> Under The Blue Sky
>  by Mr Pork Pie Hat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> My Kind Of Business
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You want a refill?"

"No...I'm good," Alfred answered in a cold, raspy tone. His voice was damaged, as if his lungs were giving up on him, just like the rest of his body. He sat on the barstool, a weak and aged man. He looked terrible, haunting almost. There was barely a man left, just a and empty shell. His clothes were almost two sizes too big for him, and his skin was wrinkled and pale. He was sporting a full head of brown hair, and a matured, greyish beard that hadn't been cared for. He wore a dark green jacket, complete with black cargo trousers, dirty boots and a murky white shirt beneath. Worn and fragile glasses rested on his face, almost concealing his injured eye. Both eyes continued to stare at his drink, which was most certainly half empty. He was a miserable and broken man, just waiting around to die.

The bar was empty. Alfred wasn't in a particularly populated place, but this was a different kind of empty. The bar was practically abandoned by life. There wasn't another living soul except for the pony behind the counter and Alfred, which he was used to. He used to enjoy being alone, it used to be an escape for him, but now, after being subject to loneliness for a very long time, he needed a change. He slowly dragged his eyes off of his drink and aimed them through a small, dusty window and towards the bright blue sky above. He just stayed there staring for a second, recalling all the precious memories that were made while under the blue sky, and then returned back to his drink. In the corner of his eye he could see the bartender walking up to him.

"So, you're this Alfred everyone's been talking about."

Alfred didn't respond.

"Yeah, you'd think after all this time the whole of Equestria would've forgotten about you. But no...you've left your stain here, and it's not a pretty one. You know, I have all the right not serve you here, after what you've done..."

Alfred slowly looked up into his eyes, expressionless.

"...but I figured that you needed a break. I'm gonna be honest, you're not looking too good. Any reason why you've come to my little home away from home?"

"Business."

"Business? What kind of business?"

"My kind of business."

Alfred sighed gently, and returned to his drink. The bartender continued to annoy Alfred, but he still didn't respond. All of his words seemed slurred and meaningless, which is exactly what they were. He could only listen to what he wanted to listen to, and right now that was nothing. He had nothing to talk about, well, not to the bartender anyway. The bartender was nothing but a nuisance to Alfred. No amount of talking could ever convince him to take his eyes away from his glass, but the sudden sound of the door opening could. Alfred turned his head slowly to find an average sized unicorn standing in the doorway, with a black coat of fur and a dark red mane. Alfred couldn't tell what his cutie mark was, but he didn't care. The pony spotted Alfred sitting alone and began to trot up to him silently, keeping Alfred quickly turned back to the bartender and looked up to him from his glass.

"How about you go for a walk."

The bartender froze after hearing that. Alfred's words were as sharp as a dagger, and that dagger had just pierced his heart. Alfred simply stared coldly into his eyes, refusing to look away until the bartender had moved out of his sight. He didn't hesitate, especially after realising the monster that this man was. After he had left through the back, the new pony sat beside Alfred confidently.

"Is it a yes or a no?" Alfred asked slowly, turning to face the unicorn.

"Yes, she can meet you, and she wants to do it tomorrow."

"Where?"

"We will collect you from your home and take you there."

"Good."

"You do know the regular procedure, right?"

"Yes, blindfold and all. As long as it'll get me in a room with her, I'll do anything."

"Alright, we'll see you then," the unicorn said firmly before standing up. "She has a lot of respect for you, I hope you know that."

"She better."

And with that, the unicorn made his way out of the bar, leaving Alfred alone, again. After a few seconds of quiet thinking Alfred returned to his drink one final time and left the necessary bits to pay for it. 

He stood up slowly, partially because he was tired and feeble, but also because he wanted to make sure he was truly alone. He reached to his back pocket to find his gun firmly placed beneath his clothing, and after looking around the bar carefully, he headed outside, closing the door behind him.

       

       


       
> Alone Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


[16 Years Earlier]


Alfred took one last look at his wife, who was still arguing to the best of her ability, and closed the door. Even though a door separated the two he could still feel the rage radiating off her and seeping through the gaps in front of him. He could feel himself being consumed by that rage but he knew that if he were to try and fight back he would end up with even less then he started.

He had found himself caught in an endless guilt filled loop that wasn't planning to let him go anytime soon. The only escape from this constant force upon him was his two month old son. 

He turned away from the screams and towards his son who was sleeping softly in his decorated crib. The gentle sound of him breathing was enough to make him forget about all the horrors of the world he lived in. Now that he was calm and relaxed enough to think clearly he reached into the crib and cradled his son. No amount of crying and arguing could separate the focus he had on his son at that time. There was an everlasting bond between them that brought hope to Alfred every time he saw his cute, little face. The pain only seemed like a bad dream when he was in the presence of his true love. Alfred felt himself tearing up at the thought of his perfect son being ruined by the demon snarling behind that door. He didn't want see something so beautiful grow up to be a monster just like his mother. At that moment he promised to himself that he would make it all better. He promised that he would make it all right.

And with that, Alfred gently placed his son back in his crib, and departed from the house with a small backpack.

He soon found himself walking familiar streets under the pale moonlight. It was very late but time never bothered Alfred. His mind was too troubled to be worrying about time. He had much more important problems that he needed solutions to. He started to make a list and there were so many that he felt more and more depressed with each realisation. This activity seemed to be almost like a hobby to Alfred. These streets were more welcoming than any being he's ever met before, except for his son of course. He sometimes felt that these streets were the only things that understood him, but he quickly dismissed that, adding 'crazy' to his of flaws. 

He was usually alone. He didn't hate being alone ,in fact it seemed to him an escape from all the pain and hurt that was put onto him. In the back of his mind he knew there a was always another form of escape. He glanced over his shoulder to his backpack, and quickly looked ahead again. He knew that kind of escape would be useless and would only end in misery. He also knew it would be useless since it would help his son in no possible way so he sent that thought to the corner of his mind where it belonged. He didn't erase it, he just kept it tucked away.

The moon was so bright that it blinded Alfred. He wasn't used to bright. Bright didn't fit into his world. There was something particularly peculiar about this sudden light though. He struggled to move his sight away from the irritating brightness but he soon realised that it was all around him. Those familiar streets he had walked down many times before we're now gone. He wasn't even sure if there was a ground beneath his feet. 

His feet...

He didn't know what they were, or the ground, or anything. His mind was being stripped of everything and all he could do was try helplessly to remember what he was thinking about five seconds ago. Soon, Alfred was a blank slate of a human being. The last thing he could remember doing was closing his eyes slowly to escape and be alone again.

Alone again, he opened his eyes painfully to a bright blue sky. He didn't move for a while. He just kept staring up above, almost paralysed in confusion. He suddenly remembered everything that had just happened and he shot up quickly as if he had been electrified intensely. 

He looked around to find nothing. Nothing was there except an endless field of grass that he sat in uncomfortably with the haunting blue sky above him. He checked himself a dozen times just to see if his belongings were still with him. He had his bag (which contained everything that he had left in there), his glasses and his wristwatch which after quickly glancing at again was broken. After repeatedly patting himself down to just make sure he fell back into the warm and sweet grass for just a few more minutes. Although the blue sky was tempting to look at for hours on end he knew there was no place for him here. 

Alfred got to his feet and started walking.


> A Different Kind Of Perfect
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred walked and walked.

Alfred walked endlessly just observing the strange place he found himself in. It all seemed a little too surreal for him, even though he was surrounded by regular, everyday things. The grass looked too juicy and green as if it where directly from paradise. The way it swayed gracefully in the cool breeze took him by surprise. The forever stretching blue sky also looked too good to be true. It was the purest blue he had ever seen and it didn't seem right. He pondered over over the nature of this place for what felt liked hours and for the first time in a long time he felt calm.

What he didn't realise was that his brain was finally starting to catch up with everything that had just overwhelmed him. Suddenly a flood of questions gushed out from the back of his mind.

Where was he? How did he get there? Is there anyone else here? How would he get......

His mind started racing as he thought about his home. His son, his wife, everyone he ever cared about were further away then he could of possibly imagined. Enraged by this realisation, he threw himself into an incredibly panicked fit. He grasped at the air around him and balled his hands into fists. Those fists somehow found themselves flailing crazily over his head as he started hyperventilating. The rushes of air through his mouth prevented him from shrieking but he actively tried to. He wanted to desperately scream all of his life out and lay on the grass which would soon be his deathbed. 

After he managed to catch his breath and think about solutions to the millions of problems that made his other list look like grocery shopping, he noticed a small silhouette on the horizon. He placed his hand over his eyes to try and block the sunlight that was obscuring whatever he was seeing, but as soon as he did the silhouette seemed to gallop away out of sight just before he could catch a clear glimpse.

Now Alfred was a smart man, so he knew that it ran away because of that motion. He figured that it didn't want to be seen by him. This did not amuse Alfred. This was not some sick game of hide and seek he was playing, he needed answers and he needed them now. If he had any hope of  finding a way back home, or anywhere for that matter, this person was it.

Alfred started running, sprinting desperately to catch up with who he had just seen. The beautiful, clean grass and therapeutic sky were all a blur of blue and green to him as he rushed forward. There was nothing that could distract him. As he ran he thought about his little baby boy and his future. He thought about everything, the laughs, the tears, the precious memories that were created with him in his life. His heart wouldn't allow him to even consider the possibility of leaving him alone, with her. This sudden motivation pushed him to his limits and he tripped to the earth below him.

He hit the base of the hill hard, really hard. So hard that he could almost hear his ribs shatter from within. As he struggled to find his feet he raised his head to see an extremely large area covered with trees. Recovering from his embarrassing fall he came to conclusion that these were apple trees after seeing a few littering the shadows beneath them. Then out of the corner of his eye he caught it again. The silhouette was moving quickly towards a large building in the distance. Alfred could see the person more clearly now that he had a better view of the land. This 'person' looked very strange from what he could see. 'It' was small, a little too small for an adult so he suspected it was a child. It also seemed to be wearing yellow clothing. He couldn't tell if it was a jacket or a full onesie. Either way it looked particularly jarring. 

He found himself so lost in the puzzle of putting this person together that he almost lost track of what he was doing. As he snapped back to reality he quickly paced down the hill and walked in the same direction. He figured that now that he knew where he/she was going he didn't need to hurry as hastily as before, especially after his last fall which still pained him slightly. 

The trees he passed felt very similar to the grass and the sky, in that they were a little too 'perfect'. He didn't hate it because it was different, in fact he found it all quite interesting. He didn't even know that a place this colourful and strange existed. It wasn't the grey and dull surroundings he was used to, but it was a nice change. 

As he approached the towering building that he had seen from a distance he was amazed at how large it actually was. He could've sworn that it wasn't as huge as when he spotted it. He figured he was losing his sight as well as his mind. The building was a ripe red colour which looked pleasant to him. But now was not the time for sightseeing, he did not come all this way just to gaze at a wall in awe, even though he felt like he could. He marched around the side of the building but slowed his movements suddenly when he could hear light whispering. He couldn't tell where it was from but he assumed that it was a two way conversation. He also assumed that one of them was a young girl from the sweet high pitch sound of her voice. The other sounded elderly and they both spoke with a southern accent which surprised Alfred.

Suddenly the conversation stopped and he could hear one of them moving to his location. Having been filled with fear and anxiety just as quickly he snuck back behind the building, hoping to catch a glimpse of just who he was hearing. The movements grew louder but they didn't sound like footsteps but more like, trotting?

Alfred was faced with an important choice. To either approach this person and greet them or turn and hide to hopefully see what he was up against before meeting it. He wanted to make a good impression so he could gain their trust and discover all the answers that would complete his questions. He mustered up all the confidence he had and strolled around the corner.

"Hello, I'm......."

His greeting was met with a ear piercing scream. A scream so powerful that it shook the earth beneath his feet. He collapsed to his knees with his eyes shut as he heard whatever he just saw gallop away frantically.

He thought about what he had just seen. He looked to the ground, then to the sky, and then to the ground. He began to hyperventilate again.



> Head In Hands
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"My name is Alfred Crow. I am 36 years old. I have a wife, named Debra, and a son named  Luke. I live in England and I...." 

Alfred's train of thought was interrupted by a golden voice. The voice had managed to rip Alfred from whatever world he was trying to piece together in his mind. Having given up trying to recall his life over and over again, he looked up.

"Uh..... Hello?"

He quickly looked back down again but shot back up to lock his eyes with 'it's'.

"Hi," he said, panting heavily. "Who...Who are you?"

"My name is Applebloom. What's yours?"

"Aah, Applebloom, that's a nice name," he continued to say still out of breath.

"I suppose I should get ya inside before somepony sees. C'mon get."

With that Applebloom snatched him up to his feet and tried to lead him inside the large red building. Alfred was still exhausted from what had just happened. He couldn't raise a hand to retaliate if he wanted to, but luckily he was in a cooperating mood.

He found himself walking up wooden stairs into a small room. It was an interesting shade of green and there was an extremely large bed near the centre. Having been let go by Applebloom to close the door behind them, he dragged his limp body to the side of the bed and sat down. Applebloom ran to sit just below him on the floor.

"So what was your name? I didn't quite catch it back out there," Applebloom asked sweetly. This simple question almost didn't reach Alfred but he slowly managed to respond.

"Oh, I'm Alfred."

"Alfred, huh, that's also a nice name ya got there. Honestly I think mines a little plain but ya know, I guess it works."

When Alfred managed to answer her question he also managed to see her for what she really was. He was amazed by this creature before him. Applebloom was a horse-like thing that had pale yellow fur and a bright red mane. She was also wearing an enormous pink bow above her head which looked adorable to him. Adorable or not, Alfred was still incredibly confused but he decided to have a normal conversation with Applebloom since he assumed she was somewhat young. He figured that she was probably as confused as he was, so he let nature take it's course.

"My sister should be home soon, so we can decide what to do with ya then, I guess." Applebloom said a little nervous.

"Okay, I'm fine with that. Hey can you answer a few quick questions for me please, just to make sure that I'm still sane?"

"Uh, sure. Fire away!"

"Okay so you said your name was Applebloom, correct?"

"Yep!"

"Right, so where exactly am I right now? Oh and also what time is it? How are you talking right now? How many others are like you? Are there any others like you? Do you have any idea how I could get home? If I were to..."

His onslaught of questions were put to an end when they both heard the door downstairs slam open. They both looked at each over and then to the place the noise originated from. Applebloom tried to desperately escape the confusion and darted downstairs as quick as she could. Alfred decided not to follow since he figured he had caused enough trouble already. He wasn't pleased with what he just did. That was his one chance of getting some honest answers. He didn't mean to scare her off like that.

He glanced around the room and suddenly noticed many similarities when he compared it all to a normal room back home. It definitely didn't strike him as a room for whatever Applebloom was. It almost reminded him of a child's room. He placed his head in his hands and ran them repeatedly through his short hair. He was worried beyond compare. Thoughts kept flooding his mind of his family and the life he had back home. This place didn't seem like a 'human' one. He wished it was all a bad dream but he was constantly reminded it was real by the horrible pain in his chest. 

He almost began to tear up when he heard heavy sounds coming up the stairs to the room. He froze as he turned to the door. He stared at the closed door in fear of what could be behind it. He had never felt more alone in that moment. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't even blink. All he could do at that time was stare at the closed door just waiting for it to swing open, and it did.

"Uh, hello...Alfred. I'd like ya to come with me."

Alfred didn't see Applebloom in the doorway, well he did but she was hiding behind whoever was standing on all fours protecting her. Alfred believed she was female. She had faded orange fur with almost golden hair that rested below a worn hat. 

Alfred said nothing. He simply stood up, paused for a few seconds and tilted his head. Then he nodded and walked through the door.




       
> Those Left Behind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"My name is Alfred Crow. I am 36 years old. I have a wife, named Debra, and a son named Luke. I live in England and I work as a shop assistant."

"Good. Tell me more about where you live."

"I live in England. England is a country. It is also part of Europe, which is a continent. There are seven continents and a large number of countries."

"Where are these continents?"

"There are seven continents and they form a planet called Earth."

"I see. Alfred do you know where you are now?"

"No."

"You are in a place called Equestria. Equestria is a place where earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi live in harmony. I am their ruler, Princess Celestia. You've already met Applejack and Applebloom."

"Yes"

"Good. Thank you for answering my questions. While we try to get things sorted out, Applejack and her friends would like to introduce you to everyone. Are there any questions you would like to ask before you leave?"

"Yes. How would I return home?"

"I'm afraid I don't have an answer to that right now, but I can guarantee that you will receive one in time. Is that all?"

"I suppose."

"Good. I shall see you again Alfred." And with that Princess Celestia rose from her seat and proceeded further into the castle. Alfred watched silently as she left. He then moved his head forwards and continued to stare into space. 

He wasn't confused anymore. He had many questions but he wasn't confused. Alfred understood that he would be stuck in this place for a while, as much as it unsettled him. He thought about her reactions to his answers. She had looked incredibly puzzled by everything he was saying. How could Alfred find anyone who actually understood him? He then realised how alone he actually was. There was no one to relate to him. No one to help his problems, or so he thought. In this situation he was the alien who landed, and didn't seem to have a way back.

He didn't know what to expect from this new world. The only thing that Alfred could definitely assure himself of was that this place was different. It possessed an almost childlike charm but still was grounded and flawed in its ways. It was familiar yet unlike anything he had ever seen before. 

Applejack entered through the large doors and spotted Alfred sitting alone with his back turned to her. She started to approach him slowly and with great caution. He just continued to stare into space, expressionless. Alfred didn't even notice her until she was almost breathing down his neck. He quickly looked up to her.

"Hey, uh were all waiting outside. Are ya ready?" 

Applejack said this with a nervous smile that calmed Alfred. He weakly smiled back and nodded his head. He got to his feet, adjusted his glasses and started walking alongside Applejack.

"I'm sorry for all this rushing about. I guess this isn't how you wanted to spend your first day. Your welcome to just come back and sleep for the rest of the day if you'd like to."

"No, I'm...I'm fine."

"Ya sure," she asked with concern, "you seem a little tired. At least let me hold your bag for ya."

"No I'm good."

"Well that's great! I really want you to meet my friends. They're a real bunch of characters."

Applejack opened the great doors to a group of similar sized ponies. They all had different colours and pictures on their flanks. Alfred wasn't sure what that meant but it interested him greatly. Some had wings, some had horns, Applejack and another didn't have either. One had both. They all looked pretty nervous to be standing  among the only human, except for one. She had purple fur that seemed to be very relaxing. She also had a horn among her darkened hair along with a set of wings by her side. She looked the most confident of the group which gave Alfred some reassurance that they were friendly.

"So, you already know me, I'm Applejack. This one here's Rarity, she's a unicorn."

"Good evening."

Rarity was the only one dressed in an outfit. It was a nice and smooth blue dress complete with a pattern of white shapes and a stylish hat. It all looked a bit too much honestly for Alfred but he was pleased with her approach. He figured that she wore these kind of outfits on special occasions which slightly flattered Alfred.

"Good evening, uh Rarity."

"This little goofball is Pinkie Pie."

"Hello! Hello! Hi! Howdy! Wazzupp...mph!"

After Alfred shot back quickly Applejack cut Pinkie off with swift hoof to the mouth.

"Yeah, hehe, she's a talkative one."

Although he had first been surprised by this pink little bomb, he appreciated her welcome. She was completely pink from head to hoof. Alfred came to the conclusion that she was the very opposite of his wife because where she would only portray rage and hate, Pinkie would only show joy.

"Hi, I'm Rainbow Dash! High hoof!" She raised one of her hooves high in the air. Alfred was only confused by this sudden motion. Once his brain started functioning again he guessed it was like a high-five, but before he could bring his hand up she brought it back down. "Oh sorry, I forgot." 

Alfred quickly bumped her hoof like a fist-bump. She was puzzled just like he was for a second and stared at her hoof. She then realised what he had just done and looked up with a friendly smile. Alfred smiled back as Applejack ushered him onto the next pony.

"Alfred, say hello to Fluttershy."

"Hello, Fluttershy" 

Fluttershy blushed incredibly and struggled to answer back. It looked like she was almost sinking into herself when she finally managed to blurt out her greeting in a timid voice.

"Hi!" Immediately after she said this she covered her mouth and tried to look away. Alfred felt sorry for her because he could relate a little too well. Memories of him as a child started coming back to him like an oncoming train. Alfred was always a shy boy, he never could truly say what he wanted to because he feared of what others might think. As a young kid he was always surrounded by judging eyes that would never leave him. Alfred then thought about how these experiences affected his life later, and then he was sadly reminded of how he ended up with a miserable job. He had tried to keep these memories locked away for years and years. He felt the urge to start crying but suddenly remembered where he was. He returned to Fluttershy with a gentle expression. By bringing back all these memories he could feel a special bond between him and Fluttershy. He Almost wanted to thank her.

"And this here is Twilight Sparkle."

"Hi! I've heard all about you!"

Alfred wasn't sure what to think of this. Should she have heard about him? He figured that a human wasn't a normal sight for them but he still wondered who else knew about him. Was this all secret or did he just become the face of a huge problem? He tried not to let that worry him too much and replied graciously.

"Hello, Twilight."

"Now that you've met us all would you like to come to my library with us? I'm sure you're full of questions."  Alfred was suddenly reminded of a very important question that he still needed an answer to.

"Uh sure but I'm still waiting on Princess Celestia to give me a very important an..."

"Oh don't worry about that. I probably should've mentioned this earlier but I'm a princess as well so I'll be sure to give you the answer when it comes. Anyway we've got some things to talk about."

Alfred was relieved by this and all of his worries started to fade from his mind. With all of this now free space he started to come up with more ideas and questions but there was one that would refuse to die out. It was the one question that needed his absolute attention. He looked back to the doors of the castle and then back to his new found friends. 

He knew what he needed and he knew it wouldn't come soon, so in that moment he decided to free his mind from all the stress. Stress used to always be present. His life revolved around his stress back home. The life that was left behind was defined by nothing but stress. At that point Alfred realised that it was exactly that. The life that was left behind.

He was a new face, a new individual, a new man. He realised that his past could be forgotten and he could be whoever he wanted to be in this world. There was no nagging wife to prevent him from speaking his mind. There was no horrible wife to trap him in his guilt. There was no annoying boss to constantly insult him. There was no dead end job to be present at every single day. There was no one to hold him down.

There was no son for him to hold.

Alfred destroyed whatever thoughts crossed his mind and focused on what was important.
    
> Time For A Story
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred walked into the library, amazed by the incredible variety of literature. Most of the books that Twilight had collected appeared to be too out of context for Alfred at first glance. Many of the titles were not relatable to Alfred at all but he was still incredibly intrigued. Twilight entered the library last to find Alfred hurrying frantically around the room trying to read as many titles as he could.

"Wow! Somebody's excited by books," twilight said proudly almost impressed by Alfred's eagerness. Alfred pricked his head up and turned around sharply.

"Are you kidding? This is an astonishing collection you've got here. I've always wanted to start reading more books and this variety is impeccable."

"I'm glad you like them, your welcome to take as many as you'd like and start reading at anytime."

"Thanks but I won't imagine I'll be staying here that long," Alfred chuckled to himself quietly. He continued to look around the multiple bookcases. He was truly fascinated by the selection of books. There was everything from the science of their world to mythical tales. He began to hear the others enter so he decided to turn and meet them, but before he did so he noticed his wristwatch as he placed his hand on one of the books. It was clearly broken which only now started to baffle him. It wasn't smashed or cracked. The hands just stopped moving. He didn't remember breaking it and he definitely didn't land on it when he tripped himself over on that hill. He also wasn't convinced that he needed a new battery. It wasn't extremely important but he felt unsure about it.Alfred dropped his backpack next to the bookcase.

As soon as everyone was inside they all gathered in a small circle and began to gossip. Alfred soon became aware of many important events that happened in Equestria, as well as many interesting people, well ponies. He started to learn all about cutie marks and the origins of the group's. He learnt all about how Equestria came to be and the individuals it kept. It all fascinated Alfred. Princesses and magic excited him. He wasn't a very religious man but he did enjoy stories of the supernatural so this was all right up his alley. Alfred sat completely still as if he were in a trance. He was just sucking in all this new and interesting knowledge and storing it all in an easily accessible part of his mind. The group seemed pleasantly surprised that he was so interested in what they believed to be basic knowledge.

