actions. Whatever it was I needed to stop thinking about or it would eat me up from inside.

“Aight, I’ll drop it. Now let’s talk about happier things. The quicker I can leave this behind me the quicker I can start focusing on living a peaceful life once more.” I said, switching to a grin.

“That’s the spirit!” Ranger agreed with a grin of his own.

“So, since everything is starting to get back on track do you mind if I ask you a question?” I asked, as another topic I had been thinking a lot about recently bubbled to the surface.

“No, go right ahead. Although before you do that could you hang on one second?” Ranger said as he reached around and started digging through a satchel he had brought with him. A few moments later he produced a bottle of some sort of amber liquid and a pair of glasses.

When he noticed my questioning expression his grin widened. “It’s been years since I brought out any type of liquor, but I thought to myself that this should be one of those times that warrants a bit of celebration.” He explained as he unscrewed the cap and poured a moderate amount into the glasses before offering me one of them.

I accepted the offered glass, studying the liquid for a second or two before taking a careful whiff of the contents. A pleasant aroma of brandy with a hint of lemon met nose, causing me to look over towards Ranger in surprise.

“This is some sort of lemon brandy isn’t it?” I asked the griffin to confirm that my classification of the liquor had been correct.

Ranger gave me an approving grin. “You got it on the first try, I wasn’t expecting someone as young as you to be able to tell that much from just the aroma. Well go ahead, try it.” He said.

I did as he had asked and found that the brandy in question held an interesting balance between sweet and sour before the familiar burn of the alcohol kicked in. “It’s good.” I said simply before taking another sip.

Ranger chuckled, taking a sip of his own. “It’s been a long time since I had someone to share a drink with. Taking care of Stella, Gil and the inn has consumed all of my time the past few years.” Ranger elaborated.

“Something tells me you wouldn’t have traded it for all the drinking buddies in the world though.” I told him with a knowing grin.

“Heh, right you are. Now I believe you had a question to ask?” Ranger replied.

“Well yeah, I’ve been thinking a bit the past few days. You know as well as I do that it will take time Stella to recover from this entire incident. So I wonder what your plans are?”

The grin on Rangers face faded into sad shadow of a smile. “Honestly Cloud I ask myself that too. I have played with the idea of taking both of them on a trip, just to get away from this inn for a while. I think it would do Stella good to not be in the place where she got kidnapped.” He said in a tired voice.

At his words an idea slowly unfolded its petals in my mind. “Then why don’t the three of you come live with me for a while?” I asked him.

Ranger blinked repeatedly in surprise, whatever he had thought I’d say this wasn’t it. “Come again?” He said.

“I said why don’t you come live with me? I have more than enough room and I knew a few quite skilled individuals that could aid in Stella’s recovery.” I repeated myself.

“I don’t know what to say Cloud, that’s a very generous offer.” Ranger began.

“Not any more generous than taking in a weird creature that collapses outside your inn.” I interjected casually.

Ranger looked like he wanted to reply but instead he sighed. “Point taken. I’ll have the girls pack the things they want to bring tomorrow so that we may leave around midday.” He said.

From there our conversation took a turn towards less serious things again and we stayed there just talking about whatever the different topics took us. When we finally returned to the inn the bottle of Brandy had gone from full to one tenth of the original content remaining. While both of we’re quite tipsy from the liquor I was at least sure that I would feel no repercussions when I woke up. So bidding each other good night Ranger and I split up at the top of the staircase. From there I carefully navigated myself to my old room to finally end the day.

*~*

The ship swayed gently as sea separating Equestria and Gryphus rushed past beneath the sky ship. Four days had passed since the reunion at The Rusty feather inn, and roughly three and a half days since we began the trip back. So far the weather had been a calm, with relatively favorable winds. But the weather was the least thing on my mind right now. For a reason I had yet to fully grasp the pain from my leg wound had started to lessen noticeably during the past two days. I could now move it much more extensively than I had been able to before without causing a pain spike, although it still hurt like a bitch if I tried to put my full weight on it. I wondered if I was beginning to experience some sort of effect of having a part of an alicorn soul or if the wound hadn’t been as bad as I had originally thought. Whatever the reason was I was grateful that I was regaining some mobility.

I turned from my spot at the bow of the ship and started to slowly make my way up towards the navigation deck. Right now Ranger had taken on the role of steering the ship seeing how he was the one that had had any kind of official training in controlling an air ship. I did want to learn for myself though and so observing Ranger did provide an excellent opportunity to do just that. Not to mention that he was the only other male I had been able to hold an extended conversation with ever since I came back to Equestria. Nothing against my other friends but you start to miss having another male to converse with pretty quickly. I stopped briefly to test how much weight I could put on my right leg as I reached the small stair leading up to the navigation deck. Seeing how it was basically unchanged from this morning I took extra care to not use my right leg as much when I ascended the staircase.

As I came up Ranger shifted his gaze towards me. “Howdy there Cloud, care to take over for a bit?” The older griffin asked

“Sure.” I replied as I hobbled over to take the helm.

“Ah thanks, I was getting pretty stiff just standing there.” Ranger explained as he stretched his limbs.

Ranger finished his stretching and turned to me once more. “So what brings you up here? Not that I mind.” He asked.

“Eh, you know. Same thing I’ve been doing the past few days. Observing how to properly fly this thing.” I said, giving wooden ship wheel a tap.

From that point on the short conversation devolved into something more akin to a study session. Or perhaps a hands on lesson on nautical maneuvering would be the best way to describe it. Nevertheless from that point the two of us focused mostly on the ship and how it worked, with the occasional break when someone of the others came up to ask something or just to talk. Besides taking an interest in the ship I did what I could for the Rustfeather family, more specifically I helped with what I could regarding Stella’s recovery. She was making progress, not noticeable from a day to day perspective perhaps but compared to the first few days after the rescue she had improved. On the topic of the general feelings of those involved though I had to say that morale was high, even Gilda and Rainbow seemed to have buried their past grievances to some degree. Although calling them friends was still a bit of a stretch as they tended to keep a somewhat cold professional stance to each other most of the time. This state of being more or less lasted until the very day when we finally made our approach to Canterlot.

While our only reason for visiting Canterlot was to get the Rustfeather’s proper clearance to stay for an extended period of time I had still tried to argue that we’d skip it. The two points I had brought up were that I myself still wasn’t recognized as a cititzen, at least I thought I wasn’t, and the fact that Gilda had bypassed the process once already. However Twilight wouldn’t have any of my arguments and had shot them down with a whole heap of laws and repercussions for breaking those laws. In the end I had to admit defeat, and in all honesty the reason I had wanted to avoid Canterlot hadn’t been because of the Rustfeathers. No, what I truly wanted to do was to minimize the risk of running into Celestia until I was fully healed. Speaking of my injuries, my leg had undergone such improvements that I now had no doubt that something was going on though I had no idea exactly what. From not being able to use the leg at all at first I could now limp along without the aid of a crutch and most of my bruising and the minor lacerations were gone completely. So beside the leg all I had to show was a bandaged arm where the griffin female’s claws had sliced me.

So when docked at the Canterlot harbor I decided to stay by the ship while Twilight led the Rustfeathers to fill out the appropriate forms. But standing around on the ship quickly turned into a rather boring task as I had been confined to its decks for many days already. So after exchanging a few quick words with Bonbon and Lyra, I got of the ship to slowly walk around the harbor area for a bit. For about twenty minutes I walked looking at the docked ships, pointedly ignoring most of the ponies who weren’t in my direct path. However seeing how I didn’t know how long Twilight would be gone I decided to head back to the ship. But after only about fifty meters of walking I started hearing gasps from all the ponies behind me. Confused as to why they suddenly started reacting to that extent at my presence I turned, but almost instantly wished that I hadn’t. There in all of her royal glory descended my marefriend, a fire burning in her eyes as I offered her a weak, slightly nervous, smile. A smile that withered further as she stalked up to me on angry hooves. I barely had time to see her horn light up before something slapped me across the cheek hard, making spots of light dance before my eyes.

“That was for lying about what you were going!” She exclaimed.

The next thing I knew though was a pair of lips meeting mine, something that I didn’t register immediately due to my dazed state.

“That was for your reasons for lying though.” She added in a softer tone as she broke the kiss.

I don’t think she noticed and to be honest neither did I at first since I was busy staring at the mare I loved, but all around us the ponies in the harbor had gone deathly quiet due to shock.

Ch 21. Settling in

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Chapter 21. Settling in

While we're here, there's some things that you'll never know
While you're here, there's spaces that you'll never show
While you're here, there's open wounds you'll never sew
While you're here I'm hoped

Turn on your eyes and watch me soar
I'm not blinking anymore, I'm not blinking anymore

It was the beginning of something new. No perhaps not new, more something along the lines of everything old finally starting to fit together. The shards of all my previous attempts at life in Equestria were merging into a complete picture. The time that followed was by no definition the calm life I had known back on earth but it was a time when I was truly happy. After all there were some rather interesting interactions on the horizon.

*~*

Princess Celestia had expected a quite normal day today. She was going to visit the different departments and ministries that helped govern Equestria as part of a scheduled routine check. Not that she didn’t trust the ponies of Equestria, no this was something that with time had become a more formal task of hers. In the beginning however she had kept a much closer eye on the dealings of the supporting pillars that had formed under her as she ruled. But even in her suspicion and grief she had realized the necessity of having other ponies help her rule after she had been forced to banish Luna along with the abomination that had been Jealousy. But even now that she had Luna back to help her rule and as an extension Twilight also the departments were now too integral to the current social system for them to be removed. So in short nothing would really change with the exception that her own tasks had been lessened considerably with two additional princesses to take some of the workload. And as such there should’ve been nothing but a normal day ahead of Celestia. Just the same old task that she had fulfilled for the past few centuries. It was due to this sense of familiarity that she was so utterly surprised to find Twilight with an unknown griffin family when she stepped into the Equestrian department of Immigration and travel, or EDIT for short. Not that she was alone in that feeling of surprise if Twilight’s expression was anything to go by.

“What are you doing here princess Celestia?” Twilight said, being the first to speak.

Celestia blinked but collected herself quickly. “I’m in the middle of my monthly visit to the departments. You remember those right? You used to beg me to allow you to come with me until you realized that it would encroach on your time to read.” She answered her former student, a hint of a playful smile on her lips.

“Oh yes, of course I remember. I’m so sorry if I came off as a bit rude but I didn’t expect to run into you at all today.” Twilight apologized hastily.

“No harm done Twilight, although it would be rude to not introduce the guests you have with you.” Celestia said warmly.

“Yes of course! Princess Celestia may I introduce Ranger, Stella and Gilda Rustfeather, visiting from Gryphus to come live with Cloud for an unscheduled amount of time.” Twilight replied.

“Ah pleasure.” Celestia said truthfully, nodding her head towards the Rustfeathers. She knew of this family of griffins from what Cloud had told her about his return to Equestria, and through that she knew that without them Cloud would likely have never made it back to her at all. However expressing her thanks to them for that was something for another time and more precisely another place.

Turning her head back to Twilight she continued. “I take it Cloud is already home then and you are just here to help him speed things up with his visitors?” She asked Twilight.

“What? No Cloud should be down at the harbor right now waiting for us to return.” Twilight said, sounding a bit confused.

“Oh, did he meet you on the way then? Perhaps you’re going back together?” Celestia asked, feeling some confusion of her own.

“No Cloud has been with us all the way from the point we left Ponyville until the point we returned here. Well excluding the rescue part of our trip then it was just Lyra and Gilda here that were with him. Well until he decided to be the decoy then it was just him but other than that it he has been with us all the time.” Twilight rambled.

“Really? Then excuse me I’ll have to go down and greet him too.” Celestia said perhaps a little too quickly. But then again her emotions were in complete chaos at this point. The part of her that missed Cloud wanted her to rush over to him, the part of her that was angry with him not telling her what he was really doing wanted to slap him and the reasonable part of her was piecing together a plausible story given the Rustfeather family being here. So without waiting for a reply from Twilight she turned at the door and headed out again, the visit with EDIT could wait for a couple of minutes.

With a few quick steps she launched herself into the sky and headed towards the harbor that was located nearby, leaving behind a confused Twilight that for some reason felt that she had said far too much.

*~*

From her aerial vantage point Celestia took her time to scan the crowds of milling ponies for her coltfriend, not that she really needed that much time though. After all Cloud stood out like a clown at a funeral with his tall stature among her ponies, so as soon as she found the newly returned human she angled herself so that she would come in for a smooth landing just behind him. Of course the effect of having their princess suddenly appear among them caused nearly all of the ponies around her landing spot to gasp quickly lower their heads in silence and respect. Well to be honest the gasps had started before she had touched the ground and that had caused Cloud to turn around. He had of course spotted her as easily as she had spotted him and the weak smile he offered as she took in his bandaged form only stoked the fires of the part of her that wanted to hit him with something.

So with angry steps she stalked up to him, lighting her horn as she advanced. Then with a pure blast of telekinetic magic she slapped him across the left cheek.

“That was for lying about where you were going!” She stated while she felt the remaining ire start to quickly drain away.

What remained was an overwhelming feeling of longing as she had managed to grow accustomed to having him back. Giving in to this feeling she leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips. Inside she knew that he wouldn’t go and get hurt without a reason, they had had that conversation almost three years ago. And since then she had mulled over his answer that day for many hours.

A few seconds later she broke it. “That was for your reasons for lying though.” She told him softly.

Before her she could see how Cloud’s previously dazed eyes from the blow shifted to eyes that looked at her with a passionate gaze. And if she could have seen her own she would’ve most likely observed a similar phenomenon. For an undetermined amount of time the two of them stood there unaware of the world around them then ever so slowly the silence around them started to become apparent. Looking around she found the shocked faces of her beloved subjects. The fact that none had expected their princess to swoop in and slap a random creature on the docks must’ve been strange enough. But for her to kiss it in the next instance had to have been the icing on the cake. Aw crud. It was supposed to be kept a secret a while longer, wasn’t it? She slowly came to realize. Well no matter how you look at it the cats out of the bag now. She thought with a sigh.

*<>*

To say that Celestia’s untimely arrival had been anything but Murphy’s law in full effect would’ve been an insult to Murphy’s law. And her follow up had without a doubt caused quite a stir among the ponies that were present on the docks. Though I would be lying if I said that I didn’t appreciate the kiss that had come as a surprise after the slap I had earned. The kiss reignited all the feelings of longing that I had suppressed throughout the excursion to Gryphus and soon my feelings for Celestia were a raging inferno once more, and if the literal hunger in her eyes was anything to go by she felt the same as I did. Part of me understood what the actions Celestia had taken today would mean for our relationship though. With this our relationship was pretty much official and we would more than likely soon fall under the scrutinizing eye of the Equestrian populace. But no matter how true that may be I couldn’t care less I was alive, I had helped save Stella and now I felt as if I could once again spend time with the one I loved above all else.

I leaned in to whisper in Celestia’s ear. “We should probably move from here Tia.” I said, motioning with my head towards the ship we had claimed in Gryphus.

Celestia simply nodded to signal that she agreed with my assessment and fell in beside me as I continued to head back towards the ship. No words were exchanged between us until we reached the ship, and perhaps that was for the better as we had almost every eye possible in our immediate vicinity watching us. However as we boarded the still nameless ship the silence was broken by Lyra’s voice.

“Ah, I see you’ve come back Cloud. Could you help me with-” She started to say but her voice died as she saw who boarded the ship behind me.

“I’ll be with you in a bit Lyra, I just need to have a quick chat with Tia here.” I told the mint green unicorn, having dropped any sense of pretense that I had a strictly professional relationship with Celestia.

“Uh, y-yeah sure.” Lyra managed to produce as I led Celestia past her and down towards the crew quarters of the vessel.

I stepped into the cabin that I had been using as my own for the trip, the captain’s quarters had been left for the Rustfeatthers as it was the only capable of holding all three. Not that I had wanted the captain quarters, quite the opposite actually. I was happy with this small cabin as my own space even though it was barely large enough for me to move around in. Although when it came to fitting both me and Celestia in such a small compartment the space to move around at all quickly became nothing. Something that became abundantly clear when I lost my balance due to my still not fully healed leg, pulling Celestia down with me as I fell.

“Aight, I’ll admit that this may not have been my brightest idea…” I said as I looked up at the princess that had ended up lying on me, her muzzle inches away from mouth.

A memory flashed in my mind of a similar situation from what seemed so long ago. A memory of a human Celestia stumbling forward due to me opening the door she was leaning against and ending up tripping me.

“I don’t exactly mind this though.” Celestia almost purred on top of me, making me wonder if I would ever truly understand females. I had been so sure that she would want to give me a few additional select words for my behavior, but as long as she didn’t want to berate me I wasn’t going to complain. So instead I craned my neck upwards, planting a quick kiss on her lips.

“As much I want to spend time with you Tia, and believe me when I say that I’ve missed you. Now might not be the best time for this.” I said, offering her a smile.

I saw a few emotions play across her features before sighing dejectedly. “I know, I actually have somewhere to be right now as well, but I really feel like we should at the very least talk.” She said.

“Then how about you swing by my place tonight sometime after sunset? Then we’ll have plenty of time to talk, I’ll even have some time to warn my guest that you’ll drop by. I think that they’d want to meet you.” I suggested.

“That sounds like a good solution.” Celestia agreed before surprising me with her next question. “Just to clarify though, your guests are the Rustfeather family, correct?”

“Yeah, but could you tell me how you know that?” I answered, adding a question of my own.

“Ah, I happened to run into them at the Equestrian department of Immigration and travel. Incidentally that’s where I heard that you were here as well.” She told me.

“I’m going to assume that Twilight was the one who told you.” I half asked.

“Indeed it was, speaking of that though I should probably get back before she has a nervous breakdown. She has never been good with me breaking character like I did back there.” Celestia said thoughtfully.

“Alright then, you go deal with your day and then we can talk later at my place.” I told her.

“Yes, see you later Cloud.” She said, leaning down to give me one last peck on the lips before teleporting away.

For a short time I lay there on the floor not really bothering to take any kind of measures as to getting up. But as I heard voices whispering outside the door to my cabin I struggled up onto my feet again and crossed the short distance to the door. Opening it caused Bonbon and Lyra to come tumbling into the room, almost knocking me down onto the floor once again. The two mares untangled themselves quickly before standing up, both of them wearing sheepish expressions.

“Hey there Cloud, we eh… We were just about to knock.” Lyra tried to explain.

I responded by raising an eyebrow at the obvious lie. “Oh, were you now?” I said, my voice laced with sarcasm and a healthy dose of mirth.

“Ah, yes.” Lyra agreed, nodding vigorously as Bonbon facehoofed when my sarcasm went completely unnoticed by Lyra.

I turned my eyes towards Bonbon when she decided to speak up. “He knows Lyra. Although I’m beginning to think I’m part of some joke you wanted to play on me Lyra.” She said.

“What? How can he know? My deception was flawless.” Lyra complained before remembering that Bonbon had said more than that. “Oh and I’m not sure what you mean by joke.”

“Not sure? It’s quite obvious that princess Celestia isn’t here, right?” She said to the unicorn.

Before they could start arguing among themselves I decided to interject. “She was here a few minutes ago though.” I said.

“I… But… Why?” Bonbon sputtered at my response.

Should I lie? It’s only because Lyra didn’t catch the fact that I was using a pet name for Celestia that I’m even able to try and do this. I asked myself. They would know the truth eventually no matter what I did at this stage but perhaps it was best to wait with such revelations until we were safely in Ponyville. So instead I choose a sort of middle path.

“It’s no secret that the princesses talk with me frequently at my home in Ponyville, you know this right?” I asked them.

When they nodded I continued. “Well she wanted to swing by and say hello basically. So I invited her to a talk later tonight at my place.” I said, leaving out a few more close encounters.

And as I finished my brief explanation both ponies were nodding understandingly. I doubt that they would’ve been taking it so calmly if they had known everything that had transpired behind that door. But knowing Equestria they’d probably know sometime during breakfast tomorrow. If there’s one thing that spread quickly here it was rumors and gossip.

I pushed further ponderings out of my mind and turned to Lyra. “Did you need help with anything by the way?” I asked the unicorn as I remembered that she asked for help when I boarded earlier.

“Oh yes! Thank you for reminding me. There’s a thing I’d like to talk to you about your fighting style.” Lyra blurted out.

“Aight then let’s get above deck first, that way we can start heading home the moment Twilight returns with the others.” I suggested, and Lyra was quick to agree.

*~*

“So this is your home, huh? I have a ton of questions I want to ask but I think I’ll start with how is all this possible?” Ranger asked as we disembarked form the sky ship that had been moored to my floating island.

At that question I wanted to slap myself as I had managed to neglect telling him about Imagination’s powers, as well as having glossed over some facts about my current home. So without wasting any more time I summoned my soul infused weapon to the surprise of the Rustfeather family. I held out the spear in my right hand so that the griffins could see the weapon clearly as I launched into an explanation about its mysterious properties. And a short elaboration later the Rustfeathers were inaugurated into the circle of individuals that knew exactly what my weapon was.

“So with all that being said, don’t be surprised if you find some things in my home that seem to be completely alien to you. Just come talk to me and I can guide you through the process of how to use them properly.” I finished my explanation, having let go of Imagination a few seconds earlier so it was no longer present.

“I… I’m not quite sure what to say Cloud.” Gilda answered, sounding a bit dazed. Most likely due to the amount of information I had poured over her and her family just now.

“You really don’t have to say anything, but come now let’s get inside so that you can unpack and get settled in.” I said as I ushered them towards my door.

Gilda didn’t really react when we crossed into my house as she had been there before but both Ranger and Stella came to a pause as they saw the interior of my home. But given the architecture and the many strange new objects such as speakers or perhaps the ceiling lamps perhaps their sense of awe was to be expected. After all I had literally opened a door to another world for them. So after showing them the guest rooms on the second floor I gave them a full tour of my home. Gilda was pleased to find the training room, something that I had never had time to show her during her brief stay last time. Ranger on the other hand marveled at the large kitchen I had constructed, instantly taking a liking to the idea of having a kitchen island to prepare dishes and ingredients on. And last but not least was Stella who just looked truly exited for the first time in quite some time. So on the inside I cheered a bit for the small victory of having succeeded in distracting her from her worries, even if it was just for a short time.

“Aight I guess that’s everything to say about my home.” I concluded as the tour came to a stop in the living room.

“It’s something different alright.” Ranger spoke up, receiving a nod of agreement from Gilda.

“Well I guess that’s a valid statement, do you have any questions so far though?” I asked, but as the Rustfeathers just looked among each other silently I continued talking. “Aight if there are no questions right now I suggest that you make yourselves at home. I have to run and take care of some errands in town though so I’ll be back in a bit.” I informed them.

“I’ll come with you.” Gilda volunteered but I held up a hand to stop her.

“No I can’t ask you to help right as I invited you here, besides you don’t have to worry about me needing help getting around now that I can land safely again.” I said.

I walked over to the door and opened it. “Don’t worry I’ll be back before you can start to miss me.” I told them before closing the door as I exited into the autumn afternoon.

It was something that I had come to realize during the time it had taken to fly from Canterlot to Ponyville. My leg still made it hard to walk for extended periods of time but my wings were perfectly fine. So as long that I was extra carful during takeoff and landing I would have no problem with getting around. As such I was in the air almost immediately after having left my home, soaring towards Ponyville.

I had a few things in mind that I needed to take care off once I reached the town but the two most pressing ones were to get some food shopping done and to swing by The silver grape to inform Berry that I was back in town. As I flew I noticed how good it felt to actually fly again, and marveled at the fact that Rainbow had managed to stay onboard the ship until we came within viewing distance of Ponyville. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how the long trip on the sky ship must’ve been like for her if it felt like this for me, a somewhat mediocre flyer. My thoughts were cut short though as I saw the street where Berry’s bar/diner was situated approaching rapidly. Focusing entirely on making my descent as slow as possible I managed to land with a slight wobble as I took most of the landing on my healthy leg, using injured one only to stabilize myself.

Once I felt that I was in control over my balance I entered the establishment. I was met with the sight of a couple of dozen ponies enjoying either an early meal or a drink, and so far no one of them seemed to have noticed me. That was until a certain young unicorn filly came bounding out from the sea of table legs.

“Cloud!” She cheered happily, causing most assembled ponies to turn their heads towards the door where I still stood.

I gave them an awkward wave before greeting the filly. “Hello Ruby, it has been a while, hasn’t it?” I said at the same time as Berry came walking from the bar area.

At the sight of my still fairly bandaged body she paused. “You look like you fought five griffins and lost.” She remarked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, it was something like that.” I answered evasively.

Berry tilted her to the right at my answer but shook it quickly moments later before speaking. “Well whatever reason it’s good to have you back Cloud, although I’m hesitant to ask you to work now that I see you condition.” She said, studying my various bandages more closely.

“Well…” I began but paused. What was I supposed to say? That I could work no problem? That wouldn’t be very convincing no matter how good of a liar I was.

Instead I rephrased what I had begun to say. “Well as long as I just work the bar it should be fine. I realize that I wasn’t hired for that task alone but at least I’ll provide some help.” I suggested.

Berry looked at me thoughtfully before answering. “Hmm, how long would you say that you have left before you’ve recovered enough to work full time again?” She asked me.

Now that is question I’m not sure about at all. I thought to myself. Normally injuries like those I had would’ve forced me to be bound to a bed for months. But given the abnormal rate that I was currently recovering at it wouldn’t be anywhere near even a month.

“I’d say about a week, give or take a day or two.” I answered my employer.

Berry nodded to herself. “Then as far as I’m concerned you’re welcome to return to work tomorrow evening, say 5pm?” She said after a moments’ contemplation.

“Thanks Berry, I really appreciate it.” I told her sincerely.

“Bah, just make sure you’re on time. Oh and bring some of those marinated garlic things as a ‘I’m sorry I took a sudden vacation apology’.” She told in a serious tone, but the grin on her face told a different story.

“Will do.” I agreed before bidding them farewell.

Berry had to return to work after all and I had some groceries to acquire. So once I was out on the street again I took to the sky once more, and after a short flight I repeated my careful landing process at the Ponyville market. I caught quite a bit of attention as I landed among the ponies milling about, getting their daily shopping done. A few even went as far as to come up to me and welcome me back to Ponyville, something that invoked a warm feeling within me.

I got my food shopping done rather quickly as most ponies had already completed theirs already however I was somewhat disappointed to find that the Apple family stall was already empty. It would’ve been nice to tell them that we had returned safely. Guess I’ll have to tell them tomorrow. I thought as I headed towards Sugar cube corner, which was to be my last stop for the day. Reasoning that at the very least I could be courteous enough to inform Pinkie that I was back, also as an afterthought purchasing a cake or something with would be a good dessert for the evening. With that in mind I simply landed outside the bakery and pushed the door open, only to be tackled by a pink blur that latched onto my midsection before I could take a single step. An involuntary grunt escaped my lips as the pink mare applied some more force into her hug, reminding me that my midsection was still a bit tender.

“Hello Pinks.” I said in a slightly strained voice as she nuzzled her head against my still bandaged abdomen.

“Welcome home Cloud.” She replied, not showing whether she had registered that I was still injured or not. Knowing Pinkie she could be tactfully ignoring it or perhaps she had already known about my predicament.

I let her keep nuzzling for a bit before clearing my throat. “Um do you think we could go inside?” I suggested carefully.

“Oh, of course!” Pinkie exclaimed before releasing me.

I followed the bouncing mare inside the familiar shop. In here my arrival caused further heads to turn and quite a few waved or called out greetings that I returned with a smile. It was hard to describe in words but it truly felt as if I belonged and was welcome in Ponyville given how the ponies had reacted to my return.

Just as Pinkie and I reached the counter Mrs. Cake exited the kitchen, letting out a surprised gasp as she saw me standing there.

“Oh my, what happened to you Cloud?” She asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

“It’s a long story Mrs. Cake, I can tell you some other time if you want to hear it.” I told her, allowing a calming smile to play on my features.

“I might hold you to that dearie.” She said half-jokingly. “Now what can I do for you, this evening?” She asked.

“Well I’d like to buy a cake to bring with me. Any recommendation on what’s good?” I asked the blue mare.

“Hmm, I’m afraid that all we have left today is chocolate cake. Most of the cakes we make are either ordered in advance or to be sold in slices.” Mrs. Cake said apologetically.

I held up my hands in a disarming manner. “Chocolate will be just fine Mrs. Cake, how much will it cost me?” I told her sincerely.

“Oh that will be 20bits.” She replied quickly.

I dug through the remaining bits I had left after my trip and todays shopping, but I didn’t lament that I had burnt through most of my savings. To have Stella safe was worth all the money I would ever make. So after paying for the cake I left Sugar cube corner, saying my goodbyes to the ponies inside. And as I stepped out into the rapidly disappearing daylight I was struck with the feeling that I had forgotten something important.

I paused for a second pondering what it could be that was bothering me. Had I perhaps forgotten to buy something? But no matter how hard I thought I couldn’t put my finger on what it was so instead of just standing there I took to the sky, beginning my flight home. And when I landed twenty minutes later or so I still hadn’t figured out what was skirting my memory. I threw one last glance towards Ponyville in the distance, the last light from the setting sun rendering it nothing but a dark silhouette. With a sigh I walked over to my door and there I froze. From inside I heard muffled voices, voices that didn’t belong to the Rustfeathers.

Curios as to who it could be I pushed the door open only to reveal both Luna and Celestia entertaining the Rustfeather family with some kind of wild tale from their past. As they heard the door close though they stopped all heads turning towards me. The moment Celestia saw that it was me she vanished in a flash only to appear next to me the very next moment.

“Welcome home.” She said before planting a quick kiss on my cheek. Much to the surprise of the Rustfeathers, although not as much for Luna.

And with that the feeling of what I had forgotten went into overdrive, as I had promptly forgotten to inform the Rustfeathers about the full extent of my relationship with Celestia.

Ch 22. Plans and Princesses

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Chapter 22. Plans and princesses

We try to find the light
We try to find the reason
To see beyond this night
Alive

We paint the world in deceit
We realize we can no longer hide
Inside this dream
A fantasy of man’s insanity

Is death the only solution?
Or can we fight the confusion?

Embrace your life
And make your time

Nobody ever said this would be easy

At this point in life I was slowly becoming aware of a major flaw in how I had lived life before, namely my belief that my white lies and guarded nature was a boon to myself. But the more of my secrets that I discarded the easier it became for me to show my true face to the world. Of course there would be limits to what I could share depending on the nature of some of my past but a part of me had started yearning for the time where there was nothing else to share. In a sense I suppose you could say that I was looking towards what the future may bring.

*~*

It was almost as if time had frozen in that instant. With Celestia’s mischievous little smile, Luna’s slightly humored one and the Rustfeather’s expressions of varying degrees of shock. Part of me had time to wonder if Celestia and Luna perhaps had managed to find out that my guests were unaware of my relationship with Celestia before the silence was breached by a loud exclamation from Gilda.

“WHAT?!” She cried out, seemingly vocalizing the current thoughts of her entire family with that single word.

I couldn’t do more than sigh before attempting to explain myself. “I guess this may seem really weird but yes Celestia and I are currently a thing and yes I had every intention of informing you all but it may have slipped my mind.” I began a bit awkwardly.

“It slipped your mind? Cloud I love you like a brother but this is kind of a big thing to just forget!” Gilda ranted while jabbing an accusatory talon in my direction.

I held up my hands defensively towards Gilda and in my peripheral I saw Celestia’s rather amused look at my predicament. “Sorry, sorry, I know this is on my head but could I ask for a few more minutes of patience before I tell you all about it? I promised Tia a talk when I met with her earlier today.” I pleaded in a somewhat tired voice.

Gilda seemed as if she was about to answer but Ranger spoke first. “That will be fine Cloud, we can unpack what you bought while you do.”

I inclined my head gratefully towards Ranger. “Thank you, it shouldn’t be the longest of talks but it may take a while.” I said as I turned towards Luna. “Luna would you mind giving them some background information of my last time here to speed things up a bit? Just the more major parts?” I asked her.

“That I can do Cloud.” She agreed, before lighting her horn to levitate the groceries I had purchased to towards her.

“Thanks Luna.” I said before turning to my marefriend. “Okay let’s go have the talk I promised you.” I suggested and she responded with a small nod.

So as Luna started to spin my tale with the help of a grand display of some sort of illusion she had conjured I led Celestia to my bedroom, and once both were inside I closed the door just as Luna started to introduce the first time they had come face to face with me. When I turned around I found that Celestia had already positioned herself on my bed and was watching me expectantly. I braced myself for the tale that I was about to tell, for I owed her the full truth and the full truth she was going to get. I just prayed that what I was going to say wouldn’t drive a wedge between the two of us. And so I walked over and sat down beside her, a mere moment of silence was known before I began to retell my latest ‘adventure’.

For about forty minutes straight I talked, putting my focus on what I felt and how I had seemingly lost control over my emotions at times. I told her how I had felt fear and at times sick with myself for how I had acted, and lastly I told her about the rush of feelings and the sadness that had existed at the very end when I thought that I was once more at the ropes. From there I fell silent, just staring out straight ahead for I dared not turn my head to look at Celestia. Then she spoke breaking the silence before it was allowed to reign.

“Cloud, please look at me.” She said softly in the otherwise quiet room.

“Please…” She added just as softly as I reluctantly did not turn my head at first.

But slowly my resolve, or perhaps it was just simple bullheadedness, crumbled and I turned to face her. For a short time I just looked at her as she looked at me, her face betraying next to no emotion. Then she slowly lifted a wing to gently caress my cheek, a small smile forming on her lips.

“I don’t blame you for anything. I know I should probably be angry, that I should feel betrayed and that I should be giving you a cold shoulder, but I don’t want to do that. Too much time has been lost between us already for me to pick every fight possible. I’m not entirely happy with how things played out but if you’re willing to move on then so will I.” She said, continuing to speak in the same soft tone.

“I… I’d like that but I can’t help but think that you’d be justified in being angry with me.” I said, giving her a weak smile.

“Do you want me to be angry with you?” She asked, quirking an eyebrow as her voice gained a somewhat dangerous quality.

“No of course not! I just-” I started but was interrupted by her.

“Then shut up and kiss me you big dolt.” She ordered me.

So doing as I had been told I leaned in kissed her lightly, or it would have been light if Celestia hadn’t pushed back. For a moment I was stunned by her sudden eagerness but instead of breaking the kiss I leaned in further. For a few seconds we played a small game of dominance, before we were forced to break the kiss to breathe. I could still taste a hint of her lips, and her fragrance still lingered as my breath started to recover. My eyes drank in her form, from the slightly ajar crown and blushing cheeks. Somewhere inside I knew that I must look equal amounts disheveled but I didn’t care for I was busy staring at the mare I loved.

I settled down so that I was lying beside her, our respective cheeks still burning a bright red. “You had that planned all along didn’t you?” I asked her.

A small smile still played on her lips. “Maybe…” She said mischievously.

A humored chuckle escaped me. “I really wish we didn’t have a time limit right about now.” I told her with a grin as I lazily traced a finger along the coat on her closest leg.

Celestia released a small sigh before speaking. “I know what you mean, but it’s high time we returned to the others, isn’t it?” She asked and I only responded with nod before slipping off the bed.

“Let’s go back then shall we?” I said, offering Celestia my hand to help her get up from her position on the bed.

Accepting my offered hand she got off the bed and stood beside me, leaning her head against my arm for a few seconds. I took the chance to adjust her crown for her so that we weren’t completely blatant about what our last minute activities had entailed. In return Celestia lit her horn and helped me adjust a few bandages that had slipped out of alignment as well as quick run through my hair.

“Thank you Tia/Cloud.” We said at the same time, inciting a short laugh from the two of us.

“Okay then, shall we rejoin the others my dear Tia?” I said when the laughter died down.

“Yes, let’s go see what my sister has been telling your guests.” She agreed, walking up to the door with me.

So without delaying it further I pushed the door open, just in time to hear Luna describe how Celestia and I had started growing closer after the defeat of Rage. Part of me had time to wonder if she had mentioned anything about the time Celestia had spent on earth with me or if the story had been focused on something else, after all Celestia and I had been in my bedroom for almost an hour so Luna’s story should have come farther than this. But before I had time to delve deeper into that train of thought Stella spotted me and scampered over while spouting questions.

“Cloud! She’s saying that you were a Pegasus, is that true? Does that mean you really are dating princess Celestia? And does that mean that you’re a prince?” She asked in rapid succession.

I blinked at the sudden burst but quickly collected myself as I knelt down in front of Stella, her eyes betraying her excitement. “Well, how should I put this? It is true that I was a Pegasus the first time that I was here and that’s’ because I apparently had a pegasus ancestor long, long back in my family. Also what Luna says about me dating Celestia is true, although we only resumed our relationship quite recently. As for me being a prince that’s a definitive no, I don’t think I’d want to be one even if I was asked.” I told the almost bouncing Stella.

I looked over towards Luna who wore a bemused expression and almost stumbled forward when Stella spoke again. “Okay! So when are you two getting married?” She exclaimed innocently.

I felt my face heat up slightly from the unexpected question as I stumbled over my own words in an attempt to respond. “I- We- We haven’t really-” I tried to formulate.

Celestia decided to take that as her queue to come to my rescue. “We haven’t dated long enough to talk about that yet little one.” She told Stella, her tone taking on a motherly quality.

Stella looked a little disappointed but recovered quickly, something that I noted as I sign that she was recovering steadily. “Aw okay then. But let me tell you that my brother is really nice so you should marry him.” She persisted.

A humored smile split Celestia’s muzzle. “I’ll be sure to remember that.” She promised the young griffin, before winking at me.

A pleased smile made its way across Stella’s features before she ran back over to Gilda and Ranger, hopping up onto the couch between them. Next to address me was Luna, and given the tone she used she hadn’t minded entertaining the Rustfeathers.

“I see that you’ve finished talking with my sister young Cloud.” She started, and going by the way she had stressed the word; talking I had a sneaking suspicion that she knew more than she let on.

Turning to Celestia Luna continued. “I believe that it’s high time we leave for tonight sister as we have another day in Canterlot waiting in the morn.” She urged her sister.

Beside me Celestia spoke up. “As unfortunate as it is what you say is true Luna.” She agreed before turning to me.

“I’ll see you sometime later during the week okay?” She suggested, giving me a last nuzzle as I gave a nod in agreement before she teleported away.

Luna however stayed behind for some reason, fidgeting in place in a manner I didn’t associate with the proud night princess. “Was there something you wanted Luna?” I asked, mostly confused as to why she stayed behind.

“Well, you know what Nightmare night is, yes?” She blurted out.

I arced a confused eyebrow before answering. “I’m relatively familiar with the concept as we humans have a similar tradition, why are you asking though?” I asked her.

“Well let’s just say that I have a small project that I’d like to do during the upcoming Nightmare night celebration in about a month from now but I kind of need your help for it to work.” She explained sheepishly.

A nightmare night plan put together by Luna? It’s not like I have any other plans for that holiday anyway. Flickered in my mind before I gave my reply. “Sure I’ll help, but could you tell me what you are planning?” I agreed.

Relief flooded Luna’s features. “Thank you Cloud I knew I could count on you for this, although I’m afraid that I can’t unveil my full plan to you yet I need to grab my notes back in Canterlot for that. Do you think we could go over it sometime during the week though?” She suggested.

Ignoring how similar it sounded to what Celestia had said to me mere minutes earlier I gave my reply. “That will be fine Luna.”

“Great! Then I will bid you all a good night.” She exclaimed happily before vanishing in a flash much like her sister had done.

I let out a deep sigh as I started to understand that Luna’s frequent visits to my home would seem to continue like before as if my trip to Gryphus had never happened. Collecting myself I turned towards the Rustfeathers and almost sighed again as I saw the expectant faces on my unofficial adoptive family.

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose before speaking. “You want to hear the rest of the story that Luna started telling without finishing, right?” I questioned tiredly.

“Um… well, yes.” Gilda answered.

I lowered my hand so that I could look at them once more. “Aight, I’ll tell you the rest of what Luna began but do you mind if I start dinner while I do?” I promised and a low grumble from Gilda’s stomach told me that the suggestion of food was a welcome one too.

With a light chuckle I walked past the griffins and into my kitchen area. “Okay so tell me, did she say anything about the time when Celestia got pulled along to my home?” I asked, thinking that it would be best to start with a quick check which details Luna’s tale had focused on.

“Well yes, she mentioned it but it wasn’t exactly detailed.” Gilda supplied.

“Okay then I’ll start from there and you can interrupt me when I hit territory that Luna has already covered, okay?” I said over my shoulder as I paused for a second in my hunt for the ingredients that Luna and the Rustfeathers had put away.

“Well the events that took place in my home dimension all started with me appearing in my home after a successful teleportation spell…” I began to recount. For the entirety of the food being made and throughout dinner I continued to share how what had started out as infatuation had slowly blossomed into something more. Seeing how I only focused on the parts that had to do with my relationship with Celestia the tale was done quicker than if I would’ve have told them everything. Although a considerable amount of time was consumed by my tale nonetheless and when I finally had them up to date a small silence took the place of my voice until Stella decided to break it.

“So if you’re dating the princess and you’re kinda like my brother does that mean I’m kinda like a princess? I don’t want to be a princess.” She declared, looking at me sternly as she waited for my answer.

I had to hold back a smile before I could answer. “No it doesn’t mean anything like that, you don’t have to worry.” I ensured the smaller griffin.

Stella seemed happy with my answer and the rest of the evening the talks about my relationship with Celestia died down. Instead we talked about what there was to do in Ponyville and of memories from my time at the inn. The evening eventually turned into night and from there it came to an end when Stella started to fall asleep on her chair. Ranger took his younger daughter upstairs as she drowsily asked him where they were going, which left me and Gilda at the table. I allowed myself to study her in the electric light of my ceiling lamps, and if I read her correctly she had something she wanted to get off of her chest. I didn’t have to wait long before Gilda visibly collected herself before speaking.

“I don’t know where to begin Cloud… I have so much to thank you for that I don’t even feel as if I have the right to ask you for anything else at this point, and yet I could tell that there was more to the story you told us about you and the princess. Speaking of which all of a sudden I learn that you’re dating one of the most powerful beings on this planet I don’t rightly know what to say about something like that. I guess what I want to say is my curiosity can’t be sated just like that but I can’t-” She started to almost ramble before I held up a hand to silence her.

“Don’t ever feel like you can’t ask me for something Gil, it doesn’t feel right if you’re stepping on eggshells around me. You want to know the full story of my past here in Equestria huh?” I said, debating with myself if I should tell and if I did how much I should tell her.

Gilda watched me in silence as I pondered what to do. “Aight, fine. I’ll tell you my tale up until the point when I returned here, however before we begin you must promise me two things.” I relented.

“Okay name your conditions.” Gilda said sounding excited.

“First off I want you to keep what I tell you to yourself, my full tale is not exactly public knowledge and I intend to keep most of it like that, except for a select few individuals.” I declared, getting a nod in response.

“Second, I want you to try and integrate with Rainbow’s friends again but this time do it at your own pace. Take note that I’ not asking you to make friends with them I just want you to get along to some degree.” I told her, making her squirm a bit.

“Ah to Tartarus with it all! Okay I’ll try.” She exclaimed.

I stood up from the chair I had been sitting on. “Okay then help clear the table while I put on some coffee. This is going to take some time.” I said, causing the griffin to hop into action.

About fifteen minutes later I found myself seated in my couch, Gilda sitting in a recliner while nursing a cup of coffee.

“Alright, my tale takes its beginning about a month before my initial meeting with Celestia on a dark and stormy autumn evening in my home dimension…” I started my story for what now felt like the hundredth time.

*~*

From that night of brief passion and conversation I looked forward to things returning to their normal pace and for the most part it did. Well in some fashion at least, with the Rustfeathers living with me the day to day ambience became quite different.

The first week went by in a flash and although they still hadn’t quite acclimated themselves with life in Ponyville they were welcomed by most ponies. Gilda had taken the promise between us to heart and had steadily tried to build friendly relations with the ponies, but it was clear that she at times struggled with clashing personalities and other times with guilt from her last visit. Stella on the other hand had taken an extreme liking to Ruby, Berry Punch’s daughter. I rarely saw one of them without the other being close by, and at times I had dodge a torrent of questions or elaborate pranks during my working hours at The silver grape. A part of me was terrified for the time when she finally got to meet the crusaders. If just Ruby and Stella were this much a handful I was genuinely afraid of the havoc the five of them could potentially bring. When it came to Ranger though he seemed to mostly enjoy his time in Ponyville and I had a feeling that the fact that his daughters wellbeing played a big role.

