> The Equestrian Alchemist
>  by Nurarihyon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mhm, mhm, yeah. Alright then, I’ll see you in a bit.”

I sighed as I hung up the phone, a huge grin on my face. The set of rings I had ordered were finally finished, and would be here in about an hour. Unfortunately for my admittedly over-excited self that meant I still had an hour to kill before they arrived, so to pass the time I turned on the TV to something mildly interesting, and got out my laptop.

For the first thirty minutes or so I occupied myself by just surfing the web, I read some fanfics here, watched some music videos there, basic time killing stuff, but I couldn’t get my mind off of the rings that were coming in, so I finally gave in to my inability to concentrate on anything else and pulled up the designs that I had made for the rings.

The rings themselves were fairly plain, there were three pairs of them so that each hand would have an identical set of rings. All of them had simple iron bands with a celtic knot pattern engraved into them and each one had a large clear piece of cubic zirconia set on top, I would have preferred diamond but that would have cost far too much. What made them interesting, however, was that the gemstones had transmutation circles engraved into them, a different one for each pair.

I had ordered them as a sort of gift for myself, and they were designed after the rings worn by one of my favorite original characters from a Fullmetal Alchemist roleplay site that I used to be active on. I’m not really sure why I decided to get them now, but when my friend told me that he worked for a custom jewelry store, I just couldn’t seem to resist asking him about it.

I was brought out of my reverie by someone knocking at my door. I shut my laptop and jumped up, rushing to open the door. When I did I was greeted by the sight of my friend, who was carrying a box with the label for his custom jewelry shop slapped on.

He held out the box for me as he spoke, “Hey man, I got your rings here, but I can’t stay. We just got a huge order and my boss wants me to come in today to help them start working on it.”

I grinned as I took the box. “No problem, just let me grab my wallet so I can pay you.”

He shook his head as he turned to leave, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll just send you the bill later, I really don’t have the time to spare. Anyway, I’ll see ya.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could get a word out he was running down the stairs of the apartment complex, so I just shrugged and closed the door.

I shook my head as I sat down at my dining table and began to rip open the box. The issue with the bill would be one for another day.

My grin returned as I pulled the rings out, though it shrank a bit when I saw that something was off with their themes. For some reason they seemed to stand out more than, well anything around me. It was almost as if the rings were more real than everything else. I shrugged and put them on anyway, assuming that it was just a trick of the light or something. I held out my hands and flexed them, pleased with the way the rings felt on my fingers.

I jumped when I heard a knock at the door, “What? I shouldn't have any more visitors today.”

I frowned as I stood up, but before I could start walking I was hit with a wave of vertigo. I tried to reach out to grab my chair to balance myself, but my hand only met empty air as I fell backwards into darkness.

As such, I never got to see my friend poke his head into my apartment, holding a very familiar box and looking somewhat confused at the lack of anyone answering the door.

“Uh, Aaron, you home? Huh, I guess something must have come up, I’ll just leave this here and get the payment later.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What do you think it is?”

“Ah don’t know, but it’s mighty funny lookin’ if ya ask me.”

“Hey, I know! Let’s poke it with a stick to see if it’s alive!”

“Hey now, Ah don’t think my sister would approve of us pokin strange things in the forest.”

“Yeah, I don’t think Rarity would like that either.”

“Oh come on, you two—”

I groaned as I came to. My awakening was interrupted, though, as I heard three young voices suddenly eep in surprise. My eyes shot open to reveal, not the ceiling of my apartment, but rather a clear blue sky peeking through the trees.

Well, that wasn’t supposed to be there.

The three voices caught my attention again, as two of them tried to shush the third, who was quietly whimpering.

Wait a second, I knew that whimper. Also, didn’t the same voice that was whimpering say something about a Rarity?

Oh no.

Oh no no no no.

Slowly, I turned my head to face the whimpering. I was greeted by the sight of three very frightened, very recognizable fillies. The one in the middle was a white unicorn filly with a two toned purple and pink mane and tail. On her left was an orange pegasus with a purple mane and tail. On the unicorns right was a yellow pony seemingly bereft of horn or wings with a red mane and tail, and a big red bow.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders decided that then was a good time to scream, so I did what any sane man would do in my situation.

I screamed back.
> Alchemy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“AHHHHH!”

“AHHHHH!

“AHHH-oof!”

I grunted as my screaming was interrupted by a book falling onto my stomach, apparently from nowhere. I regarded it curiously, ignoring the continued screaming of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. 

“AHHHHH!”

Or at least I tried to.

“Hey! I understand that you’re freaked out, but I’m trying to figure out what’s going on myself, so could you please STOP. SCREAMING!”

The three fillies immediately shut up, though Sweetie Belle continued to whimper.

“Thank you, and please don’t run off, I swear I’m not going to hurt you.”

The three fillies looked at each other for a moment before Apple Bloom spoke up, “You mean, you’re not going to eat us?”

I gave her a flat look, “No, I’m not going to eat you.”

I blinked as another thought occurred to me, “Also, if you thought I would eat you, why were you about to poke me with a stick?”

“Hey, Ah didn’t want to do that in the first place!”

“Yeah, neither did I!”

I turned my gaze to Scootaloo, who held her hooves up defensively, “Hey, don’t look at me, I thought you were dead!”

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose as I sighed. 

“Look, it doesn’t matter now. The point is I’m not going to hurt you, so if you would please be quiet I would like to take a look at this book please.”

The three looked at each other, apparently holding a whole conversation just with their glances. 
Finally the three shrugged and responded.

“Alright.”

“Okay.”

“Only if you agree to tell us what you are after.”

I looked at Sweetie bell, and this time she raised her hooves up, “What? I’m curious.”

I shook my head at them, but acquiesced, “Alright, just, just don’t run off okay? The forest is dangerous.”

And I’d hate to have to deal with their sisters, or sister figures, if something happened and it got traced back to me somehow.

All three of them rolled their eyes at my comment, obviously they knew how dangerous the everfree could be, they were big fillies after all. I just shook my head and looked back at the book getting off of my back and sitting up straight as I did.

The book itself was about the size of an average textbook, and weighed about as much as well. It was bound in what appeared to be leather, but it felt more pulpy, kind of like paper, but stronger. Whatever it was, it was a material I wasn’t familiar with. On the cover was an embossed image of a transmutation circle, one I was unfamiliar with as it wasn’t one that I had ever seen on Fullmetal before. I opened the book and began flipping through the pages, and was immediately overwhelmed with the wonderful scent of old paper. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of that heavenly aroma.

If there was one thing I truly loved more than nearly anything else in life, it was books, and the scent of old books was as welcome and comforting to me as the embrace of my own mother. After about a minute of flipping through the pages I noticed that something was wrong, given the size of the book I should have finished flipping through it nearly half a minute ago, but instead I was still flipping through it, and no matter how many pages I flipped through, the back end of the book didn’t seem to get any thinner, and the front didn’t seem to get any thicker.

I frowned and closed the book before reopening it to the title page. In bold letters across the top were the words, ‘A Complete Guide to All Things Alchemical’. There was no author mentioned, but there was a message printed in flowing script below the title.



Hello Aaron, as you have no doubt guessed, you are now in Equestria. What you may not have realized is that you now have the ability to perform alchemy, and yes, those rings are exactly what you think they are. I have provided you with this book as per the terms of a game that I have found myself partaking in. It contains all of the knowledge of Amestrian alchemy and Eastern Alchestry. You are free to use it as you see fit to face the challenges to come. While I am not permitted to reveal to you the parameters of this game, I can tell you that if you perform well you will be richly rewarded. Do not expect any more aid from me however, as I can no longer interfere.

Good luck, you will need it.

Demon E(A/R)TH



Huh, it looks like Anthony hit that one right on the head. Who would’ve thunk it?

I closed my eyes and sighed as I snapped the book shut. I honestly had no idea how to process this information, and I had no idea how I felt about this situation. On the one hand, I had wanted to go to Equestria ever since I first saw My Little Pony, on the other hand.

My family.

I shook my head to push those thoughts out of my mind. There was no point in worrying about what I couldn’t control, so instead I decided to worry about something I could control.

Or at least I hoped I could.

I lifted my right hand up and took a close look at my rings. They seemed normal, even more so than they had when I first put them on. I looked around me, looking for something with which to test the alchemy that they supposedly would allow me to do. Eventually I settled on a stick laying near me. I picked it up and held it up in front of my eyes, and focused intently on trying to shove energy through my rings and into the stick.

Even though I was half expecting it, I was still startled when the ring on my middle finger flashed with a dark green lightning that seemed to leap from the gemstone to dance around the stick. The lightning only lasted for a split second, but after it faded I was exposed to a shocking sight. Right in front of my eyes the stick began to rot, rapidly the stick seemed to swell up, and shrivel back down to a brittle dry husk that broke apart and composted into rich soil before it even hit the ground.

