The Polite Thing to Do.

Eons.

"Hey."

That's how long I've been waiting for the seal to weaken. Or break. The humans locked me away for interfering with 'their world'. And It's all gone down hill for them since. They forgot the old ways, when human and Pokemon would work together without confining my children within those damnable balls.

"Hey."

And the company I'm forced to keep could have been better.

"Oi!"

"WHAT?!"

"Nothing much." That infuriating demigod had joined me in this near black void what feels like an eternity ago. "I just had a marvelous idea."

".... If I respond, will you avoid pestering me for ten minutes?"

"Maybe."

I sighed. "Fine." This had better be better then his "I Spy" idea...

"So, I've been thinking, since that's all I can really do around here because someone won't talk to me, and I had a thought. It just came up to me and smashed a gauntlet into my snout, the rude thing." I rolled my eyes. "Still, it had some merit. I thought to myself 'How much longer do I have to wait for enough Chaos to build up to free me'? I know I don't want to spend another eternity here, so I'd need a cunning plan-"

"Get to the point, Discord."

"You're no fun. Honestly, first Celly, now you.... " He grumbled. "Fine, fine. I plan on setting things in motion to make my return even easier if they stone me again."

"And how does that involve me?"

"Well, I'm going to be using some of your children to do so. They won't actually be any of your children, just their identity."

"You swear? You wont use any of them in your schemes?"

"Cross my heart, and all that nonsense."

"Then I see no problems with it." I reluctantly agreed. I'd hate to be the poor fool he ropes into this... I let the silence grow between us. "... You would have still gone through with this if I denied you this, wouldn't you?"

"Oh, most certainly!"

"Then why bother asking?"

"It's only polite."

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

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"What the hell -

" - Is it one of the new generation -

"Oh, shit -

"Scatter!"

I ran. We all did. I barely remember anything from that first run. Except the howling, and the stench. (God, did those things stink.) But that's it. The next thing I know, I'm fighting to catch my breath, hiding in the hollow of some tree's roots.

Once I had calmed down enough, I did a quick check of my new body. Two long, narrow ears: check. Four paws: check. Bushy tail: check. Brown fur: all there. Let me tell you, I was one happy Eevee, just for being alive.

"In here!"

Two more Eevee slid into the hollow with me. One was a couple of inches taller, and much wider around. The other had grey and white fur instead of the normal brown and tan. They were also good friends of mine, Villhiem and Yomega respectively. They didn't notice me right away.

"What the hell were those things?" Villhiem panted.

"Those things were made entirely out of wood." I watched the two smack their heads on the roots and dirt. "So they're grass types. What Pokemon do you know that looks like that that are grass?"

"I think they must be part of the newest gen." Yomega looked back towards the entrance to our little bolt hole. "They certainly don't look like anything I remember."

We spent another hour waiting, listening in case those things decided to come back. "Ya know," Yomega said at length, "those things looked kinda like timberwolves." Both Villhiem and I looked at him.

"Way too big to be timberwolves." I stated.

"No, we're just too small."

"Guys....?" Villhiem raised a paw.

"Be that as it may, why would we even come across one, let alone three?"

"Bad trip?"

Villhiem stood up. "Guys."

"When was the last time you had any sort of trip?" I shot back.

"HEY!" Villhiem interrupted us. "The fuck's a timberwolf?"

Yomega and I traded looks. "Uh... You know that one show you said you'd never watch?" I began. "With the ponies?"

He shuddered. "Yea, what about it?"

"I think we might be in it." Yomega finished.

Maybe I should start from the beginning.

My name is Leo, and, before today, I was human.

"Jesus, this blizzard just won't let up." I turned away from the window. "This makes it, what the third day?"

"Fourth." Vincent corrected me. One of my roommates, he was tall and thin. Kinda like a less formal slender man with a face. "I fold."

A chorus of "same" rang out around the table, with Yomega taking the pot. Other than Zann, Conner, and myself, everyone was enjoying a game of poker. Zann, with his close cropped hair and piercings, was grinding out match after match of League before the internet could cut out, and Conner, a fidgety teen who could rock a goatee, was watching him. He was also sitting on his hands to prevent him from playing with any random objects nearby. Me, I had just gotten up, throwing on an Eevee toque to keep my bedhead in check, so I couldn't buy in until this poker game was finished. Which is good, I never fully wake up right away anyways.

Yomega was a rather large, but young looking man. Seriously, I'm surprised he doesn't get carded more often. Villhiem was tall and... wide. The others stuck here were Lulu, a slightly short tomboy, Abes, a native teen with a Bloodborne addiction, and Cy, another tall and lanky one.

... I just realized that, Abes aside, my friends and I are the typical "white nerd" group...

After the game had passed and I had bought in (and I had properly woken up), I turned to Yomega as I dealt out the cards. "So, any progress on that rock I found?"

"Yes and no." He paused to throw in some chips. "I think it might be some type of quartz, but I've never seen a sphere of it with a brown center before. Usually it's in shards or crystals."

" So... When can I have it back?"

He looked at me over his cards. "Dunno. I still got a few sources I want to run down, but they have to wait until the blizzard passes"

With a sigh, I focused back on the game. Chips changed hands. I lost again. And the day passed slowly. We laughed, played board games, anything to take our minds off of our growing cabin fever. Eventually, we turned in. If we had been awake longer, we may have seen the "rock" start to glow.

"How the fuck can he sleep through this shit?!"

I groaned. "Shut the fuck up, I'm tryin' ta sleep!" I felt something shove me off the rock I was on. Wait, rock? That got me to open my eyes. A brown puppy-like face with over-sized eyes and ears and a thick mane of tan fur around it's neck filled my vision. "The fuck we get a dog?" I mumbled out. Like I said, I'm not a "morning person".

"Leo," The dog shouted, "wake the fuck up!"

Brain?

"Yes?"

Is there a talking dog in front of me?

"Yes."

Oh, okay. Just checking. Can I freak out now?

"I don't see why not."

I pushed away from the dog-thing. "Holy fucking shit, what the fuck are you?!" In doing so, I could see more of the dog things behind it.

"Not again." The only grey one muttered.

"Easy, Leo." The one in front of me said in the tone that one would use to talk to a large dog or horse. "It's me, Vince."

"Bullshit! Vince is a human, not a dog thing." I yelled, pointing a paw at it. Wait, paw?! I followed the leg from the paw to where my shoulder should be. All I saw instead was a ruffle of tan fur. Brain?

"I'm sorry, Brain is unavailable at the moment. Please leave a message after the tone...."

The gathered dog's all folded back their ears -one even went so far as to cover them- at the ~~pitch of my girlish shrieks of terror~~ manly outburst of profanity. It took me a while to properly freak out and calm down. When it was all said and done, I was quivering in the midst of the dog things. "What the fucking hell happened last night?" I frantically looked around at the group.

"No idea." Chorused back.

"Whatever else may have happened," The one claiming to be Cy continued, "don't you guys think we look like Eevees?"

Zann tilted his head to the side. "How the fuck does that even happen?"

"Sounds like a bad fan fiction to me." I groused.

Conner stepped forward. "As much as we need that answered, I wanna know where we even are."

We were obviously in a forest of some sort. But the colors were off, like someone had come through and painted everything with dark pastels. And the place was completely overgrown. I think our little clearing was the only place the sun shone in the whole damned forest. "Somewhere far south, I think?" Lulu guessed. "I mean, there's no snow at all..."

I was worried before. Now I was just plain scared.

"So someone, somehow broke into our place, kidnapped us, dragged us all the way down here, and turned us into Eevees?" Vincent growled, stomping a paw. "How fucking long were we out?"

We started arguing back and forth about how we got here, and what we should do now. Eventually, we decided that we were going to find a river, and follow it until we came across someone who could help us. Hopefully.

Zann had wondered to the edge of our little clearing to look for some berries or other easy-to-find food. He lifted his nose, and started sniffing the air. "Ugh." He looked back at us, tiny muzzle scrunched up and paw covering his nose. "Okay, whoever did that, own up. It fucking reeks!"

We stopped talking, and took quick sniffs ourselves. Good god, what the fuck is that smell? I started rubbing my nose in the vain hope to rid it of the god awful stench. I was so busy rubbing, I didn't hear the bushes rustle.

"Oh, shit!" Thankfully Lulu did. "Zann! Get outta there!"

Zann bolted past me. I looked up to see three wolves step out of the bushes. They towered over us.

"What the hell -"

" - Is it one of the new generation -"

The two outer wolves started to move around the clearing, while the bigger, middle one crouched down, ready to pounce.

"Oh, shit -"

"Scatter!"

So, yeah. That's how that happened.

Now, Villhiem, Yomega and I were stuck under a random tree in a forest none of us knew.

"There is no fuckin' way we're in some little girls show!"

And Villhiem was having his own little freak out.

If only there were Pokecenters....

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"Calm down, Villhiem." I placed my paws on his shoulders. "It's just a theory."

"Yeah," Yomega interjected, "we could be in Hoenn for all we know."

Villhiem pulled back. "Then why even bring up the timberwolves?" He looked between us.

"'Cuz their name is a pun?" Yomega answered.

I turned back to our little opening. I pushed the roots to the side enough to get as clear a view of the forest as I could. I could hear faint rustling, but I could not tell how far or where it was coming from. "Guys, shut up a sec. I think I hear something."

The others pushed their way up beside me, shoving me to one side. We all perked up our ears to try and catch more sound. We heard some more rustling, all off to the right. It almost seemed as if they were all converging on one spot. "Oh shit! HELP!" The bushes seemed to explode as a frenzy of noise reached us.

I tilted my head while Yomega and Villhiem shared a glance. "That sounded like..." Villhiem began

"Conner!" We shouted together.

"Over here, Conner, hurry!" I yelled.

An Eevee with longer fur on its chin burst from the bushes, a timberwolf hot on its heels. Conner quickly spotted us, and tried to make his way over to us, but the timberwolf leaped ahead and cut him off. He started to back up, glancing side to side for an opening. One the rest of us tried to give, yelling and hollering in the hopes to get the wooden mutt's attention. Conner feinted, then broke right to try and get around the timberwolf.

He wasn't fast enough.

The 'wolf lunged, pinning Conner beneath its paws. The rest of us could only watch as it savored its next kill, slowly bringing its maw closer to Conner's neck. Is this what we can expect in this world? I was barely aware of myself growling, ears laid flat. Must we stand by when our friends are in danger?

The world blurred. When my vision cleared, I was standing over Conner. The 'wolf had been knocked back. I refuse to stand by!

I heard Yomega and Villhiem rush out of the hollow. A grayish blur rushed past me, and slammed into the side of the timberwolf.

"Go 'elp Y'mega!" I looked to see Villhiem behind me dragging Conner towards the hollow by his ruffle. "I go' 'onner!"

I nodded, and blurred towards the 'wolf again. The timberwolf, unused to its own tactics being used against it, couldn't handle our two pronged assault. It quickly fell back into the bushes. Yomega and I ran back to help Villhiem push Conner the rest of the way into the hollow. And none too soon either, as the timberwolf had found its courage with the return of its pack-mates.

Villhiem let Yomega and I pass him by. I turned around in time to see him kick up a large cloud of dirt and sand. He slid into the hollow just as I heard three impacts with the tree above us.

"How's Conner?" he asked.

Yomega sat down, looking over the Eevee in question. "It looks like he's got bruising on his back, and some cuts on his neck. A few are deep." He shot a glare at me. "Next time you're gonna do something that hair-brained, do it before ya risk hurting one of us, okay?"

"Wait, what even happened?" I looked back to the hollows entrance. It was far too small for the 'wolves to get through. So long as we stayed away from it, we shouldn't have to worry. "One moment, I was with you guys, the next, I was over Conner."

Villhiem lay down beside our battered friend. "I think you used Quick Attack. And I think the boost in speed it gave ya was the only reason you two didn't come out even worse for wear. How are you two holding up, anyways?"

I looked myself over. There was a large cut on my leg, and I could feel a headache coming on. I glanced at Yomega. "Other then the cut and a headache, I'm good."

"No cuts, but my head is starting to pound..." Yomega gingerly put a paw to his head, before pulling it away with a hiss. "... Ow"

"Okay, don't do that." Villhiem ordered. "Honestly, what else did ya think would happen if ya headbutted a tree? Repeatedly?"

"Sunshine and flowers?" I snarked, lying down myself to lick at my cut. "Seriously, though. Now what're we going to do?" I pointed my tail at the opening, where the timberwolves were still trying to force their way past the tree roots. I was met with shrugs and indifferent looks.

"I think-" Yomega was cut off by the sound of breaking glass. We all snapped around to look at the entrance and saw wisps of greenish powder swirling where the timberwolves were.

"Away with you!" A woman yelled out. "Go on, shoo!"

We could hear the 'wolves run off into the bushes, then heard what sounded like heavy footfalls approach the tree.

"It is safe to come out. I have sent the timberwolves away. But you must come quickly, that hollow is no place to stay."

Yomega gave Villhiem a push. "Go take a look."

"Why me?"

"You're in the best shape."

With a final glare, Villhiem cautiously poked his head out of the hole. "... Uh, guys? There is a giant zebra wearing gold rings. Should I be scared?"

I immediately started pulling Conner towards Villhiem. Yomega, realizing the same thing I did, started pushing to make things easier. We were so busy, we kinda forgot to answer Villhiem.

"Guys? It's staring at me." I glanced over my shoulder to see his ears were plastered against his skull. "It's starting to freak me out!"

"Freak out later, when it's safe." Yomega pushed past me. "She can help us with Conner!"

"Yeah," I said around a mouthful of Conner's fur, "She'sh friendry!"

Zecora had had a productive day gathering herbs and was on her way home when she heard an odd cry. She couldn't quite make it out, but it had sounded near. Letting her curiosity, and the noises in the bushes, guide her, she soon came across a clearing.

She could see three timberwolves trying to dig their way under a tree, where she could hear faint noises coming from. Thinking that the Crusaders had gotten themselves into another mess, she pulled a vial of Wolf's Bane extract from her saddle bags and threw it into the midst of the 'wolves.

"Away with you! Go on, shoo!" She yelled. The Wolf's Bane did its job and drove off the timberwolves. She quickly made her way towards the tree where the ground was scuffed and marred. "It is safe to come out. I have sent the timberwolves away. But you must come quickly, that hollow is no place to stay." She spoke softly, hoping to calm down the Crusaders and get them to her home quickly.

What she didn't expect, was a strange brown furred canine to pop up.

Its ears folded back upon the sight of her as it froze in place. "... Vee?" It squeaked out. "Ee~vee vee."

Tilting her head to the side, Zecora watched as two more of the canines came out, pulling a fourth along with them. All of them seemed to have injuries of some sort. Without saying anything, she quickly shifted herbs around before taking the unconscious canine and putting it in her saddle bag. After picking up the one with a cut on its leg, she made her way to her home, the final two following close behind.

Sleep and Planning.

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"So," Villhiem said as he followed Zecora, "that zebra is...?'

Yomega, walking beside him, rolled his eyes. "Her name is Zecora. She's a herbalist/witch doctor who lives in the Everfree, which is where we are now. If she can't fix Conner up, then she can get a hold of Fluttershy. Fluttershy is an animal caretaker, and has a knack for healing animals."

"More like a compulsion." I lay on Zecora's back, keeping an eye on Conner. "Remember when she tried to fix up a phoenix without knowing that it was restarting it's life cycle, or even knowing it was a phoenix in the first place?"

Chuckling, Yomega nodded. "Eeyup. Point is, we'll be safe with Fluttershy. We may even be able to use her cottage as a home-base to find the others with. So long as she doesn't put us up for adoption..."

Villhiem just sighed. "Fine. I may not like it, but this sounds like the best we can hope for." He glared up at me. "Excepting that we could be up there with you."

"Do you know how hard it is to stay balanced up here?!" I almost fell off as I tried to dramatically sweep a paw back. "Whoa, shit!" A bit of quick shifting, and I was safely balanced again. "See?! Besides, you've been walking for a while now. I may not have made it back to Zecora's on foot." I finished with a point to my cut leg.

"Oh, shit."

I tilted my head. "It's not that bad."

"You can walk that off, ya pussy." Yomega shook his head. "No, I just remembered Fluttershy's other talent."

I closed my eyes and laid my head onto Zecora's flank. "Oh, fuck. That."

"Sigh. What is 'that'?" Villhiem slowly shook his head.

Yomega looked up at me. I waved him on to explain, then shifted about to stay on my elevated mobile perch. "Fluttershy can understand animals. She may be able to understand what we're saying."

"What are we gonna tell her?" I groaned out.

"I've got that covered" Yomega said.

I hope you do... I settled down to enjoy what was left of the ride.

The walk was uneventful after that. With myself and Yomega patiently waiting, and Conner being out cold, we were quickly bandaged up. Now, Yomega was sporting head wrappings, I had those and bandages wrapping my leg, and Conner was almost tied up like a mummy. His legs, head and tail were the only things sticking out.

Fun fact: Eevees' bodies are thinner than their fur would suggest.

Also, Conner looked hilarious as a white tube with large puffs of fur fluffing out from it.

We spent the rest of the day being fussed over by Zecora. She wasn't hovering over us or anything like that, but she would regularly check up on us. The only hitch was in the late evening, when she tried to feed us. Of course, having not seen an Eevee before, she couldn't figure out what we actually eat.

Villhiem solved that one. He was sniffing around where Zecora was trying to prepare our dinner, when she dropped some sort of berry. It didn't look like one of the Pokemon berries, but that didn't matter to Villhiem. He pounced on it and greedily shoved it down his gullet. We had learned a long time ago to never get between him and food. He looked up at Zecora, tail wagging, berry juice smearing his face.

Zecora just filled a few bowls and put them on the floor for us, chuckling all the while.

Lemme tell you, those berries were good! Imagine crossing a blueberry, a strawberry, a cherry, and a peach. That's just what it tasted like.

She had to give us a bath when we were done.

Soon, bellies full, we drifted off wherever we happened to be. I was over by the front door, Conner was in a small bed by the fire, Yomega was under the table, and Villhiem was curled up on Zecora herself.

"You must awaken, my sleeping friend. I must go out to run an errand."

I groaned and rolled over, curling up even further.

"If you will not move by choice, then I shall move you with force."

I just buried my face in my tail.

"So be it." I felt something wooden bump into my tail, then push me across the floor. I eventually stopped and the wooden thing was removed. "I'll return in a bit." There was a sound of a door closing and the latch catching. I didn't move for about an hour, I think. I could hear the others get up and move around. I vaguely caught Yomega filling in a drowsy Conner on what happened the night before, as well as the general plan.

"Now, remember," I tilted an ear to catch what Yomega was saying, "we cannot let the fact that we may know of future events slip. Even if Fluttershy can't understand us, it's better if we just let things play out like they did in the show. I'll tell Leo when the lazy ass finally wakes up."

"It would be easier to sleep if you weren't talking." I growled at him.

"Just get up, you lazy fuck."

"No!" I rolled over and placed my tail over my eyes. "I'm asleep."

"You could at least help us plan-"

"I rarely got the chance to sleep as a human, I'm not passing this up now. An' with Conner as badly injured as he is, we ain't going anywhere for a while." I peered through my tail at the others. "Planning can wait. Our personal health can't."

I listened to Yomega grumble something about stubborn mules, then I tuned them out. Just before I drifted off again, I realized that I was curled up in a way that a human would never find comfortable, what with my face damn near in my crotch. Fuck it, it's comfy.

I had just about drifted off when the door burst open. If I hadn't rolled over earlier, the door would've flattened me against the wall. Instead, I could feel my ears and tail flail in the breeze the door caused. I looked up to see a yellow and pink pegasus hovering Conner over to the counter. Yomega and Villhiem quickly followed and found places near by.

"It's okay, little one." Fluttershy murmured as she gently peeled the bandages off Conner. I got up and made my way over. "I'm just going to take a quick look and-" She cut off. I jumped up onto a near by chair, and from there, the counter. I couldn't see anything through Villhiem. Fluttershy turned to the door as Zecora entered.

"Um, Zecora. You, um, said that he was hurt badly?"

"Of his wounds I did, their seriousness I did not kid."

"But," Villhiem moved back as Fluttershy showed off Conner's torso, "there's nothing there."

Tracking the Trackers Tracking Trackers.

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Author's Notes:

First off, a bit of housekeeping. Any dialogue between << and >> are animals speaking around Fluttershy. This is to show animals speaking around or to Fluttershy while curbing any potential confusion as to why everypony can understand animals and the Eevees now.

Secondly, I must apologize for the lateness and brevity of this chapter. I have found myself short on time, as well as losing my steady connection to the internet and proof reader. I should be getting more time now, and I have places to go to upload this, so more chapters shouldn’t be far off. My muse is also starting to chip away at my writers block for my other story, so I’ll be doing work on that as well. (So far, it includes four liters of jelly, some catnip, a fork, and a hamster)

Thirdly, I found writing for Zecora to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Granted, I can barely rhyme anyways, so there’s that…

Zecora cocked her head to the side. “Lacerations to his torso was his suffrage. It took many of my salves and bandages.” She gestured to one of her shelves, many of the jars placed there near empty.

“But, then why are they fine now?” Fluttershy poked and rubbed Conner’s stomach and sides. “If it wasn’t for the dirty bandages and dried blood, I would have thought he hadn’t even been- Oh, I’m so sorry!” Conner had started to squirm under her hooves. “Oh, you must still be hurt after all.”

<<Only when I laugh,>> Conner managed to gasp out, <<And you’re tickling me!>>

“Tickling…?”

I think we surprised Zecora with the synchronized face-paw Villhiem, Yomega and I did. <<For the love of… At least giggle next time.>> Villhiem groaned out. <<Ya damn near scared the poor mare!>>

“Oh, no, it’s okay,” Fluttershy gently patted Conner’s head, “I was just so worried about you. Especially after what Zecora told me.”

<<Yeah, we were in a rough spot there.>> Yomega pawed at the ground with his ears laid back. <<Could you pass on our thanks?>>

“Of course.” Fluttershy turned to the zebra. “I think they want me to thank you for them. They have this weird way of speaking that sorta makes them hard to understand, as if they were speaking with a Neighponese accent.”

Zecora gave a small bow to us. “I did not mind. I’m glad they’re fine.”

We gathered around Conner, whispering in hushed tones. Zecora went around her hut, taking stock of her herbs. Fluttershy started to walk around us. Every now and then, she would give one of us a tentative poke.

“Um, Zecora.” Fluttershy let my tail drop. “I’ve never seen anything like them before. Do you know what they are?”

“I may know creatures near and far.” Zecora shook her head. “But I’ve never seen these before. Maybe, with that problem, Twilight could get to the core.” Both mares missed our eyes widen.

Yomega and I had informed the other two about Twilight and how she might… obsess over trying to figure us out. I saw the same thought flit through the others’ heads: I don’t want to be a science experiment!

“Oh, um…” Fluttershy seemed to shrink behind her mane, “I can still understand them, it’s just a little harder to understand them because I’ve never heard an animal speak like they do before. I’ll um, I’ll just ask them.” We let out a small sigh of relief as she turned to us. “Um, I’m sorry if this seems rude, but I was just wondering if you could tell me what you call yourselves?”

<<Do what I do.>> Yomega murmured to us before taking a small step forward. <<We are a kind of creature called an Eevee.>> Fluttershy tilted her head and opened her mouth, but Yomega cut her off. <<We would like to answer your questions, but I’m afraid we have greater worries.>> His ears drooped, Villhiem and I mimicking his movements. Villhiem had to nudge Conner before he caught on and lowered his ears as well. Thankfully, the mares didn’t notice. <<We were separated from the rest of our pack when the Timberwolves attacked. There are five more of us lost out in the forest.>> I’ll be damned, he even managed to get a slight warble in at the end there.

I don’t think even Conner missed the verbal cue. <<Could you help us find them?>> Neither mare could withstand the full force of four puppy-dog eyes.

Fluttershy quickly zipped forward and grabbed- Huh. I’d thought she’d’ve glomped Yomega.

She nuzzled Conner, holding him in a tight grip. “It’s okay, just come with me and I’ll get the rest of the girls, then we can try and find the rest of your friends.” She put Conner down and made her way to out of the hut, with us quickly following. As we passed Zecora, Villhiem paused to bow to her before running to catch up.

As we made our way down the path out of the Everfree, I dropped back and whispered to Conner. <<Why’d Fluttershy glomp ya?>>

<> He shrugged.

Villhiem leaned forward. <<Must’ve been Baby-Doll Eyes.>>

I grinned. << Oh, I’ve got to tell Yomega about this! Ponies are suckers for cute things.>> I nudged Conner. <<We’re gonna weaponize ya! You’ll be our WMS!>>

<<Your what?!>>

I pranced ahead to share the news with Yomega, turning my head just enough to call back, <<Our Weapon of Mass Squee!>> I could hear Villhiem burst out laughing. I might have imagined feeling the warmth from Conner’s embarrassed blush.

Once we left the forest, we made a beeline to Fluttershy’s cottage. She had us wait outside while she fetched the first aid kit. We watched the animals around the cottage to pass the time.

Until Yomega turned to look at the bridge. His ears stiffening up was the only warning we got before he pulled us into a nearby bush.

“The fuck-” Yomega mashed Conner’s muzzle into the dirt, cutting him off.

“Quiet!” He hissed. “Twilight’s coming down the road, and she looks like shit!”

I peeked out from between the leaves. Sure enough, I could see Twilight just reaching the bridge. Her mane looked like she hadn’t brushed it that morning, strand sticking out at odd angles. She kept mumbling to herself, her eyes darting to and fro in time with her rambling. She was too far away for us to clearly hear her. “She kinda looks like she did during the Smartypants Incident.” I glanced at Yomega. “Ya think that’s where we are in the timeline?”

He nodded as Twilight approached the cottage door. She started rapping her hoof against it in a light but frantic manner. She barely stopped in time when Fluttershy cracked the door open.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy put the first aid kit down and opened the door fully. “What, um, what brings you out here?”

“I was just wondering,” Twilight began with a too-wide smile, “if there was anything that I, as a good friend, could help you with?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, actually-”

“FINALLY!” At Twilight's outburst, Fluttershy bolted behind her couch, and we cringed back and covered our ears.

“Does that answer your question?” Yomega shot at me.

I looked at him and answered with the most eloquence I could muster. “WHAT?”

It took a few minutes, but we managed to coax Fluttershy out from her hiding spot. Twilight wouldn’t stop apologizing the entire time. It took us persuading Conner to go back there and use his Baby-Doll Eyes, but we did it.

Now, we were back in the forest, Fluttershy just finishing catching Twilight up with our situation.

“So, there are more of them in the forest?” Twilight asked. We all nodded. “Okay. I think I have a spell that can help. Hold still.” She pointed her glowing horn at us. We felt fur being pulled off, and watched as they floated up in front of Twilight’s face. Soon, a lavender arrow pointed off into the trees, our fur floating within. “There! That should lead us back to where you last saw the other… whatever you little guys are!” She start to trot off with a bounce in her step, the rest of us not far behind. The path the arrow took lead us through several thorn bushes and over a small creek.

<> Villhiem looked around in worry.

<> Yomega ducked his head under another branch, <<not the route we actually took.>>

Soon, we came upon a familiar looking rock. The clearing we had woken up in the day before now sported small gouges in the ground from where the Timberwolves’ claws had dug in. We could hear the tinkling of Twilight’s magic as we spread out into the clearing, Fluttershy staying near Twilight.

“Okay, w-we’re here. N-now what?” She stammered to her friend.

“Now, I’m going to try a...”

I tuned them out at that point. I started to sniff around the clearing. The stench of Timberwolf clung to the area, but I could smell something familiar coming from under it. I followed it around the clearing, nose to the ground and eyes closed. I could smell it getting stronger.

Then I ran head first into Villhiem. We both sat on our hunches, rubbing our now sore heads. Villhiem was the first to recover, getting a thoughtful look before sniffing the air again. I was about to move past him when he buried his nose into my fur.

<<Do you mind?!>> I backed away from him. Villhiem just waved me off, before moving over Yomega.

He then promptly buried his nose into the back of Yomega’s head and started sniffing. He then turned and marched on over to Conner, and doing the same.

<<The Hell are you doing?>> Yomega demanded while Conner hunched over wide-eyed.

Villhiem placed his nose to the ground sniffing furiously. <> He moved towards the clearing’s edge, keeping his nose firmly pressed to the ground. Yomega and I let out a small cheer, and started following him. Soon, I could hear the two Mares following after us.

This time, our “arrow” meandered back and forth. Villhiem even had to double back a few times to regain the scent. Finally, he stopped with a massive grin on his face. That grin fell when he looked up. At the tree he led us to. The same tree we had taken shelter in from the ‘wolves yesterday.

We sat there, staring at the tree, while Fluttershy moved to the hole in the roots, cooing and making other such noises.

<<Oh c’mon!>> I blurted out. <<We were here yesterday!>>

<<You mean, if we stayed here, we would be all together?>> Conner asked

Yomega shook his head as Villhiem rushed to the hole. <<Not likely. The Timberwolves would still be trying to get in, which would have scared the others away, and you would have likely bled out.>>

Villhiem emerged from the hole. <<Good news, bad news, everyone. They were definitely here. But they’ve moved on.>>

Fluttershy nuzzled him. “Can you find a scent? Track them that way?”

<> He shook his head. <<Even without the stench of Timberwolves, the scents of everyone is too muddled together. The scent of blood down there is too heavy anyways.>>

I draped a foreleg over Conner’s shoulders as his ears fell. <<Hey, it’s okay. You didn’t bleed out that much.>> I blinked. <<Shit! You didn’t bleed out that much!>>

“Twilight!” Fluttershy gasped. “I need you to do that tracking spell again!”

“What? Why?” Twilight looked at us all. “I can’t understand them like you can, what’s going on?”

Fluttershy pointed at the hole in the ground. “They’re saying that there is a lot of blood down there, and that most of it’s from the other group! Oh, where would they go if they’re that badly hurt?”

Zecora finished making a mental list of the herbs she needed. As she moved towards her door, she heard an odd barking. Cautiously, she peered through a nearby window. Outside her door was a group of those odd dog-like creatures, one of which was barking at her front door.

That wasn’t what made her rush out though. It was that the other three were holding up the fifth that was missing its leg.

With the oddly distinct twinkle of her magic, Twilight pulled a clump of dirt out from under the tree. As with the fur beforehand, it was soon encased by a large lavender arrow. There was a smaller arrow that pointed towards Conner, but the larger one led off into the distance.

Without much thought, the pair of mares raced off into the undergrowth. We followed after sharing a worried look. I’m not going to lie, those mares can really run. We could only follow them by the sound of them crashing through bushes. Of course, the broken bushes were also a good indicator on where to go.

We didn’t catch up for a long while, and even then, it was only because they had stopped.

We were right back at Zecora’s. The arrow moved slightly from side to side, but never past the tree she lived in.

We didn’t stop for long. The world blurred around me as I rammed Zecora’s front door. I bounced off of it. I barely had time to clear my head when Yomega smashed into the door as well. All we had to show for our efforts was a pair of imprints on Zecora’s door of our faces, and a pair of splitting headaches.

By the time the ponies caught up, Zecora had opened the door. With nary a word, she ushered us into her hut. While she went to talk to Twilight and Fluttershy, we found and launched ourselves at the other Eevees in the room.

There was many hugs shared and tears shed. <<What happened to you guys?>> Conner asked.

<<Shit happened.>> Vince stated. <<We all ended up under a large rock. There were two of those wooden wolf things outside our bolt hole.>>

<<They just suddenly took off.>> Cy continued. <<We don’t know why, just that they were there, then they weren’t.>>

Abes continued the story. <<We managed to find our way back to the clearing we woke up in and Lulu started sniffing around. Once she got your scent, she led us to this tree with a small hollow under it. We were about to leave when we were jumped by the wolves again.>>

<<Those damn bastards got Zann.>> Cy spat.

I did a quick head count. We were one short. <<Is he, is he dead?>>

Lulu shook her head. <<W-we managed to knock th-the wolves off of him and g-get him into the hollow, but h-he l-lost his l-leg.>>

Vince pointed up to the counter Conner had lain last night. <<He’s up there. We were able to slow the bleeding down, but even then, it was difficult to move him. Lulu managed to find your guy’s trail this morning, and led us here. This zebra has been looking after him since.>>

<<What about the ‘wolves?>> Villhiem asked.

<<They didn’t stick around long last night,>> Abes replied, <<It was almost like they couldn’t stand it there.>>

Yomega looked back at the mares. With a few final instructions, Twilight and Fluttershy left the hut, and Zecora returned to caring for Zann. <<Okay,>> He motioned us into a huddle, <<this is what you need to know…>>

It was late that night. Fluttershy and Twilight had left long before sundown. Zecora had left several time during the rest of the day, gathering more herbs and roots and whatever she needed. From what we could overhear, the odds were not in Zann’s favor. She almost had to force Fluttershy out, promising her that she could look us over the next day.

Her main argument was that there wasn’t enough room for us all to stay the night, and we Eevees weren’t leaving.

After another very berry dinner, and a few necessary baths, we bunked down for the night. I think only Zann actually got to sleep, Zecora would frequently check up on him, and rest of us were kept up with worry.

When morning dawned, it was to a beautiful and heartwarming sound.

<<Da fug am I?>>

Well, it was heartwarming at least.

Zecora kept us from jumping up and crowding around Zann, but she almost intentionally kept up a running rhyming commentary for us. Long poem short, although he will never get his leg back, and he lost a lot of blood, he will recover. It was almost a complete turnaround from the day before. Fluttershy stopped by to check up on Zann near mid-morning, but Zecora rhymed her the cliff notes, and promptly asked for her to take the rest of us with her.

It took some effort on her part, but Fluttershy managed to ignore our pleading and Conner’s Baby-Doll Eyes.

She led us to her cottage like a mama duck with her ducklings. The rest of the day was passed with her doing make work around her cottage, and us sulking, then fighting the stress out of our systems.

I think it started when Vince was running around and ran Villhiem over, leading him to tackle Vince. Then Cy tackled Villhiem to help Vince, and Yomega got involved to try and break it up. I joined into the ball of violence after Lulu but before Conner.

Fluttershy had to break us up when she found us scrapping near her chicken coop. She gave us all a very stern talking to, and made us all apologize to each other. The cease fire lasted about five seconds after she left.

She did that a fair few times over the course of the day. By night fall, more than one of us was sporting band aids and bruises. Angel bunny won.

She let us stay the night in her cottage. We ended up crashing on her couch in a large pile, though she tried to give us our own beds. Our sleep wasn’t easy, but we did sleep.

When morning came, our cuts and bruises were gone. Most of us got up right away when Fluttershy brought us a large bowl of berries. I only woke up when I rolled off the couch. Needless to say, I’m lucky Villhiem left me anything to eat.

Fluttershy did her morning chores in a rush, then made us promise to stay at her cottage. She left Angel in charge of us before she left.

Fluttershy was gone for most of the day. She was briefly stunned when she came home. Her cottage and most of her animals were fine, but we were laying in a bruised heap with Angel sitting on top. She marched us all inside, scolding us the whole way. She washed our cuts out, then placed us all on her couch. Only then did she open her saddle bags, pulling a sleeping Zann out and placing him on top of the pile.

“Zecora said that he’ll be fine now, and will wake up in the morning. She had to give him a sleeping drought to keep him from running off. He must have been really worried about you. And I come home to find you all had been fighting again.” She shook her head. “I hope you’ll be a better friend to him then you have been to each other.”

<<Miss Fluttershy,>> Yomega yawned, <<we were only fighting to work off our stress and worry. It doesn’t hurt that that’s how we can get stronger, too.>>

The last thing I saw before I fell asleep was a surprised Fluttershy, gaping like a landed Magikarp.

What's in a Name?

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I woke up the next morning to Yomega pushing me off of Fluttershy’s couch. “The fug…?” I looked up at him through blurry eyes. “The hell was tha’ for?”

Zann hobble over to me, pushing a small bowl of berries. Yomega jumped down beside me and, with Zann’s help, started cramming berries down my throat. “No time for you to wake up! The others are already in the edge of the Everfree!”

“The- Hell- Is-” I pushed them away, swallowing the berry mush. “Give me some room! What the hell is going on?”

Zann pushed the berries closer to me as Yomega looked towards the door. “Long story short: Fluttershy’s gone to get Twilight to try and figure out what we are.”

I promptly face planted into the bowl. If I wasn’t awake before, I was now. I find that the only thing more effective then caffeine is adrenaline. None of us want to be stuck as the unlucky Eevee that Twilight would experiment on.

“I stayed behind to wake you up and help Zann get out. Like I said, the others are waiting for us at the edge of the Everfree.” Yomega continued. “Hurry up and eat-”

All of our ears swiveled to the front door. We could faintly hear a pair of ponies on the other side. “No time!” I yelled, pushing the bowl over as we ran for the back door. Yomega and I managed to push it open by the time Zann got to it. I turned to lead the retreat when I came face to face with Angel.

“What’s the hold up?” Zann yelled behind me.

“A-Angel, h-hi!” I backed up a step.

“Just charge him and go!” Zann ordered.

“Won’t work,” Yomega interrupted, “He’s a fighting type, and faster than we are.”

Angel nodded, pointing over our heads with a carrot. He led us back to the main room just as Fluttershy opened her front door. “Well, like I said, they mentioned that they get stronger through fighting, but I don’t see how that has to do with hydras.”

“Because, Hydra’s have incredible regenerative properties,” Twilight followed the timid mare inside, “and nopony has ever seen a baby hydra before. Biologists believe they are lain in large clutches so that the strongest will reach adulthood. Maybe we’ve stumbled upon hydra young!”

“Twilight, I don’t think hydras are canines.” Fluttershy deadpanned. She looked into her living room to find us sitting in a row in front of Angel. “I think Angel could only round up those three. I can ask him to help me find the rest for you, if you want.”

A grin spread across Twilight’s face, sending shivers down my spine. “No, no. Those three will be perfect!” She turned to the pegasus, the smile dying down. “I might have to keep these three for a few days while I run some tests. Is there anything I should know?”

Fluttershy looked us over, ignoring our pouts. “Well, they eat berries almost exclusively, but I think they can eat fish if I’m judging their teeth right. The one missing his leg is called Zann, the grey one is called Yomega, and the last one’s Leo. Or at least, that’s what they call each other.” She looked from us to Twilight and back. “Oh they look so frightened, they must not like being separated from the rest of their pack. I’ll go look for the rest and keep them calm.”

Twilight turned to leave, calling to use as she did. “Okay, then. Zann, Yomega, Leo, please follow me.”

We had no choice but to do so. Not with Angel just waiting for an excuse to drop kick us. Twilight picked up Zann and placed him on her back once she saw him falling behind. I slowly dropped back past Yomega. After we crossed the bridge leading into town, I made my move. I bolted off towards the forest. “Hey, get back here!” Twilight shouted after me.

<<You don’t have enough badges to train me!>> I yelled back. I had just about reached the tree line when I felt myself leave the ground. I could see the pink tinged trees getting farther from me. I still tried to run, flailing my legs for all they were worth. <<No! Curse you, psychic types!>>

Finally, I was turned so that I was face to face with the purple menace herself. “Somehow, I just know you’re going to be trouble.” She muttered to me. She continued to head towards her library home, Zann on her back, Yomega following behind, and with me floating in her magical grasp.

<<And that’s why I wanted to leave before she got to us.>> Yomega stated.

<<Told ya we should’ve just left him.>> Zann groused.

I glared at him. <<Traitor.>> Zann froze on Twilight’s back.

Twilight didn’t let me go until we had reached her basement and she had closed the door. I gave a pleading look to Spike before we left his sight. The jerk just shook his head.

Twilight put me on the floor beside Yomega, before removing Zann from her back. He walked up to me with stiff legs. <<What did you do to me?>> he growled out.<>

<> I apologized.

<<Impossible, Eevees can’t learn that move.>> Yomega said, tilting his head.

<<And yet, Zann’s almost paralyzed.>> I pointed at the Eevee in question, then saw Twilight turn back to us with three large needles held by her aura. <<Oh, hell no!>> I backed away from the group, before turning and running under a table.

Yomega tried to run once he noticed the needles’ shadows, but Twilight grabbed him and held him down. One needle flew down, and pierced his rear end. Another did the same to Zann. Once the needles were full, she let them go, placing the needles on the counter behind her.

“Now, where did Leo go?” Twilight sing-songed, as if she was playing hide and seek with a foal. I saw the edges of the table become encased by her aura, before it was lifted away from me. “There you are!”

The world blurred as I darted under another table. Zann looked at Yomega as Twilight placed the first table down. <<What’s his problem? It’s just a needle.>>

Yomega face-pawed as I burred into a new hiding place. <<Leo hates needles.>>

Unfortunately, Twilight wised up quickly. She levitated tables, chairs, and anything I could hide under or in, until she had me left out in the open. I just started burring around the room. “Oh, just hold still!”

My ‘rampage’ ended when Yomega Quick Attacked me. Then, something that looked like flying stars smashed into my side.

<<That’s for the Glare, you asshole!>> Zann shouted as I felt the needle prick my backside.

“Finally.” Twilight muttered as she brought my needle over to the others. She left us largely alone after that, only giving us any attention to gather more samples from us. Thankfully, she kept it to fur.

We got bored very quickly. After scrapping with the others for a few minutes, I decided to see just what Twilight was up to. I pushed a stool over the counter she was working at, using it to reach the counter top. There, she had the needles labelled with our names (I had to take a guess at that, Equish writing just looked like fancy squiggles) and had placed everything to do with each of us on separate trays. Currently, she was looking at three reels of parchment next to some sort of machine, muttering something about something “not making sense”.

My ears turned to the basement door as I heard the handle wiggling. I jumped down and joined the others at the base of the stairs as the door opened. Spike came in, closing the door behind him, carrying a tray. Once we smelled the berries, our stomachs growled as one. We forced Spike to dance around us as we each tried to use him to leverage ourselves up to get at the food.

“Okay, okay, give me some room!” He moved over to a table. “You guys are kinda lucky I decided to ask Fluttershy what you guys eat. It looks like Twilight forgot.” Shaking his head, he moved a pair of plates, a coffee pot and a mug off the tray. He turned back to us balancing three bowls. “Okay, now, sit still so I don’t spill these.” Each of us froze. Zann had it easier, though. He placed the bowls down in front of us, one bowl each. We still didn’t move even after he stood up.

“Um, okay…” He scratched the back of his neck. “You guys can eat now.”

Que the berry massacre. We were just licking up the last of the juices when the smell of caffeine finally drew Twilight from her work.

“Oh, thanks for the lunch, Spike.” She picked up a sandwich.

“It’s seven.”

She paused mid-bite. “Oh. I got carried away again, didn’t I?”

We all nodded. Twilight jumped when the bowl clattered off of Zann’s head. Shaking her head, she continued eating. “I kinda wished you had waited on feeding them until I could watch. I wanted to see if there was anything they avoided.”

“Well,” Spike rubbed his chin, “The grey one just ate everything, but the one with three legs ate all the jalapeno berries first, and the other one ate the frost grapes first.”

<<That’s what those were?>> Zann and I chorused.

“Great.” Twilight groaned out. “That matches everything else I’ve found out. Did you know that their DNA matches no other animal on Equis! Hay, it doesn't seem to want to match each other!” She swung a foreleg out to the side. “It’s like Celestia just decided that the world needed these small dog-shaped mysteries just to annoy me! And it gets better!” She brought her hoof down onto the table. “Their DNA seemed to slightly change each time I ran it through the Analyzer in some subtle way! And it’s not just their DNA that’s vexing me!” She glared at me. “That one, Leo, kept running around the lab before I could get a blood sample from him!”

Spike shrugged. “So why didn’t you use your magic?”

“I TRIED!” Twilight threw her hooves into the air. “He, and the grey one Yomega, can run at speeds that would make Rainbow Dash blush. And while they're moving that fast, my magic can’t seem to get a grip on them. And then that one, Zann,” She jabbed a hoof at the Eevee in question, “can just shoot stars from his mouth apparently!!” She slumped forward onto the table beside her half eaten sandwich. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to figure these things out. I don’t even know what they’re called.”

“Well, what did Fluttershy call them?” Spike asked.

<<Eevee.>> Yomega supplied.

“She didn’t.” Twilight sighed. “Or at least, she couldn’t understand what they were calling themselves.”

<<Ee~vee.>> Yomega and I stressed.

“If I just knew what to call them, I could start compiling my notes, have something to start from.”

<<Eevee!>> The three Eevees shouted out.

“Oh, shut it…” Twilight flicked her tail at us.

Spike leaned back in his chair. We could see the thoughts forming from the look on his face. “Well, every sound they make is some variation of ‘eevee’…” He mused. “Why not call them that?”

“I-” Twilight mulled the thought over. “That could work. From now on, we’ll call them Eevees. Thanks for that, Spike. I’m mark them down as Canis Eevee in my notes, that way, if we find more species of Eevees, we have somewhere to start from. Now, I need to do some more work down here, could you look after them upstairs? If they get tired, let them sleep on my bed.” She shot a glare at me. “And make sure the doors and windows are closed and locked!”

To the Over Worked, and the Under Paid.

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“…And finally, aside from subject Zann’s odd ability to exhale star shaped rays, most of the specimens appear to favour physical contact for defense. I believe that subject Zann’s unique ability comes from losing a leg, reducing its mobility.” Twilight finished her long report. It was more of a summation of her notes on us thus far than a proper report, but Spike wrote her words down dutifully nonetheless.

Fluttershy had managed to convince the rest of the Eevee pack, as Twilight insists on calling us, to join Yomega, Zann, and I in Twilight’s treebrary. Twilight, for her part, spent most of the last three days taking extensive notes. On everything.

“And, done!” Spike lay the parchment and quill on a nearby table. “I’m going to go take the little guys on a walk, give my claw some rest.” He started to head up the basement stairs. Being the only one down in the basement with Twilight and Spike, I rushed up the stairs ahead of Spike. Walks were the only time Twilight seemed to let us outside.

“I’m just glad you don’t have a friendship report you need me to send out,” I heard Spike continue behind me, “my poor claw’s starting to cramp again.”

“What?! Wait, what day is it?” Twilight called up to us.

Spike looked over at the calendar. “Um, Tuesday…?”

“Oh, nononono,” Twilight burst up from basement, “this is bad! I thought I would’ve learned from last week!” She turned to Spike and I. “Look after the Eevees, I’ve got to go find and solve a friendship problem before I’m tardy!”

“I-” Spike couldn’t get more than that out before Twilight had ran out the door. “Okay, then.” He march over to one of the shelves, and pulled a scroll out from one of the lower drawers. “Good thing I wrote this up last week.”

Tucking the scroll into the hammerspace all ponies seem to have, he turned to the front door. Or, more specifically, the hook he recently put in beside it to hold our leashes. Pulling them of their hook, he gave them a quick jangle.

I made sure I was behind him when he did so. The rest of the pack ran out from their hiding places. I think I even saw Lulu pop out from under a bookshelf. We all waited patiently for Spike to hook us into our leashes.

We don’t know why, but we had made an unspoken agreement not to give Spike any grief. I think that, with all the other crap he has to put up with, we figured we could give him a break. I mean, the only other pony that would help him look after us was Fluttershy, and she couldn’t spend her entire day with us. Even with us going easy on him, there was still a lot of work to do. Nine bowls of food every morning and evening, daily walks, cleaning the berry juices out of our fur, and all this on top of his normal chores? What little spare time he had was now eaten up by ‘nine little balls of stress and work’, as he once called us.

<<What was that all about with Twilight?>> Vince asked has he was getting his leash attached.

Yomega looked towards the door. <>

<> I said, moving out of Spike’s way so he could open the door. <<Be prepared for Celestia to show up tonight.>>

Spike led us to the nearby park. Then he let us off our leashes. That was another thing we liked about him: as long as we came back when he called, and did what he asked, he let us largely do our own thing. That wasn’t to say we were unsupervised. If we went too far from him, he would whistle to bring us back. On days when his claws weren’t cramped, he’d even bring a few frisbees for us to chase.

I did not realize just how fun playing fetch was until I was the one bringing the frisbees back.

Spike let us run off our energy for an hour or so before calling us back. Just as he finished clipping the last leash on, a rainbow colored mushroom cloud burst up from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Spike just sighed before looking down at us. “Alright, let’s go see what that’s all about then…”

It took us a few minutes to get there, but we reached the entrance to the farm as Rainbow Dash was about to leave.

“Hey, Rainbow!” Spike tossed the handle of the leashes over a fence post before running over the prismatic mare. “Do you know what the cloud earlier was about?”

“Heh, sure do! That was me knocking down the last of AJ’s old barn.” Her gaze wandered over Spike before landing on us. “Hey, are those the Eevee things that Twilight was studying?” She took flight to hover over us.

“Yup! I’m just taking them for a walk so they don’t start running around the library.”

“Cool. How fast are they?”

<<Of course that’d be what she’d want to know first.>> Zann grumbled.

Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Well, Twilight doesn’t want me to give out specifics, but they’re actually slower than a normal pony. And they tire out faster, too.”

“Aww, c’mon, Twilight said that they were faster than any other animal she’s seen!” She crossed her forelegs. “How can they be slower?!”

“Well, that’s just it.” Spike shrugged, looking us over. “They seem to be able to pull burst of incredible speed out from nowhere, but they can’t sustain it for very long. Nothing Twilight’s found out about them seems to match any other kind of animal on Equis, so we’re thinking they’re some new kind of creature from the deep parts of the Everfree.”

“Well, okay then. I gotta go get ready for that picnic we’re having later. See ya!” With that, Rainbow sped off.

Spike shook his head as he grabbed our leashes. He led us back through Ponyville to the library. He didn’t stay long after removing our leashes before saying he needed to pick something up for Twilight.

“Spike seems to be doing a lot for Twilight.” Cy began. “I kinda feel bad for him.”

“I got an idea.” Abes stated, looking over Spike’s gem drawer.

“Princess Celestia, wait! How did you know I was in trouble?” I could hear Twilight run out onto her balcony. The day had passed, to the best of our knowledge, as it had in the show. Only, Spike had come home far sooner than Twilight, and discovered nine dirt caked Eevees in the main room. He had quickly set about to cleaning us before Princess Celestia, Twilight, and Twilight’s friends could arrive. Now the princess was about to leave.

“Your friend Spike made me aware that you were letting your fears get the best of you.” Came Celestia’s reply. “I commend him for taking your feelings seriously. Now, if you would all excuse me, I must return to Canterlot. I’m expecting some mail.”

“Ya’ll heard the Princess,” Applejack’s voice rang out, “Spike, take a letter…. Spike?!”

Spike rolled his eyes, grabbing a towel to dry his claws as he left the bathroom. “One second, I’ll be right there.” Spike left the room and turned to go down the stairs, tossing the towel behind him. Thankfully it landed near the tub.

One by one, we jumped out to land on the towel, trying to do the best our best to dry ourselves off. We were still slightly damp when we made our way down the stairs.

“So, what were you doing in the bathroom, Spike?”

“Rainbow, you can’t just ask somepony that!” Rarity chastised.

We came around the bend of the stairs to see the room below. “I was washing the Eevees off in the tub. They were covered in dirt when I got home.” Spike glanced over at Twilight. “I made sure the doors were closed before I left. I don’t know how they got out!”

<> Conner yelled down.

“Oh, no!” Twilight rushed to the basement door, dragging Spike in her aura. “With all the excitement, I forgot to give Celestia my preliminary findings on the Eevees! Quick, Spike, we got to send it now!”

The other ponies collectively shook their heads before following the purple unicorn into the basement.

Us Eevees, however, just went up to Spike’s room, and the small pile of gems we had manage to dig up over the afternoon.

<<So,>> Conner asked, <<Do you think he’ll like them?>>

Voluntold.

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A few days had passed since what became known as the Smartypants Incident, and the pack was gathered in the main room of the library.

Yomega looked around at the group. “So, we just had ‘Lesson Zero’. I think the next big thing to happen will be ‘Luna Eclipsed’, which will take place during Nightmare Night.”

“Question!” Abes raised his paw. “What’s Nightmare Night?”

I raised my head from my paws. “Pony Halloween.”

“Oh, are we gonna dress up in costumes?” Lulu asked, causing many of us to look at Yomega eagerly.

“Possibly.” He waved a paw. “The point is, Princess Luna herself will be coming to Ponyville. I know that Twilight has sent her findings on us,” He placed a paw on his snout, “so she will most likely want to see at least one of us.”

“So, who’s going to be the unlucky Eevee to get stuck with her?” Abes asked looking around. It took him a moment to notice the rest of us had our paws on our snouts. “Damnit.”

Yomega got up to pat the ‘volunteer’s’ shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better, we will give you a share of our candy. If we can score any. And besides, it’s still only… Um.” He glanced over at Villhiem. “How far away is it?”

“Two weeks.”

“See,” Yomega nodded, “plenty of time for you to relax.”

I snorted. “Here lies Abes. He had time to run.”

“Not helping!” Vince snapped.

“Hay, only Yomega can discipline him!” Cy spat, smacking Vince over the head.

Yomega tilted his head. “Irony aside, why do you say that?”

Villhiem shrugged. “Dunno. Ya kinda just have this aura that makes us want to follow you.”

“So, what will you guys be doing in the meantime?”

“I know what I’ll be doing.” Villheim said with a smile.

“So this dog just showed up one day?” Scootaloo asked as she followed Applebloom into their club house.

“Yea.” The farmpony nodded, letting Sweetie Belle pass her. “He’s real friendly. But make sure ya toss those apples over his head. Eitherwise ya might just-”

“Down doggy! Whoa!” Sweetie Belle came tumbling down the clubhouse ramp.

“Get bowled over…” Applebloom finished.

“Probably stuffing yer face in Whitetail Woods again.” I snickered.

Villheim’s fur puffed up. “That was only the one time. And I did show you guys where to find it!”

“After we caught you licking the juice out of your fur!” I shot back.

“So, what’ll you be doing then, asshole!”

“I knew that these trees were the best for napping in.” Rainbow Dash murmured. “Just having it confirmed makes it that much better.” She rolled over. “I just gotta know.” she cracked an eye open. “How’d you get up here?”

<<Shush, you. I’m sleepin’.>> I muttered from the crook I was curled up in.

“Heh.” I shrugged. “I’ll figure something out.”

Lulu stood up. “Well, this is good and all, but I have somewhere I need to be.” She turned, heading towards the basement door, and the tunnels Conner had dug out for us.

“Huh.” Vince watched the smallest Eevee leave. “Wonder what she’s up to?”

“Knowing her,” Conner rolled onto his feet, “she’s probably going to go fight raccoons or something.”

“Oh, there you are, darling.” Rarity said as she watched her newest aide push the door open. “Now, Nightmare Night is coming up, and I’ve been working on some idea’s that I think you all would look simply adorable in!”

Lulu hopped up onto the counter to look over the sketches. <<Let’s take a looksee, then. Shall we?>>

Conner stretched before heading towards the basement door. “Well, if anyone needs me, I’ll be helping Fluttershy with her animals.”

I sat up to look at him. “How can you stand working with that devil of a bunny of hers?”

“The same way I can put up with you.” He smiled over his shoulder. “You both spread your assholery around evenly.”

Cy looked up at the clock hanging by the stairs. “Shit, Vince, we need to get going!”

“Oh, right.” He jumped up. Both canines bolted to the basement. “We needed to help Applejack with the harvest, right?”

Abes shook his head. “Farm work would be good for those two. They can never sit still.”

“I’mma gonna go hang around Sugercube Corner.” Zann stated, hobbling away from the group. None of us would say it, but the loss of his leg hit him pretty hard. Pinkie seemed to make that pain go away.

Yomega sighed, before heading upstairs. “I guess this meeting’s adjourned. You guys can do what you want, I’m going to start organizing the books up here for Spike.”

I stretched, moving to the basement with the last two Eevees. “I’m thinking of going to the pond today, maybe do some sunbathing.”

“You’ll take any excuse to sleep.” Villhiem snorted. “Still, a swim sounds nice.”

“I’ll be sure to snooze on the side you jump in.”

Abes looked between us. “Why do you say that?”

I chuckled. “The last time he jumped into the pond, the tidal wave almost drowned the poor mares on the far side!” I blurred into the nearest tunnel, leading the race to the park.

I won, but that was just because the others wanted to tackle me into the water.

We didn’t get home until the sun was almost setting. Spike was waiting for us by the tunnels opening. “You guys almost missed dinner. Come on, I saved you guys some.” He led us up the stairs. “Ya know, I’m surprised Twilight still hasn’t found those yet.”

Said mare had her head buried in her studies. In fact her reading kept the rest of us up until near midnight, when she finally decided to get some sleep.

“Spike… What smells like wet dog?”

Bittersweet Candy

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The next few days passed quickly for us. Each of Twilight’s friends found some way in which we could help them get ready for Nightmare Night.

Applejack had Vince and Cy ‘help’ gather the apples for the apple bobbing. Applejack put a few baskets out for them to fill with any apples that didn’t meet Granny Smith’s apple cider standards. Now, granted, she did have to explain to them to pick the apples up by the stem.

Conner decided to keep Fluttershy company, as well as sit outside with a bowl of candy for the trick-or-treaters when they would come by. He even managed to get her out to actually buy the candy, with Angel’s help of course.

Lulu was absent for the majority of the prep. Although, now that I think of it, Rarity always had what she needed on hand. And the bulge in her saddlebags seemed to move every now and then…

Pinkie seemed to keep Zann away from everypony else. On the last night he was with us, he explained that Pinkie had decided to make a costume for Zann so he could be the foals’ chaperone. We all suspected that he was really there to keep an eye on her.

Yomega took it upon himself to help Spike. Carrying extra parchment, quills, helping organize lower shelves, that sort of thing.

Even Villhiem and I were able to keep busy. We ran messages, orders, notes, basically helping keep everything going as smoothly to Twilight’s specifications. Hell, we even... borrowed some spare candy and ran around with bowls on our backs so that every foal could get one or four a day early.

That was the Cutiemark Crusaders' idea.

Don’t give me that look, most of Villhiem and I’s time was spent as damage control for those three!

Abes, with the most important job for the actual night, had decided to barricade himself under a shelf each day, only coming out when everyone else was asleep to eat. Spike was kind enough to leave a couple of bowls of berries out for him.

The rest of us were kind enough to keep Villhiem from eating them.

Finally, Nightmare night rolled around. Rarity and Pinkie Pie both showed up with a surprise for us. Apparently, Pinkie wasn’t the only one to make a costume for us. Pinkie was already in her chicken outfit, but she brought a small vest, tricorn hat, and an eye patch. She even had a small candy bucket to hang around Zann's neck. She placed each of these on Zann, before pulling a small peg leg on a string out from… wherever she keeps her things, finishing up Zann’s pirate costume. She carefully placed him on her back before running out the front door.

Rarity only rolled her eyes, before pulling out the costumes she had made for us. Lulu got what appeared to be a simple black dress, until one saw the vampiric cowl that went with it. Yomega was fitted into a tuxedo with a white mask affixed around his eyes. Vince and Cy were each given mirroring outfits, one red and one blue, obviously designed after the Wonderbolts’ flight suits. For Villhiem, she had created a mini waiter’s outfit. She said that tonight, he would serve the food as opposed to eating it. As for myself, She made a nice and snug pair of pajamas, with a small teddy bear attached to a collar.

Conner had a pair of butterfly wings, but Rarity said she’d drop by Fluttershy’s to fit him with it. She left behind a mask and a burglar’s outfit for Abes, for whenever he decided to show himself.

We didn’t see him before we left for the night.

The library door closed with a soft click. Not a sound disturbed the calm, quiet atmosphere for several minutes. Soon, a soft shuffling was heard, as a brown tail popped out from under the upper floor bookshelves. This tail was quickly followed by the rest of Abes.

Once freed from his previous bolthole, he promptly made his way down to the library’s basement. He had asked for anything that the other Eevees knew about the episode he now found himself in, as well as for anything on the Princess of the Night. Slowly, his opinion of his given role had changed. Tonight, he had an appointment to keep.

He quickly made his way out the tunnel that would bring him out near the market. Making sure he wouldn’t be seen, he made his way over to where he could see where the others had guessed Luna would land. There, he waited, and he watched.

He saw everypony enjoying the games. He made sure to keep track of Rainbow Dash’s cloud so he wouldn’t be scared out of hiding. He saw a piebald colt prancing around with Zann in matching costumes, being led by Pinkie. He saw each of his packmates’ candy bags fill with their sugary loot.

But mostly, he waited.

He didn’t have long to wait. Soon, every foal and nearby Eevee was gathered up, then led out of the square. It wasn’t long before the sky started to darken, thick thunderclouds rolling in from the Everfree. Abes watched as a black chariot driven by two of Luna’s Night Guard flew past overhead. Shortly after that, Princess Luna landed amongst the costumed Ponyville citizens.

And shortly after that, he lost all hearing.

He saw Luna’s interactions with the costumed ponies swiftly deteriorate, but his hearing only returned in time to hear her state her non-farewell as she marched away.

Luna waited until she could no longer see her subjects behind her before breaking into a full gallop. She didn’t know where she was going, just that it was away. Soon, she slowed to a stop, only to look up at a statue depicting her more well-known alter ego.

She let herself flop onto her stomach in a manner not suited to her position as a princess, but she didn’t care. Nopony was there to see, anyways, just a small tan dog carrying a piece of candy in its mouth.

She blinked. The canine crept closer to her, until it boldly lay itself between her front hooves, dropping the candy before her.

“Thou art not going to run away, too?” She sniffed. It only started to wag its tail against her leg with a soft, steady thumping. “Oh, I only wanted make this night a proper festival, but I instead find nothing but a tribute to my darkest memories.” She started to slowly rub the small dog’s back. “And now, the only being that dares approach me canst even understand what I am saying.”

“Princess Luna?” A voice called out. “Hello, my name is-”

“Starswirl the Bearded.” Luna interrupted, stand as she did so. She noticed the dog move to sit under her. “A commendable costume. Thou even got the bells right.”

“Thank you!” Twilight cheered. “Finally, somepony who gets my costume!”

An awkward silence stretched between the two mares. “Uh, I just came to welcome you to our celebration.” Twilight began, moving to shorten the distance between her and Luna. “My actual name is-”

“Twilight Sparkle.” Luna cut in before beginning to hover, causing a strong wind to blow. “It was thou who unleashed the powers of Harmony upon Us, and took away our dark powers!” The wind began pushing Twilight back, though the dog managed to stay where it was.

“Thou art also the second to greet me this night!” Luna thundered.

Twilight took a moment to adjust her costume before replying. “And that’s a good- Wait, second? You met somepony else already?”

“That is what We have just stated.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s a little hard to understand you with you yelling at me.”

“But it is tradition to speak with the royal we, and speak with this much volume when addressing our subjects!”

Again, Twilight had to readjust her costume, using the time it gave her to form her response. “Ya know, that might explain why your appearance was met with… mixed results. I think that if you changed your approach a bit, you might be met with a warmer reception.”

“Changed our approach?”

“Lowered your volume.” Twilight clarified.

“Oh. We have been locked away for the past thousand years, We are not sure We can.” Luna used her magic to lift the dog that stayed by her side. “Besides, this one does not appear to be affected!”

<<Please stop the ringing…>>

Twilight shot a quick glare at it. “There you are! We were looking everywhere for you!”

Luna brought the dog around to face her. “And what manner of canine art thou?”

Twilight looked away with a blush. “That would be one of the Eevee that I wrote to Princess Celestia about. That one has been hiding from us lately, and Fluttershy has been worried about him, and- that’s it!”

Luna let Twilight lead her from the clearing, placing the slightly dazed Eevee to rest on her back. Twilight led her around the largest groups of Nightmare Night festivities, taking Luna to a cottage a short distance from town.

The interaction between Luna and Fluttershy didn’t begin very well, with the timid mare being barely able to stutter a coherent sentence and trying to bolt back into her home. She was stopped by Twilight slamming her door shut, letting Fluttershy plow face first into it and mashing the face of a costumed Eevee behind it. This in turn caused a scene when Luna tried to thank Fluttershy for her help, which was misinterpreted by a large chicken and a group of foals.

Luna let her hoof fall after trying to reassure the fleeing ponies, feeling the sadness start to well up again. A small body pressed against her back, reminding her of the Eevee that had sought her out.

“Come on, Princess.” Twilight tried to reassure. “Time for Plan B.”

Plan B, being to take the ‘terrifying’ Princess of the Night through the town of easily frightened ponies to bring her to Applejack. Once Luna was convinced to try a few of the games, it actually started to work. Ponies were starting to warm up to her.

Until she saved a young colt from falling into the basin for the apple bobbing. The group of foals from before misinterpreted the rescue, and, instigated by the Pink Chicken, began to panic. The fear spread to the rest of the townsponies, who began to back away.

This was, in turn, misunderstood by the princess, who only made matters worse. Her misguided attempt to salvage the situation caused a fear driven stampede that only ended with a thunderclap, and a shouted proclamation of the permanent cancelation of Nightmare Night.

In her sorrow and anger, Luna disappeared in a swirl of mist. She sped away from the square, dropping back into her pony form near the pond in the park. Again, she laid upon her stomach staring out over the still waters.

“Vee~ee.” Came a groan from behind her. Startled, Luna snapped her head behind her. There, the Eevee from before had slid down off her back. He made his way up to her head on uneasy legs.

“We’re sorry, little one,” Luna murmured as the canine nuzzled up against her neck, “We had forgotten that you were with Us.”

For a time, the pair lay together looking out over the pond. Still, despite her company, Luna started to slip into her sadness. “We- I thought that ponies would’ve changed.” She lamented. “I thought a thousand years would be long enough for ponies to forgive, if nothing else. Yet I am still remembered by my past mistakes, with only Twilight and yourself being the only ones to try to know me. I know that the years I have spent away have left me… outdated,” She glanced down at the Eevee with her, “but I thought that these traditions that I knew would still be practiced. Now I fear that I may be driving our subjects away from me.” Luna returned her gaze to the waters before her. “I’m afraid that this is how it all started a millennia ago. I worry that I am doomed to repeat my past mistakes. Doomed to spend an eternity alone, and unappreciated.” She gazed down at her companion, the moonlight reflecting from his eyes making them appear to glow. “Worse yet, I’m scared that nopony save my sister and Twilight will care. Heh, I doubt you can even understand the words I’m saying.”

“You’re wrong, though.” A stallion’s voice seemed to whisper. The Eevee in her forelegs began to glow with a blinding light.

“I do care. And you are not alone.”

Nightmare Fallout.

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“And you are not alone. For, if you are the Princess of the Night…” The light died down, revealing a large, black canine. It was about three times the size of the Eevee that was once in its place, and had a more streamlined body. Its ears appeared to be enclosed in fur. Its tail was less bushy then its previous form. It had red eyes, with golden circles on its forehead and haunches and golden rings around its ears and tail. But its most noticeable feature was that wherever it was gold, it glowed in the moonlight.

“… Then let me be your Hound.”

Luna spent a few minutes just staring at the former Eevee. “What manner of creature art thou?”

The black hound started chuffing in a facsimile of a laugh. “What I am would take far too much time to explain, and we only have so much of it before your sister’s protegee comes to interrupt our time together. As it is,” The creature sat on its haunches then lowered its head as if it was bowing, “I am still the Abes you had met earlier. I once was, and now I am.”

“How is it that thou can talk to me?” Luna asked. “Can thou speak with others?”

Abes tilted its head. “Brre?” “I doubt I can ‘speak’ with other sentient beings, except the Eevees. As for us, I assume it would be due to our connections to the moon: you who controls it, and I whom it empowers.” It, He, looked over Luna’s shoulder. “I fear our time is up.”

“P-Princess Luna?” Luna looked behind her at the costumed Twilight. “W-what is that creepy dog-thing with you?!”

Luna turned to glance questioningly at the ‘dog-thing’. “Creepy?”

“She must mean my passive defense. I naturally come off as unsettlingly to those not associated with the Dark when I am glowing from moonlight.”

“Ah, well.” Luna turned back to the lavender mare. “This is Abes.”

“No, Abes is smaller and fluffier and not creepy!” Twilight insisted. “That is big and terrifying andcomingthisway!”

While Twilight had been ranting, Abes had gotten up and moved towards her. When he stopped before her, Luna could see that they were nearly the same height if one took Abes’s ears into account. Slowly, Abes sat down, then reached out to boop Twilight’s nose.

Twilight stared thoughtfully at Abes for a time, before looking back at Luna. “Okay, I’m, I’m going to need to study this. Later.” Abes whipped his head to stare at Twilight in shock. “But first, I have to tell you something. I finally figured out why you are having so much trouble being liked!”

“Forgive us if we withhold our enthusiasm.” Luna deadpanned with a shared glance at Abes.

“Come with me, I’ll explain everything on the way!”

I found myself being led back to the statue of Nightmare Moon with the rest of the foals and Eevees. “I’m with Villhiem on this one, I’m not going to give some of my loot as an offering!” I glared at Yomega, who shrugged my attack off. “It’s bad enough I have to give some up to Abes!”

“Deal with it, Leo!” Yomega glared back. “If you don’t, I bet Twilight or one of the other unicorns will do it for you!”

We argued back and forth all the way to the statue. Said argument ended when Pinkie grabbed a few pieces of candy from each of us and placed it onto the growing pile in front of the statue. Vince gave us a look that just screamed ‘oh, grow up'.

“See, it took care of itself!” Cy said with finality.

The last colt to give up some candy was Pipsqueak. “Goodbye Nightmare Night, forever.” He dejectedly hung his head as he turned away.
Suddenly, a loud growling was heard as a large black dog with glowing eyes and gold rings stalked from around the statue, causing the foals to back away. A strong breeze started to blow through the clearing.

“Citizens of Ponyville!” Echoed Luna’s voice. “You were wise to bring this candy to me. I am pleased with your offering.” Applejack’s straw hat was blown off her head, grabbing everyone’s attention. “So pleased, in fact…” The hat blew over to the dog. “My hound and I might just eat it…” The hat suddenly jerked up to reveal a very alive Nightmare Moon where the statue was. “… Instead of eating YOU!”

Every foal screamed before turning and fleeing, dragging the Eevees along with them. We had a good view of ‘Nightmare Moon’ transforming back into Luna, before she spat out her fake fangs. Abes stopped growling and glowing his eyes, even going so far to let his tongue hang out and pant in an effort to make himself appear harmless. We waited while the rest of the foals encouraged Pipsqueak to go talk to Luna. After a short exchange, he came running back cheering. “She said ‘yes’ guys!”

The responding cheering of the colts and fillies did a number on my already ringing ears. I joined the other Eevees as we broke away from the children to meet with the largest member of our pack.

<<The candy had better be worth the tinnitus I’m going to have from all their bloody screaming.>> I growled as we approached Abes.

<<At least you weren’t right beside Luna using her patented Royal Canterlot Caps-Lock.>> He chuckled back at me.

Conner sat and stared up at Abes in awe. <<So, how’d you evolve?>>

Abes sat himself front of us as we gathered around him. <<Well, I’m not really sure. After spending the evening with Luna, and seeing the night’s hardships from her side, I kinda… I don’t know, connected with her.>> He glanced over at Luna and Twilight. <<And there’s something about her that makes me want to see her smile.>>

<<What does evolving feel like?>> Lulu asked.

Abes shuddered with a chuckle. <<Like I let the worse demons about myself out to play with my very soul.>> He sighed. <> He shuddered.

Before he could continue, Luna approached us, carrying her candy offering in her magical grasp. She lay a portion of it at Abes’s feet before leaning in. “Thank you.” She softly murmured in his ear. She then turned and joined the rest of the costumed ponies heading back to town, leaving Twilight, Spike, and us remaining at the statue. Twilight began to dictate a friendship report to Spike as Abes turned back to us.

<<And that makes it all worthwhile…>> He admitted with a slight blush.

“Now!” Twilight looked us over. We could see her thoughts warring inside her head. Finally, she let out a sigh. “Buck it, I’ll deal with you tomorrow. Could you stay and watch over them, Spike?”

Said dragon gave Twilight a thumbs-up. “Sure thing Twilight!”

It didn’t take long for us to grow bored in the clearing. As a group, we returned to town.

As we approached the market square, Abes excused himself from the group, mentioning wanting to “spend more time with Luna before she left.”

I nodded as he jogged off. <<Lunabreon, huh?>>

I shrugged. <<Meh, I’ll ship it.>>

As an Eevee evolved into Luna’s newest friend, the Nightmare Night Masquerade in the Canterlot Palace Gardens was interrupted by a resounding crack. The nobility were understandably alarmed as members of the Day and Night Guards rushed through the castle grounds. Though they searched high and low, no intruders were discovered. They traced the sound deep into the garden’s hedge maze.

Everypony – guard, noble, and princess – missed the hairline fracture along a certain statue’s mismatched brow.

Discoveries.

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It was the morning after Nightmare Night. Not a creature was stirring due to indigestion.

Every non-pony inhabiting the library had binged on candy the night before. Spike lay groaning in his basket bed, while we Eevees lay in a tangled heap by the bed. Twilight, even though she was putting off studying the ‘newest’ resident, had lain awake staring at the ceiling trying, and then discarding, different theories as to how two separate creatures could be the same entity. She had finally fallen asleep just before the rising of Celestia’s sun.

Abes had waited until the Eevees had fallen into their candy comas before carefully extracting himself. He had then spent the rest of the night creeping through the library, looking at any books that caught his interest, while also trying to reteach himself how to read. He had discovered that he could see perfectly fine with the minute glow coming from his gold rings, which had dimmed as he had come out from under the moonlight.

Now, he drew the curtains closed so the sun’s rays wouldn’t wake the room’s occupants. Wearily, he slunk to the far corner where the sun’s light had yet to reach. He curled up, wedging himself into the deepest part of the shade, before falling asleep himself.

I awoke with a start. For once, I was the second one up, being beaten only by Villhiem. He looked over at me with a paw raised to his muzzle, before pointing to the far corner. There, wedged into the space between the bedside table and the wall, lay Abes. His golden rings had faded into a dull yellow.

He also lay upside down with his tail covering his head.

“What time is it?” I whispered over to Villhiem.

“Just before noon.” Came his hushed reply.

We both shared a glance, nodding. “Operation: Hell’s Kitchen is a go!”

We finished setting the table about half an hour later. During that time, no one else had gotten up. That soon changed as the smell made its way up the stairs.

First came the Eevees, with their heightened sense of smell. Then came Spike, who stared wide eyed at what Villheim and I had done. Finally, Twilight managed to crawl her way down to the dining room, drawn by her nose’s promise of coffee. It took her tired brain a moment to figure out what she was seeing. “Wow, Spike. You didn’t have to do this for us…”

The table was set for two. Two towering stacks of pancakes where placed by pitchers of syrup, one stack obviously laced with some of the gems from Spike’s supplies. The Eevees had just finished eating from their own bowls, save for Villhiem and me, our bowls clearly showing the small amount of fish mixed in with the berries.

But what surprised her the most was that the dishes had already been cleaned and left to air dry.

Spike looked at Twilight in confusion. “But I didn’t- ow!”

I interrupted him by chomping on his tail as I passed by to my own bowl.

“I’m sorry, Spike, I missed that.” Twilight said as she began to work on her own pancake stack.

“I said ‘thanks’.” Spike said, shifting his confused look to Villhiem and me.

We just gave him our best ‘innocent little angels’ look.

“I figured you can use the energy to look over Abes this afternoon.”

Twilight stabbed her fork into the now syrupy mess on her plate. “Ugh, I was up all night trying to figure out what might have happened. Did Princess Luna do something she wasn’t aware of that caused him to change? Did he just spontaneously grow up? Did he leech some of Luna’s magic to do so?” She shoveled her pancakes down as fast as she could while still throwing theories around. “Was he always under an illusion and decided to let it drop? Did he just absorb energy from the moon and use that to change? If so, why haven’t the others changed? What triggered it?

“Just when I think I’ve figured these little enigmatic balls of stress out, they throw me something new…” She finished with a groan.

<<No, sorta, maybe, no, yes that! We don’t wanna yet, his friendship with Luna!>> I answered.

“Oh stuff it!” Twilight flicked her fork at me, causing a dollop of syrup to land on my muzzle. Villhiem, without thinking, quickly licked it off.

I just stared at him, feeling my face flush. I could see the moment he realized what he had just done. He slowly looked at me, mortified.

“Pfff, we need to get a camera for these things, Twilight!” Spike burst out laughing.

I spent the rest of the afternoon hiding under Twilight’s bed. The rest of the Eevees had left to do their own thing. I was deliberately avoiding the others. I had been keeping a secret from the rest of the pack, one I still hadn’t quite come to terms with myself. I knew I was incredibly lucky that our hosts had yet to not call me by name too much, and the few times they didn't, no one else had caught it.

“You know that they are going to find out eventually, right?”

Hello, Brain. Where the hell have you been?!

“Oh, you know, trying to come to terms with our new living arrangements. The plumbing is interesting to say the least…”

Before that thought could go any further, Twilight came into her room. I crawled towards the edge of the bed to see what she was up to. Her gaze traveled across the room before locking onto the sleeping Umbreon in the corner. Lighting up her horn, she approached the slumbering canine. Her satisfied smile, quickly shifted into a frown, then to a determined grimace. Slowly, Abes was lifted of the ground about an inch, before Twilight carefully levitated him out her bedroom door.

I slowly followed her down the stairs. She seemed to take her time, carefully planting each hoof before raising another. Soon enough, Abes was bumping into the closed basement door.

“Spike!” Twilight grunted out. “I need you to open the basement door!”

Spike poked his head out from an adjacent room, before running to Twilight’s aid, tossing his feather duster behind him. Spike walked backwards down the basement stairs in front of Abes, with Twilight following him. Again, I snuck down behind them.

Stopping at a landing, I watched them place Abes onto a table. Twilight let out a sigh as she slumped against the nearest wall. “That, was unexpected.” She panted out. Somehow, they had failed to wake the sleeping Umbreon throughout the transfer.

Spike looked from Abes to Twilight and back. “He couldn’t have been that heavy, could he?”

“That’s just it.” Twilight leveled a slightly scared stare at her assistant. “It wasn’t that he was heavy. My magic just couldn’t seem to get a grip on him. I haven’t had to apply that much effort and focus since magic kindergarten.”

“But,” Spike turned to stare at Abes, “I saw Princess Luna carrying him around as if he was nothing in her aura!”

“Maybe it’s just because she’s an Alicorn?” Twilight speculated. She shook her head with a sigh. “I’m going to need some fresh Eevee samples to compare his to. Is Yomega upstairs?”

“No, he left with the others.”

“Ugh! How are they getting out?!” Twilight sighed again. “You know what, that’s fine. Go find Leo, she’s usually sleeping in a hidey hole somewhere in the library around now.”

Spike snapped a salute. “Got it!” He spun on the spot and marched up the stairs. He stopped when he found me just sitting there. “And done!” he called back to Twilight, motioning for me to follow him. I obediently did so.

“Great!” Twilight chirped, levitating another large needle. “Hold Leo steady, please.”

Dances with Eevees.

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I sat on my bandaged rump, watching Twilight work away at one of her fancy machines. It was my fault, really. Spike could only hold onto me so well, and an exhausted Twilight could only be so accurate. And with me flailing around, they missed my veins more often than not.

Also, I learned Flail. Yay me.

Anyways, Twilight had gone over her notes about Abes the Eevee, trying to see what had changed with his evolution. She kept my folder open with her current analysis of my blood on top. Eventually, I gave up trying to understand her chicken scratch, and left through the nearest tunnel to find a tree to nap in.

I meandered my way through Ponyville, accepting any affection given to me. Ponies truly were suckers for anything ‘cute’. Hell, I could see Zann walking around Sugarcube Corner with a serving tray on his back, taking cupcakes from the kitchen to customers. And they would coo and give him rubs and-

Wait, what?

“Zann has a job, apparently.”

No, that’s not it. How the hell is he balancing a tray with cupcakes when he only has three legs!

“Ah. I would assume through practice. And many a spilled cupcake.”

Shaking my head, I continued on. I strolled through the market, taking a quick glance into Carousel Boutique as I passed by. I saw Lulu hold a ribbon in place while Rarity-

Hold on. They both have jobs?

I turned away from the boutique, I quickly went from a jog to a trot as I left the town. I decided that I really needed some fresher air. Passing Fluttershy’s cottage, Conner waved to me, a pail of chicken feed in his mouth. I nervously waved back, before breaking into a run. I slowed as I neared the Crusaders’ clubhouse. I made a beeline inside.

There, the Crusaders’ were debating their newest cutiemark scheme. Villhiem sat across the room from them. We all heard his stomach rumble. Once we all looked, Villhiem’s eyes briefly glowed. Sweetie Belle used her magic to flick a berry at him.

That Bastard! He learnt Baby-Doll Eyes just for free food!

I stomped back down the gangway. I had little warning before the Crusaders bowled me over, Villhiem in their midst.

“No, he learned it so that he could get fed while watching over the Crusaders.”

So he’s, what, a glorified babysitter?

“He was always good with kids, and Applejack seems to trust him…”

I let out a low growl. I turned and stomped my way into the orchard proper. I only paused when I heard a dull thumping. Looking around, I spotted Vince and Cy, head butting apple trees. I almost snickered, until I noticed the fallen apples that they proceeded to pick up and place into waiting baskets. I stayed and watched as they filled up their baskets, eating any apples that got mushed. Big Mac brought them an empty basket to replace the filled ones.

Once more in a sour mood, I started to sulk my way to the pond.

“Lulu has a job, Conner has a job, the Reckless Duo have a job that oddly suites them, even Villhiem and Zann have jobs. Hell, Yomega helps out more around the library then the rest of us combined….”

What are you getting at?

“What have you done lately?”

I helped make the pancake breakfast!

“Yes, helped.”

By this point, I had reached the pond, and my favourite napping spot. Only, this time, I just stared down at the water and the dejected Eevee reflected back.

Even Abes helps around the post office. Hell, it’ll be easier for him now that he’s bigger. And here I am, just coasting along like a leech.

“Finally figured it out, huh?”

BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS!! I blurred into the water, letting the cold seep into my fur, cooling my own anger. I waited until my lungs burned before surfacing. Turning onto my back, I gazed up at the cloudless sky. So far, I was the only one to figure out how to float around like that.

Mostly because I’m usually the only one here…

“Hold on. Didn’t Rainbow mention that it was supposed to drizzle this afternoon?”

Yeah…?

“Where’s the clouds?”

I turned over and doggy paddled to shore. I didn’t even wait to dry off before blurring around Ponyville, keeping an eye above the rooftops until I saw a patch of Rainbow’s mane. I followed her as she darted down allies and across streets, before ducking into the Ponyville weather station. I followed her to her office, but she closed the door before I could enter. I placed an ear to the door to see what I could hear.

“Attention… Clousdale Main Office…” I listened to the now familiar sound of quill on parchment. “Drought has reached… Ponyville. Clouds… near impossible to gather… might be moving… to Canterlot.”

I backed away. A drought would be bad for the Apple’s crops, as well as any nearby farms. I had overheard Rainbow telling her weather team that a good sized downpour could weaken it enough for later teams to handle, but I guess they couldn’t find enough clouds in time.

Hey, Brain? Is there anything you might know that could help us here?

“There are weather controlling moves…”

Yeah, but I’d need a TM to learn them.

“Lemme try something…”

I moved out of the weather station, and stood in the middle of the street. I closed my eyes, and began to shuffle my paws. Back and forth, over and over, faster and faster. I could feel some form of charge building up.

More, more power…

Rainbow looked over the letter she had just written. She had done her best to make it legible, but even her best was a mess.

Going to need to ask Thunderlane to rewrite it again. This drought was bad. Sure, it wasn’t something that the Ponyville team hadn't dealt with before, but this one had come into the Everfree from Dodge Junction. It appeared to be heading away into the Wastelands, but then it just veered straight towards Ponyville. They had no time to set up a proper countermeasure.

She listened to the light tapping on her office window. A nice light rain like that always seemed to wash her worries away. That, or a good nap.

Wait a minute.

Rainbow bolted to her window. There, tapping away on it, were raindrops. And they were getting heavier. Springing into action, Rainbow flew out into the rain to find the pony who managed to wrangle in the clouds. Her eyes fell to the Eevee hopping and dancing in the rain, glowing a pale blue.

Eventually, I slowed down. I opened my eyes to see nice fat droplets falling. The rain wasn’t a heavy one, but I expected that with the drought. I didn’t expect the amount of energy it would take out of me. Maybe that’s why the games included power points.

Brain, I love you, you know that right?

“… Dude, you’ve got problems.”

Oddly for the strength of the storm, a lightning bolt struck somewhere in the Everfree, causing me to jump. I whipping around, I caught sight of Rainbow Dash staring at me. I didn’t have much time to react before I was scooped up and pulled into her office. She placed me on her desk and we just stared at each other, her magenta orbs burning into my tired eyes.

Our staring match was broken when a pegasus that I vaguely identified as Thunderlane burst in. “Way to go, Rainbow!” He crowed. “That downpour will help the next team knock this drought down for good! Where’d you get the clouds?”

Rainbow turned her bewildered stare to Thunderlane. “I didn’t. This little guy did.”

“No way, Eevees don’t have wings. How could it move clouds?”

“That’s what I want to know!” Rainbow just sighed, before pulling the letter she had written up over to herself. She grabbed a quill and quickly edited it before passing it to Thunderlane. “I need you to copy this down for me.”

Thunderlane smirked. “Need to make sure the boss can clearly read about our little helper?”

“No.” Rainbow shook her head. “I hate to do this, but no other weather stations are to know of her. Not until Twilight can figure out how an Eevee can buck with the weather like that!” Rainbow scooped me up, and hovered out the door. “I’ll take Leo to her now and let her know what happened.”

True to her word, Rainbow went straight to the library. I didn’t get a clear enough look, but I think I saw Yomega open the window before we crashed into the nearest bookcase.

<>

I just gave him a lopsided grin. <<Lies!>>

Spike started to remove books off of Rainbow, before leveling a tired stare at her. “You know, I just finished with that shelf.”

Rainbow was quick to return to her hooves, standing over me. “Sorry about that, but do you know where Twilight is right now?”

Spike pointed down to the basement door. “She’s with Abes. Why?”

“Leo made it rain.”

<>

Spike let out a nervous chuckle, thinking it was some sort of weak joke. The serious look on Rainbows face soon chased it off. “Bad timing, she’s gone a little nuts. You, ah, might wanna go check up on her.”

Rainbow picked me up and flew down into Twilight’s laboratory. There, the studious mare could be seen pouring over data sheets. Her main and tail had become frazzled. Her ear twitched before she looked over at us.

With a flash, she teleported over to us. “Rainbow! I’ve figured it out!” She started pacing back and forth. Any attempts to interrupt her were ignored. “Without a shadow of a doubt, that thing on the table is Abes, but not him either. It took a few blood samples, but I figured it out! When he was an Eevee, his DNA was somehow unstable. All of them are! But then he turned into this, which I’m calling an ‘Umbreon’ following Spike’s suggestion of naming them. Canis Eevee Umbria scientifically. When he changed, Abes’ DNA stabilized! But it didn’t just stabilize, no, it seemed to mix in some of Princess Luna’s!” She jammed a hoof into Rainbow’s mouth. “You don’t want to know about the legal loops I needed to jump through to get that! But it gets better!”

Two scrolls flashed over to us. “The one on the left is Abes’ current DNA listing, the other Leo’s most recent one. See the circled parts? They match! But I found those in what I thought was just excess genes. Spare garbage, if you will, that everything has that causes mutations and evolution over centuries. Do you know what this means!

“Every Eevee has the potential to spontaneously evolve! And Umbreon is just one of the potential outcomes! I won’t know of more until we find more.” She flashed back over to her notes. “But we can’t rush them, oh no. Their genes somehow prevents that. Needs to be natural. But what frustrates me is that I still haven’t figured out why my magic just. Slips. Off. Of. IT!!” Twilight finished. She stood panting, one hoof pointing towards where Abes remained dozing. She blinked at us. “Oh, hey Rainbow. When’d you get here? I think you just missed Spike. What do you need?”

Rainbow and I traded looks. “Actually Twilight, I think it can wait until you had some sleep.”

“Oh no, I should be able to help you out with whatever you need!”

“Okay…” Rainbow shrugged. “Have you found anything to do with weather manipulations in your studies?”

Twilight nodded. “Oh, yes I did study that while I was in Canterlot, before coming here.”

“How about something more recently.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, the only thing I’ve been studying since I got here was friendship and these… Eevees…” Her gaze dropped down to me.

I just awkwardly waved.

“Twilight!” Sweetie Belle's voice rang out from upstairs, “We have a problem!”

<<Oh thank god, a distraction.>>

As a group, all of us ran up the stairs, even a newly awakened Abes.

“Fluttershy told me to come get you!” Sweetie Belle continued. “It’s Villhiem! He’s hurt, bad!”

Does This Still Count as Tree Sap?

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Twilight started to rapidly teleport herself, Spike, and Sweetie Belle. Rainbow flew, carrying me. Abes streaked after us. Yomega broke off towards Sugarcube Corner, presumably to start gathering the rest of the pack. All of us were ultimately heading towards Fluttershy’s cottage. Twilight rapped away at the front door as Rainbow came in for her landing. Angel opened the door, hopping out of the way as I ran in to get a look at the scene.

“What happened?” Twilight asked the Crusaders as they stood off to the side.

As a group, the Crusaders galloped out of the clubhouse. Villheim ran after them, shouting an apology off to Leo, who the Crusaders had trampled, but he didn’t seem to hear it.

The Crusaders waited just long enough for Villhiem to jump into their wagon before taking off. The Eevee looked at the gathered items. Various herbs and jars, some string, and a book with a red cover with a white skull on it. Must be a book of ghost stories. He pondered.

The Crusaders veered off the road onto a narrow path, hurtling towards the Everfree. They didn’t go very far in. In fact, one could see the forests edge from the clearing they stopped in. One just couldn’t see the road. However, Villhiem didn’t see a need to drag them out of the forest. After all, this wasn’t the first time they’d done this.

What was a first was them laying the string out in a large circle on the forest floor. Then they grabbed the various herbs and spread them out around it. Sweetie Belle then snagged the book and flipped through the pages until she reached one they had dog eared.

“Is everything ready?” Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie Belle looked from the book to the organized mess the Crusaders had made as a few small raindrops sprinkled into the clearing. “You think doing this here is a good idea? Wouldn’t by the pond be easier?”

Applebloom shook her head. “Naw, Scoots said that th’ drought comin’ through here would make it weaker, an’ we read in there that water makes it stronger.”

“Yeah, makes sense. It is a water elemental…”

<<Wait, what?!>>

“You WHAT?!” Twilight screeched.

“Cutiemark Crusaders Summoners…” Scootaloo said, ears laid back, staring at the floor.

Sweetie made a few corrections to the summoning circle as the rain grew slightly heavier. “Okay, that should be it.” As a group, the Crusaders began to chant. They stumbled here and there over a few words, but they doggedly kept at it.

As they reached the end of the chant, a bolt of lightning struck the center of their array, knocking the Crusaders back, and blowing a pile of herbs away. But it also destroyed a portion of the string binding circle.

The Crusaders didn’t notice that. Instead, they stared up at a large, blue and yellow dragon’s head. Then it shifted, revealing that it was instead a giant claw at least twice the size of the body it was attached to. “Burosuta…” It yawned out.

This had Villhiem worried. He could easily recognize the Clawitzer the Crusaders had summoned up, but he couldn’t understand it. The large blue crayfish started to drag itself towards the clearings edge.

“Where’s it going?”

“Hey wait, git back here!” Applebloom yelled after it.

The Clawitzer turned to glare at the little pony, before bringing its massive claw around, pointing directly at them. The ponies had little warning before a jet of water blasted into them, blasting them into a nearby rock. The deluge was suddenly lifted from them. Scootaloo risked a peek.

Villhiem turned to face the Crusaders, before kicking up a large cloud of dust straight into the Clawitzer’s face. Blasts of water sprayed out at random. Scootaloo used this as an opportunity to get the others up and run. They made it to the clearing’s edge before looking back in time to see a large sphere of water expand from the large shellfish. Villhiem didn’t have enough time to dodge. The wave blasted him into the rock the Crusaders just left. The Clawitzer turned to find its original targets staring in fear.

<<Oh, no you don’t!>> Rays of stars rammed into the main body of the Clawitzer. It spun back to the downed Eevee and began unleashing a barrage of explosive bubbles into him. The Crusaders cowered back from its cries of pain, only opening their eyes when they heard a dull thud from in front of them. Villhiem had been juggled to land at their feet. Battered and bruised, he struggled to stand.

The massive claw widened, a large sphere of water growing within. <<You think you can just hurt defenseless fillies while I’m around?>> He began to glow. <<I’LL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THIS!>> He roared.

In Canterlot, a new fracture grew hidden at the base of a statues tail.

Back in the Everfree, the Clawitzer snapped its claw shut, launching a large wave at the group. Vines from within the Everfree burst out, forming a wall in front of the fillies. The wave broke upon the glowing and expanding form of Villhiem, crashing ineffectively against the vine wall. The vines lowered as the light faded. The Crusaders could see a strange new creature where Villhiem had once stood. It had an off white body with greenish growths sprouting off of it, its ears and tail looking like large leaves. It looked back at them with brown eyes that matched its paws with a reassuring smile.

Battered, Villhiem stood strong. <<You’ll regret this day.>> His tail began to glow, before he jumped into a spin. Leaves seemed to have been spawned from his tail, then launched at the offending shellfish. The Clawitzer used its large claw as a shield, blocking the foliage projectiles. Even still, the Crusaders could see it being pushed back.

Another stream of bubbles were sent Villhiem’s way once he landed. Instead of moving, he took the brunt of them to spare the fillies behind him. He stomped a paw into the dirt. Shortly after, the fillies could see roots burst from the ground to dig into the main body of the Clawitzer. Cracks started to form along the creature’s shell as cuts and bruises seemed to fade from Villhiem.

Breaking free from the roots, the Clawitzer lunged at the former Eevee with surprising speed. Villhiem was snapped up by the shellfish’s massive claw. With a massive squeeze, something within Villhiem broke. Villheim responded by launching leaves point blank into the Clawitzer’s face.

The massive claw blocked the Crusaders’ view as the leaves sheared through the Clawitzer’s main body, embedding themselves into the dirt behind it. Dropping Villhiem, It stumbled back, clear blood falling to the forest floor. Finally, it was covered in a blue glow before being pulled back, and through, the summoning circle that brought it to the Everfree.

Villhiem collapsed once it had disappeared from view. Panicking, the Crusaders loaded the fallen form into their wagon, each getting some of the greenish, syrupy blood seeping from the claw marks covering his body on them. They rushed Villheim to Fluttershy’s.

“… and then she told me to come get you.” Sweetie Belle finished.

By this point the rest of the Eevees had arrived with the rest of Twilight’s friends. Everyone save Fluttershy had left the cottage to give the timid mare more room to work. Thankfully the rain had stopped.

“So, you didn’t notice the rain picking up?” Twilight asked. “The rainfall would have affected the strength of your Summon, making it harder to control.”

<<Oh, god! I killed Villhiem!>> I cried out. <<I’m a bastard!>>

“You can’ be givin’ them pointers, Twi!” Applejack glared at her friend.

“I know that,” Twilight snapped back, “but it’s obvious they have a talent for this kind of thing. I couldn’t even get my first first-tier fire element right! And that was with sturdier equipment, too.” She gave the Crusaders a stern smile. “The fact they managed to get a second-tier water elemental with just limited supplies is outstanding. Just don’t do it again.” The last part was directed to the fillies with a stern frown.

“How did you even get that book? I’ve told Spike to place it in the Restricted Magics section.”

“He gave it to us when we asked him for ghost stories for Nightmare Night costume ideas.” Applebloom stated.

Twilight turned to glare at Spike. “Really?”

“I didn’t mean to do it!” He cried out. “I asked Yomega to fetch Ghastlie’s Grand Collection of Ghostly Tales. I had to describe it to him. Both books look the same, so when I glanced to make sure it was the right one, I assumed it was!”

Yomega, who was trying to comfort me, looked shocked as Spike’s words sunk in. <<Oh, god!>> He cried, staring at me. <<We killed Villhiem!>>

<<We’re bastards!>> We chorused.

Taking Stock.

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Fluttershy left her cottage, rubbing her hooves off with an already green stained towel. “I’ve done all I can for him, but he should be fine now.” Passing the towel off to Angel, she continued. “He had seven broken ribs, a shattered femur, and several severe lacerations. He’s really lucky you could get him to me when you did. I’m going to have to ask that everypony leave him alone for the next few days.”

Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash each escorted their siblings away, giving them a very heated lecture about responsibility as they did so. Except Rainbow, she just asked for details. Pinkie gave us all a quick hug before trotting back to town.

“Alright, then.” Twilight started to gather us together. “Let’s go home, guys.”

“Wait!” Fluttershy shouted before trying to hide herself in her mane. “Um, I was just wondering if you could leave the Eevees here. I know that they will get incredibly worried about Villhiem, and I think that having his family near him will make him feel better, too.”

Spike shared a glance with Twilight before the lavender mare responded. “I guess they can stay. Do you have enough room for them?”

At Fluttershy’s nod, Twilight blinked out of existence with Spike. Fluttershy led us back into her cottage. Conner and Angel were both working hard to clean up the syrupy blood that had been spilt during the operation. Villhiem lay sleeping on the coffee table by the couch, the items formerly occupying the table scattered over the nearby floor.

Bandages wrapped around Villhiem’s barrel, already stained with his greenish blood. One leg was propped up in a cast. Abes lay on the couch, while the rest of us carefully piled around Villhiem. Conner only joined us when Fluttershy placed him there, saying that she and Angel could finish the cleaning. Strangely, Angel seem to be eyeing us with grudging respect. Although, I got the feeling that it was more genuine when he was looking at Conner and Villhiem. Settling in, we drifted off to sleep as the sun fell below the horizon, Abes acting as an unnecessary over watch.

Late into the night, we were awoken when Villhiem stirred. We bounced away from him in a manner that Abes would later describe as ‘popcorning’.

“Wha, where am I?” Villheim groaned out.

Abes hopped down from the couch. “You’re at Fluttershy’s. She was able to patch you up.”

“How’re you feeling?” Lulu asked.

“Like I got crushed in a vice.” He replied. “How long was I out?”

Abes looked out the nearest window. “I would guess at four, five hours.”

“In other news...” Vince began.

“You’re a damn hero to the ponies!” Cy finished.

I threw myself at the Leafeon’s feet. “I’m so sorry!” I bawled. “If I had only knew that this would have happened, I never would have learned Rain Dance!”

“Wha…?” Villhiem tried to ask.

Yomega cut him off. “No, it’s my fault. I’m the one that gave the Crusaders that book. If I hadn’t, they wouldn’t have tried to summon anything!”

Patting my back, Villhiem looked between the two of us. “I forgive you two?”

“Really?” I sniffed.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “If you hadn’t done what you did, I wouldn’t have evolved, and the Crusaders might’ve found something else to try that I couldn’t have saved them from.”

Abes walked over to the door. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Come outside, I have an idea.”

We all slipped out into the night. Zann hobbling alongside Villhiem. We stopped by the chicken coop. There, Abes turned to face the rest of us.

“Now, you are still in pain, yes?”

Villhiem nodded. “Yes.”

“According to the tale Sweetie Bell told us, you know how to use Absorb, yes?”

Villhiem shook his head. “No, that was Giga Drain.”

Abes blinked owlishly at him. “Oh. Well. Crap.”

“What?” Yomega asked.

“I learned Moonlight when I evolved. I figured I’d let him hit me with Absorb a few times to help speed his healing along, but with the cloud cover…” He trailed off.

Hey Brain, do I know Sunny Day yet?

“Yeah, we got that when you were dancing earlier.”

“I got this.” I informed the group before closing my eyes. I could feel energy start to build up in my throat. Tilting my head back, I launched a small white spark into the air. It swiftly flew up into the clouds. We watched as it winked out of existence, before the clouds were pushed back towards the horizon.

“Much better.” Abes agreed. Roots burst from the ground, latching onto Abes. Blinking, Abes stared at Villhiem.

“You might want to start healing…” He warned.

With a final blink, Abes’s eyes began to glow. Motes of white light winked into and out of existence around him.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, Luna snapped out of her Dreamwalking Trance. She turned to stare at her moon. She could feel that, somehow, somepony else has drawing healing energy from it. She followed the connection down to Ponyville, and to the Umbreon she had grown fond of. “What is going on down there?”

“Oh! Hello, Princess Luna. Not sure how we are talking right now…”

“I would assume through my moon. Now, please answer my question.”

“Ah, well, one of my packmates got hurt badly saving some foals, and I’m letting him leech energy from me while healing myself with Moonlight.”

“Our ponies were in danger?! What happened?!”

“You should be getting a report from Twilight sometime tomorrow detailing what happened. Everyone’s safe now, the danger’s passed.”

Luna calmed herself down. She offered quick reassurances to her guards before beginning the difficult process of slipping back into her meditations.

“Ma, ma~a, manana.” A song echoed through the moon. “Ma, mana, na~”

Back in Ponyville, an Umbreon winced. “I don’t think Luna likes that song…”

After a few hours, we Eevees had to carry the two exhausted evolved forms back into the cottage. Abes barely had enough energy to drag himself up onto the couch. It took the rest of us working together to get Villhiem back onto the coffee table. Once that was complete, we all just fell asleep wherever we happened to be.

The next morning, Fluttershy had to change her daily routine to accommodate the injured Leafeon. First, she removed the dirtied bandages, then carefully wrapped him in new ones. Then she woke him up to feed him, as well as inquire as to any new pain. She was surprised to discover that the cuts on his body had significantly shrunk down, and the broken femur could now support his weight.

She had to leave shortly after to restock her medicinal supplies. Once she had left, we woke Abes up.

“Look,” Yomega began, “I’m going to come right out and say this. We shouldn’t keep our move list a secret from the rest of us. That way, we all know what the others are capable of at any given time. To be fair, I'll go first. Aside from the basic Tackle, Tail Whip, and Growl, I’ve got Quick Attack, Refresh, Glare, and Synchronoise.”

I listed mine off with a raised paw. “Basic three, plus Glare, Quick Attack, Flail, Sunny Day, Bite, and Rain Dance.”

“Double Team, Echoed Voice, Helping Hand, and Quick Attack.” Vince and Cy chorused.

“Charm, Baby-Doll Eyes, Attract, and Mimic.” Lulu stated.

Conner spoke up next. “I have all her moves, but I have Swift instead of Mimic, as well as Dig.”

Zann pointed at Yomega. “My list is similar to his, except I have Swift instead of Quick Attack.”

“Let’s see.” Abes placed a paw to his chin. “Confuse Ray, Moonlight, Pursuit, and Shadow Ball. I don’t seem to recall how to use Growl, Tackle and Tail-whip…”

We all looked at Villhiem. “Baby-Doll Eyes, Razor Leaf, Giga Drain, and Protect.”

Yomega nodded. “Okay, now that we all know that, I think it should be one’s responsibility to inform the rest of us when one learns a new move.”

“Or he’ll learn Torment just to use it on you.”

“And that’s another thing!” Yomega spun to me. “I’ve noticed you’ve been snarkier than usual lately. Stop it. We’re all in this together, after all.”

I rolled my yes. “Yes, Mom.” Villhiem reached down and smacked me upside the head.

Yomega turned his gaze to the bigger canines. “Alright, you two get some proper rest, you’ll need it for tonight.” He focused on Villhiem. “You still need to completely-”

He was interrupted by Abes’s snore. Poor guy just couldn’t stay awake any longer.

We spent the rest of that day just relaxing, staying near each other to feel comfortable. Fluttershy returned later that day, carrying a towering stack of parcels. With Angel’s and Conner’s directions, we helped her put her supplies away. It appears as though she needed to restock even before Villhiem’s evolution.

That night, we waited until Fluttershy and her critter’s had fallen asleep before sneaking out to continue our own brand of healing. We didn’t get very far into it before we learned how light a sleeper Fluttershy was. Either that, or she wanted to find out why we healed so fast. Our only warning was Lulu and I suddenly shuddering.

“And what are you two doing?” She gave us all a stern look. “Villhiem needs his rest if he wants to get better.”

<<But Fluttershy->>

“Don’t you ‘but Fluttershy’ me, mister!” She cut Villheim off. “You should be sleeping! Moving around like this won’t help your bones set right, no matter how quick you may heal!” I could feel her Stare starting up in full force. That feeling is hard to describe. It’s like staring at oncoming train as a portal to hell opens up behind you.

Conner grabbed a mouthful of Fluttershy’s tail to get her attention. <<He ish healing!>>

The pegasus mare turned her Stare upon Conner, causing him to flinch. “And how does fighting each other count as healing?”

<<He’s draining Abes of health as Abes is healing himself with Moonlight.>> He spat out Fluttershy’s tail. <<Just watch. They will be tired when it’s all done, but they’ll be fine.>>

Again, the process took a few hours, but Fluttershy did wait until they had finished. She helped us carry the two “combatants” back into the cottage, before giving them both a thorough examination. Finally satisfied, she gave us an apologetic look. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I really should have asked you what you might do to help yourselves heal.”

We each gave her our forgiveness, though it was implied with Abes and Villhiem. Both of them were already asleep. Her look hardened slightly as she focused on Yomega. “Now, I know that they will listen to you, so please tell them that they need to be careful when doing this. Abes is starting to become dehydrated. He shouldn’t let Villhiem do… whatever it is that he’s doing to him for so long.”

<<I’ll pass it on.>>

She nodded, before returning to her room. Once again alone, Lulu placed a paw on Conner’s back. “Congrats on standing up to Fluttershy like that.”

“What do you mean?”

Lulu turned to the rest of us. “Show of paws, who else pissed themselves out there?” Five little paws were raised.

Testing Limits.

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Five nights passed before Fluttershy gave Villhiem's health her seal of approval. During that time, we started calling her “Joy”. Once Pinkie Pie heard about that, she made sure Fluttershy got stuck with the moniker Nurse Joy. We weren’t too sure how much of that was a coincidence…

The final morning we awoke at Fluttershy’s, I walked back into town with Villhiem to help keep an eye on him, the others rushing ahead to their respective jobs. Conner stayed behind to help around the cottage.

“Ya know,” I asked at length, “you never told us what it felt like to evolve for you?”

He chuckled. “I don’t know how to describe it, but I guess it would feel like I was a part of the Everfree. Not just existing in it, but as it. And the trees, and the poison joke, and the…” He trailed off, his footfalls slowing to a stop. Looking back at him, I could see him staring at something miles away.

I hopped up and down in front of him, waving my paws in his face. It took a moment for him to return from wherever he was. “Ya know what, it doesn’t matter. Let’s go into town. I hear Pinkie’s trying a new recipe…” I waggled my eyebrows.

He shook his head. “No thanks, I’d rather just root myself down at the pond for a little while. Soak up some sun.”

I stopped and stared at him. “Do my ears deceive me? Did Villhiem, The Glutton himself, say he wasn’t hungry?”

“I didn’t say that!” Villhiem laughed. “I am a plant now. I wanna see if I can feed off sunlight.”

“Heh, don’t dig your roots in too deep.” I trotted to catch up with him. “Who knows when you’ll need to save the Crusaders again!”

We eventually reached my favourite napping spot. Turning, I used Quick Attack to scale my way up my napping tree, aiming for the base of a thick branch. I curled up, glancing down at Villhiem. “Wake me before you leave, or Twilight abducts you.”

“Yeah, she might need another sample from you.” He lay down in a patch of sun, ears flattened and tail stretched out. Soon, we were both asleep.

The afternoon came far too quickly for us. Or rather, Twilight found us too soon. She had that maddened glint in her eyes that screamed at us to run. If only we had seen it before she had Villhiem in her aura…

His surprised shout woke me from my dreaming. Sighing, I made my way down from the tree, then followed the lavender menace back to the library. I had to detour through the basement when Twilight slammed the door in my face. I made it in shortly after Twilight, and somehow, she still missed me coming in.

We let Twilight do her poking on us, and…

…. And there isn’t many ways one can describe someone running tests. I honestly stuck around just to see what madness she would uncover about our evolved forms. Turns out, Villhiem doesn’t need to eat, he gets energy from sunlight. Doesn’t mean he can’t supplement his diet with actual food.

After Twilight had finished running her tests, I decided to move out. I wasn’t the first to make this choice. Conner had moved in with Fluttershy, while the reckless duo decided to stay on the farm. Those first few nights I slept outside the weather office, waiting for Rainbow Dash to get in.

We spent our days together. I would follow her on the ground as she worked and did her tricks. When she decided to rest or nap, I slept on her or beside her, depending on the amount of room on the branch. After the third day, she bought a dog bed, which she took to Twilight. I didn’t find out why until that night, when Rainbow carried me up into her cloud house. The bed rested on the floor in her room. Rainbow placed me inside it, and I felt a tingling feeling pass through me.

Turns out, Twilight had enchanted my new bed to not fall through the clouds, and to place a charm on me to do the same.

Rainbow and I spent the next week developing a routine. Wake up, go to work, do work (boring), she trains for the Wonderbolts while I watch, nap, maybe do more work or training, hang out with friends, go home. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Eventually, Rainbow got an idea. We had finished up work for the day, and I was settling in to watch her latest workout when she blew a whistle next to my ear. I jumped and covered my now ringing ears, shooting a glare at Rainbow. She gave me a nervous smile, tucking her track whistle into her personal hammerspace.

She started mouthing words at me. I cocked my head to the side before pawing at my ears. Soon the ringing died down enough for me to hear what she was saying.

“-rry about that. Didn’t think it would be that loud to you.” She lay down beside me. “I just wanted to start something with you today. I noticed you seem to have some trouble keeping up with me, so I wanted to train ya to get faster.” She looked at me. “What do ya say?”

I leaned into her side. <<Sounds go to me!>>

Odd, that tingle from my bed is back…

I rushed around another set of trees, keeping up with the pony running ahead of me. She turned sharply around a barrel and jumped over me. I sped around the barrel and tore my way down the road back to Ponyville. Soon, I was running beside the cyan pony’s rear hooves.

Damnit! I’m going to lose again! I saw our finish line coming up, but I could feel that I was running out of steam.

Again, Rainbow beat me. Both of us slowed to a trot, then a walk, before staggering over to the corner post of Sweet Apple Acres’ fence where Applejack was waiting. She hooved Rainbow a large water bottle and then poured another out into a bowl for me.

“Ah guess ya finally got some competition other than me now.” Applejack chuckled out. “How’d ya get her ta get so fast?”

“It’s secret.” Rainbow gasped out. What she really meant was that she had found out that I got faster if I eat a high carb diet. I got fish for dinner alongside my berries. It was only as effective as it was only because we would run races like this last one daily.

“Ya think tha’ this is what Twi meant with her runnin’ around th’ lab?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Spike told ya about that to, huh? No, I don’t think it’s the same. Spike mentioned that she’ll glow when doing that.”

I could’ve been using Quick Attack?!

“Was wondering when you’d catch on.”

I slumped to my stomach, resting until we would have to leave. Oh, stuff it.

The Dog Days: Abes Nights, Bunny Secrets

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[Abes]

I awoke with the moon rise. The others were long since asleep, even the studious Twilight. I crept from my new bed in the corner, using the glow of my rings to help me see. I made my way down through the library to the basement to make use of the tunnels.

Once outside, I made a beeline to the post office for a night of work. The workers there seem to appreciate the help I give them over the night.

One mare even leaves me a couple muffins.

The post office itself was shaped like a giant mailbox, with large bay doors on one side for carriages and smaller doors on the farther side for workers and customers. Approaching the door marked “Employees Only”, I sat down and waited a moment before scratching on the door itself. It wasn’t long before an older unicorn mare let me in. It looked as though we were the only ones on shift again.

Once inside, I followed her to the sorting room. We began to work right away. Once, I may have just been there keeping the mare company, but now I was an unofficial worker there. The mare, whom I learned to be called Rainy Shines, was getting along in her years and her magic was starting to grow feeble. She could still handle letters and light parcels, but she couldn’t lift the heavier packages anymore.

That’s where I stepped in. Once, I could push or drag the mail that Rainy couldn’t. Now, I was trying to tap into my new form's power. If there was anything we couldn’t sort properly, we would leave a note explaining why. Since I joined her, there were less notes left in for the morning.

Tonight turned out to be a slow night, with only a few small mail bags to sort through. I was neck deep into the last sack when I found it: a package for me. I carried it into the break room, and saw that Rainy had finished her work as well.

“Wazzat ya got there, Moony?” The old mare squinted at my mail. ”Don’ know where tha’ goes?” I placed the package on the table and pawed at the label. “Wait, aren’t ya this ‘Abes’ fella?”

I nodded, and began to tear off the wrapping. Inside was a well-made chess board and set. “That looks pretty pricey, there, Moony.” Rainy lifted a, I’m guessing, queen of polished ebony wood. “Who would spend this much for a creepy dog?”

I whined, pawing at her legs. <<You know you like my company…>>

She smiled down at me. “Hey, ya may be creepy, but yer our dog…”

Five nights later, Celestia had decided to check in on her sister before turning in for the night. Night court had been slow for the last week or so, and Celestia was curious as to what Luna did to pass her time. Leaning into the throne room, she could see Luna bent over a side table that she had placed beside the throne.

Celestia paced up to Luna, noting the look of concentration on her face and the chess board on the table. “Playing against yourself?” Celestia smiled as Luna jolted at her presence.

“Sister!” Luna quickly picked up the pawn she dropped. “Sorry, I didn’t notice you come in.”

“I can tell.” Celestia looked over the board, and watched for a brief time. “I can see you’re losing.”

“Hush up, you!”

I gently carried my board into the library. Concentrating, I lifted the board into its hiding place, the golden glow from my rings brightening. I turned and made my way up the stairs.

I passed Conner on his way out. He was carrying a small bag “You’re up early.”

Conner paused. “Need t’get over to Fluttershy’s t’help gather eggs.” He yawned. “Need to stock up for the Social…” He mumbled.

“What were you doing back here?”

“Getting’ m’toys.” Ah, right. Spike had gotten us regular dog toys to stop us scrapping in the library.

“Fair enough, then.” I turned and made my way to an early bed.

[Conner]

I briefly watched Abes make his way up the stairs before turning to the tunnels. I had an appointment to keep. I quickly made my way to Fluttershy’s cottage. The entire trip there, I was dreading the job ahead of me. Fluttershy’s chickens hated me, especially Elizibeak. I think they think I’m a fox?

Still, I had promised her, so I will do it, even if I don’t know why I did it in the first place. I hate mornings just as much as Leo does, the chickens hate me, and I think Angel likes me! That last one terrifies me….

I quickly turned my thoughts away from such disturbing things to the mare I was doing this for. There was something about her that made me want to see her smile. Hear her laugh.

I will gladly suffer the chickens for that.

I was so lost in thought, I didn’t realize that I had reached Fluttershy’s cottage. Angel was waiting for me by the front door. He waved his carrot at me, and led me around to the coop. <<Fluttershy’s distracting the chickens for ya.>> He gestured to the chicken coop. <<Let’s get started.>>
We got to work. I gathered the eggs as Angel cleaned out the coop. Once I had all the eggs in a basket, I helped him with the cleaning. With the two of us, we were done quickly.

On a side note, I had discovered Angel’s ability to speak by accident. Fluttershy had been in town for something, and I had been bringing the otters their fish, when I overheard him telling Harry Bear that she was out. He came around the corner, saw me, and carried on as if it never happened. I never told anyone, and I think that was the start of him liking me.

Anyways, we continued with that day’s work. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would take, and we were done with the daily chores. We were given the rare chance to relax, and all done before Fluttershy got home.

When she did, we spent the rest of the evening just relaxing. It wasn’t until we were settling in for the night when Fluttershy paused in her evening routine and sheepishly turned to me.

“I’m so sorry, but I forgot to tell you, Cy and Vince are looking for you to teach them something….”

Dog Days: Home on the Farm, Hot in the Kitchen

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[Vince]

The sun crested over the trees on the Apples’ farm. A ray pierced through the blinds of Big Mac's room, falling across my eyes. I stirred, then wriggled around to get my legs under me.

It looks like it’s going to be a good day. I mused to myself. Cy and I used to take a leaf out of Leo’s book, and sleep the mornings away. Since we’ve been working on the farm, we’ve been getting up earlier and earlier. Now, we are usually up before the sunrise, but go to bed before night fall.

The irony isn’t lost on me.

Cy nudged me out of my musings. We both turned and made our way downstairs. We sat by our food bowls, joined shortly by Winona. It wasn’t long before the eldest Apple entered the kitchen, and began prepare everyone’s breakfast.

As soon as the food reached our stomachs, we went and waited outside. Our usual ‘chores’ were to help Winona with the herding, or joining the Apples with the harvest, headbutting trees. Turns out, today was a free day for us.

“Hey, Vince.” Cy tapped my shoulder. “Do ya wanna see if we can go and track down Conner?”

I nodded, and led the way to the farm's edge. It didn’t take us long to reach it. We paused when we reached the fence. I looked over my shoulder at Cy. “Hey, watch this! I’m going to do a flip.”

I hopped up to the top rail. I had to pause as the wind briefly kicked up, forcing me to regain my balance. I closed my eyes, and then, when the wind died back down, I jumped-

“Vincent, look out!”

-And got bowled over before I hit the ground.

“I’m sorry Vince, I didn’t see you there. I’m sorry….” I heard something Doppler off into the distance.

“What fuckin’ hit me…?” I wobbled to my feet.

Cy bumped his way under my left foreleg. “I think that was Leo.”

“Ya think?”

“It was going too fast to get a good look at it.” I felt him shrug. “It was following a rainbow, it’s likely him.”

I stumbled a little trying to figure out which paw to move first. “Ya know something. If you had said that a year ago, I wouldn’t’ve… wouldn’t’ve… why are the trees swaying?”

Cy started to drag me down the road. “I think that hit you harder than I thought.”

“I think they’re having a seizure.” I giggled. “I didn’t know Equistria had epileptic trees.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get you to Fluttershy’s.”

Time kinda went… Sideways for me then. I came to when Angel dumped a bucket of water on me.

“Hey, Angel.” Cy dropped me. “Is Conner around?”

The Demon Rabbit pointed towards the back of the cottage. Cy bowed his head, then the traitor ditched me. I watched him leave until a carrot came swinging into view.

[Cy]

I heard a thwack from behind me, followed by what sounded like a sack of potatoes hitting the ground. A quick glance showed a confused Angel and Vince out cold. Shaking my head, I continued my search for Conner. I spotted him out by the bird feeders. “There you are.”

Conner jumped, then scrambled to keep the feeder upright. “Jeez, don’t do that!” He turned to look at me. “Oh, hey Cy. Ah, I heard that you two were looking for me yesterday.” He paused, looking around for something. “Where’s your other half?”

I tilted my head. “Eh?”

“Vince.”

I nodded my head. “He’s out cold. He walked in front of… something on the road. Still, while Nurse Fluttershy fixes him up, could you teach me Dig? We’re going to help Big Mac dig out the mud pits for the Social.”

Conner smiled. “Okay, here’s what you gotta do…”

[Zann]

I watched Pinkie pronk around the Cakes’ kitchen. I held an oven mitt in my mouth and rubber booties. Pinkie was humming a tune as she worked, whipping up another batch for the store. The Cakes try to keep the two of us together. Today, they stuffed us into the kitchen letting Pinkie handle the food, with me keeping an eye on her.

What’s the oven mitt and booties for? For taking food out of the oven, of course! Speaking of, it smells like the latest batch is done.

I hopped up to grab hold of the oven’s handle. I wriggled a bit until the door popped open. Jumping onto the open door, I pulled out the tray of cupcakes, leaving the muffins alone for now. I quickly hobbled my way over to a counter, where Pinkie swapped them for a batch to go in. I stuck those into the oven as soon as I could, then rushed under the open door, jumping to close it.

I fired of a quick Swift at Pinkie. It was only of one star, just enough to sting. I smirked as she yelped.

“How did you know I was going to eat one… or three?” Pinkie asked.

<<Its ‘cause, for all yer randomness, you can’t resist fresh cupcakes.>> I sniggered.

We worked in almost silence for a brief time. Soon, Pinkie broke it. “I keep wondering what you will grow up into, ya know. I thought about the other two, and I think it’s weird that they became two different things. One was at night, and became creepy-spooky, while the other changed in the woods and turned all planty.

“Hey, does that mean that if one of you changed in winter, you’d become a snow-doggy? Or a mere-mutt if you changed in the lake! There’s so many possible spontaneous evolutions! I wonder if there’s a magic one of you guys…”

I started to tune out the talkative party pony as I moved back to the oven, pulling the muffins and hopped onto a low stool. I carefully leaned against the nearby counter, placing the tray onto it to cool. I hoped down, ducking under Pinkie on my way to the second oven. Looking through the door, I saw the pies inside were done.

<<Pies’ are done!>>

“Oh, and these ones we had cooling are done too! Could you let the Cakes know they're ready?”

… I’m going to assume she just put two and two together to figure out what I meant.

I fired another Swift at the bell Pinkie had hung in the archway separating the kitchen from the counter. Shortly after it rang, Mr. Cake entered to get the cooled pies.

Just after he left, there was a muffled bang, and the second oven started to spew smoke. Pinkie pronked over to the windows to start airing out the kitchen, while I hobbled to the side of the oven and pressed my nose to the rune etched there.

“Pinkie, Zann!” Mrs. Cake rushed into the kitchen. After seeing we were okay, she began to help us clear out the oven. “Oooh, the darn thing’s busted again, isn’t it? I’ll have to get the repair pony again.”

Pinkie strapped a tube to my back, and carried me to the back door. “Go get Twilight.” She murmured to me.

I hobbled off as fast I could, which isn’t saying much with my missing leg. I barely got three steps when a rainbow rocked past overhead. Then I was airborne.

“Oh, hey Zann!” Leo barked from under me. “I hope you’re going to the library, cuz I can’t corner well at speed.”

I just gripped on as best I could for the next minute. I could see the library coming up through my squinted eyes. Risking a glance down, I saw Leo with his eyes wide open, and his tongue hanging out.

My only warning was Leo closing his mouth. The next thing I know, I’m staring out a pony shaped hole in the wall. Leo poked his head in.

<<You okay in there?>>

<<A little sore.>> I stumbled to my paws. <<A Rainbow broke my fall.>>

<<Is she okay?>>

Twilight stormed around the shelves at that point. “RAINBOW DASH! What have I told you about using the doors?!”

The prismatic mare sat up. “Something, something, use them?”

Leo and I shared a look. <<She's fine.>>

I hobbled to the irate librarian, bumping into Twilight’s leg. It took a couple bumps, but I finally got her to break off her tirade. I shook my back and the tube Pinkie tied there. The tube was encased by Twilight’s aura, and a message was pulled from it.

“Pinkie needs me to take a look at her oven.” She sighed. “Please stop using my home as a landing point.” Twilight turned away, calling for Spike.

Rainbow Dash looked around at the mess of books. Leo hopped through the wall, and together, they began cleaning up the mess. Soon, they were joined by Yomega, Spike, and a sleepy Abes. I hobbled over to do my part, but Leo waved me off.

<<Go deal with whatever’s going on at Sugercube Corner.>>

I nodded, and decided to take a risk. I jumped out of Rainbow’s newest renovating attempt. I didn’t get much distance, and my side slammed into the ground. That’s going to leave a bruise, and right on my missing leg, too.

<<Hey!>> Yomega yelled down at me. <<You okay?>>

<<Yeah, I’m fine. It takes more than a little fall to hurt us! Us Eevees are tougher than that!>> With a flick of my tail, I turned and made my way through town.

I passed Twilight on her way home. I heard her muttering something too scientific for me to ever understand. I managed to get to the bakery without hurting myself even more in a few minutes.

Pinkie met me at the door, and carried me up to her room. After placing me into my bed and refilling my food bowl, she left me to rest. I didn’t have much I could do but wait to fall asleep. Gummy’s not much for talking, and I find I tire quickly. Hell, I barely made it back home without resting.

I looked down at where my front left paw would have been. I never thought that this world could be this cruel.

“It may not be the world you know, or thought you knew, but the predators here still need to eat too.”

Yeah… I just never thought that I could end up as a tree’s dinner.

Pinkie came back upstairs just after I cried myself to sleep.

Dog Days: Midnight Confessions, Sunset Bonds.

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[Yomega]

"Okay, this one goes between the big grey book, and the slim yellow one on that shelf." Spike gestured to the appropriate shelf. I carefully carried the book across the room. Spike and I were just finishing up with re-shelving the books Rainbow Dash knocked off the day before. Twilight had already repaired the hole she made. "Alright, those last ones are going on higher shelves. You can go play now."

I left the room. As soon as Spike was out of sight, I let my ears and tail droop. I tried to keep up a chipper facade around the others, but with Twilight in her torture- I mean, laboratory- and the others either moved out or asleep, I could let my inner feelings show. All I've been able to think about these last few days is the part I had played in Villhiem's evolution. I made my way to the main room. What other books does Twilight have that shouldn't get into younger hooves?

"If only you could know."

I snapped my ears up, turning to the basement door. As Twilight exited, I began wagging my tail.

"Sorry, little guy, dinner's not for another hour." She used her magic to scratch behind my ears as she made her way upstairs. As soon as her magic dissipated, I turned and shuffled my way to the nearest shelf.

If only I could read these, I could actually learn about Equestria.

"Yeah, but ya don't even know what kinds of books to start with...."

I would if I could read... But I'd need the right books, but I can't read. I paused. God damn circular logic... I turned away from the shelf I had stopped in front of, bounding over to the stairs Spike was coming down.

As he made his way to the kitchen, I began to hound his heels. "Hey, hey. Calm down. You don't want me to trip over you as I make dinner, do you?" I playfully bumped into him. "Of course you'd want me to drop food. If I didn't know Villhiem, I'd say you were the glutton." He chuckled.

I had taken to following Spike around the library since the others had moved out. I always tried to be there if he ever needed a hand, or paw in my case. This included the kitchen and helping to make dinner. He never really needed a hand, but I did keep him from snacking on his gems instead of actually cooking with them.

"Ya know," he began, tossing a piece of carrot over his shoulder, "I kinda thought you Eevee's would all stay together." He stepped over me as I crunched away on the carrot. "But you guys've scattered around Ponyville. I guess I can't really complain. I mean, with only the two of you here, I don't have to worry about stepping on any of ya." I caught the next carrot piece out of the air. "And I only have to prepare two food bowls, instead of nine." The drake lapsed into silence as he continued to make dinner.

This left me alone with my depressive thoughts. But I kept a cheerful face on. By the time dinner rolled around, I had a plan.

I waited until Spike and Twilight went to bed. I carefully made my way downstairs, struggling to hold onto the candle Spike accidentally had left lit. "So, how are you going to learn to read? How can you even hope to find an Equestrian for Dummies?"

By following my gut. I meandered around the room, before settling down by a shelf with thin books. Pulling one out, I began to try and figure out what the squiggles meant.

The candle I had brought with me was starting to run low. Between its soft glow, my tired eyes, and how focused I was, I missed the soft footfalls coming up behind me.

"Trying to read by pictures, I see."

I jumped, twisting to stare at the cause of my near heart attack. "Abes! Oh, fuck man. You're even uglier in the dark!"

He snorted, rolling his crimson eyes. "Oh, ha ha. It is to laugh. Seriously though, shouldn't you be in bed? What are you doing with a book you can't read?"

I sighed. "This stays between us: I can't stop worrying about what happened with Villhiem." I sat down, and moved my candle around so it was between us. "I mean, yeah, it's great he evolved, but I can't help but wonder what would've happened if he didn't. There could be three fillies and an Eevee being buried over these past few days, and it would've been my fault."

"Hey, man, you couldn't have known what would've happened," he placed a paw on my shoulder, "and let's not forget Leo's part in this. If he didn't cause it to rain, they wouldn't have been as bad a situation."

My shoulders slumped. "That just makes it worse. Leo's Rain Dance wouldn't have mattered if I hadn't given the Crusaders that damned book." I got up and began to pace. "I should've been trying to learn how to read Equish our first night here, but the novelty of walking around in magic pony land hadn't worn off yet! I could've stopped this If I could just read the fucking titles of the books I help put away!"

"Yomega, calm down." Abes barked. "You and Leo couldn't predict what the Crusaders would do."

"BUT I SHOULD HAVE!" I panted, meeting Abes's stare. There was a slight rustling from up stairs as somepony rolled over. "I should have. I've seen the show, I know what mayhem follows those three fillies around. If I knew what kind of book I was giving them, I wouldn't've! And Leo! One brief check over to make sure everyone involved was okay, and off on his marry way he goes! That lack-a-daisy attitude's going to get someone killed!"

"His attitude comes from the knowledge that everyone's okay. You were there, he was devastated when he heard what his rainstorm had caused. Knowing that everything's fine now, and what he could do going forward to prevent this from happening again, he could finally calm down. It doesn't mean that he didn't learn anything from this. Come on, I know yer better then this Yomega."

I let the silence grow between us, mulling over everything my evolved companion had said. I couldn't find any fault to his words. Finally, I lowered my gaze to stare at the candle. "So what would you have me do?" I whispered.

A book slid off a nearby shelf, and landed near me. "Start with that. It's meant for little foals to learn how to read."

I glanced at Abes with an eyebrow raised. "How can you possibly know that?"

He smiled. "Where do you think I started from?"

[Villhiem]

I lay in the sunbeams coming in through the clubhouse windows. Meanwhile, the Crusaders were holding a meeting now that school was out.

"What're yer plans fer the weekend?" Applebloom asked her friends.

"Not much." Scootaloo shrugged. "I'm thinking of using the long weekend to practice my tricks an' show 'em off to Rainbow Dash!"

Applebloom chuckled. "Yeah, ya don' wanna be upstaged by Leo, do ya? What about you, Sweetie?"

"Well, my Mom and Dad are going on their vacation this weekend, so I'm going to be staying with my sister." I could see a sparkle growing in her eyes. "We don't do much together, so I'm going to try and help her around her shop. I even want to surprise her with breakfast!"

Scootaloo winced. "I don't think that'll go over to well. Remember when we tried for our Line Chef Cutiemarks?"

"Well, yeah." Sweetie grinned. "Villhiem still ate it though, so it couldn't be that bad. Besides, I've been learning from my Mom!"

<<I'll have you know, I regret eating that.>> I rubbed my stomach. I still remember that stomach ache I got from that debacle. I hadn't even evolved yet, so the tree sap that got mixed in did a number on my gut.

I wonder what would happen now that I've evolved... No. Don't want to risk it.

"How long until yer folks get back?" Applebloom drawled.

"We~ell," the white filly brought a hoof to her chin, "They said that it was something the doctor said they should do. Something to do with that mismatched monster a few moons back. Soo, a week, maybe?"

Sweetie shrugged. "What are your plans, Appleboom?"

"Not much. Gotta help get th' Social set up. Still got a lot o' farm work ta do too."

<<Which you're shirking from right now.>> I mumbled.

"Speakin' of, I should probably get back to it." the farmfilly smiled. "I guess tha's the end o' the meetin' fer today."

The Crusader's delayed the goodbyes in the way only kids could. Eventually, I had to nudge them towards the door. I hopped into the cart, and rode into town; soon Sweetie's house came up. Normally, I'd get out with the marshmallow filly, but I didn't want to get in the way of any packing she needed to do. So I stayed with the orange filly.

It wasn't long before we came to Scootaloo's favourite stunt spot. It was a clearing filled with homemade ramps and rails. From what I've heard, they were a lot shoddier before she met Applebloom...

Unhitching the cart in an out of the way spot in the sunlight, Scootaloo began to run through her warm-up routine. I stayed in the cart, watching. I have to say, her tricks are impressive. It's obvious she's put the time into them, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was her talent. Every time she fell, she would just get right back up, and try to figure out what went wrong. For the afternoon, I only had to intervene once, and even then it was only because I had over reacted. She had landed badly, tumbled, rolled onto her back, and then didn't move.

When I got over to her, I could see that she was only resting as she figured out her mistake.

Soon, though, the sun began to set. Scootaloo hitched the cart back up to her scooter. "I guess you're staying with me tonight, huh?"

I lay my head on the side of the cart. It wasn't until we were back in Ponyville that I realized that I had no clue as to where she actually lived. I lifted my head, watching the buildings pass. I couldn't help but notice the state many of the houses were in. Some were even boarded up. Her parents must be pretty poor i pondered.

Soon, we came to a small, one room shack at the end of its street. It was obvious that no one had lived in this for a long time.

"Well," Scootaloo sighed as she pushed the scoot/cart/Leafeon combo through the over grown grass, "here we are." I hopped out and helped her get everything inside. The inside was worse of then the outside. "Home sweet home."

My eyes widened as her words sunk in. <<You live here? What happened to your family...?>>

She moved over to a straw mat in the far corner. "I wound't blame you if you wanna take off, if you wanna sleep somewhere better." She saw me looking around the small shack, and with a sigh she rolled over to face away from me.

When I saw her silently crying, I made my decision. Laying down beside her, I lay my tail over her. Both of us missed the small green motes fall from the large leaf. As her tears began to trail off, and her mind began to slip off into Luna's realm, I heard her murmur something.

I didn't fall asleep until the moon had fully risen. <<Sleep well, little one. Know that I will never abandon you. No matter what. Just look over your shoulder, and I'll be there. I promise.>>

Be Like Water.

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I floated on the pond near the shore. I drifted with the waves, letting my thoughts meander as well. I could feel myself relaxing. As the water flowed around me, my mind flowed with it.

I was calm, I was one with the waves.

My thoughts faded, the ebb and flow of the tide was all that mattered. I could feel my consciousness fade, I was one with the water around me. I was at peace. Everything seemed to get clearer to me, and if I could just reach that little bit further, I may yet reach a type of nirvana....

Reach for It....

"Oi, Leo!"

What followed was the most frantic minute of my day as I was startled out of whatever that was. I flailed my way back to dry land. I flopped down, coughed up a lungful of water, then shot a Glare up at Villhiem.

He tilted his head with a smug grin. "You done drowning?"

"Fuck, you." I coughed out. "You're a right bastard, you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah." He chuckled as he lay beside me. "You looked deep in thought. What were you thinking about? And how do you float like that?"

I smacked my tail against him. "I looked deep in thought, and you thought it would be a good idea to scare the ever lovin' shit out of me. Never mind that I was out on the water. Fuck you."

"Hey," he gave me a slight nudge, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen. You're usually a very good swimmer..."

I fumed beside my larger friend. "I'm going to get you back for that, you know."

"Yup!" Villhiem grinned. "So what were you thinking about?"

I cast my thoughts back, and drew up blank. "I can't remember. I think it started with my plans for the day?" I thought I saw his smile slip a little.

"So, where's Rainbow Dash?"

I shrugged. "She's out doing something with Scootaloo. I figured I should give them some space, let them spend some quality time together." I glanced over to the rooted Leafeon. "Where's the other Crusaders?'

Villhiem closed his eyes and sighed contently. "Applebloom's getting things ready for a camp out with Applejack before the Social tomorrow, and Sweetie's with her sister."

Heh, wonder how Lulu's doing... I started looking around for a suitable tree to sleep in. As I started to get up, Villhiem spoke up.

"There was another reason I tracked you down." He cracked an eye open to look at me. "I would have asked Yomega this, but he's busy with Spike again. There's no easy way to ask this, so here goes.... What's Scootaloo's story?"

"Eh?" I settled back down. "What'd'ya mean?"

"I mean, what did the show say about the chicken?"

"Well, first off," I started giggling," She hates that nickname according to the fan base. Besides that, many fan theories about her go along the lines of her being an orphan or adopted. Many fans believed that was even homeless. That was until an episode in season.... Four? Yeah, four. Anyways, it showed that she had a home, but I never saw an episode that showed her with an actual family. Why you ask?"

Villhiem glanced about. "Look, until I figure things out, can this stay between us?"

"Su~re?" I cocked my head at him.

"Last night, I decided to stay with Scootaloo. Usually, I stay in the clubhouse, but I was curious. Ya know?" He gazed out over the water. "She's staying in a rundown old shack on the far side of town. Alone. And I don't know what to do."

We lapsed into silence. Eventually, I spoke up. "Why don't you bring it up with Abes? He works in the post office and has access to the older papers, and I think he can read Equestrian."

The living plant nodded. "Yeah, I'll bring it up with him later."

I nudged Villhiem before getting up. "I'm moving over to that tree over there. The sun'll be hitting the near side soonish if'n ya wanna join me."

"Give me a minute to up root-" Villhiem blinked before looking up at me. "Okay, how'd you do that?"

"Working out with Rainbow Dash has done me wonders." I chuckled as I lay onto my branch.

"Damn straight!" Villhiem said. He stood, loose dirt falling from his belly. "It really shows with your Quick Attack. I barely saw you blur."

"Barely saw who blur?"

Villhiem and I looked to the base of my tree. Lulu was standing there, her fur mussed up. "Mornin', Lulu!" I called down. "Here on a break?"

"It's the afternoon." She lower cased glared at me. "If I knew what I'd be getting into this morning, I would've ditched sooner!"

Villhiem lay down at the base of the tree. "What happened?"

I smirked. "Sisterhooves Social happened"

"Oh, don't get me started!" Lulu fumed and began to pace. "It's been one thing after another with those two! All Sweetie wanted was to help her older sister, but does Rarity see that? No~oo! And Sweetie can't take a freaking hint!" She stopped and glowered at Villhiem. "Can you believe she used up Rarity supply of Baby Blue Sapphires for an, admittedly heartwarming, arts and crafts project!"

"I take it those are rare?" Villhiem asked

"Very much so!" Lulu exploded. "In the time I've been helping Rarity, we've only found four, and that's with her tracking spell! Most of what was in the chest was synthetic! Rarity made those!"

"Oh?" I leaned off my branch a little. "How does she make gems?"

"She finds or makes a seed," Lulu began, "usually by shattering an existing gem. Then she casts a spell that..... Um, it, ah." She sat down. "Well, shit. I think I stopped paying attention at that point. I think she said something about injecting love into the gem seeds. All I know is that each gem is not truly synthetic, they are real crystals. But they were made from magic, so they're considered cheaper on the markets. You can tell if the gem you're holding is a grown one by the warmth it gives off. Natural gems always feel slightly cool to the touch, unless it was pulled straight from a fire."

Villhiem stared at Lulu. "How the hell can you possibly know all that?"

"She talks to Opal and I while she works." Lulu blushed. "I really think she needs to get laid. She's one cat away from being a crazy cat lady. Or an accident away from a creepypasta..."

"Don't worry." I yawned. "The two will kiss and make up tomorrow. It'll still be a little rocky, but the Belle sisters really do love each other. Although, I'd stay in the Crusaders' Clubhouse for the weekend."

"Does it get worse?" Villhiem asked.

"I dunno." I shrugged, settling back onto my branch. "But they should have things figured out after the Social tomorrow."

"Weirdest thing about those sapphires," Lulu said as I drifted off. "I swear, when I'm near them, I can hear the ocean..."

[Lulu]

The weekend passed as I stayed away from the Boutique. I stayed at the Library in the meantime and Yomega filled me in on the events that happened in the show. The sun was nearing the horizon, and Spike was already on his way back home. I crept in through the tunnel Conner dug for me. I came up in the kitchen cupboards, face to face with a young white filly.

"Rarity?" She called out. "There's one of those Eevee's in the kitchen!"

The elder Belle's voice drifted in from the main room. "Oh, that's just Lulu. She tends to disappear every now and then. Then she pops out in the kitchen somewhere."

Sweetie looked behind me at the tunnel. "Disappears. Right...."

I leaned in and nuzzled Sweetie, then swept past her out the cupboard. I walked into the main room. Rarity stood by the coffee table, the gem encrusted poster of Sweetie's floating in her magic. I started to make my way over to the white mare, but found I had been lifted off my feet.

Rarity brought me over to her side with her magic. "Oh, doesn't this look wonderful?" She gushed. "Where should we hang it, I'm thinking in the Inspiration Room."

<<Why are you asking me, you barely understand the cat!>>

"I knew you'd agree with me!" She set Sweetie's drawing and I down. "Now wait here, Sweetie and I need to find some tape, or tacks. Something to hold her picture up."

I looked over the drawing, the gems catching my eye. Reach for it... <<There are tacks in the workroom, third drawer on the left.>>

"Sweetie Belle, I think there's tape in the Inspiration Room." Rarity called, making her way to the stairs in the back.

I barely noticed her leave. All I could focus on, was waves, lapping onto the shore, and the unconditional love of a sister....

I shuddered. Get a hold of yourself. I looked over the gems. These were the last of Rarity's Baby Blues. Does she have more seeds? I'd better take a smaller one off, just to be sure....

"Alright, Rarity, I'll go get it." Sweetie shouted up the stairs. She ran into the room, yanked the picture out from under me, then took off, yelling a quick sorry as she booked back up the stairs.

I picked myself off the ground. I made my way into the workroom and peeked into the wardrobe there. I made my way to the back. There, lay a chest. I carefully nudged it open. Inside, were gems of every shade and cut, nestled into their own cushioned spot in the softest of foams. Embedded in the lid was a rune stone, inscribed with Rarity's gem growing spell. I lifted the sheets of foam out one at a time, until there was only one left inside. Slotted neatly in place lay three Baby Blue Sapphires. The synthetic one nestled in my tail would find no home here.

Of course, I'd have to shatter it first before I could slot it in. Could I even break it? I pondered as I replaced the foam sheets. I'm not that strong. After putting the chest back, I made my way out from the wardrobe.

The rest of the night passed with little of note. Rarity made her usual dinner for me (kelp wrapped raw fish-bits), showing Sweetie how it was done. The two Sweetie made didn't actually taste that bad. A little charred, but not that bad.

That night, as I lay on the custom made, Rarity special dog bed, my thoughts turned to the younger of the two Belle sisters. Her voice seems so gentle, so calm, like the still waters of a pond. If only her thoughts and emotions could still, and match that calm, she could make a great singer. Still, she's nice enough as she is.