Before they all knew it the sun had fallen and the moon had risen incredibly high. They had spent the entire day introducing Alfred to the magical place known as Equestria and all of the wonders it kept. Soon members of the group started to notice the time and were about to leave when suddenly Rainbow raised a question that got everyone's attention.

"What about you Alfred, what's your story?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what was it like back from wherever you're from? I bet it's super interesting!"

"Uh, what else can I say. I'm a human being, so there's that."

"The only one actually," Twighlight quickly interrupted, " I've never read about anything like you before, and trust me I do a lot of reading."

"Yeah Alfie, sorry, can I call you Alfie?" Alfred nodded sharply. "You just seem like a really nice guy and I think we all want to know how you turned out to be so awesome."

Rainbow and Twilight had managed to draw everyone back to the circle and they all looked at Alfred intensely. Alfred felt uncomfortable having been put on the spot, so all he could do was shrug.

"Huh! What's that supposed to mean," Dash said in a very reactive way. Rarity placed her hoof on Alfred's shoulder, to comfort him.

"Would you like to talk about it, my dear," she said persuasively.

"It's just that there's not that much to talk about really. It was ok, I guess."

"Oh come on! Your boring us to death here man! Applejack said you have a family or something," Pinkie blurted out. Applejack looked furious but Alfred just stared at Pinkie confused.

"Hey, Pinkie!"

"What! You told me that overheard him speaking to Celestia on the way back."

"Is that true Applejack," Twighlight quickly added.

"Yes it's true but I only did it so Pinkie wouldn't start anything that she'd regret." Applejack sat there sadly, looking a little disappointed in herself.

"No, it's fine. Really, it is. I do have a normal family back home. A wife that is often a little too much to handle and a sweet little baby boy."

"Aww! What's the baby's name?" Fluttershy uttered quietly.

"His name is Luke and he's the best thing that ever happened to me."

This sentence was met with a loving reaction from the audience before him. They all gave out their 'aaww's and 'ooo's in a harmonic tune. Alfred had just found himself in the centre of girly admiration. Alfred didn't feel the same though. All he could think about was getting back to Luke and what was happening now. How long had he been gone for? Who had looked for him? Did anyone even bother to look for him? Alfred started to stare at the ground again.

Twilight noticed that something was wrong. She was unsettled by this and silently made gestures for everyone to leave. The others eventually caught on and started to get up and head to the door.

"Oh my, is that the time. I've got to go, I've got some quick errands to run. It's been nice to talk with you Alfred, I presume we're all meeting here again tomorrow morning," Rarity said with a warm voice that brought Alfred back.

"Yes, definitely. I'll see you all tomorrow. There's still so much to discuss and see. Goodbye Rarity."

Rarity turned back with an excited smile. "Goodbye dear." Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie all followed saying their charming goodbyes. 

"Goodbye , mister Alfie Walfie!"

"Goodbye," Fluttershy muttered in her adorable way, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"You know you're pretty cool for a, erm, human," Dash said confidently but looked pretty awkward as she left.

"How about I introduce ya to the the whole Apple Family tomorrow, hun?"

"That sounds great Applejack, oh and hey," Alfred quickly shot up to meet her at the door. "Thanks for taking care of me back there. I can't imagine how scared Applebloom must've been." He was quickly cut off.

"Don't worry about that, sugar cube. I'm sure she's all proud now for being the first pony to come into contact with a human."

"Hehe, I guess. Could you still thank her for me?"

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, goodbye." After locking eyes with Applejack for the last time, Alfred closed the door behind Applejack and was left alone with Twilight. Twilight hadn't moved out of her seat since she felt that there was something wrong. Alfred was now standing with his back turned to her, feeling slightly awkward since he still wasn't alone. This reminded him of all those terribly nervous social meetings before. How he just simply dreaded being surrounded by people he didn't know and didn't want to meet. He longed for his loneliness. Tonight was different however. For the first time he wanted to see them all again, and soon. He wasn't sure if it was friendship or selfishness. Twilight tilted her head for a second to almost examine the creature and then quickly remembered who he was. 

"Hey, Alfred is there anything you want to talk about." Alfred turned around promptly.

"Nope. I'm fine." 

Twilight was still concerned. "Are you sure? It's just that when you were asked about your family you just kind of froze."

"Yeah, I suppose I did, didn't I? I just miss them, you know."

"Of course, I know exactly how you feel."

"Well not all of them," Alfred said in quite a depressed tone. "My wife, she's just not the same."

"Okay, I thought you said everything was 'normal'."

"I know I did but to be completely honest, it's not. She's often on my case just constantly snapping at my heels. I could never catch a break. There would always be some small, tiny, insignificant thing that she would find a way to moan about. She's just not, well, her. Before we had Luke we were somewhat better but she definitely got worse after that. "

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Alfred. You seem like a really nice man. It sounds like you deserve better."

"No. I probably do deserve this, somehow. After all I've got Luke, so there's the comfort I need. I just wish everything else could be better. But hey, you can only be so lucky, right? No one can have it all."

"I guess so but if there's anything you want to talk about, please, come to me at anytime. We may seem like crazy hallucinations but we're very much real and want to help."

"Thanks, Twilight. I bet this is why you're the responsible one of the group." When Twilight heard this she giggled to herself with glee. Twilight could now be sure that she was making a good impression on Alfred and she planned to keep it friendly between them. After all, Alfred didn't need another problem, he needed someone to rely on.

"You're Welcome! Oh , you're also welcome to sleep in my bed tonight. I figured you needed some good sleep after today. You seem pretty tired."

"Yeah, I guess I am. where would you be sleeping.?"

"Oh don't worry I'll fix something up down here. Plus, Spike can't be annoyed if he's not here."

"Spike?"

"Oh right, Spike's my assistant and close friend. He should be here by tomorrow morning so expect to see him when you wake up. I bet he'll be real surprised to find a human sleeping in the same room as him!"

"Okay, thanks again." After speaking these words he made his way up the long, wooden staircase carrying his backpack with him. He was instantly reminded of his time with Applebloom and how he was so lost. He figured it must've been an extremely funny thing to see. A dazed human slumping up the stairs with a young pony. Alfred smiled to himself as he spotted Twilight's bed. 

As soon as his bag hit the floor he collapsed onto the soft sheets, exhausted. He had never felt more comfortable being in a bed. The sheets seemed to wrap themselves around him like a cocoon. The warmth of the fabric teased him and filled him with incredible pleasure. He stretched his legs and arms out to push his relaxation to the maximum. Although he was happily snug under the sheets he was still unsure about something. 

He recalled what he had just talked about, his wife, his terrible job and everything else that went along with it. He started to make a list of all his problems like he did the night he vanished. After what felt like ages, Alfred had compiled a list of all the bad things that plagued him. The list was enormous. It was devastating. Just like that one night, Alfred felt more and more depressed after each problem was recited.

He wanted a solution. He wanted an answer that would save him from his miserable life. He wanted... He wanted something. Something to grasp onto, something to hold tight. Luke was his answer. He didn't want to ever let him go. He knew that all of this pain and misery would all be worth it to see Luke's cheeky smile again. His true love was for his precious son, not his horrible wife, not his dead end job, not even his own life. 

He dreamt of his son as he gently fell asleep.

       




       

> Still
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred awoke in a daze. He couldn't tell what time it was but he figured it was past midday. He appreciated the fact that he wasn't woken by Twilight. He didn't expect to be woken but it showed that Twilight valued his relaxation and personal space. He stared at the ceiling for a good 10 minutes, thinking about how he was going to approach the day. He would be introduced to Spike, gather with his friends again, perhaps go on a tour, but hopefully receive an answer from Celestia. That was his primary goal, to get back home to Luke.

He got to his feet and only just realised that he fell asleep in his full clothes. He was surprised at how exhausted he must've actually been. The bed was a mess. He couldn't leave it like this, what would Twilight think? He quickly made the bed to perfection and hurried down the stairs, leaving his bag by the foot of the bed. He hurried himself along since he assumed he was keeping everyone waiting downstairs. He hopped off the final step and inspected the room before him. No one was there except for Twilight and a small, purple dragon. They were both cleaning the room, dusting books and whatnot.

"Good morning? Hey, sorry for keeping you waiting. I didn't expect to collapse like a ton of bricks on the bed. Where is everyone?"

"Everyone's back where they should be. Rarity still had a couple of errands to run so we all figured we'd meet when you're ready. Alfred, you remember when we talked about Spike don't you?" She jerked her head towards Spike to reassure Alfred. 

"Hello, Alfred!"

"Hello Spike! I see you're very active today."

"Well Twilight and I figured this place could need a small fix up. Especially since we're housing a human."

"That's not necessary guys. Im satisfied and I'm ready to get started with the day." 

"That's excellent," Twilight exclaimed, "we just need to..."

Her speech suddenly halted as Spike started to produce guttural sounds. A sudden flash of green fire erupted  from his mouth and delivered some sort of scroll with it.

"What the heck was that," Alfred stuttered as he bounced back.

"I'm sorry. Spike does that whenever he receives a letter from Princess Celestia." Alfred's eyes lit up at the mention of her name. He wanted to quickly scuttle over to read it with them but stayed standing still in the centre of the room. Spike also gave up on reading the letter after Twilight sent him away. Whatever was on that scroll was only meant to be read by her. He respected her privacy so he didn't attempt to read the letter, but he did stare at her face closely. He was looking for any reactions that could predict what answer he was going to receive. He was pretty sure that the letter contained the answer to his question, why wouldn't it? 

Alfred suddenly became worried when Twilight placed the paper down. Her reaction hadn't changed for the duration of the letter which either meant that the letter was of no relevance, or something much worse. She didn't take her eyes off the letter until she noticed Alfred patiently wanting an answer. She breathed in tightly and locked her eyes with his.

"Princess Celestia wishes to speak with you privately. I'll take you now."

"What's this about Twilight, is she going to give me the answer? Do you already know it?"

"She will tell you everything you need to know but we have to leave now."

"Yes, alright let's go."

Alfred and Twilight quickly departed from the library, leaving Spike alone with his cleaning. The journey there felt like the longest journey of Alfred's life. Time seemed to slow down dramatically as he thought about the possible answer. He wasn't expecting good news after seeing Twilight leave with such a formal tone. It scared him. He put so much trust into this purple pony and if it was going to be bad news the last thing he would want is for her to stay distant from him. He turned his head to the blue sky above. He remembered when he first arrived. He remembered the comfort he found just gazing into the deep blue. It was an escape from everything, just like his walks. The blue sky seemed more of a reliable escape to him though, because it was constantly there, unlike his walks. He could always look up and slow everything down. He could forget anything and everything, but not today.

"Just remember, we'll always be here for you," Twilight quietly said to Alfred. They were both standing just outside the doors. They both knew the answer waited for Alfred inside. Alfred kept his head down for a few more seconds and then raised it slowly.

"I know you know the answer," he said with tears in his eyes, "but I also know you won't tell me. Only Celestia wil."

They both looked at each other. Twilight could feel herself tearing up at the sight of Alfred. She tried and tried to fight the tears back but a small, lonely tear managed to fall down her cheek. Alfred knew the answer when he saw that single tear. It confirmed all his doubts and all his worries. He turned around and opened the large doors. The sight of Twilight was slowly disappearing as he closed the doors behind him. Just before he closed the doors shut he noticed Twilight turning away and weeping sadly. Twilight wept and wept thinking that she was now alone, but she wasn't. Alfred took one last look through the gap in the door and closed them.

Twilight finally tried to pull herself together after rubbing her eyes repeatedly. She was now reduced to small sniffles. She turned back to the now closed door and began to wait. She waited and waited. Minutes felt like hours and soon hours felt like years. Twilight couldn't help but feel slightly responsible for Alfred. She didn't want him to cry, but she was expecting him to.

Suddenly the doors swung open and Twilight was met with a sobbing and broken man. Alfred ran to Twilight and fell to his knees in front of her. He quickly grabbed her and pulled  her in tight, weeping as he did so. Twilight was expecting him to be upset but not like this. She pulled herself in closer and tried to calm him down by whispering into his ear. It didn't work. Alfred's tears began to soak up her fur like a towel. Twilight quickly gave up trying to talk to him and pulled him in for a tight hug. Alfred was weeping loudly but he tried desperately to utter words.

"She...she said there was no way...of returning," Alfred blurted out. "no..no..its...all my fault."

"No! It is not your fault," Twilight screamed with tears filling her eyes. "There isn't anything you could've done!"

"I should've been a better father. I should've gotten rid of my wife and my horrible job. I should've..."

"No! Stop! Listen to me, none of this is your fault."

"I loved him...I loved him...I loved..," Alfred continued to cry heavily. He thought about his son. He thought about his cute face. He thought about his adorable laugh. Now it was all gone. No more son to hold, no more son to feed, no more son to love. 

He had no chance of redeeming himself now. He had promised his son that he would make everything alright, but he had failed. He had broken his only promise and now he laid there a broken man. His son would grow up to be just like his mother and he would hate the father who abandoned him. He would grow up to be everything Alfred hated about his life. He was nothing now. He had no legacy. No one would miss him. The saddest thing was that Luke wouldn't even remember who he was.

Twilight and Alfred just sat there, crying onto each other's shoulders, staying completely still.

    



      

  

       
> A Sad Time To Die
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suddenly the sheets didn't feel comfortable anymore, nothing did to Alfred, not anymore. He just laid there on Twilight's bed, staring at his frozen wristwatch with tears still in his eyes. He wanted to forget about the world. He wanted to forget about both of them, the magical, fantasy land that he was now dissolving in, and the one from before that made him feel like he was dissolving. Everything about his life back home was just so miserable, except for Luke. His sweet, little boy was now fatherless and it tore Alfred up. 

He didn't deserve this, Luke didn't either. No one should have to grow up without a father and no one should not be there to raise their child. Alfred had failed in both cases. He started to quiver thinking about all the things he'd miss about his son. His lovely smile, his cute giggle, and his beautiful blue eyes. His eyes reminded Alfred of the blue sky. As Alfred diverted his eyes from his wristwatch and to the blue sky out the window, he burst into another crying fit.

Why did it have to be him? Why did it have to be him who disappeared that night? Why not his bitch wife, or his offensive boss, or anyone else? He should've done something. He should've stood up and changed his ways, but he didn't and now there was nothing he could do. Alfred first thought that this was all a sick punishment, but now he didn't know what to think, so he didn't. He just stared blankly at his wristwatch again. Then he looked over to his bag by the foot of the bed.

Was it time? In his darkest moment Alfred sure felt like it was. No one would care. They would all understand. The only person he figured he'd hurt was Spike and Twilight since they had to clean up the mess. There was nobody to stop him at this moment. He could just reach over to his bag, open it, pull it out and that would be that. There would be no more pain, no more fear, no more loss, no more tears, no more sadness.

He slowly sat up and went to grab the backpack. It was a small, red backpack that he remembered buying as a young boy. He wanted it so badly back then. He would often pester his father and point out to it every time they walked past the shop, which was almost everyday. He remembered how excited he was when he finally received it for his birthday all those years ago. They were both dead now, his parents. His father died of cancer and his mother disappeared two weeks later. The local police found her hanging from a rope in a close hotel. Alfred recalled what he was told by everyone that day.

"It wasn't your fault, Alfred. You didn't do anything wrong."

He opened the backpack slowly and revealed the contents one by one. The first item he pulled out was a small framed picture of his family. He looked at the sad fake smiles he and his wife were putting on. Debra, was holding Luke, of course since she didn't want Alfred anywhere near him. They had just had Luke and their relationship was only getting worse. Alfred didn't know why but it just was. They became more and more distant and Alfred suddenly didn't know who she was anymore. It was a problem that they both saw but neither did anything to fix it. He traced his thumb slowly over Luke's head and moved onto the next item.

He pulled out his wallet and bus pass. He only kept them in there in case he ever had to leave the house for a few nights. It was as depressing thing to even think about but it there were multiple cases of that happening. His phone wasn't in there although it usually would be. Alfred just decided not to bring it the night he disappeared since he was only going on a small walk. Alfred pinched himself for his stupidity and moved on.

Last, but definitely not least, was a gun. It was a small revolver that currently held one bullet. He originally found this gun while walking one night. He spotted someone being mugged down the street and decided to hang back, being the coward that he is. Well one thing led to another and they both wound up dead. Alfred was terrified after hearing the gunshots. He wanted to run back home fast before the police arrived. Something changed in Alfred that night. He did want to run, but he didn't. He peeked his head around the corner to see both bodies laying on the ground, completely still. He walked slowly towards the now dead men and inspected the crime scene. That's when he noticed the lonely gun lying on the ground quite a distance from the two. After approaching it he knelt down and raised the gun to the charcoal sky. He had managed to get a good look of it thanks to the nearby street lamp. He turned back to the silent bodies and then back to the haunting gun. Muffled police sirens suddenly got Alfred's attention. He placed the gun in his backpack and quickly walked away, making sure never to return to that place in any future walk. When he got home he tried desperately to open the gun's chamber and found one bullet nestled inside. Luckily, nothing was traced back to him. The crime was reported on the news but the case went cold. Alfred's heart also went cold that night. He had done a bad thing but he enjoyed his time doing it. For the first time in a long time Alfred felt proud of his actions.

He had kept the gun in his backpack ever since, as a reminder. It was a reminder that there was always another escape. As much as he wanted to, Alfred never had the guts to off himself. Today was different. Today was excruciating and Alfred needed it to stop. He had it coming for a long time now, and he knew it. After climbing out of Twilight's bed, he slowly began to raise the gun to his head with tears streaming down his cheeks. 

He was close.

He was so close.

All he had to do was pull the trigger and everything would be gone.

No more pain...

No more fear...

No more life...

Alfred suddenly dropped the gun and sat back down on the bed, crying into his hands. He wasn't ready. He didn't want to go, he just wanted the pain to go. He didn't see that he had what he needed, a second chance. No one knew him here. He could be whoever he wanted to be. He didn't have a terrible life to live everyday, not anymore. He didn't see that there was no more pain and fear anymore. He only now realised this new world can offer him so much more.

Twilight heard the loud thunk of the gun and quickly hurried upstairs to find Alfred on the corner of her bed sobbing. She immediately went up to him and rested a hoof on his shoulder to comfort him. Alfred embraced her and went in for a tight hug.

Although he was crying, he was excited for the future.
    

 

       

       

        

       





> Moving On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been an entire two months since Alfred received the bad news, and everything was looking a lot better. Alfred had become more social, spending more time with his friends and going on multiple trips around Equestria. His mental state had also improved. Since there was nothing that could be done (even after checking many, many times with Celestia and others) everyone tried their best to stay off the subject. Alfred slowly became more confident and proud, which was a different experience for him. He was finally more comfortable in his surroundings, now that he was seeing people he could relate and talk to. It felt like freedom, and after all these years of constant torment he enjoyed his time being free. He felt fantastic most of the time. He soon became a popular face among everyone. Things were looking better.

Alfred still stayed at Twilight's. He made sure to unnecessarily thank her everyday, which Twilight relished in. Eventually he got his own room with his own bed, and he was planning to get his own house since he was here to stay. All of his clothes were being provided by Rarity, of course. She took much interest in creating new outfits and styles for Alfred since he was an entirely new shape. She would sometimes get things wrong like the amount of fingers on a glove or the exact hat size he needed to have. Her custom made clothes were excellent and gave Alfred that little shine that he needed. Alfred and Rarity had become very close friends, almost as close as Twilight.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack would often challenge his strength in silly competitions and after losing about a hundred times each to both of them, Alfred decided he needed to become healthier. He had a quite skinny and fragile structure before he came to Equestria. Now he was gaining weight (in the good way) and building up his muscles. He certainly felt more active and started to look a lot more colourful. Rainbow Dash started to notice his health improvements and moved a little closer to Alfred. He wasn't sure what this meant but he suspected that she wanted to know more about him. It would be easier to say that as his happiness and health improved, so did his relationship with Rainbow.

Fluttershy had introduced him to all her animals and he was incredibly amazed that they were all similar to ones back home. Fluttershy, being the sweetheart that she is, started to feel guilty for reminding Alfred about his home. She and her friends had got together multiple times to talk about avoiding this, but Alfred wasn't affected. He started to spend more time at Fluttershy's, telling her all about the pets he used to own. He was even tempted to look after a new one after Fluttershy insisted. There wasn't any animal that particularly interested him as a pet, and anyway, there was already enough people living under Twilight's roof. Alfred did appreciate the offer though and continued to pay Fluttershy visits.

Pinkie didn't change. She never changes. It's always 'happy happy happy' for her, human or not. Alfred still enjoyed being around her, even though she could sometimes become a little too much to handle. Parties were constantly thrown weekly, so they all were never bored. Pinkie always made sure there was something fun to do.

Celestia visited him regularly, just to check up on him. Whenever she happened to show up Alfred became slightly nervous. Not only because she was perhaps the most important feature of Equestria, but also because she would often ask him strange questions. It seemed to Alfred that she was intrigued by the human body. Most of her questions felt very scientific. He tended not to worry about it too much. It made sense since he was the only one of his kind, but Alfred couldn't help but feel slightly suspicious of her. She was also working with her top companions to try and figure out how Alfred even got here in the first place, so there was an answer to look forward to.

He had also spent more time with Twilight, excluding the fact that they lived together. If they were alone in the house they would often talk about Earth and all of Alfred''s experiences there, without pushing him a little too far. Alfred soon became more open about his life back home. One day Alfred was asked if there was any magic on Earth.

"Magic? No there wasn't any magic like there is here. I suppose the most magical thing that I've seen was Luke's birth, that and Heath Ledger's Joker, now that was incredible."

"Heath, who?" Twilight said as she tilted her head slowly.

"Ah, don't worry. There wasn't any magic back home."

"Really, no spells or tricks?"

"There were magicians that could claim to do that, but really it was all about creating illusions." 

"Oh you have to show me!"

"Erm, I'm no professional...but I think I remember a small little trick."

"Yes! This is going to be so amazing!"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up," Alfred said as he opened the door to his room and grabbed his bag. He unzipped it and took his wallet out, noticing the gun at the bottom. He remembered pulling it out and wanting to end it all. He felt so ashamed that he would even stoop that low. He never wanted to see that gun again, not after all the pain it caused. Luckily Twilight didn't see it when she rushed up, so no one knew he had a lethal weapon. He looked over to Twilight who was patiently waiting, and sighed. He decided he was planning to keep it that way. No one needed to know. He zipped the backpack back up and sat beside Twilight. His fingers dipped into his wallet and pulled out a small coin. He held it up and saw Twilight staring at it confused.

"A coin, when we talked about money you said these things were pretty useless right?"

"Nothing's useless if you know what to do with it. Now, focus on the coin."

"Okay," Twilight said plainly as she directed all of her attention to the coin. Alfred quickly closed his hand, twisted and moved it to try and confuse Twilight, and opened it up again it to reveal that it was empty. Twilight began to put the pieces together in her head, but before she could finish Alfred quickly outstretched his arm towards her and put his hand behind her ear. Twilight was hesitant at first, but she let him finish his little trick. Alfred pulled his hand away from her ear with the coin held between his thumb and index finger.

"See, magic. I made it disappear and reappear behind your ear." Twilight began to chuckle to herself when she heard this.

"Oh come on, I know you said you weren't a professional but that was just ridiculous," she said still laughing. Alfred began to laugh with her.

"Yeah, well you should've seen some of the stuff the professionals could pull off."

"I wish I could. Hey, do you want to see some real magic?"

"I've already seen most of your spells, Twilight. I'm sure tha..."

"What if I tried a spell on you?"

"Uh, are you sure?"

"Yeah, I want to give it a go at least. I've already done it on the others, so I don't think you'll be any different."

"Hey, if you're confident, give it your best shot."

"Right, could you please stand still?" Alfred quietly got to his feet and stood completely still and straight. Twilight took a deep breath and began to work up her power. Her horn slowly began to glow a bright purple colour. Alfred stood there with his eyes closed, completely trusting in Twilight. Twilight also closed her eyes to focus her skills. Within a few seconds a large beam of light travelled from Twilight's horn to Alfred's chest leaving a small puff of smoke that obscured him. Twilight suddenly opened her eyes but couldn't see Alfred through the smoke.