I absently noted that the air around us seemed dryer, which meant the alchemy probably took the moisture out of the air to speed up the rot. Slowly I brought my shaking, and now empty, hand closer so I could look at the rings again. I ran my eyes over all three of the rings, now knowing exactly what they did, and my eyes settled on the one adorning my index finger. 

When I had made the character that used these rings, I had focused on a very specific form of alchemy, that of rot and decay. One ring was for the decay of metals such as iron and tin, one was for the rot of plants and plant products, and the third, the one that adorned both of my index fingers.

That one was for flesh.
I shuddered, the forum that I had made this character for had been very heavily combat based, and even though its universe was separate from the canon of Fullmetal Alchemist, it was just as dark, so the inclusion of that particular ability only made sense. However, now I found myself in a peaceful land, with an ability that was designed for use in wartime by a character that I had made in one of my ‘edgier’ phases. The worst part though, was that from the sound of that letter, I was going to need it.

“Hey! Are you done staring at your weird hooves yet? You said you’d tell us about you, but you’ve been focusing on those things foreeever!”

“Scootaloo, you can’t just call somepony’s hooves weird!”

“Why not, they are!”

I was pulled out of my reverie by the sound of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo getting into another argument. However, when I looked up at them, I found myself staring into the very serious eyes of Applebloom, who was being oddly silent.

There was, something, about that gaze that made me uncomfortable, so I decided to get the attention of the other two so I could try and distract all three of them.

“Hey!, stop arguing, you wanted to know what I was right? How can I tell you that if you aren’t paying attention?”

Immediately Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo broke off their argument and turned to me, eager looks on their faces.

I sighed, “Alright, since I expect that I’ll have to give this explanation multiple times, I’ll give you the short version. I’m something called a human, a kind of bipedal primate with very little body hair. My name is Aaron Arthas.”

Scootaloo tilted her head just a bit in confusion, “What’s bipedal mean? Oh, and my name’s Scootaloo.”

Sweetie Belle perked up as she spoke, “Oh oh, that means that you walk on two legs, right?”

I nodded in confirmation and Sweetie Belle’s grin grew even wider. “I got it!”

Almost as an afterthought Sweetie added, “My name’s Sweetie Belle!”

Applebloom continued to stare at me, making me slightly uncomfortable, but she did at least speak, “Ahm Applebloom. It’s a… pleasure to meet ya.”

I forced out a weak chuckle as I broke away from Applebloom’s gaze, seriously, that look was just creepy!

“All right, well, It’s a pleasure to meet you all, but I think that we should really try and leave the scary forest filled with predators ready to eat us, don’t you? I ah, don’t suppose you know the way out do you?”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle took one look at each other before leaping up with a shout, “Cutie Mark Crusaders Trail Leaders YAY!”, and before I could even react they had run off, leaving me alone with Applebloom. Either they hadn’t noticed that she hadn’t gone with them, or they didn’t care. I was betting on the former.

I stood up, absently noticing just how small Applebloom really was compared to my own six foot stature, and sheepishly rubbed the back of my head.

“I, ah, I suppose we should follow them huh? I don’t want to get lost.” 

“How.”

I blinked, “Um, I just supposed we’d follow the trail they left, they weren’t exactly-”

Applebloom stood up and stomped her hoof, “Not that, Ah mean how’d ya do that fancy magic! Ya ain’t got no horn or anythin, so how!”

Oh. Ooohhh. “Er, that wasn’t really magic per se, it was something called alchemy, it, um, it involves rearranging the atoms of something, or in some cases stimulating them, to cause a desired effect. Listen, I’ll be glad to tell you more later but we really should be-”

“Can ah learn it?”

I blinked again, “Um, I...guess so? I don’t really know, but I-”

“Teach me.”

“Oh, um. I really don’t know, I’m only just learning myself, so I don’t think-”

“Then let teach me as ya go, or something. Just, please, teach me how to do it.”

“Um, okay, I don’t see why not, but why?”

“Because. Because. Because ah’m just an earth pony! Sweetie Belle’s got her horn, Scoot’s got her wings, and even if I can grow a tree, that don’t help me none when it matters! I can’t levitate or fly or, or, or anything! And if somepony had, if anypony on the farm might have known that alchemy stuff, then maybe, maybe...maybe ma and pa would still be around.”

By the end of her outburst Applebloom had fallen back on her haunches, and tears were streaming down her muzzle.

I didn’t even think, I immediately knelt down and pulled her into a hug. I couldn’t imagine what she must have been feeling, but from the sound of it, she had actually been old enough to see her parents die, and it hadn’t been pretty. No child, pony or otherwise, deserved to see that.

I held her for another few seconds, and I would have loved to let her cry it out, but we really did need to catch up to the others.

“Shhh, it’s alright, it’s alright. Of course I’ll teach you, but for now, we need to go, or else we’ll completely lose track of your friends, ok?”

She pulled herself out of my arms and sniffed as she rubbed at her eyes, “R-right, sorry. Let’s, let’s go. Um, sorry about your shirt, and about yelling.”

I smiled, “It’s alright.”

She smiled back at me, it was a watery smile, but it was genuine.

“Alright then, let’s go find the others.”

Any response by Applebloom however, was cut off by two very high pitched, and very terrified screams.

We looked at each other with wide eyes, then without another word we both jumped into the brush, sprinting towards the sounds of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo screams.
> First Test
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I felt limbs lash my face and arms as I ran through the Everfree, desperately trying to keep Applebloom’s tail in sight as she darted through the undergrowth in a mad dash to reach her friends. It took us a few minutes to reach the small clearing where Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were screaming their lungs out. 

Applebloom immediately ran in to address the problem, but I came to a sudden stop, rooted to the ground in fear and awe of what was in front of me. Yes, the other two crusaders were there, backed up against a tree, tears streaming from their eyes as they cried for help, but what caught my attention was the beast towering over them, one massive lion paw held up, ready to strike.

Standing in front of me was a beast straight out of a Greek fever dream:  a monster with the golden head and body of a lion, the crimson wings of a dragon, and the deadly, jet black tail of a scorpion. It was a manticore, and it was big. I had assumed, based on the show, that manticores were maybe three or four times the size of an adult pony, but this one… this one was three times my size, and it looked nothing like the gentle giant Fluttershy had soothed. Not only were the colors more vivid, more dangerously glaring, the beast’s claws were extended, each one easily as long as my arm, and twice as thick. The claws dug deep furrows into the ground beneath them, their razor edges parting buried tree roots like butter.

“Get away from mah friends!”

I was jerked out of my paralysis by the sound of Applebloom’s voice as she jumped in between the manticore and her friends, as if she could keep it from killing all of them herself. I swore and jumped forward, desperately trying to draw attention away from the fillies.

“Hey! Hey you, over here, I’ve got a lot more meat on my bones than those small fillies, why don’t you eat me instead!”

It worked, the manticore whipped its head around and snorted as it caught sight of me, and once again I froze. It growled at me, very clearly showcasing its knife like teeth, and the rotting meat caught between them, then it’s eyes caught mine, and I couldn’t look away. Those eyes held me, they were completely devoid of true intelligence, and were filled with raw hunger and bloodlust. I felt myself begin to shake, there was no way that I was going to get out of this alive.

It’s hopeless. Give in. Your life is over, and so is theirs, so don’t fight any more.

Suddenly, my trance was broken, unfortunately it was broken by by my view of those terrible eyes being interrupted by the equally terrifying view of the Manticore’s horrible teeth. In a brief moment of calm before death, I found myself wondering if it was like a komodo dragon, and that was why it left rotting meat in it’s mouth.

Luckily for me I never found out, as just before the jaws closed on my head, an orange and purple blur slammed into the side of the manticore’s jaw. It wasn’t enough to hurt or even stun the beast, but it was enough to get it’s attention. 

The beast snarled and swatted me to the side, it’s claws slicing down to the bone of my left arm. I grunted as I slammed into a large tree at the edge of the clearing. The manticore gave the same treatment to Scootaloo, who slammed into her friends, sending them all tumbling together into another tree. Mercifully however, it seemed that Scootaloo had been small enough to avoid getting caught by the manticore's claws.

Sweetie belle had tears streaming down her muzzle while her horn sparked in a desperate attempt to do something to save her and her friends, while Applebloom stood protectively over a groaning Scootaloo, ignoring the her own tears as she tried to put on a brave front for her friends.

I reached out as the manticore stomped over to the fillies, wishing that I could do something, anything to save them. That’s when I remembered the rings, and more importantly, what had happened when I used one of them earlier. I mentally kicked myself as I pulled myself to the side of the tree behind me and slammed my working hand against it. Dark green lightning erupted from the middle ring and flashed against the tree, causing it to rot at an incredible rate.

“Girls! MOVE!”