Now Rarity, she seems to appear as calm, but her emotions skip across her still waters like a stone. And, like that stone, they send ripples out, causing her undue stress and worry. If only she could keep her mercurial emotions in check, she could go so far in her chosen career.

As my eyes closed and I slipped into slumber, my last thoughts were of the twin lakes of the Belle sisters.

Reach for it...

Desire Averted.

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It was a few weeks after the Social, and we were holding a meeting in Twilight's basement. Yomega had sent out the summons through Abes overnight. We had chosen Twilight's basement simply because of all the access tunnels Conner dug out for us.

"Okay, everyone can hear me?" Yomega looked around at us, only continuing on after we each nodded in turn. "Good. You're probably wondering why I called this meeting?" Another round of nodding. "Well, I want everyone on the same page for the show's timeline, and to form a game plan for the next few 'episodes'. We just had the Sisterhooves Social, up next will be The Cutie Pox. Leo, a brief description please."

Why you putting me on the spot? I grumbled as I sat up. "Right, so, quick backstory, Apple Bloom's been taking potion lessons from Zecora, as we all know."

"Although," Zann interrupted, "I think in the show it was just another attempt to get her cutie mark. Not this whole 'it looks like some summons need potions, so I'mma gonna learn how to do that then teach the others' thing that's happening."

"True." I allowed. "Still, Apple Bloom finds out about this herb that she accidentally misuses, then gets the Cutie Pox, which gives her multiple cutie marks and forces her to act them out. Now, everything works itself out, and she learns a valuable lesson on the virtue of patience."

Yomega nodded. "That's the gist of it. As a quick reminder, we've agreed to to keep our impact here in Equestria to a minimum. To that end, we'll make ourselves scarce, during the day of the episode. Villhiem," The Leafeon sat up at his name, "you're in charge of letting us know when that will happen. Apple Bloom will be suffering the effects of the pox the day after a trip to Zecora's where she learns about Heart's Desire. It looks like-"

"Fireweed if the flowers looked like stylized hearts?" Villhiem asked.

"Yeah." Yomega blinked. "How'd you know?"

Villhiem's tail started flicking from side to side. "Last week, I stopped Apple Bloom from swiping some from Zecora."

"Goddamnit!" Lulu swore, though it was lost in the general uproar from everyone else. "Shut up!"

A shrill sound lanced through my mind. As I cringed back, I saw every Eevee doing the same. All except for Yomega, whose mouth was hanging open, blasting the noise. He keep the sound mercifully short. Closing his mouth with a click, he turned to Villhiem.

"Anything else you want to mention?"

Villhiem nodded. "Yeah, she said something about me being right, she needs to wait."

"So, she still learned her lesson?" Vince piped up.

Cy nodded. "Looks like it. Lucky us."

"Still." Yomega asserted, slashing a paw out. "We shouldn't be relying on luck to fix shit. The less we change, the better." He sighed. "Moving on, the next few episodes have Rainbow Dash getting a pet tortoise, and I just realized that might not happen."

Conner tilted his head. "Why not?"

"I'm with her.' I interjected. "She gets Tank because she was the only pony without a pet, and wanted to hang out with the others during their pony pet play dates."

"This is the first I've heard of this." Abes noted.

"They do it about once a week." Yomega said. "You know, when you're all dumped on Spike? But, Leo's never joined us for that, so Rainbow might just decide that he's her pet. This one, I'm not too sure how to deal with. Any suggestions?"

I raised my paw. "I could try to make myself scarce, avoid Rainbow for a few days." I winced.

Zann lay a paw on my back. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit of heartburn."

Abes nodded. "Okay, try that. What's next Yomega?"

"Mare Do Well, where Rainbow will be force fed humble pie. I recommend we ditch and spend it at the Apples and avoid that whole fuster cluck." He glanced at me. "You need a moment, or some Pepto?"

I waved him off. "I'm good"

"After that, Lulu gets to go to Canterlot." Yomega continued, looking at the mentioned Eevee. Lulu was staring off into space. "Lulu? Earth to Lulu, come in Lulu!"

Conner, who was sitting beside her, jabbed a paw into her side. With a startled yip, Lulu bounced away from Conner, almost touched the ceiling, then landed on me.

After shoving her off, I growled at her. "Yomega asked you something, space cadet."

"Oh," Lulu had the decency to blush. "What was the question?"

"After the Mare Do Well shit, Rarity's going up to Canterlot. If you want to go, I'll fill you in on the episode's events." Yomega shrugged. "It's up to you, and you've got some time to figure that out.

"But after all that, the next major thing is Spikezilla. Basically, dragons grow through greed, and Spike's going to have a massive growth spurt. When it happens, you'll know." He glanced at us each in turn. "Now, this is one of the few times I'll say this, but I think we should interfere, if only to keep damages down and ponies out of the way. All in favor?"

We all raised our paws.

"All opposed?" Abes raised a paw. Yomega sighed. "Okay, why?"

Abes grinned. "Someone has to."

[Conner]

I was making my way back to Fluttershy's from the meeting when Lulu bolted up to me outside the library. It was obvious she was distracted. I had to gently guide her around a stand in the marketplace. "Ya need something?"

Lulu startled. "Geebus, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"You came up to me..." I pointed out. "So, what do ya need?"

"Oh, yeah." She trailed off. I waited for her to figure her words out. Just as I was wondering if she spaced out again, she shook her head before focusing back onto me. "I, uh, need a favor."

"Okay. What is it?"

"Could you check with Fluttershy what certain symptoms mean?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "It would help if I knew what those symptoms were."

Lulu blinked owlishly at me. "Right, well, you can guess at some of it. Um, spacing out, distracted, and I'm hearing this swooshing noise."

It was my turn to blink. "Okay, a 'I'm a superhero with a cape' kind of swooshing? Or a 'I think I heard a swoosh' swoosh?"

"It's hard to describe." Lulu pawed at an ear. "Kinda like someones trying to slowly tune a radio, but keeps missing the station, but instead of static it's more of a dull roar."

I glared at her. "That's not a swoosh!"

A Friend in Need....

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As I was about to leave Twilight's basement after our meeting, Spike stepped in front of me. He quickly tied Pinkie's message tube to my back, a scroll already inside. "Here, it's for Rainbow."

<<Do I look like an owl to you?>> I cocked my head to the side. <<Where does Owlowiscious even stay during the day?>>

"Yes, yes," Spike leaned down and gave me a quick scratch behind my ears, "you're a good girl. Now get that to Rainbow." He turned to make his way up stairs.

Once the blissful feeling died down, Spike's words wormed into my brain. Mortified, I looked behind me. The room behind me was thankfully empty. It seems that everyone else left through the tunnels already. I turned to Spike's retreating back. <<Don't do that to me again!>>

"I already know the tube will fit, don't worry!" He called back.

God damn fucking language barrier I grumbled as I crawled out my chosen tunnel. Wonder what the note's for.

"Probably a receipt for the broken doors and-slash-or windows."

Really. I mean really. I deadpanned to the flower pot my tunnel came out behind. It's Rainbow Dash. It's gotta be both.

It didn't take long for me to reach the cloud steps Rainbow made for me. Well, I say 'steps' like they were stairs. No, they were more like stepping stones. She seemed adamant to make sure the only way into her home was if you could fly or could walk on clouds and Quick Attack your way up.

I'm proud to say that I've started to jump over a couple of the cloud-stones.

I quickly made my way to my 'area'. With the perpetual mess Rainbow keeps her house in, I needed to clear a space for my toys. My many, urm, manly pink toys.... All enchanted with the cloud walking spell thingy of Twilight's. Knowing that I missed today's exercise period due to the meeting, I viciously attacked my stuffed toys.

A couple hours later, Rainbow came home to me chomping away on Mister Fuzzkins. I think she could hear the squeaking from the ground....

"Did you have fun with the other Eevee's, Leo?" She smirked. I only chomped on my toy and wagged my tail in response. She giggled at the squeak. "Come on, it's time to feed you."

We made our way into the kitchen, her flying, me leaping and bounding over the clutter. It was as she was placing my food on the floor that she saw the message tube. "Pinkie's got a message for me?"

<<Twilight.>> I sprayed. I swallowed as Rainbow removed the note. <<What's it say?>>

"It doesn't say anything, you gotta read it!"

Not now, Brain.

Rainbow took her time (which is to say, not long) to read the note. Finally, she looked down at me. "Well, looks like Twi needs you back at the library in a couple days. Something about wanting to see how you've changed being apart." My rump smacked the floor with a soft "pomft". Rainbow smiled and shook her head. "She only needs you for the night, she has this thing that afternoon. Still, better get you there early."

'Early' apparently means 'around noon'... I thought as I looked for a place to nap in the library. I was just tucking myself into an empty nook in the wall when Yomega found me.

"Oh, hey!" He called up. "I didn't notice you coming in."

"It's 'cuz we used the door for once." I giggled down at him.

Yomega shrugged. "Well, you beat the others here. They'll be in shortly."

"Oh? Did Twilight send everyone notes for today?"

Yomega shook his head. "No, Spike's gone to get them. Twilight needed to send a message to Rainbow because she already talked this over with the others last week."

I blinked. "What happened last week?"

"Of course you wouldn't..." Yomega muttered. "Their Pony Pet Play Date."

"Oh, right." I nodded. I tried to settle into my napping nook, but I soon found my nerves wound tight. I waited impatiently until I saw Yomega again. "Hey, w-wouldn't it be c-convenient if today was the d-day R-rainbow got T-tank?"

The library's front door opened as Yomega gave me an odd look. "Ye~ah, that would be weird. Are you cold or something?"

Our ears tilted to catch the sound of the others making their way through the library, probably looking for us. I could only shrink further in on myself. I couldn't seem to catch my breath. My whole body seemed to be tingling. I need out, there's got to be an exit near here.

"Leo...?" Yomega must have noticed my eyes darting about.

My frantic gaze locked onto him. "S-stop m-me." The tingling grew to pins and needles

Yomega slightly tilted his head. "Wha...?" His eyes widened, before bellowing out the nearest door. <<Someone stop Leo!>>

I bolted from my cubbyhole as he started to turn back to me. My world had started to become tinted red. Shelves blurred past me as I ran. I caught vague shapes leaping out at me. I jumped, ducked, and dodged my way towards the open front door. A faint aura enclosed the door, slamming it shut. I couldn't check my speed as I barreled towards the door. So I jumped, landed feet first onto it and used it to launch myself at a large purplish green blob.

"What's going on?" It asked. I hit it in its back, I think, and used it to slide a few feet. I jumped off it and over a black blob, aiming for the basement door. A brownish shape spat a series of bright stars at me, forcing me to veer away into the kitchen. Another group of bright stars flew my way from the back door. I had to dash further into the library to avoid those. I think I heard the two groups of stars collide with each other.

I heard what sounded like stomping in stereo before another brownish shape slammed into me. <<Quick, hold him down!>> I heard it (she?) cry out.

A group of roots burst from the floor, ensnaring my legs before wrapping around my body. I struggled against them. I needed to get free. A large pale greenish shape slowly came close to me. Soon, it stood over me, a green mist falling in front of my eyes. Focusing became difficult, and then I knew no more.

[Yomega]

I finally limped my way into one of the side rooms. Leo was held tight in a wooden cage, green powder covering his face, out like a light. The others filtered into the room. Spike was the last one to enter. After checking us over, he left, grumbling something about ice bags.

Villhiem looked at me. "Okay, the fuck just happened?!"

"I don't know!" I sat back with a shrug. "All I know is, Rainbow dropped Leo off, then just before you guys came in, he started to wig out. Next thing I know, he's asking me to stop him. Then his eye's seemed to shine red and he's bowling me over. I tried to peg him with a Quick Attack, but he fucking jumped over me. I fell down the fucking basement stairs. How'd you guys catch him?"

Conner spoke up. "I stood guard over the basement stairs after you fell down 'em. Tried to hit him with a Swift."

Zann took up the tale. "I hobbled my way to the kitchen, then fired a Swift at him when he came in. Mine collided with Conner's and canceled each other's out."

"I think I learned Telekinesis." Abes piped up. At everyone's' looks, he shrugged. "I closed the door with something."

"Well, Cy and I..." Vince began.

"Used Helping Hand on Lulu." Cy finished.

Lulu rubbed her head with a paw. "And then I used Mimic to catch up with our fucking speedster here. What fucking training does he do with Rainbow?!"

I looked at Villhiem. "I guess you then drained him with Giga Drain until he past out?"

"Nope." Villhiem responded. "Wrap and Sleep Powder, apparently."

Further discussion was cut off by Leo's awakening.

[Leo]

I awoke to a wooden cage binding me in place, a circle of familiar faces look at me in concern. I began to strain at my cage.

"Easy, Leo." The large green one (Vill-something?) murmured to me. "Deep breaths. In and out."

The red haze started to clear and the tingling to die down as I followed its (his?) words. A grey, no, Yomega carefully stepped towards me. "You feeling better?"

I could only shake my head.

He frowned. "What's wrong?"

The tingling exploded back to full force. I started to strain against the roots again as I answered. "Rainbow. Needs. ME!" A root snapped.

A literal dog pile formed on me as everyone attempted to keep me in place. "Rainbow will be OK!" Someone yelled in my ear.

"NO SHE WONT!" I struggled weakly as tears started to fall. "SHE'S GOING TO BE CRUSHED BY A ROCK AND I NEED TO BE THERE TO SAVE HER!"

"Tank will help her out, and it will only be a wing!"

"I DON'T CARE!" I screeched. The tingling rapidly grew to a harsh pain. With a final scream, I felt the pain burst from me in a red glow. All my energy spent, all I could do was lay there shivering and sob. "I don't care..."

I could feel the others get off me. Abes and Villhiem were the last off me. I think I heard one mutter to the other. "Damn, he didn't evolve."

I felt someone curl up next to me. "It'll be okay." Conner murmured to me. "Just you wait. I bet she'll be bursting in through that door with Tank on her back, and a wrapped wing looking for you."

"You really think so." I hiccuped out.

He nodded. "Just you wait." He motioned for the others. Soon they joined the group hug.

I slowly felt myself stop shivering. I buried my face into Conner's fur after a quick look at his face. I never noticed how pink his eyes are... Ow! My stomach cramped, and I felt something push out until it was between Conner and I. I chanced a look to it. There, nestled between us, lay a red-tinted, brown egg with a jagged horizontal tan line.

... Is a Friend Indeed.

View Online

I stared at the egg Conner and I held between us. Conner seemed to realize something was wrong. Following my gaze, he began to stare at the egg. The egg continued to be an egg.

I vaguely heard Spike come into the room, stare, then abruptly leave muttering "Nope" repeatedly under his breath. That caused the others to finally look up and notice the egg. They, also, began to stare at the egg.

The tangible brain-breaker continued to be an egg.

"Is that an egg?" Villhiem questioned the obvious. "As in, a full on Eevee egg?"

Conner and I nodded dumbly.

"How?!" Yomega blurted. "You're both guys!"

It took a moment for the question to sink in, but soon enough, Conner's eyes widened. With a start, he let go of the egg to feel himself up. He let out a sigh of relief upon assuring himself his manhood was still intact.

I barely noticed. My world had shrunk down to the life I now held in my paws. I felt someone bop me lightly on the nose. As if a switch had been thrown, words started to fall from my mouth. "Th-this is, this is incredible. I-I never thought, I mean, never in my wildest... I can barely believe that this is real. I mean, I never thought we'd be here long enough to have this happen. I never thought I would have nonhuman children. I mean, I always wanted kids, but I never thought I would be a mommy.... A mommy...." I finally look up at Conner, tears shining in my eyes. "I'm a mommy..."

"Noooo..." Lulu drew out, slowly shaking her head. "You're a daddy." She leaned over to Abes, murmuring into his ear as best she could. "He is a daddy, right?" Abes, for his part, could only do his best impression of a Magikarp.

"I'm a mommy..." I smiled as I let the tears fall.

"Dude?" Conner leaned back a bit. "Please stop saying that. You're creeping me out."

"Dudette." Vince corrected. "He's a she."

Yomega turned his surprised look to the Reckless Duo. "How could you possibly know that?!"

"You haven't been stalking him, have you?" Villhiem glared at them.

"No, no!" Cy held his paws out in front of himself. "She's been like this since we got here!"

Vince cocked his head to the side. "Were we the only ones to pay attention to Twilight's ramblings when we all first moved in?"

The others found excuses to look elsewhere. I finally broke my gaze away from Conner and our egg. Turning to the Duo, I asked, "Why didn't you tell me, or anyone, you knew?"

Vince rubbed the back of his head. "We agreed to give you time to come to terms with it."

"We figured you would come out when you were ready..." Cy trailed off.

I let out a short laugh. "Well, the truth's out now!" I returned my gaze to my egg. "And I... I couldn't be happier."

Lulu murmured to Abes (she seems to be doing that a lot lately) "She's okay with this.... I don't know what's more messed up: she's okay with this, or that I'm okay with this." When she got no response, she decided Abes needed a physical reboot applied to the rear of his head.

With a jolt, Abes finally got enough brain power to speak. "That's an egg!"

"Yes, yes," Yomega rounded on the Umbreon, "that's an egg, Leo's a chick, try to keep up!"

"But, why is that an egg?" Abes pointed at my egg. I only held it tighter. "Why now?" I could see Yomega's retort die in his throat.

"I... I don't know..."

Further questions were cut off by the sound of the front door opening. "Spike?! Where's Leo, I've got a new friend for her to meet! I also need you to send a letter for me!" Rainbow's voice drifted to us.

"You may need to re-write it." Rarity's followed. "Her hoofwriting is terrible."

"I'm over here!" Spike called out hoarsely from the next room. "Come here, and be quiet!"

As we heard the hoof falls get closer, I noticed we, as a group, never really moved from our group hug. "What's wrong, Spike?" Twilight whispered from the next room.

As Spike shushed the ponies, I quickly shifted myself so that I was laying with my back to Conner's belly. He hugged me as I hugged the egg. The door swung open before he could react.

A chorus of "Aww's" came from the mares. Very quickly, Twilight noticed the addition and turned to Spike.

"Is that an egg?!" she hissed to the drake.

Spike nodded. "I didn't know Leo was about to lay!"

"That's not the problem!" Twilight whisper-shouted. "Eevee's are mammals! They can't lay eggs!"

Fluttershy carefully slipped past her friends into the room. "Platypuses are mammals that lay eggs." She lay down at the edge of our circle.

Twilight's eyes widened. "They're monotremes?!" She squeaked.

"What's so important that they're these mono-thingies?" Rainbow asked

Twilight entered her 'lecture mode'. "Monotremes are a group of mammals that lay eggs. There are only four known living species left, the others went extinct about a million years ago, at the earliest. This could be the greatest scientific discovery of our century!"

"Well, clever little critters," Applejack whispered, "not going extinct."

"I need to get some parchment." Putting actions to words, Twilight left the doorway.

"Whose egg is it?" Fluttershy cooed shuffling carefully into the circle of Eevees.

I looked up at Conner. <<Ours. Conner's and mine.>>

<<I'm still coming to grips with it, myself.>> Conner added.

Yomega stood up and started to nudge Lulu in the side. <<Come on, let's give the new parents some space.>>

Slowly, the others made their way to the edges of the room. Conner briefly got up, but only so that he could lay around our egg's far side. After sharing a look, he let Fluttershy come in for a closer look.

<<Congratulations, young one.>> An older voice stated as a green tortoise plodded his way around Fluttershy. <<Mind if'n I come closer?>>

<<Not at all.>> I smiled. <<You're that 'new friend' Rainbow wanted me to meet? I'm Leo.>>

<<Ya can call me Tank.>> He finally settled near us.

I nodded to Conner. <<The stunned one beside me is Conner.>> I thumped him with my tail. <<Say 'hi' to the nice tortoise, please.>>

<<Hey.>>

Tank chuckled. <<Don't worry, lad. The first clutch's always a shock to yer systems. Take yer time.>>

A comfortable silence fell. Soon, the others started to leave, starting with the ponies, and ending with Tank. Eventually, Conner broke the silence. "So, what happens now?"

I gazed at our egg as I formed my reply. "We'll have to figure out where our egg will be staying until he or she hatches."

Conner snorted. "I knew that. I meant, well, us?"

"Us?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Us. You and me." Conner looked towards the door. "Are we life partners now? Do we just go our separate ways? Nothing I know of Eevees, or eggs in general, can help me figure out where to go from here, if that makes sense."

"Well," I began, "I may not know much about Eevee eggs, but I know enough about foxes."

Conner turned back to me. "How will that help us?"

I smiled. "Foxes will raise their kits in communal burrows." I licked Conner's nose. "I think we, as a pack, should raise our children."

Conner leaned back and scrunched up his muzzle. "Please stop the lovey-dovey stuff? It's freaking me out a little. I mean, until all of an hour ago, I thought you were a guy."

I giggled as I booped his nose with a paw. "No promises. I'm still a bit giddy over our egg. Still, about my thought?"

Conner contemplated for a bit. "Well, I think we could make it work. We'll need to bring it up with the others, though." He blinked as something I said earlier sunk in. "Wait, 'children'? As in plural?"

"Well, yeah." I shifted closer to our egg with a tired smile. "We laid one, whose to say that Lulu wont lay one later? After all, I'm not sure what caused me to lay this one. We certainly didn't make it the traditional way. Oh, I think the egg should stay with you at Joy's. Don't want to risk Rainbow's cloud house..."

"That's, uh." Conner coughed. "That's a pragmatic way of looking at it."

"We can bring it up to them later." I lay my head down. "I'm feeling tired all of a sudden."

Conner got up. "I'll let the others know to leave you be."

"Hey, before you go, could you let Twilight know that she can do what tests she needs to do?" I snuggled closer to the egg. "So long as they're not intrusive. I don't want to risk harming the egg, but I also want Twilight to get this out of her system."

"Of course." Conner gave the top of my head a tentative lick before leaving.

It wasn't long before Fluttershy and Twilight came in with scales, towels, and other tools. Laying everything down on the floor, Fluttershy gently took the egg from me. Honestly, I would have resisted, but I was just too tired to care. I didn't pay much attention as they weighed, measured, and did whatever tests they needed. They soon moved on to me. A few quick tests, a blood sample I barely felt Twilight taking, then they carried me and the egg out into the main room.

I didn't really pay much attention, but I heard Rainbow agree to let me stay at Fluttershy's for the next little bit. I started to drift in and out of consciousness as we left for the cottage. I heard Conner telling someone about the egg, and asking for help caring for it.

The last thing I saw was Angel giving me a quick once over before letting me rest.

Preparations.

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I awoke the next morning to squeaks, squeals, and screeches. It took me a little bit to remember where I was. I looked for my egg, and it wasn't in the room with me. I hopped off the couch, and began to scour the living room. Once I was done there, I extended my search to the rest of the cottage, becoming more and more frantic.

I heard the front door open. I blurred through the cottage, barely stopping in front of Conner in time. "Where is it?!"

With a yelp, Conner jumped back, dropping the empty pail he had been carrying. I think the multiple Swifts were a bit overkill. From my new position -belly up, a few feet away- I could hear him cautiously approach. "You're, uh, you're not crazy again, are you?"

"No~oo." I groaned. "Couldn't find our egg. Started to panic." I rolled over to get up.

"Ah." Conner lightly bumped my side. "Come on. The- Our egg is in the hen house. Vince is-"

"Right here!" Vince called out, poking his head around the door frame. "I'm dropping off the nails an' shit Joy's gonna need. Did'ja know she's making an extension on her chicken coop in case we get more eggs? She's with AJ getting some lumber. They're going to work on it when they get time."

I shook my head. "Lead the way. Conner." I followed him out the cottage, pausing long enough for him to pick up the pail. We lapsed briefly into silence, one I quickly decided to break. "Still uneasy about this whole parental responsibility?"

He nodded his head before shooting a questioning glance at me. "Ho'er y' shtayin' sho calm a'out it?"

"'How am I staying so calm about it'?" I waited for his nod. "I'm not really sure. Maybe it's a maternal thing?"

We had reached the chicken coop, allowing Conner to place the pail by the outside wall. "So how're you so calm about being...." He trailed off, waving a paw in my general direction. "I mean, we've only been here... Three, four months?" He blinked. "Wait, has it really been that long? It feels so much shorter."

I blinked. "It shouldn't've been that long. I mean the first three seasons only took about a year. So either the show's writers made a gaff somewhere, or the Equestrian calendar is really fucked up."

Conner started to stare off into the distance. "... Wonder what's been going on back on earth. Assuming time's the same here as it is there, you think they think we're dead? Do you think they even looked for us?"

My thoughts turned to the world we left behind. "Dunno. Personally, I try not to dwell on it. Way I see it, we don't know if we'll even get to go back, so we might as well make the most of what we have here. I mean, hasn't it been a blast so far? We get free room and board, and don't have to worry about money, the only schedule we need to keep is our own, and the best part? No debt's or taxes!"

Vince raised an eyebrow. "And we've only had to give up our human bodies, your gender, and Zann's leg. How is that a 'blast'? And our 'free' room and board comes at the cost of the ponies treating us as pets, and even then, we're all working off that new debt." He shook his head. "Yes we're nothing more then smart animals to them, so I can understand that side of things, but that doesn't change the fact we gave up our freedom here."

"Do you want to live in the Everfree?" I retorted.

"Well, no. But that doesn't mean that living as a 'dog' doesn't rankle me." Vince paused to rub his eyes with a paw. "Doesn't that bother you at all?"

"Nope." I proudly shook my head. "I find it kinda freeing. Definitely a lot less stressful."

Vince stared at me with a hazy eye, his paw occupying the other. "... Your lackadaisy attitude is gonna get someone killed one day, you know that right?" He turned and started to hobble off. "I gotta go clear this shit from my eyes, then I gotta get back to the farm. Later."

I watched him leave, a frown on my face. I felt a paw on my shoulder. Turning, I let Conner lead me into the hen house. Chickens lined the sides of the room, and our egg rested in a vacant spot near the entrance. The hens began to shift about in their nests, warily watching us. "This is why we needed the extension." Conner murmured. "They really don't like us in here, so we gotta be quick."

I nodded, pulling ahead to nuzzle our egg. I spent a few minutes looking over it for any cracks, before leaving with Conner. Sitting down outside the coop, I turned to Conner. "Do you know if Rainbow will be coming to pick me up, or...?"

"Yeah, she'll be here after work."

I nodded. "They're setting up a mild rain storm for tonight. Shouldn't be too long."

We sat there in silence. A few minutes passed like that. "You thinking about what Vince said?" Conner asked. After I nodded, he continued. "Hey, don't let what he said bug you to much. He's been a bit on edge lately, thinking about home. Did you know that it would've been his birthday next week?"

"No." I blinked. "I didn't realize...."

Conner nodded. "I'm going to talk to the others, throw him a party..." We watched as Rainbow came in for a landing by Fluttershy's front door.

I got up and turned to say my farewells. I instead paused and squinted a little. "... I think you may be getting pink eye."

"Thanks, I'll get Joy to look at it later."

[Lulu]

Opal and I watched Rarity pace around her bedroom, suitcases scattered about in varying states of 'full'.

"Oooh, I really wish I could bring you both with me," she whined for the fourth time today, "but the trains will only allow one pet per passenger in the passenger compartment."

<<So let the dog stay in caboose with the rest of the luggage.>> Opal commented.

Rarity gently placed a hat in one of the suitcases as she continued to rant. "And neither of you has ever been to Canterlot! Oh, you would both love it there."

I spoke up. <<Opal doesn't care about going, so you could just take me.>>

<<Yes, take her.>>

"I know you both want to come, but I will need to leave one of you behind anyways." Rarity sighed. She turned to me and continued. "I may not know much, but Fluttershy's told me enough. Leo's already laid her egg, so you shouldn't be that far off."

<<What!?>> I screeched.

Opal looked at me with pity. <<Ouch, and you really wanted to go, too.>>

Rarity continued her one sided conversation. "I've talked it over with Fluttershy, and she's agreed to look after you and Sweetie while I'm gone."

<<But we don't even know how Leo laid hi- her egg!>>

Opal just stared at me. <<When a mommy's in heat, and a daddy's horny...>>

Rarity giggled. "Aww, do you miss me already? Well, don't worry. Mommy's not leaving for a week yet. I'm just packing early." Turning to continue said packing, Rarity muttered to herself. "Never know what I might need when I get there. And I simply must look my best..."

<<Come on, Opal.>> I started to leave the room. <<Let's go get some fabrics ready. Knowing Rarity, she's going to forget them and want to make a dress or something...>>

House of Confessions.

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A few days had past since the incident in the library. With Applejack's, Vince's and Cy's help, Fluttershy was able to quickly finish the extension of the hen house. Said 'extension' turned out to be a whole new separate room. Sharing a back wall with the coop, it was half the size of the room the chickens had and had its own entrance. Conner told me that Elizibeak had calmed the others down after he and Angel explained that we wouldn't actually be coming into the hen house.

Out of sight, out of mind, I guess...

Anyways, I had begun to find time to spend with my egg each day. Some days I couldn't spend more than a few minutes, but I treasured each one. Today, I had curled up around my egg, attempting to get some sleep.

"There you are."

Well, I did say attempting. I looked up as Cy, Villhiem and Yomega entered the room. "Hey guys. 'Sup?"

Cy glanced upwards. "The ceiling, the sky, some clouds. A bird or two."

Chuckling, Yomega lay down next to a wall. "Couple things actually." He began, waiting until Cy was comfortable against the other wall and Villhiem lay by the door where he could try to get some sun. "First off: Any ideas what to call this cozy little shack we have?"

"Heh, not right now, I'll think of something later."

Yomega shrugged. "Fair enough, get back to me when you've got something. Next thing is, I've gone through Twi's notes after you laid your most-likely-son here."

"You can read Equestrian?" I interrupted. "Since when?"

"Not long after I evolved." Villhiem supplied. Noticing my stare, he elaborated. "I asked him earlier today."

"That aside," Yomega said, "I read that everything about our DNA points to us just being normal mammals, vis a vis, bearing live young. So technically, your egg shouldn't exist."

"Yet most-likely-he does." I snarled.

Yomega slowly shook his head. "I'm not saying that most-likely-he doesn't, just that you've given Twi' another reason to drink. Not that she does, but Spike and I have caught her banging her head against the basement wall." He stared off to the side. "The night you stayed here, Abes circled it and wrote 'In case of enigma, rest head here'.... The indent only grew since then..."

Villhiem and I glanced at each other. "She can read English?" Cy asked.

"No, Abes wrote it in Equestrian."

I rested my head against my egg. "Uh, how?"

Yomega turned to us, raised a paw, then dropped it as a thoughtful look spread across his face. "That's a very good question...." He rapidly shook his head. "Getting back on track now. Twi's thinking of making a new genus for us that connects the Carnivora and Monotremata orders together."

"Please use your smaller words for the confused mother." I snarked.

Yomega rolled his eyes. "You know how scientists classify animals right? Apparently, Eevees are so fucked up, we can only be classified up to 'mammals' before everything goes to shit. She's begun classifying us as -warning, big words incoming- Mutis Enigmus Eevee Eevee. And that's going Order, Family, Genus, Species.

"Abes is an Eevee Umbral, and you," Yomega pointed to the Leafeon, "are an Eevee Filicophyta, which I think is a type of fern. She has yet to reclassify me, but her notes are pointing to her thinking I'm a subspecies."

I shrugged. "Well, you are a shiny."

"Moving on." Villhiem grinned. "You missed an epic freak out. Abes woke up the evening you laid your egg. Thing is," he chuckled, "thing is, he woke up with Twilight floating a needle up to him. Freaked him the hell out."

I nodded. "Sounds traumatizing. So..?"

Villhiem began laughing as he tried to get the story out. Yomega took up the tale. "Umbreon's have poisonous sweat. The table he was on got soaked. Twi's preserved most of it to study later. Scared the hell out of her when it happened, though. Abes left a trail of poisonous footprints behind as he hauled ass up the stairs. Spike found out that touching the stuff makes your paw go numb."

Villhiem got his mirth under control long enough to squeak out "Spike got a huge pile of gems from both Twilight and Abes to pay for it!"

I giggled, turning back to Yomega. "I've been avoiding the library, mostly from embarrassment, how're the notes being organized now?"

Yomega chuckled. "Like a conspiracy theory. On an unrelated note, Twi's out of red string. Now, if Chuckles here can get himself under control, we can get to the next item on my list." We waited until Villhiem's laughter died away. Nodding, Yomega began with a question. "Where's Rainbow right now?"

"No idea." I smiled. "All I know is that I've got the afternoon to myself. Rainbow did mention that she had something she needed to do. Tank's getting used to that propeller of his, so he's not leaving the house." I rubbed my head. "Just so you know, taking a speeding tortoise to the head hurts as bad as headbutting a tree repeatedly. Found that out the fun way."

"Got some bad news for you, then." Villhiem's smile was kidnapped, beaten, and shot by the frown now adorning his face. "I had to ditch the Crusaders today. Apparently, today is the first official 'Rainbow Dash Fanclub' meeting. Which is a thing, that is happening now." My smile joined Villhiem's in death, funeral Sunday.

Yomega re-positioned himself closer to the room's opening. "We are here to keep an eye on you."

"W-why would you need that?" I asked, glancing around at the others.

"Gee, I don't know." Cy deadpanned. "I seem to recall you going crazy the last time we separated you from Rainbow for your own good. We got saddled with this," he motioned to the egg, "for our troubles."

Yomega placed a paw on my shoulder. "We'll be taking shifts to keep an eye on you."

"Please don't go crazy." Villhiem begged.

Night had fallen, and Abes, Lulu, and Conner had taken their places with me. We had run out of topics to discuss a while ago. Now, we were settling in to sleep. Well, except for Abes. He was here to make sure I didn't pull a runner in the night.

That plan was thrown out with the intrusion of a certain cyan pegasus. "You in here, Leo?" Rainbow glanced around until I lifted my head. "There you are. You wont believe what happened today! I rescued a foal that had fallen into a well! Ponies-"

<<Shut up!>> Lulu growled. <<Some of us are trying to sleep!>>

Rainbow glanced down at the irate Eevee. "What's bugging her?"

Just then, Abes made his presence known. The room was filled with a golden glow as he got to his feet. His glowing red eyes bored into Rainbow's.

"Um...." Rainbow's cocky attitude became overwhelmed by the unnatural unease that follows the Umbreon around. "N-nice doggy?"

With a snarl, Abes lunged at Rainbow, snapping his jaws shut inches from her face. <<Get going! They're trying to sleep!>>

"Nicechattingwithyou,youseemtowanttostaythere,seeyouwhenyougethome!" A fading rainbow contrail and rapid speech was the only reminder of Rainbow's presence.

"... Did you have to do that?" I asked.

Abes nodded, the glow dying down. "Odds were high that she was going to take you home, then we would've had a hard time tracking you down afterwards."

Conner poked his head out to watch the contrail fade into the night sky. "I think you may have over done it."

"Why am I under house arrest for what she's gonna do?" I groused tucking myself closer to my egg.

"It has been a few days since my sentence began." I narrated to my audience. "If I had the room to, I'd start climbing the walls. My last escape attempt of digging under the walls was foiled due to the lack of dirt inside my cell. My wardens have once again changed. These ones appear to ignore me."

For their part, Vince and Cy had stuck their heads out the door to escape my ramblings.

"I have a new escape planned. During the change of my wardens, I will use my superior speed to rush past them, make a break for the woods."

"Say something?" Cy called over his shoulder.

"Nothing!" I called back. "Just muttering to myself about failed escape attempts!"

Good job me, they don't suspect a thing. A plus.

"Don't even think about bum rushing us when we swap out." Vince called. "He tried that the first morning." He added to Cy.

They suspected a thing!

Grumbling, I rolled over onto my back. After staring at the wall in front of me for an eternity (about five seconds) I began to bang my head against the floor. Every time my head connected the floor, I muttered out a "Bored".

"She really doesn't like staying in one place, does she?" Cy said to Vince.

"Nope." I could hear the grin in his voice. "Her and Rainbow share that in common."

"What do ya mean?"

Vince sniggered. "Sometime after the pony's version of Christmas, Rainbow's gonna have a nasty wipe out while practicing her stunts. She'll be stuck in the hospital with a broken wing."

"And..." Cy pressed.

Vince just waved a paw at me. I glared at him.

"Don't laugh at Rainbows problems." I growled, rolling back onto my stomach.

Cy turned back to me. "That. That right there is why you're stuck in here." Vince turned and nodded. Cy continued. "You freak us all out with your undying devotion to Rainbow Dash!"

"It's like you've decided that she's to be your trainer." Vince added.

I had to pause at that. Is she my trainer? I mean, I'm not in a pokè-ball.

"Neither were the ancient, tamed Pokèmon."

Now how the hell do I know that? I looked back at my wardens. "Wouldn't you come to the defense of that country hick you've saddled yourselves with?"

"You leave Applejack out of this!" They chorused.

I nodded. "Thought as much."

"At least we don't trample our friends to 'help' someone with a problem that we know will be solved!" Cy shot back.

Vince nodded. "Everyone else wouldn't have any problems sticking to the simple plan of 'we know whats coming, let it play out'. Everyone but you!"

"I just don't get you!" Cy cut back in. "You can be so, so." He seemed to grasp for the right word. "So mercurial!! You go from weeping over Villhiem's potential corpse, to happy go lucky when you show off your Sunny Day!"

Vince tagged back in. "And then you act like nothing was ever wrong to begin with! And then, you go absolutely bat shit crazy over Rainbow spraining her wing during her pet race when you knew Tank would've been able to handle it!"

"Tell us! Tell us what the hell goes on in that skull of yours!" They synchronized back up, the sunlight coming into the room behind them making them seemed to glow orange. "And tell the truth!"

"I worry for her!!" I roared back at them. "I know how she is! I see her at her best! And it hurts when I see or hear her acting like this, because I know that Rainbow's better then this!" I slammed a paw into the wall beside me. "And I can't stand her getting hurt! Do you know what she does when she heals?! She runs herself ragged with work, training, everything! To 'make up for lost time'! She's dedicated a hundred percent to everything she does!" My paw slid down the wall back to my side.

"And I feel the need to do the same..." I locked eyes with the two of them as best I could. " I can't not give her my all. Because she deserves it." I lowered my gaze. "Because of who she is, because of what she stands for, I would die for her."

[third person]

Rainbow moped on what had become a thunderhead. "All anypony talks about is Mare-Do-Well this and Mare-Do-Well that!" She grumbled, waving a hoof back and forth to her words. "What about me?" She complained as she moved to the side of her cloud. "How could everypony forget about me so easily!"

She sat up. "I mean, have I changed?" She stood, looking herself over. "Same sleek body. Same flowing mane. Same spectacular hooves! Nope!" She jumped into a hover, striking a pose in mid air. "I'm still awesome! They're wrong!" She declared, hoof pointed to the ground.

Her bravado fled her as she resettled onto her cloud. "But.. Then why am I all alone?" She dejectedly muttered.

"I hate being all alone." She pouted at the edge of her cloud. She closed her eyes to continue moping.

"... I worry..."

"Huh?" Rainbow looked around. "Who's there?"

"... It hurts..."

"What hurts?" Rainbow cast her gaze under her cloud. "Tell me how I can help!"

"... Getting hurt... Run... Ragged..."

"Where are you?" She cried out, frantically trying to find the ailing pony. "I can't help you if I can't find you. Why are you hiding? I just want to help!"

"... Because... Because... I WOULD DIE FOR HER!!"

Rainbow awoke with a start covered in a cold sweat. She frantically cast her gaze about, trying to get her racing heart under control. "Okay, that was weird." She murmured.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" She flinched as a voice called up from below. Looking down, Rainbow saw Scootaloo waving from the ground, a pair of fillies wearing Mare-Do-Well paraphernalia waiting a little ways behind her.

"O-oh, Hey Squirt!" Rainbow paused to get her nerves under control. "What're ya here for?"

"To invite you to join us!" Scootaloo beamed. "We're heading off to the thank-you parade for Ponyville's greatest hero, Mare-Do-Well!"

"No!" Rainbow answered as her built up resentment resurfaced. "I'm just fine being alone right now!"

"Oh." Scootaloo turned to rejoin her friends. "Okay, then."

Rainbow waited until Scootaloo had moved out of earshot before grumbling to herself. "Why would I go thank her? She ruined everything, and I don't even know who she is! I-" She cut herself off as her brain finally caught up to her words. Taking off from her cloud, She flew off to catch up with her number one fan.

"Hey, Squirt! Wait up!"

Painful Addition.

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Panting, I calmed from my rant. I felt emotionally drained. Even my fur seemed to be drooping. To make things worse, I thought I was starting to cramp. My ears twitched to a familiar faint noise. "You two hear something?" I croaked out.

"No." A two-toned voice replied. "We have heard nothing after your explanation. And as you have explained your bond with Rainbow, we shall explain ours with Applejack."

I looked up in confusion. Vince and Cy both sat up straight, the sun streaming into the Daycare making them seemingly glow orange. Not sure how they got their eyes to do it too...

"We see within that 'Country Hick' a quality your own speedster lacks." Vince began.

"Rainbow will bail on minor inconveniences." Cy continued. "Yes, she will be there when she is needed most." I could feel my gut begin to cramp.

"But she lacks Applejack's integrity. Applejack will always keep her word once given. We feel that she represents everything that we must strive for." Vince finished. Both Eevees blinked, barely visible orange bursts of light briefly shining from their eyes. "Whoa, that felt weird."

I then felt something shift within me.

[Yomega]

The sun was setting in the distance, on the far side of the Daycare's opening. Conner and I made our way past Fluttershy's home on our way to the Daycare. I can't believe that name won out. It should've been something simple, like the Nest. And besides, none of us have trainers, right?

"Are you trapped in tiny little balls?"

Well, no. But I don't think the trainers of ancient times needed them. Still, if anyplace deserves to be called the Daycare, it's Twi's library! Fluttershy's is a pokè-center at best!

"You're brooding again." Conner broke our silence. "What're ya thinking about?"

"I don't 'brood'." I slowed our pace. "Just thinking of the Daycare's name."

"I can't believe we had to resort to a damn hat." Conner shook his head. "Did Button ever get his hat back?"

"You'll have to ask Villhiem." I paused. "What did you put in?"

"The Rookery. Yes, I'm a nerd too."

We shared a chuckle. I broke my laughter off, snapping my gaze to the Daycare. That's when we heard the screaming.

Conner and I bolted to the doorway. There, I could see Leo doubled over in pain, rear legs spread. Vince and Cy were freaking out. "What's going on?!"

Vince snapped his panicked eyes to mine. "I don't know! We were just talking, everything got hazy, then Leo started screaming in pain!"

I looked in on Leo, who had yet to change position. "Alright. Cy, you go get the others." Cy gulped, but nodded. "Conner, you go find Fluttershy. She should still be in the main town." I looked between the two of them. "Why are you still here? Go!"

Both canines took off for Ponyville proper. I made my way around Leo, trying to make sense of her symptoms. "Talk to me, Leo. What's happening?"

She didn't respond at first. "... I don't know. My stomach's cramping, I feel like I need to crap, but-" She spasmed "-it's not the same!" Her eyes never left the floor. Her tail was arched over her back, and her rear legs were spread wide enough for her to be squatting.

It didn't take me long to figure it out. "Jesus, another one!"

"Another what?" Vince asked.

By the look on Leo's face, she'd just figured it out too. "No, no no no. No!" Her eye snapped up to meet mine. "Dear god, please, no!" Leo began to shake her head. "This is nothing like the first egg I laid!"

"Another what?!" I think Vince may be catching on.

I placed a paw on her shoulder. I needed to get her mind off her body. "What happened with the first one?"

"I don't know!" She snapped. "It just popped up between Conner and I!"

"No pain?" Vince asked.

Leo and I shot glares at him. "No." Leo snarked through gritted teeth. "This isn't pain. Pain is what I will do to you if you open your fucking mouth again!"

"Hey! I'm just-"

"Vincent!" I glared at the offending Eevee. "Not helping!"

"But-"

"FOR FUCK SAKES," Leo roared, "I'm trying to pass a FUCKING FOOTBALL through my CROTCH!"

"But-"

"OUT!!" Vince turned tail and fled the room.

I spent the next few minutes trying, and failing, to keep Leo calm. I was just about to try and get her to just push it out when we were interrupted by voices outside.

<<What's going on?>>

<<Leo's laying again.>>

"Again?! Everypony, stay here, please." Fluttershy slowly poked her head in. "How far along?"

<> Leo snapped.

I gave Fluttershy an apologetic look. <<She's been in pain for a little while now.>>

"Has she been pushing?"

<<No~o. I've been standing like this for fucking shits and giggles!>>

"I... Don't know some of those words."

<<Unless you got something that will help, Joy...>> Leo started.

She nodded. "How many colors are in Rainbows mane?"

<<I- What?>>

I nodded at Fluttershy. <<Now push!>> I commanded.

That did it. It still took a few minutes, Leo biting down on my tail, and both of us screaming in pain, but another vivid brown and tan egg entered the world.

As Fluttershy bandaged my poor tail, I gave Leo a slight poke. <<You okay now? Is it safe to let the others in?>>

Leo nodded. <<Send Twilight in first, let her get her nerding done with. Then I can sleep.>>

"I'll let them know, you rest up now." Fluttershy backed out of the Daycare.

[Third person]

Fluttershy turned to the Eevee pack. The hopeful canines gave her their undivided attention. "It's all done now. Leo's laid another egg. I just ask you to wait just a bit longer." The timid mare shifted her attention to Twilight. "Leo want us to do any check ups we need to get done, done. I'll go get my scales. Do please be careful, she's very tired."

Twilight barely waited to acknowledge her friend before diving for the opening. Yomega growled at her sudden appearance, but Leo barely moved. She lay beside a glistening egg, licking a slimy natural lubricant from her fur. Twilight quickly pulled the remains of the slime from the egg and teleported it to her lab.

Hopefully that landed in an empty jar. She thought in passing, and began casting diagnostic spells over Leo and her second egg. Vital signs are normal, for a given definition of normal for these canines. The shell's already hardened, which is good. The embryo appears to be in good health, just need to wait for Fluttershy to weigh it.

Her scanning done, Twilight left the room. She passed by Fluttershy as the yellow pegasus brought her scale into the Daycare. She calmly trotted past the cottage, and into the edge of the Everfree. With a brief glance back to see if anyone had followed her, Twilight dropped a sound proof dome around her.

"How in the wide, wide world of Equis could that little canine carry two of those eggs?!" Twilight screamed out. "Just one egg is physically impossible! It's almost half as big as she is!" The lavender mare began pacing with in her dome. "What is with the slight color difference? Does that signify anything, or is it just another random aspect of these Eevees? And why was there a gap between the two layings? Either Eevees have a ridiculously fast cycle, or..." A quill and parchment popped into existence by Twilight's head. Without realizing it, Twilight began dictating to her newest companions. The poor quill struggled to keep up.

"The sheer size of the eggs prevent more than one from being made at a time, and maybe they have some form of short-term sperm storage allowing them to lay multiple eggs in a season. That would make some sort of evolutionary sense. It would let them produce more eggs, for one thing. and each larger egg would be sturdier than any smaller eggs laid in a clutch. This might mean that each egg is better suited to a multitude of environments. There's an 'n' after the first 'e'." The quill nodded. "It would also seem that Rainbow's observation from earlier is correct: the full pack take up the care of the eggs.

"Although, it would seem that the individual laying the egg will only accept one, maybe two other Eevees to be near it when laying. This may be a defensive strategy to allow the mother to hide, while still keeping at least one other pack member nearby to spot for predators... I must add this to my notes." With a muffled pop, Twilight, her newest notes and her quill teleported to her lab. The dome stayed in place for a little longer before it too vanished.

[Leo]

I curled my back up against the wall, trying my best to hug both of my eggs. I felt drained and sore all over. I knew It would take some time for me to regain my strength. As it was, I could barely summon the energy to talk.

"Who's the father? Conner?" Villhiem asked.

I just flicked my tail at Vince and Cy.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Abes rounded on the now scared Eevees. "It's bad enough that we had to keep her trapped in here all week, did you have to mount her too? It's not even mating season!"

"It's not that!" Cy protested. "We were talking, then everything went hazy, then Leo was yelling! I swear, we did nothing!"

"It's true." I croaked out.

"Everyone, calm down!" Yomega demanded. "Let's not fight in front of the kids. Now," He turned to the Reckless Duo, "What do you mean when you said everything went hazy?"

"Just that." Vince explained. "It was like we were trying to see the world through our own fur. Everything appeared orangey brownish."

"Yeah like that. Then we blinked, and everything was normal again." Cy finished.

Zann raised a paw. "What's with the 'we'? Shouldn't you be speaking in singular?"

Cy opened his mouth, but Vince spoke first. "I think what ever happened with the eye thing briefly connected us together somehow."

I sighed. "Could you guys do your twenty questions later? You're all giving me a headache."

Conner nuzzled up to me. "Just one last question: Did you see anything odd about Vince and Cy before you started laying?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I think I saw their eyes glowing orange before they blinked."

"Kinda like when I saw your eyes glow red before your first egg?" Conner pressed.

"His eyes did what now?" Lulu asked.

Yomega squinted at Conner. "Good question."

Conner's ears flattened against his head. "Hey, I thought I was seeing things when it happened."

"Hey!" I snapped. "I just want to sleep right now, could you guys kindly shut up for, like, ten minutes so I can do so?"

A round of sheepish apologies rang out. Everyone quietly agreed that we were staying in the Daycare tonight. Not even five minutes had passed before the silence was broken.

"So, what's new with everyone else?" I asked.

"Didn't you just ask for us to shut up?" Vince asked.

"I've been stuck in here for the last little bit, I'm just curious is all."

Zann spoke up from where he lay. "I don't think I told you guys this, but the ovens have been getting worse at Sugarcube. Thankfully, Twilight and Spike grew some fire rubies to replace the faulty ones. We're just waiting for the repair pony to come around and install them."

"Shouldn't the repair pony be able to supply the rubies?" Lulu asked.

Zann flipped onto his back. "He said something about it costing twice as much and taking twice as long to fix the ovens, but they would reduce the price of the repairs if we could supply the fire rubies. Since Pinkie somehow knew Spike was growing and shaping his own fire ruby, she just asked for the biggest shavings he could spare."

"Eh," Conner shrugged. "I don't see anything going wrong with that. Any news from the capital, Abes?"

"Well, Blueblood's been pushing to get his newest reform through the noble houses." Abes spoke up from the doorway. "He's working with Fancypants on this one. Blueblood's diving into the legal aspects, while Fancypants is hobnobbing with the most influential nobles to get them on their side. If it goes through, all merchant vessels will be retro-fitted with-" His ears twitched. "Hold on, I gotta take this, Luna's on the line." With that, Abes left the room, settling just outside.

We waited until Abes could finish his conversation. I was about to fall asleep when he came back in. "So, Luna just got Twilight's latest report on us. Congrats, Yomega, you're an official subspecies! You're called an Mutis Enigmus Eevee Albus now."

"No Dumbledore jokes, please..." Yomega groaned.

"Sure thing, Headmaster." Abes nodded. "Anyways, Twilight has yet to figure out how Villhiem can create roots and vines like he can. Other than that, she only has theories and speculation. Celestia and Luna have granted her request for a specter thumb pick scanner, what ever the hell that is. Maybe she needs extra security for her lab?"

Yomega face-pawed. "Spectro-Thaumic Scanner. S.T.S. for short. Think of a magic x-ray. Twi's been talking about getting one lately. She thinks it will provide the break through she needs to figure us out."

I'm not sure who snickered first, but we all burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you said that with a straight face!" Zann gasped out.

"Neither can I!" Yomega admitted. Slowly, the laughter died back down. "So, you mentioned something about the merchant fleet, Abes?"

We spent the next few hours trading gossip. Eventually we managed to drift off into slumber.

In Canterlot, a slight breeze kicked up. Loose leaves, scraps of newspapers, and other such debris bounced along with the wind as it passed through the Canterlot Gardens. It briefly swirled around a mismatched statue. A very faint whistling pick up from the small cracks hidden near its brow and tail. If anypony had been nearby, they would've wondered where the malevolent chuckling was coming from.

Dog Days: Ya Know What This Calls For?

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[Zann]

I made my way across Fluttershy's lawn, nodding to Angel as I went. It had taken me most of my morning to get there, but I couldn't ask anyone for a lift. I rapped a paw against the Daycare's wall before entering. Both Leo and Conner were in checking up on their eggs. I rested against the door frame so that I would be out of the way while I waited for them to acknowledge my presence.

Finally, Conner looked up. "Taking some time off from the bakery?"

"Naw," I shrugged, "I needed to ask a favor of Leo. Because of all the bullshit with your egg laying, we've missed Vince's birthday. I'd like your help while I get things organized for a belated party. I just need to make sure that you're free for the next couple of days."

"I'm down. Rainbow has me on 'maternity leave' for a while. What do ya need me to do?"

"For the now, I need you to let everyone but Vince know that we will be meeting up in the Library, in the room you gave birth in. Tell Cy that he will need to get Vince there on that day."

Conner glanced at Leo. "And which day will that be?"

I blinked. "Oh! Right, that would be a thing you'll need to know. It'll be on Twilight's birthday while everyone's up in Canterlot." I backed out of the doorway. "When you're done with that, you can find me in Sugarcube."

"I'll meet you there." Leo said as she passed me. From the base of the ramp, she started to make her way to the main road. She quickly increased her speed from a walk to a blur.

I turned to Conner. "This might be a long shot, but can you ask Joy if she's got any homemade dog biscuit recipes? I want to be able to make some for the party." He nodded, before making his way to the Cottage proper.

I turned and began my long trek back to Ponyville. About ten minutes down the road, I got lucky. I had stopped for a breather when I heard the sound of creaking wheels. I looked behind me to see Applejack pulling her apple cart into town. She slowed to a stop beside me.

"Need a lift? If so, hop on." I didn't need to be told twice. I quickly jumped onto the back ledge. This would halve the time for me. I let my mind wonder as the farm mare made her way into town. My ears twitched as I listened in to the mare pulling the cart.

"How'd th' little fella get all th' way out here?" She mumbled, not realizing that I could hear her. "Th' others Ah can see, but th' three legged one... He'd fall over if'n Leo runs past him too fast." The cart hit a rut. I scrambled to stay on, missing the next sentence. I tuned back in when I had settled. "He's a hardy little guy, though. Gotta be, missin' his leg 'n all. Can pull hot trays outta th' ovens, an' spend a night in the freezer!" Not one of Pinkie's best moments, that. "If'n what th' Cakes said was true. Heh, listen ta me, ramblin' on like Ah'm Pinkie."

"You can't be me, I'm me!"

The only thing that kept me from falling of the wagon was Pinkie's tail wrapping around me.

"Mornin', Pinkie." Applejack barely blinked. "Here for some apples?"

"Nah, I'm here for my Eevee!" Pinkie pulled me around to the front. "Could you believe this little guy had a stack of pans fall on him! All I heard was a loud crash from the kitchen, and there's Carrot Cake beside this mess of pans and Zann. He got hit by every. Single. One."

I... Don't quite remember that one.

"And he just gets up and starts pulling the farthest pans back to the sink like nothing happened!" Pinkie rubbed her chin with a hoof. "It's almost like some divine being's out to get him."

"Ah think yer over thinkin' this, Pinkie." Applejack drawled.

"Oh!" Pinkie bounced out of the apple cart. I came with her, still clutched in her tail. "Rarity left for Canterlot this morning!"

<<Oh, hey.>> Leo blurred up beside us. <<I've already talked to everyone, and they're all for it. What next?>>

<<Go back to Conner, and see if he's got an answer to my question.>> I began walking, still held up by a giggling Pinkie. <<If it's a yes, try to get it written down.>>

Leo nodded, and took off back towards the Daycare. Pinkie finally settled me onto her back with a knowing look. "Somedoggy's planning a party."

Applejack glanced at the party pony. "What makes ya say that?"

"I have my ways..." She turned her grin to face me. "Come, to Sugarcube Corner! Na nana na~a!"

Everything turned pink. When my eyes cleared, we were in Pinkie's bedroom. <<How did we...?>>

"Hmmm, you're gonna need your own party planning room..." Whipping her closet door open, Pinkie shoved everything in it under her bed. Scooping me up, she placed me in the now empty closet. "You can start with this! I just got to lay out some arrows so that Leo can find you here!" She bounced out of the room, humming a tuneless song.

I sat in the bare closet, still trying to process what just happened. "So... This is mine now?"

Everything went smoothly. With Leo playing carrier pigeon, I was able to keep everyone up to date on any last minute changes and solve all problems as they came up.

I don't know what Rainbow's training was, but Leo's a speedy little fox...

It was the day of the party. We had all been left with Spike, except for the Reckless Duo. They were still on the farm, but they were going to meet us in the next few minutes.

Yomega placed a paw on my back. "While I thank you for planning all this, and I will admit my surprise you actually did this, I've got a question. You said there'd be decorations. Vince will be here in a few, and I don't see them."

"That's not a question, but I still have an answer." I moved to the center of the room, placing a small blue bundle with a short pink string on the floor. "Clear the center!" I called out. Grabbing hold of the string, I backed as far away from it as the string would allow. "Fire in the hole!" I pulled the string.

Everything went pink then.

When we could all see again, the whole room was covered in streamers, balloons, and everyone had a party hat sitting on the floor in front of them. Lulu stared wide eyed at me.

"What was that?!"

"That," I stated with a smug smile, adjusting my hat, "was the Party-Popper Grenade Mark One." I looked around. "Odd. That should've put the hats on you. It got mine..." Why does everything seem blueish?

Just then, the door slid open. Spike poked his head in, as the blind folded guest of honor was led in. "Huh, Pinkie never ceases to amaze me..." Shaking his head, he closed the door.

"Can I take this off now?" Vince asked, pawing at his face.

"Yep!" Someone said.

We all barely waited until the blindfold was off before all yelling, "Surprise!" After that, the party got started. We had to make things seem barely planned, didn't want Spike making any notes to Twilight about us. The last thing we wanted was Twilight thinking we were smarter than Owlowiscious.

I heard from Yomega later that our rendition of Happy Birthday had been noted as "eerily familiar, but he didn't know why".

Greed's Excess Part 1

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A few days had passed since Vince's party. I was taking a break from the eggs. Or rather, Conner forced away from the Daycare. 'The eggs will still be there when you get back'. His words, not mine. I was laying in my napping tree at the pond, singing what songs I could. I finished serenading Villhiem with my current tune.

His eyes remained closed as he opened his mouth. "I just had a thought on your eggs."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I don't think they'll hatch anytime soon. The ponies don't know they have to carry them around."

I snorted. "Bull. If every egg had to be carried around by trainers, how would there still be wild pokémon? There has to be some other condition."

"True. Change of topic, I'm surprised you can remember all those songs." He opened his eyes. "I mean, I know you can't carry a tune unless it's playing next to you, but that actually sounded good!"

I knocked a loose piece of bark off my branch onto him. "Fuck. You." I chuckled. "At least I don't sound like a drowning cat when I sing!" I leaned to the side to dodge the bark's return trip. "But I know what you mean. I think it has to do with a fan theory. It's called the Heartsong Theorem."

Villhiem glanced up at me in time to take the bark to the forehead. "Yer bullshitting me, aren't you?"

I shrugged. "About the name, maybe. But the way it goes is that ponies can randomly break into song and dance, and everypony will instinctively know their steps and lines, and the music will be provided by the world."

"And what does that have to do with you?"

"The only songs I can seem to remember from our old world are the fannon songs for My Little Pony."

"Fannon?"

I looked down at him. "Shit the fan base made." The bark chip smacked into my nose before bouncing out of our reach.

"So what does being upside down have to do with ponies?"

I chuckled. "We'll be filling the others in on it when we get nearer to it, but Fluttershy becomes a vampire."

"No shit?"

I lay back down. "No shit. Well, some shit. Long story short, vampire fruit bats infest the orchard, Twilight casts a spell, and Joy gets turned into a vampire fruit pony as a side affect. She gets cured of it in, like a night. Wonder how Conner's gonna take it..."

"Awww," Villhiem pouted. "I was hoping for some awesome Van Helsing shit to happen."

"Look out, everypony. Audrey's hungry." I deadpanned.

"Who's Audrey?"

I glared down at the plant-dog below me. "How could you not know who, or rather what, that was?"

"Was it a plant?" He asked.

"Yes." I huffed, laying my head down again. "I'm not telling you anything else."

"Not unless you call him Seymour."

Both Villhiem and I looked to our new companion. Yomega stumbled out of the brush. Judging by the bags under his eyes, he was up very early. If he even went to bed.

"Sup?" I asked.

Villhiem snickered. "You look like shit man. Did' ya even get to bed last night?"

"Woke up in the basement." He blinked. "One sec." He turned, and bolted for the pond. After splashing around for a bit, he came shivering back over to us. "D-didn't think i-it be t-that cold!"

"Yeah, I think the Running of the Leaves is just around the corner." I proudly sat straight. "This year, Applejack and Rainbow have a new challenge: Who's the better trainer? They're going to have Vince and Cy race me in the marathon. Applejack's training them up now."

"I know how fast you go, they wont stand a chance." Villhiem shook his head.

"No, they stand a good chance." Noting their confused looks, I elaborated. "Applejack's training them for endurance. Long distance. I'm a sprinter at best. I'll need to stay with the main group of ponies, then burst ahead near the end."

Villhiem nodded. "Wonder what your stats all look like."

"This month." Yomega had finished shivering.

"What?"

"The ponies calendar's fucked up." He explained. "Everything's the same up to weeks, but it's four weeks to a moon, twelve moons to a month, and four months to a year. Kinda puts the shows timeline into perspective."

Villhiem and I glanced at each other. "Ponies are fucking crazy." He muttered.

"So, what were you up all night doing?"

Yomega lay down beside Villhiem. "Twi's Spectro-Thaumic Scanner came in yesterday. We moved the box into the basement. I spent most of the night reading the instruction manual, and passed out in the box. Just woke up to some sort of commotion upstairs. What were you two doing?"

"Singing." Villhiem supplied as I started a new tune.

I had barely finished singing when Conner burst out of the bushes, bolting past us towards Ponyville.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Villhiem called out as Yomega glanced towards the town.

"Spike's greed growth!" Conner yelled. "The others are heading there now!"

Oh. Oh shit that's bad! I bolted from my branch, quickly catching up with the others. "So, Yomega, what's the plan?" I asked the grey Eevee.

"Catch anything he drops, harass him into dropping things." Yomega panted.

"So, no plan then?"

Not now, Brain!

We ran through town, passing panicking ponies on our way to Sugarcube Corner. I pulled ahead in time to see Spike's head smash through the roof, a small smattering of stars exploding against his tough hide. I ran through the holes in the wall, scooped Zann up onto my back, and ran back out to join the others. Lulu led the others around the building so that we were all together.

"After him!" Yomega yelled.

"What all does he have?" Lulu shouted.

"Lots of books, apples, a bunch of knickknacks, and Fluttershy's chicken coop." Yomega replied.

I burst past the the others, terror clear in my eyes as I screeched back to them.

"HE'S GOT THE EGGS!"

Greed's Excess Part 2

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"Everybody with Quick Attack, go for the eggs!" Yomega commanded. He put action to his words and led the charge. Yomega, Vince and Cy all blurred past me before I could focus past my panic. Then the world stopped.

I could see a water droplet hanging in midair. Looking behind me, yet without slowing down, I could see the five who hadn't used their moves frozen in mid-step. Zann's face was even frozen with a look of surprise as his support, me, had vanished from beneath him. I quickly passed the formerly blurred Eevees, who seemed to move in slow motion. Further observations were cut off as I ran straight up Spike's leg.

My momentum kept me glued to Spike's skin as the world turned upside down as I ran along his tail. I could see Yomega nearing Spike's foot as I ran around to the top of Spike's tail. I barely slowed as I entered the Daycare. Scooping up the eggs, I jumped off the back wall, launching me from the room. I could see Conner and Zann launching their Swifts, their mouths glowing just before a new star was fired.

The world seemed to catch up with me in midair. <<Abes, catch me!>>

Abes' eyes glowed as he brought his Telekinesis to bear. I felt myself slowing, but my eggs slipped from my paws. They were just as quickly caught up in Abes's redish aura. I breathed a sigh of relief as the Swifts flew overhead, and Yomega, Vince and Cy slammed into Spike's ankle. With a roar, Spike spun to face us.

Unluckily for me, his tail slammed into me, knocking me from Abes's grasp. I had just enough time to see the eggs make it to the Umbreon's side before I smashed through somepony's flower box. I skipped off the wall before landing hard face first.

Why can't I feel my anything?

"Shock, probably."

That's not good. Heh, now I know what a Loony Toon feels like...

"That's nice, but Conner just asked you a question. Please say something coherent."

I looked up at the brownish blob in front of me. "Oh hey, Elmer. Ya mind If I take five, I just can't keep up with ya's. Thanks."

"What?"

"What?!"

The world started to fade to black. "At least it was coherent..."

[Yomega]

Vince, Cy and I quickly regrouped with the others. "Dammit!" I swore as I looked back at the very angry dragon. "We couldn't get up his legs! Spike still has them!"

"No he doesn't." Abes stated, holding the eggs in his aura. "Leo managed to get them out."

"How?" Vince asked.

"Shit!" Villhiem called out as he bolted to the front of the group. Roots and vines burst from the ground, forming a wall in front of Villhiem, just in time for a blast of dragon fire to break against it. More plants joined to wall. "Abes, give me the eggs! I'm a grass goin' against a fire, I'll keep 'em safe elsewhere!"

"Where's Leo?" Cy cried as Villhiem tied the eggs to his back with more plant matter.

"He's over here!" Conner called out. "He took a bad hit, and is out of it!"

"You stay with him." I ordered. The fire died out as it finally burnt through the vegetation. "Everyone else, we're playing distraction."

Villhiem bolted down an alleyway as the rest of us, minus Conner and Leo, hauled ass after Spike. The dragon had turned and made his way further down the road. We caught up to him just as he pulled Rarity from her Boutique.

"Rarity!" Lulu turned to Abes. "Do something! Tackle him!"

"I can't!" Abes shot back. "I can't Growl or Tackle anymore!"

"What do mean, you can't?! You're a fucking Umbreon, it should be easier!" Lulu, barked at him. "Fuck it, use Tail Whip or something!"

Abes looked at his rear in shock. "I have a tail!"

I rounded on them. "Neither of you are helping right now!" Vince and Cy stomped their paws, causing Zann's swift to become larger as it flew. Spike roared again, turning to face us once more. "Lulu, Mimic me! Abes, Confuse Ray!"

I turned, launching myself into a Quick Attack as a strange purplish orb flew overhead. I collided with Spike at the same time as the orb. I could feel Spike shudder as he briefly seemed to glow purple. I booked it back to the main group as Lulu blurred forward.

"Get outta there!" Abes shouted. "It didn't take! He's not confused!"

I watched in horror as Spike, almost casually, leaned down and backhanded Lulu back towards us. Just before he stood up, three pegasi wearing Wonderbolt uniforms sheared through the spines on his back. Enraged, Spike stormed after them. All before Lulu plowed ass first into the building behind me. I heard something snap.

Lulu lay unmoving before me. Blood dripped from the base of her tail, and her legs seemed to rest at an awkward angle. "Abes!" I cried, cradling Lulu's head. I could faintly see her breathing. "We're falling back! Help me with Lulu!"

With a nod, Abes' eyes glowed, his aura wrapping Lulu's body. As one, we all turned and left Spike in the less than capable hands of Spitfire's crew. We met up with Conner and Leo staggering the other way.

"Leo!" Cy glomped the woozy Eevee. "You're awake!"

"How?" Vince asked.

Conner smiled. "I learned Healing Pulse. It was-" His eyes widened upon seeing Abes' load. "Lulu!" He bolted to her side, before looking around. "Put her there." He pointed to an area cleared of rubble.

Lulu was floated over and gently laid where Conner indicated. Conner, placed his paws on her side, his eyes closed. I watched in awe as pink motes of light came into existence before drifting into Lulu. After a minute, her legs snapped back into place with a sickening crunch. Conner removed his paws, the light dying out.

"That's all I can do for her." He said. "We'll need to get her to Joy."

"I can walk." Lulu slurred, standing unsteadily. "I jush need shomeone ta lean against." I let her prop herself against me.

We all heard a shrill scream. Looking to its source, we noticed two small figures falling through the air. Two winged forms bolted after them.

"Come on." I nudged Lulu to get her moving. "Let's go join the main cast."

"Are we going ta shee the nice poniesh backshtage?" Lulu warbled.

Looking into her unfocused eyes, I could tell she was still out of things. "Yes. I've got your pass, don't worry."

"Yay..."

[Leo]

I limped along, leaning against Conner. We made good time to the bridge where everypony was meeting. My heart soared when Villhiem joined us with the eggs tied to his back. Once Fluttershy saw us, she immediately began to fuss over us. She did a quick check over me before claiming I only needed some rest, but she spent significant time looking over Lulu.

Lulu, for her part, couldn't seem to stand up straight with out help. <<Hi, Joy. Yer very pretty.>> She slurred with a smile.

Rarity came over with Spike. "Fluttershy, dear. Is Lulu alright?"

"It's hard to tell." Fluttershy floated around to Lulu's rear.

<<Yesh, I hash a nice assh.>> Lulu giggled

"She was obviously hurt, but she was magically healed." Fluttershy gently held Lulu steady. "Her wounds seem to be closed, so that's good. But she appears to be, um, water intoxicated."

<<She what?>> Conner asked.

<<Shilly.>> Lulu giggled again. <<Booze getsh ya drunk, not water.>>

Twilight spoke up. "Water intoxication is when the normal balance of electrolytes is pushed outside safe limits due to over hydration." She gulped. "It's potentially fatal."

"Rainbow, could you please go to the hospital and ask them for some diuretics?" Fluttershy asked. "You may need to tell them I sent you." With a nod, Rainbow took flight. "Rarity, could you come here please?"

Once the white mare joined Fluttershy's side, the shy pegasus continued. "There seems to be something embedded at the base for her tail. Could you pull it out while I hold the fur out of the way?"

"Of course, daring."

We watched as slivers of a blue gem were removed from Lulu's, erm, behind. Four shards were removed in total. Now, they were held in Rarity's aura. She squinted, twisting them around. "I think I've seen this gem before..." She mused.

With a click, she lined them up and fit them together. "This, this is one of my grown Baby Blue Saphires! How did it get there?"

<> Lulu giggled. <> She then blinked.

<<Who left tha waterfall running?>> She asked as she began to glow with a bright blue light.

Aquarius.

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I shielded my eyes from the light coming off Lulu. Soon, the light died down, allowing us to see her new form. She had tripled in size. Her body had become more streamlined. Her fur had become a light blue, with a darker blue ridge running from the off white ruffle around her neck down to her fluked tail. The pale yellow crest lined with deep blue that sat upon her brow was matched by the fins sprouting from her ears. She sat regally with her eyes closed, as if she expected us to begin fawning over her.

"She's beautiful..." Rarity praised.

<<Darling,>> Lulu opened her pure black eyes, <<I'm fucking fabulous.>>

I could hear a slight grinding noise. I risked a glance at Twilight to see her clenched jaw sliding back and forth, errant strands of her main popping out. <<Yomega...>>

<> Yomega trotted up to the newest eevolution, catching everyone's attention. <<Joy, we may wish to relocate to the Library. I believe Twilight has a new group of tests she wishes to run.>>

"Twilight," Fluttershy looked over to the studious unicorn, "Do you have more tests to do?"

"Oh, yes." Twilight jerkily nodded her head. "Much tests, such discoveries. Starting with Lulu."

Rarity gasped. "I'm afraid you can't." She stated once she noticed our eyes on her.

"Don't ya mean won't?" Applejack tilted her head.

"No, I mean can't." Rarity pointed to the spot Lulu was previously occupying. "Lulu just ran off..."

"Where did she go?" Spike asked.

"She just, melted into a puddle, then flowed away..." Rarity drifted off, pointing her hoof at the river.

Just then, Rainbow arrived with a small container. "Hey, 'Shy. I got the stuff you asked for. I hope I made it in-" She looked around. "Where'd Lulu go?"

I glanced at Yomega, who gave me a slight nod. Using the distraction Rainbow had provided, I slipped away.

I had made my way down the river towards the pond. Once there, I began to walk about the shoreline, looking for any sign of our missing Vaporeon. That sign came when I noticed a group of reeds shivering near the shore, on the far side of the pond from Ponyville.

I came as close to the water as I dared before laying down. "Hey." I called out softly.

The reeds stopped shaking. Shortly after, the top of Lulu's head rose above the water. "H-hey. How'd you find me?"

"I may not look it, but I can be observant at times." I proudly nodded my head. "You may have thought I was sleeping, but I've seen you coming here. Often enough to guess that this was your 'I need to be alone' spot." I shrugged. "The shaking reeds didn't hurt either."

"Oh." She sank until her eyes were just above the water.

"You okay?" I only got bubbles in response. "You'll need to bring your mouth up."

She just shook her head.

I raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong? You can tell me."

She rose her tail out of the water, arcing it over her back to look at it.

"You're going to make me play charades, aren't you?" I grumbled. "Was it about your evolution?"

She nodded, her tail retreating back below the surface.

"What happened?" Noticing her worried look, I growled. "You can't mime this one out, I need you to talk to me."

"I don't wanna talk about it." She dipped her muzzle below the surface again.

I sighed. "Did it hurt?" Another nod. "I would expect so. Rarity pulled gem shards outta your ass."

She dipped a little further below the waves, a small amount of bubbles streaming from where her mouth was.

I cocked my head to the side. "You whimpered, didn't you?"

She nodded.

With a sigh, I stood. "Would you rather talk to Abes or Villhiem?" Once more, she nodded. "Well, come on then. Everyone's waiting for you at the library." I walked a short ways, before turning to look back at Lulu.

She glanced from side to side before gracefully swimming up onto shore. With her head held high, she strutted up to me. "You will tell no one about this." She murmured out the side of her mouth. "I will talk to the others in my own time."

It was my turn to nod. "As you wish."

As we made our way back through town, we could see ponies already repairing the damage done. I chanced a look down the street we first fought Spike in. I could see Roseluck staring in horror at a pile of dirt, flowers, and broken wood. "My flower box!" I heard her cry as she passed from view.

I winced. "I'm going to need to make that up to her."

"How?"

"I'm working on that..." We soon came up to one of our tunnels. "Let me go first, let them know you're coming."

I barely waited for her confirmation before crawling down the hole. I popped up in the basement behind Abes. I could see the full pack waiting by the wall near tunnel exits. All save Yomega, who was standing in what looked like a giant mixing bowl. There was a pair of rods hanging from either side of him. Twilight was fiddling with some of the switches, while Fluttershy nervously fidgeted near the stairs.

<<Psst.>> Abes flicked an ear at me. <<Found her. I wanted to let you know before we came in.>> He subtly nodded.

We're doing that a lot lately. I thought as I shuffled backwards to retrieve Lulu. I left the tunnel outside butt first. Giving myself a little shake, I turned to Lulu. "They know you're coming. Go on, I'll follow you down."

"Very well." Lulu huffed before melting into a puddle. She flowed down the hole, not disturbing the soil.

Looking down at my dirtied fur, I growled. Of course she wouldn't get any dirt on her. I grumbled as I crawled back down the tunnel. Heaven forbid she becomes muddy. This is going to take forever to wash out. I paused. "And now I sound like Rarity." I moaned.

I managed to crawl from the tunnel without either of the mares noticing me. The machine whirred to life, the rods moving in a slow circle around Yomega.

<<What'd we miss?>> Lulu hissed to Abes.

<<Twilight spent most of her time trying to get her new scanner to work, while Yomega volunteered to be scanned first.>> Abes smirked. <<After twenty minutes of troubleshooting, Fluttershy noticed that the scanner wasn't plugged in.>>

I snorted, causing Twilight to glance at us. She did a double take when she saw Lulu and I. "Hey, Fluttershy, did you see those two come in?" She pointed a hoof at us.

"N-no, I didn't."

"Dammit." Twilight swore. "How do they keep getting in here?"

<<Through the front door, like everyone else.>> Lulu snarked.

"They said they came in the front door." Fluttershy dutifully translated. Twilight, for her part, only moved to a circle with squiggles above it. She then proceeded to bang her head within the circle.

"That's. Not. Possible!" She snarled in time with the banging. "I. Warded. The. Doors!"

"Feeling better now?" Fluttershy asked once Twilight stopped.

With a dazed smile, Twilight moved to stairs. "This is going to take a bit, I'm going to get some tea. Would you like some, Fluttershy?"

"Yes, please." The timid mare looked back us. "I'll stay down here and keep an eye on them, if that's alright with you."

"Of course." Twilight stated, as she made her way up the stairs.

It took most of the evening, but Twilight managed to scan us all. She spent her time waiting by getting a new blood sample from Lulu and running that. With Fluttershy translating for us, we found out that Lulu was now classified as an Mutis Enigmus Eevee Aquas. As we canines knew, her DNA had an odd sequence that Twilight stated would let her become water. Apparently, there's a kind of wild cat that can do the same thing living in Zebafrica.

Once the scans developed, we could see our inner workings. Each scan gave out three models on the machine's screen. One was clearly a simple cross section of our bodies, bones, muscles and all; another was a mix between our nervous and blood systems.

According to Twilight, the third was a model that was supposed to map any 'ley veins', as she called them. In layman's terms, they were the pathways mana flows along. She expect us to have an intricate network given our abilities. Instead, there was only a blurred out area in our chest.

Each model on each scan was distorted in that area. There was no way Twilight could know what was there without cutting us open. Fluttershy shot that idea down quickly.

With Conner's and my permission, Twilight scanned our egg. Every model came back distorted. It was at that point that we decided to make ourselves scarce. We each scattered to our respective homes or, in the case of Abes and Yomega, hiding places. Villhiem dropped my eggs off at Fluttershy's before running off to where ever he sleeps.

We figured we'd give her a week. My nightmares were going to filled with needles and shadowy Twilights for a while.

Dog Days: A Semi-Serious Sililoquy.

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[Abes]

Everypony agreed that we, the Eevee Pack, would get this next week or so off. Mostly because they wanted to keep Twilight away from us. Spike had the dubious honor of calming Twilight down. After his first attempt, I left the library. After his fourth, so did Yomega. Twilight had gained that manic gleam in her eye again.

Villhiem and I had decided to meet up with Lulu. And by that I mean, we got her favourite hiding spot out of Leo, and dragged her from the water.

If anyone asks, we beat the location out of Leo. She made us Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone else without a very good reason. We gave her a shiner for her cover story. She was unconscious for an hour afterward, though. I think Rainbow trained a glass cannon...

Anyways, Villhiem managed to get Lulu out of the reeds with the minimum of threats - a Razor Leaf in her general direction - and we were now laying on the shore. Lulu kept her tail in the water, and Villhiem placed himself in the best place to catch the morning sun.

"So," Lulu began, "what do you two need?"

"We just wanted to talk." I yawned.

"About what, darling?"

"Drop the act, Lulu." Villhiem said firmly. "And before you get defensive, we already know the why and how. But you'll have to tell the what to someone soon."

Lulu's fur began rippling like as wind driven waves. "And what could you possibly know?!" She snarled. She whipped a paw up, turning her head away. Her fur calmed until it was just only twitching slightly. She finally looked back to us. "I'm sorry, I-I just need to-"

"You need to talk to us." I interrupted. "Do you know how lucky we are that I had Luna I could talk to? We both had issues, and I can see you have some as well. Could you imagine what would have happened if I wasn't able to work through mine?"

"You wouldn't be tied a few hundred odd games of chess against your marefriend." Villhiem smirked.

I glared at the living plant, blushing crimson. "I-it's not like that! Luna just gets lonely some nights after night court!" I flicked my tail at him as I calmed down. "Anyways, we're here for Lulu!"

Villhiem nodded. "His point is that you can't bottle this up, you'll need to tell someone something soon. I can already see it's causing you enough stress as is."

"We've been there. We know." I looked off over the Vaporeon's shoulder. "The others won't understand until it happens to them. If it helps, just tell us what you told Leo, and go on from there."

Villhiem spoke up as Lulu opened her mouth. "You don't even have to tell us everything. We can break this up into pieces, if you'd like." He raised a paw, cutting her off again. "You can even ask us for advice."

"If ya'd let me talk!" She growled. "I was about to say that I told Leo nothing." Her fur, no, her body began to quake and roil, even making miniature whitecaps that crashed into the still waters of the pond. "And why should I? He- she'd never understand! And how can either of you understand?! You!" She glared at Villhiem. "You're a fucking plant! How can leaves and pollen ever compare to a raging rapid! A still pond! And you!" She slashed a paw at me. "You evolved from fucking moonbeams! You don't even have any connections to Equis!"

It was then that I noticed the tears beginning to stream down her face. "And you say that you understand! If that's understanding, then the others are fucking hopeless!" She was openly sobbing at this point. She dropped her head to the ground, covering her head frills with her fore paws. "H-how can I even explain it?"

I quickly lay beside her, draping a paw over her shoulders. "But you will have to try."

"And soon." Villhiem whispered.

"I-I..." She hiccuped. "... It was like drowning on air. A-and I couldn't feel anything, and I wasn't in control, and I felt stretched beyond my body's limits, a-and..." She trailed off into a whimper.

"Shh, shh." I patted Lulu's back. "It's okay, you don't need to tell us everything now. What you've said will do fine for now."

There was a ripping sound, like someone was tearing up a head of lettuce. I glanced up at Villhiem as he held up a chunk of his own tail. "Here." He said as he passed Lulu the chunk. "Chew on it for a bit. It'll help you relax."

Without moving her head out from under her paws, Lulu took the leafy flesh, and began to chew. "Bleh! This tastes too bitter." She complained. She still chewed on it though. I could feel her relaxing under me. "Are you a walking grow-op now?"

We both chuckled. "No." Villhiem explained. "I'm a walking herbal tranquilizer!"

"Close." I added. "Twilight discovered that the spores for his Sleep Powder are stored in the leafy part of his tail. It's not very strong, though. I think Twilight wrote it as 'the Eevee Filicophyta infuses the spores with the same kind of energy to increase their potency exponentially.'" I shrugged. "The best part: doing this doesn't hurt Villhiem, and it's no more addicting than a herbal tea. You just gotta remember to spit it out when you're done."

We lay there in silence as Lulu calmed down. Eventually, she spat the wad of chewed leaf into the water. We watched the waves slowly pull it out into the pond.

"Feeling better?" I asked at length.

She nodded."Yeah."

"You don't need to tell us anymore then that for now." I gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Just remember that we are here for you if you need to talk."

We once again lapsed into silence. We watched the sun reach it's zenith before Lulu spoke up. "You mentioned that I can ask you guys for advice?" I nodded. She looked between us. "How did you guys learn your new moves?"

I stared at her. "I just knew how to do them, as if I had always been able to."

"To be honest..." Villhiem rubbed his tail with a paw, slowly growing back the missing part of his tail. "I was kinda making it up as I went along. But every time I used a new move, I could almost feel my body moving as if it knew what to do. Like I was riding a bike for the first time after every winter. Why do ya ask?"

"Wait." I squinted at Lulu, who was trying to make herself smaller. "You never learned any new moves, did you?"

She nodded. "I know I should've learned something water related, but..."

I gave the water-dog some room. "Okay, so. Not sure how much this'll help, but..." With a sigh, I explained. "Whenever I use a dark type move, I draw on all my negative emotions. That gives me the power I need for my moves, but it drains me emotionally."

Villhiem shrugged. "I'm a plant. I just focus on where the energy I get from the sun goes when I feed." He quickly looked around, before hissing out his next words. "Didn't... Other tell you all this?"

Her eyes widened as she began to tremble. "That... That wasn't speaking English. At all. Or maybe it was? It was too garbled to tell...."

"Okay..." I looked out over the pond again as I thought. "New plan!" I pulled Lulu from the water and sat her onto the ground facing the pond. "I'mma goin' to teach you how to Water Gun!" I stated, mushing her cheeks with my paws.

"How?" She asked through my paws. "Yer no' even a wa'er 'ype?"

I released her as I gave her room. the sudden loss of my support caused her to face plant. "No, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out!" I waved a paw out over the water. "I mean, you've already figured out how to turn into water! Just gotta do it in an outwards direction!"

A leaf bounced of the back of my head. "Dude, stop channeling Pinkie." Villhiem said, his head-leaf thingy glowing, ready to launch another attack.

"How did you reduce it to a single leaf?" Lulu asked

"Haven't you ever seen Zann do it with his swifts?" Villhiem responded. "It's easy to do when you know the how behind it. But we should focus on getting your Water Gun to work."

Lulu's frills drooped. "I, I have to confess something. I was only relying on my cute looks. I have no idea how my moves work. I don't even know how I learned Mimic, let alone how it works." She stared out over the pond. "I... I guess I never really thought this could've been real. I kinda always thought that this was just some kind of fever dream, or a fucked up world my brain created while I'm stuck in coma. Every night, I would lay down expecting to wake up from this dream, and I..." Somehow, her frills drooped even lower. She sighed. "I guess I didn't want to get attached to this world."

I shared a look with Villhiem. "Where did all this come from? Why did you never tell any of us? Ya never even gave us any signs." Villhiem asked.

"Would you confess your deepest thoughts to a figment of your imagination?"

"Of course not, they already know them." I said cheerfully.

"Exactly!' Lulu nodded. "Wait, what?"

I cocked my head to the side. "What?"

She gave me a disbelieving look. "Ri~ight." She returned her gaze to the middle distance over the pond. "Still, I've been spending my days expecting the other shoe to fall, striving to detach myself from this world, just in case. Just acting my part." Her brow furrowed. "Maybe, that detachment is what's been holding me back...." I saw her eyes shimmer briefly. "Oh. Oh!" She turned to look at me.

"Its words! They're clear to me!" With a running start, Lulu dived into the pond. Just past the reeds, she breached the surface, spouting a stream of water into the air. As the water fell back to earth, Lulu gracefully swam back to shore, her fur reflecting the rainbows in the air. With a small smile, she closed our mouths as she walked past. "Water Gun, Aqua Ring, Muddy Water, Scald. And I didn't lose my old moves."

"Mark a point for the girls!" Zann said.

Lulu spun to confront our latest companion. "When the hell did you get here?!"

"Just in time for the water show!" Zann's eyes gained a gleam. The kind of gleam that warns you of 'fun' times coming that you may or may not remember.

Or want to.

"I needed to ask you guys something...."

[Third]

"Alright, that aughtta do it!" A red stallion in blue overalls shouted to another, green stallion wearing same. The second stallion was standing by the wall on the far side of a fountain. Ever since it got a new statue as a center piece, the water pump had been on the fritz. "Give it another go!"

"On it!" The green stallion flipped the breaker hidden among the nearby bushes. It started as a sputter, but soon the water was flowing freely. "We did it! Hopefully for good this-a time..."

"Yeah." The other worker replied. "There's-a somethin' wrong with this-a statue. Gives me the creeps..."

"And they should really get-a somepony to look at the crack in-a the wing..."

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream.

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After Twilight's dubious success with her new scanner thingy, Rainbow and I decided that we needed to train up for the Running of the Leaves. We started to increase the length of our runs, we ran whenever we could, and trying to run for longer at a jog. The irony of slowing down was lost on us.

About a week after we began training, two odd things happened to me. The first was when I noticed Rainbow prepping our dinner. I had just made it home when I smelt a smell I hadn't smelt since earth. I saw that Rainbow had upped the fish in my dinner again. It was more carbs then fruit at this point. Thing is, I get my fish raw.

So why could I smell cooked halibut?

Turns out, Rainbow, in a rare display of logical thinking, had decided to start cooking up some fish for herself. She figured that if the fish made me faster, then it would make her faster too. It didn't, but she tried...

Turns out, this wasn't the first time she'd eaten meat. Living with Rainbow has taught me that pegasi sometimes snack on tofu, but I didn't think she would eat actual meat because she's a herbivore. Should'a remembered that her best friend growing up was a griffin.

The second thing was when Zann dropped by to ask me for a request. Quite literally. I was jogging down the road when he fell from above. He was quickly up again, hobbling at my side. I had to slow myself to his speed, and keep reminding myself to do so.

Turns out I've started to speed walk naturally.

Anyways... Where was I? Oh, right.

Zann seemed to be wide eyed and out of breath. "Hey, glad I could catch ya!" He panted. "Listen, I've got a couple plans for the next thing I wanna do. Could you find some time in yer training, say, this time in two weeks?"

I nodded.

"Great. Oh!" He placed an odd bag over my back. "Lulu made these for us. There's a bunch of things in there. I'll need ya to make somethin' from that."

We trotted in silence for a brief bit. I sighed. "What am I to be making?"

"A memory of sorts." His smile slipped. "Something from home. You'll need it for the thing." He hobbled over to my other side so that he was nearer to the fence. "We'll be meeting up in the Batcave."

"You were the one who put that in!"

"Nope." He smiled. "Abes brought it up with me the day before. I told him he could explain the joke to Luna."

I didn't notice my speed slightly increase as we walked in silence. Eventually, a thought came to me. "I just know Abes wanted to say 'I'm Batman" at some point." My chuckles died of when I noticed I was alone again. Huh. He must've turned to go to the farm.

"But there's no turns back there."

Or trees, for that matter.

Since then, I only increased my training. I started running with light weights in my new bag. Rainbow was doing the same. We would be up early, about nine A.M. as opposed to noon, to go for a long jog. A fair few times, we would meet up with Applejack and the Reckless Duo and stop off at the market to cool down from our runs. It was during one of those times that I made a deal with the other two Eevees.

We wouldn't use any moves of any type in our race. We wanted this competition to be about our skill and endurance, not about who could do what to screw with the others.

Each evening since Zann had made his strange request, I worked on making something out of my supplies. I would have to ask him later where he 'found' the cloth. I highly doubt he strolled into a store and bought it.

I grabbed a few sticks off the ground. Making a cross, I tied them together with thin strips of the cloth. Once that was done, I made very crude cloths for my dolls. After I had made three, I ran out of materials and time. The thing was upon me.

The thing was a small party in the Daycare. I had managed to slip away from Rainbow to attend though, which I felt bad about.

Once Abes dragged his tired body into the room, Yomega turned to our three legged pack mate. "So, you mind explaining what we're doing here?"

"Simple." He put a small blue lump onto the floor with a pull-string. "I was hoping-"

He only got that far before I knocked him into the back wall. "Ah! No! Bad Zann!" I hissed in his face. "What did I say about explosives in the Daycare!"

"It was only a small one..." He whined. He relented after taking the full force of my Glare. "Fi~ne." I let him go, and he limped back to his Party Popper Grenade. After putting it back in his bag. "I was hoping we could throw a party for the evolved members of our pack. A small celebration before the second part. But we'll get to that later."

We kept it tame for a party. There wasn't much we could do in the smallish room with the two eggs, after all. After waiting for a bit, I moved to the center of the room.

"Because I don't know when I'll get my next chance, I've got somethin' ta say." I declared. All other conversations stopped. "I regret to inform you that I seemed to have lost the ability to Quick Attack."

"Bullshit!" Villhiem cried. "I saw how you moved with Spike. If that's not a Quick Attack, then I don't know what is!"

I turned to him with a smug smile. "Extreme Speed."

He paused. "I'm not familiar with that one."

Yomega gave a slight chuckle. "It's the faster version of Quick Attack. It goes before any other move, period."

"Exactly." I nodded at the grey canine. "That was the only thing I needed to say." I proceeded to sit by my eggs and eavesdrop on the others. My ears twitched, tuning into Zann's discussion with our newly evolved Vaporeon.

"You really didn't need to do this, Zann." Lulu stressed.

"Nonsense!" He laughed. "If anything, this was long overdue for the other two! And I couldn't pull the next part off with out your help. I don't know where you found the gems to buy all the stuff I used."

"I found them myself, naturally."

"And taking the time to do the extra favor I asked for? That's a lot of time spent by a rock."

"It was nothing, darling." Lulu placed a paw over her chest. "If you are going to be anything like Pinkie, then I would give anything to help it along."

I turned to look at them both, holding my tongue. I needed to check a theory.

"Please," Zann gave a weak chuckle, a blue tint to his eyes, "this is nothing to write home about."

With a giggle, Lulu replied. "Now who's speaking nonsense! First your birthday party for Vince, and now this? Darling, Pinkie Pie is rubbing off on you."

They both blinked, twin flashes of light, purple and blue, briefly flared. Not long afterwards, a pair of eggs entered the world. One tinted blue seemed to cause some pain, but the other purple tinted one practically slid out. My whoop of joy cut through the other's conversations. We now had another reason to celebrate.

We quickly established that Lulu was fine, and wasn't tired from pushing out two eggs. Zann, with an uncharacteristic frown, soon cut our festivities short. He gathered us up, then led us from the Daycare.

[Third]

Twilight had spent most of her day trying to track down the Eevee Pack. Each of her friends had, in turn, came to her asking if she had seen the little dogs around. It was now late afternoon, and now the studious mare was kicking her own flank.

Crossing over the bridge outside Fluttershy's cottage, Twilight went to check the one place she should've checked first. The doghouse Fluttershy attached to her hen house.

She turned the cottage's corner in time to see the Eevees file off into the Everfree. She risked a quick glance into the doghouse, and noted the two new eggs. Twilight glanced from the doghouse to the forest, chewing on her lip, before moving to follow the Eevee Pack.

She didn't catch up to them for some time. It was almost like the roots and bushes were actively trying to slow her down. Alhough, Twilight mused, with the Everfree, I wouldn't be surprised.

The Pack sat in front of a large rock in a decently sized clearing. Twilight shifted so that she was off to the side. Forming a horseshoe with the larger canines at the ends, the Pack ringed a mound of overturned soil. Twilight watched as they stood perfectly still for a long minute.

Soon, one by one, they let out a low keening. Twilight's ears folded back from the strangely sorrowful noise. Once the noise had died down, the Pack grouped up, not one stepping on the mound, and left back towards the cottage. Had Twilight not moved, the Pack would've walked into her. When she was sure they had gone, Twilight moved to inspect the stone and mound.

The mound looked to be about a foot long. The rock seemed to have a large amount of lines eroded into it in an intriguing pattern. Twilight moved to poke at the mound, when a few facts entered her mind.

The Eevee's seemed to be as smart as Angel or Owlowiscious.

The Pack had first come out of the deep parts of the Everfree.

One Eevee had already been badly scarred.

What, what if not every member of their pack made it out? Twilight's eyes widened as she snapped her hoof from the mound. Oh, sweet Celestia, I've just crashed a wake! With a crack of displaced air, the lavender mare blinked back to the library.

If she could remember back, she would remember that this was the clearing her first tracking spell had led her to.

If she had dug up the mound, she would have seen some kind of crude dolls, folded cloths of simple shape, and other items inadequately showing memories of a lost world.

If she could read English, she would've been able to understand the meaning behind the words engraved upon the stone.

To be honest with emotion
Is a blessing in disguise.
While it is the doorway to mourning,
'Tis only open to the wise.

Be tender with your open soul.
Speak words that are nothing but Kind.
Fight the thrall of chaos,
And I'm sure that you will find,

Yourself surrounded by friends
Who are always at your side.
Who'll keep you ever stable,
With whom you needn't hide.

So, though it may be difficult,
Face grief with a grin.
They say laugh in the face of death,
And you are sure to win.

So offer up your mourning heart
To a child, a lover, or friend.
Between you all, I'm sure you'll find
The conviction to defend,

The magic lit within your eyes
And the joy inside your soul.
Cherish each and every part,
They'll stay to keep you whole.

Perhaps it is dramatic,
But I'm sure that we could be
The guardians of balance
Between discord and harmony.

Lest We Forget.

Letters To An Old Friend.

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Dear Moon Dancer,

I would like to begin by once again apologizing for missing your party. I know, I know. I should stop writing that every time I send a letter, but I still feel bad for missing it.

How have your studies been going? Which course are you on? I ask because I never went too far into advanced Biology. Now I find myself wishing I had. You remember the eevees I wrote to you about? I think I found something about them, but it lies outside of my area of expertise.

I recently managed to order and install a Spectro-Thaumic Scanner, and I ran a few scans on the eevees. I'm not sure if I didn't set the S.T. Scanner up properly, but one of the layers did not seem to scan properly. And...

And I probably shouldn't off load my technical problems like this.

Anyways, I've been thinking of sending my findings to Canterlot University. Someone from there may be able to make sense from the data I've collected.

Maybe we can catch up face to face when I'm next up in Canterlot.

Wishing you the best,

Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Maybe I can help you with your data problem. I have recently finished my advanced biology exams for the 302 course. If you can send me a summation of your notes, I should be able to convince the Headmaster to let me come down and work with you on these eevees as my thesis.

I can even help you even figure out what's wrong with the S.T. Scanner. Congratulations on getting one, by the way.

I hope the Headmaster lets us go through with it. I kinda feel cooped up here in the University, and would really like the fresh scenery.

Yours,

Moon Dancer

Dear Moon Dancer,

I would be delighted to send you the summary, and you will find a copy enclosed. Good luck with convincing Headmaster Brain Pan to let you come help me.

Yours,

Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

He said yes! He did add in the stipulation that I needed to provide my own room and board while I'm in Ponyville. Do you know anywhere that's cheap enough for a university student to rent in? I'm looking for something on my end.

When I do move down to Ponyville, I'll have to remember to bring some gems for Spike. He's sent four letters in two days!

When I have everything set up, I'll send you a letter to let you know I'm coming.

Yours,

Moon Dancer

Dear Moon Dancer,

Spike and I talked it over, and we've agreed to set up the spare room for you. When you're ready to come down, let us know. We'll even prep the Library for your, well. You'll see when you get here.

Yours,

Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon.

Dear Twilight,

I should be able to move in just after the Running of the Leaves. Thank you for doing this for me, and I hope we'll be able to figure out these eevees.

I'm still trying to figure out some of data you've sent me. Elemental control, extreme speeds, spontaneous evolutionary growth spurts?!

Eagerly waiting the day I'm moving in,

Moon Dancer.

[Abes]

<<Oh, that's not good,>> I muttered as I shuffled my way out of Twilight's room, taking care not to make enough noise to wake the room's occupants. <<Must warn somebody!>>

Reacting to the Unforeseen.

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I made my way through town, racing after Rainbow on our way to the weather office. When we got there, Rainbow burst through the door, quickly making her way to her office. I made to follow her.

And ran into Yomega.

<<Ah!>> I squeaked out. <<I'm so sorry, I didn't notice you there!>>

<<At least one of you still has manners.>> He grumbled. Picking himself off the floor, he started to move past me. <<Come on, I need you to do something for me. And, no.>> His tail stopped me from following Rainbow. <<This can't wait until you're done work.>>

<<But it'll only take a minute...?>> I looked between Yomega and Rainbow's office. I turned and followed my grey friend. <<What do you need?>>

<<Slight emergency. I'll need you to go get Zann, Conner and the Duo and get them to the reeds at the pond.>> Yomega ordered. <<Abes is getting Villhiem, he's bringing the Crusaders to Golden Oaks. I'm grabbing Lulu.>>

<<Okay, but what's going on?>> I pressed.

<<Abes found something.>> He glanced at me. <<The timeline may have been changed.>>

<<Oh, shit.>> I darted around Yomega. <<I'm on it!>>

I booked it to Sugarcube Corner. Blurring in through the back door, I did a quick circuit of the kitchen. I attempted to stop to get my bearings.

Key word being attempted. I forgot that kitchens are usually tiled, and linoleum makes for poor traction. I really hope the Cakes like my impression. I glanced to my left, noting another failed stopping attempt from a week prior. ... Impressions.

"Does this make you an impressionist?"

That was bad, and you should feel bad.

"Oh, hey Leo!" A mass of pink pulled me from the wall. "Sorry I didn't have a cushion ready, I'm still getting used to that combo. Are you looking for Zann?" I nodded. "He's upstairs in my closet!" She carried me to the door near the stairs. My legs were already running by the time she placed me in the hallway. Once paw touched carpet, I was thundering up the stairs.

I sped through the dog door Pinkie installed for Zann, jumped up onto Pinkie's bed, before bleeding off speed by running across the walls. I finally stopped in front of the closet door. I leaned against said door, and gave it a light knock.

"I heard you coming up the stairs." Zann's voice carried through the door. "I just reached the latch. You might want to stand back." I heard something click. I then fell forward as I lost my support. I looked up to see Zann raising an eyebrow at me. "I swapped the doors so they open inwards. You okay?"

"Yeah, just gotta catch my breath." I looked around the room. And I do mean room. This was the Tardis of closets, I swear. I looked at the diagrams, sketches, and pages of notes pinned to the walls and covering the floor. The pages nearest to me looked like some sort of recreation of the Canada Arm. "Are you ok-" My eyes landed on the mass of stone at the back wall. "Is that a foundry?!"

"I think so." Zann helped me up with a shrug. "Pinkie added it in overnight, quite literally in her sleep. She was just as surprised as you when she woke that morning."

"Why, how did she, but the size...?" I shook my head. "No, no. That way lies madness. Yomega wants us to meet up at the pond by the reeds. Something about an emergency meeting involving the timeline."

"What timeline?" I looked at him, and waved a paw towards the bedroom door. "Their timeline? I thought we were staying out of it?"

"Somethin' happened." I began pushing him towards the door. "Now hurry up and get over there, I need to bolt out to the Daycare and get the last three. We'll meet you there."

I waited for Zann to acknowledge me before I tore my way out of Pinkie's room. To save on energy, I slid down the banister, hopping off to bolt through the kitchen. I made it to the edge of town, then launched myself into an Extreme Speed to get to the farm faster. Most of the way there, my body decided it would be a good time to tell me something: fur doesn't stop friction very well.

You know that thing you'd do to your friends or people who really annoy you? The one where you would grab their arm then twist, leaving a slight burn? The banister did the same to my stomach. That was apparently mistake number one.

Mistake number two was curling up in pain.

In the middle of the Extreme Speed.

I ended up rolling up the path to the farm. The world was a blur of colors to me, though, so I barely noticed. All I knew was that I needed to stop.

So I made mistake number three, and uncurled to dig my paws in to stop.

I came to looking at red wood paneling. Looking around, I saw that I lay by the barn at the end of a shallow trench. Thankfully, everyone missed my wipe out. I staggered out from my little divot. I made my way into the doubled orchard, looking for the Reckless Duo.

"I think you fit the first part of their title more right now."

I limped further into the swaying trees. What was your first fucking clue? Was it the beach ball impression?

"Nah, I think it was when you attempted to use your face as an e-brake."

"There she is!" I turned around to see a pair of Cys leading two Conners to me, twin Vinces following with a shake of their heads.

I sat and waited for them to get closer. "Oh, hey guys! I was just looking for yous."

The Conners came up to me before placing their glowing pink paws onto my forehead. "What did you say she did?" He said as he came into focus.

"She came rolling up the main path before extending into an epic face fault." Vince smirked. "Overall, an eight out of ten wipe out."

"Oh please, that was a six at best!"

"No time for joking." I stood up again. "Yomega's called an emergency meeting. We're meeting up at the reeds." I started jogging back the way we came. I got to the edge of the trees before looking back at them. They hadn't moved. "Let's go! It's about the timeline!"

Leading the way, I just barely heard someone say, "Where does she get all that energy?"

We all lay on the pond's shore, except for Lulu. She floated in the water nearby. Yomega waited for Conner to catch his breath. "So, I'm going to cut to the point here. Abes found some letters that make us worry about the timeline." Yomega looked at me. "You watched the show the most, what do you know about Moon Dancer?"

"Not much. She only had an off-screen presence in the first episode." I paused, trying to recall what I could. "I heard rumors that she might be making an appearance in the next season. I don't know what role she would have had though. What's going on?"

Abes spoke up. "Twilight has been sending Moon Dancer letters about us. Turns out, Moony is a biologist, or at least studying to become one. She's going to be coming here to write her thesis on us, while helping Twilight figure us out."

"We don't know how much this will affect the show's timeline." Yomega finished. "After all, the smallest things could fuck shit up. We are a good example of that. You said Moon Dancer wasn't a major player in the show, Leo? And you only know rumors for later?" I nodded. "Then there are only two things that could mean. Either she has no more than a minor, background role in the show, similar to ponies like Derpy...."

At that moment, said mare crashed into the pond on the far side. All of us winced as she called out her trademarked reassurance to the ponies on that side.

"... Or she could be a major player like Zecora." Yomega finished. He shook his head with a slight smile. "From the evidence that I can see now, I speculate that, no matter her prior role in the timeline, we've changed it. If she barely had a role before, we've pushed her further into the spotlight. If she was going to have a major role, we've changed what that role is.

"If she was going to be a force for "good", we've basically given her early access to the element bearers. If she was going to be a villain, then we've basically nixed that path for her." He turned to us with a serious expression. "Gentle-vees, the timeline we've known is now useless."

We all shared a somber look. Without our foreknowledge, we couldn't know if we needed to stay out of the way, or just leave. The one that worried me the most is that we could prevent Twilight from ascending, which would leave Equestria open for Tirek to take over.

Our dour mood was interrupted by someone starting to giggle. We all turned to Zann. "Don't assume! It makes an ass out of you and me!" He dissolved into full blown laughter.

"And now Zann's lost it." Lulu deadpanned. "We're doomed."

"No, no, no, no." Zann squeaked out. "Your assuming that where Moon Dancer is is important to the overall working of the universe! I bet the major problems will still happen. What's the next episode, Leo?"

"When the hell did I become the archivist?" I grumbled. "Lets see, we just had Spikezilla, the next one should be... Ugh, Hearth's Warming Eve." I scowled. "That won't even be until mid winter, then there's Family Appreciation Day, which is going to be in spring, maybe. We're not going to get anything interesting through the show anytime soon. Not unless we make it."

"What about the Running of the Leaves?" Villhiem asked.

"Two things," I turned to him, "we got here after that episode, and I was already including that. So, it looks like we are in charge of our own entertainment for the winter."

"What's Hearth's Warming?" Lulu asked.

"Pony Christmas." The Duo chorused.

"Oh~." Lulu simpered. "I just love Christmas! The snow, the hot chocolate, the presents! Oh, it's my favourite time of year!"

The others began to talk over each other and Yomega's attempt to restore order.

"Yay." I scowled. "We done here? Rainbow's probably looking for me."

"Yes." Yomega sighed to me. "You can go back to your job now."

I turned to leave, and ran face first into Zann. "I'm so excited for Christmas and there isn't even snow yet! You think it's to do with us being dogs?"

"I think you need to switch to decaf." I growled. The other's excitement had finally stared to die down.

"I can't help it! I'm already thinking about what to get everyone!"

"Good for you." I muttered as I tried to scoot around him. I didn't notice that everyone was now looking at me in silence.

"What do you want to get for Christmas?"

"Nothing!" I shouted. "Now get out of my way!" I stalked away from the group.

"I think he doesn't like Christmas." Zann whimpered behind me.

Racing Dynamos.

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I spent my days training with Rainbow Dash and avoiding a certain three legged Eevee.

Every time I ran into him, Zann always had to give me his newest theory of my grinchyness. His word, not mine. And I can tell he's been hanging out with Pinkie. Each "theory" is so off the wall or inane, you'd swear that they'd been thought up by a mad man.

"He's not that bad..."

I quote: Was the Apache helicopter you were in shot down by Santa with a RPG during World War One, and you were the only survivor and all your friends died? OH MY GOD! Am I dead?!

"Well to be fair..."

Stop. Just... Stop.

My training with Rainbow really paid off. I could now jog from Golden Oaks to Applejack's barn without tiring. It was nowhere's near my top speed, but I could at least keep up with an average pony. I didn't know how fast the Duo had gotten, so I hoped that it was enough.

It was finally race day. Rainbow and I moved up to the line of ponies getting their numbers. Before we got into the line proper, Rainbow stopped and turned to me. She pushed my rump down so that I was sitting.

"Hey, um." She fidgeted. "Look, you know me and how I am with words." She trailed off, before pulling a red collar from between her feathers. "Here, I got this for you, to make you living with me official." She clipped it around my neck. I pawed at the identification tag. I could see that it had what I assumed was Rainbow's address marked on one side, my name on the other. The tag was shaped like Rainbow's cutie mark. "Now you can always find your way home."

I looked from my tag to Rainbow's face. Yes, it was just really a dog collar. Yes, it should have been degrading. But, I couldn't help tearing up at this. Rainbow must really want me to be with her. I paused, my eyes tearing up. When did she even find time to do this? How much did she have to pay for this.... No, it doesn't matter. Without warning, I lunged forward, wrapping Rainbow into a hug.

"Yeah, yeah. Love you, too." She pulled me off and placed me back on the ground. "Now lets go win a race!"

"Now hold on there, partner." Applejack chuckled as she approached us, Vince and Cy in tow. "We ain't racin' this month. We agreed that we're just gonna run with th' rest of th' herd. It's these three that're gonna be racin'."

"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow rolled her eyes as we joined them in line. "Twilight's still going to be judging the 'Vees?"

Applejack nodded. "Eeyup. She's even entered Yomega as a control."

<<You guy's think you've done enough training?>> I asked the Duo. <<What was your training routine?>>

<<We'll tell you after the race.>> Cy promised as his number was tied around his neck like a price tag.

<<Assuming you will tell us yours as well.>> Vince added as he received his number.

The mare giving me my number attached it to my collar. <<Fair enough.>>

<<Hold on, is that... Is that a collar?>> Vince pointed to my newest accessory.

I led the way to the start line. <<Yep.>>

<<Why?>>

<<So that I won't be thrown into a Manehattan pound if I get lost.>> Spotting Yomega, I made my way over.

Cy sped to my side. <<Why is it red? You'd think she'd get you a pink one with the way this world works.>>

Lining up beside Yomega, I shot him a grin. <<Da red ones go fasta!>>

Vince smacked the back of my head. <<No. Bad Leo.>>

"Hey! Enough of that now." Twilight waved a clipboard at us. "We have enough of that between AJ and RD! I want a clean race out of you three, so no using your magic. Got it!" We nodded.

We waited until she was out of earshot before giggling. <<Does she honestly think that our moves are magical?>> I squeaked out.

<<It's as good a guess as any.>> Yomega said as a shadow passed over us. <<And it's an actual option here in Equestria.>>

Looking up, we could see Pinkie's announcer's balloon. "Fillies and Gentlecolts! Welcome back to the annual Running of the Leaves!" Pinkie's voice boomed from an under-slung speaker.

<<Hey, Yomega.>>

<<Yes Vince?>>

<<Why are 'annual' and 'monthly' interchangeable here?>>

<<No idea.>>

"I'm your eye in the sky, Pinkie Pie!" Said mare continued.

"And, co-announcing once again, I'm Spike!"

<>

Pinkie giggled. "Joining us this month is our three-legged Eevee, Zann!"

"While we wait for the final runners to make their way to the starting line," Spike began, "We would like to take this chance to remind all runners that this month, there are smaller runners."

"That's right! There will be..." Pinkie paused. "One, two, three, four. Four! Four Eevees running with you."

<<Go guys!>>

Spike chuckled. "Well, someone's excited for them! Any other final announcements, Pinkie?"

"Yupperroonie! Due to some confusion over the course layout from last month," I heard Applejack nervously chuckle, "the course this month has been marked with a set of flags every ten hooves. And that's it for for notices-"

What sounded like a belch interrupted the pink mare. "Sorry about that, folks. Just got a notice, here: To the mare or stallion who owns a... blue shed? With the license plate M-U-One-One-One-N-Five, your shed is being towed. Once again, the blue shed with the license plate M-U-Triple-One-N-Five, your shed is being towed."

A brown stallion bolted past us, muttering curses the whole way. <<Was that...?>> I asked.

<<No idea.>> Yomega shook his head.

"And with that done, let's check on the start line." Spike leaned over the basket's edge. "It looks like everypony's ready to go."

Pinkie leaned out herself with a hoof raised. "Runners! At the sound of the 'Vee'. Get ready!" I crouched, glancing to see the others doing the same. "Get set!" Locking my gaze ahead, I tensed.

<<Go!>>

I bolted from the line. I kept my ears pinned and my tail as straight as I could. Risking a look, I saw that the Reckless Duo and the Headmaster keeping pace. "It looks like Twilight was right! Eevees are faster than ponies to accelerate!" Spike's voice called out.

I felt more than heard the ponies coming up behind us. "They may be faster to start, but us ponies are faster runners!" Pinkie added.

<<Who's in the lead?>>

With a slight adjustment to my tail, I drifted away from the rest of the pack. Staying to the side of the path, I was able to avoid the majority of the ponies stampeding around me. With less hooves to worry about, I was hoping to gain a bit of a lead. Another risked glance dashed that hope, as I could see the Duo running along the far side of the herd. Yomega, for his part, always seemed to be just ahead of any hoof-falls.

Ignoring the others, I focused on the coming flags. I let all the unimportant details fade away as I focused on my running. All that mattered was getting to the next set of flags, then the ones after that. I ignored the slight burning in my lungs, the rocks jabbing into my paws, the ponies thundering around me, even the slight pinkish sparkles in the corner of my eyes.

.... Wait. What was that last one?

Spike's voice drifted through my focus. "Oh, looks like something's happening with most of the Eevees! Their giving off some sort of pinkish sparkles."

<<Really! Lift me up, I wanna see!>>

"I dunno, Spike." Pinkie added. "It looks like they're trailing after-images of themselves."

I looked to the others. Yomega had fallen behind somewhat, but the Duo were still running across from me. The same sparkles flaring in the corner of my eyes were being trailed by Vince and Cy. The after-images Pinkie mentioned were faint, but there. Then it clicked: we had somehow learned Agility.

With a shared glance, the three of us came to an understanding. This was a culmination of all of our training, an accidental activation. With a nod, we agreed to ride this move out, and refuse to use it again during the race.

I focused again on my running, letting my mind wander. Time slipped past as our race continued.

Three to try, three to reach.

My mind snapped back to reality as we rounded the final bend. Seizing my chance, I pored every last dreg of energy into my legs. I pulled ahead of the stampede enough to cross the finish line just ahead of the lead pony.

"And Applejack crosses the line first!" Pinkie screamed into her mic.

"And Leo crosses along side her, just a hair ahead of Cy, Vince, and Rainbow Dash!" Spike added.

<<And I missed it.>> Zann cried. <<And all because someone wouldn't lift me up to see!>>

Bleeding off speed, I looked to the Eevees who crossed beside me. <<Looks like all our training's paid off, huh.>> I panted, coming to a stop.

<<Yeah.>> Cy said between heaving in lungfuls of air.

Vince nodded his agreement. <<Well won.>> He gasped out.

The three of us moved to the side to let other ponies pass us. We turned to watch for our friend. Yomega was a few minutes behind us, and practically staggered across the line before falling face first by the roadside. The three of us had already caught our breath, and were stretching out burning muscles.

A shadow fell over us as Twilight lowered three bowls in front of us. As soon as her aura faded, we began to lap up the water provided, small sparks dancing across the waters of my bowl. "I know you three used your magics." Twilight glared at us. "You do realize that negated the test, right?"

<<Lay off us.>> I growled. <<It was an accident.>>

<<Besides,>> Yomega wheezed, <<there's always next month.>>

Sighing, Twilight let us recover in peace. "It's not like you'd understand me anyways." She mumbled.

As she was walking away, Rainbow and Applejack came up to us. Rainbow gave me one of my favourite treats, a homemade fish cake, before rubbing my head.

"Take your time, I'll be with the others at the bakery." Rainbow smiled. Turning, she trotted off. She was soon joined by Applejack and the Reckless Duo.

Feeling a paw on my shoulder, I turned to Yomega. <<Good run.>> I complemented him. <<I'm pleasantly surprised you kept up with the herd as well as you did.>> I smiled. <<Oh Vince, Cy, and I all learned Agility.>>

<<Good for you guys.>> Yomega said. He gave me a thoughtful look. <<It's a pity neither of them evolved.>>

<<Why?>> I tilted my head. <<You were expecting them to?>>

He nodded. <<When we figured out Lulu evolved with the help of the baby blue sapphire, Twilight grew a gem from the only seed Rarity could spare. It was a charged topaz.>> He gave me a cocky grin. <<So called because it has a unique set of faults running through it that look like sparks. Well, when I say unique, I mean to that type of topaz. She then ground the gem up into a fine powder. At Twi's request, Applejack's been slipping a small amount of the powder into Vince's food.>>

I puzzled over this for a bit. <<Why Vince's food?>> I finally asked.

<<Because Applejack feeds both Vince and Cy, they are guaranteed to be fed the same amount of food.>>

I nodded in understanding. <<Cy's the control.>> I started to walk towards Sugarcube Corner. <<Ya know, if it wasn't for the fact I'm curious how the gems work replacing the stones, I'd call you out on using our friends as guinea pigs.>>

Three to try, three to fail. If only you'd reached a little further...

Pillow Talk.

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Yomega and I made our way to join with the others at Sugarcube Corner. As we did, Abes and Conner joined us as we past the library.

"I heard thunder earlier." He yawned. "Was there a storm?"

Conner smacked Abes's leg as he passed him. "It was the Running of the Leaves, you goober."

The Umbreon blinked owlishly at us. "Wait, that was today? Did anyone evolve?"

"You were expecting someone to?" Conner asked.

"Heh." I nudged Yomega. "Deja vu."

"Yes." Abes answered. "Twilight's been having Applejack feed Vince ground up charged topaz in his food."

"What?! Why?"

Yomega spoke up. "Well, after Lulu evolved-"

"Not that!" Conner cut him off. "I get that! But you're using Vince and Cy as lab rats!" We all blinked at him. "Am I seriously the only one who's concerned that you've been potentially liquidizing his insides with gem shards?! And you're doing it without their consent!"

"They did!" Abes whined. "Twilight got their permission through Fluttershy!"

"So, Vince knew he was going to be eating shards?" I asked.

Yomega shrugged as we neared the bakery. "Twilight got their permission to do this, then flipped a coin when their backs were turned."

<<That's oddly unscientific of her.>> Conner commented as we entered the building.

<<Unscientific of who?>> Lulu asked, looking over from under the table the ponies had taken over.

<<Tell you later.>> I promised. I made my way over to the rest of the Eevees. Fluttershy gave me and the other newcomers a nod, then turned back to the conversation the ponies were having. <<Speaking of later, some 'Vee's owe me some words.>>

Cy perked up. <<Potato, tax returns, accounting. Um, ah...>>

<<Crispy Cream Donuts! Timmy's down the well!>> Vince continued.

"Frozen spaghetti!" Pinkie yelled. Everyone, pony and Eevee, paused to stare at her. "What? It looked like fun!" Shaking our collective heads, we all turned back to our respective conversations.

<<To finally answer your earlier question,>> Vince smiled, <<Applejack had us running laps around the barn, then the orchard.>>

<<From breakfast to dinner, with an hour lunch break.>> Cy finished. <<Everyday since Rainbow and Applejack made that challenge. What were you doing?>>

I tapped my chin. <<You guys know that I've used to do death sprints and weaving between trees? Well, Rainbow and I have been going for straight line distance jogging. We would increase the distance each day.>>

"Hey, Leo. Catch!" Rainbow called, tossing another fish cake over to me. I easily snagged it out of the air.

<<Fash the ov'r fing.>> I spat out around my fish snack. Swallowing, I continued. <<Ever since I first started training with Rainbow, I've been on a steady fish diet.>>

<<Wait.>> Yomega paused. <<Fish are high in carbs, yeah?>> I nodded. <<Figures...>> He muttered. Louder, he continued. <<Reminder, Moon Dancer's coming soon. Maybe over the next few days.>>

"Oh." Fluttershy cooed. "Are you all excited to make a new friend?"

"Oh! Oh,oh,oh!" Pinkie bounced in her seat. "Are we getting more Eevees?"

"They mentioned Moon Dancer." Fluttershy explained. "I think they like meeting new ponies."

<<... Yes.>> Lulu stated. <<That's it. We like meeting new ponies.>> We woodenly nodded our heads.

Fluttershy turned to the rest of the ponies with a smile. "I was right."

<<We're, uh.>> Yomega looked from side to side. <<We're going to check on the eggs.>> We took the exit available to us and egressed the bakery en mass. We were near the towns edge before anyone spoke up.

<<Just how gullible are these ponies?>> Villhiem burst out.

Abes shook his head. <<Some days, I can't help but think you can take over Equestria with three puppies and a butter knife. How many disasters have befallen them because the perpetrators were 'cute'?>>

<<At least once.>> Yomega and I chorused.

<<The parasprites come to mind.>> I added. <<Imagine a dust bunny that can come in any pastel color, flies, has the biggest doe-eyes to rival Conner's Baby-Doll Eyes, can eat anything edible, and reproduce by barfing up another dust bunny.>> I paused mid-step. <<Oh, and after Twilight tried to get rid of them magically, heh. Add an 'in' to the 'edible'...>>

Almost everyone winced. Zann just looked confused. <> He murmured.

Chuckling, I led the way to the Daycare. Lulu and I checked up on our eggs, and, seeing that they were still fine, we curled up around them. We spent the rest of the evening talking about the latest gossip from Canterlot. Other than Blueblood's plan for the fleet going through because of Rarity, of all ponies, there really wasn't anything new. Eventually we all fell asleep around the eggs.

Late that night, I was jolted awake. In my sleep, I had shifted so that my back was to my eggs, and someone had just kicked my bladder. Getting up, I began to shuffle through the entangled pile of Eevees. Half awake, I wasn't paying enough attention and tripped over someone's legs. I landed between Yomega and Zann, letting out a quiet "oof". Hearing movement, I quickly stood back up.

Turning to Yomega, I saw that he had turned to lie on his back. He raised his front paws, holding them pad to pad. "Mbip mbip." He mumbled, using his paws to mimic a mouth. Lowering his paws, he shifted in his sleep again.

"... Wha?" I mumbled.

"It's za bird." Zann muttered as he rolled over.

From across the room, Vince spoke up. "Birdz 'leep at night."

"Lies!" Cy cried out from his place across Vince's back.

That caused Conner to bolt upright. "Free punch trade for all!"

"No more for me, darling." Lulu breathed from her place by her eggs. "I'm full."

"Oh." Conner nodded. "Okay then." And, with that, he promptly flopped back and began to snore.

"No, Applebloom, don' eat the punch." Villhiem mumbled as he shifted. "Sweetie made it from real punches."

"It's za fistful o' flavor." Yomega mumbled into his leg, drooling as he did so.

I looked around, waiting to see if the chain would continue. When I was greeted by silence, I shook my head and carefully picked my way to the Daycare's doorway. As I left, I noticed that Abes was missing. Looking around, I saw that something was wrong with the moon. "I mus' be dreaming." I mumbled as I made my was to a nearby bush. "Th' Mare in th' Moon's back. Don't know 'bout the gold line, though."

As I was dealing with my business, I saw a brief flash of light. Leaving the bush, I watched Abes stumble around the edge of the Daycare. "Ya look a little flushed, there." I commented, making my way over. "Where'd ya go?"

Abes gave me a cocky grin. "Ya wouldn't believe if'n I told ya."

I gave him a sly grin. "You were having fun times with Luna, weren't you?" I giggled at his blush, making my way back to bed. "Goodnight, Lover boy." I teased.

Planning for Sleep.

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It had been a couple days since the Running of the Leaves, and I was growing worried. Tank had explained to me that he was getting ready for his "Long Sleep", which is what he called hibernating. Thing is, Tank had been trying to leave hints to Rainbow that he was going to do this, and Rainbow, being her usual oblivious self, wasn't picking up on them.

I crawled my way through the library tunnels, my Lulu custom saddle bags wrapped around my body. I had given myself a mission. Checking that no one was near my exit, I made my way into the Twilight's lab. Making my way around the equipment, I headed towards the stairs.

"What's up, Leo?" I looked up to see Yomega at the top of the stairs.

"You, actually." I made my way up to him. "I'm here to check out a book. I need a book on tortoises for RD."

Yomega raised an eyebrow. "You know Rainbow doesn't read yet?"

"It's important." Yomega's eyebrow attempted to high five his ears. I quickly continued, "No, I really mean it. Tank's going into hibernation soon, and Rainbow doesn't even know what that word means. Knowing her, she's going to misinterpret what's happening, and do something stupid like trying to stop winter, or something like that."

"So you're going to try to educate her." Yomega shook his head with a sigh. "Good luck with that. Meet me by the backdoor. Twilight's out right now, and Spike's making lunch."

I nodded, bolting past him. I easily made my way into the kitchen, where Spike was failing to complete a recipe with gems in it. I gave him a small nip on his tail to keep him from eating another gem. <<You should be cooking with that, not snacking on it.>> I scolded.

"Ow, hey!" Spike glared down at me, dropping the gem he was holding into the batter. "No, these are gems are mine." He gave me a once over. "Did Rainbow send you over for something?"

<<Yes and no.>> I chirped. Our "conversation" was interrupted by a loud thumpf of something hitting the floor. Turning, we saw that Yomega had dropped a large book onto the floor.

"Shello's Guide to Turtle Care, Abridged?" Spike asked.

<<That's the abridged version?!>>

Yomega started to push the book towards me. Spike rolled his eyes then moved to pick up the book. Seeing a note attached to the book, he paused to read it before carrying the book over to me. Slipping the book into a pouch, Spike mumbled something about Rainbow's mouth writing.

Yomega walked me to the door. <<There's a note I wrote that is on the part about hibernation. I've tried to copy Spike's handwriting.>>

<<What would you have done if he had bothered to look at the slip?>> I cocked an eyebrow at my grey friend.

He shrugged. <>

<<Erm, how?>> We had left the library by that point. I stopped and turned to Yomega, expecting an answer.

He just shrugged again. <<You'd better get that to Rainbow. And the book's due next Tuesday.>>

<<Seriously.>> I groaned. <<Do I want to know what the late fees are?>> He shook his head with a chuckle, nudging me to get me going. With a chuckle of my own, I began the trek home.

While I waited for Rainbow to come home, Tank and I had discussed the possibility of a terrarium made up for him. We had just brainstormed how to keep it in the cloud house when our owner came home. With a nod at Tank, I pulled the book onto his shell, climbing up myself so it didn't fall off. Rainbow found us plodding down the stairs.

"What's this you guys got?" She gently took the book from us, then carried it to her living room. I gripped Tank's shell as he tucked his limbs in. We bounced down the stairs then rocketed after Rainbow, with me leaning to steer. Absentmindedly, Rainbow held a hoof out to stop us.

<<I'm going to miss that over winter.>> I giggled.

Tank slowly nodded. <<What'd'ya call it? The Koopa Slide? It has a nice ring to it.>>

It was at that point that Rainbow scooped Tank up and rocketed out of the house. Her contrail faded as I landed on the floor. I blinked a bit before shaking my head and charging after her. Racing the tail end of the contrail, I followed Rainbow to Fluttershy's cottage. I skidded to a stop at the prismatic mare's side.

"Is there any way to keep him awake through winter?!" Rainbow pleaded to her timid friend.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow." Fluttershy was rubbing Tank's head. "I really am. But this is part of Tank's natural life cycle. He'll be just fine come spring. And, besides," she smiled at me, "you'll have this little guy to keep you company through Hearts Warming." Both mare's missed my slight frown.

"I guess..." Rainbow reluctantly agreed. "But I'm going to be there when he wakes up!"

I gave her a loving nuzzle, then made my way to the Daycare. I felt the need for a nap.

I woke up with a start as Lulu doused me with water.

"The fuck was that for?" I sputtered at her. I tromped my sodden self out to dry off.

"Moon Dancer just got off the train." Lulu explained. "She's already hitting it off with Twilight. I figured you could help me keep the eggs safe."

I finally shook my fur out to slightly damp, as opposed to wet. "That doesn't necessitate giving me a bath!"

She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Darling, I had already tried shaking and yelling. And, unlike Rainbow, there doesn't seem to be a key word or phrase to cut through your deep slumber."

"Rainbow doesn't have an insta-wake trigger." I groused as I tromped back into the Daycare.

She smirked. "Wonderbolts."

We both jumped as what sounded like a meaty projectile impacting the ground at high speeds. I took a quick peek outside, taking in the new divot in Fluttershy's lawn and an unmistakable rainbow tail sticking out from it.

<<Not a word.>> I Glared at Lulu. I jogged out to Rainbow, smiling smugly as I heard a clatter and muffled cursing. I quickly made my way over to the prismatic mare. I shoved myself under Rainbows barrel, trying to force her to get up. <<Alright, ya overgrown chicken. Up and at 'em.>>

The forced motion worked its way into Rainbow's brain and forced a reboot. With a groan, she quickly got her hooves under her. Her eyes quickly focused onto me. "Oh, good, it's you. Hey, I'm only stopping by to let you know that Rarity and I won't be surprised if you and Lulu stay here for a while. Moon Dancer is getting almost as giddy as Twilight was. You guys might want to guard the eggs..."

<<We already thought of that.>> I smiled and nodded. Rainbow gave my head a short rub before she took to the skies again. I once again made my way back inside the Daycare. Lulu and I shared a look. "We taking turns sleeping then."

Lulu curled around her eggs. "You get first watch."

"Damnit!"

Tempting Fate.

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I awoke underwater.

Panicking, I floundered around until I broke the surface. That was when I finally noticed some details. Namely, that I had been breathing fine, that I could see wood through the water, and that the water was suspiciously shaped like Lulu. And that my Flailing had woken her up.

"Izzit my turn ta look after th' eggs?" Lulu slurred, lifting her head to look at me.

"No." I groaned, finally freeing myself from her clutches. "Don't tell the others this, but I panicked when I woke up."

Lulu looked down at herself. Taking in her somewhat liquid self, she quickly put the pieces together. "Yeah, I'm still trying to get full control of that. I do apologize for giving you a scare, darling."

I waved her off. "It's fine. I think we're going to need to get used to that happening." Stretching, I was surprised when I felt water underpaw. I watched as Lulu reformed herself.

She caught me looking, and smiled. "Works better than stretching." She explained.

Both our ears swiveled to the Daycare's entrance. We turned to see Connor poke his head in. "Oh good, you're up." He came in, waving his tail to the door. "Twilight and Moon Dancer are on their way, or will be shortly. You... girls freshen up, I'll watch the eggs."

We didn't take long. And Connor wasn't gone for long before we heard hoof-falls and voices. "Here we go..." I grumbled to Lulu.

".... Forgive Fluttershy, it takes a while for her to warm up to new ponies. The Den is just back here." We heard Twilight say. "I'll have to go and see if I can get Fluttershy to help translate for us, but let's see who's here first."

"This is where they wanted to keep their eggs? You have any tests going for those?" A new voice, which must've belonged to Moon Dancer, asked.

"No, I wanted to let them hatch with the minimum amount of interference, like you suggested." I saw a pale yellow hoof step near the ramp. Twilight soon came into view as she carefully entered the room.

<<Oi!>> I barked. <<This is a doghouse! Ponies stay out!>>

Lulu gave me a lazy look. <<Overprotective, much?>>

Twilight gave me a smile, obviously misinterpreting my barking. "I'm happy to see you too. I've got a friend I want you to meet. We'll be waiting outside, so you take your time." She backed down the ramp, before turning to Moon Dancer. "The last two you didn't meet last night are in there."

Moon Dancer sighed. "What experiments do you have running on these two?"

"I'm not doing experiments on all of them..." Twilight pouted. I assumed Moon Dancer was giving some sort of look to Twilight by the length of the pause. "... I wanted to find out how Lulu, the big blue one with fins, can turn into a liquid state."

"And the other one...?"

"Leo is mostly the control. Rainbow Dash is doing an unplanned one, and is trying to see how fast she can get her." Another pause. "I'll go get Fluttershy now..." We saw Twilight walk off, with Moon Dancer staying behind.

Moon Dancer lay down where she was standing, allowing us to see each other. The first thing I noticed was how oddly similar her mane style was to Twilight's, then the two stripes in her cherry red mane that matched Twilight's coat and mane colors. Behind the black rim, tape fixed glasses she wore, I could see the same eyes as Twilight. At least the cutie mark is different...

"Reminds me of... Trixie's."

Yeah. Just the moon part, though.

Lulu poked me. <<Well, what are you waiting for?>> I looked at her. <<Do go out and introduce yourself, dear. I'll watch the eggs.>>

<<Why me?>> I hissed.

<<Evolution seniority.>> She said, placing the a paw onto her chest.

<<All the more reason for you to go and introduce yourself first. It'll be more lady-like.>> I snarked, jabbing a paw at her. <<Give me one good reason why I should go out first.>> She smirked, before letting my paw sink into her, then yanking me through her body and forcing me through the door. I stumbled down the ramp before face-planting at the end. <<... That's a good reason. When'd you learn that?>>

<<Twilight's not the only one who's been doing experiments, darling.>> Lulu huffed.

That must've taken more out of her than I thought. I focused onto the pony in front of me. Eh, might as well play the part. I carefully got up, and inched closer to Moon Dancer. I stopped just out of hoof reach. Moon Dancer slowly held a hoof. I took a page out of my old dog's book, and leaned in to sniff her- Holy fucking hell! She even smells like Twilight! I flinched back as she raised her hoof to try and pat my head. Was she supposed to be an example of what Twilight could've been?

I decided to get closer to Moon Dancer, and let her pet me. She gave me a few pats with her hoof, and that felt slightly awkward. She then switched to magic, and I zoned out. I came to when Twilight came back with Fluttershy and Connor. Twilight began the slow process of getting Fluttershy acquainted with Moon Dancer, while Connor ushered me back into the Daycare.

Once inside, he sat by the far wall from the door. <<I'm here to look after the eggs, if you two want to go get something to eat.>> Connor shook a paw at me, before briefly staring at it. <>

I gave him a nod before leaving for Rainbow's for some food. I hope she's made those fishcakes with the salmon... I mused as I rapidly drew nearer to the cloud steps. Without thinking, I jumped for the nearest step. Oh! What about the one with the jelly. She's been getting- oop! I found myself getting reaquainted with the ground. Odd.
I remember clouds being more solid.

"I think it might have to do with your bed. When was the last time we slept in it?"

When was the Running of the Leaves? I looked up at Rainbows house. ... I wonder if there's a cooldown on cloudwalking... Welp. Nothing for it then. I sat back, and pulled in a lungfull of air. <<TAA~AANK! I NEED YOU TO WAKE UP RD! I SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO WALK ON CLOUDS!>>

I saw a small green head pop out of a window. <<What'd'ya mean, ya forgot how ta... When was the last time ya slept up here? Aight, aight. Gettin Rainbow up.>>

It didn't take as long as I thought it would for Rainbow to come and get me. She plopped me into my bed, before getting me breakfast, grumbling all the while. I could feel the tingle spread over me again as I ate. Once I was done, I took a tentative step onto the floor. Feeling the resistance, I trotted back out to the main room. Rainbow had fallen back asleep, so I saw myself out.

I quickly made my way over to the pond, looking for the greener evolved form. I found him, predictably, in the sunniest spot there. I made my way over, and found him fast asleep. "Hey, I've got an idea. Find a leafy stick."

I soon found such a branch and held it over Villhiem. The shade soon woke him. I tossed the branch away while I waited for Villhiem to properly wake up. "Heya! Heard ya had something to ask me?"

He nodded. "Yup. I'm going to be making a trip into the Everfree to visit Zecora. Could you look after the Crusaders until I get back?"

"Sure!" I shrugged. "How hard could it be?"

Murphy Hates Me.

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God dammit! I slammed my face against the floor. I'm so. Fuckin'. BORED! I lifted my head to glare at my charges. Where's the excitment?! Where's the catapults?! Hell, where's the famed fuckin' TREE SAP?! I, once again, slammed my face on the floor.

"What's wrong with Leo?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking at me. "She keeps slamming her head. That can't be healthy." Face met floor again.

Scootaloo briefly glanced at me. "Eh, Rainbow says she does this when she's stuck doing paperwork. Leo's just bored." Slam went my face.

"We ain't boring, are we?" Floor, meet face. Face, floor.

Scootaloo shook her head. "Nah, she just gets bored easily." Slam.

Sweetie poked the other Crusaders. "Are we still going to the library?" Slam.

"Yeah, why?"

.... Oo~ww.

She pointed at me. "We should probably stop off at Fluttershy's and have her look at Leo's face."

.... Eeyup, that's a bloody nose. Surprised this didn't happen earlier.

We piled into the wagon and Scootaloo took off down the trails. I hung my head over the side to keep my blood out of the wagon. I flinched as something soft was placed over my muzzle. "Shh, shh. It's okay." Sweetie assured, holding a cloth over my nose. "Just going to soak up the blood."

<<Fank ewe.>> I hung my face over the edge again. I soon found the problem with this set up: I was starting to find it hard to breathe with the cloth on my face and the blood flowing from my nose. We couldn't get to Fluttershy's fast enough.

Scootaloo pulled up to Fluttershy's cottage. Apple Bloom jumped out and knocked on the front door. As she did so, Connor came around the corner. He trotted up to me. <<Sup. Looking for Nurse Joy?>> I nodded. <<She's with Moon Dancer right now. I'm going to assume you need a heal?>>

<<Yesh, pleash.>>

Connor shook his head as the pink motes of healing flickered into existance. <<Okay, what did you do this time?>>

<<Murphy hates me.>> I whined. <<I've been bored waiting for something interesting to happen.>>

<<And you started head banging to relieve yourself of that boredom.>> Conner finished. He blinked as the Healing Pulse faded away. <<Wait... You hurt yourself from getting bored waiting for the Crusaders to crusade.>>

He glared at me. <<Leo Lancer. Did you try to reverse psychology Murphy?! You know that doesn't end well!>>

"Oh, who's Murphy?" We looked over to see Fluttershy and Moon Dancer in the cottage doorway.

<<An old Eevee from our parent pack who always had bad luck following him around.>> I lied.

<<Wise old dog, though.>> Conner backed me up.

"Your old pack?" Fluttershy asked.

I watched Moon Dancer manage to beg the cloth soaked with my blood off of Sweetie Belle. <<Yeah, we left when our old pack got too large to sustain itself in our old range. So we came here.>> Connor nodded before heading off to, hopefully, spread the cover story. <<Sorry to cut this short, but we gotta get to Twilight's.>>

"Oh!" Fluttershy stepped back. "Sorry for holding you girls up. Have a safe ride back."

"We will!" The Crusaders chorused.

It wasn't long before Scootaloo decided "safe" was too slow. Sweetie and Apple Bloom held on tight. I hung my head over the side with my tongue out, whooping with joy. Scootaloo didn't seem to hear me encouraging her to go faster.

Sadly, Scootaloo slowed down once we hit the market. "You guys got your forms?"

"Eeyup." Apple Bloom said as Sweetie Belle nodded. "Did yer mom sign yours?"

I perked up at that. "Yeah, she got some time off from the guard a few days ago, got it signed then."

"Anything new she told you about?" Sweetie asked.

I could hear the pride in her voice. "Yeah, Mom got promoted with the latest shuffle with this Armor guy getting promoted to Captain of the Guard. She's also getting reassigned nearby, so we're going to be moving into the Barracks nearby."

Huh. Who'd've thought.

I started to tune them out and watched the town pass by. Sadly, we soon came to the Library. We parked by the kitchen door. I started barking to get Spike while the Crusaders secured the wagon.

"Why didn't you come in through the basement?" Spike asked as he opened the door. His eyes slid past me to the Crusaders. "Oh." We both watched as they somehow tied Scootaloo down instead of her scooter.

<<Are we going to help them?>> I asked, looking up at Spike. Spike had buried his face in his claws. With a sigh, he went to untangle the mess in front of us. <<.... St~ill not seeing any tree sap.>>

In short order, we had managed to get the Crusaders into the library. Spike led the fillies further into the library while Yomega approached and took me to the side.

<> He asked with an arched eyebrow.

<<Yeah.>> I nodded. <<There's no rush to tell details, but Connor and I told Joy that we used to be part of a larger pack elsewhere. We didn't give specifics.>>

<<Alright. I'll pass it on.>>

I jogged to catch up with my charges, who had been led into the basement. All the tables and lab equipment had been moved against the walls, and a circle of what looked like silver had been laid into the floor. Twilight had just finished writing something onto a chalkboard when I breezed in. Twilight gave a quick glance at me before speaking to the girls. "I thought Villheim hung out with you girls?"

"He does," Sweetie answered, "but he bumped paws with Leo and walked off into the Everfree. Leo's been with us since."

"Huh." Twilight turned back to her board with a shake of her head. "So, now that Moon Dancer has taken charge of the Eevee studies, I am just a few more steps away from being able to teach you summoning."

"What's all left ta do?" Apple Bloom asked.

"We just have to wait for the forms you had signed to be processed. I should be getting a notice back soon." Twilight looked over her shoulder with a smile. "Don't worry. After hearing about your first summoning, I don't doubt that your forms will get accepted. In the mean time, I'm going to prepare your first lesson. There are some books over there," she pointed to a small stack of thick books, "you can read. They are a brief history on summoning and summoners."

The Crusaders shared a look before tackling the first tome in the pile. I, gently, placed my face on the floor and groaned.

I awoke when Spike came back down the stairs. Twilight had finished her writing and the Crusaders had muddled their way through the first tome. He marched up to Twilight, handed her a letter, and went back up the stairs.

Twilight took a moment to read the letter before a large grin spread across her muzzle. "Girls?" She waited until she had the Crusaders' attention. "Your forms have been approved, and we can get started on your lessons."

With a small cheer, the Crusaders rushed to the chalkboard. They began speaking over one another to the point that they were drowning each other out. I was able to hear enough to figure out that they really wanted to summon something.

I could feel my hackles rising. Finally, something interesting!

"Calm down, girls." My hopes were dashed. "Before I can let you girls actually summon something, you do need to know the rules." She grabbed a few cushions in her magic and floated them over. "Let's get comfortable, this could take a while."

"What, no desks?" Scootaloo joked.

Twilight shook her head with a giggle. "I know how you girls can get. Desks never did help me learn. Learning side by side with Celestia helped me while I learned with her, so I hope it will help you. With that in mind," her magic latched onto the chalkboard and dragged it over, "let's get started. Once we've covered this, we can try a summoning."