"Did it work?"

"Uh," Twilight could now begin to see Alfred's body and was slightly amazed. "No. It didn't work."

"I'm sorry, did I just hear the all mighty, forever ruling and triumphant Twilight Sparkle say 'it didn't work'?" 

"Heh, shut up and let me try again."

"Alright," Alfred said in a friendly voice, trusting in Twilight. Twilight revved up her horn again and made sure to harness all her focus onto the spell. One bright puff of smoke later, Alfred was still standing before her, unchanged. Twilight was baffled by this. She had tried this spell on the others and had succeeded with flying colours, but this was different. This was a whole new kind of strange.

"I don't understand, it should've given you cute, little wings or something. Hold on, I'll try another." 

"Okay," Alfred stood there trying to make himself as relaxed as possible so Twilight could make this work, but it didn't. Before they knew it they had spent the whole night casting spell upon spell on Alfred, and unfortunately to no avail. Alfred wasn't altered in the slightest way, and this made Twilight mad. She had no idea why her spells weren't working. She tried everything and Alfred didn't even flinch. She soon collapsed to the ground from exhaustion and started to catch her breath.

"I think we should see Celestia tomorrow. Hopefully she'll know what's going on."

"Okay, we'll go see her tomorrow, but it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"No, well maybe, I don't know."

"You should get some rest. You look really worn out."

"Same for you, you big dummy. Goodnight." And with that Twilight trotted up the stairs clumsily, leaving Alfred down below.

On the next day Twilight explained everything to Celestia. Her face was smothered with confusion. She was particularly interested when Twilight mentioned the idea of Alfred being immune to magic. After Twilight finished explaining herself to her, Celestia quickly assured them that this will be investigated.

"Oh, thank you Princess Celestia. I wasn't really sure what to make of it."

"Don't worry Twilight, we will get to the bottom of this. And as for you Alfred, I'm sorry to inform you that we do not have an answer to how you got here. We are working very hard to find some solid evidence, but right now there's not that much to discuss. I'll be sure to see you during the week for some more questions. I hope that's okay."

"That's completely fine. Come around anytime you'd like. Thank you again."

"No thank you, both of you. This information is very interesting indeed. Goodbye."

"Goodbye Princess Celestia."

"Goodbye."

As Alfred and Twilight  walked out of the large doors that Alfred knew all too well, he couldn't help but wonder about Celestia. He knew that he shouldn't be asking many questions, but it all seemed a little fuzzy to Alfred. He tried to dismiss these thoughts as quickly as possible. They were stupid thoughts anyway. He was sure that Celestia was doing this for the better of everyone, or at least he thought he was sure.

With Twilight walking along in front, Alfred took one last look at Celestia through the small gap between the heavy doors, and closed them silently.
       


> Two Seconds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh, no he didn't, did he?" Rarity gasped in shock.

"He sure did!" Rainbow said as she started to burst into maniacal laughter. Suddenly everyone started laughing along with her, including Alfred. They had all gotten together at a local restaurant to talk about what was recently going on. They were all sitting around a small table outside. It was a nice feeling, to be surrounded by smiling faces while the moon was out shining through the crisp, clean air. Alfred sunk back into his chair, feeling more relaxed than ever.

"How are you doing, Alfred? We haven't heard much from you dear," Rarity said winking at Alfred as she directed the group's attention towards him. Alfred didn't move from his comfortable position, but simply smiled back.

"It's been great, really. I suppose nothing important has really been going on for me, besides you guys are way better at telling stories."

"I can see your wearing that amazing shirt and trousers I made you, doesn't he just look smashing," Rarity said, almost blushing from her own compliment. The others nodded their heads while inspecting Alfred's outfit. He was wearing a black shirt complete with a pattern of small white flowers that popped up in multiple places as well as matching trousers. Alfred gleamed with glee and raised his glass of tea to Rarity.

"The clothes are rather exquisite as always Rarity," he said in a jokingly fancy way, "I couldn't begin to thank you for all of this."

"Don't worry dear, it's all part of the job, being the element of generosity and all that jazz." The whole group started to chuckle quietly with Rarity.

"Rarity, is there anything you can't do?" Twilight quickly added. 

"Thank you all, seriously, but enough about me, Alfred there has to be something that's gotten your interest. Are there any questions you'd still like to ask?"

"No, I think I'm familiar enough with this crazy place already. Oh, of course how could I forget? I guess there was something that me and Twilight found slightly strange one night. Uh, would you like to tell them, Twilight?" Twilight jumped at the opportunity to speak but the others looked at the two of them a little suspiciously. Pinkie started to giggle immaturely.

"That's right, Alfred. Apparently he's immune to magic," everyone suddenly stared at Twilight with their mouths hanging open in suspense. "I know it seems a little weird, I definitely did but it could well be the case. We spent an entire night trying spell after spell but he wasn't changed at all after each one."

"What could this mean?" Applejack asked, sounding a bit lost.

"I don't know Applejack, we both went to Celestia the day after but she didn't have a clue either."

"Hey, I'll tell you what it means, it means that Alfred can't be stopped, he's invincible!" Pinkie screamed in joy. Everyone smirked except for Twilight. She turned her head to Alfred, beginning to examine him. She pondered over that idea while Alfred began to speak.

"Thank you, Pinkie. You never fail to use that incredible imagination of yours. It doesn't mean anything. It shouldn't change a thing."

"I suppose it shouldn't," Applejack replied, trying to change the subject. "Hey Alfred, you still up for that challenge on Thursday?" Rainbow quickly snapped her head up from her drink.

"Yeah, you ready to get your ass bucked again?" Rarity and Fluttershy looked to her slightly worried, but Alfred was ready to reply.

"Hey there's no need to rub it in! The only reason I lost all those times was because you were both cheating!" Applejack began to shake her head slowly and laugh.

"Really? You're gonna blame this all on us. We could beat ya with our eyes closed."

"Ha, you better bring blindfolds on Thursday then," Alfred responded proudly, returning to his now empty drink. He placed his glass on the table began to stand up before them. "Anyone up for another drink?"

"Yeah sure, thanks you big liar," Applejack said, laughing out loud.

"I'll also take another Alfie Walfie!"

"Okay, that's another for Applejack and Pinkie, what about you Fluttershy?"

"Erm, yes please, if that's okay with you," Fluttershy murmured in her adorable way.

"Don't worry, I'll pay for it, consider it a thank you for all those visits." Alfred said, winking at Flutterhy as he turned to Rarity and Twilight.

"Oh, go on dear. It is a get together after all. Twilight?"

"Oh, no thanks, I'm good." Twilight still seemed to be wondering about what Pinkie said. Her mind was beginning to come across many questions about Alfred's condition, but she tried not to think about it and join in with her friends.

"I'll come with you, Alfred, you know, to help bring the drinks out." Rainbow nervously added, getting out of her chair and heading in alongside Alfred. They slowly made their way up to the counter which was looking a little crowded. Surprisingly, it was a busy night. Many ponies were seated at tables, chatting normally. Some of them noticed Alfred and started to stare. Although he had been here for two months, it was still a strange sight for most of the ponies. Fortunately it didn't phase Alfred though, he just simply walked up to the counter's line, waiting with Rainbow patiently.

Rainbow Dash felt pretty nervous being close to Alfred. She figured that after all of this time she would be comfortable around a human, but apparently not. She didn't know why she felt this way, but she just did. It wasn't disgust or fear but it was more of a 'warm' feeling. 

After a rather awkward amount of time later, they had finally managed to reach the front the of the line, only to find that they had to wait a little while for Fluttershy's drink. Alfred wasn't particularly impressed but he didn't feel like arguing, and after looking around at the ponies staring at him he figured he was already making a scene. He sat down with Rainbow Dash on the stools next to the counter and started to look around, a little sadly.

"Huh, where's the whiskey when you need it."

"Whiskey? What's whiskey?" Rainbow said, trying to get a conversation going. 

"Oh, sorry, whiskey was just a little drink I used to have quite a bit back home, but its probably best you don't go anywhere near that stuff."

"What? You think I can't handle it?"

"Oh, I know you can't," Alfred said beginning to laugh to himself quietly. He thought about how often he used to drink back then. He would never do it around Luke, but he did become a little addicted at one point. Luckily nothing got out of hand, so he quickly returned to Rainbow who was trying to look away. She noticed him starting though and met him with a smile. 

"So, what do you think?"

"Huh?"

"Equestria, do you like it here?"

"Honestly, I'm beginning to feel like its the best thing that ever happened to me, being brought here."

"What about Luke," Rainbow said looking up towards him. He stared at her for a slight moment and quickly went to respond.

"Oh, well of course. I still miss him, I really do."

"I'm sorry that you lost him, I can bet that hearing that news must've been really hard."

"Yeah, it was. It was really, really hard," he looked over to Rainbow sitting beside him and she looked back. Their eyes met and neither of them moved. They looked deeply into each other's eyes. Alfred suddenly felt like he wanted to tell her everything. About going to Celestia's, about crying for what felt like hours with Twilight, about his suicide attempt. He wanted to tell her everything now that he was staring into her soul, and she was into his.

While staring into Alfred's bright, blue eyes, Rainbow began to feel more comfortable. There was something really different about Alfred that she couldn't seem to figure out. Suddenly that 'warm' feeling came back and she began to blush. She struggled to move her eyes away but before she could, Alfred began to speak.

"I tried to kill myself that night. I just wanted it all to stop. I couldn't take it, but before I did it, before I was about to go, I heard a voice in the back of my head. It told me everything I needed to hear. It brought me back from that miserable and lonely place I had fallen into. It pulled me from the darkness..." Alfred said with tears in his eyes, "...and into the light."

After saying this, Alfred began to wipe his eyes. He felt a lot better now that he had gotten it off his chest. Rainbow just kept staring into his eyes, beginning to tear up as well. She was mesmerised by his story, and after hearing it she felt nothing but sympathy for this broken man. She placed her hoof on Alfred's hand that was resting on the counter. Alfred looked up to Rainbow and began to get himself together. At that moment, Rainbow had discovered just what that 'warm' feeling was.

"I'm sorry, I just..."

He was interrupted by a kiss from Rainbow Dash. Alfred was completely taken by surprise and had no choice but to take part. She tasted sweet and colourful, like candy. He couldn't think straight, and neither could she. Rainbow had completely forgotten that she was in public, but she didn't care. She needed this. Alfred was different to anyone she had ever met. Everything changed when he showed up. She had only now realised that that 'warm' feeling was love.

It only lasted two seconds, but Rainbow wanted it to last forever. She wanted to hold him in her arms and take him home, as her lover. As she pulled back from the kiss, she grinned at Alfred and fluttered her eyelids. Alfred was stunned. All he could do was stare blankly at Rainbow, with an empty mind. Her rainbow mane suddenly looked more bright and beautiful than anything he had ever seen before, and her soft blue fur reminded him of the calming sky. Her eyes glistened like the stars above them, and all he could do was stare at them. He didn't even stop staring when the drinks arrived. To him the drinks didn't matter. Nothing did, not the drinks, nor the people who had seen them and we're now whispering closely to their friends, nor the bartender who started to become annoyed by Alfred's lack of attention when he was called for. Nothing mattered to him, except Rainbow Dash.

"Come on," Rainbow Dash said, getting up and smiling at Alfred, "the others are waiting." 

Alfred suddenly snapped out of his train of thought and headed outside. He stood in the doorway, observing all six of them, especially Rainbow. After swallowing dramatically, he returned to his seat with the rest of the drinks.

After everyone was finished with their last drinks, except for Alfred, they started to leave one at a time. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie had all left, leaving Alfred, Twilight and Rainbow left. During the conversations outside, after the incident with Rainbow, Alfred didn't look at anyone. He simply sat in his chair looking out into the darkness, with his drink in his hand. Rainbow had noticed this but decided not to get Alfred's attention. She figured that he had enough to think about anyway. Twilight also didn't speak much during their conversations, she was still worrying about Alfred's condition, so after they were left alone, none of them spoke a word.

"I think I'm ready to go, there are some things I need to think over, goodbye Rainbow, uh Alfred I guess I'll see you back at the library."

"Goodbye and goodnight Twilight." Rainbow said pleasantly. Alfred still didn't respond, he just kept staring into the darkness.

With Twilight now gone, Rainbow and Alfred were left listening to some sappy love song that was playing from inside the restaurant. There wasn't many ponies left in the restaurant, maybe a couple but neither of them noticed the ones inside.

After a few seconds, Alfred turned his head to Rainbow very slowly, keeping a straight face the entire time. Rainbow Dash was waiting patiently for Alfred to say something, but he didn't. He just continued to stare. Rainbow became worried. This wasn't the same stare as the one inside, this was different. She was about to speak up when Alfred leaned towards her on the table.

"Just what the hell was that back in there?" He said menacingly. Rainbow just stared back, slightly frightened.

"I'm sorry, I know it wasn't appropriate, but, but I just couldn't help myself."

"I can't believe this. I mean why would you... You do know I'm married, right? Her being back home doesn't change a thing," Alfred suddenly snapped at Rainbow. Rainbow jumped back terrified, thinking she was in danger. What did she just do? Why didn't she stop herself? She started to think of more questions that made feel ashamed of what she had done.

Alfred wasn't angry, he was just confused. He didn't know how to feel. He had just been kissed by a pegasus and was now considering the possibility of them being together. At first it troubled Alfred, he was a human and she was a pegasus, why would the thought of them being together even cross his mind? It was a ludicrous idea...

...but then he turned to look at her again, and felt guilty. She had clearly shown her true feelings for him back inside and now she was being put down. It wasn't fair and he knew it. His suicide story was met with a supportive response but this was just mean. Alfred started to breathe heavily after realising how much of a horrible person he must seem like to Rainbow. As he looked at her one last time, he was reminded of how similarly he used to be treated back home.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you felt that way. I promise I'll never do it again," Rainbow began to say with tears in her eyes, "we can just forget about it and move on." Alfred began to see her wiping her eyes and got up from his chair to comfort her. He knelt down beside her and placed his hand on her back.

"No, please don't cry. I'm sorry, I was acting too harsh. It's just..." Alfred began to hear her cry and realised what he was doing. He was acting like a complete asshole. He could see that this meant a lot to her and he immediately felt extremely guilty. He was reminded of all those times he cried back home. He didn't want to see her cry like he has many times before. He had spent the entire two months trying to move on, and now he was letting others suffer like he had. At that moment in time Alfred thought deeply about them being together. 

Rainbow was a thousand times more loving then his wife ever was, and he had only know her for two months. If they were to get together, who would stop them? Why would they stop them? Would it be because it was unnatural for a human and a pegasus to be together? Did it all really matter?

Did Alfred truly love Rainbow Dash back?

Rainbow's crying was suddenly cut off by a kiss from Alfred. She immediately joined in and kissed him back with so much passion. Alfred didn't worry anymore. He felt complete when he was with Rainbow Dash. He felt something he had never really experienced before, he felt what it was like to love and be loved. He had never felt this way about his wife before, this feeling was unlike anything she could ever bring him. He suddenly realised all the time he wasted with his wife, pretending to love her like he was meant to, but now he knew what it was like to really love, and he loved it.

It was like a dream that had come true. They were both filled with pleasure and hope as they made out outside the restaurant to a generic love song. Eventually they pulled away from each other and stared at each other's eyes. Alfred had never been so complete, and Rainbow only felt the same. Rainbow was so happy that she wasn't rejected. She wouldn't know what to do if Alfred actually meant the things he had just said, but luckily that second kiss confirmed it. 

Rainbow Dash and Alfred loved each other.

"We meet here tomorrow, at noon," Alfred said quickly, "we have much to discuss."
  


 

       

 

       

    

       

     
 

    

       
> It's A Start
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash sat eagerly outside the restaurant. She couldn't wait to see Alfred again, not after last night. The kiss that they shared last night was so magical. There were so many things to discuss and discover about each other now that they were together. Rainbow could feel her heart beating out of her chest with excitement. Nothing could bring her down today. 

She suddenly spotted Alfred walking up and almost flew out of her seat to rush towards him, but she contained herself, trying to look professional and all that nonsense. Alfred caught sight of her and began to walk a little faster towards her. He eventually reached her table and sat himself down.

"Good to see you so early, Rainbow."

"How could I not be? How do you wanna start, maybe the movies, or a short walk around the place?" Rainbow said, leaning in towards Alfred. He immediately began to smile at her cute charm.

"I'd love to Rainbow, but not now. We have to think about how we should approach this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean it's not exactly common for a pegasus like yourself to fall in love with a human like me, so that's gonna grab some attention if anyone finds out."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but why should it matter? I don't care how others see us."  

"I'm glad you feel that way, Rainbow. I want this relationship to last, but what if the others try and separate us? Don't you think that's possible?"

"Haha, relax already, surely you've learnt by now that this isn't back home. They'll understand, you just have to trust them." 

After hearing what she had to say, Alfred felt like an idiot. Why were they even discussing this? They were discussing this because Alfred still wasn't used to being himself. All those painful years back home had broken down his confidence. He couldn't do anything that he wanted to back then. There was always someone there to judge him behind his back, maybe that's why he had such a miserable time back home. He had never stood up for what he believed in, not once. All he used to do was stand to side and follow orders.

Here, he was free. There were no orders to follow here. Alfred could almost do whatever he wanted. There was nothing holding him back except himself. Rainbow started to notice him staring blankly again so she leaned towards him slowly.

"Hey, if you don't want to tell them, we don't have to," Rainbow said in a soft tone. Alfred looked up to her eyes and smiled.

"How about that walk?"

Rainbow suddenly gleamed back and got to her feet along with Alfred. After leaving the restaurant they started to walk slowly through the streets.

"What made ya change your mind back there?"

"Oh, I just figured we didn't need to talk. I think we should let this find its own feet."

"I totally agree. Let's not worry about the little things, let's just see how this goes."

"Right. So Rainbow, what's your favourite colour?"

"What?"

"Hey, I'm socialising okay, it's not easy," Alfred said with a small smirk. Rainbow started to laugh loudly.

"I knew that you were new to this but come on, a favourite colour? That's like level zero, haha. Don't you know anything about this?"

"Honestly, I don't."

"Well, you've got a lot to learn."

"Clearly."

"Look, let's start with talking about what we have in common. I like the Wonderbolts and flying really fast. Alfred, what do you like?"

"Uh, you I guess." Rainbow began to laugh again.

"Aaww. You're so adorable."

"Well it's true. I've got to say that you're one of a kind, Rainbow."

"You're pretty awesome yourself, Alfred," Rainbow said after giving Alfred a small nudge.

Rainbow and Alfred both knew that it would be a rough start, but the love was there, and it wasn't leaving anytime soon. They had become more attached than ever thanks to that one night. Alfred didn't feel upset or depressed when around Rainbow. He could finally have the confidence to live the life that he wanted to. Rainbow had given him the extra boost that he needed to launch himself beyond anything he ever expected. Rainbow had literally made his dreams come true, and he couldn't begin to thank her enough for it.

After walking for quite a while they managed to find a quiet hill that they could sit on. The hill looked over Ponyville and a large portion of the land. It was a nice, secret place that no one else knew about, and it was theirs. They sat with each over on the cool grass just gazing into the distance.

"Rainbow,"

"Yeah,"

"I want you to know that you've helped me in a real difficult time in my life, and I can't begin to..."

"Stop, there's no need to thank me. If anything I should be thanking you. I've had my fair share of stallions before, but none of them even come close to you. You're just such a lovely guy, and I think you deserve better than how you were treated back home. I know that we're supposed to stay off the topic, you know, to help you cope with it, but that's a lot to take in and I just want to be there for you if..." Alfred silenced her with a huge hug.

"Thank you so much. I'm glad you're here for me."

"Don't worry, I'll always be here."

"I know, and I'm thankful for that. You've really helped me open my eyes to all the wonderful things I didn't get back home...like love." Rainbow hugged him tightly after hearing that. That was all she wanted to hear. She held him closely and kissed him hard, resulting in him falling on his back into the grass. They kissed and kissed for what seemed like hours. Rainbow made sure to make it last, and Alfred helped as well. The feeling was incredible. It struck them both as an amazing experience, and one they would treasure forever. If this is what love was really like, then Alfred only wanted one thing for the rest of his life, and so did Rainbow.

After finally finishing, Rainbow rolled off Alfred and stared into the sky above with him. They stared in complete silence, both stunned. Rainbow was lying peacefully, thinking about their future. She wanted this relationship to last forever. Alfred was far too precious to be left alone like he was back home. He didn't deserve it at all, and Rainbow promised to make it better. She wanted to take Alfred's soul and make it pure again. She truly believed that she could mend this broken man, and she wasn't planning to ever let him go.

Alfred was reminded of when he first arrived here. He wanted to look up to sky for hours on end. It was just a different feeling. The sky was a calm, loving place that was filled with hope. He turned over to Rainbow and only felt the same way. Rainbow Dash had managed to bring peace and love to his life. He felt like he could die there a happy man right now, just staring into her eyes. She was the light in his darkness, a rainbow in the dark. Rainbow turned over to lock her eyes with him. 

"How was that?"

"That was...it was...perfect."

"Am I learning yet?" Alfred said as he started to chuckle. Rainbow started to laugh with him and they both rolled over back to the beautiful blue sky.

"Hehe, it's a start."


       

       

   

       

  



    



> Living A Normal, Decent Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another two months had passed and Alfred, with Rainbow Dash happily by his side, was now living a normal, decent life. He had someone to love everyday and every moment. He had responsibilities to uphold, like working on the farm with Applejack to make a living. He was confident in his surroundings and had made many loyal friends who supported his relationship. There were a few troubled opinions when Rainbow and Alfred first came out about it. At one point, he was even threatened by some of the local ponies who felt that a human had no right belonging in a place like Equestria. Luckily, things never got out of hand with the help of Celestia. Celestia was perhaps the most pleased with the news of Rainbow and Alfred getting together. She was so happy that Alfred was feeling much better after giving him the dreadful news. She had felt horrible that day and didn't want to see him that depressed and lonely ever again, which Alfred appreciated greatly. Any suspicious thoughts of her were now fading away, slowly. 

Celestia still didn't have an answer to why he was here. She said that she was making little progress, since there wasn't much to start with. Alfred wasn't worried by this at all. He almost didn't care anymore. Coming to Equestria was a blessing so he wanted to enjoy the time he had while he was there. For all he knew it was possible that he could just wake up back home on the next day, so he tried to live everyday to the fullest. What Alfred didn't expect was to be told that he was immune to magic. Even though he and Twilight had spent an entire night proving it, Alfred still wasn't really sure. Apparently Twilight was right. Normal magic had no effect on Alfred, but dark magic was a completely different story. They had no way of finding that out unless they actually tried a spell on him, but that wasn't an option. Celestia decided that it was best left unknown for now, which Alfred agreed upon. She still came to visit and question him, which continued to be a little nerve racking, but Rainbow was there to comfort him.

She was always there. Ever since that one, strange night they were inseparable. Nothing could ever get between them or damage their relationship. Alfred had never known what it was like to be a part of something this special, but now he did, thanks to Rainbow. She had really opened his eyes to a world full of wonder and mysteries to be explored, and Alfred couldn't be happier. He had the time of his life spending every waking moment with Rainbow, and so did she. Rainbow was determined to fix this broken soul. She truly loved him, and this gave her the dedication and persistence she needed to be with him always. Rainbow wanted to be by his side and share all these amazing experiences and opportunities with him. They had both found a relationship that was strong. It was stronger than anything before. It had the power to make life worth living, even in the darkest of times.

What genuinely amazed Alfred was the loyalty of his friends, who supported the relationship. Alfred had managed to convince them all to meet at the library, after Rainbow insisted that they should tell them the truth. Alfred agreed uncertain of what they might think, but after he revealed the situation, with Rainbow Dash helping him every step of the way, the group responded with an explosion of joy, especially Pinkie (who literally exploded). Everyone was so glad to hear it, and Alfred was overwhelmed with gratitude. He never expected them to be this welcoming, although he probably should have. They took him in when he was nothing and at his lowest point. They could've easily sent him away or killed him, but instead he was introduced to all these nice and loyal friends. The kind that were extremely rare to see back home. After underestimating their friendship, he almost felt like he didn't deserve them. It wasn't his fault though, it was difficult to change his expectations after thirty six years of the same thing over and over again. Rainbow was also proud of him for coming out of his shell. She knew it was hard for him, but it needed to be done. It would only be worse if they didn't tell them early on. 