        Applebloom heard me and saw the light erupting from behind the manticore, and immediately grasped what I was doing. She grabbed Scootaloo’s tail in her mouth and leapt into Sweetie Belle’s side, pulling all three of them out of danger. The manticore whipped around and roared as it jumped towards me, mouth open wide to tear me to shreds.

        It’s roar was silenced by a loud thump and a sickening crunch as the tree that I had rotted a large portion of slammed down onto the manticore, killing it instantly, and showering blood and meat all over the clearing, the fillies, and myself. We all sat in silence for a moment, but then all three of the crusaders started to wail as they ran over to huddle against me, so desperate for comfort after almost dying that they completely ignored the gore that we were all covered in.

        I pulled them into my lap and began stroking their manes with my good hand, making sure to give them all the comfort that they obviously needed. I did have my own wound to deal with however, so after a few pats, but before the adrenaline totally wore off, I gently undid Applebloom’s bow, and used it to tie off my arm and stop the blood-flow, it wasn’t a permanent fix, but hopefully the girls’ sisters would find us before that mattered.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        I groaned as distant voices pulled me back into consciousness. I dimly registered the still sleeping crusaders in my lap as I strained my ears to try and catch those voices again.

        “When ah get mah hooves on Bloom, I swear she’ll be stuck on the farm for the next two years!”

        “Indeed, and I’ll be sure that Sweetie Belle doesn’t leave my or my parent’s sight for at least as long. Honestly, you’d think after how many times we’ve told them to stay out of this dreadful forest, they’d actually learn to listen to us! Why, I have half a mind to-”

I never found out what Rarity had a half a mind to do, as at that moment she and Applejack broke into the clearing, and stared open mouthed at the carnage that greeted them. I groaned again and waved at them to get their attention. They both saw us, and cried out as they rushed to check on their sisters, completely ignoring me. However, once they were sure of the fillies’ safety they turned their attention to me, or at least Applejack did. After the rush of finding her sister wore off and Rarity registered just what the girls were covered in, she had promptly fainted, leaving Applejack and myself as the only conscious creatures in the clearing.

Applejack opened her mouth to start asking questions, but I interrupted her.

“Later, please. I need medical help, and these fillies need their families. I promise to explain after that.”

Applejack looked at me with a strong, piercing gaze, more intelligent and understanding than the manticore’s gaze, but no less dangerous. Eventually however, she nodded, and I sighed in relief before slipping back into blissful darkness.
> The beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        “Ah’m tellin ya, he saved us, and Ah’m not about ta let ya put him in jail fer no reason!” 

        “Yeah!”

        “That’s right!”

        “Darlings, please calm down. We don’t want to put him in jail, we just want to move him to a more… secure location! Isn’t that right Applejack?”

        I groaned as I began to regain consciousness, my voice thankfully causing the voices of the others to stop before they could make my headache worse.

        Note to self, waking up after severe blood loss sucks.

        “Actually, while I would prefer not to be put in a cell, if someone happened to have some advil, I’d gladly follow them into the deepest dungeon in Vlad the Impaler’s castle right now.”

        I slowly opened my eyes, the harsh glare of the lights above my hospital bed almost forcing me to shut them again, but I pushed through. I needed to see if what I was hearing was real, if what I remembered had been real. A groan pushed it’s way from my throat as I pushed myself up on my good arm, my other arm was probably going to be quite useless for some time if the amount of bandages on it was any indication.

        I almost passed right back out when I saw the room around me. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the ponies that almost put me back into a coma, rather it was which ponies were in the room that had me doubting my sanity.

        Now, I had learned long ago to simply trust what my memories told me, otherwise I would wind up going down a path that led to a special brand of conspiracy-related insanity that I wanted no part of.

        Though now that I think about it, according to the show the ponies did have several mind altering spells, which meant that-no, nope, not opening that door again, those thoughts can stay right where they are thank you.

        Regardless, my point is that, while I had held some doubt to whether or not I had dreamed the events with the ponies and the manticore, I was unsurprised to see that those events were in fact, not a dream.

        Probably should have picked that up from how screwed up my arm still was, even if I couldn’t feel what was likely a horribly painful wound, and a pretty potent reminder of the reality of my situation. 

        Wow, blood loss does not help one keep a coherent train of thought does it? Or is it the medicine in the IV drip beside me causing me to ramble like this?

        Okay, steering back on track now, the point is that I wasn’t surprised to see ponies at the foot of my bed. What I was surprised to see was a certain lavender unicorn with a rather distinct two tone purple and magenta mane and starburst cutiemark using a file to collect shavings from my toenails in a sample dish. The image of Twilight Sparkle with her snout less than an inch from my foot with a look of absolute, brow furrowing concentration on her face might have been cute, if it hadn’t been so utterly absurd.

        My gaze slowly lifted from the mare giving me the world's worst pedicure to the two mares standing behind her. Rarity’s brilliantly white coat and curled purple mane and tail were obvious tells of who she was, and her three-diamond cutie mark certainly didn’t hurt that conclusion. Currently she was doing her best to avoid my gaze, her blue eyes focusing very determinedly on the ceiling while she sheepishly rubbed one foreleg over the other.

        Her body language was mirrored almost exactly by the orange mare with her blond mane and tail both done up in pony tails.

        Ha.

        Her trademark stetson and three apple cutie mark solidified her identity as Applejack, and she was certainly no more eager to meet my eyes now that I had noticed Twilight than Rarity was.

        Ever so slowly my gaze descended back down to Twilight, the sound of her filing having never ceased, then I did what anyone would have done in my situation.

        “Boop.”

        The sound of filing ceased as Twilight stared cross eyed down at my big toe, which was currently pressing firmly on her snout. She blinked slowly, then raised her eyes up to meet mine.

        Then she screamed.

        Unfortunately, it wasn’t a normal scream, no, Twilights scream was to a regular scream what a formula one race car is to model T, she actually managed to crack the windows.

        When she finally stopped to take a breath I quickly spoke to cut off a repeat experience.

        “What the actual hell?! Are you trying to put me back into a coma?”

        “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh YOU CAN TALK!”

        “Yes, and not only that, I’m also capable of hearing sounds quieter than a jet engine! So please quiet down!”

        “Quieter than a what?”

        I rested my head in my good hand, this was going to be a long day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        “Fascinating, so humans don’t have any magic at all? How do they control the weather, or grow the plants?”

        I sighed, we were beginning to enter hour three of what I had decided to call ‘Twilight’s Terrifically Terrible Torture Time”. By this point both Applejack and Rarity had decided to leave, taking their sisters and Scootaloo with them, probably to avoid being forced to listen to Twilight’s endless questions. Too bad I was stuck in a hospital bed and couldn’t do the same.

        “We don’t have to control the weather, it moves in natural patterns on it’s own, and plants don’t rely on magic to grow healthily, though we do our best to help certain plants to flourish on farms. Now, if you don’t mind I’d really like to allow the doctor to come and check my wounds so that I can actually leave the hospital.”

        Twilight rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, “Sorry, it’s just that I’ve never seen a human before, and I just want to know everything I can about you.”

        “Look, I suppose we can continue this later, but not in three hour stretches alright, and as an information exchange. I don’t know much about your society either.”
        
        Not exactly a lie, I have no way of knowing how accurate the show actually was.

        “Alright, but I do have one last question…”

        I sighed, “Fine, last one.”

        Twilight clapped her hooves in glee before raising her notebook and quill in her magic, ready to record my answer to her next question.

        “What do you eat?”

        I blinked, I hadn’t been expecting that question. 

        “Well, um, Humans are omnivores, so we can eat a lot of things. We can eat several types of fruits, grains and vegetables, though there are certainly some types of plant matter we can’t eat, such as grass and hay. We also eat meat, in fact meat is a major part of our diet.”
        “Oh, well then there should be no problem, everything you need should be available right here in town.”

        “You, don’t have a problem with my eating meat?”

        This time Twilight blinked, “Why would I?”

        “Um, because horses are herbivores?”

        “Horses maybe, ponies not so much. I suppose earth ponies might have been at one time, but pegasi and unicorns always have been omnivores, mostly because of how intensive our magic usage is, and after all the interbreeding between tribes,” Twilight shrugged, “ponies have all been omnivores for centuries.”

        With that Twilight promptly walked out, going over her pages of notes as she did, and a moment later the Doctor came in. With a final sigh I laid back as the doctor began to inspect my injured arm.
        

        

        
        

> A Sibling's Concern
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I took a deep breath as I stepped out of the hospital, enjoying the scent of non-sterilized air and the feeling of sunlight on my skin. With a small groan of pleasure I arched my back and extended my good arm out in a large stretch, glad to finally be out of the hospital and free to-

“Ahem”
        I snapped my eyes open and turned my head towards the source of the sound that dared to interrupt my stretch, only to find that sitting on a bench to the right of the door were Rarity and Applejack, and judging by how posh the voice that grabbed my attention was, it was fairly obvious who had spoken.

        “Er, can I help you?”