Ranger and I still talked a lot of course, but seeing how I was balancing work with random visits from Luna and Celestia with the time I had for my guests our male to male time had suffered a bit. Although speaking of Celestia, much as I had feared rumors started spreading like wildfire the very next day after our ‘volatile’ meeting on the docks. And after the first week had passed the rumors and gossip had gone so out of control that Celestia had been forced to make a statement to keep the rumors somewhat reigned in so that it they understood that it was something between Celestia and me alone. Something that had been sorely when you took the rumors towards the end into consideration as it had been said that I was dating not only Celestia but also Luna and Twilight in some sort polygamous relationship. I believe that the term had been ‘a herd’ and I had only learnt what it truly was when I had gone by Twilight to ask later that day. On a side note Twilight’s reaction had been quite the show, with widening eyes, stammering and finally a massive, embarrassed, blush had come creeping across face. Overall though she had taken most of the rumors with stride seeing how she had been one of the few that knew about my previous relationship with Celestia.

One that hadn’t taken it as well had been Bonbon who had spent the last week avoiding me. Or at least I thought that was what she had been doing as she normally would come find me during working hours to have a chat. But then again it was possible that I was overanalyzing things.

So in short things looked like they were finally calming down and that it was time enjoy life with friends, family and loved ones. Oh and of course work on Luna’s Nightmare night project. That was going to something really entertaining for all of Ponyville’s residents to watch if we managed to pull it off.

Ch 23. Homebound

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Chapter 23. Homebound

You’ve got to be proud of what you feel inside
It doesn’t matter if you show what make you glow
Be sure that someone got a four letter word for you
Tear away your blindfold and you will see the reality

Spread your wings and ride the rainbow
Open your mind and you’ll see so much more
The darkness inside will drag you down,
So spread your wings and ride the rainbow

Some will tell you that love is a conquest, and I must admit that there is truth to such a statement. Much can be expressed through some sort of personal crusade to catch the fancy of the one you like. Not to mention pitting yourself against bad times that might be brewing on the horizon. Yes love has every right to be likened with a battlefield at times and it’s from battle that I derive the second part of love that I find to be of great importance. As always there something I’d like to argue and in this case it’s the fact that love is equal parts conquest and equal parts surrender. Unfortunately I cannot tell you when one option should trump the other though, love is a delicate construct at times just as it can be surprisingly robust at others.

*~*

“I don’t understand! Why do we have to work with, that?!” One of the bat ponies shouted again, pointing a hoof in my general direction.

I released a pent up sigh while pinching the bridge of my nose as Luna went to work at explaining, once again, why I was integral to this year’s nightmare night event. The two bat ponies had been quite fascinating to me at first since I hadn’t observed any up close before. Although my fascination quickly turned to mild annoyance as the two had started to outright refuse to participate when Luna had introduced the fact that I was supposed to be part of the event. It seemed that my name had given them the impression that they would be co-operating with another pony and not, well what I currently was.

“And why can’t it just provide ideas without participating then?” The irritated voice of the other bat pony rang out.

I saw Luna roll her eyes, making no attempt to hide her frustration with her guards. Personally I was surprised by the fact that she hadn’t reprimanded the two yet. The pair of them couldn’t be irreplaceable, right? I pondered as I studied the two of them. Given the armor they wore their coloration was identical with dark grey coats, yellow eyes and dark purple manes/tails. However given the difference in stature and their voices it was quite clear that one of them was a male and the other was female.

“Because some of his abilities will be vital for the shows’ success.” Luna tried to explain again. She was hinting at my paragon heritage of that I was sure, although I had yet to be completely filled in on exactly what I was supposed to do in that regard. Much less what her grand event for this nightmare night was supposed to be.

As the arguing between Luna and her guards continued I watched Ranger and Gilda enter my training room, most likely attracted by the heated voices of the ponies. For a few seconds they stood in the doorway taking in the scene before Ranger cleared his throat to catch the attention of everyone in the room.

“Since you can’t seem to get along, may I suggest a compromise?” He said as soon as everyone had quieted down.

“What do you have in mind Mr. Ranger?” Luna asked, quirking an eyebrow clearly intrigued by the griffin’s solution.

“Well back in my days as an officer in the Gryphus army whenever soldiers disagreed like this we would just have them slap each other around until they either grew bored or made up.” He elaborated, nodding towards the bat ponies and then towards me.

“A duel of honor of sorts? Hmm yes that could work.” Luna said, tapping her chin thoughtfully with a hoof.

I released another sigh as I fixed my gaze on the older griffin. “Really Ranger? Couldn’t you have suggested something like rock, paper, scissors or something instead?” I asked him but he just responded with a knowing grin. Well you couldn’t blame me for trying, at least my victory would’ve been assured as the ponies only had the option of “rock”.

“Humph, there would be no point in sparring against somepony who isn’t military.” One of the bat ponies, the male one, said in a condescending voice.

Oh please the two of you seem as threatening as kittens. I thought, after all they did remind me slightly of cats with their tufted ears and slitted eyes. Or at least I had believed myself having thought it. Slowly I came to notice just how quiet the room had gotten. I looked back over towards Luna and her guards, both who looked very angry.

Pinching the bridge of my nose again for the second time in the span of about five minutes I closed my eyes. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” I asked rhetorically.

“Uh, yes you did Cloud.” Gilda filled in, causing me to sigh before an indignant voice cut in.

“As threatening as kittens, are we?!” The female bat pony cried out, the outrage clearly noticeable in her tone.

“Well you’re in my home and all I’ve heard so far is bunch of complaints and how I’m some sort of freak of nature from you two, so I’m not exactly feeling the magic of friendship right now.” I shot back.

“Why I ought to-” She snarled taking a taking a step forward but was interrupted as her male counterpart stopped her with a wing.

He gave her a quick shake of his head before he turned to me. “We will accept the griffin’s proposition of a sparring match. Although I’d like to take this outside and since you’ve offended both of us it will be a two on one match.” He stated, a smug tone had crept into his voice towards the end.

Thinking that I’ll back down ‘cause there’s two of you? I thought, a hint of indignation of my own clouding my thoughts. “Aight, you want to spar? Then we shall spar and I will even add one more condition. The match will be hand to hoof only.” I agreed defiantly.

“Fine!” The female bat pony snapped.

I made an exaggerated gesture towards the door with both my hands, causing the female pony to snort before making her way out of the room, her male counterpart following her out. A slightly childish part of me wanted to maintain my frustration with the two bat ponies and another part wanted to know what I had gotten myself into. Eventually I decided that I could dwell on it after we had traded blows before heading out of the training room, Luna, Gilda and Ranger following me out. As I reached my door leading outside, which had been left wide open by the bat ponies I might add, I was greeted by the sight of the two of them stretching. How can I not view them as cats? I wondered to myself as I watched the two of them stretch in ways that I had mostly seen cats do. They remind me so much of that Maine coon my parents had when I grew up. I continued to lament as the two started to discard the armor they were wearing.

With a final sigh I started to do a couple of quick stretches myself. As I warmed up my joints and muscles I observed how the two ponies looked after their armor had been discarded. Before me, with whatever enchantment that made them look similar gone, me stood a cobalt colored stallion with yellow eyes and a grey/white mane, his cutie mark being an arrow in flight. And beside him was a still grey, although darker than before, mare with ruby red eyes and a blue grey mane. Her cutie mark being what looked like two four pointed stars, one light yellow and one white. Hopefully this will be over quickly. I prayed silently as I approached the pair.

*<>*

Luna looked on with mixed feelings as she saw Cloud finish his stretching and approach her two guards. On one hoof she was intrigued to find out how Cloud actually fought after hearing about his exploits from her sister and his friends but never seeing them in person, and on the other hoof she held a certain sense of pride in her own guards’ performance. Especially due to the fact that her guards were considered better than their solar counterparts and due to that she wanted to see how far they could go. I have to admit that it’s pretty nice not having to actually pick a side to support in this instance though. She mused to herself as she watched Ranger walk up to the three, soon to be, combatants.

“Okay, in accordance to the rules stated by the involved parties this will be a two on one fight with no weapons or armor. The fight will end when either side forfeits or is rendered unable to continue.” Ranger stated in an ironclad voice.

I can tell that he has given this or variations of this speech before. Luna thought with a half-smile as her guards and Cloud gave their assent for the griffin to start their duel. As the griffin raised a talon to start of the fight part of what Ranger had said replayed in Luna’s mind ‘…or is rendered unable to continue.’ Luna’s eyes widened as the full implications of this part came crashing down upon her and all she could think was: Tia’s going to kill me…

*<>*

Longshot shot forward with a quick flap of his wings fully intent on teaching this hue-man as it been presented to be why the lunar guard was not to be trifled with. His confidence that the hue-man would be easy prey quickly crumbled though when it simply leapt backwards with a flap of its own wings, effectively staying just out of reach. That the hue-man was different from any other bipedal he had fought to date was further cemented when he avoided Star Spark’s follow up attack by quickly diverting her hooves while simultaneously moving into a position where it would be easy to counter.

Luckily Star Spark had been trained just as much as Longshot had and quickly realized the danger, causing her to retreat backwards toward Longshot. The mare threw a glance in his direction, and that glance was all he needed. The only visible response he gave was a quick nod although much more than what met the eye had transmitted through that brief glance. This hue-man had some skill, enough for it to be potentially dangerous to take him on haphazardly. Unfortunately for the hue-man though bat pony patrols were trained to fight in two pony teams whenever possible, and now that they had tested the waters it was time to show this hue-man just who it was messing with.

*<>*

Luna watched silently as the fight slowly started to pick up its pace, Cloud staying on the defensive most of the time. Although it was an impressive feat to be able to keep two opponents as skilled as her guards at bay it was apparent that it was a losing fight. The well-coordinated attack patterns that the bat ponies employed were slowly pushing Cloud back. Had it been dark outside he would probably have succumbed already, on the bright side though this might mean that they will simply stop due to exhaustion instead. Luna pondered, a hint of hope entering her thoughts.

With a frustrated shout Cloud suddenly launched himself into the sky, her two guards darting after him. When it became apparent that they had no intention of coming back down to the ground she and the griffins took to the skies to follow the three combatants.

“I don’t understand.” Gilda said suddenly, breaking the silence that had existed among the observers since the fight had begun.

“Hmm?” Ranger made an asking humming as he turned towards his daughter.

“Cloud isn’t nearly as threatening as he was back at the inn or at the keep.” Gilda elaborated, perking Luna’s curiosity.

She tried to discretely swivel hers left ear so that she could hear the older griffin’s response more clearly. “I understand your concern Gil and I think I know the reason for it, but all in all I this might actually be a good thing.” Ranger began.

“How can it be a good thing?!” Gilda demanded as Cloud took a light hit from Longshot due to being a fraction of a second too slow.

“It’s good because he can still show restraint. When he spoke to me about his latest endeavors I was afraid that he might come to revel in carnage if pressured to fight but instead it seems he has successfully reverted back to a state of control.” Ranger elaborated, causing Gilda to raise a questioning eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” She asked her father, but Ranger shook his head.

“It is not my place to tell the full story, but you don’t need to worry about Cloud. My instincts and experience tells me that he will be fine.” He said, a tone of finality finding its way into his voice.

I her peripheral Luna could see that Gilda did not look quite pleased with her father’s answer but eventually she seemed to accept it and turn her full attention towards the sparring match once more. Meanwhile Luna’s thoughts has started to spin after hearing Ranger’s rather cryptic explanation. Could he truly be holding something like what Ranger was insinuating back? Luna pondered as she watched Cloud barely avoid an attack from Longshot. I did not pry in what he told Tia during the meeting when he came back. She thought. Well except teasing her a bit how obviously flustered she was. She quickly amended before turning her thoughts back to the matter at hand.

The aerial melee continued without any sign of slowing down as Luna’s thoughts led her down another path of reasoning. Could it be the fact that Cloud has been able to utilize his paragon heritage before that has given him an edge? Is that the part Ranger is referring to?
She questioned.

If that was the case then the same could be said for her bat ponies had the sparring match been after the sun had set. Yes both sides definitely had access to advantages that the other side had not, although neither would be in play in this duel so they were outside the realm of reasoning for now. Luna concluded that particular line of thought. With that she turned her full focus back onto the sparring match that was still ongoing without having slowed down.

First she didn’t notice anything different, Cloud was still being pressured by her two guards and it still looked like the eventual victor had more or less been decided already. However as she looked she couldn’t shake the slight feeling that something had changed, it took her another minute or two finally put her hoof on what it was. Cloud was no longer barely dodging, while sometimes getting hit. No, now he was in near perfect sync with her two guards keeping up with ever changing attack patterns that the two employed against him. What had changed? Luna wondered. The air around the trio was still the same, so Cloud’s improved performance could not be connected to his heritage.

Before she could analyze the situation further though Longshot made the mistake of getting a bit too careless about Cloud’s reach. A whip like strike from the human hit what had to be the flight muscle on the bat pony’s left wing if the surprised cry from Longshot was anything to go by. With one of his wings suddenly stunned, albeit temporarily, the bat pony started to plummet, the human following close behind. He was soon forced to abandon his pursuit though when Star Spark dove in to attack him, and although it quickly became apparent that the attack was a feint it had served its intended purpose as Cloud had been forced to break midair. Star Spark quickly used the window she had created to catch the still plummeting Longshot, setting him down on a large cloud formation.

It didn’t take long for Cloud to follow the two bat ponies though as he landed on the cloud a few moments later. Star Spark and the human slowly started to circle each other before Cloud suddenly shot forward, empowered by a flap of his wings. Star nimbly dodged a low, sweeping kick from Cloud by diving over it only to be caught by a follow up back handed strike as she passed him. Being staggered from the unexpected strike she landed clumsily on her hooves, giving Cloud the opening he needed to catch the bat pony with a hand around her neck. Luna saw Star’s eyes widen as Cloud raised the hand holding her, his intent becoming clear to the well-trained guard.

With a roar he slammed the caught Star Spark, face first, into the cloud he was standing on with enough force to have it dissipate. The lingering expression from the roar quickly turned into one of surprise as he dropped a few meters when the footing suddenly disappeared. Cloud quickly collected himself though and flapped his wings to stop his unplanned descent, and while he managed to do that surprisingly fast for someone that had only been flying for a short time the more experienced guard had taken the opportunity to get away. Actually just getting away didn’t do Star Spark justice in this case as she had managed to locate and bring Longshot safely to the ground as well. A few seconds later Cloud followed them down once he located the two bat ponies again. He landed a few meters away from them where he just stood quietly observing the two before he dove in for an attack once more.

*<>*

As I launched myself at the two bat ponies again I was not surprised that they nimbly avoided my attempts to land a hit. By the looks of things they still had plenty of fight still left in them and so I settled into the routine of dodging their skillful tag team style of fighting once more. It had taken me a while to realize that they weren’t a foe that I could beat without me actually trying and so I had taken a few hits in the beginning. Although even now when I fought at near max capacity bar paragon heritage I found myself to be close to evenly matched against the pair.

Slowly I found myself starting to enjoy this sparring match, it brought back memories of my times back in my old dojo. And ever so slowly the fear I had been carrying semi-consciously started to lessen. I knew part of the reason why Ranger had suggested this sparring match. He knew that I hadn’t practiced my martial arts or with Imagination since I had fully healed and he knew the reason for that as well. Simply put I was afraid, or I had been up until this point at least. I was afraid that I might lose control over myself like I had done at that fortress in Gryphus if I allowed myself to fight again, but now I was happy to be proven wrong. Although I dared not fully don the mask I had for true combat except for short instances here and there.

Invigorated by the fact that I could still control the metaphorical beast inside I launched myself against the bat ponies again and again, the feeling of joy growing by each foiled attempt to land a hit. The same of course applied to the bat ponies, the failure to land hits at least as I couldn’t speak for what they were feeling. So back and forth the match went until we finally reached a standoff type of situation all three of us panting heavily from the prolonged exertion.

“You- you two are pretty good.” I managed to force out between labored breaths, sweat oozing from every pore on my body.

“Same to- to you.” The mare replied, and to my surprise I couldn’t hear the hostility from before in her voice. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she seemed to be as exhausted as I was but despite the possibility of that being the case I decided to try something.

I drew a deep breath before speaking again. “How about we bury any past hostilities and start over?” I suggested bluntly as I was far too tired to think of something eloquent to say.

The two bat ponies looked at each other for a few seconds before exchanging a quick nod followed by their stances relaxing. “Alright, we agree to this.” The male bat pony answered.

Relaxing my own stance I allowed myself to drop my guard. “Great.” I said, letting out a small sigh of relief as I crossed the short distance between us before hunching down before them.

“Let’s redo introductions shall we?” I suggested, ignoring the leaden feeling throughout my limbs.

The mare was the one to speak up first. “I’m Star Spark.” She said, holding up a hoof which a lazily bumped my fist against.

“And I’m Longshot.” The stallion said before lifting his hoof like Star had done, receiving a hoof bump as well.

With a tired smile I took my turn to speak. “Well then, Luna might have told you already but I am known as Cloud.” I answered the two equally tired guards.

No more words were exchanged after that point, but then again no more words needed to be said for now. We had found a reason to respect each other in the martial skill possessed by both involved parties and that had been enough to clear whatever bad air had existed between us. To be perfectly honest it seemed a bit silly to me in retrospect, and that sentiment must’ve been shared by the bat ponies as we all started chuckling before devolving into full blown laughter when Luna landed beside us to ask if we were done. Our laughter caused the night princess to look between us in confusion but that only made us laugh that much harder, it was the type of situation that only could be funny to those past the point of exhaustion.

*<>*

The train rushed forth through the afternoon sun, the soft thudding of the rails made for a rhythmic and strangely serene sound throughout the car where he currently sat. The other passengers around him were quietly doing their own things, the most popular seemingly being napping. He had considered trying to take a nap himself as he knew that he still had hours left to travel before he reached his destination but he just didn’t feel tired. It had been close to three years since he left Ponyville and now he was returning. During those three years he had finished the education he had dropped so long ago, and could now proudly call himself a doctor.

But above all that the time spent away from Ponyville had given him time to work with his past, something he hadn’t really dared to before he had met that insane pegasus. Of course he had considered him a friend towards the end but that didn’t change the fact that he hatched some of the most feather brained plans he had ever been involved in. Not that it really mattered now, that friend was gone but at least they had separated on good terms. No what mattered was that sometime after the sun had set the train would arrive in Ponyville and from there he would start on a new chapter in his life.

Swiftmend was coming home.

Ch 24. Patience zero

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Chapter 24. Patience zero

The road is a stranger now
The fall dissolved the blame
The road is a stranger now
I hope it stays the same

This must be the end of falling down
Hold on to my hand – welcome tomorrow
This must be the end of falling down
Everything is in place for a new tomorrow

Every now and then life drops something unexpected onto your lap. It could be anything from meeting an old acquaintance to suddenly having to work overtime due to some unforeseen consequence. But as I’m sure to have mentioned before life would be awfully dull if such things didn’t happen, and by taking the good with the bad we can lead fulfilling lives. After all, someone once said that variety is the spice life.

*~*

With a lazy flick of my hand I turned on the lights of bathroom before closing the door behind me. I had just gotten back home from a late shift at Berry’s diner and all I truly wished for at the moment was to have a relaxing shower and then head to bed. Actually I wasn’t too sure whether I should call it late or early since the hour had crept close to morning when I finally arrived at my own doorstep. The bottom line was still that I felt close to a zombie as I stripped down and stepped into the shower though. Turning the dials I waited a few seconds for the water to reach an appropriate temperature before stepping in under the cascading water. A pleased sigh escaped me as I felt the water pour over my body, washing away any grime and sweat I had accumulated during the day. Lazily I extended my right wing in front of me so that I could start washing it but a soft clicking sound made stop. That’s odd that sounded almost like a camera? My tired mind produced as I turned my head in the direction where I thought it had come from.

Much to my surprise my eyes found Gilda holding what looked like a quite expensive camera system outside the slightly ajar bathroom window. In my tired state I blinked a couple of times, my mind not fully comprehending the situation. Gilda however noticed that she had been found out almost immediately and bolted soon after, leaving me to stare at the empty spot that she had been in just a second ago. How she had managed to open the window without me noticing I will probably never know but it’s likely that the sound of the rushing water combined with my already tired mind had dimmed my perception enough. Slowly my mind started to catch up with the implications of the photos Gilda had without a doubt taken of me meant. Eyes widening I dove out of the shower, throwing on some underwear and pants before rushing out of the bathroom and out of the house to take up the chase of my “adopted” sister. I would have answers for why she had a need of pictures of me showering of all things. I thought as I took to the sky to follow the rapidly disappearing Gilda, not sparing a moment to remember that I had forgotten to turn of the shower in my haste to pursue.

*<>*

Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Echoed through her mind as she pumped her wings furiously to get away as quickly as she could. With a bit of luck she would be able to make a clean getaway as she knew that she was a faster flyer than Cloud. A soft sound of a door being thrown open in somewhere behind told her that this wouldn’t be the case though. Daring to throw a quick glance backwards confirmed that her “brother” was indeed chasing after her. Returning her focus to where she was heading she angled herself so that she would by flying towards Ponyville, and a few minutes later she crossed the town border at speeds that could compete with Rainbow Dash on a bad day.

Taking a chance that she could lose Cloud if she hid somewhere in the still slumbering town she dove down under roof height of the town. A few seconds later she was huddled in a narrow alley between two houses half worrying just what would happen if Cloud did catch her and half wondering why she had agreed to do it in the first place. I just had to agree to perform this task for Rainbow Dash! Oh why did I think that anything was worth this? She lamented. Truth be told she wondered why she had even continued to listen when Rainbow shared her plan with her. “Come on Gil, it’s just a few pictures there’s no harm in that, right?” She had told her. She had been reluctant at first then Dash had to mention the bits. “It’ll be easy money Gil, think about it. 400 bits and we’ll split it evenly. It’s not like the pictures are for a newspaper or anything like that even.” Rainbow had pressed on when she had asked who and why the photos were needed.

The sound of flapping wings caused her to pause and study the skies above the alley and not much later the form of Cloud flew past her hiding place. Time to relocate I think. She decided hastily and hurried her steps out of the alley, however lady luck being one of life’s many cruel mistresses decided that hers should run out at that moment. A chilly autumn wind blew through the alley, causing her tail to give an involuntary twitch which in turn hit the lid of a garbage can that hit the ground with a clattering sound. A mere moment later the angered voice of Cloud rang out over Ponyville causing her bolt once more, heading in the opposite direction of Cloud. This time she kept to the ground though running through the streets at a breakneck pace, hoping that she could lose him again. However when the sound of flapping wings steadily grew closer she threw a glance over her shoulder to see her “brother” approaching quickly. It was at this point that the chase came to an end though. Not by Cloud catching up to her, no instead it came to an end due to fact that she barreled straight into something or rather someone else because she wasn’t looking. With a surprised yelp she fell forward as she tripped over whatever or whoever it was she had just hit.

With a groan she stumbled up onto all fours again just in time to hear someone, presumably Cloud, land nearby.

“Damn it Gil, now you got whoever this is involved in this… whatever this is.” Cloud said tiredly.

*<>*

“Gil!” I shouted as I heard a clatter a few streets down in the direction I had just come from.

I wheeled around in midair starting to head back the way I had come just in time to see Gilda rush out from a dark alley. Driven by my need to know just why she had taken pictures of me in the shower I refused to let her out of my sight again. Luckily for me Gilda didn’t seem to be trying to fly this time around for if she had she would’ve easily outflown me this time too. Yet despite the fact that I was airborne and she was not catching her proved to quite the challenge still. So through the winding streets and alleyways of Ponyville I chased her, before she eventually crashed into an unfortunate unicorn stallion that turned a corner ahead of her just as she threw a panicked glance back towards me.

Given the speed Gilda was going she barreled straight through the poor stallion, landing in a heap of tangled limbs about half a meter away from her unintended victim. Speaking of the victim, he remained motionless on the ground when Gilda struggled back onto her legs. I landed beside the stallion to make sure that he was alright, speaking to Gilda simultaneously.

“Damn it Gil, now you got whoever this is involved in this… whatever this is.” I said tiredly as I hunched down beside the unconscious stallion.

As I did that though, I felt my eyes widen when I realized that I knew who this was. There on the ground, knocked out cold by the weight of a charging griffin, was one of the ponies who understood me better than most. There on the ground lay Swiftmend. And a whole heap of new potential problems. I groaned mentally as I realized that he more than likely wouldn’t be happy when he woke up.

Pushing my concerns aside for now I looked up at Gilda who trying and failing to look innocent. “Gil get over here and help me. We’re bringing him over to the house.” I told her in a no nonsense tone, causing her hop in to action.

Looks like sleep will have to wait. I thought somewhere between suppressing a yawn and a shudder. Now that I had stopped moving I felt how cold the night was, especially since I rushed out of the shower wearing nothing but a pair of pants.

*<>*

“Thanks for your hard work today doctor Swiftmend.” Nurse Tenderheart chirped as he walked past her desk on his way out of the Ponyville hospital.

“Likewise Ms. Tender.” He replied, keeping his tone professional but sincere. She knew him from his time as a fellow nurse of course, but they had never really been close.

Truth be told he hadn’t been close to anyone between the time he had lost Wild Breeze and when he had met Stormcloud. Though over the past few years he gone through a great many personal trials to reclaim much of his life, and if he had to grade himself he’d have to say that he done a good job. It felt good to be honest with himself again, and for better or worse he could be more honest around others too. Hanging his relatively new doctor’s coat on a hook by the door out of the office area he turned his head back towards the other pony in the room.

“Good night Ms. Tender, and I wish you well until the next shift we have together.” He spoke, his tone keeping a professional note.

“Good night doctor.” Tenderheart replied as he exited the office area.

He walked at a steady pace through the dark hospital corridor, heading in the direction of the lounge area and from there to the exit. He exchanged a quick nod with the nurse manning the reception, but no more than that as he exited out into the night. A quick glance upwards showed him a grand vista of stars in the autumn sky and the slight misting from his breath proved that the days were indeed getting cooler. Giving a content sigh he turned his gaze back down and started heading home.

Accompanied by only the sound of his hooves he soon lost himself to thoughts as he walked through the empty streets of nighttime Ponyville. In fact he was so lost that he barely had time to register that a griffin suddenly had appeared to cover his entire field of vision. Actually that was the last thing he did see before his world fell away into darkness and complete silence.

*~*

Swiftmend woke slowly, his mind sluggishly informing him that he was in bed and that it was far too comfortable to not contemplating a short snooze. However as fate would have it his keen mind did latch on to one strange fact, namely that he was in a bed. His eyes snapped open, presenting him with a view of an unfamiliar ceiling. He quickly threw the covers off of his body with a quick magical burst while he quickly scanned the rest of the room with his eyes. Aside from everything being slightly out of proportion it seems fairly normal he started to conclude. But stopped himself. No! Nothing about this is normal. The last thing I remember is that griffin, at least I think it was a griffin. He thought as he hopped off the bed, his hooves hitting the floorboards with a synchronized thud.

He barely had time to wonder whether the sound he had just made had attracted any attention before such ponderings got answered by the sound of steps approaching the room’s only door could be heard. He had even less time to prepare for the oddity that entered room soon thereafter. So instead of formulating any type of coherent thought he just stared dumbly at whatever the creature in front of him was. It wasn’t until the creature spoke that his otherwise quite sharp mind started working again and at first he wasn’t sure that he had heard the creature right.

“Oh, so you are awake Swifty. Long time no see I suppose.” The creature said with a toothy grin.

No… Swiftmend’s mind produced.

“I gotta admit that I was surprised when I realized that it was you, I even thought I was going to have to take you over to the Ponyville hospital for a while there. Wouldn’t that have been ironic?” The creature, that he vehemently wanted to deny to be the individual he had never thought to see again, said cheerfully.

Nonono… His mind continued.

“Guess there won’t be a need for that eh? Swift?” The impossible individual in front of him said.

It can’t be Stormcloud, it just can’t! He refused to acknowledge. It was after all impossible that he was here, they had gone over the full implications of what he had intended to do that night so long ago.

“Swift?” The large bipedal impossibility asked, a hint of concern had found its way into his voice and the expression changed to match the new tone.

“Stormcloud?” He forced himself to say, closer to ask really.

A large smile split Stormcloud’s features. “Hey he’s alive in there, how have you been Swifty?” He responded, his cheerfulness having returned.

Bewildered by all the impossible things happening all at once Swiftmend asked the most relevant question his mind could produce at the moment. “How?”

A mix of emotions seemed to flash across the alien features of his friend’s face. “That’s a long story. One that I will share with you in time but before that.” Stormcloud answered holding up one of the fingers on the arms he now possessed.

Turning around Stormcloud shouted down the lit hallway behind him. “Gil! He’s awake now so I suggest you get up here so that you can apologize!”

There were a few seconds of silence before steps once more could be heard from outside the room, and soon a young griffin female revealed herself in the doorway. From what Swift could tell it was the same one he had seen before being knocked out, although now that he could see her better in the light from the hallway she seemed familiar. Before he had a chance to delve deeper into where he could possibly know her from the griffin spoke up.

“Sorry ‘bout crashing into you it wasn’t my intention.” She said curtly.

Stormcloud let out an exasperated sigh as his face was covered by his hand. “Gil, you could at least try to sound sorry.” He admonished the griffin, sounding tired.

“I did mean it! It’s just that he seems fine to me.” The griffin replied quickly.

At that point the sheer absurdity of the situation boiled over for Swiftmend and he started to chuckle involuntarily. Soon the chuckles turned into full-blown laughter, causing the other individuals in the room to turn and look at him. Once he saw this he made an effort to collect himself before speaking.

“It’s fine, really. I’ll accept the apology as it is you don’t have to force it out of her Storm.” He said, causing his friend to raise an eyebrow.

“If you say so Swift. You seem to have cheered up considerably since we went separate ways.” Stormcloud pointed out.

He gave a quick amused snort before speaking. “What can I say? Seems like you managed to get your message across in the end. I’ve had quite a lot of time to think over past mistakes and correct my heading since then too.”

Stormcloud seemed like he was about to answer but the griffin beat him to it. “Wait so you knew Cloud from his first time here?” She asked quickly.

“Yeah, you could say that… miss?” He began but ended up asking as he still didn’t have her name.

“Oh, the name’s Gilda, Gilda Rustfeather. So how did you two get to know each other? Cloud has promised to tell me about his past but he likes to do so in broad terms, leaving out details.” The griffin called Gilda elaborated.

“Well the first time I met Cloud he was at the Ponville Infirmare:y as it was called back then. He had an injured hoof if I recall correctly and from there he proceeded to annoy the living daylights out of me.” He told the inquisitive griffin.

“Huh, that’s somewhat similar to the first time I met him. He stumbled in half-starved and dehydrated to my family’s inn so we took him in. The first real conversation I had with him ended with began with him making a joke out of my actions.” Gilda told him.

“Uh, guys? I’m standing right here.” Stormcloud added.

Swiftmend ignored his friend and kept his focus on the griffin. “Really? Tell me does he still get injured due to the strangest of reasons? Like through fights that could’ve been avoided?” He asked, now intrigued to see what he could learn.

“You know it. From what I’ve seen he has a talent for finding trouble.” Gilda confirmed.

“Still standing right here.” Stormcloud tried again.

“Did he try to do everything tough and dangerous by himself back when you knew him too?” Gilda asked.

“Well he relied on me for some magic but otherwise I’d have to say yes, he did take a lot the burden back then.” He said thoughtfully.

“Guys! Standing right here!” Stormcloud finally shouted.

“Oh, sorry Cloud I didn’t mean t-” Gilda began but was interrupted by a loud but strangely familiar voice from downstairs.

“Huzzah! Cloud where are you?! We need to practice that last part of the act today!” The voice, which had to belong to Princess Luna, called out loudly but cheerfully.

“Aurgh, I forgot that they were going to swing by early today.” Stormcloud complained.

He turned his gaze towards Swiftmend. “Before you ask yes that was Luna that just arrived downstairs and you’re welcome to stay and watch as we rehearse our act for Nightmare night if you wish Swift. Although you might want to head on home, I guess that’s where you were going before we err… ponynapped you? Nevertheless, it was nice meeting you again. Though I guess it could’ve been under better circumstances.” Stormcloud offered sheepishly.

Swiftmend’s mind however had decided to quit somewhere in the middle of Stormcloud confirming that Princess Luna was the owner of the voice. And while his mind was used to sorting vast amounts of information relating to patients and treatment plans the bizarre nature of Stormcloud’s daily life was a bit too much. So instead of punishing his mind further, trying to sort through everything he had learned in the past couple of minutes he decided to opt out. The last “adventure” he dragged me into had enough excitement to last a lifetime. He thought to himself before answering.

“As interesting as it sounds Storm I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I must make my way back home after all.” He said after he managed to summon his voice again.

Stormcloud nodded thoughtfully. “Alright I can understand that. Well I guess I’ll see you around then Swift and don’t be afraid to come by and visit when you have some time over.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, just promise me that you keep me out of any of your future plans.” He replied to his friend hopefully.

“I’ll try, now I truly need to run down to Luna before she goes all out canterlock voice on me.” Stormcloud said, taking a step towards the open door before turning. “Hey Gil, could you show Swiftmend the way out?” He added over his shoulder.

“Sure thing Cloud!” Gilda said, snapping to something similar to attention causing Stormcloud to shake his head as he walked out of the room.

As his friend made his exit Swiftmend turned his attention to griffin that had been appointed his guide out of what he presumed to be Stormcloud’s home.

“So, Gilda was it?” He asked the griffin.

“Aye, that’s my name. Now follow me and I’ll show you the way out.” She confirmed before motioning for him to follow.

He followed the griffin out of the room and down a large staircase leading down. Well to be fair everything in this strange building was too large to be intended for the use of the average pony. I have to remember to have Stormcloud give me a tour of this place sometime in the near future. He mused to himself as he studied the strange building layout. His thoughts were interrupted as Gilda spoke up again.

“Well here’s the door, although do you mind if I ask you something before you leave?” She asked.

“Sure, I can answer one question if it isn’t too personal.” He agreed, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

Gilda nodded before speaking. “Why do you keep calling Cloud, Stormcloud?” she asked.

“Oh that, well you see that was the name he used during the first time I met him. I guess it just stuck with me after that.” He explained.

“Really? Would you mind telling me some more about how he was back then?” Gilda asked, sounding genuinely interested.

Swiftmend took a split second to think before answering. “Well I wouldn’t mind filling you in on some of my earlier encounters with Storm, although you’d have to be okay with walking and talking since I really do need to get home.” He suggested.

“Deal.” Gilda said simply, heading out of the door before he could respond. Well outside she turned to face him, the rays of the morning sun giving her feathers an almost golden shimmer. “Well are you coming or not?” she asked, breaking him out of the admiring stupor he unknowingly had found himself in.

He shook his head before answering. “Yeah, sure.” He said before joining the griffin on his walk back towards Ponyville.

*<>*

After the unsuspected reunion with Swiftmend my days past in a blur of activity as Luna, her guards and I prepared for our grand opening event for this year’s Nightmare night. I did also manage to get an apology out of Gilda for the camera/shower incident however she refused to tell me the reason behind her actions. In the end I felt that it was better to not push the issue too far and dropped it. Well I dropped once I got a promise out of her to not do it again.

In general though time went by fast, and it felt as if I got much done. What truly mattered to me though was that the bonds I had built, or rebuilt, with my return felt stronger than ever. So when the day of Nightmare night arrived at last, and Ponyville was in full swing preparing for the event I felt that I was truly part of what was about to happen. With that bolstering my already high spirits I donned the costume that I had been given by Luna for my role and stepped outside my home. The remaining light of the sun was rapidly disappearing in the horizon, signaling that Nightmare night was about to begin.

Ch 25. Nightmare night, part 1

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Chapter 25. Nightmare night, part 1

Dream on little dreamer! This is how it all begins
Move your feet, feel how sweet it is
Dream on, little dreamer! Follow all of your signs
You got to gather up what you need
You got to choose a direction
And when the moment is right for you

You got to go

You got to keep your ideals high
You got to know that the sky belongs to no one
You know you got to go

Sometimes my actions in Equestria didn’t impact my future choices. To be perfectly quite a few didn’t have any sway on what I was going to do. Some days were just there for the simple reason of existing and there was tranquility to be found in those days. When it came to my first Nightmare night celebration though… Well let’s just say that it was a mix of both.

*~*

“Let’s see… Costume, check. Sun has set, check. Ponyville has been properly decorated,” she threw a glance out of closest window, “check,” Twilight muttered to herself as she went over the mental checklist she had thrown together just in case. Perhaps I should cross reference with the written lists just to be sure I haven’t forgotten something. She thought, but before she had time to light her horn to bring the aforementioned documents over the door to her chambers opened, revealing a less than amused Spike.

“Are you done yet Twilight? Luna’s gonna be here any minute now and I really don’t want to miss this year’s opening event,” he greeted as he walked into the room.

“Hang on for one more second Spike, I just need to check the lists one more time,” she answered her number one assistant.

A loud groan could be heard from Spike before he spoke up once more. “Twi your commander Hurricane costume looks fine and the town decorations look fine too, so can we please get going today? I’ve heard from the Cutie mark crusaders who heard from that griffin Stella that Cloud’s going to be part of the opening event,” he pleaded.

“But what if-” She tried but was quickly interrupted by Spike.

“No, no more but. We have to get going now,” he said with a tone of finality.

With an effort of will she forced herself to levitate the checklists back to the desk before turning to Spike to give him a quick nod. “Alright, let’s get going then,” she agreed.

“Finally,” Spike said with a hint of theatrical exasperation, causing her to smile a bit to herself as she watched him hurry out of the room.

Despite her promise that they would get going she threw a glance towards the discarded lists. One last look couldn’t hurt, right? She caught herself thinking before shaking her head violently to clear her head. She then proceeded to hurry after Spike so that she wouldn’t risk falling back into her list checking pattern. By the time she caught up with him though he was already standing at the main entrance to the castle, tapping his foot impatiently. It’s strange really, although he isn’t that much younger than me he has retained more of his inner child than I have. She pondered as she approached her charge. His green outfit for the evening was from some sort of game called The legend of Epona apparently and was complimented by a small wooden shield and a short, magically dulled, sword. Upon reaching her assistant she offered him a smile before she spoke.

“Alright then Spike shall we get going?” she asked.

“Thought you’d never ask,” he said, returning her smile before he pushed open the door.

Together they started to walk down the path leading into Ponyville, the lights coming from the town telling a tale of activities already in full swing. They only made it about halfway to Ponyville though before Luna’s chariot swept over them, heading straight for town. She threw a glance towards Spike and saw him looking at her with a pleading expression.

Resisting the urge to chuckle she spoke. “Fine you can go on ahead, just remember that we’re meeting up at Cloud’s home later in the evening.”

“Thanks Twi, you’re the best!” he exclaimed before rushing off towards the town square where Luna’s chariot still could be seen descending.

Spike disappeared from view a few seconds later as he reached the town border but that didn’t worry her. He was old enough to take care of himself and there was no particular reason to be worried for his safety tonight. So instead she observed the ‘spooky’ decorations that had been put up all over town for the event as she walked at a steady pace through the town. Eventually even she reached the town square and she was just in time to catch Luna in the middle of a sentence that had to pertain to this year’s opening event.

“…so I implore you citizens of Ponyville. This disturbance I felt is not to be taken lightly, if you know something, anything don’t hesitate to tell me,” Luna addressed the crowd that had gathered to watch this year’s performance.

Luna herself though was wearing some sort of dark brown robe and underneath that Twilight could see a hint of some sort of tunic in a whitish color. To top it all off Luna’s otherwise flowing mane was tied back in a warrior’s ponytail. The attire itself gave of a simple yet efficient feel but before Twilight could ponder further on where Luna had gotten the idea for her outfit a dark chuckle permeated the air in the town square. Twilight, like the rest of the assembled ponies, turned their heads in the direction of the sound only to find their resident human wearing a large robe much like the one Luna was wearing. Well it was almost like the one Luna was wearing, Cloud’s robe was pitch black and he had a hood on his that was up making it so that only his chin and mouth were visible.

“Who are you stranger?” Luna demanded, a guarded tone had snuck into her voice.

“Who am I? Tsk, tsk, have you really forgotten the old enemy so quickly Jedi?” Cloud spoke, his mouth transforming into a sneer as he spoke the last word.

“I’ll have your name Sith!” Luna responded quickly, the last word laced with venom.

“My, my, such anger you’d make a fine apprentice if you’d only cast away the petty ideals of the Jedi,” Cloud taunted.

“I will never turn to the dark side,” Luna stated with conviction in her voice.

Cloud released a theatrical sigh before pushing back his hood, revealing eyes that were glowing with a malicious intent. Next he reached inside his robe, producing a long metal rod with odd protrusions, buttons and dials on. With his right hand he held the rod along his leg as he hit one of the buttons on the rod and a moment later a red energy field shot out from the end of the rod with a hissing sound. It quickly became apparent that the rod was supposed to be some sort of melee weapon as the energy field remained unchanging, filling the air with an ominous humming while casting an eerie red glow on the surroundings.

“Oh you will call me master sooner or later,” Cloud mused before continuing, “It’s just a matter of how whole you’ll be at the end!” He declared with a snarl twisting his face as he launched himself at Luna.

Cloud’s weapon made a horizontal slash towards Luna’s throat only for it to be stopped by a similar weapon levitating in the firm telekinetic grasp of Luna’s magic. This weapon though was about half the length of Cloud’s and the energy field it emitted was a brilliant green.

“I see it won’t be that easy,” Cloud called with a sneer as he leaned into the attack, trying to force away Luna’s weapon.

They’re supposed to be some sort of fancy swords. Twilight realized as she saw Luna push back against Cloud’s blade. She didn’t have to time to ponder from where they had gotten the idea for the energy blades as Cloud and Luna broke their power struggle, whirling back simultaneously to create some distance between them.

For a few seconds the two observed each other just as the Ponyvillians observed them with bated breaths. Then at some sort of silent command the two charged forward, exchanging a quick series of humming slashes, blows and thrusts towards one another. Neither combatant managed to land a blow though as they seemed to be evenly matched in skill. Soon the two broke apart once again and started to slowly circle each other.

“You have no hope to win sith. Even if I should fall there will another that will defeat you,” Luna stated with certainty as she kept her eyes on Cloud.

“Are you attempting to scare me with such empty words jedi?” Cloud asked disdainfully.

“Scare you? No I’m attempting no such thing, although I have something you don’t,” Luna replied.

Cloud gave a humorless snort. “And pray tell what’s that?” he questioned.

Luna smirked. “Allies,” she said as a bat pony clad in similar clothes to Luna dove down from the sky towards Cloud, a blue bladed weapon in his mouth.

In the light from the blue blade Twilight saw Cloud’s eyes widen slightly as he threw himself backwards to avoid the bat pony’s attack. Around her she could hear the ponies that were watching whisper excitedly to one another as they took in the spectacle that was playing out before them. Together with the bat pony Luna pushed their attack on Cloud, blades flashing as they slowly started to gain the upper hand. Cheers started to rise from the ponies in the crowd as it started to become apparent that their princess had gained the upper hoof with the addition of the bat pony. But despite that Cloud proved to be a tough opponent as he managed to hold his ground against the ponies. However, even Cloud couldn’t hold off the assault forever. The fight reached a point where he was forced to block a high vertical swing from the bat pony with his blade while Luna’s blade made a horizontal slash towards his abdomen. It looked as if the fight was about to end right there but in a whirl of motion Cloud somehow managed to avoid being hit by both attacks.

A gasp echoed through the crowd, which now was fully entranced by the events playing out before them, as Cloud stopped moving. The weapon he had been using was emitting a second blade at the other end of the rod. Cloud spun the weapon around in the air in front of him, causing it to emit a series of the louder hums that Twilight now associated with the weapons being swung. A few moments later Cloud stopped the whirling weapon before settling into a ready stance.

“You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you jedi?” He taunted before going on the offensive.

If the crowd hadn’t been completely entranced by the spectacle playing out before their eyes they certainly were now as Cloud, Luna and the bat pony danced about and traded blows with their odd weapons. Oh´s and ah’s rang out as both parties seemed evenly matched and performed ever increasingly complex techniques. Soon shouts of encouragement started to ring out from the crowd, most of them cheering for Luna and her bat pony ally. However with that said Cloud had a distinct number of voices cheering for him as well, strangely enough though all of them seemed to be the younger generations of Ponyville.

Suddenly Cloud’s voice boomed out loudly, “Enough!” he cried out, bringing the fight to a paus.

“You’ve done well to push me this far jedi but it all ends here,” Cloud declared as he moved his double bladed weapon over to his right hand while simultaneously raising his left towards the bat pony.