Fluttershy seemed to be the most excited about the news, next to Pinkie of course. She always liked Alfred as a friend. He was calm and sweet. He never argued, he never bickered, he was exactly the kind of friend Fluttershy wanted. Whenever they spent time together she felt comfortable and not as shy as she would normally be. Alfred was a real nice man, who deserved someone like Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy couldn't be prouder of him. Applejack was also pretty pleased to hear it. She had noticed Rainbow and Alfred talking together each time they were out doing some silly challenge, which was often. Applejack had guessed that the two of them were becoming close and this news had only confirmed her suspicions. Applejack was probably the first to know about it because she would sometimes tease Rainbow for getting all nervous around Alfred when he wasn't with them. Pinkie Pie was ecstatic after hearing the words drop from Alfred's mouth. She went ballistic, bouncing all over the library while the others sat still. Instead of calming her down, the group let her run around thinking about all the parties she was going to throw. Besides, the others were too focused on Rainbow and Alfred. Twilight was also extremely happy. She was proud to see Alfred start to enjoy himself, especially after everything they had been through. She started to tear up a little after thinking about how far he had come from that moment outside Celestia's. Rarity seemed happy that they were together, but also a little jealous. This was the last thing Alfred wanted. He could see her disappointment in her eyes. He was all too familiar with fake smiles. As soon as he got the chance, he went to talk to her about it. They made up after talking it through. It wasn't as bad as it could've been, so Alfred was relieved with that. Overall, the responses that he and Rainbow had received were supporting, which was all they could ever ask them for.

Alfred and Rainbow had also decided to buy a house to live together in, and after a few weeks of searching they found a perfect location near the hill that they had laid on all those weeks ago. They were now beginning to move in and Alfred was grabbing his belongings from the library. As he was packing the various outfits that Rarity had kindly made him, he paused when he saw his backpack lying on the ground next to his bed. It had been ages since he even opened the thing, which was understandable since it brought back such horrible memories. He walked over and unzipped it to reveal the framed picture of his family. He held the picture closely, just staring into it. It had been a long time since he had seen Luke's face. It had been a while since he even thought about Luke. He was too involved with Rainbow to spend time thinking about back home. They didn't talk about it, which was good, but it was also good to see his face again. He kept staring at the photograph until Twilight appeared in the doorway behind him, beginning to speak.

"How are you doing? Do you have everything ready?" Twilight said slowly, making Alfred turn around to face her.

"Uh, almost. I was just getting the last of my things." Alfred noticed that Twilight had spotted the framed picture in his hands.

"Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting?"

"No, no, definitely not," he said placing the picture back into the backpack and zipping it up tightly. "Actually, I think I could use some help packing my clothes."

"Sure!" Twilight said, trotting over to the bed and starting to fold his clothes. Alfred soon joined in with her and started packing. "So, I guess it's finally time for you to get your own place, huh?"

"Looks that way, you should see the house we're moving into. It's pretty big and has a nice feeling to it."

"I'm sure it does. I hope you enjoy it there, I know it's not a safe haven for books like this place is, but I guess it'll do."

"Hehe, I'm sure it'll do just fine."

"Remember you're still welcome to borrow some to read anytime."

"Yeah, thanks. I might just take you up on that."

"Do you remember when you first got here, you were so excited to see them all."

"Yeah, I remember. I guess that must've been a funny thing to see. I was just really interested about place, I mean, could you imagine what it would be like to wake up in a whole new world? It was something different, I'll tell you that," Alfred said while packing away the last of his clothes. He grabbed his case and backpack and headed to the main room with Twilight. "So, I suppose you won't have to put up with me here anymore."

"I guess so. I'll miss your snoring though, jeez, I feel bad for Rainbow," she said causing Alfred to giggle a bit.

"Hey, my snoring is not that bad." He said as they both started to laugh. After Twilight finished laughing she looked up to him, a little sadly.

"I will miss you, though."

"It's not like I'm going away forever, you'll still see me around."

"I know, I'm sorry. It's just, I'm proud of you Alfred."

"What?"

"It's good to see you so lively nowadays. I look at you now and I see a kind, brave man who has survived. There were some really tough times, like that moment when you heard the news. I felt so sad to see you that way. All I wanted to do was help you, and now you're doing wonderfully." Alfred knelt down to meet Twilight's eyes.

"Twilight, you are the best friend I could ever ask for. You took me in when I was lost, and you made me the person who I am today. Without you, I wouldn't know where I would be, probably dead. You've really made a difference, and I can't begin to thank you enough for it. I've learnt so much in the few months that I've been here, thanks to you."

Twilight went in for a strong hug with tears in her eyes. She felt so happy to be with him now. Ever since Alfred had arrived, she felt like a mother to him, caring for him and loving him. She was so proud to see him moving on. Alfred held her closely and whispered into her ear, telling her that everything was alright. He was suddenly reminded of the first time they held each other like this, and he was slightly surprised that they had switched roles. Twilight wasn't crying tears of pain or hurt, but of joy. She pulled herself off Alfred and smiled at him sweetly.

"Rainbow is a very lucky pegasus to have someone like you." Alfred simply smiled back and began to stand up.

"I'll see you soon Twilight."

"Until next time," Twilight said kindly as Alfred started to walk to the door. He turned back to Twilight who was sitting on the floor, looking positive. He nodded his head and left.

He was now on his way to his new home.

       

      

       
> There's No Place Like Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred pushed the door open to reveal his new home. It was very basic, barely featuring any furniture or decorations, but Alfred didn't mind. He didn't see an empty and old house, he saw an opportunity. He dropped his bags and started to observe his surroundings. The house split into three as he entered. There was a staircase in the middle that was sandwiched between two doors. The one on the right led to the main room, which Alfred thought about using as a normal lounge, and the one on the left led to a small kitchen and dining room. The house also had three rooms upstairs as well as an attic. One was a master bedroom that featured a small balcony. The balcony had a very cinematic view of the hill that was so special to them. The balcony was the real part that sealed the deal for both of them. There was also a small room upstairs, which would be the bathroom, but there was one room that really puzzled Alfred. The last room upstairs was relatively big, and Alfred had no idea what he was going to do with it. He was just about to move upstairs to investigate when he heard someone enter the house behind him.

"Oh, hey! How's it going?" It was Rainbow Dash of course. She was also carrying her belongings in a few cases.

"Good. Everything's fine. Let me get that for you," Alfred said moving towards her and taking the cases from her hands so she could actually get inside.

"Thank you, I didn't expect to move in so soon."

"Well, what can you do?"

"I don't know. Let's look around the place, you know, get a feel for what kind of style we want," Rainbow Dash said as she began to walk through the door on the right. Alfred soon caught up with her and they both started to look around the empty room. They weren't looking for anything in particular, but just a basic idea of what it was going to look like. "I ...don't know, what do you think?"

"You know what, I haven't got a clue." 

"Are you serious? I thought you would have some pretty slick ideas."

"I guess not...... Hey, maybe we shouldn't worry about this now, we'll get it sorted out. If we really need help I suppose we should go see Rarity."

"Oh right! That's great, Rarity will know exactly how to glamour this place up. Good call. Hopefully it won't bother her too much."

"Are you kidding? I'd bet she'd love to do it."

"I'm still not sure, do you think you could convince her?"

"I probably could, I'm full of surprises." Rainbow started to laugh as she made her way out of the room and upstairs.

"You're right about that!" Rainbow shouted as she hurried up the stairs. Alfred just walked out of the first room and stood at the base of the stairs, looking up at Rainbow. He began to smile to himself and chased her upstairs. He found her on the small balcony so he crept up to her side and leant over the edge, gazing at the hill in the distance. The sun was setting over it beautifully, casting a bright orange light above their heads. Rainbow stood there, amazed at the incredible view. She then looked to Alfred who was doing the same and he began to speak.

"Isn't this just perfect?"

"I'd love nothing more than to stare at this for hours."

"Really? Nothing more?"

"Hehe......well I could think of a couple of things that I'd love more."

"Soon, babe. First we need to get this place fixed up."

"Fair enough, it'll be good, to finally live together."

"Everything's gonna be fine. I'm sure that...," Alfred slowly turned to Rainbow who hadn't stopped staring at him. Their eyes met and Alfred suddenly lost his train of thought. He was too mesmerised by Rainbow, standing there with the sunset gleaming over her. It was like a dream that he had suddenly fallen into. As time slowed down, a small thought popped into Alfred's mind. It only started as a small thought, but the more he looked at her, the more it grew, and soon it was all he could think about. He was so obsessed over this one idea that he had slipped out of reality. 

Rainbow stood there waiting for him to finish until she realised what kind of state he was in. He often would slip into a short period of deep thinking. He would just stare blankly at an object or in a direction and forget everything around him. Rainbow figured that it was something from his past that caused this but she wasn't so sure. He could easily snap out of it when someone got his attention, so Rainbow tried to speak.

"Uh, what were you saying, Alfred?" Alfred started to blink repeatedly and remembered where he was.

"Sorry, I was doing it again, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, a little bit."

"I'm sorry, I do that way too much. I don't know why, I just do."

"Don't worry about it, Alfie. Everyone's got that one little thing about them. I actually like it, I think it makes you more interesting."

"Oh really?"

"That, and it kinda tells if you're actually paying attention," Rainbow said smirking. Alfred just simply sighed.

"Yeah sure. You said everything has that one little thing about them. Your's must be that you're so goddamn cute." Rainbow started to chuckle.

"Oh shut up! You're making me blush."

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?"

"Well, no, maybe, sometimes."

"There you go," Alfred said, returning a smile towards Rainbow Dash. "C'mon. Let's find Rarity and get this thing started, since we can't do it by ourselves."

"Alright." Rainbow said, after taking one last look over the balcony to the peaceful hill.

It took a few days to set everything up. Rarity felt honoured to help Rainbow and Alfred settle into their new home. Alfred was also happy that they were on good terms with each other. She really did a wonderful job decorating the place. The walls were a bright blue colour, which reminded Alfred immediately of Rainbow's soft fur and the blue sky. Each room was filled with various furniture that looked perfect. Both Rainbow and Alfred were extremely pleased with the final result. Alfred was especially impressed by an old rocking chair that was placed on the balcony. Rarity had remembered from one of his stories that he used to cradle Luke while sitting on a rocking chair, so she decided to include it and an additional one on the balcony for Rainbow Dash. Rainbow and Alfred finally unpacked all their belongings, which took a while. As Alfred was bringing multiple things up to his room, he noticed his red backpack. He picked it up and thought about placing it up in the attic. He figured that he wouldn't need it, especially since it contained such horrific memories. Alfred took one last look at his precious backpack before he put in in the attic to be forgotten.

After all was said and done, Alfred and Rainbow found themselves laying in the same bed together on a warm night. They weren't doing anything, they were just laying there with each other. Alfred suddenly sat up and put his back onto the side of the bed. Rainbow looked up at him, a little nervous.

"What's up?"

"Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about something."

"Oh yeah, what's that," Rainbow said, beginning to sit up beside him. Alfred suddenly noticed that she was interested, so he tried to change the subject.

"It doesn't matter, forget I said anything. What do you think of the house?"

"I love it. I think we ought to thank Rarity again tomorrow for doing such a great job."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool."

"Pretty cool?"

"Alright, it's pretty awesome."

"That's more like it," Rainbow said giving Alfred a small kiss on the cheek. He began to blush a bit, feeling relaxed now that he was alone with Rainbow again.

"What do you wanna do tomorrow?"

"Well, I don't know if you've heard, but there's gonna be a small tryout session tomorrow."

"Tryouts? What for?"

"Oh they want a small flying team to represent Ponyville. I don't think it's as big as the Equestria games, but apparently it's all the rage. Everyone's gonna be there."

"Wow, I'm still surprised that you even need to go to the tryouts. I mean, you'd think they'd know to sign you up immediately."

"Everyone has to tryout, it's not fair if I was just put on the team."

"Yeah, but it's you," Alfred said sweetly, making Rainbow Dash shake her head while laughing. Alfred started to laugh too. 

"Yeah, alright, enough with this. I guess I should hit the hay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Alfred said as he turned off the lights and began to lay down. He was just about to drift off when that thought crossed his mind again. Rainbow had already somehow managed to fall asleep by his side. Alfred rolled himself over so he was staring up to the ceiling. He couldn't sleep now, not after recalling that idea. He stared up at the ceiling for a couple of minutes, and then down to Rainbow who was laying beside him. She looked so peaceful while she was sleeping. Alfred couldn't help but play with her mane while he thought things over.

He truly loved Rainbow Dash. He wanted to spend every single second with her. Rainbow had taken away all the pain from his life and replaced it with love and kindness. There was nothing that could separate the two, and Alfred wanted to make it official. He laid there, watching her sleep comfortably being with him. A smile was brought to his face as he thought about marrying Rainbow. 

How would he do it? When would he do it? How would he propose to her? All of these questions started to fill up his mind, but he didn't have an answer for any of them. He wanted to marry her, but he wasn't sure how. Back home, marriage was represented by a ring, but since Rainbow didn't have any fingers, he figured that wouldn't work. He thought about the idea of buying a necklace or something like that. That could work, he could easily go and buy one. It was settled, he would go into a store within the following week and purchase a necklace for Rainbow.

Now he needed to figure out the perfect time to propose. He was really stumped by this. He had no idea where or when he would do it, until he remembered what Rainbow had said. The tryouts, of course, she would succeed in the tryouts and make it to the big games. Hopefully she would win, and on that night, or at that moment, he would propose. It was perfect. Rainbow would have the best day of her life. 

Alfred, being extremely pleased with his little plan, gave Rainbow a small kiss before falling asleep.

       



 


> Alone Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Did you see me!? Did you see me!?" 

"Yes, Rainbow, I saw. Nice work."

"Nice work? I was zooming so fast that I blew one of the judge's glasses off. There's no way I'm not getting on the team now."

"I told you so, didn't I."

"Yeah, I know, but like, dude did you see how fast I was flying. I honestly thought I may have broken a record there. I mean, it was just so," Rainbow Dash didn't even finish her sentence before flying off into the sky with excitement. She had just taken part in the tryouts and from the look of things, she was guaranteed a place on the team. There was no competition really. She took them all to school in that session, and Alfred couldn't be prouder. He watched her zipping through the blue sky from below, with a large smile on his face. It was good to see her so excited and filled with joy. 

He wondered what it would be like to fly. He had been on aeroplanes when he was back home, but this was different. It looked marvellous and Alfred was pleased that Rainbow enjoyed it. He felt a little sad that he was immune to magic. There was still the mystery of dark magic, but it was probably best to leave that alone. He remembered Twilight using a spell on him that was supposed to give him wings, but it didn't work. He started to reminisce about the time he had spent living at Twilight's. They hadn't seen each other since that one night he left, which was unfortunate. Alfred did want to see her again, hopefully sooner rather than later. He wondered why she wasn't here at the tryouts. A lot of ponies had showed up, but not her. Alfred had already spoken to Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie who were also watching. They had said that Fluttershy was busy with her animals so she couldn't make it, which really sucked. Alfred wanted to see her as well. It had been a while since the whole gang had gotten together again. 

Suddenly a large bell rang, which signified that the tryout sessions were over. It took almost two hours for Rainbow to eventually make her way back to Alfred and the ground, a little out of breath from her uncontrollable madness. Everyone was already gone by that point.  She dropped to floor and sprang back up onto Alfred's shoulders, grabbing on for life.

"Hey, easy there! If you want a piggyback ride, you're gonna have to pay."

"Aw what? Don't I get a free one for having to put up with you for this long."

"Ok, I guess so. Just don't.." Before he could finish speaking, Rainbow had found her way on top of his head. This made him stumble and almost fall to the floor. Rainbow, being the adventurous girl that she is, found the most awkward position possible. She was literally sitting on his head.

"Woohoo! Maybe there should piggyback competitions at the games, I'd bet you'd win first place," Rainbow said, continuing to squash Alfred's head under her flank.

"I'm sure I would, but I'd probably be better if your ass wasn't in my face," Alfred struggled to say as he was being crushed. Rainbow suddenly leaped off of him and to the floor, cracking up while she did so. Alfred finally managed to catch his breath after being released.

"I thought you liked having my ass in your face," Rainbow responded. She continued to laugh hysterically while Alfred just stood still, watching her roll around on the floor like a complete maniac.

"Alright, Rainbow. Let's get going, I've got a lot things to do today."

"Oh, yeah like what?" Rainbow said, still recovering from her own joke.

"Oh, you wouldn't want to know. It'll be too difficult for you to handle." Alfred sported a smug look on his face which got Rainbow's attention. She swiftly flew in front of his face.

"Are you saying that I can't handle it? Did you just see me over there?"

"This is different. This requires an unimaginable amount of focus, responsibility, loyalty..." Alfred was cut off when Rainbow gasped in shock.

"Are you kidding? I'm the element of loyalty for goodness sake, I can handle this!" Alfred still held that smug look on his face while Rainbow grew impatient. He smiled and began to tease her more.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes!"

"So you think you can handle it?"

"YES! YES! YES!" Rainbow began to fly around his head angrily. He just stood completely still as she circled him. 

"Okay, then. I need you to go grab all of our friends and wait on the hill for about three hours."

"Really? That's it."

"Yep."

"Three hours?"

"Yep."

"Piece of cake," Rainbow whispered into Alfred's ear as she began to zoom away, unknowing of Alfred's plan. He didn't expect her to be fooled this easily, but luckily he was wrong. As Rainbow started to disappear from Alfred's view, he made a mental checklist of all good things on that day: Rainbow had made it through the tryouts, he was going to meet up with his all of friends again and he was going to purchase the necklace while Rainbow was out for him.

He suspected that she would see through his plan after a while, so he didn't have any time to waste. As soon as she was completely out of his sight he marched down to the closest jewellery shop. There wasn't anyone in the shop except for him and the cashier, who was also the owner. The cashier looked like an old pony. His fur was a dark brown and he had a golden yellow mane. A murky grey beard surrounded his mouth and he wore spectacles that put Alfred's to shame. They were vintage, and looked as if they were straight from the 1920's. After seeing the pair, Alfred considered replacing his current ones since he had worn the same old pair for most of his life.

The cashier walked up to Alfred immediately after he spotted him. Alfred figured that he didn't get many customers after seeing how excited he was to meet him. That, or he was really eager to impress the only human. Alfred managed to take a quick peek at his cutie mark and found that it was very similar to Rarity's. Everything was identical except the diamonds on his flank were bright red instead of blue, like Rarity's. 

"Hello, my fine sir. Are you interested in purchasing any jewellery today?" His voice was raspy and reminded Alfred of a few smokers he used to know back home. They would always annoy him with their constant coughing and swearing. They would often distract him during working hours, which in turn got him in trouble with the boss, which in turn made his life a misery. Those were much less happy times.

"Oh, yes. I'm looking for a necklace. Are there any you would recommend?"

"Of course, right this way." Alfred followed the older gentleman while carefully observing his surroundings. He looked at all the various accessories and jewellery that a pony would buy. Most of it was very familiar to what Alfred had seen back home. There were many earrings and clothing attachments that caught his eye, but he was here for one thing and one thing only, Rainbow's necklace. 

It needed to be a necklace that represented everything that Alfred loved about her, which was, well, everything. It needed to reflect their relationship in some way, and it needed to be something meaningful. Alfred was not very satisfied when the older pony showed him what was available. The necklaces were okay, but nothing extraordinary. He needed something that would bind them closer together, so it couldn't be some amateur necklace.

"No, I'm sorry. None of these are what I'm looking for. I was thinking more of a..." Alfred stopped dead in his tracks like a deer seeing headlights. What was he doing? There was only one pony who could supply him with what he needed, and that was Rarity. Rarity could easily create the necklace that he wanted. She knew Rainbow as well as he did.

"I'm sorry that these necklaces aren't to your satisfaction, what would you prefer?"

"Don't worry about it, I've changed my mind. Thank you for your kindness," Alfred said as he was beginning to head out the door. The cashier began to chase him up desperately to hopefully keep the customer but he was too late. Alfred felt bad for his business but it wasn't his problem so he tried not to worry about it. He knew that he couldn't visit Rarity now, since Rainbow was planning to find her quickly, so he figured that he had some alone time. He started to walk around Ponyville, taking a look into some of the shops. Since he wasn't going to buy the necklace today, he figured he might as well take a peek if he had brought the money. 

The shops were all pretty familiar. He was still extremely surprised that most of this was relevant to him. You'd think that being from another world would change everything, but apparently not. He could understand a large majority of what this wonderful place had to offer, which was incredibly lucky. If he was thrown into a world of nonsense, he wouldn't know what to do with himself.

It was a strange feeling, being away from Rainbow Dash this long. It had only been an hour but Alfred was so used to being by her side and talking to her. Everyday was fun with her. Sure she could be a little arrogant, but Alfred liked her that way. Alfred saw her as a hero, someone to look up to. She was almost the complete opposite of him before he had came to Equestria. She was happy, confident and loving whereas Alfred used to be sad, shy, and guilty. She had turned his world upside down and inside out.

He was sure that marrying her was the next step. From what he could tell, Rainbow had felt the same way about Alfred from the start. He remembered the first time he got married, with Debra that is. At the time, they couldn't be happier. They had been a couple ever since high school. What started out as friendship, turned into a sudden love that they felt for each other. That passion definitely didn't come without it's faults. Alfred still couldn't understand why they changed. Everything was going so well up until they got married. After that, they just started to fade away, and soon the love that they had once shared was replaced with hatred and anger. Alfred remembered what they had argued about on the night that he disappeared. They were arguing about Alfred's job. Debra was furious that he wasn't earning nearly enough to provide for his family. He remembered her calling him weak and a disgrace. He also remembered trying to convince her that he would turn it all around someday, that he would make right all his wrongs. He was hoping for one chance, one opportunity that would just catapult him from the abyss that he was in and into a place where life was good. He was hoping for that one chance to prove himself and earn his respect again. 

Unfortunately, it never came. Every single day was just the same over and over and over again. Alfred hated it but couldn't let that hatred show. He never once stood out of line in fear that he would jeopardise his whole situation. He was too afraid to try new things and so he became a victim to an empty, soulless life. That was the case until Luke was born. Luke had managed to give him the hope he needed ever so dearly. Luke had given him the strength to continue and the passion to keep living. His entire life revolved around Luke. He started to lose interest in Debra, his job, his so called 'friends', everything, except Luke. That's why he felt so crushed after hearing the news. He wasn't sad that his life was left behind, he didn't care about his poor life. He was sad because he had lost the only thing that had meaning to him.

Alfred saw his own reflection in a shop window. He looked at the man he saw and was proud. He had a full head of hair that was cut relatively short. His glasses, although old, were in good condition. He was even beginning to grow a beard, which he was fond of. He was proud to see that man in the reflection and not the monster that he used to be. His face used to be a lot paler and his eyes were held up by bags upon bags. He also used to look lifeless, like he was dead on the inside. He was so glad that that phase was now over, and his new and improved one was already beginning. The glasses were the last remaining feature of his life back home.

He kept staring into the glass until he noticed the pony behind it. It was Fluttershy. She hadn't noticed him outside the cafe yet so he supposed a surprise was in order. He slowly crept in and caught her eye from the door. As soon as she saw him, she smiled eagerly and gestured him to come over. Alfred quickly walked up and pulled out a seat to sit down in.

"Hello Fluttershy! It's so fantastic to see you!"

"Hello Alfred, it's good to see you here. How are you doing?"

"Fine, great actually. How are you?"

"Good."

"I heard that you were spending some time with the animals this morning."

"Oh right. Some of them had pretty bad stomachaches so they needed to be cared for."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Are they better now?"

"Yes, very much so. Enough about me, how are you and Rainbow?" This question triggered something in Alfred. Should he tell her about what his plans were? He decided not to tell her, but after a few minutes of discussion he was having second thoughts. They had talked about recent events and other affairs, you know, the regular kind of stuff. After moving on to a topic about Alfred and Rainbow again, he figured that he should at least give it a try.

"We're good, better than ever to be more accurate..... Hey, how are you with keeping secrets?" Fluttershy immediately began to blush.