Twilight brought a book over and held it up. Judging by the collective flinch from the Crusaders, I figured that that was the book that started this mess. "Since you've read this, I can summarize the first few rules for you. The first rule is that summoning is not limited to unicorns. Anypony, or any being for that matter, can summon. In fact, the minotuars of Minos use summoning to augment their manufacturing and military endeavors. The fact that you all were able to summon that Burosuta lends credence to that rule.

"The next two rules are that a summoning circle can be made from any material, and that all reagents must be kept outside of the circle once the circle has been laid. Again, very easy to understand. Your circle was made out of string, and the risk of disrupting said circle rises if you keep having to cross them. While this applies more to simple circles, such as string or ones carved in dirt, current day summoners still abide by this rule with metal circles.

"The fourth rule, and the final one pertaining to circles. A summon lasts as long as a summoner wills, unless the circle gets broken. Then it lasts as long as its body remains intact. If even an ear or toe is lost, then the summon is banished. You saw this in practice with the Burosuta, and how Villhiem dealt with it.

"The next rule revolves around reagents. Quantity and quality of the reagents determines the tier and strength of the summon, respectively. For example, thirty pounds of raw iron may summon a tier two Haganeru, but it will be weaker than a tier one Iwaku summoned with three pounds of pure iron.

"The final rule is that each set of different reagents, known as a recipe, can only summon one group of summons. You can't use the Udeppo recipe, which the Burosuta is part of, to summon in an Iwaku. Each group of summons are called a family, named after the tier one of that family.

"That's all one needs to know in order to summon. Most of what you'd be taught is the various known recipes, and how many tiers each family has. So far, most families have three tiers, although new discovers have shown that there could be up to four or five tiers."

I yawned, looking to see which Crusaders had fallen asleep. I was surprised to see that they had been taking notes.

Scootaloo raised a hoof. "What're the usual jobs that summoners do?"

Twilight nodded. "In Equestria, mostly academic. Summoners who prefer a more active lifestyle either become explorers or immigrate to other countries like Minos. Otherwise, you'd be mostly working as a researcher, trying to discover either new tiers or new recipes. Speaking of...." She got up and made her way over to the circle. Her horn lit up as she pulled three small sacs from the closet. "I prepared these earlier. In those sacs are jars. There is one sac for each of you. I'd like you to each find the jar labeled 'Koikingu'. It's a good starter for summoners. Just don't triple the recipe. You do not want to try and deal with the tiers two and three as beginners."

I watched as each filly rummaged through their bag before pulling out a smallish labeled jar. While I couldn't read the label, I could see what looked like a blue teardrop.

"What's with this symbol?" Apple Bloom apparently had spotted the teardrop as well.

"As you may remember from the book Yomega got you, each summon has an associated element to it." Twilight explaned. "Each recipe includes a reagent that naturally decreases a summons power. While this may seem counter-intuitive, this element helps establish your control. Since all those recipes are ones I've prepared earlier, we can go over how the elements interact next time." She turned to Sweetie. "Sweetie, would you like to go first?"

With a nod, Sweetie began to work. I leapt onto a nearby table. With a name like Koikingu, it has to be awesome! Which means it could be dangerous if it gets loose! I watched as the ritual was set up. I leaned forward as Sweetie began to chant. A feeling of ominous preasure began to build before, with a crack of blinding light, the ritual was complete. ...Oh, come ON!

A Magikarp flopped within the circle.

Today is just determined to be the most boring day possible.

The Crusaders were excited for their first successful summon. Twilight then walked Sweetie through the banishing. then it was Apple Bloom's turn. Hers was slightly bigger than Sweetie's. Scootaloo's ended up being the smallest.

Villhiem popped in as the Crusaders were comparing summons. I gave him the rundown of the day, bumped paws, then sulked off for a nap.

No sap, no chaos, no fun. This nap's going to be the fucking highlight of my day....

Oops, I broke It....

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The Crusaders had agreed to make their sessions with Twilight a weekly activity. Villhiem and I usually watched over the fillies as they learned from Twilight. That was two weeks ago.

Nothing has gone wrong. It's all very boring.

I now lay at Rainbow's hooves. I was waiting for her to finish writing up the next few months weather schedule. I was disheartened to hear the words 'snow', 'possible blizzard', and 'cold front'. At least she's not going gaga with Hearts Warming. Yet.

I felt a hoof prodding my head. I looked up to see that Thunderlane had come in while I was moping. "Hey, RD? You think our little weather maker here knows anything snow related?" I huffed, rolling over so that my back was facing him. "She could really help us out and save on snow clouds!"

Rainbow looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "I'm starting to think she doesn't like winter."

Winter's fine, it's Christmas I don't like.

"What?" Thunderlane nudged me with a hoof. "I've yet to meet a dog that doesn't like snow!"

<<Quite pokin' me.>> I growled.

"I think you should leave her alone, Thunderlane." Rainbow cautioned.

"Hey, I'm a dog pony, remember?" More poking.

<>

"Thunderlane, she's been pretty cranky lately."

"C'mon, dogs love me-"

<<THAT'S IT!>> I whipped around, teeth glowing. Everyone paused as I bit into Thunderlane's fetlock. Blood started to drip from my mouth. .... Shit!! I let go of Thunderlane's leg, and bolted to a far corner.

Rainbow zipped over to Thunderlane, swinging a hoof at me in a late attempt to dislodge me. Pressing her seat cushion to his hoof, Rainbow led Thunderlane to the first aid station. I followed at a discrete distance, head, ears, and tail hung low. This was not how I expected this day to go.

We all kept quiet as they cleaned the wound. Rainbow broke the silence as she bandaged the bite mark. "I'm sorry about this. I-"

"No, no." Thunderlane interrupted. "It's my fault. I kept prodding the angry Eevee." He gingerly shifted his weight to his bandaged leg. He hid his wince with a cocky grin. "Ya think your new Canterlot friend would want to take a look at this? Ya know, as a data point?"

Rainbow gave him a sly smirk. "Sure... She's at Twilight's, I think. Let's go see her."

Thunderlane's grin fell. "Wait, now?!"

We left the weather station. As Rainbow passed me, she glared at me. "No fishcakes tonight." I nodded, and moped behind them.

It didn't take us long to reach the library. We knocked and entered without waiting for a response. We didn't have to wait long before someone noticed us.

"Don't you normally break a window?" Spike snarked around the stack of books he was carrying.

"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow waved him off. "Ya know where Moon Dancer is?"

"Yup! She's in the back study." Spike tilted his head towards said room.

We gave our thanks as we filed past him. Finding the room in question, I recognized it as the room I laid my egg in. We knocked and waited for the strained "It's open!" It seemed as if the mess of paper had migrated from the basement to this room. At least it attempted to organize itself along the way. Stacks of paper were labeled, and what I assumed were matching labels tacked on a board and connected with string.

It also looked like Moon Dancer had her own "stress circle" she was leaning against.

"Is this a bad time?" Rainbow nervously asked.

Moon Dancer sat on a nearby chair. "No, no. I was thinking of taking a break. What do you need?"

Thunderlane and Rainbow shared a look before the stallion spoke. "We had a bit of an incident earlier. We figured you might've wanted to take a look at it?"

"What happened?" Moon Dancer sighed.

"I'm going to leave you two to it. I gotta finish my paperwork." Rainbow waved before bolting. Moon Dancer shook her head before giving Thunderlane an expectant look.

"First off, I need to say that this was my fault." The pale maned stallion sat down to rub the back of his head. "I was bugging Leo here, and she ran out of patience and Bit me."

Moon Dancer raised a skeptical eyebrow, pointing at his wrapped leg. "That was from a bite?"

Thunderlane shook his head. "No, no. Not a bite, a Bite."

"That doesn't explain anything." Moon Dancer deadpanned. "Besides, I've already measured the Packs' bite force. They'll break skin, yes, but it won't be that deep. Not deep enough to warrant that many bandages." She pointed to Thunderlane's leg.

Thunderlane looked back to the main rooms of the library. "Did, did nopony fill you in on their, eh, unique abilities."

Moon Dancer pointed to a stack of papers. "Listed abilities by individual. I still highly doubt that Leo's bite force could change that much."

"Do you have anything to measure it again?"

With a roll of her eyes, Moon Dancer fished a device from the mess of paper on her desk. It had a wedge of rubber with a metal stick attached to a recording device. She held the wedge out to me. "Alright. Baseline bite please."

I bit down as hard as I could without putting any power in it. It's odd feeling the difference of a bite and a Bite. The second one feels... more.

"Okay, right where I expected it to be." She held it out to me again. "Alright, Leo. Bite"

Crunch.

"O~oh, a critical hit!"

I spat the chunks of rubber out of my mouth. Ugh, I'm going to be digging pieces out from between my teeth for the next week....

While I was vacating my mouth of ruined equipment, Thunderlane and Moon Dancer were staring at what was left with wide eyes. "So, uh, w-what was the reading?" Thunderlane asked.

"She broke it..." Moon Dancer croaked out.

"Well, I can see that. But what was the reading?"

Moon Dancer flipped the machine around so that Thunderlane and I could clearly see the needle was jammed to the far right. "No, she broke it." She turned her stare to focus on me. "How? How can she get such power out of such little muscle structure."

"By biting ponies, apparently."

Shut up, Brain.

"... I need to get the Spectro-Thaumic Scanner out." I was lifted up in her aura, along with a thick pillow, and dragged off into the basement. Thunderlane warily followed behind us. We startled Twilight, who was in the middle of writing up her lesson plan for the day.

"AH! Oh, hello Moon Dancer, Thunderlane..." She saw me in Moon dancer's magical grip. "... Leo. What's up?"

Moon Dancer breezed past the lavender mare, leaving Thunderlane to stammer out an explanation. I, now upside down, could only watch as Moon Dancer pulled the STS out of storage. As she was looking for the socket to plug the machine in, Twilight began trying to get Moon Dancer's attention.

"This is odd, seeing this from the outside." Twilight murmured. She sent a very small electric spark to zap the over-zealous mare on the flank. The sudden shock caused Moon Dancer to drop everything in her magic. Thankfully, that only meant the STS' plug, the pillow, and me.

I missed the pillow.

Thunderlane and I let the studious mares set up the experiment. Part way through said set up, the Crusaders and Villhiem joined us. After being filled in, Scootaloo decided to fetch the last book her and her friends had been reading. Soon enough, the elder mares were ready.

They placed me into the STS' bowl with the pillow, turned it on, and told me to Bite. One small mess of feathers later, Moon Dancer put the machine away and dragged Thunderlane off to compare her notes. I stayed to avoid the impending research spree.

Twilight gathered the Crusaders around her chalk board. Villhiem settled on the floor, and I lay on the pillow I bit. Each Crusader pulled a notebook from their bags.

"Alright girls, if you remember from last week, we summoned a Ruriri. This week, we'll go over how to summon a higher tier. We will stay within the Ruriri family." Twilight picked up a pointer stick in her magic, using it to tap a stylized Magikarp. "When we first started your lessons, I told you not to triple the Koikingu recipe. That is not a hard and set rule. Most recipes barely even double the reagents required. Some even require powdered gems to get to the highest tiers."

The pointer tapped another pair of drawings one the board. One was a pair of blue spheres stacked on top of each other, the other was a larger blue ball with a smaller ball connected with a jagged black line. "A quick tangent into history, the Ruriri family was originally known as the Mariru family. The amount of reagents needed for the first tier was actually less then what was estimated." She pointed to the sacs. "So, please find the Mariru jar."

While the Crusaders dug through their sacs, I leaned over to Villhiem. <<How can something about as big as a saddlebag hold so much shit?>>

<<Tardis charm.>>

I blinked at him. <<Wait, really?>>

Villhiem shook his head. <<Twilight called it something else, but she basically made bags of holding.>>

<<Huh.>> We turned back to the ponies as Scootaloo succeeded at removing her jar.

It didn't take her long to get set up, but the other two managed to find their jars in that time. Twilight stopped Scootaloo from beginning her chant. "As you'll notice, there isn't much of a difference in the amount of reagents between the Mariru and Ruriri tiers."

The fillies spent some time comparing the recipes, but Scootaloo began her chanting soon enough. With the now familiar blinding crack, a Marill sat within the circle. A quick banishing, and the circle was cleared for Apple Bloom. It was at that point I lost interest.

Getting up, I left through the nearest tunnel. I made my way to where I figured Rainbow would be. I found her napping in one of Applejack's trees. Bounding up beside her, I carefully lay on her stomach so I didn't wake her. I settled in for a nap of my own, and waited for the chewing out I deserved from biting Thunderlane.

Me, Myself, and I

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I never got my nap. My thoughts kept chasing themselves around my head. Was biting Thunderlane overkill? My first thought is a resounding no, but I know that is wrong. But I don't think I was in the wrong. But, as a rational being, I know that there were other options. So why did I default to violence? But I didn't, I gave him fair warning. Didn't I?

All too soon, Rainbow had finished her nap. She didn't say anything, but I could still feel her disappointment. I hung my head the whole ride home. Rainbow made good on her fishcake promise. It wasn't until we were getting ready for bed that she finally said something.

"You know what you did wrong. Be glad that Thunderlane was as understanding as he was."

I did, and I was. So why don't I feel bad about it? The thought swam through my head as I fell asleep.

I walked through some bushes lining a wide trail of hardened dirt, relishing in the breeze as it blew through my fur. I went on my merry way, the red and yellow fish I ate prior settling nicely in my stomach. My ears twitched as I heard a noise coming from ahead of me. Curiosity peaked, I ran forward, listening as the sounds grew closer.

"We(ə)r is hē?" The sound was coming from the trail. I nudged a branch out of way to see a large two legged, mostly furless monkey with pale skin pacing back and forth. What little fur it had looked shorn short with dedicated care. It never left the confines of the trail. I shrunk back in fear, as it seemed to have bloodlessly torn the top of a long-eared, tan dog's head off and placed it on its own. "(H)wät ko͝od bē ˈtākiNG him sō läNG?"

The monkey used its elongated, brown, odd looking hoof to kick a loose rock into the far bushes. "Itz bad iˈnəf T͟Hat ˈlēō'z ˈēgō hazˌdisəˈpi(ə)red ī dōnt nō (h)wī ī po͝ot əp wiTH T͟Hat imˈpəlsiv fo͞ol." It seemed to sigh. "Hēz ˈōnlē gotten wərs sins T͟Hat dam ˈmiSHˌmaSH ˈdevəl moved in." It saw another rock, teasing it from the dirt. "T͟Hat THiNG haz taken kənˈtrōl, and T͟Hē ˈəT͟Hərz e(ə)r lāt fər T͟Hē riˈzistəns ˈmētiNG!"

It kicked the rock at the bush I was hiding in. I yipped as the rock flew past my head. I bolted in a panic. I only stopped when I tumbled from the bushes. I lay on a patch of short grass trying to catch my breath.

A black paw stepped into my field of vision. I looked up to see a black and light grey dog. His red eye's glared down at me. I quickly got up, ready to fight or run. That's when I saw the smaller light grey dog hiding behind his leg.

"Umm, hi?"

The elder canine smiled, giving off a feeling of welcoming. I relaxed as he tilted his head to his pup. Both the pup and I leaned forward to get the other's scent. It wasn't long before the pup was bounding around me with excitement.

With a smile, I turned back to the elder. "Thank you for letting me stay on your range."

Yellow light glared over the shortened grass. The three of us bolted to the bushes lining the grassy area. We each ran to different sides. I looked to the light source to see a family group of those odd monkeys. The larger male (I think) was pointing at me, directing his young's attention to me. The two pups were staring at me in awe. I glanced at the bushes the other canines ran to, but they had left completely.

I decided to follow their example and turned and left. I made my way through the woods, looking for a place to sleep. I soon spotted a cave. That'll do. I thought as I trotted inside. I made my way to the back, knowing that I would be safest there. I would also find any other occupants there if this cave was already owned. I turned the last corner and stopped, zipping back around the corner. I looked cautiously around the corner to confirm my fears.

The monkey from the trail was there.

It wasn't until I got a third look that I saw the differences. This one's fur was longer and more scraggly. It's coverings were torn and had holes in them. And it was chained to the back wall. It's eyes glared at the corner I was hiding behind. "Yə kəm bak tä glōt, yə ˈbastərd?" It struggled against the chains. "Kəm out and dō it tä mī fās, yə ˈfəkiNG
ˈkou-ərd!"

I waited until it had calmed down. Once it did, I tentatively stepped out to get a closer look. It was chained to the point of immobility, so I felt safe.

Its eyes softened. "ō, ˈēgō. (H)wət did T͟Hət ˈfəkər dō tä yə..." It's eyes snapped up to glare at something behind me. "Stā əˈwā frəm him!!"

I heard laughter come from behind me, before I felt a sharp pain burst from my chest through my back. I looked down at the claws jutting from my chest in shock. I coughed some blood out onto them.

I jerked awake from my dream. I lay in my bed, panting heavily. I got up once my heart had calmed down. I needed to find Yomega. I crept my way out of the house. Once paws touched dirt, I ran to the library. I squirmed my way through the nearest tunnel, then quietly walked up the basement stairs.

I paused as I passed one of the side rooms. I could hear muffled voices from within. I decided to ignore them and made my way up to Twilight's room as quietly as I could so I didn't wake up the sleeping mare. I poked my head in to see if I could spot Yomega as well as anything I might trip over. It took me a moment to realize that no one was there.

I made my way back to the room I heard people talking in. For all I knew, Twilight could be late going to bed again.
I tilted an ear towards the cracked open door as I approached.

"Ugh, no, that still doesn't taste right."

"Still too bland?"

"Yeah." I gave the door a quick scratch. "... I'll get it?"

I saw Abes' paw hook the door's edge before he swung it open. Behind him sat Lulu and Villhiem with three cups between them. "Oh hey, Leo. What are you doing up?"

"Lookin' fer Yomega." I mumbled.

"I'm sorry," Abes placed a paw on my shoulder, "he's over at Applejack's. Twilight, Moon Dancer, and Rarity are having a sleep over. I think they have one every couple moon's or so."

" Oh..." My ears and tail dropped. I turned to go. "I'll see him tomorrow, then." I murmured.

Abes' paw tightened its grip. "Hey, we might not be him, but you can still talk to us."

I heard a snort from Villhiem. "Especially if it's just a bad dream."

I let myself be led into the room. They sat me down between them. I curled my tail around me as I shrunk in on myself. I watched as Villhiem tore a small chunk of tail-leaf off and dropped it into one of the cups. Lulu held a paw up, staring at it in concentration. I watched as the paw seemed to bubble and warp as steam began to rise from it. Once it was bubbling at a frantic rate, she dipped it into the cup. Pulling her paw back, I could see she had left a cupful of hot water that began to become discolored.

Pushing the cup to me, Abes spoke. "So, what has got you so down?"

I looked to each of them, before focusing on the cup. "I... I think I may have a problem." I mumbled to the liquid. I missed the shared look the evolved forms had. "Have ya been told about Thunderlane from earlier?"

"Yeah." Villhiem nodded. "He got bitten earlier and spent most of the day talking to Moon Dancer about...." He trailed off as a look of horror spread across his muzzle. "That was you!" I nodded dejectedly. "Why?!"

"I was bored, an' frustrated at being bored, an' thinking about winter, an' wanted to be left alone!" I wailed. "And Thunderlane wouldn't stop poking me, an' I tried to give him hints to fuck off, an' he wasn't listening! I didn't even notice that I used my move until I tasted blood!"

Abes gave my cup a nudge. Taking the hint, I took a small sip. I could feel the spores taking affect, relaxing me. "... This is very bitter." I mumbled before taking another sip.

"We know, darling." Lulu assured. "But, to bring the topic back to the matter at paw, you obviously feel bad about biting him, so-"

"But I don't!" I stressed. "I feel bad about not feeling bad, but I couldn't care less about the bite itself. I feel completely justified about it. Which leads to my problem..."

"You don't want it to happen again?" Villhiem guessed.

"No!" I shook my head. "It's more... complicated than that..." I trailed off.

"Don't leave us in suspense." Abes pressed.

I glared at him. "I'm tryin' ta form the words!" I took an angry slurp of tea. "This is very effective tea." I said as I relaxed again. I took my time to put my thought's in order. "I feel like I'm losing myself. Like I'm not being 'Leo' and becoming the 'Eevee'. Like... " I paused. "Like my actions are not 'mine'. Like I'm running off of instinct. Just by the fact we were brought here, I've lost the most." I gestured to my groin. "I feel like I'm losing more of who and what I am to the form I've been forced into...."

The evolved forms shared another look. I missed the subtext to the look, and I figured that I wouldn't for a long while yet. Abes placed a paw on my shoulder again. "I feel that this is an outside context problem for us. But, tell you what." He pulled me into a hug. "We'll keep an eye on you, and try to stop you if it look like you're going too far. And if you need to talk, we will listen. Okay?"

I nodded, taking another sip of the tea. "Okay..."

I guess that's the best I can hope for....

... this really is good tea...

Winter's F*cked Up.

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I lay within the Daycare, glaring out at the white mounds of spite. Ever since the temperature had plummeted, I had been staying with the eggs, keeping them warm.

Gone were the bright blue sky's of autumn, the white fluffy clouds of summer. Only sheets of slate grey remained, drowning out the sun's soothing glow. Lush green grass smothered by a white death, fall's bright colors shorn away by howling winter winds.

My most hated season had truly set in.

Rainbow Dash had done what she could to insulate her home, but I could still feel the biting chill. At least the snow kept the Daycare well insulated. For the past few moons, I had stubbornly refused to leave the eggs without good reason, and only for as long as I needed to.

That's not to say I became a recluse. I did make sure to get my daily exercise by running to the marketplace and back, and Conner would stay with the eggs all day every Sunday so I could spend time with the others.

Speaking of, aside from my personal dislike, only two others of my pack had any issues with winter. Without a word to anyone, Villhiem had rooted himself in Apple Bloom's room, and fallen asleep. It quickly became clear he had started hibernating.

But Lulu had it the hardest. She had to stay somewhere warm, or she risked freezing solid. We discovered this problem when Rarity found her frozen to the door. Lulu was fine once she thawed, but none of us wanted to risk her freezing then shattering. If she had to leave the Boutique for any reason, she wore heavily enchanted booties and coat to keep her warm.

My musing was cut short by the sound of crunching snow. I leveled my glare at the flattened path as Zann's distinct footfalls drew near. As soon as he came into view, my eyes locked onto him, glowering at him as he scrambled up the icy ramp.

"No." I growled as he opened his mouth.

"C'mon," he pressed, "you didn't even listen to what I wanted to tell you!"

I scowled, waiting until he tried to speak again. "No."

"Oh, don't be such a cat." He teased. "Anyways, I came to see if Conner and Joy set the heaters up yet." He flinched back as I raised my paw. Once he stopped cringing, he followed my paw to see the cherry glow of the enchanted fire rubies sitting in the corners.

"Twitchy, much?" I grumbled.

Zann gave me a nervous smile. "We~ell, you did throw me out the last time I came here. And the time before that." He looked up in thought. "And the time before that, and the one before that too." His gaze returned to me. "I think I'm starting to notice a trend. Anywho, Yomega wanted me to come here to remind you that we'll be meeting early at the library tomorrow so that we can catch the Canterlot train with the ponies.

"He also said that if you don't show up, he'll drag you there through every snowbank he can find on the way there." Zann chuckled. "Y'know, I'm kinda surprised he sent me, after last time."

"I don't know where those snowshoes came from," I began to smile, "but watching you struggle out from the snow drift was the highlight of my day." I curled up next to my eggs, before arching an eyebrow at him. "Was that all?"

"Yup!" He smiled, making no moves to leave.

"Well, go on, then." I made little shoo-ing motions with a paw. "Tell Yomega I'll be there."

I closed my eyes, hoping to catch some more sleep. I figured Zann would catch the blunt hint.

"Hey, Leo?" Apparently not. "Wanna build a snowman?"

A new, Zann-shaped hole appeared in the snow outside the Daycare.

I sulked beside Yomega the next morning, grumbling about everything I could think of under my breath. We sat at the station waiting for the train.

<<Quit whining.>> Yomega scolded.

I wisely shut up, turning my ears to better hear the ponies' conversation. Fluttershy had been reassuring Twilight that the eggs would be kept safe while we were gone.

"Are you sure one of them shouldn't stay behind?" Twilight asked. "Leo's been staying with them all winter, maybe she should stay behind?" Yomega sat on my tail. I Glared at him in turn.

Moon Dancer placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "We all agreed that, Villhiem excepting, they could all do with a trip to Canterlot." I felt Yomega stiffen, and facepawed when I realized my mistake.

"I know." Twilight sighed as I pushed Yomega over. "And I know the Princesses want to see them again. Princess Luna really wants to see Abes in particular." I moved to sit beside Lulu, who was bundled up in her purple and pink coat.

Further conversation was cut off as the train pulled in. Thankfully, there weren't many ponies getting off the train this early in the morning, so we were able to board quickly.

Rainbow eyed Pinkie as she carried Yomega on board. "What's wrong with him?" Rainbow asked.

<<He sat on something he shouldn't!>> Zann laughed.

Pinkie sat Yomega onto one of the seats. "Yeah, he really should know better than to bug her like that. Especially after the snowshoe thing."

<<That wasn't my fault!>> I shouted from my spot.

Lulu gave me a look. <<You pushed him.>>

<<Pushed is such a strong word.>> I countered as the train began to move. <>

Conversations died out as the train rumbled down the track. I mostly kept to myself, sulking the whole way up the mountain. I barely noticed the commotion as we rounded the final bend to the station. I shuffled off the train on autopilot, surly following the group as we made our way through Canterlot. I only started paying attention again when I heard my name.

"You'll have to excuse Leo, she doesn't seem to like the cold." I heard Twilight say.

"I have a couple of theories as to why, but I'll save those for after the play." Moon Dancer added.

"I look forward to hearing them." Celestia praised.

I leaned over to the nearest Eevee to me. <<When'd we get inside?>>

<<An hour ago....?>> Vince answered.

I took a quick look around. <<Where are we, and where's Abes?>>

Cy snorted. <<You must've been badly lost in your own little world if you missed all that. We're backstage at the theatre and Abes left to mingle with Luna.>>

<<We're allowed back here?>> I asked in surprise.

<<Yup.>> Vince nodded. <<So long as we stay out of the way.>>

<<We're even allowed to watch from the conductor's box.>> Cy continued. <<They're not playing any music, so we wont need to worry about being in the way.>>

I checked to see if Fluttershy was paying us any attention, before speaking as quietly as I could. <<But, they sang in the show with musical accompaniment.>>

<<Just the actors on stage as a choir.>> Vince assured.

I blinked at that. With a shrug, I watched as Celestia gave her well wishes and left to take her place in the audience with Moon Dancer in tow. It wasn't long before the argument I was familiar with broke out. Eventually, I got both cold and bored.

With two slams, I blurred up the wall and latched the windows shut. I Glared at all the ponies before making my way towards the conductor's box.

The others joined me shortly before the curtains rose. Yomega's glare told me that he and I would be having words later.

Turns out, we were staying the night in the palace before catching the morning train home. The play was wonderful, and I fully enjoyed it. Now, though, Yomega had pulled me to the side.

"Okay, I'm going to be blunt with you on this one." Yomega whispered. "What the hell is your problem?"

I arched an eyebrow at him. "Is this about the window?"

"The window, and your attitude all season!" He snapped.

"I was cold, and they weren't doing anything to deal with the window. I was just fixing both problems." I jabbed a paw at him. "And I'll have you know that I don't have a problem with winter in general, I just hate the cold." I turned to go back to bed.

"And Christmas?" I paused as Yomega continued. "Why do you hate the best time of year, Leo?"

"... The Christmas that everyone on Earth knows is a dead husk of the original." I said at length. "I once asked a family what Christmas meant to them. The kids only talked about what they got, the parents only mentioned the food. Then I talked about this with my own family, and they agreed with me: Christmas is dead, and now some other holiday is parading around in it's heavily commercialized skin." I looked over at my grey companion. "Do you even remember what Christmas stood for?"

"The celebration of either Jesus's birth, or the winter solstice, depending on what you believe." Came his confused reply.

"Wrong." I snorted. "Well, maybe you were right, once upon a time, when religion was still a key part of every community." I sighed. "No, I mean the more modern meaning of Christmas. The one with Saint Nick, the elves, the Grinch and Scrooge, the stockings hung by the chimney with care? That's the one materialism killed."

"So what did that mean?"

I turned to fully face Yomega. "It wasn't even a proper meaning. It was a feeling. It was the Spirit of Christmas! It was spending time with those closest to you. Family, friends, lovers. It wasn't just giving gifts, it was making memories! The gifts that were given had meaning beyond the material. It wasn't about what you did, it was about who you did it with!

"And you know the worst part? I can see it starting to happen here." I growled. "All I could hear when I was out of the Daycare was what every foal and filly wanted, every stallion and mare's concerns about hosting the dinner." My tail began lashing from side to side. "And the richer they were, the more material their thoughts. Only the Crusaders, Snips and Snails seemed to remember the true Hearts Warming!"

Yomega was silent for a time, holding me there with his gaze. "And so you're letting your anger and frustration bleed out to winter as a whole."

"What?" I tilted my head. "No, I-"

"Yes. You. Are." Yomega jabbed a paw into my chest at each word. "Justify it however you want, you still are." He pulled me into a hug. "I can't stop you from feeling this way, but you can't let it drive your actions all winter." As he held me, I let my thoughts drift back along my lines of thought, hoping to put lie to his words.

I found something else instead.

"I, I just thought -hoped- that ponies would be better than this." I sniffed. We sat there for a time, both pretending we didn't notice my tears.

The Worst Feeling of Déjà Vu.

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We had returned from our trip to Canterlot, and the snow had deepened in the moon since. The snow was now deep enough to enclose the Daycare. We had carved out tunnels to the road to make travel easier. Conner had pushed me out of the Daycare, so I decided to stop by Rainbow's office to read up on the weather forecast.

Where is it? I stood on Rainbow's desk, carefully moving papers around. I couldn't read the squiggles, but I knew what I was looking for. Rainbow had shown it to me a few times, and I knew what symbols to look for. Ah, got it! Let's see.... Sunny, sunny, cloudy, snowing, snowing with wind-

"I think that means 'blizzard'."

Great. I rolled my eyes. Now I want ice cream. Fine, then, blizzard, blizzard... Blizzard.... My eyes narrowed. Wait... Brain, are you seeing what I'm seeing?

"I would hope so, I'm your brain. But yes, that does look familiar."

Further thoughts were interrupted when Rainbow burst into her office. She flew over to me with her trademarked smirk.

"I knew I would find you in here." She picked me up, glancing at her desk as she did so. With a swipe of her hoof, she collected her weather schedule. "Hey, awesome! You found it. I was looking for this this morning! Anyway, I need to take you to Twilight's, gotta do something with your collar."

<<That's great, I need to talk to Yomega.>> I nervously smiled.

"Don't worry." Rainbow flew through the halls, before exiting the weather station. "It's only a cloudwalking charm, don't want you to need a pick up when I'm not there." Thankfully, it was a short flight to the library, so I didn't get too cold. Rainbow couldn't fly as fast as she wanted to, something about her feathers freezing together.

Thankfully for Twilight's heating bill, Rainbow had the presence of mind to go through the front door.

"You stay right here." Rainbow said, placing me by the fireplace. "I'll go find Twilight."

I gave her a lazy nod. I listened to her hoof steps recede, then someone's footfalls return. I looked over my shoulder to see Yomega approaching.

"You need to say something important?"

"Yeah." I squinted. "Do you know about what?"

"Nope."

"In four days time, there is going to be a six day long blizzard."

Yomega frowned. "And you without your quartz." He sighed. "Okay, once you're done here, go tell the Duo to drag Villhiem's flowerpot to the Daycare. Then book it back to town and help Zann stockpile food. I'll wake Abes up and grab Lulu, we'll let Conner know and start digging out storage space."

Our ears swiveled to the nearest door as Twilight and Rainbow entered. "Okay, before I do this, what other enchantments does her collar have?"

"Uh..." Rainbow looked up in thought. "A locator one, one that tells me if it's come off using a runestone, and another runestone one that restricts how far away from it she can go if I turn it on. I never do, though."

"Of course you don't." Twilight mumbled. Her horn lit up as I felt a slight tugging on my collar. Soon, a familiar tingle spread from my neck. "There you go. I've integrated it with the others. They won't interfere with each other, fixed a charge-draw problem, and increased the locator spell's range."

Rainbow whistled as Twilight turned to leave. "How far is the range now?"

Twilight paused. "I wouldn't be surprised if you could pick it up in Dodge Junction." She continued on her way, muttering as she left. "I can't believe Rainbow thought of this first."

The prismatic mare floated over to me. "You wanna stay here and hang with Yomega?"

I nodded my head. Once Rainbow had left, I turned back to my shiny friend. "You... You don't think..."

"Let's worry about that later." Yomega gave me a nudge towards the basement. "Go on.... Lets get the pack back together."

I nodded, making my way towards the stairs. It wasn't long before I was jogging through the snowy streets towards the farm. My outer layer fur had become damp by the time I found the Duo behind the farmhouse, sharing a bonfire with the Apples. I plowed my way to them.

<<Guys, important news and thing for you to do.>> I huffed.

Vince looked me over. <<Still not used to snow?>>

<<If it was harder, I could run on it.>> I waved a paw. <<That's not the thing, though. There'll be a six day blizzard in four days. Yomega wants you two to get Villhiem into the Daycare. I assume he'll have more jobs for you once you're done.>>

Cy and Vince shared a look. <<You don't think...>

<<Later.>> I interrupted. <>

They nodded, and the three of us tore ourselves from the toasty fire. I split off from the Duo as they went into the farmhouse. Grumbling, I followed my, slightly filled in, path back to town. I only stopped my griping when I saw the heavily frosted gingerbread roof of Sugarcube Corner. I trudged my way to the back door, barely pausing as Pinkie opened the door for me. I nodded thanks to her before looking for Zann.

I found him coming down the stairs with a large, pink bag. I raised an eyebrow at him.

<<Pinkie thought I would need it.>> He shrugged. <<There's a day's worth of food in here. She made up six of these things....>> He trailed off.

I blinked. <<Where are the rest of them right now?>>

<<In my closet...?>>

I rushed past him. <<Great. I'll grab another one, then we can head out to the Daycare.>>

<<What's going on?!>> He shouted up after me.

I didn't answer him. I made my way into Pinkie's room, rushing to the closet. Pausing only long enough to find the heaviest bag there, I made my way back down the stairs. It wasn't until we had left the building that I spoke up.

<> I grumbled, re-clearing the trail for Zann. <<Four days from now? There'll be a six day blizzard.>>

<<Why's everyone panicking? It's just a massive snow dump.>> Zann asked.

I stopped to stare incredulously at him. <<You really don't remember what happened before we got here?!>>

I continued to lead him when I saw the understanding in his eyes.

After we had stored everything away, we didn't leave the Daycare. We had stored each of the saddle bags into hollows dug out of nearby tunnels. When the heaters shorted out, we huddled with the eggs and each other to stay warm. We had even parked Villhiem near the entrance where he could get the most of the feeble sunlight.

Surprisingly, he really was in a flower pot.

It was now day five of the blizzard. I lay between my eggs and Abes. Yomega rested his head on the Umbreon, with Conner pressing against Yomega's side. We were watching the snow fall through the gap we dug for proper sunlight while the others slept.

"Well," Abes said, "this is it. We'll find out the truth tomorrow."

"That's assuming this is happening again." Yomega sighed.

"What do you guys think'll happen if it does?" I asked

Conner shifted to look at me. "How do you mean?"

I shuffled in my spot, curling up tighter. "I mean, would I turn back into a guy? What would happen to our eggs? Would they still be eggs, or would they change as we do?"

"Would they even come with us?" Yomega asked. I shivered.

"For my sanity, I hope so." I turned to look at the other two. "I can't speak for the others, but I would be devastated if I lost my children. I would rather be the human mother to Eevee children seeing them off to... I don't know, Hogwarts, than have to give them up." I sniffed. "It would break my heart."

The other three were silent for a time. Eventually, Conner spoke up. "I don't want to go. I don't want to leave Fluttershy behind. She..." I turned, watching as he started to tear up. "She means too much to me now."

Abes nodded. "I feel the same with Luna..."

We fell silent, and began the long process of falling asleep. I was kept up by the worrying thoughts running rampant through my mind. Eventually, I rolled over to face Yomega.

"Hey." I whispered. "You still up?"

"Yeah."

"If this really is what we're worried about..." I paused, trying to find the words. "I just wanted to say, that I'm glad that all that has happened, and all that might, I did with you. All of you."

"Me too."

With those words shared, I drifted off...

Wake Up Call.

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I awoke to Vince shouting.

My first instinct was to look for the eggs. With a sigh of relief, I saw them all accounted for. Only then did I look for my pack. From Vince hopping and screaming like his paws were on fire, to Villhiem's potted form, every one of us was there. Ears dropping as I sighed out my stress, I finally let Vince's words sink in.

"We're still here!" He crowed. "We're still alive! I'm still me!"

"Yer always you." I growled out, curling closer to my eggs. "Shut up an' let me sleep!"

"Seriously, Leo..." Yomega groaned. "Vince settle down." The hyper Eevee bounced into the corner. I felt him rolling over, possibly to look at the canine closest to the door. "Mister Galhad," which was apparently Conner, "could you please look out the door and tell us where we are?"

I listened to what I assumed was Conner shuffling out the door. When the hell did he get by the door?

"We're home..." Conner murmured.

"You need to be more specific than that..."

Hmm?

"Oop-"

"We're still in Equestria." Conner breathed.

"It's still snowing?" I heard Lulu ask.

"It's slowed down." Conner replied. "It's beautiful, come take a look." I listened to everyone as they took turns appreciating the natural beauty. Eventually, I felt someone poking my side.

"C'mon, Leo." Zann insisted. "You should come see this."

Grumbling, I shuffled my way to the door. Pausing for the briefest of glances to the view, I made my way from the Daycare. I picked my bleary eyed way into the snow tunnels.

"Uh," Zann called after me, "where ya going?"

"T'pee." I shot back. "Watch m'eggs."

"But the view...?"

"I'll multitask!"

Just as I rounded a corner, I heard someone say behind me. "Why didn't we think of that? Now I gotta pee..."

We had taken turns so we could take care of our morning ablutions, while making sure to keep the eggs warm. Now, I was trying to follow Villhiem's example and get some more rest, but the others kept me awake with their gossiping. I had just managed to tune them out when Zann poked my shoulder again.

"Hey. You asleep?"

"No~o." I cracked an eye open to glare at him. "I'm watching the back of my eyelids."

Zann frowned. "That looks an awful lot like sleeping."

"What do ya wan'?" I groaned.

"I," Yomega interjected, "wanted you to give us the next few episodes."

"Can't it wait until spring?" I whined. "When Villhiem wakes up?"

The grey Eevee glared at me. "I'll tell him when he does." His look softened. "I know the cabin fever's getting to you, but we need to go over this."

"Fine." I drew the word out, rolling my eyes. "Once the snow clears, the next episode should be-" I I gave a flat stare at Yomega. "We've broken the timeline, is this really necessary?"

"Yes." He growled. "The only thing we've changed is Moon Dancer coming in early. If Zann's theory is correct, then we'll still need to know the supposed timeline."

Ears flat, chin on forelegs, I reluctantly continued. "Family Appreciation Day. Vince, Cy, and Villhiem should be on hand for this one. It'll start with timberwolves howling and Granny Smith will tell the farm that the Zap Apples are coming in."

"Coming in where?" Vince asked. "And what are Zap Apples?"

"The scraggily shit trees by the Everfree, and they look like rainbow painted apples. Now shut up and let me finish." I scowled at him. "Watch out for Diamond Tiara messing with Apple Bloom 'cause of all the weird stuff Granny needs to do to get the Zap Apple jam made right. Queen bitch gets fed humble pie when it's all said and done.

"Then it's "Baby Cakes", where the miracle of life happens." I gave a slight smile. "Mrs. Cake will give birth to twins, Pound and Pumpkin Cake. Sometime after, Pinkie will volunteer to babysit and end up a bit over her head. The twins will show off their abilities to fly and use magic." I glared at anyone about to speak up. "Zann's on deck for that one. Think you can handle a pair of babies?"

"Eeyup!" Zann smiled. "Before we holed up in here, Mrs. Cake started showing! Oh, I can't wait!"

"Great!" I smiled at him. "Over the summer, Applejack will go off to a rodeo competition. After promising to get first place and donate here winnings to fix up townhall-"

"But, it's not broken." Cy interrupted.

"Derpy happens." Everyone but Abes winced. "Short story: Applejack doesn't and runs off to get the winnings by finding work in Dodge Junction. The others track her down and bring her back in short order. Since the next episode happens in Cider Season, I'll end this there." I rolled over, going back to my plan of ignoring the others.

"How does townhall get fixed?" Cy asked.

As night fell on the sixth day, the skies began to clear. I sat by the entrance with Abes to watch the stars come out through the hole in the snow. Soon, Abes started communing with Luna.

I could tell whenever Abes did so. He always gains a far-off look in his eyes, and a dopey grin on his face.

Imagine my surprise when he dissolved into mist and flew out the hole. I stared at where he was, trying to figure out what had just happened. I tentatively poked the spot he had been occupying, jolting forward in shock as he reformed behind me.

"Ah!" I squeeked. "What the hell hap-" I continued to freak out around Abes' paw. He waited until my muffles died down and the others stopped shifting in their sleep.

Removing his paw, his rings began to glow gold as a chest board and set floated from his bags. He set up the board between us with black facing him. "Luna and I needed to know whose playing what side. Easier to do in person." He moved a white pawn and began contemplating the board. "I know you knew we played at night." He moved his pawn.

I stared slack-jawed, watching as the pieces moved across the board. Eventually, I was able to form words. "When did you learn to teleport?"

"I didn't?" He turned his focus from his game, gazing at nothing. "Watch my board." That was my only warning. He seemed to glitch, his right ear dissolving and reforming. Without warning, it dissolved completely and drifted outside. Once it had just left the Daycare, it reformed.

Both the ear and where it attached to Abes' head began to badly bleed. Both of us started screaming, waking the others.

Conner bolted past Abes and I, grabbing the ear from where it fell. Working quickly, he jammed it right way up on Abes' head. He quickly encased Abes' head in a pink glow. The blood quickly stopped flowing. As it did, everyone calmed down and Abes and I stopped screaming.

Eventually, Conner stepped back. "There. That should keep it on for now. See me in the morning for another dose." He mumbled, stumbling back to where he had been sleeping.

Did he just do that in his sleep?!

Yomega took in the overturned chess set and the spilled blood. "Leo..." He growled. "What did you do?"

"His ear glitched-"

"What. Did. You. Do?" I wilted under his glare.

Abes came to my rescue. "Nothing! I wasn't playing with him. I was playing against Luna, she teleported me to see which side we were playing, and Leo asked if I could use Teleport." He patted my back. "I ended up telefraging myself when I tried. Leo did nothing."

With a deep breath, Yomega tried to calm himself. "Alright. I'm sorry for snapping at you."

"With how everything looks," I looked to the scattered pieces, "I don't blame you."

We got to work at cleaning the blood. Snow was brought in to scrub the floor, then dumped down a new tunnel as far as we could dig. Once done, Abes set the board back up, then continued his game. The rest of us tried to get back to sleep, waiting for the blizzard to completely pass.

Personally, I still couldn't wait until spring.

Bonus: Mother's Delight.

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[Lulu]

I stretched before flowing off my work desk. I left the design I had been working on for Rarity's later approval. I looked over at a pony mannequin (I could never call them by what Rarity does) wearing a partly made dress. With a weary sigh, I leaned against my stool. I was feeling very much overworked. It seems everyone wants a Lulu Belle Original since Rarity opened her Manehatten store.

Or rather, since we came out. I smiled. Good thing Rarity and I made that agreement.

I risked a glance at the clock, and had to take a second look. It seemed that I had worked for an extra hour. Normally, this wouldn't be a bad thing, but this week, I had the pups over.

"Suri!" I called into the hallway. "I'm heading out now. Got an idea for a new design on my desk for review." I could never get used to the buzzing my collar made....

"Okay! Have fun with the pups!"

"That's the plan!" I chuckled. Assuming that there's a den to come home to....

With another sigh, I left through the employee's entrance. Unlike Suri or Rarity, I didn't live at work. Instead, I lived closer to the bay in an apartment complex favored by griffins. I flowed through the streets, stopping off at the fishmongers for tonight's dinner. Once the salmon was paid for, I made my way home as quickly as I could.

Thankfully, everything was still standing when I arrived. Nodding to the front gate guard, I trotted to the elevator. I launched a small bubble to the call button, and was surprised when the door opened right away. An older griffon stepped out before noticing me.

"Heading up, Miss?"

"Yes, floor fifteen."

Hooking a talon around the door, he tapped the button for me. Waving off my thanks, he left the lobby. From there, the trip to my door was uneventful. I unlocked my custom door, and entered my den.

"Sorry I'm late." I called into my home, listening to shuffling paws. "Got caught up at work. I just need a moment to prep dinner, then we can eat." I slid my saddle bags off and pulled the fish out. My collar was hung on a hook by the door.

I had just tossed dinner into the oven, when I heard something that made me mentally cringe.

<<Hey, Mom?>> Sapphire called in a 'please don't be mad at me' tone. <<Could you come here please?>>

What did they do?

I followed my daughter's voice into my living room. Once there, I was struck speechless.

My sons and daughter were propping up a large card. Behind them, I could see an envelope straining to hold its contents in. The card they were holding, and most of the room, was covered in crude stick figure cutouts, cheap gems, and a school's worth of glitter. They held it up with nervous smiles.

I sat in the doorway, one paw covering my mouth. I held my other front leg out in an invitation for a hug. One my children wasted no time in taking.

Finally, I found my voice. "It's a little big to go on the fridge...." My gaze lingered on the bedazzled words on the card.

'We love you, Mom.'

Return of the Green.

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A moon had passed since the blizzard. Today, Rainbow had picked me up after my Sunday run. She flew me over to Sweet Apple Acres with a large grin on her face. She landed in a flattened area where Applejack and the Duo were waiting.

There were also three sleds.

"Hey Rainbow, y'all made it!" Applejack waved.

<<What am I doing here.>> I deadpanned to the Duo.

Cy shrugged as Vince replied. <<More exercises for us I think.>>

The two ponies lined us up and had us sit still. They began putting harnesses onto us.

<<You guys know what the others've been up to?>> I asked

<> Cy began <<but I think Abes has been trying to learn how to teleport with Luna.>> He shook his head. <<You'd think he'd learn with that scar around his ear, but no....>>

<<He gets it from you.>> I chuckled.

"It's okay." Applejack cooed. "We're just gonna hook ya up ta these here sleds."

Rainbow nodded. "As you guys get used to the sled's weight, we'll slowly increase it."

"It'll only be a couple o' days a week." Applejack patted me on the head. "Fluttershy's gotten Conner ta agree ta watch th' eggs on Wednesdays so ya can get another day of workin' out with us."

<<And I'm out.>> I stood up.

"C'mon, Leo." Rainbow smirked. "For me?"

<<Maybe I'll stay a bit longer.>>

I watched as the mares hooked the empty sleds to our harnesses. With their command, we began to pull our sleds back and forth across the farm's back forty. We spent the full day running. Thankfully, they didn't add anything that day.

I had to glare at the Duo as Rainbow and I left. The bastards weren't as winded as I was.

We spent the rest of the winter working on our endurance. To my chagrin, the Duo could pull more weight than I could.

Soon, though, my winter prayers were answered.

A few days before Winter Wrap Up, Rainbow and I were picking our way through the edge of Whitetail Woods. We kept our eyes on the bases of the trees. Eventually, Rainbow spotted the mark we had left. At her command, I began to dig.

Soon, I was pushing Tank out of his napping hollow. Rainbow carried him back to her home. I jumped my way up to see her strapping Tank's helipack onto him.

"Now we just got to wait for him to wake up." Rainbow sighed as she picked me up. "Fluttershy said he probably won't until after things warm up. Which won't be until after Winter Wrap Up." She shifted me around so that we were face to face. "Speaking of Wrap Up, Twilight was wondering if you can clear the skies for us. She said that that would free up pegasi for other needed tasks."

I licked her muzzle. <<You can count on me!>>

I spent the next few days alternating between watching the eggs and watching Tank. On the dawn of Wrap up, I got up early and began building power. I could feel the power building, and I could see a faint glow on Rainbow's cloud floor. Rainbow woke up an hour later and carried me to the town square, where the townponies were already beginning to gather. By that time, my throat was starting to get sore from the energy I was nursing.

We waited and listened to Twilight's speech, part of which explaining why my Sunny Day doesn't count as magic, which outlined the scheduled plan for the day. Near the end, I stopped listening to the lavender mare, only watching her through my watering eyes for my signal. It felt like the power was starting to overflow my throat.

I couldn't see it, but Yomega told me later that something had begun leaking from the corner of my mouth. It looked like molten glass.

Finally, Twilight shut up, and pointed at me. I tilted my head back, and launched... What should have been a spark. Instead, I had launched a large white hot ball of energy. Everyone watched in awe as it pierced the clouds. Then, with a thunderous boom, every cloud was obliterated. Yet the ball was still visible.

Then it exploded.

Like a firework, it burst into countless sparkles that rained down and winked out with a pleasant crackle. With a cheer, the ponies separated to their tasks. The rest of the pack gathered around me.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Zann crowed. "How'd you do it?!"

"I-" I began coughing.

"You okay?" Conner asked.

I waggled my paw. "Throat's sore." I whispered. "I'll be fine in a bit." I looked back at Zann. "And I had been building that Sunny Day since I got up."

"Well," Yomega smiled. "we've got the rest of the day off. Let's go help Zecora with her work." With a round of nods, we bolted towards the witchdoctor of the Everfree.

That evening, I was watching Tank, laying on the desk top beside him. Fluttershy had informed Rainbow and I that Tank should be awake before nightfall. I took it upon myself to let Rainbow now the moment he woke up.

I almost missed his first stirrings due to how subtle they were.

<<Da~sh!>> I called out, bolting through the cloud house. <<Tank's awake!>> I found the prismatic mare putting the finishing touches to our dinner. I danced around her hooves barking up at her. <<He's awake, he's awake, he's awake!>> I chanted.

"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow grunted as she stepped around me. "Dinner's coming." I rolled my eyes before clamping down on her tail. I began to pull her towards the stairs. She raised an eyebrow at me. "You're not hungry?"

I spat her tail out. I glared at her before booking up and down the stairs, barking the whole time. Eventually, Rainbow caught on.

Leaving the food to cool, she raced my back up the stairs to Tank. Seeing that both of us were there to greet him, and be his first sight of the new year, brought a smile to his weathered face.

Mumbo Leo.

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I woke up one morning, about a week after Tank stopped hibernating, with my thoughts in complete disarray. I was finding it hard to think. This had been building over the last few days. There's also been an odd itch around the base of my tail.

Ugh, what is... I shook my head. I need to... ugh, my head.

"Can't think straight?"

No. What Brain do?"

"Go see Yomega?"

"Go see 'Mega" I mumbled. I left Rainbow's in a careful daze.

[Yomega]

I had managed to gather all the guys into a secluded alley. The only two missing were Leo and Lulu, but that was by design.

"Okay, Headmaster, why're we here?" Vince sighed. "We've got farmwork to do."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, because trees don't grow themselves. No, this is important." I looked over my shoulder. "I was talking with Lulu the other day. We've come up with a list of theoretical of symptoms for Eevees in heat."

"You don't mean..."

"I do." I nodded. "Worst part is, Lulu had already started to experience some of those symptoms. Not sure about Leo, but I would assume she's going through it too. Generally, try to avoid the girls for about a moon."

"Why a moon?" Leo asked behind me.

"Because, I don't... Want..." I trailed off as the others booked it way from me. I slowly turned around to look at the Eevee behind me. She was panting, and giving me half lidded look, her eyes slightly unfocused. "Um, hi?"

"Hi." She breathed deeply through her nose. "You smell nice."

"Thanks..." I nervously said. "You, uh, feeling okay?"

"Better now that I'm with you." She gave me a coy smile, sashaying closer to me. "I was feeling... Off lately, couldn't focus, itchy tail. But now..." Another deep breath. "You smell nice." She turned, pressing her side against me. "Really nice."

Fuck this, I'm out. I bolted down the alley. I ducked into a random doorway to catch my breath.

"Tired already?" Leo purred, causing me to jump in shock. She was leaning against the other door jamb, tapping her foot to a beat only she could hear. "There you go, your tail a' waggin'." She sung, pushing off the jamb. "Hips a' swingin' back and forth." She gave me a sly smile. "Pelt a' shining in the sun." She leaned in, and gave me a kiss.

My brain froze. I managed to reboot by the time Leo broke the embrace. "Do you know what you're worth?" She whispered.

Shoving her off of me, I ran down the alley. I could hear her continue her song. "I'll run to you, wherever you go. I'll run to you, through rain or snow. I'll run to you, whatever it takes. I'll run to you." I ducked into an open door, bolting around, over, and sometimes under furniture and ponies. "I'll find a way."

I cut a hard right as soon as I left the building. I'll need to figure out a way to pay for that window... I made a few sharp turns, in hopes of throwing Leo off. I slowed to a stop by the Boutique.

"Look at you, all radiant." I slowly look up to see Leo laying on the Boutique's porch. "That fur, it looks so smooth." She trailed her gaze up and down my body, her eyes lingering on my... Well, they lingered. Leo licked her lips, continuing her song. "I long to taste, I long to touch. So, time to make a move." She lunged off the porch.

Ducking under her, I bolted towards the library. I jumped into one of the bushes hiding our tunnels as Leo sung her chorus. I jumped out the far side of the bush, hoping that Leo would chase 'me' into Gold Oaks' basement. I booked it through town, taking streets at random. Please don't follow me, please don't follow me... I only stopped when I had hidden under the town's bridge. How the hell do the others run for so long. I panted, looking back the way I came. Please don't find me, please don't find me...

"We found you."

I stiffened, hearing Leo's murmured song. "Here I am, a' coming." She trailed a paw over my shoulder and down my back, causing me to shiver "I'll run all down the way..." I jolted as she gave my ass a squeeze.

"Nope!" I yelled, and once again ran.

I could hear her keeping pace behind me. "Despite your fleeing, I hope you know." I could hear her voice get slightly quieter. "I'll hold you close today!"

Then I got a painful pair of reminders about Leo: I'm trying to out run the fastest member of the group, and she knows Extreme Speed. We tumbled into the underbrush near the pond. I painfully tried to stand, only for Leo to wrap her paws around my hind legs.

"I'll run to you, wherever you go." I felt her slowly crawling up my legs, never fully releasing me. "I'll run to you, through rain and snow." She crawled up over my tail. "I'll run to you, whatever it takes." She now lay on top of me. "I'll run to you, I'll find a way..." She lay there, nose buried in my fur.

I kept thinking of ways out of this situation, but I kept coming back to one problem. How can I outrun her? If I could, then I could hide away from her until this all blows over.

"Do we want to?"

What do I mean by that?

"We've been here for about an Equestrian month now, we've been pretty much celibate that entire time. And now we've got a lovely lady laying on us all but begging for it? Yeah, can't hold out for very long like this..."

My thoughts were interrupted by a sniffle from my back.

"Yomega..." I heard Leo whimper. "Does this make me a bad Eevee?"

I licked my dry lips. "Wha- what do you mean?"

I felt her shift, pressing something wet against my back. "I'm... I'm not quite in control of myself, I couldn't focus on anything until I saw you. Then all I could think about was how good you smelled -you smell nice, by the by- and then all I could think about... Well." Both of us shivered. "And I can't stop myself. Tell me, Alpha, what do I do...?"

I felt myself trying to 'get ready', and bit my lip to think. "Lulu and I talked about this during Winter Wrap Up. I think you are in, um, in heat."

"Fuck..." Leo groaned, shifting herself on my back. "How to stop?"

"Either we stay separate from you."

"Fuck to that!"

Not now, Brain! I continued my explanation. "The only other option we could think of was to just, ah, get it out of our systems?" I cringed, waiting for Leo's response.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes! Take door number two!"

The fuck is wrong with you?!

"Hormones."

Well, stop it!

Leo buried her nose in my fur again. "You smell-"

"Yes, I smell nice." I growled.

"And it's the only thing letting me think clearly." Leo snapped back. "... You can guess what my body wants." Leo tried to chuckle. "But my mind is conflicted. I both do and don't want to do this."

"To be honest," I admitted, "so do I."

"Yeah, I'm not wasting this chance. Hormonal override in 3..."

"Yomega." Leo whimpered. "I'm so, so sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to control myself for much longer..."

"...2..."

"... So am I, Leo, and so do I. I'm so sorry..."

"...1..."

I rolled us over, flipped Leo around, and pinned her beneath me. "... But your Alpha is ready, and you've said you're willing!"

[Conner]

I felt really bad about ditching Yomega, but he was the one who told us to run. I was going to take a quick check on the eggs before telling Joy that I was staying in the cottage for the month. Hopefully, she would also agree to keep the girls away from me.

All I got to do is- I had walked up the ramp and spotted Lulu hiding in the corner. Fuck!

"Yes, please."

I saw Lulu turn to look at me and wince. "Shit." Lulu murmured. "I should've figured this wouldn't work."

"What wouldn't work?" I hesitantly asked.

"Hiding here." Lulu chuckled. "Should've known you'd show up at some point." She turned to fully face me. "Has Yomega filled you in on what season it is, darling?"

"Yes, he also said to keep our distance to you and Leo." I took a step down the ramp. "So I'm locking myself in the cottage until this blows over."

Lulu gave me a small, sad smile. With a flick of her tail, a wall of water rose up behind me. "O~h, you shouldn't have said that." She groaned and shook her head. "Now I'll be trying to slip under your door for the next moon..."

"I'll find somewhere new to hide, and I won't tell you where?"

"Sorry, darling, it won't work. You see the wall of water behind you?" She pointed over my shoulder, and waited for my nod. "Turns out I learned Block a couple of days ago. Lucky you." She pushed herself further into her corner. "Did... Did Yomega tell you the other option?"

I shook my head.

"She wants you to rut her until heat passes!"

You sound excited. It's starting to scare me. Please stop. I focused on Lulu. "I think I can figure it out." I looked back over my shoulder. "Could you lower the wall for me please?"

"Trust me, Nurse Conner, I really wish I could." She curled her tail tighter around herself, using it to cover her face. "But my stronger instincts are forcing my paw... I'm so sorry..."

"If you look at it right, doing this -well, her- would be a Kindness..."

... From a certain point of view. I cast my eyes over Lulu's body. "If you are willing, then we could deal with this here and now?"

She lowered her tail slightly. "Really? You don't mind?" She whimpered.

I nodded. I gave her a slight smile. "Nurse Conner has the remedy for what ails you, Miss Lufay."

Her tail lowered, then raised, as she gave me a coy smile. "Will it hurt, Nurse?"

I moved the eggs out of the way. "Only if you want it to."

[Leo]

Yomega and I lay in the bushes. Both of use lay panting after our... romp. Sadly, my focus still did not return.

After catching my breath, and gathering what I could of my thoughts, I looked over at Yomega. "Is this what we can expect every year around this time?"

He sighed. "Most likely."

"Great." I groaned. "While I can't pretend to not enjoy the feeling, I really hope we don't need to worry about eggs in... However long they take to come out."

"Hey, look on the bright side. We know the signs of heat now, as well as when to expect it, so we can try and seclude ourselves better next time. And we have another month to figure out some form of contraception." Yomega sighed. "And, well, we always have this for backup. It's a fun backup, but it comes with its own host of problems..."

I chuckled. "Maybe we can switch up who the 'fall back' is each year."

Yomega snorted. "Tired of me already?"

"Not a chance." I gave him a coy smile. "Want another round?"

Yomega smiled, and rolled back onto me.

Author's Notes:

This chapter brought to you in part by: Acme Co. and Pepe Le Pew.

The full, non-broken up song, provided by Sidriel:

There you go, your tail a' waggin',
Hips a swingin' back and forth.
Pelt a' shining in the sun,
Do you know what you're worth?

I'll run to you,
Wherever you go.
I'll run to you,
Through rain or snow.
I'll run to you,
Whatever it takes.
I'll run to you,
I'll find a way.

Look at you, all radiant,
That fur, it looks so smooth.
I long to taste, I long to touch.
So, time to make a move.

I'll run to you,
Wherever you go.
I'll run to you,
Through rain or snow.
I'll run to you,
Whatever it takes.
I'll run to you,
I'll find a way.

Here I am, a' coming,
I'll run all down the way.
Despite your fleeing, I hope you know,
I'll hold you close today!

I'll run to you,
Wherever you go.
I'll run to you,
Through rain or snow.
I'll run to you,
Whatever it takes.
I'll run to you,
I'll find a way.

Once again, much thanks being sent to Sidriel.

I really hope I don't need to boost my rating to Mature for this chapter.....

And, as always, read, review, and enjoy.

The Butterfly Flaps.

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[Vince]

It had been a few days since Yomega gave us his warning. Oddly, Cy and I haven't seen him since.

Or Conner for that matter...

The Apple family, sans the youngest one, were having a meeting about Cy and I. We sat in on them, just so that they wouldn't have to track us down later.

"Now, I'm not sayin' tha' I'm not open to experimentin'." Granny Smith warbled. "But I jus' don' think tha' we should risk th' Zap Apples this year. Maybe if'n we had th' money ta spare..." The Apple Matriarch turned to us. "Tha's not ta say I don' have somethin' for ya ta do. Mr. Gahwayn," I perked up, "I'd like ya an' Mr. Garet ta look after Apple Bloom an' her friends. Try an' keep 'em outta trouble 'til the harvest."

Cy and I shrugged and left to look for our new charge.

"They're called Vince an' Cy, Granny." Applejack sighed behind us.

"That's what I said!"

I shook my head as the door shut behind us. We had long since gotten used to Granny's eccentricities, and Cy and I couldn't argue with her logic with the Zap Apples. Magic is as magic does, after all.

We made our way to the school. We got there just before recess.

I watched as Queen Bitch Diamond Tiara and her lackey Silver Spoon left the school first, running off to a secluded part of the yard with a red book in mouth. I scowled at them before Cy nudged me, pointing at the Crusaders. Sharing a nod, we made our way over.

"Hey guys!" Apple Bloom greeted us. "Granny send ya?"

I nodded. We settled in under the table the Crusaders set up at.

"What do you girls want to do today?" Scootaloo asked.

"Didn't Twilight want us to go over some of the simpler recipes?" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

Apple Bloom shifted in her seat. "Yeah, she said tha' we'll be pickin' out the next summon tha' we, well, summon. Ya got the book, Scoots?"

"I thought you had it?" Scootaloo replied.

"I had it earlier." Sweetie spoke up. "But I couldn't find it in my bag before we came out here."

"Darn." Apple Bloom sighed. "Well-"

"Hey!" A white foal with a two-toned grey mane and tail ran up to the table. "You guys the ones Miss Twilight's teaching to control monsters?"

"Yes...?" Sweetie Belle drew out.

"Awesome!" The pegasus buzzed. "Could you show me?"

"Sorry, Rumble." Apple Bloom sighed. "But-"

"Come on." Rumble begged.

"We're not allowed to unless Twilight's there." Apple Bloom placated.

Scootaloo spoke up. "Besides, we left the stuff for doing so at home, and it'll take longer than recess to go grab them and do a summon."

"Aww." Rumble whined.

Sweetie spoke up. "It's okay. When we can, we'll show everypony."

"Okay." Rumble sighed. "I just thought that you guys would have done something by now."

"What d'ya mean?" Apple Bloom asked. I watched as Diamond and Silver entered the schoolhouse early. I could also see an older stallion making his way up the path to the school. Recognizing Mr. Rich, I retuned to the conversation.

Rumble shifted from one hoof to the other. "Well, I've seen how Diamond Tiara treats you guys, and I figured you'd want to summon something to rub her face in..."

The Crusaders shared a look. "Rumble," Sweetie began, "did anypony tell you what happened about a month ago?"

The colt shook his head. "All I remember was Leo breaking the drought for us. That's all Thunderlane would talk about."

"We don't like talkin' about it." Apple Bloom sighed. "If'n you remember it, there was a lightin' bolt that struck near the edge of the Everfree. That was us. We summoned something that day." I watched the colt's eyes widen. "Thing is, Rumble, if Villhiem wasn't there, it could've hurt us."

"But, wouldn't you guys have control over it?"

Scootaloo snorted. "The lighting bolt destroyed part of our array. We couldn't control it. And it was tough. Villhiem met-a-morphed-a-cyst-ed to banish it."

"Metamorphosed." Sweetie idly corrected.

"Dictionary." Scootaloo retorted.

"Point is," Apple Bloom glared at her friends, "summonin' is dangerous if you don't know what you're doin'. We've read about some o' the higher class ones that Twilight won't let us summon yet. Some are huge, some are small, a few are even made o' fire, and some can even take on full grown dragons an' win. All are dangerous."

"Really?" Rumble asked, eyes wide with excitement. "And you guys'll be able to control those?"

"Not yet." Sweetie affirmed. The school bell rang at that point. Everypony still outside began to make their way into the schoolhouse. Sweetie peeked under the table at us. "You two can find Villhiem at the pond if you want to wait with him."

I looked at Cy, both of us nodding. With a smile and a wave, we left for the pond. Cy and I shot the shit as we walked down the road.

"What d'ya think the other's will evolve into?" Cy asked.

I shrugged. "Dunno. Leo will definitely be a Jolteon, though."

"I can see it." Cy agreed. "She blitzes around like her ass is afire, she's with Rainbow if she's not with her eggs -which is thematic with Jolteon- and she goes from happy to moody and back again at the drop of a hat."

"And she's got plenty of energy." I smirked, nudging Cy. "Too bad her stamina's shit."

"Yeah. At least she's happy again." Cy sighed. "If you only met her during winter, you'd think 'mopey' was her default mood. She must really hate the cold."

I shook my head as we continued walking. "Naw, I heard it was something to do with Christmas."

"Bullshit. No one hates Christmas that much."

"And yet: Leo."

"I wonder why..." Cy drifted off in thought.

I barked out a laugh. "Well, if you believe Zann's theories, it could be anything from a lack of a pee wee whistle when she was two, to a... rather grim-dark encounter with a mall Santa."

"Do I want to know?"

I slowed to a stop with a thousand yard stare. "No. No you do not." I focused on the glint of water through the trees. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to drown that memory out."

Sadly, Cy had other plans for me. We spent the afternoon splashing in the shallows and chatting with Villhiem. There was a group of bushes that smelled weird, but Villhiem insisted we stay away from them.

All too soon, a pair of leaves bounced off our heads as Villhiem informed us that it was time to go. We passed the same week old rumors back and forth as we made our way back to the schoolyard. We were nearly there when we had to jump off the road. We had spotted Diamond Tiara and her friend coming up the road.

She didn't like us, at all. I think it has to do with us sticking up for the Crusaders. We tended to avoid them whenever we could. We didn't want to risk Filthy Rich's wrath if we lashed out at them.

"What if she weasels her way out of this one, too?" We overheard Silver ask.

"Knowing Granny Smith's antics," Diamond haughtily replied, "That farm hick blank flank will be too embarrassed to show her face at school! It's perfectly foalproof!"

"You've said that before, though..." Silver sighed.

Diamond rolled her eyes. "If it doesn't work, we've always got our back up plan."

We watched as they walked down the road. We wasted no time in trying to catch up to the Crusaders.

I sighed as I jogged. "So we're at this episode. What's the plan?"

"Interfere. I got more details out of Yomega over winter as to what's supposed to happen. The Crusaders'll try everything they can to avoid having Granny go to the school." Villhiem informed. "We should only let them do their antepanultimate and their ultimate plans to avoid it."

"Their what and their what?" Cy asked.

"Third to last and last plans." Villhiem answered.

I looked at the larger canine. "Since when did you know such big words?"

"Since Sweetie Belle." He snarked back. "Anyways, the first of the two is harmless, and the last one will get Granny to meet up with one of the Apples' from-out-of-town elders at the train station." We started to slow when we spotted the Crusaders ahead of us. "Granny will still get to the school on time. And then Granny will school Queen Bitch with her 'antics'."

"Oh, Yomega's not going to like this..." I sighed.

We were sneaking through the orchard in a fake bush Villhiem was maintaining. Sweetie wouldn't tell anyone what her latest scheme is.

We dealt with the last one by having Villhiem eat the grapes Sweetie was going to smear over Apple Blooms face. How they ever thought they could fool Granny with such a fake illness will be forever beyond me.

Finally, we stopped in front of one of the Zap Apple trees. We all turned to Sweetie to find out just what the fuck we were doing here.

"We can't move Family Appreciation Day," she finally explained, "so let's move harvest day instead!"

We all looked at the dark grey fruit hanging from the tree. "They don't look quite ripe..." Apple Bloom warily said.

Scootaloo grinned at us. "Harvesting an apple early never hurt an apple."

And when did you become the apple farmer? I thought.

"I don' know..." Apple Bloom tried to explain. "Zap Apple trees aren't like normal apple trees. They're magic!"

<<I'm with the farm filly.>> Villhiem said. He was crouching low with his ears folded. <<They don't feel.... Normal.>>

"How different can they be?" Sweetie channeled her inner Rarity, making her way to the closest tree.

<<I'm with her.>> Cy backed up to get a running start.

I watched as Sweetie bucked the tree. Energy arced up the trunk before rebounding onto the filly.

<<Wait, Cy, don't!>> I called out as Sweetie was blasted over head.

My warning came too little, too late.

Thunderstruck.

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[Villhiem]

I watched Cy plow head first into the Zap Apple tree. His Headbutt didn't send arcs of electricity up the trunk.

It caused the whole tree to light up like a fucking star.

<<Cy! Get out of there!>> Vince called. Everyone else had already backed to an assumed safe distance.

Lightning forked out from the tree, striking others around it. Like Sweetie's attempted buck, electrical energy spasmed along the struck trees before jumping back to the original tree.

<> Cy cried. <<Something's keeping me->> All at once, the tree overloaded, sending the built up energy crashing into Cy. With an anguished cry, Cy was launched from the clearing. His glowing form left a trail of light, making him look like a falling star. He landed in a regular apple tree at the edge of the Zap Apple grove with a snapping of branches.

I was the first to reach Cy's branch. To be fair, the others couldn't climb and I simply pulled myself up with my vines. I quickly homed in on the poor canine. I gave Cy a once over, gently blowing away the light smoke steaming off of him. Covered in jagged, bright yellow fur, Cy was now clearly my size. I gave him a light shove in the white collar like mane of fur covering his shoulder. I felt residue energy ground itself through me, slightly numbing my leg.

He cracked a very dark brown eye, trying to glare at me.

<<Good, you're up.>> I smirked. <<Welcome to the evolved club. We meet every other Tuesday in Golden Oaks.>>

<<Yo~u planeded alla dis.>> He accusingly slurred. He continued once he was able to properly focus on me. <>

Vince's voice carried up from the group below. <<You guys okay up there?>>

<<Yeah.>> Cy cheerfully called back. <<I'll be down in a sec.>>

<<Well, okay. Just so ya know, Applebloom's going to be grounded after the harvest is done. I'm going to escort the Crusaders back to the farm house. See you there?>>

<<Okay~!>> Cy returned to glaring at me. A spark jumped from him to the tree. <<Your 'club' better teach meditation! Otherwise it'll be fucking moons before I can get control over my mood swings! And another thing! How am I mff!? Mhmiffiff!>> I had jammed my tail into his mouth.

<<Chew, don't swallow.>> I instructed. I pulled my tail back after he had bitten a chunk off. <<Lucky you that the next meeting is in two days, huh?>>

<<Fuck you!>> He spat out around the plant matter in his mouth.

<<Well, it is the season...>> I teased.

<<Oh, fuck off.>> He calmly growled as the spores started to take effect.

I began lowering myself from the tree. <<I'm going to let Abes know that you'll need meditation training.>> I called once I reached the ground. <<You going to be able to get down fine?>> I paused. <<Cy?>>

He crashed into the ground beside me, fast asleep. After I calmed my heart back down, I picked him up and started carrying him back to the farmhouse.

<>

[Leo]

I finally crawled my way to bed at Rainbow's. With a pleased sigh, I flopped onto my side. O~h, that's going to be an egg in... I thought, using my tail to rub my belly. ... However long it'll take.

A light clicked on. I turned my tired smile to the rainbow maned pony sitting on the edge of her bed. She frowned at me, as if I was an unruly child sneaking in after curfew.

Tank just gave me a knowing smile.

"And where were you?" she asked, hoof tapping the cloud floor.

<<Well, I ended up in some bushes by the pond. With Yomega.>> I proudly barked back. <<It was wild and awesome! And a little scary at first, but we definitely worked past it. We had to stop off and see Conner before heading home.

Judging by Lulu's face, they must've been healing themselves, too.>> I finished with a giggle.

Rainbow sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm happy to see you again, too. You're very lucky I checked in with Fluttershy, and that she told me what time of year it was for you." Rainbow's disapproving look broke as she snickered. "She obviously walked in on something she didn't want to. She was blushing so hard, she glowed!" We both chuckled for a bit before settling down.

<<Y'got any plans fer later?>> Tank asked with a mischievous gleam in his old eyes.

I sighed. <<Yeah, I've got to go and apologize to the Headmaster tomorrow.>>

<<Yer not plannin' on jumpin' him again, are ya?>>

<<What?! No!>> I shook my head. <<Not that kind of apology. I think I've worked all that out already.>>

<<Ah...> His knowing smile was back again. <<Ya might wan' ta start carryin' a cushion around with ya in about's a moon.>>

"Could you two talk tomorrow? I've got to get to sleep." Rainbow yawned. "Got an early day tomorrow."

<<Sorry! G'night!>> I yipped before curling up in my own bed.

I quickly uncurled with a slight hiss. Ow. Still sore, still sore! I stretched out with a groan. That seemed to work, as I was soon drifting off to sleep.

Sadly, my last thoughts before sleep took me turned to guilt over making Rainbow worry.

Rainbow and I ended up at the library at the same time. As Rainbow started looking around for Twilight, Owlowiscious flapped over to me.

<<If you are looking for your boy toy, he is being examined by Moon Dancer at the moment.>> For having a hard beak, he can be really expressive. He was giving me a wide grin from his nearest perch.

<> I worriedly asked.

<<Oh, no.> He waved a wing at me. <<Moon Dancer needed a control, and he was available.>>

<<Oh, that's good to->> I stopped mid-step. <<Wait, 'control'? What experiment do I need to run away from?>>

<<Oh, you have not been told?>> He stretched a leg. <<One of you -Cy, I think- changed again. If you'll pardon me, I need to get a good day's rest in before my flight tonight.>> He winked. <<There's a snowy owl that recently moved into the Everfree, and I'll be damned if that tawny from the next flight over gets her first!>>

I laughed. <<Best of luck to ya!>>

We went our separate ways. When the hell did I get so blasé about mating? No I mean 'mating'. Oh, that's why. I thought as I decided to wait for Yomega with Rainbow and Twilight. Damn instincts...

"So, what did the doctor have to say?" My ears twitched. I started to listen into the two mare's conversation.

"That I might want to find a stallion." Rainbow snorted. "Thankfully, those, eh, suggestive dreams I've been having recently seemed to have stopped."

Twilight blinked. "Really, just like that?"

Rainbow shrugged. "Well, I'll have to wait until tonight to know for sure. Woke up feeling really guilty about something this morning though."

"About what?"

"Dunno." The colorful mare sighed. "Just that I was."

Twilight started pulling books off her shelves. "Weird. Maybe you should start keeping a dream journal."

"Why?"

Before Twilight could speak, Moon Dancer poked her head into the room. "Twilight? You wouldn't happen to know where Lulu or..." Her eyes landed on me. "Leo. Rainbow, do you mind if I borrow her for a bit? I'd like to get some samples from her."

"Go nuts." Rainbow waved a hoof at her. "Oh, not sure if you know this, but she's in heat. Just in case it screws with your results or something."

Moon Dancer rolled her eyes as she gently picked me up in her magic. "I'm aware of the time of year. It won't affect the results any."

She carried me into her work room. I could see that her stress circle had developed a very slight dent. It also seems that Moon Dancer learned her lesson from Twilight's mistakes. She kept me in her grasp as she prepped her needle.

I looked over at the Jolteon sitting in the magic scanner thingy's bowl. <<Morning Cy.>> I moped. <<How'd you- Ouch!>> I glared back at the needle now sticking out of my ass.

<>

Moon Dancer set me down beside Yomega, both of us avoiding eye contact. <>

<<It's enough if the tree is a Zap Apple tree!>> He scowled.

<<Oh.>>

<<Yeah, 'oh'.>> His scowl quickly morphed into a grin. <<I've heard you two have been busy.>> Yomega and I shifted a bit as Cy chuckled.

I coughed before looking at the grey Eevee beside me. <<Um, Yomega? I wanted to apologize for, uh, forcing you into... Yeah.>> I awkwardly said.

<<It's okay.>> He nervously assured. <<We both agreed to it, so...>>

We let the silence grow between us as Moon Dancer shuffled her notes, oblivious to our situation.

<<Awkward...>> Cy shifted his gaze between us. <<You're, uh, you're not horny right now?>>

<<No.>> I squeaked out. <<Blatantly changing the topic, what're you being called now, scientifically?>>

<<Mutis Enigmus Eevee Electricus.>> Cy said with pride. <>

<<Lucky you.>> Once again, we all lapsed into silence.

This is why I hate going to the doctors...

Electric Pincushion.

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Yomega and I sat there, waiting for Moon Dancer to be done with us. Cy still sat within the STS's bowl. Every time the wand passed his nose while tracing it's endless circle, Cy's fur would briefly stand on end as he wrinkled his snout. I kept wondering why he did that, then a small spark jumped from the wand to Cy.

<<Ah...>> His fur stood erect, blocking the wand from moving. <<Ah..>> The scanner gave a short series of beeps, causing Moon Dancer to look over, snapping the feather quill she had been writing with. <<Ahh...>> Moon Dancer's eyes widened as she started throwing shields up around everything. Then Cy sneezed.

Thin, yellow quills lanced out, many jabbing into Moon Dancers shields before falling to the floor. I looked around at the walls that weren't protected. While most had bounced off, there were some still quivering from their impact.

<<'Scuse me.>> Cy whined, rubbing his snout.

With a long suffering sigh, Moon Dancer began gathering up the quills, stacking them in a pile beside the desk. Holding one up in her aura, she scrutinized it from every angle. Pulling over a scrap piece of parchment, she dipped the yellow quill into the ink, and gave it a few test swipes. Satisfied with the results, she snapped off the excess length and continued writing her notes.

Yomega looked up at the Jolteon. <>

<> Cy groaned. <>

<<It would really suck if you were allergic to pollen, huh?>> I chuckled.

"Interesting..." Moon Dancer murmured, tilting her sheet of notes back and forth. All of our ears tilted to the door as a faint knocking was heard.

Soon, Spike and Thunderlane came into the room, with the stallion carrying a take out bag.

"Afternoon." Moon Dancer gave a slight smile as she cleared an area of paper. "What's on the menu today?"

"Daffodil and daisy sandwiches, with a side of toast with Zap Apple spread." Thunderlane placed the bag on the desk.

Moon Dancer gave the pegasus a look. "What's the occasion?" She pulled a very small jar of the preserve out of the bag. "Aren't Zap Apple products expensive?"

"They are." Spike confirmed from the doorway.

Thunderlane sported a large grin. "Except for the first few days after harvesting."

<<Which I'm missing.>> Cy growled.

"The Rich family gets first pick, then the Apples sell the rest to the town." Thunderlane explained. "Mr. Rich ships the harvest out, and the Apples get a share of the profits." He tapped his chin in thought. "Now that I think about it, anywheres Zap Apples grow, you can find Apples and Riches..."

"Before I break for lunch, could I get you to try something for me?" Moon Dancer asked.

Stallion and drake shared a quick glance, both aware how that usually ends with Twilight. "Su~re."

"Great." Scrap parchment floated over to the two volunteers. "I just need you two to write something down with this quill. It doesn't matter what you write." The Jolteon quill and an ink well floated out and hovered between the two.

Spike quickly grabbed the quill, and jotted out a quick list. Thunderlane wrote a copy of the weather schedule. Moon Dancer started to compare their writing with her notes. Idly, her magic floated a sandwich from the bag.

Eventually, she placed everything down, turning to her audience. "So. This quill," Cy's quill floated up, "Came from Cy. The quill seems to be able to act as a magic conductor. Writing with one seems to apply a tint to the ink in the shade of one's aura. Due to the Jolteon's natural electrical affinity, I theorize that these quills are able to conduct electricity as well."

"How did you find out Cy even has quills?"

<<Ah...>> The Scanner began beeping again.

<<Everyone get down!>> Yomega barked, jumping on top of me.

I heard the sound of magic springing into existence as Cy sneezed.

"Oh, uh, never mind then." Thunderlane trailed off as Spike began plucking quills from his scales.

<<Can I go now?>> Cy whined.

Eventually, we were allowed to leave. While Cy raced back to the farm, and Yomega stayed with Spike for some needed shopping, I made my way over to the bakery. I was hoping to catch Zann at a good time.

I approached the back door, giving it a few scratches. Soon enough, Pinkie opened the door. Over her shoulder, I could see Zann working on a counter by an open window. Zann tilted an ear in our direction.

"Hey, Leo..." Pinkie stressed my name. Zann stiffened. "Are you here for Zann?" I nodded, as Zann jumped out the window. Looking over her shoulder at the counter, Pinkie gave a mock sigh. "Aw, shucks. You just missed him. I think he left to go shopping."

<<Ow. Why did there have to be a rose bush out here?>> Zann's voice drifted from around the building's corner.

"Eeyup." Pinkie spoke louder to cover his moans. "Definitely went shopping. He's going to be gone for a while. I'll let him know you stopped by."

I rolled my eyes before nodding. Making my way around the building, I spotted Zann stuck upside down in the rose bush, struggling to free himself. I watched as a pink hoof slowly made its way down from the window. Zann tried to curl himself to grab said hoof as I approached.

<<How's the shopping going?>> I snarked, watching the hoof zip back into the window.

<<It's going great.>> Zann gave me a nervous smile.

I gave him a small smile. <<Need a hand?>>

He hung there, upside down, tail draped over his belly. <<.... Please be gentle.>> He whimpered.

I grabbed ahold of his tail and began pulling. <<Oh, don' worry. Yome'a an' I worked tha' all ou'.>>

<<So, yer not about to jump my bones?>>

<>

<<Shutting up now.>> Working together, we managed to free Zann from the dreaded thorn bush. <<So,>> he asked as he started pulling thorns from his fur, <<If yer not here for happy-fun-times, what are you here for?>>

<> I glared at Zann as he turned to run. <>

<<For what?>> He nervously asked, his tail starting to curl around himself.

<<For how I treated you all winter.>> I sat with a sigh. <>

Zann looked me over. <<On one condition: you tell me why you don't like Christmas.>>

I placed a paw to my chin. <<What's the betting pool at?>>

<<All expense paid trip to the spa, Lulu must be with.>>

<<Oh?>> I smirked. <<And what is the cut off?>>

<<Tomorrow.>> He smiled. <<But the trip wont be until the next bring your pet day in a moon.>>

I nodded, and began walking away.

<<Where are you going?>> Zann called.

<<To collect my winnings.>>

<<Oh, okay.>> He had just turned the corner, before poking his back around. <<You and Lulu planned this, didn't you?>>

<<Girls night out!>> I shot back.

Play Date.

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A few weeks had passed since Cy's evolution, and Lulu and I had felt a stirring. We had met up in the Daycare with spare towels, and placed them in the clearest areas we could. Obviously, Lulu got the largest clear area.

Fifteen minutes of screaming and pushing, and two new eggs joined our clutch. Mine was tinted purple with green flecks, while Lulu's had a more pinkish hue.

"Why can't that get easier?" Lulu groaned, coiling around her newest egg.

I stretched my sore stomach across my egg's shell. "Oh, yeah? You're three times my size, and our eggs are still the same size. Imagine how I feel." I panted. "Here's a hint: very much ow."

"You have my sympathies, dear." Lulu looked around the Daycare. "I really hope that we don't get any more surprise eggs. We're starting to run out of room."

"I'm just glad that they don't grow this large until they come out." I weakly laughed. "Could you imagine if I had to roll everywhere?"

"We'd have to carry you in here, then put some chocks in so you don't roll back out." We both chuckled for a bit.

"Oh, the feeling's coming back." I groaned

"Come again?"

"Heh, maybe later." I slowly stretched my hind legs out. "I think I lost feeling in my hind legs for a while there. Thankfully, the damn egg was mostly out."

Lulu nodded. "That's why you slumped onto your side near the end."

We heard someone make their way up the ramp. "Is this a bad time?" Zann asked.

I shook my head as Lulu replied. "No, we're just recovering now."

"You guys think you'll be able to walk in a little bit?" Zann's tail started wagging.

"Give her a bit." Lulu giggled, waving a paw at me. "She laid a rather large egg, after all."

I joined Lulu in giggling. "I should be fine in a few minutes. Why? What's up?"

Zann started vibrating, his tail lashing in exictement. "Mrs. Cake just went into labour! We're going to have foals!"

"Yay." I tiredly cheered.

Lulu smiled. "You know that it's the Cakes who are having the foal, you and Pinkie are more like aunts and uncles."

"I know! But I'm still excited!" Zann's grin could've split his head apart with how wide it got. "If only the nurses would let me into the hospital... But I get to meet them when they come home!"

"Okay." I tiredly sighed. "Just remember, Pound and Pumpkin are foals, so they're going to be fragile. Be careful when you're playing with them. Let them come to you in their own time, and be gentle with them. And don't panic when Pound starts flying or you get caught up in Pumpkin's telekinesis." I yawned. "They're just playing, and don't know any better. When they get older, they may use you as a walking aid, so be prepared for that."

"Also be prepared for the odd chance you're puked, peed or drooled on." Lulu cut in.

Zann chuckled with a roll of his eye. "Yes, moms."

"Bleh, too tired for witty rejoinder." I muttered before sleep claimed me.

It had been a few days since the laying, and the foals had come home. Sadly, I had not had the opportunity to visit, I had spent the time blasting rogue weather form the Everfree. I scratched at the back door, and waited to be let in. It took a couple of scratches and a bark, but Pinkie did let me in.

"Leo, hi!" She dragged me in. "Do you want to meet the twins?"

"She'll have to wait." Mr. Cake slumped into the kitchen. "We just got them to lie down for a nap."

<> I nodded, barking softly.

"If you want to wait for them to wake up, you can rest with Zann in the foals' room." He yawned, pointing up the stairs. "Third door on the left. It's been left open, so you can go right on in."

I nodded, and slowly made my way up the stairs. It took me longer than I thought it would, but I usually fly up the damn things anyways. I spotted the room right away, listening to the soft chimes of a music box drifting from the room. I crept my way in, spotting Zann lying under the crib. I snuck my way over to him, curling myself against his side.

"Hey." He whispered. "Didn't hear you come in."

I gave him a smile. "Didn't want to wake the foals. How have they been?"

"A right pawful." He softly chuckled. "I've taken to sleeping in here because I'm the only one they reliably wake up at night. Pinkie just sleeps through them."

I arched an eyebrow. "Don't they have a baby monitor?"

"They do." He nodded at it. "But the Cakes get worn out fairly quickly after taking care of them and the store all day. Thankfully, Pinkie told them to put a notice on the door telling ponies that the bakery will be running on reduced hours for the next while.

"She had to convince them that the hit in profits will be worth raising the foals right. Honestly, I'm glad they agreed to it. They were starting to look a little haggard..." Zann yawned. "I've also started sleeping like you."

"How do you mean?" I asked. I turned to look at him as he let out a soft snore. "I'm not like that." I huffed.

I rested as I waited for the foals to wake up. It took a few hours, and they woke up crying, but I got to finally meet them. Mrs. Cake had put them down into the suspiciously large playpen, placing Zann and I in on the far side. I lay on my stomach to let the foals come to me. Zann hobbled forward to meet the foals.

<<Hi guys,>> he chripped, <>

The babies gurgled. Zann slowly led the foals over to me. I lay there as they clambered all over me. I rolled an eye to check for Mrs. Cake. She sat nearby , keeping an eye on us.

<<It's a little odd, being bigger than them.>> I remarked, flicking my tail in and out of Pumpkin's reach.

<> Zann chuckled. <> Pound had lived up to his name and stomped on Zann's gut. <<This still takes some getting used to.>> he wheezed.

I looked back at Pumpkin, who had caught my tail and was happily chewing on it. <<I'll bet.>> I chuckled as Mrs. Cake lightly scolded the twins. Pumpkin climbed over my back to nibble at my ear. <<With all the love you're getting from them,>> I giggled, <> I got up and began walking around, letting the foal steer me around with my ears.

<<No Fairy type move.>>

<<That assumes you need one.>> I began bouncing off the playpen's walls, waiting for Pumpkin to pick a new direction. Eventually, she steered me to Mrs. Cake. <<Has the episode happened yet?>>

Zann shook his head, Pound giggling and trying to catch the flopping ears. <<Nope. It will in a couple of days, they just made the catering arrangements this morning.>>

<<Good on them. Let us know if you need a hand.>> I flicked my tail at him, lightly booping Pound's nose. He turned to follow the new toy, only to be picked up by Mrs. Cake as well.

"It's time for us to go for a walk." She cooed. She focused on us. "Would you like to come with us?"

I nodded, hopping out of the playpen, turning to pull the wall down for Zann. We spent the rest of the day following the Cakes around on their relaxing stroll.

The Hurricane Became A Firestorm.

View Online

I had spent the next moon visiting the Cakes on and off. The first time Pumpkin picked me up was a little worrying, but she was very gentle with me. I'm not telling Mrs. Cake this, but the little filly used me to sneak a couple of cookies.

One day, the Cakes had an appointment that looked to take them the afternoon, and I couldn't stay for very long. Rainbow needed me to help set up a short, three day drought that was starting this evening. I bid Pinkie and Zann a good night before running for the fields.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Positive. Get that rope in place. Remember, it needs to be a circle."

[Villhiem]

I lay in the barn's entrance. Apple Bloom was getting her summoner's bag from where she stashed it in the loft. We would be meeting the other Crusaders at Twilight's for their next lesson.

They've been getting pretty good. I mused, watching the sun start to dip towards the horizon. Maybe Twilight will let them summon without her supervision soon.

"No, no, no. This jar goes over there. That jar needs to be over here!"

"R-right." A set of hooves tracked across the circle, the rear hoof catching on one end of the rope, pulling it in.

[Lulu]

I yawned and returned to staring out the Boutique's window. Rarity had closed the shop down for the day, and was relaxing in the tub with a trashy novel. Opal had left to chase mice, which left me alone to my own devices. I was going to spend my time resting, maybe dream up a new dress design.

Yeah.... I mused. Something sleek, with ruffles. Slip it into her stack without her noticing. I giggled, drawing and discarding designs in my mind's eye.

"Everything's set up, we just got to do the chant now."

"What was this supposed to summon, again?"

"Doesn't matter, just get chanting!"

[Yomega]

Now I know why Villhiem likes watching over the Crusaders... I moaned. Every Ponyvillean guard was taking turns either scratching me behind the ears or rubbing my belly. I had been roped into making sure Scootaloo got to her lesson on time. Said filly was turning her room inside out looking for her bag.

My rear leg twitched as one of the mares found a sweet spot, melting my mind into bliss. Scoots can take as long as she needs, so long as these fine ponies don't stop.....

[Third]

With a crack of lightning, a large snail with what appeared to be a rocky shell tilted it's goopy head, staring down at the creatures that dared call it from its slumber. "Magcargot..." It drawled as a burst of flame was spat out from a crack in it's shell.

"We... We did it!"

"Yes, we did. Come on, you, we've got work to do." The snail turned and slid over the rope circle, burning it to ash. "Hey! Not that way! Stupid slug, that's a wall!"

Inside Sugarcube Corner, Zann looked over at Pinkie, who was playing with the foals in the front of the closed store. <<Hey, Pinkie? Does something smell like burning to you?>>

Pinkie gasped, lifting a hoof from the floor. "Pinchy knee! Pinchy knee! Quick, Zann, make sure we didn't leave the oven on!"

Nodding, the three legged Eevee turned to enter the back area. Something still smells ooooholy SHIT! WHAT IS THAT?! WHERE DID IT COME FROM?! The snail had burned a hole through the outer wall and the cupboards.

"What, but, that's a Magcargo! And it's burning down the store!"

The Magcargo fixed its glare onto the smaller Eevee. Through the cracks in its shell, Zann watched as a bright glow grew from within. Zann's tail twitched slightly, and he plastered himself to the floor.

"Magcargot!" A stream of flame splashed against, then burnt through, the wall behind the unlucky canine. Zann could feel the heat of the fires that had been started behind him.

"That's not the oven!" Pinkie cried, staring in wide eyed shock through the hole.

The snails shell began to glow. "Magcar-" It was interrupted by a large group of stars smashing into its face.

Zann looked over to the kitchen's door as Pinkie raced up the stairs with the foals strapped into their harness. Risking a glance behind, he saw that the front doors had been welded shut. Another tail twitch, another dive for cover, Zann leaned out and fired more stars at the lava creature. Okay, I have its attention. Now what? Dodging into the hallway, a wave of fire just barely missed him.

Outside, the weather team had spotted the growing flames. As they frantically scrambled to gather clouds, Leo began her dance, quickly glowing a deep blue. Thunderheads grew, and three bolts of lightning cracked from the outskirts of the town. The guards rushed to evacuate and secure the area.

Lulu managed to slip through their cordon, and began spraying water over the nearest flames. But there were too many of them, and she could only cover so much area.

Inside, Zann had been backed up to the stairs. Thanking his low frame for keeping out of the smoke, he kept spamming his Swift, trying to keep the Fire type at bay. He had been tagged a couple of times, and had to use his Refresh to stop the burning. Just barely, he could make out the hissing of water on flame. He stumbled as a lance of pain shot through his knee. With one final volley, Zann hauled ass up the stairs. A pillar of flame rose from where he had been standing earlier, blasting clear through the floor and splashing against the upper ceiling.

Noting that it had destroyed the stairs, the Magcargo turned to look for more to burn, wanting to make things feel more like home. It sent out small flames, burning the counter and the confectioneries stored there to blackened crisps.

Meanwhile, Rainbow had arrived with the weather team. Working as hard as they could, they desperately tried to wring as much water as possible from the clouds Leo had supplied.

"Rainbow Da~sh!" The prismic mare looked down, and choked, seeing one of her best friends leaning out a window. A window the flames were rapidly approaching. "He~lp!"

"Thunderlane! Blossomforth! Come with me!" She ordered, leading the pegasi to save her friend. "Cloud Chaser, Flitter! Get a cloud on that window!"

Just then, a large, blue tortoise with a brown shell rumbled around a street corner. As odd as the twin cannons jutting from it's shell was the yellow filly with a red mane done up with a pink bow riding on its head. Spotting the pink mare waving at the pegasi, Apple Bloom tapped the her mount on the head. "Aim for th' fire below tha' window!"

"Kamex!" It complied, twin streaks of water dousing the area.

Rainbow came to a hover above the spray. "Pinkie! Pinkie, come on, we got to get you out of there!"

"No!" Pinkie yelled, holding Pumpkin out the window. "Save the twins first!"

With a nod, Rainbow carefully took the crying filly, rocketing away to the cordon where Mr. and Mrs Cake struggled to breach the line in their worry. Thunderlane quickly following suit with Pound Cake.

Back inside, Zann ran down the hall, panicking upon seeing that the flames had reached the twin's room. The last attack had blasted the door off it's hinges. As Zann rushed past it, it broke free, crashing to the floor below. He looked up in time to see Pinkie lifted from the room by a pair of nearly identical pegasi, Gummy clamped to her tail.

As soon as they were gone, another white pegasus with a green and pink mane took their place. Zann hobbled as fast as he could to make the jump.

A flaming rafter collapsed in front of him, smashing through the floor and launching up a cloud of sparks. Unable to stop himself, Zann slid into the hole the beam had made, turning in a desperate attempt to stop himself. <<Shitshitshitshit!!>>

Blossomforth was forced back. Darting beneath the water spray, she looked for a safe opening. Finding none, she was forced to abandon her search. More water needed to be dumped on the flames if they wanted to rescue the dog.

Lulu had begun arcing her spray from side to side, hoping to keep the flames on this side from spreading too far.

"Put me down here, please." A gentle voice spoke up behind the Vaporeon. Breaking her spray just long enough to confirm her suspicions, Lulu glanced over her shoulder before continuing her deluge.

Sweetie Belle stood behind her, pointing a hoof towards the flames. "We need to clear a way in." She asked the large black penguin thing behind her.

It nodded it's crowned head, before streaming water into it's claws, building a large ball in front of itself. "Emperte!" It lobbed the large ball of seawater over Lulu's head, splashing it down where the canine was already aiming. A cloud of steam billowed from the doused flames.

Nodding at each other, the bird and the dog sprayed their Water Guns over the area to make the area safe to travel.

"Magcargot!" Another pillar of flame reignited the cleared area.

Zann came to in the kitchen. He tried to stand, but collapsed with a cry of pain. Looking back, he saw that his rear legs and tail had folded back at a unhealthy angle. Only then did he realize that he couldn't feel them. "Please just be shock." he whimpered.

Looking around, he saw that every way out was blocked by intense flame. Ever so slowly, he dragged himself with his one good paw to the only safe place he saw.

By now, the rest of the town had gathered around the Cake family. Leo kept up her dance, but the other Eevees stayed back so that they were out of the way. Twilight and Moon Dancer led every capable unicorn in spraying their smaller streams of water onto the flames, following the guard's directions.

"Gangway! Comin' through!" The crowd parted to let a large blue crocodile like creature with red spine like frills rush past the cordon. Scootaloo, scooter helmet on, had a hoof wrapped around the foremost frill. "Get water on that!"

"Ordile." It didn't need any other prompting. Soon, the farm filly and the daredevil shared a nod. Tapping their respective summons, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo guided their Water types around the building. Meeting up with Sweetie Belle, they focused their sprays with the penguin and Vaporeon.

Soon enough, the fire was completely put out on that side. Cautiously entering the building, they saw the arsonist snail slither out of the storage room. Without giving it time to act, the three fillies ordered their summons to attack.

An ocean's worth of water blasted it into the final load-bearing wall. None of the fillies missed the telltale flash of white light as the Magcargo was banished, but were forced to run from the building.

On the other side, the ponies finally doused the last of the flames. As the ponies began to cheer, a certain pink mare suffered from a full body shudder.

Throwing herself against the cordon of guardsponies, Pinkie screeched. "NO! Let me through! Zann's still in there!"

As Sugarcube Corner gave up its last, Pinkie collapsed with it, hair straight as a razor, wailing for her missing friend.

Cinders to Ashes.

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[Leo]

I kept dancing my Rain Dance until Rainbow told me to stop. Exhausted, I finally looked around at the damage done. Sugarcube Corner was nothing more than a pile of charred rubble. I could still hear the cracks, pings, groans and bangs of cooling metal. Pinkie was draped over Fluttershy's shoulder, Conner leaning against her side. The poor mare was inconsolable. I folded my ears to dampen her wailing as I scanned the wreckage, watching a Feraligatr and a Blastoise lift a large, burnt beam, guardsponies searching under it.

I staggered over to Conner. <<Can you give me a quick heal? I need to join the search.>>

He nodded, placing a glowing paw on my head. I immediately felt rejuvenated, and left to pick my way through the wreckage. I stepped around glowing embers, trying to match what I saw to what I remembered of the bakery's layout. I made my way past where the kitchen was, looking over it.

Only the fridge and the stoves were still standing, if you could call it that. One of the stoves had been completely caved by falling beams, while the other was wielded shut and heavily dented. The fridge door had been melted off, and a metal... Something had been driven clean through it. Even if Zann had hidden in it, he would've been a burnt skeleton judging by the remains of the fridge's contents.

I turned away, and spotted Lulu standing by where the stairs were. I joined her, both of us looking at the mound of wreckage.

<<Zann was last seen on the upper floors.>> Lulu glanced at me. <>

<<Pinkie's closet.>> I sighed. <<It had some sort of size enchantment on it. Maybe that would have been enough. From where we stand, it should be near the far side of this shit.>>

Lulu nodded, melding into water, flowing through the gaps in the rubble. I waited for her to come back. Sweetie came up to me, an Empoleon waddling majestically behind her. I at least I think it was Sweetie, it was hard to tell under the ash.

"What are you doing here, Leo?"

<<Kon'nichiwa, sukoshi Eievui.>>

Lulu flowed out of the rubble, glomping me. <<Leo, you're a genius! The closet wardrobe thing's fine! there's just a large timber blocking the door!>>

"You girls find something?" Sweetie looked between us. "What did you find?"

<<Watashi ni tazunenaide, karera ga itte iru koto o rikaidekinai...>>

Lulu and I paid the pony and bird no mind, and began trying to shift debris. Sweetie caught on quickly, and called the other Crusaders over. The caiman and the tortoise started shifting large chunks of rubble.

<<Tinbā o nigiru dake de, watashi wa sore o tōshite jibun no michi o kirimasu.>>

The two reptile summons braced themselves, supporting the weight of the wreckage above them. The Empoleon picked Lulu up and placed her in front of it, pointing into the debris. Lulu cocked her head to the side, before flowing to the first visible clear space. With a nod, the edges of the Empoleon's wing like flippers began to glow a bright white. With a war cry, the regal penguin began slicing its way through the rubble, following the Vaporeon.

The noise we made attracted the attention of the guardsponies. Making their way over, any present unicorns aided the summons in holding up the debris, while I helped the others in cleaning up after the cutting machine. Eventually, The Empoleon stopped with a final slash. The beam holding the wardrobe down fell away in two pieces. A guardsmare unicorn hefted the slightly charred wardrobe out of the wreckage. Once everyone was clear, the debris that was being held up was carefully set down.

A dark orange earth pony mare with a vibrant pink mane wearing slightly more ornate armour carefully brought a silently weeping Pinkie over to the rescued furniture. "Miss Pie? I'm Lieutenant Merry Weather." She sat beside the pink mare. "Before we open this, could you please inform us of any enchantments?"

"A Dimension Pocket and an Iron Shell." Pinkie sniffed. "It had a foundry in it, and a few tables. I used to use it for my party planning, but I gave it to... to..." She broke down weeping again.

"Just those two enchantments?" Pinkie nodded through her tears. Merry Weather gave the party pony a hug, gently stroking her straight mane. "We'll find him. My ponies are doing everything they can, and we will not rest until we can place him back in your hooves." She assured. She looked at the nearest pony, giving a slight nod.

The pony tried pulling the door open, hauling on it with all his might. Shaking my head, I barked at him before leaning on the other door. The door swung open, causing me to tumble into Zann's work room. I looked around.

The foundry had spilled its fuel across the floor near the back. Metal chunks and odd doodads lay strewn across the floor amongst numerous papers. I started sniffing around for Zann's scent. Finding the strongest trail, I followed it to a dishearteningly small lump hidden under a pile of paper.

<<Zann?>> I whimpered. With trepidation, I carefully slid the papers to the side. I nearly fainted when I revealed what was hidden. A pile of what looked like metal bones in various states of disrepair had been piled on the ground and left to be presumably recycled. I made my way to the doors, sadly shaking my head.

"He's not in here." I heard the stallion murmur to Merry Weather.

"Keep looking." She firmly ordered.

Movement caught my eye. I turned to look as the Cakes slowly began sifting through what they could for anything salvageable. Everyone jumped when the oven let out a large bang before smoke began drifting from its shortened chimney.

"Even after everything," Mr. Cake tried to chuckle, "that darn oven is still giving us trouble."

Mrs. Cake squinted. "Why does the side look like it's starting to glow?"

Looking again, I could see a spot fading to a dull red. It rapidly began growing in size and brightness, before a torrent of flame punched a hole through it. Every guard and summon set their stances, prepared to face this new threat. The Cakes wisely began herding Pinkie away.

A large orange canine with a tan tail and fur floofing around its neck and between its ears flopped onto the ground, laying on its back. Most notably, it only had three legs.

<<ZANN!!>> I cried out, charging to hug the life out of him, tears dripping from the corners of my eyes. Every Eevee quickly joined my impromptu stampede.

Pinkie beat me to him. "Zann LaMorac!!" She buried her face into his fur. "I was soo-oo-oo worried about you!" The rest of us crowded around him, wordlessly trying to comfort him, Pinkie, and ourselves.

<<How did this happen?>> Yomega asked. Conner began pulling red gem shards from Zann's belly fur. <<Are those the...>>

<<Yup.>> Zann wheezed. <<Spike's fire ruby shards.>>

Our reunion was cut all to short, as a small cough came from behind our huddle. We all turned to to see the slightly frowning face of Lieutenant Weather.

"Miss Pie? I'm very sorry to do this to you," She sighed. "But we will need to detain him for the time being." She held a hoof out as Pinkie growled. "It will only be until we can determine if he caused all this."

"He's innocent!" Pinkie yelled.

"He just used some sort of fire ability!" Merry shot back. "Unless I can find evidence to the contrary, he is our prime suspect!"

"But he is innocent!" A new voice joined in. Scootaloo came running up to the guardspony, the other Crusaders and their summons in tow, Twilight huffing after them. "Mom, listen! As we were putting the fire out, we came across a snail made of lava. Once our summons blasted it with water, it broke up into specks of light that flew out the back wall!"

"Honey, unless you can-"

Twilight huffed up to the group. "I can verify." She gasped out. "Twilight Sparkle, Element-"

"I know, I know." Merry interrupted with a sigh. "Report."

"I also saw the motes, and was able to track the area they disappeared in down after the fire was extinguished. I found the charred remains of a summoning circle. I was able to use my magic to restore the area, and I found the excess ingredients for a fire type summoning, minus the control reagent. Who ever summoned it used a rope circle, and it became disrupted either during the set up or after the ritual. This all points to a novice summoner." Gesturing to the Crusaders and the water type summons behind the group, Twilight continued. "These three are the only ones I know who have shown the interest and the ability for summoning, and, as we can all clearly see, they are no novices."

"But they don't have their licences, yet." Merry held a hoof to stall the questions. "Normally, they would be imprisoned for a few moons, and have a fine of a hundred bits levied against them. However, due to the circumstances, the mayor will most likely reduce the charges, if not drop them altogether." She focused on the fillies. "I will need you to banish your summons now, though."

I looked to Villhiem as the Crusaders began their new next ritual. <<What does Merry mean by licences?>>

<<All summoners have licences so that they can summon outside of laboratories or in public places. Think of them like firearm licences. Problem is, is that they can't get them unless they pass a test, which in turn they need to finish their course in order to take.>> He shrugged. <<Summoners are allowed to summon without a licence if they are being taught by someone with one. Twilight's expires next moon....>>

Merry turned to our group. "It looks like Zann is free to go for now. Please make sure that he is available if anything comes up, Miss Pie."

As a group, we left the guardsponies to their work and joined up with the rest of the element bearers outside the remains of the bakery. Applejack offered the guest room to the Cakes, while Fluttershy and Conner accepted Pinkie and Zann. Moon Dancer briefly joined us to ask Fluttershy to ask Zann to meet her in the library when he was ready.

As the sun neared the horizon, Merry rejoined to group. "I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but I need to insist that the Crusaders come back to the barracks with us."

"May I ask what they're bein' accused of?" Applejack narrowed her eyes at the mare.

"Nothing related to the fire." Merry placated. "But they did break the law regarding summoning without a licence. I will ask the mayor to push their court date up, but I need to detain them until then."

"We'll be okay." Scootaloo added. 'Fillies and colts have their own comfy cells."

"And their legal guardians have unrestricted visiting hours." Merry added.

"Are we at least allowed to wash them first." Rarity asked, eyeing Sweetie's new coloration.

"With guard supervision." Merry sighed.

Lulu walked up, and gave each of the fillies a soft drenching. Once she was done, everypony was surprised to see a new addition. Adorning each fillies' flank was a runic summoning circle enclosing something different. Apple Bloom's was a Zap Apple with a bite taken from it, Sweetie's was an eighth note , while Scootaloo's was a silver feather.

"You... You got your cutiemarks!" Rainbow crowed.

Fluttershy stepped through to the crusaders, pulling a quietly crying Sweetie into a hug. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't want to get mine like this!" She sniffed. The other fillies joined the hug, their own eyes tearing up as they shared Sweetie's pain. "Does this mean that we will always be in situations like this?!"

"No." Fluttershy firmly said. "Your mark doesn't define you from here on. Your life is still yours to live how you wish."

Rarity joined the hug. "And, even though you may not have wanted to gain it like this, things could've been much worse if you three hadn't acted."

"Never forget the good you've done today." Merry added with a soft smile.

Zann bulled his way up to the group. He gave them all a critical eye, before giving his best attempt at a hug. Making sure to give each filly a lick, he let his internal warmth soothe the young ponies. Only once their tears had dried did he pull away.

He rejoined us, flopping in our midst with a tired sigh. After the ponies shifted their attention off us, he softly spoke up. <<Can we go somewhere quieter? I need to tell you guys something.>>

Without saying a word, we all relocated to a side street. After the ponies disappeared from view, Zann spoke up. "There is no easy way to say this, but, I shouldn't be walking right now..." He tried to wait for our uproar to die down. "My spine was snapped in two!" He barked, cutting us all off. "I fell from the upper floors and landed wrong. I think a rafter may have fallen on me at one point, too. But, as I evolved, I lost all of my old moves, except Swift and Glare. I got Fire Spin, Flamethrower, Heat Wave, and Searing shot. All of which are ranged moves. The... I think all physical moves I could've learned went into healing my back..."

He sighed. "As for evolving itself...."

[Third]

Zann managed to pull his way onto the open oven door. He rolled his way into the oven proper. Looking out the door, Zann was met with a new problem. How am I going to close the door?

He whimpered as a group of planks landed in front of the oven, a few of which bounced under the door's glass.

"I have an idea... You're not going to like it..."

Take the wheel.

"This is going to hurt!" Zann slammed his paw onto the heated glass as far out as he could reach. He screeched in pain as his paw pads fused to the glass. With a tortured cry of pain, he hauled back on it, forcing the door to close. With a thundering bang, something smashed into the oven's top, denting the metal, which jammed the door shut. It also knocked Zann's paw from the glass, leaving a bloody and charred piece of flesh stuck to the glass.

Please don't let me die here! Zann was thrown to the 'floor' by another hard impact. He barely felt the pain of multiple sharp somethings jabbing and piercing his belly. "Pinkie, save me! I'm in here! Pinkie!" The temperature inside the oven began to rise as the flames spread under, and heated, the oven's bottom. "I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die!" His tortured wails faded as the oven's interior was lit up with a bright glow and Zann felt no more.

[Leo]

Zann shuddered and began to cry from the remembered pain. "What I went through I would never wish upon my most hated enemy... You ever heard of the Brass Bull? I evolved in one of those..." Tears streaked down his cheeks. "I'm... I'm going to go be alone with Pinkie for a while." He walked off, ears drooping and tail dragging.

We wisely left him to his own devices. We sat in a mournful circle in the middle of the street.

I was the first to move. I blurred around the street, smashing flower boxes, mail boxes, and anything not living in a rage. I only stopped when there was nothing left to break. I stopped back where I had started from, and roared. "I'm going to KILL whoever caused this!"

Cy begun launching quills into the nearest wall, venting his own anger. Everyone was doing something like that. All we could agree on in that moment was one simple truth.

We would do anything to destroy whatever removes Laughter's smile from here on out.

Bonus: Odd Utility.

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[Third]

Twilight stared.

She thought that she had a very solid grasp of the world. She thought that there was nothing that her grand acumen wouldn't let her solve. In some of her darker dreams, where she had feathers of many hue and familiars of bipedal birds led the masses of her followers, she even thought that there was no knowledge she couldn't wrest from an uncaring universe.

And yet, here she stood, stumped.

Derpy walked past her with a gooey smile, trying desperately to chew and swallow her chocolaty treat. The Crusaders swept the bits left into their till, waving another pony forward. After an exchange of bits, Roseluck walked away with a steaming cup of tea.

Twilight's eye twitched, rereading the wooden sign nailed over a short, wide box.

Snack Stop! S'mores for five bits, Fresh Herb Tea for three! Need a cup? Borrow one of ours for two bits, to be reimbursed upon cup's return!

Her gaze tracked over the counter top and grass behind the stall. No teapot hidden behind the till, no fire or grill to make the s'mores. Yet they only needed to run for more marshmallows once. Obviously, their equipment was in the counter itself, but then a new question needed to be answered.

The booth sat on the side of the road, with no generator attached, and no cords snaking to the non-existent outlets. So how were they powering everything?

"Miss Twilight?" Apple Bloom asked. "You've been standin' there for a while now? We only have two thin's, so..." She shifted on her stool. "Would you like to order?"

Defeated, the lavender mare hung her head. "How?"

"Like you do everywhere else?" Scootaloo asked.

"No," Twilight shook her head, "I mean, how are you doing all of this?"

The Crusaders shared a glance, before looking under the counter. "Tea, please." Sweetie requested the air, before popping back up with a cup in hoof. She held it out to Twilight. "Here, this one's on us."

"That's just it!" Twilight stressed, accepting the cup in her magic. "How are you doing this? Any equipment you could use needs power of some sort, and Sweetie's obviously not supplying it." She took a sip, scrunching her muzzle from the unexpectedly bitter taste. "This is surprisingly good tea." She muttered before continuing to the mares in front of her. "You obviously are not conjuring everything, everything tastes normal, and I've seen you run for supplies." Another sip. "You are not using a fire, otherwise the stand would've burned down by now, yet you seem to be sell perfect campfire s'mores... And this is really good tea."

She looked into the cup. "I mean, wow, its very calming. I don't recognize the leaves you used, though."

Apple Bloom smirked and held a hoof out to the other two. "Pay up, girls!"

"And I honestly thought she didn't know what to get." Scootaloo groused.

Sweetie sighed, waving Twilight to the back side of the booth. "I would've thought that she'd figure it out with the tea..."

Twilight blinked, taking another sip of her tea.

Villhiem, Lulu, and Zann blinked back. With a shared shrug, Villhiem tore a small chunk off his tail, placing it into a teapot Lulu proceeded to fill with boiling water. Zann just fired a s'more to eat.

Dark Specialty.

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[Abes]

A week after Sugarcube burnt down, I sat outside the cordoned off lot, sadly staring at the tragic husk the building had become. Nopony had come forward, whether to confess or give a statement. We had run down every lead we could, but every trail petered out into rabbit trails and dead ends.

True to Merry's word, Mayor Mare had seen to the Crusaders hearing as soon as she was able, dropping all charges for their contribution to putting out the fire. All three fillies were currently holding their Cute-ceañera or whatever it was called. I honestly couldn't care less, and what little caring I did have was for the churning it gave my stomach.

I wanted to be there, I really did, but it made me physically ill.

My musings were interrupted when a familiar presence brushed against my mind.

Mind's open.

Evening, my friend. I come bearing news.

Is it the good kind, Luna?

Yes and no... I heard Luna mentally sigh. I believe that I have found the culprits of the arson.

I sense a but...

But I can't send any guards to make an arrest.

Bullshit! I snarled, my rings glowing brightly under the moonlight.

Sadly, it's true. We are no longer able to make arrests under suspicion with my dream-walking as evidence.

Why not?!

Do you know how many dreams We have overseen in which the pony believes themselves guilty of a crime they committed only a dream prior?

Charred beams threw themselves around within the cordoned area. They stopped when my tail stopped lashing. So, what makes you think that you found the culprits?

This is the fourth night in a row that they've had this same dream. Now, I have tried to convince the ringleader into turning herself in, but she stubbornly refuses to.

I cocked my head. Why?

She is more afraid of the punishments her mind conjures than she is of the very real consequences of burying her guilt. And her partner is more afraid of what her leader would do to her if she came forth. I will admit to being at a loss of what to do....

I growled, eyes focusing a glare at an exposed timber. I almost expected it to reignite from my anger alone. Send me in.

What?

Send. Me. In. My tail started lashing again. We've gone dream-walking enough for me to know what I'm doing.

Very well. Whose dream shall you enter?

Give me the lackey.

Prepare yourself. Transferring in three... Two...

[Third]
One.

A large filly's room expanded into existence around a light grey filly with an almost silver grey mane and tail. Though it looked like her own bedroom, everything felt off. Slipping her glasses on, Silver Spoon tried to peer into the shadows, hoping to spot the oddities.

Then it clicked.

Everything was subtly warped, slightly stretched out of proportion in some slight way. Some shadows didn't seem to match the object casting them, others seemed to change whenever she looked away. Calming drapes hung torn and tattered, fluttering in a breeze from the open, cracked window as if they were reaching for the small filly. Toys and dolls that once seamed so familiar now seemed to eerily follow her every move. A large stuffed red fox with a hook paw and an eye-patch leaned against her closet door, looking over her other toys like a general marshaling her army.

But the biggest change was to the bed and room itself. Both were far larger then they should've been.

Silver jumped as something creaked out in the hall. She only caught a twin flicker of red move rapidly away from the door. With a gulp, she scanned the room again, pulling the covers up higher in the vain hope they would protect her. She froze.

The fox was glaring at her. Its single eye held a soulless hunger as sharpened teeth jutted from it's now open mouth. Silver pulled the covers over her head with a strangled whimper. She waited for the thing to rip through her flimsy defense to tear into the vulnerable foal underneath.

When said tearing didn't happen, she chanced a look out from her shelter. The fox had returned to normal.

She jumped again when her bedroom door creaked slowly open. "Sil~ver..." A soft voice whispered. "I know what you've done... I know where you are..." It singsonged in its harsh whisper. "I can smell your fear..." A sniffing noise rebounded through the room. "It smells so swe~et..." Its final word echoed around the room. Silver's eyes darted around, trying to track the being tormenting her. The voice led her gaze to the open door, and the twin burning red eyes piercing out from the doorway. White fangs glowed as the thing continued to speak with sadistic glee. "There you are~."

"W-what d-do you w-want?" Silver whimpered.

"Justice..." It hissed, golden rings flaring to life as a demonic black canine stalked into the room. "Justice for a family almost lost... Justice for a home destroyed... Justice for lives torn asunder."

"B-but nopony died in the fire!" Silver wailed. Her eyes widened as she clamped her hooves over her mouth.

The thing smiled the smile of the demented. "I never mentioned a fire." It laughed, sending shivers of fear running up and down Silver's spine. "I know what you fear." It giggled, stepping slowly toward's her bed. "You fear the anger of the one you call a 'friend'. You fear the righteous wrath the adults will bring down onto both of your heads if you come forth with your guilt. You fear the loss of what little respect you have amongst the children you and Diamond," it spat the word out like it was poison, "believe yourselves above. But, I can assure you..." It disappeared from view as the bed's hoofboard got in the way.

"I am so much worse." The voice roared in rage right next to the filly's ear.

With a shriek, Silver dove back under her blankets. Her breathing came in short, sharp gasps, her eyes scrunched tightly shut. "It's just a dream, it's just a dream, it's just a dream." She repeated, over and over, listening for any sound of The Beast outside her blankets.

She froze when she heard the growling, a golden glow bleeding through her eyelids. Unbidden, her eyes slammed open. Barely inches from her face, The Beast's red eyes burned into her own. "THIS IS NO DREAM!!" It roared, before lunging forward to devour the filly.

With a scream of terror, Silver thrashed awake, flinging her blankets across the room. Thundering hoofsteps pounded down the hall as her parents ran to her rescue. They found Silver shivering in a tight ball, tears staining the mattress, listening to the tail end of a voice only she could hear.

"Confess, or feel our pain."

I can't- Silver thought. I'm scared-

"Scared of what? Diamond? Fuck her! Do what's right!"

Silver's parents had climbed onto the bed, holding their precious filly close. Her mother stroked Silver's mane, murmuring assurances to dispel the nightmare. Gradually, the shivering stopped.

"Mom, Dad?" Silver hoarsely whispered through her tears. "I-I need to tell you something...."

It's done. Luna returned Abes to his original place by the burnt debris. She herself exited the dream realm in the Canterlot Gardens. She sighed, before looking around the garden path.

I'll have to talk to him about his... Methods later. She vowed, listening to the soothing fountain next to her. Before she left to the palace proper, she gave the fountain's statue a disdainful glance, missing the twin cracks on it's outstretched paw.

To Follow the Beat of One's Own Drum.

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Villhiem and I sat on a bench across from the former bakery. In the moon that had passed, construction ponies had cleared out the worst of it. A guardspony stood at the corner of the lot, keeping an eye on his charges. Queen Bitch and Silver Spoon were picking their way through what was left, cleaning out the lot, their orange hoodies standing out against the dull grays.

I don't know what had caused the silver grey filly to come forward, but I suspect Abes had something to do with it. Silver flinches each time she sees him. Of course, Silver coming forward caused a large media circus to spring up in less than a day. Now, due to their age, nothing that could be used to identify the fillies was allowed to be published, but everypony in town knew. I've heard rumors that the story was printed in several major papers.

The trial was quick, if only to spare the town the media presence. The fillies were tried as foals, but that brought up the issue of liability. Eventually, charges were laid, and punishments were given: The Rich and Silver families were to pay the Cakes ten percent of the damages each, and Silver and Queen Bitch were given twenty moons community service, starting with clearing the burnt lot.

Unfortunately, the Crusaders felt the ramifications from when it came to light just how they had copied the Magcargo recipe. Twilight was no longer able to teach them, and a pony was sent for from the University to finish their course. All reagents were to be held within the barracks until the University could send somepony out.

Of course, they had become schoolyard heroes because of their new cutiemarks. It was odd, seeing the near role reversal the Crusaders and Silver were experiencing. Thankfully, Villhiem, and the recent events leading to this reversal, had been able to keep their egos from getting too big.

The biggest surprise for The Pack came not from a pony, however. Once the truth had come out, we were all lined up outside the courthouse, each growling for a piece of the fillies. When we had our chance, Zann breathed a small flame -too small to be called an Ember- out into the area separating us from the guilty fillies. We all turned to look at him.

<<Let them go.>> He had said. <<They are, and will be, going through enough trouble from all of this as is. Our best revenge should be to live well.>> He then turned and hobbled away.

But that was then, and I had my own issues to deal with. Which led me to meeting with the Grass type canine overlooking the burnt lot.

<<How's Pluto?>> Villhiem asked.

I blinked out of my memories, before looking up at him. <<Hmm?>>

<<You were staring pretty intently at nothing.>> His gaze softened. <<You want to talk about it?>>

I smirked. <<Well, it's still a planet. A very small, cold one, but a planet nonetheless.>>

<<Harr, harr. It is to laugh.>>

I sighed. <>

He cocked his head. <<The one with the odd monkeys?>>

<<No, the one where I conquered the Land of Frozen Yogurt in the name of Lord Neapolitan.>> I snarked. <<Of course the Monkey one!>>

Villhiem held a paw out in a calming manner. <<Pax, I was just checking.>>

<<Yeah, well that's the only... 'Pax'?>>

<<It basically means 'peace'. Though, in this case, more like 'calm down' or 'I surrender'.>>

I shook me head. <<Where did you even learn of that.>> I blinked, holding up a paw. <<Wait, don't tell me: Sweetie?>>

<<Sweetie.>> He nodded.

We heard a rustling in the bushes behind us. We tilted our ears to better hear. "That's enough, Lyra. Let's just go for lunch like you said we would."

"C'mon, Bonbon, I swear that they're talking to each other! And not like normal animals, but like ponies, with a proper lang- Owowowowow!"

We turned to see Bonbon dragging Lyra off by an ear. "Honestly, first your human obsession, now this. Why not combine the two? Call them Humans trapped in canine bodies?"

Villhiem and I looked at each other, before he shrugged. <<So, your dream. I assume the start and end were the same. What was the middle this time?>>

I returned to watching the fillies. <>

<<That doesn't sound so->>

<<Ponies.>>

<<-Bad. That sounds bad.>> He gave me a worried look. <<Anypony we know?>>

I nodded out at the orange clad fillies. <<Them, amongst others. The part that worried me, was that sometimes, Rainbow was among them. Other times, she was the one encouraging the slaughter. Then I tracked the survivors into the cave with the Chained Monkey, and then the Claws come, and I woke up. I could still taste pony flesh when I woke up. I think I woke up Rainbow when I was doing the technicolor yawn in her toilet.>> I sat on my haunches and started rubbing my tongue with both fore paws. <> I dry heaved for a bit.

<<You okay now.>>

<>

Villhiem hummed in thought. <>

I gave my tongue one last rub. <<Why not just ask Yomega?>>

<<Two reasons.>> Villhiem explained. <<First off, you know he sees you as his second?>> I nodded. <<Well, what kind of a message does walking up to him and saying 'Hey, Boss, Mr. Pendrake, sir? Your second's been having dreams of merciless slaughter of mainly innocent ponies in the name of Khorne and Rainbows, you got a book we can use to figure out where to start?'>> He jumped down from the bench and stretched. Standing up, he booped my nose. <<Secondly, Abes has a direct line to the Princess of Dreams. If anyone can get to the bottom of this, it's her.>>

<> I hopped down beside him. <>

<<You don't mind not telling Conner or Vince.>>

<<They're not the Alpha.>> I sighed. <<If anyone deserves to know, it's Headmaster.>>

<<Your dreams and disassociation haven't caused any issues for us all so far.>> Villhiem shrugged. <>

I squinted at him. <>

<<You're too high strung at the moment, and I'm basically growing the Pokèmon version of pot out of my ass.>> He shrugged.

We started to walk around the charred lot. <<Also, I don't know what you mean by 'disassociation', but I do feel off some days.>> I slowed a bit. <<Like I'm existing a little to the left.>>

Our ears twitched, catching a murmured argument. "All you had to do was keep your mouth shut!" Queen Bitch hissed.

"And this isn't as bad as you're making it out to be!" Silver retorted. "Just some hard work, and then, when we come of age, our records will be scrubbed clean."

"And what of our reputation?! We'll be forever known here as 'Those Fillies who burnt down Sugarcube Corner'. No one at school will give us the time of day, if they don't just glare us off. We've lost everything we've built up because of you!"

"Excuse me?!" Silver paused in her work. "This whole plan was your idea! You wouldn't even let me read the book! You just told me to write words down, and I did. You were the one who was supposed to read the fine print. Like you said you would! You screwed this all up!" She swept her hoof over the desolate lot. "And you want to know something? I could get behind teasing the Crusaders, not just because it was fun and made me feel better about myself, but it also made you happy! We're friends, and I wanted to enjoy spending time with you.

"But, somehow, picking on them became an obsession for you. You just had to make them feel lower and lower each time we interacted. And when they dared to find something that they could be better then us with, I felt happy for them! I thought that that would get you to finally get off their backs, and we could go back to doing the things we used to do! But, nooo!" Silver jabbed a hoof at the other filly. "You just had to find a way to upstage them. And I just had to tag along and help out, thinking 'just this last time, and then we can stop'. And we finally bit off more than we could chew. And all you can think about right now is to try to ditch?!"

"C'mo~on, Silver, we're above this. Mom always said that this kind of thing is 'a job for the help to do'. Let's just go, ditch the guard, and go have fun like fillies like us should be doing!"

Silver Glared at Diamond. "Fuck having fun! I'm doing what's right!"

"Ugh, there you go using that word again." Diamond rolled her eyes. "Do you even know what it means?"

"Not entirely." Silver admitted. "But I know it means for you to leave me alone." She started to move to a different area to work.

"You want to be friends, right. Then let's ditch and be friends." Diamond pleaded.

Silver looked over her shoulder. "You want to go, you go without me. I'm not going to follow your drum anymore."

"W-what?"

"Good bye, Tiara." Silver left for the far corner, leaving her former friend to silently cry.

Villhiem and I sat in shock. Neither of us moved for a while, not even seeing the world in front of us.

<<Did, did Silver just...?>> Villhiem tried to ask.

I nodded. <<She broke her decaying bond for the chance to grow something greater. Now she just needs to find it.>>

Villhiem stared at me incredulously. <<The hell you going on about?>>

I blinked at him, the world coming back into focus. <<What?>>

<<What 'what'?>> Villhiem poked me. <<You just started waxing philosophical on me!>>

I cocked my head.<>

He scoffed, turning to continue to the library.

<<What?!>> I chased after him. <<Wait! What did I say?>>

Forging New Bonds.

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Villhiem and I crawled our way into Golden Oaks' basement. We had just started to make our way up the basement stairs when the door creaked open.

<<Oh, it's just you two.>> Yomega sighed. <<What'cha here for?>>

<<Abes this time.>> Villhiem stated. <<Do we need to wake him up, or is he semi-conscious at the moment?>>

<<No, You'll need to...>> Yomega frowned. <<... Go get Spike. Leo, stay with me.>>

Villhiem and I shared a look before Villhiem slunk off into the library. Yomega brushed past me, cautiously descending the stairs. I was about to ask what was wrong when it happened.

A crack of displaced air, then muffled cursing and the clattering of supplies came from the broom closet as the door rattled in its frame. With a second crack, a mostly dark yellow humanoid fox creature with brownish gray shoulder and chest armor with a ring of the same color near the end of its thick tail appeared, facing the rattling door.

<> I yelled, crouching to start my Extreme Speed.

<<Leo, wait!>>

The creature raised a clawed, hand-like paw out at me. "Casey..." It seemed to yawn. The world looked like a pulse had rippled out from it's hand, a ring of distortion passing over everything. I began my charge...

... And promptly face planted. I flopped around while I tried to untangle my legs. <<Fuck! Shit! Goddamnit!>> I finally managed to get to my paws. <<I'mma beat that thing into the floor!>> I snarled. I tried to charge, only to be reunited with the floor. <<Fuck!>>

<<What did you do to Leo?!>> Yomega barked.

The Abra tilted it's head as the door swung open. A voice called out from within. "Check it out, I think I heard fighting."

<<Mitome rareta.>> A pair of somethings monotoned before two interlocking gears with identical, odd faces taking up one side floated from the darkened closet. <<Senzai-tekina teki ga kenshutsu sa remashita.>> One gear stated. <<Engējimento.>> The other replied.

Both Yomega and my eyes widened. We couldn't understand a lick of what it was saying, but we both clearly understood what the sparks of electricity dancing across the thing's body meant. "Giaru." They monotoned as lightning lanced out, just barely missing us as I got my legs under me. <<Seikaku-do bekutoru o sai keisan suru.>> Electricity began sparking again.

I bolted forward, teeth glowing as I jumped for the floating gears. Yomega slammed into the Abra, a shimmering panel springing into existence just before he impacted it. I felt my teeth sink into the metal of the Klink.

Odd. I kept biting as folded myself around the Klink's edge for a better grip. I didn't think that steel could be this soft. Suddenly, I was spun into the space where the gears met. I clenched my jaw tighter in a pain reflex, which caused me to be spun through the space again. I let go and was flung back to the stairs. <<Oh, I have become error...>> I groaned. I looked to see how Yomega was faring, watching him rush forward to repeatedly Tackle the Abra, Barriers appearing to negate some of the damage.

"WHAT IS GOING ON DOWN HERE?!" I looked up to see Twilight glaring into the room from the top of the stairs, Villhiem, Zann, Moon Dancer and Spike standing behind her.

"Porter, Gemini, hold!" The voice called from the closet. The Abra and Klink floated back to the door.

<<Hoji tejun no kaishi. Hōrudingu.>>

<<Oh, shut up.>> I growled.

"Whoever is down there had better come out and call off your summons!" Twilight threatened.

"Alright, alright, just give me a sec to get this mop off of me..." Said mop clattered to the floor as an effeminate orange stallion with a two-tone brown mane stepped out, straightening his lab coat. He looked to be slightly taller then Twilight, yet rail thin. "Terribly sorry about that, teleportation and I don't get along very well." He looked over to his summons, noting the bite marks on the one gear. "I'm also sorry for the actions of my Casey and Giaru. The tend to be a little overprotective of me." His eyes scanned the group in front of him as the Abra floated onto his back. "I must say, I've never seen such summons before! What are they?" He asked.

Twilight's horn lit up as she carried Yomega and I over to herself. "They're not. They are a previously unknown species from the Everfree."

"Oh, darn." He sighed, before rapidly shaking his head. "Sorry, sorry, mustn't get distracted! My name is Runic Gears, from Canterlot University, and I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion. Could you be as so kind as to tell me if I've appeared in Manehatten? I need to meet a Mayor Mare there to discuss the recent bakery fire..." He trailed off with a nervous grin.

Twilight and Moon Dancer shared a look. Moon Dancer spoke up. "You're in Ponyville, but I think you may have your information mixed up." Just then, another Abra cracked into existence. A note floated from it to Runic. After he took it in his own magic, the second Abra disappeared in another crack.

Runic read the note before folding it up and tucking it into a pocket. "Terribly sorry, I've been slightly out of touch with the world at large. I had just finished up my latest experiment when Headmaster Brain Pan told me I was needed, well, here." He smiled. "It seems Head Scratcher, the Dean of the Summoner's Circle of Canterlot University, tried to get around my Displacia by deliberately sending me somewhere other than here, and I'm rambling, aren't I?" We all nodded. "Right, I'll be leaving for Mayor Mare's then, if you would kindly show me the way...?" He smiled.

"... What's 'Displacia'?" Spike asked.

"Oh, just a slight allergy to teleportation." Runic explained. "I just get scattered off course, but the scatter is worse the further I meant to teleport."

"Alright." Twilight sighed as we all turned to leave. "First, we'll need to leave my basement."

"Not a problem, and thank you!" Runic beamed. I saw the Abra's eyes slightly glow. With a pop, we all winced as another mop clattered from the broom closet. "Problem!" Runic's voice called out from the closet. "Thank you, Porter. Please just follow me for now."

As he made his way back up the stairs, Moon Dancer asked, "So, I assume you're here to look into the summon that caused the fire?"

"Oh, no." He shook his head. "The University is sending somepony else to look into that. I'm here to continue teaching the fillies known as the Cutiemark Crusaders. Brain Pan felt that was of a higher priority."

"Why's that?" Twilight inquired.

"They each summoned and controlled a powerful Water type summon, and of the highest tier of their families, I might add!" Runic smiled. "Those fillies have amazing potential. I fully expect them to go far within the Circle. Assuming they join the University, of course."

"Of course." Twilight sighed. "Moon Dancer, could you watch over the library? I think I may be needed at the Mayor's office." She turned to her assistant. "Spike, could you get a side room ready?"

"For what?" He asked. Twilight just pointed at Zann, who held a Party Popper in his mouth with a manic grin. "Oh."

After Twilight had left with Runic, Moon Dancer turned to go back into her study. Spike opened a side door into a bare room, where Pinkie was already setting things up. Zann lobbed his Popper, shooting a spark to light it's fuse. The Popper flew over Pinkie's shoulder as she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. After a muffled bang, Pinkie reopened the door to continue her work in the half decorated room, while Zann rejoined Moon Dancer.

Yomega left with Spike, both shaking their heads. I nudged Villhiem into Moon Dancer's room.

<<So, what'd she find out?>>

<<I'm a Mutis Enigmus Eevee Ignus now!>> He hopped in place, a tray of cupcakes beside him. <> Twin puffs came from said orifice. He chomped down on a cupcake. <> He sprayed. Swallowing, he continued. <>

<<Good to know.>> Villhiem said, pulling me away. <<We're here for Abes, is he still in bed?>>

<<Yup!>>

<<Okay, then. Have fun.>> We left the room, heading for the stairs. We quickly made our way into Twilight's room. Villhiem used his vines to open the closet. Pushing aside some curtains that had been installed on one side, he caused the sunlight from the window to land on the sleeping Abes' face.

It wasn't long before he stirred. "The fug ya wan'?" He yawned with a sleepy stretch.

"You awake enough to talk?"

"I am now..." Abes growled. "What 'bout?"

"My reoccurring monkey dream." I interjected.

"Oh." He yawned again, rolling onto his back.

"Could you look into any books about dream symbolism for us?" Villhiem asked. "Could you also inquire to Luna for her opinion?"

"I've already did th' second one." Abes stretched. "Back when ya first told us 'bout it. Luna can't find our dreams."

I blinked. "That's not disconcerting at all...."

"Mmhmm." Abes nodded. "I'm off tonight, I'll look into yer book thing then. Close the door on yer way out?"

"Will do." Villhiem promised.

After closing the closet door, we made our way back to Zann, and spent the day just talking.

I was making my way home from the library, I didn't feel up to partying tonight. On my way through town, I felt something, almost a gut feeling, pull me into the park. I decided to follow this feeling, just to see where it would take me.

I had nothing better to do, after all.

I found a crying Silver hiding in a secluded bush. For some reason, I decided to lie down in front of her, waiting for her to notice me.

It took her a few minutes, but eventually she looked up. She jumped when she saw me.

"What?" She sniffed. "Come to bite me like you did with Thunderlane?" I flinched, before lowering my head to giver her my best attempt at Baby-Doll Eyes. She lay her head back down onto her hooves. "I'm sorry, that wasn't called for." She apologized. "I'm also sorry for what Tiara and I did to Zann."

I shuffled around to lean against her side. <<If it's any consolation, Zann's forgiven you.>>

Silver reached a hoof out, tentatively petting me. Once she realized that I wasn't going to snap at her, she pulled me close. I could hear her sniffling as she kept petting me. "Did you know, I stopped being friends with Tiara today?" She said at length. "Now that I've done that, I don't know what to do. Tiara and I basically grew up together, she felt more like a sister to me than a friend. But now...

"Now I feel like I don't even know her anymore." She looked down at me. "And it hurts. It hurt having to break away from her. It hurt when I made the choice to stay with Tiara when I realized how little I knew her, long before we tried to summon that thing. I feel like that there's a hole in me, and I don't know who to turn to to help. And now it hurts that I'm all alone."

We locked eyes. I felt something, a connection with the pony in front of me. I felt like something was drawing something from the two of us. And I felt that she felt it too.

We let the feeling guide us, and we sang.

We sung away her pain. We sung a prayer for guidance. My ear twitched as the last notes died away.

"It came from over here, Scoots!" It seems her prayer was answered.

I poked my tail out of the bush even as Silver tried to pull further in. Soon, three fillies were looking in on us. Silver held me up like a furry shield. I just waved.

"Hey, Silver." Sweetie spoke up. "You okay in there?"

"I'm fine." She sniffed. "Why do you care?"

The Crusaders shared a look before crowding under the bush. They gently pressed themselves up against the distressed filly. Sweetie took the lead. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Silver broke down crying as she pressed her muzzle into my fur. "Tiara an' I broke up!"

"Not how I would've phrased it..."

It's close enough. I sighed. I listened as Silver cried her troubles and her apologies to the Crusaders. I'm going to be stuck here all night, at this rate. I smiled. It's worth it though...

"Crap! Hey! Focus here! Rainbow's going to be worried if she gets home and we're not there or the Daycare. Your job here's done, let's just go home, okay?"

I guess you're right, Brain. I untangled myself from the fillies. Stretching, I made to leave.

I stopped when a hoof was placed onto my back. "Hey..." Silver gave me a very small, sad smile. "Thank you."

I gave her my own smile. <<No problem!>> Turning, I bolted from the bushes at a reasonable pace. Ya know something, Brain? Silver's not that bad of a filly. She just needs a chance to grow.

"Sure she does. Now let's pick the pace up. Ya know, make sure our legs are still working?"

Good point.... I blurred the rest of my way home. One thing was for sure: today had given me plenty to think about.

Remember: Get the Message First!

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The next day's noon sun woke me from my nap. Rainbow and I didn't have much to do, but, since Rainbow wanted to hang out with the Squirt today, we powered through it as fast as we could. Rainbow and I had just finished dealing with our weather duties for the day when Conner came wheezing up to us.

<<Hey.>> He doubled over, and I waited for him to catch his breath.

"I guess you've got your plans for the day then?" Rainbow smiled. "One of these days, you, me and Scoots need to spend a day together, just the three of us."

I gave her a nuzzle, ear twitching towards Conner's gasping. <> I waved good bye to my mare. <<You have fun now.>> With a small smile, Rainbow took to the sky, angling to the barracks.

I gave a soft glare to the goateed Eevee I was left with. "I was hoping to do that today, though."

"Yeah? Sorry, man." Conner gasped out. "I didn't want to be a messenger today, either. Fluttershy's hosting her tea party today, and I really didn't want to miss that."

I raised and eyebrow. "So, why are you here then?"

"Cy wanted to see you, and he wanted me to be there to oversee you two."

"Did he say what about?"

Conner raised a paw with his mouth open. He paused, before closing his mouth with a click. His paw folded as he racked his memory. "... N~o. No, I don't think so."

I face pawed. "So you just decided to deliver a message without getting the message. Good job." I sighed. I waited for Conner's breathing to even out before I started walking. "Let's go."

"Wha-? Hey, wait up!" Conner jogged to my side. "Slow down man! Fuck, girl, why're you rushing all the time?"

"I'm not, everyone else is just slow," I grumbled.

Conner shook his head. "You and Rainbow are becoming more and more alike as the days go by."

"And you're not with Joy?"

Conner raised his snout. "Of course I'm not. We're nothing alike." I snapped my teeth shut an inch from his face, causing him to jump back with a soft "Eep."

"Nothing alike, huh." I laughed. "You're right, you're not scared of your shadow!" I noticed him slow down slightly. "Wait... Oh, my, god. You are?!"

"I-it's not like that!" He whined. "It was late at night, I didn't turn on a light, the moon was full, and-"

"So you're just afraid of the dark!" I leaned in and gave him a noogie. "Don't worry, Auntie Leo'll look after you!"

"I'm a year older than you..." Conner mumbled. "I've my own Angel to look after me, and he can kick your ass any day!"

"Ha! That's if he could hit me! I'll run circles around that rabbit!" I boasted.

Conner smirked. "Ya hear that, Angel?"