Curious as to what was going to happen Twilight held her breath only to gasp in sync with the rest of the crowd when arcs of electricity leapt from Cloud’s left hand, hitting the bat pony. Said bat pony gave a surprised yelp before the electricity knocked him ‘unconscious’ but not before he managed to throw his weapon towards Luna who deftly caught it in her aura, reigniting the blue blade. With a battle cry Luna charged forward towards Cloud while dual wielding the green and blue blade, exchanging a flurry of blows with him. For a few more minutes they battled before Luna managed to sweep Cloud’s balance causing him to stumble backwards. And before he managed to recover Luna’s blades quickly came to rest at either side of his neck.

“Do you yield?” Luna demanded.

A resigned look flickered across Cloud’s features before he answered, “I yield,” he said.

A wild cheering erupted from the ponies as their diarch had come out victorious. A wild cheering that redoubled when Cloud, Luna and the bat pony got up and stood side by side in front of the crowd bowing to the cheering ponies. Twilight caught herself joining the stomping applause that were showering the three individuals that had performed this year’s opening act. The cheering and applause only died down when Luna raised a hoof, indicating that she’d like to speak.

“I’m glad that you seem to have enjoyed this opening act for this year’s Nightmare night,” she began simply, causing a new round of applause to start up. Luna waited patiently for it to die down again before continuing. “So without further ado I’d like to declare this Nightmare night officially started!” She exclaimed, spawning a third round of applause and cheering before the crowd started to disperse among the different activities that were waiting to enjoyed.

Luna, Cloud and the bat pony were still standing around, and by the looks of things they were animatedly discussing their performance. I know that I’m going to have a chance to ask later tonight but I really want to know how they planned all this. Twilight thought to herself as she approached the trio.

“…really good transition when you dove down this time Star,” she heard Cloud praise the, to her, previously unnamed bat pony.

“Oh, that was nothing it was just like we practiced, right? If anything I’m still more baffled how you can remember the entire fight sequence,” the bat pony replied in a clearly teasing manner, causing both Cloud and Luna to chuckle.

The three were so enraptured that didn’t notice Twilight until she cleared her throat. “Hi, I’d like to start by thanking and congratulating you for that amazing performance,” she started but before she could continue Cloud interrupted her.

“Oh, hi Sparkle butt. Nice outfit, some kind of guard deal?” He said cheerfully, causing the bat pony to clearly struggle to not burst out laughing.

Twilight shot her human friend a scathing look while trying to tell herself that he was doing it just to frustrate her. Instead she turned to Luna, choosing to ignore the nickname that he used from time to time.

“I’m just going to ask you straight away instead of beating around the bush but how are those blades made? And how did Cloud shoot lightning?” she asked barely keeping the intrigue out of her voice, or least she thought she did.

*<>*

As Luna launched into a detailed explanation regarding the spell work that had gone into creating the fake light sabers I turned to Star Spark as I had heard Luna’s explanation before.

“Hey Star I’m going to head over to my place to take a shower and to prepare for the gathering later,” I said to the bat pony.

Star turned her head towards me as I spoke, “Okay, I’ll see you there later then?” she asked as I stopped speaking.

I nodded before replying, “Aye, see you later. Oh and before I forget could you relay where I went to the alicorn pair once they’re available to the world again?” I requested, pointing a thumb towards Twilight and Luna who were completely engrossed in their magic discussion.

Star gave me a toothy grin, “Will do,” she promised simply.

“Thanks,” I said before unfolding my wings, taking to the sky with a few strong flaps.

As soon as I had cleared the rooftops I angled myself in the direction of my home as I was indeed desiring to take a shower due to having worked up quite the sweat during the performance. But that wasn’t the only reason I was heading home from the Nightmare night celebrations this early. No, I had invited a few individuals to a smaller private gathering towards the later hours of the evening. That of course meant that I had to prepare quite a few things in advance as any good host should. Not that I felt that I was missing out on the celebrations in town, after all there would be more opportunities in the future for such things.

Not to mention the fact that a private gathering could be more finely tuned to my own preferences. There was so much that I had missed in terms of small luxuries since I had established my home here in Ponyville. But with time I had managed to track down or recreate alternatives for these things though and one of those things that I had managed to track down was alcoholic beverages. Nothing extravagant like the almost unending options I had had available back on earth but enough to have a few different options available for the rest of the evening. This is going to be an entertaining evening or so I hope. I thought to myself as I saw spotted my house growing closer in the distance.

I had about three hours left to get things done for my guests had been told to arrive so I was hardly pressed for time. So I kept flying at a leisure pace, thinking that there would be no reason to work up more of sweat. Besides the slightly chilly evening air felt nice across my skin as it served to keep me cooled off, it was probably not healthy but I didn’t really care. Once my home was close enough for me to be able to notice details I came to a pause midair. For some reason the lights were on, on the ground floor. Strange, I’m certain there was no one in the house after I left. I pondered as I slowly started to approach my home again.

It can’t be Ranger or Gil. I thought as I touched down on the edge of the floating island my home was situated on. They were busy helping out with different tasks for Nightmare night, or more precisely Gilda was hanging out with Rainbow and Pinkie and Ranger was helping Zecora out with some sort of guided tour. Who it could be still eluded me as I made my way over to my front door. I had already ruled out the possibility of it being a burglar as such an individual would’ve kept the lights turned off. That didn’t keep me from being slightly on guard though as I pushed open the door and entered my house.

Almost immediately I heard someone humming a soft tune, and so I closed the door behind me and kicked off my shoes before walking into my living room. The sight that met me caused me to freeze and my cheeks to burn in that exact order. There in front of me was Celestia wearing a very snug and formfitting Wonderbolt outfit.

*Pomf*

Ch 26. Nightmare night, part 2

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Chapter 26. Nightmare night, part 2

I will never sleep alone (never without you)
Whatever you say to me
I already know
If I said something to you
You would take those words
There’s so much power in those words

You don’t know, you don’t know nothing yet
About the dreams I have
I will make you sleep
You don’t know, you don’t know nothing yet
About the dreams I have
Sleep is a house for lovers

Hi there my name is Celestia and I know what you’re thinking; Where is Cloud and his ramblings about life lessons? Well the answer is simple really, more to the point; I asked him if I could write this entry since it’s something of great importance to the both of us. It was one of those nights where two souls connect not necessarily out of love but out of desire. ~~Ugh, I wish Cadance was here to help me with the words for this.~~ ~~Ignore that.~~ ~~That too.~~ Cloud your writing machine is broken it won’t do as I say.

*~*

If it doesn’t work tonight I don’t know what will. She lamented mentally as she looked at her costumed reflection in the large mirror in her bed chamber. The Wonderbolt costume she was wearing was not uncomfortable to wear, but it felt strange. It was a small price to pay though if it performed the function she hoped it would. I’m not too forward with this, am I? A stray thought flittered through her mind before being discarded. She had made subtle hints that she wanted to take the relationship to the next level over the past few weeks when she had visited but Cloud seemed oblivious to them. I won’t come off as I needy, will I? A second thought passed but was also discarded like the first. No, long story short she was pent up and while it hadn’t been so bad when she didn’t have a coltfriend it started to become one now that she had Cloud. Certain parts of her had developed an ‘itch’ that was in desperate need of scratching so to speak. So while their make-out sessions grew more passionate she seemed to be unable to take it further, but all that was about to change tonight. Hopefully… She added as an afterthought.

She looked over herself again in the tall mirror of her personal quarters, wondering if this outfit truly would have the effect promised. The tight flight suit hugged her figure closely, making every graceful curve stand out even more than usual. ‘Ponies would kill to see you dressed in a Wonderbolt flight suit, I’ll stake my position as captain on that.’ Spitfire had claimed when Celestia had asked her for tips on costumes for Nightmare night. ‘Not to mention that I think your coltfriend would like it veeery much.’ The fiery captain had added with a suggestive grin that had made Celestia show one of the rare instances of her becoming flustered. She hadn’t thought that her intentions had been so transparent.

She gave herself a once-over again in the mirror. I really do want to surprise Cloud with this, but what if he reacts differently than what Spitfire predicted? She thought to herself. The Wonderbolt captain had said “ponies” so what if Cloud reacted differently since he was only part pony? She suddenly realized. She was just about to turn around on the spot to go ask for a second opinion when she caught up with what she was doing. After drawing a deep, calming, breath she looked into the mirror again. There was a certain sex appeal to the flight suit that was true, but the important part was that she had a costume at all. Holding on to that thought she nodded to herself before gathering enough magic to activate the proper arcane matrixes to activate a teleportation spell.

In a flash of light she vanished from her quarters only to reappear in a similar flash in Cloud’s dark living room. She blinked a couple of times, trying her best to readjust her vision to the sudden darkness before making her way over to one of the light switches. With a simple flick of her hoof she threw the switch, making the room become bathed with the bright electric light produced by the spotlights embedded in the ceiling. There was no pony home yet but she had assumed that would be the case. Luna and Cloud must be in the middle of the event they spent so much time planning by now. She mused to herself as she looked around the living room. I guess all I can do is wait for now, might as well make myself at home and… oh wow this place truly hasn’t been cleaned in a while. She thought as she started register the random feathers scattered around the room coupled with old newspapers and other items strewn across the floor and coffee table.

It took her a few seconds of debating with herself before she finally decided on what to do. “Guess I might as well tidy up a bit while I wait,” She murmured to herself before reaching out with her aura to grab some of the items lying around. Now I wonder where these might go? She pondered before giving a quick wing shrug. She could just put them in a pile out of sight for now and then ask Cloud about their proper place when he came back. Soon she started to hum a light hearted tune as she got into the task, her overall awareness dropping to the point where she didn’t notice the opening and closing. It wasn’t until the distinct sound of wings snapping open rapidly that she realized that she was no longer alone.

Turning around she found that Cloud had returned and going by the extended wings, the blush on his cheeks and the slightly agape mouth he hadn’t been expecting her. Not dressed like this anyway. She added mentally. I guess I owe Captain Spitfire some form of thanks for this idea since it clearly had the desired effect. She added absentmindedly, since Cloud’s surprised expression was rather distracting. To say that it felt gratifying to be able to have this kind of reaction from Cloud would be an understatement.

With an amused smirk she spoke up. “I see that you like my costume Cloud, but I didn’t expect you to blush,” she teased him slightly.

Cloud blinked a couple of times before snapping out of apparent daze. “I’m not blushing, you’re the one blushing,” he blurted out.

For a second Celestia just felt surprised by his nonsensical outburst, but then it quickly gave away to mirth as she began giggling at Cloud’s statement. Soon Cloud joined in with a chuckle of his own as the silly atmosphere that had asserted itself started to get to him too.

As his chuckle died down he seemed to collect himself before addressing her. “Hello Tia, I didn’t expect you to be here already. Not that I’m complaining though, that outfit looks real good on you,” he told her, his eyes seemingly trying to drink in her form.

Keeping her smirk she raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I couldn’t tell from how you were trying to undress me with your eyes,” she replied playfully.

“Well can you blame me? I already have one of the most beautiful females in all of Equestria as my girlfriend, and then you arrive in a very sexy wrapping,” he stated smoothly, more or less having recovered fully from his earlier daze.

This time it was her turn to blush slightly as he walked up to her and traced a finger along her neck. “You’re just saying that to make me blush aren’t you?” she asked.

Cloud flashed her his best roguish grin. “Sure am,” he said.

Before she could reply though Cloud spoke again. “Although it wasn’t a lie either,” he told her before cupping her muzzle and proceeded to swiftly bring her lips to his.

“That’s not fair,” she huffed with playful indignation when Cloud broke the surprise kiss. Well he could’ve at least held the kiss a bit longer. She complained mentally.

His response was another grin, making her add a slight pout to her expression. “I thought you wouldn’t mind an itsy bitsy kiss,” he said innocently when he saw her pout.

“Okay, okay you win this round,” she admitted before pausing. “Are you going to leave your wings like that?” she asked as she realized that Cloud’s wings still were unfurled.

“My wings?” he said, sounding confused as he turned his head. “Eh? When did that happen?” he asked no pony in particular, causing a slight snicker to escape Celestia.

“If I were to guess, it was the moment you saw me this evening,” she said in her own best innocent voice.

Cloud tilted his head to his side. “Okay, and why are they doing this?” he asked her as he carefully refolded his wings.

A mischievous feeling started to assert itself as she prepared to answer. “Well I can’t say for certain, but when that happens to a pegasus it’s usually a sign of great excitement,” she told him, keeping it as cryptic as possible.

Cloud kept his head tilted. “Excitement?” he repeated his tone equal amounts asking and deadpan.

She suppressed her mischievous feeling as much as she could. “Mm, you know something like this,” she replied as she lit her horn to grasp one of the loose feathers scattered around the room before using it to lightly caress Cloud’s neck.

The effect was immediate, Cloud tensed slightly before his wings shot up again, although not as violently or fast as when he had entered and had seen her. That didn’t stop a playful smile from appearing on her lips though as Cloud’s rather bewildered expression at his wings reaction was rather entertaining.

“Okay… that’s new,” he said, sounding a bit uncomfortable with the fact that his body reacted without his command.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, it’s a perfectly healthy reaction to show somepony you’re attracted to,” she teased him with a slight purr. “Before I forget though, where do these go?” she continued as she turned to grab the stack of assorted items that she had collected in a small pile.

However as she was about to turn back to Cloud she felt the light touch of his fingers softly caress her back, from the nape of the neck down to her sensitive flight muscles. A short surprised, “Eep,” escaped her as a jolt of pleasure coursed through her at his touch. Her own wings unfurling violently as a result. She didn’t even notice that she lost control over her magic, scattering the items she had been levitating across the floor.

She felt her own cheeks heat up as she turned to face Cloud again. “Huh, so it works on alicorns too,” he said, using the same teasing tone she had been using moments before.

“D-Don’t do that so suddenly,” she managed to pant out as the after effect of having her sensitive flight muscles touched started to ebb away.

The grin that now found itself on Cloud’s face told a different story though as he pulled her close to him. “But I’ve only returned the favor once, at least one more time is required to make us even,” he whispered playfully into her ear and before she could brace herself she felt a pair of fingers gently but deliberately trace ever smaller circles around the flight muscles. The feeling of the fingers slowly edging closer to the intimate zone was nothing short of electrifying as small jolts of pleasure would rush through her body when Cloud’s nimble fingers teased her.

He is way too good at that. She thought as she a particularly strong jolt coursed through her. Then just as suddenly as Cloud’s sensual assault had begun it ended, her coltfriend standing up leaving her slightly dazed and quite aroused on top of that. This made it so that it took her a second or two to realize that Cloud’s ministrations had ended and that he had told her that he was going to go take a shower. I- but- what? He can’t be that dense can he? Can’t he tell what I’ve been trying to do? She thought almost desperately, as a familiar urge had started to make itself known between her loins.

As if he had heard her silent plea he turned to face her when he reached the door to his bathroom. “Well are you going to join me or not?” he asked with a suggestive smile, although a hint of uncharacteristic nervousness seemed to lace his voice.

Another time she would probably had picked up on it, but this evening she was too focused on her self-imposed mission. Instead a single ‘eloquent’ Oh, was her only thought before she hurried after him into the bathroom.

*~*

I stepped inside my bathroom, Celestia following close behind me. Part of me was still slightly reluctant about getting down and dirty with Celestia, but there was no point in trying to sugarcoat what our actions were leading up to. It wasn’t as if I had been blind to her advances over the past weeks either, it was rather a sense of not being completely comfortable with all the social norms of Equestria yet. Well at least not all the ones pertaining to a relationship, and that had been my primary reason for not accepting Tia’s invitations. That was the official story in my mind, but the cold truth was that I was afraid of being inadequate in more ways than one. However at this point I had already passed the point of no return, and thus I would do all I could to be her partner in the carnal activities that most likely awaited.

Moving to face her I found the world lurching instead as I felt Celestia all but tackle me to the ground, her mouth locking with mine. A bit surprised it took me a second to return the rather fierce kiss, our tongues intertwining and battling for dominance. When we broke apart I stared up in the flushed face of my goddess, panting slightly as my own cheeks burned hot. There was desire in her eyes, much more so than I had seen previously. The more animalistic part of my brain seemed to respond in kind as I felt my own arousal start to build in my lower regions.

“This is the third time we end up like this, isn’t it?” Celestia asked from on top of me, her tone nothing short of sultry.

“I think so?” I said, questioningly wondering exactly what she was referring to.

“Well then since they say that the third time’s the charm I don’t think I’ll let you up from there this time,” she purred, making me swallow involuntarily.

This caused Celestia to adopt an almost predatory grin as she bent down to kiss me again. Since I saw this one coming I met her lips halfway, inviting her past my own lips once more. Although this time I didn’t let my hands be idle, I carefully let one run along her graceful neck while the other played with one of her sensitive ears. My reward was an arousing moan escaping her while she closed her eyes. Invigorated by this I redoubled my efforts with my hands and was quickly rewarded with more moans. But as I was still being pinned by Celestia there were only so many places I could reach, and so when I reached for the sensitive flight muscles again she broke our kiss to gasp loudly. Little did I know what was about to happen if I continued and so instead of slowing down I kept on with my tender assault, causing moan after moan to erupt from Celestia. The arousing sound by itself had long since robbed me of the full use of my senses and so it was no surprise that I didn’t anticipate Celestia’s next play.

Suddenly her horn lit up, and before I knew what was going on the robe I still had been wearing was quickly pulled off of me, leaving me in a grey tank-top and a pair of simple pants. The tank-top soon followed the robe, or so I thought initially but when the garment stopped around my hands I grew confused at first. Although when piece of clothing was expertly tied around my wrists, denying me the use of my hands much of my marefriends intentions became clear.

After casting a playful wink in my direction she tugged at the tank-top turned restraint, moving my arms so that they were positioned above my head. “We can’t have me being the only one being on the receiving end now, can we?” she told me in a husky voice.

Using her magic she unzipped the flight-suit she was wearing, stripping down so that her upper body came free of the formfitting article. “Now let’s see,” she said, clearly pretending to think for a second. “I think I need to return some of all that teasing,” she told me with a grin as she traced a hoof along the centerline of my abdomen. The next thing I knew was the feeling of her wings assaulting my sides, causing me to gasp loudly before clenching my teeth to keep myself from laughing. However seeing my defiant attempt to thwart her plan she simple leaned down to whisper in my ear.

“I would give up if I were you, I told you before that now that I finally have gotten you this far I’m not letting you go until I’m satisfied,” she declared softly in my ear before slowly positioning herself further down my body, making it so she was sitting right on the arousal that had been building in pants over the past few minutes. This of course didn’t go unnoticed by Celestia as she ground her rear against my crotch, a low throaty moan escaping her as I felt a dampness spread from the continued exercise. I could do little but inhale sharply as sudden ministrations towards my arousal caused a spike of pleasure to sweep through me. My hips bucked on their own as Celestia continued to grind herself against lap but she still kept me pinned with her body and magic. Then without any warning she stopped as if she had had an epiphany of sorts. It quickly became clear what she was planning though as I felt her scoot even further down onto my legs.

“That looks painful,” she remarked as she studied the tent I was pitching.

All I could do though was to grunt affirmatively and nod as I stared in wonder at the sultry seductress that had taken the place of the otherwise composed princess that I knew. I’ve had some urges after not having had any meaningful release in the last few months, but nothing like this. I managed to think in a brief moment of clarity before a tugging at my pants brought my full attention back to Celestia. Using her magic she had already unbuttoned my pants and was in the middle of the process of removing them, leaving me in my boxer-like underwear that I had had made. Upon seeing another layer of cloth though Celestia’s expression flashed to bewildered for a split second, causing a quiet chuckle to escape me before I felt her magic start tugging at the hem of the boxers too. With a final tug my boxers were removed, causing my erection to spring free and stand proudly in front of the clearly intrigued Celestia.

“Oh, it looks so different from a stallions,” she said, lying down on my legs so that she could get a closer look.

As she studied my erection I carefully studied her, no longer sure of what her next step would be. My answer arrived quickly though as Celestia let one of her wings softly stroke against my length, making me let out another gasp from the sensation. This reaction only made her repeat the action, going agonizingly slow the second time making me tense up from the sheer intensity of the pleasure I felt. When I was allowed to relax again I sought my marefriend’s eyes seeing a satisfied glint in them, presumably due to the reactions she was able to produce from me. Then just as quickly as the wing teasing had begun she moved her head closer, the warm breath from her slightly open mouth washing over my erection. It didn’t take a genius to understand what she intended to do so I waited almost mesmerized as she slowly opened her mouth wider, sticking her tongue out slightly.

Then in my lustful state an idea struck me, causing me to speak. “Tia wait,” I exclaimed, making her freeze in confusion.

She turned her gaze towards mine. “Is something wrong? Do you not want this?” she asked, a mix of emotions swirling behind her eyes.

A quick explanation later and I found myself with Celestia on top of me her flight suit discarded and her silky coat tickling my bare stomach all while looking at her glistening sex, a heavy intoxicating scent filling my nose. Every so often it would wink in anticipation of what was to come, but before I could begin I felt Celestia’s hot breath on my length again, and moments later I felt tongue give the tip a careful lick. She repeated the process a couple of times, growing more daring with each one until she finally took the head into her warm, wet mouth. Part of me wanted to just simply enjoy the sensation but seeing how I was the one to suggest this position I would see it through. Craning my neck I let my own breath was over her nethers, causing her to wiggle her rump slightly. Encouraged I extended my tongue and let it carefully trace around her outer lips, getting a small taste of her arousal in the process. My teasing actions caused Celestia to moan as she suckled on the tip of my cock, causing a different sensation of pleasure to sweep through me.

Taking my involvement as some sort of go ahead she started to slowly bob her head up and down my length, going a bit deeper every time. An almost competitive feeling rose within me as the pleasure I felt increased yet again. I wasn’t going to lose this, whatever this had become. So I stopped my teasing licks and went straight for the clitoris the next time I saw it wink. My sudden change made Celestia pull away from my length to cry out in bliss before she returned her attention back towards my phallus. She seemingly redoubled her efforts her tongue swirling and playing along my shaft as she bobbed faster and faster. My own tongue danced and darted across her folds trying to keep up with my goddess as we filled the space of my bathroom with moans and other more carnal noises.

A familiar build up suddenly started to make itself known in my lower regions, making me aware of just how close I was getting to a much needed release. “T-Tia I’m about to cum,” I managed to get out. Although she showed no signs of pulling away but rather took my entire length into her warm, waiting mouth until I felt the tip hit the back of her throat. The sensation from the sudden deep throat overwhelmed whatever willpower I had left to hold back, making me pump load after load of hot cum down her throat. As my orgasm started to abate I felt Celestia slowly pull herself off me, keeping her lips wrapped around my head giving it a final tease with her tongue before pulling off completely. She then proceeded to swallow loudly, an action that made my eyes widen slightly in surprise. This side of Celestia was not what I had expected at all, that didn’t mean that i didn’t like it though.

The feeling of Celestia moving slightly, as if she was about to stand up brought me out of after effects of my orgasm. It didn’t sit well with me that I had gotten off but she hadn’t so I quickly started to struggle against the bonds that kept my hands out of commission. Luckily for me Celestia seemed to have forgotten to focus on the magic that held the tank-top tied around my wrists sometime during our interactions and that made it easy to pull one hand free from the bonds, re-enabling the use of my hands. And before Celestia could gather her legs under her my arms shot forward, wrapping around her withers to keep her in place.

“Cloooouuud~” she managed to get out, askingly at first turning into a high pitched moan as my tongue resumed its attack on her sex.

This time I held nothing back, alternating between playing with her clit and pistoning my tongue as deep as I could reach into her soaking pussy. My reward was her moans slowly growing louder and the increase of juices flowing from her nethers. As soon as I was sure that she wouldn’t try to stand up my hands joined my efforts to get her off. My left hand quickly went to her left cutie mark where I started to knead and massage it, meanwhile my right hand reached as far as I could towards her barrel only to have me drag my fingers across her coat gently. I repeated this process with hands, alternating sides while keeping up with my tongue and going by how loud she had gotten she was getting close. In a moment of inspiration I moved my right hand to grab the base of her tail and as soon as my fingers wrapped around it I gave it a slight but distinct tug, pushing Celestia over the edge.

“Oh Faauusst~” she cried out loudly as she came, throwing her head back as waves of ecstasy washed through her.

I did my best to lap up the excess juices she was producing all while her sex kept winking like crazy as the orgasm coursed through her. But instead of slowing down I kept teasing her nethers, intent on making the orgasm last as long as possible. What I didn’t take into account was Celestia unconsciously starting to grind her rear into my face as her body simply wanted more. Doing my best to abide I pulled on her tail again, causing a surprised squeak to escape Celestia this time while my other hand snaked itself in between her legs to tease the parts of her inner thighs that were reachable and occasionally to brush past her clit and her lower lips. At first my goddess seemed to be lost in an after climax daze but after a while under my continued ministrations I felt her starting to tease my length again. Using her wings and her tongue she slowly made my phallus start to grow hard once more. For a while we are lost in our respective efforts of giving and receiving oral pleasure, until Celestia suddenly pulled away a string of saliva and Celestia’s private fluids still connecting us before it snaps.

Moving around to face me on slightly shaky legs she threw me a lust filled gaze before giving voice to a single command or perhaps a request, either way it was one I’d agree to given how aroused I was. “I need you inside me, now,” she says as she looks down on me, biting her lower lip as if trying to restrain herself.

All I could do was to nod dumbly as she repositioned herself on top of me, although this time placing her soaking nethers right onto my lap. She slid back and forth along my length a couple of times, lubricating it with her juices as well as what still remained of her saliva before aligning it with her waiting sex. I watched as she slowly lowered herself onto my arousal, inch after inch disappearing into her wet snatch. Ultimately I hilted inside her, my entire length experiencing the strange sensation of the muscles of her inner walls moving to accommodate the large invader. Then she moved, rising slightly before moving down again which caused me to inhale sharply while Celestia let out a drawn out lusty moan. Keeping things slow she started to bounce up and down my manhood, turning her expression into a mix of bliss and unrestrained lewdness. Given the feeling of pleasure that radiated through my body every time she bounced my expression must have been something similar and as if responding to my more primal needs my hands soon found themselves on her hips. An action that made Celestia seek out my gaze as she increased her pace. My hands in turn started to caress her sides as she rode me with increasing fervor, her moans turning into cries of pleasure as the sound of flesh hitting flesh filled the bathroom.

“Yes! Yes! Oh Faust yes!” she cried out as her walls clamped down around my shaft as my goddess came for the second time this evening.

But I wasn’t done yet, so with a lust filled growl I sat up before pushing Celestia down onto her back. With our positions changed I started to thrust into her quivering canal for all I was worth. Doing my best to control by breathing and speed I continued to piston in and out of her as she rode the remainder of her peak all while mumbling, “yes”.

Leaning down over her I caught her lips, my tongue slipping past her lips all while my hips kept moving at a steady pace. I was getting closer to my second peak myself but I would prefer it if I could make her cum one more time. A preference I probably would have to abandon as I felt my peak growing closer than I would’ve liked. I broke our kiss, thin strings of saliva connecting our tongues as I stared into her lust filled eyes.

“Faster,” she pleaded in a voice thick with lust.

“I’m getting close Tia,” I told her, the thrusts of my hip starting to become erratic but I sped up my thrusts nonetheless.

“Then come Inside, please I’m close again too,” she ordered hotly.

“But-” I started to say but was interrupted.

“It’s okay, my heat is not until the end of next spring,” she managed to force out between cries of ecstasy.

Upon hearing that I put everything I had into a last few powerful thrusts, ramming into her with all the speed and force I could muster before hilting inside her as I felt myself reach my climax. My member pulsed inside her as I shot rope after rope of white thick seed into her depths, pushing her over the edge as well, her pussy effectively milking my manhood for every drop of cum I produced. Our combined cry of passion echoing in my bathroom, before giving way to a more subdued panting as we lay there on the floor in a mess of limbs and bodily fluids. Feeling spent but invigorated at the same time I was the first to recover out of the two of us, sitting up I looked down on my goddess who in turn was gazing at my with a content smile on her muzzle.

“You can’t believe how long it was since someone made me feel like this,” she confessed soflty.

“No, I don’t think I can,” I agreed before continuing. “Come on, we should take shower we came in here for in the first place we kinda reek of sex and sweat at the moment,” I said before bending down to place a quick peck on her lips.

Celestia sniffed the air carefully, recoiling slightly as she too picked up the heavy scents that permeated the bathroom. “I think that sounds like a lovely idea Cloud,” she agreed as she stumbled onto her legs.

And so we walked into the shower together to wash of the remnants of our fornication, Celestia humming happily as warm water started to cascade down upon us. In the falling water the mirth between the two of us seemed simply intoxicating and the bond between having grown to the point where it seemed unbreakable. Absentmindedly I wondered just what I had been so worried about.

Ch 27. NIghtmare night, part 3

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Chapter 27. Nightmare night, part 3

Do you remember all those nights
That we stood side by side
And we said we’ll save the goodbyes
The night is young, we still have time

Do you remember all those nights
That we stood side by side
And we said we’ll save the goodbyes
The night is young, we still have time
Cause I’ve never felt more alive
I’ve felt more alive

Alive!
Alive!
Alive!

Nights were I had guests were in no way rare, Luna and Tia saw to that with their, at points seemingly random, visits. However larger gatherings were another thing all together. While I did enjoy to invite friends to my apartment back on earth I had yet to do so in Equestria. My first Nightmare night was incidently the first time I hosted such an event in Equestria and while it turned out fine (mostly), it gave me a lot of things to work on for my next one. But I guess I’ll shut myself up now as I seem to be focusing too much on the small things.

*~*

Luna’s steps held a certain springy quality to them as she walked down the dirt path leading to Cloud’s strange floating island home, but who could really blame her for her mirth? After all this Nightmare night had gone off without a hitch and now she was going to spend the rest of the evening among close friends. Speaking of friends, a small entourage of said friends followed closely behind her, chatting happily with one another about what they had done so far this evening and what they were looking forward to at Cloud’s place. I must tell him that this gathering was an excellent idea. She thought as Twilight walked up beside her.

“So not to be pushy or anything but are you sure that Cloud hasn’t said anything about what he has planned for tonight?” the younger alicorn asked for what had to be the third time this night.

Rolling her eyes slightly Luna prepared to answer. “Twilight, just relax it will be just fine. If I know Cloud it’s probably going to be something along the lines of dinner followed by mingling with friends,” she told her friend.

“I am relaxed. It’s just that… Well… Cloud has a tendency to do things you don’t expect him to,” Twilight finished lamely, causing Luna to chuckle.

“Alright I’ll concede that point to you, but that being said I’m sure that there will be no strange surprises waiting for us this evening. My sister said that she’d swing by at some point as well so that’s another point in favor of this gathering being normal,” Luna stated calmly.

Luna never saw that the purple alicorn now looked more worried than ever due to a certain pink pony, currently dressed as a llama, came bouncing in between her and Twilight.

“Guys this is going to be so much fun! It’s so rare that I’m the one invited to a party and not being the inviterer. Just think about how much time I would save if I could just somehow make ponies plan parties themselves. But wait… that would mean that I wouldn’t to plan any parties and that would be sad. Perhaps I should…” Luna tuned out Pinkie’s high speed chatter to throw a glance at Twilight who offered her a sheepish expression that Luna only responded to with small amused smile before tuning Pinkie back in. “…or wait was it the other way around? Either way were here!” Pinkie announced cheerfully.

Strangely enough it seemed that the pink pony was indeed correct, which seemed strange to Luna as she could’ve sworn that they had at least five more minutes of walking before Pinkie had shown up. She opened her mouth to ask the smiling pink mare how this was possible when she caught sight of Twilight shaking her head violently on the other side of Pinkie.

Putting her previously intended question on ice she made a motion with a hoof towards the floating island. “Okay then, let’s head inside,”

Her suggestion was met with a chorus of “yeahs” and “alrights” from the ponies around her. Well almost everypony responded that way, the red unicorn stallion that had introduced himself as Swiftmend instead muttered something silently under his breath. Something that was almost too quiet to hear but Luna managed to catch the tail end of it. “…of course he lives on a damned floating island! Why didn’t I notice that there was a damned floating island last time?” He complained almost theatrically. Luna felt an amused smile tease her muzzle as she glimpsed a tiny bit of how this pony had become friends with Cloud, their personalities seemed similar to a degree.

Her smile only grew when she climbed the floating rocks that acted as a set of stairs and beheld the Nightmare night decorations Cloud had put in place on his island. Lining the walkway up to the door were jack-o-lanterns expertly carved into frightening and silly expression, courtesy of the Rustfeather family. Then came the house itself, fake cobwebs were scattered around the building and partial illusion magic gave the house a slightly abandoned feel with boarded up windows that only let out slivers of the light inside. Centerpiece had to be the entrance though as it was framed by a pair of rusty old lanterns that burned with an eerie purple flame. He really went all out with the reception for this get-together, a shame that he didn’t want to share this with more ponies. Luna both praised and sighed at her stubborn friend. Walking up to the door she quickly found that she had left most of the others behind as they stopped on occasion to admire the many of the more unique jack-o-lanterns that were on display.

Well if I hadn’t seen the Rustfeather family work on these yesterday I too would’ve probably wanted to spend some time admiring them. She thought before turning her attention towards the lanterns that hung by the door, the most glaring feature being the fact that their light made her not cast a shadow. Strange, I can’t recall Cloud having mentioned that he knew somepony skilled enough with illusion magic to pull something like this off. Besides myself, my sister and Twilight of course. She thought as she threw a glance back towards toward Twilight who was studying a silly looking jack-o-lantern with square eyes and a square frowny face. I wonder who did these illusion spells? It can’t be Twilight as she has been with me since the opening event. She pondered as the others slowly made their way up the path.

Eventually though everypony had had their fill of admiring the lanterns and had gathered outside the door. Thus Luna raised a hoof a knocked on the door and soon enough soft footfalls could be heard before the door swung open to reveal a smiling Cloud.

“Ah you guys are finally here, well don’t just stand come on in,” he greeted them, stepping to the side to allow them past him.

Returning his smile Luna stayed on the porch as the other guests went past her and into Cloud’s home. “Thank you for inviting us all this evening Cloud,” Luna said as she too stepped past him after the others had entered.

“Eh, think nothing of it Luna, it’s just my way of giving back a little of all I’ve received since I came back,” he told her, shrugging his wings to emphasize his point.

“Ah, yes… well a thank you is always nice, isn’t it?” she asked somewhat derailed from her original greeting.

“Well that’s true enough, guess I’ll just say you’re welcome,” he agreed, starting to move further inside his home.

Taking the cue to follow him she walked up beside him, while silently marveling at the Nightmare night decorations that had been put up on the inside. “So what do you have planned for tonight?” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“Well, I have a movie that I planned on showing sometime during the evening, I think you’ll like it. Other than that I have-” he began but was interrupted as a voice Luna knew very well called out from the direction of Cloud’s kitchen.

“Cloud?! I think there’s something wrong with this frying pan!” her sister’s slightly frustrated voice rang out, making Luna’s eyes widen in fear.

No, no, no! Not again, I’m not dealing with another one of Tia’s kitchen incidents! Luna cried out mentally as her smile rapidly turned into a stale version of the one she previously wore. Had it been a onetime thing it wouldn’t have been so bad, but her sisters ‘many’ attempts at using the castle kitchens after Cloud’s return had turned into a thing of nightmares for Luna. She had witnessed the destruction wrought by her sister firsthand a couple of times. I mean who manages to turn potato soup into a light sedative? And it wasn’t like the chefs dared to complain about it to Celestia either. No, all that was dumped on Luna.

“We demand that you talk to your sister about this otherwise well quit or at the very least go on a strike until our workspace environment is considered safe by the Equestrian Health Board Organization again.” The head chef had demanded about two weeks ago.

She was so lost in her self-induced terror that she didn’t notice that Cloud had left her, heading for the kitchen. In fact she might’ve been mumbling about “all the paperwork” she was going to be forced to do. It wasn’t until her sister stepped into her field of view that she snapped back to reality. “Oh hello sister, it’s so nice to see you here finally,” Celestia said cheerfully, giving her sister a quick hug.

Well she’s practically glowing. Luna thought, slightly bewildered at her sisters mirth. “It’s nice to see you too sister, but I didn’t think you were going to come here this early,” Luna replied carefully.

“I was growing so incredibly bored back at the castle so I decided to drop in early and help Cloud with decorations and other things,” her sister quickly explained.

That explains the expert spell work on the illusions outside. Luna thought. “I see, well I’m going to go talk a bit more with Cloud then,” she resisted the urge to inquire further.

Celestia nodded in response. “Okay, I think I’ll go and have a quick chat with Twilight,” she mentioned before walking off towards her former student.

I wonder where she got that Wonderbolt uniform? Luna wondered absentmindedly as she walked towards the kitchen where she assumed Cloud still was.

Much like she had thought she found Cloud in his kitchen, the smell of cooking food filling the air with a pleasant aroma. For a few moments she just observed him as he worked, stopping occasionally to take a sip from a glass with some sort of pale amber liquid in it. Her presence was soon discovered by Cloud though as he threw a glance around the kitchen seemingly looking for something.

“Ah, hi again Luna. Did you need something?” he greeted her.

“No, I was actually going to ask you the same thing,” she leaned casually on the doorframe.

Cloud waved off her offer for help with one of his hands. “Naa, everything is under control here. The food should be done in about five or so. You could help get everything over to the table once it’s done though,” he elaborated, turning back to stir the contents of one of the pans.

“Okay I’ll guess I’ll just keep you company until then,” she walked into the kitchen proper, sitting down in a spot where she wouldn’t be in Cloud’s way.

“Sure, that sounds like a plan. Oh yeah, grab a drink if you want one,” he answered, motioning towards an assortment of bottles and two punch bowls further down the kitchen counter.

A drink would be nice. She thought as she walked over to one of the punch bowls. The liquid inside held a sickly green color but despite how it looked it gave off a cool scent melon with a hint of lime as well as another scent she couldn’t quite place. Cloud won’t serve anything dangerous. She thought with a slight shrug of her wings. So she lit up her horn and grabbed one of the cups by the bowl and used the ladle in the bowl to fill it. Taking a big gulp the cool liquid washed over her tongue carrying a pleasant taste of the melons and lime she had identified earlier, but what she hadn’t been prepared for was the sharp taste and accompanying burn of alcohol. She coughed as she the mouthful of punch almost went down the wrong pipe, catching Cloud’s attention.

He rushed over to carefully rub her back in an attempt to ease her coughing. “Sorry Luna, I should’ve mentioned that everything to the left of, including the green punchbowl, are alcoholic in nature,” he apologized sheepishly.

She coughed a few more times before she felt that she had recovered enough to speak. “No harm done, but I agree that a warning would’ve been nice,” she agreed with him before taking another sip from the cup, this one being smaller than the first now that she knew what to expect.

“Aight, well food is about done so let’s get all this onto serving plates and then onto the table,” Cloud motioned with a hand towards the food still on the stove.

Nodding in response Luna took one more sip from her cup before setting it aside to assist her friend with the food. That punch isn’t bad, a bit more alcohol than I would’ve normally liked but it definitely isn’t bad. She thought as she moved plates covered with mouthwatering food in her aura over to the dining room table. Finally she helped Cloud move all the beverages to a smaller table that would serve as a self-serving station for the evening, Cloud taking her suggestion from earlier to heart by informing the others of which drinks where alcoholic and those that weren’t. With those tasks completed she soon found herself seated with Twilight to her left and the only griffin for the evening, Gilda, to her right at the dining table.

*<>*

Dinner went came and went in a flash it seemed and now I found myself in my living room talking to Applejack who had dressed up as pear due to a dare from her younger sister. In fact most of my guests were dressed up as something as it was part of the Nightmare night tradition. The only exception was Swiftmend that had come here almost directly from work, but to be honest I was just glad that he had come at all. Speaking of Swiftmend, he was currently chatting with Gilda that surprisingly had taken to him faster than any other pony I’d seen her talk to. The only guests that weren’t here that I had invited were Berry and her husband and of course Fluttershy, Ranger and Stella. The three latter either participating or watching over a large sleepover party for most of Ponyville’s younger individuals.

A question from Applejack brought me back from my thoughts and to my conversation with her. “Say, Cloud why didn’ ya tell me that ya were plannin’ ta serve alcohol? Ah’ could’ve brought some of mah’ cider,” she said before taking a swig from a bottle. One of the Minos ale ones if I didn’t misread the partially covered label.

I shrugged my wings slightly. “To be honest AJ, I had no idea that you even produced alcoholic beverages on the farm,” I told her taking a swig from a bottle of my own.

“Well next time make sure ya ask at least,” she insisted, pausing to take another drink. “This is good stuff though, were did ya get it?” she asked, not even slurring her words after what had to be her fourth bottle after what she drank at dinner.

“Can’t be sure without seeing the label properly but if I had to guess I’d say it’s one of the bottles with Minos ale,” I told her. Applejack quickly moved the bottle in her hoof so more of the label became visible before holding it out so that I could see it more clearly. “Aye that’s a Minos ale,” I confirmed as the minotaur head on the label now had become fully visible.

“Well then, ya gotta tell me next time ya plan ta’ order more of these and I’ll happily pay ya to order a few extra for me,” she smiled. I didn’t have time to reply though as the otherwise calm atmosphere of the party was interrupted by a loud and very slurred shout.

“Pinkiii youu are my beshtest friendsh!” a certain rainbow maned pegasus cried out.

“And yoou arr my beshtest friensh!” Pinkie answered before the two of them slammed into each other with a powerful bear hug.

I resisted the urge to facepalm since this was the third outburst from the energetic duo this evening. And what irked me was that it was something that I should’ve been able to anticipate. Instead I had completely overlooked the fact that I knew nothing about how most of my friends reacted to alcohol. The only pony that I had any previous knowledge of when it came to alcohol was Tia, and by the looks of things Rainbow and Pinkie fell into same weight class as here when it came to tolerance. Then there were the ponies who handled their liquor as well as Applejack did, and were barely affected but still drank responsibly. Surprisingly Rarity fell into this category as well as the two bat ponies. The third category was Swiftmend and Twilight who had simply had a single cup of punch and some wine for the meal and had gone with the alcohol free options after that, a decision that I respected. With a sigh I threw a glance at the still hugging Pinkie and Rainbow. At least they’re not crying this time. I thought to myself.

“Tell you what Jackie, remind me tomorrow about the ale and I’ll make a note of it. For now though I think I’ll have to go and ban Pinkie and Rainbow from drinking anymore beverages with alcohol tonight,” I told my conversation partner.

Applejack chuckled. “Yeah, good luck with that. And Jackie? Never had that as a nickname before,” she kept her smile though, a good sign that she didn’t disapprove of the nickname.

I shot her a quick grin. “Well first time for everything, right?” I gave her a lazy two finger salute before walking off towards Pinkie and Rainbow.

When I came within hearing distance I picked up on the fact that the two were holding a conversation but I was hesitant to call it that. Due to their intoxication I had no way of following what was being said, it was just a mish mash of slurred words. Yep definitely time to cut them off from more alcohol tonight. I affirmed before clearing my throat to catch their attention.

“Hii Cloud, naysh party,” Pinkie slurred, holding out an almost empty cup of punch towards me.

“Thank you. Now I’m glad that the two of you are enjoying the party but I think that you’ve had enough to drink for the night,” I informed them bluntly, keeping my tone as neutral as possible. It was better to get the message across cleanly after all, without any sugar coating that could be misinterpreted.

Rainbow, who seemingly hadn’t realized that I was there until I spoke pointed angrily with a hoof at me. “You caan’t tell me when I’ve haad enouf!” she near shouted. Well to be fair she was pointing and looking into empty space to the right of me before promptly losing her balance, falling flat on her face.

“Ouuch,” She moaned as she slowly got back up to sit on her haunches. Her eyes found me again and reacted as if I had just arrived. “Oh hello Cloyd, naysh party but there’sh shomthing wrong with yoor floor. It keepsh moving for shome reashon,” she complained.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, this was going to take a while.

*<>*

“For the fourth time, you can have as much of the non-alcoholic punch as you want but you’ve had too much of the spiked one already,” a tired sounding Cloud explained.

“I’m totally fire,” Laughter declared loudly.

“Do you mean fine? ‘Cause you aren’t,” Cloud rolled his eyes.

“That’sh what I shed,” Laughter said waving a hoof dismissively. “Look I can even shtand on two legsh,” she continued.

“You’re sitting down and just put your fore hooves on Rainbow’s head,” Cloud deadpanned.

“Did not!” Laughter shot back.

Star Spark snickered as she watched Cloud argue with the element of Loyalty and Laughter, well mostly Laughter at this point as Loyalty seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep where she sat.

“What’cha doin’?” Gilda asked, as she appeared to her left.