"Erhm, I don't know. I'm probably not the best."

"Don't worry, it's fine. I guess it'll be a surprise for everyone." He could see the curiosity behind her eyes. It was unlikely that she could keep it, and this was definitely a secret that could not be released. 

"It's good to see you spending time with her, I always figured that you two would make a cute couple."

"Thanks, speaking of Rainbow, you haven't seen her lately have you, like today."

"No, not today. Why?"

"Well, we were thinking about having a little get together with the whole group. Rainbow is out now, fetching the others."

"Oh that sounds lovely. Where are we meeting?"

"Oh don't worry about that. I'm sure Rainbow will make it clear when she finds you, which she will."

"So, what are you doing now?" Alfred took a quick glance at a particular shop out the window and returned to Fluttershy.

"I'll be there, I just need to pick something up first," He said beginning to stand. "I'll see you later today."

"Goodbye Alfred. I'll keep an eye out for Rainbow," Fluttershy whispered as Alfred started to walk to the door. He hopped on to the street below and made his way to the shop he had seen from the cafe.

He stood outside the window for a second staring at his new pair of glasses, and then went inside.

       
       

 

       


       
> One Perfect Moment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was perfect. It was everything Alfred had ever wanted. The necklace that he was holding in his hands was beyond compare. He couldn't help but stare at it, lost in its beauty. He was frozen in pure astonishment. He knew Rarity was good, but this was just a whole new step. The necklace seemed to call out to him. It appeared to whisper all the glorious things about him and Rainbow, especially her. He knew she would love it. The necklace depicted her cutie mark, but it had a pearlescent silver colour that absorbed all wonderful things. It seemed to shine brighter than any of the lights surrounding Alfred as he sat in the lonely corridor. 

He was waiting outside Rainbow's room. The big games had just finished. She wasn't expecting him to come in, since he had said that he was setting up another celebration party for her after she had won. She came first place, of course. Alfred could see the joy in her eyes when her team was awarded with their various trophies. She had looked as if she was in heaven. It must've been an amazing experience, standing before thousands of ponies and being cheered by them all. Although she was mostly overwhelmed by the applause, she had caught sight of Alfred in the crowd, screaming along with them. There eyes met and Rainbow gave him a small wink. She looked outstanding, with all the lights surrounding her, showing her in her true form. She was like an angel, and after receiving that small wink, Alfred felt like he was in heaven too. It really had been an incredible day, and Alfred was about to make it even better.

His hands began to shake as he thought about what he was going to say. She was inside the room, getting ready and unknowing of Alfred's presence outside. Alfred repeatedly closed and opened his hands around the necklace. He was very nervous, so nervous that he felt like he could collapse at any moment. His mind was racing and he couldn't control it. There was no conscience left, no power, only love. He looked to the closed door on his left. It was just one door, one lonely door that stood between him and the rest of his life. One door stood between him and his freedom. 

He stood up slowly and started to make his way to the door. He was now standing directly in front of it, shaking with anticipation. He swiftly placed the necklace in his jacket's pocket and reached his hand out to the door's handle. He could see his hand trembling crazily before him. As he grabbed the handle, he suddenly felt all of his strength leave his body. He felt hollow as he stood still. A single tear began to run down his cheek as he thought all about their future and what it meant to him.

After wiping his eyes, he took a deep breath and opened the door. Alfred suddenly was cleansed of any worries as soon as he saw Rainbow. Rainbow Dash was sitting on a large chair, looking into her mirror. The second she saw Alfred in the reflection she bounced up and went for a hug. Alfred knelt down to hold her tightly. They just stayed there for a few seconds, embracing each other.

"Alfred, what are you doing here? I thought you said you were organising a party," Rainbow said, pulling herself away from Alfred slowly.

"It's already done. Pinkie had that planned weeks ago."

"Okay then, did you come here to collect me? I'm ready to go."

"Actually, Rainbow, I came here for a different reason," he said calmly. He began to pull out the necklace as he continued to kneel down, staring into her eyes. Rainbow suddenly lit up when she caught sight of the necklace.

Alfred knew, in that one perfect moment, that he had done the right thing.

"Rainbow Dash, will you marry me?"

Rainbow went straight back into a hug, and Alfred embraced her. She held him closer than she had ever before.

"Yes!" Rainbow screamed in joy. She closed her eyes and held Alfred as tight as she could. She was suddenly reminded of all the wonderful moments that she had spent with Alfred. She remembered their first kiss, their special moment on the hill, and all the excitement that followed. She was starting to cry with happiness and Alfred didn't stop her. He closed his eyes with her and stayed completely still. He cradled Rainbow in his arms as tears flooded her eyes. They didn't speak, words could never explain how they felt. Alfred and Rainbow sat there on the dressing room's floor what seemed like hours. 

In those special moments, Alfred forgot about everything he used to be. It was a completely new life, and he loved it. He never wanted to return home now, not after holding Rainbow Dash. Nothing could be better than this one moment, not even Luke's birth. Rainbow was his guardian angel and now he was planning to spend the rest of his life with her. As he closed his eyes, he started to imagine himself being in a world of darkness. There was nothing except for his own lonely existence. It felt like years of hurt and fear while he was stuck in this place and just as he was about to fade away, a large bright light blinded him. The light consumed him and overwhelmed him. He could barely open his eyes to the whiteness, but when he did, he saw Rainbow standing on the other side. She was the light in his darkness, the hope in his sadness. He was nothing without her. As they held each other close, he whispered into Rainbow's ear.

"I'm nothing without you."

Rainbow pulled away quickly only to return with a kiss. This kiss meant something. It was long and drawn out, and neither of them hesitated. Rainbow could feel her heart fluttering as she kissed him. She had never felt so alive. It had been the perfect day. Nothing had gone wrong, and she knew that she couldn't be stopped. Her heart was pumping a million times a minute and she could barely breathe. Alfred could feel her struggling to keep up so he backed off. Rainbow immediately went back in, desperate to keep it going. She never wanted to let this moment go. Alfred cooperated with her and they spent another few minutes of true love.

All good things must come to an end, and sadly so did their kissing. After he finally gave her the necklace, Alfred began to try and speak, a little out of breath.

"I suppose that's a yes."

"Of course it is, you big dummy. When should we do it?"

"I don't know, but I do know where we should do it. I think we should..."

"Uh, way ahead of ya."

"Oh really?"

"The hill, that's where."

"Haha, definitely."

"What's the time?"

"Oh shi...we're super late. The party was supposed to start thirty minutes ago."

"Don't worry, let's go. I can't wait to tell them the good news," Rainbow said while putting on the necklace. 

"How do I look?"

"Rainbow, I can't begin to describe how great you look," Alfred said making Rainbow giggle a little. Alfred could see that she was also blushing as she started to walk out the door.

"Come on, the others are waiting." Rainbow eagerly waited outside the door with a seductive smile on her face. Alfred soon joined her and closed the door behind them.

Once they had both made it to the party, they were welcomed by a huge crowd of ponies. Alfred and Rainbow were amazed at how many people had showed up to celebrate. There must have been at least two hundred ponies in that large hall. They all swarmed the couple, providing greetings and even presents for Rainbow. Rainbow had trouble containing her excitement, and Alfred started to notice this. As the crowds died down, Alfred gestured Rainbow to make her announcement. Rainbow immediately caught on and headed to the main stage that was positioned in the centre of the hall. Alfred had guessed it was there for any musical acts that would take place, but not now, since Rainbow had some very important news to announce. Alfred had managed to find a great spot within the crowd to stand and see his lover. Rainbow set up a microphone that was nearby and was about to speak.

"Hello everypony, thank you all for coming. Before I begin, I would just like to give you all a massive apology for arriving so late. Alfred and I got caught up in a few things that needed to be sorted out first." Rainbow suddenly heard a very suggestive whistle from the crowd after saying this. "Yes, yes, I know what it seems like, but I have something very important to say. Alfred came to my room earlier tonight, to give me this beautiful necklace here, and to propose." A sudden gasp was heard from the crowd. "We're getting married!" Rainbow exclaimed in joy. The whole room began to shake with the crowd stomping their hooves madly. Rainbow could see her friends from the stage. They all looked so happy to hear the news. Pinkie looked as if she was about to faint, but luckily Fluttershy managed to catch her before she fell. 

Rainbow turned to find Alfred in the crowd, smiling shyly. She started to tilt her head towards the stage, to almost tease him into coming up. Alfred saw this and suddenly ran up to the stage. He could hear the crowd's cheers as he rushed past the ponies in front of him, desperate to get onto the stage with Rainbow. As soon as he made his way up, the audience began to scream wildly. He looked around and caught Twilight standing in the audience. She looked proud to see how far Alfred had come. He gave her a small wink before he was almost blinded by the bright spotlight before him, and the sounds started to become muffled as he closed his eyes.

He opened them again to see Rainbow standing by his side, just like before. She did look like an angel, and Alfred began to smile. He reached out to her mane and ran his hand through it, receiving many cute noises from the crowd, but they weren't important. Nothing was, except Rainbow. There was no crowd for Alfred, just Rainbow standing there before him. Rainbow just stared at him, overwhelmed with love. They looked into each other's eyes deeply. Rainbow suddenly looked to the crowd, hearing the words 'KISS KISS KISS' over and other again in some kind of chant. She turned back to Alfred slowly and he knelt down to her level. She raised her hoof to the side of his face, and sighed.

"Well, should we keep them waiting?" Rainbow said while hearing outrageous screams from the crowd.

"I guess not," Alfred said as he grabbed the back of Rainbow's head and dove in. The crowd suddenly began to lose control, as Rainbow and Alfred made out in front of about two hundred ponies. All of their friends cheered along, proud of them both. Twilight was there, grinning with pleasure as she saw them. Alfred was happy that everyone could see how much he loved Rainbow. He felt like it needed to be shown. The kiss was sweet, filling Alfred with all kinds of feelings that were only provided by Rainbow's touch. Rainbow drove her lips into Alfred's with such force and determination. She wanted to please Alfred, and the crowd below her. It was a kiss to remember, one that would be treasured by them both for the rest of their lives.

Alfred backed away from Rainbow and picked up the microphone.

"Alright, let's party!"

       

       

 


> Never Alone Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was time.

Alfred sat on the edge of his bed, looking into the large mirror on the opposite side of the room. It was the day of the wedding, and Alfred was alone in his room. He didn't know where Rainbow was currently, just where she would be. He stared at himself in the mirror, looking at the new Alfred. He had changed so much since he had arrived in Equestria. He looked healthier and more alive everyday. Not only his appearance had changed, but his mental state as well. He was no longer a depressed, lonely man who was afraid of his own shadow. He was no longer under constant oppression and threats. He was no longer trapped in a world that could cause him nothing but pain and guilt.

He was free. Rainbow had set him free.

He took deep breaths in, anxiously waiting for the moment to be called up and take his position out front. It was like he was caught in a trance, he couldn't move his eyes away from the mirror. He just kept breathing heavily over and over until suddenly he heard a small knock at the door. He snapped his head towards it and began to stand up, but before he could make it it to the door, Rarity opened it and smiled. Alfred stood there a little nervous by Rarity's presence.

"How are you doing, darling?" Rarity said lovingly as she closed the door behind herself. Alfred presumed that she wasn't here to tell him that it was time to go.

"I'm doing okay, just a little shaky." Alfred slowly sat down again.

"Don't worry dear, it's perfectly normal. Today is your big day after all," Rarity said as she gazed upon Alfred's suit. "You look simply divine."

"Well, you should know, you made it." Alfred was dressed in a charcoal black suit, complete with a blue striped tie. He looked amazing, all thanks to Rarity. 

"That's besides the point," Rarity replied, beginning to sit on the bed next to him. "Rainbow is going to be so surprised when she sees you standing out there, oh, I can't wait!"

"Do you happen to know when I should be up there?"

"Oh, yes, you've got five minutes. I just wanted to speak to you for a bit."

"Okay, thanks." Rarity placed her hoof on Alfred's back to ease him.

"Aren't you excited? I know for a fact everyone else is."

"Of course I am, it's just a bit nerve racking. I'm also a little worried."

"Worried? What's there to be worried about?" Rarity suddenly shot back.

"I don't know what it is, but I can feel something holding me back."

"Do you truly love Rainbow Dash?"

"With all my heart."

"Then there's nothing to worry about. Wait, it's not your family back home that's troubling you, is it?

"I suppose it is. I've lived all my life with some other woman and now I'm expected to just throw it all away like it was nothing."

"But did you love her like you do Rainbow?"

"No, never."

"I know it's hard, really I do, but you can't afford to back out now. Think about the consequences. What would Rainbow think?"

"I'm not abandoning her. I'm not that cruel."

"You're not cruel at all, dear." Alfred looked up to Rarity as she said this and suddenly felt a rush of confidence flow through his body. What was he worried about? The past was the past and that was it. Only the future really matters. Alfred suddenly realised that he needed to forget about his home. That wasn't his home anymore. His home was here, with Rainbow, and not back in some horrible place. He turned to look at the mirror one last time. All he could see was the man from before. A frail, weak and innocent creature who had been endlessly stepped on for his whole life.

Alfred closed his eyes and then opened them again to see that he had disappeared. All that remained was the man he was now.

"Rarity, I'm not worried anymore."

Rarity went in for a big hug, gripping Alfred tightly. Alfred began to chuckle and squeezed her back, looking at the door over her shoulder. 

"Come on, it's time to go."


XXXXXXX


Rainbow trotted around the room frantically. Too many things were buzzing in her head for her to understand. She could feel herself trembling with every step she took. It all seemed so perfect. There was nothing that could slow her down. She knew that this day was going to be the best day of her life and she was not about to let it slip away because of some nervous feelings. Rainbow was determined to keep her mind filled with positive thoughts, so she tried to think of Alfred. Memories came rushing threw her head like a wave. The night he proposed was such a special little thing. Rainbow never saw that coming. She originally thought that she would have to make the move, but luckily she was surprised by Alfred's braveness. She knew it must've been difficult to leave everything behind and that's why she was so proud of him in that one moment. Alfred had been incredibly kind to Rainbow ever since he gave her a small fist-bump on his first day. Who would've known that such a small action could've blossomed into something so much bigger.

Rainbow's hurrying was abruptly interrupted as the door opened, revealing Twilight on the other side. Rainbow stopped for a second, and then continued to run around a bit more.

"Hi! How's it going?" Twilight said as she entered the room. Rainbow finally began to slow down and chill for a second.

"Everything's great! It's good to see you, Twilight."

"Same with you, Rainbow. I'm so glad that it's finally happening. I couldn't have been happier the night you announced that you were getting married. It was so inspirational."

"Thanks, Twilight," Rainbow responded, feeling a lot more calm. Twilight walked towards her with a great smile. Rainbow looked back, still biting her lip in excitement.

"I bet it must be great to be with someone like Alfred."

"Definitely. I wouldn't have it any other way. He is just something special."

"I couldn't agree more. Thank you, Rainbow."

"Excuse me?" Rainbow said a little confused.

"Do you remember when he first arrived here, all those months ago?"

"Yes, I do. Twilight what are you trying to say?"

"Do you remember hearing about him receiving the news on the next day?"

"Yes."

"Well, I was there with him when he was told, and it was such a terrible thing to see." Rainbow Dash just stood there silently. "He came out of Celestia's doors crying his eyes out and I had no choice but to hold him close as he wept. We stayed there for a long time. It was so heartbreaking, to see him like that. I could never get the sounds of him crying out of my head." Rainbow was stunned.

"Twilight, why are you telling me this?"

"When we finally got home, he just stayed in bed, a broken man. I didn't know what to do. I decided to leave him alone so he could hopefully recover, but that didn't work. I soon heard him crying again from upstairs, so I rushed to comfort him. It was so depressing. It made me feel horrible." Rainbow began to tear up.

"Twilight, why?"

"I want to thank you, for everything you've done. I no longer see the pain in his eyes. Alfred is now a funny, smart man who isn't afraid anymore, and it's all because of you, Rainbow. You have managed to completely turn Alfred's life around for the better. Now he's happy, kind and full of hope. I can't begin to thank you for bringing him out of that dark place he was in."

Rainbow could see Twilight start to cry and immediately went to comfort her. Twilight tried desperately to smile with tears running down her cheeks. Rainbow went to hold her close, whispering to her "it's okay". Twilight suddenly began to laugh through her tears and looked up at the blue pegasus.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."


XXXXX


Alfred stood in front of the altar on top of the hill that started it all, rattling his hands. He was waiting for his bride to appear. There were so many ponies watching. Rainbow's parents were at the front as well as his close friends. Rainbow's parents looked at Alfred suspiciously, like all parents do, but Alfred wasn't afraid. He was nervous, anxious, shy, energetic and a little distressed, but not afraid. His mind was a mixed bag of emotions, but fear was nowhere to be found inside. Being surrounded by his friends and supporters gave him the confidence to face all of those emotions head on. He wasn't going to let himself get in the way of a bright future, not again.

He looked around to everyone involved, and he was so surprised to see so many charming faces looking back. No one was there to hurt him or judge him. Everyone was happy to see Alfred succeed, and this made Alfred feel more welcome than he had ever before. He could feel his eyes watering as he looked at all the smiling faces. He glanced around slowly and suddenly froze.

There she was, his little angel, Rainbow Dash.

She looked outstanding. Her dress was pure white like an angel's wings. It gleamed as the sun's rays made contact. It reminded him of that one vision he had while holding her. She truly was the light in his darkness. Alfred began to smile as she walked up to the altar, looking to the crowd, and then to him. As soon as their eyes met, Alfred felt as if he was being lifted off the ground. His hands were trembling even more as Rainbow stood before him in the sunlight. Now that she was closer, he could see that she was wearing her necklace proudly. It was perfect.

"Dear ponies, and gentleman." Alfred nodded to the Officiant happily."We are gathered here today to honour the marriage of Rainbow Dash and Alfred Crow."

Neither Rainbow nor Alfred could hear what he was saying. They were too lost in each other's eyes to focus on anything else. Alfred gave Rainbow a small wink to remind her that everything was alright. Rainbow returned that wink to remind Alfred that he wasn't alone.

"Alfred Crow, do you take Rainbow Dash as your wife, to love and behold, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?" 

"I do."

"Rainbow Dash, do you take Alfred Crow as your husband, to love and behold, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"

"I do."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Alfred could feel tears run down his face as they kissed. It felt like magic, like love. It felt perfect. 


Alfred knew he would never be alone again.

       


       

      

       
> Catching Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Uh, how far is it?" Alfred began to moan as his legs shook from exhaustion.

"Really? We started the walk like five minutes ago," Pinkie snapped back, pretty irritated.

"Yeah, but, like, oohh."

"Don't worry, we'll be there soon. It's not like she's going anywhere." Rainbow quickly added, flying above their heads with Fluttershy, and still wearing that beautiful necklace.

"Yeah, come to think about it, why hasn't she been in Ponyville ever since Alfred arrived?" Twilight asked.

"Maybe she's just shy." Pinkie shot her head to Applejack.

"Come on, Applejack, this isn't Fluttershy we're talking about, this is Zecora."

"Hey, Fluttershy has gotten a lot better with that kind of stuff, ain't that right sugarcube?"

"Yes. I don't stutter as much anymore, and I'm getting pretty good around strangers."

"That's great, Fluttershy!" Rarity said lovingly.

"It's all thanks to Alfred." Everyone suddenly turned to Alfred, who was still quietly moaning. He looked up to see peering eyes observing him.

"No, Fluttershy. This was all you. I just guided you along the way, that's all."

"How adorable." Rarity squealed as she saw Alfred begin to blush. Alfred quickly tried to change the subject.

"Maybe she's scared of me." Rainbow started laughing loudly after hearing Alfred.

"Scared?"

"Yeah, scared. I can be a pretty scary guy."

"Alfred, you're no scarier than a mouse in a stack of hay." Alfred looked at Applejack puzzled. Applejack chuckled to herself quietly while Alfred tried to figure it out.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're not scary, hon. There must be another reason." Applejack quietly chuckled to herself until she heard Pinkie gasp.

"Maybe she's in danger!" The whole group looked at Pinke concerned, except Twilight.

"No. If she was in danger, I would've been informed months ago."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Are you sure that you're sure?" 

"Yes."

"Are you sure that you're sure that you're..." Pinkie was cut off by an annoyed growl from Twilight. "Okay, okay. She's not in danger."

"Hold on, Applejack. I'm not over this whole 'not scary' thing," Alfred said as Applejack started to laugh again. "I really think that could be the case." Rainbow suddenly swooped down and kissed Alfred on the cheek. She then dropped down and walked by his side.

"Alfred, I'm pretty sure she's not scared of you. You're like a little teddy bear." The whole group started to laugh.

"Rainbow."

"Hey, it's true. You're just so cuddly and cute," Rainbow teased, seeing the embarrassment in Alfred's eyes.

"Come on, stop it."

"Aaw, but I just want to hold you and squeeze you and..."

"Alright! Alright! She may not be scared of me."

"Good, now that we've got that out of the way, let's focus on getting there and finding out why." Twilight said as she began to trot a little faster.

They all trudged through the dark, mysterious forest, looking for Zecora's place. The main group had decided to spend the day at Zecora's since Alfred hadn't actually met her throughout the year and a half he had been in Equestria. This was surprisingly strange because Alfred felt like he was so familiar with everypony. Ever since the wedding, Alfred had become a very popular person in Equestria, often being stopped in the streets whenever he went out around Ponyville. Rainbow was a little angry at this and for a small period she tried to prevent anyone from seeing Alfred, but eventually she learnt to deal with it. After all, Alfred was the only human in the whole of Equestria. How could you not expect him to stick out like a sore thumb?

Besides from that little incident, Rainbow Dash and Alfred couldn't have been better. Their house gradually began to fill up with all kinds of pictures. Many of them were of the group being together and having a fun time like always, and the rest were just of him and Rainbow sharing a romantic moment. Alfred became obsessed with decorating the walls with these pictures so he could never have a bad day walking through his house again. The pictures of all of his friends, no family, gave him great pleasure. He would sometimes stop whatever he was doing and stare at a particular photograph for a long time. Rainbow noticed this of course, but decided to leave him to it. It wasn't hurting anyone anyway, why should she stop him? 

Rainbow and Alfred had also gotten closer in different ways. They were both hesitant at first, since it wasn't something either of them were comfortable talking about, but soon they found themselves making love many times. Alfred had done it before, but this was different, besides the fact that she was a pony. It was another beautiful kind of pleasure that Debra never could've given him. To him, it felt natural and right. Rainbow also loved it in a similar way. As she has said, she had been with other stallions before, but Alfred was soooo much better. It was a love that could never be destroyed, and these sexual actions only made it stronger.

Throughout the year and a bit since the wedding, many new friends were made and many precious memories were created. For example, Applebloom had introduced him to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which he took much amusement out of. He was having so much fun that the group decided to make Alfred their mascot. Luckily he didn't have to dress up in a silly suit, but he would often be there with the group whenever they tried another crazy stunt to earn their cutie marks. Because of this, Alfred had grown closer to Applebloom. She often reminded him of the first time he arrived in Equestria, which was a good memory, so Alfred was always happy to see her.

Princess Celestia was still asking him scientific questions but she hadn't come one step closer to finding out how Alfred had come to Equestria. If Alfred actually cared anymore about that question, he may of been a little suspicious. It had been an entire year and a half and Princess Celestia, the Princess Celestia, hadn't found an answer to why he was there. Alfred wasn't bothered by it. He had tried to forget about it during his time in Equestria, but he would suddenly be reminded of his life back home in the most random situations. It didn't happen often, but every now and again he would take a look at something and compare it to it's equivalent back home. He really wanted to leave it all behind, but sometimes his mind pushed the thoughts the the front of his brain, forcing him to think about it.

His friends had helped him a lot to forget, which he was very thankful for. They were constantly there for him, never letting him ever get depressed or down again. Rarity continued to produce extravagant outfits that really suited Alfred. He didn't mind the glamorous approach that Rarity craved, but she did try to appeal to his simplistic preferences. Most of the time Alfred would wear some kind of basic jacket, matching trousers, a bright shirt underneath and sensible shoes. He never really wanted to show off, unless he was out for some formal event, which Rarity happily took care of. 