"OH DEAR GOD, DON'T HURT ME!" I jumped over and cowered behind Conner. I only pulled my paws off my head when I noticed Conner laughing. "Oh, shut up. At least I'm scared of something real."

"Yeah, a fluffy bunny." Conner took his turn mocking.

I smacked him with my tail as I took the lead again. "If Looney Tunes taught me anything, it's you don't fuck with the bunny." We teased each other all the way to the farm.

Vince sat by the gate. He perked up when he saw us coming. "Hey, Cy's around back, at the rodeo track."

"The Apples have a rodeo track?" Conner asked.

"Yeah, Applejack's out there getting warmed up for her trip in a couple of days."

I nodded. "Ah, The Last Roundup." I looked over at Vince. "Be prepared for her to run off after the competition."

Conner had fallen slightly behind. "Since when did the Apples have a rodeo track?"

"They've always had one." Vince answered.

"Then, how come we've never seen it?" We all paused at that.

"Huh." I mused. "Never seen it in any of the sweeping shots of the farm on the show, now that I think about it... Before and after that episode."

"Why didn't Cy and I train there for the Running of the Leaves?" Vince asked.

"Do the writers just pull locations out of their asses?!" I threw my front legs up in exasperation. I took a few steps on just my hind legs before dropping back to all fours. "Wonder where else we've never been to in town that exist..."

"It's Ponyville!" Vince sighed. "It's not that big!"

"How far do we need to walk?" Conner complained.

"Not far." Vince reassured.

Eventually, we crested a hill and saw the track Applejack was running on. We trotted up and sat beside Apple Bloom and Cy. We watched as she cleared the last hurdle on the course, cheering with Apple Bloom. After witnessing Applejack beat her hay toss record -at least, I think that's what that was- Apple Bloom gave out another cheer, knocking her older sister's hat off and onto Vince.

"Applejack!" The filly crowed. "You're sure ta knock everyponys' hat off at the Competition!"

Applejack retrieved her hat from the covered Eevee. "Aw, shucks, Apple Bloom. I sure hope so."

"Hope so! I know so! After all, you're Ponyville's ten time rodeo champion!" Apple Bloom gestured to a framed display of blue ribbons. "I can't wait for you to win every blue ribbon in Equestria and become the Equestrian Rodeo Champion!"

<<Huh.>> I blinked.

<<What's up?>> Cy asked.

I watched the sisters head back to the farm. "I could've sworn that was more exposition ridden..." I shook my head. "What'd ya need me for?"

Cy looked at me. "Leo, I need your help learning something." He shifted his gaze to Conner. "You're here in case we hurt ourselves."

"And me?" Vince asked.

"Moral support, mostly." The Jolteon admitted before focusing back on me. "Will you help me with it?"

I rolled my eyes. "Please don't play the pronoun game with me. What is it?"

"Oh!" Cy winced, rubbing the back of his head. "I've been thinking of trying to figure out how to Volt Tackle. I need you," he thrust a paw at me, "to teach me how to Extreme Speed first. I figure I could add the lightning to it afterwards."

I stared at the larger canine. I drifted my gaze over the racing track. "I think we'll need more space..."

Bonus: Father's Pride.

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[Yomega]

I stretched before leaving my bed. I shuffled into the bathroom attached to my room. After a few minutes waking up, I managed to get a few coherent thoughts in order. Gotta help Spike with the new shipment of history books from the Empire. I yawned. Then there's the prep work for the meeting with the Griffons in a week. Hmm, also gotta meet up with Twilight to go over the needed laws for our kind. I paused as my stomach rumbled. Breakfast first.

I shambled from my room in Twilight's castle, idly putting my collar on. I zombied my way towards the kitchen, passing Spike as he carried a stack of books.

"Hey, you're up early." Spike raised an eye ridge.

"Yeah." My collar managed to buzz my mumbling. "Got lots of work to do today."

"I thought you were taking the day off?"

I stopped, blinking as thoughts started to align. "What day is it?" I squinted at the wall.

"Sunday?" Spike tilted his head.

I looked out the window and noticed how high the sun was. "What time is it?"

Spike also glanced out the window. "Just past noon." He shrugged. "Your pups wanted me to let you sleep in."

"Do I have to act surprised?" I finally woke up.

Spike smiled. "Yeah, by the time you get there, they should have at least one pancake made. They burnt the other five, though. You'd think they'd remember what Zann taught them."

I snorted. "Right, my turn this month." I chuckled. "I'm not going to hold it against them."

"Well," the drake continued on his way, "just keep them from the west wing. I need to re-shelf the library there."

"Will do!" We went our separate ways. I wrinkled my snout at the smell of burnt food. It got stronger the nearer I got to the kitchens. I could even see the wisps from their last attempt crawling along the ceiling as I approached the door. l paused outside it, listening in on the commotion on the other side.

<<Did you make enough batter?>>

<<Yeah, I think I did...>>

<<Don't burn this bowl this time!>>

I heard a slight clatter from in side. <<Oops...>>

<<That was the last clean ladle...>>

<<Quick, get a big spoon! Dad'll be up soon!>>

My ear- and tail-tips quivered as I nosed the door open. I saw my youngest son pawing around in an open drawer while the others flipped a mostly singed flapjack unto a plate. "Spoons are in the drawer to your left, Silver." I spoke up.

<<Thanks Dad!>> He chirped as he nosed open the drawer. His older siblings all jumped at my voice. He soon jumped, throwing a large spoon onto the counter. <<Dad! You're here!>>

"No," I smirked, "I can't be there, I'm here. You're there."

Sapphire spoke up. <<No, he means that you're here... In this room.>>

<<We made you breakfast...>> Red gave me a hopeful look as Ehn glanced at the burnt-beyond-hope attempts in the waste bin.

"Did you now?" I jumped up onto a chair at the island. "What did you make?"

<<Pancakes!>> Silver yipped, before looking from the counter top to the island. <<Umm... Guys, how are we getting them over there?>>

We Do What We Must, Because We Can.

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Vince led us to a patch of cleared farmland, Zann's wardrobe sitting to the side. We could see smoke rising from an improvised chimney poking out the door, while the sound of something roaring caused us to fold our ears back. Vince marched up to the open doors and took in a lungful of air.

"OI!" He hollered into the wardrobe.

"Shit!" Zann cried out amidst the sound of clattering metal. "Oh, oh shit, those aren't supposed to burn..."

I saw Vince's eye's widen before he jumped away from the now glowing opening. The rest of us took our cue from the panicking Eevee and threw ourselves to the sides. A moment later, a blast of flame roared from the doors, shoving them fully open. I rolled further away from the searing heat, covering my head as I did so.

As quickly as it came, the flames cut off. I followed the scorch marks to see that it had nearly reached the far trees. I slowly turned to look at the doors, mouth hanging open. A soot covered Zann stormed from the cabinet.

"Goddamnit, Vince! How many times do I need to tell you to just come in and wait for me to notice you!" He rounded on the nearest unevolved form.

"The hell you got in there that can cause that!?" I interrupted Zann's tirade.

Zann turned to me. "Some experimental stuff that shouldn't be near open flame." He looked back into the wardrobe. "Or red hot metal, apparently." He rounded back on us. "Either way, you guys should be lucky that all my papers were secured! What are you guys doing out here anyways?"

Cy spoke up. "Leo's going to teach me to Volt Tackle!"

"Actually," I spoke up, "I'm going to teach him to Extreme Speed to help him figure out how to Volt Tackle."

Zann arched an eye brow. "Ya know that only the Pika line can do that, right?"

"I can damn well try!" Cy snarled.

Conner placed a paw onto the irate Jolteon's side. "Dude, chill." He looked over at the fire dog. "Just in case you've got any other unstable experiments in there, we may be making loud noises out here. Try not to be too startled."

"Fair enough." Zann sighed, looking back into the wardrobe. "I'm going to need to stop for today anyways." He winced as something gave a weak pop from inside. He shot Vince a short glare. "Gotta wait for all this to cool off..."

We all moved to the far side of the clearing before I decided I need to ask something.

"Zann... How'd you get your work box out here?"

"I carried it."

I looked at the size of the cabinet, then at the three legged Flareon. "Erm, How?"

Zann looked at me like I was stupid. "I tied balloons to it, duh."

"How does that even work?!"

Cy stepped around me so that he was between us. "Zann, please don't break Leo's brain just yet. I still need him...."

I had to take a few calming breaths before I put Zann from my mind. Grabbing a stick, I dragged a line into the ground in front of Cy, then stood beside him.

"What's with the line?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Just something we can always start from. Now, I guess the best thing to do is just to start having you run."

"What, just jump headfirst into it?" Conner called out from the designated viewer's spot.

I smiled at him. "It's kinda my modus operandi!"

Zann scoffed. "He's right. You should see him face plant breakfast!" I glared at him before joining in on the laughter.

"So, before we can do an Extreme Speed, I think you need to learn how to do a Quick Attack first." I suggested.

Cy tilted his head. "I already know how to do that."

"Really?"

"You don't remember me hitting Spike with it?"

I shrugged. "I don't remember much from that day..."

He rolled his eyes. "So, why does knowing Quick Attack matter?"

"I lost it when I learned Extreme Speed. And that's because of Rainbow's speed training! So all we need... to do..." I trailed off. "Give me a sec, I need to think on this." I turned and walk a little ways off. Okay, Brain. I know I don't use you as much as I should, so I know you've got some ideas tucked away up there.

"Find a wild Timberwolf and sic it on him?"

No.

"Starve him then tie a fish to your tail for him to chase down?"

Applejack feeds him, and won't go for it.

"Tie a series of Zann's Grenades to his tail and light them with out him knowing?"

Amusing, but no.

"Hasn't he been a little bit competitive lately?"

A bit, your point?

"Be a dick, and abuse that maliciously?" I quickly stifled my evil grin as I rejoined the group. I retook my spot beside Cy. "Okay, Here's the plan. I need to see just how fast you are. You see that tree over there, with the broken bough?" I waited for him to nod. "Well? Get running." He blinked at me, before he figured out what I wanted him to do. "As fast as you can!" I called after him.

I waited for him to be most of the way across before blurring forward. As I passed him, I took a look at his running form. "O~o, pretty good! We just need to crank his speed up, after clearing his mental blocks stopping him from Quick Attacking. You might want to look ahead now." I did so, and had just enough time to blur up the tree and stop on the bough. Cy came panting up to the tree's base as I lay on my perch trying to look nonchalant.

"How's that?" Cy called back over his shoulder, one paw leaning on the tree. He blinked, obviously trying to spot me back with the others.

"Could use some improvement." I said, hiding a smirk as Cy jumped before looking around to try and find me. "Yo, up here." I looked off to the side as he gaped up at me. I pointed to the edge of the scorch mark. "Run there, then back to the start point."

With a groan, he took off. As he did, I blurred back to the others. "Don't tell him." I waited for their promises before rushing to the scorch mark. I waited for Cy to meet me there.

"C'mon, c'mon, go go go! Faster! Faster!" I cheered as Cy skidded into a sloppy turn. I smirked as I ran past him again. As the exhausted Jolteon collapsed at my paws, I couldn't help but give off a slight chuckle. "Is that seriously the fastest you can go? Boy, did you ever let yerself go over winter..."

"What's tha' s'pposed ta mean." Cy panted.

I shrugged, replying with a flippant tone. "I just thought you were faster during the Running of the Leaves, is all..."

Cy jumped to his paws. "I did not slow down!" He screeched.

Hook, line and sinker. I scoffed. "Oh, yeah? Prove it. Run the course again."

We spent the rest of the afternoon running in circles. From Cy's point of view, I was always ahead of him, taunting him to keep going faster. In the end, Conner need to heal up Cy so he could walk back to the farmhouse under his own power. Vince had us stop outside the door, letting Cy enter the house before me.

"Okay, spill. What's up with the dickary?" He asked once Cy was out of sight.

"Simply put, I'm trying to annoy an Extreme Speed out of him. It'll be the only way he can have any chance of beating me to any location." I placed a paw to my nose. "Just don't tell him that." I watched them go the motions of a Pinkie Promise.

With a smile and promise to come back the next day, Conner and I left for out respective homes.

"Do Not Think of How It Works. Just Do It."

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The next day, Applejack had left for her competition, and I was in a tree at the Training Clearing, as Zann put it. I held a borrowed piece of scrap metal over the edge of my branch, keeping an eye on the Flareon across the clearing from me. He gave me the signal.

I let go, watching Cy bolt from his place by Zann as he tore across the grass. I could see faint flecks of energy jumping from his paws to the clods of dirt kicked up in his passing. I heard the scrap metal hit the dirt before Cy could reach it. The Jolteon stumbled to a stop under my branch.

"Still too slow." I commented from my perch. "In fact, I think you slowed down since yesterday."

"What's th' point o' tryin' ta catch a hunk o' metal?" Cy gasped from his place.

"You want to learn how to unlock an Extreme Speed?" I nodded to Zann. He tossed another piece of scrap into the air. I blurred from my place in the tree, snagging it out of the air. Before I could properly drop out of my move, I targeted the branch I had dropped from and raced back to my spot. I had to bull my way through the air trying to catch up with my first attack, but, since it was a familiar resistance, I barely stumbled. Once the world caught back up to me, I dropped the chunk of metal onto the tired evolved form. "There's your threshold. Now go take that back to Zann." I had to speak up over the clashing wind currents.

With a roll of his eyes, Cy picked himself up and made his way back to Zann. Unable to resist antagonizing him further, I blurred up behind him, jabbed my paw into a pressure point in his hind leg, then blurred back to grab the scrap before retaking my spot. I looked back at Cy at his pained shout. He shot me a glare before hobbling back to Zann.

I waited for him to be able to move properly again. I waved my paw at Zann to show that I was ready to go again. Another tail waved signal, and another race against gravity. One the yellow canine lost again. Frustrated, Cy kicked the tree.

"Perfect." I hid a machiavellian grin. On to the next stage, then... I knocked a twig onto the irate dog. "Are you even trying?" I boredly asked.

"What's the point of this?!" He snapped up at me. "How does catching a falling anything help me?"

"Your cup-eth runneth over-eth." I mocked.

Cy snarled up at me. "And what do you mean by that!?"

"Come up here and find out!" I challenged, hopping to a higher branch.

"You know we can't climb trees!"

"And yet, I'm up here." I laughed. "Such a useful move, Extreme Speed..."

"Ragh!" Cy Headbutted the tree. I was able to hold onto my branch as Cy was pelted by the hard apples and loose branches he had knocked free.

My condescending laughter floated after the barrage. "That won't work~."

"SHUT UP!"

"Come up here and make me!" Cy began jumping up against the tree in rage. I kept tossing things down onto him, goading him on. "You gotta Extreme Speed your way up here."

"FUCKING HOW?!"

I snorted, lobbing another apple at him. "Do not think of how it works. Just do it." I shrugged, looking for another thing to toss at him. "It's that simple. Don't know why you have such a hard time with it." I kicked a branch loose.

It bounced off Cy's snout. Looking in his eyes, I thought I saw something snap. You think we went a little too far?

"Not at all, no." Cy blurred up to the lowest branch. "See, he figured it out."

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!"

"You might want to start climbing..." I blurred to a further branch, keeping an eye on the enraged Jolteon behind me. I watched as he tracked my movement, pure murder in his eyes. I stopped long enough to see him land, then burst after me.

I leapt from the tree. Kicking off the trunk, I ran out into the clearing. Chancing a look over my shoulder, I saw Cy keeping pace behind me. Huh, rage learnt Extreme Speed. I arced around Zann, Cy cutting the corner to pass the Flareon's other side. A~nd he's targeting me. That's bad. I booked it from the farm. There was only one thing that could save me. I just had to get there first.

I could hear his footfalls getting closer. Leveraging my superior experience, I began weaving through the trees. Whenever it felt like he was getting too close, I would juke to one side, leading Cy on a merry chase. My laughter was lost to the wind.

Soon, we were thundering down the road. I wove my way through the road side fence while Cy repeatedly jumped over it to stay on my ass. With a final swerve and a leap, I climbed my way up Rainbow's cloud steps.

Once I was a couple clouds high, I stopped, looking down at the thundering ball of electric rage below me.

"CHEATER!" He yelled up at me. "GET BACK DOWN HERE SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS!"

"Hey, dumbass." I called back. "Look at where we are!"

"SO WE'RE AT RAINBOW'S! I DON'T CA-" I could see the words slowly registering. "... When did we get here?"

"You don't remember?" I smiled down at him, hopping down from cloud to cloud. "We just ran here."

"But we were just at the farm...?" He pointed over his shoulder.

I nodded, placing a paw on him. "Such a useful move, Extreme Speed..." I led the way back to the farm. "Now we just got to get you doing that on command, then you can try adding electricity to it."

Cy sighed. "You planned this from the beginning, didn't you...?"

"I am capable of thinking ahead as I do things." I complained. "Why is everyone so surprised by that?"

"One of these days," Cy warned, "you're going to find yourself in a situation where you can't act before thinking. What will you do then?"

I shrugged. "Eh, I'll think of something."

Theory Crafting.

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A few days had passed since Cy learned his new move. In that time, we had killed an older tree at the edge of the farm, trying to get Cy's Volt Tackle to work. The tree was dented, scorched and missing patches of bark, but we were no closer to getting the move to work than we were that second day.

So, I felt we needed a fresh perspective.

"Did Cy ever say why he wanted to do this in the first place?" Yomega asked, following me through the orchard.

"Cuz we wanted to see if we could?" I shrugged. "Personally, I just want to see how far we can stretch our moves at this point."

"How do you mean?"

Lost in thought, I started to speed up. "We already know moves Eevee's can't normally learn, yeah? What about moves that are species exclusive? Can we learn those too? Could we even create new moves?"

"Slow down!" Yomega snapped. "Geez, everyone else slows down when they get thinking! And I highly doubt we can do the last one. Think about it for a sec." He huffed up to my side. "There are already how many known moves? Last I checked, there was seven hundred some odd. Do you honestly think we could come up with a new move?"

"Won't know if we don't try."

"Okay, give me one, off the top of your head."

"How's about one that reverses everyone's speed so that the slowest one goes first."

"Trick Room."

"What about one that adds the Ghost type to someone."

"Trick-or-Treat."

"Seriously?" I growled. "Okay, what about a Protect that poisons whoever hits you?"

"Baneful Bunker. Abes is trying to learn that one, but he's hit a snag."

"Oh, cool. What's the snag?" I asked.

Yomega snorted. "No one wants to hit him."

"Fair enough." I shook my head. "I will think of a new move to create."

Yomega chuckled. "And I will poke all the holes in it."

"And that's why I grabbed you for this." I laughed. "You're a good theory crafter." We lapsed into silence, each with our own thoughts. Soon, we neared the others at the burnt tree.

"... And now I'm running through the backyard, and there's this big chain link fence, and I thought I've never climbed a fence that high before." Vince's voice drifted to us. "And then I woke up at home."

Yomega and I rounded the last tree to see the Cy, Conner and Zann roaring with laughter.

"What did you do next?" Conner asked through his mirth.

I spoke up. "Sorry to interrupt, but I brought Headmaster, so we should get started before Twilight needs him for anything."

"Aww..." Vince pouted. "Okay. I'll tell you guys the rest later."

Yomega looked from us to the tree. "I know I may not see much, but I'd like to see you attempt the move."

"Alright. We'll wait for you're signal." I said as Cy and I walked to our marked line.

"We?"

Conner answered for us. "Leo's the only one who can even see what's happening in real time. We figured she'd be able to spot anything during the move itself."

"Ah." Yomega nodded. "What's the signal?"

"Flick your tail like this." Zann demonstrated.

I held a paw out to stop Cy. "Yomega's giving the signal this time."

"Right, right." Cy grumbled. We stood there, watching Yomega from the corner of our eyes. Once he flicked his tail, we blurred. I made sure to stay behind and to the side of Cy. I watched his toned muscles ripple under his jagged fur. Just like always, sparks of electricity arched across his fur, but they refused to connect into the electric cone from the anime. I peeled off as Cy slammed into the target tree. I arched around to climb the tree nearest the onlookers, stopping on a branch as Yomega's tail finished it's descent.

Cy stumbled over to the group, shaking his bruised head. "Did I do it this time?"

Conner rushed over, paws starting to glow with pink energy. The rest of us shook our heads.

"Leo, what did you see?" Yomega looked up at me.

I shrugged. "Nothing we haven't seen before. Electrical sparks were there, but nothing definitive. They almost seemed to be falling away as he ran."

"Makes sense. It's not a priority move." Yomega mused aloud. He looked down in thought, while the rest of us looked at him in confusion. Eventually, he looked up again. "Have you tried slowing down a bit?"

Cy and I blinked at him. "... What? Why?!"

"I think you may be going too fast." Yomega explained. "Extreme Speed is a priority move, meaning it goes first. Obviously. Volt Tackle, on the other paw, isn't. I think you're going so fast, you either can't focus on anything else, or the move itself won't let you do anything else. Leo, what's Extreme Speed like for you?"

I closed my eyes with a smile. "Everything not moving my speed seems to stop, while the world seems to be sharper. Clearer. I can look around, and appreciate the still beauty. Or pinpoint where I want to hit my target."

"But, you can change your target mid attack? Move freely?" Yomega pressed.

"Eeyup."

"What about you, Cy?"

The Jolteon paused, trying to find the words. "The world just kind of... Falls away. The only thing I can see is my target. While I know I'm moving quickly, I only seem to get closer to it as if I was running normally."

"Can you focus on anything else?"

"Last time I tried, I came to in a crater." Cy deadpanned.

"He was out for an hour." Vince added.

"There ya go." Yomega stated. "Cy, you need to figure out how to go almost as fast as your Extreme Speed, so that you can split your focus, and then try to add the lightning. If that doesn't work, come get me again."

We all digested his advice. Zann broke the silence.

"... And that's why he's the smart one."

It was early evening when we had to stop. Even with Conner's healing, there was only so many times Cy could wipe out before being knocked out. We had decided to carry him to the Crusaders' clubhouse to recover.

We tromped our way up the ramp before we noticed that the building was occupied. The Crusaders were currently organizing books of all things.

"Hey, Sweetie?" Scootaloo squinted at a book. "Does The Jewel Theorem by Diamond Pixie go under 'j' or 't'?"

"You ignore the word 'The' when organizing books, so it goes under 'j'." Sweetie looked up at us. "Oh, what did you do, Cy?" The other fillies looked over at us.

Apple Bloom sighed, pointing to a pile of cushions. "Put him over there."

We quickly followed Apple Bloom's command. Once Cy was in a comfortable position, we lay around him and watched the fillies organize their new book collection.

<<Where'd they get all of these from?>> I asked.

<<They're from Runic Gears.>> Vince said. <<Apparently, they're all "required reading" for the summoner's license exam. Twilight was having them do the practical lessons while the books came in.>>

We lapsed back into silence as books found homes on the new shelves that lined the back walls. We all flinched as a crack rent the air. Porter floated with a book in his hands. He floated the book over to the fillies, turning it to show a note. Once Scootaloo had taken the book, Porter vanished with a pop.

"Missed one, hope you're still organizing. See you after school's out tomorrow. Arr Gee." Scootaloo read the note aloud. She looked at the others. "I bet Porter hid it on him."

"That's a safe bet." Apple Bloom sighed. "Can ya believe tha' Casey hid my entire closet o' bows?"

"Where did he scatter them?" Sweetie asked.

The farm filly shook her head. "I found the closet in the basement."

Our ears turned to the ramp as soft hoof falls made their way up it. Turning to look, I saw Silver's head look into the clubhouse. Vince gave a soft growl before Yomega smacked him over the head.

"Hey." Silver called upon spotting the Crusaders. "Can I come in?"

The trio shared a look before Sweetie spoke up. "Sure."

As Silver made her way into the room, I saw that she was still wearing her orange hoodie. She sat on the far side of the room, ears and tail drooping. I felt someone shifting behind me, before Conner carried a cushion over to the sad filly. I soon joined Conner by Silver's side.

"What's wrong?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Well," Silver sighed, "we finished up our work for the day. The lot is completely clear now, by the way. Well, we had just finished up when Tiara came up to me. She told me that she will be going to a boarding school in Canterlot, and that she will be finishing her community service up there. She's leaving tomorrow." Silver sniffed before continuing with a warble in her voice. "Then she turned and left without another word. She wouldn't give me a chance to say good-bye!" She broke down crying.

Conner and I pressed ourselves against her. <<She still meant something to you...>> I murmured.

<<Shh, shh. Let the tears come out. Gently now...>> I heard Conner soothe from Silver's far side.

The Crusaders joined our cuddle pile, each offering their sympathies. We let the grey filly cry her tears dry. Soon, Silver's crying dropped to simple sniffling.

"I don't know what to do, now that she's really gone." She whispered at length. "I feel so alone..."

"Ya can hang out with us." Scootaloo offered.

"But, aren't you guys busy with summoner stuff?"

Apple Bloom smiled. "I'm sure we can find time for ya."

Sweetie hugged the distraught filly. "We'll make sure you're never alone."

Bonus: The One Thing.

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[Vince]

I had left Ponyville for Vanhoover a while back to help the local Apples with their farm. I had also gained a reputation for stand up comedy at the Apples' personal pub. Tonight was one of my gig nights, and everything had been going smoothly. Now, however, it was time to wrap things up. Judging the crowd, and seeing no youth, I figured they were ready for this story.

"Another story I heard about myself," I began, "this one happened while I was still in school. Uh, we had this teacher whose pup went to our school. His name was LaMorac, and his son, Zann LaMorac, went to our school. Zann was just starting, but I was two months ahead of him. And Mister LaMorac was an asshole. One weekend, he and his wife decided to leave town, which you should never do, if you're an asshole. And Zann LaMorac decided to throw a party at the teacher's house!"

I gave out a soft "hooray!"

"And everypony around town heard about it, and we all got up individually and thought: Okay. Let's go over there, and destroy the place!

"I walked into this party. Everypony I had ever met was there, and everypony was drinking like it was the end of the world. Ponies were drinking like it was the Unification Period and a doctor was coming around to saw our legs off!

"It was totally unsupervised." I smirked out over the audience. "We were like dogs without horses, we were running wild!" By the uproar of chuckles and giggles, I could tell some of them got the joke. Odd that they even have that idiom...

"I walked down to the basement. They had a pool table in the basement. One dude took a running start and threw his body onto the pool table and broke it in half! Another foal, found out which room was Mister LaMorac's and went upstairs and took a shit on his writing desk!" I waited out the stunned laughs.

"So the party was going great." I shrugged as laughter burst from the crowd. "I'm standing in the basement, and I'm holding a cider mug -you know the ones- and I'm standing there. And I'm holding a cider mug and I'm starting to black out. And I guess, somepony said, like: Something... Something... Guard.

"And, in a brilliant moment of word association, I yelled: Buck da Royal Guard! Buck da Royal Guard!

"And everypony else joined in.

"A hundred drunk, nerdy foals yelling 'Buck. Da. Royal Guard.' With the confidence of guys who've, like, already been to the dungeons and aren't afraid of it any more. Y' know that 'I-served-my-five-bit, you-come-and-take-me' confidence. But nerdy foals.

"The reason somepony had said 'something something Guard', was because the Royal Guard were there. So, a Vanhoover Royal Guardspony walked down the stairs and got the bottom in the basement, and looked out over a sea of drunk toddlers yelling 'Buck the Royal Guard' in his face!

"And he was almost impressed. He's like: Wo~w... And then he leaned back up the stairs, and went: Get the paddy wagon!

"And my friend, Leo -who is now a mother, this girl now has a pup- She grabbed a Party Popper, lit the fuse and threw it on the ground and yelled: Scatter!" I took a quick breath. I'm so glad Zann managed to patent those. I thought as the crowd laughed again.

"And everypony ran in a different direction. We all ran in different directions. It was like that time at the Gala, when the critters came in from the gardens and the guests all ran in different ways. We all ran in different directions. I ran into the laundry room, and I jumped up on the washing machine, and I crawled out a window into the backyard! And now I'm running through the backyard, and there's this big chain link fence, and I thought I've never climbed a fence that high before! And then I woke up at home."

I let the laughter die off. "On Monday, I went to school, because that's what we did back then. And I'm walking into the school building, and who do I see but Zann LaMorac. And he says to me: Hey, were you at my party on Saturday?

"And I said: No. Y'know, like a liar.

"And he said: Things really got out of hoof. Somepony broke the pool table... Somepony took a shit on my dad's writing desk... But the worst thing, he says, the worst thing is that somepony stole these old antique photos of my grandmother, and my parents are freaking out about it..." The room was silent. I could see a mare even covering her mouth.

"And I had that thought, that only black out drunks -and Prince Blueblood- can have.... Did, did I do that? I figured, No, I wouldn't have done that.

"But I was never sure. Until, two months later." I paused as the many ponies gasped. "Relax." I waited out their laughter.

"I'm playing board games with this pup named Cy, that we also went to school with. Two months later, we've graduated by now. We're playing board games for a couple hours, and then Cy says to me: Hey, come here. I want to show you something. And he takes me into his bedroom. And then he takes me into a side room off of his bedroom -Never a good thing to have." I swiped my paw out. "And he shows me a tiny room, that is covered, wall to wall, in stolen antique photos from different ponies' parties, over the years.

"And I said: Why?" I whispered into the microphone. "Why do you do this?

"And Cy said: Because it's the one thing you can't replace!

"That's the end of that story!" I said over the crowd's howling laughter. "But how bucked up is that, right? That's crazy!" I sighed as everypony got their giggles under control.

"So I don't drink anymore." I didn't give them that chance. "Thanks, everypony, you've been wonderful. Have a good night!" I left the stage to roaring laughter and applause.

Entanglement.

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With a resounding bang, Cy rolled head over tail into the dead tree. Electric energy coursed along his path before lashing a new scar into the dead wood. He got to his feet with a wobble.

"Did I gets the socket powered the dish washer?" He asked something unseen to my right.

"Yeah, we're taking a break." Conner wrapped his tail around one of Cy's legs, guiding him to the water trough we had Lulu make for us.

Cy's ears fell when the trough came into focus. "Don't put the toaster in the tub." He whined. As Conner let go of him, Vince rammed Cy's rear, forcing him into the trough face first. Sparks jumped from the yellow canine, and off the water, before grounding in the earth around him.

"Ya know," I sighed from my branch, "I suspect he'll learn Bolt Strike before Volt Tackle." I hopped down and made my way over to the tree. I briefly inspected the scorch marks. "Well, the good news is that you've finally managed to get the electricity out. Now you just need to focus on not falling over."

Once the sparks stopped flying, Conner placed his healing paws on Cy's side. "I can't believe you still want to learn that move."

"I'm nothing if not stubborn." Cy nodded. "Thanks for staying to patch me up, Nurse."

Conner blushed. "Y-you heard about..." He coughed into a paw. "W-well, I gotta make sure someone patches you up. I guess I gotta get used to doing so after each fight we get into, if you're going to insist on using that move."

"Oh?" Vince asked.

"I was talking to Abes about this the other night. Guess what Mr. Myrddin told me." Conner smacked Cy over the head. "Volt Tackle does a third of the damage dealt back onto you! Try to avoid using it more than once a battle, please."

"That's assuming you can get it to work." Vince added.

At that moment, Rainbow buzzed us, mangled gibberish echoing in her wake. She angled herself back to town. "Thank's for the heads up!" I called after her retreating figure. I looked over at the others. "You guys catch that?"

"She said words?" Cy blinked. "I just heard a whoosh."

"Must be a me thing, then." I shrugged. "She said that we're staying with Spike and Moon Dancer while everyone's out of town."

"Oh?" Vince tilted his head. "This is the first I've heard of a group trip. Where're they going?"

"Oh, you know." I smiled at him, walking past Cy to the starting line. "Out gathering Apples, picking cherries, chasing wagons, ditching Pinkie and Rarity in Dodge. Y'know, a quick trip out."

"Huh." He and Conner walked back to their places as Cy joined me. "Wait, what was that last one?"

"Chasing wagons?" I turned to the Jolteon. "Ready to go again?"

He nodded, and we both blurred forward once more.

That night, we all lay in a pile at the foot of Moon Dancer's bed. The poor mare had to pull her hooves up so that our combined weight didn't cause her any harm.

I had just jolted awake. Wide eyed, I stared up at the ceiling as the breeze blew in from the open window, cooling the sweat trapped in my fur. Somehow, I had managed to worm my way to the top of the pile in my sleep.

"You awake?" I jumped, rolling down the pile, coming face to face with Abes. "You looked like you were having a nightmare. Claw dream again?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Nasty one this time." I looked Abes in his red eyes. "They've been getting worse."

The Umbreon's eyes flicked to the pile behind me before his rings began to glow. Gently, Lulu and Villhiem were pulled from the pile. Pointing to the door with his tail, Abes lead me from the room. Once we had made it into a side room downstairs, Abes gave the two evolved forms a rough shake.

"GAH! We're awake, we're awake!"

"Put us DOWN!"

Abes lightly placed them back on the ground, though his eyes didn't stop glowing. A cup floated in from the kitchen and landed in front of Villhiem.

"Yer gettin' real good with yer telekinesis." He murmured as he tore a chunk from his tail.

Lulu focused on her paw. "What's the occasion?"

"Leo." Abes picked me up and placed me beside the tea cup. "Claw dream again."

"Those really mess you up, don't they." Lulu smiled sadly at me.

"Yeah." I stared at the floor. "This one was the worst one yet..."

The full cup slid into view. "Whenever you're ready, darling."

I sat there, gathering my thoughts, sipping as I went. "After I left the Angry Monkey, I found myself in a desolate wasteland. One where storms of fire raged against tornadoes of water, where roots of gnarled trees rip the ground asunder as lightning lanced down from a total eclipse. I saw statues of you standing in a circle, each frozen in a pose of agony. Chains stretched from your heads to a statue of myself. God, my statue. I wasn't frozen in pain. No, my face....

"Oh god, my face! I was forever laughing. That damn, demented smile will forever haunt my memories. But it gets worse." I paused to wet my throat. "I heard the Claw's laughter as I drove it through each of you! Once I was done, I could see each of your flesh and bone bodies lying bloody in piles of dust. I turned to my own statue, and I...

"... I laughed the Claw's laugh! I laughed at my statue as it wept blood. I laughed as I drove the Claw -My Claw!- into my own statue's chest! I laughed as the sky burned and the moon wept leaves of electric blue. I laughed as a wave of crimson water carried me into the only standing forest. I laughed as I dropped through the wave in front of the Chained Monkey's cave. I was still laughing as I drove the claw through myself a second time. I was even laughing as the Claw burst from my own chest, spraying blood onto the dying me my own Claw was in.

"And then I woke up." I looked up from my empty cup, tears shining in my eyes. "These dreams keep getting worse. Are you sure Luna can't find my dreams?"

"She's looking as hard as she can." Abes held a paw out to me.

"SHE SHOULD LOOK HARDER!!" The cup sailed over the Umbreon's head, smashing against the far wall. Silence reigned as I shifted my Glare from Abes to stare in horror at my outstretched paw. I stared to shiver as I curled up into a ball. I looked up at the evolved forms, the tears falling as I made my plea.

"Please, help me."

Stopgap Measures.

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I spent an hour weeping. I wept my stress and pain away, soaking the shoulders of Lulu and Villhiem. Through my tears, I could see Abes' ears twitching as he listened to a voice only he could hear. With a slight nod, he waited for my waterworks to stop.

Once I had simmered down to sniffles, he leaned in and placed his forehead against mine. "Are you okay for now?" He murmured.

"No." I whined. "What if I start to make my nightmare a reality? What if I'm some sort of harbinger of doom? I don't want to hurt anyone!"

"Look at me!" Abes commanded, paws holding my face to his. "You are not going to hurt anybody. Last I checked, you weren't white with a dark horn. You're going to get through this, but right now, I need you to calm down, okay." His eyes locked onto mine, keeping me focused on him. "Take deep breaths, okay? Breath in, breath out. In, and out. There ya go." He smiled, letting go of my muzzle. "Don't worry about tomorrow, let us focus on tonight. I just spent the last while talking to Luna, and she's coming here to help. I give her..."

A soft tapping came from the window, before it was encased by a deep azure blue aura. It was cracked open slightly before the aura faded. A cloud of midnight blue flowed through the opening. We all watched in awe as the cloud formed into a very solid alicorn.

Princess Luna had arrived.

<<Oh, abouts now.>> Abes finished smugly. He turned to the Princess. <<I haven't yet told her the plan. She's been fairly distraught over this whole thing.>>

"I understand." Luna gave me a sad smile. "I am sorry I have not yet located your dreams, and I shall endeavor to do so. However, I do not know how long that may take, and this is obviously affecting your mental health."

<<This is not a permanent solution, but it should help mitigate the effects of whatever is going on.>> Abes spoke up.

Luna nodded to him. "That is the hope." She lay in front of me. "Leo, before you agree to anything, there is something I must stress. Dreams and nightmares are to be worked through. For all the pain they may cause, ponies, erm, creatures grow stronger for them. As such, I can not just remove the ability for you to dream. And yet, very rarely do they persist as this one has. This could mean one of two things, neither of which are good.

"The first, and preferred, is that this dream is representative of a major negative facet of your own persona. Which facet, I will need to find the dream to be certain. Only then can we begin to help you come to terms with it."

<<You mean treat it, don't you?>> I scowled.

Luna looked to Abes, waiting for him to translate. "Only if it is detrimental to you as a being. I assure you, that is very rare in this modern age. Many perceived negativities can be highly beneficial to beings. Dragon Greed is a prime example." We all gave her odd looks. "Imagine the fierce protectiveness they can bring to bear when what, or even who, they care about is threatened. There is noplace safer than a dragon's hoard." She smiled. "It takes many years for a dragon to reach this point in their lives, but some stop hoarding material wealth. They may instead hoard friends, family. Lady Tiamat hoards knowledge, and it is because of her that we still have records from before the Time of Discord's Reign."

With a sigh, Luna shook her head. "But I fear we have gotten distracted. As I have stated, there is a second meaning your reoccurring dream could have. It is very rare, and very dangerous." She looked me dead in the eyes and held my gaze. "This could be a nascent Tulpa attempting to fully come into existence. Judging from the dreamed events Abes has described to me, it will be very powerful and very malevolent if it does so. If it is, I dare not risk cutting you off from the dream realm, else it will jump to another to continue its growth."

<<Sounds very disconcerting.>> I frowned. <<What's a Tulpa?>>

Again, Abes needed to translate before Luna responded. "It is a being of thought and emotion made manifest. The last one to walk Equis was never truly defeated, only bound to a dark artifact that has in turn been sealed away in a magicless realm. Unless the artifact it is bound to is brought back here, its faceless gaze and coat of black will never again trouble us." With a shudder, she refocused on us.

<<So, you can't remove me from the dream realm, and you don't know when you can find my dream.>> I looked mournfully at my paws. <<And, by the sounds of it, there is a, albeit slim, possibility that I'm carrying the next apocalypse around in my head. Which may or may not pop out before you can locate my dream to stop it.>> I looked up at Luna, and growled. <<None of this sounds like a solution.>>

Lulu smacked a paw over my head. <<Play nice, she's trying to help!>>

"I understand you meant no offence, little one." Luna used her magic to rub behind my ears, soothing my frayed nerves. "There is an enchantment I can place on you. It will not stop you from having these dreams, but it will stop you from remembering them the morning after, which is when a Tulpa can draw the most nourishment. Unfortunately, this will not stop it from growing, but it will severely stunt its growth. That is assuming the very unlikely worst case scenario.

"This enchantment does come with a few side effects, however. You will not be able to remember any dream, good or bad, nor will you be able to receive a full night's rest. Expect either an increase in, as my sister would say, crankiness, or to be sleeping more. The enchantment will also make you a very light sleeper." A form appeared between us. "Because this is mental magic, I will need to receive your express permission to do this. I will also need your written signature, as well as those of all witnesses." A quill floated next to the parchment, ink pooling at its tip.

I carefully grabbed it in my paw, and, using my wrist to make the fine movements I had lost from my lack of fingers, I signed my name. It was a poor copy of what it used to be, but it was still mine.

Lulu signed next, turning her wrist into liquid to have her's flow better, while Villhiem extended a vine to write his. Lucky Abes got to use his Telekinesis. Once we had all signed, Luna took the form and signed it herself, as well as noting whose squiggles were whose. With a small snap, the form vanished.

I felt her magic run across my collar. I figured she was checking for any other enchantments on me that might interfere with what she needed to do. With a satisfied nod, she began.

Using her horn, she traced a circle of silver light into the air. With careful, precise movements, she deftly placed very fine lines of writing within the circle. With the small size, it looked like a spider's web had formed within the circle by the time she had moved on to the next step. In three columns coming from the circle's bottom, she wrote a series of thicker runes. With a sigh, she paused to inspect her work.

Her eyes shifted to look at the others. "Hold her down." She commanded.

<<Hehe.>> I nervously chuckled. <<W-what?>> Vines burst from the floor, binding me tightly. I felt a pressure on my back as Lulu forced me to the ground. Finally, in a triple redundancy, Abes' aura prevented even my tail from twitching. <<I-is this really necessary?>> I asked, fear creeping into my voice.

"I apologize in advance. This is going to hurt." She levitated a small bundle of cloth and jammed it into my mouth. She looked at Abes. "Hold her mouth shut, please."

As I felt his mental might clamp down on my muzzle as Luna cleared a space of any interference between my ears. She gently lowered the glyph to my head. I began trying to thrash against my bindings as agony lanced through my nervous system.

Eyes wide, I tried to focus on anything past the pain. I caught an image of a ghostly rainbow mane. I locked eyes with the worried magenta ones peering over Luna's shoulder. I still felt the pain, but my struggles ceased.

<<How much longer will this take?>> I barely heard Lulu ask.

<<What is she staring at?>> Abes asked after passing Lulu's question on.

"Not much longer now." Luna tersely answered. "She is likely seeing an image of those most important to her. It's a side effect of the spell. It will go away momentarily."

It was over in an eternity. I lay panting on the floor as everyone released me.

"It is done." Luna sighed. "Again, I am sorry about the pain, but what I have just done was to effectively brand the glyph onto your psyche. This glyph will remain until I, and only I, remove it."

<<Is that why it disappeared after it sunk into her fur?>> Villhiem asked while I attempted to give the princess a thumps up.

"It has not truly vanished," Luna answered once Abes relayed the inquiry, "if you look closely, you can see faint silver lines in her fur."

I staggered to my paws, and stumbled my way to the door. <<Mirror, mirror.>> After a few minutes of not reaching the door, I looked down to see I had been picked up by someone's telekinetic grasp. <>

Luna carried me back over to the group, a standing mirror fading into existence. Sure enough, I could see a smaller scale version of the glyph tracing through my fur. It was so faint, I would've missed it if I hadn't known what to look for.

With a tearful smile, I turned and glomped the Princess of the Night. <<Thank you...>> I wept into her fur.

[Third]

As a Princess vainly tried to dislodge an affectionate furry growth, a rainbow maned pegasus painfully rolled from her bunk. The sleeper car rocked with the train's motion as she gently woke the only other winged pony there.

"Hey, Fluttershy?" Rainbow groaned as her friend awoke. "Did you bring any painkillers? I just woke up with this massive headache, and I want to be on my best game tomorrow when we reach Dodge."

With a nod, Fluttershy reached for her carry on. When did she get silver hairs? She passed a pill bottle to Rainbow. No, it's probably the moonlight playing tricks on me.

Gort!

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A few days had past since the six mares returned from their trip, and boy, Luna wasn't kidding about my sleep schedule. Just like the last few mornings, I stumbled my way into the bathroom before I had even begun the laborious task of opening my eyes. They weren't fully open until I was midway down the stairs.

With a jaw cracking yawn, I staggered into the kitchen. Rainbow was slumped over a bowl at the table, staring blankly into her cereal's milky depths. A rolled up scroll lay beside her. I plodded my way over to the bowl placed for me under the table.

I snapped awake, pulling my snout from the fish and berry mixture, as Rainbow tied the scroll tube to my back.

"Can you please take this to Spike, I need him to send this for me." She requested with a yawn of her own.

I nodded, scarfing down what I could before hopping out the door. By the time I had jumped down the cloud steps, I had fully woken up. I broke into a sprint, quickly passing through the market.

<<Morning Leo!>> Cy chirped as he jogged up beside me. <<Carrying a message?>>

<<Yeah.>> I stifled another yawn. <<Got something for Spike. I'll hit up the library, then we can go.>>

<<I'm taking the day off from that.>> Cy shrugged. <<A couple actually. Nurse's orders. Lucky you, you get some time to yourself. Applejack needs me for something, anyways.>>

I grunted something along the lines of an affirmation. I neared one of our tunnels as the yellow canine went his own way. I quickly crawled my way into the library's basement. Stepping around the equipment left down there, I blurred my way up the stairs, stopping when I hit the door.

Rubbing my head, I glared up at the round door knob. With a growl, I began to scrabble against the door, attempting to jump up to the handle. Someone must've heard me, as the door was slammed open in the middle of a jump. I had to wait until the door was moved before I could drop from where I had been pinned.

"Oh, sorry Leo." Spike rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I thought you were a little further from the door." I shot him a mild glare before shaking the tube at him. "Oh, something for me?"

I butted my head against him, waiting for him to take the tube. Once it was replaced, I turned and walked back down the stairs. I waved my tail at the drake as the sound of burning parchment briefly crackled behind me. I ducked down a random tunnel, thoughts running through my head. "So, what are you going to do with your new found spare time?"

Rainbow won't need my weather moves for a few days, when they need that massive storm. I sat outside the bush I had came up in, eyes closed in contemplation. If Applejack needs the Duo for something, then I don't want to bug them and get in the way. They're definitely doing farm work right now, anyways. Conner's stuck with Fluttershy and Angel in the Everfree, I think they're tagging along with Zecora. Don't want to wake Abes up, Yomega's just going to make me work, and I'd just be in the way at Lulu's. Villhiem's sleeping outside the schoolhouse. While I'd like to spend some time with Mr. Bedwyr, I'm too tired for Crusader shenanigans.

"That just leaves Zann."

Eeyup. He's in the closet right now. I think I will meander past the site to see how it's coming along... I nodded my head, and opened my eyes. A mint muzzle with a crazed grin greeted me. I jumped back into the bush, poking my head out to look for Lyra's saner half. <<Can, um, can I help you?>>

Lyra's smile slipped slightly, but she rallied herself. She cleared her throat, held up a piece of paper, and spoke. "Vee ee Eevee veevee." She locked eyes with me as her manic grin gained an expectant quality.

Oddly enough, I could have sworn I heard "Tax reforms, toaster oven, potato" under her words. I carefully leaned out from the bush, watching her smile grow. Then, in a blur of movement, I snatched the paper from her and bolted from the bush.

"HEY! Those are my notes!"

<<Make more!>> I fired back as I rounded a corner, ducking under Bon Bon's legs. I hopped behind a barrel as Lyra ran into her irate partner.

"There you are!"

"Bon Bon! Hi!" Lyra gave a nervous smile.

The secret agent frowned. "Don't "Bon Bon, hi" me! You said we were going to have lunch together, and where do I find you? Harassing the Eevees again! And what's this about notes?"

"Oh, geez, I thought I still had some time before we were to meet up." Lyra's smile fell. "I was hoping to test one of the word sequences before then. That's what the notes were."

"What were you trying to say?" Bon Bon sighed.

"Hello, my name is Lyra." She shrugged. "But then Leo took my paper, which had the other sequences I was going to try."

"You spent all week on those, right?" Bon Bon wrapped a hoof around the mint colored unicorn. "Come on, let's just eat, then we can work on those sequences later tonight. Sound good?"

"Yeah..." Lyra dejectedly allowed herself to be pulled away.

I shifted the paper until I could stare at it cross eyed. Now I just feel like an asshole...

"So, what are ya going to do about it?"

Something smart. I stepped out from behind the barrel and ran up to the mares. I bolted around them and sat down, blocking their path. I placed the paper on the ground in front of Lyra. With a solemn face, I spoke. <<Klaatu barada nikto!>>

"You just couldn't resist. I'm so proud...."

"You're giving it back?" Lyra asked. I nodded. "Oh, thank you!" She jumped forward and pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"Um, Lyra?"

<<Can't breathe!>>

"Yes, Bon Bon?"

The cream mare pointed to the paper floating in the breeze. "It's getting away."

".... Horseapples!"

I landed on my rear as the two mares chased after Lyra's notes. Shaking my head, I turned and made my way over to the burnt lot that had been infested with contractors and inspectors. I sat at the edge of the lot, watching Mrs. Cake talking with the forestallion as they went over the final needed details of the new bakery. From what I'd gathered from the weather schedule, they were going to do a very simple ground breaking ceremony tomorrow morning, then get started on rebuilding Sugarcube. They would need Rainbow's crew to hold off on rain so that the foundation could set properly.

Which would cause a mini drought, so I will need to dance in about a week. I smiled, seeing Pinkie's stall at the closest entrance to the market square. She calls it her Mini-Kery, and I hope the Cakes would let her keep it in some fashion.

With a smile and a yawn, I left to join Zann in his closet.

I gave the wardrobe door a hard knock before pushing it open. "Zann? You here?" I called out, not getting an answer. "Zann?" I stepped further into the dim room. I paused in front of a slightly charred desk and board covered with paper. It seemed the Canada Arm sketches had found their way here. Mixed among them were drawings of skeletal arms and legs of various canines, almost all of which were crossed out in red ink.

Please be red ink. I thought, noting a piece of metal with something burnt black attached to it. "Zann?" I nervously called as I moved away from the desk. I jumped when I heard a fwooshing noise coming from the foundry. I crept forward on faltering paws. I looked around a power hammer, finally spotting Zann at the foundry. As I got closer, I could hear faint cackling as he pulled something red hot out of the heat with is mouth. He plunked it in a bucket of water, watching with a madcap grin as the water bubbled and boiled.

"Dear god, Zann!" I cried as I rushed to his side. "Can you still open your mouth?! does anything hurt?! We need to get you to Conner right away!"

Reaching out, Zann picked me up by the ruffle of fur on the back of my neck and placed me on the far side of the water bucket. "Relax. I'm fine." Dipping his snout into the bucket, he came up with the now tempered metal. He carried it around to an odd sculpture and carefully clamped it in place. He glanced back at me. "I can't be burnt anymore. You might want to look away for a sec." I closed my eyes, and listened to him inhale a deep breath, before what sounded like a tiger torch filled the room.

When the noise died down, I looked to see that he had welded the metal to the sculpture. "What do you mean by not getting burnt?"

"Just that." Zann smiled, absently moving parts of the odd art. "I'm a fire type, so hot temperatures don't bug me. Hell, dipping my muzzle into the bucket there stung more than pulling this out of the foundry."

I stepped closer to the art piece. "What is this supposed to be, anyways. Something you're going to donate to the new bakery?"

"Nope." Zann smiled. "When I evolved, I was disappointed that I didn't get my leg back. So I figured, if I'm not going to regrow one, I'll make one. I think I've got it solved this time. Just need to wait for Conner to get back from his forest picnic, and I can try this one on." One of his ears twitched before a hind leg kicked out. "Huh, Rainbow's looking for ya. You should go see her."

"Sure, sure." I sighed, making my way out of the wardrobe. It wasn't until the sunlight hit my face that I paused. Wait... If he wants to try on a prosthetic, why would he need Conner? I didn't see any straps, so he should be asking for Lulu instead...

Like Elmer's!

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I tracked Rainbow down outside the weather station. <<You were looking for me?>>

"Oh, hey!" Rainbow smiled at me. "I was just about to come find you! You wanna go to Canterlot?"

I tilted my head. <<Why the sudden vacation? You just got back from Dodge?>>

"Yeah, a vacation, just the two of us...."

I squinted. <<If it's a vacation, why did your smile slip?>>

Rainbow dropped her smile completely. "I can't get any thing past you anymore, can I?" Rainbow leaned down to pick me up, while I balanced on my hind legs to make it easier. "That scroll I sent you to Spike with? It was a letter to Princess Luna. Spike gave me her reply just five minutes ago. She wants us to go meet her, tonight, said it couldn't wait." She flew us to the train station. I carefully climbed and placed myself just below her wings, just like we had practiced. We only slowed our mad blitz once the station was in view.

We glided around to the ticket booth. "I need a ticket for Canterlot, and I need a carry on pass for Leo here."

"Forty bits, please." Rainbow passed over a sheet of parchment. "One moment." The stallion turned, comparing the parchment to one hanging on a clip board. With a nod, he began filling out a form. Turning back to us, he pointed to a couple of lines on twin papers before handing them and a quill out to Rainbow. "Sign here and here. Don't lose your copy. If anything happens on our end, we can use that to verify things."

"Got it." Rainbow groaned. Taking the paper, I smack her upside the head. "What?!"

<<Place nice with the guy, he's just doing his job.>> I bowed as best I could to the ticket master. <<I'll keep an eye on it.>>

"Heh," he chuckled, "your pup'll need this tag. If you could, please..." Rainbow leaned forward to let the stallion to clip the tag to my collar. Once we had our ticket, it was only a grueling twenty minutes wait for the train.

The train pulled into Canterlot in the late evening. I hopped onto Rainbow's back as we left the train car. Together, we flew towards the castle. I was taking every opportunity to see the sights that I had missed during my first visit, now that the stupid snow was gone.

For once, Rainbow wasn't rocketing around. I assumed it was due to her lack of familiarity with the locale. Great for me, as I didn't need to worry about messing up her slipstream as I looked around. I gazed in awe at the clock towers we passed, the local shops closing up for the day, the flash of pink as it darted down an alleyway, the bright signs of the night clubs as the overnight crews began their shifts and the night life came alive.

Wait.... I looked back over my shoulder. That bakery's selling three donuts for ten bits?!

"That's robbery!"

I know! I shook my head, turning to watch the palace get closer. Rainbow slowed to a crawl as she approached the gates and hoofed one of the Night Guards a new slip of parchment. With a gruff command, he ordered us to follow him through the castle. I didn't pay attention to the path, I was focusing too much on the decor. I swear, many of the statues lining the halls were just an excuse away from moving.

We were left outside a pair of large doors as the sun and moon finally switched places in the sky. The antechamber we were in gained a few more ponies, nobles my cynical mind assumed were attempting to curry favor. The nobles all looked down their snouts at Rainbow and I, disgust apparent on their faces, as if our presence offended them personally. Soon enough, a new guard entered the room from the double doors. She moved and placed herself beside Rainbow and I.

"Attention, everypony!" The guardsmare firmly declared. "I regret to inform everypony that Night Court has been canceled for tonight, as an urgent matter has come to the Princess' attention. You will have to bring your grievances or proposals tomorrow."

I didn't miss the grumbling that the nobles made as they got up to leave. Rainbow sighed. "Ya heard the mare." she started to stand. "C'mon, Leo."

The guard flicked a wing out. "Sorry, ma'am." She murmured, deliberately standing in Rainbow's way. "You're the 'urgent matter'."

"Okay..." Rainbow had the presence of mind to act as if she was just waiting for the guard to move. With a yawn, I curled up between her wings.

The nobles left in that kind of huff that only three year olds could get away with. The last stallion to leave had his nose raised so high, I was surprised he wasn't walking on the tips of his hooves.

"This way, please." The guardsmare opened the courtroom doors once all the nobles had flounced out. She waited for us to pass her before she closed the door.

Luna sat on her throne at the far end of the room. She rose with a flick of her horn, cushions floating over from the hidden alcoves to join us in the carpet. "Good evening." Luna motioned to one of the cushions. "Please, sit." She waited for us to comply. "One moment, please. I need my translator."

"Translator?" Rainbow looked at me. "For who?"

I saw a black cloud with golden highlights flow in from an open window. Twin glows of red focused in on us. The fog condensed into a familiar black canine with golden rings <<For Leo.>> Abes gave a slight smirk.

<<That, was, AWESOME!!>> I started hopping around Abes as I crowed. <>

<<No I haven't.>> Abes sighed. <<This is just a bastardization Luna created. It's called a Shadowport. Anyways, this is an important meeting, so please pay attention>>

<<That was still amazing.>> I smiled, trying to get my mirth under control. <<So, what's with the summons, Princess?>>

"Tell me, Rainbow." Luna addressed the prismic mare. "How have you been sleeping lately."

"Not well." Rainbow admitted. "I've been waking up tired, like I didn't sleep properly, and I have't been able to remember my dreams for about a week now."

<<Wait.>> I frowned. <<Isn't that roughly when...>>

<<Yup.>>

"Could you please lean forward?" Luna requested. She carefully parted Rainbow's mane, searching. With a slight grunt, she held Rainbow in her aura and lifted Abes to see. "Do you see what I do?"

<<Not quite sure. Wait....>> Abes squinted before leaning closer to Rainbow. <<Is that what I think it is?>>

"So you see it too." Luna placed Abes back on his seat as she released Rainbow, letting her sit up straight. "Interesting."

Rainbow looked between the two beings of the night. "... I'm so confused here." She pointed at the Umbreon. "You can understand him?"

Luna nodded and distractedly replied. "Only Abes. And I only have theories on that, at the moment." She focused back on us. "About a week ago, I had placed a sigil upon Leo here to seal her dreams. It seems that it has rebounded and marked itself on you as well."

"Oh, okay." Rainbow blinked, her mind latching onto the parts important to her. "So, can you remove it from me?"

I jumped to my own conclusions. I curled up on myself with a pained whimper. <<What if it goes after Rainbow....>> I felt someone pull me into a hug. I focused through misty eyes to look into Rainbow's worried magenta ones.

"I'm afraid I don't want to risk removing your sigil, Rainbow." Luna apologized. "There is a matter that needs to be resolved first." She focused on me. "And, I would know if it had been affecting her as well." Luna fluffed a cushion before sighing. "You might as well sit down, Rainbow Dash. There is much that I will need to explain."

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"Tell me," Luna said at length, "do you know the Irony of Nightmare moon?" We all shook our heads. "When my sister and I wielded the Elements of Harmony, I used Laughter, Honesty... and Loyalty. When I fell to my inner darkness, I lost my connections to those Elements." She sighed a regretful sigh. "I did not, however, lose the other powers granted by them, though they've been significantly muted in the years since. According to my sister, she suffers the same." An ear twitched, and she held a hoof out to Rainbow. "Please wait on asking your questions until I have finished. It would appear that, over time, the Elements grant their users passive abilities when they are not in use. Before... Before my fall, Celestia and I thought that we had gained these gifts because of our Alicorn forms.

"Now though, I do not believe that is the case. I theorize that anypony who has wielded the Elements, and remains connected to them, can gain these abilities. Whether or not they will retain them if that connection is lost is a separate matter. One I pray we won't have to learn the answer to.

"Now, this is still just a theory, and I would like your help in testing it. Can you do that for me, Rainbow?"

Rainbow nodded. "Like you have to ask! I'll do anything you need me to do!" She blinked. "Er, what do you need me to do?"

"Sit still."

<<We're doomed.>> I deadpanned.

Luna raised an eyebrow at Abes as he struggled to keep his mirth in. "I want you to close your eyes. Focus on your friends. Focus on them, but do not think of them. Let all other thoughts melt away."

Minutes passed as Rainbow concentrated on not thinking. After about ten minutes, she relaxed, almost slumping in on herself.

"Where is Rarity?" Luna suddenly asked.

"Asleep in her room, at home." I was startled by Rainbow's monotoned response.

"Applejack?"

"Comforting Apple Bloom before tucking her back into bed."

Luna frowned. "Blast, I'll have to look for her dreams tonight... What about Pinkie?"

"Hard at work pre-planning Sugarcube's grand reopening party."

"And Villhiem?" Rainbow frowned at that.

I blinked. <<He's curled up at the foot of Scootaloo's bed.>>

Luna gave me a sly smile. With a small spark of magic, she startled Rainbow out of her trance. "I thought as much."

<<Thought what, Luna?>> Abes asked, Rainbow repeating his question a second later.

"The Element of Loyalty has granted you the same gift it gave me: a specialized, non magical, tracking ability." Luna smiled, and embraced the confused pegasus. "Right now, it will only track those dear to you, such as family and close friends. In time, you may be able to extend it to anypony you are familiar with."

"With all due respect, Princess..." Rainbow leaned back and frowned. "I don't like spying on my friends."

"And you are not." Luna assured. "You have a tracking enchantment on Leo, yes?"

"Yeah..." I rubbed my collar with a smile.

"Do you use it?"

"No," Rainbow shook her head. "I trust her to stay safe."

Luna arched a brow. "So why do you have that enchantment on her collar? I know it's an optional feature."

"It's just in case something happens and I can't find her, like when Sugarcube Corner burned down."

"Well, now you have that with your friends." Luna smiled once again.

<<Ya know, that might not be a bad thing to have.>>

"You're right. That does sound useful." Rainbow squinted at Luna. "What's the catch?"

Luna pointed a hoof at me. "You run the risk of creating a Soul Bond, like you have with Leo. What that means, is that, from the moment it is formed, any enchantments or long lasting spells will effect both of you. Even if the spell was only cast on one of you, it will rebound to effect the other. Just as it has with my Dream Catcher Sigil. You will also experience the feelings the other has. You may even be able to understand Leo, to a degree." Luna sighed. "On top of that, if one of you becomes possessed, then the possessing entity can potentially travel from one being to another along any available Soul Bonds."

<<What about any beneficial enchantments? Like one that passively heals over time?>> I asked

Luna shrugged. "I think so. My sister and I never had the opportunity to test that, thankfully. There are still many things we do not know about the Elements of Harmony."

Rainbow waved the statement off. "So, what's the problem with the sigil thingy?"

I nodded to Luna, allowing her to speak. "For a long while now, Leo has been suffering from a reoccurring nightmare, one which I have been failing to find. To ease her pain, I have blocked her memories of what she dreams. Obviously, this has rebounded onto you as well. This should also stop anything from using her dreams to empower itself." Luna tilted her head. "Such entities exist. They are rarely encountered, but they do exist."

<<So, we're not telling her about the potential for a Tulpa?>> Luna's tail whipped around to smack Abes. <<Point taken.>>

<<Let's get off of such depressing thoughts.>> I requested.

Rainbow nodded. "I agree. What bonus powers do the other Elements grant."

I blinked. Rainbow and I looked at each other. <<You can understand me now?>> I asked. <<We can finally talk?>>

"Kinda." Rainbow waved a hoof back and forth. "It's like, I know you just asked a question, and I know it was about us talking, but..."

<<You're not getting any details?>>

Rainbow tilted her head. "No, I don't think the 'little words' will matter that much."

Abes' eyes widened. <<Oh! Luna, they were already on the cusp of understanding each other! I think learning about the Soul Bond was just the thing they needed to hear to push them over that final threshold.>>

"You may be right." Luna nodded. "I still can't understand Leo. Rainbow, I'm certain that you will be able to fully understand her with enough practice."

"Yeah, we can do that later." My partner focused back onto Luna. "I still want to know about what the others might get."

Luna smiled. "Fair enough. Please keep in mind that these are only the ones Celestia and I gained. Your friends may receive different gifts. I will be discussing this with Celestia over breakfast, and I will endeavor to gather the rest of your friends so that they, too, can be informed thusly:

"Honesty granted the ability to pierce lies and illusions. However, this means that nothing that should be hidden, could be. Nor does it let you know the truth. Applejack may know that you're hiding something, but she won't know if it is a surprise party for her or if you were being manipulated to harm her. One of the first signs I showed when I gained that gift was the inability to lie.

"I got very good at telling half truths, though.

"Magic gave my sister an increase to mental capabilities, allowing her to think and learn faster then she could before. In the time it could take you to solve 'twelve times sixteen', Twilight can potentially have already figured out the amount of materials needed to construct a stable suspension bridge from one side, how much it will cost, and decided on breakfast plans for everypony for the next week. You saw the downside with what I believe is called the 'Smarty-Pants Incident'?" We all cringed.

"Anyways." Luna coughed. "Kindness allows one to understand any being, at the cost of completely empathizing with them. It may not sound so bad, but what if Fluttershy had learned of causes behind Nightmare Moon, and decided that the Nightmare's cause was more important than stopping it?

"Generosity granted one insight into another's immediate needs, but gives a mild compulsion to fill those needs at personal cost. Image Rarity starving herself because she needs to make sure others are fed first." I interrupted her with a yawn. "Well, it looks like we will need to finish this up quickly, then." Luna chuckled. "Finally, Laughter. This one granted one the ability to predict immediate events. However, it is very, very vague. It also tends to wear at one's sanity with all the possible outcomes."

"That explains so much." Rainbow deadpanned. "And yet, I still feel mildly disappointed."

Luna barked out a short laugh. "Oh no, Miss Pie has always been able to do that. It runs in her family. I think Laughter is just enhancing it slightly. Both sides of it." The Princess stood up. "Still, the night is passing, and you need your rest. The inner workings of Pinkie's mind can be left for another day. Come, let me show you to your room."

"Thank you for the information. You should be more careful with such secrets, you never know who may be listening in...."

Dog Days: Leg Work.

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[Zann]

I made my way down to breakfast. Pinkie had already left for Canterlot with Fluttershy, and Conner was already out doing his work. I scarfed down my bowl of berries before writing a note for the Eevee. With a smile and a whistle, I made my way off to my lab.

I was just opening the doors when Conner met up with me. "'Sup?" I waved my tail.

"Not much." He shrugged. "Any idea what the Princess wanted?"

"Judging by the full body shudders from last night," I tilted my head, "it's going to be a game changer of a doozie. But, that's an issue for when Leo gets back." I led Conner through the wardrobe, passing my work desk and going straight to the foundry.

We stopped beside my creation. I stood like a proud father, while Conner just stared at it.

His confused gaze turned to me. "What is this?"

"It's a leg!" I chirped.

"What? Why?!" Conner glanced between the prosthetic and me. "... Okay, stupid question, but how are you going to get it to work? I don't see any wires or lines you'd use to move this."

"Well, I've been getting better at controlling my fire. And all the parts are made from heat resistant metals..." I shrugged.

"Please tell me you're not thinking what I hope you're not thinking." Conner pleaded.

"You're not thinking what I hope you're not thinking." I smiled.

"No, I mean." The unevolved form face-pawed with a sigh. "Please don't tell me that you're going to graft that thing to you."

"Okay!" I began pulling the leg from its stand.

Conner watched as I lay it out on the foundry's edge. "Oh, good. Ya just need me to help you measure for the straps, right?"

"Nope!" I hopped into the foundry and placed my left shoulder against the cold metal. "We're going to graft this to me!" I pointed to a metal rod with a flat plate on one end. "Go grab that and push my leg in, will ya?"

Conner complied, shaking his head. "I can't believe I'm going along with this." He held the rod at the far end, leaning into it so that the flat plate wouldn't move.

"Great!" I called. "Now, no matter what, ignore any screaming." I took a deep breath.

"Ignore what?! Aren't you fireproof?!"

I breathed out flames.

[Vince]

I paused in my work, apple hanging from my mouth. "Hey, Cy?" I dropped the fruit into the waiting basket. "Do you hear that?"

The Jolteon tilted his head, ears twitching at attention. "Nope. Don't hear anything."

I shook my head. "Kinda sounds like sizzling meat, with a kettle whistle mixed in."

Cy shrugged. "Eh, I don't think it's something we need to worry about. Besides, with Applejack gone for the day, we've got to pick up the slack." He blurred away, slamming into the next tree in the row. I pushed the half full basket over as he raced past to grab the empty ones. "Knowing Applejack and her friends, she'll probably be gone for tomorrow as well. Might as well do the most for her now while we can."

"True." I sighed as I began picking up the fallen apples. Very quickly, I noticed that Cy was doing a faster job then I was. With a frown, I grabbed an empty basket and turned to the next tree. "I'm going to start on the next one."

"'Kay!"

I moved off, placing the basket as close to the tree before backing up. I gave the tree an appraising gaze before taking three steps to the left, closing my eyes, loosing my muscles, and blurring forward. I bounced back from the trunk and looked to the basket. There were still several apples on the ground, but I saw that many had fallen where I had wanted.

"Hey, Vince!" Cy called as he pulled his basket past my tree. "You finish up there, I'll get the next one going."

I glanced back at the scattered apples. "But..." I looked back to see that Cy had already pushed on. I took a moment to watch the evolved form. I watched Cy place his basket near the tree, step back, and rush forward. The apples fell with barely any reaching the basket.

So inefficient... I shook my head and got back to work. He could've picked these ones up while I got started over there.

"But you're splitting the work like this." I huffed as I finished picking up the apples. I paused to count the baskets we had. "Yo, Cy!"

I saw him placing his last apple into his basket. "Yeah?"

"I'm going to go get the sleds. We're almost out of baskets."

He waved. "Cool, I'm going to start grouping some of these full ones together."

I relaxed, and bolted for the start of the row. I stopped beside our sleds, a couple of full baskets on each. I grabbed the larger harness and looped it over a hook in the back of the other sled. I slipped into the other harness and began to pull. With creaks and groans, both sleds started to slide after me. And, slowly but surely, I began to to gain speed. I refused to slow down until I had rejoined Cy.

Working together, we loaded the full baskets onto the sleds, then began to pull our own towards the barn. All the while, we were silently relieved that Big Mac had given us a small enough number of baskets that pulling those sleds was hard, not impossible.

Soon enough, we were racing back to where we had left off, not feeling the sleds' weight.

[Zann]

"Oww." I groaned as Conner placed his healing paws carefully. I understood, he didn't want to touch the red-hot limb hanging from my side. I watched as the rod he had been using slowly bent where he had placed it against the foundry as the metal slowly cooled.

"I hope this was worth all this." Conner chewed his cheek as he pulled his paws away and examined his work. "You've burnt yourself down to the bone, and I wouldn't be surprised if you've killed some nerves." He stepped back to give me more room. He sighed. "Welp, let's see if this was worth it."

I let the metal leg take my weight before getting the organic ones under me. There were a few pops and cracks from the prosthetic settling, but everything held. I smiled, thinking back on all the dry runs that lead up to this part. "Alright." My smile gained a mischievous quality as I glanced at Conner. "Let's see if it will walk."

I started with my front right leg, moving my left hind leg a moment after. I let my right hind leg move as was my habit, then carefully leaned forward.

The fake leg slid forward to keep my balance.

With a grin, I started to slowly walk around the room. I limped over to my companion. "Yes!" I crowed. "It works!"

Conner blinked. "Wait, you mean you didn't even know if it would work?!"

"Nope." I leaned on the prosthetic as I placed my front right paw on his shoulder. "I worked out all the theory and figured out the working parts already. But there was always something missing: Actually using it. For example..." Placing my paw back on the ground, I shifted my weight off of the metal limb. I tried to lift it up, but I could only get it a couple inches off the floor. "I should be able to lift this up and place it onto your shoulder. Obviously, I will need to start working more on my fire control to actually do that, but..."

"Having that flexibility built in now means that you only need to go through this once." He blinked, than glared at me. "You don't have that needed level of fire control yet, don't you."

"Not at all." I agreed.

His glare almost evolved into the full move. "Don't you think that you should have gotten that done before you fucking welded that to your shoulder?!" He waved a paw at the metal contraption on my body. "You are going to have burn scars for months from this!"

"Equestrian, or Terran?"

"Does it fucking matter?!" He rubbed his muzzle in a facsimile of pinching the bridge of his nose. "Of course not, you just want to have some semblance of normal, right? Even as limited as it is now, it'll make traversing difficult terrain easier." He sighed. "I get it. This was a major project for you.

"So..." He placed a paw on my metal shoulder with a smile. "Congrats."

A Night at the Castle.

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I lay resting on a cushion in Rainbow's and my given room. We were expecting Twilight and the others to show up later in the day. Of course, that meant that we slept straight through the morning. At this point, the sun was starting it's daily descent.

"So," Rainbow frowned, "why do you want to keep the understanding part of our bond a secret?"

<<A couple of reasons.>> I gave my mare a tired smile. <<First off, we both know how Twilight can get with her "studies", and you can't fully understand me yet. Wouldn't it be better -and faster- for all involved if you could explain it properly to Twilight in one go?>>

"Yeah, makes sense." Rainbow shrugged. "The other thing?"

<<Isn't this ability kinda like Fluttershy's special talent? How would she take it?>> My smile was replaced by a frown as I gazed of to the side. <<I mean, aren't you kinda stepping on her... Paws, with this? How would you feel if, suddenly and without any prior indications, Spike just grew wings and could fly as fast as you?>>

"That would be awesome!" Rainbow's grin slowly faded as she contemplated my words. "But, wait. Him flying as fast as me without the hard work I put into my speed would ruffle my feathers." She frowned as she settled back onto her cushion. "And if he does put in that work... Okay, that's a good point. You're kinda smart for a dog."

<<I resemble that remark!>> I smirked. <<Truth be told, all of this is just instinct and intuition.>>

She lightly bopped my head with a hoof. "Okay then, Clever Hans, what do you suggest we do?"

<<We wait until you can properly understand me before you tell everyone except Joy. Joy we should tell right away in case she has any tips that could help with the first part.>>

Our ears tilted towards the hall as a far off door slammed shut. "Are you saying we should lie to our friends?"

<<No!>> I sat back with a rapid shake of my head. <<Never! We just need to tell them that we need to figure a few things out, and let them focus more on their own issues. Like the downsides to their Elements? They will need to come to terms with that as well, and, while having a Pack to fall back on would help, everyone can only deal with this kind of a thing in their own way.>> Rainbow nodded as someone knocked on our door.

"You awake yet, Dashie?" Pinkie's voice called from the other side.

"Yeah!" Rainbow yelled back. "Door's unlocked."

One by one, the rest of the Element Bearers filed into the room. They each pulled up a cushion, nervously trying getting comfortable. They each waited for someone else to speak first. I got up and made my way from the group.

"Where ya going, Leo?" Rainbow asked.

<<These rooms have a kitchen, right? I'm hungry and getting food.>> I paused at the door leading further into the suite we were given. <<Anyone else want some berries?>> I waited for Fluttershy to relay the message. Only Rainbow took me up on my offer.

I tried to eavesdrop from the counter as I filled a pair of bowls. Twilight broke the silence first.

"So, do you know why Luna summoned us up here, Rainbow?"

"Yeah. Although she wants to be the one to tell you guys."

"Does it have somethin' to do with Leo?" Applejack pressed.

I began carrying the bowls back to Rainbow as I heard her verbal shrug. "Eh, kinda? It mostly has to do with all of us. My part of it does deal with Leo, but that's more of a symptom of everything else Luna wants to go over."

"Which is?" Twilight asked.

<<Food's up!>> I barked, cutting off Rainbow's reply.

Fluttershy spoke up while Rainbow flew over to me to grab her bowl. "If Luna wants to tell us herself, then we should respect that. Besides, I don't think Rainbow can tell us Leo's part without telling us everything Luna wants to go over."

"Yeah, Flutter's got it." Rainbow readily agreed. I settled in to let the mares gossip and pass the time. Eventually, the sun set and the moon rose. Shortly after, the guard from the night before came to get us.

We made our way to the throne room, and the news Luna held within.

"... and that's the reason that We had gathered you here before us." Luna finished. "Again, these are just what my sister and I experienced. We do not know what gifts you may gain from the Elements, though Rainbow's Soul Bond with Leo suggests a similar grouping of gifts."

Luna had given a slightly more detailed speech than the one she gave Rainbow and I last night. Rainbow had asked Luna to give the basics of her gift and downside as she had gotten that already, and that Rainbow wanted to tell the others in her own time. While my prismatic mare had to interrupt the Princess of the Night, Luna understood her wishes and kept that part short.

Rarity had looked torn between face-hoofing or smacking Rainbow over, what she had seen as, Rainbow's minor scandal.

Now, the six mares sat digesting Luna's words. I lay across Rainbow's legs, snuggling into her barrel. I could see the worry flight across Joy's face, while Applejack seemed to be giving this the deepest thought. Pinkie was just being Pinkie about it.

"I understand if you have any questions or concerns, although I know that We can't monopolize your time. If you have anything to ask, you can send me a message via dragonfire." Luna gave a small smile. "For the now, you can spend the night in here in the castle and catch the morrow's first train." She leaned in and gave as much of us a hug as she could. "If nothing else, know that there are two ponies who understand what you are going through. Celestia and I are here if you need us. Do not hesitate to come to us for anything."

We stayed in her embrace for another hour, reluctant to leave. Unfortunately, we had to retire to our granted chambers. In the silence of the night, I could tell they were still coming to terms with these new changes.

I lay there, staring at the ceiling, when I felt Rainbow shift beside me.

"You still awake, Leo?"

<<Yeah.>>

"Do you think the rest of the Pack will help the others with this?"

<<Probably.>> I rolled over to look Rainbow in the eye. <<I can't speak for the others, but you mares have grown to be a part of us. I don't know what we would do if we were separated from you. We'd help you girls with anything you'd need, and, for me at least, we'd follow you through Tartarus if you'd only ask.>> I gave her muzzle a lick, smiling as the now sleeping mare's breath ruffled my fur.

Back to Town.

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I blinked awake as Rainbow placed me on the floor of Ponyville's train station.

<<We home already?>> I mumbled, shaking the rest of the sleep from my head. Rainbow nodded as the rest of the mares stepped off the train. <<What's yer plans for the day?>>

"I'm thinking..." Rainbow was interrupted by her own yawn. She addressed Twilight. "I'm thinking of stopping into the office and doing a bit of work, before headin' home for a nap. Just in case somepony needs me."

Twilight shrugged. "Fair enough. I'm sure everypony has things they need to do today."

"Yuperoonie!" Pinkie bounced past us. "I gotta get a 'Congratulations-on-Getting-Your-Leg-Back!' party ready for Zann!"

I gave the unnatural pony a slow blink. <<No one should be that chipper this early.>> I decided. <<I'm going to go touch base with the rest of the Pack, spend some time with them.>>

"Have fun!" Fluttershy called, Rainbow nodding behind her.

I jogged through the town, making a beeline to the library. I quickly passed my message on to Yomega, and Abes through him, filling them in on what had happened at the castle. I briefly stopped off at Rarity's to do the same, then bolted for the farm.

I made my way to what I've started thinking of as our testing area. I knew that the others would be there, after pausing to check my.... Loyalty radar? Yeah, lets call it that. I shook my head as I drew nearer to the clearing we scorched the hell out of. Wonder what story I'm going to be walking in on this time....

"Have you tried closing your mouth?" Vince asked as I entered the clearing.

"It might come out of his ears." Cy answered.

"What might come out of - oh fuck!?" I asked. I barely had time to duck as a burst of flame seared the air above me.

"... You okay, Leo?" Zann cautiously asked.

"Oh, I'm fine." I patted at the burnt fur on my back. "Just need a bit of seasoning.... What's all the fire for?" Cy nudged Zann's metal leg. "What did I miss?"

"This idiot here," Connor waved a paw at Zann, "thought that it would be a good idea to weld himself to a new leg."

I leaned to get a closer look at it. "Cool!" I glanced up at Zann. "Still doesn't tell me what the near roasting was for."

He gave an awkward shrug. "Figure if I can lace some of my own fire through the metal bits, I can force it to move."

"Cool." I repeated myself. "I've got something important to tell you. It has to do with RD and I leaving a couple of days ago. Y'see..."

"... And that's the gist of it." I finished. "Any questions, comments, queries or concerns?"

The others took a moment to think things over. Eventually, Zann spoke up. "We're never going to be able to hide from you next spring."

"What's next spring?" Vince asked as I groaned.

"Just for that," I smacked Zann's fake leg, "I'm targeting you next heat cycle." I looked around the clearing, taking in the multiple new scorch marks dotting the clearing. Zann's wardrobe proudly stood in the center of a particularly large patch of scorched earth. "So, working on your fire control?"

"Yeah." Zann replied. He watched Cy and Vince move off to Cy's training area. "We've figured out how to get it to burn from other areas outside of my mouth. I'm thinking a fresh eye could see something we've missed."

I nodded, stepping off to the side. "I'll Extreme Speed, see if I can catch something in the slo-mo."

"Ready when you are."

I fell back into our established system, raising my tail, dropping it a second before launching myself forward. I let out a giggle at the face Zann was making. Cheeks puffed out, brow furrowed in concentration, legs bracing against the strain, I wouldn't have been surprised if he was really trying to go "super". I watched as small licks of flame danced from the corners of his mouth and from where the metal met his flesh.

The flames almost seemed to ignite the fur, embers traveling in erratic patterns along the tips of his fur. I completed another circle when a series of fiery bursts snapped from the metal shoulder. Several flames grew from these bursts before lashing the metal limb and the air around Zann. With a yelp, I dodged away from the flaming lashes as Zann was forced off balance. His concentration ruined, he expelled the rest of his held flame in a single explosive breath.

I dug a few short divots as I skidded to a stop. I stared in awe at the tornado of fire our combined "attacks" made. It was, sadly, short lived, exposing the fire type at its center. Zann was staring up at the last few embers as they drifted away.

I stepped up beside him. Slowly, we both turned our heads and stared at each other, matching grins spreading across our muzzles.

"Awesome." I breathed.

A manic gleam appeared in Zann's eyes, one I'm sure was matched in mine. "... Let's do that again!"

"NO!" Vince popped up between us. "No! Not on the farm!"

Conner roughly shoved Zann over, looking over the prosthetic and the Flareon's shoulder. "The skin's burnt off again." He stated.

I focused on the medical Eevee. "The what burnt off?"

"I think we may have wielded the fake leg too far into Zann's healthy flesh." Conner gingerly placed a glowing paw on Zann's shoulder. "Every time I heal him up, I notice that his skin keeps trying to grow over the edge of the metal. It keeps charring off whenever he tries this." Conner stepped back with a weary sigh. "Right, that's the end of training for now. I think I'm all out of heals for the day. I'm going to head off for a nap."

I stepped around Vince to lean closer to Zann. I examined the shoulder joint, finding that Conner was right. "You didn't wait for this to properly heal, huh?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay." I sat back. "I've got a couple of ideas that might help. First off, take things easy for the next week or so. Let this heal up. And no cheating through Conner." I briefly glared at the larger canine. "Secondly, and this is just speculation here, maybe try something other than your fire? I don't think you can control something like this."

"Well," Zann sighed, "what would you suggest?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe try something like Metal Claw? You do now have a metal claw, after all." I smiled at the groans echoing around me.

The Squeezy!

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As much as I wanted to, I couldn't spend the time with Zann to repeat our fire tornado. Rainbow needed me to help with the various weather patterns being spewed from the Everfree. After a couple of weeks of dealing with the forest's shit, Rainbow and I rested within her office. We could hear the rest of the weather crew recuperating in the change rooms.

Why do they even have those, they don't wear clothes?

"Have you ever showered after a gym class?"

Yeah, and I remember Tommy trying to make a little... oh. I get it now. The cushion I ruined slipped out from under me as my aching muscles caused me to spasm. I looked over at the mare draping herself across her desk. <<What unholy mutation of a storm front will the fucking forest throw at us next?>> I groaned.

"'The mating trees'? 'Bad off clouds'?" Rainbow murmured, lifting the next week's work schedule from her face. "Oh, wait. Ya mean the Everfree?" I nodded. "That should be the last of it, assuming the last few years' pattern holds."

<<Oh, good.>> I rolled back onto the cushion. Laying on my back, I watched as my twitching legs caused my paws to flop about. <<Rainbow? I can't feel my anything. Is that normal?>>

"Hmmhm."

<<Oh, 'kay. Are we going to the spa later?>>

For a minute, only rustling paper was the only response. "... What?" Rainbow moaned. "Why would we want to do something so girly? All they do there is manedoes and hooficures. And that weird muddy mask thing. And hooficures."

<<Ya said that one already.>>

"I just hate ponies touching my hooves."

<<I know.>> I tried to roll back onto my stomach, but failed miserably. <<But that's not all that they do there.>>

"How would you know?"

<<I go there with Lulu sometimes. Lotus can work wonders with her hooves.>> I sighed. <<Anyways, they've got steam rooms, mineral baths, a couple of well trained masseuses. One the crew here works there as a masseur on his day's off.>>

"Really?" Rainbow shifted to look at me. "Who?"

<<Snowflake- no, wait. Whats-his-name, the big white guy with tiny wings?>>

"Bulk Biceps?"

"Yeah?" The stallion leaned in.

Rainbow looked over at him. "You work at the spa?"

"Yeah."

"You know that I don't go there, but I'm thinking I might give it a try." Rainbow gave me a tired glance. "Anything good for sore muscles?"

"Try the steam room and a massage." Bulk leaned against the doorjamb. "While the massage is decent for temporary relief, what you really want is the steam room. The moist heat helps relax muscles better than the dry heat of a sauna."

<<Ask if there's anything for pets.>> I groaned.

Rainbow rolled off her desk. "Anything for pets?"

"Yeah, but there's no deals going right now." The massive stallion stepped from the office. "Anyways, I'm on my way to the spa for a session. You wanna come with we?"

I managed to flop my way onto Rainbow's back. <<Onward, my noble steed.>>

"Sure, we're up for something new."

Rainbow and I lay on the massage tables doing our best to imitate puddles of goo. I have got to remember to thank Bulk somehow.... I rolled an eye to look at Rainbow.<<This was a good idea.>>

"Hmhmm." Rainbow nodded. "Why didn't I do this sooner?"

"Oh," A soft voice called, "hi Rainbow." Fluttershy stood in the doorway, with Lulu poking her own head in. "I didn't know you came here."

<<It's her first time here.>>

"We needed it after dealing with the Everfree's rogue weather." Rainbow agreed. "We followed Bulk's suggestion on what to do here. Really helps with the muscles."

Lulu chuckled. <<Well, damn. Guess you won that little bet.>>

I gave a languid wave at the evolved form. <<I'll collect my winnings later.>>

"What 'good reward'?" Rainbow asked.

<<We trade favors, mostly.>>

"And what did you win?" Rainbow ignored Fluttershy's lowercase stare.

<<She's gonna get me a shiny rock from the bottom of the pond.>>

Rainbow blinked. "But it's just a rock?"

I shrugged. <<So's a diamond, when you think about it.>>

"How long?" We both turned to Fluttershy. She was pointing a hoof at me, but was staring at Rainbow. "H-how long have you been able to...?"

Rainbow and I shared a look before the prismic mare answered. "Not for very long." Rainbow slid off the table and made her way to her friend. "I did want to tell you, but I wanted to wait until after dealing with this period of rogue weather. I was hoping to tell you during this cider season."

I blinked. <<You were going to wait until fall?>>

Fluttershy looked at me. "Cider season starts next week."

Rainbow nodded. "AJ ferments the barrels over the winter." She readdressed the yellow pegasus. "But I was seriously going to talk to you about this. Half of this is guess work for me. And I can only understand Leo." I hopped down and joined my mare at her side. "You remember the talk we had with Luna?"

"Yes?"

Rainbow scooped me up with a wing, placing me on her back. "We've got a Soul Bond. I don't know how, but we do." Rainbow placed a hoof onto Fluttershy's shoulder. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner." Rainbow pulled Fluttershy into a hug. "I need to ask, though. Can you help me get better at this? I don't want to step on your hooves with your special talent, but, since I'm stuck with this, I want to get the most out of it I can."

"I..." Fluttershy hesitated. I could tell Fluttershy was on the fence about this, so I hit her with my best attempt at a Baby-Doll Eyes. "... For a friend, yes. After cider season." She leaned back to look Rainbow in the eyes.

"Just please don't go making Soul Bonds with other animals without their permission..."

The week passed without incident, and I was racing Rainbow to Fluttershy's cottage. I blitzed to the door, stopping just shy of headbutting the thing. I gave a quick series of rapid knocking before Rainbow rocketed up into Fluttershy's bedroom. Conner managed to open the door as a squeal sounded from the above windows. We both looked up to see Rainbow pushing Fluttershy through the air. Hooking a paw around Conner, I threw him forward and hurriedly try to close the door. Pushing my head against Conner's rump, I launched myself into an Extreme Speed.

Using careful nudging, I was able to steer Conner to the line up at Sweet Apple Acres. When we needed to stop, I rushed around in front of Conner and spent a minute trying to decelerate. We were able to skid to a stop at the end of the line of tents.

<<Please don't do that to me again.>> Conner begged. He looked a little green, his fur still swept back from the wind. <<That was terrifying! How can you stand doing that all the time?>>

I shrugged. <<I'm used to it. What did it look like to you?>>

He gained a distant look in his eyes and began to hum. <<... I think I saw a box?>>

I raised an eye brow, but we were rejoined by Rainbow and Fluttershy. I decided to drop the topic in favor of curbing Rainbow's alternating complaints and over-blown complements of Applejack's cider. I spent the next five hours keeping Rainbow from annoying our neighbors in the line. We eventually managed to get to the front of the line.

Rainbow dropped her bits into the coin box. She eagerly looked to her upcoming mug, but, just as I expected, they ran out of cider. Granny gave back the bits Rainbow had given. While Applejack gave her apologies to the rest of the crowd, I did my best to soothe Rainbow's frayed nerves.

<<She has to have more for tomorrow, right?>>

"Nope, that's it for the month." Rainbow murmured to me, watching the crowd of disgruntled ponies begin to disperse.

<<That's bullshit!>>

"What?"

Pinkie hopped into view, Zann staying by her side. "I said 'this month's batch was perfection'!" She hooked a hoof around Rainbow shoulder. "And with Vince and Cy being able to help out, there'll be more for next month!"

I could see Rainbow starting to lose her cool when Pinkie's words filtered to her brain. "Hey... What if she had more than-"

She was cut off as what sounded like an ancient Oldsmobile honked its horn. Us canines all looked down the road in expectation.

The Brothers had arrived.

But... The Squeezy...

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Vince and Cy joined Conner, Zann and I as we watched the Brothers roll up the road. I quickly looked to see where Fluttershy and Rainbow were, and was disappointed to see them staying close.

Cra~ap. I sighed. Didn't expect this one so soon. How am I going to warn the others? I hopped onto Rainbow's back as the Cider Squeezy pulled to a stop.

Cy's fur bristled as they knocked over the fence post. <<Hey! How many cereal box tops did you fucks have to send in to get your licences?!>>

Vince leaned towards them, sniffing as he did so. <<They have an... off smell. I don't trust them.>>

<<Neither do I.>> I agreed as the brothers launched into their singing spiel. I tapped Rainbow's shoulder. <<I don't think you should buy what they're selling.>>

Rainbow bounced into the air, hoping for some quieter space. "What do you mean?"

<<Just that.>> My ear twitched as the brothers kept singing. <<Look, see how they're trying to whip the crowd up? They want them hanging on their every word. And their names! You ponies have very, uh, prophetic names.>> I gestured to the bare-faced brother as he picked up Apple Bloom. <<Their names are Flim Flam. They're a flimflam. They're running a fu->> I paused, remembering what she usually interprets that swear as. <<A scam. They're pulling the wool over everyone's eyes! Think about it: how long does it take the Apples to ferment their cider?>>

"Almost all winter..." I could see the gears turning in Rainbows head.

<<And they claim to be able to make cider instantly? Must be magic.>> I lay my head on top of Rainbows. <<Wonder what that does to the quality...>>

Just then, the mustachioed brother slid past us on a part of their machine. "More cider than you can drink in all you're days of thinking~."

"I doubt that!" Rainbow shot back, crossing her hooves. She rolled her eyes up to look at me as the crowd was swept up in the Brothers' song. "You really think so."

I eyed the Reckless Duo and their hard frowns. <<Yeah, yeah I do.>> I patted Rainbow on her head. <<Just,>> I sighed, <<just don't get too attached to the idea they're selling. Not until they prove they can deliver.>>

It was roughly at that point that Granny took her sip. Rainbow smirked at Granny's smile. "She seems to think they can."

<<I still don't trust them.>>

Soon enough, the con ponies attempted to give their broken bargain with the Apples and left for the day. Most of the crowd dispersed, but I could see some ponies gathered around. Probably hoping for more of the show... We all gathered around the Apples.

"What are we gonna do?" Apple Bloom asked.

<<What does she mean?>> Conner asked, looking to me.

Vince spoke up. <<They're going to run the farm out of business!>>

Fluttershy held a hoof to her face. "Is that true?" She addressed Applejack. "They want to run you off the farm?"

"If we don' take their crooked deal, yeah." Applejack nodded. "We may need t' sell some of our reserve if'n they take our customers."

"You have reserves?!" Rainbow cried. "Why haven't you ever sold them?"

"'Cause it's fer family and emergencies only!" The farmmare snapped. "Never mind th' fact most o' it has been sitting there for years. It's gotta be very potent by now, what hasn't been taken by th' Celestia's Share." She sighed. "It's a shame Mr. Rich's already taken his share to market. We won't see those bits fer a while yet."

Granny waved a hoof. "Eh, I wouldn't worry about it. I took a samplin' o' their cider, and I knew they weren't on th' level right then! Their cider's like two amorous rabbits in a canoe."

I chuckled along with the other canines as Twilight rubbed her chin. "It makes sense. Fermentation can be a finicky process at the best of times, even without magic. There have been several reports of ponies going blind from homemade alcohol, after all. And, while using magic to speed the process up is one of the safest of things one can do, relatively speaking, it does carry the risk of making already mundane problems worse." She shook her head. "I'd be interested to know how the Cider Squeezy was made. And what happened to its five thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine predecessors."

"Ah think tha' was just a gimmick there, Twi."

"Still, they run the risk of having severe issues crop up. Of which, an inedible product would be the best scenario."

<< O~h.>> Zann chuckled. <<Hey, Leo! I get it now.>> I saw his look of mirth get replaced by one of horror. <<Oh Arceus!>>

<<Yup.>>

Granny hoofed the cider she still had to Pinkie. "I know ya like our cider, how's this compare?"

Pinkie took the mug in hoof, sniffed it a few times, then took a gulp. After a few seconds of swishing it around, she let it fall back into the mug with a drawn out "Bleh." She then proceeded to upturn the mug itself. "Nope, not getting the Pinkie Seal of Approval." My ears twitched as the remainders of the crowd pass that tidbit around.

Cy bulled his way to the front. <<Fluttershy, I might have an idea. Could you pass it on to Applejack?>>

"Of course." The timid mare tapped Applejack on the shoulder. Once she had the farmare's attention, she began to translate.

<<You know that everypony in town likes your cider right? What if you make and sell little cider making kits? A few apples, some instructions on how to do it, a miniature set of equipment, sell it for twenty bits?>>

"An' they could just buy more apples to refill the kits." Applejack seemed to give it some thought. "What's stoppin' ponies from just makin' their own cider?"

<<The amount made from the kits should only be effectively enough for one pony to have maybe a couple of glasses. Not nearly enough for them to host a party. And, since it would still take time for it to ferment properly, you can sell the kits in the fall and still make money from your cider sales in the spring.>>

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah! And, since they would know that they have cider waiting for them at home, they won't be in a rush to get some! Meaning more cider for ponies like me, who don't or can't get here before you run out!"

Applejack nodded. "What do ya think, Twi?"

"It's doable." The purple mare allowed. "Still, there's always the issue of things like the blindness I brought up."

"That's an easy fix." Pinkie stated. "Just get them to Pinkie Swear to follow the instructions!"

<<You can't even follow instructions.>> Zann sighed.

"Plus," Pinkie nodded. "if I try it first, as a proof of concept type thingy, then other ponies would know to take it just as seriously!"

"So long as you follow the instructions." Rainbow deadpanned. "I've seen what you do with your Lego sets."

"But they're so boring!" Pinkie cried. "It's so much fun just making them up as you go. It's like being a master of you're own world!"

<<Down Pinkie.>> Zann tapped her with his metal paw. <<You're starting to get a Morgan Freeman complex.>>

The next day, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Conner and I were sitting on a bench outside the yellow pegasus' cottage. We were taking the time for Rainbow to practice understanding me by having me say tongue twisters and seeing if she could repeat them.

Surprisingly, it was Conner's idea.

<<She sells sea shells by the sea shore.>> I stated.

Rainbow scrunched up her muzzle. "She sells Shellders by the sea shore?"

I shook my head. <<She sell sea shells by the->> I turned to watch the Brothers ride towards the farm. <<They're back.>>

"She sells water shell's off their back?"

<<What?! No!>> I pointed to the road. <<The Brothers are back.>>

We all shared a look, before getting up and trotting into town. By the time we got there, the Brothers had already begun drumming up a crowd. They began to promote their cider, but the flowery words they used only made them sound like vaudeville peddlers hawking their wares.

Unfortunately for them, word had spread of Pinkie's review, and they barely sold a drop. Once it was clear that interest had died out, the Brothers had wisely packed up and left.

<<That was strangely anticlimactic.>> Conner stated. He gave me a glance from the corner of his eye. <<Think we need to have a group chat again?>>

I nodded. <<Tomorrow at the Daycare?>>

<<I'll pass it along.>>

We're All Just a Little Crazy.

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I lay in the Daycare, taking my turn with the eggs. I waited for the rest of the pack to deal with their errands for the day. I carefully turned one of Lulu's eggs while I reflected on possible evolutions.

Well, Yomega's practically a shoe in for an Espeon, I thought as I polished off some dust with my tail. What with him staying with Twilight. And Twilight's interactions with Abes prove that magic is pretty much psychic type.

"Okay, Conner?"

Eh, a normal type. I turned to Lulu's second egg and began inspecting it. He helps so many animals around here that I doubt any feelings he may or may not have for Fluttershy would matter very much.

"Fine then, Vince?"

I rolled the egg over as I did the same with my thoughts. Either a second Jolteon, considering the topaz in him, or an earth type.

"But the games never had an earth type-"

Don't mean that they don't exist. I turned the final of Lulu's eggs. As for myself, I'm hoping for either a Jolteon, or a flying type. I mean, yeah, I can feel the wind in my fur when I go fast enough, and I ride around on Rainbow all the time. Satisfied with Lulu's half of the eggs, I began to look over my own. But it's just an imitation of what I imagine flying under my own power would feel like. I paused in my inspection of my first egg. I want to soar side by side with Rainbow, race side by side with Rainbow, pull stunts with my mare. Fight under my master's command. I gave a happy sigh as I resumed looking over my first egg. I cooed at the red tinting, spending a little extra time on polishing it. A girl can dream... I settled my egg back as I wistfully stared off into space.

I didn't even notice when I was joined by Conner until he spoke. "Alright, my chores are done. We still waiting on the others?"

"Hmm?" I glanced at him. "Oh, yeah. The others should be here soonish."

Conner settled on the floor near me, watching as I continued my ministrations to my eggs. When I had finished, I joined him in looking out the door. With nothing better to do, my thoughts drifted to the sky. I imagined a rainbow contrail in the distance, pulling tight loops. In my mind's eye, it was joined with a pure blue one that intermixed with the more colorful one.

"What'cha thinking about?" Conner brought the blue contrail crashing to earth.

I sighed. "Just thinking."

"About?"

"Rainbow Dash." I sighed.

Conner gave me a nudge. "Anything specific, or just the mare in general?"

"Yes." I let my dopey smile speak for itself.

Conner gave me a small smirk. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say some-vee was in love..."

I gave him a small shove. "It's not that far-fetched. I was bi before coming here."

Conner nervously chuckled. "Yeah. I remember that one party where you got-"

"I thought we agreed to never speak of that again!" I hissed, feeling my face beginning to flush. "A-and anyway, I was only thinking of what I would do when I can fly with her."

"Sure. 'Fly" with her." Conner teased. "Because you already kinda do."

I smacked him on the back of the head. "You know I don't mean it like that!"

"There's still no flying types."

"That we know of." I shot back. "And don't you think that I haven't noticed the way you've been looking at Fluttershy, mister!" I stuck my snout in the air in my best attempt at a Canterlot noble. "First you leave me with an egg for that harlot, Lulu, and now that she's had your egg, you're already looking at next year's model!" I scoffed. "Have you no shame?"

Conner stammered with his own face aflame. Taking a breath, he finally gave me a valid response. "Like you're any better! First you run off with a pair of twins, then go for our Alpha?"

"Hah!" I turned my head away from him, but still letting him see my smile. "Crossing off a bucket list, and someone who can actually pay his egg support. Respectively." Our 'serious' demeanours broke with a fit of giggles. "In all seriousness, I do mean it about flying. I'm making it a goal, right here and now, that I will fly by Rainbow's side under my own power. And, no," I held a paw out to close Conner's mouth, "I don't mean that peddle-copter of Pinkie's." I felt... something, maybe determination, swell within my breast as I made my declaration.

"Ooh." Conner pulled away from my paw. "That gave me chills. Do it again!"

"Mufasa." I chuckled. We sat in silence for a while. Looking over a Conner, I had to get one last jab in. "So, when're you going to ask Joy out?"

"I need to work up the courage first." He replied absentmindedly. "Angel's already given his blessing."

"Wait, wait, wait!" I stared at Conner, "How did you get that ornery bastard to agree to that?!"

Conner glared. "He's not like that!" His tail lashed from one side to the other. "He can be very sweet when he warms up to ya."

"Angel Bunny." I stated. "The Demon Lagomorph, He Who Laughs in the Face of Antioch, First Sign of the Apocalypse, Herald of Kindness, Daemon Prince of the Dreaded Thirteenth Black Crusade. That Angel Bunny. Can be sweet?!"

"Oh, stop." Conner waved a paw. "You'll make him blush."

I shook my head. "That's it. Immersion broken. This has to be a dream. Everything is false, nothing is permitted. Reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold," I got up to stretch my legs, "bye!"

As the sun began its descent, a shadowy mist crawled its way into the Daycare, lazily forming the final member of the pack. Abes finished solidifying with a hearty yawn.

"Took ya long enough." Vince growled.

"Had a big bag t' go through last night." Abes murmured. "What're we all here for?"

"I called this one." I stated, bring the attention onto myself. "Just need to make sure everyone are on the same page with the timeline. Since you fucks've decided that I'm the archivist of the show's episodes..."

"Oh?" Yomega asked. "And where are we?"

"We just passed the episode with probably the longest name: The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy Six Thousand." I shrugged. "Things did not go according to the episode. And we didn't even need to do anything. Murphy threw us a bone on that one." Furrowing my brow in thought, I took a moment to remember the list. "Right, so. We've got 'Read It and Weep' queued up first. Rainbow breaks her wing and gets stuck in the hospital until it heals up." I saw everyone tense. "Relax. This is when she learns to love reading. I'm not letting her lose that joy." I waited for them to settle back down. Besides, she can hopefully teach me to read Equestrian.

"I think at least one of the others can teach you that."

Bah, I have a cool image to uphold. I shook my mind from its tangent. "After that will be 'Hearts and Hooves Day'. Basically Valentine's Day. The Crusaders will... Huh. That one might not actually happen. When are they going for their written exam, again?" I directed my question to Villhiem.

"Um, I think they said a couple of days after Hearts and Hooves?"

"Find out." Yomega ordered. "Just in case, what's supposed to happen, Leo?"

"They accidentally love poison Big Mac and Cheerilee." I held my paws up to hold back the outcries from the pack. "I know, I know. Apple Bloom should've learned her lesson with the Heart's Desire. All we'll need to do is keep Big Mac and Cheerilee from kissing, and the poison will wear off on its own. That said, I really don't think that that will happen anyways. They've all gotten a good lesson about meddling with strange potions and incantations from the summoning accident.

"Anyways, after that is a 'Friend in Deed', where Pinkie tries to befriend a cranky ass. Then there is 'Putting Your Hoof Down', where Fluttershy briefly becomes a bully and snaps herself out of it." I saw Conner frown. "After that is 'It's About Time', where Twilight learns how to stop worrying and love the bomb, er, future.

"Then there's the next really big one, 'Dragon Quest'." I looked at Yomega. "This one's in your court. The dragon migration will pass over or near Ponyville, and Rainbow will cause Spike to become antsy about his draconic heritage. Spike will leave to join the migration to learn about dragons first paw, while Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow will follow in a crappy costume to keep an eye on him. Short story, things go south in about a day, and Spike ends up defending himself and a phoenix egg from some teenage dragons and the mares are forced to stand with him.

"I, huh, I don't remember how that one ends." I saw worry flash through Yomega's eyes. "I do know that they all make it back, and Spike adopts Peewee."

"Who?" Lulu asked.

"The phoenix egg." I explained. "It hatches and Spike raises it for an indeterminate amount of time before giving it back to its parents."

"Good luck!" Zann draped his good foreleg over Yomega's shoulder. "If there's one thing I've learned from the Cakes, it's just how much of a pawful babies can be. And, unlike me, you're not fire proof!"

So, Three Speedsters Go to the Park...

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"You excited for today?" Rainbow asked, hoofing me my breakfast.

I squinted at the bowl in front of me, trying to remember what 'today' actually was. <<Izzit m' turn with th' eggs?>> A shallow saucer of coffee slid to a stop beside the bowl.

"Nope. That was yesterday." Rainbow chuckled. "Try again..."

<<Lessons with Joy?>>

"No."

<<Speed training?>> I could feel my brain get faster as the caffeine hit my system. <<It's not endurance training day, is it?>>

"That's tomorrow." Rainbow propped her head on a hoof. "I'll give you a hint: we have today off."

<<Uh-huh.>>

"... It's the weekend..."

<<Okay...>>

"... Meaning there's no school..."

<<Said the Weather Manager to the Mutant Canine...>>

"... The Crusaders aren't doing anything today, either..." Rainbow slowly leaned forward, almost as if she expected me to get it. Her eye's bored into mine as if they could force the revelation to come. I could feel my mind churning over these obvious hints as a single thought bubbled to the surface.

<<... I got nothin'.>> Rainbow's hoof slipped, causing her to faceplant. <<Should I?>>

"We're hangin' out with Scoots today!" Rainbow groaned into the table. "We're meeting up after I deposit my paycheck, remember."

I blinked owlishly at her. <<You get paid?>>

"Just start eating."

<<So, how are you going to explain you understanding me?>> I asked as we flew to the barracks.

"I'm not sure yet." Rainbow admitted. "I'm honestly hoping that she doesn't ask. I'd have to explain soul bonding, and the elements, and the dream seal thingy because that's how we found out about this. I'm not sure how much of this she'll understand. I mean, how do you tell a foal that her idol has 'problems'?"

<<By not hiding it, for one thing.>> I shrugged. <<And you'd be surprised by how smart children can be. And Scoots'd have ta be, she learned how to summon po- things. And that required a lot of reading.>>

"Ugh, egghead stuff."

<<Reading's awesome!>>

"Not you too." Rainbow groaned. "Why does everypony like reading so much?"

I scoffed. <<I liked reading for the legends and the fantasies. And for the history.>> I could feel the disbelieving eye Rainbow was giving me. <<Without the lessons gained from history, we are doomed to repeat it. And, besides, you've dealt with two things from 'a thousand years ago'. What else is there waiting to be released from that time that we don't know about?>>

"Eh, I'm sure Twilight already knows about them." Rainbow waved a hoof as we landed outside the barracks.

<<Look, I won't push you into doing so, but you should try reading at some point. You might like it.>> I suggested, hopping off of the pegasus' head.

"Like the massages at the spa?" Rainbow cocked an eyebrow.

I just smirked. We approached the two guards standing watch over the main doors. One of them, seeing us coming, poked his head into the barracks, most likely calling for Scoots. Soon enough, she came buzzing out the door, dragging her scooter behind her.

"Hey, Rainbow!" She smiled, making her way over. Plunking her helmet on her head, she rode up beside us. I stepped up to her left as Rainbow hovered on her right. Scootaloo looked between the two of us. "So, what're we doing today?"

Rainbow began to lead us of at a 'sedate' pace. "I'm thinking of just heading to the park, toss a frisbee around, maybe see if you've got any new stunts...?"

"Not really." Scoots sighed. "Been so busy with the summoning lessons from Runic, I haven't really had the time to practice." Though she tried to hide it, Rainbow and I picked up on her slight slump.

<<I think that she's worried that she's disappointing you by not flying.>> I guessed.

Rainbow glanced at me before hovering closer to her number one fan. "Hey, it's no biggie. If you want to trade stunt riding for awesome summoning, I'm not going to hold you back! And, hey, you might be able to mix the two!"

<<Yeah!>> I bounced onto the scooter. <<Isn't there any summons you can ride?>>

I saw Scoots mind start to wonder after Rainbow translated my question. "I think so." A gleam of excitement entered her eyes. "I think that there are some that I can ride on that fly!"

"All the more reason for you to earn your licence!" Rainbow cheered. "Speaking of, what's all left to do?"

"Well," Scootaloo slowed in thought, "there's the written test I need to pass. It's mostly on the Rules of Summoning and the various laws about them in different countries." Catching our confused looks, she elaborated. "Everyone who wants to learn summoning gets their basics here in Equestria. They figure Celestia will be powerful enough to help clamp down on the worst of beginner's accidents. Plus, by having ponies learn, say, Minos summoning laws will help us get a hoof up if we decide to work or go there.

"Anyways, after that, we're going to see if we can bond a summon to us. It's the entrance exam to the Summoners Circle in the university." Scoots shrugged. "Just in case we want to go that route. Sweetie wants to, but Apple Bloom wants to use her summons on the farm."

"And you?"

"I'm not sure yet." Scoots pulled to a stop at the park's edge. "Either way, we need to wait about a year and a month before we are old enough to apply for the Circle anyways, so I've got time to think about it."

<<Wait, what did ya mean about bonding to a summon?>> I asked through Rainbow.

Scoots hung her helmet off her handlebars. "Basically, a bonded summon will always be called when its ritual is used. Porter and Gemini are both bonded to Runic, for example. How you go about making the bond is different from summon to summon, even between two summons of the same type. One Koikingu might just want a fancy fish tank, while another may only bond after being beaten into submission."

Rainbow gave the younger pegasus a worried look. "Isn't that a little, eh, violent?"

"They're just constructs of elemental mana, Rainbow." Scoots tilted her head. "They can get hostile, yeah, but they don't really know what they're doing."

I nervously looked at the young filly. I wouldn't be too sure about that. I thought to myself as Rainbow shrugged. I let my worries fade as the prismic mare pulled out the frisbee and let it fly. After all, they could be right and I wasn't going to let my own musings get in the way of our fun.

Leo Lancer and the Reading Rainbow.

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The next few days passed in a routine blur. With our work done for the day, Rainbow and I were walking through the town square to our favourite practicing spot. I cast my eyes around at the new decorations marking the stalls with a slight scowl. There wasn't anything extravagant, but it seemed like every place of business was getting on board the Hearts and Hooves Day hype train.

At least it's only a week or so off. I shook my head. Not like how it was back home. Advertising at least a moon ahead for Thanksgiving, and then riding the fucking holidays right through Valentine's Day... Fuck, the materialism of humans went way too far. I glanced at the horizon. How'd my cousin say it? Oh, right: 'I wish the world really was flat, then I could just yeet myself off the edge.'

"The hell does that word even mean?"

I don't know, wasn't my generation.

"But, you're first gen, right?"

I smiled. Eh, that's a good one! I put my pessimistic thoughts to the side as Rainbow held a hoof out in front of me.

Once she was sure she had my attention, she pointed of down a side street. "Isn't that Thunderlane?"

I squinted. <<Yeah, that is.>> I looked a little closer and saw something on his back. <<Oh, who's the chocolate for?>>

Rainbow and I shared a look, matching grins spread across our faces. "Let's find out!" With that goal set, we made our way to the nervous stallion. Rainbow spoke up as we drew near. "Hey, Thunderlane! What'cha got there?"

Re~al subtle there, Rainbow...

The stallion in question jumped about a foot into the air, fumbling to keep his cargo balanced. Once the heart shaped box was secure, he turned to us with a strained smile. "Oh, hey, uh, f-fancy meeting you here. Nice weather today, huh?"

I snickered as Rainbow replied. "Yeah, it's almost like we made it."

"Oh, uh, right." Thunderlane carefully took a step back. "You guys, um, out shopping for a special somepony?"

"Nope." Rainbow shook her head with a smile. "Don't got one. No pony can really keep up with me, anyways. Living too much in the fast lane." She pointed at the box on his back. "Who are you shopping for?"

Thunderlane began to blush while trying to avoid eye contact. "...Moon Dancer..." He mumbled out.

"Sorry, couldn't catch that." Rainbow tilted her ears forward.

"Moon Dancer..." He mumbled again, his blush growing.

Rainbow and I shared a look. "You've been taking lessons from Fluttershy? Ya gotta speak up, colt!"

"Moon Dancer!" Thunderlane managed to squeak out. I started yipping and ran under him, causing him to freeze up. "... She's behind me, isn't she?"

"Nope." Rainbow said through her chuckles.

"Oh good," he sighed, "I was worried for a moment there."

"If you don't have the Purdy's Daffodils, you should be." Twilight stated, trotting past with me on her back. "They're her favourite."

Thunderlane's pupils shrunk to pinpricks. "Oh, crabapples." He swore, before booking it down the street.

I hopped from Twilight's back to Rainbow's as the lavender mare excused herself to continue her errands. Rainbow and I continued on to the town's outskirts.

Once we reached our favourite workout clearing, we began our warm up routine. since I had less muscles to stretch out, I was finished first. I shook out my fur as I eyed the trees to determine the one I wanted to use for today's exercises. I settled on one that appeared to have the most branches, figuring that I would work on my evasion today. I bolted to the top of the tree, dodging around the branches with as small a margin as I could, before free falling back down through the wooden mass.

Several passes later, I decided to switch trees. In mid-fall, I launched myself off the bark of the tree I was using with a crack, smashing through a thin branch on my target tree. Noting the falling branch end, I tried to strip the leaves off the branch as it fell. I managed to get most of the ten leaves when a sickening crack resounded through the air. I looked around, finally seeing our small audience, but I ignored them in favor for the groaning mound of cyan fur and feathers.

<<Rainbow!>> I cried rushing to her side. I carefully nudged her muzzle, slipping under a foreleg as I did so. <<Rainbow, stay with me Rainbow. Please stay awake. The medical ponies are on their way>> I whimpered as my mare's eyes briefly flickered open. I stayed by her side, Flailing against the medical ponies when they tried to remove me.

I lay at Rainbow's side as she tried to pass the time. We knew that we would be stuck here for a few days while the healing magic worked on Rainbow's wing. Said wing had been numbed so that she wouldn't unconsciously move it and disrupt the mending mana.

I watched as the ball bounced out of Rainbow's reach. I could feel her glare start to burn into my back.

"Well?" Rainbow growled. "You gonna fetch?"

<<Nope.>> I chirped. <<I just know that the moment that I leave this bed, is the moment that the orderlies kick me out.>>

"Really?" Rainbow deadpanned.

<<Almost everyone here is a unicorn or an earth pony.>> I glanced at Rainbow. <<While I can run circles around the earth ponies all day, I know that they'll only need one unicorn to remove me.>> I flopped my head against Rainbow's barrel. <<... I hate psychic types.>>

Rainbow snorted as she began rubbing my head. "So, what else can I do?"

Our neighbor gave his muffled opinion, but his bandages made it impossible to understand.

<<There's always that book...?>> I pressed. Rainbow shot me another glare. <<Hey, it's something to pass the time. Besides you can always just read it to me. I really want to know why Twilight would recommend it.>>

Rainbow leaned down to whisper. "I thought you said you could read?"

<<Not Equish.>> I looked up at her. <<Please, Rainbow. For me?>>

With a drawn out 'fine', Rainbow dug out the book, and began to read. I could be biased, but I think she has a fantastic reading voice. The mummy in the room seemed to think so, although he could've just been bored. Rainbow quickly found herself engrossed in the book, to the point that I had to poke her a couple of times so that she would keep reading out loud. Sadly, we were interrupted far too soon. Twilight and Fluttershy came by with what I assumed to be the pony equivalent to Battleship. I could see Rainbow quickly grow frustrated that her friends weren't leaving us so that she could keep reading.

Before she could throw the game, I took things into my own paws. Holding the book carefully in my mouth, I let my tail sadly tamp against the mattress, letting out the most pathetic whimper that I could.

"Oh," Fluttershy rose a hoof to cover her slight smile, "Did we interrupt something?"

Rainbow leaned back, affecting a nonchalant attitude. "Eh, she wouldn't quit bugging me until I read it to her." She chuckled. "Now she won't let me stop."

Twilight glanced at me with a knowing look. "Right, she doesn't want to stop. Well, this is only the first book in the series, and I do have the rest of the series back at the library..." She let the words hang. "If she wants you to, you can always borrow the rest from me. We, I mean, she and I could always trade theories."

Fluttershy and Twilight shared a look, before the timid mare spoke up. "I guess we'll just forfeit this game so that you two can get back to this. Do you mind if Rarity, Pinkie and Applejack join you for dinner? I can ask them to be quick so that you can keep reading... to Leo." She added the last two words almost like an afterthought.

"Sure." Rainbow agreed. "Though I don't know how long she'll give me to eat." She weakly chuckled. She turned to me after the two mares left. "Great idea, playing distraction. They didn't suspect a thing!"

Sure they didn't. I thought as I settled in for more story time. I could've sworn that our roommate rolled his eyes.

It was the day after Rainbow was released, and I stopped her from breaking into the hospital with a reminder of Twilight's promise. Now, in the early morning hours, we were standing outside Golden Oaks' door.

"... And our workout routine? Where are we going to fit reading into that?" Rainbow fretted. She wasn't actually trying to prevent us from reading, only from entering the library.

<<If nothing else, we could just find time before bed.>>

"But what if she doesn't have the next book?"

I arched an eyebrow at that. <<Twilight, the Queen of all Eggheads, won't have a book from a series she likes?>> I scoffed. <<Small wonder why you're still just the Knave.>>

"Hey!" Rainbow barked.

"Hey, yourself." Spike said, leaning against the door frame, one claw behind his back. "You gonna come in, or just keep stalling all day?"

"Um, yeah." Rainbow coughed in embarrassment. "Actually, I'm just here for a book, I'll be out of your scales in just a moment. I- we really want to finish it and... Yeah."

"Uhuh." Spike wasn't fooled. "You don't read books, you're an athlete. You have to be an impostor. Don't know how you fooled Leo, but-"

"Gah!" Rainbow almost choked on her frustration. "I just want to know how Daring gets out of Ahuizotl's death trap and gets away with the Statue!" She nearly yelled. Spike and I smirked as her brain caught up with her words. "Uh, I mean, um, Leo wants to know, and..." I watched as Rainbow's final defensive walls crumbled away. "Oh, buck it. I couldn't put the book down at the hospital, and I need to know how it ends. The fact that Leo likes them is a bonus."

"See," Spike said as he moved his hidden claw, and the coveted book, into view, "that wasn't so hard. And, once you've finished this series, I've got a couple of others I could recommend to you, too."

Rainbow sighed as she carefully retrieved the book. "Yeah, yeah. Rub it in."

<<Like the massages I got you to try.>> Rainbow lightly smacked me with her tail, since she couldn't tell me to shut up.

Dog Days: Love Sick

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[Abes]

I woke up feeling dizzy and in a cold sweat. Leaning against the wall to steady myself, I crawled my way into a standing position. Taking a moment to let the nausea pass, I carefully opened the closet door. I immediately regretted that decision as the morning sun speared through the window and into my eyes. Wincing in pain, I tried waiting for my eyes to adjust. Sadly, my patience gave out first. Stepping carefully through the room, I kept my eyes squinted shut.

This caused me to walk face first into the door.

"Can't you do things that don't hurt us?"

I glared at the door, before using my telekinesis to turn the handle. I barely managed to open it when a lance of pain hit my brain. Ow, fuck. The hell is wrong with me? I was most of the way down the stairs when another thought hit me. Great Arceus, I hope I'm not in heat!

"Relax, you're not in heat. You can actually think straight, for one thing."

Good to know. I paused at the base of the stairs. Um, question? How would I know what being in heat is like?

"Hey, we saw how Leo was acting." I continued on to the basement stairs. "All I did was put two and two and two together."

And your total was...?

"Three twos."

Be more helpful! I mentally snapped as I finally reached the basement. I slunk my way to a random tunnel, popping up near the market. I managed to take a few steps before I was blindsided by the amount of hearts. I quickly staggered into a bush and dry heaved for a bit. Right, I thought with a groan, avoiding the market today.

I staggered from the bush, beelining to the park. Once there, I stopped to rest on one of the benches. I took a moment to look around the area, watching as couples went about their dates for the day. Each one I saw gave me a twinge of indigestion.

I heard the bench creak as more weight was added to it. I looked over to see that Lulu had made herself at home.

"Fancy seeing you out and about." She leaned towards me. "And on today of all days."

"What day is it?" I groaned out.

"Why, Hearts and Hooves Day, darling." Lulu winked at me "You got your eye on some one special?"

"No." I grunted out as I fought back another wave of nausea.

Lulu expression shifted from coy to concerned. "You don't look very well. What's wrong?"

"Dunno." I sighed. "Woke up like this. I'mma take a walk to Joy's and see Conner about this." I slid off the bench and took a couple of staggered steps before I felt something wet press against me.

"Here, darling, let me help." Lulu offered. With her keeping me steady, we made good time to Fluttershy's. Strangely, the further we got from town, the better I felt, to the point where I could cross the bridge without using Lulu for support.

"Hey, Conner," I called, "Ya in?"

Lulu squinted at the door. "It looks like there's a note..."

Grumbling under my breath, I pulled the piece of parchment from where it had been taped. "Sorry, gone to town, will be gone for the day. Please come back tomorrow, if that's okay with you. Sorry." I read aloud. I carefully placed the note back on the door. "Ya know what? Fine." I turned to address the water type. "I'm going to spend some time in the woods. I won't be back until this evening. I won't be going very far in, maybe hang around the memorial."

I stormed off, growling to myself. Stupid dark typing. Stupid pony holidays making me sick.

"Hearth's Warming didn't."

I paused in my march. Huh, so it didn't. Weird.

[Villhiem]

I waited while the Crusaders set up their circles. They had to wait for Runic to arrive before they could summon anything. Silver sat beside me, the hood of her grey hoodie pulled up.

"So," Silver spoke up, "what's the plan, again?"

"Well, we really wanted to make this Hearts and Hooves Day special." Sweetie began.

Scootaloo continued while triple checking the circles. "And Runic mentioned these summons called Lovecus, so we got permission to summon a few to populate the fountain."

"We jus' need to wait fer Runic to get here." Apple Bloom checked over the recipe again. "He wants to summon one as well."

Silver and I shared a look. "So, how do you expect things to go wrong this time?" The grey filly asked.

"We summon in some sort of shark." The Crusaders chorused.

Movement caught my eye. Looking over, I could see Lulu leading Abes away. Poor guy doesn't look too good. Maybe I should check up on him.

"Eh, I think he's going to Fluttershy's. He'll be fine."

if you say so... I tuned back into the Crusaders' conversion.

Apple Bloom chuckled. "Could ya imagine if we just tried to make two ponies day special instead of this?"

Scootaloo snorted. "Knowing our luck, we'd end up poisoning somepony."

Silver gave a week chuckle. "And who would your unlucky victims be?"

"Well, maybe Cheerilee. She's done a lot for us all over the months." Sweetie paused in thought. "I don't think she has a special somepony, yet. As for who we'd pair her with..." Sweetie stepped around the circles to tap Apple Bloom on the shoulder. "Do you know if Big Mac has somepony special?"

"And that's where we end this." The farm filly insisted.

"End what?" Runic asked, walking around the fountain.

<<Don't worry about it.>> I sighed as the girls giggled.

"Right, right." The stallion waved a hoof. He looked at the current set up. "Ah, good. I see you've set a circle up for me already. My thanks." He held up his bag. "Shall we?"

While the summoners chanted, I watched Silver. I could see that she was interested in what the fillies were doing, but I don't think she has the interest to start learning herself. I saw her flinch at the flash that accompanies a successful summon.

With whispered instructions, the summoners let their pink, heart-shaped summons hop into the fountain. As a group, we all stepped back to see if the Crusaders' -plus grown stallion's- work would pay off. We didn't have to wait long before the first couple approached the fountain. As soon as they got close, the four Luvdiscs began to jump and splash.

Soon enough, the fountain became a hot spot for lovers. We all stayed to watch over the summons well into the evening. I could feel something bubbling up inside me.

Can you see what's happening... I began to sing in my head, enjoying the atmosphere.

"If Only, If Only." The Mockingbird Cried.

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I lay on my patched up pillow, watching Rainbow toil away at her most dreaded enemy. The paper work monster had grown, and needed to be culled back. I would help, but obvious problems prevented me from doing more then providing silent support.

You never really think about how much paperwork needs to be done at the manager position. I mused.

"It's so boring. Hard to imagine anypony, let alone Rainbow, would willingly submit themselves to this torture."

Better paycheck. I mentally concluded. An ear swiveled to the door as I listened to somepony's approaching hoof falls. Rainbow jumped as they knocked on the door. I rushed around, grabbing the papers that had been knocked over as Rainbow got her heart back under control.

"Come in!" She called, pushing the form she had been working on to the side. I placed the small pile I had gathered onto Rainbow's desk as Scootaloo pushed the door open. "Oh hey, Squirt, what's up?"

The filly looked over the pile of resting on the edge of the desk. I hopped to the floor as she asked, "Are you guys busy?"

"Not at all." Rainbow leaned back in her chair.

<<I can't believe you said that with a straight face.>> I retorted.

"Oh, okay." Scootaloo cast a dubious eye over the desk. "I'm not sure if you know this, but we're going for our test tomorrow. Mom just found out that she won't be able to come with me, and I need a parent or trusted guardian to observe the testing." She rubbed the back of her head. "I know that this is pretty short notice, but I was wondering if you'd like to come?"

I nodded as Rainbow gave the filly a smile. "We'd love to come!"

"Great!" Scootaloo cheered, buzzing over to the desk. She pulled a small stack of papers from her hammerspace and plopped it in front of Rainbow. "You're going to need to sign this."

Rainbow actually took her time reading the forms before sighing them. We watched as Scootaloo rushed from the office, her squeals fading into the distance.

I lay down in my current spot. <<She really looks up to you.>>

"I know."

<<You think that it will affect what her bonded summon will be?>>

"It'd affect her no matter where I am. We're pretty close, after all." She got up from her desk and hovered her way to the door. Poking her head out, she called to somepony down the hall. "Yo, Thunderlane! Come here a sec!" She hovered back to her seat.

The black furred stallion leaned his head in. "Yeah?"

"Something's come up, very short notice. Going to be up in Canterlot for the next few days." She rummaged through her papers. "Oh, where is it?' She muttered to herself. She glanced at Thunderlane. "As soon as I find the weather schedule, you can see what needs to be covered by Leo and I leaving."

<<You put it in the the top right drawer, to avoid just this.>>

Thunderlane fully entered the office. "You're right, we're going to need to work hard to cover for our littlest worker."

"Just for Leo?" Rainbow playfully teased, finally pulling the schedule from the desk. "Anyways, we should be gone for a week at most. If we have to stay longer, I'll have a letter sent."

"They usually take a while to get here." Thunderlane mused, taking the schedule from Rainbow.

"Not when you've got a dragon like Spike." Rainbow smirked. "I'll send it to Moon Dancer. Speaking of, I need to finish this," she waved a hoof at the paper cluttering the desk, "and go let her know."

"How do you know Twilight and Spike will even be going?" Thunder asked as he started to leave the office.

"If I know her as well as I think I do," Rainbow propped her head on a hoof, "she'll want to be there for her first students." With that she slammed the drawer shut. Everyone paused as the stacks of paper fell off the side of the desk, covering me in an avalanche of paperwork.

We had all boarded the train the next morning. Fluttershy was filling in for Applejack since they couldn't spare anyone else from the farm, although Vince was subbing in for Conner. The unevolved farm dog lay curled next to Apple Bloom and Villhiem. Lulu and Rarity were fussing over Sweetie's looks, much to the filly's chagrin. Rainbow and I where reading the next Daring Do while Scootaloo pored over her notes and formulas. Runic sat with Gemini, Porter blinking into and out of existence. The Abra was carrying what I assumed was forms, schedules and other such paperwork.

For the most part, the ride was uneventful. The only break Rainbow and I took from our reading was to check up on Scootaloo, making sure she wasn't nervous. When we asked her what the notes were on, she just said that was for her bonded summon, but wouldn't give us more then that.

As soon as the train pulled into the station, we made a beeline for the university. The Crusaders only had a couple of hours before their written exam, after all. Once there, Runic led us to a small amphitheater. The three fillies were asked to sit at three different desks, while we were placed among the upper seating. Runic introduced the three adjudicators, then had to retire from the room.

For the next four hours, we waited. Whenever any of the fillies would glance our way, we would give them smiles and nods of encouragement. The whole ordeal was quite boring, from my point of view, but I still avoided causing a scene.

After the four hours were up, the adjudicators took the papers from the Crusaders. Dismissing them, they told them to return the next day to learn the results. If they passed, then they would be allowed to attempt their bonding.

We were given the same room in the castle we always were. The fillies were almost too anxious to sleep, but one furtive use of Sleep Powder helped them relax. The next morning, we were treated to a simple breakfast. We whiled away the morning until we were collected by a guard named Morning Light. She led us to back to the examination room from the day before.

The three fillies were lined up in front of the adjudicators from the day before. The rest of us, Morning lead to seats beside Runic Gears, having us file past. The adjudicators sat at a raised desk, sternly glaring down at the fillies.

"Don't worry." Runic murmured to us as we passed him. "This is just a scare tactic. They want to impress their next words firmly into their memory. We all get this treatment."

He was silenced by the middle adjudicator, Steel Circle, tapping the three tests on her desk. "You three have shown promise. You've previously demonstrated your practical skill, and have given us a sample of your theoretical ability. But promise and so called skill will get you nowhere here." She bluntly stated. With swift, deft movements, she tore up the tests. The fillies couldn't help but give small cries of protest. She slammed her hoof onto the desk, silencing the fillies. "There isn't room in this University, nor on Equis, for three little Icurasi. You are going to burn your wings. You will buck up eventually. And when you do, you will be destroyed by the very forces you've dared to bend to your will.

"And we will be forced to put you all down like the beasts you will be!" She glared at the three cowering fillies. Steel let the silence grow. She slowly stood. "There is no place for you here." She pointed a hoof to the door. "Leave, and maybe I will forget your arrogance."

I saw Sweetie silently weeping. Apple Bloom was shaking, whether in anger or sorrow, I didn't know. But Scootaloo, she had a hardened glare. None of them broke for the door.

"I see." Steel stated. "Fine then." She sat back.

The adjudicator to her left pulling out a stack of papers. He floated them in his aura. He split them into three smaller stacks, hovering them in front of each filly.

Steel nodded. "You've passed the final test. Congratulations. Though you are too young to officially join the University, you have passed the threshold in practical skill, theoretical knowledge, and willful resolve to attempt your first bonding." She rapped a hoof against her desk. "You are a couple of years younger then most who attempt their bonding; I will give you the same warning we give everypony at this point. I implore your young minds to heed it well.

"What we do, what every summoner does, is not natural. These are not some other planar beasts we summon. Nor are they truly elementals. They are something in between. For all of our years of studying, we still don't know just what they are, or what they can do. You are advised to use the utmost caution in every summoning.

"Remember, attempting to bond a summon is entirely optional for you at this point." Steel smiled for the first time since we'd first seen her. "Apple Bloom, if you so choose, you are to be here tomorrow at noon to make your attempt. Sweetie Belle, you will the day after at the same time. And, finally, Scootaloo, you will be the day after that." She placed her hooves together as if to mimic a human steepling their fingers. "I look forward to seeing what you will bring to our world."

Earthen Resolve.

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[Third]

Apple Bloom sat outside the room, nervously checking over her reagents. She was sure she had enough, and Runic said that the University would provide the circle, so she just needed to wait for them to be ready for her.

She knew that they would be surprised with her choice of summon. Most stop at the second tier of the family Apple Bloom had chosen. Those are nice and mostly docile, even helpful. Quick to spring to action when a command is given, often going beyond what is expected. How could such sweet helpful creatures become their third tier?

Large, strong and stubborn, few summoners dare even attempt summoning one of these. Once they've decided they want to go somewhere, they will go there, even if something is in the way. Benches, market stalls, houses, if it's in the way, it's soon to be trash. The book she found this recipe in even had a story where one trampled a battalion of guardsponies because it wanted to sleep in the palace. And when it decides to dig in, nothing can make it move. Not high tide, not a raging lightingstorm, not even an earthquake.

Not even said battalion of guards.

Apple Bloom gave a weak giggle. She nervously stared at her bag. This is a crazy idea. She thought to herself. Insane! It just don' plum make sense! Her hoof tightened around the bag. So of course I'll do it! I'm a Cutie Mark Crusader, and I've done crazier than this before! She nodded, envisioning the summon in her head. It would be big.

And wide.

And Big.

And sturdy.

Bigger then Big Mac!

... Better check this one more time.

The door popped open before the filly could re-reopen her bag. Runic poked his head out, gave her a smile and leaned down to be on eye level with the farm filly.

"You ready?" He murmured.

"Not really." Apple Bloom admitted. "But I ain't gettin' any readier, so..."

Runic snorted. "Ah, yes. I was just the same for my first bonding." He glared at Porter. "Someone found my Displacia very humorous. Anyways," he readdressed the filly, "remember, we have an ice elemental ready like you asked."

Hopefully I won't need to use the back up. Apple Bloom nodded.

Runic led her back into the dreaded auditorium. Gone were the chairs and desks, the rising steps lowered into the floor to make a single smooth surface. Shutters that had been closed and hidden the last two days were now open, allowing Steel Circle to observe the ritual, a large polar bear like summon standing behind her. After a few more words of encouragement, Runic had Porter pop him in beside Steel.

He landed upside-down and two feet left from where he wanted, but he was on the safe side of the glass.

Nodding to Runic as he untangled himself, Steel tapped a hoof against a small crystal. "You may begin when ready." Her voice crackled beside Apple Bloom.

Taking a deep breath, Apple Bloom pushed her nerve to the side with the exhale, and began to place the items around the large circle. Several piles of wood bark from the many trees of Sweet Apple Acres found themselves placed beside the finest sands Twilight had managed to get for the Crusaders. Apple seeds, hazelnuts, acorns and pine cones that had been crushed with sandstone, limestone, chert, and greywacke pebbles, supplied by Pinkie, were carefully poured into piles in the appropriate spots. Shavings of blue ice, carefully preserved, were scattered separately amongst the piles. The Circle itself dominated the floor. Obviously, it was there for summons like the one she had planned.

With the reagents in place, the circle unbroken, and her empty bag kicked off to side so that it was out of the way, Apple Bloom nodded. With a final sigh, she closed her eyes, and began to chant.

"Hypzl, Nbhykphu vm aol Nshkl.
Hypzl, Jopskl vm aol Tvbuahpuz
huk Wyvnluf vm aol Ayllz.
Hypzl, Nylha Ilhza vm Dvvk huk Lhyao.

Ollk tf jhss, huk ollk tf jvtthukz.
P jhss fvb mvyao av sluk tl aof hpk.
P jhss bwvu fvb, hz h Svyk jhssz bwvu aolpy Chzzhs.

P ipuk fvb av tf dpss dpao Aybl Pjl,
zv aoha tf jvtthukz dpss il buiyvrlu.
P sluk zbjjvy dpao Fnnkyhzps,
zv aoha fvb thf ulcly mhss.
P npma fvb dpao aol zaylunao vm aol Dvysk'z Olhya,
zv aoha fvb thf jvtwslal fvby ahzrz.

Jvtl av tl, Zwpypa vm aol Jvuapulua!"

The harsh words rolled off her tongue with practiced ease. As the last guttural tone crossed her lips, Apple Bloom opened her eyes, only to squint them in the harsh light of the summoning. With a thundering crash of displaced air, the light vanished, revealing the summon in its place.

Four thick brown legs with grey, rock-like toes supported a truly massive body, jutting out from an impressively thick shell. In fact, for the longest time, Apple Bloom could only focus on the mainly green shell, with the off center trio of stony spires, balanced by the tree growing on its other side from the thick loam coating the top of the shell. A flat, hexagonal stone plate dominated the shell above the creature's head.

The head itself, when Apple Bloom could focus on it, had two large grey spikes growing from its cheeks. Brown flesh could be seen in front of its black-ringed, red eyes, although the head was mostly encased in thick green carapace. The plate of carapace at the very tip of the creatures upper jaw was black, while the plate attached to the lower jaw was jagged, giving the summon an overall fearsome look.

Great, I've summoned the Dodaitose. Apple Bloom gulped. Now what?

Runic nervously glanced at Steel. He knew that look. That hardened glare, that stern set of her jaw. Steel was impressed, and ready to call off the ritual right at that moment. Only by the fact that this little filly had done something so unexpected, so daring, that stopped Steel from sending in her summon to stop this ritual.

Apple Bloom began trotting from side to side. If what she remembered from the tomes was right, then this was a male Torterra, which were slightly bigger then their female counterparts. Though the Torterra never moved, his eyes tracked the filly's every move. Stopping, Apple Bloom cleared her throat. "Ahem. Please step out of the circle." She pointed a hoof to her side.

The Torterra just yawned and lay down to rest.

"I said, step out of the circle." The filly gritted her teeth.

<<:Make me.:>> He seemed to drawl.

"Do It!" Apple Bloom growled. "Now."

<<:Why?:>> He snorted. <<:I can't bring myself to care for your orders. You aren't worth my time.:>> He closed his eyes and fell asleep, ignoring the filly.

Apple Bloom's eye twitched at this. She knew that these summons' stubbornness often overrode the ritual's compulsion element. She knew that she would have a better chance of asking the trees back home to tap dance than getting this Torterra to move.

But she was an Apple, moon sent it! And Apples knew a thing or two about stubbornness themselves.

"Move it!" Apple bloom roared, rearing up, and bringing her own head down onto the Torterra's, hoping to glare it right in the eyes.

There was a meaty thump as the two skulls met. With a soft "Oh", Apple Bloom slumped to the floor, rolling back off the reawakened Torterra's head.

Apple Bloom wasn't sure how long she lay there, staring up at the ceiling. Everything looked kind of fuzzy, drifting in and out of focus. A shadow fell over her, a green and brown blob taking up most of her vision. She lazily turned her head towards where she remembered the center of the room was, and let out a dazed chuckle.

"Heh." She smiled at the Torterra that was starting to come back into focus. "Got ya t'move."

The Torterra blinked, before looking down at its own feet, and saw that he was straddling the circle's edge. <<:Huh. So ya did.:>> Carefully scooping Apple bloom up with his head, he shuffled so that the little filly could recover from her self-inflicted headache on his back.

Back in the observation booth, Steel leaned over to Runic. "Cast the spell. I want to know if she was successful, or if this caring behavior is part of the compulsion."

"R-right." Runic's horn began to glow as his aura gently brushed the forms in the other room. He held his breath as the spell worked its way to completion. the light around his horn faded as he let the breath out in an explosive sigh. "I don't know how she did it, but it's done."

"Fascinating." Steel murmured. She pressed the crystal again. "Well done, Apple Bloom. Now all you have to do is name him, and the bond will be complete. Don't worry about what to call him, the name will come to you." She removed her hoof, turning back to Runic. "I don't know where Twilight Sparkle found these fillies, but, if the other two are anything like this one, then we can expect great things from them."

"Absolutely." Runic agreed. "I mean, I heard about the fire, but this is something else."

"Runic." Steel arched an eyebrow at the stallion. "I don't think anypony has been able to bond with a Dodaitose before. I will be looking into that later." She turned to leave by a hidden door. "I look forward to tomorrow."

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom's head slowly stopped hurting. As it did so, a word floated to the front of her mind. "I think I'm gonin' to call ya Triphyle." She felt her summon rumble his agreement. "Glad ya like it. I hope ya like apple trees, 'cuz I live an' work on a farm. Can't wait to see Big Mac's face when he meets ya." She finished with a chuckle. Finally, she felt well enough to stand. "Well, first thing's first, let's introduce ya to... my... friends... " She looked down to the broad back of Triphyle, before glancing back at the observation room.

"Mister Gears? I kinda forgot about the door..."

Theories of the Mind.

View Online

[Third]

Apple Bloom really set the bar high. Sweetie Belle mused, taking her turn outside the auditorium. She fidgeted in place, doing anything to keep her mind off the waiting. She didn't bother checking her reagent bag. The recipe she had chosen was simple, and she knew she had everything. That Dodaitose was huge! Good thing the University had the paired rings stockpiled, from what Runic said, they're difficult to make. One of said rings had been clamped around the left horn of Triphyle, the matching ring hidden in Apple Bloom's bow.

Thinking back on the red and white design, Sweetie couldn't help but think on why they were so hard to make. Can't be the materials. Cinnabar and White Quartz are fairly common, and any unicorn with a gem finding spell, like Rarity, would have no problems finding them. The only issue material wise is that they have to be natural. Maybe it's the runes that need to be carved in them? And why do they only work on bonded summons?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Runic poking his head out. "You ready?"

"No." Sweetie squeaked out without thinking.

"Need more time?"

"Maybe?" Sweetie thought back to the last few hours. "No, the waiting was starting to get to me."

"Fair enough." Runic offered Sweetie a hoof up. "Now, remember, Gemini will be with me and Porter in the observation room."

"I know." Sweetie smiled. "I don't think I'll need your help, but you and Twilight taught us to plan such contingencies."

Runic chuckled, turning to lead Sweetie into the room. "That we did. Come on, Steel doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Like I don't? The filly silently huffed, but complied anyways. She waited for Runic to take his place on the other side of the window.

Porter popped into existence on his master's back, and then they both vanished. A minute later, Runic entered the observation room from its door, scowling at the mop entangling his back right hoof. Sweetie couldn't help but giggle, while both ponies missed Steel's slight smile.