“Eh, just watching Cloud fight a losing battle for once,” she said, reaching out with a wing to grab a bowl of chips from a nearby table.

The griffin tilted her head in confusion. “Why ish he fighting Rainbow and the pink one?”

Star let out a chuckle as Cloud failed to stop Laughter from getting around him to refill her cup with more punch. “Well, he isn’t really fighting them per say but he’s trying to limit their alcohol consumption for the night,”

“Ah, that makesh sense. Probably a good idea too I notished Dash and the pink one were light weights,” Gilda nodded, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was well on her way to suffer the same fate as the two element bearers.

Instead of pointing that out Star just took a sip from her own cup of punch, enjoying mix of tastes for a moment before swallowing. Meanwhile Cloud had managed to get Laughter to surrender her current cup of punch to him by offering her ice cream as a trade. Although as he turned around to head out to the kitchen Laughter seemed to have forgotten about the promise she had just made and went to get another cup of punch, causing Star to snort with laughter.

“You seem to be having fun,” Longshot remarked from her right as he suddenly appeared.

She made an effort to stop giggling. “Well yeah, it’s almost like a comedy act except there’s no script. Good timing on your part though, here watch my drink for me,”

Longshot raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want to bring it with me when use the filly’s room and my bladder is about to burst,” She explained patiently.

Longshot sighed. “Alright I didn’t need to know that, just get going already,”

She shot him a smirk before trotting off with slightly hurried steps towards Cloud’s bathroom. It seemed that lady luck was with her as the bathroom wasn’t occupied when she got there, so without wasting any time she got inside and locked the door. She walked over to the porcelain chair Cloud used as a toilet but stopped after only a few steps, there was something off in this room. She couldn’t place her hoof on what it was but something that felt strange, like an itch she couldn’t scratch or perhaps a scent she couldn’t place… Star froze in place before carefully smelling the air, there was a hint of sweat but also something else. Now intrigued she walked around the bathroom, trying to find the source of the strange scent. Ultimately she came to a pause beside a piece of cloth that seemed to have been left haphazardly in a corner of the bathroom. The smell was stronger here but from where she recognized it still eluded her, sitting down she picked it up to inspect what it was. Oh this is one of those clothing articles that Cloud wears. She realized as the crumpled tank-top hung from her hoof. But what is this scent? I feel that it’s familiar somehow almost like waking up after the day your hea-

Star Spark’s eyes widened as her mind finally connected the dots. Okay, okay, Star you got this. No need to overreact, you just learnt that your alien friend is dicking one of the princesses. This is a completely normal scenario, actually wait… This is completely normal for Equestria. Her mind raged before settling down slightly. But wait does Luna know about this? Would she approve of this? Should I keep this a secret to help Cloud? This doesn’t fall under the princess’s personal safety, right? Her mind started up again.

More questions kept joining the first batch until she felt that the only way to get something done was to get somepony to help her. She spared a few moments to use the bathroom, as that had been her original goal, before hurrying back over to where Longshot was still waiting with her drink.

He raised a hoof to greet her. “Hey, what took you so lo-”

“No time, I need you to come with me to the bathroom,” she interrupted him.

Longshot didn’t move an inch though. Instead he just raised an eyebrow. “Star I respect you as a colleague but I don’t like you that way. Do I have to remind you that I have a wife and two little fillies that I love very much in Canterlot?”

Star groaned. “Okay that sounded bad but this is important, now come on,”

For a few seconds Longshot did nothing but study her. “Alright fine, but if this turns out to be one of your weird schemes I’m out,” he said before standing up to follow her.

Star hurried over to the bathroom again as fast as she could while remaining inconspicuous, Longshot in tow although much less hurried. Once inside she darted over to the discarded article and grabbed it.

“Here smell this,” she told Longshot, holding out the item towards him.

“Okay, I’m out I’m not dealing with your conspiracy crap and I’m definitely not getting drugged tonight,” he declared, turning around to leave.

“Wait! It’s no conspiracy this time nor is this drugged I promise!” she cried out, making him pause.

He gave her a tired look. “Really? ‘Cause I’m just waiting for you to ask if that rag smells like chloroform,”

“That was one time! And for the record how was I supposed to know that it actually was chloroform?” she defended herself.

“Oh I don’t know, the fact that the mare whose apartment we were searching was part of a pony trafficking group perhaps?” he deadpanned.

She winced before offering him a sheepish smile. “Err, I forgot about that part. But I promise you that it isn’t like that this time,”

“Fine, fine, I’ll smell the Luna damned rag,” Longshot bent forward to take a whiff.

He stood there pondering for a few seconds. “You know that almost smells like a mare when she-” He began, pausing as part of the truth seemed to strike him like a bolt of lightning. “Oh for buck’s sake Star! I don’t want to know that you want to get laid!” he complained loudly.

Reacting to his outburst Star desperately tried to make him quiet down. “It’s not mine so calm down already,” she hissed at him.

Longshot slowly put a hoof and pinched a spot between his muzzle and his eyes, a gesture he had picked up from Cloud when he was feeling exasperated. “And just who does that smell belong to if it’s not yours?”

She put the article down again. “It was already here when I went to take my leak. Seeing how this belongs to Cloud I think the smell is from princess Celestia,” she explained quickly, starting to feel a bit excitement bubble up to the surface.

Longshot did not seem to share her enthusiasm. “Oh for the love of… I’m afraid to ask and I implore you to answer carefully as it’s going to determine what I do next, but what are you implying that we should do?”

“Isn’t obvious we need to make sure princess Luna doesn’t find out,” she declared dramatically.

“That’s it I’ve had with your crazy ideas of intrigue and deception, I’m out,” Longshot turned on the spot and started to walk out of the bathroom.

“Loooong, come oooon,” she called after him.

He stopped and turned his head to look at her. “No, all three of them are adults and can handle all that on their own, further more I’m quite sure that the princesses discuss these things among each other,”

Star inhaled and raised a hoof. “And no before you even ask I don’t want to try and find out if the princesses actually do talk about those things,” He shot her down before walking out of the bathroom.

“Well he’s no fun…” she muttered, her initial near panic attack all but forgotten.

“Eh, guess I’ll go and chat a bit with that good looking red unicorn doctor,”

*~*

He had to admit that this small gathering of Stormcloud’s had surpassed the expectations that he had had. Then again his expectations of most things hadn’t been that high the past few years as he had buried himself in his studies to finish his doctors’ degree. Now that he was done with that though he felt ready to tackle the world again, one thing at a time. Of course he would prefer if he could do so without getting caught up in some weird adventure again. But as it seemed like this was actually just a party and not some front for another world spanning catastrophe strategy meeting he started to actually enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.

First he had just kept a rather standard conversation with Gilda, regarding their mutual interest in keeping their information on Storm synced. They’d surely need it someday, not that they knew the reason but it felt good to have somepony, or somegriff in this case, that understood how hard it could be to cope with all the crazy that followed Storm.

So far though the longest discussion he had held was with the newly crowned princess Sparkle regarding the reference literature he had used when he wrote his doctorate. While it had been an interesting conversation most of his focus had been on the fact that she seemed so normal, actually all of the princesses seemed to be just like normal ponies. Well, you had to disregard the horn and wings combo but other than that they mingled pretty easily with the small crowd. His conversation had come to an end when princess Sparkle had been called away by the orange earth pony mare, Applejack he thought her name was.

Now having a moment to himself he used it to study the other party guests. Storm seemed to be stuck in an argument of some kind with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash two of the more vocal members of Ponyville, something that definitely showed in their interactions with Storm. On the other side of the room was one of the bat pony guards who was observing Storm’s struggle together with Gilda and a bit to their left was the other bat pony who was currently munching on some of the snacks that had been brought out after dinner. Then there was princess Celestia who was chatting with the white unicorn who held the element of generosity, although he couldn’t recall her name at all. That leaves-

“Quite a nice gathering, isn’t it?” a pleasantly cool voice called out from behind him, interrupting his crowd gazing.

Hiding the fact that he had been startled by her sudden appearance he turned to face the alicorn of the night herself. “Quite pleasant indeed princess Luna. Is there anything I can do for you?”

The princess seemed to observe him carefully as if trying to figure his very identity. “Hmm, you carry yourself well even though you were startled just now,”

He opened his mouth to speak but the princess continued before he could utter any sound. “There’s no need to be alarmed Dr. Swiftmend, I’m simply curious as to what type of pony you are and how you got to know Cloud,”

He exhaled when he heard her calm tone. “I’d say that I’m just like any other pony out there but I have a feeling that you know more about me than you’re letting on,”

“Very perceptive of you, this is good. Let’s just drop all pretenses shall we?” she said approvingly.

He met her gaze before answering. “What do you want to know?”

“It’s not as much to know as it is for you to confirm something for me, to fill in a missing piece of a puzzle if you will,” She elaborated before posing her question. “During Cloud’s first visit to Equestria he ran into a unicorn that helped him on different occasions, are you this unicorn?”

So Storm actually kept my name from the princesses? Crazy bastard. He thought but a small smile had found itself onto his muzzle. “Yeah, I’m the unicorn that helped Storm from time to time and also the one that helped him prepare the spell that ultimately brought him back to his home,” he declared, surprised at the fact that his voice didn’t waver but more so at the hint of anger that had crept in to it.

The princess held up a hoof. “Peace Dr. Swiftmend, peace. I’m not here to point blame at anypony, I simply wanted to satisfy my curiosity. What’s more I wanted to try and get to know you actually since Cloud seems to trust you completely,”

That made him pause. Stormcloud trusts me that much? “I don’t know how to respond to that princess,”

The princess winced slightly. “I guess I should’ve added that we should drop all titles as well to keep this conversation less formal. It’s my mistake for not saying anything earlier but I’d like it you simply called me Luna here,”

“Alright, I’ll try to keep that in mind. May I ask why though?” he asked, feeling genuinely curious.

Luna gave a wistful smile. “It’s quite simple really, here in Cloud’s home it feels like everyone are considered to be equals regardless of background. It is refreshing to have such a haven to retreat to when you just want someone to talk to without titles or proper decorum to get in the way. A place to drop all the masks one wears if you may,” she finished with a knowing smile.

Alright, Storm may not have told them my name but he definitely filled them in on the similarities between us. It’s either that or Luna is scary perceptive. He thought before sighing. “Okay, you win. I’ll drop my defenses and enjoy the evening, that’s what you were aiming for all this time wasn’t it?”

Luna adopted a confused expression. “No, this wasn’t what’s normally called ice-cracker conversation?”

Swiftmend felt his eyes widen and his mouth fall open slightly before he caught himself. “I think the term you’re looking for is icebreaker, and those are normally more open ended,” he explained carefully.

The princess looked genuinely surprised. “Really?”

Swiftmend nodded, feeling emboldened by the fact that she did not seem to be upset. “Really,”

She scrunched her muzzle slightly at his confirmation. “But Tia said…”

He watched as the night alicorn connected the dots, a dangerous smile finding its way onto her muzzle. “I’m afraid we’ll have to continue this conversation later Swiftmend, I need to have words with my dear sister,”

He only time to nod in response before Luna swept away, presumably hunting for her sister that had left the room at some point. Okay what did just happen? He wondered as his brain started to function somewhat normally again. He would have no time to figure it out though as one of the bat ponies pretty much appeared out of nowhere in front of him.

The bat pony flashed him a toothy grin. “Hi there, I don’t think I introduced myself earlier, I’m Star Spark,”

He was about to answer when he noticed that her eyes were practically glued to his flank, making him pause. You know what I’m too sober to deal with this right now. He thought before muttering to himself. “Buck this I need another drink,” he turned around, leaving the confused bat pony behind.

Instead he headed over to the drink table where Storm had seemingly given up at any attempts to stop Pinkie Pie from getting more alcohol. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof had fallen asleep at some point and was snoring softy on a rug. As he approached his human friend lifted an arm in a tired greeting.

“’lo Swifty, enjoying the night so far?”

He opened his mouth to answer that it was strange but realized that it would almost be like the pot calling the kettle black so he quickly restructured his answer. “It’s fine, some minor misunderstandings but otherwise fine,”

Stormcloud nodded. “That’s good to hear. Say are you staying to watch the movie? I was just about to suggest that we start,”

Swiftmend titled his head in confusion. “Staying to watch the movie? I didn’t know that you had a projector and a screen, and while we’re on the subject aren’t movies around 15 minutes long?”

The human smirked. “I forgot that you haven’t really been over here as much as the others have. Well, simply put we’ll be using technology from my old world to watch a movie that clocks in at around 117 minutes,”

Swiftmend felt his jaw drop slightly again. Such a lengthy film was unheard of in Equestria and to witness such a thing would be an experience he really didn’t want to pass up. “I’ll stay for that, it sounds interesting,”

Stormcloud’s expression brightened a bit more. “Wonderful, I’ll get to rounding up the guests that are still in a somewhat sober state,” Cloud announced cheerfully, before stalking off to perform his self-appointed task.

About ten minutes later Swiftmend found himself sitting between Gilda and princess Luna in Storm’s living room. An eerie tune filled the air as a projector, advanced beyond anything he’d seen before, cast the image of a planet slowly passing by. Slowly lettering in a strange alphabet Swiftmend did not recognize began to appear, spelling out what he could only assume was the title for the movie. I think Storm said that it was called Alien. He thought before the image changed to some sort of advanced computer room.

*<>*

I idly ran a hand through Celestia’s mane as she had put her head across my lap some forty minutes into the movie. Not that I was really watching the movie myself as much as I was observing my other guests for the evening. Luna who had been boasting about she had watched movies from my world before was half hiding behind a wing while holding onto Longshot as if he was a teddy bear to keep her safe from the monster under the bed. Longshot was clearly uncomfortable with having Luna that close, but his professional attitude as guard made it so he had a tough time giving voice to his discomfort. Then there were Swiftmend, Twilight and Gilda who were completely enthralled by the spectacle playing out before them while sharing a large bowl of popcorn.

Of course there was the crowd that was worse off than Luna when it came to fright and group contained Applejack, Rarity and Star Spark. All three who were all busy hiding behind various objects in my living room, peaking out occasionally ready to slap their hooves over their ears and close their eyes as soon as something scary happened. Last of we had the two ponies that hadn’t managed to stay awake through the night and were now both curled up beside each other under the drink table, snoozing peacefully completely unaware of the movie being shown.

A happy sigh from Celestia brought me back from my observations and back to girlfriend. Or is it a marefriend? I wondered idly as I ran my fingers through her soft mane. It didn’t matter I decided as my thoughts turned to the recent past. This had been an eventful day to say the least, probably one I’d remember for as long as I lived. A smile found itself onto my lips as I felt that everything right now was right in the world.

Ch 28. Encounters on a rainy night

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Chapter 28. Encounters on a rainy night

Cast down into the darkness
To stumble towards unknown
Only emptiness to hold on to
Only shadows to seek support from

So arm your heart with self-worth
Yet prepare for sorrow and pain
Don’t let the fear eat you from inside
Wear your weaknesses with pride

I believe that with me inviting the Rustfeathers back to stay with me I set in motion the events that would lead my idea of a home. Sure I had rekindled friendships, made new ones and had resumed dating Celestia, but without that sense of familiarity that the Rustfeathers added to the mix the process of me settling in would likely have been much longer. What I’m trying to say is treasure those who genuinely care for you, and I mean in any and all possible meanings of the word care. They may not be able to stand by your side at all times, demanding such can easily enter the realm of the unreasonable. Although don’t be afraid to reach out to them in times of need either.

*~*

With Nightmare night having come and gone life once again found its way onto a more normal path. Well almost normal at least, the Rustfeathers had left for their inn in Gryphus on the airship about a week after the events of Nightmare night, but it wasn’t to return there
No, they had declared their intentions to move to Ponyville or Canterlot as they felt that Gryphus wasn’t as safe as it once had been for them. From what Ranger had told me when the two of us had discussed the matter, the trip back would serve two purposes. One being the selling of their old inn and the other was to bring back anything of value from their past home. I had protested at first of course, knowing full well the potential danger such a trip might entail. Only Ranger had been prepared for that and reassured me almost instantly that he still had more than a few favors to call in with the Gryphus guard. So I changed my approach angle and offered to accompany them to serve as extra security, only to be shot down by Ranger’s arguments once more. At that point I had conceded and had asked him about his plans for the future instead. He had just calmly responded that he had received a couple of job offers here in Ponyville and a few directly from Luna as well apparently. Placated, my only response had been to offer my home to them once they returned so that Ranger could figure out the best solution without having to worry about finding a place to live.

Now it had been almost two weeks since they left and I could only assume that things were going according to Ranger’s plans. As the saying went ‘no news are good news’ after all. That didn’t mean I was worried about them at times though, and I would often find myself staring out into empty space on particularly calm days. My home just felt so empty after having had the Rustfeathers living there for so long. The sudden silence that now filled my home seemed deafening at times, but it was by no means a constant, my friends and Tia saw to that I was never truly alone. Yet the times when I found myself staring out into empty space didn’t go away, instead they became more frequent starting to carry a strange sense of familiarity with them whenever I caught myself. It wasn’t until about a week after the Rustfeathers had left that I finally got a clue as to where the feeling of familiarity came from.

I had been visiting Fluttershy, well visiting Hisserton to be precise when I had experienced one of my new lapses in focus. My last action before I my mind had wandered had been to open the door in preparation to leave so I’m not sure if the yellow pegasus noticed that I froze for a moment but it was her voice that snapped me out of it.

“Oh my, seems like the weather team in Canterlot has put together quite the nasty storm for this evening,” She had remarked timidly from beside me as she had observed the mass of dark clouds over the capitol.

I had bid her farewell after that, managing to make it halfway to my home before the possible answer to my momentary lapses in focus struck me. Maybe, just maybe, was there a possibility that my senses were getting stronger. I had thought to myself. After all I had managed to connect my consciousness to the massive storm that had raged in Canterlot during the Star incident. So perhaps it was the storms that caused me to zone out. I had deduced. Intrigued I had closed my eyes and attempted to focus on the distant storm only for nothing to happen. At that point I had already discarded my theory and had resumed walking back to my home, enjoying the contrast of the golden sunset that was taking place in Ponyville and distant rumble of the brewing Canterlot storm.

*~*

Two days later I had all but forgotten about Fluttershy’s comment about storms and was about to end the nightshift at Berry’s bar. However this particular night it seemed that the Ponyville weather team had decided to make the sky imitate a massive waterfall. In fact I had already been offered to stay the night at Berry’s place, my stubborn side had made me refuse that though. So as soon my shift had ended I had darted out into the pouring rain intent on getting home as fast as possible, staying dry wasn’t an option though.

I made it about halfway through town when a flash lit up the night and as the following crash of thunder rumbled through the night so did the presence of the storm crash into my consciousness. Suddenly the pouring rain and my soaked clothes didn’t matter anymore, nor did my worries about the Rustfeathers. My world had become the storm, and what a world it was. I felt the raw natural force between the falling rain, the wind and the occasional discharge in the clouds. This ‘natural’ phenomena was uncaring about what it did to its surroundings, its only purpose being to rage until it reached its end. So there I stood, a conduit for the storm, feeling the thrill of the pure force behind the storm and with a mind clear of unnecessary worry. It was a feeling that I had only experienced once before in my life, on a stormy but very different night long ago in Canterlot. I welcomed the feeling back like a long lost friend.

My connection didn’t last long though, seeing how I lost it about four seconds later. And so I was left standing there in the rain, feeling humbled by what I had just been a part of. As I stood there I started to slowly come to the realization that this was very much a part of me, of my inheritance and it was likely that this incident was connected to all those times I had spaced out since coming back. Needless to say I wanted to know more about it, how did my consciousness merge with the storm and how long could I potentially stay merged? And since it was clear that the bouts of spacing out were related to the storms was there a way to block them out? More questions kept appearing so I did the only thing I could think of, I went to visit the most wellread individual I knew of, I went to visit Twilight in the middle of a stormy night to pester her about maps of Equestria and other things I’d need for my research.

*<>*

Twilight awoke with a start at the sound of somepony alternating between hammering on her door and repeatedly ringing her doorbell. What the hay could be so Celestia darned important at…, she threw a glance at the clock in her room, at half past two? She groaned mentally as she crawled out from her warm, soft bed. A flash of light from outside the window momentarily brought her attention towards the storm currently raging outside before the incessant ringing of the doorbell brought her attention back to the nightly ‘guest’.

“Alright hold on for just one second will you?” She muttered irritably as she started to make her way down to the castle main door.

A few moments later she found herself by the big entrance door where whoever was outside had gone back to hammering on the door again. Stifling a yawn she lit her horn and opened the door slightly so that she could peek outside without the storm inviting itself inside too. What she found though caused her to groan with frustration again though as her nightly guest was none other than Cloud.

She opened the door a bit more so that she could talk to him, well hear his excuse for waking her really. “Cloud it’s in the middle of the night, it’s currently storming and I have to get up early tomorrow. Can’t whatever it is you want wait until tomorrow at least?”

Cloud flashed her a smile, not a sheepish one just his normal smile. “Hello Sparkle butt, do you have any maps of Equestria on hand, and could I borrow one if you do?” He asked, seemingly ignoring her own questions.

She gone from tired to tired and confused now. “I do have such a map, multiple actually. But why do you need a map?”

“Just for a bit of research,” He answered evasively.

Despite her tired state and her mounting confusion she managed to give him one of her best ‘really?’ looks, raised eyebrow and all.

Cloud seemed to notice the look she was giving him rather quickly although it seemed to have next to no effect on him. “Come now Sparkle butt I thought you liked research?” He chuckled.

“I do but-” She had time to say before Cloud suddenly slipped past her and into the castle.

“Great, then let’s get to it!” He proclaimed, marching towards her castle library.

Her feelings were a mix of exasperation and annoyance as she watched her human friend walk further into the castle. “Of course he won’t listen, why did I expect anything else?” She muttered as she started down the path Cloud had taken to her library.

Unfortunately for Twilight she hadn’t paid any attention to the fact that Cloud had in fact been soaked to the bone by the storm outside. And as lady Luck would have it one of Twilight’s hind hooves quickly found a spot were the water dripping off Cloud had pooled on the crystal floor. A surprised yelp escaped her as the aforementioned hoof slipped away under her, causing her to sit down painfully on her rump. The yelp seemed to have caught Cloud’s attention as his head appeared from around the bend where it had disappeared earlier.

“You okay there princess?” He asked as he walked over to where she was sitting, his long legs allowing him to cross the distance in about two seconds.

“Oh I’m just peachy, not at all frustrated that my friend is actively choosing to ignore my attempts to complain.” She replied, her voice thick with sarcasm.

Cloud adopted a weird expression, something between a smile and a frown. “Sarcasm isn’t like you Sparkle butt, now come on there is research to be done.”

She opened her mouth to rebuke him but was cut off as Cloud bent down and picked her up, placing her under one of his arms. She inhaled sharply as she immediately became aware of two things. The first one being just how wet Cloud and Cloud’s clothes were and the second being just how cold he was. With those two facts quickly established she wasn’t slow to voice her complaints.

“Cloud you’re completely drenched and ice cold could you please put me down?”

Cloud who had already begun to walk towards the castle library again came to a stop before looking down at her and then at his soaked clothes and finally back at the wet foot prints he was leaving behind him on the crystal floor. “Huh, so I am,” He said as if just now noticing that not a single part of him was dry.

Twilight found herself facehoofing as her friend set her back onto the floor. Its official, again, my friends are crazy. It was bad enough when I tried to figure out Pinkie, I don’t deserve to be tested like this. She bemoaned her situation as she tried her best to calm down.
Exhaling slowly she turned her gaze back towards Cloud who was currently just observing her, although he still seemed to be quite impatient.

Praying to all known deities on Equus she tried to coerce Cloud into making sense once again. “Alright, so here is how this can go down. One, you can tell me what you need the map for and if it seems important I’ll even help you with your research. If not I’ll just teleport you home so you can come borrow the map tomorrow. Two, you don’t tell me what you intend to do with the map and I teleport you back out into the rain and I’ll sound proof my bedroom so I get some sleep,”

For the first time since Cloud had entered the castle he seemed to lose some of the unnatural energy he had been running on. “Well, this goes all the way back to my first visit really,” He started but came to a contemplative pause, as if he wasn’t sure on how to continue. He was quick to resume talking though when she made an impatient gesture with her hoof. “Okay I’ll make a long story short. Last time I was here I managed to connect, for the lack of a better word, to storms. Well storm like weather really and the most stable and strongest connection I experienced back then was that night in Canterlot. While connected I was able to feel the static build ups before lightning struck, I could sense the air currents in the storm and so on. Since I returned I haven’t experienced anything like that until a few days ago. It started with me spacing out at random and it stayed that way until tonight when I somehow managed to connect with the storm that’s currently going on outside,” He quickly summarized for her, leaving her at a loss for words.

To her credit, or at least she thought so, she collected herself quickly. “I remember you mentioning this… this connection as you call it when you had just returned to Ponyville. I guess I forgot about due to everything else that happened that day,” She murmured mostly to herself before making a decision. “Alright, color me intrigued Cloud, I’m in, although you have yet to explain what you need the maps for. Wouldn’t actual literature pertaining to Storm paragons be of more help?” She relented.

Cloud looked as if he was mentally weighing what she had said before speaking again. “Well yes, although last time I asked about this Luna informed me that most literature related to Storm paragons had been lost ages ago. The maps were more to just confirm whether my lapses in focus are actually me sensing faraway storms or something else,”

She nodded thoughtfully when she heard his reasoning. “An apt assumption and a viable method of testing I suppose, however just a map is going to be next to useless without the Equestrian weather schedule for upcoming days,”

She resisted the urge to facehoof again when a light of realization appeared in Cloud’s eyes at the mention of the weather schedule. “Ah… I hadn’t thought about that,” He admitted sheepishly.

She sighed before speaking up again. “Well no matter, we can probably borrow and or make a copy of Rainbow Dash’s schedule tomorrow. For now why don’t you sit down in the library and start with writing down anything you can think of that might help us research this particular ability of yours,”

Cloud nodded in agreement as he listened to her plan. “Can do, just point me in the direction of your writing utensils,”

“They are in the cabinet just to the left just as you enter the library,” She provided quickly before continuing with a question. “Now I’m going to head over to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee, do you want any?”

“Sure I’ll have some coffee,” He said happily.

“Alright then, you just go ahead and get started and I’ll be with you momentarily,” She told him before walking off towards her new destination.

A few moments later she found herself in castle kitchen, reaching out with her magic to grab some instant coffee and a kettle to boil some water in. Using a quick heating spell she channeled a steady amount of heat towards the bottom of the kettle making the water boil within a minute. This spell, while simple, had helped her many a nights studying when she was still Celestia’s student as it had provided her with warm coffee with minimal downtime.

After adding the coffee powder to a large coffee pot she proceeded to quickly add the water, the steam carrying the pleasant smell of fresh coffee before she put a lid on it. Grabbing two cups form one of the many cupboards she was ready to head back to the library where Cloud had hopefully had some time to collect his thoughts. I’m surprised he came to me to ask for help, wouldn’t Luna or Celestia be the better choice to help him with his abilities. She pondered as her hooves carried her into the corridor that lead to the library. Eh, I guess I shouldn’t complain as I can now study the abilities of the closest thing to a live Storm paragon that I know of. She decided as she reached the door and pushed it open.

“Cloud I have the coffee,” She announced giddily only to find the library empty.

Did he go to the bathroom or something? She wondered as she trotted over to the large central table in the room. She put the coffee and the cups down at the table looking around for any clues as to where her human friend might’ve gone. Suddenly a chilly wind rushed through the library and as she shuddered her eyes were drawn to one of the library windows that was now slightly ajar. Hurrying over she closed the window before any more gusts could threaten her warmth or her precious books. I swear if Cloud doesn’t have a good reason for opening that window he’ll get no coffee from me. She grumbled to herself as she walked back to the table where she had left the thermos. Upon returning she took notice of a small slip of parchment on the floor beneath the table that the wind must’ve carried there. Her curiosity sparked she used her magic to hold it up in front of her. Two things quickly became apparent to her the moment she did that. The first one being that it was a note from Cloud and the second being that he was no longer in the castle. For a moment she wasn’t sure of how exactly she should proceed, but then she just shrugged her wings while magicking the note into a small ball. Said ball then found itself being magically thrown into a nearby trashcan while the alicorn of friendship poured herself some coffee.

“It’s not my problem right now,” She muttered before taking a sip of liquid wakefulness.

Now let’s see if I have any literature on hoof that might be useful. She thought, and soon Cloud’s short note was all but forgotten. A note that had read:

Went to get weather schedule, I’ll be back in a jiffy!

/Cloud

*<>*

I stood outside Rainbow’s door, knocking on it incessantly as I wanted to get my hands on the weather schedule as soon as possible. The fact that I was more or less repeating the actions I had taken with Twilight just about 20 minutes earlier was completely lost to me. My knocking came to an abrupt stop though when I heard a window above me open with a slight creak. Any other time I would’ve wondered just how it was possible for a cloud to creak but this time I just turned my gaze upwards, just in time to see a groggy looking Rainbow stick her head out of the window. I couldn’t tell for sure due to the low light conditions and still falling rain but it looked like it took her a few seconds to realize that it was me standing down at her door.

“Huh, Cloud? What’s going on? What time is it? Where’s the fire?” She asked before yawning audibly.

I raised a hand to greet her as I flashed her a smile. “Yo Rainbow! It’s around three AM I think and I need to borrow your weather schedule for the entire Equestrian region,”

Silence reigned. “Uh? Rainbow could I borro-” I began but was cut off by the window violently slamming shut, Rainbow’s angry cussing still clearly heard from inside before everything went quiet once more. I was left standing outside Rainbow’s door wondering to myself, was it something I said?

Ch 29. One step sideways, one step back and one letter sent

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Chapter 29. One step sideways, one step back and one letter sent

I was longing to feel it, crying for sleep
Finding the essence, burned by the heat
Given the answer, given the cause
Suddenly seeing, it was lost when I called

I’m crashing down – nothing to keep
Without a sound – I wed the weak
When it turns out the enemy’s loose
At the back of my mind it is twisting the truth

Something that I’ve learnt over the years is that there’s always an alternate solution to a problem you’re having. It may sound obvious to some but at the same time I would argue that it may not always be the case. Take for example building something like a bookshelf, for some it may be as simple as going out and acquiring the materials needed and bam, you build yourself a bookshelf. But say you aren’t skilled in carpentry then what do you do? Here’s where my argument of multiple solutions starts to become relevant, there are in fact three solutions I can come up with from the top of my mind without having to think about the problem for too long. Should everything still seem bleak after trying to figure out an alternate solution there’s always the option to bring in a second person to look at your problem, a new set of eyes and a new perspective can be invaluable to your success. I guess that in all my ramblings the lesson I’m trying to convey is to not give up when your first approach to a problem didn’t work.

*~*

Morning was brewing in Ponyville and I found myself strolling down the main street, watching the various establishments open to my left and right. It had been a little over a week since Twilight and I started trying to figure out just how my abilities actually worked, or rather just the connection thing. This research had made me stay over at Twilights many nights already this week and this morning was no different, in fact all I was going to do was to stop by Rarity to see if my order of warmer clothes was done before heading home to grab a change of clothes and finally returning to Twilight to resume our research. Perhaps I should grab some breakfast from Sugarcube corner on the way back to. I pondered as I walked towards the Carousel boutique, waving back to the occasional pony who noticed that I was passing by. A particularly cold autumn wind suddenly gusted through the street, causing me to shiver slightly and to wrap my arms around myself in an attempt to block some of the cold. I really need to get ahold of some clothes more suited for the season. I thought as the wind died down. The weather still wasn’t inhospitable during the day, but I had noticed that my breath misted during the colder nights now so getting warmer clothes definitely was a priority.

With that in mind I increased my pace so that I could get to dealing with my business quicker. Only I had time to take about four more steps before a distant sound caused me to pause. In fact it sounded as if it was getting closer at a rapid pace.

“Cloooooouuuuuud!” Was all I managed to register before something heavy, soft and fast talking slammed into my back, causing me to stumble forward as it latched onto me in one of the more aggressive glomps I’d received to this date.

“Oh my gosh I thought that I would never see you again after you started researching with Twilight, not that I don’t think that you shouldn’t do research with Twilight that’s cool and all but I really missed you and all and then I got a double blink, itchy hoof and scratchy ear Pinkie tell and I knew that one of my friends was feeling slightly cold and then I thought to myself who would think it’s cold this early in the fall season and then I remembered that you have no coat so it must be you that was feeling cold and so I went out to look for you and saw you further down the street and was so happy to see you that I couldn’t help myself! So how are you?” She fired of at a rapid pace, I was quite sure that she didn’t breathe at any point of it either.

Smiling I looked over my shoulder and into the beaming face of Pinkie who was still clinging to my back. “I’m fine Pinks, but as you said I’m slightly cold so I was heading to Rarity’s to see if my order of warmer clothes was done,”

Pinkie’s face turned contemplative for a moment. “Oh, mind if I tag along? I’m free until the lunch rush hours start,”

Having no reason to disagree I simply told her. “Sure,” making the pink pony quickly climb up my back until she settled into her usual spot with her muzzle resting on top of my head.

“Now onward to dresses and morning scones!” Pinkie declared happily, while pointing the way with a hoof.

A snort of barely suppressed laughter escaped me as I started to walk down the street again with my newly reacquired pony back warmer. I wasn’t going to question her random outbursts and I sure as hell wasn’t going to turn down her company. She was after all the pony I felt that I was closest too among all ponies I knew, bar Tia of course. But there were similarities between the two, Pinkie didn’t hold a place in my heart like my girlfriend did but at the same time I knew that I could talk as openly with Pinkie as I could with Tia. She was the very definition of what I considered a best friend, not that I normally ranked friends. Such practices had always seemed slightly strange to me.

Deciding to try and spark a new conversation I took a deep breath before addressing the pony currently hanging/sitting lazily on my back. “So Pinks any reason that you took this morning off, or was it just how your schedule was laid out this week?”

“Not really, I mean the Cakes and I sit down every Sunday to go over the next weeks schedule and this week I just felt like having Tuesday morning off,” Pinkie supplied from her perch.

“Aight,” I acknowledged, shrugging my wings out of reflex which caused a short guffaw to escape the pink pony.

Confused I stopped and looked up at Pinkies muzzle, it was pretty much all of her face that I could see. “Did I miss something?”

I saw the muzzle shake as she shook her head. “Nono, it’s just when you shrugged your wings you tickled me,” She explained.

“Oh, I’ll try to keep that in mind,” I said as I resumed walking again.

The rest of the walk to the Carousel boutique elapsed in a similar manner with Pinkie and I exchanging small talk and telling each other more in detail what we had been up to the past week. Before I knew my feet had carried me right up to the front door of Rarity’s establishment, but as I reached out to knock on the door a sudden cry from Pinkie stopped me.

“Sneeze tease! Sneeze tease!” She cried as I felt her head rise from its resting position.

I jerked my head up to find Pinkie looking around wildly. “What about a sneeze tease? Is this another Pinkie sense thing?” I wondered.

“Yes, it means somepony is watching us,” Pinkie explained as she continued to look around.

Wondering just what was going on I joined her in her search but as I didn’t know what I was looking for I saw nothing out of the ordinary. A minute later Pinkie spoke up again. “Aw, whoever was watching is gone now,”

“I’m not going to question the accuracy of your Pinkie sense but are you sure it just wasn’t someone who was curious? I mean there are still a few ponies that have kept their distance and aren’t outright hostile towards me,” I speculated. It was true that there were still a few splinter groups in Ponyville that weren’t outright positive to me being there, although they had lessened considerably after the Nightmare night performance.

“Eh, you’re probably right Cloudy,” Pinkie said shrugging in a way that shouldn’t have been possible with an equine body, not to mention how she was still situated on my back and shoulders.

“Aight, then let’s see if Rarity has a moment to spare this morning,” I declared as I reached out and knocked on the door.

Neither I nor Pinkie noticed the black muzzle that made a quick peek from behind the corner its owner had hidden herself when we had started looking around. When the owner had confirmed that it had in fact not been seen it disappeared behind the corner again. A second later the muzzle was no longer black but a soft teal instead as its owner walked out into the street and proceeded down path that lead out of town at leisurely pace.

*<>*

She had barely had time to open her shop for the day when the distinct sound of somepony knocking on the door rang throughout the, in her opinion, humble boutique.

“Coming~” She called out as she moved over to the door. ”Welcome to Carousel boutique where everythi-,” She began as she pushed open said door but came to a pause when her eyes registered the sight that met her.

Instead of the regular fare of customers that came to browse through her designs or order something new from her she found herself staring at a pair of long, pant cowered, legs that could only belong to one individual she knew. As her eyes traveled upward she noticed a puffy, untamed tail that was wrapped around the tall individual’s midsection. And as her eyes reached the face of her friend she found herself looking at two smiling faces instead of one.

“Mornin’ Rarity,” Pinkie and Cloud said in perfect sync.

A smile of her own found itself onto her lips. “And a good morning to you too Pinkie, Cloud,” She replied as she idly wondered how Pinkie could possibly think that riding around on Cloud like she did was comfortable. But the pink mare had assured her the first time she had asked about it, about two months ago, that it was in fact very comfortable. And if the frequency that her pink friend took the opportunity to ride around on Cloud’s shoulders like that was any indication about the truth in that statement she was inclined to believe her. Before she could think any further on it Pinkie hopped down from her perch, landing surprisingly gracefully beside Cloud.

“Now what brings the two of you to my door this early morning?” She wondered, looking at her two friends.

Pinkie was quick to speak up. “Well I’m just tagging along with whatever Cloud is getting done,”

“And I’m here to put in an order for some winter clothing and to check if any of the autumn clothes I ordered are ready,” Cloud supplied.

Keeping her smile Rarity stepped aside while motioning with a hoof for her friends to enter her home and establishment. “I’d be more than happy to take a new order for you Cloud and as it so happens your last order got completed a few days ago I just hadn’t gotten around to informing you yet. Now please step inside so that I may get to work,” She informed her biggest bipedal customer.

“Sure thing Rarity,” Cloud said with a small nod before he walked past her into the boutique, Pinkie following close behind.

Closing the door Rarity turned to face her friends. “Now, what did you have in mind for your winter clothing Cloud? I’ll admit that I suspected that you’d ask me to make you some so I may have done some preliminary designs,” She said as she walked up to her human friend.

Cloud adopted a thoughtful expression. “Hmm, I know that you know my preference for clothing by now so I’ll gladly take a look at your new designs. They do follow the layers upon layers principle we discussed, right?”

“Why of course, you certainly made your case last time we discussed that. Now hang on for a second while I go grab my designs and the last batch of clothes you ordered,” She told him before heading over to her creativity room.

She quickly grabbed the in progress designs she had and the package containing Cloud’s last order in her aura before walking back into the room where she had left Cloud and Pinkie.

Levitating the items over to Cloud she announced her return by addressing him. “Now, here are the designs as well as your last order Cloud,”

Cloud grabbed the floating package with one hand and the designs with the other before seemingly coming to the realization that he couldn’t flip through the designs with both hands occupied. “Hey Pinks, you think you could hold this for me?” He asked Pinkie, giving the package containing the clothes a light shake.

Pinkie responded without a single moment’s hesitance. “No problemo Cloudy,”

Handing the package over to Pinkie Cloud got to studying the designs he had been handed, occasionally humming to himself. After a few minutes of flipping through the pages he had been handed he spoke up. “Aight, first of Rarity I’d like to say good job. Not that I expected anything else from a pony with your skill, but I think you’ve really gotten human clothing down to an art these past months,” He said, causing a small blush to spread across her cheeks at his praise.

“Oh, you flatterer you. Surely I’m not that good?” She replied, completely self-aware to the fact that she was fishing for another compliment.

Cloud looked up from the pages with his trademark grin plastered on his face. “Oh I’m not just saying that, I’m particularly fond of number two and five by the way,” He said, before giving her a knowing wink.

Getting her blush under control she walked over to Cloud so that he could show her which designs he was referring to. “Ah, you mean the long coat and the gem enchanted jacket. Is there anything you’d like me to change on those or would you like them as they are?”

Cloud sat down next to her. “Well yes, there are a few minor things I’d like to change. First off I’d like both of these to be slightly wider in the neck area so that I can use my scarf with these,” He began, motioning towards the long scarf he was wearing. A gift he had received from the Rustfeathers if she recalled correctly. “Secondly I would like the color to be something that matches the scarf,” He continued.

Rarity waited for him to name a third change, but when he remained silent she took the opportunity to speak up. “Okay, those are easy conditions to work with. Are you sure there’s nothing else you’d like to change?”

A slight rustle sounded as Cloud shrugged his shoulders and by extension his wings. “Not that I can think of, I mean an inner pocket or two would be nice but that won’t affect the overall design,”

“No you’re right, it won’t affect the overall design. Now is there anything else I can do for you?” She asked, as she marked down the changes Cloud wanted on the papers with the corresponding designs.

Cloud tapped his chin as he thought. “Can’t say for sure, I mean I was going to cut my hair as it has grown more or less out of control as of late,” He thought out loud. “It might be a bit tricky to do on myself though as I’ve had help from either Gil or Stella since coming back here. Well it can’t be too hard, right?” He added in the same thoughtful tone, much to Rarity’s horror.

Cloud made as if he was going to stand up but before he had time to move Rarity quickly spoke up. “I could help you with your manecut, I mean haircut,” She supplied quickly, a little too quickly but Cloud didn’t seem to notice.

“You’d do that? I don’t want to take up more of your time Rarity, surely you have more pressing things to deal with than cutting my hair?” He asked.

“Nonsense, I always have time to help a friend,” She stated before gathering up the designs with her magic. “Now don’t move and I’ll be right back with some scissors after I put the designs away,” She continued as she trotted back towards her creativity room.

Once she was out of hearing distance she breathed a sigh of relief at the aversion of the potential fashion disaster Cloud had suggest. Cutting his own hair? Even if the slightly rugged and messy hairstyle suits him that was an invitation for disaster if I ever saw one. She huffed to herself as she entered her creativity room again. After depositing the designs she grabbed a collection of scissors and a comb from a shelf in the room before turning to leave again. Why did she have scissors for her mane and a comb in her creativity room? Why the answer was simple, a lady may have a need to fix something minor in her mane at any given moment. She was after all knowledgeable in the art of a mane styling whereas Cloud had more or less stated the opposite.

A moment later she found herself back where Cloud and Pinkie were still waiting, well playing a game of rock, paper, scissors actually and somehow they were continuously coming out with ties. One should probably point out that both sides were throwing all three possible combinations but Rarity pointedly decided to ignore it. Don’t question it Rarity down that path lies only madness. She told herself before clearing her throat, making both Pinkie and Cloud turn their heads to face her.

“Now, Cloud would you be a dear and go sit down beside the stage area? With you being so tall that’s the only place I can effectively cut your hair without having to bring something to stand on,” She told her human friend who quickly got to his feet to comply.

When he sat down again she made her way up onto the stage so that she came to an even height with Cloud’s head. Using her magic she grabbed a spray bottle filled with water before lightly dousing the hair with it. “So before I begin is there any preferred manestyle you like?”

“A bit short and messy is what I’ve normally had and don’t think I’d like to deviate from that,” Cloud said after a moment’s thought.

She nodded before realizing that Cloud could not see her as she stood behind him. “Of course darling, I think I remember how you used to have it these past months. Let’s just take it step by step shall we?” She suggested and with quick nod from Cloud she brought the scissor into action.

For a minute all that was heard was just the snipping of the scissor, but shortly thereafter she felt that the silence started to grow uncomfortable. “So what is that Twilight and you are doing that has hidden the two of you from the world the past week?”

“Oh that, well it’s not exactly a secret so sure I can tell you. Just give me a moment to collect my thoughts,” Cloud began.

“Alright, to skip to the more interesting parts I’ll compress some of the earlier incidents. For some time I’ve been slowly gaining more and more attunement to the storms here on Equestria,” Cloud started to explain.

She stopped working with the scissor for a moment. “Weren’t you already connected to them? I have very clear memories of you doing so quite easily in the past,”

“Well yes, but that’s only half true. I’ve never been able to actually control it, even when I held the form of a pegasus it just seemed to happen. However it seems like it is different now, or at least I hope it is. You see recently I’ve been randomly zoning out whenever there’s a storm raging within a certain proximity of me. It actually took me a while to figure out that it was the storms that caused my lapses too, but once I did I went to Twilight hoping that the two of us could come up with a way for me to control it or at least block it out,” Cloud quickly summarized.

She combed out a part of Cloud’s mane as she let what he had told her sink in. “So how have things gone this week then?” She asked as she readied the scissors once more.