Applejack had also been a great help, working with him on the farm. They would sometimes spend hours talking to each other nonstop about meaningless things. Applejack found it really fun. It was a nice change from the boring work that she would have to get through almost everyday. Alfred was comfortable sharing all of his secrets with Applejack, like Rainbow, and she respected that.

Fluttershy had gotten stronger and a lot more confident with Alfred around. Everyone was very impressed by her progress. She was now able to speak to strangers confidently if that ever needed to be the case and her stutter slowly vanished. Pinkie was still, well, Pinkie. She didn't change much, except for the fact she happened to become more lively somehow.

Twilight had been really busy ever since the wedding. Everyone was pretty saddened by this. It was great to have her around, but now most of her time was taken up working for Celestia. She still had a role to play, being a princess and all, so no one could argue with it. It was just a little distressing, not being around her for a long time. Luckily, they were all free to visit Zecora, so they were given a chance to catch up with each other.

"So, Alfred. What have you been up to lately?" Twilight asked quietly.

"Nothing much, except for loving Rainbow Dash." The group replied with a simultaneous 'daaaw'.

"Oh yeah, we've been loving each other alright." 

"Aaaw, wait, what?" Twilight suddenly said confused. Alfred nudged Rainbow playfully and she giggled loudly. Twilight simply stared at the two and opened her mouth to ask a question, but then quickly closed it again preferring to leave it alone. She looked to the others and saw they were doing the same.

"Twilight, I hear you've been busy with Celestia, how's that?"

"Oh, it's great. I don't think I'm actually allowed to tell you what we do, but we do it, and it takes up a lot of our time." Twilight added happily, not noticing the stares she was receiving. Rarity began to speak up.

"And this is 'Princess work'?"

"Yep!"

"Okay. That's good to hear, darling," Rarity murmured as she looked to the others, shrugging her shoulders.

"Yes. That is very good to hear." 

Suddenly everyone looked around nervously, not knowing where the voice had come from. Applejack slowly started to put the pieces together and recognised the voice.

"Discord! What are you doing here?"

"Hooray! You remember who I am. I was getting worried for a second there," Discord exclaimed, slowly appearing from behind a thin tree like some cartoon. Alfred was amazed by what he saw, but he didn't know what it was. He had heard stories about this Discord character but he had never actually seen him in person. He didn't strike him as a dangerous being, like everyone said, but there was something wrong about him. Alfred couldn't take his eyes off him, it was like he was under a spell. The more he looked at him, the more he felt weak and tired, like Discord was draining the life from him. 

Discord was feared throughout the whole of Equestria. No pony even dared to mention his name. He used to work alongside them, as friends, but soon he let his pride get the better of him and he went too far. From what Alfred had heard, Discord tried to destroy Ponyville a couple years ago, and many ponies were hurt. Apparently Twilight and the rest managed to stop him, but he disappeared soon after, and no one had seen him since.

Discord suddenly spotted Alfred and froze.

"Who is this?" Discord said slowly, beginning to move towards Alfred. Rainbow quickly jumped in front of Alfred, guarding him.

"You don't need to go anywhere near him!" Rainbow shouted, making Discord jump back. The others just looked at Rainbow, a little uncomfortable .

"You're not supposed to be here Discord," Applejack yelled behind his back. "Don't you remember what happened last time?"

"Alright. There's no need to scream. What happened last time was a tragedy, really, it was, but I think we should all just move on."

"Move on? You hurt innocent ponies for no reason," Twilight barked, a little pissed that Discord would even have the guts to show his face.

"Oh please, could we all stop looking into my past, I'm sure you've all done bad things just like me."

"Like what?" Applejack blurted out.

"Oh come on, who doesn't know about those countless nights you've spent with Big Mac." Everyone immediately jerked their heads to Applejack, who was starting to sweat a little. "Whoops, I thought everypony already knew. I suppose I shouldn't talk about Applebloom then," Discord said, forming a large smile on his face as Applejack looked to the ground.

"What do you want, Discord?" Alfred said sharply.

"Oh nothing, just a little chat. I've been away for Celestia knows how long so I figured that some catching up was in order, and what better time to see you than when you're alone and helpless in the woods. I know we've never met before but, well, you look familiar," Alfred suddenly squinted his eyes at Discord. "Yes, you remind me of..." Discord froze again, this time with an expression of shock on his face. He didn't do anything for a few seconds. He didn't talk, he didn't move, he didn't even breathe while he stared at Alfred. Just as Rainbow was about to shout at him again, Discord snapped his fingers and vanished, taking Alfred with him.

"Alfred? Alfred?"

Rainbow blinked nervously, reaching behind her trying to grab at Alfred, but he wasn't there. She turned around to find the empty space where he once was, and she began to scream.


    

 

       

> Shattered 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

White.

There was nothing but white.

No walls...

No ceilings...

No people...

Nothing, but white.

The white reminded Alfred of the night he disappeared. He spent that night wandering familiar streets, listing all of his problems. He was then suddenly consumed by a bright light. It wiped his mind clean of everything he knew and left him an empty soul. There was nothing left, except the white. The first time he encountered it, it transported him to the heaven that he needed, but this time was different.

He remembered everything. The void hadn't stripped him of his memories and feelings. This time it had allowed him to stay an intelligent being and he wasn't reduced to a mindless drone like previously. It was incredibly strange, but what was even stranger was the fact that his thoughts were pure. Alfred found it ironic, that the one place he could think clearly, was also the place where his mind was once rubbed away, like a mistake.

He wasn't scared by the white. If anything, he was thankful since it had delivered him from that cold, dreadful place. He felt welcomed, now that he was able to think. He slowly started to recall recent events, and figured out his main priority. He needed to return to Rainbow. She was his saviour, his freedom. Without her, he was nothing.

He couldn't move. There was nothing to hold or grab, nothing to feel or touch. There was nothing, except for white. He tried to walk, but couldn't feel his legs. He tried to look at himself, but he couldn't divert his eyes away from the barren space . There was nothing to see but white. He wasn't there, he was a ghost, lost in an endless plain of white. He didn't know where or what this place was, but it started to unnerve Alfred.

"Familiar, isn't it?"

It was Discord. He could hear Discord's voice coming from the white. It didn't originate from a particular direction, not that it mattered. Alfred was stuck in place and forced to have a conversation with Discord.

"Where am I?"

"I don't know, no one does. This place doesn't have a name, nor a location, but it is familiar to you, yes?"

"Yes it is. How do I go back?"

"You'll go back when you're ready."

"When I'm ready? What does that mean?"

"What do you remember about this place?"

"I won't answer any questions until you tell me what's going on."

"You're not in any position to give demands, Alfred. I vacant assure you that nothing will happen until you start cooperating. Now, what do you remember about this place?"

"While I was walking down the street, a bright light surrounded me, and I found myself here."

"Good."

"It wiped my mind clean of any thoughts, and then I woke up in Equestria."

"That's right."

"Why does this matter? Why can't I..."

Alfred's mind shattered as he realised the truth. 

"It matters, because I brought you here, Alfred."

If Alfred could, he would have fallen to his knees and put his hands to his head, hyperventilating. This made no sense. Why? How? 

"I bet you're pretty confused about all of this. I know I'd like to know just what the hell is going on if I were you, so I'll explain. I brought you here a year and a half ago to hopefully use you against Celestia and her little group of losers, but unfortunately they got to you first. To be honest, I didn't even know if it had worked. Bringing a being from a completely different world to this little place is a tad more difficult than you would expect." 

Alfred continued to not respond.

"Anyway, it didn't turn out the way I planned. I'm sorry that you had to suffer an entire year and a half with these fools, but now you can live the life that you were meant to, with me. Together, we can rule Equestria. You'll never be defenceless again. 'Friendship' is overrated anyway, who needs friendship when you can obey me?"

"No."

"What? I rescued you from that miserable hell and this is how you repay me. Do you know what I had to do to get your ass over here?"

"I don't care."

"Listen to me, boy. I'm giving you a golden opportunity here. Think about it. Do you really want to spend the rest of you life with these ponies, when you could return to your family. I brought you here, didn't I? So I have the power to send you back. Think about your son, Luke, right? I'm sure you don't want him to grow up alone and fatherless."

"Why me?"

"What?"

"Why did you bring me here and not someone else?"

"I brought you here, because I see something in you. I could've taken anyone else, but you, you're something special. I think you have a great future ahead of you."

"Bullshit. You brought me here because I was weak, because I wouldn't fight back. You wanted to use me."

"Okay, maybe. Maybe I did bring you here so that you would serve me under your will, but what are you going to do about it? You have no choice but to serve me."

"And why's that?"

"If I could get to you, I can get to your family."

This was a threat, and Alfred knew it. He was forced to obey Discord or his family back home would be hurt, or even killed. They didnt deserve this, they didn't do anything wrong. 

Alfred was faced with a very important decision, to either serve Discord and in the process save his family back home, or to refuse and live knowing that he had doomed everyone he used to know. Alfred could barely function under all of this pressure. His mind closed off and all rational thoughts were locked away. He was left in a state of utter panic, uncertain of what to do.

He loved his boy. He loved Luke with all of his heart, or at least he thought he did. He wanted to love his son like any other caring father would, but a thought was flickering at the back of his head. He couldn't focus on it, he could only briefly recognise it like watching sparks fly. Soon, those sparks lit a fire that consumed his mind, and he couldn't think about anything else.

Did he really love his son? Did he really care for his life back home and the people in it? This new chance had changed his life so drastically, he wasn't the same man he used to be. He had spent all this time trying to forget that his former self had ever existed since there was no way to return, but now that there was a small possibility of going back, would he take it? Was all of this for nothing?

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I'll never serve you, never."

"You're not thinking clearly Alfred. What about your family? What about your son? Wouldn't you like to hold Luke in your arms again?"

"I don't care about them anymore. They mean nothing to me."

"I'll kill them. I'll kill each and every last one of them if you choose to deny me!"

"Do it!"

And with that one feeble scream, Discord was silenced. He never expected Alfred to be this ignorant, and this angered him greatly. He had wasted all this time planning and searching for the one thing that could bring Equestria down, the one secret weapon that no one would expect, and now it was rejecting him.

"Fine. If you want to be with these ponies so badly, you can be buried with them."

Alfred awoke to find himself staring up into the blue sky, just like all those months ago. Trees surrounded his vision, obstructing the beautiful escape he needed. He breathed in and out deeply, keeping his eyes locked on the blue abyss above. The light that seeped through the leaves almost blinded him, but he didn't care. His eyes were firmly planted on the sky, and he didn't feel anything.

There was a painful ringing in his ears. It deafened him to the point of almost passing out. He could feel himself fading in and out of consciousness as the sky suddenly began to darken. In what seemed to be his final moments, the ringing in his ears died down as he heard a familiar voice. He didn't know who was speaking or what they were saying. The voice slowly replaced the unbearable pain, and he was suddenly given the strength to move himself again. He shot up, looking around quickly to find himself in an unknown part of the forest. He could hear the others calling out for him, searching for him. 

He got to his feet slowly and began to walk towards the voices, hopefully to find the others. As he stepped through the haunting forest, he was reminded of what had just happened. He was just about to throw himself into a fit of alarm when he found Fluttershy standing in front of him.

"Alfred, there you are!"

"Oh, hey."
       
> What To Think
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What the hell happened?" Rainbow shouted, a little angry.

"I don't know. One minute I was with you guys, and then the next I'm in some white place talking to Discord."

"Wait, you spoke to Discord?" Twilight quickly added, beginning to circle Alfred with the others.

"Yes, we spoke, but not for long. I'm not even sure if I remember most of it."

"Darling, what did you talk about?"

"He told me, he told me that he brought me here."

"What do you mean, sugarcube?"

"Apparently, he was the one who brought me to Equestria."

"Why?"

"He wanted me to serve him as his 'secret weapon' against you."

"'Secret weapon'? What does that even mean?"

"It means that he's planning something, something big," Twilight said nervously. The others all looked to her confused, except Alfred who continued to stare to the floor. "We need to leave right now." Pinkie leant inwards in shock.

"What? Why? I thought we were visiting Zecora?"

"That'll have to wait. If Alfred's right, this could be a huge problem. Alfred, are you sure that that was all you talked about?"

"Uh."

"Alfred, this is serious. If there was anything else you talked about, anything at all, we need to know."

"Yeah, I know! It's just, I'm having a hard time remembering."

He didn't know what to do. He knew full well that they had talked about other things, but did they really need to know about that? Did they really need to know that his family was threatened? Alfred wasn't comfortable sharing this information to the group but Twilight seemed pretty desperate. Alfred, suddenly overwhelmed by his thoughts, stumbled towards a nearby tree. Rainbow quickly went to support him.

"Uh, no, no. We didn't talk about anything else. He just mentioned that he wanted revenge, or something."

"Oh no, this isn't good."

"Twilight, what are we gonna do?"

"First of all, you need to get Alfred home and let him rest, he won't be able to tell us anymore in this state. I'm going straight to Celestia, hopefully to try and warn her."

"Warn her? Oh no, do you think Discord is ready?"

"I think he could be, after all he told Alfred."

Twilight began to gallop away through the forest, while the others helped carry Alfred down the path back home. He gradually regained his strength and walked by himself, still in a whirlwind of confusion. He repeatedly ran his right hand through his hair as he trudged alongside his worried friends. They could see that he was acting strangely, breathing heavily and fidgeting, so they decided to try and ease him. Rainbow was particularly concerned.

"Hey, Alfred, you okay?" Alfred continued to shake but slowly managed to respond.

"Yep, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? It just looks like you're mighty scared." Alfred suddenly stopped walking and stared at Applejack, a little angry.

"I said I'm fine." Rainbow quickly flew down and tried to calm him down by rubbing her hoof on his back. Alfred just raised his hand to his head and took a deep breath in, trying to slow his mind down.

"Come on, let's get back home."

"Yeah, sorry Applejack, I'm just a little stressed out."

"Dont worry, hon, I understand. I bet what you just went through must've been really weird."

"Yeah, it was." 

"Do you believe him?" Alfred took his hand away and looked down to Fluttershy, who was eagerly standing to his side. He knew that Discord wasn't lying, how would he know about his family, or the white place for that matter?

"What?"

"You said that he brought you here, right, so do you think he's telling the truth?"

"Unfortunately, I do." Everyone came to a halt except Alfred and Rainbow, who continued to wander slowly down the dirt path. They were all legitimately frightened of what Discord could be planning to do, and Alfred knew it. He looked back to the group, standing still in subtle shock, and began to speak.

"We'll talk about when we get back."

Alfred stared to the ceiling of his room, with Rainbow Dash by his side as always, and sighed. After a few brief sessions with his friends and Celestia about his little chat, him and Rainbow were now finally alone together in bed again. After hearing what Alfred had to say, Celestia made sure to send her guards out all over the place. She looked very irked by what Alfred had said, which made him wonder if Celestia and Discord have any history. After all, they did seem to be important and powerful so it would've made sense if they were close at some point.

He didn't have time to think about it, well actually he had tons of time to think about it, but his mind wouldn't let him. It was too invested by what Discord had told him, about his family. Alfred knew that he shouldn't care anymore, but it was still a large part of him and he didn't know if he could let it all go now that his family could be hurt. There was also the other problem of why he even came to Equestria in the first place. He had been snatched up to be used as a slave for Discord, to do his dirty work for him. 

It was now late into the night, and Alfred was upset. Rainbow had noticed that he wasn't particularly happy throughout the day, so she wanted to make it up to him.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Rainbow whispered sweetly as she let Alfred play with her mane.

"Okay, I guess. I just honestly don't know what to think."

"You seem pretty tense, mind if I try to cheer you up a little?" Rainbow said seductively, gesturing to his lower area.

"Uh, not tonight Rainbow."

"What? Okay, something is definitely wrong."

Alfred sat up while Rainbow made her way onto his lap, sitting down and kissing Alfred on the cheek softly.

"What's wrong, babe?"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"For putting you all in danger, none of you deserve this."

"Hey, we will be fine. You didn't put anyone in danger. If Discord actually has some balls and decides to show, which I bet he won't, we'll be ready. We've beaten him before, and we can do it again." Alfred gave a small smile to Rainbow after hearing this. He loved her confidence.

"It's not just that."

"Hmm?"

"He threatened my family."

"He did what?"

"He said he would kill them if I didn't serve him. He told me that he would murder my son."

"Oh, that's horrible."

"That's not the worst part..." Rainbow could see that he was starting to tear up a bit so she rustled her head up against his chin and tried to comfort him.

"Do you want to tell me what the worst part was?"

"I told him to do it." Rainbow pulled her head up and looked at him, stunned. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I did it without thinking, like an animal."

Alfred was now balling in tears, and Rainbow felt awful. She knew that his conversation with Discord had upset him, but she would've never guessed that he would stoop that low. She immediately reached for Alfred's head and tried to caress him to hopefully calm him down.

"Nothing is wrong with you. You haven't done anything bad."

"No, I think I have. My family is in danger, and it's all my fault. I can't help them."

"It's not your fault. Discord would've said anything to get to you. I'm sure he was lying about hurting them, he was trying to win an argument."

"That's not what it felt like. I think he meant it."

"No, no he didn't. Alfred you can't blame yourself for something like this, you didn't put anyone in danger. It's okay."

"No it's not, Rainbow! I've gotten my whole family killed because I chose to leave them all behind."

"You didn't have a choice! Please, stop hurting yourself over this, Discord didn't mean it."

"I don't know why.." Alfred didn't finish his sentence before grabbing Rainbow Dash. He sobbed loudly into her shoulder, causing her to cry too. 

Alfred was appalled with himself, he felt like a monster. How could he be so foolish? He had now doomed his family because of his own selfishness. He didn't want anyone to be hurt, no one needed to die. His mind was divided into separate chunks of madness. One part of him wanted to forget about his life completely and leave everything behind, but another part just wanted to hold his baby boy again. He was utterly lost from within, and didn't know what to do with himself.

He and Rainbow just laid there, holding each other until they both fell asleep. Rainbow was very distraught by Alfred's behaviour. She was confident that Discord didn't actually mean what he had said, or at least she hoped. Alfred couldn't go on like this, being constantly reminded of his family back home. They had made so much progress throughout the year and a half since he had received the news, and Rainbow wasn't planning to let it all go to waste because of Discord. Rainbow swore to herself, and to Alfred, that she would make Discord pay for what he had done to Alfred. He didn't deserve this.

Alfred didn't deserve to be the victim any longer.
    

     

       

      
    

       

       



     

       
> First Move
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred opened his eyes to find Rainbow Dash sleeping on his chest, which was an adorable way to start the day. He slowly tried to move Rainbow off without waking her and then headed to the bathroom. After closing the door behind him he looked into the large square mirror before him and assessed the damage. He looked.....uncomfortable, and slightly tired. His eyes were a little more squinted than he remembered, but then again it was pretty early into the morning and he hadn't woken up fully. Although they were almost closed, Alfred couldn't take his eyes off himself. Not because he was incredibly handsome, but rather that he was thinking about his family again.

He knew that he went a little over the top last night, busting into tears and all that. He didn't want Rainbow to see him like that, especially since he had come so far. His family belonged back home, and nowhere else. There was no point trying to deny it. Alfred, after staring into his reflection for a while, closed his eyes and came to terms with his family being gone, forever.

After washing up, Alfred made his way out of the bathroom and towards the kitchen, where Rainbow Dash was currently making breakfast.

"Good morning."

"Hey. I don't know you were awake." Alfred went in for a small kiss after seeing Rainbow. If anyone could pull him out of the dark place he was in, it was her.

"How are you doing?"

"Better, much better," Alfred said, pulling out a chair and sitting himself down.

"Are you sure?" Rainbow asked, sitting opposite him. Alfred grabbed her hoof from across the table.

"Definitely."

"Okay, so what do you wanna do today?"

"Aren't you supposed to be on weather patrol?"

"Oh, they called it off because of this Discord thing."

"Ah, really?"

"Yeah, they're really ramping up the protection. They're pretty serious about this."

"Oh....okay."

"Hey, don't worry. It's gonna be fine. I was thinking, because I've got the day off, maybe you wanna hang out. I don't know, go somewhere nice maybe."

"Sure. Any ideas?"

"I don't know, I think Pinkie is throwing another party later."

"Of course."

"So, what do you say?"

"Sure."

Alfred gave her a small wink before getting up and returning to their room to get dressed, and as he was doing so Rainbow heard a small knock at the door. Rainbow opened it to find Twilight standing out front, smiling as usual.

"Hey Twilight! What's up?"

"Hi, is Alfred home? I need to speak to him."

"Yes, he's here. What do you need to talk to him about?"

"Celestia sent me to check up on him and see if he remembers anything else." Alfred made his way towards the front door after seeing Twilight standing there, alone.

"Hello Twilight, how are you today?"

"Good, uh, Alfred could you come with me. Celestia wants to speak to you in person. She doesn't really want any information about Discord hanging in the air."

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you later Rainbow," Alfred said before putting on his dark green jacket and heading outside. Rainbow was a little disappointed, knowing that Alfred would now be busy for the whole day.

"Hey, Twilight, can I come?" Rainbow said eagerly.

"Uh, sorry Rainbow. Celestia strictly just wants me and Alfred to be there."

"Oh, okay." Alfred patted her on the head gently.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

"Alright, take care."

And with that, Rainbow slowly closed the door on her husband, seeing Alfred's smile gradually fade away.


XXXXX


"Hello Alfred, it's good to see you again."

"You too, Celestia."

"I was just wondering if there was anything else that Discord had mentioned. Did he tell you what his plans were?"

"No, I don't. All I remember him saying to me was 'if you want to be with these ponies so badly, you can be buried with them.'. He never told me what he intended to do." Celestia gave Twilight a very stern look, which worried Alfred slightly. They were all sitting around a small, circular table in a somewhat dark room. Twilight and Celestia were on one side, whereas Alfred was on the other, like some interrogation.

"Did he happen to talk about any locations or places that you know?"

"Just the white place. He asked if it was familiar to me."

"And then you said it was, correct?"

"Yes."

"You told me yesterday, that he wanted to use you as a 'secret weapon'."

"That's right, I'm not sure what it means. I think he wanted to use me to harm you, like a soldier or something. He chose me because at the time I was weak, you all remember that right?"

"Yes, we do. Did he talk about anypony being there, in the white place?"

"Uh, no. I'm pretty sure we were the only ones who had been there."

"Did he mention any names at all?"

Alfred looked down to the table, and then back up again straight into Twilight's eyes.

"Actually, he did mention my family. He threatened them to hopefully try and win me over, but it didn't work. I didn't give in."

"That's good. What else did he say about your family?"

"He said that if he could get to me, then he could get to them. He said he would kill them if I didn't serve him. You have to understand, these weren't some random outbursts, I think he meant what he said. I legitimately thought that my family was in danger, but now I don't know."

"I'm sure that he didn't mean it, even by his standards this is way too violent and unnecessary. Do you believe that he brought you to Equestria?"

"I do. That white place that he took me to, I definitely remember it from when I first arrived here."

"Okay, if we had the option to take you back..." Alfred suddenly turned his head to Twilight, also getting Celestia's attention. "...would you take it?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"It's just that, if we can convince Discord, he may be able to take you back."

"Twilight, he already said no. Leave it alone."

"It's okay, Celestia. Twilight, it has to be no. I can't leave. I have a wife, friends and a whole new life. I belong here now, nowhere else."

"But what about your son? Don't you want to see him again?" Alfred could feel Twilight beginning to get emotional.

"Of course I do, but if I have to make the choice between Luke and my life here, which I do, it'll have to be here. It'll always be here." Alfred saw Celestia take a small sigh of relief after he said that,  which intrigued him. He was more concerned about Twilight, and how she felt. She looked as if she was about to cry, but Alfred quickly reassured her that everything was okay.

"Alright, Alfred, before you go, are you completely sure that that was all you talked about?"

"Yes, that was it. Uh, Princess Celestia, what are we going to do right now?"

"There isn't much we can do. Our best course would be to keep our defences strong, and wait for him to make the first move."

"Are you sure? If he's going to hit us, I think it's going to be pretty hard."

"We'll be ready."

After uttering those three little words, there was a long pause of silence. They all could feel the spine shivering tension in the air. No one dared speak a word, but they all simply stood up and left the room, silently. Twilight left with Alfred whereas Celestia walked back protected by several guards. Soon, Alfred and Twilight found themselves wandering Ponyville's streets again.