        Both mares got up and walked over to me, though while Rarity seemed to be ready to speak, Applejack seemed to be satisfied with giving me a hard stare that I wasn’t sure what to make of.

        “Actually it’s us who can help you, after all it would be utterly uncouth of us not to offer any aid we have to the being that saved our sisters. My name is Rarity, and it’s a pleasure to finally meet you mister?”

        Deciding not to question how she knew my sex and avoid the unpleasant thoughts that such a question might bring up I extended my hand out to shake, “Aaron. Aaron Arthas, and the pleasure is mine.”

        I should probably play ignorant right now, don’t want to frighten them by letting them know that I know more than I should. Though that brings up the question of how much I should tell them, or if I have to tell them anything. Maybe I should-

        I was brought out of my thoughts by the feeling of Rarity’s hoof settling in my hand and gently shaking it before she took her hoof back. She then shot a look at Applejack, whose expression hadn’t changed at all.

        “My quiet friend here is Applejack, she’s the older sister of Applebloom, one of the fillies you saved, and I’m sure she’s quite grateful for that fact, isn’t that right Applejack?”

        Applejack shot a glance at Rarity in response to her terse tone, but didn’t change her demeanor. After a few more seconds of staring at me however she spoke up.

        “Rarity, could ya please give us a moment? Ah’ve got some questions for our newcomer, and Ah don’t feel like waitin to ask ‘em.”

        Rarity rolled her eyes, “Honestly dear, he just got out of the hospital, which he was only in because of the injuries he got saving our sisters might I add, don’t you think he deserves a chance to gather his bearings?”

        Applejack didn’t back down, but before she could reply I spoke up.

        “Rarity, do as she asked, please. I don’t have a problem answering a few questions, and I’m sure this won’t take long.”

        The mare in question sighed, but decided to relent, “Very well, when you two are done come find me, I had some questions I wanted to ask nurse Redheart anyway.”

        Applejack waited until the door closed behind Rarity before she cocked her head towards the side of the building, telling me to follow her as she walked around the corner. I followed her to the side of the building, where there was a noticeable lack of ponies. She stopped about halfway down the wall and turned to face me, an unreadable look on her face as she gazed up at me.

        “Alright. Ah want the truth, what is Alchemy?”

        I blinked, of all the things I had been expecting, I wasn’t expecting that.

        “How do you-”

        “Know about alchemy? It’s all Bloom’ll talk about right now. Ah know what you did to save her and her friends, and Ah appreciate that somethin fierce, but even though I can tell she ain’t lyin to me, Ah still find what she told me you did to be a hard pill to swallow, and now she says that you’ll be teaching alchemy. Ah don’t want my sister learnin how to kill.”

        I looked down at Applejack, a thoughtful frown on my face.

        “I can tell you that alchemy isn’t something made specifically for fighting. In essence it’s a science of using some of your own energy to start a reaction that will follow certain defined paths to result in the construction of something new out of raw materials. However, I’m not going to lie, it can be used to attack people, or to defend oneself from attack, and I have no intention of lying to her about that. Alchemy can be a great tool if used correctly, but it can also be a horrible weapon, and it would be unfair to her if I didn’t make sure that she knew that, and knew how to use alchemy responsibly.”

        Applejack grimaced, “Ah don’t know that Ah like that, she’s to young ta be-”

        “Running around the Everfree forest by herself? To be trying to fend off manticores and who knows what else?”

        Applejack sighed, “Yeah. That. “

        “How about this then. First, I find out if she can even do alchemy.”

        Applejack gave me a questioning look at this, “Ya mean ya don’t know?”

        I shook my head, “Know I don’t. In fact I’m only learning myself.”

        I pulled my book of alchemy out from my sling and showed it to Applejack. To be honest I was lucky that it had been picked up when I was taken to the hospital, though the small note on the front of it that read “Come to the library when you have a chance” made me shudder.

        “Everything is in this book. While I have some theoretical knowledge on how alchemy should work, I don’t actually know much about it myself, only the basic principles, which were what I planned on starting her on after finding out whether or not this would even be possible for her.”

        Applejack nodded, a contemplative look on her face.

        “Either way though, I would be more than willing to have you sit in on the lessons when you have the time, though like I said, I won’t pull any punches on warning her off of some of the more dangerous aspects. She mentioned your parents, and there are records of people trying to use alchemy to bring the dead back. It doesn’t end well, and I’m going to make sure that she knows that. If she still wants to learn after I tell her what kind of consequences there would be to her going down the wrong paths then I will teach her everything I learn. If not, then she continues as she has, no harm done. Anyway, I think we can both agree that it would be better that if I don’t at least try to teach her then she’ll probably try to do alchemy without guidance, and that can be extremely dangerous.”

        “And how do you know what mah sister would do?”

        “She was in the Everfree with only her two friends as backup.”

        Applejack grimaced again, “Fair enough. Alright Ah’ll let ya teach her, just… just be careful not to scare her to bad. Ah don’t know anything about this stuff, and I just want her to be safe.”

        I nodded, “I understand. I’ll do my best to make sure she knows what she’s getting into without going too far.”

        Applejack sighed, “Ah suppose that’s all Ah can ask. Celestia knows she’d find a way around me tellin her not tah take these lessons. Anyway, let’s go get Rarity, we were supposed to show yah around town, and introduce you tah everypony.”

        “No problem, though can I ask one thing first?”

        “Shoot.”

        “Can we visit Twilight first, I need to ask her something.”

        Applejack shot me a questioning glance, “Sure, though I’m just warnin’ yah, she might not let yah go for awhile. She’s been gettin a little...excited about you bein an ‘undiscovered species’ and all.”

        I flinched, but held my ground, “Be that as it may, I really need to see her first.”

        Applejack shrugged and started to lead me back towards the front of the building, apparently agreeing to my request.

        This might not be fun, but I should get this out of the way as soon as possible.


> The Letter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The walk through town proved to be fairly uneventful. Apparently the ponies of Ponyville were to jaded by the regular schedules of disaster and mayhem to even blink twice at a never before seen creature walking straight through the market. Of course I'm sure that having Applejack and Rarity at my sides didn't hurt either.

Either way the walk to Golden Oaks Library was a very pleasant one, almost suspiciously so. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting some kind of horrible monster to suddenly show up and attack, but still...

We were just about to knock on the door of the library when my paranoia proved true and I was tackled by a pink blur that started shouting in my face as soon as we were on the ground.

“OhmygoshI'veneverseenyouinPonyvillebefore,InfactI'veneverseenanythinglikeyoubeforeandI'vepartiedwitheverythingandohmygoshIhavetothrowyouawelcometoponyvillecreatureI'veneverseenbeforeparty!”
Almost as suddenly as she appeared Pinkie Pie was gone, and there was no indication of where she had gone. Applejack and Rarity rushed to help me up, both of them trying to apologize at once.

“I'm terribly sorry, we should-”

“Ah swear I thought she was at work, if Ah'd known-”

“Please don't be mad at her, she's just excited to-”

“Consarnit, we told her to stop doing-”

“Stop!”

Applejack and Rarity both looked at me rather sheepishly as I stood in front of the door panting, though after a few seconds Rarity began to speak again.

“I'm sorry dear, we didn't mean to get so boisterous in our apologies, it's just that Pinkie took us off guard and we didn't want her enthusiasm to give you a bad impression of her.”

Applejack just sighed and nodded her head, “Really, we are right sorry 'bout that.”

I shook my head, “It's fine, really. She was just excited. Now, I think we should probably go ahead and talk to Twilight now?”

“Yes! I mean yes, please come in.”

All three of us turned to face the now open door to Golden Oaks where Twilight was standing with a wide grin on her face, a quill already furiously scratching against the top sheet of a stack of paper, both of which were floating in her lavender magic.

As I followed the ponies into the library, I absentmindedly wondered whether or not that had counted as a a monster attack.


(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*


The library was practically identical to how it was depicted in the show, consisting mainly of a single large room with filled bookshelves along the walls, a single door that lead to the kitchen, and a set of stairs at the back side of the room, with a basement door set into the stairwell, that must have lead to Twilight's room.

“I'm so glad you decided to come here first, I have so many more questions for you! Just give me a moment to grab my other notebooks and we can get started.”

I opened my mouth to try and tell Twilight to hold on as she started to ascend the stairs to her room, but Rarity beat me to it.

“Darling, I know how eager you can get in your studies, but don't you think that you should see to your guests first?”

Twilight turned around and stared at Rarity with a blank look, obviously not understanding what she meant. This time Applejack beat me to the punch and spoke up with a small sigh and an indulgent shake of her head.

“Twi, she means that maybe you should offer us a seat, maybe some drinks? Ya know, act hospitably?”