Cloud hummed contemplatively. “Well, to be honest we’ve not really made any breakthroughs. Not in the way we wanted to anyway. In fact we may have taken a step back in some regards,”

“A step back? What do you mean?” She asked while she used a comb to straighten out some errant strands of hair.

“Tell you what, I’ll just start from the beginning of the week so you two can get the full scope of what me and Twilight have been doing,” He suggested.

“I think you mean Twilight and I, darling. But yes I think that’s good way to go about it,” She agreed, while Pinkie nodded vigorously from where she sat in front of Cloud.

Cloud took a deep breath. “Aight, so it all began this one stormy night but the real research part didn’t begin until the morning after that…”

*<>*

“So, now that we’ve acquired Rainbow’s weather schedule for this week I think we’re ready to begin,” Twilight announced happily.

I just gave a noncommittal grunt in response, seeing how the unnatural burst of energy that I had experienced when connecting to the storm had worn off hours ago. After I had denied by Rainbow when I woke her up in the middle of the night I had eventually found myself back at Twilight’s castle, and there I had immediately been pounced by the knowledge hungry princess. I wasn’t going to be a hypocrite though and complain about it though as I was the one who had suggested this joint study in the first place. However what was left was a rather severe exhaustion and the only thing keeping me awake was the cup of coffee I was nursing in my hands. It didn’t help that I couldn’t tell for certain what time it was but if I were to hazard a guess I’d say it was around six thirty in the morning, making it roughly twenty four hours since I last slept. This of course only further added to my exhausted state.

I covered my mouth with a hand in tired attempt to hide a yawn. “Okay, what did you have in mind?” I asked before giving up the losing battle that was trying to hide my yawns.

Twilight hopped off the chair she had been occupying. “Follow me, I’d like to run some initial scans with some of the equipment I have on hoof. With a bit of luck we might even get some early readings of what happens when you connect to a storm as you put,” She explained as she made her way out of the library.

I quickly downed the remaining coffee I had left in my cup before hurrying after the
young alicorn, my long legs making it easy to catch up. Twilight led me up a staircase I hadn’t bothered to explore during any previous visits to the castle and into to a room containing, what I considered to be old, computers and various other machines. A faint memory of having seen these things before played at the edge of my consciousness but before I could fully remember Twilight brought my attention back to her.

“If you would be so kind to sit down in the chair over there while I start the relevant machines for the tests I had in mind I will be with you in a moment,” Twilight announced before walking over to the machines which purpose, beside the fact that they were scientific in nature, escaped me.

True to her word only a few seconds passed after I had sat down before Twilight walked up in front of me, a helmet connected to the various machines in her magical grasp. Actually calling it a helmet was a rather gracious way of putting, seeing how it looked more like a pasta strainer with a few LED’s and cables attached to it. Nevertheless I took the helmet from her, putting it on my head without voicing my thoughts on its looks.

Using her magic Twilight quickly fastened the helmet using a chinstrap that I had missed. “There, now all I need you to do is try to connect to a storm or at least space out as you have described yourself doing when you quite couldn’t connect. All in all though all you need to do right now is try to connect and the machines will do the rest. As for a storm, the one from yesterday is still going, although it has been moved towards the Appleloosa region since this morning,”

“Aight, I’ll give it a shot but this might very well give us nothing,” I warned her before closing my eyes, turning my focus inwards.

For the following minutes I just sat there, the only sounds that I could hear was the quiet humming of Twilight’s machines and my own breathing. Slowly though the unconscious decision I had made to close my eyes started to show an effect on my already tired mind as my consciousness started to ever so slowly slip into sleep. Just as I was about to cross into the realm of dreams I felt a slight tugging sensation but due to quickly fading consciousness it rapidly fell away from me. Well at least until a certain purple princess yelled out her exuberance.

“There! Go back, do that again!” She cried out, causing me to snap open my eyes and sit up straight from where I had begun to slouch. The slight tugging I had experienced turned into a sudden pull and before I knew what was going on the machines I was connected to overloaded in a shower of sparks and smoke.

I blinked in surprise. “Whoops?” I offered sheepishly as I surveyed the damage I had unwittingly caused. Looking down at my right hand I found small arcs dancing between my fingers. Most likely due to the overload, I was bound to absorb some of it. I thought to myself before turning my attention to Twilight.

“Hey Twilight, you alright?” I called out, looking around the room. A coughing sound brought my attention to my left side where I could see an orb formed out of Twilight’s magic shimmer through the receding smoke.

“I’m fine, but what the hay was that? Just what did you do?” She asked, her voice coming through slightly muffled due to the force field.

“I don’t know, I tried to recall how I felt when connecting to a storm but ended up almost falling asleep,” I offered in an apologetic tone.

The force field bled away and Twilight took a step forward through the remaining smoke. “Well that can’t be all, there has to be more to it than that. Did you feel anything strange?”

I brought up my right hand to my face to pinch my nose but paused as I saw the sparks still dancing between my fingers. “I did, at least I think I did. Just before you called out I experienced a tugging sensation. It’s not best way to describe it but I can’t put another word on it,” I said slowly. I had been half convinced that I had imagined the entire thing, but perhaps there was something more to it.

“A tugging sensation? I wonder…” She started but tapered off as if she came to some sort of realization. With hurried steps she went over to one of the machines, which had stopped smoking for now, and levitated a long strip of paper. “Aha, I knew it! Just before, whatever it was you did the Thaumatic Sensory Unit picked up a spike of pegasus magic coming from you. That being said I’ve never quite seen this wave pattern before,” She exclaimed happily, showing the strip of paper in my face with her magic.

I stared at the paper, that for the record looked like some sort of readings similar to that of an old lie detector or perhaps an earthquake machine, before clearing my throat. “That’s great and all Twilight, but I can’t read what this tells me. Furthermore I’d like to know why I’m currently electrified in a similar way to when I’ve used a griffon shock stick,”

A contemplative look found its way onto her features as she brought the paper back to her. “Oh, I forgot that you haven’t been taught how to read thaumatic wave lengths. Long story short these lines here signify pegasus magic and as you can see the writing needle fluctuated quite wildly there at the end. Now as for what it means, and this is just an educated guess I might add. I think that you tapped into the abnormal lightning resistance that you seem to have rather than your sense for storms in general. What then happened was something akin to an artificial lightning strike where your body tried to even out the difference in electrical charge between you and the machines, this of course led to a feedback loop which caused them to overload. I think…” She summarized.

I was left sitting slightly dazed at Twilights rapid explanation. “Of course…” I said once I found my voice again.

Twilight didn’t seem to notice that I was still confused as to what exactly had happened so instead of a more thorough explanation she just continued on. “Well we can’t do any more readings since the equipment is fried but there’s one more thing I’d like to try before we call it for the night,”

For a second I considered telling Twilight that we had passed into morning a couple of hours ago but stopped myself as it would just take longer for me to actually get to myself some sleep if I did. “Aight, what should I do?” I asked instead.

“Simple, try and find that tugging sensation again,” She told as if she was commenting on the weather.

Rather than coming up with a snarky reply I just sighed before turning my focus inwards again, expecting to find nothing. Although when I almost instantly felt the tugging sensation throughout my entire body I couldn’t stop myself in time. “What the hell?!”

“I take it you found the sensation again?” Twilight commented.

I shot a bewildered look in her direction only to find her wearing a smug expression. I raised an eyebrow. “Alright you obviously know what is going on so I’ll bite, what is it that you know and I don’t?”

Twilight kept her smug expression as she cleared her throat. “Simply put, what you’re feeling is your inherited pegasus magic. I only realized this when you described how it felt though, you used almost the same words Rainbow used when she tried to help me understand my own pegasus magic,”

“Okay we know what it is, but why was it easier to feel it now?” I asked.

“Oh that’s easy. Before you absorbed the energy you weren’t actively using the magic, it was dormant for lack of a better term. But now, due to your Paragon trait to keep the energy within your body rather than make it dissipate into the air like a normal pegasus, your magic will remain in an active state until you get rid of your charge,” Twilight answered happily.

“So you’re saying that the key to solving the problem is for me to learn how my pegasus magic works?” I wondered.

Twilight wrinkled her brow. “I didn’t say that, but it might be worth a shot to explore this further,”

I yawned again. “Aight, sounds like we have a game plan for now. However I’m going to get some sleep before I fall asleep here in this chair,” I said before yawning again.

My yawns seemed contagious as Twilight yawned loudly herself before answering. “You know what that actually sounds like a good idea. Let’s discharge any excess energy you have in you and then you can borrow one of the guest bedrooms,” Twilight suggested and I was more than happy to accept…

*~*

“So was it the solution to your problems?” Pinkie asked, interrupting the flow I had built up.

I was about to shake my head but stopped myself just in time as I remembered that Rarity was cutting my hair. “No, from what we’ve learnt so far were nowhere close to figuring out how I connect to storms. On the bright side though I’ve gotten a bit more adept at controlling my pegasus magic or to be more precise controlling the flow of energy inside me,”

Rarity stopped working with the scissors for a moment. “Pray tell, what do you mean when you say controlling the flow of energy?”

“Hang on a sec it’ll be faster if I show you,” I said, holding up my right hand in front of me.

I closed my eyes and tried to find the inner tugging that I had come to associate with my inherited magic this past week. A few moments passed, before I felt the now rather familiar feeling and when I opened my eyes I found that a spark would leap between my fingers every ten seconds or so. This was of course way less than when I used an external source of electricity, not to mention that it was extremely draining to pull it out from within myself. But for the sake of my little show I kept with for another minute before allowing the electricity to flow normally through my body again.

“That was supertastic Cloudy!” Pinkie exclaimed while she threw her fore hooves into the air.

“Quite the display yes, seeing you pull that trick does remind a bit of our first meeting darling,” Rarity agreed.

“Well I’m still incredibly new to this being a part of me and all so I’ll need way more practice before I can actually use it for anything. But I’m hopeful that this new knowledge will help me improve, err… Certain aspects of my life,” I agreed happily before tapering off.

“Darling it’s no secret to us that you want to improve on your, erm Paragon techniques,” Rarity began but I cut her off.

“Let’s be honest here Rarity you can’t really call shocking yourself with electricity be it natural or artificial a technique, but if this helps me to develop it into proper technique or at least make it safer then it’s a win in my book,” I stated.

“Fair enough darling, now why don’t you get on with the rest of the story while I finish up with your mane cut,” She agreed.

“Aight, now let’s see I had gotten to the point where I decided to stay in one of the guest rooms…”

*~*

I woke up sometime in the afternoon unable to tell where I was exactly at first but then memories of what I had been doing since late last night came flooding back. Sitting up in the bed I stretched my arms and worked out a couple of kinks in my wings before swinging my legs out of the bed. Grabbing my clothes from the chair where I had haphazardly thrown them yesterday I headed out of the guestroom and towards the kitchen, intending to grab something to eat before I went to find Twilight again. However it seemed that this was a day for efficiency as I found Twilight already sitting at a table munching down a salad when I entered the kitchen area. She acknowledged my presence by raising a wing while she continued to chew her food, so instead of interrupting her I just raised a hand to return the silent greeting before grabbing what I needed to make a few sandwiches. We ate quickly and in relative silence, only exchanging small pleasantries, and within minutes the two of us were heading towards the library ready to resume our little project.

As we crossed into the library Twilight was the first to speak. “Okay, I have a few ideas I’d like to try regarding what we learnt yesterday but first we need to increase your proficiency with your magic,” She declared.

Seeing how I had no better idea I simply agreed with her and sat down by one of the tables as Twilight went around her library, collecting books regarding pegasus magic. And so I finally started to actually learn how to control an aspect of my life that I had given little thought in the past, hoping that it would bring some clarity to my situation. That being said I quickly found myself engrossed in the subject and before I knew it the remaining daylight had fled to give way for the night. Confused as to how absorbed I had been in my reading I turned to Twilight to speak but when she realized that I had stopped reading she beat me to it.

“Did you have a question?”

“No, not really. I was just surprised at how much time had passed,” I answered her sincerely. An answer that was quickly accompanied by a hungry gurgle from my stomach. “Aaand apparently I’m quite famished too,” I added with a chuckle.

Twilight joined in on the chuckle. “Story of my life, well it used to be, back in the day. If it wasn’t for Spike I would’ve continued to read and read until I collapsed from malnutrition,” A small smile played on her muzzle as she was temporarily lost in her memories. “Well then why don’t we take a break here and we’ll do some practical exercises and tests after some dinner?” She suggested after her short trip down memory lane ended.

“That sounds like a plan I can get behind,” I agreed, placing a piece of paper as a bookmark before I stood up from the chair I had been sitting in.

I followed Twilight out of the library as we headed to the kitchen, discussing how we should proceed with our project from here on out. Our spirits were high as we seemed to be making good progress in unlocking the secrets of my heritage.

*~*

“However that initial burst of optimistic thinking quickly proved to be a fluke, fast-forward six days and Twilight and I found ourselves at our wits end. Every time we thought we made a breakthrough we ran into a wall and got no further no matter what we tried.” I told my audience of Pinkie and Rarity.

“So that’s it then? There’s no available solution?” Rarity asked as carefully cut some of the hair around my left ear.

“I didn’t say that, but for the moment were kinda stuck and all we can do is to practice the aspects of my inheritance I have some control over. And as such I came here today for a little breather. Now, I’m almost finished recounting the happenings of this past week-“

Pinkie interrupted me loudly. “Well get on with it then, the suspense is killing me!”

I rolled my eyes slightly as I couldn’t understand what suspense Pinkie was talking about but resumed my retelling without dwelling on it.

*~*

“How about the weather magic bypass test mentioned here?” I asked Twilight who was sitting across me at the table. Actually sitting was a generous way to put it she was half-slumped over the table wearing a bored and slightly frustrated expression.

“We tried that two days ago, the results were inconclusive,” She muttered.

I sighed tiredly, we had been at this for the past three hours. “Then what about the advanced aptitude test mentioned in The Cloudsdale Journal issue 204?”

“Those tests were proven ineffective and have been updated since that was published. Before you ask we’ve already tried the updated versions.” Twilight sighed. “Did we do the Pegasus meditation techniques for increasing thaumatic activity?” She proceeded to ask.

I placed my face into my hands and let it rest there as I answered. “Yeah, we did those yesterday before we moved onto trying to interface with a single storm cloud,” I took a deep breath and continued. “How about runic multi sample tests?”

“Those require you to actually have something to test on in the first place,” Came Twilight’s bored reply. “But what about the magical branching test? Did we do that?”

“We did, and I believe you called the results a joke and that the inventor of the test must’ve been a xenophobic ass to not include individuals from multi-race descent in the results bracket,” I supplied in the same bored tone as Twilight.

“Augh, this is so bucking frustrating,” Twilight groaned and I was inclined to agree. “Oh and for the record I used the term xenophobic plot-hole, not ass,”

I gave a tired nod at her correction. “This would’ve been so much easier if there actually was some sort of Storm paragon writings left, but no it had to be lost to ages or the past thousand years or so at least,” I ranted and a sarcastic edge found itself into my voice.

With a groan of my own I too slouched out over the table only to shoot right up again when Twilight suddenly cried out. “That’s it! Cloud you’re a genius!”

Bewildered I looked at the now beaming alicorn. “I am?”

“Yes, because I just thought about a place that just might have what we don’t and it was your comment that made me think of it,” She elaborated happily.

“You’ll have to be a bit more specific than that cause I’m not sure I follow,” I said, my voice filled the confusion I felt.

“Well what if I told you that there’s a place that recently showed up after having been locked away in time for a little over a thousand years and that place has a perfectly preserved library,” She baited.

Slowly my mind started to recall bits and pieces of things I had been told about the girls different adventures. Namely about a place out in a cold tundra, a place where the ponies who lived had shimmering coats that imitated the qualities of gems, a place that had been sealed away with its now defeated evil overlord, it is: “The Crystal Empire,” I said out loud as the final piece fell into my mind.

At the other side of the table Twilight was beaming. “Exactly, and the best part is that since I’m royalty and not to mention a close friend to princess Cadence we can just send a letter with what we need and then they can have the books shipped here,”

Her smile proved infectious as I found myself sporting a grin of my own as I extended a fist for her to bump. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get to writing that letter,”

*<>*

“…and that’s where we stand right now in terms of progress.” Cloud finished his retelling of his week.

Rarity smiled to herself. “I must say darling it sounds like you and Twilight went through quite a lot this week,”

Cloud released a wistful sigh. “Tell me about it, I’m just glad that we might actually find a solution,”

“I’m sure you will find what you’re looking for Cloudy, fingers crossed that you do,” Pinkie spoke up from her seat across from Cloud.

“Thanks Pinks,” Cloud said with a chuckle.

Smiling to herself she took some time to look over the mane-cut so far and came to realize that she had more or less finished some time during Cloud’s story. “Well darling all that’s left for me to is to show you what I’ve done,” She told her human friend as she levitated a small mirror over to him.

Cloud looked himself over, studying the reflection carefully from a couple of different angles. “Looks perfect Rarity, thanks again for taking some time from your schedule for this. Do I owe you anything?”

She hopped of the stage and walked up next to Pinkie so that she could look him in the eyes again. “Oh pish posh darling, the juicy gossip you’ve provided me with and your story is quite enough,”

Cloud wore a confused expression for a second but seemingly decided to drop it. “Well then, in that case I’m going to head home and grab a change of clothes and then grab some breakfast on my way back to Twilight’s,” He said, standing up.

“That sounds like a good idea, but don’t forget your package,” She agreed as she grabbed the clothes he had ordered earlier in her aura, levitating them over to him.

He shot her a thankful smile. “Thanks Rarity,” He walked over to the door and pushed it open, Pinkie following him out while she stayed at the door. It was her establishment after all.

“Hey Cloudy you should go by Berry and thank her for giving you time off from work,” Pinkie suddenly said.

A look of dread rapidly grew on Cloud’s features. “Ssshit!” He cursed before he took off running down the street towards Berry’s diner.

Rarity blinked momentarily stunned by Cloud’s outburst and came back just in time to hear Pinkie say, “Was it something I said?”

Ch 30. Much to learn

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Chapter 30. Much to learn

Although we have no obligation to stay alive
On broken backs we beg for mercy, we will survive
(Break out) I won’t be left here
Behind closed doors

Bonfires burn like beacons
Guiding the lost and weakened
Flames dance on crashing waves
Guiding ships who’ve gone astray

I am certainly no stranger to taking on more than I can handle, but most of the time I always had a way out or someone that could come help me with whatever problems I was attempting to solve. There are however a few occasions when all you can do is to face the music and admit that you were overambitious. What’s important to remember in such situations is that no matter how embarrassing it might feel you will without a doubt survive it, and who knows? Perhaps you might actually learn something from the whole ordeal.

*~*

To say that Berry was less than pleased with how I had skipped work for about a week without any prior any notice would be the understatement of the century. I had come there with my set on the possibility of being fired on the spot, and for a while that had seemed to be the truth I was about to face. But then the steam and anger had just seemed to vanish from Berry, and she had asked me to explain my actions. Needless to say I had tried my best to explain just what I had been doing and the more I talked the more the feeling of shame grew inside of me. After all I had completely neglected some very basic courtesies you’d normally be expected to make.

When I finished my summary of what I had been doing Berry’s features held an unreadable expression. It wasn’t until she finally spoke that I understood just what she was feeling.

“In all honesty Cloud I should fire you for that,” She told me in a disappointed voice that cut deeper than her previous ire.

I let out a short sigh, as the shame I felt continued to grow inside me. “I understand Berry, all I can say is that I’m sorry and that it was nice working for you while it lasted,” I said extending my hand to offer a shake.

To my surprise though Berry pushed aside my hand before she spoke again. “If only it was that simple,” She muttered.

That statement confused me. “What do you mean? I acted like an idiot so I get fired, there’s nothing complicated about that,”

Berry fixed my gaze with one of her own, a steely glint making its way into her raspberry eyes. “Yes Cloud, there is. Take a second to imagine what would happen if I were to fire Princess Celestia’s coltfirend, Princess Luna’s best friend, friend to Princess Twilight and close friend to the rest of the Elements of harmony,”

I opened my mouth but couldn’t find my voice. I felt weird, what Berry said probably held more than an ounce of truth but that didn’t mean that it sat right with me. When I found my voice again a moment later I wasn’t slow to put my objections into words. “But that is complete garbage! Why should I get special treatment just because I’m dating Celestia?!”

“And what would you have me do Cloud? Fire you and risk having every tabloid in Equestria reporting on it? It would quite possibly ruin my entire business if the fallout is bad enough,” She challenged, the frustration shining through clearly in her voice.

“I don’t know. I just… it doesn’t feel right, that I get a free pass just because I’m involved with important people,” I replied lamely.

Berry held her steely gaze on me for a few seconds before finally letting out a sigh. “That’s the truth of the situation though, all I can and will do is dock your pay for the week you weren’t here,”

“As is more than right,” I agreed with her. “However as I said before it doesn’t feel right that get special treatment, if you can’t fire me I could quit,” I suggested.

Berry gave me a stern gaze that made me wonder what kind of misstep I had just made. “Don’t make this more awkward than it already is Cloud! Do you want to lose your job here?” She exclaimed.

“Of course I don’t, but I-” I tried but was interrupted by Berry.

“Then nothing, my decision has been made for me and I’d rather put this whole ordeal behind me,” She all but growled.

I raised a finger as I drew breath to protest, but Berry cut in once again. “I thought I said to not make this anymore awkward than it is! Now go home so that you can cover the shift you’re supposed to work tomorrow,” She said with finality.

All I could do was nod and accept my situation as I found my way out of the diner. Well outside I looked sky ward wondering just how far my luck would carry me, because at the moment I felt most undeserving of the treatment I was being subjected to. What had started out as a rather pleasant morning at Rarity’s boutique had taken a rather harsh turn and I feared that the more recent incident would color my mood for the remainder of the day. Truth be told, I would’ve wanted nothing more than to stay and apologize some more but I had to agree with Berry’s statement that the situation was awkward enough already.

My meeting with Berry had reminded me of something else I had put off though. When Twilight and I had gone to acquire Rainbow’s weather schedules and to apologize for waking her up in the middle of the night I had decided to offer her a revised training regimen the next time I found her. In other words I had planned to introduce one day of training her in how to wield a staff properly. Hopefully she will accept this idea as an additional apology for my actions. I thought to myself as I took to the air to search for Equestria’s fastest pegasus.

*~*

The remaining days of the week went by surprisingly fast and was filled to the brim with activity. So when the weekend finally came around I was happy to actually get a chance to relax. Now while I say filled with activity it was more a sense of me surviving the, as predicted, awkward atmosphere at Berry’s diner during the day coupled with research and practice of my conductivity ability at Twilight’s during the evenings. That alone left me tired to my core, leaving me to only wanting to go hide under the blankets of my bed and let sleep claim me. I had however struck a standing deal with Rainbow to train her in bipedal Karate and was now in addition to that training her in the art of the staff. In other words every other day of the week I also had to come home to a super hyped pegasus that was intent of pushing herself and me to our physical limits.

Now it may sound as if I was complaining about my current lot in life but I’d say that was only a truth with a rather major modification. While the busy days certainly were draining I was enjoying myself. And so I actually felt like I had earned some rest this weekend as I pushed open the door to my home, heading straight for the kitchen to prepare a quick snack. Seeing no real reason to be tidy in my own home I discarded pieces of my garments as I moved through my home until I was only wearing one of my tank-tops and a pair of the pants Rarity had made for me. Opening the fridge to see what I had available I opted to just grab a tangerine to satisfy my immediate need for energy. I walked back over to my couch and sat down in front of the laptop I used to control the music system and with few quick clicks music filled my home. With a content sigh I leaned back and started to lazily peel the tangerine.

A flash of magic caused me to blink, and stop peeling for a split second as Luna appeared in front of me. Her head darted around wildly before finally settling on me. “If sister drops by I’m not here,” She stressed before rushing of to hide in my training room.

Starting to countdown from five in my head I let out another sigh and as I reached zero another flash signaled the arrival of my marefriend. “Has my sister come through here Cloud?” She asked the moment her eyes found me.

I let out the third sigh in a very short timespan as I pointed a thumb towards my training room. “Thanks Cloud,” She said warmly giving me a quick peck on the cheek before stalking off towards my training room.

“Oh sister dearest come out, come out,” She purred as she entered the room.

I finished peeling my tangerine just in time to hear Luna cry out in the royal canterlock voice. “Cloud you tartarus damned traitor!” Causing me to chuckle to myself.

I popped a piece of fruit into my mouth and was simply enjoying the sound of the two royal sisters arguing over what I thought was night court duties when a light tapping from my front door caught my attention. Putting what was left of the tangerine onto my coffee table I rose from my comfortable position and walked over to the door. Pushing said door open revealed a pony I hadn’t spoken to in quite some time, namely Bonbon.

Unable to stop myself I felt my eyes widen in surprise, last thing that I had heard was that she was still avoiding me due to my relationship with Celestia. “Hi Cloud, do you have a moment to talk?” She asked sounding surprisingly calm for someone that had been avoiding me for the better part of a month.

I shook my head slightly to end my surprised stupor. “Sure, I have time for a moment or two, what do you need?”

“Well I was wondering if you could just come with me for a second or two, I’d like-” She began but was interrupted by Luna using the royal canterlock once again.

“Huzzah! You can’t catch me sister, thine flanks are much too heavy!”

I turned my head to look over my shoulder just in time to see Luna shoot out of my training room and up the stairs to the second floor and a moment later Tia followed while crying bloody murder. When I looked back down towards Bonbon I found the mare running away quickly, disappearing down the makeshift staircase of floating stones before my mind caught up with what was happening.

“Bonbon wait!” I called out as I rushed after her.

I thought I saw a greenish flash of light from below the edge of my floating island, but when I reached the floating stones that made up the makeshift staircase Bonbon was nowhere to be seen. Nor was anyone else for that matter, so scratching the back of my head in confusion I looked around to immediate area to see where she could’ve possibly gone. When I found nothing I headed back to my home only to find the two most important figures in Equestria wrestling back and forth on my living room floor.

Oh for crying out loud… I complained to myself before whistling loudly to catch their attention. The effect was the two alicorns shooting up into a sitting position looking around in a bewildered fashion, most likely trying to figure out what had caused the shrill sound. Almost at the same time their respective gazes found me and my less than impressed expression, raised eyebrow and all.

“Ehehehe…” A nervous or perhaps embarrassed laughter rang out from both princesses before they noticed that both of them were doing it. Instead they quickly quieted themselves and settled into glaring at each other instead.

I cleared my throat loudly to make them focus on me again. “Okay, would the two of you please tell me what all this is about?”

Celestia was first to speak. “Well somepony doesn’t want to run night court,” She said, shooting Luna a meaningful glance.

Luna harrumphed loudly before muttering to herself. “It’s not like anypony goes there on the weekends anyway,”

Celestia was quick to reply but I interrupted her before she could say much. “Now that’s sim-”

“Enough out of the both of you. Now I’m not going to pretend that I understand Equestrian politics but Luna has been visiting here quite a lot in the past and so have you Tia so why is it a problem now?”

Celestia said something too quietly for me to hear. “What was that Tia? You need to speak up,” I told her.

She sighed. “I said that it doesn’t really fulfill a purpose but tradition states that we as princesses should be available to the general public during the hours we hold court,”

I tapped my chin thoughtfully. “Since when did you care so much about traditions Tia? I understand that you’re feeling a bit upset at your sister but if the situation is as Luna describes there’s no point of her actually being there, right?”

Celestia frowned slightly. “Are you taking her side?” She said, a strangely aggressive tone had slipped into her voice.

My eyes widened slightly. “I’m on nobody’s side, but I’m trying to understand why you can’t simply put up a spell or something to alert you if a potential petitioner was to approach,” I said, trying to disarm the situation best I could. On the inside though I was mostly trying to make sense of why Celestia was acting so strangely.

Though before I could draw any conclusions Luna spoke up. “See sister, Cloud makes perfect sense,”

Celestia just glared at her before turning to glare at me. “Hmpf, fine take her side instead of mine see if I care,” She declared angrily.

“Come on Tia, you’re hardly being fai-” I started but was interrupted by the flash of Celestia teleporting away.

I was left with a flabbergasted expression plastered on my face. Did we just have our first real nonsensical fight? I wondered as I slowly turned my head to look at Luna. “Care to tell me what the hell all that was about?”

Luna refused to meet my gaze, instead opting to stare to my left while she rubbed the back of her head nervously with a hoof. “Well… I may have neglected dealing with the nobles over the week while Tia was busy dealing with the visiting Minos politicians…” She trailed off.

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “So if I’m understanding this correctly, Tia wasn’t frustrated about just tonight but the entire week?” I asked the lunar alicorn.

Luna’s eyes flickered to my face for a second before she gave a murmuring answer. “Yes, I may have neglected a few key points,”

“Right… So now Tia is pissed off at me and we had something akin to a completely unnecessary fight because of this,” I commented tiredly.

“I wouldn’t say pissed off,” Luna began but silenced herself when I shot her a glare of my own.

A moment later I dropped the glare and spoke instead. “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen I’m going to train a bit to clear my mind and to give Tia a moment to cool off. After that you’re teleporting the both of us to the castle so we can discuss this like adults,”

Luna held a defeated expression. “Understood Cloud,” She said, sounding very different from the princess I’d come to know.

If I thought about it I’d probably have noticed that Luna had slowly started to become more and relaxed around me over the months she had spent visiting my home. What I had witnessed this evening was nothing but the two royal sisters without the masks they displayed towards the world, but such realizations didn’t come to me until later. Instead I marched off towards my bedroom to change into a set of clothes more suited for training.

*~*

After having changed clothes I had moved into the training room and had after a quick warm up started to run through a couple of more advanced katas. The main reason being what I had told Luna, I simply wanted to clear my own mind and what better way to do that than to let muscle memory take over. So for probably twenty minutes my world was one of strict focus and movement that had been ingrained through years of practice. There was a strangely calming quality to performing what I had once struggled to learn with the skill I had today. At the same time it was humbling knowing that I would never perfect it, especially now that I was slowly creating a completely new style of karate that would allow me to incorporate my wings. Though I had lots of work left to do before I could truly call it a style of my own, so for now I took solace within the techniques of the original style I’d been taught.

With a final burst of motion I performed the last technique of the current kata, freezing in place as my gaze was fixed were the imaginary opponent I had just defeated lay. Then ever so slowly I returned to the opening stance, bringing the kata to a close. I narrowed my stance and brought my heels together before bowing, paying my respects to all who practiced this before me and improved on the techniques. As I straightened up again I caught the sound of clapping and turned towards the sound only to find Luna sitting in the doorway, clapping her front hooves together.

“That was a most excellent display of concentration Cloud,” She praised, seemingly having collected herself from the embarrassment she appeared to feel a short while ago.

“Thanks Luna,” I said as I walked over to a small towel I had brought with me, starting to wipe of the light layer of sweat I had produced.

As I put down the towel and instead reached for the water bottle I’d brought I heard Luna move over to me, hooves on hardwood floor makes it tough to be quiet. “I just want to say that I’m sorry to have dragged you into my little mess Cloud, I never imagined that this would happen,” She offered sincerely.

I turned my head to look at her. “I understand Luna, but it wasn’t exactly fair towards me. I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t make me a bit frustrated,”

Luna hung her head. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t think the situation would fall apart so fast,” She murmured.

I kept observing the remorseful alicorn when an idea struck me. A crazy idea, something I had never tried before but suddenly felt a strong urge to test out. “Hey Luna, if you’re really sorry would you mind doing me a favor?”

Luna’s head shot up and her hopeful eyes met mine. “Anything!” She exclaimed.

“Well, would you mind sparring with me before we teleport to Canterlot?” I asked her, tilting my head slightly to the side.

Luna recoiled slightly, clearly not having expected my request. “I… well… you see… I don’t know Cloud, have you ever sparred against an alicorn before? We don’t exactly follow the standards of a regular pony,”

“Don’t worry Luna it’ll just be a way to clear both of our heads. Just a friendly bout of competition is all,” I tried to calm the lunar princess.

“Oh, alright then. We’ll have a sparring match. Just let me warm up my limbs a bit,” Luna agreed after a few seconds of pondering.

*<>*

Just what have I agreed to? She wondered idly as she stretched her limbs. She knew that Cloud was a formidable fighter but against an alicorn she doubted he’d be able to do much. But she had decided to humor his request since she definitely felt that she owed him that much. Despite that though she knew that she was faster and stronger than Cloud so she would need to tone down her strength to a level where they would be somewhat evenly matched. I just need to figure out what level that is. She thought as she finished stretching her wings. The only time she had actively observed one of Cloud’s fights had been the one where he fought her two personal guards. I guess I’ll use that as a rough starting point. She finally decided as she ran a final check of her limbs.

Feeling satisfied with her warm up she called out to Cloud who had been shadowboxing to keep from cooling down too much. “Okay Cloud I’m ready, what rules will we be using?”

Cloud stopped moving and looked over towards her. “Aight, I thought something not overly complex would be best so,” He made a small pause to inhale. “What we’ll be doing is four rounds of three minutes each with sixty seconds of rest between the rounds, sound good?”

That seemed like an agreeable setup but she had two questions. “Are there no victory conditions? And are there any limitations to what is allowed?”

Cloud adopted a thoughtful look for a moment before answering. “Naa, no victory conditions except perhaps a knockout, oh and that should tell you what you need to know about what’s allowed,” He said with a grin.

Too late to back out now. She thought when she heard Cloud’s plan for a sparring match. “One last question who will keep track of time?” She asked.

Shooting her a grin Cloud walked over to a digital clock of some sort. “Way ahead of you princess,” He said as he fiddled with the clock and a moment later a beep rang out from the clock.

Cloud hurried over to stand in front of Luna. “Okay get ready, when the long beep sounds the first round starts,” He called out, a grin finding its way onto his face.

Okay that’s simple enough. She thought as she lowered herself into a ready stance. Five more short beeps sounded before the long beep Cloud had mentioned finally rang out and in an instant Cloud crossed the distance between them. Her eyes widened slightly as she felt her body start to react to the rapidly approaching fist. A moment later though one of her wings shot forward, deftly diverting the whip like strike from Cloud and masking the fact that she had almost been taken by surprise. She retaliated by striking at Cloud’s left shoulder, grazing it slightly as she forced the human to retreat backwards. Fool! She berated herself. When he had fought against her guards it had been a two on one fight and this time Cloud didn’t have to watch his back.

Before she had time think further Cloud shot forward again, striking twice with those long arms of his only to follow up with a pair of fast kicks from his right leg when she tried to retreat out of his reach. The last kick grazed her neck slightly as she moved backwards while trying to find a good level to spar at.

“One for one Luna,” Cloud called out tauntingly as he kept dancing back and forth on the spot.

Despite her better judgement a small spark of competitiveness ignited somewhere inside Luna, she would show him that she could match anything he could possibly throw at her without having to get serious. Grinning to herself she pushed herself forward faster than Cloud had in his first attack, causing his eyes to widen at the quickly approaching promise of violence.
The human quickly leapt into action, avoiding whatever blows he could while attempting to block or divert those he couldn’t. Yet despite his considerable skill he couldn’t quite keep up with the level Luna had set and ended up taking three hits to the left thigh, left shoulder and abdomen, the last causing him to grunt a bit. For second Luna thought she had overdone it but in the next second Cloud’s eyes met hers and told her all that she needed know. What she saw was excitement and some sort of mirth that she couldn’t quite place. What she hadn’t expected though was for Cloud to use the small window after her assault to instantly counter attack. Soon she found herself avoiding a flurry of blows but this time none of them would even graze her. So instead of continuing to avoid she countered, slipping past Cloud’s defense only to stop mid attack as a another long beep signaled the end of the first round, her hoof hoovering a mere centimeter form Cloud’s face.

A shocked expression was visible on Cloud’s face but it slowly morphed back into a grin. “Damn Luna, I had my suspicions but didn’t think you were this strong,” He commented as he stretched out a couple of kinks.

“I’ve just begun young Cloud,” She promised, returning his grin.

“That’s what I wanna hear,” He boasted undeterred, using a hand to wipe some sweat off his brow before settling into a ready stance again.

His confidence again struck something within Luna, fanning the already smoldering pyre of competition within her. She settled into her own ready stance and before long the clock started beeping again, counting down the remaining seconds for round two. As the long beep rang out signaling the second rounds start Cloud shot forward again. A flurry of strikes rained down upon Luna and all she could do was fall back to weather the assault. By Tartarus! Did he evolve as a fighter during our last bout or did he hold back in the first round? She wondered as she dodged and weaved while looking for a way to counter attack. There. Her mind cried out as an opening in Cloud’s offense finally showed itself, wasting no time she instantly switched to attack and dove forward to strike at the spot Cloud had left open. Only for her head to snap back in the next second as Cloud’s knee collided with her chin.

She stumbled backwards, more due to surprise rather than actual pain. A part of her was very happy that she was in fact an alicorn and not a normal pony as any normal pony would’ve been out cold after taking such a hit. What in the? Was all that just a ruse? She wondered as her mind tried to reevaluate what she knew about Cloud as a fighter. It was becoming increasingly clear that Cloud was indeed much more skilled than he had been back when he fought her guards. I guess I need to step it up even further. She reasoned as she readied herself for the follow up attack. An attack that came just as fast as the previous barrage in the form of a low kick aimed at her fore hooves. She effectively danced to the side while countering mush faster than she had before. Surprisingly Cloud managed to track her movements and was able to block her counter, although barely.

Her eyes met with Cloud’s for a brief moment and all she could see was a predatory glee that she had described as mirth earlier. How was she so certain now? Well for one she was feeling the exact same glee as she hoped back to create some distance between them. Cloud would have none of that it seemed though as he matched her current speed, although again barely. She continued to block his onslaught of attacks, a wide variety of punches and kicks, while taking every opportunity she saw to counter. Though it slowly started to become apparent that she was indeed still faster than Cloud. Alicorn beats human. She thought gleefully as she kept her own level just above Cloud’s speed. Although I have to say that I’m impressed, if he pushed me any harder I’d eventually have to get serious. She mentally applauded her young sparring partner.

Dashing forward she aimed a strike towards his head which he managed to block with relative ease, but she wasn’t done there. No, it was her turn to go on the offensive. With growl she followed up the first strike with a mass of attacks just as unrelenting as Cloud’s earlier attacks had been. The difference in speed meant that he couldn’t duplicate her feat of avoiding or blocking everything though, but he was certainly not taking any decisive hits. She pushed him even harder, adding more speed to her attacks but impossibly enough Cloud kept up. Another chance meeting of their eyes almost caused her to flinch. Gone were the eyes filled with glee and in their place were two orbs devoid of emotion. Suddenly she became acutely aware of something building in the air and in with a strange flash Cloud jumped into the air with a speed almost too fast for her to track. In midair he turned, his leg shooting out towards her in a flying roundhouse kick. She felt her body start react to the impending assault like it would in a real life scenario. Her eyes widened slowly as her mind struggled to catch up with the impulses that flowed throughout her body. But despite her best efforts to stop, her body reacted just like countless battles in the past had taught it to. She reared onto her fore hooves and pivoted as both of her rear hooves shot out, catching Cloud mid-air with enough force to send him flying into the nearest wall with a dull thud.

“Oh no. oh no, oh no!” She cried out as she rushed over to the slumped over form of Cloud. Please don’t be dead, Tia will kill me! She lamented to herself, completely forgetting the fact that for a second Cloud had made her become serious.

*<>*

I felt great, Luna was clearly the better fighter and was pressuring me hard but I still felt great. It was as if everything just seemed to click, I could see her attacks and I could keep up with my defense. But every time I thought I had her she just increased her speed again, forcing me to push myself even harder. And somehow my body responded to my urge, slowly everything but the contest melted away. I needed to be faster, I needed focus, I needed to win. She increased her speed again and I was forced to push harder yet again, and at the edge of my consciousness I could feel something, something familiar but I paid no heed. Then I saw it, an opening in Luna’s defense and so I jumped. Everything slowed for a second as my jump carried me over Luna, my right leg going through the motions of a flying roundhouse. But then Luna moved as if moving in real time compared to my sense of slow motion. With a powerful buck she kicked me out of the, the initial kick driving the air out of my lungs before the feeling of me hitting the wall behind me caused the world to go dark for me.

The next thing I knew was a, faint, muffled sound. “…oud, …loud, Cloud, Cloud!” My eyes shot open and almost immediately closed again as a dull pain shot through my chest, causing me to groan.

“Oh thank the Stars, you’re alive Cloud!” Luna’s voice cried out, sounding incredibly relieved.

I opened my eyes carefully again and almost recoiled, seeing how Luna’s worried face was relatively close to mine. “How many fingers am I holding up Cloud?” She questioned, shoving a hoof in my face.

“You don’t have fingers Luna,” I deadpanned before forcing myself to sit up, another pained groan escaping me as I did.

“So, how do you feel Cloud?” She asked hesitantly.

“Like I was hit by a truck,” I replied as I carefully pulled up my tank top to reveal the massive bruise across my chest. No wonder my breathing feels a bit labored. I thought idly as took the damage Luna’s buck had caused.

“I… eh… I’m sorry Cloud I didn’t mean to get so into it. Nothing is broken anymore but I-” She started to almost stumble over her words before I raised a hand to stop her.

I gave her something between a grin and a grimace. “Come on Luna don’t be like that I was the one dumb enough to ask for this,” I told her, chuckling slightly only to wince almost instantly as another dull pain spike shot through me.

Luna looked a bit relieved by the fact that I was well enough to joke about it but still rather worried. “Can I at least offer a pain relieving spell? At least until you can have a doctor take a look at you,”

I nodded. “I’ll gladly take the painkiller spell or whatever it’s called but after that we’re going to Canterlot to talk to Tia,”

A panicked expression flashed across Luna’s face before she hung her head in defeat. “Okay Cloud, we’ll do it your way,”

Luna charged a spell with her horn before gently using it to touch my chest. The effects were almost instantaneous as the dull pain subsided and my breathing grew easier. I carefully used my right hand to apply some light pressure on my chest, discovering that it still felt incredibly sore and painful if I touched it but I should have no problem moving around if I was careful. Happy with the results I stood up slowly, waiting for Luna to scramble onto her hooves as well.

“Well then let us be off,” Luna announced, lighting her horn once more and in a flash of light my training room disappeared.

*~*

I blinked repeatedly, trying to get the after image from the flash to fade from my retinas and to actually see where I was. As my vision started to return I started to notice the night themed décor in dark blues, purples and silver. Yep, definitely Luna’s quarters. I thought to myself as I took in the view. It was certainly an extravagant room and had my business not been elsewhere I wouldn’t have minded to admire and explore it a bit. Instead I walked over to the large double doors that I assumed lead out into the rest of the castle and pushed them open, startling the two bat ponies currently on guard. I was about to march of towards Celestia’s quarters when a realization struck me, I had no idea how I would get there from this part of the castle.

I turned back towards the room I had just come out of to find Luna watching me with a bemused expression. “Uh, how do I get to Celestia’s quarters from here?”

Luna’s expression devolved into an amused snort, which I let her have. After all I preferred this Luna over worried Luna. Once she collected herself she walked up beside me. “Just follow me and I’ll take you there right now,” She told me, motioning with a wing for me to follow.

I fell in behind her as she started to lead me through the many corridors of Canterlot castle, leaving behind the two confused guards.

The two of us walked in relative silence, the only sounds being those of my bare feet and Luna’s hooves on the marble floors. It didn’t take long for us to enter a familiar hallway though where two of Celestia’s guards stood posted outside a second set of large doors. I had been in this hall once before as a human, although be it briefly. As I had spent that time running from a, at the time, frustrated alicorn. Hopefully it won’t turn out like that this time. I prayed to myself as I walked up to the door.

The eyes of the guards widened ever so slightly before they crossed their spears in front of me. “Halt, the princess wants to see nopony toni-” One of the two started to say, but shrunk back quickly as he received a withering glare from Luna.

I nodded my thanks to her before turning my attention back to the large double door and reaching out to knock loudly three times. “I thought I said I didn’t want to be disturbed tonight!” Celestia’s voice rang out slightly muffled from behind the large door.

“Well I’m coming in anyway!” I shouted back, pushing open the door before she had time reply.

My eyes found her almost instantly as she lay on her bed, wearing a surprised expression and if the slight red tinge around her eyes was any tell she had been crying recently. “Cloud? What are you doing here?”

“Coming over to talk things through like an adult, what else?” I said, walking over to her before sitting down beside her.

“But I was so mad, I thought I had-” She started to babble only for me to put a finger on her lips.

“So what?” I asked, making her turn her to me.

I looked into her beautiful eyes. “You were mad yeah but, so what? It’s not like there’s never misunderstanding or heated feelings in a relationship. And if it doesn’t survive a bit of stormy weather would it really be worth keeping?” I reasoned.