"I better head on back to Rainbow. She's probably waiting."

"Yep, you go on ahead then. I still have some errands to run."

"Okay, I'll see you later then."

"Goodbye, oh, and I'm sorry for how I acted back there, I wasn't thinking straight."

"What do you mean?"

"I was a fool to think that you'd want to go back."

"No, Twilight, don't say that."

"I wasn't thinking about Rainbow, I was only thinking about your son."

"Twilight, it's okay. I understand."

"It's just that you said you were so happy with him."

"I was, but things change. I would love to see him again, really I would, but I belong here, with Rainbow, with you."

"Okay, sorry."

"I'll see you soon."

"Yep, bye."

They both exchanged one last look at each other, and then went their separate ways.

  



       

      

  

    
> Buzzkill 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey Pinkie!"

"Hi guys, glad you could make it! Come in, come in," Pinkie screamed in delight as she ushered Alfred and Rainbow out of the dark and into Sugarcube Corner. The place was packed full of happy faces. Music was blaring loudly, ponies were laughing gleefully, and Pinkie was orchestrating it all proudly. The coloured lights almost blinded Alfred as he walked in, but after being blinded like this many times before, he quickly snapped out of it and was confronted with a sea of ponies. They all were wearing great smiles like masks, and they both loved it. Pinkie pulled them into the corner quickly, desperate to get them started.

"So, how are you guys doing?"

"We're good Pinkie. I can see that you've been pretty busy," Rainbow said, looking around the lively room.

"Yeah, I'm planning to do this kind of thing weekly."

"Weekly?" Alfred asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's going to go great!"

"Well I'm pretty sure you're going to tire yourself out quite quickly doing that."

"Nah, I'm basically built for partying. Hey, you guys should keep your eyes out for Applejack and Fluttershy. I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

"What about Rarity or Spike?"

"Rarity couldn't make it because of business, and Spike was busy because he and Twilight were dusting books at the library or whatever, kinda of a lame excuse if you ask me." Rainbow and Alfred looked at each other silently before returning back to Pinkie.

"Yeah, Twilight said she had some errands to run. Although, I did see her today."

"Oh yeah, when?" Rainbow leant in quickly to respond.

"She came by this morning, to ask Alfred questions about, you know."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean," Pinkie said suspiciously.

"You know, about what happened in the Everfree Forest."

"Hmm?" Rainbow sighed angrily and went in closer to whisper in Pinkie's ear.

"...Discord."

"Oh, of course. Why didn't you just say that Alfred went to speak about Discord!" 

"Pinkie!" A few ponies, suddenly turned their heads to Pinkie nervously, but luckily she didn't attract the attention of the whole party. Pinkie promptly shrunk back, just realising what she had said. Alfred and Rainbow only stared at her with a disappointed look on their faces.

"Hehehe...sorry. Well, you guys have fun, I'll just stay here for a minute and think about how much of an idiot I am." Rainbow and Alfred began to laugh shyly.

"Okay, you have fun with that," Alfred said slowly making his way through the horde of ponies with Rainbow Dash, until a familiar song started to play.

"Huh, oh my gosh, do you remember this Alfred?" Rainbow sweetly squealed as her face scrunched up into a ball of excitement 

"Um, I don't think I do," Alfred said, teasingly.

"Oh come on, stop it."

"Of course I remember this sappy love song. It's so stupid."

"Yeah, it is, but it's also special." Alfred suddenly whipped Rainbow in closely.

"Reminds me of something else," Alfred said seductively, making Rainbow began to giggle.

"Oh, shut up," Rainbow gently whispered before jumping into a long kiss. Surrounding ponies began to notice Rainbow and Alfred going at it and started to cheer loudly, urging them on. Soon, they had a small crowd circling them while they kissed passionately. Once again, the crowd seemed invisible to both of them. Nothing was more important than each other in that one beautiful moment, so neither of them pulled away. They kept kissing for a solid two minutes before finally breaking apart just as their song finished.

"Alright, that's enough folks, get back to your night of partying," Applejack said, pushing away ponies that were begging for things to get a little more exciting. She then turned to Rainbow and Alfred, who were still recovering from that thrilling kiss.

"Hey, Applejack. How's it going?"

"It's great to see you two, but do ya mind keeping your little love sessions to yourselves, you're kinda cramping my style."

"Cramping your style?"

"Yeah, cramping my style, I've kinda got a thing going on here."

"Okay, alright, we'll try not to show off."

"Thanks, hon. You guys seem to be enjoying the party."

"It's pretty cool, I guess. Hey, have you seen Fluttershy anywhere? Pinkie told us that she was here."

"I saw her earlier, but she didn't look to hot. I have no idea where she is now."

"Oh no, do you think she's okay," Rainbow asked, a little concerned.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't tell ya."

"Right, Rainbow, I'm going to try and find her and see if she's okay."

"I'll come with you."

"Actually, Rainbow, do you mind helping me with something?" Applejack said sheepishly. "You know how I said that you were cramping my style, well there's this one stallion that I've had my eye on for quite a while now." 

"Oohh, why do you need me?"

"It's just, I was wondering if you could help me out on this one, since you've obviously mastered the craft of pulling males in."

"Oh really, is that true?" Alfred said while turning to Rainbow with a smug look. Rainbow began to blush slightly and made her way towards Applejack.

"Hehe...maybe, but hey it worked on you, didn't it?"

"Yeah, alright, I'll let you off."

"Go on and find Fluttershy, I'll be waiting." Rainbow quickly began to make her way through the crowd with Applejack, leaving Alfred alone searching for Fluttershy. He was constantly moving his head to see above the crowd and hopefully spot Fluttershy, but unfortunately she was nowhere to be seen. He tried to make his way to the back of Sugarcube Corner, occasionally bumping into friends and known faces. After repeatedly asking where Fluttershy was, a couple of ponies mentioned something about her being in the bathroom, which worried Alfred slightly. It took him a while to politely push his way to the back, but when he finally did he stood outside the door to the bathroom, waiting for Fluttershy to leave. Now that he was at the back of the building and away from all the deafening music, he could finally hear himself think clearly.

He also began to hear what sounded like sobbing coming from the restroom. It was very faint, but real. Alfred was compelled to swing the door down and check on Fluttershy, but he tried to keep his composure and opened the door slightly.

"Fluttershy! Are you in there?" The sobs were much clearer now, and Alfred was almost positive they belonged to Fluttershy. There was a short pause before a small, scared voice could be heard.

"Yes."

"Would you like me to come in?"

"Yeah, o-okay." Alfred opened the door, making sure to close it securely, and began to walk into the bathroom slowly. Thankfully, there wasn't anypony else inside. He could hear Fluttershy whimpering from behind one of the stalls. He stood on the outside trying to talk to Fluttershy calmly.

"Hey, how are you doing?"

"Bad," Fluttershy blubbered quietly.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, I never should've come here. I knew I couldn't handle it."

"It's okay, Fluttershy. Just breathe in deeply and remember what I told you. If you knew you couldn't handle it, why did you come?""

"I came here thinking that I could cope, but this was way too big of a leap. I should've kept it simple. I should've worked my way up."

"Oh, I see. You bit off a little more than you could chew. Fluttershy, it's alright, you can do this."

"I don't know, I was panicking pretty badly back there."

"I'll be there right with you, trust me, you'll feel great. You've done this kind of thing before, right?"

"Not like this. Everything is so tight and squashed. I can't move anywhere, and there's no room to breathe. I can't handle this, I really can't."

"Do you want to give it another try?"

"No, no, no! I'm sorry, but I can't."

"It's okay, do you want me to take you home?"

"Yes please," Fluttershy whispered quietly. Alfred sighed, feeling a little sorry for Fluttershy. He didn't want her to act like this, it was too depressing. Alfred knew full well that it was a terrible feeling, and he wanted nothing more than Fluttershy to overcome her fears. Alfred wished that she could just push through it all and become something stronger, but unfortunately, she needed a little more work. Alfred would've have to spend more time with her and run her through the different stages of...

"HEY!!!"

Alfred snapped his head to the doorway and found a particularly muscular stallion who had a blue mane and a white coat of fur. He looked pretty angry with Alfred, although he had no idea why.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!? What, wasn't that make out session enough, so now you're snooping around the restroom!?"

"I'm sorry, I was just..."

"You were just what, spying on innocent little fillies? You make me fucking sick!"

"Actually, I was..."

"Shut the fuck up! I've had enough of you, I think we've all had enough of you. First, your stupid ass ended up in our little town, next, you stole one of our finest gals and turned her into some whore, and now, you've put us all in danger because you just happened to piss off Discord."

Alfred could hear Fluttershy begin to cry again from behind the stall.

"Excuse me, Fluttershy," Alfred said as he rose up slowly to face the now furious pony. "How did you know about that?"

"Are you serious? Everypony does. You think we haven't noticed the extra protection that Celestia's been dishing out. It's all your fault."

"Stop talking."

"Do you even know what happened last time? My kids were traumatised by what Discord did, and now you've brought him back to finish what he started."

"This was not my fault."

"Then who's fault was it? It certainly wasn't me, it certainly wasn't you're slutty wife, Rainbow..."

Alfred walked right up to the pony's face and towered over him.

"You leave her out of this."

"What, like you left your family. Yeah, I know all about your dead family. I can't believe that you're trying to start a new one when you couldn't even look after the first. You know what, they're probably doing better without you, I know we would."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to be dead, but I suppose we can't all have what we want. Leave."

Alfred was now almost standing directly on top of him, breathing heavily. The pony refused to move, and Alfred was growing more and more impatient, but his natural instincts began to kick in and he left the restroom, leaving Fluttershy trapped inside. He was planning to wait outside the door, but the pony was keeping a close eye on him as he left, which Alfred noticed. He moved a little further into the crowd, only to come to a grinding halt.

He stood completely still, processing what had just happened. He had let that arrogant pony walk all over him. He insulted his family, his wife, and worst of all, himself. He could feel his hands crumpling into fists as he turned his head back to the door. He had spent all of this time trying to build his confidence and become a stronger person, mentally and physically. He wasn't just going to stand there and watch it all burn to the ground. 

Suddenly, a flood of feelings rushed through his body. He was reminded of his previous life, and how he was treated. He was constantly put down, constantly ignored and hated. The only feeling of pride that he ever had was when he stole that gun. It was the wrong thing to do, but it felt so good to finally be on top for once. It was like all the negativity and sadness of his old life balled up into a frenzy of rage. He stood among the crowd, grinding his teeth as he stared at the open doorway. He raised his hands to his glasses, folded them neatly, placed them into his jacket's pocket and began to walk towards the door.

He opened the door to find the pony still in the room.

"Do you even understand what the word 'leave' means?"

Alfred walked right up to his face again, secretly begging for things to get out of hand. His hands were now sweating from the force of his fists. He kept them by his side as he breathed down the pony's neck angrily.

"Out."

"Excuse me?"

"Get. Out."

"Is that a threat?"

"Yeah...I guess it is," Alfred whispered menacingly.

"Alright, cowboy, I'll give you one shot, but it better be your best because if I get up, I eat you."

"I hope you do," Alfred whispered as he grabbed the back of the stallion's head, bringing him closer as he unleashed a set of strong punches. The pony wasn't expecting him to fight this strong, so he struggled to pull himself away, but Alfred yanked him up and dragged him by his mane out of the restroom. The pony tried to thrust and wriggle his way out of Alfred's hold, but it was too strong. He could feel the hair almost being ripped as Alfred pulled him out towards the crowd. Everypony suddenly stopped whatever they were doing and turned to the deafening screams. The pony's attempts to break free were even louder than the music, but it didn't bother Alfred. He only had one thing on his mind, and that was sweet revenge.

He pushed himself through the crowd towards the front door, dragging the now terrified pony along with him. He could see Applejack and Rainbow in the corner of his eye. They were frozen in what looked like fear, but he couldn't tell. His mind was in flames as he stormed out of the building, throwing the pony towards the cold street below. The dark outside consumed the frightened pony, but Alfred's fire was so bright he knew exactly where to look. He spotted the pony trying to stand and he unleashed another bunch of punches to his muzzle. He could feel the bones crunch as he repeatedly bashed his face in. He grabbed the back of his head again as he attacked him. The pony had now fallen to his knees, but Alfred wasn't planning to stop. He could feel the blood splashing onto the pavement beneath them like liquid gold. Alfred was lost in pure hatred and continued to unload punch after punch after punch. 

Soon, the arrogant pony was reduced to a blubbering and bloody mess. His face was now horribly disfigured, and he could barely open his mouth to scream. The blood covered him all over, turning his once white coat pink, and flowing through the wet and cold streets. The members of the party just stared from the door, mortified. They couldn't take their eyes away from the savage beating that Alfred was delivering. Some of them tried to run and get help, but the rest just stood and watched. None of them dared to stop him. He was way too out of it. Alfred could feel that small fire grow and grow as he carried on. The flames began to possess Alfred, giving him the strength to push through the pain of his bleeding knuckles. 

Rainbow and Applejack had just managed to push their way to the front, only to stop again in horror for a few seconds. They quickly leapt from the doorway and tried to pull Alfred away from the pony. Alfred did not stop however, he continued to practically murder this stallion. Rainbow and Applejack yanked and heaved trying to desperately break it apart. Alfred could soon feel his strength fading, and eventually gave in. Now that the fire was extinguished, Alfred took a look upon his fine work. 

The pony laid in a large puddle of his own blood, trembling with pain and fear. His was breathing heavily and he gave a disturbing rattling sound, like an empty spray can. His face was twisted, contorted by the brutal onslaught. Alfred could see that the blood had soaked through his face, and into his eyes. The back of his mane was ripped by Alfred's brute force, leaving small, empty patches. Alfred sat back in a cold sweat, beginning to panic as he saw the blood run down from the body and towards his feet. Upon glancing at his now blood covered shoes, he gazed at himself and found he was also splattered with red. He raised his hand in the air and was terrified. His knuckles were now coated in a dark liquid, hiding the serious damage beneath. 

Alfred began to hyperventilate again, realising what he had just done. He sat in the darkness, staring at the unfortunate creature he had created. He slowly pulled his glasses out of his jacket and placed them on his drenched face, feeling his heart beat crazily in his chest.

He rose to his feet, looking down upon the bloody mess, and then walked into the darkness.
      

    







       

       
> Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, sleepyhead."

Alfred opened his eyes to see Rainbow sitting next to his head on the floor. He looked around to find that he was in the first room of his house and wrapped up in their bedsheets. He struggled to keep his eyes open but Rainbow gave him the motivation he needed.

"Uh, what time is it?"

"Late."

"What happened? Why am I on the floor?"

"After rushing that poor stallion to the hospital, I raced home and found you collapsed on the floor," Rainbow said slowly, rubbing her hoof against Alfred's head. He moved his tongue around and the thick, metallic taste of blood coated his whole mouth. He looked down to see he was still wearing his blood-drenched clothes underneath the covers.

"Oh, shit."

"Yeah, that happened. Care to explain?"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Where is he? How is he doing?"

"He's pulling through, or at least that's what the doctors said. He looked really bad. What happened between you two?"

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I just lost it."

"Yeah, but why?"

"I don't know, I just..." Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door, and Rainbow went to answer. She opened it to find Applejack, Pinkie, Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy all standing outside. 

"Hi, glad you all could make it. Come take a seat in the living room while Alfred gets ready."

"Hi guys," Alfred said awkwardly while laying on the floor in front of them. The others budged past Alfred and made their way into the living room, leaving Alfred alone in the hallway. He immediately got to his feet, just realising how bloody his fight really was. The clothes stuck to his skin as he moved around.the house. He headed upstairs to get ready for the imminent ass whooping he was going to receive.

He stripped his clothes off slowly, being careful not to rip his skin off in the process. He gazed upon the bloody rags beneath his feet and sighed in shame. He was absolutely devastated about how he had acted. He felt like some kind of animal last night, but the most disturbing thing was that he seemed to enjoy beating the life out of that pony. Sure, he may of deserved it, but it wasn't right, and Alfred knew that. He climbed into the shower and watched the blood swirl into the drain below, and Alfred hoped that his sins were washed away along with it.

After getting dressed and making his way downstairs and into the living room, he took his seat against the wall. The others circled him with concerned faces. They just looked at each other, unsure of how to approach this, but finally Rainbow began to speak up.

"Alfred, what happened?"

"You saw what happened, I lashed out and beat him up real bad."

"But why? There has to be some logical reason, because I know you would never hurt somepony that bad for nothing."

"Alfred, that was crazy. You were all like BAM, and POW, and..."

"Pinkie!"

"Oh, sorry. I'm just saying that it was really exciting. You know, I think I may just start up a little fight club every week."

"Pinkie!"

"Hey, I'm gonna need to do something now that the parties are off."

"Twilight, Rarity, how did you two hear about this."

"Applejack came straight to us after it happened. Luckily, not many ponies know except for the ones at the party.."

"Darling, you have to tell us what happened. Surely you don't want this to damage your reputation."

"He was being insulted," Fluttershy muttered nervously. The group quickly turned to face her. Fluttershy was beginning to sweat with anxiety. "Right, Alfred? That's what happened."

"Alright, I'll tell you everything. I first went to look for Fluttershy because Applejack had told Rainbow and I that she wasn't doing good. So, I went looking for her and found her in the restroom." Alfred looked up to Fluttershy, asking if he was allowed to say what he wanted to. Fluttershy nodded shyly. "Fluttershy was having trouble trying to cope with being around that many people. It was too tight and claustrophobic for her. I stood outside the stall, asking her about it and trying to calm her when all of a sudden some pony busts the door down and starts yelling at me."

"What did he say?"

"He insulted me, saying that it was my fault for Discord coming back. He called Rainbow a slut, and a whore..."

"HE WHAT!?" Rainbow suddenly screamed at the top of her voice. "Okay, at first I thought you were crazy about knocking this guy around but now I'm totally with you." The others looked at her a little surprised. "What!? He called me a slut!"

"He also insulted my family."

"Oh my..." Rarity whispered, a little shocked with the rest of the group.

"He practically forced me to leave Fluttershy alone in there, and I knew I couldn't do that. So I headed back in and he continued to insult me."

"He then threatened you, right Alfred?" Fluttershy added.

"Yeah, well..."

"Did he start fighting you? Because that's what it sounded like."

"Umm, well actually, I started the fight."

"What?"

"I know that it wasn't the right thing to do, but I just couldn't control myself. I lost it, and I'm sorry." Rainbow got up to sit next to Alfred and began to comfort him. Alfred just put his head into his hands, desperately trying to forget everything. The others still looked unsure about what to do, but they did feel sorry for Alfred. Even after all of this shocking news, he was still the loveable and cute guy everypony knew. It wasn't fair that Alfred should be forever known for a mistake, besides the others have all done bad things before.

"Alright, Alfred," Applejack began to say slowly. "I think we're all willing to let this slide if ya head on down to the hospital and apologise."

Alfred looked up towards the group and nodded.

"Alright, let's go."


XXXXX


Alfred opened the hospital doors slowly with the gang following behind him. He was immediately greeted by Nurse Redheart, who had a worried look on her face. Twilight decided to talk to her about Alfred, hopefully to avoid any trouble. During the conversation, Alfred picked up on the stallions name. It was Midnight Snow. Alfred had never thought about who this pony actually was in the moment, the only thing he could focus on was beating him to a bloody pulp. It never occurred to him that he actually had a life, and a family to care for. Alfred remembered him talking about his kids, and this threw Alfred into an even stronger whirlwind of guilt. He panicked on the inside, thinking about what his kids would think of his father. No child would ever want to see their dad beaten and damaged. 

They all sat in the waiting room quietly. None of them wanted to speak, afraid of triggering something inside Alfred. They weren't scared of him, but rather they didn't want him to feel too bad. They all were willing to look past this little bump and move on, which Alfred was thankful for. Although he didn't feel proud about what he had done, he was happy that his friends had his back, no matter what. 

The room was dead silent. There was no communication between any of them, except the occasional rub on Alfred's leg from Rainbow, reassuring him that everything will be fine. He smiled back gently, still feeling guilty. Alfred looked around the room and began to speak.

"Hey, Twilight, who else knows about this?"

"Just the ponies at the party, I think, unless they've spread rumours, which is likely."

"Don't worry about it, babe. It's gonna be fine."

"Yeah, hon. Just be glad things didn't get too out of hand."

"Okay, I'm just worried about what they all think of me."

"Are you kidding, Alfie Walfie! From what I've heard, no one liked him anyway."

Alfred raised his head slowly to Pinkie, with a curious mind.

"What?"

"You're not the only one he's been bullying. Most of the crowd was practically cheering you on."

"Hey, Pinke, come on. That doesn't matter," Rarity quickly responded.

"It's true."

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"Apparently he's a really nasty guy, treats his kids bad and everything."

"Pinkie, stop!" Applejack suddenly shouted, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "We're not here to discuss Moonlight's faults, we're here to apologise to him, well Alfred you are."

"That's right. It's not about what he has done, it's about what I've done. And I'm ready to..."

"Moonlight Snow is ready to see you now. I'm sorry, we can't allow more than one visitor."

"That's okay, I'd like some one on one time," Alfred whispered as he rose from his chair, taking one last look at his friends. He gave Rainbow a small wink, which she appreciated, before entering the room.

The hospital room was dark, only lit by the sunshine that was coming through one window.  Moonlight Snow's bed was in the corner and he was hidden by shadows, concealing his injuries. Alfred couldn't tell if he had been seen yet so he pulled up a chair next to his bed and sat down slowly. Now that he was closer, he could see the aftermath of the previous night, and Alfred began to tear up a bit. His face looked as if it had been crushed and his muzzle was now at least twice as short. Moonlight's eyes were squinted and still stained red from the blood. Alfred was haunted by his breathing, which was very similar to the rattling sound from before. His coat was still a light pink colour since the blood had soaked deep into his skin.

As soon as Moonlight managed to see Alfred sitting before him, he started to panic and back himself up into the corner of the room. He was pulling off all sorts of medical cords in the process, desperate to get away from the monster sitting next to him. His breathing rapidly increased as he moved back and Alfred just held his hands together and stared to the floor.

"I'm sorry for what happened last night. That wasn't me, that's not who I am," Alfred said, slowly looking up to the terrified pony. "I hope you can forgive me."

Midnight nodded repeatedly, still scared of what Alfred could do. At this point, Alfred knew that he wasn't able to speak because of his injury. Alfred looked deep into his frightened eyes and realised how much damage he had actually done. Moonlight was now petrified of Alfred, which was a different experience for him. He had never actually been feared before. He had always been the one to run and hide, but now after seeing what he was capable of, he felt slightly proud. It wasn't something to be proud of, but for some strange reason, he did. 

"Can we bury the hatchet and move on?"

Moonlight nodded his head frantically again.

"Good, I'm sorry," Alfred said as he slowly stood up and headed for the door, but while doing so, a small thought crossed his mind. He stood in the middle of the room with his back turned to Moonlight, contemplating what Pinkie had said. If it was true, and Moonlight really was a bad pony, then Alfred had an opportunity to change him for the better, knowing that Moonlight would do whatever he said. Suddenly, all of the strange memories that he had recalled the night before came flushing back. That familiar feeling of pride and anger returned. He didn't want to use fear as motivation, but at this moment in time, what other option did he have? He could've walked straight out of the room, avoiding any complications, but he chose not to. Alfred could feel his pride growing inside himself, as well as the fire from last night.

"Oh, and one more thing," Alfred said, returning to his seat. Moonlight immediately sprung back to his corner, wondering what he had done to deserve this. "Is it true?"

Moonlight Snow looked at him, confused.

"Have you been bullying other ponies?"

Moonlight nodded slowly.

"Have you ever hurt any other ponies?"

Moonlight continued to nod.

"Have you ever hurt your wife?"

"Have you ever hurt your children?"

Moonlight shook his head quickly.

"Now is not the time to lie to me, Moonlight. I'll ask again, have you ever hurt your kids?"

Moonlight nodded his head in shame.