Seeing the realization that she was being a less than stellar host rise up in Twilight's eyes was an almost religious experience. The light of understanding dawning in her eyes was followed by her jaw going slack for an instant before her whole body suddenly tensed up with a nearly audible click and she started dancing back and forth on her hooves as she twisted her head back and forth at whiplash inducing speeds while she started to panic.

“Oh oh oh oh oh! Right! I can't believe I forgot, I'm so sorry, what do you want, water, milk? Oh wait, I should let you get seated, you can sit here, or would you rather here, but what if you want somethingwarmanddon'twanttohavetowait-I need Spike! SPIKE!”

I raised my hands up to defend myself from the verbal barrage as I gritted my teeth. This was getting a little ridiculous, it wasn't like I couldn't have seated myself or waited. 

Finally I had enough, “Twilight! Stop! I'm fine, your fine, it's not that big of a deal, really.”

Twilight stopped her panicking and began to calm down, though if her ears pressed against her head were any indication she was still stressed about this.

“Yes it is important, you're the first member of your species, of your whole world that we've ever met! This is a major diplomatic event, what would the Princess think if I didn't exemplify the best Equestria has to offer or accidentally insulted you?”

Rarity and Applejack moved forward to stand at Twilight's sides and press up against her to help offer comfort.

“Twilight dear, I'm sure that you didn't insult him, you just got a little overexcited. It's okay, it happens to all of us, I couldn't tell you the number of times I got caught up by a storm of inspiration and completely forgot about a guest. Anyway, if he were worried about any of that don't you think he would have said something when you were gathering your, ah, samples?”
Any comfort Rarity had managed to give to Twilight disappeared in an instant once she reminded her of the toenail incident. Apperently in her excitement she had completely forgotten to think of the diplomatic implications of her taking such samples, something that she was now painfully aware of if her horrified expression was any indication.

Applejack shot Rarity a glare, “Really great goin' there Rare's.”

Rarity just gave Applejack an apologetic smile and began rubbing Twilight's back in an attempt to provide more physical comfort.

Applejack snorted and turned her attention back to Twilight, “What she means is that Aaron here ain't gonna give you any grief about anything silly like that. Heck, if the way he's been acting is any sign ah don't think he even thought of this as some kind of diplomatic meeting either.”

I nodded my head as I moved to sit in one of the chairs, “She's right, that thought hadn't even occurred to me, and I'd honestly prefer if you just treated me like a normal person. To be honest I don't think that I can even act as an ambassador of any kind, especially since I don't think that I can even go-”

I grimaced as I brought my statement to an abrupt end. I was trying not to think about that aspect of my situation. Yes I might be living a dream of sorts, but I would I ever be able to see my home, my family ever again?

I shook my head and pushed through, that problem could wait, it would have to wait, there were more important things right now. I didn't miss the look that Applejack shot me though, but thankfully she chose not to pursue the issue.

“It doesn't matter, I just can't act as ambassador, so please relax.”

Twilight's stress began to visibly melt away as the tenseness left her muscles and her ears began to pick back up. As if on cue Spike chose that exact moment to walk in down the stairs.

“Hey Twilight, sorry it took me a minute to respond I was at a really great part of Power Ponies, Maneiac was-”

Spike had stopped when he caught sight of me and blinked in confusion, “Woah, who are you?”

Twilight giggled as she stepped away from Rarity and Applejack, “Spike, this is Aaron, Aaron this is Spike, my adoptive brother and number one assistant. Spike, why don't you come in here and get to know Aaron, I'll go get some water for everypony.”

I smiled at Spike, “Hey Spike, how're you doing?”

Spike jumped up on the couch beside me and grinned up at me, “I'm doing great! Hey, what are you anyway?”

Rarity visibly flinched at the bluntness of Spike's question, but I waved her concerns aside as I answered him, “I'm something called a human. What about you?”

Spike puffed out his chest with pride and pointed at himself with a thumb, “I'm a dragon! I can breathe fire and everything, and even better, I'm the only dragon who can send letters straight to the Princesses!”

He didn't know it, but Spike had just given me the perfect opportunity to do what I came here to do without revealing to much.

“That's awesome, and even better it's perfect!”

Spike blinked “What do you mean perfect?”

“Simple. I need to send a letter to the Princesses.” 

The sound of glass shattering caused all of us to jump and turn to the door to the kitchen where Twilight was standing in a slowly spreading pool of water with the broken remains of several glasses at her hooves.

“A letter to the Princesses?! No no no no no, I can't let you just send a letter to them, there's processes and channels that you have to go through. The only reason that I can send letters to Princess Celestia is because I'm her student. You even said that you aren't an ambassador, and even if you were-”

“I'll explain the book to you and let you sit in on my alchemy lessons with Applebloom.”

Before I even finished closing my mouth I found an inked quill and a blank scroll shoved into my hands so quickly that they were almost hot and Twilight was standing uncomfortably close with a disturbing glint in her eye.

“Well hurry up and write it already!”

Rarity, Applejack, Spike, and myself all stared at Twilight in mute shock, though that didn't last long.

Rarity was the first to break the silence, “Um, Twilight dear, I know that you tend to get excited when new knowledge is involved, but don't you think you're being a bit hasty? Weren't you just saying that there were channels that he would have to take to talk to the Princesses?”

Twilight waved her hoof dismissively while her gaze remained on me, “Don't worry about it Rarity, I send scrolls to them all the time, I'm sure they won't mind this.”

“But Twilight, you just said-”

This time Twilight turned to Rarity with a slightly manic grin, “Don't worry about it!”

Applejack cleared her throat to catch our attention, “Twi, calm down. Now normally Ah'd say that Rarity's right and yer lettin' yer thirst for knowledge git the best of ya, but somehow Ah doubt that he'd ask somethin' like that without a mighty good reason.”

I nodded my head in thanks towards Applejack, “She's right. I promise that this is serious and can't wait, though before I do write this I have to ask, Twilight, could you cast some sort of translation spell so I can write in your language. I don't know why we speak the same language and frankly I'm not worried about it, but writing might be a bit more difficult.”

Twilight furrowed her brow for a moment as she thought, “Well I do know of a spell that might work, but why can't you just dictate the letter to one of us?”

I shook my head, “What I have to say needs to be seen by your leaders before anyone else, I'm sorry but that's just the way it is.”

Rarity and Applejack shared a confused look, but didn't say anything. Twilight pursed her lips, but in the end she chose to leave the matter alone.

“Fine. Anyway, look at this. I want to confirm that our written languages are different before I cast the spell. Your book seemed to be in equish, but on the other hand it was also heavily enchanted, so there may have been some sort of translation spell already active on it.”

I shrugged as I took the book floating in Twilight's magic and started flipping through it, my brow beginning to furrow as I flipped farther and farther into the book.

“This doesn't make any sense.”

A glow once again surrounded Twilight's horn, “Alright then. I'm going to need you to-”

I shook my head, “No no, not like that. It makes no sense because I can read this.”

Twilight's magic faltered, “What?”

“I can read this, and that doesn't make sense. My entire species uses our hands for writing, and our written language developed from that. You have hooves, your written language should be vastly different than mine.”

Twilight blinked, “Oh, er well, Unicorns were actually the first of the three tribes to develop a written language, and since we have magic we weren't really bound by our hooves, then after the unification of the three tribes the Unicorn language just sort of became the universal language.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Wouldn't that leave the other tribes at a severe disadvantage in terms of education?”

Twilight blushed and rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, “Well... yes. The government was, and still is, primarily made up of unicorns, specifically very elitist unicorns. Over the centuries though devices were created to allow all ponies to write easily, so it's not really a problem anymore.”

“Interesting, well that's a hurdle that I don't have to worry about then. Anyway, I'll just head into the kitchen to write my letter then, I'll be out in a minute.”

With that I got up and headed through the door Twilight had just come through, though I was careful to avoid stepping in the water or on any glass. Once I was satisfied that I was out of sight I sat down at the table to write my letter.



Dear Princesses Luna and Celestia,
You have probably heard of me by now from Twilight, but in case she hasn't written to you yet I will still introduce myself. My name is Aaron Arthas, I'm a human, and I'm from another planet at the very least, or another dimension (I'm betting on the second one). I don't actually know how I came to be here, but I'm here now, and we need to talk in person. I'm sure that you both have a number of duties that keep you occupied in Canterlot, and while I would normally be content to wait, what I have to say is of utmost importance. However, I have no intention of forcing you to immediately abandon your duties, I ask that you try and meet me at dusk at Twilight's home.

Finally, to ensure that you do in fact come, I would like to tell you one thing.

I know the truth about Discord's Statue, and I know the seal is weakening.

Sincerely,
Aaron Arthas



I gave the letter a quick once over and rolled it up, tying it closed with the ribbon that was glued to the end of the scroll. Without wasting anytime I went to the living room, thankfully the water and glass had been cleaned up, and handed the letter to Spike, who hesitated at first, but still sent my letter off.