A soft smile formed on her lips. “How do you do that? How can you just reset it all back to good again with a few words?”

I returned her smile. “The same way you do it. If I recall correctly your words have helped me through stupid things I’ve done in the past too,”

She blinked as my words seemed to spark her memory. “Well for what it’s worth sorry for this time,”

I put an arm around her graceful neck and gave her a soft one armed hug. “No need to apologize either Tia. We’re only human after all. Er, alicorn? Pony?” I said, eliciting crystal clear giggle from her that sent shivers down my spine.

“So much for being eloquent, eh?” I said with a grin on my face.

“Oh shut up and kiss me!” She exclaimed before pressing her soft lips against mine, taking me slightly by surprise. It didn’t take long before I reciprocated the kiss, briefly inviting her tongue into my mouth before we separated. A thin string of saliva connected our mouths before it snapped.

For a few seconds we stared into each other’s eyes completely lost to the world until a cough rudely brought us back. “While I’m happy that you two made up, I’d like to have a chance to offer my apologies too before this gets any more heated,” Luna declared, reminding me that she had probably witnessed our entire interaction. A quick glance towards the doors told me that at least the guards hadn’t seen anything since Luna had closed them behind her. That didn’t stop mine or Celestia’s cheeks from turning bright red though.

Luna gave us a knowing smirk before turning serious once more. “Well I shan’t be long, I wish to apologize sister for my behavior this evening and hope that we can talk it through tomorrow?”

“Apology accepted Luna and that sounds like a wonderful idea,” Celestia agreed, somehow avoiding to sound flustered.

“Then I bid you two good night,” Luna declared before teleporting out of the room.

A few moments of silence reigned before I spoke up. “Well, that was a thing,”

A small giggle escaped Celestia. “It sure was, now where were we?”

I let a hand trace along her slender neck. “Oh I think we were somewhere down this path,” I whispered in her ear as I leaned in closer to give it a soft nibble.

My marefriend let out an intoxicating low moan at my sudden attack on her sensitive ears and before I could react she had tackled me down onto the bed, causing to give a yelp in surprise and pain as she put her full weight on my chest.

A worried look flashed across her face as she quickly sat up again. “What’s wrong?”

“Calm down Tia, it’s just a recent sparring injury,” I said, leaving out just how recent it was.

Worry still played across her face. “Show me,” She demanded.

Seeing no way or reason to deny her I carefully removed my tank top, causing her to gasp slightly as she saw the bruising. “Oh you poor thing,” She exclaimed before adding in a much sultrier tone. “I guess I have to kiss it to make it all better,”

Ch 31. Three surprises

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Chapter 31. Three surprises

I’ve got another confession to make
I’m your fool
Everyone got their chains to break
Holdin’ you

Were you born to resist or be abused?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best of you?

I still remember this day as a, excuse my language, clusterfuck of things happening in rapid succession. While I know that I’m partly to blame for it I refuse to hold myself accountable by something that could’ve been easily avoided if a certain

…furthermore I believe that Luna and Tia should’ve filled in the ponies in positions of power about me long before this day ever had a chance to take place.

Now I’m certain that you’re wondering about the missing piece in Cloud’s journal. I may have taken the liberty to edit out a small part about myself, it was completely justified I promise. I just hope he doesn’t go over these notes anytime soon.
-TS

*~*

She knew that Cadence’s reply about the books she had requested would take some time to arrive, after all finding everything that could possibly pertain to Storm paragons in the main library of the Crystal empire could be like a search for a needle in a haystack. Or perhaps it was the opposite, with information being so abundant that it would take time to compile it all. What she hadn’t been prepared for though was that Cadence’s reply had announced that she and Shining would stop by for a visit, coming in with the same train the books were being shipped with. And as such she now found herself waiting at the Ponyville train station, on this clear winter morning, for her brother and sister in law to arrive. She idly watched as her breath misted in the cold air, pondering over Cadence’s sudden announcement that she’d be visiting. Not that it was unwelcome of course, quite the opposite but it was weird for Cadence to do something this spontaneous. Furthermore her sister in law had hinted that there was some kind of surprise tied to the visit and thus she pondered.

It could be some new book. She thought idly but discarded the thought almost immediately. That wouldn’t be much of surprise seeing how much she knows I like to read. She reasoned with herself. But then what could it possibly be? She asked herself before the whistle of an incoming train cut any further thoughts short. Turning her head she saw the quickly approaching train from the Crystal empire start to slow down before it rolled into the otherwise empty Ponyville station. The train itself barely had time to come to a full stop before the doors of one of the carts flew open revealing her brother who almost instantly spotted her.

“Twily!” The large white stallion cheered as he hurried over to scoop up her up in a warm hug.

“Hello to you too, Shiny,” She replied with a smile as she returned the hug.

A third voice joined the two siblings’ “Are you going to keep her to yourself Shining or can I greet my dear sister in law too?”

Shining released his hug and stepped to the side, revealing Cadence just as she stepped onto the platform from the train. “Hello Twilight, Sun shine, sun shine?” The pink alicorn said almost askingly.

Twilight felt her smile morphing into a grin before she replied. “Ladybugs awake, shake your hooves?”

“And do a little shake,” Cadence finished, now sharing Twilight’s grin.

“It’s been too long Cadence,” She said as she walked over to hug the other princess.

“That it has Twilight,” Cadence said hugging her back.

Once they separated Cadence spoke again. “Now before I forget I believe that these are what you requested,” She said, lighting her horn and a moment later four large parcels levitated out of the still open door of the train.

Twilight caught the packages in her own magic. “Are these all the books on Storm paragons?”

“Yes, all we could find anyway. Each parcel contains two to five books depending on how thick they were for a total of fourteen books,” Cadence supplied helpfully.

The happy smile onto her lips again. “Thank you, both of you, for finding these. I’m sure these will help Cloud and I in our research,” She told them as she studied the otherwise unassuming brown paper parcels.

A moment later she looked back up at Cadence only to find the older princess wearing a sly grin. “So I’ve been meaning to ask ever since Shining and I decided to visit Twilight, who is Cloud? A coltfriend perhaps?”

For a short second Twilight lost control of her magic, causing the parcels to drop a foot out of the air before she could reassert control over her magical grasp. “I… No! Nonono! Stars no! Cloud and I are just friends,” She sputtered. “Besides he’s already spoken for and I have no desire to suggest a herd, that would be weird for both him and me,” She added.

At her protest Shining’s face took on a relieved look and she almost rolled her eyes at that. Cadence however was harder to read as she almost looked disappointed for a moment before replacing it with a smile. “Well we will have time to meet with this stallion friend later. May I suggest that we move to your castle for the surprise I mentioned in my reply?” Cadence said in a warm tone.

She perked up instantly at the sound of that. “Oh, of course. I hope the two of you don’t mind but most of my friends are still there since we had a slumber party yesterday,”

Cadence just continued to smile. “That’s fine Twilight, your friends will probably enjoy the surprise too,”

That caused her to tilt her head in confusion. What kind of surprise will both my friends and I enjoy? She wondered before shooting her brother a questioning glance. Her brother only shook his head though. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until we reach the castle Twily,” He said teasingly.

This time she really did roll her eyes. “Alright, alright, let’s get going shall we? I think we can still catch breakfast with the others if we go now,” She said with some exasperation in her voice as the royal couple chuckled at her behavior.

Taking the lead Twilight led her family members through the streets of an awakening Ponyville, catching up on what was new in their respective lives. The journey was a rather easy one, both on the account that Ponyville had yet to receive any snow for the winter as well as the fact that the three of them were all capable of using magic. The later being put to the immediate use of levitating any luggage Shining and Cadence had brought with them.

“So have you two visited mom and dad recently?” Twilight asked them as they turned the last corner before coming up on the road to the castle.

It was Shining who answered for the couple. “In fact we have, stopped by there yesterday actually. They were doing good and were happy to see us. They also asked us to pass on their regards to you sis,”

She offered her brother a grateful smile. “That’s good to hear, I’m afraid that it has been a while since I was able to visit them myself,”

This time it was Cadence who answered. “If anything you’ll meet them when the Hearths warming season comes around, you usually stop by there for at least a day during the holiday,”

She felt herself nod in agreement with what Cadence said. “That’s true, I believe the two of you were going there this Hearths warming too, right?”

“That we are, we were coerced by mom more than three months ago that we had to stay there over the whole Hearths warming week,” Shining said with a chuckle which she was quick to join in on. The Sparkle matron could be very persuasive when she wanted to be.

They continued to discuss plans for Hearths warming until they reached the entrance to her castle. “Well here we are,” She said, using her magic to open the large entrance doors.

As they entered they were met with sound of laughter and muffled conversation streaming out from her kitchen area, telling a tale of breakfast still being in full swing. “Come on, let’s join the others for some breakfast. You can just leave the luggage here for now,” She said over her shoulder before leading her new guests towards the kitchen.

They entered the large kitchen area of the castle to find most of her friends still there. Since the time she had left to pick up Cadence and Shining at the train station Rainbow seemed to have left the castle. Nor was Applejack there but she had never been at the slumber party in the first place, no she had been forced to help Mayor mare make sure all the equipment needed to clear the fields when winter wrap up came around was in working condition. The rest of the girls quickly spotted the trio just entering the kitchen though and were quick to greet them.

It was Cadence who replied to their warm his and hellos first. “Hello again everyone, it’s so good to see you all again,” She said with a friendly smile adorning her face.

“Yeah it’s always nice to see all of you, and you too of course Spike. How’s it hanging little brother?” Shining added focusing mostly on Spike.

Spike smiled at the only other male in the group. “It’s going great, life here in Ponyville is always in motion. Especially since Cloud moved in here, you should’ve seen our last Nightmare Night celebration that was epic!” The young drake exclaimed exuberantly.

An emotion Twilight couldn’t quite place flashed across Shining’s eyes for a second before giving way for a more mirthful expression as he chuckled. “I’ll take your word for it Spike,”

After a split second decision Twilight decided that whatever Shining’s reaction was it could wait instead she used the window of silence to speak. “Now that reintroductions have taken place I do believe that I promised you breakfast,” She said, looking at the couple.

Shining however held up a hoof for her to wait. “Not so fast Twily, I think it’s high time we unveiled the surprise that you are so curious about,” He said, turning to his wife. “If you would do the honors honey?”

Cadence smiled at Shining. ”Why of course honey,” She replied before looking up to address the Twilight and the others. “It is my privilege to announce that I’m pregnant,”

A deafening silence filled the kitchen for a moment before it erupted in loud cheers and congratulatory exclaims. Twilight found herself wearing a huge smile as Shining walked up beside her and threw a hoof around her neck. “You’re going to be an aunt lil’ sis,” He said as he hugged her.

I’m going to be an aunt. She repeated in her mind before her eyes rolled back as her mind became overloaded with both joy and the sudden realization what the announcement actually meant.

*~*

I walked the streets of a mostly sleeping Ponyville, the chill of winter keeping me alert despite the early hour. There was a reason I was out this early, namely the fact that I wanted to make sure that I caught Bonbon and Lyra at home. A little less than a week had passed since Bonbon had arrived outside my doorstep only to run away the moment she had heard Tia’s and Luna’s voices from inside. I sighed to myself as I turned a corner and continued down the new road I had just entered. The frosted ground glittered slightly as I silently thanked Rarity’s skill in making clothes, without the ones I procured from her I wouldn’t have been able to make any trips without half freezing to death.

Now some might question why I had waited so long to try and make contact with Bonbon after that brief incident and the answer was quite simple to me, I was partly not wanting to make it awkward. It hadn’t really been a secret that Bonbon had harbored a slight crush on me, or so I had perceived it. As such I had always intended to sit down and talk it through with her, but I had never really found a good time for it. Before I knew it time had rushed by at a quick pace as it often does when you put something off for too long, and before long we hadn’t spoken in months.

I had been quite the surprise to suddenly find her outside my door after that and despite the fact that she had run away I had expected her to show up again within the next few days. However as the week had passed by I had finally decided that I would go see her instead at the first chance I got. And so I found myself where I was right now, walking down the streets of Ponyville to catch Bonbon before she had time to go to work. The worst possible outcome is that she slams the door in my face. I thought as I spotted the two story building that doubled as her candy store as well as the home for her and Lyra further down the street. Putting my focus on the conversation to come I strode up to the front of the house to knock loudly on the door.

I waited for something to happen but as the seconds trickled by and I heard no activity from behind the door I raised my hand to knock again. Just as my hand struck the door again it swung open to reveal a tired looking Lyra. When she saw who it was outside the door though her tired expression quickly soured.

“Look who finally decided to drop by, was wondering if you would ever stallion up and apologize for leading poor Bonnie on like that,” Lyra spat out, ending it with an angry sounding snort.

I held up my hands in a weak attempt to placate her some before speaking. “Peace Lyra, peace. I’m not here to start something, and I’m here to apologize and explain as you say,”

Lyra blew some air through her nose. “Well we’re not interested in your apology any longer Cloud, you had your chance but you blew since you waited so long to do anything,” She stated as she started to close the door with her magic.

That didn’t sit right with me though so I quickly jammed a foot into the opening, making it impossible for her to close the door. “What do you mean waited so long? It has barely been a week since Bonbon came by my place,” I argued.

That caused the mint unicorn to pause, I could see the gears in her head turning as she decided on she would do next. “Wait here and don’t move,” She finally said, shooting me a glare as she marched back into the house.

I was left standing on the porch and before long I heard muffled voices coming from inside. A minute later Lyra returned, her expression being one of anger. “I had you pegged as many things Cloud, but a liar wasn’t one of them!” She growled at me before using her magic to throw me away from the door before slamming it shut.

Surprised I found myself staring up into the still rather dark but clear sky. What the fuck was that all about? I wondered for a moment before getting back onto my feet. I furrowed my brow slightly as I walked back to the door to knock again. I barely had time to do so though before I heard Lyra’s angry shout from inside. “Just go away Cloud! We don’t want to talk to you!”

I opened my mouth to retort, to shout something back but something made me pause. You know what, screw it. I can’t be asked to deal with all this if this is the way they’re going to act. I told myself as I unfolded my wings. If they didn’t want to clear things up that was their loss and even if I had been late in doing so I had at least tried to make amends. Trying to push it out of my mind I took to the sky, knowing myself I would probably be able to drop it within the hour. Hopefully this was the only annoyance I’d run into today.

*~*

An hour later I found myself at home idly cleaning in the kitchen since I was expecting Luna and Tia to drop by some time later today. I had invited Luna over to watch some movies and the moment Tia had heard about it I had been the victim of a pair of puppy eyes that must’ve taken centuries to perfect. Soon thereafter the simple movie night I had intended became a full dinner with movies and snacks to last the night added on to it. But all that wasn’t until much later, in fact it was still the early hours of the morning and the machine that was Ponyville should’ve just now started to turn in full. As such it came as quite the surprise when I suddenly got pulled out of my idle cleaning by someone knocking politely on my door.

My thoughts instantly went towards Lyra and Bonbon, thinking that they had once again changed their mind and were coming over to talk things out. So I threw the rag I had been using to clean my stove into the sink and headed straight for the door. Only when I opened the door I found myself looking down on the only two bat ponies I knew instead of a unicorn and earth pony.

“Hi Cloud,” Star Spark said happily before walking past into my home.

I was too stunned to process what had just happened at first but quickly recovered and as I did I turned my gaze over to Longshot. The stallion fidgeted under my gaze as I said nothing but raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Ehehehe,” Longshot laughed nervously. “Well you see Star and I happened to be off duty for today and the upcoming week end and by chance Star overheard Princess Luna and Princess Celestia discussing a movie night so…” He started to explain but tapered off as he saw my less than amused expression.

A feeling of exasperation slowly started to creep over me as I for the life of me couldn’t understand why my home had become the hub of activity once again. Pinching the bridge of my nose I closed my eyes and sighed before I gave up trying to fight it. “Fine, but you and Star will help clean the house and help me in any other way I may need, is that understood?” I told the bat pony stallion.

I opened my eyes in time to see Longshot snap a crisp salute. “Yes sir! Cloud sir!” He exclaimed before hurrying past me much like Star had done a minute earlier.

And suddenly he’s just as excited as his female counter part. I complained to myself as I shut the door again. As I walked back into the living room I found both bat ponies sitting on my couch, waiting for me to give them directions or at least that’s how I perceived it.

“Alright, you two can start cleaning this room and then take care of the guest rooms,” I ordered the two bat ponies and without bothering to check if they would do as I had told them I walked past them to continue my lazy cleaning of the kitchen.

The minutes trickled by at a steady pace as I worked and eventually I found myself standing in a clean kitchen. With a satisfied nod I went back over to the living room only to find the two bat ponies to actually be cleaning. For a while I didn’t know if I should be surprised that they had actually listened to me or if I should help them with this room. But when the sound of someone knocking on my door rang out once more my choice was made for me. Would it be too much to ask for that it’s Bonbon or Lyra this time? I wondered as I crossed the living room, heading for the door. Only the moment I opened the door a Rainbow blur shot past me and familiar scratchy voice croaked out. “Hi Cloud,” as it passed.

If I had a mirror I would’ve seen the tired expression that had appeared on my face. Why my home?! I lamented as I turned around to face Rainbow, who currently sat in the open arch that lead into my living room. “What are you doing here Rainbow? We’re not scheduled to train again until tomorrow,” I asked doing my best to not sound exasperated.

The pegasus’ demeanor changed quickly as she suddenly started looking everywhere but me. “Who said I wanted to train? I’m just here to- eh… I’m just here to hang out, yes,”

“Uhuh, and you just took a chance that I wouldn’t be working today?” I questioned, my voice thick with sarcasm.

“Yep, totally!” She blurted out still refusing to look at me.

“Okay, so in other words you’re telling me that Pinkie, the only pony I told about having today off, didn’t say anything during your slumber party last night and that gave you this idea?” I asked in a deceptively sweet tone.

Rainbow’s avoidance came to pause as she finally looked at my face. “You knew?” She asked sounding confused.

I rolled my eyes. “Now I do. Unfortunately for you though Dashie, I can’t train you nor can we ‘hang out’ until my home has been cleaned. In other words if you’re not going to help out there won’t be time for any ‘hanging out’ today,” I told her. The truth of the matter was that the cleaning I had intended for today was almost done seeing how Star and Longshot had dropped by but Rainbow didn’t know that and from where I stood she didn’t need to know.

I could see how she visibly held an internal debate whether she should help clean my house after a moment she seemed to come to a decision though. “Alright fine,” She sighed as I held back a grin.

“Good, go ask Star Spark or Longshot for directions on what you should do,” I told her as I walked past her, heading for the kitchen as I had yet to eat breakfast.

After some digging around in my fridge I pulled out a large bottle of apple juice, butter and marmalade. Next I headed over to the pantry to retrieve a loaf of white bread, which after slicing went straight into the toaster. Soon a pleasant aroma wafted through my kitchen as I grabbed a glass from one of my cupboards and two butter knives from a drawer. I was busy filling the glass with apple juice when the toaster finished with the bread and thus I moved over to my still smoking breakfast to add a spread of butter and marmalade. I didn’t bother with a plate for my toast and opted instead to dig in almost immediately, enjoying my breakfast of choice as I hummed to myself. From my spot I could occasionally see one of the ponies that I had coerced into working for me pass by as they were busy cleaning my living room. I definitely didn’t feel any guilt for making the ponies work while I scarfed down my remaining toast but I supposed that I at least could offer them some breakfast too. So after gulping down the remaining juice in my glass I walked back out into the living room.

I threw a glance around the room and found it to be almost spotless. “Good job, would you like some breakfast or something?” I said, not bothering to address anyone in particular.

In perfect sync all three of the ponies dropped whatever they were cleaning and rushed past me into my kitchen and as I turned around I found Rainbow shoving slices of bread into the toaster while Star Spark was busy raiding my fridge. I held back a snarky comment as I really should’ve been able to predict an outcome like this and opted instead to go upstairs to find some more work for my cleaners friends. However I only got halfway up the stairs before someone knocked on my door once again. This is getting old. I thought slightly bewildered as my face slowly turned into a mask of disbelief. Turning on the spot I went down the stairs again and headed over to the door for the third time this morning. Although this time I made no attempts to guess who might be knocking and just opened the door as soon as I reached it. What met me was a white stallion with a blue mane that I had never seen before. The only reaction he gave to my appearance was a slight widening of his eyes before he cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry to disturb you this morning sir, but I’m looking for a stallion named Cloud. Would you happen to know where he lives by any chance?” He asked politely.

I looked down on the stallion, tilting my head slightly to the left. “I know where he lives yes, but who’s asking?” I asked, being a bit cautious with the newcomer.

“Oh, where are my manners? I’m Shining Armor,” He introduced himself calmly.

Why does that name sound so familiar? I wondered as I stepped to the side. “Well Shining Armor what do you want with Cloud?” I continued to question.

His gaze turned a bit sterner. “That is something I’d like to keep to myself, now where does he live?”

I guess I won’t get anything else out of him. I thought idly before I turned and took a few steps into my home. “You should come on inside, all the heat is getting out,” I called over my shoulder. I had given up any thoughts of this turning out to be a normal day long ago by now.

“There’s no need for that sir, I just need to find out where Cloud lives so that I can go speak to him,” He replied, still standing in my doorway.

A smirk slowly formed on my lips. “You’ve been speaking to him for the past minute, now be a dear and close that door after you enter,” I said before I continued to walk back into my home.

*~*

Star didn’t really share the enthusiasm that Longshot and Loyalty, Rainbow Dash she thought her name was, shared over the toast they were making but she was happy to see that Cloud had nice supply of apple juice in his fridge. Next up she had gone through his pantry and had laid claim to a small stack of tangerines that she just happened to find in there. Who knew she might even save some of them for Cloud. She had greedily sunk her fangs into her first one when her sharp ears picked up Cloud’s voice talking to someone at the door. It was hard to tell what was being said, but somehow the other voice sounded familiar. She strained her ears for a moment trying to pick up anything at all, although the effort was short lived as Longshot noticed her stack of orange colored fruits.

“Oh hey, tangerines,” He said happily, reaching for the stack.

Star quickly threw her hooves protectively around the tangerines and hissed at Longshot who quickly withdrew his hoof. “Fine, fine, you can keep them all,” He said before backing off as he muttered something quietly under his breath.

Smiling at herself for a job well done she discarded her first drained tangerine and sank her fangs into the next one but that was about as far as she got. For at that very second Cloud wandered back into the kitchen and following him was the prince consort of The Crystal Empire and former captain of the guard Shining Armor. She felt her eyes widen before she snapped a crisp salute out of habit, at to which Cloud only raised an eyebrow.

“Right, I’ve only seen her do that when Luna tells her to do something. Is there something you’d like to tell me Mr. Armor?” Cloud asked the prince as he turned to face him.

“Ah well, I didn’t think you had other guests but I guess that the cat is pretty much out of the bag. My full title is prince consort Shining Armor of The Crystal Empire,” prince Armor answered her human friend. He then turned to Star and the others. “You don’t have to do that anymore Star, I’m no longer your captain. Also hello Longshot and Ms. Dash,” He greeted the other ponies in the room.

Cloud suddenly snapped his fingers. “I remember now. You’re Twilight’s brother, aren’t ya?”

Prince Armor nodded. “I am,”

“Okay, now that I some idea of who you are what can I do for you?” Cloud asked, tilting his head to the side as he often did when he asked something.

Prince Armor inhaled slowly. “I’d like to know what type of relationship you have with my sister,”

“We’re friends? I’m sorry but I’m not sure I know what you’re prodding for here,” Cloud answered carefully.

Loyalty suddenly joined the conversation. “You can calm down Shining, they really are just friends,” She told the prince before turning to Cloud. “Now that that has been dealt with can we practice now?”

Cloud sighed loudly. “Would it kill you to have some patience Rainbow? Also I thought you just wanted to hang out?” He said to the pegasus before turning to the prince again. “She is right though. I’m simply a friend of Twilight. Now however it seems I have to take care of an unscheduled lesson for my student. You’re welcome to stay if you want to continue this discussion after said lesson though,”

Her former captain seemed to mull over the offer for a moment or two. “If it’s all the same to you I think I’ll stay and observe this lesson of yours. May I ask what it is?” He said finally.

“Good question,” Cloud stated, turning to Loyalty again. “What did you have in mind today Rainbow? Hand to hoof or bō?”

“I was hoping we could do some extra bō practice, I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it more and more,” Loyalty said hopefully.

Cloud made a gesture towards the direction of his training room. “Then by all means go and start warming up. I’ll be with you as soon as I’ve changed into some more suitable clothes,” He said before marching out of the kitchen again.

Loyalty quickly scarfed down the remaining piece of toast she had left before zooming out of the kitchen, no doubt heading for the training room. Left in the kitchen was a confused Shining Armor, a still calm Longshot and of course herself. Although seeing how there was little to no point to stay in the kitchen now she stretched her wings and hopped off the chair she had been sitting on. “Come on captain Armor, sir. I’ll show you the way to Cloud’s training room,” She offered.

“Thank you Star Spark, and don’t address me as captain. I’m not enlisted in the guard anymore,” He replied gratefully.

“Well then prince Armor, sir, just follow me,” She said before leading the prince consort through Cloud’s house.

When they entered the training room they found Loyalty already busy with one of the staffs that Cloud called a bō. Star had to admit that given the skill Loyalty was displaying when moving the staff around in series of fixed stances, strikes and blocks that she was a fast learner. True it was still a very basic exercise she was performing, one designed to build muscle memory, but she had improved immensely speed wise since Star saw her practice this last time about two weeks ago.

“Ah, so this boe that was mentioned is actually another word for staff then?” prince Armor asked as he entered the room and saw Loyalty practice.

It was Longshot who answered the prince’s question. “Yes, it’s apparently from a language that’s spoken in one of the countries where Cloud’s from. I think he mentioned that it was similar to neighponese in some regards,”

Star found Shining Armor nodding appreciatively. “A respectable weapon for sure, although a staff can never compare to a good sword,” He stated confidently.

“Oh? Is that a fact you’d like to prove?” Cloud’s voice rang out from behind them.

Star turned her head to find Cloud leaning on the doorframe leading into the room, his eyes fixed on the prince as he waited for him to respond to the thinly veiled challenge. “I’m sorry if offended you Mr. Cloud. I have no doubt that you are very skilled with a staff but you have to agree that a sword would cleave right through a staff,” Prince Armor tried to placate her human friend.

Cloud snorted lightly. “New plan Rainbow, today’s lesson is going to be a bit different and Shining Armor here just volunteered to help me with it,” He stated as he walked past the ponies to grab his own staff of the wall.

Prince Armor sighed. “There’s no way around this now, is there?” He said as he slowly made his way into the middle of the room.

Cloud gave one of his usual grins. “After that statement? I’m afraid no, my pride as a martial artist is at stake here,” He said, grabbing a wooden sword that he tossed over to prince Armor.

The prince caught the sword deftly with his magic, giving it a few test swings before nodding seemingly satisfied. “Okay then, I accept your request to duel,”

Cloud’s grin turned dangerous for a moment when he heard prince Armor’s acceptance. “Excellent,” He said, turning to face Star and the others. “Could you three go over to the side? And Rainbow I want you to pay close attention to this,” He continued before moving to stand in front of prince Armor.

Star did as she had been told and moved to stand next to Longshot and Loyalty by one of the walls, the spectacle that was about to play out held the potential to be a good one. She knew firsthoof just how formidable of an opponent Cloud could be, having sparred with him in the past. On the other hoof though, prince Armor had left behind a solid legacy as a capable fighter from his time as captain of the guard and that was despite the fact that he primarily focused on defensive magic. Why not make this a bit more interesting? She thought as the soon to be combatants warmed up their joints and muscles.

“15 bits says that prince Armor wins this,” She stated to her fellow audience.

Loyalty answered almost immediately. “Pff, no way! Cloud is going to win this hooves down,”

Both mares turned to look at Longshot. “Oh no, I’m not getting into that bet,” He stated quickly.

“Suit yourself,” Star said before turning back towards the two combatants. By the looks of things they were just about ready to begin.

*~*

“I simply must know which conditioners you use for your coat darling, it looks simply marvelous,” Rarity exclaimed as she studied her closely.

Cadence gave the fashionably minded pony a friendly smile. “Of course Rarity, it’s a local brand in the Empire called Evershine. I could send you a bottle some time to test out,” She told her with a smile.

This was how things had been progressing since her sister in law had fainted from the news of her pregnancy and Shining had left to: “Have a chat with this Cloud stallion,” As he had put it. Not that she minded, Twilight’s friends were very pleasant company and she was more than happy to exchange small talk and just relax as she waited for Twilight to wake up again. She sighed happily as she levitated a cup of tea, courtesy of Spike, to her lips to take a small sip. While she loved her subjects dearly it was nice to take some time off from her duties as a regent in The Crystal Empire. Speaking of time though, the hour had already passed lunchtime and were going into the beginning of the afternoon. It’s odd for Twilight to be out of it for this long. She pondered for a moment eventually deciding to give voice to her concerns.

“Spike? Would you be a dear and check on Twilight again? It’s quite unusual for her to have stayed unconscious for this long,” She asked the young drake, giving voice to her recent ponderings.

Spike looked up from an amethyst that he’d been slowly enjoying. “Sure thing Cadence, just let me grab a glass of water,”

True to his word Spike hopped off the chair he was sitting on and walked over to the kitchen faucet. With his glass of water filled he then proceeded to head out of the kitchen at leisurely pace. A moment later a faint splash was heard quickly followed by a surprised yelp. He didn’t? Cadence wondered, not wanting to believe what her mind was putting together. But as Spike reentered the kitchen with a wet maned Twilight in tow she had to hide a smile behind a hoof.

“I see you’ve decided to rejoin us in the land of the living darling,” Rarity managed to get out between snickers.

Twilight shot Rarity a withering gaze. “Harr harr, laugh it up Rarity,” She snarked before making a noticeable effort to cheer herself up.

Cadence decided that perhaps she had had enough fun at her sister in laws expense for now and decided to offer some help. “Good to see you awake again Twilight. How about I help you with your mane?” She greeted her while using a simple spell to dry Twilight’s mane.

Twilight drew a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again she looked much more serene. “Thank you Cadence and even if it’s a bit late, congratulations,” She said smiling at her.

“Thank you Twilight,” She said, returning the smile. “Now, I didn’t really have time to gossip with you since you fainted but what’s new in your life?”

Twilight got a slightly embarrassed look for a moment before she collected herself to answer. “There’s nothing that new in my life. The girls and I go where the map dictates that our skills are needed but that’s business as usual for us by now. Well I guess you could technically count Cloud as news but I’m sure the others have filled you in on his special brand of weird,” Twilight slowly elaborated as she clearly pondered on what to say.

Cadence found herself nodding. Twilight’s friends had indeed been telling her tales of this Cloud stallion and she had to say that she was intrigued. He seemed to have a hoof in most things and sounded to be fairly close to most of the girls, especially Pinkie Pie. “Yes they have been telling me stories of the shenanigans surrounding this Cloud,” She tittered.

“Oh? Which ones did you talk about?” Twilight asked the others as she used her magic to grab a teacup from a cupboard.

Pinkie started rambling almost immediately Twilight had asked. “Oh, oh! We talked about Nightmare night and his research spree with you and his job as a bouncer and bartender and his Griffin friends and-”

Cadence interrupted her. “Thank you Pinkie, I think you could sum it all up to I’ve heard a lot about Cloud without getting to really know who he is,” She said, shooting a quick smile to Pinkie.

“That shouldn’t be a problem, I had intended for us to stop by Cloud’s place later today so that I could introduce you and Shining to him.” Twilight said, taking a sip from her now filled cup of tea.

Cadence took another sip from her own cup. “That would be nice, although Shining has already gone ahead to meet with him. He has been wanting to test this Cloud’s abilities ever since Pinkie started singing his praises, stallions’ right?” She said looking around at the other mares around the table. The sound of a teacup shattering brought her gaze back to Twilight though.

Her sister in law’s eyes were wide and her expression on the verge of panic. “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no…” She kept repeating, her expression growing more and more frantic.

“Twilight!” She shouted, snapping the younger alicorn out of her funk. “You don’t have to worry Twilight, you know that Shining would never hurt anypony,” She said, trying to calm Twilight down further.

Twilight swallowed hard. “It’s not Cloud I’m worried about,” She began ominously. “You know what we better get over there right now. I’ll talk to you girls later,” Twilight declared before lighting her horn. And before Cadence had a chance to reply Twilight had finished constructing the matrix for a teleportation spell.

The world vanished in a flash and when it reappeared a moment later Cadence found herself standing in a normal living room. Well normal except for the fact that everything seemed larger than what you’d normally find in a pony’s home. That was as far as her observations got though as an exasperated voice caused her to turn around.

“No sure, just ignore the doorbell like Tia and Luna does Sparkle butt,”

What met Cadence as she turned was a torso and as her eyes started to make their way up said torso she found a creature the likes she had never seen before. He’s tall. Was the first thought her mind produced as it slowly started to work again. While he was still half glaring at her sister in law she quickly took in what she could of this creature, noting the large wings on his back, the fact that he was mostly clothed and his clearly muscled arms. That was as far as she got before the creature turned to face her instead of Twilight.

He bent down so that their eyes came to an even level. “Now we haven’t been introduced before but I’ll take any bet possibly and go ahead and say that you are princess Cadence?” He asked more calmly.

She was at a loss of words at first when those golden eyes met hers. At first she had pegged him as somepony Twilight’s age, but those eyes belonged on someone much older. There was also something familiar about the general aura this creature gave off that she could quite place. She suddenly realized that he had in fact asked her a question just now and hurried to answer.

“Yes I am indeed princess Cadence as you say. Also don’t take this the wrong way but I must ask who and what might you be?” She wondered.

The creature straightened up and shot Twilight a disapproving look. “Twi why didn’t you tell these two anything? Your brother had no idea who I was either until I told him and dead set on finding a stallion ‘till that point,” He proceeded to shake his head. “No matter now I suppose. Anyway I am Cloud a pleasure to make your acquaintance princess,” he introduced himself.

This was Cloud? The one Twilight had written about and the girls had been telling all manner of stories about? She wondered, her mouth slightly agape. Forcing herself to ignore her own surprise she tried her best to say something instead of just standing there. “So you’re Cloud? I’ve heard quite a lot about you. You mentioned that my husband was here as well?”

“Yes is my brother alright? Where is he Cloud?” Twilight interjected quickly.

The sound of her husband’s voice called out from an adjacent room. “I’m fine Twily, the only thing that was hurt was my pride,”

A moment later Shining walked into the room, proving that he was indeed fine. “Your friend here is quite formidable Twily, but I’ll beat him next time,” He said shooting Cloud a glance.

“In your dreams Armor, in your dreams. You’d have to use your fancy unicorn magic to stand a chance,” Cloud responded, shooting her husband a friendly grin.

Ugh stallions are quite impossible at times, no matter the species I see. Here Twilight works herself into a worry over Shining being injured and all they’re doing are acting friendly. Cadence thought as she shook her head. “Okay now that we’ve found Shining to be ok, I guess we won’t stay much longer. It was a pleasure to meet you Cloud,” She said diplomatically.

“If that’s what you want you’re free to go whenever you wish although as Shining and I were discussing before you teleported in you’re also free to stay for dinner if you’d like that,” Cloud replied.

“Oh we couldn’t possibly impose-” She began but was interrupted by Cloud.

“It wouldn’t be much of a problem. I’ve already altered the plans for today to include two additional guests, three more wouldn’t be that much of a stretch,” He said waving of her attempt to decline politely.

Now all she felt was confusion. Cloud was almost impossible to get a read on and yet that sense of familiarity was bugging her to no end. Why is he giving of that familiar feel? She wondered as she turned to give Twilight a look pleading for help.

“Well Cadence don’t look at me, it’s you who he’s asking. Although I’ll admit that it would be a waste to not take his offer, he’s quite the skilled chef,” Twilight whispered when she noticed her look.

Cadence looked back up at Cloud. “In that case I’ll be happy to accept,” She replied before asking a follow up question that came to her. “I’m going to assume that the other guests won’t be bothered by our presence?”

The guests she had just asked about picked that moment to teleport into the living room they were standing in. And as the flash of magic subsided she found both of her aunts standing there, much to her surprise. Well auntie Luna is standing, auntie Celestia is busy tackling Cloud to the floor while kissing him. Her mind supplied helpfully before it actually caught up with what was happening and her eyes rolled back into her head.

*~*

Cadence had to admit that the events of this long and honestly weird day had come to a pleasant end. She had recovered much quicker than Twilight had from her fainting episode and when she came to she had discarded the last events she remembered as her imagination at first. However she been forced to abandon that train of thought quickly as she barely had time to get helped back onto her hooves by a concerned Shining before her eyes landed on auntie Celestia and Cloud again. And while they weren’t busy kissing this time she could now see it clearly, they were in love. That was what had been bothering her about Cloud the entire time since first meeting him, his entire being called out to her aunt and the other way around. From that point the afternoon and following evening had been nothing but pleasant albeit a bit surprising at times.

Now though she was heading back to the castle, through the sleeping Ponyville, with Twilight and her husband walking on either side of her. They were silently talking about what plans they had for the coming two days they were going to stay here, and seeing how much entertainment this first day had brought she had no doubt that other two would hold something just as good. She stopped for a second to watch the clear winter night’s sky with all of its brilliant stars.

Shining Armor’s voice brought her back from her stargazing. “Are you coming honey?”

“Coming,” She replied as she hurried to catch up with him and Twilight who had kept walking when she stopped.

“Come on let’s get home and into the warmth,” Twilight said as she guided the three of them past a dark Sugar Cube Corner.

And as the three royals continued down the streets leading towards the castle all three missed the flash of green in one of the Corner’s windows.

Ch 32. Flawed ascension

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Chapter 32. Flawed ascension

Feel the love from your savior
A deceiver of trust
All that you give
Will be returned
With your feelings crushed

I’ll give you something
That you can’t ignore
A bait to go all the way
A place where your urge gets paid
Your conscience all washed away
He gave you a world that serves
What you’ve done before
Now it is here again, my dear
You just killed a friend…

All hail the parasite blues

I never saw the hints, the danger that was lurking just outside my periphery. As such I was very much blind until I was so caught up in it that there was no turning back. I may have said this before but don’t view myself as a particularly good man, then again I have never viewed myself as evil before this either.

*~*

While the visit from the other royal couple had been fun they had left the very next day to return to their home in The Crystal Empire. Even though the pink alicorn, Cadance, had hogged Tia for most of the night after she had recovered from her fainting spell. I had no idea what was said between the two but given the looks and an exclamation from Cadance were she shouted “40 minutes!” I had my suspicions what most of the topics being discussed were about. That was a few weeks ago by now though, weeks that had passed at a quick pace at first. But after a while it had slowed down to a crawl and now I found myself just two days from Hearth’s warming eve.

Allow me to elaborate a bit, at first I had been filled with a seemingly endless supply of energy as I believed that the books and texts that Cadence and Shining had brought with them held the key to solving my storm problem. Yet despite my best efforts and the combined help from Twilight, Luna and Tia all I had managed so far was to make myself even more sensitive to passing storms. No perhaps sensitive wasn’t the right way to describe it, it was more like the time spent spacing out lasted longer as if I was mesmerized by a siren’s song. The bottom line was that the lack of progress had made me quite irritable, frustrated even. I had expected a quick fix and now I was experiencing the backlash for having thought so, all while Murphy cackled at my hubris.

My mood had started to affect those around me too, but I felt as I couldn’t just drop it. I ended up forcing myself to read and re-read more of the material pertaining to The Paragons but found nothing new. It didn’t help that I was dependent on Twilight’s help to translate the damn texts either, for while I could read the modern Equestrian rune I couldn’t understand the old pegasus hieroglyphs most of the texts were written in. The only thing that had kept me from turning into a complete grump during last week was Pinkie, although she wasn’t in Ponyville at the moment. She had left yesterday with Applejack and her family, since they apparently had planned to celebrate Hearth’s warning together at the rock farm where Pinkie grew up. And as such I was left to my own brooding and without any real plans on how I would spend the holiday.

Well that wasn’t entirely true, I had received confirmation from both Luna and Tia that they would be coming over to pick me up sometime during Hearth’s warming eve so that I could spend the day at the castle with the two of them. Despite my situation I found myself looking forward to the chance to spend some quality time with the two sisters. Not that I didn’t meet them often already it was just rare to have a chance to talk to the two of them at the same time.

With a sigh I turned from the window I had been staring out of and took a sip from the mug of coffee I held in my hand. I was going to head to work in less than ten minutes and needed to start getting dressed properly, the weather team had scheduled snowfall starting this afternoon and until tomorrow morning, reaching all the way from here to the Canterlot region. Something to do with extra fluffy snow before Heath’s warming Rainbow had tried to explain to me last evening at one of our regular training sessions. I didn’t quite understand it, in fact I felt that there was already enough snow to make getting from one place to another on foot a hassle so more was just a dumb idea.

This of course meant that I was forced to fly almost everywhere I wanted to go, and flying with all the extra layers that made up my winter clothing was a clumsy affair at best. But seeing how I had little choice I started to don the specially designed clothes I had bought from Rarity. The two reasons I call them specially designed were the fact that they all had some sort of slits for my wings and the obvious fact that I was her only bipedal customer. In other words, everything I bought from her had to be specially designed in some kind of way.

Speaking of Rarity, she had also left Ponyville a few days ago to go spend the holidays with her family and a couple of friends she had in Manehattan. In fact the only ponies of the main six that remained in Ponyville for the holidays were Rainbow, Fluttershy and Twilight. All in all the town felt rather empty without half the ponies that usually attracted attention. Thinking about it ain’t gonna change anything at this point though. I thought to myself as I finished putting on my warmer jacket. Pushing open the door I stepped outside into the blinding light caused by the morning sun reflecting of the snowy winter land. As my eyes slowly got used to the brightness I pulled out the scarf I had gotten from the Rustfeathers before carefully wrapping it around my neck and lower face to shield myself form the cold wind when I flew. Once I was happy with my preparations I unfolded the wings from my back and took to the skies.

*~*

“… so you see Cloud according to those facts I should be given free rein to examine every tooth in that exotic mouth of yours,” Minuette told me with a smile as she finished telling me her latest reasons for why I should surrender my mouth and its contents to her.

I held up a finger in front her muzzle. “First off, no. Secondly are you going to actually order something Minny or should I go talk to the other guests?” I shot down her latest attempt to invade my oral privacy.

She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Fiiine, give me some mashed potatoes and a glass of apple cider,”

I grabbed a glass from behind the counter. “Aight, one glass of apple cider coming right up,” I said, presenting the glass to her once it had been filled with the sparkling amber liquid. “Give me a moment to go check on how long a serving of mash will take,” I excused myself before heading into the kitchen area.

I knew that Berry’s husband, Grand Buffet, had mashed potatoes ready for anypony who wanted to order it during the days leading up to the holiday but it didn’t hurt to check just in case. What was more was the fact that every little interaction between me, Berry’s family and the rest of the staff slowly helped wash away the shame from my past blunder. The truth of the matter though was that they more or less had forgiven me and I was still beating myself up about it.

I found Grand working on some sort of Hearth’s warming pie as I entered the kitchen, but he must’ve heard me enter as he turned to face me. “You need something Cloud?”

“Minuette ordered a serving of mash,” I answered the stallion, cursing myself for how stiff my reply felt.

Grand gave me an understanding look. “One serving of mash coming right up,” He said finally, turning to prepare the order.

A moment later I was leaving the kitchen with Minuette’s food in one hand and a clean glass water I had grabbed for myself. Try as I might, but I couldn’t help but sigh to myself at how awkward my interaction with Grand had been. Although as I pushed open the door to leave the kitchen I pushed back any lingering thoughts on awkwardness to face the waiting patrons with a smile once more.

I put my own glass behind the bar before heading over with the order. “Here you go Minny, one serving of mashed potatoes. Do you want anything else?” I said to the blue unicorn as I set her down in front of her.

She looked up at me with a smile. “Thanks Cloud and no I’m fine,” she replied happily before digging in.

I didn’t have time to stay any longer beside Minuette though as another party further down the bar was vying to get my attention. So set on doing my job I headed over to the new arrivals who happened to be the flower trio, namely Roseluck, Lily and Daisy.

“Hello ladies, what can I get for you three today?”

Lily smiled. “Hello to you too Cloud, the three of us thought we could go for some hot cocoa this cold winter day,”

“Sounds like a great idea, do you want anything to go with it?” I asked but the three of them shook their heads. “I’ll be right back with your order then,” I concluded before walking over to pour their cocoa into three large mugs.