With a roll of her eyes, Steel tapped the crystal, and informed the filly she could begin.
Oh? What's this?
Making sure that the floor was properly clear, Sweetie sighed at the amount of walking she would need to do. It's not that she didn't trust the ponies that set the room up, she was just following the steps she was taught. It helped with her nerves.
Wait... Oh, you clever bastard.
Starting at the northern most part of the circle, she began laying down a set of old tarot cards, binding them in place with ofuda. She had hoof-made the ofuda herself, with Twilight, Moon Dancer, and Rarity supervising her. The cards came from Pinkie. Apparently, she had spent some time as a fortune teller, and had kept the deck. Sadly, the deck was unusable, a couple of cards were burnt to ash when... She quickly finished the set up.
How did I not see this before? No matter, I know just what to do.
With one final look over the area, Sweetie felt ready to begin chanting. She was glad she decided to go for a tier one summon, they required shorter chants. This one just so happened to have one of the shortest. That's not to say that that was the only criteria, but it was part of the deciding factor. And it wasn't like Sweetie was bad at speaking, her extensive vocabulary can attest otherwise, she just had a hard time with the arcane syllables used in the chants.
I know what you're trying to do.
"Ywc itzmilg svwe epg Q'u kittqvo."
Here. I know you can help this one.
The expected flash of light came, then cleared. Sitting in the middle of the comically large circle was a mostly white figure. Thin arms hugged what Sweetie assumed were knees to its chest, its face hidden by its legs and thick green strands of hair. A flat, red horn separated the bangs, while a smaller one could be seen in the back. Sweetie shifted, wanting get a full body view, but the summon flinched, teleporting to the far side of the circle.

With a frown, Sweetie softly called out, "Ralts, could you come here please?"

Another flinch, another teleport. This time, the Ralts appeared in front of Sweetie. She was still a couple of hooves away, but close enough for what Sweetie needed. "Could you stand up, please?" A shiver, and it did. No, wait, this ones a she. Sweetie mentally corrected. Now that the Ralts was standing, Sweetie could easily tell that they were roughly the same size. Sweetie could clearly see the Ralts shivering. Hmm, I don't think I've ever heard of a summon acting like this before. I think I need to take a closer look. "Please don't."

"Could you sta-"

The moment she lifted her hoof, the Ralts screeched and teleported to the far side of the circle again. "NO!"

Sweetie's ears flattened against her head. She's gone and huddled up again. Sweetie frowned. What happened before I summoned you? She slowly stepped around the circle, keeping every movement slow and smooth. "Go away. Please, just leave me alone."

When Sweetie had a quarter of the circle left to go, she saw the Ralts begin to shuffle away from her. She stopped and lay down, doing everything she could to present herself as non-threatening as possible. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." "They all said that."

Sweetie's ears twitched, looking for the whisper she kept hearing, although the filly herself never looked away from the summon. "You can take your time." Sweetie murmured. "I'll wait here." "Please, I just wanted to be left alone."

Filly and summon sat like they were, waiting.

Steel carefully darkened the observation room, so that Runic and her wouldn't be seen, before grabbing a couple of cushions from the cupboards. She placed one down for Runic before lying on her own. "We could be here for a while." She sighed. "Best get comfortable."

Almost an hour passed. Sweetie would sometimes catch a glimpse of one of the Ralts' pink eyes watching her through the summon's bangs, but every time the Ralts caught Sweetie looking, she would flinch and look away. Eventually, Sweetie tried to shuffle forward.

The Ralts didn't try to move or teleport away, but she did try to shrink into herself. Sweetie stopped when she was as far from the Ralts as the Ralts had willingly gotten to her. "Are you okay?" She whispered.

"Why?"

Sweetie blinked. "Was, was that you?" The summon nodded. "Well, I'm a summoner-"

"Yes, but why me?"

"I don't know." Sweetie confessed. "We don't know who gets summoned, just what." The Ralts seemed to sniff. "Are, are you crying?"

"No!" The droplets hitting the floor betrayed her.

"Why are you crying?"

Steel shared a look with Runic. "The summon's crying?" She mouthed.

"Please, just send me back." The Ralts tightened her arms around her legs. I don't want to go through this again.

"But," Sweetie shuffled a bit closer, "I want to help..."

"That's what the last one said."

"The last one? You've been summoned before?"

"No, but you are all the same."

"But I'm not!" Sweetie insisted. "You can read minds, right? See memories?" The Ralts nodded. "Then read mine." For a minute, nothing happened. Then, Sweetie felt something gently brush against her mind. The filly didn't fight it.

Suddenly, Sweetie watched as her whole life seemed to flash through her mind, pausing on seemingly random moments. These moments seemed to linger on her friends. The first time she met the other Crusaders, some of their misadventures, the first time they summoned something, the fire, all were paused on, and then lost to the onrush of memories. After only a few moments, the images stopped, and the feeling withdrew.

"A trophy. Figures. You really are just like the rest." The Ralts stared dejectedly at its knees. A thin red line appeared on its arm. "Just send me back. And stop halfway. I don't want this anymore."

"You're bleeding!" Sweetie squeaked.

"Why do you care?" The summon asked, not even looking as another line grew beside the first. She blinked as something brown was wrapped around her arm. "Ra?" She stared at the strip of cloth, torn from the nearby bag, that was substituting for a bandage. Somethings white wrapped themselves around her.

Sweetie pulled the summon into a gentle hug. "I care because I want to be your friend. I care because you're hurting. I care because I don't like seeing my friends hurt." Sweetie squeezed a little harder. "I don't want to rush you, and I won't force you to, but, if we bond? Nopony else can summon you. Nopony else can hurt you." She blinked away tears of her own. "Please. Just let me be your friend. If nothing else, just stay here for a while."

They stayed like that, silently crying, one's emotions feeding into the other. Hours passed, and neither wanted to move or break the silence.

Sadly, Sweetie knew that she was running out of time. "I guess... I guess this is where we say goodbye?"

The Ralts flinched, eyes widening in alarm.. I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back. It hurts it hurts it hurts."

Sweetie stood, leaving the circle. With a sigh, she started the dispelling chant. Or at least, tried to. The words kept dying in her mouth.

"No no no no no no no no no no no no NO NO NO NO!"

The Ralts launched herself at the filly, bowling her over. Her arms were doing their best to fit around Sweetie's neck as she cried into her shoulder. "Let me stay, let me stay, let me stay, dear Arceus, let me stay..."

Sweetie stared at the wall ahead of her. "W-why? Did... didn't you want to go home?"

"... You make me feel safe."

"Then I won't send you back. Ever." Sweetie returned the hug. "I'll do everything I can to keep you safe, Eros, I promise."

Runic nodded to Steel. "It is done."

The Practical Side of Things.

View Online

[Third, again. Who could've guessed?]

Scootaloo paced the hallway in front of the auditorium. Her bag sat on the chair by the door, everything she needed inside. She should know, she triple checked the night before. She just wanted to get in there and get the bonding done. She thought back to last night to distract herself from the waiting.

The Ralts had stayed by Sweetie's side, refusing to move more than a couple of hooves away from the white filly. According to Sweetie, Eros could speak with her tala... telapak... mind to mind. Eros refused to think-talk at anypony but Sweetie, however.

"Scootaloo?" Runic snapped Scootaloo from her thoughts. "You ready?"

"Born ready!" Scootaloo buzzed to her bag, grabbing it from the bench. "Let's get this going!"

"Somepony's eager." Runic smirked as he stepped back to let the filly in.

"I'm the last of the Crusaders to do this." Scootaloo paused as she set her bag by the circle. "Unless Silver wants to get in on this." With a shrug, she began pulling out her reagents.

"Even after what she and Diamond did?" Runic asked as Porter popped into existence.

"Silver is repant- sorry for what she did." Scootaloo pulled a jar of red liquid from the bag. "Diamond isn't."

"That's-" Runic was cut off as Porter took him to the observation room. He landed where he wanted to, for once. The polar bear summon from Apple Bloom's bonding spared the stallion a glance.
Another one?
With a shrug, Scootaloo went back to her preparations. First, she took a bundle of her own molted feathers and dipped them into the red liquid. Red extract is expensive to get from the Rainbow Factory, especially without the rest of the colors. Thankfully, summoners get a discount, as some recipes require color extracts.
How often is this going to happen! How often has this happened?
No one's ever tried to use a full rainbow.
I need eyes out in this new world. what's this one supposed to, oh... that'll work
Red tipped feathers were placed under candlestick holders. Pulling a matchbox out, Scootaloo carefully lit each red candle. Once done, she began her chant.
Here, go to her.
"Byrarc xo cqn Qrmmnw Fjh,
Vjbcna xo cqn Inyqha Frwmb,
Vjbt xo Qrmmnw Qxwxa,
R ljuu cx cqnn.

Kh oran, R krwm cqnn,
Kh frwm, R rwextn cqnn,
Kh cqn ljuu xo cqrwn lqrumanw,
R twxf cqnn.

Lxvn cx vn, Byrarc xo Vxcrxw."

Scootaloo barely squinted as the familiar flash brought her summon onto Equis, before it vanished in a blur of motion. From the brief glance she had, Scootaloo could tell it was easily twice the size of the Eevees, at least, those that still were. The insect had four white wings, the front two with three red triangles on their edges. A mostly black body with light grey legs, it had a golden yellow carapace covering it's upper thorax and head. Red eyes gleamed from it's mask-like face.

It's as fast as the tome said a Tekkanin would be. Scootaloo thought. Her eyes, accustomed to watching Rainbow and Leo train, could barely follow the Ninjask's movements. Glad to see it's not leaving the circle. She watched it for a little while longer before clearing her throat. "Come here, please."

She flinched back as the insect seemed materialize an inch from her face. <<:Yes! What you wish? Wow, this compulsion thing is weird. What's your name?:>>

"Right, energetic." Scootaloo muttered to herself. " So, how do I bond you?"

<<:Can you go fast?:>> It said, flickering from place to place around the filly.

"You re~ally like to move, don't ya?"

<<:Yes, but can you go fa~st?:>>

"Yeah," Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head, "Don't really think I will be able to keep up with ya."

The Ninjask vanished. <<:Then we're done.:>>

"But..." The filly let the word hang as the insect stopped, hovering in place. "I might know somepony and her Eevee that could help us get faster. All I ask is that you bond with me."

<<:Nah.:>> It vanished again. <<:I'mma find this somepony an' Eevee, whatever that is. They sound fast!>> It began to screech.

"Stop!" Scootaloo commanded. The Ninjask only paused for a moment, before buzzing off again. "Huh. That usually works." She tracked it as best she could. She watched it bounce from wall to corner to ceiling to wall to floor to glass to door. A new dent was added with each ricochet. It wouldn't stop moving, nor would it stop it's screeching. Scootaloo, flared her wings and crouched low.

When she saw her moment, she jumped.

She latched onto the Ninjask, squinting her eyes against the sudden wind. Great, now what? Scootaloo glanced ahead, her pupils becoming pinpricks. "Buck, Left! Now, now!" The Ninjask obeyed, just skimming the wall, before blitzing across the room.

"STOP!!" Scootaloo was nearly thrown off by the suddenness of the stop. "Great. Now listen, you obviously like going fast." She risked waving a hoof at the surrounding room. "But you just as obviously don't have much control. You've been focusing too much on going fast, you might've passed your own limits! If you bond with me, I will help you regain that control, and we will go even faster, together." The Ninjask drifted to the ground, allowing the filly to get off. "I may not be able to ride around on you forever, but I will do what I can as I can do it. And after, I will ride beside you.

"And we will get even faster. What do ya say, Zephyr?"

<<:We go faster, by going slower?:>> The named Ninjask tilted its head. <<:How? Little Mistress teach, I learn good!:>>

Steel turned to Runic. "Well?"

"They are three for three." He stated will a smile.

"Interesting." Steel tapped her chin with a hoof. "Usually, it takes a few tries for students here to get a bond. Where did Twilight find them?"

Bonus: The Hammer and Anvil.

View Online

[Third]

Another rock smashed into the ramparts, fragments spraying over the guardsponies stationed there. As one, the earth ponies rose and unleashed the bolts from their crossbows. The attacking Diamond Dogs dove back into their tunnels, a few falling from the rain of bolts. With only the light of the waning moon, the ponies had to aim at the nearest Dogs, or risk aiming at shadows. All available unicorns were stuck powering a shield to prevent the Dogs from digging in, while pegasi dueled with a mercenary band of griffins in the skies. Bodies from one side or another fell, many not surviving the landing.

"Sergeant!" Private Holly called down the wall. "We're running out of bolts!"

"The stores are nearly out!" Sergeant Heavy Hoof called back. "We need to hold for reinforcements from Outpost Seven!"

"I don't think we'll last that long!" Another private shouted back. "If we could free up some of the unicorns-" He was cut off by several metal flechetts. Holly turned and fired a bolt at the offending griffin.

"Save your bolts for the Dogs!" Heavy commanded. "Let the pegasi deal with the Griffins!"

A pegasus landed beside the sergeant. "Sir! Corporal Iron has new orders." She wheezed out. "He said that we are to "hold until relieved'!"

"That's what we've been doing since this siege broke out!" Holly complained.

Heavy launched a bolt at a Dog, taking just long enough to confirm the hit before ducking back into cover. "Do we have an E.T.A on those reinforcements?"

"No, sir."

"Buck." Heavy swore, reloading his crossbow. "If we can get the ponies from Outpost Seven, we might just be able to crush these forces between us."

"I'm out!" A private shouted, trading his crossbow for a spear.

Heavy sighed, before bellowing to the guards around him. "Make every shot count! Once these mongrels realize we're out of ammo, they'll be swarming the walls! Prepare to repel siege ladders!" He turned back to the pegasus. "I need you to fly to Outpost Eight, and Nine beyond it. They need to be warned."

"Sir!"

"Ponies of the Solar Guard!" Heavy shouted. "We are to hold this outpost until relieved! We are nearing the end of our ammunition, and soon the mages' mana will run dry. But we will still hold this outpost! Our reinforcements may arrive too late, but we will still hold! We will make these mongrels pay for every step they take, until we have filled the moat with blood! We are the Solar Guard, let our honor be our blade, our duty be our shield. For the Diarchy!"

His cry carried along the walls. Guards stood straighter, many reaching for their spears.

Holly fired her bolt, reaching for its replacement to find her quiver empty. With a gulp, she tossed her crossbow aside, hefting her spear as best she could. Risking a look over the parapet, she spotted an odd mist approaching the battlefield. Wait... She squinted. It's moving too fast! She ducked back into cover as another sling stone whipped past. "Sir! We've got a problem!"

Risking a look, Heavy's eyes widened. "Brace for impact!"

Everypony pressed themselves against the parapet as best they could as the mist neared the wall. Instead of crashing against it, it rose, spilling over the ramparts and into the courtyard below. In its wake, it left behind boxes of bolts. The mist reformed into a large black dog with golden rings, a horn attached to it's collar.

"What is that thing?!" Holly cried out.

"Our reinforcements!" Heavy cheered. "Get that ammo distributed!" Holly jumped to comply as the dog lifted the horn to its muzzle.

Three loud blasts rang out, and were echoed from the sky and nearby woods. Ponies with darkened steel armor rushed from the woods, colliding with the Diamond Dogs' flank, while thestrals dove from their hiding spots amongst the clouds.

With another burst of mist, the dog appeared between Heavy and Holly. "The Lunar Guard sends its regards." Its words buzzed from its collar. "The guards from Outpost Seven will be here in an hour. We ran ahead." It seemed to smirk.

"Thank you, Captain." Heavy nodded. "The Dogs have made a right mess of the grounds. They've dug their tunnels from the Fall's Grace Woods to Drake Hill." He swept his hoof across the battlefield. "If we can't get rid of those, they can keep launching attacks right at the walls from safety. And when the unicorns run out..."

"Tell your ponies to pick off targets of opportunity. My ponies will hold them at the edge of the woods." The golden rings on the canine began to glow, several orbs of dark energy growing around it. "Leave the tunnels to me."

Glancing over the parapet, it sent the orbs arching out over the battlefield. They spread as they flew, and soon a second and third volley were launched. Wherever they landed, small explosions of dark energy sundered the ground. Dog's began to abandon their caved in tunnels, fleeing to the safety of the further, intact ones. With the added support of the thestrals, the griffins were soon forced from the sky.

When the reinforcements from Outpost Seven arrived, Abes had already left with his ponies to collapse the nearest tunnels. After several days of such sorties, Holly would put in her request of transfer, wishing to fight alongside The Hound of Luna.

Author's Notes:

I had to right this when the inspiration stuck me. I had long thought about how the two halves of Equistria's military would fight, and it made sense to me that the Solar Guards, the ones with white coats and gold armor, would be too used to peace time or defensive warfare.

I could see Luna, who had last fought in the time of Sombra and other such threats, focusing her Guards to be more aggressive and proactive.

I realized how effective those strategies that might mesh. One army would defend and build defensive works, such as fortresses and blockades, while the other would outflank, out maneuver, and cut off supply lines. It's not perfect, such as both armies being smaller than either could be since they draw from the same pool of recruits, but it would fit with the two Princesses style of combat, I think.

Of course, this doesn't take summons into account...

End of the Royal Sleepover.

View Online

[Leo]

Everyone was settling in for the night after Scootaloo had shown off her summon. The Ninjask had settled beside the filly in her bed, taking its cues from Eros. Although, Eros kept at least two sheets between herself and Sweetie.

Due to Triphyle's size, he couldn't really fit in Apple Bloom's room, but still wanted to sleep alongside her. Apple Bloom solved this by stringing a hammock up between his tree and middle mountain. Us Eevees had all decided to get comfortable on his back, as well.

I lay awake, trying to get used to sleeping on dirt again. Eventually, I gave up and stood, grumbling.

<<Can't sleep?>> Vince whispered beside me.

<<Yeah.>> I sat back down. <<Of all the stupid things, I can't sleep on dirt any more.>>

<<So you're going to climb the tree?>>

<<Eeyup.>>

<<You know that the tree is a part of Triphyle, right? And your usual method of climbing is to attack the tree?>>

I paused, glaring at the tree. <<Welp, looks like I'm not sleeping tonight.>> I looked over at Vince. <<What're you doing still up?>>

<<Thinkin'.>> He settled onto his back. <<Did you know that we missed our one year anniversary here?>>

I cocked my head. <<No we didn't. That's still a few months off.>>

<<Our years!>> He growled, <<Human years! Not this bullshit schedule the ponies keep.>>

I gave him a flat look. <<Okay, first off? Time is subjective. If you're waiting five minutes for a bus, it feels longer for you than for the bus driver. Secondly, human's have fucked up their own calendar because of two men's arrogant pride. That's why February is so short and leap years exist. The pony's calendar hasn't changed since it was put in place.

<<Finally, I did some digging, and it turns out that they need to treat this like a schedule because the world will die if they didn't. Tirek and Discord each fucked the world up badly when they were in charge, to the point where I'm surprised that the atmosphere didn't just decide to fuck right off. All this control the ponies have over the world is to try to fix the damage done. The Everfree is what the world was supposed to be like and is a sign that things are healing.

<<But, you spend a couple thousand years doing something and then the deviations seem wrong, so now the natural is unnatural.>> I finished with a huff. <<But yes, I didn't even notice that we had missed our anniversary.>>

<<Didn't take you for an environmentalist...>>

<<I'm not, I'm just disappointed that nopony gives a shit about their own history.>> I sighed. <<If I didn't know any better, I'd say that they were bred to not care. But lets talk about less depressing things.>>

<<Sure.>> We lapsed into silence, broken only by the sound of breathing and shifting. Triphyle suddenly shifted, rocking his shell as he did so. In doing so, he had given the hammock a gentle rocking motion. Neither of us had said anything for so long, I thought that Vince had fallen asleep when he finally spoke up. <>

<<Hmm?>>

He rolled to look at me. <<Not that I think this body can handle a dart, and I haven't been craving nicotine since we got here, but I miss the familiarity of it. Ya know?>>

<> I nodded.

<> Lulu piped up. <<They were annoying, and got in the way more often then not, but I can't help but miss them.>>

<<Oh, hey.>> I shifted to look at the Vaporeon. <<When'd you wake up?>>

<<When this lug here decided to move.>> She lazily waved a paw at Triphyle's shell.

<<Me too.>> Yomega spoke up.

<<GAH!>> Vince jumped, flinching into the rocky spires jutting from the shell. We all gave him confused looks. <<Sorry, sorry. I honestly forgot that you, Twilight and Spike were here.>>

<<We've been here for four days.>> Yomega deadpanned. <<It's not our fault you forgot that we had to ride in a separate train car.>>

<<What do you miss?>> Lulu asked

<<Oh, Minecraft, Don't Starve, Dark Souls, Smash...>> Yomega tapped his chin. <<My computer in general, really.>>

<<Even the debugging?>> I smirked.

<<Especially the debugging.>> He nodded. <<What about you?>>

<<Thumbs.>> I answered, thinking back to the form Luna had me sign. I had to put the damn quill between my toes. <> I spent some time staring at my paws, before looking up at Yomega. <<Hey, if I evolve into a fighting type, think I'll get my thumbs back?>>

Lulu shifted to a more comfortable position. <<What makes you think that?>>

<<Some, if not most, fighting styles utilize grapples and throws. Kinda need thumbs for that.>>

"If'n yer done yappin'," Apple Bloom yawned, "I'd like t' get some sleep."

<<Sorry!>> We chorused.

The others woke up to me staring at a wall, dried blood stained my fur from where it had trickled from a shallow cut on my forehead. Lulu quickly washed the evidence away before anypony could notice. We were gathered up by a Night Guard, who introduced herself as Night Shade, and led us to the dining room we've been using since we got here. Flashes of light followed us as the rings kept Triphyle near us.

This morning, Celestia was waiting for us. She waved our escort and our genuflections away, and stood, she approached the fillies and their summons. While both Triphyle and Zepher leaned in and sized up the white alicorn, Eros stayed on the far side of Sweetie from the Princess. With a motherly smile, Celestia gave the Ralts her space.

"I'm sorry I was unable to come meet you all earlier, royal duties have unfortunately kept me occupied." She gracefully waved a wing at the table. "Please, let us enjoy breakfast while we catch up."

"Will Princess Luna be joining us?" Rainbow asked.

"I imagine that Night Shade is going to collect her now." Celestia said with that knowing smile of hers.

I tuned out the small talk she made while I waited for the food to arrive. With a yawn, I leapt up onto Rainbow's back. <<I'mma rest here 'til food gets here.>> I murmured, resting my head on her neck.

"Wonder which'll get here first, Luna or food?"

I woke up when I was blasted off of my perch. Luna had arrived with her usual bombastic flare, with all the volume that entails. I lay on my back in a daze, fur fluffed out in fear, while I waited for my hearing to return. Rainbow looked down at me in concern, holding a bowl in her mouth.

"Ya gun'ah 'e o'ay?" She asked as Fluttershy came into view.

<<Luna or food?>> I asked, beginning to float. I looked over to see Luna's horn glowing, with a sheepish smile on her face. <<Which got here first?>>

"Um, she came in with it." Fluttershy answered as Rainbow placed my bowl down.

I looked in to see that there was something flaky in it, practically swimming in what I assumed was berry puree. <<What is this?>>

"Rainbow asked the cooks to prepare something with fish for you." Fluttershy explained.

Rainbow nodded. "Going to need your energy up for when we get home."

"Unfortunate that you must leave so soon." Luna stated. "I was hoping to talk."

<<And you wait until now to mention this?>> I snarked.

"I'm sure she was busy, too." Fluttershy assured.

<<Hurry up and eat.>> Yomega ordered from his spot under the table. <<We've got to leave in five if we want to catch our train.>>

<<Who ever made this schedule sucks.>> Vince griped.

I mumbled my agreement as I got to work on my food, ignoring Twilight updating the Princesses on her findings.

Shortly after we stepped off the train in Ponyville, Apple Bloom moved off to the side to summon in Triphyle. Touching a hoof to her bow, and to the ring inside, she called out. "Triphyle! We're here!"

A circle of bright white light traced itself on the ground. In a flash, it filled itself in in an explosion of light. When we could properly see again, Triphyle stood, shaking off his dizziness. With a satisfied nod, Apple Bloom tapped her ring twice. Both rings glowed as she toggled the auto-summoning back on.

With that, we began to leave the station proper, only to run into Zann going the other way. He hobbled his way over to us, fumbling with his bags for something. With a happy bark, he pulled a set of envelopes out, holding them out to the older mares.

I sat beside him after the mares had taken their invitations. <<Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it?>> I asked as the mares started walking ahead.

<<How so?>>

Yomega tapped his metal shoulder. <<'Cause you're delivering them, we can guess that Pinkie's holding a surprise party for the summons.>>

<> The Flareon declared, a massive grin splitting his face. <<By the way, we're throwing a surprise party for the Crusaders and their new friends tonight at AJ's barn. Don't tell them that though.>>

<<You're secret is safe with us.>> Lulu sighed with roll her eyes.

I joined the chuckling, a slight frown growing on my muzzle. <> I barely waited for them to acknowledge what I had said before jogging off. I quickly approached the Ralts, slowing so that I wouldn't startle her. <<Hey, I gotta tell ya something.>>

She paused, glancing at me. I used the chance to get closer to her. I cleared my throat as we continued walking. <<So, I'm not sure if you can understand me, but, ah...>> I awkwardly looked away. <<Could you, uh, maybe nod if you do?>>

I couldn't quite see her eyes, but I'm sure she rolled them. I felt a presence brush up against my mind, and I let it in. The next thing I know, I'm staring at the sky with my pack mates worriedly looking down at me. I rolled over to find Eros. She was pressing herself against Sweetie's side, staring at me with wide, frightened eyes.

<<:What are you things?!:>>

Spreading Contact.

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<<Hey,>> I cooed, trying to calm the scared summon, <> I lay as low as I could get, flattening my ears and attempting to give Eros my best puppy-dog eyes. Maintaining that position, I attempted to move closer. She warped away, appearing on Triphyle's back.

"You stay away from me!" I winced from the strength of her mental shout.

<<Alright, alright.>> I stepped back. <<Look, I just wanted to let you know that there will be a surprise party later, and I know how jumpy you aren't even listening to me are you?>>

"Fine, you've told me. go!"

I gave a sarcastic bow. <<As you wish.>> I was picked up and thrown back by Eros's telekinetic grip. I landed back amongst my packmates, the force flipping me onto my back. <<Oh, hi guys.>> I righted myself. <<So, it turns out that Eros can understand us when she's in our head, but she doesn't like Eevee's apparently. No,>> I preemptively cut Yomega off, <>

Yomega sighed, looking around. <<Looks like Twilight and the rest of the Bearers missed all this.>> He shook his head. <<Well, what's done is done. I'm going to go check up on Spike and the Library, you guys can do whatever you want until the party.>> His paw whipped out, placing itself onto Zann's chest. <<Leave Eros alone. She's twitchy enough as is without you following her around.>>

Sitting down, Zann gave a mock salute to Yomega. <<Sir, yes sir. Permission to go help eat, er, make cupcakes sir?>>

Yomega began rubbing his muzzle, his ears folded and eyes tightly shut. <<For the love of... Go ahead.>>

I followed the grey Eevee as the rest of the group walked off. I waited until we were relatively alone before speaking up. "What's bugging ya?"

"It's..." He glared at me, before softening his look with a sigh. "It's Eros. She psychic right? That means she can talk to Sweetie Bell, and potentially others, and explain to them just what we are. How long until we're locked up to be studied by the Circle? How long until they try to force a summoning of one of us?" I saw a few strands of fur spring up from his tail. "How long until we go mad from the lack of sunlight? Until they force us to fight in their underground fighting rings? Until they vivisect us to see what makes us tick?!"

"Right, stopping this here." I stated before latching onto his mane. Dragging him to the ground, we rolled into some bushes. Stopping so that I was on top of him, I firmly gripped his shoulders. "Eros said she didn't know what we are. This could mean that she's never seen an Eevee at all, or she got a look at my memories and knows we were originally human."

"That could be even worse!" I felt his tail start twitching. "Once Twilight knows that, she's going to be grilling us through Eros or Fluttershy, not letting us sleep until she's gleaned everything she can from us. And then we'll be locked away for 'further testing' in her dungeon and-"

"We lie to her." I interrupted. "Just as we've been lying to them this whole time."

"Lies won't hold forever." His ears began twitching along with his tail. "We'll be found out, and then we'll be arrested for lying, and then we'll be locked up for that, or banished, or-"

I let him ramble for a bit while trying to think of some way to stop the train wreck in front of me. I came up with and discarded ideas as I thought them. About the time he was ranting about "Prison Pockets", I decided to just go with the next thought that popped into my mind.

"And then we'll need to find Conner for the Bake and Bond, and then we- Umf! Mmf mffmmf. Mmmm..." He leaned into my kiss. Eventually, when I felt him stop twitching, I completely broke it.

"You good now?" I waited for his nod. "Great! Now, listen to me. Everything is going to be fine. Eros is so skittish, I doubt that she'll say anything to Sweetie. We're terrifying, after all. Who knows when we may be listening in. Besides, we have one major piece of evidence for not being summons."

"And what's that?"

"Some of us are evolved, and did so in front of ponies. Meanwhile, no summon has ever evolved in front of their summoner." I paused. "Or, at least, not that Villhiem overheard. So, obviously not summons. The ponies get along well enough with us, so Eros will eventually come to see us as safe to be around. Everything'll work out fine in the end."

"Okay, okay." He huffed, slightly blushing. "You want to get off of me now?"

"Yeah, that branch back there is starting to get annoying."

"Ye~ah." Yomega's blush grew brighter. "That's not a stick..."

"... Oh." I squeaked out.

[Third]

Eros stared back at the thing called Leo as it walked away with the grey one. How could I have ever mistaken them for Eievuis?

Zephyr buzzed up beside the Ralts, causing her to flinch. <<:Harsh much?:>> He asked.

<<:That was uncalled for, Eros.:>> Triphyle added. <<Those Eievuis-:>>

"Those things are not Eievuis!" Eros snapped at the two summons. Both of them flinched, shaking their heads from the force of her thoughts. "Look at how they move. Far to... to... to much like Hellgars, too predatory to be Eievuis. They're only taking forms our partners would be comfortable with. And when I brushed the mind of the one called Leo, I felt it's true presence." Eros shuddered, rubbing her arms together. "Whatever else may it want, it definitely wants freedom. And these ponies won't be able to survive it."

<<:If they are as dangerous as you think they are, why not kill them now to protect our partners?:>> Triphyle asked, plodding along behind the fillies they've bonded with.

"That might be what'll set them free. I don't know enough about them to figure that out." Pink eyes locked onto Sweetie Bell. "And I won't risk her until I do."

Zephyr flitted about. <<:You no get Leo's memories?:>>

"No, it's sheer presence prevents me from doing so."

<<:So we watch and wait.>> Triphyle concluded.

Stick That Feather in Your Cap!

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A few days had passed since the Crusaders had passed their tests, and life had mostly returned to normal. Scootaloo was working on a harness for Zepher, while Apple Bloom integrated Triphyle into the farm's routine. Sweetie had begun bugging Twilight and Runic for more books on summoning.

Eros, for her part, spent her time trying to stalk us, without going too far from Sweetie. We ignored her to continue our own routines. It's not like she was any good at actually hiding.

Today, Rainbow and I were sitting on a cloud near our home, practicing our language comprehension skills.

"Okay, give me the next one." Rainbow prompted.

<<One Won was a racehorse. Won Two was one, too.>> I recited. <<One Won won one race. Won Two won one, too.>>

"Just saying numbers is not a tongue twister!" Rainbow griped.

<<Those weren't all numbers!>> I insisted.

"Excuse me."

"Oh, yeah? Then what were ya sayin'?"

"Pardon me."

<<I said: One Won->>

"HEY!" Rainbow and I looked down. An older donkey glared up at us, the cart he was strapped to settling into the ruts in the road. "If yer done, could you tell me how far it is to Ponyville? I hope to get there before lunch."

"Yeah," Rainbow pointed into town, "shouldn't be more than fifteen minutes. You're not that far out, you should be able to see it past those trees."

"Oh. Well, thanks kid."

"Not a problem. See ya around!"

<<Enjoy meeting Pinkie!>>

Rainbow glanced at me. "Oh, hey, Oldtimer!"

"M'name's Cranky!"

<<He certainly lives up to it.>> I snickered.

"If you're looking for a place to eat, try Sugarcube Corner."

Cranky nodded. "Thanks."

We watched him plod on towards town. I shook my head, turning back to Rainbow. <<You wanna try the twisters again?>>

Rainbow glanced over at our house, specifically our bedroom window. "... No, I promised Scoots I'd meet up with her to check up on her harness. I don't know why." Rainbow sighed. "I get that she looks up to me, but I don't know anything that might help. She'd have better luck with Rarity than with me."

<<Not really.>> I countered. <<Rarity knows less than you about how fabric affects flight.>>

"I can't help with a harness, though."

<<Twilight might.>> I could see Rainbow turning the idea over. <<It's not a fault to admit when you don't know something, and you know you can't have all the answers.>>

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." With a lazy shrug, Rainbow rose into a hover. "So, what've you got planned for the day?"

<<Gonna hang out at the training yard.>> I stretched, looking off the edge of the cloud. <<Might help out on the farm, build up my endurance.>>

With a nod, Rainbow flew off, kicking a random cloud down beneath me for me to jump to. Doing so, I landed on the road and made my way to the farm. Skirting the farmhouse, I thundered through the rodeo track to Zann's wardrobe. I carefully made my way in, hoping to spot someone to be a sparring partner. Sadly, Zann wasn't in, his foundry left cold.

I left the wardrobe and sat beside it. Great, now what am I going to do?

"You wanted to fight someone?"

Kinda. I wanted to work on my moves. I paused in thought.

"Didn't you tell Yomega that you wanted to create a move?"

Fuck, that's right! I got up and stretched. Been so focused on Cy's Volt Tackle and Zann's leg, I completely forgot about that! From the corner of my eye, a blur of pink movement pulled me from my thoughts. "I wonder what that was..." I mumbled. With a crash, Cranky came wheezing through the clearing, casting a fearful eye back over his shoulder. I turned my head as I watched him pass by. How fast can Pinkie move...?

"No!" I shuddered. "Not thinking about it, not thinking about it." I moved out into the clearing, trying to think of something to try.

"Hey, what about that super charged Sunny Day from Winter Wrap Up?" I grinned, knowing I needed to try it. Bracing myself, I began to use my Sunny Day. Pulling power from the pool I could feel in my chest, I cupped it in my jaw. Nursing it and feeding the ball I could feel growing more power, I aimed at the tree we've previously killed.

Knowing that I couldn't hold it as long as when I first did this, I decided to wait until the energy ball would start to cause discomfort before launching it. Almost, almost... There!

I spat it out, the force of the launch pushing me back a little. I kept my eye on the ball as it rocketed down the field, panting to cool off my tongue.

"Hey, Leo! Have you seen Pinkie? She said that- Oh shit!" Zann ducked, the ball zooming past withing inches of where his head was. He turned just in time to see it strike the tree.

My fur was blasted back from the force of the explosion, smoke and dust kicked up into a cloud that barely hid the bits of bark and wood flying off into the trees around us. Zann and I stared dumbfounded as the smoke cleared to reveal the tree.

The blast hadn't hit the center of the tree. We could tell by the six foot deep chunk blasted from its right side. The bark and timber around the the crater was splintered and forced away from me. Oddly enough, there wasn't any charring or smoldering, although there were wisps of steam rising from the edge closest to me.

Zann turned a wide-eyed gaze towards me. His mouth flopped open and closed, various sounds croaking from his throat. Eventually, he was able to get his thoughts in order. "What... The fuck... Was that!"

Star Rise.

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I finally tore my gaze from the tree. My dumbfounded look drifted back to Zann, briefly making eye contact before looking around the clearing. "... I..." Pieces of the once mighty oak had been embedded into the smaller trees on the right side of the clearing. "I don'..." I could see where a large chunk of bark had smashed itself against a corner of the wardrobe, fragments shredding the bushes around it. "Wha...?" Tree sap lay in burnt grass, cooked solid from the blast.

It almost seemed normal.

"I don't know." I finally admitted.

"What do you mean?" Zann asked.

"I don't know." I turned back to the tree.

Zann grew nervous. "Uh-huh. It didn't come to you when you learned it?"

"I don't know." I repeated monotonously, transfixed by the power I had just unleashed.

"We've always just known what the moves were," the Flareon latched his metal paw onto me, "how could you not know?!" He began to vigorously shake me, snapping me from my stupor.

"I don't know!" I shouted back. "I just wanted to see what would happen if I tried aiming a Sunny Day at something!"

Zann dropped me, sweeping his real paw back at the oak. "That's from a Sunny Day?" My ears drooped. I looked away, tail tucking itself under me. Zann stared at me, his look of shook changing into a glare. "Leo...?" I remained silent, forcing myself lower.

"Don't make me get Yomega, Leo."

"No..." I whined out.

"What did you do." It wasn't a question. It was a demand for answers.

I wilted. "Remember Winter Wrap Up, and how I started it with a charged Sunny Day?" He nodded. "Good news is that that wasn't a four hour long charged one." I tried to smile.

I lost my smile as Zann continued to glower. He began to talk, his voice growing louder with each word. "That tore a chunk out of our target tree. The tree that has withstood years of mundane lightning before we started throwing Cy head fist into it. The tree that has withstood my firestorms and Metal Claws." His glowing prosthetic forced me up on tiptoe to look him in his gimlet eyes. "The tree that withstood the attack far better than my fucking head would've!"

I stopped seeing Zann, my eyes focused on his claw. Unbeknownst to us, I had begun whispering far too low for us to hear "Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me..."

Zann missed the the terror in my eyes. "You're damned lucky that I saw it in time to duck!" He snarled in my face. "What were you thinking, launching an unknown move here?! What if you missed?! What if you hurled that into the farm?!" He shifted his Claw so that he was holding me up, and gave me a rough shake. "What if you had killed somepony?!"

With a scream of fear, I headbutted Zann, causing me to drop.

Leveraging all of my speed, I raced away into the trees, trusting my instincts to keep me safe. In a panic, I tore through bushes and weaved through the darkening woods, my mind solely on The Claw that haunts me. I ran until my legs burned and my breath came in ragged gasps.

I stumbled, and felt talons dig into my back. I screamed, Flailing against whatever held me. It quickly let me go, allowing me to return to my flight. Several more times, minions of The Claw tried to grab at me, but my thrashing let me free myself. After what felt like hours, I collapsed into a sobbing wreck, my mind slowly returning to me.

I found myself curled up under a bush, tears staining the dirt beneath me. I stared at nothing, trying to regather my wits, now that my mind was my own.

A rustle drew my gaze. I jumped to my paws as I came muzzle to muzzle with a Timberwolf. It growled as I started to back away. I slowly gathered my power to do whatever I'd need to to get away. Our eyes hardened...

... And we struck.

[Third]

Two hours earlier, Twilight and Moon Dancer were enjoying one of the few moments they didn't take in their academic pursuits. Spike lay reading a comic book, while Yomega lay sleeping on his back. Abes was dead to the world in his closet. Everything was peaceful in the library.

Yomega jolted awake, staring at one of the walls. <<Leo?>> He murmured.

Spike glanced at the canine on his back. "What's wrong?"

Moon Dancer and Twilight both flinched, staring at the same wall Yomega did. "Did you feel that?" Moon Dancer asked.

"Yeah." Twilight nodded. "That felt like a magic surge."

"Or a Summon using a powerful ability." Moon Dancer looked over at Twilight. "I've felt a few of those up in the university..."

Both mares reached the same conclusion and bolted to the door. "Sweetie!"

Rushing out into the streets, both mares galloped towards Carousel Boutique, Spike and Yomega hot on their heels. Many unicorns were out and about, trying to figure out what they had felt. They ran into Rarity outside the Boutique.

"Twilight! Thank goodness." She sighed. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Yes, is Sweetie okay?" Twilight tried to look into the Boutique around the marshmallow mare.

"Sweetie's over at the Fluttershy's with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom." Rarity frowned, studying her friend's face. "You think that was her?"

"But that's not where we felt the surge coming from." Moon Dancer mused. "Unless they left Fluttershy's for some reason..."

Twilight's horn started to glow. "Everyone stay close, I'll teleport us there." With that little warning, the group vanished in a flash of light. At the same time, they appeared outside the cottage in another flash. Spike ran up to the door, rapping his knuckles against it until he got an answer.

"Hello?" Sweetie asked after cracking the door open.

"Oh, Sweetie, you're safe!" Rarity cried.

"I am?"

Twilight nodded. "After we felt your surge, we rushed over check up on you."

"My what?"

"Have you been here all day?" Moon Dancer asked.

Sweetie looked at everyone with a confused look. "Yes?"

"Twilight." Moon Dancer drew out. "If she's been here, what caused the surge at the farm?"

Everyone grew silent at that. Fluttershy came around the side of the cottage with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. She looked at the group gathered around her door.

"Um... Would you like to come in?"

"There you guys are!" Everyone looked up at Rainbow. "Twilight, Applejack sent me to find you! There was an explosion of some sort at the farm!"

"Group up!" Twilight ordered. "We're teleporting!"

<<Again!>> Yomega added. Another twinned flash of light, and the group found themselves outside the Apple's farmhouse.

"This way." Rainbow groaned out, leading the others through the farm. They trotted past the barns and met up with Applejack by the rodeo track. Applejack, in turn, lead them into a section of the farm the other mares hadn't been into before. They came across small divots scarring the earth between some of the trees. Out of curiosity, Twilight used her magic to pull whatever had caused them out of one of divots. She hummed in thought as she examined a small piece of bark. Soon after, they found Zann's wardrobe, with Moon Dancer noting the scuff marks on one of the corners.

Everypony else's attention had been grabbed by the large oak tree standing at one end of the clearing. Rarity and Fluttershy, who had never been here before, paused to take in all of the electric scarring covering the tree, although they had trouble looking past the large chunk missing from one side.

"What happened here?" Twilight breathed.

<<Yomega...>> Everyone jumped, spinning to face the morose looking Flareon they had missed. <>

<<What happened?>> Yomega asked, Fluttershy translating for the rest of the group.

<> The ponies mostly looked concerned at that. <<So I almost walked face first into the attack that caused that.>> He gestured at the oak. Everypony grew concerned at that. <<And then I kinda snapped and lashed out at Leo, and I scared her enough that she headbutted me and ran off into the woods.>>

"What does Leo have to do with that?" Rainbow asked.

<<Leo was the one who launched the attack.>>

"Leo did that!?" Moon Dancer and Twilight exclaimed.

Further conversation was cut off as an explosion of light erupted from the Everfree Forest.

[Leo]

Fuckfuckfuckfuck! I cursed as I nursed another ball in my mouth. How fucking many of these fucking fucks are fucking here!! I jumped over another wolf, releasing my attack as I did so. I used the recoil, then the small pressure wave my ball created, to reach the branches above me. I knew I needed the distance, as I learned that taking damage breaks my concentration which causes me to lose the energy I had.

I took a moment to catch my breath. I glared at the ground, watching the wolves circling under my tree. With a growl, I began charging another attack. My ears twitched as I heard Rainbow's faint voice calling out for me. With another guttural growl, I arched my head back. "Solar..." I knew Rainbow would need a sign. Our Soul Bond can only give her vague directions, and her Loyalty Radar will only tell her 'up a tree in the Everfree'.

So I'll give her one.

"... Flare!" I launched the ball straight down. The explosion blasted the wolves apart while tearing a large hole in both the tree and the ground beneath me. The tree shook, before beginning to topple over. "Shitshitshit!" I bolted further up the tree, feeling Rainbow getting closer. I reached the top of the falling tree, and jumped.

Nimbus! ... Nimbus?

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The world seemed to slow around me, as if I had used my Extreme Speed, as my rear paws left the bark. I could see Rainbow pushing herself, but I wasn't sure if she'd catch me in time. I could feel the wind from the tree I had left pulling me down. I could see a couple of dirt clods my Solar Flare had knocked up begin to fall as gravity reasserted its control. My heart thundered in my ears.

I wasn't sure if I was evolving or if it was just the adrenaline.

Wait... Something's wrong. I squinted. Rainbow was a little lower just a millisecond ago... My eyes widened as the world sped up again. I managed to make eye contact with Rainbow, our eyes mirroring the others' terror. <<Rainboo~ow!!>>

And then I was back below the tree tops. I angled myself to land in the nearest tree, hopping to use everything I had learned from my Extreme Speed climbing. Unfortunately, the falling tree toppled into the one I wanted to land in, knocking it off angle. I slammed my shoulder into the trunk, feeling something give before white hot pain seared from my right shoulder. I saw the tree rotate away from me, my right front paw limply trailing behind me.

Then the rest of the branches came into view.

I saw and felt the first four.

I do not remember the rest.

"Beep." I twitched.

"Beep." I tried to open my eyes, but couldn't summon up enough effort.

"Beep." I finally managed to crack an eye open, but had to slam it shut from the pain the bright lights caused.

"Beep."

Could you not... I mentally whined. I tried to bring a paw up to rub my head, but I couldn't feel anything moving. Why can't I feel my everything?

"Ah, ah, ah ah. No." I heard Rainbow scold from my left. "No moving around for you. Even if I'm happy you're awake enough to move."

<<How...>> I tried to croak out.

"How long were you out? Or how did you get here?" Rainbow guessed.

I managed to keep an eye open. <<Yes.>>

"Smart ass." Rainbow gave a worried smirk.

I took a deep breath. <<I'd rather be a smart ass than a dumb ass.>> I managed to wheeze out, giving Rainbow my best shit-eating grin. We both started chuckling at that, but I quickly stopped, wincing in pain. <<Oh, hurts to laugh.>>

"Yeah, don't do that." Rainbow softly smiled. "So, I managed to catch you just before you hit the ground, and I flew you to Fluttershy's. That was two days ago. With Conner's help, she managed to patch you back together enough for you to be able to rest up here at the Library. You are nowheres near healthy, though." Rainbow sighed. "Your collar bone was broken on both sides, your front right leg was broken in three spots, your front left only in two. Four crushed ribs, and your tail will have a permanent kink to it. Should be a couple of moons until you'll be healed up."

We both tilted our ears towards the door as someone started scratching it. Rainbow smiled at me. "The rest of the pack were very worried about you, but only Fluttershy, Conner and I were allowed in." She made her way to the door, inching it open. "No crowding, she just woke up!" She ordered as the Pack came charging in, before slipping out to give us some peace.

"Hey there, Leo. How goes the recovery?" Yomega asked.

"Well," I began, "Rainbow said I'll be in here for a couple of moons, what with the crushed ribs, and the shattered leg. And the brain damage. And the brain damage. And the brain damage. And the brain damage." I managed to turn to look at the group. "Oh hey, Yomega. When'd you get here?"

Conner immediately appeared at my side. "Please be joking." He prayed, glowing paws flying across my head.

"I'm joking! Ow!" I winced, continuing in a whimper. "Hurts to shout. When will I learn to stop hurting myself?"

Lulu rubbed her muzzle with a sigh. "I ask myself that every day."

"Okay, everyone settle down." Yomega requested. "Leo, I know that this may be the last thing you want to do right now, but I'm going to need you to explain yourself."

"I won our bet." I smirked.

"Was it worth this?" Yomega asked, raising an eyebrow. "And what bet?"

"I created a new move." I tried to raise a paw to cut off the clamour that created. I only succeeded in wiggling my casts. "Everyone, shut up!" I turned to Zann. "That's what almost hit you, and I'm sorry about that."

"And then what happened?" Yomega pressed.

Zann spoke up. "I kinda laid into Leo about her choice of practice location, and accidentally triggered something I shouldn't've."

"Triggered what?" Yomega demanded.

I nodded at Abes. "Leo's been having a reoccuring nightmare that Luna believes may be a gateway that an entity we've been calling The Claw may be trying to use to enter our plane of existence." The Umbreon explained

Villhiem tried to inject some levity into situation. "Hey, Boss, Mr. Pendrake, sir? Your second's been having dreams of merciless slaughter of mainly innocent ponies in the name of Khorne and Rainbows, you got a book we can use to figure out where to start?"

The room became deathly silent. Yomega slowly turned to Glare at the grass type. He turned it to everyone present. "And nobody thought to bring this up before... Why?"

"What could you have done?" I asked. "You can't dreamwalk. We needed Luna." I hoped he'd buy my next lie. "She hopes that the fewer beings who knew about it will slow it down, if not stop it."

"Okay, fine." Yomega sighed, clearly not happy about things. "Who knew?"

"Rainbow, and those of us who had evolved." I used my chin to point at Villhiem and Lulu. "Their tea has been helping, and the only time I can get their help at night is when they stay up to talk about adult stuff."

"We're all adults here." Yomega deadpanned.

Abes placed a paw on Yomega's shoulder. "There's something about evolving that we cannot explain to you." He moved his paw to Yomega's mouth, cutting off any retorts. "No, I mean this. You will only understand it when you evolve. Don't worry, even if you are just a kid compared to us, we still follow you."

"Fine, fine," Yomega grumbled. I could tell that he would be heading to the training yard to vent later. "So, Leo. Tell us about this new move."

"Well," I carefully shifted to get comfortable, "if things were like the games, I think that it would be a two turn move. First to charge, second turn hits. If I lose my concentration, I lose the attack. Learned that against some Timberwolves. There's another aspect to it, but I don't know what it is just yet."

"So it's a Solar Beam?" Vince asked.

Zann shook his head. "Nope, it came out in a rasengan like ball. I should know, I got a good look at it when it nearly took my head off."

"I call it Solar Flare." I added.

"Fuck, I miss the internet." Yomega sighed. "It would make checking this so much easier."

I finally managed to look around enough to see were I was. "So, where are you sleeping, Abes?"

"The couch."

First Cracks.

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With a grumble, I wheeled myself through the library. I was lucky that Fluttershy had one of those dog crutches, so I was able to shuffle around while I recovered. Didn't change the fact that I was stuck in the library, though, and Moon Dancer and Twilight took full advantage of this.

"Stupid ponies and their needles." I rolled into the kitchen. "Stupid busted ribs forcing me to go slow. Stupid tree, breaking my legs." I stopped and stared out the back door, and the outside world beyond it. "Stupid stairs, can't climb back up them."

"You okay?" I heard Yomega call out as he came into the room behind me.

"Stupid Alpha, asking stupid questions." I muttered.

"What?"

"I said I'm fine!" I snapped back at him. I angrily wiggled my casts, continuing with a growl. "I can't believe Conner couldn't fix this. Didn't he snap Lulu's spine back together during Spike's greed growth? This shouldn't be that hard!"

"First off, Lulu's was a clean break. Yours were a fucking mess." Yomega lectured. "Second, and more importantly, such rapid magical healing can cause even worse problems for the recipient in the long run. Things like cancer, osteoporosis, or Alzheimer's for head injuries. That's why Rainbow was staying in the hospital. We were lucky that Lulu evolved when she did."

I sighed, knowing he was right. He had explained all this to me before. I still felt that I needed to get the last word in, though. "Just wish I could move around more, is all."

"Yeah," Yomega sighed as he sat beside me, "I can imagine how much it sucks for you to be limited to the one floor." I grunted my agreement. "Just a heads up, they're thinking of hooking you up to the Spectro-Thaumic Scanner and having you fire off a Solar Flare. They want to know how something as small as us can do, well, a Solar flare."

I gave him a half lidded stare, arching an eyebrow as I did so. "Not like I can run anywhere. Lemme guess, you're only telling me so that I don't accidentally break the scanner, hmm?"

He shook his head with a chuckle. "That too, but I'm also curious as to how we do what we can do. Aren't you?"

I groaned. "Yes, but no. I am curious, but I don't want to find out that it's midichlorians or some stupid shit like that."

"At this point," Yomega sighed, "I don't think we have a choice. Your little stunt has gotten a lot of ponies curious, including Rainbow Dash. I do have good news though: you've still got a few days to rest up. Moon Dancer's insisting that the experiment is done in our Training Yard, so they're currently looking for a portable generator." He stood up to leave, before pausing. "Oh, while I'm thinking about it, Apple Bloom had Triphyle put up a protective thicket around the Yard. People can only enter from the one side now, so that should cut back the chances of accidents like what happened happening."

"Good to know." I mumbled. I lay my head onto my front legs. I decided to spend the next few hours pony-watching, waiting for Conner to come by to give his daily dose of healing.

... I'm so fucking bored.

I sat in the scanner's bowl, propped up by my casts. I sent an exasperated look back at gathering behind me. I don't want to be here...

Sadly, everyone else did. Moon Dancer and Twilight were working together to fine tune the scanner, with Spike and Thunderlane running around making sure everything was plugged in and the generator was running. The rest of the element bearers sat back with the Pack, chatting amongst themselves. Even Silver was here, her orange hoodie causing her to stand out from the rest of the Crusaders. Yomega caught my eye, and gave a slight, but firm, shake of his head.

We're going to learn a thing or two... I mentally mocked, turning my gaze forward. I just wanted to create a new move, show it off when I was ready. Not turn it into a science fair project!

"Quityerbitchin'. You're still getting to show off." My gaze drifted over the wall of thorns and vines encircling the clearing. "The Yard's gotten a serious security upgrade because of you. Hey! Think we could convince Triphyle to beef up the Daycare's?"

... I'll look into that later. I stuck a pin in that thought as Twilight stepped up beside me.

She turned to address the assemble group. "Alright, everything is set up and ready to go. We'll power up the Spetro-Thaumic Scanner, set it to continuous print, let it create the baseline, then have Leo use her new ability. Any questions so far?"

"Do you think the rest of them will gain this new ability?" Scootaloo asked.

"Unlikely." Moon Dancer admitted. "We're currently working under the theory that an Eevee will learn or gain new abilities based on need or training, for a lack of a better word." She gestured to Conner. "We think that Conner gained a healing ability during the... Greed growth incident. That would be one gained from need."

Twilight spoke up next. "Leo, Cy and Vince, however, all have seemed to have gained an ability from their training leading up to the Running of the Leaves that increases their overland speed. However, these speeds are nowhere near the extreme speeds shown with their light rushes. Now- yes, Silver?"

Silver lowered her hoof. "What's a light rush?"

"That's what we're calling the ability that most of the Pack share, the one where they cover themselves with energy and charge their opponent." Moon Dancer answered.

"I think Leo's rush is a different one." Silver mused. "Hers seems much faster than the others, though I think Cy's getting faster as well."

The studious mares shared a look. "That's an experiment for another time," They agreed.

"For now, though..." Moon Dancer began.

"Science!" Twilight cried with almost maniacal glee. The subsequent button push seemed almost anticlimactic.

I leaned against the bowl's edge as the tines spun slowly around me. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but the horrid screeching that sounded from the machine behind me wasn't it. I cringed into myself, regretting the fact that I couldn't cover my ears.

"I thought that the scanner only showed pictures." I just barely heard Pinkie over the damn noise. "Whats with the squiggly lines?"

"We can't watch the screen in real time." Thunderlane answered. "The machine can't process the data fast enough. We can reenter this in later to get the images."

"Why does it sound so awful?!" Spike cried out.

<<It sounds like an old dial up!>> I moaned out.

"Maybe we should have the Pack wait out of earshot." Fluttershy sensibly suggested. "They seem to be in pain."

<<It's like one drill in one ear,>> Abes whined, <<and another drill in the other ear! And they're meeting in the middle!!>>

"Baseline set!" Moon Dancer faintly called out.

I think Twilight mumbled out something like "Alright, cast it now!" but I couldn't tell.

Goddamnit! I'mma about to hit the universal mute button! I groaned, clenching my eyes tightly shut.

Then Rainbow called out to me. "Alright Leo, Solar Flare."

I began to charge up, the machine's screeching becoming a howl. During the brief charge, I cracked an eye open to gauge the speed of the tines. I waited for one to pass to launch the sphere.

We all watched it race down the clearing. It landed just shy of the tree, blowing a crater in the dirt. Twilight shut the machine off to let Rainbow pull me out of the bowl.

"Holy..." Silver's voice filled the silence. "I don't remember Cheerilee teaching us about anything that could do that! That almost seems like something a summon could do!"

Twilight and Moon dancer shared another look. "... Huh."

A Kernal of Knowledge.

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Twilight and Moon Dancer crowded the scanner, blocking off the screen from everyone else's view. Spike fed the reams of data back into the machine from Thunderlane's back. I wiggled my legs at Rainbow, signaling my desire to get out, but she didn't notice as she had joined everyone else in trying to see over the studious mares' shoulders.

Fine! I grumbled, hooking my casts over the lip of the bowl. I'll see myself out! I hopped a few times before I finally got enough momentum. I gave a smug smirk as I started to tip out of the scanner.

And promptly landed on my face.

<<Oww.>> My muffled groan went unheard. It took me a bit of work, but I was able to wiggle my way back to my crutch. I puttered my way into the wardrobe, grabbing a snack from Zann's stash. My ears flicked back to the group, catching something about a distortion, a possible organ or four, and a possible retest. I sighed, cramming the last of the cupcake I stole into my mouth before making my way back to the scanner.

With a bit more work, I was able to tilt my way back into the bowl. On an unrelated note, I can now confirm that face-planting metal does, indeed, hurt more than dirt. I managed to scramble back upright by the time they all looked over at me.

"Rainbow, do you know if she has any abilities that don't require her to move?" Twilight asked my owner.

The prismic mare eyed me. "I think she can do the one from last month's Running of the Leaves without moving." Her voice grew more confident with my subtle nod.

"Okay!" Twilight magicked up a set of earmuffs for the Pack and the Crusader's summons. "Then, on my signal, she'll-"

All noise was cut off once they were over my ears. I saw Twilight energetically mouthing something to the group, with the ponies and Eros nodding along. Moon Dancer turned away from the group, hiding her own manic grin as she turned the scanner on.

"Oh, good. They're multiplying."

My sound... I began to hum. The tines began to spin around me again, with only a quiet whine to remind me of the new form of torture I suffered through last time.

"Yes! Give into the temptation for senseless references!" I mentally cackled while I waited for the scanner to do it's thing. "Ah, hahahaha"

hahahawow, my thought's can get weird. I shook myself, regaining focus on the task at paw. Okay... What was the signal again? I saw Rainbow hover in front of me waving a hoof. Oh good, the signal! Wait, which move did they need me to do again?

"Use your ability! The, uh, thing! Celestia damnit, what did you call it... Leo, use Agility!"

Oh, right! Thanks Rainbow! I felt my energy loosen my muscles as pink motes began to dance in the corner of my vision. I held the move, only waiting until Rainbow made a slashing motion to drop it. Once again, Tunderlane and Spike fed the results back into the scanner, while everyone crowded the science duo trying to see the screens.

I managed to pull the earmuffs off in time to see Angel run up with a newspaper clipping in his mouth. With a frustrated sigh, he hopped his way across my packmates' heads to land land on Fluttershy's back. He unfurled the clipping and smacked it onto the yellow mare's snout in one smooth motion.

"Oh, my." Fluttershy hovered out of the group, pulling Angel off her back as she did so. "With all the excitement, I completely forgot about the seminar." She looked back at the rest of us, making eye contact with me. "But I think I can skip it."

Angel stomped a foot. <<Didn't you say you needed this?>> He faintly mumbled at her, trying to avoid being heard by the Pack. I saw a couple of canine ears twitch towards the rabbit, but I seemed to be the only one paying attention.

"I think I'm needed more here."

<<Fine, fine.>> Angel angrily rolled the clipping up. He shot one final snark over his shoulder as he hopped away. <<As you wish.>>

Fluttershy floated over to me, carefully pulling me from the bowl and placing me on my crutch. "There you go. Better?"

<<Yes, thank you.>> I scooted over to Rainbow.

Said mare hovered over the rest of the group, trying to see over the studious mares. "C'mon, Twilight, let us see!"

I watched the lavender mare stiffen. "Oh. Right. It'll take some time for us to get everything set back up in the library, but we can rig up a projector." She turned to face the group. "Do you girls mind if I teleport the Spectro-Thaumic Scanner back to the library?" A chorus of agreements answered her.

"I'll teleport the printouts back." Moon Dancer offered. Both unicorns vanished in a crack of light.

The rest of us began to meander back to the library, taking our time to give the mares enough time to set things up. They had managed to do so long before we got there though. We found them pouring over still images on the small screen in the basement.

"<<Darlings, we're here!>>" Rarity and Lulu singsonged together.

<<That's just weird...>> Vince whispered to me.

Twilight rolled the results back to the beginning while Moon Dancer turned the projector on. When everything came into focus, I could see the same image shown on the third screen when we first did this enlargened on the wall. Once again, a pervasive white glow covered my chest region, causing a small distortion in the area. But something was off. There were slightly brighter lines within the glow.

"Hey, Twilight?" Moon Dancer got Twilight to look up from the paper. "Do you see those?"

Twilight squinted at the image. "Interesting, we couldn't see those on the smaller monitor."

"They almost seem to form a pattern." Rarity mused.

Rainbow hovered over everyone to get closer to the wall. "Wait..." She flew off up the stairs.

<<Where's...>> Cy began to ask, only to be cut off when Rainbow came rocketing back, a folder under wing. She flicked it open and leafed through the contents.

She pulled one out and held it to Twilight. "Can you overlap this with what's up there?"

It took a bit of work, but they were able to overlay what turned out to be an x-ray over the projection. We all looked at it, but Rarity and Rainbow were the only ones able to see something, but they looked like they couldn't quite figure it out.

"What did you grab?" Pinkie stage whispered to my mare.

Rainbow flicked her tail at me. "The x-rays showing her fractures from the forest."

"Huh." Twilight murmured. She glanced at her scientific friend. "Do you see anything-? Moon Dancer?"

The bespectacled mare was pointing a hoof at the image, drifting it back and forth. With a snap, she dropped the hoof, twisting her head to look at the rest of us. "The lines on the scanner match up with the fracture lines on the x-ray! I'm not sure what this means just yet, but I got a few theories!" She floated the x-ray back into the folder. "But we should explain what we do know for sure first. The image you see here is Leo's baseline." She turned to the sole stallion. "Thunderlane, could you advance the reel, please? Stop here, please."

The image showed me just before I had used my move. Most of the glow had moved to my mouth, but there were four bright glowing teardrop shapes that had been hidden before. They were floating around my heart.

Moon Dancer highlighted my mouth. "As this shows, most of the glow has moved to her jaw, and manifested as the orb that Leo launched earlier. But these!" She circled the shapes. "Are the interesting part. Keep an eye on these as we progress the reel." We watched as the ball slowly grew more intense before flying off screen. The glow in my chest had mostly faded, clearly showing the teardrops, one of which was looking slightly fainter.

The glow rapidly returned, before the image vanished.

"And that's the first ability we saw." Twilight nodded, magicking the next reel into position. "This is the next one. What did you call it Rainbow, Agility?"

"Yup."

"Well, the shapes will be harder to see, but do try to keep an eye on them." Once again, we watched the glow move, though it moved differently this time. First it moved to my head, then it spread throughout my body. The glow had taken a slightly pale purple tint, allowing us to just make out still white shapes. Strangely, two of them were fainter than the others. "Do you see the differences?" Twilight gained a slight manic grin.

We all shook our heads.

"So, we're not entirely sure, and we will need to take more scans to verify, but we think we know what those are." Moon Dancer cautioned. "But we think that those are kernals."

A Kernal of Truth.

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I looked around at the room. All of the unicorns and Silver were gaping like landed Magikarp, but the majority of us were confused. I leaned towards Rainbow, hoping to get some form of clarification.

"What's a kernal?" Thankfully, Scootaloo spoke up first.

"It's where magic comes from." Sweetie answered.

"It's a little more complicated then that." Rarity allowed.

Twilight nodded. "Quite. A kernal is a meta-physical organ that converts potential energies into mana, which can in turn be used to empower, enchant, or cast spells. Since every living thing on Equis has a kernal, including vegetation, life has evolved here to need mana to properly function. This is why mana exhaustion is so dangerous, and why anypony can suffer from it, and why having a kernal that doesn't, or can't, produce enough mana means hospitalization."

"And that's not even the most exciting part!" Moon Dancer added. "Here's the kicker: Twilight only said 'a kernal'. As in singular. One." She jabbed a hoof at the image. "These Eevees have four! Four! And they're putting out more mana then they can use, to the point that it passively heals them. Can you imagine what else the extra kernals let them do?"

<<Solar Flares, apparently.>>

"This may even explain their weather manipulation abilities!"

Twilight chuckled. "Down, Moony. If older theories are to be believed, and this discovery potentially confirms, Star Swirl the Bearded was born with an extra kernal."

"Sorry," Moon Dancer nervously smiled, "I'm just curious if this is the cause behind their rapid mutation and evolution. But what would cause a species to evolve such a mutation?" She paused, tapping her chin. "Wasn't Star Swirl also rumored to have a font? Maybe the two may be connected?" She turned to address the rest of the group. "A font is the basically the opposite of having a kernal that doesn't make enough mana, but makes too much."

"Maybe," Twilight allowed, "but we won't know for sure until we can confirm a font. But that's not important right now. Notice how two of Leo's kernals dimmed? Notice how one dimmed with the use of her Solar Flare, and another with her Agility? It may be possible that an Eevee's abilities are grouped, and each group pulls from a different kernal?"

<<Attack, Special attack, Defense, and Special Defense?>> I heard Yomega mutter. <<No, where would buffing fit in?>>

"And there's something else I'm now curious about." Twilight continued, gesturing to the hoodied filly amongst us. "Silver's earlier comment made me wonder: what does a summon's scans look like? For that, I'll need to either borrow Zephyr or Eros." She glanced at the fillies. "Failing their cooperation, I can always summon up one myself."

"Sorry, Twilight," Spike interrupted, "your license's expired. You still haven't sent the forms in."

Twilight frowned, obviously making a mental note. Eros rolled her eyes, put on her earmuffs, and teleported into the scanner's bowl. With the decision made for us, Moon Dancer turned the machine on. Once we realized what was going on, the Pack all scrambled to get theirs back on. Noticing my struggle, Rainbow jammed mine on just in time.

The screeching filled the basement, all of us waiting for the baseline to be set. Soon enough, Twilight gestured to Sweetie, who in turn nodded. Next thing I know, I'm being suspended in the air within the little Ralts' mental might.

... I hate psychic types... I grumbled as I floated. I really hope she puts me down before letting go. With that thought, I landed on my ass. I shot a glare at the feeling Pokemon, and I swear I saw a slight smile. You did that deliberately, didn't you?

"Did I?"

"Right, outta our head."

"W-what?"

And stay out! I glanced at the ceiling. Unless I invite you in! I huffed.

I felt hooves wrap themselves around me. "You okay, Leo?" Rainbow whispered.

<<I hate her types...>> I grumbled to her.

"You don't like Raltses?"

<<No, psychic types.>>

"Yeah, that's not translating well." Rainbow sighed. "Let's just see what the eggheads have figured out."

I looked over at the two mares pouring over the small screen. <<Looks like they may be a while...>>

"Get this on the projector!" Twilight exclaimed.

Moon Dancer faced the group. "We need to get your opinions on this!" A new set of images appeared, quickly cycling through the skeletal, organ, and general body structure, the hemograph , and stopped on the leygraph. At least, according to Yomega. Just as with our scans, Eros' also had a large area with a pervasive glow, this one centered around her head. She also had a smaller one in her chest area.

Thunderlane progressed the reel until it showed the dimming of the glow. "Here is her lifting Leo." Twilight explained. She pointed to the larger distortion. "This is where Eros' largest kernal is." Her hoof moved to Eros' chest. "And here are her other three. What do you girls think this means?"

Silence grew as those of us who didn't travel dimensions tried to figure it out.

Oddly, Silver figured it out first. "Are... are you saying that Eevees are a type of summon?"

"But where's their circle?" Apple Bloom asked. "An' if they don' have one, what about Zann's leg? No offence." She looked over at the orange canine.

Zann just curled his tail around himself.

"That's just it!" Moon Dancer smiled. "Think about it. If there's a circle, who summoned them?"

"Sorry, but, um..." Fluttershy tried to speak up. "From what they told me, I don't think they were summoned."

"Then why haven't they been banished yet?" Moon Dancer continued, pointing at Zann. When no one answered, she sighed and explained. "It means that these Eevees must be a naturalized version of a summon, and one the circles haven't ever seen before! When were they summoned? Why were they summoned? Why wasn't the summon documented? What caused them to be stuck here? What did they look like before they naturalized into these?"

"Now we're entering into theorycrafting." Twilight began.

Moon Dancer snorted. "Or, as Headmaster Brain Pan calls it, "Mass Wild Ass Guessing"."

"Yeah," Twilight rolled her eyes, "that. Unfortunately, That's going to take a lot of work, pouring over everything we've discovered so far. We can only ask that we keep the Pack available for any future experiments." She paused in thought. "Maybe even your summons, girls."

A slight crack signaled Eros absconding with Sweetie.

Scootaloo looked at the vacant spot. "Ye~ah, good luck with that."

Returned from the Ashes.

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[Zann]

I woke up to Pinkie vigorously shaking me. I blinked and yawned, stepping out of my dog bed to stretch. I sat back and pulled on my false leg until my shoulder popped. Why does every night in a new place screw with my leg? I wondered as I finally gave Pinkie my attention.

"Are you excited for today?!" She whispered shouted. "I'm so excited! So excited, I got us up super-duper early to help the Cakes prepare!"

<<Are they even up at this hour?>> I groggily asked. <<What are we even doing?>>

"SHHHH!" Pinkie jammed her hoof into my muzzle. "We've got to be quiet! You go get the Minikery set up, and I'll prep the store!"

I yawned, pulling a modified sock onto my prosthetic, and shuffled out after my hyperactive pony. <<Pinkie, you know I need food or coffee this early in the morning...>>

We reached the bottom of the stairs when Pinkie turned to me. "Oh! I almost forgot! Here, one high calorie breakfast cupcake for you! Keep you nice and healthy." She handed me a vibrantly colored cupcake, with extra sprinkles, big enough that its base stuck out a bit around Pinkie's hoof.

I stretched my mouth open as wide as I could make it and devoured the pastry treat in one gulp. Taking a moment for the food to hit my furnace, I followed Pinkie into the new kitchen. I took my time to mix up a couple of large batches of cookie dough, making sure none of the mix got into my fur.

A~nd that none of my fur got in the mix.

With a slight yawn, I munched on some of the generic kibbles the Cakes feed me with before slipping the bowls onto my back. Grabbing a ladle into my mouth, I waited for Pinkie to place a couple of shallow baking trays onto my back. Once I had everything, I made my way over to the stall we had dragged inside.

Placing everything down, I ladled small dollops of the batter onto a tray, before setting it onto a wire rack. The rack itself was suspended in a metal section of the Minikery with space under it for some logs to be placed inside a metal ring. I quickly set up a small fire, making sure that the logs wouldn't roll or fall out.

While I waited for the cookies to bake, I looked around the new store. The new Sugarcube Corner looked much like it's predecessor, although with a more open design. The Cakes had managed to increase their lot size enough to add another row of tables to the lobby, as well as enough space for the Minikery to be placed by the counter and for an ice cream cooler to sit beside the fridge.

I can't believe that we're finally reopening. I sighed, pulling the finished tray of cookies off the rack and setting it aside to cool. I quickly replaced it with another tray. I glanced outside to see a cloud with a short rainbow hanging from it. I shook my head with a smile as I started to prep the third tray. While those were baking, I set the cooled cookies out. Burn cleaning the tray, I started prepping it for the next batch once it cooled. I proceeded in this manner until the Minikery had been fully stocked, then put out the fire. I checked up on Pinkie and was surprised to see the rest of the Cakes up and baking as well, the twins babbling away in a play pen.

Although, considering what today was, I really should have expected that.

Fifteen minutes to opening, and Pinkie brought a change box and set it up. We had trained the local ponies to use a trust system while I was there. Me being a fire dog helped, I guess.

Ten minutes to opening, and Pinkie brought over a couple of coolers for me, stuffed full of s'mores ingredients. My flash frying technique had made our s'mores a new staple of the bakery.

Five minutes to opening, and Pinkie brought me my food bowl. It was piled high with kibbles and confections. Catching a glance at the growing line outside, I inhaled the food with a minute to spare.

Pinkie and Cup Cake exited the store through the back door, walking around to begin the grand reopening ceremony. Carrot Cake and I stayed at our respective counters to greet the first customers in. Sure enough, Rainbow and Leo reach us first.

<<What'chu wan'?>> I asked, noting the small bag in Leo's mouth.

She leaned against the counter to place the bag on it. <<As many peanut butters as this'll get me.>>

Rolling my eyes, I pulled a tray I had hidden away and slid cookies from it into a bag. <<Getting a little greedy?>> I asked as I passed her the bag. <<All those cookies are just going to go to your hips. It'll just slow you down.>> I gently ribbed.

<<Not all for me.>> Leo explained. <<We didn't want to cram the entire pack in here while you're working, so they sent me to get them stuff.>> She smirked, slinging the bag up onto her back. <<Pity they didn't specify. Now they get my favourite!>>

I waved her off, before turning to the rest of the line. Oof, it's going to be a long day...

We were just finishing up our cleaning when there was a knock on the door. I shared a glance with Pinkie as Carrot went to see who was there. With a shrug, I went back to brushing the insides of the ovens. I got that job simply because they were easiest to clean still mostly warm, but nopony could stand to be in them for long.

I had just tossed the rag out behind me when I felt jaws clamp down on my tail before pulling me out. Pinkie let go once I was out, then pointed behind her.

"Merry Weather wants to talk to us." She stated.

Uh oh, must be serious. I nervously followed Pinkie into the lobby. Merry Weather sat with the Cakes and Crusaders at one of the tables. Pinkie and I quickly joined them.

"I'll keep this brief." Merry Weather began, pulling papers out of her bag. "Silver's parole, for a lack of a better term, is coming up. Part of her hearing involves an interview with you." She began asking us a series of questions that I honestly zoned out about halfway through. I refocused back at the end. "Alright, this is the last one, and it's a conditional one. Before I ask it, you should know that Silver has been gaining time off for good behavior. Not enough for her to be 'released' by itself, but the dedication and the performance she has shown indicate that she is remorseful, and has likely learned her lesson and can be released. However, we cannot ignore your side of things."

She sighed. "So, the final question is: if it is possible for her to be released at this time, would you give your consent?"

I saw Pinkie nod while the Cakes whispered amongst themselves. Apple Bloom spoke up for her friends. "We consent, although we think she should take a course on Equestrian summoning laws."

"We'd also consent, so long as she gives a written apology." Carrot stated.

Pinkie looked down at me, and I smiled and nodded. She turned to Merry Weather. "Zann and I are okay with it, too!"

"Alright." Merry Weather pulled a few pages to the top of her pile, wrote a few things down, then passed them over to the ponies across from her. "Need you to sign here." Each pony signed in turn, then Pinkie quickly picked me up, rubbed my good paw in ink, and placed my paw print beside everypony else's signatures.

We handed the form back to the guardsmare. She gathered the papers up and tapped into alignment. "I'll get these to the barracks to be processed. Thank you for your time."

Restyled Phoenix.

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[Lulu]

I flowed around the boutique, a cookie in my mouth. I had been able to send Leo into Sugarcube a few times, so I had stockpiles hidden around Rarity's. After a couple of days, Sweetie and Eros had found most of them, but left them in place with the understanding that they could have some.

Right now, I was just looking for some inspiration. Rarity may not know it, but she's already made a few of my designs. As I passed the front rooms, the frills around my ears twitched at the sound of hooves outside. I flowed into prime lounging position and scarfed down the last of my cookie.

The door opened, setting the little bell to jingling. Silver stood in the doorway, glancing into the store nervously.

"Coming~!" Silver flinched at Rarity's voice, before letting her gaze drift around again. The filly's eye's eventually landed on me. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her, making her way over to me. She began petting me to calm her own nerves.

"Welcome to Cara-" Rarity cut herself off as we came into her view. "Ah, Silver. What can we do for you today?"

"I'm, um, here to ask for a, erm, some custom clothes?" Silver hesitantly asked.

Rarity smiled. "Well, you certainly came to the right place." She waved the filly further into the store. "Let's just see if there's a design back here that is close to the dresses you'd like, shall we?"

Silver winced slightly. "They're not dresses..." She mumbled out.

"Oh?" Rarity arched an eyebrow at the grey filly. "Well, now. If I may ask, what do you wish me to make for you?"

"Well, I've just gotten used to wearing them." Silver began to ramble. Rarity and I just shared a knowing look. "And I think that they're comfy, but now that I'm no longer required to wear the one the guards issued, I don't know where to get one. I've tried looking everywheres in town, but nopony sells them. So I was hoping you could make me a couple...?"

"A couple of what, dear?" Rarity stressed, though I think she already figured it out.

"Hoodies." Silver mumbled, beginning to blush. "I know that they're not something you normally make, and am willing to pay extra, it's-"

I placed a paw over her mouth. <<I'm certain we can help you, darling.>>

"Thank you, Lulu." Rarity smiled at us. "Silver, darling, I don't expect you to pay extra. The offered challenge will be enough for that. I will still be charging the commission price, though that is always negotiable." she began nudging the grey filly along. "Now, let's get your measurements, and lets discuss colors, shall we?"

"I'm not really sure what goes well with greys..." Silver admitted.

I glided ahead, glancing at the spools already there. I gently pawed at the purple, pink, blue, and silver fabrics, knowing that Rarity's eye would be drawn to them.

Rarity smiled softly as she entered the room. "I think Lulu may have some ideas."

Rarity had been at her work desk for several hours now. Silver had long since left, and various dyed fabrics lay draped over a filly sized pony mannequin. I lay curled in my bed, watching Opal bat the crumpled up papers of discarded sketches.

"Hmm, yes this could work." Rarity murmured to herself. "If I just lengthen this, tuck there. But, no, how would I get that pouch. Maybe if I?" I watched her brow furrow before she crumpled up another page and threw it over her shoulder with a frustrated yell. I watched the ball bounce to join its brethren on the floor. With a sigh, Rarity lay her head down onto her desk. "Well, I must commend the pony who first designed these. And the model who had to wear it. I don't think that there's anyways for me to stitch it without making an uncomfortable seam somewhere..."

I shrugged and lay my head down, my frills twitching as Rarity shuffled through her papers. Soon, even that stopped. I felt Rarity's hoof falls as she approached my bed. I turned to face her as she lay down facing me.

Rarity looked at me contemplatively. "You know..." She drew out. "I've been wondering about some of the designs I've made recently." She tapped a hoof to her chin. "The lines were too smooth to be mouth drawn, yet too shaky to be telekinesis. I've only been seeing these recently, ever since you've grown..." She fixed me with a look, the one mothers would give to their unruly children. "You wouldn't happen to know something about that, would you?"

<<Busted.>> Opal sang from across the room.

I sighed, standing and stretching. I led Rarity back to her work desk, and propped myself up to reach her papers. Grabbing some and a charcoal stick, I dropped back onto the floor. I began sketching hoodie designs, using everything I had learned back home to make it look comfortable. Five pages later, and I sat back, and noticed Rarity studying my designs. <<Do you like?>> I smirked.

Rarity sighed. "Every day, you and your Pack give us something new to ponder. If you've lived all your lives out in the wild, where did you learn about these? Unless you learned from watching me, in which case I'm flattered to have taught you so well..." She pursed her lips, staring at the papers. "I suppose it doesn't matter, really. Although, I can't, in good conscience, use these."

I tilted my head at her. Rarity giggled at my confusion, placing my sketches down.

"What kind of a seamstress would I be if I profited from somepony else's work?" She shook her head. "But I can't just credit these to you, nopony would believe me."

I placed a paw on the papers and slid them closer to Rarity.

"You still want me to use these?"

I nodded.

"Why?" She held a hoof up. "No, wait. Silly me. I'm not Fluttershy, I won't be able to understand the answer." She pondered for a while. "I think I may have a solution."

I heard Rarity lead Silver through the shop to the showroom. "I really hope you like the hoodies we've made for you."

"We?" Silver asked.

"Why, yes." Rarity explained. "I had to get some outside help to finalize these."

"Who?"

The two ponies finally joined me. I sat amongst the new hoodies awaiting their filly owner. Rarity smiled at me.

"Oh, just a friend."

It's a Not-A-Date!

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[Connor]

I trudged my way up through the tunnels into the library. I paused at the door, before noticing that it was open. I stepped out into the main section of Golden Oaks, and spotted a certain someone.

"Hey, Owlowiscious!" I called out. "I'm looking for Leo and Yomega, and was told they'd be here. Have you seen them?"

He cracked an eye open to blearily look at me. "They're upstairs with Abes, keeping him awake, no doubt. Poor pup must be run ragged at this point."

I paused at the stairs. "What's wrong?"

"We~ll..." Owlowiscious dragged out. "Those two have been keeping him up for a couple of days each week. He's already very tired from all the work the True Princess has him doing," he gave me a tired wink, "amongst other things, I assume."

I chuckled, continuing up the stairs. "Alright, you have a good rest."

"I will."

I paused on the steps once again, looking over my shoulder. I know he needs his sleep, but he really wants to gossip with someone. I faced forward, a contemplative frown pulling my face to the side. But I really have to see the others. I turned back to the owl. But I do want to hear his gossip...

I scowled, shaking my head. No! No... I need to get this done.

I followed my ears to the room my pack mates had sequestered themselves in. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to notice.

"No, no, no, no, no, no." I heard Leo from the other side. "That one could have gone either way. But Twilight not meeting herself? That's definitely us!"

"But what did we do?" Abes asked as I knocked again.

"The Running of the Leaves is just around the corner!" Yomega snapped. "If what Leo said is accurate, then we should've had two more episodes by now."

My knocking grew more intense.

"Maybe they'll happen next month?" Abes countered. I began to back up

"Nope." Leo answered. "I've already gotten the plans from Rainbow for the Dragon migration, and Lulu's told me that she's helping Rarity make her camo-dress. Hopefully, she can tone down how gaudy it'll be." I charged at the door. Just before I could hit it, someone opened it. I ended up barreling into the room, bowling over Yomega and ramming into Leo.

"Oh, hello Conner." Abes looked down at me. "What brings you here?"

Leo squirmed under me. "Whatever it is, get off first!"

"R-right." I stood up with a blush. I cleared my throat. "So, I was wondering if you know the exact path of the dragons would fly on their migration."

"Why?" Yomega dragged the word out, cutting Leo off from speaking.

"We all know how Fluttershy is. I want to pick a place far enough from the migration path that she'll be comfortable watching it, yet close enough for her to see it." I explained. "I figure that it'll help her with her fears to see it. Kinda push her to the edge of her comfort zone."

"We do all need to try things outside our comfort zones, every now and then." Yomega allowed.

Leo snorted. "I generally stand at the edge of mine and stare awkwardly into someone else's."

"Comfort zones are irrelevant to this, I think." Abes cut in with a sly smile. "I think somedog is hoping for a date with Nurse Joy."

"T-t-that's not it at all!" I protested as I felt my cheeks flush.

"Oh, by Arceus!" Leo cried out. "It's so fucking obvious, I can't believe Fluttershy can't see it! We know you got the hots for her, just as Abes has it bad for Luna!"

"Hey now!" Abes protested, rounding on the brash Eevee.

Yomega pulled me aside as Abes laid into Leo. "I'll get the flight path to you once things here calm down." He looped a leg around my shoulder before I could leave. "Try to deny it all you like, we can tell that you're twitterpatted with Joy." He looked me in the eyes. "Just tell her. If she won't or can't reciprocate, the worst she can do is say no. It'll be fine." He gave me a slight shake.

I turned away with frown. "Easy for you to say, you've already got your girl." I grumbled

"Pardon?"

"Nothing." I sighed, turning to leave the trio to whatever they were bickering about prior. I trudged back down the stairs to see that Owlowiscious was still awake, and decided to indulge his need for gossip.

I only had to wait a day for Leo to swing by and drop off the flight plan. With that, I began scouting out places to watch the flight from. Eventually, I found my spot.

Now I just needed to convince Fluttershy to go there.

I stepped back into the cottage. <<Fluttershy, are you in?>>

"Yes, just getting everyone's lunch ready!" She answered from the kitchen.

I made my way through the cottage. <<Can... Can I ask you something?>>

"I guess so." Fluttershy said as I entered the kitchen. "Could you help me feed everyone?"

<<Sure!>> I hopped forward so that she could place a few trays on my back. <<So, uh, you know how everypony's been talking about the migration?>>

"The dragon one?" Fluttershy asked with a tremble in her voice.

<<Yeah, that one.>> Fluttershy led me out into the main room to start feeding the critters there. <>

"I think I know what you want to say." Fluttershy nodded as see floated up to one of her bird feeders. "And I think that you're right."

<<You do?>> I released a slight breath that I had been holding. I began carefully unloading the trays by the mouse holes.

"Hmhmm." Fluttershy nodded. "I'll start packing as soon as we finish this."

<<Packing?>>

"We'll want to be gone a couple of days before and be back a couple after they leave, so we'll need to pack for about two weeks." Fluttershy flitted across the ceiling to another bird feeder. "Only way to be safe."

<<What?>> I paused, turning to the yellow mare. <<Leave where?>>

"Anywhere but here." She looked me in the eyes. "Dragons are scary." She whimpered with a shudder as she returned to loading the feeders.

I finished giving the mice their food. <>

"Then you can look after the animals while I'm away!"

<<... with you.>> I finished. I looked up at Fluttershy, noticing her stillness. <> I took a chance and pressed on. <<I've got a spot in mind where we can watch the migration without being seen, with several paths in and out. It should be on the far side of the valley from where the dragons are supposed to be flying, so they won't even know we're there.>> I could see Fluttershy begin trembling. I knew that this was a mistake. I should've just-

"If we're that far a-away, how will w-we see them?" Fluttershy asked.

I blinked. <>

"I-I do." Fluttershy interrupted. "If you can show me the spot ahead of time, and only if it's just us and Angel."

<<Oh, yeah.>> I prevented my frown from showing. <<Of course Angel will be coming.>>

Why Am I Your Conscience?

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[Leo]

I lay on my back in my bed, listening to Rainbow describe everything that she hoped the migration to be. It was wildly over-blown, of course, but I liked listening to her talk. Besides, I needed to stall while I tried to remember something. Gah! I rubbed my snout, to sub in for pinching the bridge of my nose. Fuck, it was super simple! What the hell was it?!

"... And we're even going to get Fluttershy to come, too!" Rainbow continued. "We hope it'll help with her fears. I mean, She already stood up to one dragon! How hard can a bunch from a distance be?"

Was it something to do with Joy? I groaned. I think-? Or was it Conner? Fuck it. I'll sleep on it.

"Oh, you probably want to sleep now." Rainbow winced. "Sorry."

<<Yeah, it's okay.>> I yawned. <<Just don't forget to wake me up before you go.>>

"I won't leave you hanging, don't worry."

I nodded and closed my eyes. I drifted off to sleep, and snapped awake the next morning. With a yawn and a stretch, I rolled out of bed. I glanced at Rainbow's bed, and saw that she was still asleep. I looked around for her alarm clock, and figured it was outside again after I couldn't spot it. I hopped up onto the window sill, and spotted it upside down in a nearby tree. Once I got the time, I nodded to myself, turned, and jumped.

I landed square on Rainbow's stomach. I rolled off as she folded onto herself. Once she had caught her breath, she glared over at me.

I met it with an arched eyebrow. <<We should have been up half an hour ago.>>

"Horseapples!" She swore, and began rocketing through her morning routine. In short order, we were meeting up with Twilight to go get Fluttershy.

"I spent most of the night thinking of what to say to convince Fluttershy to come with us." Twilight stated as we crossed over the little bridge in front of the cottage. "I know this will do her some good."

<<I wonder if Twilight will appeal to Joy's academic side?>> I shrugged. <<I mean, she can try, but it won't work.>>

Rainbow snorted.

"What? This was you're idea!" Twilight scolded.

"That was about something else, Twilight." Rainbow assured as she knocked on the door. "Hey! Hey, Fluttershy! Are you in?!"

I watched Twilight pull a note off the door. "'Gone to watch migration, far outside of town. Be back after the dragons are gone.'" Twilight read aloud. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I groaned smacking my forehead with a paw. <<Oh, ri~ight.>> I looked at Rainbow. <<Conner said something about him, Angel, and Joy going to the far side of the valley to watch the migration.>>

"Guess she already had plans?" Rainbow addressed Twilight while shooting me a glare.

"I guess she's not joining us, then." Twilight frowned. "It's odd, though. Fluttershy's not usually this spontaneous. Wonder what she's doing?"

"Whatever it is," Rainbow began to lead the way back to the ditch the others were digging, "I hope she's having fun."

I nodded as I followed the two mares. Fairly soon, we came upon Pinkie and Applejack shoveling dirt from one side of the trench, while a pair of dirty rooster tails fountained up from the other. I walked up to the edge and peered down at the Reckless Duo as they dug. As I watched, they both jumped back from the section they were digging, looking expectantly at the indent they had made under me.

I had just enough time to realize what was going to happen before the ground gave way.

I slid down into the trench, tumbling into a dirt pile at the end. I Glared at the duo as I dug myself from the dirt. <<I hate you both so~o much right now.>>

<<Why?>> Cy asked.

<<You were the one who stood on top of the area we were digging in.>> Vince oh so helpfully pointed out.

<<Are you guys arguing again?>> Zann popped up between us, causing us to bounce away from him.

<<Where the fuck did you come from?!>> We all screeched in unison.

Zann just arched an eyebrow. <<From Earth?>>

We were all interrupted by Rarity calling out to the group. I winced at how eye-wateringly bright Rarity's 'camouflage' was. <<I thought Lulu would cut some of that back!>>

<<Believe me, I tried!>> A stream of water growled from nearby. It quickly reformed into Lulu. <<But, would she let me help? Noo~oo!>> The water type began to rant as we were joined by Yomega and Abes.

We tuned her out.

It wasn't very long before the migration started to fly overhead. We became lost in the majesty of the reptiles flying high above us. We "Ohh'd" and "Aww'd" at the aerial acrobatics some dragons displayed before us.

<<Do a barrel roll!>> Zann called as Rainbow shouted something. Lulu wisely doused most of us as a dragon looped around and breathed fire on us. Rainbow was lightly toasted, but Zann was pumped up and cheering. <<Again, again!>>

<<No!> A literal dog pile formed on top of the fire type.

Our little scuffle was interrupted when we heard Spike cry out in disgust. "Waddles?! Ugh!" We looked at the retreating and, yes, waddling dragon as he stormed off. Turning we gave disapproving looks to the offending parties.

I shook my head at Rainbow. <<Not cool, Dash. Not cool.>>

Later that night, after what we thought was the majority of the dragons had finished flying over head, Rainbow and I were sitting on her bed. While it had faded, I hadn't dropped my scowl since that morning.

"Okay, what did I do wrong?" Rainbow finally asked.

<<What did-?>> I took a deep breath before speaking. <<What was that back there? With Spike?>>

"Just some good-natured ribbing." Rainbow dismissed with a wave. "Totally harmless! Don't know what was up with him."

My scowl deepened. <<Okay, I know that this may be hard for you, but fucking think for once!>>

"Hey!"

I steamrolled on. <<Spike is a baby dragon. He may act more mature then we do, but he's still just a child! Don't you think that he looks up to you, Rarity, and the others? How do you think he felt when you guys started insulting him?>>

"But we weren't-?"

<<Not to him!>> I snarled. <<And you just happened to target his most sensitive part. And that just makes it worse!>>

"What part?" Rainbow asked, now frowning herself.

I sighed and pointed out the window. <<He's a dragon.>> I pointed at her. <<You're ponies.>> I turned my paw to point at myself. <<We're Eevees and assorted evolved forms. Essentially, he's alone, with no one to teach him about his heritage. On top of that, he's a predator living amongst prey. He may not realize it, but it does affect him on a subconscious level.>>

"I get the not knowing his culture part, but what's the under mind thingy about?"

<<How would you feel if you could understand tulips, and they started telling you that all ponies were brainless sacs of flesh that were only good for fertilizer?>>

Rainbow sat in silence for a bit. I let her stew in her thoughts. Finally, she sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'll go apologize to him first thing tomorrow." With that, she floated out her window and grabbed her alarm clock. I hopped down and laid in my own bed with a stretch and a yawn. I looked over as Rainbow set the alarm and placed it beside her bed. "Night, Leo."

<<Night, Rainbow.>> Slowly I drifted off to sleep.

<<OW, FUCK!>> I woke the next morning when Rainbow hit me in the head with the clock in her sleep.

Yomegalovania.

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"I really hope Spike accepts our apology." Rarity murmured. She glanced over at us. "And I can't believe that you, of all ponies, would even suggest doing this."

"What's that supposed ta mean?" Rainbow shot a glare at the white unicorn.

Lulu and I shared a look. The two had been going back and forth like this ever since Rainbow and I grabbed Rarity and Lulu at my suggestion. To take my mind off of Rarity stealthily insulting Rainbow, I smacked my head into the library's door in lieu of knocking. After waiting a few minutes, Lulu lightly sprayed the two mares to stop their bickering.

<<If we didn't need them for the episode to work...>> Lulu murmured. <<Seriously, why those two? They don't have much in common!>>

I shrugged as the mares entered the library. I led Lulu through the library towards Yomega. It didn't take very long before we met up with him. He was carrying a tray with a teapot and cups on it from the kitchen.

I checked to see if the ponies were paying us any sort of attention. Finding that they were too engrossed with Spike, I turned to the grey canine. "So, we're here, they're there, and Spike'll be leaving soon." I smiled. "Last chance to change your mind on if we're following them or not."

"No, we're going." Yomega slid the tray onto a nearby table. "How long until they make their costume?"

Lulu interrupted me. "Shouldn't be too long." Noticing us looking at her, she elaborated. "Rarity was already making a dragon costume for the migration before the trench plan became a thing. Shouldn't take her very long for her to modify it to be able to hold the three of them." She paused, frowning. "Although, I highly doubt that it'll fool any sort of dragon. Unless they are all moronic brutes like those Diamond Dogs you've told us about."

I chuckled a little bit. "No, it works. It takes a coincidence bigger than Celestia's ass and yet simple enough to make Discord proud." I rolled a paw at the fashionista. "That green, lumpy, and gem encrusted mess of a disguise- oh, cut it out, you were thinking it, too!" I snapped at Lulu's glare. "Anyways, that mess conveniently resembles another older dragon, so all the teens think that the disguise is that dragon's kid."

Yomega sighed. "Truly, a contrived convenience only possible with a writing staff."

"Fuck, I hate living in a show sometimes." I groused. "It's a good show, don't get me wrong, but things like this rub me the wrong way, ya know?"

Both of them nodded. A crack of displaced air interrupted us, causing us to focus back to the mares and dragon. We stayed silent as we watched Spike begin his grand quest. We ended up standing to the side of the ponies, waving to Spike as he marched away.

<<Have fun storming the castle!>> I called out to him.

<<Think he'll make it?>> Lulu asked me.

Yomega snorted. <<Take a miracle.>>

We frantically renewed our waving. <<Good bye!>>

"We're following him, right?" Rarity murmured to Twilight.

"Of course." The purple mare asked just as quietly. We just shared another nod.

It only took a few days for us to lose Spike's trail. Of course, we lost the girls' trail much sooner, since they hadn't put the costume on yet and their longer strides ate more ground then ours.

"You sure we're going the right way, Leo?" Lulu asked me for the umpteenth time.

"Yes!" I scowled. "My soul bond and loyal-dar are both saying 'this way'. So, unless you want to rely on your nose..."

"I'm not putting my snout that close to dirt!" She scoffed.

"Then shaddup an' let me focus!"

Yomega panted from behind Lulu. "Less talky, more walky."

"Yes, mom." Lulu and I both rolled our eyes.

"Just let me know when you guys wanna stop for lunch." I continued. I gave a dead-eyed stare as I heard something growl from behind me. "... Or your stomach can tell me now." I glanced back to see Yomega blushing.

We quickly found a secluded depression under a rock. I could faintly hear running water nearby. We slid our saddlebags off and got comfortable. I went through mine, looking for any foodstuffs I may have missed. My search grew more and more frantic as I repeatedly came up with nothing.

"I'm out..." Lulu nearly whimpered.

"Same." Yomega eventually groaned. They both turned expectant looks to me.

With a sigh, I upended my bags, shaking a bit of lint out. "Guess we seriously underestimated how long we'd be gone."

"Great." Lulu's fur began to roil. "No food, barely any direction, no real way of finding our way back home. We're going to die out here." She finished with a sniffle.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, shut up." I addressed Yomega while pointing to the water type. "Make sure she stays here." I got up and left the hollow.

"Where are you going?" Yomega asked.

"Fishing." I shot back. I followed the sound of water from earlier to a wide river. Thankfully, it didn't seem like we needed to cross it anytime soon. I found a calm spot in the river, and, letting my instincts take over, I dipped my tail into the water. A good ten minutes later, I had landed a few small fish.

Carrying my catch back to the others was a bit of a hassle, as I kept having to readjust the fishes. The look on Lulu's face was well worth it, though.

She eventually raised her wide-eyed stare up to me. "H-how are we going to cook them?"

I pulled one of the fishes free from the pile. I shrugged as I bit into the flesh, pulling a chunk free. "We're not." I spat out with a bone.

With a sigh, Yomega started to eat his own fish. Lulu spent the first few minutes gagging and groaning, before her hunger drove her into 'going feral'. Even then, she delicately picked around the organs and bones.

Soon enough, we were back on the road. Lulu extracting a promise from us to keep this to ourselves. Don't know who she's trying to impress with her civilized demeanor. I thought to myself as I took that night's watch. We ain't humans no more, might as well take advantage of our 'new' bodies and instincts.

"Whatever, she can play noble beast for now. Someday, she's going to be thanking those instincts."

It took us another two days to find traces of the others. (We buried Spike's tea set to grab on our way back.) Another week had passed before we found the volcanoes.

"Tell us, Leo." Yomega whispered in my ear. "What do your elven eyes see?"

I roughly shoved him to the side. "That joke was old the first time you said it." I glanced over at a slightly steaming Vaporeon. "You sure you're going to be okay?"

Lulu waved off my concerns. "I'll be fine." She looked over the gathering of dragons. "Do either of you two see them?"

"Hold on, lemme ping my loyal-dar."

"I don't see..." Yomega squinted. "Is that the costume?!" He gave Lulu a pat on the back. "Yeah, siding with Leo on this one. That costume sucks."

"Huh." I interrupted Lulu's retort. "I'm just getting an 'up'. Weird." Just then, a group of what I assumed to be teen dragons flew by overhead. I could make out Spike covering his eyes, carried aloft by an older hefty brown dragon. We blinked, before running after the teens as fast as we could. "Ooh. Up." I groused, swiftly taking the lead. "Stupid, vague ass sense."

After several minutes of running, I slowed to let the others catch their breath. We jumped as something large and green crashed through the forest nearby.

"The fuck was that?!" Yomega yelped.

"Probably the ponies." Lulu huffed. "Should we just follow them?"

"The sun'll be setting soon." I groaned. "Rainbow and I can find Spike, you just need to keep up."

Lulu frowned. "What's so important about sunset?"

"That's when they find a phoenix nest."

She tilted her head. "And that's bad?"

"If we can't help Spike fight off Garble and his cronies," Yomega staggered upright, "then yes."

Another couple of hours passed, and even I was starting to run out of steam. Oh, for fuck's sake. I panted, leading my packmates. I just can't get a clear location from the loyal-dar. I need something to narrow it down!

A blindingly bright light flared from ahead, causing me to trip and roll into a bush. I heard skidding and a splash from behind me. Once I could clearly see, I saw Yomega pulling himself out of a furrow and Lulu reforming herself beside the nearest tree. ... That'll do.

We bolted for the light as soon as we were able, arriving in a clearing in time to see the showdown between Spike and the mares and Garble and his lackeys.

"...I'll rip you to shreds!"

<<Hey! The face with a moron attached!>> I yelled, sliding to a stop in front of Spike, facing Garble. <<He's our friend, too! So fuck off if you wanna live!>>

Yomega stopped on my right side, hiding his panting remarkably well. <<We will not show mercy!>>

Lulu flowed to my far side, reforming into her best regal pose. <<And you can forget about any fire breathing, not with a water type to wash you away!>>

Garble stared at us open-mouthed, before he and his cronies started laughing. "O~o, scary!" Garble mocked. "Spike, are these namby-pamby ponies your friends?"

The larger dragon jabbed an elbow into the rail thin one, waving his arm at us. "At least they brought us a snack!"

<<Choke on this, ya fuck!>> I blurred, ramming head first into the fat-ass. I had a brief moment of satisfaction when he doubled over in pain. But the thin one panicked, and managed to punt me into... something. I was able to identify it as a tree before I lost consciousness.

[Third]

Garble gaped at the little furball. Somehow, it had vanished into a bright glow, before rocketing into Clump's gut. And not through the normal way things get there. Clump doubled over in obvious pain, and was forced to take a few steps back.

That thing can hurt dragons! He carefully kept his nervousness from showing. What is it, part Breezie?!

Fume reacted faster than Garble could, and punted it into the trees. Garble was impressed by the air and distance it got before disappearing in the trees with crunch. Getting a thumbs up from Clump, the red drake turned a vicious grin to the rest of Spike's friends.

"One down, six to go."

Yomega glared up at the dragons. <> His voice was pitched low. <<But you have just made a grave mistake. Leo'll recover, she always does. So I don't need to worry about her right now.>> His glared became the full move, stunning the dragons with it's intensity. <<But you just pissed me off. You take a single step towards my dragon, and you'll be in for a bad time.>>

Garble shook off the strange feeling of... fear? "Right, now I'm mad!" He slowly stomped forward. He wanted the ponies and those dog things to feel terrified.

<<O~oh.>> Yomega smiled, as he felt something inside him react to his determination. <<You don't know how much you're gonna regret that.>>

Fume's eyes widened as the grey dog began to glow. "Screw that!" He yelled, breathing a gout of flame at the thing.

3, 2, 1, Smash!

View Online

[???]

We rushed through the crater, over the lip, and into the forest. The whole time, that feeling was only getting worse.

“Luke, slow down!” Ember called behind me.

I couldn’t, though. I couldn’t explain why, but I just couldn’t slow down. I just knew if I did something terrible was going to happen.

Then, I heard a voice through the forest. “But you just pissed me off. You take a single step towards my dragon, and you'll be in for a bad time.”

It was answered by another, more familiar voice. "Right, now I'm mad!"

I came through a line of trees saw Garble facing down a small group of animals.

Or, at least I thought they were animals, until one of them spoke. “You don't know how much you're gonna regret that.”

I staggered, slightly, shocked at what I was seeing. It looked like an Eevee standing in front of a Vaporeon and a group of... Oh, hell no.

My thoughts were put on pause as the Eevee began to glow and Fume growled, “Screw that!”

He took in a deep breath, fire building in his throat.

I focused my aura into my legs, giving me a burst of speed

The world seemed to slow down as I rushed toward the endangered Pokemon. It was already too late to stop Fume from unleashing a torrent of flames. Already the blaze was leaving his maw, so instead, I aimed for the little Eevee.

I could feel my fur singe as I scooped up the little animal just before it was roasted.

I skidded to a stop a dozen yards away.

<<Wh-what?>> The little Eevee in my arms said, looking up at me in surprise.

“Are you alright, little guy?” I said, focusing on the Eevee alone.

He shook his head. <<I’m fine, but, my friend->>

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this bully,” I assured. “See to your friends.”

I set the Eevee down and turned to face Garble and his toadies. <<Yeah, they can take care of themselves just fine.>> He stated.

The Vaporeon stepped up to my side. <<You’ll need all the help we can give.>>

I glanced back to see Twilight had raised a shield spell around Rarity and Spike. Rainbow seemed to be missing. ”Fair enough,” I nodded at the Pokemon. I broadcasted to everyone present. “I knew you were a coward and a weakling, Garble, but are you really so pathetic that you have to pick fights with cute, fuzzy, little woodland critters?

“Well, I’m cute and fuzzy,” I said before injecting all my disgust at him in my ‘voice’ and adding, “Come pick on me.”

<<So you’ve got the red fuck?>> The grey Eevee confirmed. <<We’ll keep the others off you. Try to stick to psychic or fighting moves, I don’t think ground types will work on them.>>

Garble scoffed. “Are you stupid, or something? There’s a bunch of us and only one you.”

“Then why are you hesitating?”

Garble growled. “Alright, you want a piece of me?”

He charged at me, fist cocked back. I let out a chuckle. Even when I was human an attack like that would have been easy to counter.

I waited for him to get close and throw his criminally telegraphed punch before barely shifting to the side and letting the punch and the idiot it was attached to soar past me with a slight push to the back of his head to send him face first into a tree.

“Well, that was more embarrassing than I thought it would be.”

Garble snarled as he regained his bearings and turned to face me again.

“That’s it!” Garble took a deep breath.

In a flash, I drove my elbow into his gut, forcing all that air back out over my head in a cloud of noxious smoke.

“Hey, nobody messes with us and gets away with it!” One of the forgettable flunkies spouted, clearly well versed in the ‘cliche bad guy lines handbook’. Whatever he was going to say next was drowned by a torrent of water the Vaporeon sprayed at him.

I saw the grey one blur into the brown lackey’s gut, causing him to double over. “Not again.” He groaned out. I couldn’t focus too much on them as Garble had regained his wits.

He charged, swinging wildly in an attempt to hit me. I formed my bone shaped staff to better deflect his assault. Whenever I saw an opportunity, I would lash out with my staff, though it didn’t seem to do much through his scales. He managed to get a headbutt through my defense, both of us using the chance to gain some distance.

I quickly checked up on the rest of the fight. The Vaporeon had a band of water flowing around her, and water was constantly streaming from her mouth onto the purple dragon. It was all he could do to stay upright on the soaked and muddy ground.

The Eevee looked like he was dancing around the larger Clump, darting in and out of reach. It almost seemed like he knew what Clump would do before he’d do it. Clump, for his part, was slowing down, exhaustion starting to kick in.

Where are you, Ember? I thought, refocusing on Garble. He glared at me before breathing deep. Realizing what he was about to do, I dismissed my staff, and quickly created and threw an Aura Sphere at him. The attack threw his aim off, but I still felt searing pain in my shoulder, causing me to cry out.

Garble’s glare transformed into a cruel smirk as he gathered more flame. Just before he could breathe out, though, everyone paused as something yelled out from the bushes.

<<All friendlies, clear the area!>> I looked towards the sound of the voice, only to quickly jump straight up as a bright ball sailed underneath me. I saw the other Pokemon rush under Twilight’s shield.

I watched the ball land in the midst of the dragons, and a large explosion blossomed from the impact point. What the hell was that?!

I landed in a crouch in the crater it left behind, I glanced back to the attack’s origin to see Rainbow Dash carrying over another Eevee. It tiredly waved at me. <<So yeah, hi. I don’t think I can do that again for a little bit. How’s everyone else?>>

<<Running dry, darling.>> The Vaporeon admitted.

The gray Eevee nodded. <<I’m down to my status moves.>>

I gingerly touched my shoulder. ”Yeah, don’t want to do that again.” I hissed.

“Hah!” Garble’s shout caused us all to look back at him. Although he was bruised, and was the better looking of the trio, he was clearly walking with a limp. “I knew Ember’s pet was weak! We’re still going strong!”

“Really?” Ember said, having finally caught back up with me. “That’s funny, ‘cause-”

She reached out toward them, as if trying to grab them, and a giant spectral hand materialized and flew at them, grabbing them all as if they were a bouquet of daisies.

“-it looks like you were all leaving.”

And with a flick of her wrist, the lot of them were sent flying into the nearby trees.

“Well, that was kinda fun,” I said. “Now... Garble. You still want to push your luck?”

Garble struggled to his feet, glaring daggers at me and Ember. “Y-you... I’m gonna get you for this.” He coughed a bit and took to the air, flying away from the gathering as he called back. “Just you wait, Ember. I’ll get you! You and your little dog, too!”

I turned to look back at the group I saved. The Eevee and Vaporeon were helping the other Eevee that was knocked out before. The poor thing was staggering.

As for the others, one of the ponies approached us.

Ponies.

As in, ‘My Little Ponies’.

As in Twilight freaking Sparkle.

I recognized her from the moment I saw her, but only then did it really hit me. I was in the My Little Pony world. Was that why I recognized Ember? Was she in the show at some point? I had only seen up to the third episode of the second season, so I didn’t know.

“That was incredible,” Twilight said. “Thank you for your help. My name is Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends, Rarity and Rainbow Dash.”

“Pleasure.”

“S’up.”

She gestured to the little dragon behind her. “This is Spike, my number one assistant.”

“Dude, that was awesome!” he exclaimed. “You showed that jerk who’s boss!”

Twilight giggled and gestured to the Eevees and the Vaporeon. “And those are Yomega, Leo, and Lulu.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What did you say their names are?”

Twilight flinched in surprise, glancing around in confusion before looking back at me.

“Uh... Yomega, the one you saved, Leo, the one that’s barely conscious, and Lulu, the bigger, blue one... why?”

I could only stare at the trio of Pokemon for several seconds before I was moving. I wasn’t sure when I started to move, or even if it was voluntary. I just moved.

I approached the Pokemon timidly, as if one wrong step could break the illusion.

I spoke out loud, “Y-yomega?”

<<Y-yeah?>> The grey- Yomega asked, glanced at the others.

<<You okay, man?>> Leo asked.

Why does he sound so off? Part of my mind thought. Maybe he’s just so tired? The hell did Garble do before I got here? Blinking away a tear, I reached out and grabbed the Eevees into a crushing hug.

<<And now we’re hugging?>> I heard Lulu awkwardly ask.

<<... Oh.>> Yomega leaned into the hug to get closer to my ear. <<Barely any time, hold the hug. Ponies don’t know we’re from earth, thinking we’re native to Equis, Pokemon are summons, they don’t know we are Pokemon, and some rules of Pokemon don’t apply. I can try to get Spike to send messages to you if you need more.>>

“What?” I thought at him.

<<We’ll explain fully later.>> Yomega promised. <<Good to see you again, Skywalker.>>

<<Wait…>> Lulu paused.

<<... Oh, Arceus. You got dragged into this, too?>>

“Luke,” Ember tentatively approached, “You okay? You’re acting a little… weird.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I gently set my displaced friends down. “Just meeting some old friends I never thought I’d see again.”

<<Yeah. He’s from our old range!>> Leo squeaked out to the ponies. Only Rainbow seemed to understand him, though.

Rarity gave the little Eevee a small smile. “Very sorry, dear, but we can’t really understand you without Fluttershy here.”

“Not really?” Rainbow coughed into her hoof.

Twilight turned an arched eyebrow to the pegasus. “What do mean, Rainbow?”

“I~ may have created a Soul Bond with Leo a while back, and that lets me understand her…” She blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. “Didn’t really want to bring it up and step on Fluttershy’s hooves. She already knows about this and has been helping me understand her better.”

I directed my thoughts to Yomega. “Uh... Did Rainbow just say ‘she’?”

<<Long story.>> Yomega answered as Leo cringed. <<She’s a chick now.>>

I nodded, directing my thoughts to everyone. “Yeah, we used to share the same territory. What happened to the rest of your… Pack?” Thinking quickly, I fired a quick thought to Ember. “Play along with this, please. They don’t want the ponies to know we’re from another world.”

Ember gave me a confused look, but nodded.

Twilight smiled. “The rest of them that came here are back in Ponyville. I don’t know where the larger pack they came from went to, although they are most likely deep in the Everfree.” Twilight went into scholar mode and began musing.

“Okay, so they’re friends of yours.” Ember shrugged. “That explains how they could hold themselves against Garble. Do you want some time to catch up with them?”

Before I could answer, everyone’s attention was drawn to the bushes, the Eevee’s tensing for a fight. From the rustling, Smolder emerged.

“Whew.” She panted, pointing at Ember and I. “Thanks for leaving me behind, jerks. Good thing I just ran towards the explosion, or I don’t think I would’ve found you.” She glanced at the ponies. “Oh, hey. What’re ponies doing here?”

<<We were following->> Yomega started.

“Oh, shut up, I don’t want to play.” Smolder snapped.

“Hey, I know what they look like,.” I glared at her. “But these are my friends. They aren’t just animals, they’re smarter than you think.”

“Okay, sorry.” She pointed at the ponies. “Doesn’t answer my question, though.”

Ember crossed her arms. “I’m kinda curious now, myself.”

“We were following Spike.” Rainbow stated.

The little drake whipped around to stare at the mares. “You followed me?!” I could hear the tears in his eyes. “Why?”

“<<We just wanted to make sure you were safe.>>” Twilight and Yomega said at the same time.

<<I- we were worried about you>> Yomega continued.

“We didn’t want to impose,” Twilight sighed, “and we didn’t want to influence your quest of self discovery.”

“And you’re here, because…?” Smolder insisted.

Spike seemed to deflate. “I just wanted to know more about my kind.” I saw Ember and Smolder share a confused look. Spike apparently caught it, too. “Twilight hatched me, and I grew up amongst ponies. I don’t know anything about my own kind.” He sniffed. “I was hoping to learn more about us... You... Our kind on this migration. And then Garble ruined that for me.”

Smolder drew in a deep breath as she rolled her eyes, closing them mid way. “Right, I gotta tell mom about this. Big Brother is in so much trouble…”

I blinked. “Garble’s your brother?” I quickly shook my head. “ Wait no, we can focus on that later. Spike!” I addressed the drake. “Trust me when I say that, while most dragons are aggressive, they aren’t as bad as that group. I think it might do you some good to stay for a bit. Unless you would rather just go home.”

“I...” He looked back at the ponies, then back to us. “I… Think I want to go home. I think I’ve learned enough…”

“Well, I might have another solution.” I glanced back at Ember. “Yomega mentioned that you can send messages? How do you do that?” Of course, I already knew, but I didn’t want them to know that.

“Magic infused fire breath.” Spike shrugged while Ember jolted. “I burn up the letter while thinking of its recipient and infuse my fire with mana.”

“I think I see where this is going. Can you teach it?” Ember asked, with that twinkle in her eye she gets when she gets excited about something.

“Yeah, I think so,” Spike said, scratching his chin in thought. “Though it’s mostly intuitive.”

“Great. Then you can teach me,” Ember said with a smile. “And I can show you what a real dragon is like.”

“Great! I exclaimed, clapping my hands together. “Why don’t we all come to our cave and I’ll make us some lunch?”

Luncheon with Dragons.

View Online

[Leo]

I lay by the cave entrance to Luke's and Ember's place. I sniffed the air every now and then, trying to place a familiar scent. It was almost sickly sweet, but with a hint of body odor. With a shrug, I returned to watching Luke as he rummaged through what looked like an ice box. He grabbed a couple of things as he asked, “Who eats meat and what kind?” He looked back at the ponies. “Am I right to assume you ponies are all vegetarian?”

Twilight nodded as Yomega came up to the Lucario. <<When you get a chance,>> he murmured as he looked over Luke's shoulder, <<let’s try to get a bit of privacy. There’s things we need to talk about. How’s your arm?>>

<<It’s sore, but healing fast.>> He said. <<Ember learned a nice healing spell, so I’ll be back at one hundred percent by morning.>> Luke chuckled and added, <<It’s kinda weird actually talking to someone out loud after so long.>> He looked out to the room at large. “Alright, we don’t have a ton of veggies, but I can at least get you guys a light lunch.” His mental voice echoed through my mind.

Rarity gave Luke a warm smile and offered, “Dear, why don’t I handle the food. I’m sure you have a lot to catch up on with your friends?”

“That’s true.” Twilight said. “I mean, Lulu must be unrecognizable to you.”

“Thank you,” He said before turning back to Yomega. <<Shall we?>>

We filed outside to the cliff face overlooking the forest. We each found a comfy spot near Luke.

"So, first things first," Luke began, looking at Yomega, "how the heck did you know it was me? I don’t exactly look the same."

He shrugged. "Some intuition, some logic." He admitted. "You seemed to recognize our names, and us by extension, not to mention the fact you got too emotional for someone who’s never met us before. We’ve never met a Lucario before, so you’d have to be either a time traveling summon, which is unlikely, or you used to be human, too."

I stared at the grey Eevee. "You got all of that just from his reaction?"

"No." Yomega sighed. "I’m just very good at rationalizing my gut feelings…"

"How have you been finding Equis so far, Luke?" Lulu asked.

"Is that what this world's called?" Luke shook his head. "Well, if you asked me that last winter, I would have said it sucked, but that was only because I was completely alone until I ran into Ember about... a couple months ago, I think?"

Luke began to tell us of his experience on Equis. It seemed like he glossed over a few things, but we didn't bother to call him out on it. Let him have his secrets.

We had our own, after all.

"I'll tell you all about our stint as Lara Croft and Indiana Jones another time. Suffice it to say, Ember came out of it with magic powers." Luke finished up. "So, I guess, that's just a long way to say, I love it here. I have awesome powers, my friends are here, and I got a badass girlfriend. What's not to love?"

"Missing legs." I groused. I glanced up at the bipedal canine, and elaborated upon noticing his arched eyebrow. "Zann’s here, too, and lost a leg to a timberwolf our first day. Other bullshit that’s happened so far are my genderswap, some evolutions, and several broken bones and eggs later, here we are."

"Eggs?" Luke looked at me in surprise. "Leo... are you a mommy?"

Of course that's what he'd focus on. I sighed, my cheeks warming as I remembered the previous spring.

A shit-eating grin stole across his face. "Oh, god, you are! Who's the daddy?" Luke turned his grin to the grey Eevee beside me. "Yomega, is it you?"

"One of them…"

Lulu cackled. "Conner and the Duo are the others!"

"Speak for yourself!" Leo snapped. "You’ve mated with Conner and Zann!"

Luke was rolling with laughter at this point. "Oh god! I mean, I knew you weren't exactly straight, Leo, but not even a year as a chick and you got three boyfriends?!"

"Month." Yomega stated as if by rote.

"Spring was an awkward time of year." I struggled to keep a dopey grin off my face. And technically, that's only one boyfriend. I'm not sure how we got the other eggs... I shook myself. "But, hey! Enough of that. There’s other things that you need to know!"

Luke managed to rein in his laughter and sat back up. "Yeah, I figured. Go on, then."

"Oh, boy. Where to start?" I asked, thinking of the assorted things we've seen and done.

"Summons." Yomega stated. "Basically, Pokemon are summonable creatures that most races use. There’s rules for summoning, but we can go over those later. You can tell if you’re facing a summon because they will be Poke-speaking in their non-English names, and you won’t be able to understand what they’re saying."

"You may want to check in with Ember to see if dragons summon at all." Lulu interjected.

I nodded. "We’ll check in with the Crusaders to see if Lucario is a summon. If they are, you may be in for some trouble…"

"They?" Luke blinked, confusion clear on his face. "Wait, Lucario isn't a legendary? But... he had a movie?"

Is he serious?! How have you not played any... of the... Right I smacked a paw over my muzzle. "Fuck, right." I sighed. "You weren’t a Pokemon buff like us. No, Lucario isn’t a legendary, you evolve from a fighting type called Riolu. Your best stats are attack, special attack and speed."

"You can even Mega evolve if you and Ember have a special stone that I don’t think naturally exists in this world." Lulu added. "Figured you might want to know if you ever find an odd looking pair of stones."

"If you do, you’ll gain a substantial stat boost, but it won’t change your types." Yomega finished.

"Wait, he's a steel type!"

Yes, Brain, he is! How astute of you to notice.

"No, no, no. I mean fire is super effective against him. Makes for a risky endeavor with his current living arrangements..."

I smirked. "Speaking of, how's life with a fire type?"

Luke raised another eyebrow at me. "Ember's not a pokemon. But, if you mean a fire breather, it's pretty nice."

"Don’t matter if she’s a Pokemon or not." I stressed. "Twilight could barely levitate Abes after he evolved into an Umbreon. He’s dark type, which psychic type isn’t effective against. And unicorn magic appears to match up with psychic typing."

"Ah, I guess that makes sense." Luke leaned back. "Still, it's great. Living in a volcano kinda sucks, but Ember has a spell to help me feel more comfortable in the heat."

I whistled. "Playing pretty risky there, Luke."

"How's that? I stay away from the lava."

"You’re a fighting and steel type." Yomega answered. "Fire is super effective against you. You’re lucky you’ve not had more burns."

"First off, steel? I thought I was fighting psychic! I even have Mewtwo's move from the movie. I mean, sure, I use it with this aura stuff Star mentioned, but..." Luke trailed off. "It's something totally different isn't it?" He sighed. "Whatever! It's not important. What is, is that if fire is super effective, why doesn't it hurt more? I mean, Garble blasted my shoulder, and it hurt, but it was pretty minor."

I shrugged. "Don’t know. We only know the mechanics and theory."

"If I had to guess…" Yomega paused to gather his thoughts. "It might be because he wasn’t using a proper move? That’s assuming that it was a fire type move and not a dragon type move, or that it was a move in the first place." He waved a paw. "Irrelevant right now. If it wasn’t a proper move, then it might not properly fully follow the Pokemon mechanics. This is, sorta, backed up by the levitating example Leo gave earlier: if Twilight’s magic was truly psychic type, as per the games, then she wouldn’t have been able to lift Abes at all." He got up to pace. "But dragon type is weak to steel, as in, they deal half damage. Which might explain the lesser wounding?"

I sighed as Yomega began to mumble. "And there he goes. He’ll be at this for a while."

"Couldn't moves have two types?" Luke mused. "I mean, this isn't the game, so maybe his breath is fire and dragon type. And since Twilight used magic, maybe it was more like psychic and... what's that new one? Pixie... fairy... something?"

"You had it right with fairy." Lulu tapped her chin. "With the dual typing attacks, well, going from game mechanics, they would cancel each other out? I mean, one deals half damage, and the other doubles it, so it’s like multiplying by two then dividing by two?" She squinted at Yomega, before splashing him out of his muttering.

"Hmm, what?!" He blinked at us. "Uh, yeah, something like that."

Luke gave him a deadpanned stare. "You didn't hear a thing we said, did you?"

[Third]

Back inside the cave, Rarity hummed a little tune as she prepared a nice, light lunch. Meanwhile, Spike and Smoulder talked together in the corner and Rainbow caught a quick nap on the enormous bed.

“So...” Twilight began, trying to put her thoughts into words. “I’m curious. What was that magic you used? I’ve never seen anything like it?”

Ember looked at the pony with a suspicious gaze. “You mean my sorcery? Yeah, long story, but this old ghost dragon empress gave it to me. Why?”

“Oh, nothing, really,” Twilight replied. “I’m a student of magic and I just enjoy learning about it. I’m kind of curious how it works. Is is runic based? Or maybe it uses circles or matrices?”

Ember cocked an eyebrow. “I have no idea what any of that is. I just kinda look at reality and say, ‘Hey! Do what I want, or else!’ and it does it.”

Twilight’s face scrunched up in confusion. “So... you... intimidate reality into changing for you? I... don’t think that’s possible.”

“Neither is Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash commented, nonchalantly from the bed.

“Fair enough,” Twilight conceded. “And, you say a... ghost... gave you this power?”

“That’s right,” Ember said. “Star said it was the last dragon Empress, Empress Aurora.”

“I wasn’t aware dragons ever had an empress,” Twilight admitted.

Ember waved her off, “You’d have to ask Star. I don’t know much about it.”

“I might do that,” Twilight said. “You know, I have to admit, I’m learning quite a bit about dragons here. You’re culture is a lot more nuanced than I thought it would be.”

Ember snorted in amusement. “Nuanced? Pony, are you sure you’ve been paying attention? We dragons are far from nuanced. We’re straightforward and blunt.”

“You aren’t.”

Ember grunted, folded her arms and scowled. “Yeah, well, I’m different than other dragons.”

“Still, I wouldn’t mind getting to know a bit more about you, your people, and your magic,” Twilight continued. “Perhaps I can convince you to visit Canterlot sometime?”

“What the heck is a Canterlot?” Ember asked.

“It’s the capital city of Equestria, and the home of the Royal Sisters,” Twilight explained. “I would have to speak to the Princess and arrange something, but I’m sure she would love to host you.”

“I’ll think about it,” Ember said, though she didn’t think she would want to actually go.

“Plus," Twilight continued, "the princess is the most gifted magic user on Equus, so she might be able to help you learn a little more about your magic. She might even know something about Luke’s magic.”

That did get Ember’s attention. Maybe it would be worth seeing this pony city. “Luke doesn’t use magic. He uses Aura. It’s kinda like spirit energy, or something. I don’t understand it very much.”

“Well, I’m just glad to learn that not all dragons are like that brute and his friends,” Rarity added.

“Hey!” Smolder growled, glaring at Rarity. “My brother isn’t a brute! He’s just being stupid because he wants to impress those losers he calls friends. He’s a very nice, sensitive dragon!”

“I apologize... Smolder, wasn’t it?” Rarity gave the younger dragon a sad smile. “If that is the case, the side he showed us today was far from that.”

Smolder huffed. “Yeah, well, mom’s going to tan his scales when I tell her. Don’t you worry about that.”

“Hey, if he was just acting like that to impress his jerk friends, maybe he just needs new friends,” Spike offered.

Smolder rolled her eyes. “Don’t you think I tried telling him that? I love my big bro, but his head’s thicker than than cold lava.”

“Cold lava is just rock,” Twilight stated.

Everyone else just gave her a flat look.

[Leo]

After explaining everything we had just said to Yomega, we left him to his theory-crafting.

We talked a bit more, telling each other about everything that happened to us while we were here. We obviously had a lot more to talk about, seeing as most of Luke's time in this world was spent just surviving. Eventually, we came back to our living arrangements and the fact that the ponies didn’t know who or what we were, or where we came from.

"You guys know," Luke sighed, "you’re going to have to tell them the truth eventually. I really don’t understand why you haven’t already. You’ve already shown you’re not a threat, so I doubt they’ll treat you any different. If it’s a question of communication, I could always explain it for you."

"It’s not about a lack of communication." I shrugged. "Three ponies can understand us well enough. It’s Twilight and Moon Dancer that are the problem."

Lulu nodded. "Darling, you don’t live in Ponyville. They’ve already filled a room with everything they think they know about us. The information they could gain from Earth would need its own castle!"

"Nevermind what having them have knowledge of the future would do to the timeline." I cut back in, suppressing a shudder. "We want things to conform as close to what we can expect as much as possible. And that’s if they can get past the existential dread. And if you doubt Twilight’s manic need to know, you can ask Ember what Twilight got up to while we were out."

"Seriously? The timeline? That's what you guys are worried about?" Luke sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You guys watch too much TV. Alright, look, I may not have gotten far in the show, but I think it's safe to assume that Pokemon were never a part of it, yes? Don’t you think that would be a pretty big deal?

"I hate to break it to you, but this isn't the show. The timeline you're trying to protect doesn't exist here. There may be similarities, but it's not the same. The only thing you can really do is warn of possible threats. Even then, though, those threats may not take the same form. One of the big bads may have a host of summoned Pokemon, or maybe a Pokemon will be one of the major villains.

Besides, if you're really worried about the timeline, just don't tell her about the show. Tell her how we're from another world and we used to be human. Trust me, it’s better than lying to them. The longer you lie, the more hurt and betrayed they’re going to feel when you tell them. Right now, you at least have the excuse that you didn’t think you could properly communicate what you are, but you won’t have that for long, especially with me here."

Doesn't he think we already know that?! Before I could properly bristle up and rant back at Luke, someone else interrupted me.

"I tried, once." Yomega admitted. Lulu and I turned to him in shock. "I can write Equish, and I wanted to write a book about earth, and us, and the show. Everything would’ve been laid bare! But I just couldn’t get the words out onto the paper.

"So I wrote a different book, just about Earth. I was able to get the prehistory mostly written, but the damn thing disappeared shortly after the zap apple harvest. Every other attempt has either vanished, or I would get pulled away before I could write anything." He shrugged. "So I gave up trying. I mean, we can try again later, but right now just doesn’t seem to be the time…"

I glanced away in guilt. Yeah, I can't remember how many times I've wanted to say something to Rainbow, but never could get the words out...

"Another gut feeling, dear?" Lulu asked. Yomega sighed and nodded.

I decided to try and explain a few things. "When we first arrived, we didn’t know about the summoning. We kept quiet because we didn’t want to be barraged with questions and experiments before we had a chance to settle. Get used to our new home, y’know? I’m not sure about the others, but I like it here. If the Princesses can send us back to earth, I wouldn’t be going home. I love living here, helping with the weather, training with my pony, helping out around Ponyville..."

Lulu nodded. "Dress making with my Rarity, trying to keep Sweetie out of trouble..."

"Going on adventures with Spike!" Yomega added. "Helping him organize the library and making sure Twilight gets enough sleep!"

I smiled. "We’ve built up a life here. If they find out, we will give them our reasonings, and go from there. But I highly doubt that it will ever come up."

Luke sighed. "I still think it's better to tell them, but I can't make you. If you don't want them to know, I won't tell them, but I will say that I doubt the princesses would be so cruel as to force you away from your new lives. Especially since they would have to separate you from your... eggs? Or did they hatch?" He shook his head. "Whichever. I doubt Pokemon can exist in our world, so they wouldn't be able to return with us. That's even if they know anything about other worlds. Well, other than maybe that weird Equestria Girls world. Is that even a thing?"

I shook my head. Until I know for sure, I'll assume not.

"Then, yeah. There's obviously multiple universes out there. They'd have to find ours. I mean, maybe that Discord guy could..." Luke paused for a moment, turning his thoughts over. "Whatever."

Our conversation was put on pause by Smolder coming out and calling, "Hey! Come get your food before I eat it!"

Our former neighbor looked back at us. "Well, who's hungry?"

Food! I blurred into the cave. Spotting the bed, I jumped in the hopes for a soft landing. I didn't notice Rainbow was using it until I had already started my jump. I bounced off of her as she gave a startled yelp.

The world returned to normal in time for me to catch Ember asking, “So, how long do you think you’ll be staying?”

“As much as I’d like to meet with Star and explore your people’s history, we really should be heading home soon.” Twilight sighed. “So not for very long.”

“Hey, we still have some time!” Spike spoke up. “I still need to teach Ember the Mail Breath, remember?”

"The offer to keep Spike for a day or two is still open. We can even escort him back ourselves." Luke stated from near the doorway.

"We can bring him when we visit that Canterlot place," Ember added.

“Well...” Twilight dragged to word out.

Luke spoke up again. "How about this. It's getting kinda late, and the sun should be setting in a few hours. Why don't you stay the night and sleep on it? We can arrange a ride for you in the morning."

The mares all shared a look, before Twilight turned back to Spike and his pleading eyes. “We can stay that long at the least.” She relented with a smile.

While we had been eating, Yomega had been sniffing the air. Finally, he turned to look at me with a twinkle in his eye. <<Just so long as you avoid fucking somedrake in the night, we should be good.>>

Oh. I started to blush again. That's where I remember that smell...

Luke grinned. <<No promises.>>

The Express Way Home.

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The next morning found all of us bidding our farewells.

<<You better come visit, soon.>> I sighed as I released my hug with my former neighbor..

Luke smiled at me. <<Only if I can play with the kids when they hatch.>>

<<Deal, but the same goes in reverse.>> I agreed. <<I want to see what kind of dragon comes from a Lucario.>>

<<And don't forget to try to unlock a couple of those moves. Seriously, what self respecting Pokemon only knows three moves?>> Added Yomega.

We had spent a couple hours last night telling Luke about all the moves he could learn. He looked fairly intrigued, before offering a theory. Since many Pokemon could learn multiple moves, maybe Pokemon weren't duel type at most. More likely, one could list a Pokemon's types as percentages.

We guessed that Lucario really was psychic type, though only about fifteen percent. The others were fifty-five percent fighting, thirty steel.

Of course, those were just theories, but we were going to try to figure out how to test it some time.

Not far from us, a much more tear filled goodbye was taking place.

"... and don't forget to brush your teeth every night. Don't go anywhere without Luke or Ember, maybe Smolder."

"Geeze, Twilight, come on," Spike said, sounding both annoyed and touched by how much Twilight was fretting. "I'm not going to be gone long. And when I get back, I'll be able to teach you all about dragons."

Twilight wiped a tear from her eye with a small smile. "I know. It's just... you're growing up so fast. I'm so proud of you."

"He's in good hands," Luke said. "We'll have your son back to you unharmed and a better dragon."

Twilight blushed and looked away. "Oh, he's not my son..."

Rainbow cut in, "Well, he kinda is. I mean, you hatched him, you raised him, fed him, taught him..."

"You do fill the role quite nicely." Rarity added. "Much like how Rainbow Dash fills the role of sister for little Scootaloo."

"Anyway," Ember interrupted, "let's go ahead and get you that ride."

"Oh, right. I am curious who would be willing to take us back to Equestria." Twilight pondered.

Ember chuckled. "'Willing' has nothing to do with it."

She looked up, searching the flight for something. Or, more likely, someone. She raised her claw and the same spectral hand that she used the day before against Garble and his friends shot into the sky, snatching a dragon out of the air.

<<Hey, doesn't that almost seem like Bigsby's Grasping Hand?>> Yomega asked.

<<Oh yeah, it does.>> I agreed.

<<And she did say her magic works by imposing her will onto reality,>> Lulu added.

Luke looked back at us, brows furrowed in thought. <<You saying her magic comes out of D&D?>>

<<She did call it sorcery.>> Yomega finished.

The dragon was slammed down in front of Ember.

She snarled and said, "Hey, jerkwad! You're gonna take my friends here back to their town. Got it?!"

The dragon just barely managed to stuttered out, "Y-y-yes, ma'am!"

Holy fuck! I stared, slack jawed. What did they do to the poor sod!

"I think the more appropriate question should be 'what did he do to piss them off?'"

Luke spoke up, interrupting my thoughts. "Dragons respect strength and ferocity. It drives them to better themselves and become strong so they can protect what's theirs from the dangers of the greater world. This dragon tried to start trouble with us and was beaten, thus he owes Ember a favor. However, out here, one cannot simply ask for what is theirs, one must show they deserve to keep it.

"Don't worry, though, we will show Spike that this is only something that applies to the Dragon Lands. We won't send him back a jerk."

"I-I suppose," Twilight said, approaching the dragon. "Thank you, sir, for giving us a ride."

The dragon just grumbled.

The ponies carefully climbed up onto the dragon’s back, even Rainbow settling in in front of the wings. Twilight’s horn began to glow as she anchored her friends to the dragon. I quickly blurred my way up behind Rainbow. I glanced back to see Lulu flowing her way up to sit behind Rarity.

“H-hey, Yomega?” Spike called as Yomega began to climb up. “Can I ask you to do something for me?”

Yomega paused, hopping back down off the dragon’s tail. <<Sure, what’s up?>>

Spike pulled a red and yellow egg from behind his back. “Could you take care of Peewee for me? I want him to be somewheres safe. A-and I’m not saying it’s not safe here, I just don’t want Garble to come and find it here, and-”

Yomega reached up and placed a paw on his mouth. <<Sshh. I get it. Peewee’s gonna be safe with me. I’ll raise him like my own.>> Yomega sighed, his ears drooping.

“And take care of Twilight for me.” Spike knelt down, placing the egg to the side. “... I’ll miss you.”

Yomega leaned up to hug Spike. <<I’ll miss you, too.>> The Eevee began to glow.

I smirked, before looking over to see the others expressions. While Ember and Smolder looked confused, Luke had a proud smile on his muzzle. <<Ten bucks he's an Espeon.>>

”Suckers bet.” Yomega’s voice echoed out. The light faded to reveal a lime green cat-like creature sitting on its haunches while still holding Spike. It’s twined tip tail flicked from side to side, large tufts of fur sprouting from under its ears rubbing against Spike’s cheek.

Yomega opened his almost pure lavender eyes. ”You have my word, Spike. I will do everything in my power to keep them both safe.” He smiled. ”I look forward to talking with you again when you finally come home.”

Spike waved as Yomega joined the others on the dragon’s back, the Espeon floating the egg up to him. “I’ll write whenever I find the time.”

“We look forward to them.” Twilight said, love clear in her voice.

“Darling, I think half the pack have spontaneously changed by now.” Rarity tittered. Luke must've said something to her, since I didn't hear anyone say anything prior.

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, it’s like they insta grow or something.”

Twilight sighed. “If only they would all change the same way.” She tried to throw her hooves up, but was thwarted by her own spell. “Each one has been completely unique! Just how much redundant DNA do you things have!” She directed the last bit at Yomega.

"Do you want to know about the known evolutions, or the potential ones?" Luke asked with a smirk.

Oh, you're fucking asking for it! I narrowed my eyes at him.

“P-potential ones?!” Twilight gasped.

With a roll of his eyes, the dragon got tired of waiting, and took off.

“Wait, I have so much to ask you!” Twilight’s shout back at Luke. We all strained to watch them as long as we could, the whistling wind drowning out anything they may have said in response. Once they faded from view, Twilight turned a manic grin towards the rest of us. "Moon Dancer and I are going to be doing so~o much research when we get home."

The flight back was mostly uneventful. Some dragons decided to try and take potshots at use, but Lulu's Water Gun and Yomega's new Confusion quickly put an end to those. It was almost evening when Ponyville came into view.

"Put us down over there!" Twilight tried to yell over the wind. She was pointing to a field near White Tail Woods. The dragon either ignored her, or didn't hear her. Twilight was a bout to shout again when Rainbow tapped, then hit, the dragon, pointing to the clearing when he turned to look.

With a nod, the dragon began to descend. He lightly touched down and waited for us to get off. Twilight dispelled her spell, and we all leapt clear, Yomega cradling Peewee's egg in his new mental powers. Without waiting for a thanks, the dragon took off and rejoined the flight.

<<Ya know,>> I mused as we turned for Ponyville proper, <<We spent most of the day with him, and we never got his name...>>

Lulu sighed. <<I'm more impressed with the amount of distance we covered.>>

"With how far humans are able to go in airplanes," Yomega thought at us. "you'd think you'd be used to that."

I glanced over at the lime colored feline. <<Could you please not do that? It's creepy.>>

He looked at me. <<You had no issues with Luke doing it?>>

<<Luke didn't do it to us when it was just us.>> I Glared at him. <<And you know my opinion of psychic types. Now outta my head!>>

<<It would help if you wouldn't shout your thoughts so fucking loud!>> He snapped back at me. <<I'm trying, very hard, to not pick up thoughts right now!>> His tail twitched. <<Look, I'm sorry, but I need to be alone until our next meeting. I need to train myself for this.>>

<> Lulu mentioned. <<I'll show you tomorrow.>>

I looked over to the mares to see them begin to split off. <<Alright, fine. See you guys later?>>

They waved their farewells, and I left with Rainbow. We walked in silence for a little bit as we headed back home. Eventually, Rainbow spoke up.

"Is Luke another form you guys can take?"

<<Wha-?>> I had to stop and think for a second. <<Oh, no. He's just a Lucario that we shared a range with.>>

"How do you 'share a range' with someone?" Rainbow asked as she picked me up.

<<Simple. Our separate territories overlapped.>> I shrugged as Rainbow placed me on the cloud floor of our home. <<It's not that hard to understand, really. Equestria shares a range with the timberwolves in the Everfree.>>

Rainbow shrugged as we crawled into our beds. "Well, then. What're your thoughts on him?"

I finished settling in. <<He's... cute, but taken.>>

"Isn't he, like, four times your size?"

I thought on it, and my mind began... drifting. <<Yeah...>>

"Leo... You're drooling."

Who's Bringing the Donuts?

View Online

The next morning, Yomega had sent a message to my brain while I was on my way to work. We were meeting up again that afternoon. Sighing at the mental intrusion, I went about my work for the day.

Namely, napping. They wouldn't need me for a few more weeks. I settled onto my cushion, and just had closed my eyes when I heard Rainbow sigh.

"Sorry, Leo, you're up today."

<<Wha?>> I cracked an eye open. <<I thought I wasn't needed?>>

"Got a new memo in the mail." Rainbow waved a scroll at me. "C'mon, I need to bring this up with the rest of the crew." I followed her out to the main crew room. "Alright mares and colts and Thunderlane!"

"Hey!" The named stallion called out over everyone else's chuckles.

"Settle down, got something important for us." Rainbow called out. "Cloudsdale wants us to know that we're next on the water delivery list." She spoke up over the murmurs and groans of the weather crew. "Yeah, I know. I need a volunteer to put up a new schedule, and to send a general memo out to every pegasi to meet up in Golden Oaks. Just as soon as I clear that with the resident scientists.

"The rest of us will be gathering clouds over the reservoir. We'll need all the water we can send them."

A hoof rose from the back. "Will Leo be helping us out with that?" Clear Skies asked.

"Later in the day, after the new schedule has been posted." Rainbow answered. "Don't want to drench ponies without something to cover our flanks with."

"What about getting Lulu?"

"Don't know where she gets her water from." Rainbow admitted. "Don't want to risk it vanishing on us. Any other questions?" No one spoke up. "Alright, everypony knows what their doing. See you in the skies."

I watched everypony file out before turning to Rainbow. <<Wake me when you need me.>>

Later that day, I tromped through the rain towards the Daycare. I paused between Lulu and Villhiem, shaking myself off before darting up the ramp.

"Glad you could make it." Conner said.

"Glad I made it before it started raining." Zann frowned. "I thought it was going to be sunny?!"

Yomega held a paw out. "We'll get into that in a second. I just need to fill everyone in on my current changes."

We all settled in around the eggs, Lulu and Villhiem poking their heads in the door. I hopped over bodies and limbs to curl up around my eggs. I was surprised to see Peewee's nestled between them.

"Okay, first things first." Yomega curled his tail around himself. "I've been reclassified as a Mutis Enigmus Eevee Sapiens Albus. Moon Dancer figured that, since I evolved from a subspecies, that what I evolved into is a subspecies as well. Move-wise, I lost almost all of my moves, keeping Tackle and Refresh of all things. I gained Calm Mind, Hypnosis, Nightmare, Dream Eater, Confusion, and three Psychic moves: Psychic, Psychic Fang, and Psystrike." He raised a paw. "Please wait until I'm done.

"Leo, Conner, I'm going to need you to take care of Peewee for a while. I'm going to go a little ways into Whitetail Woods and try and get a handle on my new mental powers."

"Why Whitetail?" Abes asked. "Couldn't you do that in the library?"

Yomega sighed. "I need some mental quiet. You guys might not be saying anything, but your thoughts are very loud. I find it very distracting, and I need to get a handle of it on my end. You're about to ask if I tried telepathically talking with Twilight, Zann." We all turned to the fire type, who nodded. "I've tried. It's weird, though. They keep fiddling with the radio whenever I try... I don't think they are picking up on my signals. Which is definitely odd, considering that you can all 'hear' me right now."