I nodded at Spike and turned to the girls, “Thanks Spike, now I believe that Rarity and Applejack were intending to introduce me to the rest of your friends?”
> Explanations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was just about to step through the door when the unmistakable belch and fwoosh of a letter being spat up by Spike caught our attentions, causing us to turn back to face Twilight who was already reading the scroll with a troubled expression on her face.

Wow, wasn't expecting a reply that fast, but I'm certainly not going to complain abou-

“What the hay did you write to her!?”

All of us jumped, surprised by Twilight's sudden outburst.

“I already said that-”

“That you couldn't tell me, yes I know, but whatever you said, was apparently the wrong thing, seeing as Princess Celestia has demanded that I detain you until she arrives!”

I paled, that was not what I had been expecting, but then again I suppose telling the ruling goddesses of a nation that I knew one of their deepest secrets probably wasn't the best idea.

At least it got their attention, so there was that.

“Detained!”

Rarity's yell pulled me out of my reverie as both she and Applejack backed away from me. 

I held up my hands in a placating gesture, attempting to defuse the situation before it could escalate, “Hold on, I promise that I'm not doing anything wrong, and I'll tell you after I meet with the Princesses.”

Applejack shook her head, a look of uncertainty on her face, “How can it be nothin' bad if the Princess reacted like that?”

I sighed, “Look, I Pinkie Promise that there's nothing for you to worry about at this moment. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

That made all of the ponies and the one dragon in the room freeze up, finally Twilight broke the silence.

“How do you know that promise?”

I groaned and rubbed the bridge of my nose, I knew that someone would ask that if I did something like that, but I had no other choice if I wanted to keep them from panicking.

“It has to do with what I need to speak with the Princesses about, and like I said, I'll tell you what's going on once I have spoken to them, so can you please relax? I won't try to leave the library alright?”

All four of the others in the room looked at each other before they slowly nodded, though it didn't take long for Twilight to perk back up.

“Well, if you aren't leaving, then there's no reason not to start the questioning now!”

I let another groan escape my lips, this was not going to be fun.





“That's...horrible.”

I winced at Twilight's statement. I had just had the dubious honor of explaining what an atom bomb was, and how it had been used. Twilight had unsurprisingly been eager to learn about the sciences of Earth, and once I had mentioned nuclear technology she had latched on to the subject, apparently entranced by the idea of so much energy being expelled from objects as small as atoms. Unfortunately I didn't want to risk her becoming to enamored of the idea, and felt that I needed to impress upon her the dangers of technology like that.

“Horrible, but not unfamiliar. I hate to say it, but I'm not surprised, it's not like Equestrians don't have weapons just as devastating as what you described.”

I blinked, that wasn't what I had expected. “You have nukes?”

Twilight blinked right back at me before she shook her head, “No, but what we have might as well be a nuclear bomb like you described. We have mega-spells that depending on the kind of ponies involved can call down magical hellfire, send entire nations into decades of drought, or even cause the very earth to rise up against our enemies.”

I couldn't help but gape at Twilight, here she was explaining that a nation full of technicolor ponies had weapons that would make our bombs look tame when I had thought that ponies were as peaceful as you could get. Then again I suppose that as long as there were multiple groups of sapient beings on a world, there would be war, and war would escalate. 

I guess war really doesn't change, even between dimensions.

“But wouldn't the Princesses make all of that unnecessary? I mean, didn't you say Celestia controls the sun? How could anyone fight against that?”

“They don't have to. I swore long ago not to get involved in any wars between the other races and my little ponies unless another immortal got involved, and as soon as my Sister returned, she swore the same vow at my insistence. Thankfully though there hasn't been a major war in centuries, and it has been a blessedly long time since either myself or any mega-spells had to be used in combat.”

Both Twilight and I jumped and turned to face the kitchen door where Princess Celestia was standing with Luna behind her.

I've got to say, the show didn't do either of them justice. Celestia's fur wasn't just white, it was radiant, though not harsh, and the shifting rainbow aurora of her mane and tail was absolutely mesmerizing as the colors flowed and blended together in a seemingly endless dance of life and light. The feathers on her wings seemed softer than the clouds, and her long spiraling horn would have made any ivory collector's heart stop.

However, Celestia paled in comparison to Luna. I won't lie, I've always been more of a night person, so I might have been a bit biased, but Luna was stunning. Her fur was a deep midnight blue that shimmered like silk, and her mane and tail looked like windows into the night sky in all it's glory. The rustling of her feathers seemed to carry whispers of all the secrets of the night while her horn reflected just enough light to highlight the curves of the midnight blue spirals as it rose gracefully from her head.

Twilight and I both jumped out of our seats and bowed to the Princesses, though I was the first one to speak.

“Your highnesses. It's truly an honor to meet you.”

By this point both Alicorns had entered the room, and this time it was Luna who spoke.

“Tis an honor to meet you as well, though we wish that it might have been on better terms.”

“As my sister said, we are honored as well to be hosting a member of a heretofore unknown species, although I hope you will forgive our order to have you detained, as I'm sure you realize what kind of...effect your news had on my sister and I.”

As I straightened back up I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, “Yeah, I probably could have found something less shocking to say, but I did need you to respond as quickly as you reasonably could.”

By this point Twilight was looking between us with barely restrained curiosity, but before she could speak up I caught her attention.

“Twilight, I need to talk with the Princesses alone. Please.”

Twilight looked nervous, but Celestia seemed to pick up on my desire for discretion. “Twilight, could you please give us some space to speak?”

Twilight looked like she wanted to protest, but instead she sighed, “I-yes Princess.”

“Twilight, could you please go get your friends? I plan on explaining everything to you all once I'm done, I just would like to speak with the Princesses first.”

Twilight shot me a glance, but nodded as she left, and the sound of the front door opening and closing let us know that she had gone on her way.

As I turned my gaze back to the Princesses I couldn't help but be startled at the sudden intensity hidden in their eyes. It was Luna who first broke the silence.

“Now that pleasantries are out of the way, pray tell us how you came by knowledge of our old foe, and how you know of his seal.”

I looked between the two alicorns as I tried to prepare myself for what I was about to say.

“First I have to ask that you both hear out everything I have to say without interrupting, it's a little... hard to believe.”

Celestia snorted, “I believe that you'll find that we are more open minded than you might think, however we will let you say your piece.”

I nodded and bit my lip, it was now or never.

“Alright. I'm going to assume that you already know that I'm not from this world, and if I'm right you also know that I'm a human, or at least Celestia knows. I'm actually from a planet called Earth, and I think that it actually exists in a different dimension than this one, mostly because, well, your world is part of our fiction.

“The events of your world, particularly in regards to the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, are portrayed in a television show, which means that those of us who watch it see and hear about the events told about during the show. Because of this I actually know quite a bit about Equestria, and of the struggles it's going to face, including Discord's release. I'll admit that there's also quite a bit that I don't know, as I only really watched a few episodes other than the ones that dealt with the truly major events, such as Discord's escape, and a couple of the movies. I also read a few of the comics that were created, but not many."

"Somehow I was transported here with these”, I showed them my rings, “which allow me to perform alchemy, which does not actually exist in my world, but is rather from another work of fiction.

“I was also given a book that contains everything I need to know about alchemy, and it had a note inside from an incredibly powerful being called Demon Earth, which as far as I'm aware is not actually as malevolent a being as it's name would suggest. I wanted to keep this secret until I was able to tell you two because I hoped that you could help ease any tense reactions from the element bearers at the idea of their lives being on show.”

I looked nervously at the sisters as they looked at each other, sharing the kind of look that only siblings could that carried entire conversations. Both of them turned back towards me and spoke at the same time.

“We have questions.”

I nodded, still nervous as to how they were going to take this news.

“Of course.”

“I'll start. Why did you tell us any of this at all?”

I blinked, that was certainly not what I had been expecting.

“Well, I thought it only right that you know. Secrets like that have a way of getting out eventually, and I'd much prefer it be on my own terms rather than at a time when it could possibly cause real harm.”

Celestia nodded at this as her sister spoke up with another question of her own.

“What is this alchemy you speak of? We know of a science that goes by such a name in this world, but We don't believe that that is what you speak of.”

“You would be right, it isn't. When you boil it down the type of alchemy I'm speaking of involves using energy to break down and re-construct matter at a molecular level in such a way that it accomplishes a specific goal, be it catalyzing certain natural processes, creating statues or weapons, or even altering the composition of the air to make it more flammable.”

“Would you be willing to teach such a skill to our subjects?”

I nodded, “Actually I've already agreed to teach Applebloom as I myself learn.”

Celestia blinked, “Applejacks little sister? Why would she be interested?”

“When she and her friends found me in the Everfree, they saw me make my first attempt at alchemy. Applebloom saw it and became interested for her own reasons, which I'm not willing to share.”

“That's reasonable I suppose, but how do you know she'll even be able to perform this alchemy?”