The speed which the flower trio had come to accept me had surprised me at first, seeing how the three were known as some of the most skittish ponies in town. However after having seen me on my many walks around town with Pinkie the three had warmed up to me quicker than most other ponies. Rose had even admitted to me at one point during our first introduction that the three of them had pretty much made a habit out of panicking over the years and as such I shouldn’t take it personally. Back then I hadn’t really had many allies in Ponyville so I had been quick to reassure her that I hadn’t taken any of it personally. Not that I wouldn’t have done so if my situation had been any different but at the time my priorities had been quite different.

Leaving my reminiscing behind I grabbed the now filled cups and brought them back over to the flower trio’s table. “Here you go girls, should I put it on your tab or do you want to pay now?”

This time it was Daisy who answered me. “If you’d be so kind to put on our shared tab we’d be grateful,”

“Aight, I’ll do just that and a happy Hearth’s warming to you three if I don’t see you again before the holiday,” I told them as I moved back over to the bar.

*~*

My work day kept the same pace throughout the remaining hours I had left on my shift and as I stepped outside the diner to make my way back home I found that the weather team had covered the skies with grey clouds. The flight back home was fairly quick but by the time I reached my door the scheduled snow had begun to fall lightly from the grey skies. Happy to have made it before it got any worse I hung my winter jacket on a hanger and untied my winter boots before releasing a relaxed sigh. I had finished my last shift before Hearth’s warming and now I could do whatever I pleased until I went up to Canterlot to spend the holiday with Tia and Luna.

I walked into my kitchen to grab a small snack before dinner as I idly entertained myself with thinking of what the two sisters had planned for the holiday. The snack consisted of a simple sandwich and a glass of milk, I didn’t feel the need for anything more substantial as I would start dinner soon anyway. After putting the milk back into the fridge I walked over to my living room and sat down, shuffling my wings slightly so that I could lean back more comfortably.

As fate would have it though I barely had time to reach for my sandwich before someone started hammering incessantly on my door. My jaw clenched slightly in frustration as I leaned forward to rest my head in my palms. This act only lasted a few seconds though as whoever was at the door seemed to be determined to knock my poor door down if I didn’t answer it. With a groan I dragged myself to feet and went back over to my door, pulling it open to reveal a clearly frantic Lyra.

Memories of our last encounter flashed through my mind and as such my greeting was curt at best. “What do you want Lyra?”

“I- Cloud- look I can’t find her anywhere Cloud and I don’t know who else to ask to help me find her,” she blurted out, stumbling over her own words.

I raised an eyebrow. “Find who? If it’s Bonbon you’re talking about she’s not here. You two made it perfectly clear last time that you wanted nothing to do with me,” I said evenly.

A pained expression played over Lyra’s features. “I know what I said, but I need your help even if I don’t deserve it right now. She’s been missing since yesterday,” she pleaded.

That caught my attention slightly. My expression softened somewhat as I felt a bit of concern enter my thoughts. “What exactly do you mean by missing? She can’t have just gone up in smoke,”

Lyra seemed to collect herself a little bit before she answered. “Well she wasn’t home when I got back from work yesterday and she didn’t return for the entire evening. I just thought she went to spend the night at a friend’s house or something. But then she didn’t return throughout today so I went around and asked all the ponies I could think of and nopony said that they had seen her since the day before yesterday,” She rattled off quickly.

Part of me really didn’t want to have to deal with this problem but it would go against my basic personality to ignore it and hold onto a grudge instead. So with a slightly annoyed huff I finally spoke. “Fine, I’ll help you look. Start heading back to your place well start searching from there, and don’t worry I’ll catch up,” I said before turning back into my home to grab my scarf, jacket and boots.

Lyra wasted little time, giving me a quick nod before she rushed off into the snowfall and the increasing darkness that told a tale of fast approaching night.

Once I had put on my winter clothing again I turned off the lights and took flight through the falling snow, heading straight for Lyra and Bonbon’s home. Since I took the straight path I arrived before Lyra did and as such I contemplated if I should wait for her to arrive or not. After a moment of silent debating with myself I decided that I would start by checking if Bonbon had somehow returned before Lyra arrived, with a bit of luck this would prove to be a big misunderstanding. Even if Bonbon probably will yell at me for suddenly entering her home. I thought before knocking loudly on the door.

I waited a few seconds before calling out. “Is anyone home?!”

When only silence met me I tried knocking on the door again before ultimately trying to open the door, only to find it to be unlocked. That’s odd? I thought as I carefully pushed the door open to look inside the dark house. Either Lyra had forgotten to lock the door when she ran around trying to find Bonbon or there was a possibility that someone was inside. With that in mind I cautiously bent down so that I could enter the pony sized door. The inside was rather cramped for someone of my height and I couldn’t stand up straight without my head hitting the ceiling, despite this I let my gaze sweep over the room I had entered finding nothing out of place. Not that I would now if anything was out of place to begin with though as I had never actually been in Lyra and Bonbon’s home before.

I closed the door behind me before slowly moving further into the first room, finding that on my left was a staircase leading to the second floor and to my right was an open doorway leading to a kitchen. A kitchen that was just as dark as the room I currently stood in. Walking over to the doorway to my right first I threw a quick glance into the kitchen but quickly came to the conclusion that there was no possibility of anyone hiding in there. A creak from the floor above caused me to freeze in the middle of turning around. I held my breath as I waited for any more sounds but when nothing more was heard I exhaled softly, although I didn’t relax. On quick but silent feet I made my way back through the room and to the base of the staircase. Peering up said staircase I was met with an area even darker the room I was in. I quickly pondered whether I should wait for Lyra before proceeding further but my urge to be done with this whole affair reared its head once more and so I started to ascend the stairs.

I made a point of not stepping in the middle of any steps to minimize the risk of any creaking boards in the staircase, and managed to reach the top without making much noise. But despite my best efforts to stealthily ascend the stairs my only reward was a dark corridor with three doors, all of which were closed. Carefully opening the closest door that was just in front of me revealed a small linen closet and as such it was closed again before I advanced down the corridor to the next door.

As the second door was pushed open just as carefully I found myself looking into a bedroom that more than likely belonged to Bonbon if the wallpapers were anything to go by. The dark room however appeared to be empty and since I had no desire to mess up whatever dark vision I had acquired to this point I didn’t bother with trying to find any light switch. Instead I left the room whilst leaving the door open as I quietly hurried over to the last room. If whatever had caused the creaking was anything I could catch this was the most likely room. Spurred on by that reasoning I threw open the last door, rushing into another bedroom that had to belong to Lyra. The room however was just as empty as the last one, scratching my head slightly I let my gaze carefully wander over the room. My eyes stopped at the window, through which I could see that the snowfall had increased heavily. I made to turn around but froze as my eyes took in another detail regarding the window, it wasn’t latched.

My curiosity peeked I approached slowly, but as got close enough to get a good view out of the window I saw nothing out of the ordinary. I crossed my arms and chewed lightly on the tip of my tongue as I pondered what it could’ve been that caused the noise. I wasn’t quite ready to rule out that sound had been a natural occurrence.

“What are you doing in here?” Lyra’s voice rung out behind me.

I turned to find the mint green unicorn standing in the doorway. “I thought it would be best to look through the house first to see if she had returned or if not search for clues, but I have found nothing of the sort. I only went up here to check on a noise I heard,” I explained.

“Oh, okay then. Come on let’s go downstairs to come up with a plan,” Lyra suggested more calmly than she had sounded before as she stepped to the side to allow me out of the room.

I walked over to her and placed hand on her back giving her comforting pat. “I know you’re worried Lyra you don’t have to put on an act,” I told her as I gave her an understanding smile.

Lyra’s expression fell a bit. “I- uh… sure Cloud,” she said.

I gave her a nod and moved past her, heading towards the staircase. I got about halfway when I suddenly froze mid step. The last time I saw Lyra she was incredibly distraught and was running through the falling snow. Why isn’t her coat wet or cold?

I turned slowly again coming face to face with what at the very least looked like Lyra Heartstrings. “Who are you?” I asked in a steely voice.

“What do you mean Cloud? I’m Lyra,” the mint green pony in front of me claimed in a confused tone.

I tried to subtly get ready to leap at a moment’s notice as I answered with a question of my own. “Why isn’t your coat wet or cold from melted snow?”

“Oh is that all? I used a spell to dry myself of when I came in,” Lyra responded.

It was plausible explanation but I wasn’t quite ready to buy it. “Alright what about-” I began when Lyra’s voice rang out from downstairs.

“Cloud are you in here?!”

I barely had time to throw myself to the side as the now clearly fake Lyra fired off a green energy blast at me as she rushed past.

Scrambling to my feet I cried out to the real Lyra downstairs as I started to give chase. “Lyra, stop it!”

“Stop whaaaaa!?” Lyra’s voice replied as I rushed down the stairs, entering the room bellow just in time to see a surprised Lyra get showed out of the way by her double.

Shit! I cursed mentally as I charged past and after the impostor, behind me I could hear Lyra scramble to her hooves. I got out in the heavy snowfall wildly looking around until I caught a hint movement to my right, causing me to rush in that direction. I was soon joined by Lyra’s thundering hooves as she ran up beside me, easily keeping pace.

“What the hay is that thing Cloud?!” she called out as we chased what was essentially a shadow among the thousands of dancing snowflakes in the air.

“No idea, but my best guess is a changeling!” I called back as our chase led us closer and closer to the edge of Ponyville.

“A changeling!” Lyra exclaimed as we ran past the last few houses marking the city limit. “Do you think it has something to do with Bonbon’s disappearance?!”

“Most likely,” I called back while keeping my eyes on the fleeing form ahead of us.

For a minute or two we ran in silence until a thought entered my mind. “We’re not heading towards the Everfree are we?” I asked Lyra, daring to throw a glance at the mare running beside me.

Lyra shook her head as she answered. “No this direction is towards the White tail woods I think,”

“How far off is the tree line by your estimate?” I asked as a feeling of dread had started to grow in me.

Lyra didn’t answer immediately but when she did her voice was uncertain. “At the pace we’re keeping maybe ten minutes? It’s hard to tell with all the snow,”

Shit… I thought as I pushed myself to increase my pace which was already being hindered by the thick blanket of snow on the ground. “Lyra listen up,” I began, making sure that she was listening before I continued. “We have to catch whatever that thing is before it reaches the tree line otherwise I think we’ll never catch it,” I urged my companion as pushed myself to run faster again.

Lyra didn’t respond but the sound of her hooves impacting the snow covered ground didn’t diminish either so it was safe to assume that she was keeping up. The fact that finding this impostor would become that much harder if it reached the forest was only part of the reason I wanted to catch it before it reached the trees. The second part was the fact that it had deliberately picked this direction to flee in making me suspect that it might have back up waiting for it in the forest. Yet despite the increase in pace by me and Lyra the thing tauntingly kept itself at the same distance from us, remaining an unclear shadow among the falling snow flakes. Something feels wrong about this, but what? I wondered as I had begun to sweat under the warm clothes that I wore. Just as I begun to make out a hint of the approaching White tail woods a thought suddenly struck me, why had it only bothered to run faster once we did… It’s leading us somewhere! I realized as the shadow we had chased so far was swallowed by the now fast approaching tree line.

“Lyra stop!” I cried out as I came to a sliding halt on the white ground.

Lyra, who responded a moment later to my cry shot past me before coming to a sliding stop of her own. “What? We almost had it why stop?” she wondered loudly.

“Continuing further without back up would be foolish at best, we need to-” I began but Lyra cut me off.

“No!” she shouted. “We’re so close and if we go back to get more ponies now it will definitely get away,” she declared with conviction before breaking into a sprint towards the trees.

Impatient fucking unicorn! I cursed as I was left with no choice but to rush after her. Through trees with branches heavy with snow I chased the mint green unicorn as she frantically ran through the forest, hunting for the shadow we had chased before.

“I saw it! This way!” she suddenly cried out, changing direction sharply.

“God damn it Lyra just stop and think about this for a second!” I called after her as I tried to keep up with the sudden alignment change.

Lyra however would have none of it and so over roots and rocks, hidden by the snow, the chase continued. I couldn’t see what Lyra was chasing but I had little doubt that it was indeed whatever we had chased before. What frightened me though was the fact that I now was certain that we were being led somewhere and where this was I could only guess. Yet despite what could turn out to be an incredibly dangerous situation I couldn’t turn back without abandoning Lyra, and that was something my conscience wouldn’t allow. Growling to myself I did the only thing I could and followed my former friend on the wild hunt she was leading until she finally came to a screeching halt on the snowy ground. Having seen her stop I slowed my pace so that I could easily come to stop beside her.

I spent a few seconds to catch my breath before addressing Lyra. “Okay did you finally come to your senses or something?” I asked with more than a hint of venom in my voice.

Lyra snorted in an irritated manner. “I haven’t lost my senses, it ran into there,” she said, raising a hoof to point at something.

I strained my eyes to try and see what Lyra was referring to and was barely able to make out a small wooden cottage in front of us. From what I could see of the dark cottage it was a small affair with a single window and a door that was currently closed. In my peripheral I saw Lyra start moving again but this time I was close enough to get in front of her.

“What the hell do you think that you’re doing?” I hissed at her.

Lyra met my eyes with an angry expression. “I’m going to go inside to find out what the hay is going on,” she all but growled at me before she tried to move around me.

I wouldn’t have any of it though as I moved to block her path again, flaring my wings aggressively while I was at it. “You need cool the fuck down, hasn’t it occurred to you yet that we were deliberately led here!” I shouted in her face as my frustration neared its breaking point.

My sudden shout seemed to jolt Lyra out of her funk and she backpedaled quickly from my open act of aggression. “I- I-” she stammered but I cut her off.

“No I don’t want to hear any damn excuses, at this point it’s too late anyway. But from here on out you listen to what I say, understood?” I ordered as I fixed my gaze on hers.

Lyra swallowed loudly. “Understood,”

I exhaled slowly, letting some of the tension go as I did so. “I understand that you’re worried but if we get caught in a trap there will be no one to help Bonbon,” I berated her in a calmer but still stern voice.

Lyra only nodded so I opted to continue. “Well then now we’re going to examine this cottage but if we don’t find anything we’ll leave and return tomorrow with more back up, are we in agreement?” I questioned.

Lyra nodded again. “Yes,”

“Good, then fall in behind me and watch my back,” I ordered her as I turned to once more face the cottage.

It was just as unassuming that it had been a few moments ago, yet it held an ominous air to it. As if it was hiding some dark secret that was tauntingly obvious if you knew what to look for. Such knowledge wasn’t anything either me or Lyra had as we approached the cottage slowly, finding nothing out of the ordinary except a set of hoofprints leading straight to the door where they cut off. I carefully made my way over to the window and threw a glance inside but all I could make out in the poor light was a table with some sort of lamp on it and a couple of wooden chairs. Creeping back to the door I threw a glance at Lyra, giving her a quick nod to indicate that I was about to open it. I received a quick determined nod from Lyra and as I pushed open the door the two of us rushed in ready to confront whatever we had been chasing. What we found however was not the imposter, instead I saw something that made my eyes widen and my hairs to stand on end.

There in front of us were two pod like things hanging from the ceiling and inside floated the shapes of two severely malnourished ponies. For a moment I couldn’t move as I struggled to comprehend just exactly what it was that I was looking at. A thump to my side caused me to jump slightly, bringing me back to the moment.

I looked down and found Lyra sitting on her haunches a terrified expression plastered on her features. “Lyra!” I called sharply, making her snap her gaze away from the pods.

Now that I had her attention I continued. “Light your horn Lyra we need to see who’s inside the pods,” I told her in the calmest voice I could muster for the moment.

Lyra gulped loudly again before nodding. I closed my eyes just before Lyra’s horn lit up, making it so that I wouldn’t suffer too much of a time delay for my eyes to refocus to the new light level. The sound of Lyra gasping made me open them quickly again though and I had to hold back a gasp of my own. Now illuminated by Lyra’s magical light the occupants of the pods became clear one of them being a maroon earth pony stallion the other being Bonbon both floating in some kind of thick fluid.

“Stand back,” I ordered Lyra as I quickly summoned Imagination, plunging the spear into the thick membrane of the pod containing Bonbon.

The slippery fluid washed over my hands and forearms as I worked quickly to cut a hole into pod while at the same time trying to be careful to not accidentally hurt Bonbon. As soon as I had made a hole large enough I reached in and pulled the still unconscious mare out, handing her over to Lyra’s care before I hurried over to the other pod. As I worked on the second pod I heard Lyra’s attempts to rouse Bonbon from whatever induced slumber she had been subjugated to. As I pulled out the stallion from his pod one thing immediately became apparent to me, he lacked the body heat Bonbon had had when I pulled her out. Refusing to give up yet though I quickly put him down on the floor to check his breathing and pulse but I found neither. I clenched my jaw before looking over to Lyra and found her to looking at me with an unasked question playing across her features. I didn’t answer but shook my head, causing her ears to drop visibly.

“Is Bonbon?” I asked as to which Lyra nodded quickly.

“She has a pulse but her breathing is weak,” she supplied weakly.

A sudden gale rattled the cottage, making me throw a glance towards the window and the dancing slow flakes outside. With Bonbon’s state she’ll never survive transport from here to Ponyville if she has to go through the cold with that liquid clinging to her. I pondered for a moment before quickly stripping off my warm if somewhat sweaty winter jacket, it would be better at shielding her from the elements than nothing. And so with the help of Lyra we quickly wrapped the still unconscious Bonbon in my jacket, grabbing the bundle I stood up and headed for the door Lyra following on quick hooves. Before we even reached the open doorway a second thud sounded behind us making both of us turn around carefully. Behind the now empty pods stood a snarling changeling, its eyes fixed on me and the bundle I carried. I carefully threw a glance towards the ceiling behind the pods and spotted two more changelings that wore the same hateful snarling expression as the on the floor.

“Lyra, grab the Bonbon and go,” I murmured.

Lyra grabbed the bundle with Bonbon in it with her magic but didn’t leave. “I’m not leaving you in this mess Cloud,” she declared in a shaky voice.

“Bonbon needs to get to a doctor as soon as possible there’s no time to argue,” I said through clenched teeth as I slowly but deliberately summoned Imagination again and settled into a ready stance, my eyes never leaving the changelings.

“I can’t-” she began to protest but I cut her off once again during this excursion.

“Just go!” I roared at her, causing her to finally sprint out of the door, the bundle with Bonbon floating away securely in her grip.

The changelings however made no attempt to follow after Lyra but continued to his and snarl at me. “What? Not going meet your end early?” I taunted, but got nothing but snarls as a response.

I began to slowly back out of the cottage when a weirdly distorted voice rang out from within the cottage. “Leaving so soon? My queen would love to talk to you,” It said before a fourth changeling stepped out from behind a fake wall panel.

This one was different in the sense that it had more ponylike eyes instead of the empty blue ones of the other three changelings in the room, that didn’t make them show much more emotion though.

I gave an overly fake smile. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I have business elsewhere tonight so I’m afraid I’ll have to decline,” I told the changeling, making no attempt to sell the obvious lie.

I began to back out of the cottage slowly once more but was interrupted by the speaking changeling again. “Oh such a shame, I guess we’ll just have to keep the pink one a bit longer then,” It stated almost nonchalantly making me freeze in place.

“Oh didn’t you have business elsewhere?” it asked mockingly as it observed my reaction.

I ground my teeth. “Why should I trust you? What proof do you have that you have her?” I pressed, although inside I was acutely aware that they had me. I just couldn’t take the risk that it was a ruse.

The smirk that appeared on the changeling’s face told me that it knew as well. “What proof do you have that we don’t have her?” it stated smugly.

I glared at it, before forcing myself to adopt a twisted mask of a smile. “Well then it seems that my schedule might allow me to meet with your queen after all,” I said with forced delight.

The mocking smile grew. “I thought that might be the case, after you,” it said making a motion towards the opening behind the fake panel where it had come from.

“Oh, nono after you,” I said motioning with one hand, the other still gripping my weapon tightly.

The mocking expression fell into a flat one. “I’m afraid I’ll have to insist and unsummon your spear too,” it stated in tone that matched its new expression.

I gave a forced polite nod, letting go of Imagination and stepping forward slowly until I had the changelings at my back and the entrance in front of me. What I saw was black staircase leading deep into the ground, lit with the occasional flickering torch.

“Start moving,” the talking changeling ordered, making me slowly and cautiously start to descend down stairs and into the unknown.

*~*

I walked in relative silence, the only sound being that of hoofsteps hitting the steps of the stone staircase. Due to the sparsely placed torches the staircase gave of the illusion of going on forever and as the minutes trickled by I began to wonder if it actually did do so. Just as I was about ask my guides how much further this was going to go on the walls and ceiling opened up to reveal a huge underground chamber with hundreds if not thousands of changelings milling about in the flickering torchlight. There was no doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t leave here unless I was allowed to or perhaps was rescued but given the circumstances I had little choice. So I continued to descend into the strangely organic chamber, the air growing more and more humid with each step until I finally reached the bottom of the staircase.

I looked over my shoulder to the four changelings that were following me. “Were to from here?” I asked in a flatly.

The one with the different eyes spoke again. “Just continue to the end of the chamber,” it said before jabbing at me with its jagged horn, making hop forward and keep moving.

I said nothing more and tried my best to keep my focus ahead of me, thinking that I could see a hint of a throne like structure at the furthermost wall of the chamber. As I walked I took notice of the occasional changeling with more lifelike eyes as the milling sea of changelings parted before me while I walked, but those changelings were at the most one per fiftieth subject. Somewhere halfway down the chamber’s length I could clearly make out a raised dais with a throne like structure upon it, despite the sparse lighting, and after another few minutes of walking I could see the imposing figure of what I assumed was the queen.

Eventually we reached the bottom of the dais from where I could clearly see the queen of these changelings if I turned my head slightly upwards. She bore the a resemblance of an alicorn, sharing their relatively large stature and the fact that she, like the rest of her species, had both a horn and wings not to mention that she had something resembling a mane. That’s where the similarities ended though, like the other changelings in the chamber she had chitin instead of a coat and holes going through the strangest places of her legs. From the superior smile she was giving me I could also tell that she had fangs instead of normal flat pony teeth, seeing no reason to delay my reason for being there I decided to speak first.

“The queen of the changelings I presume?” I said stiffly whilst adopting a forced smile again.

The large changeling smiled smugly down at me. “Yes, I am Chrysalis queen of the changelings and you are Cloud or should I perhaps say Stormcloud?” she stated in that strange distorted voice the other changeling had used, although with a distinct female quality to it.

I recoiled slightly before I could stop myself. Just how much does she know? I wondered. Unfortunately she picked up on the fact that I had reacted much more quickly than I would’ve liked as she stood up from her throne and started to walk down towards me.

“Ah yes, didn’t think I’d know about that?” she asked as her smug smile grew, showing off her sharp fangs.

I remained silent as she started to slowly circle around me. “I know all about you human, who your friends are, the soul weapon you carry, the love of your life, your past,” she boasted as she walked.

“I’m only here for my friend, tell me what you want,” I told her curtly.
“Hmpf, so impatient. You will get to see her in due time my dear human,” Chrysalis remarked teasingly as she completed her circuit.

“How about you show her to me now, so that I know that you’re not lying?” I shot back almost instantly, I was in no mood for her games.

Chrysalis gave an obviously fake sigh as she lit her horn and a green circle of fire appeared on the floor behind her and from said circle ascended the unconscious and battered form of my friend. Just what have they done to her! My mind screeched as I took in the scene. Pinkie’s body and face were bruised, her coat was dirty and in some places stained with dried blood, lastly her mane hung limply and her breathing seemed labored. A heavy scowl formed as I took in the state of Pinkie’s body but before I could put my anger into words Chrysalis spoke again.

“She has herself to blame for the injuries as she tried to escape and since we couldn’t put her in a pod we needed to keep her unconscious…” she commented offhandedly as a malicious smile grew on her muzzle.

“I swear if you hurt her again I’m going to kill you,” I told the queen truthfully. I was surprised at how calm my voice sounded as my insides were churning with an uncontrolled anger.

“Tut, tut Cloud. I’m afraid that I can’t tolerate such threats from you, any more of those and I’ll have to break something,” she berated me as if scolding a naughty child while her magic grabbed the unconscious form of Pinkie to make a point.

I swallowed my anger as best I could, much to Chrysalis’ delight. “Good, I knew you would see reason.” She purred before continuing. “Now onto why I arranged for you to come here, I’d like to offer you a chance to join me,” she said tauntingly.

“And just why the hell should I do that?” I asked incredulously.

“Oh Cloud, I could teach you so much. Take that spear you wield for example did you know that even you were to be killed it wouldn’t bind to anyling else until it has completely recharged? Yes I can see that you understand, simply killing you would be such a waste,” Chrysalis said in a friendly tone that I didn’t trust for a second.

“Why would you tell me this? And you still haven’t given me a good reason to abandon those I call friends and family, are you truly that deluded to think that I’d turn my back on all those I care for?” I questioned

Chrysalis seemed undeterred by my questions though. “Oh but I could offer you so much more than what you have if you would just bow to me,” she purred as she slowly approached.

“Whatever fantasies and desires you have could be reality,” she said with a smirk as flash of green consumed my vision and I was forced blink.

The next thing I knew a pair of lips pressed against mine in a quick kiss. “You’ll join me won’t you, young Cloud?” Luna asked.

I raised a hand to push away the impostor but in another flash of green it was suddenly Tia standing in front of me causing me to freeze. “I can be any mare you’d like me to be,” fake Tia told me in a sultry voice, making me to snap back to reality due to the completely out of character statement. I resumed the motion I had frozen in and shoved the queen away from me.

Or that had been my intention but the queen sidestepped my somewhat clumsy attempt to shove her as she shed her disguise. She looked at me with fake disappointment. “I’m afraid that that attempt is going to cost you,” she stated flatly and before I could react I had been forced down on my knees by the changelings surrounding me as Chrysalis hoisted the unconscious Pinkie in the air with her magic.

She looked down on me with that smug smile of hers as I struggled against the changelings keeping me in place. “A leg I think,” she stated as she studied my face a second later a sickening crack echoed through the chamber followed by the howl of pain from Pinkie as her left forehoof was snapped by Chrysalis’ magic.

It took a moment for my brain to register the surreal situation, Pinkie whimpering on the ground where she had been discarded while Chrysalis observed me with a cruel smile. “You… you… BASTARD!” I shouted at the queen attempting to throw myself at her in my rage but was effectively held down by the changelings.

Chrysalis set her eyes on me. “Calm yourself down before I break something else,” she hissed at me before putting on a fake smile again. “Now, perhaps I didn’t make it clear enough,” she said slowly, stopping to make sure I was listening. “I’m offering you a way to escape any personal suffering out of the kindness in my heart. However, if you continue to refuse my kind offer I’m personally making sure that you’re the first to suffer,” she explained patiently, as if the writing was on the wall.

“What kind of sociopath are you?” I muttered under my breath before I could stop myself.

Chrysalis’ expression instantly soured again. “That’s another leg,” she declared darkly.

My eyes widened. “No, sto-” I tried but was cut off as another crack rung out followed by Pinkie screaming in agony.

As Pinkie again devolved into pained whimpers I looked back at Chrysalis. “Why? Why are you doing this? Why are you so fixated at me?” I demanded loudly.

Chrysalis threw back her head and laughed. “Why? Because breaking you and presenting you as a loyal pet to Celestia would be priceless. Imagine the look of horror on her face when the last thing she sees is you kissing my hoof before she’s forever sealed in a cocoon. That is the only value to keeping you alive,” she explained as mad grin made its way onto her face.

I just stared at her, was she truly this insane? Come on think, how the hell do I get out of here with Pinkie? I had time to think before Chrysalis leaned in right in front of my face.

“So what is your answer going to be? Are you going to swear fealty to me?” she asked sounding almost eager.

I need to get Pinkie out of here. The thought echoed in my mind. “Yes, I’ll swear to be yours,” I answered quickly, hoping that it would give me some breathing room.

However my hope turned to ash when Chrysalis spoke again. “Wonderful,” she cheered as she lit her horn.

“Now to test how much truth there is to that promise,” she continued giddily as jagged stone dagger floated into view. “Kill her,” she ordered, pointing a hoof at Pinkie who seemed to have slipped into unconsciousness once more.

I reached for the dagger with a shaky hand, grasping the uneven surface of the grip tightly. The changelings that had been holding me down backed off slightly allowing me to rise to my feet again. Chrysalis looked at me expectantly as I took a careful step forward, bringing me side by side with the queen.

“Go on, kill her,” she urged again, as my mind was going overdrive trying to figure out a way out of all this.

I need a way out. I need a way out. I need a way out! I chanted as my eyes flicked left and right only finding thick walls of changelings to all sides. Ultimately I saw only one chance for getting out and so I lunged at Chrysalis in the hopes of gaining a hostage of my own only to be caught in her magical aura mid lunge.

“Tsk, tsk, Cloud. I’m very disappointed in your choice but I guess I’ll have to go with original plan after all,” she said condescendingly as I felt her pry the dagger out of my grasp.

“Hold him down and make sure he can’t speak or shout,” she ordered her changelings as she forced me down onto my knees again and a moment later I was tethered to that spot by a mass of changelings.

I glared up at her from my position. “Now now Cloud, I gave you multiple chances so don’t give me that look. Don’t worry though I’m not going to kill you, not in that sense,” she assured me, still holding the stone dagger in her magic.

“I do however know just how good of friend this one is to you, one of your metaphorical rocks one could say. In turn I know just how highly she thinks of you,” she continued with a smirk before becoming wreathed in green flames again and when they died down I saw myself holding the stone dagger.

My felt my eyes widen as her intentions slowly started to become clear in my mind and as she started to walk towards Pinkie I started to thrash against those that held me down to no avail. I tried to scream, to get Pinkie to wake up. Only no sound came no matter how much I attempted to make one.

Chrysalis kneeled down beside Pinkie and gently roused the mare from her unconscious state. “Come on Pinks, wake up,” she said in my voice.

From the sidelines I was forced to watch how Pinkie looked up at the impostor. “Cloud? I want to go home,” she murmured, tears brimming in her eyes.

“It’s alright Pinks, it’s alright. We’re getting out of here right now. Just focus on me,” Fake me told Pinkie as it gave her a comforting smile.

“I- I’d li- like that,” Pinkie hiccupped as she was helped up into a sitting position, a hint of hope starting to shine in her eyes.

I saw how Chrysalis tightened her grip on the dagger and I threw myself into panicked attempt to break free. “Just one thing first Pinks,” she said in calm tone.

“Wha-” Pinkie managed to get out before the dagger found its home in her abdomen.

The utter look of betrayal in on Pinkies face as she looked up into my copy’s face was unbearable to watch just as Chrysalis used my face to grin back at her as her life slowly started to slip away. “Good bye Pinks,” she leaned in to whisper loud enough for me to hear as the last light left Pinkie’s eyes.

I could only stare as my mind refused to accept reality, the fight having left me completely as my arms hung motionless at my sides. I was vaguely aware how Chrysalis changed back into her normal self and started to monologue. “This pit of despair you feel Cloud is what happens when you destroy my carefully laid plans. First you helped destroy those who had all but promised my kind food for the rest of our lives. And then you just had to go and effectively seal the powers of your spear for more than five years, making it so that we can’t use it to fight off Discord. Your actions intentional or not have caused me quite a lot of grief so I’ll do the same to you and take everything you love as compensation,” she cackled madly but barely listened in my shocked state.

When I didn’t respond the queen snorted. “Broken so easily?” she questioned before turning to her swarm. “It is time my children, now we take Canterlot!” she roared triumphantly as a massive flaming hole opened behind the throne.

A deafening buzz filled the cavern as thousands of changelings took to the air at the same time, all of them heading straight for the fiery hole. I wasn’t paying attention to the mass of bodies rushing past me though as I stumbled to my feet, slowly walking over to Pinkies body. No… it’s a trick. It’s just another changeling trick. I tried to reassure myself. But even my own attempts felt empty as I could remember that changelings couldn’t keep their transformation when unconscious and so I had no illusion that death would be any different. Nonono… I refused, as I felt my eyes start to mist up when I looked down at my friends broken form, her face still locked in a state of betrayal while her eyes stared unseeingly into space.

I was barely aware that the buzzing had stopped and I was left alone in the chamber. I- I- I can’t… I tried to form a thought as tears now rolled down my cheeks. Not her. I produced as my legs gave out under me about an arm’s length away from her current resting place. “Please…,” I whispered desperately, as reached out with an arm. When my hand made contact with the still warm and dirty coat, I had to force myself to not pull it away.

“P- Please no…,” I sobbed as I carefully pulled the much smaller body towards me.

I gently cradled her in my arms, not caring about the blood that got onto my clothes and person. “Plea- se you can’t be,” I pleaded as I wept, my tears falling uncontrollably on the already stained coat.

But no answer came, no miracle was there to save the day as I threw my head back and howled out my anguish for the world to hear. I screamed and screamed until my voice turned raw and my tears burned in my eyes, all while rocking her small and lifeless form. Eventually I couldn’t scream anymore and I was left sitting on my knees, my whole body trembling from my sobs. Still cradling her in my left arm I reached up and closed her blind eyes with my right hand, before once more hugging the lifeless body close to me again.

I sat there in the dimly lit chamber for what felt like hours, accompanied only by the echoes of my sobbing. At some point my tears dried up and I found myself just sitting there staring out into space as I desperately refused to let go of the body. My thoughts were a mess as image after image flickered past faster than I could comprehend what they were showing. Yet in that chaotic torrent of images one kept bubbling to the surface, one of Chrysalis’ laughing face. Something slowly started to grow inside me, an ember that begged for fuel. It was her fault.

The embers soon started to push away my sorrow as they grew, causing as my expression hardened. I need to make her pay. I growled in my head as the embers turned into a flame. My jaw clenched painfully as my body trembled, no longer from sadness but from the rapidly growing rage within me. I carefully put Pinkies body down as my features slowly morphed into vicious snarl.

She needed to die. I produced as I stood up from where I had been sitting, my now clenched hands shaking from the mounting fury I felt. Then I felt it, the siren’s song I had battled to ignore in the past once more called out to me. Not with any words understandable by tongues of mortals but a resonance between primal forces. My rage and the raging snowstorm outside of the chamber called out to each other, begged to feed of each other.

Like a seductive whisper in my mind it beckoned, it promised that it would be so easy. To give it all up, to surrender myself and escape from the sorrow that tore at my soul. And so I ceased to be Cloud, I was the storm and the storm was me. The now bloodstained scarf I wore flapped in an ethereal wind ignoring the howling gale that now surrounded me, however I was not aware of this fact. My mind had long since surrendered to a single thought, and so I wasn’t even aware that imagination formed in my now bloodstained hands as lightning tore through roof of the chamber.

A storm was coming and I wasn’t in control…

Ch 33. The demon of Canterlot

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Chapter 33. The demon of Canterlot

What did you conjecture to arise
from the ashes of my broken self?
An obedient drone just easy to bind?
I’m but the demon you’ve devised

Tremble, you bastards,
I represent all that you dread
It’s so futile to think you can still control me
I’ve nothing to lose for you have tainted everything I prized
Whatever you try, revenge is mine

To this day I have next to no memories of my own of what transpired this night. No matter what I’ve tried I have come out unsuccessful in my attempts at recovery but I have learnt to live with it since then.

*~*

The windows of the castle rattled loudly as a particularly strong gust of wind made the snow falling outside take on the form of a white blur. Despite being the weather manager of Ponyville and thus having prior knowledge of the heavy snowfall that had been scheduled for the night she couldn’t help but think that this was excessive. Bleh, these things always spin out of control once we set them loose. Not to mention that there’s no easy way of stopping them when they do. She pondered as she watched the wind slow down again, making it possible to see the individual snowflakes once more. Rainbow turned her head from the window to look at the other ponies in the room, well ponies and dragon. Sitting next to the large fireplace in the room were Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike, the latter busy preparing s’mores over the crackling fire. A small smile found itself on her muzzle as she took in the scene. There were definitely worse ways to spend the evening then having a sleepover with some friends just before the holiday, she’d have to remember to thank Twilight for coming up with the idea later.

Getting up from where she had been watching the weather she walked over to the many pillows scattered on the floor and sat down on one next to Spike. “Hey buddy, ya think you could get me a s’more too?” she asked the young dragon.

“Sure thing Dash,” Spike replied without taking his eyes of the marshmallow he was currently roasting.

Having placed her order she instead turned to her oldest friend. “Hey Flutters what are you giving me for Hearth’s warming?”

Fluttershy blinked at suddenly being addressed and turned her head away from the fireplace that she had been staring into. “Um, I’d rather not say Dashie. To not ruin the surprise… and all that,” she murmured before yawning loudly. Well loudly for her at least.

“Oh my, I must be more tired than I thought,” She continued apologetically.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Fine, I won’t pressure you into telling me,” She sighed before turning to Twilight who, unsurprisingly, had her muzzle burrowed in a book. “Hey Twi what’cha reading?”

Twilight carefully put a small strip of silk to mark where she was in the book before turning her head to face her. “It’s a book written by a scribe from the Storm Paragons, it’s full of these amazing things that the pegasi of old used to be able to do. Did you know for example that a team of five could be especially trained to quickly form a storm cluster of around a kilometer in diameter without having to worry about losing any mobility or control? Or did you know that such a group would be called an Eye?”

“Uhuh… Shouldn’t you be telling Cloud this stuff? You know with his spacing outs and all?” She asked.

“Oh this won’t really help him unfortunately, this is more of a collection of texts describing the historical names and how those came to be during The Paragon’s era of greatness,” Twilight explained.

“Uhuh…” She replied again as she turned her gaze back to the dancing flames in the fireplace. Twilight must’ve sensed that she really wasn’t interested in the book she was reading because she didn’t say anything else. Rainbow found herself settling down further onto the pillow and before long she had to fight to keep her eyes open.

*~*

Twilight spared the yawning Pegasus a glance before returning to her book. It was truly marvelous just how much information regarding Storm paragon society the texts Cadence and Shining had provided held. She felt like she could lose herself for hours just exploring every aspect she could uncover, and while she knew that all this was primarily to help Cloud she had told herself that indulging her curiosity a bit wasn’t a betrayal towards his plight. Her reading came to a screeching halt though when the sound of somepony hammering on the front door echoed through the castle halls.

“Huh, I wonder who that could be at this hour?” She thought out loud.

Spike turned to look at her from his spot near the fireplace. “Do you want me to go check, or do you want to go take a look yourself?” He asked her.

Using her magic she placed a bookmark in the book before standing up from her pillow. “I’ll go. I need to stretch my legs a bit anyway,” She replied to her assistant before walking out of the room, heading towards her door. The hammering continued without stopping until she started to actually swing said door open, revealing something she really couldn’t have prepared herself for.

The exhausted but clearly distraught visage of Lyra had her on edge even before the mint colored pony spoke. “Please help, changelings, Bonbon hurt, Cloud in Whitetail,” She managed before passing out on the front porch of the castle.

Twilight felt her eyes widen before her instincts kicked in and caught the bundle that Lyra had been holding afloat before it hit the ground. A closer look told her that the bundle was Cloud’s winter coat containing a very weak Bonbon. Gathering her magic she quickly grabbed the unconscious form of Lyra as well before teleporting all three of them to the emergency ward of the Ponyville hospital. A bewildered nurse looked up from the reception due to the sudden flash that signaled their arrival before her professional side kicked in and she rushed over to Twilight.

“What has happened princess?” She asked as she bent down to examine the two charges Twilight had brought with her.

“All I got out of Lyra before she fainted was that changelings are somehow involved and at first glance I’d say that Bonbon has been fed on while Lyra fainted from exhaustion due to running all the way from Whitetail woods while carrying Bonbon,” She quickly summarized what little information she had.

The nurse looked up at Twilight, alarm written across her face at the mention of changelings and opened her mouth to say something but Twilight cut her off before she could say anything. “Look that’s all I know currently, your job right now is to treat these two while mine lies towards the Whitetail woods,” She said curtly before teleporting back to her castle.

Normally she wouldn’t have been so short with anypony but there was still one fact that was more pressing than being polite with the Ponyville hospital staff, and that was that Cloud supposedly was still there with the changelings. With hurried steps she rushed up the stairs and to the reading room where she had left Rainbow and Spike mere minutes before. Later she would question why she hadn’t simply teleported straight to that room but at that moment her adrenalin was pushing most of her rational thoughts aside.

Instead she burst into the room at full speed, much to the surprise of Spike, Fluttershy and Rainbow. “Cloud’s possibly in trouble with changelings!” She blurted out the moment her mind registered that all three of them were still there.

Rainbow looked confused before the meaning behind her words seemed to sink in at which point she shot up her hooves, ready to take flight. “Which way?” She demanded, all the sleepiness she had been displaying earlier having vanished.

“Whitetail woods we have no time to lose,” Twilight replied quickly starting to turn back towards to the door before she was halted by the voice of the third individual in the room.

“And what about me? Am I just supposed to stay here as usual with another potential changeling invasion going down?” Spike questioned loudly from where he stood.

Had Twilight’s mind not been affected by the previously mentioned surge of adrenalin she might’ve remembered the protective enchantments she’d put around her castle. If she had she probably wouldn’t have come to the conclusion that it would be safer to bring Spike with her rather than leave him all alone in the castle. Instead she pulled him over to her back before hurrying out of the castle with Rainbow hot on her heels. She couldn’t have foreseen it at that time but the decision to bring Spike along that night would both save her life but also bring the young drake a lot of psychological stress.

But since Twilight currently wasn’t thinking clearly she only cried “Hang on!” to her passenger as she and Rainbow took flight in the raging snowstorm, heading as fast as they could towards Whitetail woods as fast as their wings and the weather would allow them.

Left behind and still confused about everything that had just happened was a certain pink maned pegasus. “I-I’ll just stay here and hold down the fort then,” She murmured softly in the now empty reading room.

*~*

As the Whitetail wood tree line came into sight through the whirling snow the skies were lit up by a massive flash of light that was quickly followed by the crash of thunder. Having been temporarily blinded by the sudden light Twilight found herself blinking as she fought the howling the winds to stay in the air.

Before she had time to recover though Rainbow cried to her right. “Over there look!”

A quick glance to her right showed her that Rainbow was pointing towards something in the forest. She strained her eyes as she looked in the general direction that rainbow had pointed and could barely observe a flicker of light in the dark forest before them.

“Twilight that is Cloud, right?” She heard Rainbow ask.

“I think so, I mean it has to be,” She replied before Rainbow quickly asked a follow up question.

“Well what are we waiting for? He can’t take on a potential hive by himself, right?”

Twilight turned her head to look at her pegasus friend to find her already looking intently at her. The determined expression she could read on Dash’s face mirrored how she felt inside when she simply responded to her previous question with a nod. Then without further words they both hurried after the light that had seemed to disappear deeper into the storm of snowflakes.

They didn’t have to fly far though as a large hole in the middle of the forest was hard to miss, even in the midst of the swirling snow. Exchanging another look with Rainbow they quickly descended so that they could peer over the edge of the large opening in the ground.

“I think I see a light down there,” Spike suddenly said from her back, startling her slightly. She had almost forgotten that he was there with them for a moment.

Although when she followed where Spike was pointing she could see the aforementioned light. It flickered at the far end of what must be a massive cave formation under them. A light must mean that somepony is or was here. She thought as she strained her ears, trying to hear anything that would indicate that Cloud was down there. However the wailing wind quickly made it clear that such a thing would be impossible. That only left one option open to them if they wanted to check what secrets this cave held within a reasonable time frame and that was to go down there themselves. Okay Twilight best case scenario: You lead everypony down there and find Cloud and in extension get him out of there. Worst case we all get captured, and the middle road would be that this is unrelated and would be a waste of time. She debated with herself, unsure of what would be the best choice in this situation.

Due to a certain polychromatic pegasus though she wouldn’t have to make the choice as said pegasus suddenly dove down the hole and into the darkness while crying out: “Hold on Cloud we’re coming!”

As she saw her friend fly in she was left with little choice than to follow her down and soon they found themselves in the large chamber they had been looking down into. A chamber that still had the odd flickering torch here and there but was otherwise seemingly empty.

The bravado Rainbow had shown a mere moment ago seemed to have evaporated. “Woah this place is creepy,” She muttered as her eyes narrowed in an attempt to pierce the overbearing darkness.
Twilight couldn’t help but to silently agree with Rainbow’s statement. “Close your eyes for a second, I’m going to create a light,” She called to Dash and Spike before creating a simple spell matrix for a mage light.

A few seconds later the entire chamber was lit up by a large sphere that produced a sterile white light. Twilight felt her eyes widen as she now could see just how big the cave was. To say that it was large would be a grave misnomer as the thing stretched on much further than she had originally thought. Moreover to call it a cave would also most likely be false as the box like qualities it held were clear signs of it having been artificially created. But despite its impressive size the chamber remained as eerily empty as it first had seemed.