"Outta my head!" I snapped at him.

"Dude," Vincent tilted his head at me, "what's your problem?"

"I don't like people being able to read minds." I shifted my glare to him. "One's mind, one's thoughts, should be private! What if I was thinking about a really dark scene in a book I was writing or a movie I just watched? How would he know that it was for something fictional, and not real?"

Yomega sighed. "No, I get it. That's why I need to go to Whitetail. I need to just be able to transmit and not receive. Would that be fine with you, Leo?"

"Just sending messages?" I paused, thinking it over. "Yeah, I can get behind that."

Cy held a paw up. "What if we needed to respond mentally? How would you know?"

"I can work on that later." Yomega turned to Vince. "And, because you can't stop thinking about it: my evolution felt awe inspiring. It was as if a wall in my mind fell away, and, for the briefest moment, every future was laid bare in front of me. But the details were lost when the thoughts of every being near me began to bombard me." I could see him start to lose focus, his breathing increasing in speed. "Leo, please fill us in on the next episodes."

I nodded, pulling everyone's attention off of our Alpha. "Right, so, Dragon Migration just passed, and we've got a major change. I'll surprise you with that in a second. Coming up pretty quick is Hurricane Fluttershy, where every pegasus is needed to send water to Cloudsdale so that they can make more clouds. Don't ask me how that works. That's why it's currently raining, so that we have enough water to send to up. After that is, well, this one might not happen.

"The Crusaders join up with the school newspaper to try and earn their cutiemarks, and That Bitch is put in charge because the paper's student run." I shrugged. "Since The Bitch is up in Canterlot and the Crusaders have their cutiemarks already, I think we can safely ignore that one.

"After that is the Mystery on the Friendship Express. The Cakes bake a cake for a competition in Canterlot, but it, along with every other entree, sorry, entry has a large chunk eaten from them. Not spoiling anything in case we get to go, but everyone's entry makes it, and wins."

"How's that possible?" Conner asked.

"You'll have to wait and see." I grinned. "After that is the season two finale." I paused as Villhiem and Lulu checked outside for any eavesdroppers. "So. A Canterlot Wedding." I winced as Lulu squealed. "Shut! Up! Before Fluttershy hears you!"

"I'm sorry, I can't help it!" Lulu gushed. "Who's the lucky pony? Is it Rarity?! Or mph! Mhmmhmhmhm!"

"Thank you, Villhiem." I sighed. "Twilight's brother -yes, she has an older brother- Shining Armor is getting hitched with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. She's Twilight's former foalsitter, she prefers to be called Cadence, and she's going to be kidnapped by Queen Chrysalis of the changelings." I waited out the uproar that caused. "Ya all done? Good. Chrysalis is using the wedding to try and take over Canterlot, then Equestria, so that her people will have enough food. They eat love, by the way. Twilight figures out that the Cadence everyone meets is a fake, but handles it poorly, allowing Chrysalis to capture her and imprison her in the crystal mines under Canterlot with the real Cadence.

"They break out, stop the wedding, Chrysalis throws a hissyfit, defeats Celestia, Twilight and Co. get captured." I had to speak up over everyone again. "Twilight convinces Cadence to break Shining of Chrysalis' hold over him, she does, they make a magic love nuke, and the Changeling army is expelled, everyone learns a valuable lesson in listening to ponies, the wedding proceeds as normal, Shining and Cadence go off in the wedding carriage. And then they fucked." I finished with a deadpan. "The end. Oh, the Princesses are aware that something would happen, but not what."

Yomega spoke up before anyone else could. "Since she'll just try something else if we interfere now, we must let this one play out. That said, we shouldn't just sit by while the army invades. We should do what we can during the fight. We can go over that plan closer to the wedding."

Eventually, everyone stopped grumbling. Abes finally said something that wasn't pessimistic. "So, where's Spike? I've noticed that he's still missing."

"Oh, right!" I giggled. "Do I have a surprise for you! Spike's staying with Ember, a dragoness we met during the migration. She's teaching him about dragon kind. But here's the surprise: Luke's hooked up with her!" I got a bunch of blank looks. "Y'know, Skywalker, our neighbor?"

And a new uproar began. I waited for it to settle down before I could regale everyone with our adventure. While I did so, I noticed Yomega slip out to begin his solo training.

You Are Family.

View Online

I lay in the Daycare, waiting for the latest storm to end. This was to be the last one before we had enough water, according to Twilight's calculations. I had decided that I would do another Rain Dance before heading home, just to bump the water level up, just to be on the safe side.

But, for now, I was watching the eggs. I glanced up at the checklist Yomega had put up for when Peewee hatched. My gaze drifted from there to each of the eggs in turn.

I wonder when you'll hatch. It's been long enough, almost a full summer. Are we doing something wrong? My eyes teared up. In the back of my mind, I had been thinking about how long they were taking to hatch for the last moon. Judging by how Lulu acted whenever she left from her shift, I could tell she was too. Are you infertile? Please be fertile.

"Leo, you in here?" I heard Conner call out.

I quickly tried to rub my eyes clear. "Y-yeah. I'm on egg duty!" I answered with a sniff. I turned away from the door to roll one of Lulu's eggs over. I hoped it would buy me enough time to clean myself up. I paused when I heard Conner come up the ramp.

"So," it sounded like he had paused at the door, "what's the waterworks for?"

"You don't know?" I almost turned to face him, but I could still feel the tear streaks. "It's for the water transfer in about a couple of weeks."

He sighed. "I wasn't asking about the rain, Leo." I stood, frozen in place as I heard him start towards me. "I don't need to be a psychic type to tell when someone's hurting."

"No." I agreed. I felt him place a paw on my shoulder. "Just need to be an empath." My gaze drifted towards Peewee's egg as Conner slowly draped himself over me.

"Still avoiding the question." He murmured into my ear.

"It's the eggs." I admitted. "I'm worried that they may never hatch. I'm so worried about my first two eggs."

I felt him nod. "Because they weren't conceived normally?"

I felt more tears start coming. "Yeah..."

"Shh, shh." Conner comforted. "Just let it out."

I turned and buried my face into his fur, crying out my newest worries. Conner did his best to comfort me, even awkwardly patting my back. Eventually, I cried myself out. Pulling away from Conner, I attempted to rub my face clear again.

"Ah, look at me." I gave a morose chuckle. "I'm a mess now."

"You're, uh, a pretty mess?" Conner tried to lift my mood.

I waved him off. "You don't need to do that. I know what your side of this is like."

"Yeah, but you haven't been on that side before, have you?"

"Not really. Arceus, my emotions are all over the place." I sighed. "I blame the new feminine hormones I'm now dealing with." I noticed that one of the eggs seemed to be faintly glowing pink. I rubbed more tears from my eyes, and looked again. Huh, it's gone. Must've been the tears. I turned back to Conner with a sniff, cringing when I saw the mess I left on him. "Oh, shit, sorry. The rain should clean that off."

Blinking, Conner looked at his chest and shoulder. "Hmm? Oh, that. Yeah, I've been helping Joy and Angel as if I was a vet. It'll take a lot more then this to gross me out now."

I nervously chuckled. "Yeah, I-" I was interrupted but a cracking noise. I whipped around, ears standing stiff, looking to the eggs. With another crack, I saw Peewee's egg wobble, cracks and fractures appearing along the shell. Conner and I stood stock still as we watched the miracle of life happen in front of us.

The top half of the egg was pushed up, Peewee briefly looking around before dropping back into the egg.

"It's okay." I cooed, crawling forward. "You can come out." Peewee repeated his peek-a-boo routine. "It's okay." I chuckled, carefully reaching out and lifting the upper shell off. I gently placed it to the side, before peering into the egg. "There we go."

Peewee looked up at me, pulling himself up and booped my nose with his beak. I giggled as I carefully pulled the shell away from him.

"Hey, Leo?" Conner asked from behind me. "Where's Yomega?"

I kept peeling away the shell as Peewee struggled to get his legs under him. "From here, go into Whitetail and head due east. He'll be in the third clearing." I stated before following my instincts and began licking the leftover yolk off of the chick. I twitched an ear towards the door as I heard Conner leave, running off into the rain.

"Mommy?" I blinked, looking down at the chick. "Where's Daddy going?"

Oh, crap. I mentally sighed. Why'd he have to imprint? It's going to be so much harder when we have to give him back.

"Mommy?"

I gave Peewee's head another lick. "He's going to get your father."

"I've got two Daddies?" He sounded so excited.

"Oh, you've got more than that." I chuckled. Noticing Peewee starting to shiver, I curled around him. "You've got a whole pack to look after you."

"I've got lots of Mommies and Daddies?!" He chirped at me around a yawn. "Can I see them all?"

"Later." I cooed. "For now, you need to get some rest. You can see them later."

He lay his head onto my tail. "But I want to see them now!"

"Later." I hummed. "Hush, now. Quiet, now..." I began to sing. By the time Conner had returned with Yomega, Peewee was fast asleep. I carefully raised a paw to my muzzle, signaling them to be quiet.

"How is he?" Yomega whispered.

"He's imprinted on Conner and I." I sighed. "He was very excited to know that we're all looking after him, but he thinks the Pack are his parents." I checked Peewee, making sure he was asleep. "How do you tell a child that they're adopted?"

"We wait until he's old enough to understand." Yomega gently stated as he curled up around me.

Conner leaned against the door frame. "And how will we know that?"

"When he asks why he looks different from us." Yomega's voice firmed. "And we tell him everything. We don't try to hide things. And, if he doesn't ask, then he might've figured it out. If he asks to meet his true parents, then we tell him that they live a long way away, but we will try to find time."

"Until then," I spoke up, "we take care of him as our own. Let's introduce the rest of the pack to him when he wakes up. Slowly." I settled in as the others voiced their agreement.

Every Parent Has Been There...

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[Abes]

I stretched with a yawn, shaking the last vestiges of sleep off as I left my "room". I snorted upon seeing the other occupants of the room. Judging by how she was draped over her desk, Twilight had fallen asleep pouring over her books again. Yomega curling up in Spike's bed was new.

Wonder why he's there." I pondered as I crept from the room.

"I think Twilight tucked him in in her sleep."

She must really miss Spike. I mused. I slunk down the stairs, hoping that they remembered to leave food out for me. I paused at the base of the stairs, noticing that Moon Dancer's light was still on. I poked my head in, smiling when I saw the mare mirroring Twilight upstairs. I shook my head with a light chuckle, making my way into the main room.

"... And the True Princess watches over our dreams."

"Who's the True Princess?" My smile slipped. I had spent enough time with Peewee to recognize his voice. We all had.

"That's a very..." Owlowiscious paused, probably searching for a simple word. "Hard question to answer."

"Why?"

"Because almost every creature awake in the day thinks that Celestia is the True Princess, and all the others think that Princess Luna is the True Princess."

"Why?"

I could hear the chuckle in Owlowiscious' voice. "Because Celestia moves the sun, and Princess Luna moves the moon."

"Why?"

"Because they've almost always have done so."

"Why?"

"That answer has been lost to time, I'm afraid."

I stepped in before Peewee could speak up. "And that will have to wait until another night."

"Why?" Peewee turned to me. "Daddy!" He began to toddle towards me.

"Good evening, Squirt." I sat down so that he could flop against me.

"Do you know the Princessessess?"

"I know of them, yes." I gently pushed him a little bit away from me. I lightly placed a paw on his beak to keep him from talking. "Now, what are you doing up this late?"

"Talking with Uncle Owowish- Uncle Owow-" He paused, before chirping with a smile. "Uncle Owly!"

I had to choke back a snort at Owlowiscious fluffing himself up with indignation. "And what are you doing here?" I asked instead.

"Mommy bringed me here!" He nodded.

I sighed. "And where's Mommy?"

"Right there!" He pointed off to a table. It took me a moment to see Leo curled up in a pile of paper. Said pile appeared to have once rested upon the table.

"She wanted to ask me if I could teach young Peewee here to fly." Owlowiscious elaborated. "When he was old enough, of course. I agreed."

I felt Luna brushing against my mind. Not now Luna, I need to get Leo and Peewee home.

"Ah. I apologize for intruding then. Please let Us know when you are free."

Will do. I focused back on the chick in front of me. "Right, well. It's well past time all good young phoenix chicks were in bed."

"Aww, but I'm not tired!" His pleading was ruined but the yawn that squeaked out at the end.

"Doesn't matter. Bed time." I lifted Leo onto my back. I felt her snuggle her way further into my fur. "C'mon, Peewee, let's get you back to the Daycare."

"But-"

"No 'but's, Peewee, let's go." I picked him up with my Telekinesis, gently placing him between my shoulders.

"Aww."

I made sure they were both settled comfortably on my back. "Now say 'Good night' to Uncle Owly, please."

"Goo'night, Uncle Owly." Poor chick sounded so sad.

"If you're good," Owlowiscious spoke up behind me, "I'm sure they'll let you come over again. Good night!"

We walked from the library in silence, one I was content to keep until we had reached the edge of town. I slowed my walk, glancing up to the sky. "Peewee? Are you still awake?"

"Yeah." I felt him shifting on my back. "Are you mad at me, Daddy?"

"No, no I'm not." I sighed. "I was just surprised to see you still at the library, that's all. But you should still be in bed right now." I felt him flop onto my back, bouncing off of Leo.

"Snirk!" I had to steady her with my mind as she snapped awake. "Wazza? Uh, forty two!"

"Good evening, Leo." I spoke up. "Just bringing you both to the Daycare."

"You fell asleep on the table!" Peewee added.

"Oh. Well, thank you, Abes."

"No problem." We lapsed back into silence.

We were nearing the Daycare when Leo spoke up. "Oh, look, Peewee! Shooting stars!"

I smiled as Peewee chirped happily at them. "I hear that if you make a wish on one, it might come true. But you can't tell anyone what you wished for, or it won't."

I paused long enough for them to enjoy Luna's performance. Once it died down, I ducked low so I didn't hit them on the doorway. Leo slid off first, rolling onto her back to catch Peewee when he jumped off. I leaned against the doorway, watching Leo tease and joke with Peewee while tucking him into his little nest. When he started to protest that he wasn't tired, broken by more yawns, Leo sung Fluttershy's lullaby.

Once she was sure that Peewee was asleep, she carefully stepped up to me, leading me back out. "Hey." She whispered. "Thanks for carrying us back, and I'm sorry for falling asleep on the job."

"Think nothing of it. Listen, I gotta go see Luna now, will you be fine tonight?"

She huffed, giving me a coy smile. "Aww, worried for me? What am I going to do without a big, strong, handsome Umbreon to keep me company?"

"L-Leo, there's a child present!" I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Peewee won't know if we go a little way into the bushes." She singsonged at me, before dramatically placing a paw on her chest. "Oh, but woe is me, for your heart belongs another! A beautiful Princess of the Night, even!"

"Stop it!" I admonished, lightly smacking her on the head.

Her normal impish smirk stole across her face. "Go ahead. I'll be fine here. You go enjoy your date."

"It's not a date!" I chuckled with her. Alright Luna, I'm free. Shadowporting in three, two...

Destello de la Luna.

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... One. I fell into my shadow and blurred across a monochromatic world. In less than a blink of an eye, I was flying up a tower wall in Canterlot. Sliding in through an open window, I rose from where my shadow had stopped.

"Good to see you could make it tonight." Luna addressed me without turning away from her desk. "We've set up a surprise for you, but for after you've finished with Philomena. She should be here momentarily."

<<Until then,>> I stepped up to her side, <<can you give me any updates on Leo?>>

Luna scowled at the open books arrayed in front of her. "Nay. We've made no progress upon the Dreaming front, unfortunately. I've turned to doing my own research, using Lady Twilight's and Moon Dancer's as a base."

I nodded. <<Any luck so far?>>

"Again, We have not." Luna sighed. "We are disappointed that dreaming research has been neglected this past millennium, although, not surprised. Knowing that, it is even less surprising that ponies have not even considered asking if summons can dream."

<<Would that have to do with their recent kernal discovery?>>

"It does, yes." Luna's horn briefly lit up as she flicked a page over. "Once We had discovered the ability known as Dream Eater, We commissioned the Circles to researching how it works, as well as summon dreams in general. Until they are able to give Us results, We are forced to..." She paused, before turning an arched eye brow to me. "'Cool our heels' We believe the term is?"

<<Yeah, Leo's not going to like hearing that.>> I sighed. <<I mean, it sucks, yeah. But she understands when something is out of our control.>>

Further conversation was cut off by a polite knock at the door. "Your Highness?" A Thestral guardsmare leaned in. "You have a visitor."

"Send them in." Luna instructed. Philomena swooped in and landed on the back of an unused chair. The guardsmare nodded and closed the door. Luna stood with a stretch. "We shall give the two of you some privacy. Please inform me when you are finished." She left into one of the further rooms of her suite.

I cleared my throat, then gave the royal phoenix a practiced bow. "Lady Philomena-"

"Ach, cut th' crap." She waved a wing at me. "Ah've heard aboot ya, ya're th' one who's gone an' stolen tha' sweet lass's heart. Far's Ah'm concerned, tha' at least makes ya my nocturn'l counterpart." She winked at me. "So ya can cut oot all tha' fancy crap, ya ken?"

Wha...?

"Processing... processing... Yeah, I've got nothing."

"Well, spit it oot. Ah've not got all night."

I snapped back to awareness. "R-right. I'm, ah, assuming you've heard about Peewee by now?"

"Aye, tha' Ah have." She nodded. "Th' wee tike's lucky he fell inta yer paws. Ah'm assumin' tha' yer askin' fer somethin' fer 'im?"

"I am." I glanced out of the window. "We know that it's only a matter of time before he starts asking about his real family. Could you please find his original family for us? We know that the nest he came from was destroyed by some dragons during the migration, but we don't know if it's been completely abandoned."

Philomena stretched her wings out. "Ah can do tha' fer ya, aye." With a flap, she flew to the door. Rapping her beak on it, she waited just long enough for the guard to open it before flying off. "OI, SUNBUTT, Ah've got some'in ta tell ya, so git yer royal arse outta bed, ya lazy c-" The guard closed the door with a sigh.

Luna leaned back into the room with a sigh. "A thousand years, and that bird hasn't changed. Did you accomplish what you needed?"

<<Aye.>> I shook my head. <<I mean, yes.>>

"Well," Luna smiled, "We did mention a surprise. Come, We've just finished setting it up."

I followed her further into the suite. I paused in the doorway at the sight. <<Is that what I think it is?>>

"Yes."

<<And the pieces?>>

"Marble and onyx. Carved them ourselves." Luna stated with pride. "This is our personal set."

I carefully approached the table. <<I notice that two of the pieces are missing. Side selection?>>

"Of course."

<<Then I choose left.>> I stated, watching her float a black pawn from under her left wing. She added it and its counterpart to the chessboard on the table. I jumped up onto the chair behind the black side, and waited for Luna to make her opening move.

Several games later, I decided to voice a thought that had been brewing. <<Luna, can I ask you a potentially risky and personal question?>>

"We suppose." She idly took my rook.

<<Do...>> I tried to moisten my suddenly dry mouth, sweeping a knight around to take her queen. Biting the bullet, I rushed my question out. <<Do you think you could, hypothetically, ever love an Umbreon?>>

Luna picked up her bishop, moving it to claim my offending knight, before pausing with a blink. She carefully set the piece back where it had started, leaning away from the board to give my question considerable thought. Her eyes flicked from side to side as she mused, a blush rising and falling from her cheeks. Eventually, she returned her attention to the board, committing her bishop to it's prior move. "No." She bluntly answered as she set the captured piece aside.

She glanced at me. "At least, not as things stand now, and not openly."

My ears perked back up as I considered my next few moves. <<O-oh?>>

"Yes." Luna gave me a soft smile. "The main issue is that you are a sentient creature, not a sapient one."

<<What do you mean?>> I turned my gaze up to her. <<I'm obviously sapient, so are the cows on Applejack's farm.>>

"Forgive us, we used the simplified terms." Luna sighed. "Think of it as if... in the eyes of civilization, you are an animal, a pet. So are Lady Applejack's cows, even though they can hold conversations with her."

<<So, as things stand, you're worried that the tabloids would accuse you of beastiality?>>

"Yes." Luna gave me a sad smile. "No matter how much We may love Our hypothetical Umbreon back, nor how long both of them may have had these mutual feelings." I jolted, dropping a pawn. I glanced up to see her faintly blushing. "You were subtle about it, but I'm very good at reading others..."

I scrambled to pick my piece up and place it where I wanted to. I could feel my cheeks heating up. <<A-and what is required to be considered 'sapient'?>>

"One's species must meet three criteria." Luna slid a pawn across. "Firstly, they must either have, or be capable of learning, a language. Secondly, they must have a definable culture. Lastly, they must be capable and willing to sustain themselves.

"Cows are unwilling to meet the third criteria, wishing instead to be cared for, so they are not considered 'sapient'. That does not mean that they are not without rights, though. We... I could find you a book on this, if you wish to know more."

<<I would like that, yes. Check.>>

Luna smiled as she moved her King. "Of course, the second criteria was added to prevent beings such as chimera, who do fend for themselves, even using rudimentary tools, from being captured and locked away for countless 'murders'." She noted my confused look. "They do still have rights, mostly to territory. Ponies are always warned about areas where they could be hunted, though many of the creatures that could prey upon ponies avoid doing so."

<<They don't want to be driven off their hunting ranges?>> I guessed.

"And rightly so." Luna nodded. "Checkmate."

I blinked and focused on the board. <<Well, fuck. Care for another go?>> I looked up to see Luna walking towards her bedroom. <<Uh, L-Luna?>>

"We do not have much time before the sun is to rise. I believe we should get some rest." She paused at the door.

I hopped from my chair. <<I've gotten much better at shadow-porting...>>

"We could use some rest." She gave me a smirk.

<<Wha- O-oh!>> I blushed, rushing to her side. <<B-but what about your guards? A-and the whole sapience thing?>>

Luna smiled at the window. "They value their jobs more than that." She closed the curtains. "Besides, they are already aware of our... unique situation." She picked me up in her magic, blushes growing on our faces. "And I've never truly cared for what the tabloids think." I saw the floor rotate away from me, my tail stiffly trailing along behind me.

Then the bed come into view.

I saw and felt that first kiss.

I'll never forget the rest.

[Third]

In the gardens, a certain statue stood. A new crack had joined the general weathering on it, a small one leading off of one corner of the mouth. If it had a mind, and if one could listen into it, they'd be confused by what they'd hear.

Wonder what that little ringed- OH DEAR ME! WHY DID I LOOK RIGHT THEN!?

Rules for a Reason.

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[Leo]

I made my way from Carousel Boutique, Peewee following close behind. I let him natter on as we walked, paying enough attention to "Ahuh." and "Really?" at the right places. Great, the water delivery is tomorrow, and no one can babysit! Why is every'vee doing something tomorrow? Can't ask Owlowiscious, he needs to sleep, the Crusaders summons don't like us for some reason. Angel will be at the delivery and I don't want Peewee where he could get under paw. And Winona is... Winona. So, that just leaves...

Rarity's cat pounced out from around the tree behind us, chasing a mouse into it's burrow.

"Opal!" I called out, leading Peewee over to her.

She glanced over her shoulder at me. "Oh, hello furball." She glanced at Peewee. "And chick."

"I'm glad I caught you." I began, carefully shushing Peewee. "I know that this is very short notice, but I need a favor from you for tomorrow."

She turned to face me directly. "And what would that be?"

"I need you to babysit Peewee for me." I sat down, rubbing the back of my neck. "I'm needed at the water delivery, and I don't want-"

"I understand." Opal interrupted. "But why me? You know I'm bad with children."

"If it makes you feel any better," I snarked, "you were the last person I asked..."

"Mom!"

She rolled her eyes. "Fi~ine." She whined. She glanced over my shoulder. "Did you teach Peewee to climb trees?"

"Mom!"

"At Owlowiscous' request, yes." I nodded. "He wants Peewee to be able to climb back up to the branches he'll be teaching him to fly from."

"Mom! Look!"

"Did you set a maximum climbing height?" Oddly, Opal started to look worried.

"Hey! Hey, Mom!"

"Yes. He's not to go more than two branches up."

"Moo~oom!"

"We should get him down then." Opal pointed to something above and behind me.

"Wha?" I followed Opal's paw...

... and my heart stopped. "Mom, look how high I can go!" Peewee had climbed the tree behind me, and was now standing on the end of a thin branch.

"Peewee! Get down from there!" I shrieked.

"Kay!" He tried to turn to go back to the trunk, but one of his claws slipped. He fumbled, clutching the branch he was on. "Mommy!"

"Oh, Arceus." The good news was that my heart was beating again. "Peewee, just stay there! I'm coming to get you!" I began blurring my way up the tree. I slowed down when I got to the twig Peewee was stuck. "Peewee, Peewee, look at me, look at Mommy." I waited until he was looking at me. "I'm going to come out and get you, just hold on."

I carefully stepped out, but just the slight pressure I gave the branch caused the end that Peewee was on to bounce wildly. Peewee screamed, clutching the twig with his eyes squeezed shut. I froze, and waited until the branch stopped moving. Once it did, I very slowly removed my paw.

"Peewee, Peewee! Peewee, listen to Mommy. I'm right here, I won't leave you. I need to hold on, okay?" I spoke as calmly as I could, which, admittedly, wasn't much.

Peewee whimpered and curled up on himself even further. But he still nodded.

"Okay, I'm going to yell down to Opal, so don't be surprised. Okay?" I waited for his nod before looking down to the cat. I vaguely say a brown form approaching, but I didn't care about that at that moment. "Opal! I need you to go get help!"

"And leave you both alone!" She shouted back. "What if one or both of you fall? You've already nearly died once, Leo. While saving your son would be admirable, I don't-"

"Hi there!" Opal jumped, spinning to face the new arrival. "I heard shouting. What's wrong?"

"Winona!" Opal placed a paw over her chest. She looked up at me. "We need you to go get help."

"Help?" The farm dog cocked her head.

"Yes, help." Opal stressed. "Someone who can help get Peewee down from the tree."

"Help, right." Winona nodded.

"Someone like Yomega...?" Opal tried to lead.

"Right!" Winona barked, before turning and bolting towards the bakery.

I yelled down at the dog. "The library's that- oh forget it."

Opal tried to reassure me. "She's a little confused, but she does have the spirit..."

"What does Gummy see in her...?" I muttered before focusing back on Peewee. He kept trying to move a claw forward, but freezing and curling up every time the twig wobbled. "Peewee, I'm going to need you to stay still, help's coming." I kept up a steady stream of calming assurances, partly for my own sake.

Eventually, I saw a pink aura flare up around Peewee. It tried to gently pry him from the branch, but he held on firmly. Looking back, I would find him stubbornly shaking his head at each pull hilarious.

"Peewee, it's okay, you can let go." I cooed until he did. I blurred down the tree, staying level with the chick, keeping up my assuring rant the while way. Once we were back on the ground, I rushed to hug the chick to to my breast. "It's okay, you're safe. It's okay." I briefly pushed Peewee to arm's length. "What were thinking, going that high?" I pulled him back in, patting him down to make sure he was okay. "Please, don't ever do that again."

"Are you mad at me...?" Peewee murmured into my fur.

"No." I gave him a squeeze. "Just promise me that you won't go that high again, at least until you can fly."

"I promise..."

I looked up to see Eros standing beside Winona and Opal. I quickly pulled Peewee up onto my back and shakily approached the Ralts. I stopped when she took a flinching step back. "I know that you can't understand me, but, thank you. Thank you so much for this. I don't know how I could ever repay you."

I felt her psionic might do the mental version of knocking on the door, and I let her in. "... Promise me you won't bring harm to the Crusaders."

I nodded. "I'll do my best to help keep them safe. Cross my heart, and hope to fly..."

Eros grunted, and turned to leave. After a few steps she stopped. "... You're welcome." She thought with a glance over her shoulder. With that, she teleported away.

I turned my attention to Winona. "Thank you for finding Eros, Winona."

She shrugged. "Week ago, Gummy said Eros be there with Sweetie. You thank him?"

"I..." I paused. "I will, next time I see him."

Opal placed a paw on my shoulder. "I will still watch Peewee tomorrow, just drop him off at my Boutique before the delivery."

Bonus: The Rubber Ducky Principle.

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[???]

... And, yet, that doesn't fully explain the phenomenon of these rogue summons. Where did they come from? Have they always been here? If they have, how has that affected our world? My world? Am I no more a part of the natural then the Pack? Am I truly real? Is anything truly real? I mused, staring out the back door. My tail slowly flicked from side to side -and yes that is possible- in time with my thoughts. Are we even truly alive? Or are we puppets under some other beings control? Are we even that? Could we be mere images on a projector screen, flashing by our time on screen before our world is turned off?

A familiar figure approached me, stopping at the base of the steps and tilted it's head. I ignored it in favor of my thoughts. Or are we merely words, written or spoken, experienced once then forgotten? Is that the true death of us all, not when we pass nor rot away, but when we are forgotten by all? Who will remember me when Pinkie is gone?

"Boop." I focused back on the present to see Winona pulling her paw away. "There you are!" She beamed at me. "You were pretty gone. Huntin' spiders again?" I nodded. "What were you thinkin' 'bout?"

I began tapping out my response out with my tail. "I was contemplating the recent letter young Spike sent to Miss Twilight."

"Was it the one with the dragon's making the sun?"

"The very same. Although I am more concerned with the mention of the creatures in the murals."

Winona lay down beside me. "An' you can't figure it out?"

"Not exactly."

"Spiders lead you down rabbit trails?"

"Why do you insist on calling them spiders?"

"'Cause ya get tangled in their web of tangents."

I smiled with a slight roll of my eyes. "Right. Well this one is a veritable snarl of webbing. It is good to see that you are remembering some of the longer words now by the way."

"Explain it to me?"

"Where did these creatures come from? Where did they go? Did they even leave? Why did they-"

"Boop!" Winona withdrew her paw from my snout.

"Right. But the biggest question is yet to be asked." I finally focused my gaze, both eyes looking in the same direction. "What if they return?"

Winona snorted. "I think ya need to answer the first ones first."

I blinked, my gaze drifting apart again. "Why?"

"Because, Gummy, ya don't know why they were here in the first place."

"That was clear from the mural. They were here on behalf of the Celestia... tier..." I frowned. "Well then. What did that want?"

The Equestrian Rain Dance.

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"Thank you again for this." I gave Opal a slight bow. "I'll be back to get him once we're done with the transfer." I turned Peewee. "Now, you listen to Aunt Opal, and, if you behave, I might have a treat for you. Okay?"

"Kay!"

Opal nodded with a smile. "I'll see you when you're done." She hooked a paw around Peewee and carefully pulled him into the Boutique. I waved to the chick until the door closed.

With a sigh, I turned and began rushing to the reservoir. I really hope they haven't started yet. I thought as I bolted through town. I may not be adding- Oh, no, they haven't started yet. I glanced up to see several pegasi flying the same direction I was running. I barely slowed as I left the main town behind. Seeing where Rainbow was having the pegasi gather, I hurried over, skidding to a stop next to my mare.

Rainbow floated above the crowd. "Alright, listen up!" She shouted, gathering everypony's attention. "Spitfire will be here in about twenty minutes, and there's something that we need to go over! There some of you on the weather team that already know this, so you could help Twilight set up her machine. Go talk to Moon Dancer and Yomega to check in, then join the line." Those called out began to swarm the busy mare.

"The rest of you, I need you guys to know something!" Rainbow pointed at me. "Spitfire doesn't know about Leo or the Eevee's abilities, and Twilight doesn't want the average pony to know about those. Not until all of those abilities have been cataloged." She shrugged. "Or most of them, anyway. The point is, is that Twilight and Moon Dancer don't think these little fluff balls have shown us everything they can do yet. So, Leo won't be doing anything fancy today." She glanced down at me. "Right?"

<<I make as many guarantees as the government.>> I smiled and nodded.

"... Right." Rainbow sighed. "So don't go telling Spitfire, alright?" She waited out the chorused agreement. "Good. Now, we need everypony to line up and check in."

I spent my time waiting by checking the path I was planning on running for debris and tripping hazards. I had just finished my circuit when Spitfire flew in. Knowing that Rainbow could start fangirling, I sauntered over and poked her leg.

<<Hey.>> I waited until I could make eye contact with Rainbow. <<She's just a mare. Remain professional.>>

She nodded, settling her hat back onto her head. "Glad you could make it." Rainbow murmured back. "Who's watching the chick?"

<<Opal.>>

Rainbow started to say something, but shook her head instead and rose into the air. "Are we ready to do this?!" She yelled out over the winding line of ponies. She landed as the cheering died down. I folded my ears as I rushed to her side.

Unfortunately, just as Rainbow was breathing in to blow her whistle, Moon Dancer appeared next to her with a crack of displaced air. "We've got a problem." She pointed to Thunderlane's place on her list. "I just got back from Ponyville General, he's out with featherflu." She began flipping through her list. "Him and several others."

I watched Rainbow slightly deflate as Moon Dancer left to consult with Twilight. <<I'm sure it'll be okay.>> I reassured my mare. I cast our visitor a look. <<Should we at least let Spitfire know?>>

"Yeah." Rainbow floated towards the Wonderbolt. "I'm sorry, Spitfire, but several of our pegasi have come down with Featherflu. We're just crunching numbers to-"

"It's okay." Spitfire interrupted. "Just let me know if you need to send for some of Cloudsdale's."

I saw Rainbow flinch. It was very well suppressed, to the point that I'm sure Spitfire didn't notice. But, when you've spent enough time around someone, you learn a thing or four about them.

"Will do." Rainbow nodded and began floating over to the eggheads.

I rushed over to intercept her. <<What's wrong with getting some outside help?>>

"It's mostly the bad rep that would give us." Rainbow whispered, petting me to calm her own nerves. "Because of how important water transfers are, they are a major matter of pride. Even for smaller weather teams. Ponyville's one of those communities that are just small enough that we used to need the help, but enough pegasi moved here since the last transfer that we would've been fine.

"But, it would be even worse for us now." She groaned. "We've been breaking records since you've joined us, and having to call in help because of 'sick ponies' sounds like a cop-out." She gave me a final pat. "Or, at least, that's how other teams will see it." Rainbow started floating towards Twilight again.

I shook my fur out before following Rainbow. <<But if we do it without the help, then we might get an even better rep. Think of it!>> I ran ahead and started walking backwards. <<'They weren't at full wingpower, imagine what they could've done at full!'>> I gave out a fake gasp. <<'They would've broken the wingspeed record for sure!'>>

"Oh, no!" Twilight gasped, causing Rainbow to dash over me.

"Don't tell me that we won't have enough wingpower!"

"We may barely have enough." Twilight frowned, before glancing at me. "You wouldn't be able to make a whirlwind, would you?"

I shrugged.

Moon Dancer glanced at Rainbow. "What happened to the windspeed record?"

"I figured that would be a bust at this point." Rainbow glanced over the line of waiting ponies. "Not many pegasi here train physically, so..."

"Fair enough." Moon Dancer sighed.

"Are we going to pack up?" Twilight asked.

Determination crept over Rainbow's face, matching my own confident smirk. "No!" She declared. "Cloudsdale still needs water!" She rammed her flight goggles on and rushed over to the start of the line. "Okay, everypony! Let's give it all we've got! At the sound of the horn, we take off!" She looked over at the horn. "Ready when you are, Mac!"

I settled into a crouch, one ear twitching towards the silent stallion. With a droning buzz, the wind picked up as ponies as began flying overhead. I waited until Rainbow had flown overhead before racing along the reservoir shore. I started slow, so that I didn't burn myself out, but ramped up my speed as the the waterspout started to grow.

And then it happened.

I don't know who first fell out of position, but the chain reaction was quick. The tornado's cohesion was quickly lost, flinging pegasi everywhere. I didn't see where everypony landed, since I was too busy recovering from being Rainbow's landing site. She had curled up around me before we hit the tree, but taking a Rainbow to the face still hurts.

"Rainbow," I heard Twilight call out, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Rainbow uncurled from around me. "How's Leo?"

"Just let Conner do his work on her."

<<Joy?>> I gasped out.

"Yes?" Fluttershy asked as Conner got to work with his pink healing motes.

I wheezed <<Tell Rainbow... that she...>> I switched to a normal tone. <<Really needs to work on her landings. That last one had no form. Four outta ten, at best.>> I grinned at the snickers.

"Alright." Rainbow sighed, shaking herself as the chuckles died off. "How close were we?"

"Very." Moon Dancer sighed.

"Good!" I smiled as the other mares shared a confused look. "We've got to try again!" Rainbow declared, rushing off to rouse her pegasi.

"But you've pushed your crew to their limit already!" Twilight pulled Rainbow back. "If you break apart again, somepony could get hurt! You should quit, it's not safe!" She waved a hoof over the assemble ponies.

My mare slapped it away. "No! One more try! I got to know that we gave it our all! If I'm going down, I'm going down flying!" Rainbow rocketed off, catching everypony's attention. "Come on, ponies! Let's make this happen!"

My smile grew at the cheers the crowd gave off. Mac blew the horn again, and I bulled my way past Conner to rejoin the second attempt. Once again, we were able to get the water spout forming. I kept an eye on Fluttershy, and, while I couldn't hear anything, I saw her getting her motivational speech. The next time I was passing them, Twilight was holding goggles up to the timid mare, and Conner was whispering in her ear.

Fluttershy was in the tornado by the time I got halfway around the reservoir. If I could've spared the time, I would've kept an eye on her. Instead, I focused on the water spout. As the water rose higher, a smirk grew across my face.

"They're not going to make it."

What makes you say that?

"Water's stopped rising." I briefly slowed, focusing in on the top of the tornado. Sure enough, the water had stopped rising. I quickly glanced around, zeroing in on Fluttershy. My cocky grin slipped.

It looked like Fluttershy was already zipping around.

It's not enough. Why isn't it enough? I frowned. What's different?

"Maybe it's you?"

Arceus, I hope not. I glanced over at Spitfire. And with her there, I can't pull the same stunt I did with Zann. Maybe an agility would help? I sped back up as I contemplated. No, can't risk it. Pinkie could see it from her air balloon. Maybe...?

"Sorry I'm late!" I almost stumbled out of surprise. I looked around for the voice, spotting Zephyr and Scoots rushing up the road. Zephyr had a set of straps acting as a harness that Scootaloo was busy hooking herself into. With a final leap, the pair launched themselves into the tornado.

It took them a moment to stabilize themselves. Scootaloo held her wings outstretched, tilting them to cause the pair to drift side to side, and providing the pair additional lift. It seemed as if Zephyr provided the wing power.

I checked up on the other pegasi, noting that many were starting to falter. Must go faster! I thought, watching the spout begin creeping upwards again.

"Seven ninety nine point three!" I heard Twilight call out.

Don't need the fucking reminder stressing us OUT! I growled.

<<:Ready! Waiting your wing power!:>> The Ninjask screeched out. Scootaloo must've understood the bug because she started to flap. The duo shot forward, and the water exploded. I did my best to trace the water's path, noting the Cloudsdale's weather teams guiding the water to the factory.

With another droning buzz, Mac sounded the horn. I peeled away from the empty lake shore and made my way over Twilight and Conner. I flopped to a stop, panting heavily. <<Check up, doc?>> I wheezed. <>

Everypony began cheering for Fluttershy, even Scootaloo, as Conner's paws raced across me. <<Hmm...>> He cuffed me until I was standing again. <<You'll be fine. Just do some stretches so that you don't cramp up, and you'll be fine. A slow walk should do the trick.>> He pressed himself against my side, and gently pushed me after the procession heading back to town. <<Let's just enjoy the after party, yes?>>

<<Hey.>> I asked after a few steps. <<What'd ya tell Joy to get her into the tornado?>>

He mumbled something in reply. I just gave him a tired look until he spoke up. <>

Bonus: A Wish.

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[Yomega]

I sat in my cave, staring out over the snowy valley it overlooked. The remnants of my meal lay in a corner. I knew I should clean it up, but I just couldn't bring myself to care enough at the moment. Lulu would throw a fit if she saw this... A sad smile floated across my muzzle. ... This is my life now, isn't it?

With a sigh, I turned and shuffled over to the area I decided was my bed. I slumped over, staring blankly at the wall. It's going to be harder to find food, now that the snow's come in earnest. I curled up around my egg. And I'll have to give most of it to you, if you ever hatch. Assuming that nothing changes too much. I glared out the cave entrance.

"How long are you going to keep up the fucking charade, you fuck!" I mentally shouted with a snarl. With a twist of thought, I was outside glaring at the now rising gold moon. "And fuck you both!" I aimed at a collection of craters. "First sign of trouble, and you fuck right off?! FUCK YOU!!"

With that mental cry, I unleashed all of my mental might. The area around me was lashed with undirected psyonic energy. Trees and boulders were thrown about like leaves on the wind. The raging mental storm perfectly reflected my own inner turmoil.

As my emotions calmed, so did the psyonic storm. In the end, I was left completely drained. I fell over and lay on the bare dirt, panting heavily.

I'm so glad that I'm not staying here. I thought morosely. This would be a dead give away for when they come.

I sat up with a moan. Ugh, and what if they bring him along? What do I do? What do I say? He'll probably be the first in line to beat my ass down. I sniffed. And I'd deserve it. They'd come marching up the valley, with an army of ponies and creatures they've befriended or summoned in tow. All with the express purpose of mounting my head on a stick and scrambling...

I took a deep, calming breath before making my way back inside. "Maybe Leo was right." I mused at my egg. "How can we dare to bring new life into this crapsack world?"

All of a sudden, I felt an urge sharply rise within me. I made my way back to the cave entrance with a groan. Oh, who's triggering a heart song now? I sat, and waited for the words to come. For the briefest of moments, I could swear I felt the others beside me. Even Spike and the others. Oh, Leo... I smiled sadly. As one, we began to sing.

As the lyrics drifted away, I gently pulled my egg to me. I'm still too close here. Way too close. Don't want to hurt Spike more. With a crack of displaced air, I vanished with the egg.

Hope For the Future.

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Ow. Ow. Ow. I hobbled around the eggs, turning them as needed. I had woken up this morning with very bad leg cramps, and Rainbow had told me to take the day off. With Lulu looking after Peewee, I figured I could rest in the Daycare today.

I couldn't really turn the eggs since my legs weren't cooperating, but I could still watch over them. I frowned as I looked around the Daycare, my worries and fears creeping back up on me. As I fretted, I felt an odd urge well up within me. Once I couldn't stand it anymore, I stepped into the rooms center.

"What are we doing wrong?" I began to sing. "Something we've yet to match?" I stepped closer to my first egg and ran a paw across it. "A month has since passed, and yet you've still to hatch?" Turning around, I curled in on myself. My ears drooped as my fears sunk in and took root. "And I wake up with these worries, and they leave me felling spent. Yet, all I see in you," my eyes drifted to the egg across from me, "is all you represent!"

I stood, stepping around the eggs as I sang the next few lines. "What bright futures lie ahead? What great feats will you do? What will you make your own? Where will your lives take you?" I paused halfway through the eggs as I pondered Luke's words. My frown deepened, knowing that he is right, that we will need to tell everypony the truth eventually. I sighed as I considered the consequences that would have. "And what futures can we give with all the faults of our own? Even with our knowledge gained and the strength that we've honed?" I blinked back tears as I placed my head against the nearest egg. "How can we put our mistakes on our future flung light?"

A voice answered from the door way, singing in time. "Pray to the hope that they burn bright!" Yomega ducked into the daycare, and weaved around the eggs I hadn't on his way to me. He looked over each one with a small smile. "What bright futures lie ahead? What great feats will you do? What will you make your own? Where will your lives take you?"

He stopped once he reached me, pulling me into a tight embrace. He lifted me to be on eye level. "No! Though we know not how, our mistakes, we'll set them right!" He sang out as he placed me back down. He hooked a paw around me and pulled me into the center of the room. "And through our darkest hour we'll stand, continue our fight!" He placed a paw around me as we looked out over our brood.

He smiled down at me, and encouraged a smile out of me with a light shake. We started singing together. "What bright futures lie ahead? What great feats will you do? What will you make your own? Where will your lives take you?"

Feeling hopeful, I stepped forward. I could hear Yomega stepping back outside. "Let not the pain of our past mar the paths you choose." My expression firmed as my resolve grew. "And your spark of light we wouldn't dare to lose!"

I backed into the door way, smiling as I did so. "Your bright futures lie ahead and great feats for you to do! This world you'll make your own by where your lives take you!" I finished with a nod, and stepped back out of the Daycare.

And promptly fell off the ramp.

I lay on my back and glared at Yomega. He tried to stifle his snickering as he lifted me up to my paws. I shook my fur out without taking my glare off of him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was going to ask you what your were being moody about, but..." He nodded towards the doorway. "I didn't take you for a singer?" He paused and I watched him mull his thoughts over. "How the hell did I know what to sing when I joined you?"

"Even more credence to the Heartsong Theorem." I sighed. I leaned into the larger canine. “I get what you were trying to say, though. But, it is hard.”

“It’s the waiting that’s doing it.” He smiled down at me, giving my shoulder a little squeeze. His ears twitched as we let the silence grow. “You might want to clean up a little.”

I hopped out of his legs, scurrying towards the Daycare’s entrance. “Oh, god. Conner’s coming around the corner soon, isn’t he.”

“He won’t be alone.”

I huffed as I furiously scrubbed my face clean. “It’s that damn rabbit, isn’t it. I swear, if he wants another foot race...!”

“Nope.”

“Don’t make me play twenty questions, here!”

I heard him chuckle. “Should I let them know you’re not ready yet?”

I started to flatten my fur out, paying extra attention to my tail and face. “Nah, let them come. I’m as good as I’m going to get. Not without Rainbow brushing me out…” I glanced behind me to see Yomega opening his eyes. “Message sent?”

“Yup. They should be here soon.” The Espeon tugged on my tail. “I don’t think that our guest will fit in there with you inside it.”

“Oh?” I hopped out of the Daycare and smoothed the last of my fur down. “Now I gotta know which pony it is. Wait, wait!” I held a paw up. “Don’t tell me! Is it Thunderlane, out from the hospital? No wait, Cheerilee and Fluttershy, the school teacher wants us for a bio lesson? No, wait, I got it! It’s Little Timmy, fresh from the well!”

“Wrong on all accounts!”

“Damn!” I giggled. “Oh, I needed that…”

Yomega nodded. “I thought you were channeling Zann for a moment there. I was starting to worry.” He hooked a paw around me and pulled me back into the Daycare. "C'mon, you hold our egg, I'll turn it."

No sooner than we had curled up then we heard someone call out. "Hello!"

I glared at a smirking Yomega. "You planned this, didn't you?" I hissed. I turned to face the doorway. "Come on in!" Spotting a pair of distinct black legs approaching, I considered the size of the room. "Or... As much as you can, anyway!"

Luke managed to jam his head and shoulders into the Daycare. He took a quick look around the room and the eggs before focusing back at us.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" He asked.

"No." I carefully shifted my egg. I wonder if he can figure out the eggs... I swallowed my worries. "We're actually glad that you're here."

He took another glance around. "Jeeze, and I thought that Ember and I were 'active'." He smirked.

Unbidden, my mind shot back to my conversation with Rainbow the night we arrived. My thoughts drifted to the experiment I was thinking of trying.

"Well, aren't you adorable when you blush."

And it must of shown on my face. "You know, if you could get him alone, you could find out if being in heat is needed for an egg to pop out..."

I didn't do the nasty to get my first egg!

"And you can check if off heat sex can do it! it's win-win!"

I guess...

"S-so, the eggs?" Luke stammered. I could see a slight blush seep through his fur.

Oh, Arceus, that's right! He can see aura!

"We would really appreciate it if you could tell us what you can feel from them." Yomega spoke up. I was able to read him like a Daring Do book, so I knew he was laughing on the inside.

Luke reached a paw out towards the egg. "May I? It's easier when I'm touching."

"I do hope he meant the egg."

S-shut up, Brain!

"We could always show him where it came from, but he might need to touch that, too."

OH MY ARCEUS, Brain!

"You may." Yomega shot me a mirth filled glance. "Down, girl. Or just ask him to scratch it for you." He readdressed the Lucario. "We really just need to know if there's anything wrong."

Luke placed his paw onto the egg. Closing his eyes in concentration, his expression subtly shifted from what he was feeling. Eventually, it settled on a frown as he opened his eyes. "There's something else here, something is keeping it from hatching."

Claws immediately sprung to mind. "W-what?"

Noticing our concerned looks, he hastened to explain. "As far as I can see, it's not only not harming the egg, it's actually keeping it healthy." He closed his eyes again, obviously going back for another look. This time, he jolted back with a cry of pain.

I rushed up to him, giving him a quick shake. "Luke! Talk to me! Are you okay?" I saw his eyes regaining focus. "What happened?"

"I'm fine, just numb." He assured as he sat up. "I... saw something, though. I'm not sure where it came from, but I think that it was trying to stop me from seeing what was in the eggs.It looked like some kind of... dark claw thing."

"D-did you say..." I slowly backed towards the entrance. "... Claw?"

Yomega cut in. "Are you sure that's what you saw?"

"Yeah, why?" Luke tilted his head in confusion. "Do you know something about that?"

"Oh, do we ever..."

Author's Notes:

Here's the song in full. This time, I wrote it!

"What are we doing wrong?
Something we've yet to match?
A month has now since passed,
and yet you've still to hatch?

And I wake up with these worries,
And they leave me feeling spent.
Yet all I see in you,
is all you represent!

(chorus)
What bright futures lie ahead?
What great feats will you do?
What will you make your own?
Where will your lives take you?

And what futures can we give,
With all the faults of our own?
Even with our knowledge gained
And the strength that we've honed?

How can we put our mistakes
On our future flung light?
Pray to the hope
that they burn bright!

(Chorus)

No!

Though we know not how,
Our mistakes, we'll set them right!
And through the darkest hour,
We stand, continue our fight!

(Chorus)

Let not the pain of our past
mar the paths you choose.
And your spark of light
we wouldn't dare to lose!

Your bright futures lie ahead,
And great feats for you to do!
This world you'll make your own
By where your lives have taken you!"

We also have a pair of new side stories: Adenbaden's Amaura Borealis and Void Runner's Equestrian Mewsings. Go give them some love!

And we now are entering the second crossover with Fire and Steel. Let us see how the wild (tamed) Lucario woos it's selected mate...

Also, for those that read the most recent blog post: I managed to get the damn thing working! Yay! Let's see how long my laptop lasts...

As always, Read, Review, and Enjoy!

Dog Days: Imprints and Inspiration.

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[Lulu]

"Peewee, get down from there!" I yelled. Said chick was climbing around the fabric shelves of the inspiration room. "You know Miss Belle doesn't want you climbing that!"

"But everything's so pretty here!"

"Down! Now!" I stomped a paw.

With a whine, Peewee jumped into a pile of scrap fabric. His disappointment quickly vanished as he began playing in the pile.

I sighed, slightly smiling at his antics. "Just clean up when you're done."

"Kay!"

Letting him distract himself, I hopped up onto my workstation. I giggled as I pulled some paper and a charcoal stick towards me. I still can't believe that this is mine!

"Really? Pinkie gave Zann his wardrobe, Joy's working on a medi-saddle bag for Conner, and Abes got a fancy looking chess set from someone. How is this a surprise?"

No no no, this is more like I can't believe that Rarity's just upped and employed me!

"Leo at the weather station, the Reckless Duo on the farm, Abes was a part of the post office. Whatever happened with that?"

Luna, I think. I tapped the charcoal against my chin in thought. That reminds me, I've been wanting to make a Princess based line. But how to start...

"Mom!" My ear twisted towards the baby phoenix. "Mom, I'm stuck!"

I twisted around to look, and immediately fought back laughter. Poor Peewee had fabric scraps wound around his wings and neck. Some scraps were far too long and had become entangled in his feet. My critical eye traced over his form, and inspiration struck.

"One second, Peewee. I need to write something down before I forget it." I put action to words and jotted my thoughts down. As soon as I finished, I hopped down and rushed to help Peewee. "Oh, how did you get yourself tied up like this, you silly bird?"

"They're a little long..."

"Only a little." I agreed.

I heard hoof-steps rapidly approaching the room's door. Assuming that it was Sweetie Belle, I picked Peewee up by the fabric and carried him further into the center of the room. I set him down as the door opened.

"Lulu, darling!" Rarity gushed as she swept into the room. "You won't believe who has come into town!"

<<Oh? Is the Royal Ponce in town?>> I snarked as I untangled Peewee.

With the distinctive tinkle of magic, Rarity began pulling parchments and tapes from their drawers. "Little Spikey Wikey's back in town! And he's brought along Ember, Luke and Smolder!"

I gasped, lifting Peewee up. <<You hear that! Spike's back!>>

<<Uncle Spike's here?>> Peewee began struggling, wanting to meet the little drake. It also undid my work in freeing him.

"And it get's better!" Rarity lifted us up in her magic and forced me to face her. "Spike's planning on staying, but the others are on their way to Cantorlot! And guess who's been asked to make them their clothing!" She began gushing and giggling.

<<Opal!>>

<<Yes?>> The cat answered from down the hall.

<>

Opal sauntered in, took one look around the room, then jumped up onto the giddy mare. <<Ahem.>> She cleared her throat. That was all the warning I had to cover Peewee's ears. Opal let out the loudest screech I've ever heard directly into Rarity's right ear.

I tucked Peewee to my chest and landed on my back.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Rarity blushed. "One thing at a time. And this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! And-"

<<Just go!>> Opal and I shouted, pointing towards the door.

With a shake of my head, I got back to untangling Peewee from the fabric monster. Even with Opal snipping away the worst of it, it still took us a long while freeing Peewee. Mostly because he would get impatient and start moving around, making things worse.

Finally, after a few hours, he was free.

"C'mon." I sighed. "Let's get this mess cleaned up before Rarity gets back." Our ears turned towards the door as the main door's bell rang.

"Darlings!" Rarity's voice rang through the store. "I'm back!"

"Too late." Opal snarked.

With a quick spray, I pushed the torn fabrics into the rest of the scrap pile. Opal jumped to the shelves to sleep while I picked up Peewee and made my way to the door. I stepped out into the hall in time to see Rarity reach the top of the stairs.

"Lulu, darling!" She gushed, grabbing me in her aura. "We have so much work ahead of us! I'm going to need your insight for some of this, I'm not sure how to mix her bracers into a dress."

<<Put me down. I need to get Peewee to Spike.>> I spoke slowly. <> She kept me bouncing in her grip as she babbled her ideas. I glanced over at Opal. <<Help, please.>>

Opal sniffed. <<Sorry, all out of cares right now.>>

<<... Cat.>> I spat at her. Sighing, I waited until I was facing Rarity. <<Sorry about this.>> A quick spray caused her to drop me again. <<You really need to work on your enthusiasm.>> I rolled my eyes as Rarity started revving herself up again. Arceus help me, she's incorrigible...

[Yomega]

A whisper of thought rippled past my whiskers. I turned to where it had come from, sighing when the Boutique imposed itself over its impressions. Of course. Rarity's a bloody screamer...

"What?" I glanced around with a groan, and spotted a pony looking around with a blush on her muzzle.

And I still need to get a hold of that... I stepped out of the bush I was hiding. "Need to find a place in the park. Still not good enough to meditate in town." Another ripple passed over me. "Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." I growled with a tail lash. I ducked and dodged my way through town, only stopping at the Boutique's door.

I closed my eyes and opened them to the impressions around me. I felt through the door, searching for the lock, and sought out its feeling. It felt green, so I focused instead on the Marley Knocker and twisted him to raise the portcullis and slammed my head on the door. "Oh, too many imprints. It's too trippy."

I know... I mentally sobbed. Why did I agree to the Other to be this? Its Lake was so peaceful.

"So, try to find it?"

What do you think all the meditation was for? I opened my eyes and focused hard on the here and now. Ugh, something to talk to the others about at the next meeting. For now, I need to rescue Peewee from Rarity.

Dog Days: Semblances.

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I paused in the main room, focusing on the echoes of the ripple that had brought me here. It only took an instant for me to trace it back to one of the back rooms. My mastery of my own mental might was undone by Lulu calling out to me.

<<In the inspiration room with Rarity! Please be here to help! Or even understand me...>> I snorted, making my way through the building. I did my level best to ignore the shifting images superimposing themselves over the Boutique as I hit pockets of past emotion and eddies of memories. I even saw dresses and suits assemble themselves in the main workroom.

This was a problem that I had been facing in town. Everything with a mind left behind a part of themselves on everything they touch. Most of these impressions quickly dissipate, but strong or frequent ones, like those made on a home, become permanent. And each imprint reflects the thoughts and mood of the individual that made it. Not that much of a problem in a secluded cottage like Fluttershy's.

In a small town, on the other hand...

I almost walked past the inspiration room's door because Sweetie rarely goes in there, and her imprint happened to be the stronger one.

I paused in the doorway and took in the room. A pure white cat with shimmering golden paws and silver tail slept away on an upper shelf, while an alicorn of pearlescent hued scales adorned with a waterfall of crushed violet gems for a mane and tail stood bent over a desk. A light blue aura encased her diamond horn and the parchments and charcoal dancing around her. Also floating in the mare's aura was a living glass sculpture filled with flame and a humanoid woman.

The woman had faintly blue tinted skin, her dark hair tied back in an elegant braided ponytail, the ends of which flared and flattened out. The nails of her webbed hands and feet were painted a deep blue to match the one piece she wore, its short fluted skirt flowing in an invisible current. A finned canine mask held a look of annoyance as she peered over the mare's shoulders. Its expression rippled to relief as she turned to face me. <<Thank Arceus.>> She murmured, fur briefly dipping down from her hairline.

Sometimes this is distracting, but it has its beauty. I thought as reality reimposed itself.

<<Can you please take Peewee to Spike?>> Lulu asked, giving the chick a push in my direction. I slipped my mind through and around Rarity's hold on the giggling chick, pulling him close to me. Lulu gave me an appraising eye. <<Are you sure you don't know Telekinesis?>>

<<Yes.>> I answered as Rarity began looking around. <<It takes more concentration to do on a living creature then you'd think. I don't think I can do it in battle yet.>> I placed Peewee on the ground in preparation for Rarity.

"Oh, Yomega!" Rarity called out when she finally saw me. "I'm glad you're here." She floated a tube harness over to me as she scribbled out a quick note. "Could you bring this to Ember and Smolder, please? I need them here for their final fitting." I nodded, patiently waiting for her to stuff the note into the tube and attach it to me. Curling my tail around Peewee, I turned to leave. "I think they said that they were going to Sugarcube, darling."

"Thank you." I thought at her.

Rarity jolted before looking around. "But, I don't even have a radio..." She murmured.

I rolled my eyes and lead Peewee out, shutting the doors on my way. I took a breath of fresh air, placed Peewee onto my back, and began to deftly dodge the ponies on the street. I knew that some of them weren't really there, but I didn't want to take any risks with Peewee yammering away on my back.

"So, what's Uncle Spike like?"

"Wise, but young. Kind, but fierce. Loyal, but independent. Honestly sarcastic. Generous with what he hoards." I snorted. "His dry wit is humorous. He is the best and worst of the mares he used to define his life by."

I felt Peewee's confusion. "Yeah, but... What's he like?"

I sighed. "You'll have to meet him to understand, Peewee. He's nothing like anyone you've met before. Just remember," I paused across the street from the bakery, "he can't understand us."

"Like Miss Rarity?"

My reply was cut off by the bakery door opening, letting another humanoid leave the establishment. This one was a red tinted male, his burnt amber hair spiking up and flicking about as if caught in a strong wind. His left arm was a large metal device, pumping and churning, flecks of flame spurting from its barrel. Tubes attached it to the engine running on his back, which powered a miniature forge on his chest in turn. All of this was hard to see due the many, many, many blue papers swirling around him.

Damn it. I sighed as I blinked my eyes clear.

Zann stood in front of me with a confused look. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." I assured him. "I thought that you'd still be in there helping Pinkie set up the party."

"Nah." Zann waved his metal claw at me. "They'll need to leave for Canterlot in a bit. You want me to tell Luke to go to Rarity's?"

I narrowed my eyes at the fire type. "How did you-?"

"Moon Dancer left for Canterlot last night, said something about the University needing her. I figured that would be involving Luke and his hoard, and that she would only need to leave this early if they would be there this afternoon." Zann rattled off. "You're also carrying a tube with Peewee, meaning that you just came from Rarity's with a message from her. Which would have to be for the dragonesses, since she's making their clothes. But Luke went for a quickie race with Leo, so I'll need to go tell him."

I shook my head, causing Peewee to giggle at our antics. "But, how-?"

Zann gave me a sad smile. "Leo and I are the same. We're crazy, not stupid." He stepped behind me and pushed me towards the bakery. "Now, go on. He's just as eager to see you as you are to see him."

I squashed my first instinct to get answers from him, and instead entered the bakery. I took a quick look around to spot a large purple drake with silver armor, wings draped over it like a cape. A ruby red crown of spikes and thorns floated above his head while parchment, ink and quills orbited one of his hands. The other was busy cramming gemstone cupcakes into his mouth.

"That's the real you?!"

Spike jumped. "Wha?" He finally saw me. "Yomega! Where have you been hiding?"

"Oh, around. Needed to figure somethings out. I've got a message to deliver to Ember." I stepped up to his side. "Why don't you play with Peewee for a bit? I'll be right back."

"S-sure." Spike carefully lifted the chick off my back. "I think Pinkie's showing them the kitchen. Hey there, little guy. Do you know me?"

<<Uncle Spike!>> Peewee glomped the drake as best he could.

I used the distraction to slip away.Okay. Here and now, here and now, here and now... I chanted to myself. I really didn't want any distractions in such a busy place. I entered the kitchen and desperately held my laughter back. Ember had what looked like Spike's pink apron on, and was busy trying to pour batter into cupcake cups and not all over the counter. Smolder was covertly sneaking gems under her wings, while Pinkie was even more covertly putting them back.

<<Mail call!>> I yelled into the room, throwing Ember concentration off. Pinkie hopped over as the older dragoness swore up a storm. I waited patiently for the bubbly mare to take the letter out of the tube, counting down the second before I could go reconnect with Spike. Thankfully, Pinkie opted to take the full harness as opposed to just the letter. Once everyone's attention was off of me, I turned and left.

I returned to the main room to see that the Crusaders had arrived, and Peewee was playing with Zephyr amongst Triphyle's branches. I smiled as I approached Spike's side. "Just think of what you want to say." I thought at Spike. "I don't want ponies thinking you're crazy for talking at thin air."

Spike frowned at me. "O-okay?"

"Very good." I smiled. "I'm so glad that you can understand me, at least. Nopony seems to be able to pick up my thoughts when I want to talk to them."

"Oh?"

I lay down at his feet. "Yeah. It doesn't help that I can barely focus with all these new things I can see now that my mind has expanded."

Spike hummed in thought. Thoughts I respectively stayed out of. "I've got an idea." He looked over at the Crusaders. "Hey, Sweetie?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I borrow Eros?" That got a lot of raised eyebrows.

"Why?" Sweetie asked as the Ralts flashed into existence behind her.

"Yomega's been having problems since he changed." Spike explained. "I think that Eros may be able to help him."

Sweetie looked back at her summon, and I could almost hear the conversation they had. Finally, Sweetie turned back to Spike. "Sure, but only if I can be there to supervise, she can leave whenever she wants or needs to, and that we wait until she can get things set up."

"It's a deal!" Spike gave her a thumbs up. he returned to his plate of goodies. "So, how have you been?"

"Well...

Spike and I were walking back to the library after watching Luke's chariot leave for the Canterlot. We had plans to catch up on Spike's reading, as well as for prepping the library for a general reshelving in the next week. For the first time since I got back to Ponyville, I felt relaxed. The imprints weren't even bugging me right now. "Should we start with the biology or magic sections? Both should be a mess by now with Twilight and-"

<<Oi, Yomega!>>

I turned to see an Eevee rapidly shuffling towards us. Only the head and the paw tips were visible, the rest obscured by a rat's nest of chains. Some were rusty, others were brand new. One was even being forged anew as it broke apart. Dream catchers, rune stones, sigils and glyphs were carved or attached seemingly at random. Blood seeped through the bottom, evaporating before it could hit the ground, completely at odds with her cheery face. A very faint mist of what I hoped wasn't blood hung at her side, mimicking folded wings. As she approached, chains would shoot out and anchor themselves into her surroundings.

I quickly schooled my expression. <<Yes, Leo?>>

<<Guess what!>>

Knowing I would regret this, I replied. <<What?>>

<<Ember is a lucky dragon.>> Leo stated, blushing heavily.

My tail tips were pinching the bridge of my muzzle before I could stop them. <<Oh my Arceus, Leo, really?!>> I turned and marched toward the crystal tree imprinting the Library. <<That's it, I'm done. Good night!>>

Let the Race Begin Again!

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[Leo]

It was once again time for the Running of the Leaves, and Rainbow and I were once again lining up for our numbers. Both of us had trained hard for today. Or, rather, didn't stop training. With the amount of things we've done in the past month, I'm surprised we were even able to keep to our old schedule.

As we approached the line up, a pony intercepted us. "Sorry, Rainbow, Leo won't be running with us today."

"What?" Rainbow shouted. "Why?"

"Twilight had us set up a separate course for the Pack to run. There aren't many trees on it, but it will let them cut loose with their abilities."

Rainbow snorted. "It'd be a short race. Out of the two, Leo only needs to worry about Cy."

The mare giggled before leaning down to coo at me. "This way, come on."

I gave Rainbow a questioning glance before following the mare off to the side. We didn't go very far, just through a small hedge. I could see Pinkie's balloon tethered in the clearing, the mare herself and Spike were helping Zann with something. The mare waited until Pinkie had acknowledged our presence before stepping back through the bushes.

"Leo!" Pinkie chirped at me. "C'mere and help us with this."

I sighed as I made my way over. I just wanted to run with my mare. Was that too much to ask for? I stopped and stood beside Spike, waiting for instructions.

"Spike, hand him the thingy." Pinkie waved a hoof at me. "I need your claws for this."

Spike placed a mass of metal on my back and picked up a screwdriver. I twisted around to try to look at what he had given me, but I could only see what looked like a wheel embedded into a metal paw. I turned back to the fire type. <<You built a racing leg?>>

<<Well, yeah!>> Zann nodded as Spike struggled with his leg. Pinkie was holding it in preparations for... something. <>

<<Building a leg is not training!>> I snapped at him.

"The hell screws did you use, Pinkie?" Spike grunted.

"Why are you asking me?" Pinkie blinked. "Zann's the one who built it."

<> Zann looked at Spike in confusion. <<Just rivets and welds.>>

Spike stepped back and pointed a claw at the offending rivet. "Well, what kind of screw head is that then?"

Pinkie leaned in to squint at it. "That's a rivet." She squinted and looked over the rest of the limb. "And so's that one. And that one. A~nd that one."

"So," Spike arched an eyebrow, "how are we going to be reattach it after?"

Pinkie gave Zann a calculating look. "That was your side project, wasn't it?"

The fire type nodded.

Pinkie smiled at Spike. "We're not. He built another one."

"Oh." Spike looked at the leg. "Do you care if this one is unusable then?"

Zann did his best to shrug. <<Eh, I can melt it down for scrap.>>

Spike and Pinkie shared a look. "We really need to find a way to understand them." Spike sighed.

"We can't all be Rainbow's and Flutter's." Pinkie agreed. Tilting her head, she began tapping her chin. "Or Sweetie's. Or summoners in general."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they seem to understand their summons. Or, at least the bonded ones. Or they only get the very barest impressions." Pinkie shrugged, going back to holding the leg. "Either that or their summons use a weird mind link thingy." Spike flinched. "Either way, no. I don't think he'll be needing this."

"In that case..." Spike grabbed the upper part of the limb and dug his claws in. Sawing his claws around, he cut a jagged trail in the leg. He had to take a while to clean up the metal, but he was soon fitting a new piece to what was left. After welding it in place, he took the replacement limb from me and snapped it into place. "All right, give it a go."

Zann spent the rest of the time left before the race getting used to the leg. Spike and Pinkie jumped into the balloon, tossing the broken prosthetic into the basket and set off to commentate.

The rest of the Pack filtered into the clearing as the morning progressed. Yomega was the last one in, followed closely by Twilight. She gathered us up, before lining us up at one side of the clearing.

"So, once the race starts, you are going to be following your own course." Twilight began. "You're going to be following the blue flags. You will have free rein to use most of your abilities." She looked directly at me. "No Solar Flares, or anything of that caliber. I will be monitoring everything, which means that this is an experiment. I just want to see what you guys can do in a friendly competition. But please wait until you are outside of Ponyville before using them."

<<Does Agility count?>> Vince asked.

"No. No property damage."

Lulu leaned over to me. <<You still haven't repaid that flower box, yet, have you?>>

<<Shutup!>>

Twilight ignored us and waved to the sky. "Just waiting on Pinkie, but you'll be running on my mark." A ball of light danced in front of us, gathering our attention. We felt the ground rumble as Pinkie started the Running, but our light flashed a few times before forming an odd shape.

"Oh, I know this one! That's a five- no wait, a four? Three?"

It's a countdown!

I pulled energy and channeled an Agility just as the light vanished.

We Really Need a Lakitu at These Things...

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I lunged forward, just barely staying ahead of a rising wall of water. I glanced to find it's source already falling behind, with only the Duo staying by my side.

"HEY! I SAID TO WAIT UNTIL YOU'RE..." Twilight's voice faded away as we ran. We didn't care. We just kept our eyes out for the blue flags. They were big enough that we didn't need to worry about missing them. We quickly neared the edge of town.

"You think that the other's will ever catch up?" Vince asked, the next flag snapping straight as he past.

"Nah." Cy shook his head. He had to break his stride with a hop to avoid a pot hole, but he quickly caught back up. "We're going too fast for that. They should be able to follow the glowing mote trail our Agilities are leaving behind, though."

"Look lively." I warned. "We're coming up on the park." We began weaving through the park benches, noting that the flags would be leading us around the lake. I hopped over one of those wobble toys all parks and playgrounds seem to have. I winced as a small headache came and went, causing me to stumble on the landing.

Shaking it off, I took off running. I decided to take a short cut through the swings, and, noting that the Duo were following me, got a impish idea. I began to weave between the saddles and rockets that swung wildly back and forth. I had to duck and weave around the launch pad before running headfirst into the swings support poles. I didn't even notice I had hit it before both Cy and Vince had ran into me.

I squeezed my way out from under them in time to see Yomega leading the rest of the pack towards the lake's edge. "Okay, boys." I growled, Glaring after the smug evolution. "New plan. Let's get rid of the psychic type."

"Just for the race, I hope." Cy groaned.

"Of course."

"I'm game." Vince sighed. "We just need to catch up, now."

I nodded, and began channeling my Agility again. I watched as the Pack swung to the side to run along the shore. Except for Lulu, who just dove right in.

"Cy, I've got an idea." I yelled back to him.

"Oh, crap..."

"Vince, you Quick Attack Yomega while running through the Pack." I ordered as the water's edge neared. "Cy, Extreme Speed after me."

"Wha-?"

My paws left dirt, and my next stride pushed off of water. With the ease of long practice, I kept my focus on both my target and where my paws were falling. At the speed I was now running, the last thing I needed was to trip on one of the frozen waves. After a few strides over the water, I could feel my back paws tingle. A quick, risky glance back showed why.

Cy was about two pony lengths behind me, framed by the water our paws were kicking up behind him. Electricity was grounding itself from his fur, arcing out across the water much faster than it did in the air at our training yard. It flowed in a beautiful display up and between our rooster tails like a fancy Jacob's Ladder.

It was also arcing through a very surprised looking Vaporeon.

I returned to facing forward with a grin on my face. Yomega was only a couple of feet away now, and Vince was just starting to bull his way through the back of the Pack. A quick calculating look, and I jumped into a shoulder check on Yomega, dropping out of the move just after impact.

I rolled off of Yomega and used my momentum to return to a running speed, all while staying at the head of the Pack. A snap-crack of electric discharge caused me to risk another glance back. Almost the entire Pack had become entangled with each other, the mass of multicolored fur twitching with the aftershocks Cy was still releasing.

Only two were spared the pile up: Lulu and Zann. Lulu was just emerging from the water, electric sparks jumping from the former to the latter. She stumbled into a run, flinching whenever the Pack's attempted Snorlax impression discharged at her.

Zann was spared said attempted impression simply because of his abysmal speed stat.

I kept an ear on the commotion behind me while returning my focus to looking for those blue flags. I didn't bother smirking when I heard a sizzling crackle nearing me. I casually side stepped the lighting bolt that someone shot at me.

"You asshole!" Cy bellowed at me. "You planned that, didn't you!"

"Maybe!" I did me best to singsong back to him, weaving between the trees the flags were taking us through.

"Get back here, fucker!" He seethed. "I'll fucking END YOU!"

I began laughing back at him. "Can't. We're racing. So, if you want to- Oop!" My mad laughter was cut off when I tripped over a root that I could've sworn wasn't there before. I turned to glare at it as Cy's glowing form sailed overhead. My suspicions were confirmed when the root sank back into the ground. I got up to continue running, but paused when I saw that Cy had nearly knocked himself out on a nearby tree. And...

I just couldn't help myself.

I sat down beside him and started laughing, waiting for Conner to arrive. Almost everyone passed us, only Vince and Conner stopping. I paw-bumped Vince as Conner set himself to healing Cy and raced to rejoin the Pack.

I slipped around my packmates, letting them know that Cy was fine as I did so. I very quickly passed Yomega and retook the lead. Rounding the final bend, I could see the finish line, our mares already waiting for us there. I aimed for the finish line, and launched into another Extreme Speed.

The ponies' cheers faded as the world slowed.

The finish line inched towards me.

Two more strides, and I'd win this.

A black shadow zipped under me.

... Wait, what?!

Abes slammed up into me, knocking me out of my move. He jumped across the line a step ahead of my mad flailing. I stopped rolling at the hooves of my mare, Glaring back at the smug bastard. "Alright. How'd you do it?"

Abes sauntered over as the rest of the Pack crossed the line. He leaned down, and whispered a single word in my ear. One that would forever make me worried about racing him.

Abes' Results.

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Rainbow and I left the main group of ponies. She didn't want to hang around and I wanted to be with her. We meandered our way through Ponyville looking for a place to nap. By the way she rustled her wings every now and then, I could tell that she wanted to ask something. I gave her her time to work up the courage to do so.

Eventually, we stopped in our favourite napping tree. "So..." Rainbow began. "About that race..."

<<Yeah...>>

"How'd Abes beat you?"

<<Ugh.>> I stared at the bark. <<The asshole Pursuited me.>>

Rainbow shifted on her branch. "What do you mean by that?"

<<He has an ability we call Pursuit.>> I rolled over to lean my back against the tree. <<From what I know, it basically works like a regular Tackle, but only if your target stays to fight.>>

"What do you mean by that?"

I shrugged. <<I don't know how, I'm not Twilight, but it deals at least twice as much damage if the target is fleeing.>> I curled up and placed my tail over my snout. <<He must've found some way to trick himself into believing that anyone running away from him for any reason counts as fleeing.>>

A slight breeze brushed across me as Rainbow flicked her blanket out, letting it spread out and cover her. "That still doesn't explain how he was faster than you."

<<Our abilities seem to have a sort of priority system to them.>> I made it sound like I wasn't sure. <<The vast majority of them rely on our own innate speed and agility. However, there are some abilities, like Quick Attack, that have a... I'm going to call it Priority One. This lets them hit first, regardless of how fast they are.

And then there's Cy and mine's Extreme Speed. This is a Priority Two. That means that it hits first, no matter what. Period. End of story. Goodnight!>>

"But then, would that make Pursuit a 'Super-Important-Level-Three'?"

<<Wha...?>> I had to translate that for a second. <<OH! Nope. Pursuit seems to completely ignore all of that. It's normally a regular ability, except for when something is trying to flee. Then it has the most highest priority of everything.>>

I could almost hear Rainbow's frown. "That doesn't seem fair."

I snorted. <<All's fair in love and war, Rainbow. Now, let's just get some sleep.>> I leaned back and jolted awake, the sun lower in the sky. I stretched with a groan and, after cracking what felt like every joint of my spine, poked Rainbow awake.

"When will Luna find yer dream?" Rainbow groaned, doing her own stretches. "I'm really starting to get tired of this 'no dreaming' thing." She paused, blinking. "That pun was bad..."

<<I know what you mean.>> I sighed <<I always feel like I'm gambling whenever I fall asleep. Will I wake up in an hour, or tomorrow? I won't fucking know!>> I hopped down from the tree and sat against the trunk to wait for Rainbow to pack everything up. <<What's on the agenda for the evening?>>

"Nothing that I can think of." Rainbow drifted down to me. "Why, you got something important to do?"

<<Not really. I do want to check in on the eggs, though.>>

"Alright. Have fun."

<<Will do!>> I waved her off before turning towards Joy's. A light jog quickly found me crossing over her bridge. I slowed to a walk so that I didn't startle Fluttershy's chickens as I made my way towards the Daycare's ramp. I paused when I saw Spike there, his head within the Daycare. With a slightly tilted head, I slowly stepped up to the young drake. <<Erm, what brings you here?>>

Spike pulled his head out. "Oh, hey Leo! Yomega and I were just hanging out with Peewee." Spike shrugged. "He said that it was important we were here, so I guess you should stick around. He just left to get Conner."

I nodded and swept up the ramp. <<Peewee!>> I called out. <<I'm coming in to look after the eggs!>>

<<'Kay!>>

I swiftly worked through my administrations with long practiced ease, my ears tilting to keep some attention on Peewee. I finished up before Yomega returned with Conner. Until they did, I decided to watch Spike play with Peewee and make sure their roughhousing stayed away from the eggs.

<<Are you sure I'm needed here? I was just about to start, uh, making something.>> I heard Conner's voice drift in from outside. Spike paused with his playing to make some room for the two canines. << For, uh, reasons.>>

<<And you'll have plenty of time to make your romantic dinner later.>> Yomega chided as he stepped into the Daycare. <<This will be important.>> He deftly sidestepped Peewee so that he would crash into Conner and cut off his retort.

I waved at them from where I was laying. <<What's up, Yomega?>>

He came and curled up around me. <<It's going to be a sad evening, Leo.>> We watched as Conner maneuvered Peewee towards his usual resting spot. <<You're going to need to be strong.>>

<<Well, that's reassuring.>> I sighed.

A loud swooshing noise interrupted any further conversation. We all turned our attention to the doorway, but Spike seemed to jolt upright as what sounded like three birds landed on the grass.

"Philomena? Does Celestia know that you're here?" Conner and I shared a concerned looked at Spike's words.

<<Ya both stay oot 'ere, Ah'll go an' talk ta th' wee doggoes in there aboot yer lad.>> A faint voice chirped from outside. I'm sure Conner's 'What-the-Fuck' face was mirrored on my own. A moment later an adult phoenix stepped up onto the ramp. <<Even'n, allow me ta introduce mahself.>> She swept a wing out and sketched a graceful bow. <Ah'm Philomena, Celestia's minder. May Ah have th' pleasure o' yer names?>>

<<You talk funny.>> Peewee chirped.

<<PEEWEE!>> Conner clamped a paw over the chicks mouth. My ear twitched to a pair of strangled gasps from outside.

<<Ach, Ah soond jus' fine. Yer th' one with th' accent.>> Philomena chuckled. <<Ah take it tha' yer th' wee chick known as Peewee?>> Peewee nodded. <<Fantastic. An', if'n you'd be so kind, may Ah be acquainted with those around ya?>>

<<If I may?>> Yomega brought the royal bird's attention to us. <>

<<O' course, Mister...?>>

<<Pendrake. Yomega Pendrake.>> He lightly tapped me on my head. <<And this is Leo Lancer, and the one holding the chick is Conner Galhad.>>

Philomena tilted her head. <<It's not often tha' packmates don' share th' las' name. Are ya split from a much larger pack?>> We nodded. <<Would th' name Abes Myrddin mean anythin' ta ya?>>

<<He is a packmate, yes.>> I answered.

Philomena gave a sad smile. <<Then ya kin guess as ta why Ah'm here.>>

My ears drooped, and I saw Conner's grip tighten around the baby phoenix. Peewee glanced between us. <<Mommy, what's wrong?>>

Yomega shifted his position around me. <<May we have a moment?>>

<<O' course.>> Philomena bowed out of sight of the door, and began holding a hushed conversation with our other... guests.

I held my arms open for Peewee to come over to, which he took full advantage of. We were very quickly joined by Conner. <<... Peewee.>> I began after a moment of silence. <<There's something that I need to know. Have... Have you ever thought about why we look so different?>>

<<Yeah.>>

<<And?>>

<<And what?>>

I pushed him back just far enough to look at him. <<And what were your thoughts?>>

<<Oh.>> Tilting his head, he took a moment to respond. <<Um. I thought that my egg seemed smaller than the others in here, 'cuz of the left over shell pieces an' the smaller nest, so I wasn't laid by you, but you hatcheded me an' raised me an' love me so you're my Mommy!>>

Yomega laid his head on my shoulder to look at the chick. <<And, did you ever wonder about who may have laid you?>>

<<Yeah, but they must'a had a reason for leaving my egg with you.>>

Conner curled himself around the group. <<And, did... Did you ever...>> The light dimmed as Spike leaned into the Daycare. He started scratching Conner between his ears. <<Did you ever wonder if they might try to find you?>>

<<Sometimes.>> He looked around at us. <<Why?>>

Oh, how have you not figured it out yet? I choked back a sob, pulling Peewee into my breast. Yomega let Conner be the first to snuggle closer to us before encircling everyone.

<<Peewee, there's something that you should know.>> Yomega spoke up. <<Abes managed to get in touch with Lady Philomena and asked her to find your birth parents. He did this in case you ever wanted to meet them.>>

<<You didn't know them?>>

<<No, we->> Yomega began.

"The nest you came from was destroyed by some bully dragons." Spike interrupted. "The rest of your family managed to escape, but they had to leave your egg behind. I saved your egg from the other dragons, and then sent you here to Ponyville so that you'd be safe."

<<We've been caring for you since.>> I whispered.

<<So...>> Peewee still looked confused. <<... did Philomena find them?>>

<<They're here outside.>> Yomega held Peewee down to get his attention. <<Peewee, I need you to listen. I know that you may want to see them right now, but there is something very important you need to know.>> He managed to look the chick in the eyes. <<No matter what, we still love you, we will always love you, and you will always have a home with us.>>

With that he released his hold on Peewee.

I struggled very hard to not clutch him to my breast, and that struggle got so much harder the closer he got to the doorway. Spike shuffled back and rolled off the ramp to give everyone the space we'd need to get out. After Peewee got about half way down the ramp, we crowded the doorway. I glanced up to see Rainbow arc over the Daycare before making her way towards the cottage.

Standing beside Philomena were an adult pair of phoenixes, the female obviously misty eyed. They hesitantly stepped forward, stopping just shy of the chick. Peewee, for some reason, stayed at the bottom of the ramp.

<<May Ah have th' honor o' introducin' Herman an' Sherry O'Derry.>> Philomena swept partway up the ramp, gesturing back with a wing. She folded it, turned to face the couple, and spread her other wing towards us. <<An' these are three o' th' Ponyville Eevee Pack, Leo, Conner an' Yomega Pendrake.>>

Go with it. I mentally shrugged.

<<An' th' one who saved yer egg, Spike, personal assistant ta Twilight Sparkle.>> Philomena folded her wings and smiled down at the chick. <<An', o' course, Young Peewee, named by Spike, hatched an' raised by th' Pack.>> She leaned down to address Peewee directly. <<Young Peewee, these fine birds wish ta bring you back ta yer birth family, although they dunnae wan' ta separate ya from your current family. This is not a choice ya can make lightly, lad, an' ya should know th' particulars.>> She turned and made eye contact with each group as she spoke. <<None o' us will prevent ya from seeing your other family, but ya must wait until you're of age to make your own nest before ya can do that on yer own. Ponyville is safer than the wilds, but there're thin's tha' only yer birth parents can teach ya. An' no,>> She pressed a feather to Peewee's beak, <<we cannae bring yer birth family here. Yer brothers an' sisters cannae fly for tha' far.>>

<<But, how will I get there?>>

The male spoke up. <<Ah'll be carryin' ya on me back, son.>>

Peewee looked over at us. <<But, Uncle Owly was gonna teach me how to fly...?>>

<<I'm sure he'd understand.>> Yomega assured. <<Besides, he sleeps during the day, so he wouldn't have much time to teach you each day.>>

<<Take your time, Peewee.>> I barely managed to keep my voice from cracking. <<Don't rush your choice. You want it to be the best one for you.>>

Getting Closer.

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I sat between Rainbow's legs, pushing a berry around in its bowl. It was several hours after Peewee had left with his birth family, and only one since I decided to try to eat something. I generally ignored the conversations around me. I barely even reacted when they had carried me into Fluttershy's cottage.

A hoof gave me a light shove. "You gonna be okay?" Rainbow asked.

<<Maybe?>> I sighed. <<I don't know.>>

Rainbow tilted my head so that she could look me in the eyes. "What's wrong, Leo?"

I paused, trying to put my thoughts into some semblance of order. Eventually, I dropped my head back to stare at the berry in the bowl. <<I just gave up my son.>> I murmured into the now quiet room. <<No matter how I rationalize it, I still feel like I just let him get kidnapped. I still feel like I'll never see him again.>> I gave the berry another poke. <<I know that that's not true, but I still feel like a failure.>>

"I don't know what to tell you, Leo." Rainbow rubbed a hoof behind my ears. "Yes, you raised him. Yes, he's your son. But he's just as much their son as he is yours. They love him just as much as you do. He'll be fine."

<<I know, I just...>> I reached a paw out as if it could grab the words I needed from the air. <<... I just need some time.>> I sighed as my paw flopped to the floor. We stayed like that for another hour or so before Rainbow took me home.

The night passed by as they all did these days, but I did awaken at least somewhat refreshed. As Rainbow rushed through her morning routine, I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. Eventually, I found a smile that didn't look forced.

I hopped down onto the floor to catch up with my mare. Maybe, if I put on a happy face, I'll at least feel better...

As we flew through town to Rainbow's office, she glanced up at me. "You doing okay?"

<<No.>> I didn't bother trying to hide my feelings from her. <<Still kinda depressed.>>

She nodded, slowing her approach to the weather office. "Take a few days off. We'll be fine for a while."

<<You sure?>>

"Mhmm."

<<... Kay.>> I murmured as I rolled off her back. <<I'll be around... Somewhere...>> I finished in a murmur as Rainbow blitzed into the office. I sighed, mustered my willpower, and plastered a smile onto my face. I whipped around to face into the town proper and began to meander my way through it.

With no real destination in mind, I drifted through town. I accepted any ear scritches offered, and played with any pony willing to throw a stick. My meandering was interrupted when Bon Bon picked me up and sat me beside her on a bench.

"Right," She sighed, "sorry for bothering you, but Lyra wants me to try this while she's in Cantorlot. You're also the first one I found alone." She slid a piece of paper out from her saddlebag.

<<You're teaming up against me now?>> I sighed.

"Ahem." She began saying variants of 'Eevee' as she traced a hoof across each line as she read. <<Good potato?>> She looked up at me to gauge my reaction. I just continued to look bored.

<<Coffee cappuccino java java?>> Another gauging look, another continuing boredom.

<<Beep boop banana?>> Another look, I just yawned.

"Alright, last one." Bon Bon muttered. <<Is you of having most best day?>>

My ears perked up at that. I turned my head to look at her. Lemme try something... I sat up and turned to face her properly. <<That last one was close, keep working on it.>>

Bon Bon pulled a charcoal stick out and copied the pattern I had just spoke. "Right. Now we just have to figure out what this means, then maybe we could have a start to a conversation. Thanks." She packed up and walked off to do whatever it was that she needed to do.

I stayed for a little bit trying on what to do next. Don't really feel like training, and it's still too early to justify a nap. Maybe if I go to... My thoughts were cut off by my stomach growling at me. ... Get something to eat, I'll have figured things out by the time I'm done.

I hopped down and made my way over to Sugarcube Corner. I pushed my way through the doggy door they had installed for Zann and, after stepping off to the side, surveyed the room. The cakes were behind the counter, and the Minikery seemed to be closed for the day. I looked around, noting that Zann wasn't out in the lobby, and sauntered my way behind the counter.

"Ah-ah, no." Miss Cake called out before I could step into the kitchen. "If you're looking for Zann, he's upstairs looking after the twins."

I waved my tail at her and moved towards the stairs. I bounded up them three at a time, and quickly located the right room. Noting that the door was cracked open, I slipped in. Spotting Zann over by the twin's playpen, I quickly made my way over.

I could see the twins sleeping through the playpen's mesh, so I made sure to whisper. "Watch'ya doin' up here? Shouldn't you be working?"

The fire type snorted. "That's rich coming from you." He gave me a light poke. "What'd you do to get the day off?"

I shrugged. "Rainbow just gave me it off."

He gave me a searching look. I gave him my best winning smile, but that only made him raise an eyebrow. The silence quickly grew uncomfortable. Thankfully, Zann decided to talk. "Ya know, it's a good thing that you don't hang out with Applejack."

"What do ya mean by that?" I weakly chuckled.

"Well, she might have an issue with you lying all the time." He shoved his new prosthetic into my muzzle. "I may not be a living lie detector, but I can tell when a smile is forced. And yours is very much forced."

"Fine." I dropped all pretenses. "I'm depressed. Very much so. Peewee's gone, left to live with his real family. Our eggs still haven't hatched, winter's just around the corner, and I've still not found the time to try and evolve into a flying type. Happy now?"

"Nope." Zann sighed. "Look, I can't help you with the eggs or winter, and I'm not chucking you off the top of the Cantorhorn. But your depression, I can. First off, you knew Peewee might leave someday, so suck it up. But depression in general..." He stared at the twins for a bit, lost in thought. "So... Pinkie and the Cakes have been experimenting with their MMM to enter it into the competition. It's in three days. Why don't you come with us, just you and me?"

"The others will be coming along, too." I reminded him.

"Nope." He chirped. "I've already talked with Yomega, and he said that everyone will have reasons to stay behind."

I tilted my head. "I guess he's been working on his Future Sight, then?"

"I dunno." Zann shrugged. "So it's just gonna be you and me." He turned back to me. "And, honestly Leo? When was the last time we did anything, just you and me?"

I looked away. "... I'll think about it." I turned back to him. "What're you doing up here, besides babysitting? You're usually down in the kitchen or in the Minikery."

"Health inspector's here."

"Ah."

They Baked a Pretty Cake.

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I spent the time before the contest in a languid state. It's not that I didn't want to do things, I just couldn't focus on anything. If I didn't have the responsibility for taking care of the eggs, I probably would've stayed in bed the entire time. Hell, that's what I did any time I got this depressed back on Earth. The whole thing kinda reminded me of when I was burnt out from work before coming here. In fact, I think that this is the first time I felt this way since I got here...

"Amazing what doing a job you actually like can do for you."

That's not it. I mused as I made my way to the bakery. I mean, I was frequently burnt out from my old job, but that was from my shit coworkers and clients. Not the actual work.

"I still can't believe you went from a creative desk job to a boring bureaucratic one."

"Ha!" I snorted as the bakery came into view. I'd argue that I'm no more than the team mascot or pet that resides in the office than an actual desk jockey. I don't even do any paperwork! I slipped into the lobby and made my way over to the fire type lying tired in the corner, doing my best to stay out of the way of the ponies loading Big Mac up with the cake. <<Sup?>>

<<Oh, hey.>> Zann yawned. <<Sorry, furnace is runnin' low. Was lightly charrin' the marzipan to get it just right.>>

<<And, what?>> I poked him. <<You forgot to eat?>>

He nodded. <<Too focused on it. An' makin' a small flame's harder than a big one.>>

<<Alright.>> I looked towards the counter. <<Where's your food dish?>>

He waved a paw at the stairs. <>

I nodded and bolted in the indicated direction, but paused on the bottom step. <<What about the twins?>> I cast the thought back at Zann with a confused look.

<<They're nappin'. So be quiet.>>

With another nod, I quietly thundered up the stairs. It only took me a moment to spot his bowl, but a few minutes to get the full thing onto my back. However, it was only when I had reached the top of the stairs that I noticed that I had hit a slight snag. It took some very careful maneuvering, but I was able to get the bowl down the stairs with the minimal loss of kibble.

I just managed to get the bowl over to Zann when the ponies finally managed to get the cake out the door. Both of us sighed before Zann started eating from the bowl off my back. I just led him after the mares as he did so. We watched on anxiously as Pinkie led the large farmstallion through the marketplace.

Although, I think Zann's and my nerves were only from watching Mr. Cake stay teetering on the edge of a panic attack.

"Speaking of teetering..."

Everything stopped for a brief moment as the cake leaned off to Big Mac's left. There was a loud thud as Mr. Cake fainted. I stared at the red stallion as Big Mac Managed to get the MMM rebalanced. My ears twitched as crumbs bounced off of them from Zann furiously crunching through the last of his kibbles.

"Don't worry, Mister and Missus Cake!" Pinkie nervously assured. A slight twitch of her rear hoof caused her to look to the sky. "Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy!" The named mares paused in their flight "A little peg-assistance?"

Applejack quickly pulled some rope out of her hammerspace and tied four lengths to the platter the cake was on. Rainbow and Fluttershy each grabbed one and pulled it up and taut. She took Zann's food bowl from me and handed me the end of the third rope. I followed my mare's example as Zann took his end.

With Pinkie's signal, we set off for the station again. I barely paid attention to what Pinkie was saying beyond 'stop' and 'start', instead preferring to keep an eye on the cake itself. When the cake was in danger of falling onto me, I darted further out to the side, only getting closer as the confection was righted again.

When Twilight added her barrier around the cake, I breathed a slight sigh. Knowing that the train station was just around the corner, and knowing Murphy, I redoubled my focus. With only a slight pause, presumably to add the trampoline to the conga line of the over paranoid, and the train itself came into view. While they tried to figure out how to get the cake inside, I was allowed to let go of my rope.

Quickly growing bored, I began lazily looking around for something to do. Eventually, I looked further down the platform, and, blinking, I made my way along it. I paused and sat down far enough away that I wouldn't bother Eros, but close enough to eavesdrop.

"Now, remember." Mister Spoon fussed over his daughter. "Listen to this nice stallion, and follow Sweetie when you get to the University."

"Yes, father." The grey filly murmured.

"And don't forget to grab a bunk in the sleeper car early." The elder spoon advised with a wink. "Otherwise all the good bunks will be taken."

"Yes, father." I could hear the almost smile in her voice.

"Now, go on. I'll be here to pick you up when you get back." He leaned down and pulled his daughter into a hug. "See you when you get back."

"And what are you doing here?"

I growled at the intrusion. <<If you must know, I helped bring the cake over. I got bored and wandered over here.>>

"Well, you can wander back." I finally looked over to see her glaring.

I raised an eyebrow. <<Will you be coming to Canterlot?>>

"Yes."

Smiling, I blew her a kiss. <<Well, honey, ya got to get used to me, 'cause I'm riding on this crazy train too.>> She picked me up and tossed me down the platform. I rolled on landing, turning myself to face Zann and the rest of the ponies. <>

<<No she isn't.>> Zann helped me up, and led me towards a different car. <<Come on, we're not allowed in the food car.>>

I shrugged. <<Makes sense. And she is too!>> I puffed up proudly. <<She only tossed me instead of throwing me.>>

<<Must you antagonize her?>> Zann hopped up onto the train. <<She hasn't done anything to us. And I would really like to get her to smile at some point.>> He leaned over to help me up. <<And you're not helping with that.>>

<> I grumbled, leading him towards a couple of seats. <<Ever since she first barged into my head, we kinda didn't like each other. I mean, my side is simple. She violated my privacy, but I've long since forgiven her.>> I hopped up onto my chosen seat and began to settle in. <>

<<You don't think that she saw->> Zann was cut off by Rainbow flying into the car.

She hovered above the door and swept her gaze across the car. I waved a paw at her, and waited for her to float over. "Okay, I'll see you guys when you get back."

<<You're not coming?>> I tilted my head.

Rainbow scratched between my ears. "Nah, can't take the time off. I mean, saving the world is one thing, but a baking competition I didn't enter in? No dice." She sighed. "Sometimes being the only one of us not self employed sucks, y'know?"

I nodded. <<See you when we get back, then.>>

One final scratch on both of our heads, and Rainbow blitzed off. I turned to the fire type beside me. <<So, any plans for when we get to Canterlot?>>

He shrugged. <<If what you told us, what, fifteen chapters ago is right, we won't have much time between arriving and the competition, so...>>

<<Okay,>> I smacked him with my tail, <<leave the meta humor to Pinkie. She's better at it. And secondly, we'd be in a show, so it'd be episodes, not chapters.>>

<<Bah!>> Zann waved me off. <>

The back door to the car opened and Sweetie and Silver stepped in. They were quickly followed by their guardians. As we watched them find their seats, I leaned over Zann. <<That answers that.>> I slid off him and bounced up onto the window sill. <<How long do you think it'll be before the others get here?>>

<<Eh, as soon as plot demands.>> Zann flopped onto the seat behind me.

I spotted Gustave approaching from a different car, with Mulia still unloading her moose. <<So, pretty much now, then?>> I snarked as Doughnut Joe pulled his cart up onto the station. <<So, you remember everything I told you about today?>>

<<Yeah, Pinkie spends all night guarding the cake, but Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow each... take a...>> I felt Zann's metal limb wrap around me before he pulled me towards him. <<Rainbow's not coming!>>

<<Hey, chill.>> I booped him. <<Rarity and Fluttershy will do more than enough damage for it to be unusable.>> I blinked and rolled my tongue around my mouth. <<That felt weird to say.>>

Not Quite a Locked Room Mystery.

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The conductor came and went, punching ponies tickets and checking Zann's and my tags. There was a slight commotion when he tried to check Eros' tag. The stallion was pinned to a wall when he unthinkingly reached for the Ralts to look for a collar. Eros only let him down after Sweetie had pulled out her licence and explained things to both Eros and the conductor.

The guard had tried to pull the stallion down, but couldn't do it. Once the conductor had left, I could see the guard chuckling to himself.

Shortly afterward, the train lurched into motion. Zann and I sat leaning against each other, his inner warmth soothing my thoughts. I snuggled further into the fire type's side. I wonder if Zann needs to warm the eggs. Ya know, like the hot springs in that one game. Which one was it now?

"Ruby, Sapphire? Technically, that would be five games. Including the remakes, of course. And, besides, Luke took a look at them, and said that there was something else going on. I don't think that they'll hatch through any normal means."

Wish I had a clue as to what to do. I hummed in thought.

<<What'cha thinkin' about?>> Zann murmured at me.

I rolled onto my back to look up at him. <>

<<Your eggs?>> I nodded. Zann bopped me on the head. <<Stop it. You're on vacation, so leave your worries behind.>>

<> I sighed. <>

<<You don't->>

I cut Zann off. <<No, let me vent for a sec. I must start off by saying that I have no Idea if Lulu feels the same way I do.>> I scooted further into Zann's fur. <<I feel like I'm constantly worrying about them. Whether or not they're safe is always at the back of my mind. Whenever I'm away from the daycare, I always want to go back and check up on them. Unless I'm with Rainbow or I know that Lulu is there.

<<On top of that, whenever I'm in the Daycare, I've started noticing that I'm doing certain things. I'm constantly running numbers in the back of my mind to make sure that the humidity, air pressure, and temperature are just right. Of course, I'm never sure on what those should actually be at. I also can't seem to relax until I've gone over each of the eggs and made sure that they are clean and without any cracks.>> I curled up, dabbing at my eyes with my tail. <<The only time I didn't was when I was looking after Peewee. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be getting any worse.>>

Zann flipped his floofy tail over me. <<So, what? You think that something's forcing you into looking after them?>> The other bakers huffed through the car, shortly followed by the ponies who could make it.

<<Yes and no.>> I allowed. <>

<<I'll ask Lulu about her thoughts on the matter at the next Evolved Club meeting.>> Zann nodded down at me.

<<Oh, Arceus...>> I groaned out. <<Please tell me that's not what it's actually called.>>

A pink hoof scooped me up before Zann could reply. Pinkie placed me on her back and began pulling at Zann's good leg. "C'mon!" She grunted as she pulled us towards the car with the entries. "You guys need to help me protect the MMMM!"

I hopped off her back to make my way to the sleeper car. <<You two have fun.>>

"C'mon, Leo!" Pinkie whined. "Rainbow would help!"

<> I paused, scraping my tongue across my teeth. <<Sadly, she'd hinder here. I won't do either.>> I stated and continued my way towards the back of the train.

"Leo!" Pinkie continued to whine. "Oh, why do you only listen to Rainbow?"

I ignored her. I sat by the car door to wait for the conductor to come back through. Instead, both this car's door and the sleeper car's were pulled open by someone's red aura. I gave a smile and a glance over at Eros, nodding to her before padding into the sleeper car.

I followed my nose for any scents of familiar ponies, stopping at the first door with scents I recognized. After scratching to be let in, the door was opened by Twilight's aura, the mare herself was laying on the top bunk. Applejack was occupying the lower bunk. I padded my way in and jumped up to join Applejack in her bunk.

"Hey, Twi'?" Applejack spoke up as she started petting me. "Ah've been meanin' ta ask, but why are we stayin' overnight? Don' we usually just go straight ta Canterlot?"

"I don't know." Twilight admitted. "I'll go ask the conductor." She got up and left the room. Applejack rolled onto her back and pulled a newspaper out from her hammerspace.

I wonder how she can get that out from around her rope. I mused, smirking to myself. I curled up on the farmmare on roughly the same spot that I do on Rainbow. Although, I guess it doesn't really matter. Yomega might get a kick out of trying to figure it out, though.

Just before I could doze off, Twilight returned. "So, it turns out that the railroad is doing repair work on the tracks." She explained as she closed the door.

"Huh." Applejack grunted as she flipped pages. "Just found th' story here. Looks like a rock slide took out some of the tracks an' a part o' the road. Almost hit a stagecoach, too."

"Can I read it when you're done?"

"Sure."

I ignored them and got back to the important task of sleeping. I jolted awake and blearily looked up at Applejack as she hoofed Twilight the newspaper. I uncurled and stepped off of Applejack. I didn't go far, instead waiting for her to get comfortable again before curling up beside her. I next woke up to Pinkie screaming.

I took advantage of the sleepy rush of ponies to get into the passenger car. I spotted Zann poking his head out into the aisle from a chair he had apparently slept on. I jumped up beside him and settled in for a show. We were very quickly joined by Sweetie, Silver and Eros.

I rose an eyebrow at the Ralts. <<How odd of you to willing sit so close to us.>>

"Your pack seems to know more about what's going on then you let on." She glared at me from under her bangs. "And, as much as I hate to admit this, you generally seem -seem- to be working towards ponies best interests. Plus, you've at least promised to keep the Crusaders safe."

<<I've even Pinkie Promised it.>> I reminded her.

"Yes, yes." She rolled her eyes. "I don't see why you place emphasis on such childish words, though."

Zann snorted. <<Here, look into my mind.>>

Eros' eyes glowed red for a brief moment. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth as her eyes returned to normal. "Can... Can she really do that?"

<<Can you read her mind?>>

Eros' eyes glowed red again. <<... Oh, Arceus...>> She murmured. I blinked at how soft and smooth her actual voice sounded, like Fluttershy's if she was a dove. Eros refocused on Zann. "Her mind is like the insane, jumbled thoughts and emotions, but with the coherency of the sane. How can she function, walking that tightrope without falling into one side or the other?"

I shared a look with Zann before we answered in unison. <<She's Pinkie.>>

Reconciliations.

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While the voices from the dessert car were muffled, I imagined things happening as I remembered from the show. I imagined, with what snippets I could see through the door helping, Pinkie ranting and accusing the other bakers in turn. My imaginings and thoughts were interrupted by another's.

"So." Eros looked at Zann and me. I felt her mental powers pulling me down. "What do you know? And, please, I have been reading your thoughts, so don't lie to me."

<<Ya see,>> I glared at Eros, <<that's what I hate the most about you psychics. Can we please have our fucking privacy?!>>

Zann's metal claw bounced off my head. <<Leo, play nice. She deserves our help.>> I raised an eyebrow at him, but he only waved me off. <<What do you already know, Eros?>>

She gave Zann a calculating look. "... I know that you weren't born like this, and that you don't come from either my or this dimension. I know that you are all far more dangerous than you look. You," she pointed at me. "have the most ripples around you, so you must be the most violent of you."

<<Ripples?>> I cocked my head. <<What're you thinking about?>>

"Ask Yomega." She snorted.

<<Fair enough.>> Zann stuck his tail into my face to cut me off. <<Look, Eros, I'm not going to lie to you on this.>>

<<Even though that's the Duo's shitck.>> I grumbled into the fire type's tail.

<<Shush, you.>>

Eros stared at us, rolling a hand. I could almost feel her impatience.

<<Anyways.>> Zann forced himself back on track. <<We do have some select knowledge of what's coming, but it only extends for so far, and only applies to the mares we've... bonded with. We mean them no harm, and we don't want to derail what little knowledge we do have. We understand that our mere presence is affecting things, and our knowledge never included summoning. So, we come in peace, take us to your leader, and all that jazz.

<<But, you want to know about the present. Well, Pinkie and the Cake's masterpiece has had a couple of bites taken from it, and she's blaming the wrong party. At the next tunnel, the other bakers are going to have their's ruined, too. Twilight figures out who wrecked the cake, and then Pinkie gets the second crime.>> Zann glanced down at me. <<Did I get that right?>>

With a sigh and an eye roll, I nodded. <<Yes, yes, you got it right.>> The car was enveloped in darkness as we entered the tunnel. <<In fact, there's the next crime now.>>

A very faint red glow illuminated Eros's face. "The griffon, the mule, and the Canterlot pony each just gave into their temptations and bit into the others' confections. And, Fluttershy and Rarity each ate a bit of the cake?"

<<Blame Pinkie and her too thorough descriptions of the desserts.>> Zann smiled sadly as we left the tunnel.

<<Up next,>> I held up my paw to prevent Eros from talking, <<Twilight will send the others to their rooms while she gathers her evidence, and then she and Pinkie go up and down the train.>> I looked over at the door. <<Any moment now.>>

"They're coming."

<<There, see!>> I chirped as the car doors opened. I smiled at Eros, waiting for the bakers to pass us. <<As you can clearly see, everything is under control. So, could you let go of my butt, now?>> I leaned as close to her as I dared. <<Unless you like my fine ass...>>

I blinked, finding myself surrounded by cleaning supplies. I fought back a wave of nausea as I climbed out of the cupboard. I think she teleported me to the caboose.

"Ya think? What was your first fucking clue?!"

Geeze brain, chill. I stumbled towards the door, my paw steps growing firmer as I walked. It was only a short hop.

"Chill! CHILL!! Do you have ANY idea how much teleporting sucks without a body!?"

Hey, I feel... I slowed to a halt. What?

The door opened as Twilight led Pinkie into the car. "But," Pinkie was saying. "when I got there, he was gone!"

Twilight hummed and hawed as she examined the caboose. I crouched, judged my distances, and then jumped up onto Pinkie's back. Eventually, Twilight let out a disappointed sigh and turned to leave.

"I don't see anything that can help us here, Pinkie. Are you sure you chased him all the way back here?"

Pinkie vigorously nodded. "Yeah-huh! I even ran out the back door and checked the balcony!"

"Well, what happened after that?"

"I heard somepony else in the dessert car, and chased them up to the engine!" Pinkie turned to lead the way back through the train. We passed through the first car, and stepped into the next one. I rode Pinkie halfway through it before Twilight gave out a thoughtful hum.

She levitated an evidence pouch from her saddle bag, and floated it over to one of the seats. Pinkie and I leaned in to try and see what it was Twilight had found, but we couldn't see anything.

I could sure smell a very familiar scent, though. After spending so much time in or near her cottage, I'd never be able to mistake the soft and demure fragrance of Fluttershy.

"I think we've got our first clue." Twilight tucked the pouch back into her bag. "I'll need more before I can name a culprit though."

I hopped down and followed the mares through the cars. After a few minutes, we had made it back to the passenger car where Zann awaited me.

Eros was there too, of course, but I doubt she was waiting for me. She had moved to the other side of the car.

<<Glad to see you're back!>> Zann said while shooting Eros a glare. <>

<<Nope, she missed by a foot.>> I hopped up beside him. <<Well, it shouldn't be long before those two get back from the front. What's our E.T.A for Canterlot?>>

<<I'd guess at another couple of hours.>> Zann shrugged. <<In the meantime, you need to apologize to Eros.>>

I turned to stare at the fire type. <<What?! Why?>>

<<For your general behavior against her.>>

<<She started it!>> I snapped.

Zann smacked his metal paw onto my back and pressed down. <<And I don't care. I've already talked to Eros about the Pack. She's agreed to leave us be, so long as we don't hurt the Crusaders in general and Sweetie in particular. But she wants an apology from you.>>

<<But I didn't do anything...>> I grumbled as Zann let me up. I sulked across the aisle to the Ralts. <>

"How could you not know?" Eros stared coldly down at me. "You've been nothing but an asshole to me since I first got to Ponyville."

I snorted. <<I'm not sure if you've noticed, Eros, but that's kinda my thing. I'm an ass to everyone. If I see a chance to poke fun at someone, I'll take it. Hell, I leave openings for people to poke fun at me!>> I placed a paw on my chest. <>

"Why?"

My ear swiveled as a faint thump sounded from the dessert car. <<Because it keeps people on their toes, and it does wonders for preventing my friends from getting too big of an ego.>> I hopped up and sat beside the psychic type. <<And, I have to stress this, I fully expect people to be an ass back. I am sorry I went farther than you were comfortable with, but I...>> I sighed. <>

She mulled my words over as Pinkie passed by us. "... I can, now that I know your reasoning."

We both watched the bakers march pass us again. <<Thanks. And, Eros?>> I turned to make sure she was looking at me. <<Please let me know when I go too far. I'll do the same for you.>>

She nodded, and we both lapsed into silence. After a few minutes, Eros turned to look at me. "Aren't you going to sit with Zann?"

<<Nope.>> I smiled. <<So, what brings Silver to Canterlot that requires a guard, Sweetie and you?>>

"She's going to be applying for a course that will let her learn about summoning from Runic back in Ponyville." Eros answered. "Since it's part of her parole conditions, the guard needs to be here to supervise and witness. He'd also be able to smooth things along for her. Sweetie needs to be there to provide a licensed signature."

<<Really?>> I tilted my head in confusion. <<Wouldn't Runic have been a better option? Sweetie hasn't had her license for very long. Is she even eligible to sign for something like this?>>

"Not really." Eros held a hand out and tilted it back and forth. "But, since Runic and Twilight can't sign, and the Circle requires a local summoner to sign off on it, the Crusaders were the only option."

<>

Eros shrugged. "Twilight's license was lost in the mail. And Runic can't sign because he's the perspective teacher. His bias would be called into question." She paused, tapping her chin in thought. "Which is strange, considering Sweetie's connection to all this."

<<Maybe the guard can help with all of that?>> I mused.

Once it was clear the conversation was over, I curled up where I was sitting, and settled in for a nap. I briefly awoke when I felt Eros lay her head on my body for a pillow, but quickly fell back asleep.

I woke up when the train lurched to a halt. Eros sat up and blearily glanced around before teleporting to Sweetie's side. I stretched and jumped down to stand by Zann. I glanced over at Eros in time to see her stifle a yawn while rubbing at one eye.

Once we were allowed to leave the train, Zann and I stood off to the side and waited for the cake to be unloaded. After that, it was a simple hike up to the castle to partake in the competition. We had to stay close to the bakers so that Zann's lack of collar wouldn't give him any issues. Once we made it to the castle itself, we did it so that I wouldn't get "adopted" or Zann thrown out.

Finally, after almost an hour after leaving the train, we got the monstrosity of a baked good into the right hall.

<<Pity we can't eat any of this.>> Zann sighed.

<<Eeyup.>> I nodded. <<So, what're we going to do for tonight?>> I yawned. <>

"I'll talk to you guys after the competition. I have something to show you guys. Also, you wouldn't believe the range I get with this." Luke's voice invaded my head, interrupting whatever Zann was about to say. I started looking around for the Lucario, taking an embarrassingly long time to find him.

<<Well,>> Zann leaned over to me, <<that answers that. Just follow me once this is all done.>>

<<You think your Zann Sense will tell you where to go?>>

Zann blinked down at me in confusion. <>

Another One?!

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Zann and I sat by the garden doors, waiting for the competition to die down. Thankfully, Pinkie had managed to sneak us some of the baked goods, but never more than a small sampler. I sighed as I licked the last of a berry danish from my fur.

"Hey, I just had a thought." I mused to Zann. "Do you think that griffons cook with eggs?"

"Well, Gustave made the eclairs, so I would assume so."

I shook my head. "But don't griffons lay eggs?"

"So?" Zann gave me his full attention.

"Wouldn't that make baking a potentially risky profession in the griffon homeland?" I nudged Zann's metal leg. "Especially if the bird's married."

"You lost me."

"They might cook their own kid?" I deadpanned. "Assuming that their eggs are of similar size to an average chicken’s."

"Oh. OH!" Zann leaned away from me. "Leo, c'mon! You were just moaning over the fact you had to leave your own eggs behind in Ponyville!" He shook his head, a morbid grin slowly growing across his muzzle. "Heh. 'Honey, I cooked the kids!'"

"Gives a whole new meaning to getting baked, huh?"

Zann snorted. "You remember those old P.S.A's? Y'know." He dropped his voice an octave and adopted his best serious face. "This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs."

"Yeah, college was an awkward time for me."

Not now, Brain. I chuckled. "Can I get my brain over easy?"

Zann attempted his best Gustave impression. "I can only do scrambled. Will ziz be h'a problam?"

"Seriously, though." I squeaked out. "A creature that lays eggs must feel all sorts of squicked out cooking with them."

"It might be telling that Gustave is the only griffon we see cooking in the show, what with him being a guy and all. Or, at least, proof of him doing so." Zann's good leg twitched and his ear started swiveling around. "But, anyways, that doesn’t matter right now." He twisted to face further into the room. "So… Ya said you had something to share?"

"Oh, I have a lot to tell you, but first," Luke smiled down at us, "come with me. I have something you gotta see." He began to lead us further into the castle. I had to give him credit, he already seemed to know his way around. "So, how have things been in Crazyville?"

We started shooting the shit as Luke led us around, each of us focusing on what we figured was important. Whenever I would start feeling down on my eggs, Zann would change the subject to something else.

I will admit, I may have gotten carried away with my retelling about the Running of the Leaves and how Abes stole my win.

My mood took a near permanent downturn when we passed on the news about Peewee leaving, however. Zann flowed the conversation towards the baking competition and the train ride in. We finally stopped in front of a room as I admitted to Luke about Eros and I coming to our understanding.

"That's good. I wouldn't mind meeting her." Luke nodded, placing a paw on the door handle. "She might help me with a theory of mine." He pushed the door open and ushered us inside.

It was one of the better off guest suites. Judging by the smells, one Luke and Ember had been... using. Heavily. The curtains and windows had been opened by the maids in what I assume to be an attempt to air the suite out.

"Wait here." Luke said as he disappeared into the master bedroom.

I smiled, and looked around the room. "Ten bits says that he's grabbing a toy."

"I'll take it." Zann started to vibrate in place.

"You okay?" I asked, concern growing on my face.

"Yup!" Zann flicked his tail at the bedroom door. "I'll be taking my bits when we get back home."

I turned to see Luke returning with a bundle of blankets. Oh? Did he get himself clothes? Why? Wouldn't it feel uncomfortable against his fur? I leaned closer to it, noting the hauntingly familiar smell it was giving off. "What is that?"

Luke sat down in front of us, carefully cradling the bundle down onto his lap. Gently he moved a corner of a blanket and revealed a smooth shell.

"Is that..." I breathed.

"Well, I guess it was bound to happen."

"I'm going to be a father!" Luke nodded.

And then my maternal instincts kicked in. I kept an ear on the conversation as I began inspecting the egg. I wasn't properly aware of the cooing noises I was making.

"“Have you or Ember thought of names yet?" Zann asked. "And are you hoping for a boy or a girl?”

"We don't even know what species it is." Luke laughed. His mirth quickly faded. "To be honest, I'm kinda scared. Ember isn't a pokemon. Do you guys know the kind of complications hybrids have on Earth? That's if it even hatches at all."

"Hey, he's got your problems, too!" I twitched.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean to rain on the good feels." Luke continued. "I'm just... so excited and terrified at the same time. I never thought it was possible to feel both those feelings so strong."

“Heh.” I morosely chuckled, my ears and tail falling with my mood. “Preaching to the choir, there. If you think this is bad now, you should wait a few moons.”

“Leo…” Zann placed a paw onto my shoulder.

I ignored him. “Then you’ll be worrying about every little thing. And- And scrutinizing everything you do, wondering if this is what you’ve been fucking up on. After a while, you start worrying if-!”

Zann cut me off with his paw. “She’s been like this for a while now." He told Luke. "I actually brought her up here to distract her from her eggs.”

"Oh... sorry. I didn't even really mean to vent like that... anyway..." I looked up as Luke started around to see him wrapping his egg back up. "We figured out how to give Smolder magic. So, we're probably going back to Ponyville with you guys. I got everyone gifts, too."

"Oh, hey!" I started to pay more attention. "A distraction!"

Luke smirked down at me. "No, you can't have it now, nor will I give you any hints."

"Anything else interesting happen?" Zann asked.

"Well..." Luke chewed the inside of his cheek. "I found out I have metal bones."

"Called it!" Zann snickered.

Luke ignored his outburst. "And Abes has been teaching me how to use psychic abilities. I made a couple new friends, including Blueblood. He's actually not a bad guy, just socially awkward. I was actually talking to him when you guys got here. He left when he saw Rarity. Oh, and one important thing." He stood up and went back into the room. He kept us waiting until he returned sans egg. "Celestia knows we aren't from this world, but doesn't know we weren't always what we are."

"Well, that's going to end well..."

Shut up you, you're no-aaahh... My thoughts were interrupted by Luke reaching down and scratching behind my ears. I relaxed into Luke's fingers.

"She promised not to tell Twilight and the others so long as you tell them when you're able." I heard Luke say through the mild fog his fingers clouded my mind with.

“Oh, good. Great.” Zann sighed. “Anything else you want us to know?”

C'm'here you... I rolled over and flopped onto my back, taking Luke's paw along with me.

“Leo, stop it." Zann ordered. "You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“Yer just jealous.” I slurred.

"Zann, you might have to leave the room." Luke chuckled.

I don' mind if'n he joins in.

I heard Zann approach Luke's other side. “Nu-huh. You owe me some ear scritches.”

"I mean, I don't mind if you want to join in, but Leo might."

“It’s good…” I groaned out.

“No, Leo.” Zann chuckled. “We were going to see the town, remember? Got any recommendations?” I assume that he addressed that part to Luke.

"Yeah, there's this great place we found." Luke answered "It's like Mediterranean food, but pony. They do meat dishes, too. There's also a couple shops that specialize in casual clothing like hats, scarfs, shirts, and whatever. You guys might like to personalize your look."

I already gots 'nough wif mah collar...

“We’ll look into those,” Zann agreed, “but I meant places we could check out without having to have a chaperone around. Ponies’ll just assume we’re strays, and we don’t want to be hassled while we try to relax.”

"Ah, yeah, that might be hard." Luke said, slightly pausing in his rubbing. "Outside the palace, there really isn't anywhere that isn't a possibility. Hell, there were a couple times I had ponies asking where my owner was. Though, in my case it just ended up being funny after they found out I could communicate. Can either of you write Equestrian?"

I tried to move his paw around to keep him scratching. “Nope."

Zann just shook his head. “We could always wait until Abes shows up. Then he could give us a tour.” A sly smirk stole across his muzzle. “Unless Luna decides to monopolize him tonight.”

"Considering how thoroughly her scent covers him," Luke laughed, "I'm sure they spend plenty of time together. But he still found time to help me out.

"How about this. I'll have a friend write you two a couple of notes. One explaining you're intelligent beings that can't speak the language, and another for anything you think you might need. Also, we can inform the guards and they'll spread word of who you are. We could also talk to Moondancer, see if she might have a magical solution."

“Eh.” Zann shrugged. “You can bring it up, but she won’t be able to do anything with us until she gets back to Ponyville.”

I completely zoned out at that point and almost fell asleep under Luke’s massaging fingers.

Dog Days: Wondering Minds.

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[Yomega]

I woke up early again. Or I think I did.

It's always so hard to tell these days, ever since I evolved. My aura sight, as I've started to call it, tends to start the day on by default. I could see Spike's armored form crammed into his tiny bed, his cape like wings draped over himself like a blanket. His crown had been knocked off kilter, and I couldn't help but chuckle at the great mighty dragon sucking his thumb in his sleep.

I tracked my gaze over to Twilight, instantly recognizing her alicorn, or Princess Twilight, self. Even in her sleep, papers and parchments swirled around her, almost obscuring her form. Arcane sigils danced through the paper storm, flickering into existence only to be shattered by something a moment later. Sparks of energy would periodically jump out and scribble something onto the nearest surface, only to be overwritten by the next one.

Even asleep with a book over her muzzle, Twilight's mind works ever on, it seems.

Yawning, I got up and stretched. With a moment of concentration, reality returned to its norm. At least I'm getting better at that. I pulled the door and slipped from the room. I climbed my way up to the library's attic and settled myself into a spot I had cleared. I sat as still and as relaxed as I could, closed my eyes, and focused on my breathing. I quickly settled into a smooth rhythm. And now for the hard part.

One. I let my thoughts fade away until my mind saw the same black as my eyes.

Two. Focusing, a patch of green entered my view. It quickly resolved itself into a small clearing surrounded by bamboo.

Three. My mental body touched down on the grass. With a twitch of an ear, a large divot was carved from the soil and rapidly filled with water.

Four. A pair of koi, one white and gold, the other black and blue, appeared from the depths and started to swim near the surface. Ignoring them, I flicked my tail towards the far shore. Our monument stone burst from the ground, and lily pads spread across the water's surface.

One... I began again, and let my thoughts flow. Each one appeared on the water, the koi swimming endless circles around them in time to my counting and breathing. I gave every thought a cursory glance, acknowledged it was there, then let it drift on. No thought stayed longer than a count.

A breeze began to blow through my clearing, while psychic currents brushed across my whiskers. The next image showed nothing but the pond itself. The white koi swam towards the stone, while the black one dove into the depths. Acknowledging this, and the strangest of urges to follow, I set them aside.

The white koi grew brighter and brighter, until the pond dissolved into the sunlight spearing into the attic. With a sigh, I left to go start prepping breakfast.

As I approached the kitchen, I saw a black mist flow under the door and into the main room. Curious, I let the impressions wash over me. Rising from the cloud stood a black knight, gold rimming his pauldrons, gauntlets and greaves. His helmet, the visor crafted into a visage of a snarling dog, was attached to his belt. This allowed me to see his red eyes, framed by raven hair, glancing around the room. His pale skin always seemed to be straining to hold something in check, and every move was preceded and followed by afterimages of himself making those movements. Each step he took, once the mist had dissipated, left a patch of morning glories that glowed with an inner silvery light. He soon spotted me, and gave me a chilling fanged smile.

"G̵o̶o̴d̴ ̶m̸o̵r̸n̶i̸n̶g̸,̸ ̴Y̶o̷m̸e̵g̴a̸.̵!" It growled out. I flinched and slammed my mind away, forcing my perception of the world to return to normal. Abes was giving me a concerned look. "You okay?"

"Yeah." I grumbled. "M'fine. Bad sleep."

"Leo's dream isn't spreading, is it?"

"No, nothing of the sort." I hurried to assure him. "Just slept on my tail wrong. It's a little sore."

"Ah." Abes knowingly nodded. "Yeah. So, got any plans for today?"

"Other than breakfast?" I chuckled. "I'm going to go take a look at the eggs and then Spike and I will be working on my teleporting."

Abes continued to nod. "Good luck with that. Trying to go for more utility?"

"Yup." Working together, we pulled our food out from the cupboards and filled our dishes. "I figured that Leo, Cy and Zann have the straight up power handled."

"What if we need to split up?" Abes asked as we began eating.

"I'll have enough with my offensive moves. And I can always put foes to sleep and heal up off of their dreams."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound creepy at all." Abes sighed. "On a related note, the Circle is looking into how moves like Dream Eater work."

I paused long enough to swallow my last mouthful of food. "I think there was something like that going on in one of the games?"

"Really? What became of it?"

"No idea." I admitted picking my bowl up and carrying it to the sink. "I think it had something to do with the multiplayer?" We cleaned up our mess and made our way back up the stairs. I opened the door to Twilight's room for Abes, who swiftly made his way over to the closet. As he closed the door, Spike started to stir.

"Good morning, Spike." I thought at the room as a whole. "I've already eaten. I'm going to go sort through the after hours returns bin while you two have breakfast." I smiled, watching Twilight flop a hoof at her alarm clock.

"Okay..." He thought as he rolled out of his basket. "I'm going to get the coffee started. Twilight looks like she had a rough night."

"I wonder what she was up all night doing that required her to teleport all the way here from Cantorlot?" I curled around Spike and started guiding the bleary eyed drake from the room. "You're getting good at projecting your thoughts, by the way."

"Thanks." He murmured. We walked our separate ways, Spike to the bathroom and myself to the front door.

Sure enough, the bin was mostly empty, just a couple of self-help books and a history book. I carefully wrapped them in my mental aura and pulled them out. I trotted through the library past the stairs, smiling as I felt Twilight's brief confusion. I flicked my tail to point her towards the kitchen and the breakfast Spike was making for her.

It didn't take me long to find the books their homes. Nodding to myself, I turned and left for the basement. I sent a tendril of thought out to Spike. "I'm heading out to the hutch. Meet you at the pond at 11?"

"Yup! See you then."

I quickly made my way through town. I had just passed the market place when the first stalls started opening up. Feeling more minds waking, I hurried my pace, and just made it out of town when the morning rush hit. I only slowed my pace once the main portion of town was behind me.

My ears, whiskers and tail kept twitching from all the currents hitting them in the psychic field. While annoying and distracting, I decided that it was a worthwhile trade off for quieting my own mind enough to focus on reality. Besides, I knew that they will be useful for me later on, if I could interpret them.

Thoughts for another time. I mused as I approached Fluttershy's cottage. I made my way around the building, feeling Conner's familiar vibes coming from the cottage. I couldn't help but smile at the thought of our pack medic finally being able to start his proper training soon. Angel's slowly boiling current washed over me as I passed the shed.

I felt his current spark out and bounce off of a bucket shaped object above him, and the ripples it would cause sent a shiver down my tail. I sent a cushion of thought out as Angel kicked a shelf in frustration, which caused a bucket of feed to fall off a higher shelf. The bucket was deflected by my mental cushion enough to land and spill to Angel's side instead of on him.

Smiling, I made my way up the Daycare ramp. I pulled a checklist off the inner walls. It was one I had Leo write up for me for taking care of the eggs. I deftly worked through the steps, even kissing the upper shells in the exact manner like Leo had written as the last step. She might have written it as revenge for me holding her down with my basic telekinesis.

I'm not going to tell her that she could've easily broken out of it.

Once done, I returned the list to its place and sat at the top of the ramp. Toggling on my aura sight, I looked at our eggs. They were replaced by small, grayed out Eevees, each half the size of a normal Eevee. They floated in the middle of where their egg was, curled up in slumber. Different images faded into and out of existence, and I could tell that they were nothing more than possible potentials.

All in all, the whole tableau strangely reminded me of a loading screen

"Oh, good morning!" I heard Conner call out. I turned to see an Eevee gracefully walking towards me, the ground almost seeming to flow out of his way. That's when I noticed that he hovered an inch or so off the ground. The porcelain human mask he wore was smooth enough I could use it as a mirror, and the bow wrapped around his waist reminded me of those traditionally worn with kimonos.

"Good morning." I said, turning off my sight. "Just stopping by to check up on the eggs. Although, if there's anything you'd like a paw with, I'm free to help until about ten."

"Can you take the pail of fish food out to the back pond?" Conner offered. "When you're done with that, could you come see me if you still have time? I can think of a couple of things Angel and I can have you do."

Dog Days: Bamf

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I finally managed to escape the chores Angel wanted to fob off onto me and make my way to my meeting with Spike. I decided to skirt the edge of town to avoid the worst of the psychic ripples. I was still buffeted by more than I was comfortable with, however. I really need to start walking with someone else. I mentally groused.

"Why's that?"

I can use the other person to focus past this crap. My whiskers twitched with my annoyance. I turned to face the town proper and yelled. "Daisy! That goat is passing through, you moron!"

"And down she goes..."

Ugh. I continued with a roll of my eyes. How can she be so skittish while still living here?!

"Well... Every town's got one or three, right?"

Every town on Equis? Not likely. The lake finally came into view, as did Spike where we agreed to meet. I ran the rest of the way to his side. "Yo, sorry I'm late. Angel kept me busy with stuff."

"No worries!" Spike reached out and scratched behind my ears. "It gave me some time to think on this. You said you want to learn how to teleport, but not like Abes, right? Well, what's wrong with Abes' teleport?"

"Because he isn't." I leaned into the young drake's claws. "The Teleport we can do is different to the teleport you and Twilight can do. It's closer to Eros', in all honesty."

"Really?" Spike glanced over at me. "Chalk one more point up to being naturalized summons."

I did a very good job of suppressing my wince. "And Abes' version isn't Teleport either. He calls it Shadowport."

"What's the difference?"

"Wrong typing. I know it sounds confusing, Spike, so let me explain." I lay down to get comfortable for my explanation. "So, each of us have evolved into different elemental typings. Not all of us evolved forms can learn Teleport, while others find it easier to do so. This ease of learning is, I assume, tied to one's type. However, I imagine that the others can learn it, with enough persistence. Any questions so far?"

"Is Abes' shadowporting a different elemental type as well, then?" Spike scratched his chin. "Would the type difference prevent you from learning to shadowport?"

I smiled. "Got it in one. He's got the type advantage against me, so-"

"How do types have advantage?"

"Well, some are more difficult to explain than others, but it all boils down to how the elemants interact with each other. For the most base example, Zann is a Fire Type, and would burn Villhiem, a Grass type, to ash. Villhiem absorbs Lulu, a Water Type, who in turn douses Zann. Make sense?"

"So far." Spike nodded. "But how does that give Abes the advantage over you?"

I sighed, and shivered as I remembered my interaction with the Umbreon that morning. "So, Abes is a Dark Type. To be a Dark Type, you have to be... mentally unstable. Some Dark types are down right mental monsters. I'm a Psychic Type, meaning that I can read minds and emotions and psychic imprints far better than I can the real world. Imagine that every time you look at Angel, you see a demonic chimera instead." Spike nodded along to my words, giving them the thought they deserved. "Abes is a good friend, hell, he's practically my brother at this point. But every time I look at him, or my mind brushes up against his, I get dizzy and nauseous. His mind is just so wrong. And I'd have to twist my thinking to reflect that antithetical mind set to be able to Shadowport. Why torture myself with that when I could just use the Psychic typed Teleport instead?"

Spike nodded, humming in thought. I respectably stayed out of them, instead letting his claw smooth down my hackles. "Is it possible," he finally mused, "for each of the types to learn their own form of teleport?"

"I would assume so, although I haven't seen any evidence to support the theory. Well, before Abes started dissolving into smokey mists, that is." I stood and shook out my fur. "But, now for the matter we're here for."

"Right!" Spike stood up as well. "So, wait hold on..." He gave me a quizzical look. "If your teleporting isn't the same as our teleporting, why do you need my help, and not Conner's in case you tele-frag?"

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my snout with my tail tips. "Because, near as we can figure, your magic seems to follow the similar rules as Psychic types. If they were the same, Twilight wouldn't be able to levitate Abes at all. Vis a vis, the same tips and tricks you've helped Twilight learn with her teletporting can help me with mine."

"Okay..." Spike drew the word out. "So, we're not actually going to be teleporting today?"

"Nope."

"Then, why are we out here?"

"So that I can focus properly."

"Wouldn't the library have been quiet enough?"

I stared at Spike for a little bit before deciding to try something. "Spike, let me try and show you something. I'm going to need to access your mind to do so, though. Do you consent?"

"S-sure?"

"Then open your mind..." I sent a mental pulse towards the now armored drake, wrapping my psychic power around his mind. I closed our eyes to better focus my energy to go where I wanted it to go.

Before I fully dove into Spike's mindscape, I felt my own become a little lighter. With clarity of thought, I wound my way through bookshelves of memories before alighting myself beside Spike's mental self. He was staring blankly at an open book, the writing showing what he was seeing.

"This is the hard part." I murmured to him. With the greatest of care, I slowly slid my consciousness into Spike's. His claws became mine, his voice mine, his thoughts mine. And mine became his.

"What part?" I/Spike/We answered back.

"You will now see what I see. If only the briefest of tastes." I kept our eyes closed for the now, focusing on the blank page in front of me. "When you look at me, what do you see?"

"I see a large, lime green, cat-ish dog. Your tail splits near the end, and you have large tufts of fur below each ear."

"Good, good. Now, you will see what I truly look like." And I opened our eyes.

We saw a human male sitting cross legged on the grass in front of us. His feline mask matched the lavender cat sleeping on his lap, partially covered by the white kimono he wore. A blood red eye was painted on the mask's forehead with a single red tear drop falling between his glowing purple eyes. A full tarot deck floated in a circle behind his back, centered at his head.

I swept our gaze out over the pond to see the impressions it had, as well as the ones we could see in town. What I knew to be Twilight's castle was impossibly held within Golden Oak's branches, but that was overshadowed by the veritable circus the town had become. I forced our view to see the normal world before closing our eyes.

"This is what I must deal with, every day, Spike. You can see why I'd want to do this outside of town now, yes?"

"Yup."

"Good." I slowly separated myself from him. Once I stood beside him again, I looked about his mindscape. "While I'm in here, is it okay if I look through your memories of Twilight learning to teleport?"

"Sure." Spike nodded, pointing towards a row of shelves whose books started to glow. "It'll give me time to process... That."

"What part of it?"

“Just… That."

I snorted and began my mental snooping. In short order, I finished up, and prepped myself to jump back to my own body. The jump was smooth, and I opened my eyes as I pulled my power from Spike's mind. "Fair warning: that was the first time I tried to do anything like that, so there might be some side effects. I apologize in advance."

"Duly noted." He opened his eyes and looked around the clearing. "I'll let you know if I see anything weird. So! Did you learn anything while you were in there?" He asked while tapping his head.

I let my mind flow to a point on Spike's far side and willed my body to catch up to it. A crack of displaced air heralded my body slamming into my mind, knocking me onto my ass. "Yes" I groaned out. "Although, there is still a learning curve to this. But, I can officially state that I can now Teleport."

"Yay you." Spike snarked with a smile. "You want to stay for a bit and practice on landing paw first?"

I nodded, and focused on another nearby spot. I spent the next few hours teleporting around the pond. I even tried pulling Spike along with me. He landed much easier than I did, citing his familiarity to Twilight's teleports. Eventually, we had to call it.

I had tried a teleport, but instead of my body catching up to my mind, my mind rebounded back to my body. The force of which rocked me over onto my back. I was staring dizzily up at the sky when Spike's armored form leaned into view.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, though I think I just hit my mana limit with this..." Something warm began trickling down my muzzle.

"I can tell. Your nose is bleeding."

I wiped a paw across the trickle and brought it up into my line of sight. "Huh. So it is."

Spike wrapped his claws around me and hefted me up over one shoulder. "C'mon, lets get you to Conner."

"I can walk on my own..." I pouted. Spike ignored me and trudged his way back around the town.

After about half an hour, Fluttershy's cottage came into Spike's view. "Hey, Yomega? When you look at Angel, do you see a very large, glowing, bipedal rabbit with a red vest and headband?"

"Turn around so that I can see?" Sure enough, a large, glowing, bipedal rabbit with a red vest and headband hopped between the various bird feeders, filling them up as he went. "Yeah, that's Angel. Turn back, and tell me if he still looks like that."

Angel swung out of view. "Nope, he looks like Angel. And I only really saw the other thing for a quick moment."

"Okay, so that's a side effect of me mind melding with you, I guess. It should hopefully fade with time." I nodded, feeling Conner's ripples approaching.

<<Okay, what did you do?>> He asked as Spike finally put me down.

<> I admitted.

<<Great.>> Conner sighed. I could see a pink glow radiating off the grass as he placed his paws on either side of my head. <<Okay, no more teleporting today. This will get you back onto your feet and avoid mana exhaustion, but you're still going to need to rest up.>> He stepped back from me with a sigh. <<First Cy, Leo and Zann, and now you? Can you guys not hurt yourselves when you learn a new move?>>

I stood up with a stretch. <<Well, how else are->> I cut myself off and took four steps to my left. Just before Conner could ask me anything, a blur of light blitzed past us. I held up a paw to stall further questions. A moment later we were buffeted about by the wind.

"So, Leo's back in town." Spike helpfully observed as Angel stomped off towards the Daycare.

Dog Days: Exercises of the Mind.

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I sat in a clearing within Whitetail Woods. Spike and Sweetie sat off to the side, while Eros stood in front of me. Doing so allowed her to look me in the eyes. I was a little creeped out by it, but figured it was necessary.

"Are you ready to do this?" Eros shivered a little. Leo and the weather team were starting to blow a chilly northern wind to prepare for winter, but the trees blocked the worst of it.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I replied. "What do we need to do?"

"That all depends." Eros tilted her head. "What do you need most right now? And what have you figured out for yourself?"

I looked up in thought. "I can make a mindscape to meditate and focus myself in, but I can't make it very quickly or in distracting environs. Which leads me into what I need. I need to be able to go about my day without seeing all the imprints everywhere and how to interpret the ripples that keep bouncing off my fucking TAIL!!" I snapped, whipping my head around to stare at the offending appendage.

A white arm pulled my head back to look at Eros again. "Okay. It'll take some work for the ripples, as each species of... Pokemon?" She shook her head. "You're world has strange naming conventions..."

"Well, what do you call everything that's not human on your world, then?"

Eros paused, turning away to give things some thought. Eventually, she shrugged and turned back to me. "Pokemon it is. Much better than trainers calling us their 'pocket monsters', at least. Point is, we each interpret the ripples differently."

"It's weird..." Spike's voice drifted over to us, causing us to look over at our audience. "I know that they're talking, but nothing is being said."

Sweetie shrugged. "You get used to it."

Slowly, Eros and I turned to look at each other again. We kept our faces as flat as when we first looked over, but we were both laughing over a private mental link.

"I completely forgot they were there!" I admitted as we got our laughter under control. "But, anyways. What can we start working on?"

Eros sucked at the inside of her cheek. "Well, let's see your mindscape. How well defined it is will help me figure out what you need to do."

Nodding, I pulled the meditation balls Luke gave me a few days ago out from my saddle bags. Pity he had to leave right away for home. At least he got something for- <<OW!>> I glared at Eros, as she pulled her hand away from my forehead gem.

"You were getting distracted." Eros raised an eyebrow. "And those are for psychic exercise, not focus. You should be doing that through this." She tapped my gem again.

I gave her a flat look as I levitated my balls into the air. It took some mental effort to do, and they weren't floating steadily, but doing this cut off the ripples from reaching me. With a mental push, I started floating them around me. "Give me a second to make my mindscape, then you can come over." With a deep breath, I began to count. Soon enough, the pond was built and sustained.

I felt a vibration that gently rattled my bamboo, and knew that it was the mindscape equivalent of a knock. With a wave of my tail, I parted the section of bamboo my path started from. I turned to see what brief glimpse of Eros' mindscape I could spy through our connection. There was no transition between our mindscapes. My thicket ended abruptly against what appeared to be Sweetie's room. The colors were oversaturated, and what little furniture I could see was larger than what I knew it to be. I watched Eros step from carpeted flooring to grassy ground to avoid prying further over into her mindscape.

It was only polite, after all.

"So, this is your Sanctuary?" Eros asked as she looked around.

I tilted my head at her. "What do you mean by that? Three."

White hand met white forehead. "Right, you're still new to this." Eros grumbled. With a centering sigh, she turned back to me. "A Sanctuary is the place one feels most mentally safe. It is where the core of one's "self" is protected. Only the most powerful of psychics can even hope to crack into a Sanctuary. Otherwise, we can only come in when invited. This is what makes complete mind control impossible."

"What about non-psychics? One."

"They have one as well, they just never know that they are using it." Eros gestured out at the pond and foot bridge. "Nor are they ever this detailed."

I nodded. "So, there is more to my mindscape beyond just this? Four. What if I was to jump into, say, Spike's mind? With his permission, of course. Two."

Eros leveled a flat stare at me. "Okay, what's with the counting?"

"It's how I learned to make this." I shrugged. "Three."

"Oh." Eros looked a little paler than usual. "Don't stop then." She awkwardly coughed. "A-anyways, to answer your question. What would likely happen would be that he would let you into his mindscape, but subconsciously keep you out of his Sanctuary. The same thing usually happens between psychics."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Then, how do you know that this is a Sanctuary, not just a part of my mindscape?"

"That." Eros pointed to the stone. "I can't read it. If I was in your general mindscape, you would be subconsciously scanning my subconscious to translate everything for me, just as we are doing to be able to talk right now. However, because what is in your Sanctuary is deeply important to you, you'll never do that while there." The Ralts then chuckled. "Besides, learning how to find one's own Sanctuary is easy to do. Leaving it for one's greater mindscape is much harder to do. I wouldn't be surprised if you've never left this pond at all."

I shook my head. "So, do you have enough to figure out where I'm at with all this? Three."

"Yup." Eros nodded. "Just give me a second to..." She reached behind her and launched a white orb behind her back into her ... Sanctuary. "... create a tether back to my own head. There." She smiled at me. "So, what we're going to do is sit here and chat for as long as you can hold this. My tether will pull me back to my own mind when this inevitably collapses."