“I'm not, but I'm willing to let her try. I've also already talked to Applejack about this, and the dangers inherent in using alchemy, and she's given her approval as long as I allow her to sit in on her sister's lessons. I may have also agreed to teach Twilight in order to get her to let me send you a letter.”

Both Princesses gave me a deadpan look as I rubbed the back of my head. Eventually Celestia sighed.

“I suppose she would have found a way to learn what you know, or will know, eventually, better that she learn from you than try it on her own. I have only a few more questions. How did you know that you entered our world at a point in our timeline where Discord hadn't already been freed, how did you even know that this wasn't a similar but very different world? Most importantly however, how do you plan on using the knowledge that you have of our future?”

“Um... Honestly I didn't even think about this being a world that diverged enough to make my knowledge of your timeline useless, and as for Discord, I again just guessed. I suppose I must have just gotten lucky.

“As for what I plan to do, honestly I just plan to act as things happen for the most part. I don't actually know how much time passed between each event in your world as it was presented to us, so my trying to give you any kind of warning would be pointless, and honestly? My presence here has probably already irrevocably changed the path events will take. I do however have one request.”

The sisters glanced at each other, but eventually nodded.

“Speak, and if it is within reason we shall consider your plea.”

“Right, first I need to know, how close are Shining Armor and Princess Cadance?”

“Excuse me? Regardless of what you have told us you have no right to be asking about-”

“Please just tell me, it's important.”

“They are engaged to be wed.”

Celestia shot a look at Luna, who only shrugged in response.

“Sister he likely already knows that they would be wed eventually. We see no reason why such knowledge could not be shared.”

“Thank you Princess. Now as for my request, I need you to let me know if Princess Cadance begins acting... odd. Anything really out of character, and before you write away anything as nerves or the like, I want you to really think about whether she would act like you're seeing her act.”

Celestia narrowed her eyes, “Why?”

“I don't feel comfortable telling you just yet, as I want to avoid any unnecessary worry, but I promise that I have only the best intentions.”

“We will... keep that in mind, though now I believe my sister has a few more questions for you.”

“Indeed, we do have one other question for thee. You mentioned a demon-”

“Demon. Capital D.”

“Ah, yes. That actually answers our question.”

Luna turned to face Celestia, who looked like she was trying not to groan.

“Well dear sister, it seems that Gaia has again begun making wagers.”

“Unfortunately so.”

I blinked in surprise, “You know about the Demons?”

“Yes, though luckily for us Gaia has always been a bit odd compared to her peers. In all of our history never once has she ever done anything to endanger those of us who live under her care, and in fact has sometimes gone out of her way to make sure we survived some calamity or another. The Elements of Harmony were actually created through a series of events that began with one of her wagers. So while we don't know much about you, we do now know that you aren't likely a threat, and you certainly aren't some kind of envoy of your people that we need to be suspicious of.”

“Indeed. Now however, We believe that the Bearers have all arrived, so if that is all perhaps we should go meet them?”

“Actually, I have a question for you Princess Luna.”

Luna looked at me inquisitively, “Truly, and what pray tell might that be?”

“Why are you using the royal we? I mean, I get that you were... indisposed for the last millineum, but you're immortal, and the royal we is used to convey that a ruler speaks with all of the authority of their ancestors, so either of you ever using the royal we doesn't make any sense at all.”

I looked on in confusion as Celestia grimaced while Luna shot her a smug grin.

“You owe me twenty bits sister.”

I blinked, “What?”

“Before our banishment the royal we was used by my sister and myself to show that each of us spoke with the united authority of us both, though we would speak in the singular when we were truly speaking only for or of ourselves as individuals. However, after one thousand years of only my sister's rule, our ponies seem to have forgotten that fact. My sister believed that her student would be the first to call us out on our discrepancy, and I disagreed, and so we made a bet, a bet that I just won.”

Celestia just shook her head and turned as she opened the kitchen door, “Games aside, I believe that it's time we spoke with the elements.”

Luna followed her sister into the main room with a smug grin while I just shook my head and closed the door behind myself.





Applejack, Rarity and Twilight all looked like they were deep in thought as they considered what I had just told them, they had each raised some concerns, but both the Princesses and myself had assured them that everything was fine, and for the most part they had been satisfied. Pinkie... well she had actually said something about having to re-plan everything and bolted out of the library as soon as I finished talking.

My focus was currently on the other two ponies in the room, the only two I hadn't actually met yet.

The first one was a sky blue Pegasus with a trademark rainbow mane and tail, magenta eyes, and a tri-colored lighting bolt striking from a white cloud as her cutie mark.

“So...in your world, we're famous? That's actually pretty awesome, not as awesome as being a wonderbolt, but still. I bet that means you want my autograph huh?”

I smiled and shook my head, it seemed that Rainbow Dash had already decided that she was fine with me.

“Sugarcube, he just woke up in a world he thought didn't exist, Ah don't think that autographs are really on his mind right about now.”

“Aw come on Applejack, of course he wants one, just think of how much he'll be able to brag to his friends when he gets home!”

I winced at this, but before I could say anything Rainbow kept going.

“I bet even his family would be jealous, I mean can you imagine if he showed that to his brothers or sisters? Actually, do you even have siblings?”

“U-um Rainbow...”

“Well if you do I bet they'll be totally jealous. And even if you don't how many of parents in your world would be able to say that their kid hat met THE Rainbow Dash?”

“Darling, is that really the most important thing to focus on right now, autographs?”

“Really Rainbow, now isn't really the time, I'm sure that Aaron has plenty of other things to worry about.”

“Rainbow-”

“Indeed, there is much that must be done before any thoughts of signatures or souvenirs can be entertained.”

“My sister is right Ms. Dash, we need to focus right now.”

“Aw come on guys, he'd be the envy of his whole world! How could he not-”

“RAINBOW DASH!”

All of the ponies turned to the butter yellow pegasus with blue eyes and a long pink mane and tail that matched her cutie mark of three butterflies.

Without saying another word Fluttershy directed all of their attention towards me.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I was crying at that point. I'd been trying not to think about how my situation had separated me from my family, but Rainbow had seemed bound and determined to bring the issue forward, and I couldn't hold it in anymore.

“O-oh um, hey Aaron, what's wrong, why are you-”

“I can't go home!”

All of the ponies stepped back a bit at my shout, but I didn't particularly care at that moment.

“I can't go home, a-and I can't see my family a-any more, and I d-don't know if I'll ever get to see th-them again!”

Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity all rushed over to try and comfort me while Twilight and the Princesses looked at Rainbow.

“I-I didn't know, I mean, I'm sorry, I didn't think-”

“No, no it's a-alright Rainbow. I-you had no way to know, I had just, been trying not to think about it you know?”

I slowly pushed the ponies around me away as I forced myself to stop crying. There would be time to worry about this later, but now wasn't the time.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments that was eventually broken by Rarity.

“I hate to leave, but it really is getting quite late, and I need to close up the Boutique, so goodnight everyone.”

“Ah've got to go to, Granny'll be wondering wear Ah am if Ah stay to much longer.”

“I need to go feed the night critters.”

With that Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy all left the library, but not before Applejack shot me a look that said We're gonna talk whether you want to or not.

I sighed but nodded, I should have expected Applejack to be concerned with how much she valued her own family.

“U-um, look, I really am sorry about that.”

I looked down at Rainbow, who was nervously rubbing her foreleg and refusing to make eye contact.

“Really Rainbow...it's alright. I just hadn't quite come to terms with it yet, and honestly I still haven't but, I'll be ok. No hard feelings alright?”

Rainbow sighed and shot me a weak grin, “Alright.”

Suddenly her grin got a lot bigger as she jumped up and began hovering in the air, “Though I bet you can't wait to see me perform huh? Seeing it through some crystal illusion thingy can't be as awesome as seeing me perform in real life!”

I laughed, “You're right, I really can't wait, but I bet you need to go home as well right?”

“Oh, yeah I guess so, I've got a busy day of weather work tomorrow, so I guess I'll catch ya later.”

As Rainbow zipped out the door The princesses walked up to me and grabbed my attention.

“We've spoken with Twilight. For now we would like you to stay here as her guest, at least until you can find somewhere else to live. Also, we'd like you to continue to get to know the elements as your abilities and knowledge will no doubt help them in the future, though it seems you're already on your way to becoming friends with them.”

I nodded, “Right.”

“Well then, we must return, court waits for no mare after all, are you coming sister?”

“Right behind you Celestia, good night Twilight, Aaron.”

After the Princesses left I turned to Twilight, who had come to stand beside me.

“So where am I sleeping?”
> Lessons Begin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The myriad sounds of wildlife would normally suffuse the air in the Everfree forest, a constant song speaking to the never ending variety of life that called the wild forest home. However, this night was different. There were no sounds to be heard as the skies above the forest seemed to boil with barely contained rage, slowly spinning over an otherwise uninteresting clearing deep within the forest. There was a palpable tension in the air that was steadily growing as the clouds seemed to spin faster and faster, then suddenly the tension was broken by the sudden sound of paper tearing an instant before the clouds opened up and the rain began to pour. In the center of the clearing a black mass began to stir, and slowly lifted one long spider leg as it began to move... 