“What do you think?” She asked her two companions, causing her voice to echo down the walls of the chamber.

“I don’t what to think Twi. But we’re wasting time here and should start heading out to search for Cloud,” Rainbow declared.

“I believe that we should at least look for clues in this place,” Spike suggested from her back.

She weighed the options she had been presented with quietly for a few seconds before coming to a decision. “I agree with Spike. We need to figure out what we can from this place and not charge off into the snowstorm blindly again,”

Rainbow opened her mouth to protest but ultimately closed it again. With a sigh she nodded before being able to speak again. “You’re right, I was still high on adrenaline,”

Twilight nodded in understanding, a few moments ago she too had suffered a similar fate although not as severe as Rainbow. “It’s okay, but you’re still right that we’re still somewhat pressed for time. As such we need to split up to cover the area of this chamber faster, do not leave the chamber itself though and call out the moment you find something,” she instructed quickly.

Rainbow threw a quick salute. “Will do Twi,” she said before shooting off towards one end of the chamber.

“Alright Spike, we’ll take this side then,” She told her passenger before turning to face the opposite direction from where Rainbow had flown.

She barely had time to take a few steps though before Rainbow’s voice echoed throughout the cavernous chamber. “Hey Twi! Over here, I found something!”

After throwing Spike a quick glance to make sure he was holding onto her mane she launched herself into the air and proceeded to fly over in the direction where Rainbow had gone. As she barely had had any time to move, reaching Rainbow was a quick affair but the sight that met her left her somewhat confused.

There on the ground next to Rainbow lay a clearly dead changeling drone with crude stone dagger driven through its chest, blue blood pooling around it. What only added to the confusion was the fact that two of its legs had clearly been broken.

“What do you think happened here?” Rainbow asked, bringing her back from her confused thoughts.

She shook her head. “I don’t know Dash, I really don’t know,” She answered as she tore her gaze from the corpse to look at her friend. “Any sign of Cloud?”

Now it was Rainbow’s turn to shake her head. “No, I don’t think he’s still here. Either he pursued the changelings for whatever reason or maybe they’ve taken him hostage,” She said with a frown.

“Possible…” Twilight said as she pondered on the next course of action. Rainbow’s theories certainly hold merit in the current situation but it doesn’t help us help Cloud since we have no idea where he has gone. Something about all this feels off though and I can’t put my hoof on what. Furthermore where in the nine circles of hell am I supposed to find a clue to where Cloud is now? She thought to herself, adding a bit of Cloud’s, at times, colorful vocabulary for good measure.

Her answer came in the form of Spike’s clear voice, cutting through the dark chamber like a knife. “Can’t we just cast a spell or something to track Cloud?”

Oh Spike if I could do that I would’ve done so from the get go. She thought as she opened her mouth to gently rebuke him but froze mid motion. Wait, I may not be able to track the whereabouts of single individuals but if this chamber was full of changelings there must’ve been some kind of magic involved in making them all vanish. And magic capable of transporting even just three individuals leaves enough thaumatic residue for somepony skilled in magic to reconstruct the spell matrix used to a certain degree.

“Spike you’re a genius!” She exclaimed, giving her assistant a quick hug before releasing him just as quickly. “Stand back I’m going to try something,” She told her bewildered assistant and confused friend.

Gathering magic to her horn she quickly constructed a spell matrix that would allow her to see the thaumatic spectrum. As soon as the matrix completed thin lines of green magic intersecting thicker ones started to appear in the air behind the dead changeling. More and more lines joined the existing ones as complex pattern started to form and soon the after image of a massive spell matrix hung in the air before her enhanced eyes.

It’s huge… Was the first thought that crossed her mind as her eyes drank in the sizable after image of the matrix. When she got over the initial shock of seeing the spell’s actual size she quickly started to scan the matrix itself for some sort of coordinates or anything that could discern what type of spell it had been. The minutes trickled by as her eyes darted back and forth trying to decipher the changeling spell. So if those lines there are to stabilize the tunneling process then those symbols must translate into some sort of triangulation matrix for a previously fixed point. Now if I take those and trace recorded ley lines to find a match I get… She felt her eyes widen as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. “Cantlerlot,” She whispered as a shiver ran down her spine.

“Quickly gather around me!” She cried out to Spike and Rainbow as she started to prepare a long range teleportation spell.

The matrix for the spell finished constructing mere moments after Rainbow and Spike reached her and the chamber vanished in a flash of white and purple magic

*<>*

The sound of somepony knocking on the door made Twilight Velvet look up from the silverware she was polishing and throw a glance in the direction of said door. “I wonder who that could be this late and in this weather?” She wondered out loud as she carefully set down the fork and rag she’d been levitating.

“Your guess is as good as mine honey but let’s go have a look shall we?” Her husband Nightlight suggested to her left as he carefully levitated half a dozen plates into a cupboard.

The two of them trotted over to the door and Velvet used her magic to push it open. The sight that met the couple was that of four royal guards.

“Dame Velvet, Mr. Nightlight we are here to evacuate you due to standing orders from princess Celestia,” The guard closest to them reported smartly.

Their confusion must’ve been highly visible as the guard was quick to speak again. “I do not wish to alarm the two of you, but there has been mass sightings of changelings in the city and protocols that were created after the last attack dictates that any family members to the elements of harmony must be secured as soon as possible so that may not be used as hostages,”

Velvet snapped out of the confusion she had momentarily found herself in and was already putting on clothes to shield her from the snowstorm outside before the guard finished speaking. A glance to her right showed her husband doing the same thing. “We’re ready to go…” She began but realized that the guard had never given her his rank or name.

To the credit of the guard he caught on quickly. “I’m lieutenant Wind Bolt ma’am,” He said offering a quick salute to her before motioning for them to move in between the four of them.

She quickly stepped out into the heavy snowfall and harsh wind, her husband staying just to the right of her. In rapid succession the four guards took up positions around them and started to escort them towards the castle. Their progress was slow due to already snow filled streets and it didn’t help that they were moving against the howling wind. Perhaps it was only due to this reason that she heard the telltale signs of struggle up ahead. The guards, seemingly having caught on that something was happening up ahead tightened the formation around her husband and her and a mere moment later a terrible screech was heard up ahead. The sounds of fighting suddenly died down and then one of the light posts flickered and died up ahead and then another one and another one as the seconds slowly trickled by.

“We need to get off the street,” Lieutenant Wind suddenly ordered as he snapped out of the daze he had been in.

The guards quickly followed their new order and quickly ushered Nightlight and her into a close by alley. In the darkness of the alley they waited in silence, watching the still illuminated street from their hiding spot, but no further sounds were heard for a full minute. Then, cutting through the oppressive silence, the sound of a snow muted gallop could be heard and a moment later a panicked and wingless changeling appeared in lamp lit street before them. Its head turned towards the six ponies in the alley and cried one desperate word. “Help!”

Then the streetlights flickered once before dying completely. The sound of something heavy landing echoed through the alley followed by the changeling’s strangled cry of fear. A sharp crack of something breaking rung out and a breathless moment later the clang of metal hitting stone was heard too. Velvet strained her eyes, trying to make out what might have caused the lights to die out. As the seconds trickled by she thought that she saw a huge shape rise up from where the changeling had been standing. A small gasp signaled that one of the guards seemed to have noticed the shape as well, however the gasp caught the shapes attention. The shape whirled around as an impossible bolt of lightning lit up the night, revealing the shapes true nature for a split second. Her mind was quick to note the blue and red splotches of blood that covered the creature and the spear that was still piercing the now lifeless changeling. As darkness once more hid the creature one thing remained though. Through the darkness Velvet found herself staring into a set of cold glowing golden eyes that promised death. Under that maddening gaze Velvet found herself shaking in terror as her body refused to respond to her commands of running away.

The creature’s eyes stared at them for a few more moments in the darkness before it turned its head towards the stormy skies with something sounding almost like a snarl. The sound of a pair of huge wings unfolding was heard before the creature's shape could be seen shooting off into the sky. A few seconds after the creature had left the street lights flickered back on, revealing the corpse of the changeling and the ever growing mass of blue bloodied snow that surrounded it.

*<>*

Chrysalis circled the apathetic form of a mind controlled Celestia, the feeling of how easy it had been was still slightly overwhelming to her. All she had needed to do was stroll up to the throne room while wearing the human’s guise and the foolish sun princess had more or less given herself to her.

“Oh how the mighty have fallen,” Chrysalis chuckled as she came to a halt in front of the frozen princess.

She let one hoof caress the princess’ cheek. “This is the second time that I have you under my control princess and seeing how my children are keeping your precious sister and the guards in check there won’t be a third,” She purred.

“I will bleed your precious ponies dry of all their love and then I’ll-” Fear, pain, a glint of metal in the dark. Chrysalis legs almost gave out as her mind was overloaded by an emotional backlash from the hive mind.

When last parts washed away from her mind she found herself wide eyed and hyperventilating as an image of two cold golden eyes cloaked in darkness were burned into her mind.

*<>*

“For Luna!” Longshot cried as he dove towards the changeling pack below, the rest of his squad diving alongside him. They slammed into the changelings with righteous fury, making short work of the pack but despite their skill advantage they were gaining no ground. This had been the 5th pack that they had decimated in the past hour and every time it seemed like they might have a shot at retaking the palace they’d be pushed back by the swarm.
What was worse was the simple fact that they were fighting an enemy that easily took the shape of the comrades you were used to fight side by side with. This simple fact had more than once resulted in reinforcements arriving to help them only for them to turn into more damnable bugs when they got within striking distance.

Because of this Longshot was already on edge when a group of solar guards came hurrying down the street as the last changeling in the pack fell to Star Spark’s wing blades.

“Stop right there!” He barked before the group of guards got to close to his squad.

The solar guards came to a quick halt in the snow covered street their commanding officer stepping in front of the others. “Your suspicion is wise but completely unwarranted in this case lieutenant,” He called to Longshot.

Longshot however would have none of it. “State your name, rank and where you’d normally would be stationed,” He ordered in a no nonsense voice that he had picked up in officer class and had started to perfect after becoming a father.

“Corporal Slingshot normally stationed at the Canterlot customs along with the rest of the guards stationed there,” The previously unnamed officer replied quickly. “Can we stop this now and go after the real enemy lieutenant?” He asked taking a step forward.

“You will stand still until I’m done with my questions corporal!” Longshot replied sharply.

“Now listen here you’re wasting time sir. We aren’t anpony su-” Slingshot began but stopped mid-sentence as every streetlight in the immediate area seemed to go out at the same time, shrouding the area in darkness.

Longshot’s sharp ears picked up the sound of something heavy landing in the snow moments before his eyes adapted to the now dark street. The large shape of Cloud wielding his strange spear was unmistakable as he rose to his full height just behind the group of solar guards who were frantically looking left and right in the sudden darkness. His first sensation was a feeling of relief as he doubted that the changelings would be dumb enough to attempt to mimic Cloud then he started to notice the little things and his relief started to morph into something else. First were the obvious and easy to spot phenomena his friend was displaying, namely the scarf that flapped furiously in the wind but not in the direction of the wind caused by the ongoing storm. Next were the sparks of electricity that were coming of his body and further arced out among the swirling snowflakes, creating a display that looked equal amounts impressive as it looked deadly. Then there were the more subtle hints that could be seen in the human’s body language, how his body tensed as if preparing to pounce onto unsuspecting prey and how his golden eyes shone with something far more primal than he’d thought the human capable of. One time Cloud had told them that his kind were the apex predators of his home world, that time Longshot hadn’t believed him. Now he did.

It was also around this time that he came to realize that the electric effect was spreading further and further away from the human, creating a slowly expanding barrier of charged snow particles. But more of interest was the fact that wherever the electrified snowflakes would land on the squad of solar guards tiny puffs of green flames would erupt. Before he could even react to the information his eyes were providing him with Cloud lashed out with his spear catching the false guard closest to him in the neck. With a gurgling sound he fell to the ground as burst of green flames illuminated the dark street, revealing the changelings’ true form as it died. For a moment everything stopped as darkness once more fell upon the street. Well, everything except the howling wind and the faint pops and crackles caused by the multitude of electrical discharges. Then as if given some silent signal the group of false solar guards started to scatter in panic as they tried to get away from Cloud. But turning away only proved to be worse as the human descended upon the eight remaining changelings with a ferocity that not even a griffin warrior could hope to match. Longshot found himself unable to move as his friend all but butchered his prey and when the last changeling fell Cloud finally turned his gaze towards him. A shiver ran down Longshot’s spine as he took an involuntary step back, he had been wrong before when he described Cloud’s eyes as if they held a primal quality. Those were not the eyes of his friend, those were the eyes of a something, a monster on the hunt.

The thing in in Cloud’s shape looked over him and his squad for a few seconds as if it was waiting for something. Then it suddenly just turned and took a running leap up into the swirling masses of snow overhead. A loud exhale was heard to his left made him turn his head and found Star Spark still looking up at the retreating form of the Storm paragon.

“What the hay was that? What’s going on with Cloud?” He heard her mutter to herself.

Additionally he quickly started to become aware of the similar mutterings from the rest of his squad. Thinking quickly he turned to address them.

“Listen up! That was our local Storm paragon, friend of our liege and consort to the sun, and right now he’s leading the charge! Are you going to let him do it alone?” He questioned his subordinates while expertly masking his own worries from his subordinates. Well masking it from most of them, Star would most likely see through his bravado.

His words certainly had the desired effect though as he could see the confusion and frightened faces slowly start shine with determination once again. Hang on Cloud, you’re not alone in this fight. He thought as he inhaled to start giving his next set of orders.

*<>*

The world flashed back into existence and Twilight found herself standing on one of the snow covered piers of the Canterlot docks. She blinked a few times in an attempt to make her eyes get used to significantly more well-lit docks compared to the stone chamber in the White tail woods. A long range teleport like this would’ve been impossible for me to cast before I turned into an alicorn. She thought to herself as she turned her head to see if Spike and Rainbow had come through unscathed. What she found was Spike in the middle of the process of helping Rainbow to her hooves, the former having gotten used to teleporting from the years of living with her.

Rainbow swayed slightly on her hooves before shaking her head, seemingly managing to clear the lingering disorientation. “Where… Where are we Twi?” She asked as she looked around the snowy docks.

Twilight opened her mouth to answer but stopped as a strange coincidence occurred to her. Isn’t this the same pier we arrived at with the Rustfeather family? She thought as she looked at the tied down airships still present in the docks.

In her failure to answer Rainbow Spike took the moment of silence to answer for her. “I’d say we’re in the Canterlot docks if I’m not mistaken,”

“You’re right Spike. The spell in the cave was set to open a gate to this spot which means that Cloud most likely is somewhere here in Canterlot,” Twilight added to her assistant’s observation.

Rainbow raised a hoof. “Okay so what do we do now?” She asked.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Why we find Cloud of course,”

“Yes but I meant how do we do that? It’s not like we know where in the city he is hi-” Rainbow continued but was cut off as a large bolt of lightning cut through the storming skies.
“I stand corrected,” She muttered before quickly opening her wings, getting ready to take flight.

Twilight, remembering that Spike was with them called out to her friend. “Hold on Rainbow Spike needs to get onto my back before we rush off anywhere,”

Rainbow shot her a sheepish smile that pretty much said that she had, like Twilight earlier, forgotten that the young dragon was accompanying them. Whether Spike noticed this or not she wouldn’t as he wasted no time climbing onto her back.

“I’m ready Twilight,” He announced almost as soon as she felt his weight settle down.

Shooting Rainbow a quick nod, she extended her own wings and launched into the skies, heading towards where the lightning bolt had manifested.

While fighting the snow filled and howling wind was challenging the slowly made their way towards the bolts general area of appearance. But the closer they got Twilight couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of dread. It wasn’t until she spotted a familiar street crossing that she realized why. This is where my parents live! Shot through her mind and before she could stop herself she had started to align herself to where she knew her childhood home to be. She did however stop as her passenger suddenly cried out.

“Hey what’s that down there?!”

Turning her head to look at Spike she found him pointing at pony formed shape close to the entrance of an alley, a shape already half covered in snow. “Rainbow!” She called out, getting the attention of her friend. A quick motion with her hoof directed the pegasus’ attention towards the alley.

The two shared a quick look before descending down into the sparsely lit alley as fast as the wind allow them to. The moment they touched down Twilight turned her head towards Spike. “Hop down while I check it out,” She told him, the severity in her tone made him comply without a single word of protest.

She carefully approached the pony shape. Here in the alley she was relatively shielded from the wind so she could clearly hear the snow crunching beneath her hooves until one of her fore-hooves caused a sloshing sound as she stepped close to the shape. Confused she looked down to see what she had stepped on to make such a different sound. What she saw made her jump back as her instincts kicked in. Blooming out from where her hoof had stepped was a blue sizeable, slightly circular pattern. She felt her eyes widen as she looked up on the still unmoving shape. Using her magic she reached out to grab it and as she slowly lifted it the corpse of changeling was slowly uncovered from its icy grave.

“This one has been stabbed too,” Rainbow spoke to her right, making her jump in surprise as she had not been paying attention to what her friend had been doing.

She laid the dead changeling back as she turned to Rainbow, finding her wearing an unreadable expression. “Yes, but was it Cloud who did it?”

Rainbow simply shook her head. “Impossible to know for sure. What is our next move? Wait for Cloud to make his current position known again or what?”

We came here for Cloud, but… She thought as images of her parents flashed through her mind. “Actually, I’d like to check on my parents. They live quite close to here and-”

“Say no more, I understand completely Twi,” Rainbow interrupted her before she could start rambling.

She shot Rainbow a thankful smile before turning to Spike. “Come on, hop on Spike,” Spike who had adopted a determined look quickly scrambled onto her back once again.

Once Spike was securely seated she spoke once more. “Ok, we’ll continue on hoof. My parent’s house is less than five minutes from here,”

With that said she proceeded to lead the trio out of the alley and into the much more well-lit street. Taking a left she let her body run on auto-pilot as she headed down the familiar although snow covered street. Perhaps it was due to this fact that she didn’t notice the slight buzzing in the air or perhaps it was due to the fact that the wind was more pronounced again after leaving the alley. The only warning she got was Spike jumping of her back with a shout.

“Twilight watch out!” She heard her adopted brother cry and had just enough time to whirl around to see Spike get hit by a beam of green magic that he had thrown himself in front of.

It was around this point where everything took a turn for the worse. In the distance another massive bolt of lightning split the skies and at the same time a wave of electricity washed over Spike who seemed to be unaffected by the changeling spell. The young drake let out an uncharacteristic growl before spewing a blast of green fire into the face of a surprised changeling, the very same that had hit him with a spell. As the now very dead changeling fell, Spike stumbled once before collapsing in the snow where he remained unmoving. For a few heartbeats her mind refused to acknowledge what had just transpired before her eyes but then everything came crashing down all at once.

“Spike!” She cried out as she dove straight for her dragon brother, ignoring the other two changelings that were still up.

Fortunately she wasn’t alone and as such when the changelings in turn dove for her they were met with cyan hooves that hit with near lethal accuracy. The pair was quickly reduced to a mess of cracked chitin and blood being soaked up by the snow before Rainbow was back by Twilight’s side.

“How is he? Is he okay?” The pegasus immediately asked her, concern lacing her voice.

Twilight looked up from checking on Spike. “He’s unconscious but he’s breathing steadily,” She told her friend, the concerned tone Rainbow had used being mirrored by her own.

“We need to get him to my parent’s home. While it might not be the safest choice it’s by far the closest at this point,” She thought out loud as she tried to lift Spike with her aura. However when it failed to gain purchase on his body she hurriedly lifted Spike with her hooves, gently placing him on her back again.

“Okay, I’ll keep an eye out from the air,” Rainbow announced before hopping into the sky, before Twilight could stop her.

“Hang on Spike,” Twilight murmured before taking off running down the street, her unconscious assistant/brother being kept in place with the help of her wings. Had she not been filled with fear for Spike’s well being she might’ve taken a moment to consider the implications of what had just transpired, but such rationality is neigh impossible to achieve when fighting both adrenalin and fear at the same time.

Streetlights and dark buildings rushed past in a blur as she galloped through the cobblestone streets, only blind luck keeping her from slipping on the ice and snow covered stones. Not that any of that really registered for her at the moment though. In her head images of a similar night flashed, a night close to three years ago were Spike had been barely saved by Cloud’s intervention. I will not let things get that far out of hoof again! She swore to herself as she came to a sliding outside the Sparkle family residency. Hurrying up to the door she registered Rainbow landing to her left as she raised a hoof to knock on the door. What she hadn’t expected though was for the door to be flung open and in extension find herself staring at two spear tips leveled at her face.

“Twilight honey, is that you?” A familiar voice called out from behind the two guards who still hadn’t moved their spears.

Out of the dark home the shape of her mother materialized and once she saw her daughter she pushed past the two guards who to their credit were fast to voice their objections. “Dame Velvet we need to made sure that they aren’t disguised changelings!”

Their cry caused the older mare to stop in place before quickly lighting her horn. A moment later Twilight felt a familiar tingle run through her coat as a familiar detection spell worked its way over her, Rainbow and Spike.

As the spell finished and Twilight did remain herself her mother resumed her rush as if nothing had happened. She soon found herself in her mother’s crushing hug. “Oh honey it’s so wonderful to see that you’re safe!” She exclaimed.

Twilight returned the hug as best she could as she replied. “Hi mom, I’m afraid I can’t stay long,”

Her mother made a dissatisfied noise and continued to hug her. It wasn’t until a new voice spoke up that she finally released her. “Come now Velvet, you and I both know that she is more than capable to make her own decisions at this point,” The voice of her father said.

“But Night this is different, that thing is out there somewhere,” Her mother protested.

“And were you still a knight of Equestria you’d say that duty conquers fear, am I right?” Her father replied calmly, making her mother frown slightly.

“But-” Velvet tried again but was interrupted by her Night Light.

“No buts Velvet,” He said before turning his attention to Twilight. “Hello honey, it’s wonderful to see that you’re safe. But if I know anything from all the adventures you’ve regaled us with during family gatherings I’m willing to guess that you’re somehow connected to what’s happening tonight,”

“Yes however before I give you the short version I need you to take care of Spike. He was hit by some kind of changeling spell and now he’s unconscious,” She quickly replied as she lowered a wing to reveal Spikes form.

Velvet hurried up to the still form of Spike. “Oh the poor dear! Of course we’ll take care of him,” She exclaimed as she carefully levitated Spike off Twilight’s back before carefully placing him on her own.

“Now tell me about this thing you seem to have seen,” Twilight asked her parents, the fact that magic again seemed to have an effect on Spike failing to register for the moment.

“Well…” Velvet began. “It was large, walked on two legs, had wings and had a pair of terrifying, cold golden eyes,” She elaborated.

Twilight and found herself looking over at Rainbow as one of the guards chimed in. “It also had this spear like object that it used to kill a changeling in front of us,”

Twilight and Rainbow spoke a single name at the same time as there was no longer any doubt what her parents and the guards had witnessed. “Cloud,”

Turning back to her parents she spoke hurriedly. “Sorry mom, dad but we need to fly. Cloud needs our help badly,”

And with that the two of them launched into the swirling snow again, leaving Twilight Velvet to call after them. “What do you mean Cloud needs your help!”

A call that fell on deaf ears.

*<>*

Queen Chrysalis gazed out of one of the throne room windows and at the battle her children fought against the paltry forces trying to reach Celestia. All that remained now were scattered pockets of guards that couldn’t hope to break through the swarm that protected the newly captured castle. Even the group of bat ponies led by Princess Luna were not enough to warrant a threat, they were after all greatly outnumbered and could not sacrifice their numbers on an all-out attack should such a tactic fail. Today was the day everything would change, the day were changelings finally took over as the true rulers of the cattle filled Equestria.

Sure there had been some changelings that had perished but that was nothing she couldn’t replace with time. She found herself smirking as she turned and started to walk away from the window, heading for the throne. I need to change the colors to match mine and I need to parade Celestia around the city tomorrow. She idly thought to herself as the sound of her hooves echoed through the large throne room. The sound of shattering glass accompanied by the now much more pronounced sound of fighting caused her to snap out of her daydreaming though as she whirled around on the spot.

For a moment her world froze as she found herself staring into a pair of golden eyes. No the same golden eyes I saw through the backlash. She realized as she started to take in more of the entity that had appeared. She felt her eyes widen as her mind finally connected the dots and she realized what she was staring at.

There in front of her stood the human she had left as a broken wreck in their staging site, but as much as her eyes told her that this was the human she couldn’t believe that this was the same creature. This thing was covered in in small lacerations, blue splotches of changeling blood and clothes torn from struggle. Around his neck was the scarf it had worn earlier, except now it flicked violently in a nonexistent wind. Furthermore occasional sparks of electricity crackled and arced around his form. Despite all this she found her gaze wandering back to his eyes though. Those eyes were not the same that had been so worried about the illusion she had imparted on him hours earlier. No these eyes were cold, uncaring, deadly and currently locked on her. But worst of all would be the lack of emotions this apparition gave off, as if the thing before was nothing more than a shell. Something that didn’t match the look of fury across its features.

“What are you? You couldn’t possibly have broken out of that despair I left you in! I demand that you ans-” She started to demand but was forced to cut herself short as she had to dodge out of the way from the human recklessly launching himself at her with a beastlike snarl.

“So be it,” She growled back as she hopped backwards to avoid an arcing strike from the soul spear the human wielded.

If the human didn’t want to live then she would be happy to oblige him. She thought to herself as she lit her horn to prepare for the impending fight.

*<>*

Following the unnatural bolts of lightning Rainbow found herself and Twilight getting closer and closer to Canterlot castle proper until the sound of battle could be heard in the distance, carried by the sweeping winds.

As the two flew over the outer walls of the castle the full extent of the battle being fought revealed itself. Everywhere pockets of guards fought in tandem to keep swarming changelings away from their comrades and in the skies princess Luna could be seen desperately trying force her way through a wall of changelings.

Woah. Rainbow thought before she could stop herself. There was no end to the struggles before her and for the first time this night she was unsure of what she should do. Unfortunately for her a sky blue coat with a rainbow mane is quite visible, even in a snowstorm. So before she could make a decision for herself or discuss their options with Twilight a screech rang out followed by the buzzing of changeling wings.

Looking at Twilight she found her friend wearing a grim expression as her horn started to glow brightly. I guess she has quite the grudge for what they did to Spike. She had time to think before they were forced into the ongoing fray.

*<>*

She cursed under her breath as she tried to push past the wall of buzzing Changelings again and catch up with Cloud who she had seen fly straight through one of the throne room windows. But despite how many changelings she destroyed there seemed to be three more to take every fallen bugs place. Together with her guard in the skies and the solar guard supporting from the ground they should’ve been able to push through this. If only what passed as a guard hadn’t diminished so much over the last millennia we would’ve never been under the threat of a second invasion in the first place. She lamented to herself as she dove to support one of her guards that had gotten tangled in an aerial melee with two drones.

Her magic lashed out as she flew past effectively clipping the changeling wings, leaving them to fall with surprised screeches while simultaneously freeing up the guard. The mare in question offered her a quick salute before rejoining the fight, paying the favor forward to changeling that had attempted to flank yet another bat pony. There’s no end to this. Luna allowed herself to think wearily. Through a small opening between the buzzing changelings she saw Cloud almost recklessly knock away a blast of changeling magic with his spear before he was once more lost from view. Hold on my friend I’m coming! She thought with renewed vigor, flapping her wings to intercept a little too bold drone above her.

As the drone fell to hoof connecting solidly on its jaw she found another small moment of respite as she hunted for her next opening. Between the changelings she caught another glimpse of Cloud missing the changeling queen with a wide swing of his spear. A magenta flash of magic lit up night, making her tear her gaze away from fighting in front of her. What she found instead was Princess Twilight and the element of Loyalty engaged with an ever increasing force of changelings. Reacting quickly she called out to the four guards closest to her.

“Tuft, Orange, Wing, Remedy get over there and help Princess Twilight and Loyalty!” She cried out, motioning with a hoof.

The four guards quickly disengaged and offered a quick. “Right away ma’am!” Before they flew over to support the newly arrived Twilight and Loyalty.

Turning her focus back to the much more immediate fight she caught the arrival of Longshot’s squad as they slammed into the flank of a mass of changelings that had been harassing a group of Solar guards on the ground. A bright flash of green, shining through the swarming drones followed by the sound of an explosion had her trying to catch another glimpse of what was going on inside the throne room. When she finally got one she found that multiple pillars in the throne room had been demolished and Cloud was now on the defensive. With an angry shout she threw herself at the wall of drones, attempting again to break through with renewed vigor. She was however ultimately denied once more as the drones formed up in front of her, dying one by one to her attacks yet remaining unyielding.

Seeing how her current tactic wasn’t working she fell back, trying to bait the changelings into breaking formation to pursue her. While her tactic proved successful and she managed to get a hoof-full of drones to follow her it wasn’t enough to create the opening she wanted. What it did do however was to give her a clear view of Cloud seemingly stopping a magic blast in mid-air as the air sparked and crackled around him. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise at the display before a changeling that had gotten a bit too close forced her focus back onto her own fight. With snarl she fired a blast of magic, pushing back the approaching drones so that she could get some breathing room to take stock of the situation.

Then suddenly everything seemed to happen at once. Another quick glance showed Cloud finally scoring a hit against the changeling queen, the blade of his spear making a shallow cut on the softer chitin that covered her face. The queen in turn flinched both in pain and surprise which in turn caused her drones to stop for a second and her previously apathetic sister to lightly shake her head in confusion just before a flash of green magic threw Cloud towards the rubble of a broken pillar. Taking advantage of the small window of relative calm on the combat zone Luna dashed forward and finally managed to get past the wall of changelings.

She dove in through the window Cloud had smashed through a few minutes earlier just in time to see Chrysalis hurl a long piece of rebar towards the long since exhausted Storm paragon. No. Her mind screamed as she tried to reach out with her aura in time only to be denied when the long piece of metal pierced Cloud’s abdomen.

“NOO!” She cried out, slipping into the royal Canterlot voice as she rushed towards Cloud.

She was a few meters away from Cloud as he looked down towards the offending piece of metal currently spearing him. He seemed confused as he lightly pressed one of his hands to the wound before slowly pulling it away and for a second he just stared at the now crimson hand, swaying unsteadily.

“Oh…” He uttered softly before his legs gave out.

She dove forward, catching the fallen human just before he hit the ground. His blood stained her coat as she tried to get any sign of life out of him. “Cloud! Cloud you have to stay alive! You ca-” She began to plead but a flash of light in her periphery made her throw up a shield on reflex and she was lucky that she did.

An earthshattering wail of anguish and fury echoed throughout the throne room effectively blowing out every single window. Luna turned her head to find her very distraught sister, somehow having cast off the last chains of the mind control she had been under, staring straight at the lifeless Cloud. It was from there that everything took a turn for the worse. Celestia’s coat darkened quickly as her mane and tail turned into raw fire and her otherwise rose colored eyes became slitted furious orange orbs that turned towards Chrysalis. With a cry of anger, this one even louder than the first wail, her sister released the fury of her celestial body in a room much too small to contain such power. Everything that wasn’t shielded was instantly immolated by the sheer heat alone. Tapestries turned to ash, the marble floor cracked and began to melt under sudden shift in temperature. But all that were secondary to what happened to the changeling queen. As she had been completely caught off guard she had been struck by the full force of her sister’s fury.

Luna could only watch from under the shield as her sister approached the already long dead husk of the former queen, cooked alive in her chitin before her organs turned to ash. With an almost predatory snarl Celestia lashed out with a hoof, breaking the burnt out and brittle husk with a snapping sound that echoed through the otherwise silent throne room. As the sound faded into oblivion another one took its place, one of thousands of changelings fleeing in panic into the darkness of the stormy skies above Canterlot.

We have won today. But at what price? Luna found herself asking as she tore her gaze from her sister to look at her weakly breathing friend in her hooves.

Ch 34. Crossroads

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Chapter 34. Crossroads

Secretly I hope
That nothing ever comes of this
And you are not alone
In wanting to come back
To a place where it won’t matter
Just what side you’re one
It’s when our lives are branded
What’s underneath will overcome

What’s underneath will overcome
One for the night one for the uncontrol

There it was. My life’s greatest failure and I couldn’t even remember exactly what I had done. I could only count my blessings that I had simply roughed up a few ponies that gotten between myself and the changelings I had been hunting. Not to mention the fact that my primal subconsciousness had pushed itself so far that I had nearly perished myself. Perhaps I had been subconsciously seeking my own demise seeing how this was the second incident in a relatively short time span. If anything though this time was quite the wake-up call. I had gotten so close to squandering everything good that had happened to me ever since I decided to actually start living my life again. But the first to slap some sense into me was not the individual I had expected.

*~*

It started slowly, a strange yet slightly familiar spreading through my limbs. Not much unlike the feeling of a leg that had fallen asleep except the fact that I felt it all over. With a groan I cracked open my eyes, blinking a few times in an attempt to clear the darkness that I saw before me. But when the darkness didn’t dissipate confusion started to set in and I turned my head to try and see where I was. However as I continued to turn my head all I could see was more of this unending void I currently found myself in. Sure I saw my own body when I looked down so that proved that I wasn’t blind or at least under a similar effect. I raised a hand to scratch my head as I couldn’t for the life of me remember how I had come to find myself in this situation.

Confused I tried to move forward but the more I tried it became clear that it was impossible to discern if I actually did move in any direction. Unsure of what to do in this situation I resigned myself to floating in this unknown void until something changed.

Minutes passed and ultimately those minutes turned to hours, although I cannot tell you exactly how many as this place I found myself made the telling of time quite difficult. It was around this time that I first spotted it. Far off in the distance I saw an anomaly I hadn’t seen earlier. As another hour passed one thing became clear, I was drifting towards whatever the in the distance was. With nothing else to do I simply waited as the thing in the distance slowly took the shape of some sort of tear. A tear in what seemed to be in the very fabric of reality. Within the next hour the tear had doubled in size and roughly half that time it had doubled in size again. Whatever that tear was I was getting pulled towards it with increasing speed.

Just as I started to wonder what exactly might lie on the other side I felt myself come to a sudden stop as someone grabbed a hold of my shoulder. Bewildered I turned my head only to come face to face with one of the two major villains I’d seen in the show before my first adventure in Equestria. There behind, with his lion paw on my shoulder stood the lord of chaos himself.

I felt myself tense as my body prepared to attack on instinct but before I had time to make any sort of movement my mind registered something different about the draconequus. The tired yet strangely calm expression was not the same as he held in my faded memories of his first appearance in the show. I tilted my head ponderously as I studied the chimeric god in front of me and as I watched he was the first to speak.

“I wondered when I would finally meet you for real Stormcloud, or do you go by a different name these days? Not that it matters, what does matter though is that you almost crossed over the veil of worlds again. Do you know how much trouble I went through to bring you back to Equestria in the first place?” He said, his voice mirroring the tired look he bore.

My eyes widened at the implications of the words spoken. What Discord had said set my thoughts racing to the extent that I almost missed that he had continued speaking.

“And you Immy, I’m disappointed in you. I thought you protected your wielders better than this?” He asked, a question directed at me but at the same time not. Before I had a chance to ask who he was talking to he spoke again. “Now don’t take that tone with me missy, I might not be your older brother by much but I’m still older. Well as long as this doesn’t happen again I won’t have to scold you,” The draconequus said adopting a smug look.

I blinked a few times in a half hearted attempt to clear my confusion before I decided that asking was the most reasonable choice available to me. “I’m sorry but where am I and who were you talking to?” I questioned.

Discord tapped his chin with his clawed hand. “Hmm, both good questions but I’m afraid now is not the time to answer them. In fact you really shouldn’t be this close to the rift longer than you have to,” and with those words he snapped the fingers of his claw hand and the strange void vanished in a flash along with the draconequus and the tear in space.

*~*

When opened my eyes, that I had involuntarily closed, again I instead found myself in a strange star scape with thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, gently twinkling stars. My confusion gave way for awe as I looked out over the vista of stars. Soon confusion came creeping back in like an itch not properly scratched as I observed the stars moving gently across the midnight blue tapestry of what I had originally believed to be the sky. Scratching my head again I observed the slow gentle dance of these particles of light that behaved nothing like the stars I had first believed them to be and when one of them drifted close enough for me to touch I couldn’t resist reaching out towards it. As my hand touched it several things happened seemingly at the same time. I briefly experienced a gentle warmth from touching the small drifting light and the very next second I experienced a blinding flash of light before something came crashing into my midsection followed by a very loud shout.

“Begone foul deamon before I… Cloud? Is that you?”

I released a pained groan from my now prone position as I looked up at the nightly alicorn that had just assaulted me. “First of ow, what the hell Luna? Secondly, what the hell Luna?” I managed to say before said alicorn dove down to hug me.

“Oh Cloud we’ve been so worried since you wouldn’t wake up and since you haven’t dreamt I haven’t been able to reach you either” She blurted out as she worked on squeezing whatever breath I held in my lungs out of me.

“Lu-Luna I ca-can’t breathe,” I forced out, causing the alicorn to loosen her death grip on me.

Luna offered me a sheepish smile as she spoke once more. “Sorry Cloud, it’s just that my sister and I have been terribly worried since it’s been three days already and all that. Not to mention the worry shown by young Twilight, Loyalty and my personal guard,”

Given the sudden, albeit short, meeting with Discord and the weird places I had found myself in since waking I wasn’t ashamed to say that I wasn’t as receptive to information as I might’ve been otherwise. However one thing Luna said stuck with and I couldn’t for the life of me make sense of it.

“What do you mean three days Luna?” I asked, tilting my head much like a confused dog.

I saw Luna’s eyes widen in surprise before she recovered. “Nothing, nothing you need to worry about. What matters is that you’re here safe and sound,” she quickly spoke trying to change the subject, or at least downplay what she had just said.

The damage was already done though, and as she had pressured me to tell the truth months earlier it was now my time to turn the tables around. I stood up from prone position. “Luna,” I said a bit more sharply than I had intended but it had the desired effect nonetheless as the blue alicorn’s focus snapped back to me in full.

“Luna,” I said again. “Please tell me what happened? I need to know,”

Luna released a deep sigh as her gaze wandered down to the floor. For a moment I thought that I’d have to prompt her again but she suddenly raised her head once again, her eyes holding a strange sense of resolve mixed with pain and pity. “What is the last thing you remember before coming here Cloud?” She asked.

I opened my mouth to answer as my mind immediately jumped to my meeting with Discord but as my mouth started to form the first syllables something else came crashing into my mind. Dark images of blood and a pink coat flashed in my mind, causing me to stagger. Pain seared its way through my head as a veritable flood of images poured into my mind. Soon the pain became so unbearable that both my hands were more or less glued to the sides of my head as I screamed. Before I knew the cause of my pain the world around me and Luna warped and I once again found myself in a familiar cave. And once more I was forced to watch as my best friend in this world get murdered before my very eyes. Not long after I felt my legs give out from underneath me and fresh tears blurred my eyes as the image of Pinkie’s broken form tormented my mind.

For a while I was unresponsive to the outside world but when I recovered enough to register what was happening around me again I found myself in Luna’s embrace as she whispered soothingly in my ear. “It’s okay Cloud, it’s okay just let it all out. You been shown a terrible lie and have been forced to endure so much as a direct result of it,”.

I forced ragged breath to calm down and lifted a hand to wipe my tears. With my vision more or less reclaimed I looked over Luna´s shoulder to find we were once again back in the odd star scape I had first encountered Luna. “Wha- How?” I wondered out loud.

“A memory Cloud, I’m terribly sorry it partly my fault that you had to relive that. I should’ve realized that something like that would happen if I prompted you to remember in this place,” She told me.

“So that was real then? Pinkie is… I did…” I babbled as tears once again began to sting in my eyes.

“No!” Luna cried out before continuing more softly. “No Cloud, your friend is alive and well what you saw was something induced by changeling mind magic most foul,”

I breathed a sigh of relief as I finally returned the hug Luna had been giving me. My eyes met hers and for the first time since waking up a smile found its way onto my face. “Thank you Luna,”

“You are most welcome my friend,” She said, returning my smile. “Here let me help you up,” she continued, offering me a hoof.

With Luna’s help I once more stood up but in the process in doing so I got very close to her muzzle making another memory quickly flash in my mind. Namely the one where Chrysalis had taken on Luna’s form to kiss me. This time though the scenery didn’t change but that didn’t help the fact that I still flinched slightly as a strange feeling settled in my chest. My reaction didn’t go unnoticed by Luna though and she was quick to ask.

“What’s wrong Cloud?” She said, the concern in her voice being mirrored on her face.

I opened my mouth to explain, thinking that she would surely understand when something else dawned upon me. Something glaring that I had somehow managed to not think about until now. I looked at Luna a slight frown forming on my face. “Luna, what happened after the cave?”

Luna’s expression fell as the last syllables left my mouth. “It will be faster just to show you, just keep in mind that what I do show is only my memories Cloud. There are consequences to what transpired after the cave but we’ll get to that,” she said before lighting her horn and again the world seemed to melt away around us.

*~*

When the world once more stabilized I found myself riding passenger to someone’s point of view, someone who was staring at a wall of changeling drones. It quickly became abundantly clear that I was looking through Luna’s eyes as she fought the swarming horde side by side with the ponies that made up the royal guard.

“Drive them back and show them no quarter!” Luna’s voice reverberated over the battlefield that I was slowly beginning to recognize as Canterlot castle.

The guards responded around her by fighting with increased fervor and yet the changelings held fast. I was beginning to wonder what it was Luna wanted me to see with this battle when a flash of lightning tore through the changeling ranks and smashed through one of the castle windows. A sense of dread descended upon me as I saw myself through Luna’s eyes, or rather a weird caricature of me before the hole in the changeling ranks closed up.

What was that? Why can’t I remember this happening? What have I done? And similar thoughts assaulted my mind as I rode along Luna’s memory, catching more and more glimpses of myself fighting the changeling queen. By the time that I watched Luna dive in after me my hairs were already standing on end and I barely noticed when the memory froze soon after. For within me another memory of my own had surfaced, me staring at my hand covered in blood before my entire world went dark.

*~*

“..oud! Cloud! Cloud!”

My eyes snapped open and I drew a surprised breath as I sat up. I once more had returned to the star scape and Luna was standing in front of me, observing me worriedly.

“What was that Luna? How did I-” I started to babble before Luna cut me off.

“I’ll be honest with you Cloud, I simply don’t know. It could be a reaction of severe grief and anger, a momentary lapse in consciousness or even just the severity of the snow storm that night,” she theorized. “However, what has happened has happened and we cannot change the past no matter how hard we wish for it to be so. What you need to understand and be prepared for are the consequences that I mentioned earlier. You were seen by quite a few ponies in that state and fair amount of them now regard you with fear. Around one tenth of the nightmares I’ve had to deal with these past few days haven’t been induced from a fear of changelings,” she went on as I felt my posture sagging.

I wiped my face with a hand before raising my gaze, that had been staring at my feet, to look Luna in the eyes again. “That… That’s some heavy stuff you just laid on me Luna. So what do I do now? What will happen to me?” I asked her the reality of the situation having been laid bare before me.

“I understand your worries Cloud, more so than you might realize right now. Remember that I too once bore the mantle of fear and nightmares,” Luna told me sternly before continuing in the same tone. “It is what you do afterwards that will truly define you. Will you ever regain the trust of all ponies? Of course not, but it wasn’t as if you had it to begin with. You will live long Cloud and you’ll have plenty of time to do better not to mention make other mistakes. It is all a part of life after all.”

A small sense of determination started to grow inside me at Luna’s last few sentences. She was right of course and the wisdom behind her words truly showed that there was a way to make it through this. I was about to reply to her to say that I would try my hardest to make what she just described a reality when Luna spoke once again.

“It isn’t as if all ponies that saw you that night regards you with fear either. I can safely say that Longshot’s squad regards you with the highest amount of respect I’ve seen for quite some time. Not to mention the other assorted guards that were present during the siege of the castle,” she added in a softer tone, surprising me that there were some positive news.

“I don’t know what to say Luna, there’s just so much to take in. I guess what I’m trying to say is thank you for being honest with me. I’m glad that you are my friend,” I told her a small smile slowly forming on my face. I raised a hand to offer her a fist bump only to find it slightly transparent. “Luna?” I asked worriedly.

The lunar alicorn only offered me a smile though. “Worry not young Cloud, you are simply waking up. My sister and I will be there shortly there are still a few more things that we need to go over but that can wait until after my sister and you have had some time to talk,” she said as the world slowly started to get brighter and brighter until I finally had to close my eyes to not get blinded by the light.