"What do you want to talk about? Two."

"Well, first, what I think you should do for training." Eros sat down beside me. "Then we'll talk about your pack's plans for Equis. Zann and Leo have told me some of what's up with you, but they still seemed to be holding something back, and I already know that you're not normal. I'd like the truth about all of this."

"Sure. Three." I shrugged. "I'll tell you whatever I can. Four."

We spent I don't know how long talking and setting up a training regime. I could feel myself straining to hold the mindscape together as I was trying to tell Eros about our past lives, I wanted to avoid telling her that we used to be human, though. She seemed to have deeply rooted issues with the species.

"... So, yes. We weren't originally Eievuis, but rather forced into these forms during our transition here." I was saying. "We find that we prefer these forms over our old ones, and would rather stay here if we were given the option to return to our home world."

Eros nodded with a thoughtful look on her face. "That would certainly explain some things about you. Like how you just don't act like Eievuis."

"How do you mean?"

"Well-" Eros was suddenly pulled away from me, rocketing back to her Sanctuary. My own was rapidly crumbling around me. Once the wave of destruction reached me, I too vanished into a world of pain.

I blinked and found myself staring up at the forest canopy. The sun, which was previously overhead, was now sinking towards the horizon. I felt pressure on my back as I was lifted up into a sitting position. With a wary blink, more of the clearing came into focus. Eros was holding her hand out to me, her eyes glowing the tell tale red of psychic use. Sweetie and Spike were just rushing over to us, Spike pulling a cloth from his hammerspace.

I blinked in confusion, lifting a paw up to my snout. I felt my paw grow wet and pulled it away from my face, noting the blood once again staining it's fur. <<When did...?>>

Spike tilted my head forward and held the cloth against my snout. I heard the distinct sound of teleportation as Sweetie and Eros vanished from sight.

"How are you feeling, Yomega?" Spike asked me.

<<How long...?>> I dazedly stared through the drake.

"Use your telepathy." Spike patiently stated.

I just gave him a slow blink. <<My wha...?>> I could feel my brain trying to jump start its higher functions, but I just couldn't focus past the lingering migraine.

Spike gave me a worried smile. "You know, think at me?"

My eyes finally properly focused onto my drake's face as his words kinda sunk in. "Thought printer go 'vrrrrr'?"

Another crack of air heralded the return of Eros, Sweetie and Conner. The little Eevee was giving me a thunderous look.

<<Do you have any idea what you just pulled me away from?!>> He stormed up to me.

I felt a ripple bounce off my whiskers. <<Sexy fun times with Luna?>> I asked dazedly.

Stars burst throughout my vision. Blinking, I noted that I was now looking off to my right and had a new stinging feeling coming from my left cheek. <> Conner screeched at me. <<Fluttershy and I were just about to catch the train out of town! Now, we're going to miss it, and most likely the start of the migration, because of you!>>

I blinked owlishly at Conner. <<I'm sorry?>>

"If you are going to blame someone," Eros interrupted, "blame me. I needed to know his limits for his mental training, and so asked him to hold his mindscape for as long as he could. While headaches are common from doing so, very rarely do they get this bad. As in, very low probability. Just give him a heal, and he can start thinking clearly again."

Conner turned his glare onto Eros, then sighed. He practically threw a ball of healing energy at me, giving me very rough treatment while his Heal Pulse went to work. <<I'm still very upset about this.>> He growled, giving me a disapproving glare. <>

I winced, my mental faculties finally returning properly. <>

Conner huffed as Eros placed a hand on him and teleported away.

"C'mon." Spike helped me stand up. "Let's get back to town." Sweetie paused long enough to collect my balls before following us from the clearing.

Matching Pair.

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[Leo]

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Rainbow asked me. She was carrying me through town, looking for a specific store. "Wouldn't Conner's healing abilities close up the hole?"

<<The way we figured,>> I explained from my perch atop her, <<if I give it some time between getting them and my next healing, then the holes will become my new normal. If nothing else, I can always leave some studs in when we need to fight.>>

"And your needle fear?" Rainbow asked as the parlor came into view.

I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. <<I'm a big girl. I-I can handle it.>>

"If you're sure..." Rainbow trailed off as we entered the building. We came into a small waiting room, pictures hanging on the wall of the resident tattoo artist's prior works. A counter sat along one wall beside a door, a display case built into the front of it. A sign declaring that "No tattoos will be done over cutie marks" hung on the door.

<<How are tattoos done here?>> I asked Rainbow as we approached the presumably grey pony behind the counter. I couldn't quite tell from all of her ink. <<Is it like permanently dyeing your fur?>>

"Good morning, welcome to Etch's Sketches!" The mare chirped. "Are you here to set up an appointment?"

"Nah, we got one for today." Rainbow placed me on the counter.

"Your names, please." She asked, pulling a book up from under the till. I let Rainbow talk to her while I looked over the earrings and piercings on display. My gaze drifted over the rings and hoops until I spotted a pair of studs. They were little silver things, with the front parts shaped like little feathers.

"Leo? Equis to Leo?" I jumped, whipping around to look at Rainbow. She chuckled at me with a small shake of her head. "Found a pair you want?"

I nodded and began pawing at the glass over the studs. The mare smiled at me. "These ones for the wittle cutie? You wanna match your Mommy?" She cooed, pulling the pair out for Rainbow to take a closer look at. She just missed our matching blushes. "I just need to take these back to Etched Steel so that he can prep these, as well as his equipment. Take a seat over there and I'll let you know when he's ready."

I hopped onto Rainbow's back before she floated us to the couches. Expecting a long wait, I started looking around for something to occupy myself with. My gaze landed on the little magazine table. <<Hey, Rainbow? Is that Fluttershy?>>

My mare looked over at the magazine I was pointing at. "Oh, hey! That is Fluttershy. Geez, I completely forgot that she modeled for a bit."

<<How does someone so shy work up the courage to do that?>> I shook my head with a smile.

"Eh?" Rainbow shrugged. "I think she did it for Rarity? I don't know the full story."

Further musings were cut off when a nearly white stallion with a purple top hat entered the shop. As he looked around, I could see that he had part of a tattoo done up on his left shoulder. He finally stopped looking and made his way over to us. "Excuse me?" He pointed a hoof towards the desk. "Is Sharp Point in the back?"

"Yup." Rainbow confirmed as I nodded. "She's just getting our studs set up with Etched."

"Oh? What are you getting pierced?"

"Just our ears." Rainbow pointed. "First time getting a piercing though, so we're a little nervous."

"You're getting one for your dog as well?" He sat down on the other couch. "What made you decide to get piercings?"

"Leo's an Eevee." Rainbow corrected. "And... Have you heard of Rarity?"

"I think so?" The stallion scrunched up his face in thought. "Didn't she design the dresses she modeled?" He finally asked while pointing at the magazine Rainbow and I were looking at prior.

Wow. Almost no one remembers that part... I mused.

"Yup, that's her." Rainbow instead answered. "She also designed dresses for the last Galloping Gala for us. We-"

"Wait, wait." He interrupted. "You've been to THE Galloping Gala?!"

"Yup." Rainbow started to boast, but her memories dampened her mood. "I don't want to brag, but I'm friends with the Princess's personal student, and I got a ticket because of it. For what it's worth," Rainbow sighed, "it wasn't that good. A lot of nobles jockeying for political position, barely any good food... I'd say that the most exciting part was when the animals came in from the garden!

"Anyways! The dress Rarity made for me included a pair of earrings. Traditional earrings." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. "I had to get them swapped out for clip ons, and those didn't look as good. Leo, here, had an admirer gift her a pair as well, so we figured that now would be a good time to do this."

"Huh." The stallion paused. "Who'd...?"

"You here to finish off your shoulder, Right Hoof?" At the now named stallion's nod, she nodded at us. "You're going to be right after these two. Speaking of..." She waved us towards the door. "Etched is ready for you two."

Rainbow and I swept into the studio. Wait, I mentally paused as we walked past a minotaur statue. Is it called a studio? Or is it an operating room? I think the tattoo part happens in a studio, but what about the piercings? Seeing the chair, I jumped off of Rainbow so that she could climb up and get comfortable. I hopped up and settled in beside her. Whatever, it's not that important.

"You two ready?" A voice boomed from by the door. I jumped when the statue started to move. "Hey, there. I'm Etched Steel. As I understand it, this is your first time?"

Rainbow and I nodded. "Didn't know that a minotaur lived in town..." Rainbow trailed off.

"Been here long before Iron Will came through." Etched chuckled as he rolled a chair over. "Keep mostly to myself though, so I'm not surprised you haven't seen me before. Anyways, do either of you have a phobia of needles?"

I raised a paw. He reached over and started rubbing behind my ears. Ooooh my Arceus... I never thought I would miss Luke's fingers this much...

"Okay, I've got a gel I'll rub onto the spot you'll be getting pierced that'll numb the pain. Would ya like that?"

I mutely nodded. I flinched slightly when something chilly touched my ears, but the rubbing I was getting soothed my nerves. I almost dozed off from how comfortable everything was. I barely even felt the light tugging on my ears.

After some time, I felt a pair of hands scoop me up. "I know the chair's comfy, but I got other clients to see today."

<<But...>> I blinked owlishly at Etched as he placed me on Rainbow's back. <<Don't you still need to give us our piercings?>>

"Now remember," Etched led us to the door, "Your ears are going to be sore for a while. This is normal. When they stop hurting, then your holes are more or less permanent. Just remember to put something in every now and then, otherwise the holes'll heal up. Have a good day, you two!" He waved us off as we left.

<<Bye, hands...>> I murmured, waving back. I slowly pulled myself out of the mental haze I had been left in. <<Did we get the piercings?>> I finally asked.

"Yup." Rainbow glanced back at me and stifled a laugh. "You must've been very out of it. You didn't even react when he pierced you. And.. and..." She burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, but your ears!"

<<What about them?>> I whined, trying to fold them back.

"They're just flopping about!"

Can We Skip It This Month?

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Fall was just coming to an end. Tank was digging out a new den to sleep in with Conner's help, and Villhiem was rooting himself to Triphyle's back. The big lug had parked himself by the farmhouse's chimney with his large shell spikes facing outward. With his lower body and head almost covered with dirt, he almost looked like a natural earthen mound.

Lulu had already pulled her enchanted clothes out in preparation for the frigid temperatures. Conner was helping Fluttershy get her animals prepped for the winter, and the rest of the Pack were doing little odd jobs around town.

I was helping the weather teams as much as I could and moping again.

"You sure you don't have any abilities to make it snow?" Rainbow asked me for the third time. She had started asking me about it after Thunderlane made the same comment he did last year. This time, Rainbow was able to put some thought into it, since we didn't have to worry about him bleeding out this year.

<<You know what?>> I finally had enough of just saying "no". <<I'll give you the long, boring answer! I probably could, but it wouldn't be beneficial. First off, the only snow related weather ability causes dangerous hail to fall, so ponies will get hurt. And secondly, I don't know it. Which means that I have to train on how to use it. Which means potentially several weeks of mucking about to get it right. How much work do you think that will cause for the crew?

<<Additionally, I think the ability is too close to Rain Dance in effect, if not execution. That means that I will be spending longer trying to work out how to do it since I'll have to figure out how to not use Rain Dance instead.>> I sat up to mash the stuffing in my pillow into a more comfortable shape. I settled back down and sent a glower up at Rainbow. Its effect was dampened by her work desk getting in the way. <<So, yes. I have a move I can learn that can cause hailstorms, which should help over winter. If you don't mind ponies getting hurt and several hundreds in bits of damage each time I use it. Never mind the cost of clean up for me just to use the damn thing.>>

Papers rustled for a bit as Rainbow fought against her paperwork. "So..." My ears perked up at Rainbow's voice. "You do have one, or not?"

<<Oh for the love of Arceus! NO! No, I don't have one. I can LEARN one.>> I huffed. <<Big difference.>>

"Okay, okay." Rainbow placated. "But if you could learn one, and not have it... How'd you put it? 'Drop giant ice balls'? Would you learn it? Snowflakes are one of the hardest things to make, and so they're very expensive when we go over our allotted amount."

<<I dunno. Maybe?>> I rolled onto my back and stared at my paws. I finally flopped my paws onto my chest and sighed.<<The biggest hurdle is still learning it. I'd be messing with the entire weather system, and I don't think that there's a place nearby we can train over winter.>>

I heard Rainbow tapping the desk. "What if... What if we could do it inside somewhere?"

<<Again, though, where can we go?>>

Rainbow thumped a hoof onto her desk. "Tell you what. I'll look for a place over the winter, and then next summer, we can try to do it!"

<<... Sure, why not?>> I sighed. If only to get you off my back about this for the winter.

More paper rustled on the desk, and I heard Rainbow's chair creak. I rolled my eyes to watch Rainbow come out from around her desk. She picked me up and placed me on her desk. "Alright, Leo."

Uh oh. That's her serious face...

"Tell me what's wrong?" She placed her hooves on either side of my head. "Why are you so moody right now?"

<<... Sit down and get comfortable.>> I sighed, pushing her paperwork to the side. <<Please don't bring this up with Twilight or Moon Dancer. They'll be grilling us both about this for fucking ever if you do, and we can both agree that we don't have the time for that. So, you know that we're not from around here, right? Well, the ponies from where we're from don't celebrate Heart's Warming. They celebrate a holiday called Christmas instead...>>

<<... And, yeah. Now you know why I dislike winter.>> I finally finished. We were staying late, since my explanation kept being interrupted by the rest of the weather team. <<It just reminds me of the all the wasted potential and rampant greed and gluttony of peo- ponies.>>

I was surprised when Rainbow scooped me up into a hug. "What hurt you so badly, to give you such cynicism?"

I sniffed. <<I'm surprised you know the meaning of the word.>>

"Yeah, well, I did have to look the word up." Rainbow gave me a playful noogie. "C'mon, let's go check up on the heaters in your hutch."

We jogged through the town, mostly to keep the late fall chill at bay. As we left the town proper, I looked up at my mare. <<So, when are we getting the first snowfall?>>

"Should be another week or so."

<<Great...>>

"Hey, cheer up." Rainbow smiled at me. "Winter can be fun without the holidays. And you'll be happy to know that the main Hearth's Warming celebration happens once a year. Everypony just takes a day to remember and reflect each month."

I sighed. <<Alright. What holidays are there this month?

"There's two." Rainbow answered as Fluttershy's cottage came into view. "There's the Winter Moon Celebration, which Twilight told us was put in place about a thousand years ago."

<<I wonder why.>> I snorted.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "The second's closer to spring, after New Month, called Rendezvous."

I started to make my way up the ramp. <<What's it about?>>

Rainbow shrugged. "Basically, it celebrates the gem and gold rushes that happened once everything defrosted after Hearth's Warming. Everyone dresses in period and there's even a dog sled race, and- You okay, Leo?"

<<I-I'm fine, just tripped at the top of the ramp.>> I lied.

"Okay, then." Rainbow stuck her head into the Daycare. "The rubies still there?"

<<Yup!>> I chirped, going through a short checklist to make sure the heaters were working. I was doing my best to quell my mounting excitement. They have Rendezvous here! Please tell me it's as good as the one back home!

Dog Days: Developing Terror.

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[Abes]

Luna had spent most of the night with her eyes closed, which almost made it seem like she was doing her normal duties. She didn't normally have a short length of black pleather suspended in her magics, though. While she enchanted away the night, I sat beside one of the windows and watched the snow fall.

I broke my gaze away from the mesmerizing snowfall at the sound of Luna's throne creaking. I looked over at her as she finished sitting back with a sigh.

<<Are you done with your preparations?>> I asked.

"I am." Luna stated, floating the enchanted object over to me. "Everything is set to work within five minutes of you shadowporting. You will have that long to get somewhere comfortable to sleep, if only to save you from sore joints and muscles on the next morn."

<<I understand.>> I nodded. <<So, just to clarify, this will give me nightmares for tonight, and strong ones to help you find me? And, from that, you should get enough of our mental impressions to be able to find Leo's?>>

"That is correct." She snapped the clasp closed. I could feel the enchantments taking hold as a wash of magic rippled through my fur. "Those enchantments will then dissipate once you awaken. After that, the only enchantments on that will be those found on a typical collar, plus a few of my own."

<<Oh? What do they do?>> I asked.

"There are two enchantments of import. The first is a minor Stoneskin, which will help protect you from physical attacks. The second is a Spell Ward enchantment, which reduces the effects of spells." Luna rolled a hoof. "There's also a minor Regeneration enchantment, but it's only really good for minor scrapes and bruises."

I nodded, frowning down at the collar. <<I'm assuming that there's a reason that there isn't an enchantment that mixes the Stoneskin and Spell Ward?>>

"While there is such an enchantment, it needs to be inscribed, and there isn't enough material on the collar to do so." Luna let out an un-princess like snort. "If I did, you'd need a full suit of armor like our guards, and then it'd be too heavy for you right now. Anyways, the two types of enchantments do not mesh well without inscriptions, if they are not placed separately. Usually explosively."

<<Ah...>> I winced. <<But, um, didn't you say you were a master artificer a couple of nights ago?>>

"I was." Luna said with a sigh. "But the ability to mesh the magic of the two differing enchantments is a recent development. Recent, of course, meaning within the last century." She leaned over at me with a smirk. "I'm a little out of practice."

I flowed into the library after Luna had set the moon. A yawn forced its way out, and I could feel my everything trying to fall asleep. I rushed my way up to my bed, falling face first onto my pillow.

With a blink, I found myself staring at a desk, the wall behind it covered with posters and children crayon drawings. A fan spun lazily on top of the deactivated computer. A filing cabinet sat by the left window and door, with a matching window and door on the other side of the room.

Ah, so the nightmare begins... I sighed, looking down at the pad in my paws. Alright, Just got to hold out until Luna gets here. Looks like Harry is on the stage with Elizibeak. I flipped through the cameras looking for the rabbit. Mr. Foxy is still in his place in Pirate Cove. Fantastic. So where's...?

A thunk sounded from outside the left door. A pulse of thought slammed the door shut. I looked up from the pad and flicked the light on to see Angel glaring at me through the window. I flipped him the bird and went back to the pad. Flipping through the views, I spotted Foxy poking his head out.

The screen was pulled away from my face. Two insectoid creatures were talking in front of me. Or, I think they were talking. I couldn't understand anything they were clicking at each other. Based on their aggressive gestures, I figured that they were arguing. Ignoring them, I focused on my reflection.

A large biped, wrapped in an equally large trench coat, floated there. Makes sense, I can't feel anything under my feet. Black vulpine ears with bright blue rings hanging from them jutted midway up the sides of the humanoid head. Human eyes sat above a canine snout, which was frozen in a snarl. Emblems of a blue ring circling a hexagon sectioned in red and white triangles adorned each shoulder. Large black paws poked out from the coats' sleeves, and I knew that wicked claws were sheathed within them. While I couldn't see much of the legs, I did see that the feet were ensconced in great big, black, I-will-stomp-on-your-face boots.

I looked back up to see a trio of humans in front of the tube I was in. One of them, the one with silver hair was monologuing something with his back turned to me. He hit the WAKE UP button on the pad he was holding, and I felt... commands slam against my mind, demanding that I follow them. With great effort, I forced them away and smashed my way through the glass. I stomped over to the silver haired man and rammed my fist through his gut.

Throwing him to the side, I watched the other two run off. I growled out a sigh, and focused on the nearby computer. This is all well and good, I grumbled as I turned the computer on, but I'd like to wake up now, Luna!

I started scrolling through the error messages, trying to scan through the code to find something about this dream. With a sigh, I leaned back from the screen embedded into the wall.

The wall curved into a red dome above the white floor. In the middle of the ceiling, a flood light flashed on and off, regularly washing the area in red light. I looked around at the metal room. My bed lay against one wall, and my toys were scattered around the room, worn and broken. A food dish, labeled WAKE UP, sat below a chute, the gauge beside it reading empty. A dry water bowl sat below a tap.

I didn't need to check to know that the tap was also dry. Obviously, I hadn't been let out in a while.

I've been in here for so long. I thought to myself. I wonder what happened. Did, did she forget about me? I lay on the floor under the screen. Maybe she doesn't love me any more... I quashed that thought, recognizing the nightmare's influence trying to take ahold of me. "No." I muttered. "No, I'm sure that there's a good reason Luna hasn't found me yet. There has to be one. There has to be..."

I focused on the screen. It said that the emergency life support was empty, and that the data compression system needed to be refreshed or replaced, that the user system needed to WAKE UP. But two words at the bottom caused me to worry.

D̀͞at́a ̀͞Co̡͟ŕ͘r̷̶u̷pti̕ò̷n͏͞ ̀̀͢4҉7̨́% ̨̀

That can't be good. I whimpered. "Luna will find my dream. She has to find it. Then she's going to fix it. She'll fix it, she'll fix it."

D̨͞҉á̶t̨̛͜a̡͟҉ ̵̧̕C̴͡o͜rr̷̕ú̴̴p͝ti̸̢on͟͟ ̷͠6́8̀͞% ̨̢

"C'mon, Luna." I frantically looked around the room, trying to find the way out. "She wouldn't leave me to die like this, r-right?" A flashing light appeared on the lower part of the screen. I rushed over to see that it was an emergency release button. I slammed my paw onto it hard enough to crack the screen. "Let me out, let me out, let me out!" I repeated, watching words scroll across the screen.

E̛͢m̵͢͏e͢r̶͞g̷e̢͝n̕͏cý̕ R̛̕e҉l͠͏ea̸ş͞͠ȩ̶͡ ̴E͞ņ͝g̸͘a̴͟g̵͡é̛d͞.
͘͜҉
̴É̵̴r̢ro̸͢r̀.̡̀͝ ̨̨̕Er̨͠roŕ̵.̵̢̀
́͏
͟D͠͞͝ata̕ Cơ͞ŗ͝r̷̸̀uptioń͟ ̡80% ̛

Luna, I'm scared...

Er͏ro̶r̢͢: ̡̡ I̛͡n̸͝ş͞u̴̢̡f̀f̴i͢͞ci̵e̛͢nt҉͏ ͞Í͘͟n͟t̕͟a̢͏ç҉t̵͠͞ ̀͡D͡at̕͝͞a̷̛̛.̡

É̵̴r̢ro̸͢r̀ W̕A͟K̕E͝ ͏UṔ

E͢͝r҉r͟͡ǫ̸͢r҉: ͝ ̛͟E҉m̛͘e̵̕r̶̢g̀͡e͝n̵c̡y ̨Ŗ̷el̡͏e͘̕͢a̸͠s͏ę͡ F͘a̸̵i̸̶l҉̸e̴̢d̨̧͠.̸̨̢

I cried out in pain as I felt several somethings in me snap. I started in horror at my pixelating form.

E҉̢́r͞ro̷̕ŕ͢: ҉̶̛ ͢҉M̛i͜s̵͟si̵n͘͡gn̕o̧̕.

I doubled over as I felt my spine snap, pushing a large hump up out of my back. My right arm bulked up into a grotesque mockery of a limb, while my left elongated and gained two more joints.

Ḑ̕a̸̡͡t̶͏a̢͘ cơr̀͞r̷up̸̨ti̸̛o͟ǹ̛ ́1҉̡0̶0́% ̸
̵
̶҉E͞r̨͏̀r̷͡͝o̕͟ŗ: ̡̕͠ ͏͞͝Mi҉s̕͡s͞ì̀ng̴ņo͘.͢

A section of wall was smashed in, showing a black void. A gigantic green cat's head pushed its way out of the void, it's soulless purple eyes scanning the room.

"L̡͢ų̕͟n͝a̧͠!͘ ̸H̸̕͟e̸̛l̨̢p͏ ̴̧m̛e̵̶!̷̷" I yelled as its gaze locked onto me. It opened its mouth and lunged for me. I blacked out as its fangs came down...

I woke up with a start, my heart trying to hammer its way out of my chest. My blankets were entangling my rear legs, and the closet door lay on the floor. Twilight, Spike, and Luna were looking in on me in obvious concern, while Yomega was busy rubbing his tongue.

<<What... What happened?>> I croaked out.

<<You were having some nightmare, there.>> Yomega frowned. <<You weren't waking up no matter what we did. Luna even showed up to try and wake you, but no luck. In the end, I had to eat it. Whatever you were dreaming about, it tasted like ghost peppers!>>

I focused on my mare. <<Did you find it?>>

"Neigh," Luna said, managing to hide the crack in her voice, "We could not find it. After everything, We couldn't find your dream."

One of These Months, the Darn Things'll Work.

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[Leo]

I lay within the Daycare, dozing in the heater's warmth. The snow had come in thick and fast, and had quickly buried the Daycare in it's white fluffy death. Now, at the turn of the month, the snow was so deep, we had to dig tunnels to connect everything. These tunnels had to be big enough for Fluttershy to crawl through them to do her chores.

And there was still a couple of feet or so above the tunnel's ceiling...

The Duo told me that the Apples were basically shutting down for the season. Too much snow for them to work through. It made me wonder, so I asked Rainbow what was up with the weather plan. She told me that the snowfall follows a pattern every year. The second month has the most snowfall to fill up mountain springs with melt water, while the fourth has the least. The first and third months have average snowfall so that animals wouldn't be alarmed by the drastic shift in snow fall.

I didn't know that Rainbow knew what drastic meant. I swear, her vocabulary had vastly improved since she started reading.

I cracked an eye open as I heard muffled cursing coming from the main tunnel. I rolled over in time to watch Fluttershy and Rainbow come crawling into view. Rainbow was also pushing a couple saddle bags ahead of her.

"Hey, Leo." Rainbow greeted me. "You got somewhere we can put these?"

<<Yeah, one sec.>> I stretched and left my warm spot to quickly dig out a storage space. <<What's all this for?>> I asked as I watched them place the bags in their new home.

"Well, Twilight and Moon Dancer were asking me about possible things that could've caused you guys to group up around the eggs like you did last month." Rainbow struggled to turn around. "How do you do this, Fluttershy? Anyways, we looked over the weather schedule and there's a temperature drop coming up, so we figured that that was it."

"We're, um, helping you prepare." Fluttershy added as she guided Rainbow so that she was facing back down the tunnel.

<<Oh. Cool. I'll go let the others know.>> I sighed, knowing it'll be a bit before I could get comfortable again. <<When's this cold front coming in?>>

"About four days." Rainbow shrugged. "Should only last a week or so."

<<And Rendezvous right after?>> I asked, squeezing my way past the mares.

"Yup!"

I cheered as I bolted down the tunnel. I wanted to get the Pack all on the same page as soon as I could.

"I don't remember her being this excited last month." I heard Fluttershy mention to my mare.

"Eh, I think it's just some sort of yearly blues thing."

I ignored them as I ran through the tunnels. Lulu's likely a given, I don't need to bug her right now. Zann would be a major asset, so I'll see him first. Villhiem's right out, of course. I nodded to myself as I finally exited our tunnel system. I paused to lock onto Zann's location, and then burst into town.

I slowed as I entered the market, looking around the mostly empty stalls. I finally spotted Zann hauling some groceries towards the bakery. As I was about to call out to him, he slipped on a patch of ice. His false leg slammed down onto the ice, breaking through to grip the ground. Pulling himself up with his prosthetic, he got his paws under him and continued on his way.

I looked around the ground and spotted a long patch of ice I could use. With a running start, I slid down the street until I hit snow and tumbled to a stop beside the fire type. "Hey, Zann. I've got a favor to ask you."

"Oh?" He frowned at me.

"Yeah." I got up to walk beside him. "There's going to be a cold snap pretty soon. I was wondering if you'd be willing to stay in the Daycare to help out if the heaters break again."

"Yeah, I can-" He slipped again just as the bakery came into view. "Arceus damn piece of fucking crap!" He snarled as he righted himself. "Fucking ice keeps fucking with me. Can't wait for fucking spring..."

I blinked. "This is an odd reversal. What's wrong?"

"Winter in general." Zann snorted. "It's too cold. I need to eat a lot more to maintain my body temperature. This late into the season, I need to gorge myself if I want to be out in the open for more than an hour..."

I hummed as we rounded the building. "Ya know," I paused at the backdoor, "that could be why you never see any fire types in the snowy regions of the games."

"Could be." Zann shrugged. "I'll do up some rations for the cold snap. How many of us will be there?"

"You're the first one I asked." I admitted. "I'll be going around to everyone, so plan for the full pack. And it should only be for a week, week and a half. Rainbow told me that she's helping Fluttershy prepare extra food for us, so we should be good if we store up as much as we did last month."

Zann nodded. "Gotta account for my stomach. Well, I'll see ya over the next few days." We waved at each other before Zann entered the bakery proper.

I turned and ran for the library.

I'm glad I asked everyone to come. I thought to myself. I lay curled around my eggs to help keep them warm in the early morning chill. The heaters had crapped out on us, forcing us to use our body heat once again. What's the point in having those if they never work when we need them?

"Early spring and late fall."

My ears tilted as someone shuffled around in their sleep. Looking around I saw that Yomega was now sitting upright, blinking owlishly at me. "... You wanna check the schedule to see how much longer this'll last?"

"Sure." I stood and stretched. "Warm my eggs?" I asked as I picked my way through the pile of bodies. Yomega nodded and rose to take my place. I jogged through the tunnels to the exit closest to town. Upon exiting, I paused to gauge the time. It’s too early for Rainbow to be in, so she won’t be able to let me in. Great, got to dig out that tunnel... I grumbled as I stepped away from the hole I came out of. I didn't want to leave an ice patch behind from my Extreme Speed right at the entrance, after all.

Because of how little time my paws spent on the ground, I didn't have to worry about ice until I needed to stop. Once I got to the start of the street the weather office was on, I dug my heels in and slid through the snow, plowing a trench through whatever had drifted onto the road. I finally stopped a little past the office, so I just trotted around that side to the back of the building.

I began to burrow my way to where I thought Conner dug out my back door tunnel, but I ended up tracking back and forth for about ten minutes before I found the damn thing. I squeezed my way through the tunnel and came out in a cupboard at the end of the main hall. Pushing out into said hall, I quickly made my way over to Rainbow's office.

Thankfully, she doesn't keep it locked, nor does she have the typical round knob style of door handle. I jumped up to grab the extended lever and then pushed against the door jamb. I dropped down and pushed it the rest of the way open, and allowed myself into the office.

I jumped up onto the desk and fished around for the schedule. Flipping it open , I quickly skimmed through it, then flicked it back where I found it.

To leave, I used my Extreme Speed to push the door closed while slipping out before it could do so. I hopped back into the cupboard. Hooking a paw around the door, I pulled it shut behind me, then left through the tunnel. I booked it back to the Daycare, dodging around Derpy doing her mail route while doing so.

Crunching back through the tunnels around Fluttershy's cottage, I finally returned to the Daycare and my eggs. I tiptoed my way over to Yomega and booped him until he awoke.

"Two more days for the cold snap, three more until it warms up enough for the heaters to start working again." I curled up around an egg and laid my head onto his back. "Then another two until Rendezvous."

Introducing Traditions

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"Leo, could you help me with this?" Rainbow asked, holding a ribbon in her wing tips. Nodding, I jumped onto her back and began threading it through the back of her dress. "Thanks. Ugh, this is the only thing I don't like about this holiday. Why can't I wear the suits and spats?"

<<Because it would be scandalous in that time period.>> I shrugged before tying the ribbon into the best bow I could do. <<Who normally ties this for you?>>

"Fluttershy." Rainbow sighed. "That reminds me, I'm going to need to-"

<<Leo, dear! Are you home?>> I jumped up to the nearest window, leaning out to spot Lulu sitting on the ground with a box beside her. <>

Noting Lulu's dress, I grimaced, walking to the door with a sigh. <<Rainbow, I think I'm about to agree about the spats...>>

Rainbow picked me up and carried me down to Lulu. "Something tells me that I might need to help you put it on."

<<Alright, this should be easy to slip into.>> Lulu began when Rainbow dropped me off. <<Now, I know that you may not be fully comfortable with feminine clothing, so I tried to keep it simple while still embracing the time period.>> She pulled a thick, simple pink dress out of the box. <<Jush 'ut yer 'ead fru th' 'ottom.>>

I rolled my eyes and took it from her and held it out to Rainbow. With my mare holding it open, I walked my way into the sleeves. Giving myself a quick shake to settle the dress, I glanced back at Lulu to check to see if there was anything else she was going to give me. I scowled at the matching pink booties she held with a smirk.

<<You're enjoying this way too much.>> I growled as I forced myself to put them on.

<<Very much so.>>

<<How can you stand to wear these things?>> I slowly walked around in a circle to get use to not feeling the ground.

Lulu frowned. <<You don't like the dress I made for you?>>

<<No, I do like it, it's very cute.>> I flicked my tail to try and make the dress settle on it better. <<It's just that, it feels kinda claustrophobic with it pressing down on my fur.>>

<<It does take some getting used to.>> Lulu agreed with a hum. <<Well, it's only for a day. I'm sure you can handle it for that long. I've got to go deliver the rest of these. Can you believe that Eros asked for one made for her, too? Sweetie tried so hard to make it, but Rarity and I had to, erm, touch it up. Just a little.>>

I raised an eyebrow at her. <<Well, see you later then. Rainbow and I are heading into town to look over the events.>>

<<Have fun!>>

"Bye, Lulu." Rainbow waved as the Vaporeon lifted her box and left. "So, you wanna do the sled pull first or...?"

<<Nah.>> I sighed as I led the way into the town proper. <<If I know the Duo like I think I do, they're both entering as well, and they can pull more than I can.>>

"So you're not even going to try?"

<<Maybe next year.>> I nuzzled one of Rainbow's legs. <<I'd rather spend today with you.>>

Rainbow chuckled as she rubbed my head. "Are you hitting on me? Goof."

We made our way through the throng of ponies and stalls. We spent some bits on the beaver tails Pinkie and Zann were selling, then wasted the morning cheering the Duo on at the sled pull. Afterward, we grabbed a lunch from the stall Big Mac was running, and settled in to eat at the fountain.

"So, what do you want to check out after we eat?" Rainbow asked around a mouthful of fritter.

<<How about checking out the ice sculptures?>> I mused. There's something I'm missing. Something that I need to do to make today feel like home. What is it?

"I thought you'd never ask!" Rainbow crammed the last of her food into her muzzle. "I love seeing the awesome stuff that gets made!"

I glanced up at her. <<Really? I didn't take you for somepony who'd like that.>>

Rainbow scoffed. "Yeah, I can see the confusion. But most of the carvings tend to be of the Wonderbolts or of the Guard, so they're always worth checking out."

<<Really?>> I repeated myself, scarfing down the last of my food. <<Okay, this I have to see.>>

We quickly found our way to the right area. Most of the sculptures were well on their way to completion, although a couple of blocks of snow remained untouched. I figured that they were set aside for ponies that had yet to arrive. True to Rainbow's word, there were many, many sculptures of pegasi in varying aerial poses. There were only a pawful of exemptions, including one of a large snowflake.

Rainbow and I went and admired each in turn, staying out of the way of the ponies still at work. I had to be dragged away from Derpy's carving. They way she made a stacking set if near translucent spheres was enthralling.

Eventually, we found ourselves back at the fountain. We were enjoying each other's company while watching other ponies enjoying the festivities.

"Hey, Leo?"

<<Hmm?>>

"Is there anything that the ponies near where you lived do differently for Rendezvous?"

I paused in thought. <<Well, not much. There was an area filled with fun and games for young foals, and a musical chairs game where the winner could win a cake. There was also a dogsled race that happened at the same time, but it was only the start or finish. The race was several days long. There was also a...>> I bolted upright. <<That's it!! Rainbow, do we have any syrup at home, preferably maple?>>

"Yeah, why?" Rainbow drew the words out in confusion.

<<What about popsicle sticks?>>

"I think so?"

<<Sweet! Go grab some, I need to find a patch of clean snow!>>

"What are you planning, Leo?"

I grinned, rubbing my paws together. <<Something that might make Pinkie jealous for not thinking of first!>>

Curious, Rainbow rocketed off to get the needed supplies. I jumped off the bench and quickly found a suitable spot. I didn't have to wait long for Rainbow to return.

"Alright, so what's this plan of yours?" She asked as she placed the syrup on the ground.

<<Just watch.>> I smugly said before popping the syrup top off and pouring a couple of strips out onto the snow.

Rainbow quickly took the bottle from me, hissing as she did so. "What are you doing?! Why are you just wasting the syrup like that?!"

<<I'm not.>> I insisted, rummaging for a pair of the sticks that she brought. <<You need to do this on fresh or clean snow to make this treat just right.>> I poked one of the sticks into the cooling syrup to gauge when it would be done, before jabbing one into one of the strips of syrup. I quickly, but awkwardly, rolled the almost solid sugar up onto the stick and held it out to Rainbow. <<Here, try it!>>

She took it in hoof, but cautiously eyed it while I made my own. I sat back onto my haunches to hold it properly, and began sucking on my syrup treat. I watched Rainbow reluctantly try hers, before she began sucking on it as eagerly as I was.

<<Good, huh?>> I smirked.

"We have got to show this to Pinkie!" With matching grins, we rushed off to share this simple recipe with the party pony.

I smiled to myself. Today has been the perfect day.

Jubilant Winters Passes into Somber Springs.

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Winter passed, as all winters do, and I was once again used to clear the sky for Winter Wrap Up. I spent the rest of the first day of spring helping Rainbow with her various jobs, until we dug up Tank that evening. As the week passed by, I started worrying less about the eggs, and more for my hormones. We all agreed that the last thing we needed right now was more eggs.

Remembering how things went last month, I braced myself for the strong urges and worked out a plan with Rainbow. Simply put, when I wake up and can barely think, she's to lock me in a kennel and never let me out without a leash. I am to remain in there for the two weeks or so for my heat to pass.

I woke up one morning and zombied my way down to the kitchen. I glanced at the calendar we had put up in view of the table. Let's see, I opened the pantry to get at a bag of kibble, I'm pretty sure that, um, it took this long for my heat to hit last... Month. So I can expect to be kept away from... the boys... I finished pouring a small bowl and dragged it from the pantry.

I had finished crunching my way through the bowl when Rainbow finally made her way down from her bed. "Morning." She yawned.

<<Morning.>> I waved back at her. I pushed my bowl over to the sink to be washed. <<Am I needed for the weather today?>>

"No, don' think so." She drifted around the kitchen to make her own breakfast. "Yer goin' to check up on th' eggs?"

I stretched out my back with a satisfying series of cracks. <<Yeah. Think I'll stop off at the...>> I paused to let a yawn of my own out. <<At the farm. Work on some moves or stuff. >> I walked out the door and crouched at the edge of our cloud home. <<Don't know when I'll be back. Will be home for supper.>>

"'Kay, have fun." Rainbow called after me.

I hopped down the clouds and started to make my way to the Daycare. Once there, I took my time checking and turning the eggs, and, for once, I wasn't worrying over them. I couldn't figure out why, though. I was just turning to leave when I heard a slight hiss behind me.

Fully turning, I saw Conner standing at the top of the ramp. "Uh..." He gave me a sheepish grin. "Good morning?"

"Morning to you, too." I smiled at him. I don't think I ever noticed how silky his fur looks before... I walked up and leaned against the door frame. "And how's spring been treating you?"

"Just fine!" He gave me a worried look. "So, uh, do you know when, um, mating season is?"

"I've got it circled on the calendar at home." I admitted. "It's supposed to start today," Conner took a step back, "but I don't feel any different, so I think my timings off. So you're safe for now, cutie. Anyways, I'm off to the farm for a bit. Later!" I gave him a quick kiss as I sauntered past.

I dropped into an Extreme Speed to get to the farm as quickly as I could. I slowed down once I was well into the orchard. I did my best to look down every row between the trees, but I did not see any of the tell tale flashes of color that would've marked any of the farm folk. Eventually, I had made my way into our Training Yard.

I saw Triphyle standing off to one side, but the yard was otherwise clear. "Hey, ya big lug. Any clue as to where the others are?"

":Hello little one. Come to train?:" Triphyle rumbled his gibberish at me. He tilted his head with a sniff. ":Or are you looking to relieve your urges?:"

"Yeah, I can't understand a word you're saying." I sauntered up to him and rubbed my side against one of his legs. "I expected as much." I took a sniff of my own. "Hmmm, you smell nice."

":You know that you won't get any eggs from me.:" I felt him rumble. ":Although, if I've judged your hutch as well as I think I have, that might be the point.:" He pushed me slightly away. ":Stop spreading your pheromones, please. I don't want Cy or Vincent to come in and smell them. On that thought...:" He thumped a foot into the earth and I could hear plants moving behind me.

I turned a half lidded look at the now blocked entranceway, new growth grown over the hole in the hedges. "Good, then no one can interrupt us." I purred, pressing myself back up against Triphyle's leg. I wonder if what I've heard about turtles applies to Triphyle... I blinked, then shook my head rapidly. Ugh, where did that come from? I took another deep breath to calm myself, but only breathed in more of Triphyle's musk.

":So, are you here for safe mating?:" Triphyle cocked his head at me.

And then it clicked. It really is mating season, isn't it? I groaned, stepping under Triphyle and pressing my back against the large tortoise. But then, why is this month's heat not such a strong driving force as last month's?

":Erm, is that a yes?:" I groaned as his rumbles pleasantly vibrated through me. ";Where's Eros when you need her?:"

I rubbed my tail against Triphyle's underside. Is it because this isn't my first heat? Like, the first one is so overwhelming to ensure species survival, but the ones after are just strong suggestions? I moaned as I felt something poking my rear. Very strong suggestions? I let out another moan as the poking became more insistent. Oh, thoughts for later, Leo...

":Okay, um, your pheromones are very strong, so, erm, I'm just going to go at it and stop if you pull away, okay?:"

I leaned down to brace myself. "Shut up and mount me!"

[Lulu]

I panted in the tub, calming myself before spraying the insides clean. Okay, so that works. I wonder for how long?

"Hey, Rarity?" I heard Sweetie call out from the bottom of the stairs. "Have you seen Eros around here?"

"I think I saw her upstairs, Sweetie. Why, is something wrong?"

"I just haven't seen her for a little while, is all!"

I hopped out of the tub as I heard Sweetie ascend the stairs. Reaching up, I unlocked the door and stepped out into the hallway just as Sweetie crested the stairs. <<Hello, Sweetie.>> I greeted the young mare.

"Hey, Lulu. Is Eros in there?"

<<No!>> I squeaked, fighting down my blush. I shook my head. <<You might want to avoid going in there for a while...>>

"Darn." Sweetie sighed. "Do you mind helping me look for her?"

I nodded, and started sniffing the air, ignoring my own, uh, "scent". I padded down the hall once I had picked up Eros's scent until it ended in the middle of the hall. Looking up, Sweetie and I saw the attic door. It took Sweetie a bit of work, but she managed to get it open with her magic. After pulling down the ladder, she climbed up into the darkness. I flowed up after her.

Weaving my way through the haphazardly stacked piles of odds and ends, I followed Sweetie towards the farthest corner, and the faint sound of crying. I watched as Sweetie turned the last pile with a gasp and then rush out of sight. I was about to follow when Eros appeared in front of me with the tell tale crack of teleportation. I had just enough time to wonder why she didn't travel farther when she crashed into me.

The next thing I know, I'm being suspended in the air.

"Eros, wait! What's wrong?" Sweetie called out. Eros stood stock still, then slowly lowered me to the floor. "I just want to help..."

"I know..." Eros's voice softly drifted across my mind. She sniffed as her mental power finally left me. "And that just makes this harder for me..."

I settled my fur down while Sweetie slowly came back out around the crate. "What's wrong, Eros? You know you can talk to me." The little filly asked after sitting down a short distance from Eros.

Eros sat down hard and tucked her knees to her chest. "... I hate thinking about it..." A thin red line appeared on her arm on the far side of Sweetie. "It hurts too much to think about..."

My eyes widened as I saw another line appear beside the first. <<Eros, no!>> I gasped as what she was doing clicked for me. <<Please don't hurt yourself! We all care for you too much for->>

"I know that!" Eros glared at me, her ire quickly melting away as tears welled up in her eyes. 'I always know how everyone feels around me..."

'Then you know that we just want to help, right?" Sweetie looked between us with worry.

<<I'm not going to force anything, Eros,>> I shifted to be a little further from her, <<but you should talk to someone about whatever is hurting you so...>>

We all sat there in silence as Eros struggled not to cry. Eventually, she 'spoke' up. "S-so, you remember what I was like back when you first summoned me, Sweetie?" Sweetie nodded. "That was because I was worried that my time had come... I was hatched on what I would later learn was a breeding farm. N-not all breeding farms are bad, they help endangered... summons from going extinct and help repopulate the wilds." Eros sniffed, her tears slowly starting to trickle down her cheek.

"Mine wasn't one of those. Mine was run by some gang, who hatched, grew and rapidly evolved summons. While they did that, they would 'train' us for the various..." She glanced at the filly. "Uh, unique needs of their clients. And they weren't gentle with their methods..." The tears were flowing freely now. "The so-called 'trainers' that ran the farm I grew up in specialized with Kairikys, Rougelas and... and Sirnights. And for their more, uh..." Again, she looked at Sweetie. "Older clients with unique tastes in their... partners."

Eros took a deep calming breath, and then her next thoughts were rushed out. "They would beat us, and whip us, and force us to act the way that they wanted us to, all so that we would, er, enrich the enjoyment of whichever client bought us. And if we didn't do what they wanted after all of that, they would withhold our food... They would forcefully evolve us and give us more in depth specialized 'training' when we showed our first heat... When you summoned me, I was only a month off." Eros finally broke down as her memories overwhelmed her.

Sweetie quickly scooped her up and held her, letting Eros cry out on her shoulder. I lay down and laid my head on her feet.

"I..." Sweetie swallowed and tried again. "I can't imagine that anypony could be so cruel..."

"They weren't ponies..." Eros warbled. "Ponies like your kind don't exist where I'm from..."

I whined. <<Humans can be horrible, spiteful creatures. Just as they could be the purest of saints.>> I flowed and curled around the pair. <<I'm so, so sorry for what those bastards did to you...>>

"It's not like you could've done anything, Lulu." Eros reached out and weakly patted my head. "You were a realm away..."

Sweetie looked between us. "There aren't any ponies where you were summoned from? Then, what hurt you so?"

"Humans." Eros spat the thought out.

"Oh." Sweetie held Eros closer. No more words were said as we let Eros calm herself down in the warmth that our company gave. Rarity would find us sleeping on the attic floor that evening.

The Invitation Was Lost Before It Got To Derpy, Oddly Enough...

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[Leo]

After my romp, I had dragged myself into the kennel to rest. By the time that I had, ah, "recovered", my heat had passed. I finally left the kennel and threw myself into my workouts to make up for lost time. Sure, I had a little bit of left over soreness, but I could easily ignore it.

I had just finished another set of death sprints over a patch of grass near the Daycare, and was about to start my cool down routine when Angel came thumping up to me. I started walking around the rabbit as he began his pantomime routine. I got almost none of what he was trying to say, but I managed to get Fluttershy and walking. Or was that eating?

Playing the harmonica?

I shook my head as I slowed to a stop. "Sorry Angel, I got none of that." I apologized as I started stretching out my back legs. "I only got Fluttershy outta that. Maybe you could draw it out?"

The ironically named rabbit glared at me. "... I need you to go get Conner. He's at the picnic Fluttershy's havin' with her friends. His package is here."

I blinked, my cool down completely forgotten as I tried to process his smooth tenor. "... You can talk?"

"Yes, let's focus on that, shall we." Angel sighed.

"Why don't you talk more?" I asked. "You've got a lovely voice."

Angel's glare intensified. "Because I just don't!" He jabbed a paw at me. "And, if you tell anyone other than Conner, they'll never find your body..."

"Tell them what?" I asked, keeping a straight face by overdoing the confusion. Did... Did Angel just blush?

"Have you not been-?!" Angel's glare reached new levels before my smirk broke through my mask. He slowly gave me a matching grin. "Okay, that was good. But, anyway, that package?"

"You want me to take it to him, or just tell him it's here?" I asked.

Angel shrugged. "Just tell him. He wants to hide it from Fluttershy, for some reason."

I nodded. "'Kay. Any idea what it is?"

Angel shrugged and turned to hop away. I did another set of stretches to limber up and then rocketed away from the cottage. I made great time, even passing Spike out for his own run, and without even dropping into an Extreme Speed. I slowed to a stop by the picnic while smiling to myself.

<<Okay, what's got you so happy?>> Conner asked me from his place beside Fluttershy.

<<Just me being proud of the results Rainbow's and my exercise have given me.>> My smile grew wider.

Rainbow gave me a grin of her own. "Oh? And what might those be?"

<<I can probably keep up with your average flight speed.>> I waved a paw at her. <<But I'm here for Conner, I need you to come with me for a bit.>>

<<O-okay?>> Conner tilted his head at me but followed me back towards the Daycare. I kept having to slow down for him, and he kept having to power walk to keep up with me, but we managed to stay together. "Okay, so what's this about?" He finally asked as we passed Spike huffing the other way.

"Angel asked me to come get you, something about a package for you." I looked at him from the corner of my eye. "Speaking of, when were you going to tell us he could talk?"

"I wasn't." Conner sighed. "He's made it clear that he doesn't like talking, so I've respected his wishes. When did he talk to you?"

"Just today." I shrugged. "I couldn't understand his charades, so he spoke up to speed things up. I wonder why he doesn't like to talk, he's got a nice voice."

Conner gave me a sly look. "Does some'vee have a crush?"

I snorted. "Okay, one: 'some'vee'? Really? Why not stick with 'someone'? And I don't have a crush on Angel." I paused in thought. "At least, not yet. Who knows what the future will bring?" I shrugged. "I was just surprised at how nice his voice is."

Conner eyed me with a grin. "Sure you were. And what's the second thing?"

"That was the second thing." I stated as the Daycare finally came back into view. I could see Angel entering the hutch with some rags and a bottle. "So, what's in the package?" I asked at the bottom of the ramp.

Conner blushed crimson. "So! You and Rainbow are doing a good job with the weather today!"

"They have it off." Angel snarked from inside the Daycare.

"Yeah," I agreed, "you wanna thank Thunderlane and Bulk today."

"Oh, Arceus, they're ganging up on me." Conner sighed.

Angel leaned out of the hutch. "Don't try dodgin' the question so blatantly next time."

I trotted up the ramp into the room. "What'cha up to, Angel?"

"Waxin'." He pointed to a shiny spot on the floor. He glanced out the doorway at Conner's retreating form. "Coward!"

"Eh, let him be." I waved my tail at the rabbit. "I can always use it for teasing fuel later. Need a paw with this?"

Angel sighed and nodded. "Once we're done, you're going to want to avoid coming in here for about six hours."

I grabbed a rag and some wax and started polishing the other corner. "... So, I'm just curious." I spoke up after some time. "But, is there any reason you're continuing to talk around me?"

Angel shrugged. "I'm not mute. And everyone wants to talk to someone else at some point. And all Conner talks about is Fluttershy. It's like he's got a crush on her." We both snorted. We spent the rest of the time in silence, working on the floors until they shined.

Once we were done, I lay across the bottom of the ramp. I yawned and waved a paw at Angel when he turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow. "Just gonna make sure no one goes in and ruins our hard work." I explained, to which Angel just nodded and hopped away.

Only a couple of minutes had passed when Rainbow landed on the grass. She leaned over me to poke her head into the Daycare. "Leo! Guess wha-? Leo?"

<<Down here.>> I poked at her leg.

"What are you doing out here?"

<<Just waxed the floor in there, don't want to wreck it.>> I stretched before getting comfortable on my back. <<What's up?>>

"I've been asked to perform a sonic rainboom for a royal wedding!" Rainbow squeed. "This is going to be so AWESOME!!"

<<Hell yeah, it is!>> I wriggled my way upright. Alright, time to play it stupid. I tilted my head. <<Who's the lucky stallion Princess Celestia is marrying?>>

"Twilight's brother that she never talks about!" Rainbow frowned. "Seeing as how he's the captain of the royal guard and all."

<<But...>> I frowned as well. I was trying very hard not to let my inner snickering out. <<Isn't Celestia not allowed to love her guards, some sort of conflict of interests?>>

"Yeah, that is weird." Rainbow's brain finally caught up with the conversation. "Wait, no, hold up! Princess Celestia's not getting married, Princess Cadenza is!" Rainbow waved a hoof back and forth. "There's more to her name, but it sounds weird."

<<Oh, cool!>> I nodded. Time to sow some chaos... I stifled my grin. <<If she's a princess, how come we've never heard of her before? I mean, she has to be an important pony if she's Celestia's daughter...>> I could see the gears grind to a halt in Rainbow's brain. <<... Rainbow?>>

"... You guys are coming with us." Rainbow stated, staring off at nothing. "So you should go pack. I gotta go talk to Twilight..."

<<'Kay!>> I chirped. I meandered away from the Daycare. I got to the bridge in front of the cottage before I looked back at the Daycare. With a sigh and a roll of my eyes, I trotted back and jabbed Rainbow in her side. The jolt was enough to get Rainbow airborne and on her way to the library. Smiling to myself, I turned to leave again.

Angel stood there, with an eyebrow raised and thumping one foot.

"Oh! Right..." I rubbed the back of my head. "Probably should’a tried to find ya before I left..." Angel nodded. "... I'm taking off now! Gotta go pack for a wedding. The whole Pack will be going, so we don't need to worry about the floor in there."

Angel rolled his eyes and hopped towards the cottage door. I bolted for my home and started throwing Rainbow's finest into a suitcase. I gave Tank the news, then thunked the suitcase down the cloud steps to the ground, then dragged it to the library.

I met up with the rest of the Pack there, even waking up Abes, and then we migrated to the train station. We hid it well, but we were all mentally preparing for the coming fight.

A Canterlot Invasion: Prelude To Disaster.

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We all crowded into the same train car, the ponies all grabbing seats at the front of the car. The Pack all eventually made it to the back seats to escape the clashing energies the ponies were giving off. Villhiem, Lulu, and the Duo were all talking about how the Crusaders would be catching the first train out of Ponyville the next morning. They were going to watch in the audience, with only Eros allowed to watch with them. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were going to wear their rings anyways.

I had always wondered why they were on hand to be flower fillies. Or, was that just Sweetie Belle. It's been so long since I've seen this two-parter... I mentally grumbled. I sighed my frustration away and watched the countryside pass by. I had to sit on a sleeping Abes to do so comfortably, but he didn't mind.

I heard the cushion behind me creak as someone sat beside Abes. I tilted an ear towards them, passively eavesdropping.

"Hey, Abes." Yomega prodded my seat. "Wake up, I need to ask you something."

"Wassat?" Abes groaned rolling to get comfortable again, which pitched me back into Yomega.

"I just wanted to double check on your side project." The Espeon lifted me and floated me to his other side. "How's it been working out?"

"Scrapped." Abes sighed. "Luke got as far as I did before the cave started fucking with him. So, yeah, we're stuck running this as canon."

"Well, it was worth a shot." Yomega consoled. He discreetly gathered the pack around us. "Alright, this is going to be a big day tomorrow. Leo, what can you tell us so that we're not going in blind?"

I double checked that our mares were far enough away from us, before speaking quietly. "So, I don't really remember some of the details, but I do have the big parts we need to watch out for." I pointed at our mares. "They're going to split off from each other at the train station to get to their individual tasks, while Twilight's going to berate her brother for not telling her he's getting married himself. Sadly, I don't know what's going to happen with the others before Twilight and Queeny get back to them. The show focuses on Twilight for the most part."

"It's almost like she's the protagonist or something." Cy snarked.

"Really? I thought it was Derpy." I shot back at him.

"Oi!" Yomega cuffed us both. "Have your snark-off later."

I grinned sheepishly. "Yes, Mom. Anyways, Twilight's going to be at the right places and times all day to catch Queeny breaking character. When she tells the others about this, everypony else will chalk it up to wedding nerves. The next morning, Twilight's going to overreact and lash out at the rehearsal, which will turn everypony against her. Queeny will send Twilight down to..." I glanced over at the ponies. "the V.I.P. in the caves, they bust out and “ruin” the wedding, which causes Queeny to launch her invasion. Queeny overpowers Celestia, the Main Six rush to gather the Elements, but get captured at the finish line.

"They all get brought back to the throne room, the V.I.P and..." Another glance at the mares. "... The Captain releases a love nuke which kicks the invading army from the city. Everypony takes a moment to catch their breath, then they redo all of the wedding prep and have the proper wedding that evening. Luna comes down during the reception having missed the whole thing."

"Question?" Abes poked me. "How does Luna miss a fucking invasion?"

"Fucked if I know." I shrugged. "The show never covered that. It's been a topic of fan fiction ever since. The show mostly treats it as a joke. Just like Spike completely misunderstanding what a bachelor party is. He's in charge of the bachelor party, by the way."

"Great..." Yomega sighed. "I'm going to have to educate him on that, then. So, everyone's going to stay with their mare until the fighting starts. Once it does, we'll split off and help defend the ponies in the city. We'll regroup with our mares after the anti-ling wave passes through. I'll figure out the pairing before then." He gave us all a stern look. "If you notice any 'lings, for Arceus's sake, don't react! No growling, no snarling, nothing. Shy away from them if you have to, but don't lash out at them. Anything we do that will increase suspicion towards them will only cause the invasion to happen earlier."

Vince sighed. "It feels so wrong to be working with the villains on this one..."

"I know." Yomega softened his tone. "It's only for a day, then we can go back to business as usual."

A wave of pink passed through us all. Zann giggled as it passed through him, but Abes began coughing and retching, shuddering for a minute before he calmed down.

"Damn type advantages." He grumbled. "Assuming that 'lings have dark typing, then it's no wonder that fairy typed shield will keep them out."

"Does that mean that Captain's fairy-psychic?" I wondered.

"Not important." Yomega stated. "Alright, everyone. Smiles on, it's showtime."

We all scrambled to and bounced around our mares as the train slowed to a stop. I hopped up onto a chair then launched myself up onto Rainbow's back as she slid the car door open. "What's with all the guards?" She asked, sticking her head through the doorway.

Holy... I shrunk back at the sight of our welcome committee. Is every Royal Guard guarding this one train station?

"Sure looks like it."

That's just sloppy defensive planning...

Rainbow left the train as Applejack and Rarity followed her out. "I'm sure that they're just taking the necessary precautions." Rarity rationalized. "Royal weddings do bring out the strangest ponies."

I glanced over at Pinkie. "A-a-ah!" Zann jammed his paw over her snout. "Oh, fanks!"

<<Anytime.>>

"Now!" Rarity attempted to get us on some semblance of a track. "Let's get going, we've got work to do!" We all hustled towards the station's exit, except for Applejack, who stayed behind to encourage Twilight out of her funk.

Twilight stormed off towards a different section of the station, Yomega right on her heels, with the guards there letting them pass. The ones by our exit had us wait while our luggage was unloaded and inspected.

"How come Twilight gets to go through, an' we have to wait?" Rainbow grumbled.

"Captain Armor requested that his sister is directed to him immediately." A thestral in day guard armor stated. "Otherwise, she would have to suffer through this as well. This being standard procedure, after all."

I leaned towards her and took a couple of sniffs. <<I knew it! Hi, Night Shade!>>

Rainbow blinked, then took a closer look at the guard. "Wow, Leo, you're right! When did you transfer to Day Guard, Night Shade?"

The mare let a slight grimace break through her stoic façade. "Not very long ago. Being up this, well, late for me is really messing with me. I keep fighting to stay awake." She stifled a yawn. "Thankfully, I've been assigned to be your escort for the moment. We'll be making our way up to the throne room to meet some visiting dignitaries, then I'll be taking you around to your various workplaces. After that, you're free to go where you please, if you don't mind the nearby guards taking note of where you are."

"Paranoid, much?" Rainbow snarked.

Zann chose that moment to let out a sneeze of his own, embers flickering out on the stone platform.

Night Shade snorted as our luggage was finally brought over to us. "I think that there's a wedding going on or something? Must be important to include this much security." We all shared a laugh as we finally started making our way up to the castle.

I watched the ponies going about their everyday business from my place on Rainbow's back. Although everything seemed normal, I caught many giving the closest guards nervous looks. I chose to believe that it was out of unfamiliarity of martial law and not a changeling about to blow cover. I would be too high strung if I suspected otherwise.

We finally made it inside the castle, and I saw more of the same. Maids and servants hurried from room to room, some casting looks over their shoulders with almost alarming frequency. Even some of the lower ranking guards were shifting at their posts nervously.

When we got to the throne room, Night Shade turned and stood beside the doors. "This is as far as I go. I'll be waiting for you out here to show you to your work areas when you're done."

"We'll be back out lickity split!" Pinkie chirped, leading us into the room itself.

"Now announcing Ladies Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie!" A fancily dressed pony called into the room.

I hopped off of Rainbow with a huff. <<And what're we? Chopped Liver?>>

"Oh, shush." Rainbow rubbed my head. "Let him do his job. Besides, you should look at who's up by the throne!"

I rolled my eyes before looking at the far end of the room. Celestia sat on her golden throne, as usual. She had her normal aids hovering around her, and there was a new set of chairs sitting there as well. Luna's navy blue chair sat empty, but the wooden, but no less ornate, chairs at the foot of the dais were occupied.

I blinked, taking another look. Ember sat on Celestia's right, her horns shining oddly in the light, while Luke sat in the other. I caught flashes of color on their brows, but couldn't make out any details at this distance. Lulu nudged me from behind to get me walking. I shook my head as we got closer. I don't see their egg. Is it just hidden out of sight, or back in their suite under guard?

We all bowed once we got close enough to do so. Rising up, I could finally see Luke looking uncomfortable and doing an admirable job hiding it. I also got to see his ruby inlaid circlet of silver. Glancing across, I saw a matching golden circlet on Ember with a sapphire. I wonder how hungry she is with that snack literally hanging overhead?

Celestia gave the royal pair a knowing look. "May I formally present you to Empress Ember and Emperor Luke of New Dragonia."

I bit my tongue to stop me from blurting out the first thing that came to mind. Do not make a "that was fast" joke!

"They will be attending the wedding as royal guests." Celestia went on. "While this doesn't affect most of your duties, I must inform two of you of necessary changes. Applejack, you will be working alongside the castle staff and will be required to supply a more varied selection of dishes to accommodate our guests. Rarity, I trust that you will be up to the task of supplying our guests with formal attire for the event?"

"I would be honored, your highnesses!" Rarity bowed to hide her massive smile.

"If it's all the same," Ember spoke up, "we can make do with our current selection..."

Celestia gave her a slight nod. "Very well. If you change your mind, please know that the offer remains open...?" She glanced down at Rarity, who nodded eagerly. "As much as I'm sure you would all love to catch up with each other, I'm afraid that there is much yet to do before the rehearsal tomorrow."

"We'll talk later tonight?" Luke thought at us.

<<Absolutely.>> Lulu nodded. <<Where are you staying?>>

"We have our own royal suite. I'm sure Abes already knows where it is."

<> The dark type nodded.

<<Until later, then.>> Cy bowed, causing the rest of us to do so as well.

We hurried to catch up with our mares, who were most of the way back to the doors by that point. Once we left, Night Shade wasted no time in directing us towards our areas. She also assured us that our luggage had already been sent to the suite we would be staying in. Pinkie and Zann split off first, as the reception hall was the closest area of them all. Fluttershy, Conner, Rainbow and I were left at the gardens, each with different spaces to practice in.

I was told later that Lulu had appropriated Abes to help with the dress work, while the Duo were pressed into helping in the kitchen. We would all be working hard in our own ways for the wedding, even if it didn't look like Rainbow and I were doing much.

[Yomega]

I followed Twilight around the castle. She only had to ask a couple of guards where Shining was, and off she stormed. I swear, you didn't need to be psychic to feel the veritable thundercloud she was dragging around. I even saw a mare dart onto a side street to escape Twilight's grumbling glare.

No, wait... I thought to myself as I brushed against the mare's mind. That one's a changeling.

"How can you tell?"

I felt her talking over her hive mind, Brain. I quickly retracted my psychic tendril from her, sending it to brush up against the next pony I could see. Likely letting Queeny know that we're here. Just a guard. I gently brushed my mental tendril across everypony I saw. I mean, I do that normally. This time, I was just paying more attention to what I was brushing up against.

Pony, pony, pony. I thought to myself, labeling ponies as I went. Pony, pony, changeling, pony, pony, po-... I'm going to need to scrub that image out with brain bleach now...

"Such are the dangers of being psychic."

I snorted. Where was that warning on the pamphlet? I mentally snarked as we finally rounded the main palace building and approached the garrison. Twilight stormed across the yard, the force of her anger keeping ponies from approaching her.

As soon as we could make out individual ponies on the garrison, Twilight yelled up at her brother. "I've got something to say to you, mister!"

A white stallion with very ornate purple armor looked over the parapet, smiling once he spotted Twilight. He removed his helmet and signaled the guards next to him to lower their spears. "Twily!" He rushed to the nearest set of stairs and met us outside the building. "Aw, I missed you kid. How was the train ride?" He asked, raising a hoof to Twilight.

One she backed away from. "How dare you not tell me in person that you were getting married!" She finally let loose on him. "I'm your sister, for pony's sake!" She turned her head away and fumed.

"I did send you an invitation." Shining lowered his hoof. "I had to send it through the normal post because of how busy we've been."

"Too busy to send it through Spike?" Twilight asked.

Shining nodded. "Princess Celestia has requested a major increase in security. I'm sure you saw all the guards at the train station..."

"Yeah!" Twilight turned and walked off towards a nearby pond. "There's a big wedding coming up. Maybe you've heard about it?!"

Shining and I shared a look before following after her. "It has nothing to do with the wedding. A threat has been made against Canterlot. We don't know who's responsible for it..."

<<Changelings.>>

"...But Princess Celestia asked that I provide additional protection." I could see the stallion's weariness start showing through. He lifted Twilight's face to look her in the eyes. "This, you need to see." He stepped back and concentrated.

I closed my eyes and watched through my mental senses. I felt the build up of power until it was blinding to even my mind's eye. He released the energy upward with a crack of thunder. I opened my eyes to see the shield brighten as it was strengthened by Shining's magic. I looked back at Shining, and saw just how much energy it took out of him.

As he continued talking to his sister, I tried to see his true self. I watched him gain a couple of feet in height, his armor polished to a mirror shine. He looked like what you'd expect on a royal guard recruitment poster: the ideal soldier. But I spied a green clamp on his horn, pulsing in time with the green glow coming from his eyes. My eyes followed the fine chain snaking off of the clamp until it phased through a wall.

I returned my sight to normal and rushed after them as they entered the garrison. The Queen already has a firm hold on him... I frowned. Just how long has this been going on?

A Canterlot Invasion: Strategy Meeting.

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I followed Twilight and Shining out onto the sky bridge, laying down by the railing near them. I ignored their conversation, having gotten the important bits from Leo earlier. I closed my eyes and laid my head onto my front paws, calming my mind, and thinking back on some of my training with Eros. Over the winter we had gotten to the point of exploring my own mind. Now, I was trying something we had only just started working on. Eros knew how to do it, though she admitted that she needed to evolve to actually do it.

Taking a final calming breath, I let my body fully relax, then stood up.

I looked back at Twilight and Shining, and forced myself to see the normal world again. I looked at my paw to ensure that my red tether was clamped there, and that the chain led back to my body. I lightly pushed against the bridge and floated up onto the railing. As Twilight began going down memory lane, I tilted forward and fell off the bridge.

I drifted down and floated above the guards stationed below the garrison. I kept watch on their minds, admiring the mental disciple they each had. I figured that they unknowingly gained this mental shielding during training. It made the fact that Chrysalis had managed to get into Shining's mind all the more impressive.

I drifted further out and spied a changeling. I could easily tell because her glamour was only a haze on the astral plane. I also spied another green chain snaking off of her, connecting her to another nearby changeling. Another, fainter one speared off down a side street, fading away into nothing a few yards away.

Oddly, I quickly spotted another with a blue chain that pointed away from the other changelings there.

A gentle breeze buffeted me from the garrison's tower. I floated through the wall and saw her stalking up the stairs. I glared at the queen of the changelings, her hazy disguise of a pastel pink alicorn doing nothing to hide her black chitin. A rat's nest of chains surrounded her body, some spearing into her, others shifting around her. But the chain that drew my attention was the only one that was latched to her horn.

I knew that the other end was attached to Shining. I flew past her and sunk myself back into my body as she stepped into the ponies' view. I ignored Twilight doing her little song and dance as I learned of the reason pokemon didn't astral project in battle.

My tail lashed to one side. Shit, that was supposed to be my leg... I missed the entire meeting with "Cadence" as I sorted my body out. I was able to stand and follow Twilight as we made our way towards the kitchen.

I was not looking forward to the long day up ahead...

[Leo]

I had spent the day in the garden with Rainbow. We were subjecting ourselves to the only checklist we cared for, the one for a Sonic Rainboom. Every muscle was stretched and limbered in turn, short sprints were done as warm ups, and the flight path was charted on a map a guard helpfully provided.

The only time I paused in helping Rainbow was when I heard a slight commotion from the area Fluttershy was rehearsing in. I excused myself and poked my head through the hedge to see the Queen holding her ears as a red bird screeched out what I assumed was a song. Conner was doing his best to listen without cringing, while Fluttershy was just trying to get the bird to stop.

I pulled myself out of the bush and warned Rainbow that "Cadence" was checking in on Fluttershy and might be coming to see her next. Thankfully, she never came.

Later that night, after the girls had left for their dinner, the full Pack were sitting in our suite, chowing down on our own food. We were waiting for another person to arrive before we got down to business. I was just settling in for a quick nap when there was a knock on our door. Abes floated the empty bowls into the kitchen while Yomega answered the door.

"Ah, Luke!" He stepped back into the room, bowing as he did so. "We are honored you could find the time to meet with us, your highness..." Almost as one, we all gave a bow to Luke.

"I’m really hoping you guys are just making a well rehearsed joke." Luke waved a paw while covering his eyes with his other one. "You guys don't need to do that stuff with me, we're all friends. Right?"

"Absolutely, your majesty!" Zann bounced in place.

I decided to butt in before we completely lost the thread of why we were here. "You certainly rose through the ranks quickly."

"Well," Luke coughed into his paw, "that was kinda our plan. Ember's and mine, I mean."

"Speaking of plans," Yomega waved us into the common room, "we need to go over our own for tomorrow."

Abes floated a table and tea set over to the largest couch in the suite. Lulu and Villhiem quickly brewed up a large pot of our special herbal tea. The Pack crowded onto the couch, while Yomega gently pushed Luke into a separate chair. We politely waited for Luke to take his first sip of the tea before starting to enjoy our own.

"So, firstly," Yomega rolled a paw, "you should know that we are going to be fighting tomorrow. Not with Twilight and the others, but out in the city."

"Finally abandoning protecting the timeline?" Luke asked.

"Nope." I spoke up.

"We only know what happens in the show, so we know that the Element Bearers will be fine." Abes said. "So we are planning on lending our aid out in the city itself."

Vince nodded. "Basically, we're going to rescue and protect as many ponies as we can until the 'ling's are kicked out of town."

"If anything," Cy added, "we're going to maintain what we can until Twilight ascends. After that, we promise we'll come clean."

Luke sighed. "You'd better. I don't know if you'll even make it that far, though. All it takes is for one summoner to summon in one of you guys, and it's all over."

"Got that covered!" Zann chirped. "See if you can get a copy of Moon Dancer's reports on us, it'll explain it in better detail, but they believe us to be naturalized summons."

"To be fair," Yomega cut across further conversations, "we were planning on mucking with this one anyways. This "fighting in the streets" plan is the only one we have left. Anything else ran the risk of the Queen slinking away and coming back with a better strategy, or couldn't be completed due to outside circumstances." He pointed at Abes. "His personal project was the closest we had to resolving this early, but..."

Abes sighed. "You couldn't make it past those crystals in the cave. I was going to rescue Cadence, then have Luna quietly capture the Queen, but I couldn't make it past a different cluster of crystals that were further in than yours." Abes turned to address the rest of us. "So, I got Luke to go in and see if he could rescue her instead."

Luke sighed, taking another sip of his tea. "I couldn't even get as far as you did. What's stopping Lulu or Villhiem from going in?"

Yomega grimaced. "Not enough time. The Queen's army is in place, all she'd have to do is drop the shield in the middle of the night and the city will be taken in its sleep. The ponies will have a better chance to fight back during the day. So!" His cup clinked back onto its saucer. Yomega poured himself another cup before he continued. "Is there somewhere in the city -or castle- that you feel is important for you to protect?"

Luke paused in thought. Eventually, he nodded. "If I can convince Garble to look after our egg while we're at the ceremony, then we can help protect either that wing of the castle, or the hospital. Where will you be going?"

Lulu spoke up as Abes unfolded a map of the city. "We'll be pairing up and helping anywhere we can. We'll focus on guiding ponies to the more well defended areas, like the university and the hospital. It's not a perfect plan..." Lulu finished uncertainly.

Yomega nodded encouragingly. "But it's the best we got. Conner and Abes will be going here, Zann and Lulu here, Villhiem and the Duo here, and Leo and I over here." He tapped the map with each word of here, pointing out the different districts of the city. "We're going to be focusing on helping ponies, not fighting 'lings."

"That's a lot of city for you guys to cover..." Luke sighed. “If Ember, Smolder and I split up, we can hold the suites around Garble, the hospital, and the University. Could you guys try to guide ponies there?” He leaned back into his seat, rubbing his face with a paw. “I don’t know how many ponies we’ll be able to shelter and protect, though…”

"I don't expect us to make a significant difference in the battle." Yomega sighed. "But, if we can help save even one innocent pony who wouldn't have otherwise survived, then that'll be enough." We lapsed into silence.

I decided to break it. I leaned forward and poured each of us a fresh cup. I raised mine and grabbed everyone's attention. "To the wedding of our time, and one hell of a bachelor party."

We all clinked our glasses in toast and slurped back our cooling tea.

Luke looked at his cup in contemplation. "... This is really good tea."

A Canterlot Invasion: Right for all the Wrong Reasons.

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It was late that night when the mares returned to our suite. Luke had already returned to his own bed, and Abes had left to keep Luna company. We only knew when they had gotten back because they were gushing about being chosen as "Cadence's" new bridesmaids.

Very loudly.

Yomega closed the door connecting the bed room to the main room and we all tried to go back to sleep. Half an hour later, we heard Twilight come in only to leave shortly after. An hour after that, and the girls still hadn't gotten over their excitement.

I pulled the pillow off of my head and Glared at the clock. Three o'clock?! That's it! I tossed the pillow to the side, jumped off the bed and stormed over to the door.

"Leo?" Lulu called after me. "What're you doing?"

I jumped up to unlatch the door. "Fixing this!" I barked before slamming my head into the door hard enough to cause it to bounce off the wall. <<Do you ponies have any idea what time it is?!>> I yelled into the now quiet room. I didn't wait for a response. <<It's three in the Arceus damn morning! I don't care if you want to stay up all night, but keep the fucking volume down!>> My Glare traveled across each mare in turn. <<Some of us are trying to sleep. Which you should be doing anyways, the rehearsal's in five fucking hours! Good night!!>> I turned on my heel and stormed back into the bedroom as the mares gave out quick apologies. I hopped back up onto the Pack's bed to try and get some sleep.

I heard Yomega close the door with a click. The ponies on the other side began to converse again in hushed tones.

With a yawn, I pulled my pillow back over to me, fluffed it up, and curled up on it.

"... Okay," Lulu began, "just because they were being loud, that's no excuse to be so angry with them!"

I stared at my tail. "... I wasn't angry with them. Very frustrated, yes, but I wasn't angry."

"That wasn't you being angry?" Cy asked. I could feel everyone's stares on me.

"Nope." Yomega spoke up. "I've only seen her truly mad once. That wasn't it. Trust me, you'll know when she's angry. Now, let's just try and get some sleep, alright?"

"Alright." We all chorused back.

I snapped awake when my pillow was ripped out from under me.

"Wakey, wakey!" Zann singsong at me.

"Aww, man..." I groaned, grabbing my tail and using it to rub the sleep from my eyes. "Did I sleep through the invasion?"

"Nope!" Zann bounced from the bed. "Queeny has asked, read that as "demanded", that we stay here. So we're going to be busting out once we eat. Headmaster also wanted you to get enough sleep."

"Oh." I rolled over and stretched. "While I'm glad he let me sleep in, I'd've rather he woke me up with the rest o' ya."

I felt myself being picked up off the bed and placed on the floor. A bowl of fancy food floated up to me. I glanced towards the main room to see Yomega poking his head in through the doorway. "I figured the extra sleep would counter whatever you'd lose from the sigil Luna placed on you."

"Ah. Thanks." I quickly devoured the food placed before me. I was the first one done and I ended up impatiently waiting by the hallway door. "So, how are we getting out?" I asked Yomega as he came up to me.

"Easy." Yomega looked over at Abes. "If you'd please?"

Abes fell into his shadow and slipped under the door. A moment later, and the guard outside opened the door for us. Night Shade looked down at us. She held up a note in her wing.

"So," she drawled, "Princess Luna wants to see you?" She raised an eyebrow. "I know for a fact that she is sleeping right now. This isn't going to let me let you out. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's orders, I'm afraid." She gave a sly smile. "Now, I'm going to turn around and guard this doorway. And, if you did manage to get past me, I wouldn't be able to find you if you take the servant's passageways and hide out in one of the alcoves in the reception hall..." She turned back around and stood in front of the open door, facing out into the hall.

<<Is... is she just going to leave the door open?>> Cy asked.

I looked at the door, the Pack, and the mare guarding the door. <<... CHEESE IT!!>> I booked it from the room, with the rest of the Pack on my heels as best they could.

"Oh, no..." I heard Night Shade monotone as she closed the suite's door. "They're getting away..."

We slowed down when we noticed that no guards or 'lings were following us. Abes then led us through the halls towards the reception hall the wedding was going to be taking place in. We ducked into the servant passageways whenever we saw changeling. Everything was going smoothly.

I grew more and more nervous, waiting for something to go wrong.

We turned a corner near the reception hall and ran right into Rainbow Dash. "Oh, hey, I was just coming to let you guys out. Let you run through the gardens a little bit and let the maids have a chance to clean the room." She tilted her head. "What're you guys doing out here, anyways? Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was very clear that she wanted you guys to stay in the suite. I don't know why," Rainbow shrugged, "Everypony else who's seen ya likes ya..."

<<Yeah, no.>> I chuckled. <<We came here for a wedding, we're going to watch the wedding. Even if we have to hide behind a curtain to do so.>>

"I don't know..." Rainbow sighed as the Pack circled around her. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's pretty upset right now. Twilight got really emotional at her, saying things like "Cadence is evil" and stuff. Shining really laid into her after the Princess ran out crying. We're all giving her some space to calm down, but I don't think that Twilight's going to be at the wedding, either..."

We all shared worried looks. It wouldn't be long before the invasion would start, but we didn't know just how much time we had left.

Rainbow gave us a sly look. "The hall should be empty right now..." She hovered above us. "C'mon, let's get you guys hidden!" We followed Rainbow back to the hall. She cracked a door open and poked her head in, checking to make sure the coast was clear. "Alright, no pony's here. Go hide." She held the door open for us as we bolted into the room. It didn't take us very long to seclude ourselves around the room, tucking ourselves behind curtains and statues.

Rainbow took a few extra minutes to float around the room, making sure we were hidden from every angle. Eventually, she nodded and flew towards the door. Just as she put her hoof on the handle, the door opened by itself. "Cadence" stood there, dressed in her wedding dress, looking imperiously down at Rainbow. "What are you doing in here?"

Rainbow jumped a little when the door had opened, but she recovered admirably. "The Pack got away from me in the gardens. I was just making sure they weren't in here." She lied smoothly. "I was just about to go double check the suite to see if they had returned there on their own."

"Don't bother, we will be starting shortly." Queeny rolled her head to point with her horn. "Go wait with the others for Princess Celestia."

"Right away, your highness!" Rainbow trotted out of sight.

"Cadence" gave the room a sweeping glare before she turned and left, closing the door behind her.

I could hear someone letting out a held breath in an explosive sigh. It took me a minute to realize that it was me. I started to blush as Celestia opened the doors and led the audience and Shining into the hall, Spike following along with him. It was harder to spot with all the ponies in the way, but Shining's glazed eyes were obvious to me.

I tuned out Celestia's short speech, figuring I'll catch it during the real wedding. As our mares entered and made their way to their spot, I stared out over the crowd trying to spot any potential changelings. I kept doing so, even though I knew that I had no way of knowing for sure. I was just trying to distract myself while I waited.

I was practically vibrating in place when "Cadence" entered and made her smug way up to the waiting groom. I tuned out Celestia's next speech, straining my eyes and ears towards the door. It took entirely too long for Twilight's cry of "STOP!" to come for my tastes.

I looked around at the Packs' hiding places to see them all sneaking out towards the door. I shrugged, then used the exposition the real Cadence was spouting to move along the wall. I paused while Chrysalis exposed herself, distracted by the sudden light. Ya know something, Brain? That's something I never got.

"Wassat?"

Why would Chrysalis reveal herself like that? There's so many ways she could've spun this to make it look like Cadence was the imposter and had Twilight under her control, and then Celestia would've done her work for her.

"A mystery for the ages..."

I took my place with the rest of the Pack in time to watch Celestia's fireworks. She fired a beam of fiery sunlight hot enough we could feel it by the doors. Chrysalis matched it with a ray of acidic green mana of her own.

<> Cy murmured, <<Why doesn't Celestia use her more powerful magicks?>>

<<Her more powerful spells cause massive collateral damage.>> I looked over to see Villhiem flaring his leafy parts to catch as much of Celestia's sun as possible.

<<Can't be that bad...>> Vince grumbled.

<<Let me put it this way.>> I snarked, turning back to watch Chrysalis's magic overpower Celestia's. <<How fond are you of the Canter Horn?>> Our mares gathered around Celestia's fallen form, getting their instructions to get the Elements.

<<What I don't get,>> Lulu spoke up, <<Is why no pony is running for the exit in a blind panic.>>

<<Maybe they expect Luna to come save them?>> Zann looked around. <<Where is she, anyways?>> Abes' eyes widened before he dissolved into mist.

<<NO!>> Yomega yelled out. "Abes, you get your ass BACK HERE!!" He growled. <<Okay, new plan. Conner, stay with the ponies. Vince and Cy will take Conner and Abes' zone, I'll go with Villhiem, Leo, you're with Zann and Lulu!>> Rainbow and the others rushed past us at that point. <<GO! GO! GO!>>

We all scattered to our various zones as the shield shattered overhead.

A Canterlot Invasion: The Hound of Luna.

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[Abes]

I rushed through the corridors, my shadowy form blurring past royal guards. As I zoomed along, more and more of them were locked in combat with the changeling forces. I finally rematerialized in the hallway outside of Luna's room. The guard jumped in shock at seeing me.

<<Open the door.>> I growled at him, pawing at the offending obstacle.

"Uhh..."

I whirled to face him snout to snout, my rings giving off their own light. <<There is a fucking WAR happening right now. Open the FUCKING DOOR!!>>

The guard jumped, quickly unlocking the door and pushing it open. I rushed into the common room, noting that nothing had been disturbed. The guard closed the door behind me as I shadowported further into Luna's royal suite. <<Luna!>> I barked as I smashed through her bedroom door and saw...

Changelings.

Wall to wall changelings.

Most of them were looking at me. Those that weren't were powering some kind of spell they had trained on Luna.

I lowered my body with a growl. I pulled my energy through my skin and fur, causing it to take on a purplish sheen. <<Get away from her, you filth!>>

I felt a changeling land on my back and try to dig it's fangs into me. I felt no pain, but it quickly rolled off of me, retching and hissing. Another one slammed into my side, but it also quickly let me go as a patch of purplish energy seeped into it's chitin.

I ignored it and grabbed the edge of a rug in my mental power, ripping it out from under a small group of changelings. I threw it over them to distract them for a little bit as another changeling slammed into my side. This one stayed latched on until I pried it off with my telekinesis and threw it into the swarm.

A couple of changelings stopped it before it hit the ones keeping Luna out of the action. I pulled at my mana and formed a small ball of malevolent energy and threw it into the swarm. It exploded against a changeling, leaving a scorch mark against it's chitin. I began hurling the orbs as fast as I could form them. Another changeling latched onto me as I was about to hurl an orb at one of the spell 'lings, throwing my aim off. This one smashed into a wall, blowing chunks of masonry back into the bugs. The shrapnel just bounced off of their chitin, though.

I reared up and slammed the changeling on me against the wall. Another changeling rammed into my gut while I did so, knocking the wind out of me. The one that was on my back was knocked out by our combined weight mashing it into the wall. I quickly formed a ball, and launched it straight down into the 'ling in front of me, then grabbed it in my telekinesis and ground it across the floor, tripping another 'ling the was trying to rush me.

I quickly reformed my Baneful Bunker, glad that I had taken the time to try and learn it even if this was the first confirmation of my success.

The shredded remains of the rug was thrown at me, but I shadowported to the far side of the room. I formed another orb and fired it at the spell casters, trying to get them off of Luna. A changeling dove in front of it with it exploding on its chitin.

I made another ball, this one with some brighter purple highlights, and shot it at the spell casters. Like the other one, it was intercepted by a changeling. Unlike the other one, this one was absorbed into the 'ling's skin. I shadowported to another clear area to dodge another lunging 'ling.

I was rammed by another 'ling when I popped out of my shadow, this one getting a mouthful of poisonous fur. An acidic green bolt then blew out the back of it's head as my Confuse Ray did it's work. I saw another changeling randomly fall over and assumed that it was one of the ones that hit me at the start of all of this.

I saw another 'ling at the back of the swarm charging something on it's horn. I grabbed it in my mental hold and flung it out the nearest window. Ducking another bolt of mana, I fired another Shadow Ball into the swarm before shadowporting over to a table and knocking it over.

I grabbed a mirror with my telekinesis and used it to watch the swarm while I tried to catch my breath. Who knew pokemon battles could be so exhausting. I blindly threw an orb over the table. If only I could break the spell casters on Luna and wake her up, this fight would go so much faster... I growled as I saw a 'ling make for the broken window. Oh no you don't!

I dropped into my shadow, then burst out of it under the escaping 'ling. I heard something break against the top of the window frame.

I felt something grab me by my tail. The next thing I knew, I'm being thrown across the room into a wall. Before I could blink the stars from my eyes, I was whipped the other way and smashed through a window.

As I fell, I shook my head to clear it. Okay, there's glass in my back. Ow. I hope Conner can pull that out later. I twisted around to see how much farther I had to fall. ... Wait a minute... A black circle appeared in front of me. I fell into it, then shadowported back into Luna's room. I came out under a changeling and used the momentum of my fall to pin it against the ceiling.

I fell back down, firing another orb at the spell casters as I did so. I growled as it was once again intercepted. I felt something wet land on my back as I growled at the full room. I glanced up to see that I had impaled the luckless changeling on the chandelier.

Right. I need to have a bath after all of this. I reapplied my Baneful Bunker with a growl. And a long line of psychiatrists after that... I ran towards the spell casters, planning on just bulling my way through to them. A massive explosion from somewhere outside rocked the tower, causing me to lose my footing.

I slid into the bedframe. I tried to stand in a daze, but was forced back down under a pile of changelings. I bit and clawed at them until one lowered a glowing horn towards my face.

And then I knew no more...

A Canterlot Invasion: Strike Through.

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[Yomega]

Villhiem and I ran through the streets, often bolting down side alleys in response to the psychic eddies I could feel. We had already saved a couple of ponies and tried to send them to one of the suspected safe zones, but the language barrier made it annoyingly difficult.

Another ripple bounced off of my tail as we neared the end of another alley. "A changeling will be around the left corner." I warned Villhiem.

"Got it." He ran ahead of me with his tail glowing. Turning the corner, he launched a large volley towards the 'ling. I turned the corner myself and pulled the pony it was threatening towards us. The stallion took one look at us and ran screaming down the alley way we had just come from.

"The hospital's that way!" I mentally yelled at him.

"Let him go," Villhiem sighed, "we've already cleared that area out."

"We both know that there's nothing stopping the 'lings from re-occupying the area after we leave." I sighed. "But, yeah, we need to keep moving ahead." We started running down the street, Villhiem following me, with myself following the psychic ripples.

"Where are they going?" Villhiem asked, his eyes on the sky.

I glanced up to see a swarm of changelings flying away from our district. "No clue. Good news for us, though. Look sharp, pair ahead."

We bounded over some rubble and into a square. Two changelings were stalking towards an alleyway a little off to our right. I charged forward, focusing my mind on my teeth. I juked to the side as Villhiem launched his Razor Leaf at one of the 'lings. I jumped onto the back of the other one and sunk my teeth into the back of its neck. I felt the chitin crack, and tasted its tangy blood on my tongue.

I heard wooden creaking coming from the direction of the other changeling. I mostly ignored it as I let go of the one I was holding, focusing my psychic power on my back paws. I spiked the 'ling into the ground as I jumped from it, aiming my mana coated feet at the area's I'd already cracked.

I looked to the one Villhiem was dealing with as mine crumpled to the ground. The ling was covered in vines and roots, some just squeezing it tight, others digging under the chitin. The 'ling was thrashing against its bonds, trying to break free. It's thrashing slowed as I watched until it slumped over.

Villhiem stepped up beside me. "Ya know, I just had a thought."

"Hmm?"

"Yeah." He pointed at me. "You're a psychic type," he pointed at himself, "I'm a grass type. We know that they are at least bug type."

"Uh-huh?"

"Why are the two most vulnerable to bug types paired together?" He tilted his head at me.

I looked around the square. "Would you believe that I actually forgot about that?" I admitted. I nodded at the two changelings that we had taken care of. "If we can catch them off guard, alone or in pairs like we did here, we should be fine."

Villhiem sighed, his ears and tail drooping. "We're about to run into a swarm, aren't we?"

"Watch my body."

"What?"

I quickly stepped out into the astral plane. I saw a centaur-like being made of wood staring at me with concern etched onto his wooden doglike face. His roots anchored him to the earth in four bundles, mimicking canine legs. His woven branch arms were crossed across his chest, an ash cane held in his left hand. His canine face was framed by arching bows that grew from where his ears would be.

I floated around him and took off down a random side street. I picked up no large amounts of changelings or ponies down it. After racing back to the square, I chose another street and repeated the process. I zipped back to my body and down the final street. I rocketed back to my body for the final time.

I settled back into my body, and spent a short time refiguring my body out before opening my eyes. I stood and shook my fur out before looking at Villhiem. "There are 'lings in some of the buildings, but it looks like they're just looting."

"Right, right." Villhiem looked around nervously. "So, where to?"

I felt the ripples hitting my fur and pointed down a street. "That way." We trotted off down the road. I could see Villhiem's ears constantly swiveling, while trying to peer into every window we passed. I couldn't blame him.

I was doing my best to interpret the psychic field as we ran.

A sudden glow lit the sky behind us. We both skidded to a halt, looking over our shoulders to see the remains of a pillar of fire flicker and fade.

"... That was from the Scholar's District." Villhiem nervously observed.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. The ripples that were buffeting me were not coming from that direction. If anything, those that used to come from there seemed to be retreating. "It's nothing." I sighed, my tail twitching. "The others can handle it. C'mon, I feel we are needed this way."

"You 'feel'?" Villhiem asked as we got back to running. "How can you... Right, you're psychic now. What does the force tell you?"

I shot him a glare.

"Hold up!" Villhiem darted over to the side of a building. I quickly joined him and peered around the corner. "What's going on over there?"

There was a small swarm of changelings attacking a narrow, triangle corner building. We watched as bolts of mana flew from the windows into the swarm. A few changelings jumped into the air and tried to fly at the upper windows, but a bright yellow web ensnared them. They fell back into the swarm and lay there in a twitching pile.

"Looks like someponys have managed to hole up there." I glanced over at Villhiem.

He nodded. "I assume we're going in there."

"Eeyup."

"How?"

I glanced around at the rest of the streets, looking for other alleys we could use. I sighed before laying a paw on Villhiem. "I do apologize for this..."

"For -'' Was all he got out before I teleported us. We cracked into being amongst a group of guards many of which whipped their weapons around to point at us. <<- Whaoooow. Little warning, next time!>> Villhiem stumbled into me.

A mare in slightly ornate armor looked us over before turning towards an orange pony with a blond mane. "Summoner? Are these ours?"

"Nope." His eyes briefly glowed as he looked us over. "If they even are summons, they’re not bound to anypony or circles. Another one's trying to fly in." He spoke the last part to a window sill covered with small yellow blobs with little blue dots speckled throughout. They all started glowing and launched another yellow web with a crackle of electricity.

"Can they be trusted?"

Villhiem rolled his eyes and fired a long stream of leaves out the window into the swarm. I sent out a wave of weak psychic energy into the leading edge of the changelings and managed to cloud a few of their minds.

"Looks like it, sir." The summoner shrugged.

I sent out another wave of Confusion as an earth pony guard ran into the room. "Sir, the last of the civilians have been evacuated, we're all that's left in the building." I gave his mind a quick brush and confirmed to myself that he was, in fact, a pony.

"Very good." The obvious leader nodded. "Alright, ponies. We're going to hold this position for as long as we can. The longer these bugs are stuck dealing with us, the more time the civvies have to get away."

I barked as the ponies cheered, sending another Confusion out ahead of the unicorns' mana bolts.

<<How long do you think we can hold out?>> Villhiem asked and he sent a cloud of spores out a window.

I was about to answer when I was hit by a massive wall in the psychic field. It felt like the ripples that had been retreating had died down, then had swelled into a tsunami of mental pressure. I staggered under the intense feeling of dread, anger, and pain.

It had come from the Scholar's District.

<<TAKE COVER!!>> I yelled at Villhiem, wrapping everypony with my mental energy and teleporting them out of the building. I groaned as I slumped to the ground from the mental exertion. Villhiem threw himself under a table as a massive explosion shook the area, the shock wave slamming a wall of dust down the street. Before Villhiem and I could recover, the swarm of changelings had, well, swarmed into the room, binding us in their waxy goop. The wax quickly hardened into an unbreakable cast.

I watched as Villhiem was pulled out from under the table. I tried to pick a changeling up with my mind, but another one leaned down and bit me. I felt something get injected into me through its fangs, and then I was lost amongst the impressions in the city, unable to concentrate enough to break free.

A Canterlot Invasion: Lightning Strikes

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[Cy]

Vince and I had seen a massive swarm head up to the palace as we had split off to get to our district. It seemed that that swarm had come from our area, because we hadn't come across any changelings. We could see them buzzing from district to district, but none seemed to be flying into ours.

"Do you think we got lucky?" Vince asked me.

"Could've." I agreed. "We shouldn't get careless, though. They could all be further in." We kept running. The streets were eerily empty. "Where is everypony? The markets are this way, there should be more ponies."

"Look around, Cy." Vince huffed. "There's blast marks on the walls and scuff marks on the ground. The ponies either fled or were captured. There's 'lings around here somewhere."

"Yeah, wherever ponies have holed up." I snorted. "Think we should just bull our way to the train station?"

"Sure." Vince was panting now. "Can we slow down a little?"

I scoffed. "Hell no. Odds are, the ponies are trying to evacuate by train, which means that there's going to be a lot of guards and civvies. Which in turn means a lot of resistance, and a lot of 'lings for us to zap!"

"You mean 'for you to zap'."

"Just be ready to buff me when our throats get sore." I ordered.

"Right, yeah. Sure..." I thought I saw Vince scowl. Figuring that the run was harder on him due to his shorter legs, I slowed down a little for him.

When we were almost at the train stations, we stopped to catch our breath. We saw some sort of glow flash on the other side of the palace, but quickly ignored it to continue making our way forward. Very soon, we were passing what we hoped were dead changelings laying in the streets. We heard the snap-crack of mana bolts long before we saw the first bolt itself.

Our biggest shock came when we turned to see the station itself.

The street outside was alive with changelings. Mana and crossbow bolts were machine gunning into the changelings, and they were doing nothing to the overall swarm. But all of the 'lings were on the ground, and the ponies were also firing into the air.

At the massive flock of Murkrows and Mandibuzzes.

"They have summons?!" I hissed at Vince. "Where's the fucking circles?!"

"There." Vince pointed at a building across from use. "You can just see the wax circles through that window."

I glanced back and forth between the swarm and the building. "We're not going to be able to break the circles without being overrun before we can help the ponies."

"We can't get rid of the summons while the circles are intact, though." Vince eyed the building.

"We're going to have to split up." I groaned. "Okay, we buff each other, then you go handle the circles and I'll deal with the flyers."

Vince grimaced. "I don't like this plan. One or both of us might get swarmed.."

"You got a better one?" I challenged

"I didn't say that..." Vince's paws began to glow. We spent a little time buffing, and Vince darted off.

He slunk across the road and jumped through an unattended window. I immediately started worrying about my smaller friend as soon as I lost sight of him. That worry spiked when flashes of light and mana flared up in the room Vince had pointed out to me. I waited for some sign that the circles were broken.

A small group of changelings broke off from the main push and leapt into the building. I saw Vince briefly in the circle room, but he was quickly chased out of it. There were more mana flashes elsewhere that suddenly cut off. I almost bolted to the building in my fear.

Then he burst up from the floor and broke most of the rings.

I looked around the corner and pulled my power to wrap around myself. I locked onto one of the Mandibuzzes closest to the train station and bolted from my cover. It wasn't my Extreme Speed, since I could still see the world around me, and I could feel my mana grounding itself into anything nearby as I ran. When I got to the edge of the swarm, I jumped to run across their backs. When I got to the end of changeling bodies, I jumped and rode my own lightning.

The world refocused in time for me to hear the vulture-like Pokemon squawk in pain before it dissolved into white light and vanished back into the building Vince was in. I grit my teeth to focus past the backlash of energy and sent it arcing out of me as I fell.

It struck the closest Pokemon to me and knocked it out of our reality as well.

I landed badly but still rolled upright at the end of it. My right shoulder stung, but I ignored it to focus on the aerial threat. I felt my mana gather on the tips of my fur on my tail, sparking off in an infrequent, bright shower. I glared at a Murkrow and channeled my power towards it. I felt the ions in the air line up for me an instant before lightning was discharged at it, lancing through it and grounding behind it.

I ignored it's banishment as I looked to my next target. I channeled and fired at another Murkrow, but I felt the ions misalign at the wrong moment, and the bolt speared off into a random changeling letting the Murkrow flit off to the side.

<<Dammit!>> I groaned as a surge of wind buffeted against me. I turned to deal with the damn flying type as a large volley of mana bolts flashed past me. I pulled my mana through my fur and then flung the now electrically charged energy out.

Just, away from me.

And then I did it again.

I kept firing off Discharges and Shockwaves into the flying types as the guards kept the bugs off of me. The amount of bolts slowly died off, but I didn't notice that until I was pounced on by a changeling. I cooked it in its chitin and pushed it off before Discharging at the swarm.

And then the city shuddered. There was a bright light on the far side of the palace and a growing wave of dust, but we felt the explosions more through the ground than anything else. I got lucky with my gawking because everything else was gawking at it as well. That wasn't me!

A train's whistle caused us all to turn and look at the station. The train was slowly leaving, and picking up speed. The guards started volleying mana bolts at the swarm. I quickly launched another Shockwave to prevent anything chasing after them. I was about to Thunderbolt another Mandibuzz when a different shock wave hit.

It didn't do much to anything on the ground other than staggering them. Anything airborne was thrown to the earth, and the Pokemon were banished.

I groaned as I steadied myself. I started gathering my energy to throw into the swarm when several changelings burst out of a window. They had a brown dog dangling in their magical grasp. I fired out a ball of electricity at a changeling as I tried to remember why that was important.

"That's Vince, you dolt!"

I fired another ball of electricity at the 'lings carrying the dog when that thought clicked. <<VINCENT!!>> I locked onto the 'ling holding onto Vince and dropped into an Extreme Speed. I burst through my own Electro Ball, the energy seeping back into my fur and reinvigorating me, even as the world stayed still. I slammed into the bug, everything snapping back into motion. The reabsorbed energy cracked into the changeling, smashing it's chitin and dropping it immediately.

I landed on my right shoulder again. I gingerly set my front right paw down and bit back a hiss. I carefully walked up to stand over Vince and glared at the swarm. They flitted about a few steps away, almost trying to get someone else in the swarm to strike out first. Slowly and without taking my eyes off of the 'lings, I leaned down and carefully picked Vince up but the scruff of his neck. I charged up my mana...

And turned tail and ran. I powered up my Double Team and my Agility to give myself the best chance I could. I could see 'lings lunging past me as they charged through one of my doubles, causing me to spawn more copies. And then my leg gave out, and I fell into a heap on the ground, Vince being flung forward along the cobblestones. I tried to stand again but was swarmed over before I could do so. I heard a sound like someone was trying to hock up a loogie and felt something slimy land on the back of my knee.

<<You gross fuckers are going to pay for that!>> I weakly growled and flailed at the bugs surrounding me.

Another changeling landed on me and bit my leg. I watched and felt its venom trickle into the wound. My struggles slowed as the changeling's poisons took hold and I blacked out to the sound of more goop being hocked onto me.

A Canterlot Invasion: Element Blitz

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[Conner]

<<GO! GO! GO!>> Yomega yelled as the Pack scattered.

I ran after our mares, keeping close to Fluttershy. I glanced back to encourage the Pack, but everyone else was already out of sight. I swallowed my nerves and raced to keep up with the pace the ponies had set.

I flinched as the first changeling smashed into the pavement. I risked a glance at the falling bugs and came to a decision. <<Joy, I'm about to jump onto your back.>>

"O-okay!"

I put on a burst of speed and jumped. Once I was on her back, I turned to face the direction that we had come from. With a brief moment of concentration, I fired my first Swift of the day.

It smashed into a changeling, breaking through its flaming shield and knocking it off course.

Okay, that works... I focused on another 'ling, and fired another Swift after it. As the stars burst against it, I re-targeted and fired again, then re-targeted and fired again. And again.

And again.

I targeted the ones that looked like they would come closest to our mares. The changelings that had trailed behind picked up on this, and did what they could to adjust their fiery trajectories. I could tell that most were now aiming to land on our street. I gave a vindictive smirk.

Pity for them that Swift never misses.

I kept up my bursts of stars, doing my best to stay on Fluttershy's back while she ran. I fired off a final Swift as our mares came to a sudden stop. I hopped down and watched as a massive swarm of changelings started to encircle us. I backed up and brushed my tail against Fluttershy's rear leg. Really wish Angel was here right now... I growled at the bugs at my mare's back.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way!" I heard Rainbow psyching herself up. My fur rippled from the back draft of her forward charge.

Why aren't they swarming over us?

"Heh, 'swarming'... That's a good one."

Not now, Brain! I swiveled an ear towards a thump sound behind me.

"How did he-?!" Rainbow cut herself off as a wave of green fire washed over the 'lings. As it died down, I found myself surrounded by our mares. I felt a touch of vain disgust to find that I hadn't been copied.

"They're changelings, remember!" Twilight warned. I took a deep sniff as her words were parroted back at her with her own voice.

"What can you do to help?" Fluttershy whispered down at me.

<> I admitted. <<Everything else is either support or won't work on this many.>>

"Which one keeps you safest?"

<<... Dig. But I->>

"Then Dig, please." I burrowed under the pavement as they charged.

I was starting to arc back to the surface when I realized how fast I had responded to her order. I locked onto a mix of vibrations and scents that wasn't a pony and erupted in a spray of dirt. The changeling I had hit dropped its disguise as I knocked it out.

I wasted no time in digging a new hole to escape the return fire. I curved back up and clocked another changeling on the chin. The fountain of dirt finished it off, and I blinded another with an unconventional, accidental Sand Attack as I burrowed back into the earth.

I kept my digging up, popping up and diving around my mare. I kept track of her through her unmistakable scent. Slowly, we managed to whittle them down. I popped up and landed beside my Joy, panting from the exertion. I concentrated and sent a wave of pink motes into Fluttershy before Twilight forced us to keep moving.

I sighed and dove back underground. This time, I thrust a paw at the tunnel's edge as I resurfaced, launching myself into a spin. While my back was to the ground, I fired a Swift, letting it strafe across the bugs flying after us.

I did this two or three more times before we got to the hall the Elements were stored in. Twilight pushed the door open, and her ears fell in dismay at the infestation of changelings blocking our path.

Fluttershy nudged me. "Go..."

<<But->>

"Go help your pack."

<<... I'll come back for you...>> I dove and started to tunnel away.

A vibration through the earth was my only warning before I was slammed against the tunnel walls. I had just enough energy to dig my way out of the collapsing tunnel, passing out once I reached the surface.

[Zann]

I looked back the way we had come. A line of fillies we had rescued galloped behind me, with Lulu behind them. I hope Leo'll be okay...

"I'm more worried about the 'ling's she's fighting,"

Yeah, she did look scary...

We turned another corner and ran into another small herd of foals."C'mon!" A colt behind me urged. "The summons are leading us to safety."

"Na-uh!" A filly with more jewelry than sense argued. She glared at me and my leg in disgust. "That hideous thing's with the bugs!" She lowered her head and pawed the ground.

"No he's not!" A third familiar voice cried out before the noble's daughter could charge. A pale magenta filly bulled her way to the front.

I almost didn't recognize her without her namesake. "Those are two of the dog creatures I told you about. They're from Ponyville. We'll be safe with them." Diamond glared the other filly down as she spoke to us. "Do you know where the University is?"

<<Yup!>> I barked, bouncing into line of site and pointing.

"Good, lead the way!" She ordered.

I nodded and raced forward. All the 'ling's I could see were blitzing back the way we had come and completely ignoring us on the ground. Pushing against my racing leg, I cornered the last turn hard and spotted a small group of changelings firing at the University doors. They were answered back by unicorn mana bolts and streams of water, ice and lightning.

I drew up my blazing mana and filled my fire sac with it. As I neared the back of the changeling position, I inhaled as much air as I could. <<By fire, be PURGED!>>

The exhale sent out a cleansing wave of flame. Changelings fled from the heat, many flailing to put out their burning carapaces. I stopped in the middle of the hole I created in their lines and swept the closest bugs to me with another Flamethrower to keep them away. I heard the telltale splashing of water as Lulu kept the rest of the bugs back.

"Get going!" Diamond barked, hurrying the rest of the foals between us. A group of guards rushed out to protect the foals and guided them into the building.

Lulu and I slowly backed towards the doors, blasting fire and water liberally over the areas we figured the changelings were hunkering down.

There was a brief cry of alarm from behind us. I glanced back to see a shield of psychic energy snapping into position.

An intense spike of pain from my knee drove me to the ground with a gasp of pain.

"What is it, Zann?"

I tried to answer her, but the ground dropped from below me. It must've missed me something fierce, because then it slammed up into me. I bounced into the air as a wave of energy crashed into Lulu and I, smashing us into the shield and knocking us out cold.

A Canterlot Invasion: Star Fall

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[Sometime prior]
[Leo]

We had split off from the rest of the group and bolted to our area. I made sure I was running just behind Lulu to avoid running ahead.

"What's the plan, Leo?" Lulu called back to me.

"Why am I in charge?" I muttered, then spoke up. "Simple, we find changelings, Zann and I blast them, you keep the fire from spreading."

"What about ponies?" Zann panted.

"They wouldn't be able to understand us anyways." I sighed. "Best we can hope for is that they run to the University. We don't know where the bugs'll be, so be- WHOA!"

We had turned a corner and plowed into a small swarm. It looked like we had interrupted them in the midst of their own planning session.

<<Found 'em...>> Zann gulped.

Lulu looked the swarm over before stomping, sending out a wave of boiling water. <<You guys remember the fire tornado you made?>>

Zann and I shared a matching grin. I fired a quick Sunny Day before tilting into an Extreme Speed as Zann inhaled. I careened around the fire type, jumping at any changeling that was too close. I think I hit one three or four times by the time Zann let out his gout of flame. I stopped targeting changelings and focused on running.

And then I skidded to a stop beside Lulu. She engulfed me as Zann sent an ember into the small pillar of fire.

It exploded.

The fire whipped up into the sky and expanded to fill the square in an instant. It quickly flickered out, leaving scorched bugs groaning all over the cobblestones. A few were on fire screaming. I cringed away from those ones.

A few of the less burnt ones fired flares into the sky.

<<We'll need to move.>> I pushed at Lulu. <<Reinforcements will be on their way.>>

Zann passed a 'ling desperately trying to put itself out. <<Let's not do that again...>> He looked a little sick. Lulu and I just made wordless noises of agreement.

We hurried down a street, noticing that the buildings were looking less and less like businesses, and more residential. A few ponies ran out onto the street, tripping trying to make a sharp corner. They got a few paces when several changelings burst from a nearby building.

Lulu spat a stream of water at the left most changelings, while Zann sent a ball of fire arcing towards the righter most. The Water Gun tracked across the 'ling's, pushing them back, and the fire ball detonated within its group.

I concentrated, trying to remember how to use Swift, but gave up and went with what I was more familiar with. I had to jump off of a pony's back to get enough air, but I started hitting bugs out of the air. I spiked a few into the ground hard enough to crack the pavement.

I dropped out of my extreme speed to see a swarm hovering over a square down a side street. Frowning, I charged up a Solar Flare as the ponies ran off. Zann and Lulu quickly dealt with the 'lings struggling near us.

"'Ann..." I got the Flareon's attention. "Ah go'a 'eed ya 'a o'er 'e."

He saw where I was aiming, then nodded. "Lulu, prepare to repel bugs!" He used his tail to point to my targets before stepping up behind me. He tilted my ears and tail up, then nudged my head a little bit up and to the side. "Fire one!" He cried out while pulling my tail down.

I spat the glowing ball down the street and began charging another one when Zann lifted my tail again.

"Fire two!" Zann levered my tail and waited for me to charge the next shot. "Fire three!"

"They know we're here, now!" Lulu warned as my first shot detonated in the midst of the swarm. The second ball detonated early when a luckless changeling intercepted it. "They're coming this way!"

"Fire four!" The third ball landed at the end of the street, knocking more changelings from the sky.

"I can't charge another by the time they get here!" I barked as Zann lifted my tail again. "Cheese it!" Zann and Lulu both launched a spread of moves to cover our retreat. I could see more of those flares being fired up from the 'lings. "I think we got their attention..." We took off running.

"This way!" Zann called out, smashing through a lower window of a nearby house. We quickly followed him, running through the abandoned home. We smashed out a back window and rolled through a garden. We bolted through the streets and alleys, often firing Sunny Days, Solar Flares, Scalds, and Searing Shots to keep the bugs busy.

And then I turned a corner and stopped cold. I vaguely heard Lulu and Zann slide to a stop beside me. I could hear my blood start to thunder in my ears. All of my ire was directed towards the changelings.

The changelings that were finishing up trapping some foals into waxen pods. My mind superimposed our eggs in the children's place. My anger boiled over.

Zann fired a Flamethrower to get the insects off of the tiny pods and Lulu and I quickly freed the children from their prisons. I growled and Glared at the things in front of us.

<<Zann. Lulu. Get the foals to safety.>> I calmly ordered. <<I'll keep them occupied.>>

<<But-!>> Zann started. I turned my head just enough for him to see one of my eyes. <<Yes'm...>> He squeaked out.

Rage has been activated.

I ignored them and darted forward, slamming a bug's face into the ground hard enough to destroy the chitin and horn. I gave a thin smile as the insect lay still. I felt a mana bolt slam me in my side-

Rage is building.

And I used the momentum to ram into another bug. I latched onto its throat and Flailed away until something gave, it weakly wailed on me as I did so. After I was flung off, I landed and charged at another bug, spitting out some carapace as its previous owner slumped to the ground, gurgling. I bulled my way through a storm of mana bolts-

Rage is building.

And I dropped into an Extreme Speed and charged a bug hard enough to shatter the chitin off of one side. It slowly fell with a cry as I ricocheted into the nearest bug. I slammed into its neck and exited my Extreme Speed just to hear the satisfying crack. I rode it down as I picked out my next target.

I was tackled off of it-

Rage is building.

As a 'ling tried to get me under control. I Bit into its leg hard enough to shear the hoof clean off, then cracked my head back to make it drop me. I launched myself up into it and forced it to the ground with my Extreme Speed. I ground its face against the sharp edges of the cobblestones, then left my move and finished earth surfing the thing that dared call itself a being.

"To the air, siblings, don't let it get close to you!" One of the things cried out in panic. The insects all took to the air, some of which firing their signal flares into the air.

<<Ye~es.>> I hissed. <<Feed me MORE!>> I jumped from the fleshy mound beneath me with a crack of breaking chitin. I latched onto another insect and used its panicked flailing to launch myself higher. I landed on the back of another bug and Bit down at the base of one wing.

"Some'ling, help me!" It cried as I pulled as hard as I could.

I ripped the wing out and dropped into an Extreme Speed. I kicked off the vermin and used its own wing to spike it towards the ground. I briefly dropped out of my move to spit the wing out, then used its frozen form to launch myself up at a higher bug.

I landed on another insect and dropped out of my attack to tear off a new platform. I was about to Bite when another vermin slammed me off of my victim.

Rage is building!

I Flailed around until it let me go after a sickening crunch. I dropped a little ways until another bug grabbed me and bit down.

Rage is building!

I slammed my tail into it and then bucked it in its throat. I grimly smiled as it started choking on air. I headbutted it and felt its grip loosen. I kicked off of it with enough force to break free from it and jump further up into the air.

I got peppered by mana bolts-

Rage is building!

But powered through to headbutt another of the flying vermin. We twisted until I was on top. I started charging a Solar Flare as I jumped higher from it and launched the ball of energy at it at point blank. I rode the shock wave even higher. I looked down to see an insect power through the pieces of my launch pad. It slammed into me-

Rage is building!

And peeled off instead of grabbing me. I started gathering all of my mana, my energy, and my anger into a ball of energy. More mana bolts cracked into me-

Rage is building!

As my upward momentum started to stall.

"Go!" I heard one of those vermin yell out. "I'll hold it off!" It flew up and rammed into me-

RAGE IS BUILDING!

And carried me even higher. "Why won't you die?!" It begged as it buffeted me with it's wings. "What kind of monster are you?!" Its tears were evaporating in the heat of my energy ball. It was as large as the two of us combined.

I rolled an eye to give it a blank glare. <<R move unlocked.>> I intoned. I tilted my head, the ball burning off the bug's wings. <<Nova Flare.>> The ball dropped past the insect, speeding up as it fell. I locked eyes with the vermin. <<Die.>>

The ball hit the ground long before we did and detonated in a massive explosion. Its shock wave and the turbulent air was enough to slow our fall so that we were merely badly bruised as opposed to breaking bones.

The insect pinned me down and fired a flare into the sky. I just lay in its grasp, panting heavily in confused exhaustion. Several of the bugs flew down and bit me.

"It's okay, Carver, let it go. We need to cocoon this, this thing!" I heard one of them say. "The Queen wants to deal with this one personally." I lost consciousness as they covered me in wax.

A Canterlot Invasion: Love Bomber

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[Conner]

I woke up sometime later as a changeling was spitting wax onto one of my feet. I tried to stand, but it hissed at me, forcing me to shrink back. Once it was satisfied with its work, it moved to stand over by Chrysalis. I quickly checked my waxen bindings and saw that it had only gooped my front paws together. I looked over at our ponies to see that they had been corralled over by the altar. Rainbow was swaying from side to side, looking asleep on her hooves. Oh, they dragged us back to the wedding hall, huh.

I ignored Chrysalis' gloating to take in the changes to the room. The ponies had been taken away, and the decorations were in tatters. The biggest change, in size and importance, was the giant cocoon containing Princess Celestia.

More changelings came into the room carrying a bound Abes between them. "My Queen, we've captured Luna's dog."

Chrysalis nodded. "Very good. What of that monster?"

"It is on its way." The 'ling paused, tilting its head. "Ah, my Queen? It will take some time to bring it. We are giving it the same precautions as Celestia." The other drones deposited Abes next to me. Whatever they had done to him, he was out cold.

"I am aware." Chrysalis frowned. "I did give the order."

"Yes, my Queen." The changeling bowed. "However, we are having to pull changelings from other districts to supply enough wax."

"A small price to pay to contain it. Still, make sure it is done quickly. How is Carver?”

“Wingless, but otherwise fine, physically. I cannot say for his mental well being.” The drone answered. “He is currently on his way back to the hive with the first group of the wounded.”

“Good. I must reward his bravery once this is all done.” Chrysalis dismissed the drone. She stood by the altar, her eyes half lidded as she communed with her hive.

Another group of drones entered the hall dragging a thin shelled cocoon filled with water and a wax muzzled Zann. The fire type was walking under his own power, but he kept his gunked up racing leg off of the ground. A drone broke off to report to the queen.

<<Pssht, Zann!>> I waited until he was looking at me. <<Where's Lulu, did she escape?>>

Zann shook his head and tapped the water filled cocoon. Lulu's face briefly formed out of the liquid. <<No, hun, they got me...>> Her voice was distorted by the wax.

<<Where's Leo?>>

<<I'm afraid I don't know.>> She sighed. <<She stayed behind to cover us. We had to lead some foals to safety.>>

<<Mmmf hmf mm, hfmm?>> Zann tried.

<<...What?>> I asked.

<> Lulu began, looking at Zann to make sure she had things right. <<If Leo was caught before us, why isn't she here already?>>

<<Ymf! Hmmf eh mfhmf!>>

A drone smacked Zann over the head. "Shut up!"

<<Hmfhmf!>>

The drone scowled at him before shooting me a dark look. "We should cocoon that one too." He grumbled to his companion. "Y'know, before it destroys the palace?"

"We're fine." The other drone shook her head. "Intel says that these things' powers are different for each individual. So long as we keep its front legs bound, then it can't do its demented land dolphin thing."

"But-" The first drone was cut off as another swarm of drones entered the room.

This group carried Villhiem and Yomega in, their limbs fully restrained. Yomega's eyes were fully dilated and he was staring around at things only he could see, but he was otherwise fine. Villhiem, on the other paw, looked like shit. All of his leaves were brown and wilted and his fur looked like dry wood.

<<Are you alright, dear?>> Lulu asked.

Villhiem tiredly nodded at her. <<I'll be fine after some sun and the venom wears off.>>

<<Is->> My voice cracked. <<Is Yomega gonna be okay?>>

<> Villhiem sighed. <<He keeps staring at things and saying weird shit.>>

<<Oo~oh.>> Yomega chose that moment to speak up. <<She married here a hundred times. He saw the last, and she agreed! Ooo! A butterfly!>>

<<Case in point.>> Villhiem sighed.

Another swarm arrived at that time. This time, they carried the Duo amongst them. They were also bound in wax, the drones carrying Cy flicking their wings as electricity snapped off of them every now and then. I noticed that Vince's front legs were encased like mine.

I compared the amount of restraining wax on everyone else to mine. <> I murmured.

<<Why's that>> Cy groaned.

<<I've only got my front legs restrained.>> I grumbled. <<It's like they think I'm harmless.>>

<<Just means that you can escape and group up with Leo.>> Vince said, looking over the group. <<She did escape, right?>>

<<A plan within plan has been hidden in the plan.>> Yomega stared out into the garden. <<A plan needs to fail to set off another to fail so it can be achieved.>>

<<Is... Is Yomega okay?>> Cy asked.

<<Changeling venom is interacting with him weirdly.>> I explained.

<<It'll end here, ya know.>> Yomega wistfully sighed. <<It'll all end in a tree. Once the scattered pieces can be found, then the King will be in check. E-six, Pawn takes King!>> That earned him another bite and dose of venom. <<Was there always a temple here?>>

<<So, we give you a distraction, and then->> Cy started only to be cuffed by one of our guards.

"Next one that talks is getting bit." He warned. He pointed from another changeling to Cy. "You watch that one. It likes to zap things."

"Yes, sir."

“Sergeant?” Chrysalis called out.

“Yes, my Queen?”

“I have been receiving reports that our summons have been making some headway against the dragons and their summon. Round up some drones from the markets and lend your aid to the swarm fighting against the dragon guarding the castle’s side entrance. Flush out the ponies still in the castle once you’ve broken through.” Chrysalis ordered. “I want this castle fully secured before nightfall.”

“At once, my queen.” The drone that had been hitting us turned and flew out the balcony doors.

"My Queen!" A drone ran in from the hallway. "We have contained it!"

"Good, put it near the rest." Chrysalis smiled a sad smile. "I want it watched constantly. If it starts to wake up, put it back to sleep. I will kill it once we have total control of Canterlot."

"If I may, my queen," the drone cautiously began, "wouldn't it be safer to kill it now?"

"It would." Chrysalis allowed. "However, I plan on enchanting a message to send to every pony city and stronghold. I want to demoralize them by killing their best defenders and the monster of a summon they brought against us in front of them." She sighed. "It'd be better if I could show them the end of the invasion to them as it happens, then I could just kill it now, but…’

A group of changelings carefully entered the room. Four of them kept their horns trained on the large cocoon that four others were levitating between them. The cocoon itself was as large as the eight drones combined. There was a small shape floating within it, but I couldn't make it out yet. Every drone it passed hissed and spat at it.

They carried it over towards us, setting it down nearby. The drones that were carrying it stepped back to join the others in pointing their horns at it to form a ring of eight.

<<Oh Arceus...>> Vince moaned. <<They got Leo.>>

<<There's no way Leo could be this summon they keep talking about.>> I looked over at the farm Eevee. <<Right?>>

<<Encased in chains.>> Yomega stated sagely. <<Bound in wax.>>

I ignored him and studied the cocoon. It took me a moment to separate the inner waxen supports and bindings from the captured body. Once I had done that, I could see the distinct silhouette of an Eevee.

Well, it's over. I mentally sighed turning my gaze to watch the Queen. I know that Leo said that the ponies pull through with a love bomb from Cadence, but she looks so weak. I don't think she can pull it off...

"So, what are you going to do about it."

Protect Fluttershy, of course.

"How? They'll kill you first."

I dunno... my ears dropped with my plummeting mood. I just wish that...

"Yes?"

Wait... I watched Twilight slowly make her way over to Cadence while Chrysalis was looking out over the city. I glanced at the drones around me, noting that they were all glaring at Leo's cocoon. I swallowed my fear and crept over to Fluttershy.

<<Fluttershy...?>> I whispered to her. <<There's... There's something I want to tell you... Before this is all over...>>

"Y-yes?"

"It's all over!" Chrysalis declared, glaring at Shining and Cadence. I hadn't noticed that Shining had been freed.

"Quick!" Twilight yelled. "Use your spell!"

"It's too late." Chrysalis boasted. "My changelings are already inside the city!" She dismissed Shining after seeing how weak his magic was and returned to the balcony.

"W-what did you want to say?" Fluttershy asked me, before gasping and staring at the royal couple powering up their spell. "Oh, my..."

I looked over at Chrysalis. She had apparently felt the build up of power and was charging a spell to fire at Cadence and Shining.

I took a deep breath, sat on my hunches and used my bound limbs to pull Fluttershy's head around to face me. I took a chance, and gave her a quick but deep kiss. <> I confessed as I pulled away. <<I'm sorry.>> I broke into a hobbling run as Chrysalis and the royal couple fired their respective spells.

I felt myself growing lighter as I flung myself into the turbulent mana. Goodbye...

A Canterlot Invasion: Aftershocks.

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[Leo]

I woke up with a start and started looking around to see where I was. It took some time for me to focus past the stinging in my eyes, but I could see the wedding hall through a green haze. Did I fall asleep in Lulu again? I groggily thought. When did she become lime flavored? There was a flash of light that felt both familiar and filled me with regret, and then whatever I was in rocked in a wave of mana.

It burned away the cocoon I was in and spilled the liquid across the carpeted floor. I suddenly found that I couldn't breath, retching more of the burning goop out of my lungs. I finally managed to take a clear breath as the goop boiled away.

As I got my breathing under control, I did my best to take in the room. Almost everyone was staring in awe at the royal couple as they touched back down. Lulu was reforming herself, so I figured that she was also in a cocoon, while Fluttershy was crouched over something out on the balcony.

With a wheeze, I dragged myself over to Lulu. <<How'd we get back here?>> I coughed at her.

<<The changelings brought us here after the explosion-

The ball hit the ground long before we did and detonated in a massive explosion.

-knocked Zann and I out.>> Lulu explained. <>

<<Wait...>> I interrupted her. <>

Lulu looked at me oddly. <<... No. You told us to get the children-

Zann fired a Flamethrower to get the insects off of the tiny pods and Lulu and I quickly freed the children from their prisons.

-somewhere safe, remember?>>

I frowned. <<I... think so?>>

<<Wow.>> Lulu blinked. <<You must've been really close to the explosion if you have memory loss. Did you see what caused it, if you can remember it?>>

I concentrated. <<Not... really? I remember firing Solar Flares down a street at a group of changelings, and us freeing some foals from cocoons, but not much else after that. I think-

I rode the shock wave even higher.

-I was flying at one point?>> I sat down, confused.

<<Maybe...>> Lulu looked over at Fluttershy. <<Maybe we can get Yomega to look at your head when the venom wears off.>>

<<Why not Conner?>>

Lulu's face fell. <<Conner... He's...>> She sniffed. <<There wasn't any time... He threw himself in front of a mana bolt meant for Cadence and Shining...>>

<<What?! But-?>> I looked back over at Fluttershy. <<CONNER!!>> I ran over to the pegasus, startling everyone near me doing so. I ran around Fluttershy's side and slid to a stop beside the large canine in front of her.

Conner lay on his side, his white ribbons splayed out on the balcony, the blue and pink tips trailing back into the hall. His pink and white bows flopped down from their places. The larger one at the base of his left ear rustled in the soft breeze, but the one on his chest lay still, the fur on his pink tail and paws sometimes joining in with the ear bow's movement. Conner's pink ears dropped over the edge of the balcony, the pink fur on the back of his head brushing up against the railing.

<<J-Joy?>> I asked, listening to the Pack and the ponies slowly coming over. <<I-is Conner...?>>

"H-he's alive." Fluttershy whispered. "Just... Badly injured. I..."

"Should we move him?" Twilight asked.

"... Y-yes." Fluttershy said. "Can you levitate him back to the suite?" She looked over at Cadence and Shining. "I'm very sorry, but I might miss your wedding if he doesn't wake up in a couple of days."

"Actually..." Shining nervously spoke up. "We were thinking of holding it later this evening, mostly as a political move."

Cadence nodded. "A way of showing our allies that we won't let a simple invasion stop us." Her expression softened, and she shared a look with Shining. "... But we can wait a few days for the repair work to get started, at least."

Shining nodded. "I'm also going to need to set up an appointment with a psychiatrist." He confided to us. "I want to make sure I'll be okay after having Chrysalis in my head for so long..."

"Wait," Twilight frowned at him, Conner hovering in her mana, "you knew? Why didn't you try to warn anypony?"

"It was part of whatever spell she cast on me." Shining explained. "Every time I tried, the words died in my throat, and my hooves refused to write. And it physically hurt me to go against whatever she ordered..." Shining sighed. "I was aware of everything, Twilight. Even at the end. I was trapped in my own body, and..." He shook his head and sighed. "Cadence is right, we should let the repair work get started. Something wrecked the Scholar district-

I growled and Glared at the things in front of us.

-something fierce."

Cadence gave her fiance a weak smile. "Did your connection with the queen tell you that?" She tried to inject some humor into the conversation.

"No." Shining pointed with his hoof. "You can see it from here..."

I followed his hoof to see a massive crater in the city. Buildings at its edge lay in crumbling ruins, except for those near the university. The university itself now stood on a small cliff that jutted into the crater itself. Rubble lay at the bottom of the crater in a shallow pool of water that was trickling in from the sewer pipes. Many buildings for several streets around the crater's edge had chunks blown off or holes in their roofs from where debris had hit them.

"Land's sake." Applejack breathed. "I hope no one, pony or changeling, was caught in that."

Celestia frowned. "I'm going to need to coordinate with the guard and help look for survivors." She held a wing out to Shining. "And no, you need to rest for now. Although, if you can go make sure my sister is alright..."

"At once." Shining bowed, wincing as he straightened up.

"We'll help you." Twilight offered. "After making sure Conner's okay, of course."

Celestia nodded, then took to the skies.

Yomega stared at the crater with dilated eyes. <> He asked as our mares started to walk towards the hall's entrance.

<<Are you okay?>> Vince asked Yomega.

<<Yes, Cy, I'm fine.>> Yomega smiled at him.

Cy waved at him from his other side, a sleeping Abes draped over his back. <<Yo, I'm over here.>>

Yomega gave him a puzzled look. <> He shook his head. <> He looked back into the hall. <<Do you guys see a little alicorn foal running around in there?>>

<<Nope.>> Zann stated, then started to lead Yomega after our mares. <<Is she a cute foal?>>

Yomega smiled. <<Very. She takes after her mother.>> I made my way in front of the pack so that there was more room for everyone to get out. <<Oh, Leo?>>

I stopped and looked at him. <<Yes?>>

Yomega gave me a sad smile. <<You've got a strange mental block-

I lost consciousness as they covered me in wax.

-on you. Do you want me to remove it?>>

<<Sure.>> I shrugged. <<If it's something the 'lings did to me, then I want it dealt with soon. But shouldn't you sober up->>

<<Kay!>> He chirped, interrupting me before his lavender eyes started glowing. <<Oh... OH!>> His smile slipped. <<Leo, I... I'll let you deal with this in your own time, but this block needs to go. I'll take you back to the room, and I'll make sure that no one else bothers you about it. I... I'm so, so sorry, Leo...>>

<<Are...> I squinted at him. <<Are you crying?>>

<>

I opened my mouth to argue but-

I locked eyes with the vermin. <<Die.>>

-I let out a horrified wail at what I had done, collapsing in sorrow.

A Canterlot Invasion: Slip Away.

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After my freak out in the hall, I had retreated into myself. The others had dragged me back to our suite and plopped me down on the same couch as Conner. I had barely moved since, only shifting to tuck my paws in. I stared through the wall towards the crater - my crater- replaying my memories over and over again as if they would suddenly change. I didn't pay any attention to Conner's check up, nor did I move when Twilight left to lend her aid to the search.

I didn't even notice when the pack crowded around Conner and I.

I heard the conversations going on around me, but the words failed to register. I just kept remembering the anger I was channeling, only to recoil from the feelings with horror and shame. Slowly, a new thought bubbled up through the haze. Was... was that truly me? I wondered. The me that had begun life as a human? Or... or is that what...? I flinched as the Claw flashed through my mind. I mentally grabbed at any other memory to get away from it.

I thought of the time I had finally beaten Rainbow in a footrace, but her look of pride shifted to one of disappointment in my mind's eye. She'd hate me if she knew that I was responsible. I tried to shrink even further into myself. My lower muzzle trembled as another memory, this one of a night in the library and a promise unknowingly broken. The conversations around me died away at my whimper.

What is wrong with me...

There was a knock on the door. Yomega yelled a welcome and Luke entered the room. I only glanced at him before returning to my endless staring. The Lucario was smiling through an impressive shiner and was sporting bandages around his limbs. He also had patches of electrical burns, especially around his spikes.

Fluttershy gave him a quick glance herself before returning to her administrations on Conner.

<<Hey, guys! You won't believe what happened!>> He said excitedly, jogging up to us.

<<At this point,>> Abes sighed, <>

<<Nope!>> Luke's tail was wagging from his excitement. <<My egg hatched! C'mon,>> he waved an arm as he bounced towards the door, <>

Oh, your kid gets to hatch?! You didn't even need to wait for a month! I frowned, shifting my gaze down to my paws. Luke’s smile slipped as he opened his mouth, but he closed it with a look to Yomega. It's not fair. It's not fair! Why? Why, why, why?! I looked back towards my crater. Is it because of me? O-of what I can do- of what I've done?

<<Leo?>> Villhiem gave my shoulder a shove. <<You coming?>>

I stared at him for a little bit as my ears drooped. <<... No. I think I'll stay here to let Conner know where you're at...>>

<<You sure?>> Yomega placed his forehead against mine. "This may help you cope with... this..."

<<Yeah.>> I sighed. <<I'm sure.>> Yomega gave me a skeptical look, but turned to follow Luke when I waved him on.

"Oh, um, Mr. Luke?" Fluttershy meekly called out. "Could I come see your son? If that's too much of a bother, um, or a..."

<<No, no.>> Luke smiled. <<It's okay! C'mon.>>

I watched the horde leave the room, my frown deepening as the door clicked shut. I started to shuffle closer to Conner, but stopped myself. I don't deserve to have pack mates like them. I thought. Turning to stare towards my crater again. I'm a monster. I glanced over a Conner before getting up and taking my pity party out onto the balcony.

I closed my eyes and leaned into the wind, hoping that it would blow my worries away for a time. But my ugly reality remained when I opened my eyes. I turned my gaze to see the devastation I had wrought, and watched the armor of the distant guards glint in the sun. I shuffled to the edge of the balcony, leaning my head out to try and get a closer look.

I glanced down. ... That's an awfully long drop.

I held a paw out...

I turned back into the room to write a note. Conner was still asleep, or knocked out, or whatever. I sniffled a little as I wrote, then placed it in a place where Conner would find it when he woke up and where anyone else would see it if they came in.

Then I left.

I followed the path I had fought down towards the crater. I barely paused in the square Zann and I had done our firestorm, only taking the time to note the missing changelings. I hoped it was because the Royal Guard had removed them, but knew it was because of the love nuke flinging them out of Canterlot.

Just more bodies on my shoulders...

I finally reached the cordoned off section around the crater. As I wove my way around the doctors, nurses and other first responders, a pair of guards flew in and laid a body in a section where only very somber ponies worked. The bodies there were all covered.

I slunk past the fence work, ears and tail low. I stopped when I heard a cry that tore into my soul. I turned to see a mare weeping over the body the guards had just flown in.

I turned and left, guilt devouring my insides. I couldn't stand to be there any longer.

I made my way to a secluded section of the crater's rim. The view from the palace didn't do the wreckage justice. This close, I could see the rubble, I could read the various signs that still stubbornly poked out of the rubble. I could see that the guards were slowly picking their way across the crater floor, clearing a line in front of them by moving the rubble there into the cleared space behind them.

They were moving so slowly. I lay down and stared out towards the worst of the ruins. How many ponies are trapped under there that won't make it before they're found? I wondered.

There was a thud behind me. I morosely turned to see Smolder walk up to me. She was also sporting a black eye, with band-aids sticking to her scales. An arm hung in a sling, presumably to keep it in place until they could get plaster on it. "What're you doing down here?" She asked me. "I thought Luke was going to show off his kid to you guys?"

I turned away to stare back out over the crater.

"You wanted to see this shit too, huh?" Smolder sat down beside me. "We never knew that they had a mana bomb this strong with them. Occelus never mentioned..." Smolder reached down to start scratching me. It did nothing to help me, although I assumed that it calmed her. "What I don't understand is why they were trying to use it against the college and not the barracks, and what stopped them from getting there." Smolder sighed. "It still did a lot of damage, though..."

... I don't deserve to be here. I squirmed out from under Smolder's claws. I started to walk away from the palace, the crater, and my mare.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Smolder called after me.

<<I've done enough damage here. I'm going home.>> I broke into a run, and quickly blurred through the city's main gates. If I even still deserve to call it that... The wind in my wake and the tears that fell were the only things marking my passage down the Equestrian road.

Dark Thoughts.

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I kept running, my paws thudding against the hard packed earth. After an hour of solid running, I was starting to breathe heavily. But I wouldn't stop, not until I got back to Ponyville. I tried to focus on the burn in my legs to keep my mind off of what I had done.

I shouldn't have bothered.

"You should've told someone you were leaving."

Rainbow'll know where I am. I glanced at a road marker as I passed it by. According to it, I'll be running passed Chestnutville in about another two hours, which I remembered being roughly a day's walk from Ponyville.

"Yes, but she won't know why. What if she's so worried about you that she can't do her rainboom for the wedding?"

I panted out a snort. They won't hold it for another couple of days. Not until they finish trying to find out if there are any other "mana bombs" still in the city. If Rainbow does worry, she'll just fly out to find me. I frowned, staring down at the road. I'll just tell her I'm going to let the others know that she'll be longer.

"How? You can't talk to ponies."

I don't think she'll care. I sniffed. She'll just be glad someone's thinking about that. She wouldn't care about me.

"Now, don't say that. Rainbow cares about you. Plenty of people care about you."

That just makes my fuck up worse. I... I could've seriously hurt Zann and Lulu and the foals. I didn't know if they were far enough away before I... I stumbled over a dip in the road.

"You should slow down or stop for a rest. You've been going pretty hard for a while now..."

I'll rest when I get there. I stubbornly kept running.

"You're going to seriously hurt yourself like this, Leo. You're too..."

"Too what?" I started speaking out loud, gasping my words out around my panting. "Too stupid? Too careless? Too reckless?"

"Too important. You're more important than you know."

"HA!" I barked. "Pull the other one, it's got bells on it! I'm not important. I'm just... not. I just do what I'm told, like the pathetic, worthless pet that I am." I sniffed. "I can't even do that right..."

"Leo, stop this! You know that you're better than that!"

"If I was," I sadness turned to anger, "I wouldn't have blown a hole in the Princesses front fucking YARD!" I tried to take a sharp corner at speed, and tripped. I rolled off the road and down the steep drop the road was avoiding. I ended up on my back in a briar bush, its thorns digging into my skin through my fur. I tried to move my legs to wiggle my way out, but the traitorous things refused to move.

So I lay there, catching my breath, my weight pushing me further into the bush. "Maybe I should find the thickest part of this crap around Ponyville, and move into it." I wheezed. "It's better than what I deserve."

"Oh, Leo... Do you really think so lowly of yourself? You... You should be focusing on the good that you've done."

"Like what?"

"Like being the proud mother of three eggs that will hatch into adorable little mini Eevees. Like being the only creature Rainbow willingly confides in. Like being able to introduce a taste of your old world to this one."

"Eggs that won't hatch, she confides in me because of our soul bond, and I brought over a treat that I'm sure somepony's already thought of." I groaned.

"Oh sure, ignore the lining for the clouds..."

"Murderers like me don't deserve silver linings," I sniffed, "just silver bullets."

"Havoc damn it! You have to know that the others killed other changelings during that fight, right?"

"Yeah, by accident." I felt more tears start to well up in my eyes. "I went out of my way to kill those poor changelings. I... I took pleasure in killing them! I-I'm not a murderer..." I started to cry. "I'm a monster."

"NO YOU'RE NOT!!" I was shocked into silence. "You're not anything like that, trust me. You just... found a terrifying new ability that the companies back on earth would never risk showing to their target audience. I'm sure if you talked to Eros, she'd tell you all about those types of moves, and how to control them.

"Now, there's a pony coming, you're going to let him take you to the local pound, and then they're going to take you home. No more running for today, okay?"

I sniffed. "... 'Kay..." I heard the pony nearby, and started wiggling to get out of the bush. The noise just made it easier for the unicorn stallion to find me.

"Whoa, there, lil' fella." He soothed. "It's okay, you're okay. I'm jus' gonna pull ya out of there, so ya jus' stay still for me, okay?" I sighed, and stopped struggling. He quickly untangled me from the thorns and floated me up at eye level. "Cute lil' feller, ain't ya? Wonder what kind of dog ya are. Hmm?" He leaned in after spotting my collar, using the light from his horn to read the tag. "Ponyville, eh? Yer a long way from home, ain't ya? C'mon," He cushioned me in his magic and carried me towards the town, "I know jus' the ponies ta help ya get home to yer Rainbow Dash."

[Vince]

I finally returned to our suite, the guard closing the door behind me. I looked around the main room, frowning at the unlit candles. "Leo? You in here?"

"She's not here." I heard Conner croak out from where we left him. I made my way through the suite to Conner's resting place. "She left a note, said she was going to look at the crater?"

I hopped up beside the Sylveon. "Hey, good to see you're awake. How ya feeling?"

"Sore." He chuckled. "Which contrasts nicely with the overwhelming euphoric bliss I felt when I evolved."

I lay down and cracked out a yawn. "Learn any new moves?"

"Yeah. Draining Kiss, Sweet Kiss, Disarming voice and Fairy Wind." One of Conner's ribbons rose up and placed itself on my muzzle. "Please, Vince, I'm still tired from my evolution. I'll share more once the rest of the pack get here. Where are they, anyways?"

"They're still cooing over Luke's kid. He hatched sometime shortly after the invasion." I pawed at the ribbon. "Is... Is this flesh?!"

Conner tilted his head at me. "... Yes? Why wouldn't they be?"

"Dude," I shivered, "that's freaky."

Conner shrugged with a sigh. "It's what it is. Now, What's this about a crater?"

"Oh, well..." I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. "So, there was a large explosion near the university."

"I think I remember that. Collapsed the tunnel I was in on me."

I nodded. "Yeah, turns out that that was a mana bomb. Or, that's what the Princess thinks it was. It made a huge crater outside Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Lulu and Zann told us that they were caught in the edge of it and that's what knocked them out."

Conner frowned. "Wasn't Leo with them?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "We think that she was near the center of the blast, but we don't know for sure. She's pretty shook up about it."

Conner lay back in thought. "Why'd they try bombing the university, though? I mean, I get why they didn't blow up the palace, that's where their Queen was, after all. But why not go after the barracks?"

I shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe they wanted to get rid of the Circle so that they couldn't banish their summons? Luke told us about some crazy summon that he had to fight."

"Really?" Conner shifted to get into a better position. "What was it?"

"Dunno, some sort of bipedal electric cat."

"Heh," Conner half chuckled, half coughed, "he should've used dig or bone rush on it."

"I think he said it had a held item?" I tried to remember. "I don't know what, I was too busy cooing over his kid."

"How'd Lulu take it?" Conner asked. "I mean, ours haven't hatched yet..."

We were interrupted by the return of the rest of the Pack and our mares. I settled back as I let the others gush to, at, and over Conner's new form and about Luke's kid. I paused to look over the Pack.

Geez, Leo and I are the only ones unevolved. I frowned in thought. I should've evolved by now, what with all the powdered gems I've eaten.