"Alright, I need you to listen to me. When you get out of here, the first thing you're going to do is apologise to every single pony you've ever hurt," Alfred stared at him, coldly. "Then, you're going to become a better father. This means treating them regularly, and trying to earn back the respect that you lost. Then, and only then, can you walk a free pony," Alfred said beginning to stand. He towered over him again like before, only this time he wasn't overcome with rage, this time he truly meant it. "And if I ever hear that you've been at it again, I won't hesitate to send you back here. Do you understand?"

Moonlight moved his head up and down, reassuring Alfred that he would do what he said. Alfred began to walk towards the door and placed his hand on the handle, only to look back at Moonlight.

"You know, I originally came in here just to say I'm sorry and move on, but after looking at how pathetic you really are, I figured you needed this. Ever heard the saying 'what goes around, comes around'? You better learn it."

Alfred closed the door behind him, leaving Moonlight alone to face his fears.

      
       



     
       


> Truth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred made his way back to the waiting room with a large smile on his face. Although it probably wasn't the right thing to do, Alfred had enjoyed being in control for once. The feeling reminded him of when he first found that gun. At that moment, he felt like no one could stop him, he felt powerful for a change, and he liked it. Moonlight needed to be put straight anyway, after recalling what he had said to Alfred earlier. Just thinking about it made Alfred's skin crawl. How dare he, he had no right to call Rainbow those names, and insult himself and his family. Alfred knew that he couldn't let it slide, but if he did let Moonlight get away with it, what kind of man would he be? 

A coward, that's what he would be, and Alfred was done with being a coward.

Alfred marched forward into the waiting room, meeting several surprised faces as he entered. Rainbow immediately went in for a hug, making Alfred feel even better.

"So, Alfred, how did it go in there?"

"It went fine, Twilight. We both made up and decided that we should just move on."

"That's great."

"Good, darling."

"Yay."

Rainbow looked at up Alfred, still trying to hug the life out of him.

"How's he doing?"

"Uhh, he's looking.....better." 

"Good," Rainbow whispered sweetly while returning back to holding Alfred. 

"Hey, Alfred."

"Yeah, Twilight."

"I've received word that Princess Celestia wants to see you right away."

"Alright, let's not keep her waiting."

And with that, they all left the hospital, leaving Moonlight behind. They began to walk towards Celestia's castle, talking as they did so. None of them mentioned Moonlight, even though they all knew that was reason why he was going to see Celestia. Alfred wasn't bothered, in fact he was quite lively. He caught a few stares passing by, but none of them were hateful or disgusted looks. Alfred strolled freely down the streets, never once being stopped by anypony at all. It was almost like nothing had ever happened, which is exactly what Alfred wanted.

As they were chatting casually, Alfred noticed that Twilight was a little tense.

"Hey, Twilight, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Why?" Twilight said taking her eyes off the ground quickly.

"It just looked like you were a little upset, that's all."

"Well, I am a little worried..."

"About what, hon?"

"Well, Alfred, you have to understand that this hasn't really happened before. Sure, there's been a few fights, but not like this."

"So?" Pinkie asked quickly.

"I don't know, I may be overreacting. Hopefully Celestia will understand."

"Twilight, I'm sure she will," Alfred said calmly, still staying confident.

"Anyway, did you guys hear about what's happening in two weeks...." Rainbow said, squealing with excitement. The others looked to her a little confused, and then turned their heads to the poster on a nearby wall that Rainbow was gesturing towards. They all stood in front of it, bewildered by what they saw. Rainbow could see the amazement in their eyes as they were swarmed with precious memories. The poster was glamourising tryouts for the return of 'The Last Stand Games', which was also the games where Alfred had proposed to Rainbow. It seemed like that after a long year and a half, the creators had decided to pick it up again, and Rainbow couldn't be happier.

"Isn't this just awesome guys!?"

"It's............. amazing Rainbow," Alfred said, gazing deeply into the poster. He was lost for words. After a year and a half, he never would've thought that the games would be making a come back, but apparently here they were. Alfred took his eyes of the poster and directed them to Rainbow who was still staring at the poster, biting her lip in excitement. He smiled at Rainbow's burning passion, that's what he loved about her, on top of all the other things. She was smart, loyal, brave, kind, but most of all, she had heart. She had a fire in her that could never be extinguished, a light bulb that could never break or die out. She was truly something incredible, and Alfred wasn't planning to let her go. Just watching her trying to contain her enthusiasm made Alfred feel ten times better. He turned back to the poster and held that smile. He knew what this was, and he was thankful for it. These games were a chance to forget everything that had just happened and move on. It was also a chance to spend more quality time with Rainbow and his friends. This was the perfect opportunity to get away from all the madness and take a second to breathe. 

"Wow. I didn't think that these games were ever coming back," Twilight said curiously.

"Yeah, I know, but it's totally happening," Rainbow quickly responded, bouncing into the air and flying loops around them all.

"Hhmm, I don't know.........." Rainbow suddenly dropped from the air and stared at Applejack, confused. "I mean, they've cancelled just about everything else because of this Discord problem, are you sure they haven't cancelled this too?"

The others looked to her sadly, understanding that what she was saying could very well be the case. Rainbow just shook her head, refusing to believe this nonsense.

"Guys, come on. This is only the tryouts. The actual games don't take place for ages."

"That is true," Alfred added, backing up Rainbow. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Okay, but I still ain't feeling good about all this."

"Applejack, stop being such a party pooper!" Pinkie exclaimed, managing to make everyone jump back from the sudden shout. "What? I was only saying...." 

"Alright, come on, let's get moving again. Princess Celestia said that she wanted to see you as soon as possible," Twilight murmured a little nervously, but the others started to pick up the pace and continue walking to the castle, leaving the poster alone on the wall.


XXXXX


"Well, Im very disappointed that you would even dare to harm another pony like that. Alfred, you do understand that this is a very, very serious matter?"

"Yes I do, Princess Celestia, and I'm sorry. I promise that nothing like this will ever happen again. I have already tried to make amends by visiting Moonlight today and apologising. He accepted it and we are both willing to leave this all behind and move forward. I know that I made a mistake, and I want to fix this," Alfred admitted, sinking his head towards the floor. Princess Celestia took note of Alfred's actions and processed what he was going through. She looked at the miserable state he was in, and immediately understood the pain and confusion he was surrounded by. Alfred held his hands while looking down, revealing his damaged knuckles to Celestia.

"I know you do. Although what you have done is honestly horrifying, I do respect your eagerness to right your wrongs. You will not be punished, but you have been warned."

Alfred suddenly shot up from his crooked position.

"Really? You're giving me a warning?"

"Due to recent events, it's understandable why you have acted this way, and therefore I will not treat this as seriously as I normally would. You've got a lot of potential and I think us ponies could really learn a thing or two from someone like you. I'm sure that everypony will be willing to accept you as their friend, even after this slight hiccup."

"Thank you so much, Princess Celestia. I really can't begin to thank you enough for this."

"Do not worry yourself, just make sure not to take part in anything like this again. If you have any other problems similar to this, don't be afraid to come to me."

"I will, thank you."

Alfred strolled out of the large, wooden doors that he knew so well and was surrounded by his friends, all waiting to hear the news. Twilight looked to be the most nervous, shortly followed by Rainbow who was shaking a little. However, they both were swept away by a flood of relief when they saw Alfred smiling. That one smile made everything alright. It was golden.

"What happened in there?" Rainbow asked quickly.

"I told her the truth."

       

     

        






       
> Looking Forward
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred jumped down onto the smooth pavement with ease. The others looked at him suspiciously, wondering what had actually happened back with Celestia. Rainbow quickly followed him closely, still excited from before and eager to spend time with Alfred, who was also in a cheery mood, perhaps even cheerier than he should be. He had a large grin on his face and a positive attitude that no one could bring down. 

He was relatively surprised by Celestia's decision to give him another chance, since she didn't seem like the kind of Princess that would allow such horrible events to take place and not dish out punishments, especially after what happened with Discord. Alfred was ecstatic. Things were looking rather well for him; he got his revenge, no pony fears him (in fact they seemed to respect him more for stepping up), he wasn't punished, his friends were willing to look past it and best of all.....he felt good about himself.

Rainbow nudged him slightly, noticing his sudden wave of happiness. She felt it come over her like a warm breeze, it seemed to seep into her fur and relax her to the point of almost fainting. She hadn't seen Alfred this charismatic and comfortable in a while. He had always been a little stressed out ever since he ran into Discord. Rainbow could only imagine the horror of realising the truth, especially from a psychopath like Discord. She felt even more sorry for him, now that he knew the only reason he was here was to be used as a weapon. That's why it was so strange and exciting to see him happy again, and Rainbow loved it.

The others had no idea, since they were still puzzled by what had happened. The group continued to stare at him while Rainbow followed closely. Alfred started to notice that his friends weren't moving along with him, so he turned around confidently and looked to them still holding that large smile.

"You guys coming or what?"

"Uh, just one quick question dearie... are you okay?"

"Rarity, I'm better than ever."

They all came to the sudden realisation that he was fine, and let out a deep breath. Then they all slowly trotted along, making sure to keep up with Alfred and Rainbow who were walking at quite a speedy pace. Although they weren't sure where they were going exactly, the group made their way through familiar streets, chatting calmly.

"So, let me get this straight, she did nothing?"

"Yep, Pinkie, it was only a warning."

"Wow, seriously? I thought she was gonna go all crazy on you and force you to do what happened to the the pony who got in trouble last time."

"Wait... what happened last time?"

"Some red pony got caught by the guards trying to sneak in and... well... it didn't end too good for him."

"Right, okay," Alfred said slowly, starting to think over what she just said, but dismissed it soon after. Fluttershy quickly jumped in.

"It's good to see you so lively, Alfred."

"Thanks Fluttershy." Rainbow nuzzled against him slightly and gave Alfred a small kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, it is good to see you this way... like, really good." Alfred blushed slightly as he stared into Rainbow's eyes, once again mesmerised by the pretty shade of pink. The others smiled at the two, who were now currently lost in another world.  Applejack, suddenly feeling the awkward stares of other ponies going by, stepped in between them.

"Uh... do ya mind moving it along? Ponies are watching ya two..."

Alfred suddenly snapped at the sound of AJ's voice and cleared his throat, realising who and where he was. Rainbow immediately did the same thing as they broke away from each other, almost pretending like nothing had happened. Applejack just happily sighed at the two and started to lead, keeping a casual pace through Ponyville. 

While coming across the busy market, she was suddenly reminded of the work she needed to do, all this fuss about Alfred had distracted her and she had no time to waste. As her friends where swallowed by the growing crowd, Applejack found herself alone with Alfred. He was admiring the various watches that were on display, hoping to buy one for himself after recalling that his old one was frozen. She turned back to Alfred uneasy because she still wanted to spend more time with her friends, but she knew she had responsibilities, big ones. 

"Uh oh..."

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry but I've gotta run, I just remembered I had some important work to get back to on the farm."

"It's okay, we'll see you later, right?"

"Yup, and hey....you've got some work to catch up on too, ya know." 

"Oh right, sorry, with everything that's been happening lately it totally slipped my mind."

"Just meet normal time tomorrow outside the barn, I'll be waiting."

"Will do. Uh.....thanks Applejack."

Applejack paused for a second after hearing Alfred's words.

"Thanks? What for?"

"Just for being there, I know I acted out when I shouldn't have, and I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused. I just want you to know that-"

"Shh.....don't ya worry your pretty little head over it. We all act out sometimes, it's just who we are."

And with that, Applejack disappeared into the overwhelming crowd, leaving Alfred alone with time by his side, ticking away.

After a few hours of browsing, everyone split up and went their separate ways, except for Rainbow and Alfred. They made their way back home in a cheery mood, both happy with how things turned out. Alfred remained secretly proud with what he had done, and Rainbow was glad to finally get some alone time with him after all of the hectic events recently. With the street lights guiding their way, and the moon casting a dim, beautiful light over them, they both wandered through the streets.

"So Alfie, how are you?"

"I'm doing extremely well now that everything's died down," Alfred said as he smiled and turned to Rainbow.

"Yeah, it feels good to be with you alone again... and without any other problems."

"Oh, definitely. I missed this... just us two."

"Yeah, it's got me thinking..." 

Alfred turned his head even more as she said this.

"About what, exactly?"

Rainbow sighed happily and looked back into Alfred's eyes.

"Well... I was just thinking about us, our future. We've been together for quite a while now. Almost two years..."

Alfred suddenly stopped walking and knelt down beside Rainbow, holding her hoof and starting back into her eyes.

"...and those have been the happiest two years of my life, Rainbow," Alfred whispered softly, seeing Rainbow begin to tear up slightly. He moved his hand behind her head and ran it through her soft mane, comforting her. She simply smiled and tried to fight back the tears of joy that Alfred was bringing out.

"I just wanted to know... if you'd like to have a kid with me..."

Alfred's eyes lit up as she saw the words drop from Rainbow's lips. She stood there, glistening in the pale moonlight and waiting for a response, still trying hard to hold back. Alfred gazed upon her stunned and couldn't think of any words to say, so instead his clutched onto to Rainbow and brought her in close, hugging her tightly. Rainbow wrapped her hooves around his back instinctively, crying softly onto his shoulder. Alfred simply rocked her back and forth in his arms, thinking over the possibility of having a child to raise.

He wanted it. He had never wanted something so badly in his entire life. His mind was overcome with a wave of esctasy that made him feel like he was floating, flying away with Rainbow. He closed his eyes as he imagined it, their future together. He could see them growing old together, raising a young pony of their own and experiencing all the thrills of it. He could see a family, a perfect family, a family that he had never known. Alfred felt enchanted while pressing up close against his one true love. It all seemed like some perfect dream, making him feel as if he could do anything, as long as he was with Rainbow. She had blessed him with this opportunity, and Alfred wasn't going to let it go to waste. He held her close and looked into the stary night sky above with small tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He could feel himself trembling with the incredible feeling, making him grip Rainbow even tighter, hearing her softly sob on his shoulder. He nuzzled his head into her beautiful mane and smiled, finally shedding a tiny tear of happiness.

Rainbow couldn't control herself. She was always known as the confident one, the proud and maybe sometimes arrogant one, but now, at this moment, she was swept away by her emotions and to Alfred, she was the loved one. Rainbow felt his warmth comfort her as she wept. He would always comfort her, no matter the case. Life was never the same without Alfred, and Rainbow wanted to make the sweet feeling last even longer by introducing a child. She knew that they couldn't make one themselves of course, but there were always other options, and Rainbow was willing to devote her life to her lover and their child, and from the response he gave, so was Alfred.

They both stayed there for a while, embracing each other in the wonderful, dark night. They shine brighter than any street lamp, or even the pale moon behind them. Their love burnt through the darkness, filling the night with hope. They both slowly pulled away from the hug and looked into each other's eyes. Their eyes glistened in the moonlight, reflecting their partner behind them. Alfred was still smiling, unable to draw himself away from the centre of his small little world, Rainbow. Almost instinctively, they both leaned in for a deep, passionate kiss and met each other perfectly.

They were going to start a family, together.

        

       




        



       

       

     
> Fragments Of Joy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred slowly opened the door to his home, allowing Rainbow inside before closing it on them both. He moved away and took a deep breath, happy to be home...with her. He glanced down to his side and saw her smiling happily, she then turned her head up to his, locking their eyes. They both stood there, frozen for a second and then continued through the house, coming to a gentle stop at the wall of photographs. Upon recalling their precious memories, Alfred playfully rustled Rainbow's mane, not looking away from the wall.

There was something about it that kept him mesmerised. There was something that grabbed him and wouldn't let him go, like an outer force. He felt as if he could stare at that wall for hours on end, days possibly. He gazed upon the smiling faces, the faces that he had come to know and love, no matter how different they were to what he was used to. Those small, glass rectangles held more treasures than any chest could. Alfred felt as if he was whole, staring into those happy eyes alongside his lover. He started to point out each and every special memory that they shared, starting with buying the house, and then all the amazing times they went out together. Alfred would take each picture off the wall and view it with Rainbow, looking over and over every single little detail, filling themselves with joy...these were their fragments of joy.

Rainbow's face lit up when Alfred picked a particular photograph off the wall. Her eyes widened with glee as his hands lowered, holding the frame. He brought it down and kept it stable for them, smiling as he saw her eyes fixate onto the glass. The photograph was taken at their wedding. The two of them were so happy, and that happiness reflected off the photograph and onto Rainbow's face, seeping through her fur into her mind where it slowly possessed her. Alfred blinked up from the photograph to her, noticing the small changes in her face, the sudden tweak of a smile, the rise of an eyebrow after recalling a fond moment and the slow tears forming in the corners of her eyes.  He wrapped an arm around her, tugging her in closer and nuzzling up. 

"Have you ever seen anything more beautiful Rainbow?" Alfred whispered, holding her tight.

"No...have you?" Alfred smiled down as she looked up to him with those beautiful eyes of her's.

"Hehe, yeah maybe..."

"Oh?"

"Why, you of course..."

Rainbow smirked and brushed her head against his chest, closing her eyes in his safe embrace, and after another minute or so of reminiscing, he placed it back on the wall, on its perfect spot, and moved onto the next fragment.

The two started to chuckle as the next was removed from the wall. It was a photo of them attending another one of Pinkie's wild parties, this time with a lot less punching. Alfred was clearly drunk, sprawling his upper half over a table while Pinkie, Rainbow and even Applejack were writing crude and hilarious phrases and diagrams on his face, back, and pretty much anywhere with clear skin. The ponies in the background were laughing, of course, and some could even be seen bringing more pens to the scene. Alfred remembered waking up the next day and looking in the mirror after being carried back home in his drunken state, only to see a living piece of artwork staring back. He spent the first 3 hours of that morning laughing his ass off...and planning revenge, of course. There had been many exciting and thrilling nights for them two and this only being one example of hundreds. As Alfred smirked after examining the photo, he turned to Rainbow, who was giggling uncontrollably beside him, trying to hold it back.

"Come on Rainbow, it wasn't that funny," Alfred said, only to receive a larger uproar of laughter.

"Are you kidding!? It was hilarious!" Rainbow managed to blurt out, now fully rolling on her back.

"Wait...well...yeah it was pretty funny." 

"Especially...Especially in the morning, and dragging you back home! Gosh that was a crazy night."

"Yeah, I bet bringing me back must've sucked."

"Mhmm. You're heavier than you look," Rainbow said as she nudged him playfully, still laughing, "another reason why I love ya."

Rainbow slowly regained her composure and sat back up next to Alfred, looking back to the photo, but as her eyes turned back, she spotted a particularly vulgar yet ridiculous drawing and burst out again, almost wetting herself in laughter. Alfred looked at it and chuckled, carefully placing it back on the wall, considering whether he should have that up for display after seeing it.

He brushed it off and moved onto the next photo, ripping it off the wall in delight. Rainbow slumped up next to him after catching her breath, nuzzling against his shoulder as she looks to the photo. The photograph depicted Alfred beside the Cutie Mark Crusaders, smiling happily as the three were wearing golden medals they had received from winning the 'Pogo Stick Flick Trick' competition. None of them received their cutie marks unfortunately, but they did somehow win, which was great. Rainbow smiled warmly and wrapped a hoof around him.

"You're so good with those little guys. I think they really like you."

"Yeah, I'd say so, although I don't really do too much."

"What? You're their moral support and that's really important."

"I suppose so...they're good kids."

"Yeah," Rainbow turns an eye to Alfred, smiling a little seductively. "Makes me excited to think about our own..."

Alfred's ears suddenly pricked up, slowly turning to Rainbow with the same smile. "Yeah, me too..." 

Rainbow held the smile, but it slowly faded after a few seconds and she looked to the ground. Alfred noticed this and placed his hand under her chin, carefully lifting her face back up. Their eyes met, and Alfred could tell she was slightly distraught by something.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Well, it's...its just a shame that we can't....you know...make our own child, or at least have it be...well, part you."

Alfred sighed and brought his eyes downward too, still holding Rainbow. "Yeah I know...but trust me when I say that we'll sort it out. We will be happy Rainbow, I promise. It'll all be okay." 

Rainbow weakly smiled back, and Alfred carefully caressed her cheek. "We'll talk about this properly soon, okay?"

"Okay..."

"Now, come on, let's head to bed. There's something I want to show you."
> Birds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


[16 years later]


Those smiles...those haunting smiles...

Alfred couldn't pull his eyes away from them, letting them penetrate and consume his soul. The small beautiful smiles of the fragile ponies, huddled with another smile so ugly, so heart-breaking. The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked so happy standing next to a monster, their eyes gleaming in the bright sun. Their smiles brutally forced precious memories into Alfred's head, almost bringing him to tears in his dusty, worn chair, within the dusty, worn room surrounding him, inside the dusty, worn excuse of a home. No, not home, house. Alfred lost his home years ago.

Alfred wiped his eyes with shaking hands, taking extra care with the damaged one, before rising from his seat, dragging his hollow and shallow bones with him. He limped his way to the window on his right, his metal brace clanking through the empty house with each step. As he approached the curtains he lifted a hand to pull them apart, almost being blinded by the light.

Oh , how he remembered the blinding light. The blinding, white light from all those years ago. Such a long time ago, yet he could remember it crystal clear. He remembered the dark night he went out, the moon, the sudden movement of his right hand. He remembered the exact time it took to place it infront of his eyes, the exact distance from his face and the exact amount of energy needed to get it to where it was. Of course he didn't remember that back then, back when he was young and vulnerable but now he remembered it crystal clear. Infact, after years of observing, dissecting and examining his fragments of joy, he could remember much more than ever before. Not from an identity crisis, or a sudden case of amnesia (although that would be suitable after the coffee shop incident), but because it was all he had. He would find himself sitting in his chair staring at a photo for hours on end after pulling it down almost every night. He'd lose sleep over it, he couldn't stop, and the more and more he did it, the sadder and sadder he got. Alfred looked at every face, every pair of eyes, staring right back at him. He'd sometimes even caress the cheek of a few ponies, almost desperate for them to somehow magically touch him back or talk to him. Throughout the years of loneliness, Alfred was slowly driven to a new kind of insanity. The constant reminder of the life he had left behind didn't help, but it was all he had. In a big wide world filled with magical, amazing and wonderful creatures, landscapes and lives, the only companions he now had were the frozen, lifeless smiles staring back at him through a glass case. He once had it all, friends, family, even a lover, but now all he had was a wall. It's funny how time slips away.

He pulled the curtains just enough to peek through at the world outside his prison. A small crowd gathered at the market a small way away from his house, and although it was a distance away, Alfred could still make out the hardened faces of a few ponies staring back at him. He could feel the cold stares like a knife to his stomach, like always, but by now the pain didn't effect him.  It was understandable for them anyway. He had lived in that house for a few years, and as soon as he moved in and the locals heard, they went berserk of course, banging on his door, cursing at him whenever he went out, even a few small attacks here and there, basically quarantining him in his house away from the world. But eventually, overtime the hate died down, and Alfred had been able to get out more, not that he wanted to anyways. However, much more recently, Alfred had been spending a lot more time out of his house, whether it was just general walks, or for other, more suspicious reasons. No pony noticed and no pony cared about his sudden attitude, as long as he kept at a distance he could do whatever he wanted...and he definitely had things he wanted to do. 

He may have been the most unlucky, miserable and notorious bastard in all of Equestria, but he was not finished. He did have things to do, very...very important things to do. He'd be damned if he were to die like this, and he'd be damned if he were to die without getting what he wanted, even if he had to burn the whole world down to get it.

After gritting his teeth his stern lips soon cracked into a small, perhaps sinister smile as his sight lifted up to the trees brushing the sky. He saw beautiful birds silhouetted by the bright blue sky, he saw them swooping and soaring so free, reminding him of a particular pony who used to do the same. Before he fell into another small pocket of depression, the birds vanished from his view and disappeared into the trees, leaving him with the peaceful sound of their tweeting and singing. He closed his eyes slowly, removing his mind of all the bad thoughts. Instead he filled it with thoughts about the future. He took slow deep breaths as he thought about where he'd go, who he'd see, what he'd leave behind. He knew it wouldn't be easy, and he sure as hell knew it wouldn't be moral, but that wouldn't stop him. Nothing would.

He turned over his shoulder back to the wall, and then to his old chair. With a slow motion he drew the curtains again, sealing him off and returned to his throne. He relaxed himself into it and stared back into the smiles. He stared...

And stared...

And stared...

...planning.