"You do know that Applejack's stopped feeding you the charged topaz, right?"

I've been making my own! I smiled proudly. Still, what's taking it so long?

"Hey, guys?" Rainbow called out over the din. "Anyone seen Leo? She's not here."

"You do remember you have a Soul Bond, right?" Twilight snarked.

"Yeah," Rainbow nodded, "but I don't like using it if I don't have to." Sighing, she closed her eyes and focused. "Huh. She's just past Chestnutville, moving toward Ponyville."

Twilight did a double take. "Wait, seriously? Why would she run off like that?"

"Eh." Rainbow shrugged. "She's probably going to let the weather team know that I'm going to be longer up here."

"How would she be able to do that?"

"She's a smart Eevee, she'd probably point at the calendar or something." Rainbow settled into her bed. "I wouldn't be surprised if she decides to stay in Ponyville. I mean, she was pretty close to the mana bomb when it went off. She'll need some time to calm down from that."

I joined the evolved Eevee cuddle pile to try to sleep, but I couldn't help wondering. It's not like Leo to run off like that.

Right?

Mental Plague

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[Leo]

After the pony from the pound had dropped me off at the weather station, I had just meandered ho- to Rainbow's home. I could tell Tank was worried about me, but I didn't care. I spent most of that and the next day sleeping, if only to avoid thinking.

But now I couldn't sleep anymore, so I just laid in my bed and stared at the cloud ceiling, moping. One of my ears twitched to a familiar mechanical hum entering my room. "Go away, Tank." I mumbled.

"Oh, so y'are alive." Tank settled beside me. I just rolled to face away from him. "... What happened, Leo?"

I stayed silent.

"Does it have t'do with th' explosion from Canterlot?"

I tried to ignore him.

"You were there, weren't ya?" He placed a foot on my shoulder. "Don't bottle this up, it's okay to let it out, to cry."

I sniffed, burying my face into my tail. "Jus' go away." I murmured. I don't deserve your sympathy.

Tank didn't say anything, he just gently patted my shoulder and plodded his slow way out. I stayed curled up long after he had left. Great. All of Equis knows about what I did. It's only a matter of time before they figure out that I did it. Then they'll all hate me for it. And they'll be right to do so.

"Maybe you should start with finding out how you did it?"

Why? So that I can hurt someone else. Like the disappointment that I am?

"No, so that you know how NOT to do that." I grumbled and groaned, before sniffing and using my tail to wipe my face of snot and tears. I finally managed to roll out of bed and shuffled towards the door. I paused at the front door, looking at the drop. Jump, you'll finally fly! Heh, heh. I sighed and hopped onto the nearest cloud step, then the next one down. I paused on each cloud step, carefully judging distances to put the bare minimum of effort into each jump. Landing on solid ground, I slowly meandered towards the Crusader's Clubhouse. It took me a solid two hours to get there.

I sat at the base of the ramp, staring at the bottom of the clubhouse's floor, trying to work up the energy and nerve to go in. Their sisters would never let a monster like me get near their precious family if they knew the truth. I lifted a paw to leave-

"Nope! Get your ass UP that ramp, little Missy!"

- and planted it firmly on the ramp. I slowly crawled my way up into the clubhouse itself. My morose mood was briefly overtaken by wonder as I took in the changes the fillies had made within their hideout. The tree trunk was walled off by bookshelves filled with their summoning course books, their own notebooks, and some choice reagents. A section of flooring had been cleared up and a metal ring six feet across hung from that wall. There was a writing desk against the back wall with reams of parchment rolled up beside it. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were crowding around Silver, who was holding a book open in her hooves. Eros was by the ring with Sweetie, working on the unicorn's telekinesis. As I crept my way towards Eros, Zephyr flew in through the open window and dropped a letter in front of Scootaloo before flying up and clinging to the ceiling.

Scootaloo cracked the letter open, and gave it a quick glance before handing it off to Silver. I had finally made it to Eros when she called out to get everyone's attention. "Girls! I've been accepted!"

"Good fer ya!" Apple Bloom cheered.

"The Circle will want me up there to do my test after the wedding's over, and they've... Hold on." Silver squinted at the letter. "Something about needing to double check their foundation's stability?"

"But we haven't even been to Canterlot lately!" Sweetie whined. "Our train ride there was even canceled for some reason!"

"Ah think it has ta do with that explosion." Apple Bloom deadpanned.

Eros looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "So, what do you know about that?" She asked, crossing her arms.

<> I hedged. <<Best as they can figure, it was a mana bomb.>>

"A what?" Eros tilted her head at me before glancing over at Sweetie. "Is this a conversation we should be having here?"

<<Probably not.>> I admitted. I blinked and the world lurched around me. I managed to get my nausea under control and found myself and Eros under the clubhouse. I sighed. <> I looked away. <<Are... Are there any abilities that Pokemon have on par with that?>>

"Can I see the damage?" Eros asked, holding a hand out to my head.

I sighed and nodded, focusing on what I saw before I ran, like a coward. I saw Eros's eyes widen as her mouth dropped open.

"A mana bomb can do all that?!" She shuddered and calmed herself down. I waited while she took a couple of calming breaths. "No, I don't know of anything we can do that can cause... that. I’ve lived a..." She glanced at me. "... secluded life before being summoned here. Triphyle might know, though." I felt her pick me up slightly with her mind. "I'll teleport us to him."

The world lurch around us again. I took a moment to dry heave my non-existent breakfast out -Have I really not eaten since I got back?- while Eros asked Triphyle my question. I shook my head as the large land tortoise rumbled a response to Eros.

"Alright, here's what he's saying." Eros thought at me while Triphyle kept talking. "Only the Pokemon of legends or gifted by Arceus have the power to do something like that by themselves. However, all Pokemon can access the ambient energy of the world with proper training, or with a human." Eros somehow managed to spit that last word out. "You see, humans are unique amongst Arceus's creations, as they cannot easily manipulate either their own nor the world's energies without special training or devices. What they can do is absorb and store energy, and give it out to us. That is why many Pokemon wish to team up with humans.

"That, and their lack of powers usually make them clever strategists.

"They do this in a variety of ways, based off of your human's nature. The most common is when a pokemon and a human are in perfect sync. The humans call the elemental powers we unleash Z moves, for some reason. There are a multitude of other triggers, but the most common ones are tied to our emotions. Humans are just now experimenting with these other triggers. They've named the three they've 'discovered': J moves, from those triggered by happiness, S moves from sadness, and R moves from anger.

"All of these are very powerful, and could create as much devastation as a mana bomb, but they all require a human partner to do and take a lot out of us." Eros finished translating for Triphyle. "So, there you go. Hope that helps."

<<It did, thanks.>> I smiled and nodded. <<I've got to be going, see you around.>> I waved my tail at them, then turned and walked away. I could hear some rustling from behind me, then Eros walked up beside me. I didn't look over at her.

I could feel her looking me over. "... Leo, are you okay?"

<<I...>> I started to dismiss her before remembering that she's an empath. <<... I don't want to talk about it.>>

"Alright..." I could feel the concern from her. "Just... If, you know, you need an ear...?"

<<... Yeah...>> I made my sullen way away from her. I spent the next hour or so just drifting through town. Eventually, I found myself staring at the cloud ceiling of Rainbow's home. Tank had long since gone to sleep, and I had heard Rainbow's rainboom about an hour ago.

"So... I could do that because of my human soul?" I mused. Perhaps, but only a monster would unleash a R move first.

"Or maybe you used your anger to protect."

"Anger can really only hurt." Most often, those that matter to you, or are innocent and undeserving of your wrath.

You monster.

"They were cocooning CHILDREN, for, er, Arceus's sake!"

That's no excuse for wanton murder.

"Shut up, you!"

"But I'm still right." I mumbled rolling over to stare at the wall, for a change of scenery. My thoughts chased and argued with themselves as I finally fell asleep.

Blackest Thoughts.

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I woke up late the next day when Rainbow blitzed into her bedroom. I stayed in my bed and watched Rainbow zip around her room putting her luggage away. She was going on and on about the actual wedding.

"And I think the only thing that stole the Rainboom's spotlight was Luke's and Ember's kid!" Rainbow gushed.

<<Uh-huh...>>

"Not that I can blame him!" She continued. "The little guy was so cute! He looks like his father, if he was a dragon."

<<Neat.>> I monotoned. "We have created a clone of you, one third your size!"

It's just something else you'll need to stay away from. Can't risk breaking him now, too.

Yeah... Don't want Luke to come down on my head. I heard what he did to the lightning cat the 'ling's summoned.

A monster like you would deserve it, though.

"You're not a monster."

<<But I am...>> I muttered to myself as I shifted around in my bed.

"Say something, Leo?" Rainbow asked.

<<I said that I'm glad you had fun.>> I lied smoothly.

Rainbow came over and picked me up. "It would've been better if you were there with me." She carried me over to the bed. She pulled a brush out and started to brush out my fur. "Jeez, your fur is matted. Did you run through some bushes to get here?" She chuckled.

<<Uh... Kinda.>> I admitted. <<Ran so hard I tripped into the ditch.>>

"Yeah," Rainbow nodded, "that'll do it." We lapsed into silence as Rainbow brushed out my fur. While I could feel my funk alleviate from the grooming, I still couldn't shake my depression. "Hey Leo, are you okay?" Something Rainbow seemed to pick up on.

Monsters like you are never "okay". Just horrifying or dead.

"Don't listen to it, Leo! You'll be okay, as soon as we get rid of our unwanted guest!"

Oh, that's rich, coming from you!

Rainbow lifted my head to look at her. "Leo? Are... are you okay?"

<<M'fine.>> I muttered, letting my head flop back onto Rainbow's lap when she let go. I felt Rainbow slowly stop brushing me.

I watched as the cloud bed turned into cloud floor, which in turn became open air over ground. I didn't worry, I knew that Rainbow was holding onto me.

You don't deserve her.

I know...

"That's a lie! You deserve her, as much as she deserves you!"

I shrugged. I guess... I barely took in the surroundings as we flew, so I was a little surprised when we touched down at Fluttershy's. <<... What're we doing here?>>

"You are going to check up on your eggs." Rainbow nudged me towards the Daycare. "I need to talk to Fluttershy."

I sullenly nodded and trudged my way up the ramp. I slowly made my way through the routine of checking on the eggs, then separated myself from them, laying down at the top of the ramp.

"What's wrong, Leo? You're not going to warm your eggs?"

What if I snap and damage them?

"That won't happen and you know it!"

Says you.

"There she is, you two."

I glanced over at the sound of Rainbow's voice, spotting Fluttershy and Conner coming towards me. I rolled over so that my back was to them. I ignored the conversation that Rainbow was having with the two. Probably telling them about how much of a disappointment I am...

Heh, I can hear her now, "Can I get a refund on my bitch?"

"That's not what they're talking about, and you know it!"

I sighed. Might as well be...

"Now listen here-!"

I felt something fleshy touch me, but it quickly flinched away with a hiss. I lazily glanced over to see Conner with the tip of a ribbon in his mouth, his eye's watering in pain. ... I just hurt people.

<<Leo...?>> Conner whimpered through his ribbon. <<Are... Are you feeling okay?>>

<<M'fine.>> I muttered, turning away again. I ignored the Sylveon as he returned to talking with his owner and Rainbow. "You're not fine, Leo. These dark thoughts, they're not yours!"

Oh, they are. They're the ones you hide away from the rest. Just like the ones from years ago...

"And you already know that you're better than them!"

A fuzzy paw roughly poked my shoulder. <<Hey.>> I heard Angel grunt from behind me. <<You're stayin' here until you're better.>>

<<'Kay.>> I mumbled into my tail.

<<Ya wanna come into the house, or are ya gonna mope out here?>>

<<M'fine here.>>

I heard the ramp creaking as Angel shifted his weight from foot to foot. <<Alright. I'll leave a dog door unlocked if you change your mind.>>

<<'Kay.>> I sighed as Angel hopped away.

I stayed within the confines of the Daycare's doorway for the next several days. I barely moved other than to check on the eggs, and even then, only on my Brain's insistence. Conner would bring me food, but avoided touching me, hissing in pain whenever he accidentally did so. Angel took it upon himself to make sure I actually ate.

Usually, this meant him taking pawfuls of food and cramming it down my throat. If it wasn't for him also cleaning the resulting mess up, my fur would've been matted with dried food.

After the eighth day of this, even Angel was showing concern.

On the ninth day, Rainbow stopped by for an update. Against my desires, I listened in.

"Has she moved at all?" Rainbow asked

"Except for, um, bathroom breaks?" Fluttershy's timid voice was barely audible. "Not really, no. She's done some stuff to look after the eggs, but, um, it's not very often? Or, not as often as she used to."

"So... What's wrong with her?" My flinch went unnoticed.

Conner spoke up and was translated by Fluttershy. <<She's deeply depressed. I don't know what's triggered it, but I'm keeping a close eye on her, just in case.>>

"I think I might have a hunch..." Rainbow muttered. Louder, she added. "So, what can we do to fix it?"

See, you're a broken tool, useless until fixed. But you're too broken for that, and you know it.

I glanced over at the trio and, seeing that they weren't paying attention to me, got up and silently walked away.

"Leo... Where are you going? My Brain thought as I entered the Everfree.

"Away." I mumbled.

"Er... Why?"

I didn't think of a response until after I passed by our memorial clearing. "So that I won't cause problems anymore."

"So... You're running away?"

I sat down in the middle of a clearing that reeked of rotten wood.

Hehehe. Nope. A chorus of growling filled the air as timberwolves stalked out from their dens. She's given up.

I've won.

Author's Notes:

Many, many, many apologies for the length of time it took for this chapter to come out, and for so little words to justify that length. But...

For those who have yet to pick up on it, this arc will be dealing with both depression, and suicide. Both of which are something that I've personally struggled with in the past, and depression is still something I am coping with. Which doesn't help with my writing method.

You see, I can't help but take on the emotions of whatever scene I'm writing. This is mostly a benefit, as it let's me see how characters will emotionally react to whatever's going on. But, this time, it's a hindrance, as I keep dredging up bad memories and... old thoughts.

The delay with this chapter, and the others shortly after it, are because I must step away frequently for my own mental health. But I keep returning, just as frequently, to write, because I know that, just like life, there will be better times ahead in this story. I just need to get past this rough patch first.

So... Yeah. That's what's been taking so long. I thank each and every one of you for your patience, and for your comments. You don't know how much they mean to me, even if it's just a "Where the hell is the next one?" type ones.

One last thing before I go: For those of you who have depression, you have my silent support, and there are numerous hotlines and resources out there to help you, even if you must reach out to find them. For those of you who are standing on that edge, know that you are loved, and that there is always hope. For those of you who are neither, please understand that we need your support and encouragement, but that each of us are affected differently by depression.

Finally, If you have depression, or even think you have depression, I strongly encourage you to find a psychologist or therapist.

You are loved, you are wanted, and you belong.

An Unwanted Guest

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[Yomega]

It had been eight days since Leo had been checked into the Daycare, and everyone was starting to get antsy to figure out how to help her. I was now browsing through the mental disorders and self help sections of the library. I had looked at and discarded the various books on psychology. They were focused too much on the pony mind.

"Hey Spike?" I mentally called out. "Do you remember if we have any books on vulpine psychology?"

"No, but I think Fluttershy does."

"Okay, thank you."

"No problem. Heh, this mind thing is great. Twilight hates shouting across the library." I felt Spike's mild joy in his mental voice.

"Alright, I'm heading out to check in with Conner and Leo." I placed the book I was holding back onto the shelf. I lightly walked past Moon Dancer's "lab" as Spike sent me his farewells.

"Okay, this is everything on the eggs?" Moon Dancer asked, causing me to pause.

"Yup," Thunderlane answered, "Everything from when they were laid. Conner's been keeping us from getting any other readings. I think Fluttershy said he doesn't want to risk the eggs being damaged."

Moon Dancer sighed. "Darn. If we had more recent readings, we could've compared them with these ones to see if we were doing anything wrong with incubating them."

"You think that's what's causing Leo to act like this?"

"It's as good a guess as any."

I sighed and left them to their musings. Really should let them take proper readings on the eggs at some point, see what Luke saw in them... I glanced out the window spotting a clear spot outside. Teleporting to it, I started jogging towards Fluttershy's, avoiding the town center. I had just cleared the pond when Villhiem came running up to me.

"Headmaster, wait!" He panted, causing me to pause. "Glad I could catch you. There's something going on in the Everfree and-"

I cut him off. "If this is about bugs blundering through poison joke again..."

"No, no..." The grass type gulped down some air. "The 'wolves. Something came into their clearing. I'm trying to stall them, but they won't listen for much longer!"

We both looked towards the Everfree as a flock of birds took off and vacated a section of the forest. A tree fell silently, another tilting as a light briefly flashed. We glanced at each other.

"That can't be good." I muttered. Louder, I addressed Villhiem. "C'mon, let's let Fluttershy know." We began jogging again. I kept a part of my mind on reading the psychic ripples I was picking up. "We need to hurry." I stated, breaking into a run as a chill shivered across my whiskers. We cleared the town when Conner ran into us, worry clear on his face.

"Leo's in the Everfree!" He yelled. "She was in the Daycare, and we were going to check up on her, then Rainbow came by asking about her, and when we looked over at her, she was gone!" He took a deep breath. "Rainbow checked her loyalty radar thing, and then asked Fluttershy to get her things. They're heading after Leo right now, and I was told to find you guys!"

"Why would she be in the Everfree?" I asked.

"You don't think...?" Villhiem asked me.

I took a moment to read the psychic field. I felt pain, sadness and... smugness? All coming from the direction the trees were shaking. I felt the 'wolves hunting, something, and something in conflict with itself. Then I looked into the future. Three paths opened before me, only one didn't end in death, but held more pain.

I opened my eyes.

"Conner, go get Abes." I pointed back at the library. "Tell him to get Luna, and then bring them into the Everfree. Villhiem, you need to come with me and lead them to us. Let's go." Orders given, we left Conner to run back into town.

I followed the trail Villhiem laid out for us deep into the forest, arriving at a torn up clearing. Pieces of timberwolves lay scattered around the area, their dens now laying abandoned. Leo lay in the clearing's center, bleeding from her many cuts, bruises and welts barely hidden by her fur.

I glanced over at Villhiem. "Where's the ponies?"

"Still a while away." Villhiem snorted. "They chose the thickest path."

I nodded, carefully sitting beside Leo. "... What are you doing out here, Leo?" She murmured something into the dirt and tried curling up on herself. "You gotta speak up, Leo."

She barely lifted her muzzle. "Jus' leave me here." She started to weakly crawl away from me. "Jus' leave me to die."

"What?" Villhiem cried out behind us. "Why?!"

"Monsters don' deserve t'live." She whimpered.

"You're not a monster." I tried to soothe.

"Yes I am!" Leo insisted. "Only a monster would go out of their way to... to kill people."

I sighed. "Is this about the invasion?"

"Is it about the mana bomb?" Villhiem added.

The Eevee snorted. "There was no bomb... That was just me... The monster of Ponyville." I felt something reverb against my whiskers.

"This isn't like you, Leo." Villhiem crept closer to us.

"It isn't." I stated. I used my mental might to hold her in place. I looked over at Villhiem. "Something's gotten into Leo. I need you to hold her in place while I dive in. Let Abes and Luna know what's going on when they get here." I barely waited for Villhiem's roots to grab onto the weakened Eevee before beginning to meditate.

I quickly pulled myself from my body and jumped into Leo's mind.

Immediately, the real world faded away and was replaced by a disheveled ruin of a forest. What few firs and birches were still standing were desiccated and rotting. Blood was splashed over the ruined trunks, splinters of rock embedded into the dirt around small craters. The wind whipped past, stirring the ashes carpeting the ground. I placed a small portion of my mind into the area around me, tethering me to that spot.

"That's right, you better run! Fucking coward!" I heard something bellow. "That's right, asshole, I've won. This bitch will die, and I will be free!"

I followed the voice through Leo's mindscape until I spotted a blob of black mist. It shifted and roiled above and around a grayed out canine. I paused to consider my future options, before nodding. My path was chosen now.

I sauntered out onto the red ash plain the mist hovered over. "Hey! You got a moment? I'm here to talk to you about your car's extended warranty!"

The mist formed a warped Eevee head to look over at me. "Didn't I just... Oh, you're new. What's this about my car?"

"No, no, no, no." I waved a paw at it, subtly wrapping my telekinesis around some nearby logs. "It's about your car's extended warranty."

"What about it?" The mist compacted into a more coherent, wolf-like Eevee body solidified. It broke apart as I threw the logs through it.

"It's expired." I floated a few more logs overhead. "Get the fuck out of my mate's head."

The mist quickly reformed its body. "No can do, asshole. You fucks trapped me in here. Even if I could leave, what could you do about it?" It idly flicked a ball of black energy at me, forcing me to dodge. I slowly returned to my position as a pair of ripples passed through my fur. "You can't hurt me. I'm a dark type."

I shrugged, feeling a slight tug on my tether. "Then you wouldn't mind if I make the next move? Since I'm clearly outclassed."

"Oh, this I've gotta see." The being sat on the grayed out Eevee. "What move, what ability, hell, what spell could you possibly have that can affect me?"

"It's a simple spell." I smiled as I pulled on my tether. "For my first move, I cast 'Summon Creature: Bigger Fish'."

Restless Soul.

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The demented Shadow Eevee tilted its head and laughed. "You wanna try summoning something? In here?! You must have some screws loose yourself if you think you can get any-" A midnight blue hoof snapped its jaw off as Luna sailed past. "Oh. That fish." The mist growled as it reformed its jaw. A ball of black energy started to form over the things head.

Only to disperse as a smaller ball blasted a hole through the Shadow. "Sonuva BITCH!"

"Yes?" Abes asked, sliding to a stop beside me. "What have we got, Alpha?"

I leaned over to him as Luna kept flying through the Shadow Eevee. "No clue. It might be The Claw, it could be something else. But it mentioned being trapped in here, so..."

"Got it. What do you need us to do."

"Keep it occupied. I need to do a deeper dive."

"Got it." Abes nodded, balls of purple energy forming around him. He bolted away from me, yelling all the while. "Look, a distraction!"

I fell through the ground as Abes threw his balls, and rose up into a room in disarray.

I glanced at the clothes and knickknacks strewn around. Are these Leo's memories? Tentatively, I reached out and poked at a random fork.

"It appears," A deep male voice boomed out, "that you have knocked out-" I couldn't understand the word. "Using the most shameful of all magic. A-" A higher pitched voice cut in "Victory Screech!"

The memory faded at that point. I frowned, finding it odd that there were no visuals to go with it. I placed a paw on a soup bowl.

I sat at a wooden table, my food half eaten in front of me. An older male, someone I recognized as Leo's father, sat in a recliner, glaring at me. I knew that he had just finished a tirade at me for being let go from my old job. Please stop making me feel three inches tall... Leo's voice echoed in my head.

I shook my head, throwing off the melancholy sadness the memory left me with. I remembered hearing something about that. Leo had been let go from a well paying job because of her depression. That began her couple year long stint of drifting from job to job.

She had crashed on my couch a few times during that time. I never knew it was because of her old man.

I shook my head again. I picked my way across the mess towards the door. A rumble from above knocked a plushy under my foot as I tried to steady myself.

"I saw him in my head." A purple muppet stated. "I saw Morgan in my head."

"I don't have time for this." I growled.

"Fuck you, Hemingway!"

I sighed as the memory faded away. Finally reaching the door, I shoved against it hard. I bounced back with a sore shoulder, and barely stopped myself from falling into the memories. I looked at the side of the door and groaned when I saw the hinges on my side.

Pulling the door open, I looked out into a large, grayscale room. Bookshelves fought for space against gaming systems along the walls, while broken furniture lay scattered around an aquarium in the center. A typewriter and parchment floated in the water in place of fish. Laying on her side, Leo stared blankly at the tank.

"Hey, Leo...?" I softly called, letting the door close behind me.

"Come to gloat some more." Leo monotoned, not looking away from the tank.

"No, Leo," I almost whispered, "it's me, Yomega."

"Uh-huh." She glanced at me. "That trick won't work any more. First time you bothered adding in color."

I took a quick look at myself, surprised to see that she was right. I was the only lime green spot of brightness in a sea of grays. Even Leo was looking like a shiny Eevee here. "No, Leo. This is the real me. Abes and Luna are busy fighting that thing a layer up."

"Why?" Leo sighed. A piece of parchment dissolved in front of us. "I'm not worth it. I'm just dragging the Pack down." Another slip vanished.

I glanced in the tank, and choked back a cry. I saw the ideas that Leo used to say she wanted to write, D'n'D campaigns she wanted to run, floating in the tank.

"Wha...?" I swallowed the lump in my throat. "What are you doing?"

"Removing these." Leo rolled onto her back to look at me, her dull, half lidded eyes causing me to shudder. "I don't deserve to have good things. You showed me that..."

"I didn't show you anything like that!"

"Oh, yeah?" Leo fully rolled over. "What did you show me?"

"This." I pulled her into a hug. I focused on my friendship with her. I focused on everything we accomplished together. I focused on the love we shared as a Pack. I focused on all the good things Leo brought to us. "You are family, Leo. We all care for you."

"I don't deserve you." Leo recited into my chest. "You deserve better than me. Just let me-"

"Don't finish that." I tightened my hug.

"Just let me fade." The Leo in my arms flickered out like an old T.V. "Let me die in peace."

"Damnit!" I swore. I sat down, trying to feel where Leo truly was. I ignored the commotion in the upper layers, focusing on sending mental feelers further down. "C'mon, c'mon. Where is she?" I paused as something new joined into the fight above me.

"Yes, that will work." I returned to the room I had first entered, and began looking for the gaps. In the eternal moment between one heart beat and the next, I had found not missing memories, but tainted ones. I tapped one of them-

I sat in the scanner's bowl, propped up by my casts. I sent an exasperated look back at the gathering behind me. I don't want to be here...

Sadly, everyone else did. Of course no one cared what I thought. No one cares about monsters. Moon Dancer and Twilight were working together to fine tune the scanner. Eventually, Twilight turned to address the assembled group. "Alright, everything is set up and ready to go. We'll power up the Spetro-Thaumic Scanner, set it to continuous print, let it create the baseline, then have that bitch use her new ability."

Twilight cried with almost maniacal glee. The subsequent button push seemed almost anticlimactic. I leaned against the bowl's edge as the tines spun slowly around me. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but the horrid screeching that sounded from the machine behind me wasn't it. I cringed into myself, regretting the fact that I couldn't cover my ears. None of the others seemed to hear it, all of them giving me evil grins. This wasn't an experiment, was it?

I finally snapped out of the memory, I frowned, before placing my paw on it again, focusing on my own memory of that day. Slowly, it regained its color. Another quick peek at it showed that the memory had been completely cleansed. The shuddering of the mindscape and the roar of rage up above was another confirmation.

But I felt another, smaller shudder. I latched onto the feeling, and dove deeper. I immediately threw my telekinesis back up, to grab the only thing that could help Leo here.

Festered Remorse.

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[Abes]

I barely glanced at Yomega as he fell through the ground, focusing instead on launching my balls at the Shadow Eevee. They didn't do much to it, just punching holes clean through it. Holes the thing quickly filled in.

I quickly formed another pawful of balls, flicking all save one out to random spots in the dreamscape. The last one I placed very carefully. "Luna!" I shouted. "King's pawn to 'E' four!" Then I pulled all of the randomly scattered balls into the Shadow Eevee at once. The Shadow just rolled the lights it had for eyes before flicking a shadow ball of its own at me.

"Queen's pawn to 'D' six!" Luna cried out as she coated herself in her magic and started another attack run. I heard the Shadow sigh as I dodged the attack it threw at me.

"Really, Luna?" It drawled. "You've been doing that with no effect for how-"

"Queen's pawn to 'D' three!" That's when I detonated my balls I had gathered within it with the one I had trailing Luna. I felt the explosion blast the air back, the rumble shaking the ground. The Shadow's mist was pushed to the far corners of Leo's mindscape.

Luna landed beside me. "That won't keep it gone for long."

"I know." I grumbled. "He's already reforming. Would this be easier outside of Leo's mindscape?"

"No." My mare sighed. "With the sigil on Leo's mind, it can't leave."

"Wait..." I paused, forming orbs and hiding them amongst the ruined battlefield. "Does that mean that we can't leave either?"

"Nay, for we originate from outside Leo's mind." Luna's horn began to glow while she glared at the reforming shadow. "This thing comes from Leo herself. It is those kinds of dangers that the sigil wards against."

I nodded, reaching out for some nearby rocks with my mind. "Does that mean that he may share some... traits with Leo herself?"

"I believe so. Why?"

"Great, so it's a normal dark." I nodded, pulling my mind back. "Psychic and Ghost are useless, and our dark abilities are next to. Fairy or bug would be good, but we need a physical fighter to really put the hurt on him..."

"What are you babbling about?" Luna snapped at me. "And don't equinize it, you'll make it stronger."

"Okay, sorry. Thinking about type matchups. Wish Conner was here." I took a step to the right as the thing finished reforming. "So, what's the plan?"

"For you to DIE!!" The Shadow roared at us at a volume to blast my fur back. I empowered my natural venomous sweat in time for it to swat me with an overgrown paw. I ploughed through an ash pile and a tree before rolling to a stop. "What the... What did you chaos spawn just do to me?!"

I stood up with a groan. "The only thing I could. You're made from Leo, right?" I began running, shadowporting to turn myself into a missile. "Poison's a bitch huh?"

"Queen's Bishop to 'G' four!" I shadowported away as Luna speared a lance of mental moonlight through the Shadow, knocking it to the ground.

The Shadow cried out in pain, throwing out blobs of darkness in retaliation.

"King's knight to 'F' three!" I warned, detonating my Shadow Ball minefield to the Shadow's annoyance. "Whatever you just did, keep it up!" I then gave the Shadow another of my makeshift Tackles. Why the fuck is this so hard?!

"Knock it off you-!"

I didn't catch what it was going to call me. Luna's royal capslock interrupted the thing. "Queen's rook's pawn to 'A' five!"

"WOULD YOU TAKE THIS FIGHT SERIOUSLY!?" It bellowed as it reformed itself again. Black flames began falling from its body as it started to rage.

Knowing that my limited options just got even more restricted, I hatched a desperate plan. Please work, please work, please work! I prayed as I shadowported directly under the Shadow. I called upon my connection to the moon as I called out. "NO! Queen's bishop to 'E' three!" Moonlight drifted down on me from above, through the Shadow. It roared in pain as I healed from my punting. ... Yay.

I quickly shadowported out before the thing could recover and strike back at me. It belly flopped down where I had been standing, but the three of us paused as we felt something shift over the mindscape. I was about to ask Luna if she had done something, but had to shadowport when the thing threw a dark ball at me.

I appeared about a mile behind my previous position. I faintly heard Luna call out "King's knight to 'H' six" as I realised my mistake. I had enough time to reapply my Baneful Bunker, and, thinking quickly, I got ready by stiffening my tail. Once the dark ball was close enough, I tried to get in touch with my inner green fairy and smacked the ball back towards the ongoing brawl.

I shadowported closer to the duel on the far side from where the ball was returning from. "Queen's bishop to 'D' two!" Both Luna and I gave the thing some space in time for the ball to crash into the Shadow.

The Shadow just reabsorbed the black goop into itself. "Really? What was that supposed to accomplish?"

"Reapply the poison." I shrugged, spotting a bright glow back from where we entered. "Guess it didn't take."

Luna looked at me, a spell falling from her eyes. "Queen's rook to 'A' six?"

"Hmmm. Queen's knight to 'C' three." We nodded at each other and shadowported in opposite directions.

"Okay, seriously." The shadow created two more of its black balls. "What the fuck is up with your chess bullshit? There's clearly no fucking strategy to it. I mean-"

The Shadow was burst apart by a rainbow explosion. The prismatic pony that caused it landed between Luna and I.

"Okay, so..." Rainbow pointed back at the thing she flew through. "Where are we, what was that, and where's Leo?"

I kept an eye on our adversary as Luna replied. "We are in Leo's mindscape, and she is presently in a deeper layer, Yomega is looking for her as we speak. As to that thing, We have our suspicions. For now, we must keep it occupied to provide Yomega time."

"It's reforming slower this time..." I mused, Rainbow whipping around to look at me in surprise. "... What? We're in a mind, Rainbow. Why wouldn't we be able to talk freely here?" I looked her up and down. "How'd you get here in the first place?"

Rainbow sheepishly rubbed her right hoof against her left front leg. "I, uh, was worried about Leo, so I went to give her some reassuring pets. I found myself here when I touched her."

Luna scowled as the Shadow finally pulled its body back together. "We thought we told Villhiem not to let anyone come into contact with us until this endeavour was complete..."

"Do you know..." The Shadow drawled as it reformed its head. "...How much that stings?" Rainbow cracks shifted about the thing's mass.

Luna, Rainbow and I shared a look. "I've got an idea!" We chorused.

"Do it!" Luna commanded as I shadow ported underneath the thing again. It flopped down on me, but I had already prepped a Baneful Bunker. Rainbow blitzed off to do her thing while Luna charged through the Shadow.

Once it stood up to retaliate against Luna, I dropped my Bunker and reconnected to the moon. It spat a stream of black flame out at Luna, cutting off as it felt the moonlight drift through it again. I shadowported out from under it as it unleashed a wave of its black flame from its body.

Luna was about to charge it again when it howled in pain and anger, the rainbow cracks flaring. "Did you do that?" She called out to me.

"No!" I frowned, just in time for Rainbow to crash through the Shadow. She didn't blast it apart this time, merely cutting a rainbow hole through it. She began arcing around for another run.

The Shadow flared its fire again, then twisted it into a shielding tornado. The cracks faded and the hole reformed as it panted. "You... god damned... fucking fools!" It snarled, flaring the shield and forcing Rainbow to abort her attack run. "I am all of her anger, all of her guilt! Since you've forced me to stay in here, I will kill her! I will kill her and be free! And there is nothing you can do to stop me! I cannot die while she hates!"

"Get out of my friend's head!" Rainbow bellowed as she powered through the flames. In a flash of pink light, she vanished before she could make contact.

We all stared at the spot she last was. "... Now that was just sad..." The Shadow mocked.

"Hey, Fuckface!" I called out, growing a Shadow Ball above my head.

"You know that won't work on me." The thing deadpanned at me.

I smirked. "Ha, you looked."

"King's bishop's pawn to 'F' five!" Luna called out after another moonlight spear lanced through the Shadow.

I split my massive Shadow Ball into hundreds of small ones, and prepared to harass the fucker squatting in Leo's mind. C'mon, Yomega. We can't keep this thing distracted forever...

Nothing Else Matters.

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[Yomega]

I looked around the new area I found myself in, idly bleeding off Rainbow's momentum as she appeared near me. The snowy forest here looked so calm and serene, I almost mistook it for Leo's Sanctuary.

"What the-?" Rainbow looked around in confusion. "Where'd the shadow thingy go?"

"It would be more accurate to ask where you went." I answered, looking closer at one of the trees. "I pulled you here from that fight so that you can help me with Leo herself."

Rainbow squinted at me. "... Yomega?" I nodded. "Why?! We were winning!"

"No you weren't." I felt a ripple bounce off of my whiskers and started following the impression through the pine forest. "Fighting that thing would have been a losing battle of attrition. You're better off here to help me with this than buying me the time to do it."

"Okay." Rainbow drew out as she flapped along behind me. "And you know that how?"

"I can see the future." I turned into a clearing.

"Uh-huh. So you know what's going on then, right?"

"Nope." I stopped walking and began to telekinetically clear the snow. "Due to being in constant flux, I can only really predict only a little ways ahead with any sort of certainty. After that, it becomes too muddled. Too contradictory. But every choice we will make prunes off some of those then false futures, and knowing that lets me narrow down the choices I will then need to make to remove those futures and oh dear I've gone cross-eyed." I heard Rainbow snort behind me. "The short of it, Rainbow, is that predicting the future is similar to time travel: If you don't get a headache, you don't understand it."

Rainbow landed beside me. "Okay, so what are we going to be doing then?"

I lit the uncovered fire pit. "Tracking down the entrance to Leo's Sanctuary, and talking to her."

"Her what?"

"Mental terminology, terribly confusing, don't worry about it." I shrugged.

"Right..." Rainbow looked at me, then the fire. "How does this help us, and how did you light it? Zann's the fire one, right?"

"Don't know, and this is a mindscape. We can breathe underwater if we so choose."

"'Don't know'?!" She poked my chest with a hoof. "You just said that you can see the future!"

"aɪm nɒt ˌɪntəˈrʌptɪŋ ˈɛnɪθɪŋ, æm aɪ?" We both looked over at a large humanoid ape creature, an Eevee pelt on its head.

I noticed Rainbow tense beside me. "You must be the Angry Monkey, then?" I asked.

It nodded.

"How many of you assholes are messing with Leo?!" Rainbow growled, only held back by my mental grip on her tail.

The Angry Monkey Glared at us. "aɪm hɜː tuː, ˈæsˌhəʊl. lʊk, aɪm hɪə tuː hɛlp. aɪm ɒn jɔː saɪd hɪə."

I shivered as the move passed through me. "Yeah, we can't actually understand you, and I'm not sure if you understand us, either..."

"ˈfɪɡəz."

"We need help in finding Leo's Sanctuary, can you nod if you know where that is?" I asked.

"You just said that..." Rainbow was cut off as the Angry Monkey nodded. "So you do understand us! This will be easy!"

"dəʊnt ɡɛt ˈkɒki..." The monkey grumbled as it turned away, beckoning us to follow it. It led us through the pines, past copy-pasted clearings, and even over an icy creek. It remained silent the entire way. Eventually, it stopped at a dense stand of pines, and pointed through a small gap in the branches.

"Through here?" Rainbow asked, her wings fidgeting. "Are you going to come with us?"

"nəʊ." It stated, shaking its head. "hiː wəʊnt lɛt ʌs kʌm təˈɡɛðər, ænd hɪz ˈmæʤɪk ɪz tuː strɒŋ."

"Good luck, with whatever you need to do to keep that shadow away from here." I gave the Angry Monkey a slight bow. "C'mon, Rainbow."

The Monkey seemed to sigh, before turning and loping away. I led Rainbow through the pines, threading our way between clawing branches and scratching needles for several minutes. Eventually, we exited out into a clearing. A lamppost illuminated a large slab of wood ensconced in a stone arch. A lighting bolt shaped indent decorated the keystone and a sign hung from a nail on the slab.

"Is that a door?" Rainbow asked as we got nearer. "Where's the handle?"

"This door doesn't open so easily." I explained. "It guards the final bastion of Leo's mind. Nothing enters here unless she so wishes."

Rainbow looked back at me. "... What's a bastion?"

"A very strong castle." I sighed.

"Huh." She turned back at the door and squinted at the sign. "'No admittance, except on party business'? Do... Do we need to get Pinkie in here?"

"No." I snorted. "It's just a thing from a book Leo read once. She's always loved her references."

Rainbow landed beside me with a frown. "So. How are we getting in?"

"We need Leo to let us in." I repeated. "So we need to get her attention." I frowned in thought. "But anything we can do to let her know we are here would just alert the Shadow to our location. Which means that it'll need to be either something small or something direct. Maybe an array of psionic energy set to a stutter pulse? Or could the Shadow notice that? Maybe send mental spikes into some of these trees and what are you doing?" I focused back on Rainbow.

She lowered her hoof from where she was rapping the wood. "It's a door." She snarked. "You knock on it."

"No, thank you!" Leo's muffled voice came from beyond the archway. "I don't need anymore visitors, well-wishers, distant relations, or eldritch brainwashers!"

I held a paw up to stop Rainbow from speaking. "And what about very old friends?" I called back.

The wooden slab rippled and flowed like a cloth curtain as Leo poked her properly coloured head around it. "Yomega? Rainbow?" She looked around the clearing. "... What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you!" Rainbow hovered above Leo's head. "Princess Luna and Abes are fighting that shadow thing so that we can even talk to you!"

"Rainbow!" I snapped. "Look, Leo, we need to talk to you. In there." I pointed at the door.

Leo squinted at us. "How do I know that you aren't just another trick of the Shadow or the Claw?"

"You've got a Soul Bond with Rainbow, right?" I asked.

Leo, Rainbow and I all began to faintly glow red. "Rainbow!" She cried, glomping Rainbow before pulling her though the slab. A moment later, she pulled me through as well.

I stumbled into a studio. Two walls were taken up by shelving, a few shelves holding clay models. In that corner, a table was set up with clay shaped into a vague quadrupedal lump. There was a computer I recognized as Leo's old one from earth sitting on a desk, crowded by more figurines. The desk, in turn, took up a wall by itself. There was an easel and small bookshelf on either side of where the archway would've been. In its place was a large framed picture, showing a bust of Rainbow framed by the Pack, Tank, and a few other Eevee's I didn't recognize.

As Leo conjured up some cushions for us to sit on, I took a closer look at the figurines. It took me a moment to realize that they were of us, all of us, frozen in time. Likely key or favourite memories of us. I paused in my examinations upon spying a covered model, hidden at the back of one of the shelves behind a set of the eggs.

"Can I get you anything? Water, cider?" Leo asked, trotting over to the desk.

"You, uh..." Rainbow awkwardly coughed. "You know that we're in your mind, right?"

"Well obviously." Leo rolled her eyes. "Kinda not that hard to figure out. Especially with you holding me down then starting to meditate, Alpha." Leo shot me a half lidded glare. "Those roots hurt, by the way." She returned to rummaging through the desk drawers. "Still! Doesn't mean that I can't be a courteous host." She pulled a kettle and a hot plate out, setting them up on the desk.

"I'll have some tea, then, if you'd please." I sat on a cushion, and nodded for Rainbow to do the same.

With a sigh, Rainbow landed on the largest cushion. "I'll have some too, I guess..."

"Tea for three then!" Leo chirped, fishing out some dried Leafeon tail leaves from a tin, the kettle filling by itself. Popping them in, she turned the hotplate on and bounced to join us. "So! What's up?"

I shot Rainbow a look. "Well, I'd like to know what's going on with that Shadow thing, for starters."

"Is it tied to how you've been lately?" Rainbow demanded, causing Leo to flinch. Rainbow's eyes widened as her ears folded back. "Er, I mean..."

"No, no..." Leo sighed, all of her cheer and pep vanishing. "It's... I guess..." She blew out an explosive sigh. "... Let me just..."

"Take your time." I soothed.

Nodding, Leo took a sip of her tea. I gently blew on mine to help it cool off as Rainbow twitched, looking between her cup and the now empty spot on the desk.

Eventually, Leo spoke up. "Rainbow, I... I'm not a happy person."

"But-!"

"I can do a very good mask." Leo cut the pony off. "But it's just that: a mask to cover up the rain clouds in my head. And I've always been this way. Long before coming to... Ponyville, I met and talked with a professional and came to terms with it. I acknowledged that part of me, and got on with my life. Whenever the clouds got too heavy, I would take some time for myself. Then I came here."

Leo smiled up at Rainbow, tears glistening in her eyes. "Sure, I was worried about this new land we were in, if I would be able to see our old Pack again, but those clouds didn't bother me as much. I... I found myself wanting to stay here more and more. And then I met someone. Someone I could relate with, could let myself be my weird wacky self with, and be taken as normal. She chased those clouds away. After so, so long, I felt like I could be truly happy."

Rainbow swallowed thickly as Leo sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. "I'm so happy that you've let me into your life, Rainbow."

"So... What changed?" Rainbow rasped out.

Leo shrunk into herself, raising the cup to her lips. "... The wedding..." She admitted around the rim.

"We split up, hoping to help." I explained. "Leo, Zann, and Lulu were all in the Scholar's District."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "The mana bomb!" She exclaimed, missing Leo's flinch. "Leo, if you're feeling guilty about not being able to stop it from going off..." She trailed off as the covered model floated in front of us.

I gently placed it down, looking at Leo. "This is the memory of that moment?" She nodded. "Do you want me to...?"

"No, no. I've gotta..." She hesitantly reached out and bit the edge of the cover. Wincing, she whipped the cover off, revealing a snarling canine being clutched by a terrified changeling, a large ball with wisping energy tailing it dominating the base. It was unpainted, unlike the rest of the models and figurines in the room.

I looked at Rainbow, watching her stare at it, watching for her reaction. "Is... is that you?" She asked at length. Wincing and shying away, Leo nodded. Rainbow frowned in thought. "... There wasn't a mana bomb, wasn't there?" Another flinch and nod. "Leo... Did you blow up Canterlot?"

"... Yes." Leo whispered.

"Why?!" Rainbow yelled.

"They were harming children!" Leo shouted back, anger clear on her face. But her wrath quickly faded. "We freed them, I told Lulu and Zann to get the foals to safety, and I stayed to buy them time... But I lost myself to my rage." She took a deep breath. "There's something that... creatures like us can learn, although I didn't learn about it until after I... blew up Canterlot. It's a set of super powerful abilities, stronger than my Solar Flare. They require a tra-, er, summoner and either a strong bond or strong emotions to fully use."

She waved at the model. "That... was an R move, powered by rage. I..." Leo sniffed. "I understand if you hate me, if you don't want me around. I'll, I'll-"

Rainbow kept her hoof pressed to Leo's muzzle. I could see Rainbow's thoughts churning behind her eyes as she struggled to look at Leo. "Do you regret what you've done?" She whispered.

Leo nodded against Rainbow's hoof.

"Would you have used this R move if you knew that you could do it beforehoof?"

Leo paused in thought. She leaned back to speak. "I honestly don't know. Maybe? I would've definitely been more careful and watching my emotions, but I would always do everything I can to protect a child. To give them the childhood that I never had."

Rainbow nodded. "What about going forward? Would you use it again?"

"No!" Leo emphatically shouted.

"Not even to protect or save me?"

"I-" I was treated to the rare sight of watching a canine blue screen.

"Yeah, I figured as much..." Rainbow sighed. "Look, Leo... Neither of us is good at this whole word thing, but..." She looked around the room before her eyes alighted on the bookshelf. "You like reading, right? Collecting stories and referring back to them, right?"

"Be warned, she misquotes all the time." I tried to inject some levity into the conversation.

"I've noticed." Rainbow sighed.

"I'm a proper malaproper." Leo weakly chuckled. "Don't worry, when I write my autobiography, I'll write them right."

"Anyway!" Rainbow forced us back on track. "How many stories have you read where one of the good characters has a super move that they can use, but they rarely do for one reason or another?"

"That's just a trope used to make a story last longer." Leo shot back. "You and I both know that they would use those abilities as soon as it was safe to do so."

"That's not the point!" Rainbow growled out.

"Then what is?!"

"I don't know any more!" Rainbow threw her hooves up.

"If I may?" I waited for both of them to give me the go ahead. "Leo, is it fair to say that part of your current depression is a fear of unleashing an R move again?"

"... Yes..."

"If there was a way to make sure that you could only use an R move after a set circumstance was met, would that help alleviate that fear?"

"I... Maybe?"

I nodded. "Leo. We're in your Sanctuary." I reminded her. "With your permission, I could put a mental blocker in place so that you could only use an R move if you are ordered to by select individuals. Don't just say yes. Think it over."

Leo sighed, tears starting to well up. "It'd still be easier if I just left."

"Leo..." Rainbow started.

"I can't hurt those I care about if I'm not there!" Leo interrupted her mare as she let her tears fall. "I can't kill anyone if there's no one around me! No one will need to worry about the monster in their midst if I'm gone!"

"YOU'RE NOT A MONSTER!!" Rainbow cried, her own tears falling. "You're my friend! No, you're more than that! You're half of my soul, Leo! Just as I am half of yours!"

"I've killed ponies, Rainbow! Do you know how many ponies died in my R move?! I don't. But I know it was too many! Do you honestly think that the Princesses would let me off with a warning and a slap on the wrist for that?!"

"Then I'll share your punishment!" Rainbow was standing now. "They could imprison us, banish us, or have us cleaning out Tartarus for eternity, I don't care! I'd be there with you every step of the way because I care about you too bucking much to let you go through it alone!

"And this, this depression stuff?! I don't care about it! You're Leo, my awesome friend, who regularly goes up against the sound barrier and wins! If that means that you have days where you don't... don't feel happy, that you feel like you don't matter, that you'd rather run away from everything, then that's okay! We'll stay in bed and read sappy books together! And, if you really were a monster, then I'd still want you by my side."

Rainbow stood there panting for a moment before sitting back down. "I... I can't imagine a day that doesn't have you in it anymore, Leo. And I know you feel the same about me."

Leo sat on her stained cushion, staring at Rainbow with tear-matted fur. Her fur and lips trembled, barely holding a whimper back. Rainbow was a silent mirror to her.

The silence dragged on. I took the opportunity to read the ripples on my fur.

Eventually, Rainbow gave a slight cough. "Uh... Leo?"

"I'M SO SORRY!!" Leo bowled Rainbow over and began bawling into her barrel.

I quietly sipped at my tea, letting Leo finally release everything that she had been holding in. Closing my eyes, I monitored the fight going on on the upper most layer. I frowned.

Luna and Abes were starting to flag.

"I really hate to interrupt, but we're going to need to reinforce Luna and Abes sooner rather than later." I prodded Leo.

She curled up around Rainbow's hooves. "Do it. You and Rainbow only."

That caught me flat footed. "I- What?"

The Eevee just rolled her eyes. "That mental trigger thing for R moves? Key it to just you and Rainbow."

I nodded and began to focus. Two padlocks appeared and hooked themselves to the now coloured Leo-and-Changeling model. One was gold with Rainbow's cutie mark etched into it, the other was silver with a stylized green Espeon head. A pair of matching keys appeared hanging from Rainbow's and my necks.

Once done, I huffed out a tired sigh. "Alright. Now we just got to evict an unwanted Shadow, and we'll be good to go."

Leo scrunched her muzzle up in thought. "... I think I know what to do." She looked up at Rainbow. "Once everything is said and done, we really need to find me a therapist."

With that, we all fell through the floor.

Covenant of Remorse.

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[Leo]

I pulled us down into an ash choked sky. Rainbow snapped her wings out and caught me, while Yomega wrapped himself in psionic force. Far below us, the battle between Luna, Abes and my Shadow still raged.

"Fly us closer!" I called out to Rainbow. "I want to hit it with my sword!"

"You don't have a sword!" Rainbow shouted back.

Turning my head to the side, I clamped my jaw down on nothing. Returning my head to the front, I now held a large sword by the hilt. Its guard curved to face forwards and covered the bottom part of the blade with an intricate design. "It's my mind. I'll have a sword if I want to!"

"What's the plan, Leo?" Yomega floated closer to Rainbow and I.

"I'm going to hit it." I decided. "A lot. After that... I'll figure something out."

"How are we going to let them know we're coming?" The physic type followed up.

"I'll handle that." I pointed my blade at my Shadow. "Rainbow, sonic rainboom that fucker."

"Gladly." Rainbow winged over and dove. Yomega pulled himself down behind us.

I waited until we had about half a minute until impact. "Player five has entered the lobby!" I bellowed, watching Luna and Abes dive clear.

I jumped off of Rainbow and slowed my fall a bit. Rainbow dove into the Shadow, made a hard right and zoomed out level to the ground. The rainboom blasted a hole clean through it. I then landed on its head, sword first. I rolled with my momentum, pulling the sword through a ripping slash. I thumped paws first onto the ground and slid to a stop next to Yomega's hovering from.

Abes and Luna shadow-ported beside me as Rainbow returned to hover over me. I could see that Abes and Luna were panting heavily.

"Ah..." The Shadow purred as it reformed itself. "So you found the bitch."

I began growling, flicking my sword so that it was pointing towards my other side.

"Oh, how cute." It mocked. "You're angry with me. It won't help you, making me stronger like that. Your best heavy hitters are already at their limits, your precious alpha is useless against me, and your so-called trainer telegraphs too much."

"Stay here." I ordered those around me. "This is my fight." I stepped forward, blade tilted up over my shoulder.

"You might as well give up now, and save them all the pain of living-."

I interrupted it by hopping forward and letting the sword pull me into a spin. As it started to spin upwards, I jumped and spun the blade into the thing's muzzle. Rolling from there, I flipped over its head and plunged the sword into its back. Concentrating, I grew the blade until the point had buried itself into the ground.

I left the blade there and hopped off the Shadow's back. "You talk too much." I blurred into an Extreme Speed, slamming into its head repeatedly. With the sword pinning it in place, it couldn't move to dodge. I finally landed in front of it to build up a Solar Flare.

"So, what's yer plan, Leo?" It demanded as I charged. "What are you going to do? Kill me? Like those changelings? Like those ponies?" I flinched, almost losing my charge. "That's right, you're a murderer. How could I forget? That's all you know how to do!" My charge faded away as my ears and tail slumped.

"Don't listen to it!" Rainbow yelled out.

"But you know that I'm right!" The Shadow retorted, a smug smirk on it's face.

"Sh-shut up!" I bellowed. I blurred forwards, slamming the Shadow's lower jaw up into the rest of its face. I ricocheted back to the rest of the group, landing in front of Rainbow. "Luna do you know what the fuck this thing is?"

"We have our suspicions." Luna mused before we were forced to scatter as the Shadow launched a series of shadow balls after us. I blurred off to one side and traced the ball's trajectory as I moved.

Why does it look like none of those would've hit me? I thought as Rainbow rainboomed through the Shadow. She bounced off of the sword, causing the Shadow to vibrate and lose the balls it had formed. I blurred around my mindscape to get closer to Luna, before I remembered that it was my mindscape and just appeared beside her.

"Luna, this thing you think it is, can it hurt me?"

She hovered in place, keeping a wary eye out for any other attacks. "Well, yes, but it can't kill you. Not directly." I nodded. "It gets into your head, and wears you down until you either defeat it, release it, or kill yourself." I flinched again as Luna looked at me. "You weren't very far off from letting it win. It must have been with you for months for you to be that far along."

"No..." I admitted. "It's only been here since the wedding..." I chewed my lip as Luna arched an eyebrow at me. I sighed, then flickered beside Yomega. I grabbed him and appeared next to Rainbow. "Keep it occupied." I ordered. "I... I need to talk to Abes and Luna." I followed a gut feeling. "Here, Yomega, you'll need this." I plunged my paw into my chest and handed over a red orb. As it settled into Yomega, I appeared next to Abes. I grabbed onto him as Yomega launched off into an Extreme Speed. I teleported us both to Luna in time to watch him smack into the Shadow's head.

"So... Luna, I have a confession to make." I hung my head. "It is a matter that I worry may be considered treasonous. I admit my guilt to you in full acknowledgement that I will be punished to the fullest extent of the law."

Abes gave a weak chuckle. "What, you were in league with the Changelings all along?" Luna glanced between us with polite confusion.

"No." I took a deep breath. "The Shadow is not wrong: I am a murderer." I raised a paw to cut Luna off. "I have killed changelings during the Battle for Canterlot when I should've given them the option to surrender. I have also killed ponies during the same event. There was no mana bomb, your highness. Only me." I hung my head, ignorant of the sound of the battle behind me slowing to a halt. "I am responsible for the crater in the Scholar district. I only ask that you do not allow Rainbow to share my sentence, no matter how much she may beg you to do otherwise." I knelt down at Luna's hooves, awaiting her judgment.

"YOU FOOL!" The shadow bellowed from where it was pinned. "Now all of Eques will know of what you've done! You will never be allowed a moment of peace from their hateful scorn! You will-"

"Silence." Luna intoned. "We will be the one to determine Leo's fate. Not some mere wisp of indigestion." She looked at me impassively. "Leo Lancer, do you swear that this plea comes from the depths of your heart? That these events truly transpired?"

I swallowed thickly. "I do"

She raised my head with her hoof. "Then you must accept your guilt." She turned me to face the Shadow. "Only then can We determine your punishment."

But, I thought I already did? I was confused. Rainbow and Yomega were wrapped in Luna's magic and pulled to her side. The Shadow started to thrash and pull at the sword.

"You'll never be rid of me!" It raged. "So long as you fear, I'll exist. Every sorrow, every dirty little secret will only feed my power!"

I paused in thought, remembering Luna's words on this thing. I began to walk towards the Shadow. It redoubled its efforts to remove itself from my mental blade. Wisps of darkness bled off of it in an invisible wind, causing the Shadow to shrink as I got nearer.

Soon, I was standing in front of a small black furred Eevee, with gray where the light tan would've been. It cowered as far from me as the blade would allow, staring at me with wide, fright filled red eyes. "Y-you'll never be forgiven! They'll never forgive you!"

I sat in front of it. "... Rainbow already has. Yomega already has."

"Lies!" It wailed. "And, even if they did, no one else will!"

I reflected for a moment on all the various clichés and tropes I could apply to my situation. "Of course they won't." I sighed before lunging forward, pulling my Shadow close. "Not until I forgive myself first." I hugged my Shadow, its wailing piercing my ears, its tears staining my fur.

Just as my own stained its.

After a moment of mental concentration, I allowed the Shadow into me. A rumble shook my mindscape, I looked around in time to see the others fade away. I closed my eyes, feeling the verdant grass at my paws...

Royal Sentence.

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I awoke back in the Everfree. Rainbow, Luna, Abes, and Yomega were already starting to get up off the forest floor. Looking around, I could see Conner leaning into a worried looking Fluttershy, and Villhiem was rooted in place not far from them. I pulled myself free from Villhiem's slack roots and tried to stand.

The cramp in my legs just caused me to gracelessly flop onto my side. I began to carefully stretch out my legs as Rainbow hovered over to me.

"What's wrong, Leo?"

<<Leg cramps>> I admitted.

"Huh. I think you're the only one with them..." Rainbow trailed off. I could see Luna giving a basic recounting of what had happened to those that hadn't entered my mind.

<<I, uh, was fighting timberwolves before all of this happened.>>

Rainbow tilted her head. "Why were you fighting timberwolves?" I just hung my head in shame. It took a moment, but she quickly swept me up into a hug. "Oh, Leo..."

A shadow fell over us shortly before Luna placed a wing over us. "Come. We must return to Ponyville." She gently began to guide us towards the clearing's edge. Glancing ahead, I could see Fluttershy and Conner already waiting for us, and a receding patch of darkness as Abes shadowported away.

<<Did they see us?>> I turned an ear, eavesdropping on Yomega and Villhiem's hushed voices. <>

<<Yeah, a few saw us. Most of them are still in the one place though. I'm keeping tabs on them, don't worry.>>

Weird. Gotta ask them about that later. I risked a glance up at Luna's stern face and gulped. If there's a later...

"Art thou... Are you not coming?" Luna called back to the two evolved Pokémon. They gave her quick nods before trotting to catch up to us. Luna led us from the forest, taking the fastest route through the trees.

"Um... Princess Luna?" Fluttershy hesitantly asked. "Could you, ah, teleport us back out? If you want to, that is. you don't have to if you don't want to, but..."

"There is much and more that We have need to think about." Luna pursed her lips. "We... I can teleport you home, if you wish." At Fluttershy's rapid nodding, Luna's magic whisked her and Conner away. The trek to the Everfree's edge continued in silence.

Abes shadowported back to us once we had finally exited the tree line. <<Just let the rest of the Pack know roughly what was going on.>>

Luna nodded at him, then turned to the rest of us. "Well, now comes the time for us to address your issue, Leo."

Villhiem perked up. "Did you get rid of the Claw?"

"Nay." Luna sighed. "What we did deal with was a tantabus, a parasitic creature created from a being's guilt and desire for self-punishment. They are usually trapped within the mind of their creator, and are usually not this self aware." Luna sighed. "However, they have a strange interaction with the Dream Catcher Sigil. We are not sure what causes it, but We suspect that the energy trapping one's dreams feeds into a tantabus, and causes them to become self aware. However, this same interaction causes them to become far more malicious and seek escape from their host's mind through any means possible, which leads us to what happened today."

"You must've dealt with them a lot to know all this, huh?" Rainbow asked.

"We have very intimate knowledge of them, yes." Luna shuddered. "All of that laid bare, there is one good thing that comes from all of this: Leo is not being affected by a tulpa. The tantabus would've been consumed long before it could become such an issue."

<<So... What is the Claw, then?>> I asked through Rainbow.

"We do not know." Luna frowned. "However, now that I have had a feel of your mindscape's signature, it will be easier for us to find it again." She smoothed over her features. "Now, for the immediate issue. Leo, how many know about your true involvement with the mana bomb?"

<<Only those that were in my head...>> I sat on my hunches and bowed my head.

Luna slowly nodded. "First then, Abes? We wish for you to tell the rest of the Pack of the truth of the matter, as well as Leo's punishment for it."

"Hold on, Princess!" Rainbow spoke up, hovering above me. "If Leo's getting punished then... you'd... better..." Her bravado wilted under Luna's glare. She landed behind me and waited in silence.

<<Your highness?>> Yomega asked through Abes. <<Before you enact your judgment, I need to inform you that I have placed a lock on Leo's use of that ability. She needs either Rainbow or myself to explicitly tell her to use that move before she can do so.>>

"Thank you, Yomega." She tilted her head at the Espeon. "Leo Lancer of Ponyville, you have been found guilty of crimes against Canterlot and the Kingdom of Equestria." She spoke up over Villhiem's shocked exclamations. "How do you plead?"

<<Guilty.>> I almost whispered.

Luna stared down at me imperiously. "We cannot judge you as a pony, as you are not sapient in the eyes of the law. We cannot judge you as a Summon, as you are a naturalized species. This leads Us to a unique problem." She took a deep breath. "Leo Lancer of Ponyville, your sentence is such: You are to serve ten years of community service under watch of a custodian appointed by the Crown. Any bits you make from your current profession, minus the minimum needed to sustain yourself, are to be donated to a charity of your custodian's choice, so long as it is one of the ones that have been set up because of the Canterlot Invasion. You will have a curfew, to be set by your custodian. Until your community service is complete, you are to be placed under the custodianship of an Element of Harmony, the Element of Loyalty, Lady Rainbow Dash."

She turned her stare to Rainbow. "Lady Rainbow Dash. Until Leo Lancer's sentence is complete, she is your responsibility. You are to check in on her location nightly, you are to find her work for her community service, and you are to give a monthly report, written, to the Crown on her progress. Are We understood?"

We both nodded.

"Good." Her expression softened. "We thank you for what you and your Pack have done in the defense of Canterlot. Now, there is much that needs our attention back in the Palace. We bid thee a good day." With that, she teleported away.

We all sat there in silence, digesting my punishment.

<<Okay, seriously.>> Villhiem looked between the rest of us. <<What did Leo do?>>

I sighed, and began to meander my way towards home. <<You might as well tell him, Abes. I just want to put the rest of this day behind me.>>

Yomega followed after Rainbow and I. <<You do realize that you just got the equivalent of a slap on the wrist, right?>>

<<Yes.>> I sighed. <<I don't think she had much of a choice, though. Not a summon, so she can't banish me, not a pony, so pony laws can't apply to me. What else could she do?>>

Rainbow spoke up. "She could've treated you like my pet. Then I would be the one that would've been punished, and you would've been put... into a pound." We all ignored the other option.

<<I'd take what amounts to a large fine over that any day.>> I sighed.

Rainbow nudged me. "So, be home by ten, I guess? I'll go ask Twilight for some charity pamphlets." She then cringed. "Do... Do you want the others to know?"

Another sigh. <<Might as well. Look, I just want to go to bed.>>

"Then go?" Rainbow frowned. "Are... Are you going to be okay?"

<<I don't think I've been "okay" for a while now.>> I huffed. <<But I just need to rest. I'll be... available to talk tomorrow.>>

"Alright." Rainbow drew out the word. "Just... Let us know if you need anything."

I nodded, then blurred home. I hopped up the steps, then buried myself into my blankets. I stared at the wall until I fell asleep.

Professional Help.

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It had been three weeks since my breakdown. Everyone in the know had finally stopped walking on eggshells around me, but I still caught the odd worried glance. Eros has been making an effort to avoid me, and I'm sure I know why. Don't know who told her, if anyone.

Fucking psychic types.

I sat beside Rainbow in the weather office, waiting while she finished up her paperwork. My bitten and worn pillow was more comfortable than the floor, but I had asked Rainbow to remove my proper bed from here. She only relented when I told her that it was only until my community service was finished.

Speaking of, Rainbow had gotten clever with it. She had asked Twilight to look a couple of things up, but it turns out that helping with the weather team counts towards it. So now, my paycheck goes towards the Crater Greens Fund, and my hours whittle the service away. Rainbow and Twilight had also been sending Tank and Owlicious back and forth, something Rainbow ensures me is a secret project.

"Think of the Cryptodira..."

... What?

"Turtle."

Tank's a tortoise.

A heavy chopping filled the air and broke me out of my musings. Tank flew in through Rainbow's open window and settled on her spare chair. I got up and began gathering up the scattered papers, so I missed whatever exchange was going on up there. Grabbing the last one, I trotted the mass around to the left side of the desk where I knew Rainbow kept clear and jumped up. I dropped them in front of me and placed a paw on them to stop them from flying off again. Tank sat patiently on Rainbow's other side as she read through the latest note. It wasn't long before she was scribbling out something on a piece of scrap paper.

"Aww, that's cute." I tilted my head to stare at Thunderlane. "Rainbow Dash with her ground bound pets, brought down by paperwork."

Rainbow snorted. "Did you want something?"

"Naw, just wanted to poke my head in, let you know that the morning crew's off for the day." He stepped back out into the hallway. "Oh! Uh, Moon Dancer may want to borrow Leo for while, figure out how she did her thing? She said something about a pirate move?" He paused at our confused looks. "Well, she actually said Arr move."

"Not happening any time soon." Rainbow stated, rubbing my back.

Thunderlane shrugged. "Well, see ya later."

Rainbow handed her note to Tank, who stuffed it into his shell. I stretched out and covered as many papers as I could, pinning them down in time for Tank to take off.

"Alright, Leo." Rainbow picked me up as Tank flew out the window. "I'm going to need to drop you off at Fluttershy's for a bit."

<<Why? Aren't I supposed to stay with you?>> I squirmed out of her grip and onto her back.

"Technically, you need to have a member of the guard, the pony appointed to you, or a pony of good standing that has been vouched to and by the guard with you. Taking off for the day!" She called the last part out to the office secretary. She continued once we were in the air. "Being an Element of Harmony counts for the last one. And I need to talk to Twilight about arranging something for us. Besides, Fluttershy said that she's got something for you."

<<Okay.>> I leaned into the breeze we were making as Rainbow flew. All too soon, we were flying over the Daycare, Lulu settling in for her turn with the eggs. We coasted past and Rainbow alighted in front of Fluttershy's cottage. I boredly watched the distant Lulu while waiting for the timid mare to open her door.

"Oh, hello Rainbow, Leo." Fluttershy's soft voice drew my attention back to the door. "Would you like to come in?"

"While I'd like to," Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck, "I've got to jet. Got to meet up with Twilight today. Take care, you two!"

I waved goodbye before allowing Fluttershy to usher me into her home. She quietly led me into a small side room with a chair and a couch. She had me lie down on the couch. She began to leave the room through its only door.

"Tea?" She paused, looking back over her shoulder.

<<Sure.>> I shrugged. <<A spot of milk and sugar, if it's that kind of blend.>> I didn't have long to wait before she returned with a tray with a teapot and a pair of cups. <<So, am I just here for a tea party?>> I asked as she poured me a cup.

"No." She gave me a mildly disapproving look. "You are here for therapy."

I blinked. <<Well, I guess you'd be the expert on animal psychiatry...>>

"Oh, no." Fluttershy giggled. "I'm not licensed for that. He'll be in shortly." She moved to leave again.

<<Hey, wait! Aren't you supposed to stay with me?>> I called after her.

"So long as you are in session, no. Patient confidentiality overrules that." She closed the door behind her.

I sighed and sipped at my tea. Just as it got cool enough for me to hold safely in my paws, the door cracked open. I glanced up, then jerked in surprise as Angel hopped in with a clipboard under one arm.

Thankfully, I didn't spill any of my tea.

"Alright, I'm ready, you look ready." Angel grumbled as he jumped up onto the end table and poured himself a glass. "Let's get this over with." I stared as he settled into the chair. "What?"

"I-I'm sorry." I sputtered, trying to get my brain working again. "It's just... You're a therapist?!" He sighed and nodded. "But, you're just... And the punching and kicking... And all of," I waved a paw at Angel, paws to ear tips and back, "this?! How the fuck?!"

He rolled his eyes. "With careful study and a mail-in course." He clicked a pen. "Now, we're here for you."

"You mean to fix me." I mumbled into my tea.

"Ah-ah!" I flinched as a roll of paper bounced off the top of my head. "No, bad. We're not here to fix shit. Not unless you want us to." Angel placed the roll beside him. "Perhaps we should start at why you're here to begin with, and work back from there?"

"Oh, yeah, let's start with me being a horrible creature. Let's start with why I think I'm a terrible friend that will just drag everyone else around down with me. With the fact that, even though I've accepted that darker part of me, I'm afraid to embrace it!" I growled. "What do you want me to say?" I set my cup off to the side. "That I wish I didn't lose my temper and blow up a chunk of Canterlot? That I wish I didn't murder ponies in their own homes? That I didn't traumatize a score of changelings with my brutality?!"

"Well," Angel looked up at me from taking his notes, "why did you do all of that?"

"I-!" I frowned, looking back on that day. "I... saw some foals. Cocooned. They looked so scared, and... and..." I shuddered. I continued in a whisper. "All I could think of was our pups being in those cocoons, and I felt my anger overtake me. Like I had to punish those who did this, y'know? Like a 'How dare these creatures hurt my precious family' type of thing. And, and I just lost myself to that feeling."

"There's nothing wrong with protecting your children, Leo. Being able to bring that devotion to the children of others, especially of another species, is admirable." Angel tapped the side of his pen against his clipboard. "Really, the only concerning part of this is the fact that you didn't stop once the foals were safely away. Now, from what I understand, you've got something in place to stop this from happening again?" I nodded, and Angel shifted about in his chair. "That's good. Let's talk about something else for a bit. Can you tell me about your parents within your old pack?"

I snorted. "Ah, the stock shrink question. Well, my mother's a sweetheart, a little emotional, but she is very kind and accepting. It takes a lot to get her to hold a grudge." I sighed. "My father, though, was a stern hard ass that I never saw eye to eye with. But he was an honest and respectable m- Umbreon, and still someone I deeply respected."

"I notice the past tense." Angel raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he passed the winter before we came here." I swallowed the lump in my throat and gave out a weak chuckle. "Arthritis and cancer ganged up on him, and yet death still had to take him in his sleep for fear of the fight he'd put up."

Angel snorted, scribbling a couple more notes down. "Well, I think we have enough for the first session."

I blinked away some gathering tears. "Really?"

The white rabbit nodded. "Yup. You definitely have depression, but I got that from talking with others before the session, this just confirms it."

"Um..."

"I got that information through Fluttershy's conversations with the others. Plus it's not that hard to see." Angel waved his pen. "But there are other conditions that this is making me think about, but I will need more sessions to nail those down. This time in two weeks?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

He whacked me with the roll of paper again. "None of that, be assertive! Get that pep you had back and take charge of your life!"

I gave Angel the largest smile I could make. "Sure!" The treacly sweet voice I used made up for the deadpan.

"Close enough." Angel snorted.

Weather Changing Training.

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<<They seriously just gave you this?>> I asked Rainbow, both of us standing outside one of the Apple's rundown barns.

"Not quite." Rainbow shrugged, moving to open the door. "We all figured that this was out of the way enough to, uff," she struggled to push it open, "not need to, omf, worry about-"

<<Rainbow...>>

"Random weather changes, rmf!"

<<Rainbow.>>

"An' AJ says, mmf, that the trees here can handle it! Gah!" She slumped to her barrel, glaring at the door.

<<Rainbow, this is a pull door.>> I motioned at the hinges. <<You want me to dig under and open it?>>

"Go ahead, I'll catch my breath." She waved a hoof at me. I knelt down and began scooping dirt away from the door, trying to push my face through the growing gap every few minutes. Rainbow watched me do this for a while before she spoke up. "You're not very fast at that, huh?"

<<What do you mean?>> I asked, cheeks smushed between dirt and door.

"I mean that, during the fighting in Canterlot, Conner was moving faster underground than he was above it." Rainbow got up and started shoving the dirt pile out of the way. "What's up with that?"

<<Oh, uh...>> I winced as I scooped more dirt out. <<You, uh, remember all of Twilight's work with our Bite ability, and how it's different to us just biting something?>>

"Yeah..." Rainbow paused. "Oh, it's like that, huh? Conner has a Dig ability?"

<<Yup. He learned it, oh, a couple of months ago. About the same time you helped AJ destroy her other old barn. She must have a few of them if she's just letting us use this one... Anyways, he taught a few of us how to do it.>>

"Not you?"

<<I was a bit busy learning how to do Extreme Speeds.>> I finally managed to wedge my head under the door. I took a quick look around the barn. <<Sonova! Rainbow, there's an open side door around to the right.>>

"Wha- really?!" Rainbow grumbled as I pulled myself out. I shook the dirt off as she rounded the corner. "There is! Right, next time, we're looking around the dang thing."

Once inside, I took a proper look around. Half inch thick dust covered warping and cracked timbers, outlines of old tools showing what the Apples took to keep. <<So, we're testing weather moves?>> I glanced over at Rainbow. <<What's the plan?>>

"You're going to use, what do you call it, Rain Dance? Well, you're gonna use that while I'm outside." Rainbow waved a hoof back toward the door. "That way, we can see if being indoors can confine your weather abilities."

<<Awww,>> I sat down and held a paw to my chest, <<you know what "confine" means!>>

Rainbow smirked as she turned to leave. "There's the smartass I know..."

<<I'd rather be a smartass than a dumbass.>> My chuckle died out in a sigh. <<What's the signal? And are we keeping notes for Twilight and Moon Dancer?>>

"Nah, I'm just to tell them if it's possible. Turns out that there's some summons that can do that; if you can do it, then it's another point for you guys being naturalized summons." She hooked a hoof through the door's handle and began to pull it shut. "I'll knock on the wall, then you use Rain Dance, alright?" With my nod, she fully shut the door. Her knock came very quickly, and I began to dance. Soon enough, I could feel a light drizzle dampening my fur.

"Are you using your ability in there?" Rainbow's voice was muffled by the wall and rain.

<<Yup! You should come in, the waters nice.>>

Rainbow pushed the door open, poking her head in. "Okay, that's just weird... It's still sunny out here." She fully entered as she shook her head. "Alright, clear this up, please."

I nodded and fired a quick sunny day up, the little ball's light illuminating the rafters before it burst. The rain quickly cleared up, but I heard something off.

"Okay, now we just-" I cut Rainbow off with a raised tail. "What's up?" She whispered.

<<I heard something.>> My ears swiveled, hoping that the sound would happen again. Just when I thought I was hearing things, a quiet knocking sound, metal on wood, came from the back of the barn. I kept my voice low, but my ears were locked in that sound's direction. <<Back of the barn, by the old plow leaning against the wall.>>

Rainbow squinted at the farming implement. "I don't see anything, it's pretty dark. You got anything that can light it up?"

I knew that she was asking half in jest, but I still had something. I gathered a Sunny Day and started to creep forward Rainbow close behind me. The light spilling from my mouth pushed back the shadows and slowly illuminated the now rapidly shaking plow. Whatever it is, it has to be behind that thing.

"... Unless it is the thing!"

The thought came too late. The plow burst into flames and a changeling burst into flight. It buzzed us before buzzing out the nearest opening. Without a second thought, Rainbow took off after it. I fired my Sunny Day off and ran for the door, just managing to open it enough to squeeze through. My loyalty-dar told me that Rainbow was zipping back and forth along the edge of the Everfree.

<<It got away?>> I eyed the underbrush carefully.

Rainbow landed beside me, giving the forest the stink eye. "Darn thing flew behind a tree and vanished. Might've turned into something while I couldn't see it."

<<Likely.>> I sighed. <<You wanna let AJ know about this? She should know that her back forty might have Changelings in it.>>

My mare nodded. "Yeah, I'll meet you at the start of the path to Zecora's, let her know too." She took off towards the Apple's farmhouse as I bolted along the Everfree's edge.

Leveraging all of the speed I had gained, I was arriving at the trailhead at the same time as Rainbow. No words needed to be said, we both turned and blitzed into the woods. We both couldn't go as fast as we wanted, I couldn't see any of the dips in the trail until I was right on them, and the canopy pressed to close in for Rainbow. I swear that the damn forest is fighting us!

"That's... not impossible..."

<<Great...>> I grumbled under my breath. I caught Rainbow sparing me a glace, so I spoke up. <<I think they managed to get control of the forest! It feels like the Everfree itself is trying to slow us down!>>

"They have to be after Zecroa then!" Rainbow concluded, swooping down and scooping me up. "Hang on!"

With her holding me tight to her barrel, we were streamlined enough for her to juke around the worst of the branches. I still had to cross my front paws in front of my face, squinting as we blasted through tight formations of weakly connected twigs. Thankfully, it didn't take long for Zecora's home to come into view. With our well practiced maneuver, Rainbow dropped me as we blitzed through the clearing.

I hit the ground running, headbutting the door as Rainbow called out for Zecora. Instead of doing anything sane, I began to rapidly smack my head into the indent I had left so long ago now.

"Hey, continuity!"

Not now, brain! I frowned as Zecora opened her door, shaking off the slight stinging.

"Zecora!" Rainbow landed beside me. "We came to warn you, we just found a changeling at the edge of the forest. There might be more in it!"

Zecora gave us a warm smile. "While I appreciate that you're concerned, but their presence I've already discerned, and there are fewer things in the Everfree as dangerous as me."

Rainbow and I shared a confused look. <<I mean, she's not wrong...>> I shrugged up at her.

"So the guards already know?" Rainbow asked.

The zebra nodded. "The hive of the Everfree has been here far longer than me. As far as I can gather, they keep their peace, enforced by Merry Weather. I suggest you talk to her if you wish to know more. But I can safely say that the Changelings have nothing nefarious in store."

Rainbow kept her cautiously confused look on Zecora. "Nefarious?" She murmured under her breath.

<<Dark, evil, bad.>> I explained, shrugging. <<And... I think she's telling the truth, she still smells like Zecora at least.>>

"Alright, then..." Rainbow drew out. "But that still doesn't change the fact that we just found one in one of Applejack's old barns! Who knows if this Changeling is with the... Everfree hive?" Zecora and I nodded. "With them! Just... take care, just in case..."

Zecora placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "Thank you for taking the time and warning me, I'll take care when I'm out in the Everfree. This is news most concerning, if there is a rogue Changeling. I will talk to Merry Weather and see if we can visit the hive together. Shall we keep you informed, and have the other's warned?"

"I'll let the girls know, Applejack already does," Rainbow sighed, "but I think we should trust Merry Weather's judgment on this. C'mon, Leo. I guess we're done training for today."

"What Have I Become...?"

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"M-Merry Weather w-will just be a m-moment, M-miss." The private stammered as we sat in one of the guard's interrogation booths. "C-can I get you some w-water, or...?"

Rainbow shook her head. "Nah, we're good." The stallion beat a hasty retreat, the door closing behind him with a soft click. "That's... odd."

<<What is?>> I plunked my chin on the edge of the table.

"I've never seen White Rook so nervous before."

<Maybe you shouldn't have lead off with "Saw Changelings in the Everfree, need to see Merry Weather" then.>> I snarked.

"Yeah, that probably wasn't smart..." Rainbow reached over with a hoof and started rubbing me behind my ears. "Hmm? Oh, hey! You put your studs back in." I shrugged, leaning into Rainbow's hoof. We stayed like that for the next fifteen or so minutes until, eventually, the door clicked open.

Merry Weather stepped in and closed the door with a sigh. "Going to have to make this quick, Zecora also wants to see me." She took a file from her saddle bags and placed it on the table in front of her. She then slid onto the bench across from us. She flipped the folder open, revealing documents and pictures of insectoid ponies. "Right, so..." Merry Weather shuffled through her papers. "Tell me about this Changeling."

"Well, we found it in one of Applejack's old barns." My mare began, Merry Weather jotting down notes. "The one closest to the Everfree? Leo and I were trying to work on her weather abilities, and it started making noise near the back. As we got closer to it, it burst from whatever form it was hiding as and fled from the barn. I went to give chase, but lost it at the Everfree's edge."

"Do you know what it was transformed into?" Merry Weather glanced up at Rainbow. "In the barn?"

"Er..."

<<An old plow.>> I supplied.

"An old plow." Rainbow confidently repeated. "The sound it made knocking against the back wall was what alerted Leo to it being there. To be honest, I only thought that they could turn into ponies."

"A common misconception." Merry Weather allowed. "Did you see what the Changeling looked like?"

"... Like a Changeling?" Rainbow tried glancing at me.

I just shrugged.

"Right." The lieutenant sighed. "Did you see what colour the flames were?"

I shook my head.

"Sorry, no. I was too busy thinking about the fact that there was a Changeling in Ponyville." Rainbow frowned.

"And then you came here?" Merry Weather probed.

"No. I had to let Applejack know about it because it was on her farm, then I went into the Everfree to warn Zecora."

"Which is why she's here..." Merry Weather grumbled under her breath, too low for Rainbow to hear.

Said prismatic mare continued on. "She told us -Leo and I- about the Hive that's in the Everfree, and that you guys already know about them. But I figured it would be best to talk to you guys in case this was a rogue Changeling."

Merry Weather nodded, looking at her notes. "Well," she swept them up into the folder and closed it with a snap, "thank you for informing us. If you will wait here for a moment, I need to discuss some things with a few ponies. I'll be right back."

Rainbow returned to rubbing my ears as the door shut, leaving us alone with our thoughts again. It wasn't too long before we heard muffled voices on the other side of the door. I was able to catch something about "ponying up", "doing duty", "short straw by lowest rank", and "because I said so". The door opened to let Merry Weather and White Rook back in.

The lieutenant glared at the private into sitting across from us before taking up position in front of... the only... door...

This is going to suck..

Merry Weather coughed, causing White Rook to snap up straight and focus solely on Rainbow. His nervous gaze kept twitching in my direction, almost as if he was trying to avoid acknowledging me. Sweat began beading on his brow as Rainbow stared at him in polite confusion.

"Oh, for Celestia's sake, colt." Merry Weather snapped. "Either you tell her, or I tell her!"

"I-I-I" He stammered.

"You what?"

"I-I will!" He gulped, eyes darting to me before flinching away. "I-if it's not here..." I cowed away from him.

Merry Weather raised an eyebrow, her eyes tracking from the stallion to me, then to Rainbow's darkening frown. "The Eevee stays."

"You're a Changeling, aren't you?" Rainbow bluntly asked, tone cold.

"No!" White Rook then cringed. "I-I mean, y-yes I am." He began to flail his front hooves in front of him. "BUT! But I'm a local! I'm not from Chrysalis's hive, I swear!"

"He's telling the truth." Merry Weather spoke up. "He's the latest liaison between the Ponyville Guard and the Everfree Hive. Drop your glamour, White, they need to know."

He nodded, screwed his eyes shut, and transformed with a wave of rose red flames. In place of the standard white guard in golden armour, there was now a ponylike creature with a dull mottled green carapace in gold armour. Its wings flicked out, allowing it- him to drift up onto the table. His lanky limbs and slim body was taller than I remember the Changelings at Canterlot being, a proper mane where the head fin was, and he had fewer holes in his legs. And, whereas the horns of Chrysalis's changelings were curved and sharp, White Rook's was angular with a "y" shaped split at the tip.

"Well..." Rainbow paused. "... That's certainly new."

<<Uh-huh.>> I nodded, causing White Rook to flinch.

"Th-this is what changelings look like in my hive." He buzzed as he quickly retreated back to his seat. He replaced his glamour with another wave of flame. "Totally different from the ones you fought before."

Merry Weather softly spoke up. "... I was going to have him be somepony you could go to with anything to do with changelings, but..." She sighed. "I've never seen you like this, White. What's going on?"

"I can still do it, Lieutenant!" He flinched away from looking at me again. "J-just... not near it..."

"Leo's not an it!" Rainbow glared at him. I just shrunk further into the bench.

"I know that!" White focused on my mare, his voice gaining a slight buzz. "It's just... hard to separate strong memories and emotions." He held up a hoof. "It's a Changeling thing. You remember that we have a hivemind, right?" We all nodded. "W-well, every time a Changeling joins a new hive, they molt into their new form, and their memories get added to the hivemind. W-we took in some refugees from Chrysalis's hive. Th-they were blasted into the Everfree by that love spell Captain Armour and Princess Cadence made." He wilted under Merry Weather's glare. "H-hey! I told you about them! They're only on hive duties for now, they can't be this far out! A-and they'd look like my hive now anyways!"

"Okay, fine." Rainbow cut in. "But what does this have to do with Leo?"

"Th-they all have painful memories of it -HER!" White Rook hastily corrected himself before his voice softened. "Out of the thirty or so refugees, ten were in the area she was fighting in." He chewed his lip before sighing. "And we got one that came in in bad condition. It was touch and go for a while, but Carver managed to pull through."

<<My R move...>> I whimpered.

Rainbow's frown faded into sad understanding. "I... I'm glad to hear that. Um..." She glanced down at me. "Did... did you hear about...?" She waved a hoof at me.

"Y-yeah, the whole hive knows." The disguised Changeling nodded. "It's helped them recover some."

I gently poked Rainbow until I had her attention. <<...Could you tell him that,>> I hoarsely whispered, <<I am truly sorry for what I did? Even if they never want to see me again, even if they'll never forgive me... I gotta at least beg forgiveness from them...>>

Rainbow nodded and translated for me. We all stewed in quiet reflection for a bit.

"I'll..." White Rook began. "... I'll pass it along. Just... Just stay out of the Everfree for now. Our larva already can't sleep for..." He gave me an apologetic look. I nodded, encouraging him to tell me how big my fuck up really was. "For the fear that the dog that breathes mana like a dragon breathes fire is lurking outside their pods. They... call you Celestia's Wrath. The refugees have started calling you the Changeling Bane. We're looking into getting them therapy, but it's slow going."

Merry Weather nodded. "I can imagine that it'd be even harder now that all of Equestria knows that you exist."

Rainbow abruptly stood up. "I'll see what I can do. I make no promises, but I can at least let the Princesses know-"

"NO!" It was White's turn to stand. "We... We've lasted this long because of our secrecy. The records in our archives have shown that ponies will forget about us, they will again. We'll... We'll be fine. If... If there's nothing else?"

Merry Weather sighed and nodded, allowing the stallion to beat a hasty retreat. She held the door open for us. "Thanks for bringing this to my attention. We'll look into your sighting, and..." She gave us a concerned smile. "You both take care, okay?"

We nodded, and left the station. Rainbow and I drifted our way to the pond, settling into a tree overlooking the water. Rainbow returned to petting me, while I just gazed sadly over the water at all the happy ponies frolicking along the shore.

Rainbow's hoof slowly stilled. "What're you thinking about, Leo?"

<<I fucked up, Rainbow...>> I grumbled.

"How does mating-"

<<For the love of ARCEUS,>> I cut her off, <<that word does NOT mean mating! It's a swear word! Like "Horsefeathers" or "Fewmets"!>>

"Then how come that's what it translates as?!" Rainbow snapped at me.

<<Because the damn thing started as vulgar slang basically meaning to mate.>> I plopped my head down onto my front paws. <<It's since expanded to mean so many other things in different contexts. It's also one of our more serious swear words. I just use it too much. But this time, I mean it when I say I fucked up.>> And now we were both sad again. <<I mean, so many ponies from fillies and colts to full grown mares and stallions are going to have nightmares of Changelings for years to come because of Chrysalis. But then, what about those that will have them about me?>> I choked back a sob, watching ponies have fun that I knew I was denying myself.

<<What have I become when even nightmares fear me?>>

I felt Rainbow wrap her hooves around me, holding me tight. "My friend." She snorted. "My fucking friend."

<<Rainbow!>>

"You said it was a serious swear, and I'm being very serious about being my friend, Leo."

<<That's not how it works, dumbass!>> I couldn't stop myself from chuckling.

"Do you want me to see if Angel can see you early?"

<<No... not this time.>> I felt slightly better. <<... I think I needed to hear what White Rook said. And...>> I trailed off, following along my train of thought. <<I... think that I can understand what Princess Luna went through when she came back.>>

My mare gave me another squeeze. "Any... How would Twilight put this? Insights? Any insights that gives you?"

<<It fucking sucks....>>

Weather Research

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"... And so now that's a thing." I had just finished recapping Angel on the whole Changeling thing at my next session with him. "Just another thing to throw onto my guilty conscience."

"I mean, you can if you want to." Angel shrugged, scratching something into his notebook. "But there's nothing you can do about it right now, so why worry about it?"

"But-!"

"The only thing that will make them change their opinion of you is time," Angel stared at me over his papers, "and you actively trying to make yourself a better... Eevee."

I broke eye contact with a snort. "You were about to say pony, weren't ya?"

He shrugged. "Still, if you're going to stew on it, use it to drive your progress to be better." Another note. "While we're talking about progress, how are things on that front?"

I shuffled around to get comfortable, unintentionally taking up the loaf position. "Well, Rainbow and I are still trying to get me to learn how to make it snow, which is what's been taking up my last few days."

"So you're going to focus on weather improvement, then?" More scribbling. "I assume that you've hit a snag?"

"Yeah. It's..." I paused. "I'm having problems getting the rain drops to get hard enough to turn into hailstones, or even just snowflakes. We've had Rainbow wait outside so that she doesn't accidentally get hurt, we've had her standing right beside me, in the loft, everywhere! She can't seem to figure it out either. So she's doing something drastic." I stuck my tongue out. "Research." We both chuckled. "Anyways, she's looking through the library for anything promising."

"Alright, fair enough. And how-." The chiming of the clock cut him off. "Damn, it's already been an hour? Well, next session, I want to know how things are going between you and the rest of the Pack, okay?" We both jumped off of our seats, although he blocked my path with the notebook. "I'm not asking you to focus on your Pack, just that you consider how things have changed between you and let me know your thoughts next time, okay?"

"Will do." I nodded. "I'm going to be checking in on the eggs and staying in the Daycare until Rainbow gets back."

"Alright." Angel placed the notebook down and jumped up to open the door. "I'll let Fluttershy know."

I padded out through the cottage, making use of Fluttershy's numerous pet doors. It wasn't until I had reached the Daycare's ramp that I registered that Angel had been drawing doodles in the margins. "Oh, that ass!" I scowled. "He had better be taking this seriously, or... or!"

"Or what?" Zann asked from previously empty space under the ramp.

"Or I'll tell Fluttershy!" I smirked victoriously. With a determined nod, I fully entered the Daycare and began to look over the first egg.

My ear twitched to Zann's muttering from outside. "Three... Two... One..."

"Mew FUCKED!" I yelped, jumping hard enough to brush my head against the ceiling. I zipped back to the opening, alternately staring at the emerged fire type and the slightly too small gap he crawled out of. "When?! How?!" Mentally measuring sizes and noting the lack of fresh dirt, I concluded that there was no way he had fit under there. "Bwuh?!"

"You're not the only one training with their mare." The bastard smirked. "Anyways, you got a sec? I need to ask you something, and Yomega's asked me to ask you something."

"I can't even fit under there..." I muttered. I stared for a second longer before sitting on my haunches and giving my cheeks a firm smack. "No, no! That way lies madness!" When I felt sufficiently calmed, I refocused on Zann. "W-what did you need?"

"Well~," He drew the word out, "Yomega wants to know when you might next have a chance to fill everyone in on the episode list, and I wanted to know if you've seen my cross peen hammer?"

"... Your what?"

"Cross peen hammer." Zann shrugged. "I've got some raw ores I wanted to smelt and work with, but they're a little too big to fit in my smelter, so I was going to use it to smash them into little pieces after I mailed them to myself. Had to settle for using my sledge instead."

"I haven't even heard of such a thing before, I wouldn't know it if it fell out of the sky onto me." I admitted. "Maybe if you pin a picture up here, we can know what to look for?"

"Okie-dokie!" He started pushing me back into the Daycare. Once I had given him some space, he began to unroll a missing poster for the tool in question. Reaching into the rafters, he grabbed a roll of tape. "An' wut a'out Yo'ega's thin'?" He asked around it.

"I'll have to get Rainbow's permission to stay here for a night, which could take some time. I wanna tentatively say two weeks from now?" I got back to checking up on the eggs. "Anything else you needed?" The sounds of tape being pulled and applied told me that I was going to be waiting for my answer. I managed to finish up the egg I was with at the same time Zann finished taping his poster up.

"Well, there is this one trick I've been working on..." He finally answered.

"Not in the daycare." I reminded him.

"Bah!" He grumbled. "It can't be that bad!"

I just stared at him. "This is a wooden shack, Zann."

"Point." He hobbled outside. "Alright, I'll show you, but then I need to let Yomega know what you said. You can give me your thoughts when we next see each other, 'kay?"

I shrugged out my acceptance. Zann smiled, before spreading his legs, arching his back, and began hacking up gouts of smoke. Soon enough, the cloud was big enough to completely obscure him. Although I couldn't see him, I could hear him stop coughing, and then some dull thumps of him moving around. Huh, so he learned Smokescreen. Neat.

Then the slight breeze blew the cloud away, revealing Zann to be missing. "What the fuck?" I asked the air, looking around. In doing so, I spotted Zann crossing the bridge leading to Fluttershy's cottage, hauling ass back towards Ponyville. There was another puff of smoke on this side of the bridge with a wispy trail connecting it to the one in front of me. "... There's a fire type Teleport? So cool!" I briefly gushed before returning to the eggs.

"Not cool, hot."

I began musing aloud as I worked. "Wait... If there's a fire type Teleport, and there's a dark type Teleport, does that mean that there's a Teleport for each type?"

"I would assume so."

"I need to step up my game!" I heard a thump behind me as I turned over the last egg. <<Rainbow?>>

"Yup, wassup?"

I stomped my way towards, then past her. <<We need to get Hail working pronto! I've got a new project for our training afterwards, and I'll be damned if I'm the slowest of the pack!>>

"What are you going on about?"

<<To the Weather Institute!>>

"You mean our training barn?"

<<That's what I said!>> I picked up my speed, jogging ahead. <<Did you turn up anything while you were at the Library?>>

"Not much, but I think I found some things that could help. First is the..."

<<Well, that sucked.>> I grumbled, wringing the slush from my fur.

"At least we seem to be going in the right direction." Rainbow offered from under her umbrella.

<<And at least you're dry.>> I launched a Sunny Day and stretched out under it with a sigh. <<Going to have to call it here, think I'm starting to run low on mana for this. Going to stay here and dry slash warm up.>> I glanced over at my mare to see her squinting thoughtfully at the Sunny Day orb. <<Bit for your thoughts?>>

"Just wondering how long that lasts." Rainbow finally looked away, blinking rapidly. "Could use it to replace Tank's heat lamp and save some electricity."

I snorted. <<Not nearly long enough.>> The orb winked out, forcing me to fire another one up. <<See?>>

"Well, darn." Rainbow sighed, hanging her umbrella by the door. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask something, but I'm not sure how to ask it..."

<<Just ask the gist of it, maybe?>> I shrug. <<Should be able to make it clearer from there.>>

"Okay, fair enough." Rainbow floated up and draped herself on a dried beam. "So... why do you have weather affecting abilities? I mean, I'm guessing that it's from you guys evolving from summons, but why do they have them?"

I blurred up to join her. <<Beyond the normal crazy powers have, you mean?>> I settled in on her barrel. <<You remember when we were talking about ability priorities?>> Rainbow nodded. <<Well, abilities also have other... attributes, like power, type and accuracy. But, just because an ability may be naturally weak or inaccurate, that can be overcome by how well the individual summon, or Eevee, trains. And summons have their own attributes. You with me so far?>>

"Seems simple enough so far..."

<<So, the vast majority of abilities are just creative ways to hurt each other. But there are some that mess with a summon's attributes, either on their own, or in addition to dealing damage.>>

"I'm not sure I understand.." Rainbow frowned. "Can you give me an example?"

<<Three off the top of my head would be Baby-Doll Eyes, Sand Attack, and Confuse Ray. The first makes us weaker, the second makes us less accurate, and the third just makes us confused, meaning we can accidentally release our mana early and hurt ourselves or allies without meaning to. None of them directly hurts the opposing summon, but they make it easier to fight them. Makes sense?>>

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, but I don't see how that means you can affect the weather."

<<Honestly, I'm not sure on the "how" either, but I do know the "why". One of the attributes that all abilities and summons share is typing, or element. And each type has strengths and weaknesses against other types, Fire burns Grass, Water puts out Fire, it's all one large, confusing rock-paper-scissors mess. Where this all matters is if the type of an ability matches the type of the summon. Fire abilities are stronger when used by a Fire summon. Good so far?>>

"Yup. So, what type are you?"

I snorted. <<Normal. The most basic type. But us Eevees are unique, we completely change our types when we evolve. No other summon can do that. Yomega's a Psychic type, Zann's Fire, Lulu's Water, but all of them used to be Normal. This is where the weather abilities kick in.>> I felt Rainbow shuffle under me as she focused her attention. <<Each of them boosts the power of a different type, makes some abilities more accurate, and can do even stranger things based on an individual summon's biology. For example, Rain Dance, the first one I learned? Yes, it makes it rain, but it also boosts Water type abilities, weakens Fire type abilities, makes a few Electric type abilities more accurate, and some summons can use it to get faster or even regenerate damage. Some summons use these weather abilities to empower themselves, but others like me use them to empower our Pack.>>

"I guess you can't boost multiple types?" I gave Rainbow a questioning look. "Well, your Rain Dance and Sunny Day seem to stop the other one from happening, so..."

<<Yeah, that's right. There can only be one weather ability going on at any one time.>> I settled in for a proper nap. <<Makes me glad I haven't run into anything else that can do what I can, yet. We'd be fighting over the sky for the majority of the fight...>>

[Third]

Princess Celestia sat on her throne, Raven at her side, working steadily through the day's paper work. Her two usual guards stared stoically ahead.

Or they could be sleeping with their eyes open again. Celestia couldn't blame them, paperwork was one of the dullest parts of ruling. At least Raven did an excellent job of vetting the unnecessary forms out.

The Princess of the Day had just put her signature on the latest denial for a tax increase when the court doors opened. One of her guards, Swift Wind, started running towards the throne. It was clear that he had run straight to her from his post in the guard's communications center.

"News from Northern Equestria!" He called once he was closer.

Oh? Could it be, after all this time? Celestia dismissed Raven.

The guard quickly dropped into a bow, almost forgetting his decorum. "Uh, your highness..."

"Yes?"

"I am simply to tell you that... it has returned."

Go North, Young Eevee!

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I stood beside Rainbow in the Ponyville library, watching Twilight running back and forth in barely contained panic. I could hear Thunderlane helping Moon Dancer with her own frantic packing from further in the library. Why does this seem familiar? I gently nudged Rainbow. <<What's got them all hot and bothered?>>

"They're being called up to Canterlot for a test." Rainbow shrugged. "Or Twilight is, at least. We're going up to offer moral support, I think. My letter wasn't really clear. Moon Dancer's being called up for a progress report on you guys."

"Ah don' get why y'all couldn' jus' talk with Moon Dancer an' all." Applejack glanced down at me. "Make things go a might faster if'n y'all did, an' be easier at tha'."

"It would." Moon Dancer grumbled, both her and her... assistant dropping their packed bags beside us. "But not everypony can talk to animals like Fluttershy can. Maybe one out of a hundred thousand can, at most. And none of them have Fluttershy's natural charisma with them."

The named mare shrunk into herself with a quiet "Meep!".

Further conversation was cut off by a loud thump. I looked over to see Spike bench-pressing a book as big as he is just enough to be able to crawl out from under it.

"Sweet Celestia, I've only seen abridged copies of that..." Moon Dancer stared at the mammoth tome in scholarly awe.

"Wonder why Yomega isn't helping them pack." Thunderlane mused, looking for the lime green Espeon.

"Um." Fluttershy quietly spoke up. "He's taking care of the eggs today."

"Just a test?!" Twilight's shout caused us to focus back on the show in front of us. The studious mare began advancing on Spike, forcing him to back away from a pile of index cards. "Princess Celestia wants to give me some kind of exam and you want me to calm down because its "just a test"?!"

"Uh..." Spike quickly took the pillow vest and military helmet Pinkie offered to him and threw them on. "... Yes?"

Twilight's horn lit up, and I could see her metaphorical fuse burning short.

"Ah'd say she's handlin' thin's pretty well, considerin'..." Applejack spoke up.

I don't know if she was trying to diffuse the tension, and I didn't care. I took the only logical course of action. <<Duck and cover!>> I yelled before dropping into an Extreme Speed and attempted to push Rainbow out the nearest window.

The wave of mana that still rapidly expanded from Twilight's horn knocked me out of my move and slammed me against the floor. My pained groans mixed in with the others and Twilight's profuse apologies.

"You okay?" Rainbow gave me a gentle poke.

<<I didn't dodge, dip, dive, duck, or dodge, and couldn't cover.>> I groaned, curling around her hoof. <<Never been knocked out of an Extreme Speed before. I give it one star, don't recommend.>>

Rainbow scooped me up and draped me across her withers. "Alright, you rest up a bit." She looked at the rest of the group. "Twilight, if we don't leave now, we'll miss the train!"

Twilight gave a squawk and magically stuffed her saddlebags with quills, parchment, inkwells and assorted books. Everypony had just enough time to grab their own saddlebags when Twilight teleported everyone to the station. We all landed with barely a stumble, although Rainbow and Thunderlane just stayed airborne.

Twilight hurriedly made her way to the ticket booth. "Nine to Canterlot, one with a pet, for the next train, please."

"I'm very sorry," The ticket master sighed. "but I can only do two for the next train. If you are willing to wait for a few hours, I can get you all on the one after."

Twilight looked back at us, chewing her lower lip. "I guess we can all wait...?"

"It's okay, Twilight." Moon Dancer waved a hoof. "If the Princesses want to see you, then you'd better go on ahead."

"We'll catch on up, Twi." Applejack reaffirmed.

"Alright..." The studious mare turned back to the ticket master. "Two for Canterlot, then, and I'll pay for their tickets for the next train as well."

The stallion nodded apologetically. "Alright, but they're going to need to wait in the station or on the platform until it arrives..."

<<Hope you’ve got a book handy.>> I started wiggling to nose through Rainbow’s saddlebags

She did not have a book handy. Rainbow and I ended up roping Pinkie into a strange game of tag, the three of us zipping around the roof of the station. There were even some low lying clouds close enough that I could launch myself to. Moon Dancer and Thunderlane kept an eye on us, Moon Dancer muttering something about the possibility of me growing wings if we kept this up.

At least we were entertaining some of the other ponies that trickled in to wait for the train.

After far too long, the train pulled into the station, and we quickly boarded. The train ride passed as all do with Pinkie; someone ended up being sacrificed to keep her occupied for the trip. She never figured out that I was playing to tie her at Tic-Tac-Toe, not win.

I was able to escape her as the train rolled into the Canterlot station, hopping up onto Rainbow's back to stare out the window. I was surprised to see a dejected Twilight meandering onto the platform, a concerned Spike following her. At least her saddlebags seemed to have lost the eclectic mix that was her test supplies, but had found a few thick tomes somewhere along the way.

Most of the departing crowd, including Moon Dancer and Thunderlane, exited the train onto the other platform, letting us rush towards Twilight alone. I still rode on Rainbow's back, frowning at the feeling that this should be familiar to me.

"Twilight!" Applejack called out when we got close enough. She lunged forward, pulling Twilight into a hug. "Did'ja pass?"

Pinkie rushed her cannon out bowling Spike off to the side. I almost missed him getting hit, since I was too busy staring at the lit fuse. Pinkie, no!

"Are we gonna celebrate your awesomeness with Princess Celestia!" She thankfully pointed it skyward before it went off Launching confetti into the air, which she jumped up in time with.

"Not quite..." Twilight's voice caused both pony and confetti to return to where they started, which gave me a small headache trying to figure out how she got all the little pieces to fall perfectly back into the cannon's barrel. I forcefully shoved the thought aside as Twilight continued. "We're going to the Crystal Empire!"

I glanced down at Rainbow in confusion. Why does that sound familiar? And, more importantly, important?!

Twilight led us to another platform, where she pulled a scroll out of her saddlebags to show the conductor. I could already see Rarity's luggage being transferred from one train to the other. Once we had found a compartment, Twilight gathered us around her and pulled out one of her new tomes.

"So," Twilight began, "the Crystal Empire used to exist about a thousand years or so ago, in the far north, and was ruled by a tyrant called King Sombra. When the Princesses defeated him, he cursed the empire to vanish of off the face of Equis. Now, it's returned, and..."

I tuned out the rest of Twilight's explanation, mentally kicking myself. Of course. The season three two-parter. I should've found time to let the rest of the pack know...

We all swayed as the train started to leave the station.

Crap.

Arctic Assault.

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I moped on the seat back behind Twilight, lurking over her shoulder. I tried to read the book she had open, but my rudimentary Equestrian reading level meant that I only managed to read about one word in six before Twilight turned to the next page. From what I could gather, the book was about the history of the ancient empire. I caught parts of a royal lineage, old exports, a couple of lost traditions, even what I assumed to be a famous pony from before Sombra. I'm not sure, but I think it was Nurgle, Nergal? Fuck, it could've been Nigel for all I knew.

Whoever it was, it seemed that they only had a passing reference to them, if I judged Twilight's disappointed horse noises right.

The pleather crinkled down as Rainbow leaned beside me. "What'cha doin'?"

<<Failing.>> I grumbled. <<I'm testing my reading level by trying to read over Twilight's shoulder, but...>> I shrugged as Twilight turned the page. <<It's not going very well.>>

"Could you please talk a little quieter?" Twilight asked, glancing up at us. "You're a little distracting, and I need to read these before we get to our stop."

<<Sorry...>>

"Where did you even get those from, anyway?" Rainbow asked.

"When the Princesses gave me my mission, Princess Celestia also gave me a brief history and explanation of what we could expect when we actually get there. Afterward, Princess Luna had a guard give me these to expound on that explanation." Twilight sighed. "Even with the two tomes, there's not much that we have that escaped the Empire's curse. Can you believe that that tyrant's curse was strong enough to wipe almost all of the books associated with the Empire blank! Only these two tomes managed to be unaffected, and only because they were in Luna's personal chambers at the time!" She shuffled to get a little more comfortable. "Now, if you don't mind...?"

"C'mon, Leo." Rainbow chuckled as she picked me up and hovered towards the back of the car. We settled in and stared out the windows for a lack of anything better to do. After another hour or so, Rainbow started petting me. "Leo...? I've... been thinking."

<<A dangerous pastime.>>

My mare chuckled again. "I know, but..." She sighed, her hoof slowing. "Listen, whatever we end up having to do, things might... I mean, it's kinda like..." She rubbed her face with a wing. "Look, I've got this weird feeling like this "test" of Twilight's could end up like Discord or, or the wedding. Things can go very sideways, very fast, and I may not be there with you to do this, and-"

I cut her off with my paw on her muzzle. <<You're rambling, Rainbow. That's... that's not really like you. Just... tell me what you need to?>>

Rainbow took a deep breath, steading herself before gently pushing my paw away from her mouth. "If you need to, you can use your R move." I shivered as I felt something click in my mind. "Don't use it if you can, and try to hurt the least amount of innocent ponies, but you can use it if you need to."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. <<Cool. No pressure. Got it...>>

"Hey, listen." Rainbow gave my back a shake. "This is just a "just in case" thing. I'd rather you didn't use it, but, if I'm not around to tell you to use it..."

<<No, no. I understand.>> I tried to settle in. <<Just... as soon as we're safe, lock it back up, okay?>>

"Okay." Rainbow went back to petting me, and we both returned to staring out the window.

I snapped awake as the train slowed to a stop. <<What's... Are we there? How long was I out?>> I yawned.

"Well, there's no station out there..." Rainbow frowned. "And about four or five hours."

The conductor slid open the car's door. "Ladies? I'm afraid that this is your stop."

Rarity looked out the window on our side of the car in concern. "But, there's no station...?"

"Hey! There's a building over here!" Pinkie called out from the other side of the car.

"The platform is covered by the snow, miss." The stallion nodded.

Twilight worried at her lower lip. "Is this as close to the Empire as you can take us?"

"I'm sorry, miss," the conductor sighed, "but the last two stations on this line were lost when the Empire returned. Thankfully, the last one was a lightly staffed guard outpost..."

"W-what about the other one?" Fluttershy asked.

The stallion winced. "... It was a ski lodge."

"Wait..." Pinkie tilted her head. "Was it the Double Diamond Lodge?"

At the conductor's nod, Rainbow threw her hooves up with a groan. "Great! I always wanted to go, but I guess that's not happening anytime soon!"

"If it means anything, I've heard that the lodge is mostly okay, just slid down the side of the mountain..." The conductor coughed into a fetlock. "Still, I'm afraid that you'll need to get off here."

I hopped down and started to help Spike with the luggage. "Um," My ear twitched as Twilight spoke to the conductor, "will you ponies be able to turn the train around safely?"

"Don't you worry none, miss. We've got a squad of guards to keep us safe."

"Alright..." Twilight waited for us to have grouped around her before she opened the side door. The frigid cold wind immediately started to pull at fur and manes. Everyone started to shiver as they stepped off of the train.

"Ha! And you all made fun of me for having so many scarves!" Rarity gloated, even though she was the last pony to leave.

"I didn't say a word." Spike grunted out from under his share of the luggage pile.

I could only carry a small suitcase on my back and a handbag dangled from my mouth. I wonder if she'll let me steal one... I quickly dropped both of them when Spike slipped on the ice. One of the larger cases popped open, and the wind started to blow a few scarves away. Both of us were so busy running down the errant fabric that we missed Shining Armor's arrival.

"We'd better get moving." Shining pointed off towards the Empire. "There are things we really don't want to run into after dark."

"What kind of things?" Fluttershy trembled, and I'm sure it wasn't just from the cold.

"Let's just say that the Empire isn't the only thing that's returned..." On that ominous note, Shining started to lead us into the snow.

<<We're all going to die...>> I mumbled around the scarves I had saved. Spike and I quickly repacked the opened case and hurried after the ponies. Rarity was the last to actually leave the station, after she had used her telekinesis to shove the majority of the suitcases back onto the train and ask them to hold them at the Canterlot or Ponyville stations.

Still, Spike and I ended up trudging along behind the mares, doing our best to walk in the trenches they plowed. It was a good two or three hours of hard marching until the wind finally died down enough for us to be able to yell over it.

"Something keeps trying to get in!" Shining called back to his sister. "We think it's the unicorn king that originally cursed the place!"

"But, Princess Celestia said that I was being sent here to find a way to protect the Empire!" Twilight yelled back. "If King Sombra can't get in, then it must already be protected?" We all stopped moving as a loud howl roared out from the snowscape.

<<We're going by Voldemort rules then?>> I muttered, nervously glancing around as much as the others.

"Th-that's one of the things, isn't it?!" Fluttershy's trembling worsened, even though she was in the midst of the herd.

Shining Armor turned to face back the way we came. "We have to get to the Crystal Empire, Now!" Another roar came from behind us as a large cloud of smog sprung into existence.

I dropped what I was carrying and blitzed up onto Rainbow's back while Shining pulled Spike along until he started running. From my perch, I could see a pair of green eyes with purple mist drifting from them form near the top of the mass.

<<It's gaining, Rainbow!>>

"Go! Go!" I glanced down at Twilight's yell in time to see her scoop Spike up onto her back. A bright blue glow appeared in the distance, a beacon shining through the snowstorm. I looked back to see Shining had turned to face what I assumed was Sombra, firing a few beams ineffectively into the smog.

I came to the same realization as Shining did. <<He won't make it...>>

"Whazzat?" Rainbow shouted back to me.

I swallowed my nerves and shifted on Rainbow's back. <<Get to the Empire! I'll be along right after ya!>>

"Wha-?" I shuffled until I was on Rainbow's rump and tensed up. "Wait, Leo!"

I jumped, dropping into an Extreme Speed. As I fell through the still snow, I couldn't keep an old chant my grandparents had taught me out of my head.

"Lo, there do I see my father." I could see a blackened beam frozen in its race towards Shining Armor.

"Lo, there do I see my mother," I started to bounce from one frozen snowflake to another on my way down to ground, "and my sisters, and my brothers."

I knew that I was going into a battle, one I may not walk away from. "Lo, there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning!"

It didn't matter.

"Lo, they do call to me." I had to save him. I had to save Shining. He was needed far more than I was to keep the Empire safe.

"They bid me take my place among them," if I could save him, maybe I could start to redeem myself from what I did in Canterlot, "in the halls of Valhalla!" My paws touched hard-packed snow, and I launched myself towards the white stallion.

"Where the brave!"

I rushed past him.

"Shall live!"

Turned.

"Forever!"

And rammed into Shining's chest, pushing him back. My Extreme Speed ran out after a few bounds, but I had pushed him far enough back that the curse only created a small patch of black crystals on the ground instead of on Shining's horn. <<GO!>> I yelled at him, headbutting his chest again before turning to face Sombra. I didn't wait to see if Shining would follow after the mares or not, I just launched myself at the overgrown fart cloud with teeth already glowing.

Sombra's gloating chuckle cut off with a roar of pain as I chomped down on his smoggy form. He threw me off into the snow, losing the mouthful of smoke that I took with me.

"So, you have a summon." Sombra's deep voice rasped from the cloud. I looked at who he could be talking to, hoping it wasn't Rainbow. "And such an interesting one too."

Shining had taken the opportunity to back away, but he hadn't left yet. "You won't get into the Empire!"

I launched myself back at Sombra, but a tendril swung around and slammed me back into the snow. The old fart continued to speak. "Maybe not today, but soon. You will not keep me from what is mine. I will take it back." Another tendril smashed into me, and held me down. "Starting with this." A lance of black mana speared towards me. "Father taught me how to usurp control of your precious summons."

I struggled to get out from under the smoky mass, but I couldn't avoid the beam-

OBEY.

Pain wracked through every muscle. <<No...>>

SUBMIT.

I grit my teeth and growled. <<N-never!>>

SURRENDER!

I cried out in pain, distantly aware of the black mist lashing off of me keeping Shining away. <<I'm not->> I focused on my connection to Rainbow.

YIELD!

Red lightning started to crackle through the mist. <<- Some thing you can control! Rainbow...>> I growled through the pain, pulling harder on my Soul Bond.

YOU BELONG TO ME NOW!

<<I belong to RAINBOW DASH! NO OTHER!>> To this day, I swear that I felt Rainbow's wings curl around me as I finally shoved Sombra's curse off of me. I stood panting in the middle of a cooling pool of water. <<...You don't have enough badges to control me.>>

"Impossible!" Sombra roared, multiple tendrils of smog arcing to smash me into submission.

I jumped into an Extreme Speed, dodging through the forest of attacks. As I leapt from one mass of semi-solid mist to another, I glanced over at Shining, seeing Rainbow latched onto him. A final leap sent me towards Sombra's main mass. I swapped moves to Bite him, and began flailing about as soon as I had latched on. I could see Rainbow flying Shining away out of the corner of my eye.

A blast of dark magic swatted me back down. "You insolent pest!" Sombra rasped. A wave of magic spread from the fog, leaving behind circles of crystals. "I don't have time to deal with you." With far too many crackles, a small army of Sableye clawed their way out of the rings. Sombra waved dismissively at me. "Kill it."

I had not been idle, building up a Solar Flare. I launched it at the closest group, but aimed too high. I Bit the first of the gem gremlins that lunged at me. I gave it a shake and threw it back at its fellows. My Solar Flare landed at that point, blooming into a hemisphere of ice spikes. A few Sableye were frozen inside it, and a couple of the slower ones were impaled on the spikes. I pounced forward and Bit down on one of the recovering Sableye's arms. Using my momentum, I pulled it around and tossed that one away as well.

Several Sableye threw a strange black lightning at me that sunk into my fur. I felt a wave of pain flash through me as I let go. Shaking it off, I lunged at the next of the ghosts, but phased through it, teeth clicking on air. Those things have Disable?! Shit! I dropped into an Extreme Speed to gain some distance. I dropped out within sight of Sombra and his gremlin mob.

Didn't want them going after Shining Armor too soon, after all.

Alright, Brain, let's review. I thought as I started building up and launching volleys of Solar Flares. They've disabled my Bite, Solar Flare seems to be Ice type up here but needs distance and time to be effective, and my everything else is Normal. I'm fucked, aren't I?

"Right in the down under. Unless..."

I fired off another Solar Flare, and gulped as some form of Protect shield sprung up. Welp, some of them have TMs... Your "unless" had better be good!

"Well, this is a target rich environment, with a great backstop, and no innocent ponies to get caught in the crossfire..."

But, how would I charge up the rage?!

"Well... Who says that you need to be out of PP to Struggle?"

I'm going to be out of commission once I do this, I hope Rainbow can come find me before Sombra or his Sableye do...

I took a couple of deep breaths, and started to Rage. I Glared towards the oncoming horde, and had to force myself to not charge towards them. Instead, I threw myself against the ground and any nearby exposed rocks. As angry as this all made me, I still forced myself to remain calm.

Or calm-ish.

The wind started to howl around me, flurries of snow whipping up between me and Sombra's horde. I took a deep lungful of the sub-artic air, and, following my instincts, infused it with all my rage and mana.

There was no one liner.

There was barely an intonement.

<<R move unlocked.>> I spoke with an extra inhale, then let it all out with a drawn out sigh. <<Frost Fall.>> A massive fog of misted breath drifted up to cover the sky above Sombra and his Sableye. I sat down, and raised a paw. When I judged it to be ready, I clenched the paw into the best approximation of a fist I could make.

With the sound of a thousand mirrors shattering, the sky broke. Giant shards of ice came crashing down from the mist I had made. The battlefield was quickly entombed in a frozen hell, the flashes of banished summons refracting through it in a ground bound aurora. I could even see a massive ice shard with Sombra frozen inside. Even as I started to fall over onto my side, I knew that that wouldn't hold him for long.

I stared listlessly at the tableau in front of me, barely even groaning as a few ghostly hands popped up from the ground. I didn't have the energy to really care as the last few Sableye clawed their way up to the snow's surface.

This is how I die, huh. I sighed and consigned myself to oblivion. I felt something snap as the darkness closed in. Worth it.

The Other.

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Dying felt as if I had just come back from zoning out for a while. The snowscape around me suddenly snapped back into focus. It was odd, though. I didn't see any of the ice spires my Frost Fall had made, nor was there a death squad of Sableye waiting for me.

Instead, there was a frosted rocky shoreline outlining the nearest parts of a glacial lake. The snow around that deepened very quickly, until only the top third of the scraggly pine trees in the distance were uncovered. And I could barely see those trees through the ice fog.

"So..." I looked around. "Ninth Circle, then? Let me guess, I betrayed my humanity?" I gave a mirthless chuckle. "You'd think that I'd be in the Seventh, but no, here I am-!" I flinched as what sounded like a gunshot boomed out. I whipped my head around until I spotted a tree that had exploded from the cold, the ice fog started to creep back towards it. I frowned in thought. "It's odd though." I mused aloud for a lack of anything else to do. "I don't feel cold..."

I hopped to my feet and began to stretch. "Welp! I guess I should look around before whoever runs this place decides to freeze me here." A soft crackle started up from out on the still waters, obscured by the mist. "Or I guess I should just think of a cool pose instead."

"..." A soft voice echoed out from the mist, audible over the suddenly much louder cracking.

I watched as the water rapidly froze into foot thick sheets of ice. I had to quickly make multiple hops back from the expanding ice sheet, until I was standing in belly deep snow. "Look, just because I deserve that, doesn't mean I'm ready to be an Eevee-sicle just yet!"

"..." I looked up to see a very disturbing sight. It looked like someone had taken a large husky, tripled its size, shaved the vast majority of its fur off, and gave it an extra couple sets of legs for good measure.

I gulped. Although I could see that it had no teeth nor claws, the black fur around its paws and muzzle were frozen into wicked replacements. Other than those patches, it was completely hairless, its taut muscles clearly visible underneath its chapped skin.

"...?" I jumped as it addressed me again. "..." It sighed out a foggy breath, freezing an icy incline out of the very air. It lounged against it and waved a forepaw at the ground in front of me. "..."

"Erm..." I looked around me before shoveling the snow in front of me until I had packed down a cushion to lie on. "So, uh, when you said "us", did you mean other... whatever-you-are's?"

"..." It stretched a hind leg out. "..."

"And, uh," I nervously scratched behind my ear, "what do I call you, then?"

"...," It yawned, "..."

"Well, then..." A faint memory started to niggle at the back of my mind. An old obscure myth, that this being's form reminded of. "That's it! I'll call you Qiqirn. Less of a mouthful, more personable than Other." I gave... it? Him? I gave them a nervous smile. "Th-that's okay, right?"

"..." They chuckled. "..."

"So long as they didn't call you late for dinner!" We both chuckled, although mine were slightly more hysterical. "Arceus, I wouldn't be joking around if I wasn't already dead!" I muttered.

"..." I flinched with a squeak. "..." They sighed. "...!" They leaned back and crossed their front paws. "...?"

I stared at them, then looked around the winter landscape around us. I observed my misting breath, even though I couldn't feel the chill. "I'm evolving?" They nodded with a chuckle. "Is... is it too late to ask you to send me over to the Flying type zone?"

They tilted their head back and roared. I flinched back into myself, ears folded and eyes screwed shut. It was only after listening to their roar echoing off the tundra for a little while that I realized that they were laughing. Eventually, they calmed down enough to talk again.

"..." Their face softened. "..."

I sighed in disappointment. "Alright. I'll try to make the best use out of all of this, but I'm going to sulk while I'm here and have the time."

"..."

If they truly know everything, maybe... I chewed my lip in thought. "Do you know what's wrong with our eggs?"

"..."

"That bastard!"

"..." They sighed. "..."

"And what of the Claw?" I scowled. "Is he behind that too?" I got a rueful chuckle in response. "What?"

"...!" They ground their gums together. "..." They leaned forward. "..."

"So he didn't just choose us?" I growled, hackles twitching. "Why didn't he just-?!"

"..." Qiqirn sighed. "..."

"Well, that sucks." I pouted, before tilting my head. "Why do you call people by titles instead of names?"

"..." They shuffled a little with a chuckle. "..."

"Oh. Do you know mine?"

They waved a paw. "..."

I shrugged. "I'll take it."

"...?"

"Did anyone else get pulled here, other than Luke?"

They fondly smiled. "..."

"Really?" My tail started to thump into the snow behind me. "Who?"

"..."

"Awww." My pout returned. "This is going to be one of those weird dream things where I'm going to forget everything when I "wake up", isn't it?"

"..." They folded their front most legs over their barrel. "...?"

I place a paw against my chin. "Why did Luke and the others get pulled in?”

“...” They chuckled again. “...” They waited a brief moment to see if I would speak up. “...?”

“Yeah…” I thought a little more. “Yeah, that should be all.”

"..." They stood, frost growing and flaking from their skin. Their eyes glowed a pale blue, and their voice gained a reverb. "..." Three motes of light were pulled from my chest. I watched as my fur lost all colour.

Qiqirn cupped the motes of light with their front paws and breathed out an intense cold. Hoarfrost grew on the ground beneath them, and trees exploded in the distance. Once they stopped, a single pale blue crystal floated between their paws. "..." The crystal floated back to me, and embedded itself in my soul.

Though I felt no pain, I could feel all of the changes happening to me. As I grew, I shed my greyed out brown and tan fur and light cyan fur grew in its place. I already knew that the darker blue diamond patterns were fading onto my back and the end of my tail. I also gained socks in the same colour. My ears became more angular, the thicker fur making them appear slimmer. My tail flattened, broadening at the tip. The strangest feeling was the crest and fleshy flaps growing from my brow.

I looked over myself before sheepishly looking up at Qiqirn. "Do you have a mirror, or, er, another such reflective surface?"

Their eyes had returned to normal. They gave me a fatherly smile. "..."

I nodded, and focused on my mana. It felt different than it did before. Colder, stiller, but more... complete. I pulled it up through my throat and breathed out a mist. Where it touched, it built up a slab of smooth ice. I gave myself a proper inspection with my reflection.

Satisfied, I turned to Qiqirn and bowed. "Thank you. I will use your gift to the best of my ability. I will make you proud." The world started to crack and glow into a brilliant light.

"..."

[Third]

Rainbow crossed the barrier around the Empire and dropped Shining onto the grass. She didn't land so much as stumble from the air. Something was different, something was off. She couldn't tell what it was and was distracted from recovering from their run. She turned, staring out into the snowy expanse.

"Rainbow! Ya gotta take a look at this!"

"Not right now, Pinkie." Rainbow called back over her shoulder.

"But-!"

"I gotta know that she's okay!" The prismatic mare returned to looking for her Eevee, breath misting as she worriedly scanned the snow. "C'mon, Leo..." She muttered to herself.

Several thousand miles away, a crack boomed out from the gardens around the Canterlot palace. Though the guards searched for hours, they still missed the long crack hidden under the rose vines growing on Discord's statue and the fountain he was decorating.

Frozen Star.

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[Leo]

I opened my new teal eyes and Glared at the five Sableye before me. I tiredly stood from where I had been lying and felt my broken collar slide off. I spared it a glance before addressing the Ghost types. "You don't understand me, but I still want you to know that I just figured a couple of things out." I quickly launched a pale mote of mana into the sky.

They just tilted their heads in confusion. "Firstly? I can now do Icy Winds." I took a deep breath and howled out a blast of frigid air. The lead Sableye crossed its arms and took the brunt of the attack, but frost still started to form on the other four. Once my breath ran out, the first one started gnawing on the ice caking its arms, shivering in the cold. It stopped when a hailstone as large as a golf ball brained it. The other Sableye flinched and began to warily watch the sky. "Secondly, I figured out Hail."

The hailstorm began to fall in earnest. I felt more and more invigorated with every stone that hit me, but the Sableye had to do a mad dance to avoid the last of it. I breathed out another Icy Wind to slow them down while circling around them. I wanted them to remain in as small an area as possible and leave them with as little room to dodge as I could.

A more reckless Sableye decided to charge me, dark power coating its claws. A rather large hailstone smashed itself into its head, shattering into powder, yet the Sableye didn't slow. I frowned at it and jumped to the side at the last moment. I was surprised to see it continue running past me before it just face planted into the snow, digging a short trench before being banished.

I turned back to the rest of the Sableye, pointing a paw back at the trench. "Did that just happen?" One of them threw a Shadow Ball at me. I dodged around it and retaliated with another Icy Wind. Right, still fighting. I jumped past a second Shadow Ball, only to take a third to the face.

"Ow?" I shook my head as the hail healed off the bruise. Alright, so I got two new moves?

"Nope, three! Try pulling your mana through your fur!"

I did so, and felt my mana solidify into an arch of five frozen spears. I fired them out in a shotgun spread, nailing a couple of Sableye with three of them. The hail finished one of them off, and the last of the spears burrowed into the snow. I created another arch of spears and held them around my barrel before facing the final two Sableye.

"So!" I chirped, creating more spears and expanding my arch. "Who's first?"

The two gremlins looked at each other before turning tail and running. I launched my spears at them, managing to banish one. I let the last one go, turning instead for the Crystal Empire. I paused long enough to grab my collar and dropped into an Extreme Speed.

I frowned as I bounded across the snow. Hmmm, feeling a little sluggish. Looks like Rainbow and I will need to work on my speed training again. I started thinking of training regimes as the Empire's barrier neared. I could see the thawed land beyond it tinted a baby blue because of Cadence's shield spell, but I really only had eyes for the ponies on the far side. I shook my head as I watched Pinkie slowly try to drag Rainbow away from the barrier. Definitely slower. I mentally sighed.

I dropped out of my move on the snowy side of the shield and waited for Rainbow to notice me. Her smile split her face as she struggled to lunge out to meet me.

"Pinkie! Lemme go!" Her voice was distorted by the barrier. "C'mon, Pinkie. Leo's right there!"

The pink mare didn't let go of Rainbow. "Really? Where?!"

"She's right there!" Rainbow pointed right at me. I waved.

"I don't see her...?" Pinkie frowned. By this point, the others had moved to stand beside the two.

Rarity squinted out towards me. "I can't see anything through all that ghastly snow."

Applejack just squinted in my general direction.

"I'm telling you, she's right there!" Rainbow insisted. I draped my collar over the back of my neck and started strutting back and forth, slowly getting closer to the barrier.

"Well, I don't see anything." Twilight looked to the final mare there. "Do you, Fluttershy?" The named mare just squeaked and shook her head.

"No... There is something there," Applejack nodded, "Ah can jus' make it out. Ain't no Eevee, though."

Fluttershy pressed herself closer to Twilight. "D-do you think that it's s-safe?"

I stopped and looked over my shoulder at the sound of another of Sombra's roars. I turned and sprinted into the Empire, bounding up and glomping Rainbow. <<Guess what, Rain- oop!>> I was lifted off of her and encased in a pink bubble. <<Y'see, this is also why I don't like psychic types all that much.>>

Shining gave me the stink eye. "I don't think that it's something of Sombra's, Cadence's spell would have kept it out." He tilted me to get a better look. "But I haven’t seen anything like this before."

I rolled my eyes and looked over at Fluttershy. <<Hey, Fluttershy?>> She meeped. <<It's me, Leo. I evolved into a Glaceon. Could you tell Shining to put me down now?>>

"Oh, um..."

Rainbow pointed to my neck. "That's Leo. Look, she's still got her collar."

"If you would just-"

"It could've taken it off of Leo while she was fighting, though." Twilight frowned.

I covered my ears as I saw Fluttershy put her hoof into her mouth. She let out a shrill whistle, cutting through everyone's conversations. "Um... She's Leo. She just grew up into this."

Rarity looked at her askance. "How can you be so sure?"

Fluttershy fluttered up to me and began pointing at various points on my body. "Her tail is kinked, there's dimples in her fur along her front legs and chest from where she had her bones broken, and while her scar in her eyebrow is mostly covered by the crest, you can still see the bottom of it. Um..." She dropped back down. "But the, ah, easiest test is to have her say something and Rainbow translating it. If that's alright with you?"

I stared Rainbow dead in the eyes. <<Lather blather, cookie bookie.>> Rainbow snorted before repeating what I had said. Fluttershy nodded when everyone looked at her for confirmation.

Twilight saddled closer to Rainbow and I as Shining led us towards the Empire proper. "Just so you know, Moon Dancer and I are going to want to take a look at Leo when we get back."

"I know." Rainbow sighed. "And I want to be there. I wanna know what Leo can do in order to help train her."

<<I can't believe that I'm agreeing to this, but I do too.>>

"Leo's interested, too." Rainbow translated.

I tuned the mares out as we made our way into the city proper. I marveled over the crystalline buildings, dulled out as they were, imagining what they might've looked like before Sombra got at them. I was so busy staring at the buildings, I almost missed the Carbinks staring at us from around corners and over window sills.

A clattering to my right drew my attention to an alleyway. A Carbink had fallen over at the sight of us. It stared at us with wide eyes before floating a few inches above the ground and zooming away. I shrugged, glancing around the rest of the alley before rejoining the ponies.

After a moment, I ran back into the alley and stared up at the wall. Or, more specifically, at the Unown etchings on it. 'Help us'? I read. I mean, that's what we're here to do-! The wall blinked at me. <<MEW FUCKED!>> I scurried back to Rainbow.

What do You Call a Group of Unown?

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"You okay, Leo?" Rainbow glanced over at me. "You've been kinda jumpy for the last few blocks." I furtively looked around, catching another grouping of Unown hiding under somepony's eaves. I flinched back into Rainbow's side. "Yeah, like that." She sighed.

<<Where to start?>> I gave a slightly manic giggle. <<We are surrounded by creatures that bend reality to their whim!>> Fluttershy glanced at us, but quickly rejoined everyone else at ogling the crystal structures.

"Uh-huh." I scowled at Rainbow's disbelieving look. "We've dealt with their kind before, we can kick their ass."

I flicked one of my flaps onto her back. <<No, not these ones. They're... a hive mind. Individually, Fluttershy could take one on. But a group? Five would be difficult, ten would be a problem.>> I gulped. <<Thirty can fake life; make illusionary copies of Legendaries!>>

Rainbow frowned. "How's that a bad thing? So they can make an illusion of windigos, big deal. We-"

<<Not legends, Rainbow!>> I hissed at her. <<Legendaries! Summons so powerful that there are only a pawful of each species in the world! The weakest of which would give Celestia a run for her money! And these Unown can create copies that never eat, never sleep, and never tire!>> Rainbow joined me in fearfully looking around. <<The only saving grace about them is that they should be incredibly passive. So long as no one gives them anything that sounds like a wish or a command, we'll be okay.>> I looked over the rest of the mares. <<So I don't like our odds.>>

"Do you know what I should look out for?"

<<They look like circles with squiggles. The circles are their eyes. They have twenty eight distinct forms.>> I slowed my walk, eyes locked onto another group. <<Look down the alleyway to the right. You see the window above the stack of barrels?>>

"Yeah..."

<<Look just under the sill.>>

"I don't...?" She flinched. "The bucking wall blinked at me!" She hoarsely whispered at me.

<<That's some of them.>> I forced myself to face forward.

Rainbow kept looking around. "How many have you seen so far?"

<<Individually?>>

"Yeah."

<<I lost track at fifty.>> I squeaked out.

"We're so screwed."

<<The good news is, is that I don't think they're on Sombra's side.>> I knew I sounded hysterical, but I didn't really care. <<But I also don't think that they're on our side, either!>> Rainbow gulped and flinched away from another Unown sighting.

"Y'all okay, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked Rainbow. "Yer jumpier than a cat in a rockin' chair factory."

"You don't want to know."

"But-!"

"Trust me on this one." Rainbow hooked a leg around Applejack's neck to force her to look Rainbow in the eyes. "You don't want to know. Leo!" She smacked me with her tail. "Don't tell her. You shouldn't have told me, but you did." She refocused on the farmmare. "And now I'm telling you; you don't want to know. If it becomes relevant, I'll tell you, but it's not right now, so I won't." Applejack shivered.

"Rainbow," Shining began in a low tone, "if you know something that can help us keep Sombra out..."

"If what Leo told me is correct, they might help us, they might not. Just..." Rainbow floundered for a moment. "Just don't go giving orders or making wishes when there's nopony around."

"What did Leo tell you, Rainbow?" Twilight lowly asked.

I dropped an icicle in between my mare and Twilight. <<Hey! Lay off her!>>

Rainbow tapped her hoof and fidgeted her wings. "Do you remember Discord, Twilight?"

Everypony flinched, and Fluttershy gasped. Twilight took a deep breath. "Yeah...?"

"According to Leo, these things gain power the more of them there are in a group. Enough to be as strong as him." Rainbow locked eyes with the studious mare. "Maybe even stronger. And Leo recognized them."

Shining shivered. "How have these things not taken over the world?"

"Because they are very weak when alone?" Rainbow looked to me for confirmation.

I nodded and spoke up through Fluttershy. <<And I've only seen them here. Sombrero might have found some way of tapping into their power, but I don't think he can do it right now.>>

"What makes you think that?"

I pointed over my shoulder. <<He's still out there, isn't he? But these things... Twilight, they scare me. They have the powers of a god, and the restraint of Pinkie.>>

"Hey!" Pinkie frowned. "I have amazing restraint!"

Rarity lightly poked the party pony. "I would like to remind you of the MMM."

"Oh..." Pinkie went back to frowning. "I have terrible restraint!"

Rainbow waved a wing at Pinkie. "And Leo's seen enough of them for them to be a major problem if we go poking at them. And I agree with Leo, unless things go pear shaped, we avoid them."

Twilight shared a look with her brother. "If you're sure..."

"I'm sure." Rainbow confidently nodded.

<<If they start moving, I'll let you know.>> I poked her side. <<Because then we'll have a problem.>>

"Yeah, we'll keep an eye on them." With Rainbow's assurances, the group continued towards the palace.

Even with Rainbow and I keeping an eye out for more Unown, we made good time. Rarity quickly returned to gushing over the crystal beauty around us, but I paid her no mind, even when we reached the palace.

<<Hey, Rainbow?>> I faintly asked, looking up at the bottom of the palace. <<You mind if I stay out here for now?>>

"Eh?" Rainbow looked over her shoulder at me, before glancing up as well. Her face paled before returning to face forward. "Yeah, sure. See you soon." She squeaked out.

"You okay, Dashie?" I heard Pinkie chirp before the doors closed behind them. I hadn't looked away from the alphabets of Unown staring down at me the entire time.

The Unown Know.

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I sat and fearfully waited for the girls to come back down. Though the light glittering off the castle's many facets was hypnotic, my nerves stayed wound tight. I flinched as the shield flickered, briefly showing the shaded snowy landscape past the empire's borders. I shivered and returned to my vigil. Weird, it looks like the reflections are shining more on certain letters. Almost in sequence? I squinted. Huh. Wonder what "Etyoushecomestog" means...

"NO! Wait, wait!" I heard a high-pitched voice call out before a pink hoof hooked itself around my barrel and lifted me up. In a blink of an eye, a pink crystal expanse flashed past and I was dropped onto the palace's throne room's crystal floor between Rarity and Fluttershy. "I know, Leo!" Pinkie yelled out from behind me.

I blurred away from the pink mare, dropping out of my move behind Rainbow. <<How the fuck did I get here!>>

"Pinkie." Rainbow nodded at said mare.

<<No, I got that! How did she reach down and pull me up through the fucking castle?!>> I insisted.

Rainbow just shrugged. "It's Pinkie."

<<That's not an answer!>>

"Don't worry, big brother," Twilight reassured Shining, "I am really good at this sort of thing."

"I see that Leo's grown up." Cadance chuckled.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Twilight turned to rummage through her saddlebags. "Spike, can you send a letter down to Moondancer? She'll need to know about Leo, and that I will not be able to give her more details because of the situation up here." She finally pulled out a length of parchment and a quill, rapidly scratching out her letter.

I took the opportunity to look around the throne room. The purple crystal throne and curtains went well with the otherwise bright crystal walls, and I was glad to see that the room was free of any Unown. The small light blue sauropod with flamboyant eyebrows was unexpected, though. I gave it a shy little wave before focusing back on the mares.

"Alright, everypony." Twilight gathered everyone's attention, even Pinkie's. She floated a small scroll in front of each mare. "Everyone spread out and start asking these questions. The answers we get back should help us narrow down our search. Let's regroup under the palace in about four hours. Spike, you come with me, and Leo can go with Rainbow. Let's go!"

Rainbow reached out to put me on her back, but instead of the scruff of my neck, she touched my barrel. Blushing, she chuckled and nervously rubbed the back of her head. "Let's, uh, lets go, Leo!"

<<Right!>> I followed her down the stairs. I waited until Fluttershy wasn't nearby before speaking up. <<To be fair, I did almost try to jump up onto your back before I remembered.>>

"Geez, that's going to take some getting used to. You're not so little anymore." Rainbow opened the outer door and held it open for me.

<<Are you calling me fat?>> I sniffed, pointing my nose up into the air.

She just snorted. "Like a whale."

<<Well, I never!>> I harrumphed, a small smile breaking through my façade. <<So, how do you want to do this?>>

"Like I always do: Awesomely!" Rainbow struck a pose.

<<So, just brashly going up and loudly demanding answers?>> I arced an eyebrow at her.

"Nope!" My mare corrected me. "I'm going to stop the first pony I see and ask them about the Empire's defenses and not let them leave until they answer!"

<<So just brashly going up and demanding answers.>> I repeated.

"Well, do you know of any other way?" Rainbow let out a foggy sigh. "And don't just ask 'What would the other's do'. Fluttershy's not going to be able to even work up the nerve to ask anypony, Pinkie is going to be Pinkie..."

<<Which may or may not work.>>

Rainbow nodded. "... And Rarity's going to focus on her fancy fashion stuff and not get anything done. Twilight's going to be an egghead and take too long, and Applejack..." She paused in thought. "She might actually get something out of somepony."

<<So, what do you have that they don't?>> I asked

"My awesomeness!"

I bumped into her side. <<You've got me, smartass. A naturalized summon. And, oh look, right over there.>> I waved a paw at a group of Carbink. <<More summons! That means that there's likely a place where summoners gather! That can be our place to start.>>

"Hmmm." Rainbow squinted in thought. "Can you talk to these ones?"

<<Let me check.>> I casually walked up to the Carbink. <<How's it going, my fellow summons?>>

<<:Wha-? Um, I don't, I can't... I don't understand you?:>>

<<Right...>> I drew the word out and just as casually walked back to Rainbow. <<Welp, that was a bust.>>

"Just great." Rainbow rolled her eyes. She flagged down the next crystal pony that she saw. "Hey! Ya know where the summoners hang out? I'm from out of town, and I wanna see what's up around here." I sat down beside her with a sigh.

"Oh, um..." The stallion looked around. "I don't think it's there anymore... King Sombra saw to that..."

Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. "But, then... What's with all of those?" She waved a hoof at the Carbink.

"Oh, them?" The pony shrugged. "Everypony knows how to summon them, and King Sombra never saw a reason to get rid of them, so..." His eyes seemed to clear a little. "If you really want to know more, I think Root Ball might be able to help you? He was trying to teach a new generation of summoners. I think." He frowned, looking away in thought. He shrugged before looking back at us. "He always has his Torideps near him, but he lives near where the Circle was." He pointed off down the street before he continued on his way.

"Alright, thanks!" She waved at him as she went on his way. We got a few steps away before Rainbow started to turn back. "Shoot, we forgot to ask him the questions!"

I froze her tail to the ground before she could take off after him. <<Settle down, Rainbow. These ponies have been traumatized enough already. Besides, this Root Ball guy sounds like he would know more anyways, we can just ask the questions to him.>>

"You're right." Rainbow sighed. She frowned down at the ice clump before staring at me. "... Really?"

I chuckled as she broke the clump with a hoof. <<Well, you do tend to fly off without thinking, and I'm not about to put your tail hair in my mouth.>>

"Whatever, let's just go."