-------


“Alright, for our first lesson we're going to go over the four laws of alchemy and some of the more basic principles that it functions on.” 

It had been roughly a month since I had shown up in Equestria, and in that time I had managed to fall into a relatively comfortable situation, and I was no longer living out of Twilights library. In exchange for agreeing to teach Applebloom the Apples had agreed to set me up in one of their guest rooms and make sure that I had enough to eat as well as providing me with a job as a sort of handyman around the farm so I could earn some actual money, luckily the amount of repair work that always needed doing allowed me to get in quite a bit of practice with the concepts I was learning from studying my book, concepts that I was grasping almost suspiciously easily, however I wasn't about to look this particular gift horse in the mouth and took things as they came.   

At least once a week I would find myself in Twilight's library being bombarded with questions, not that it was really much of an issue as she was at least interesting to talk to when I could get her to look up from her notes, that and I bombarded her with almost as many questions myself (particularly about magic and thaumoturgy, I've always been a nerd for the sciences), and after our session she would invariably end up taking me around town to visit her other friends. As such I had become a fairly well acquainted with all of the element bearers, and ,unsurprisingly, I did find myself getting along quite well with them, even so much so that I had almost forgotten about my situation. 

Almost. Being ripped from my family still hurt, but I was beginning to cope, so if I wasn't entirely happy yet, I was at least content. Either way however, I had decided yesterday that I had gotten to a point in my understanding of Alchemy and Alkahestry, I studied them both as closely together as I could so that I could better understand both the differences and similarities between the two, that I could begin Appleblooms lessons. 

Scootaloo groaned, “Laws, you mean like rules? Why do there have to be rules, I thought this was some kind of fancy non-unicorn magic!” 

Sweetie glared at Scootaloo, “Magic has rules! And anyway, if there weren't any rules wouldn't that make all of this way more dangerous?” 

Scootaloo glared right back, “But dangerous is awesome! It's like-” 

“Will ya'll both stop arguin'? Ah'd like ta git to tha actual lesson.” 

Both Sweetie and Scootaloo looked at Applebloom as if they were ready to start arguing with her as well, but then the adults stepped in. 

“Seriously, ya'll wanted him ta teach ya'll somethin', so ya'll'd better listen and stop arguin'” 

“Indeed, mister Arthas has graciously agreed to let you be the first fillies that learn about his art, with supervision of course, and it would be intolerably rude of you not to pay attention.” 

“And anyway squirt, danger may be fun, but even I have to follow some rules when I fly.” 

“Besides, the rules are half the fun! Navigating all the mazes of correct and incorrect, finding solutions to seeming impossible questions...and I'll just go back to preparing for notes...” 

Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, the Crusaders and myself all slowly turned our flat gazes away from Twilight, who was now an impressive shade of red. 

“Anyway! These rules are extremely important, and can literally mean the difference between life and death for not only you but everyone around you.” 

I took a deep breath, “First, the law of Equivalent Exchange. This means that nothing can be gained without something of equal value being lost. In other words, you can't make something from nothing. Alchemy is the science of manipulating matter, but without the necessary matter nothing will happen, if your lucky. If you're unlucky you might end up using pieces of yourself.” 

All of the ponies looked a little green at that idea, except Twilight, who was only nodding, but considering that she had mentioned a similar rule about conservation of magic when she was answering my questions, it was understandable that she'd be expecting this. That and conservation of mass and energy was a pretty common concept. 

As no questions seemed forthcoming I moved on, “Second, you must never use alchemy to create gold.” 

Scootaloo frowned, “But why? If you can make yourself rich why shouldn't you?” 

I was about to answer her, but Applejack beat me to the punch, “Economic collapse. With any other metal, or even gemstones, the worst you'll do is reduce the item's value, but gold? Nearly every nation on Gaia uses gold to back their money. Take that away, an' suddenly all that money's more worthless than teats on a boar hog.” 

When she noticed the other ponies looking at her like she had grown a second head she scowled, “What? Ya'll think runnin' a farm just meant buckin' trees?” 

As the other ponies turned their attention back to me I nodded, “She's right. Though I would like to mention, with other precious metals, gemstones, and even finished products, you have to realize that if you do flood the market with things you create more cheaply with alchemy, you will be costing someone their job, so please, don't try and commercialize this.” 

I was slightly surprised when everyone immediately agreed with me. 

“Darling, I think I speak for all of us when I say that the value of real craftponyship far outweighs our desire for profit.” 

I nodded gratefully, “Thank you, but also keep in mind that not everyone will be of the same mind as you, so please be careful if you plan on teaching anyone else once you've begun to really get a handle on alchemy.” 

Assuming you don't drop out halfway, Applebloom is in it for the long haul, and I know Twilight's in it to, but the other crusaders? We'll see. 

“Anyway, the third law, and one of the most important laws, is never, ever, attempt to raise the dead. You can have all the ingredients needed for a body, but absolutely nothing can provide an equivalent exchange for that spark of life that exists in everything, the soul.” 

I looked at everyone present, all of them giving me solemn looks, even Applebloom. 

Maybe I misjudged her intentions, but still, it won't hurt to make sure they truly understand. 

“I need you to understand, this is not an arbitrary rule, people have tried to raise the dead before, and they always pay. A woman who tried to raise her child lost her womb entirely, of two boys who tried to bring back their mother one lost his body and the other lost a leg and an arm, one of which was so he could at least save his brother's soul by binding it to a suit of armor. You can not raise the dead. And that brings me to my last law.” 

I took a deep breath, “This is something that I had to debate on even informing you of, but I believe that it's better you go into this informed, then stumble on a seeming miracle without foreknowledge. There is an artifact, an alchemical reagent, that can allow for you to do almost anything, even bypass equivalent exchange, it could even possibly allow you to actually raise the dead. This item, is the philosopher's stone.” 

I raised my hand to stall the torrent of questions that was about to come my way, “Please hold on, let me finish. The philosopher's stone may seem like a cure all, a miracle, but it is possibly the single greatest abomination ever created with alchemy. The reason that it can bypass equivalent exchange, or can even provide exchange for a soul, is because it is made up of sapient souls. Even a very small stone, which is still very powerful, requires at least five souls to create, and the only way to harvest them is to actively murder them while you perform the alchemy required to make a stone.” 

Every single pony before me looked absolutely horrified, and eventually Applejack spoke up, “Why, why would ya tell us any o' that?” 

I sighed and rubbed my face with my hand, “Because I'm not stupid. I know that supposedly I'm the only source of alchemy on Gaia, or at least in Equestria, but I can't be certain of that, and if there's one thing I know, it's that one in a million chances crop up nine times out of ten. I don't want any of you to stumble onto this without understanding what's actually going on, which is why I'm also going to teach you all the circles needed to both create and destroy the stones, at least after I find a way to get a completely binding promise out of all of you that you'll never make a stone. That way you don't get tricked somehow into making, or becoming a component of, a stone, and so you can destroy a stone if you come across one.” 

Applejack pursed her lips, debating on whether or not she wanted her sister to continue learning such a dangerous skill, but after one look at Applebloom's determined expression she sighed, “Ah guess your right, Ah'd much prefer to find out about it now than be surprised by it later, though Ah do think yer bein' paranoid.” 

I nodded back towards her, “Thank you, and I hope you're right.” 

For a moment an extremely depressing mood descended on all of us, but I decided that there had been enough of that today, “Alright, now down to the nitty gritty! Circles, you're going to learn to hate drawing them.” 


-----


“Alright, that's enough. We'll pick up again next week, same time, and I'll actually start teaching you what I've learned about how alchemy works, in the meantime though I want you to keep practicing drawing a circle, and remember, no magic”, Twilight pouted at this, but she had agreed that if the Crusaders had to do it by hoof she would to, that and we didn't know if using her magic would adversely effect any transmutation circles that she would wind up making, “ but for now, I know that I need to go shopping for a bit, so how about we all head down to the market?”	 

We spent nearly three hours working on circles, or at least the Crusaders and Twilight did. Over the last month I'd managed to get drawing a circle down to muscle memory and the other girls were only there to watch over the Crusaders and ensure that they weren't going to get into trouble, but now I was really getting hungry, and I did need to pick up some more materials for my own continued studies. Thankfully the rest of the girls agreed readily, likely feeling their own stomachs protesting, and since none of the Apples ever had time to cook lunch the market was the best choice to eat. 

It didn't take us long to make it down to the market, but we were stalled when we got there by a rather interesting sight. 

“I said screw OFF!” 

“But you said that you were looking for Rainbow, and I'm looking for Rainbow, so we should both totally-grrk!” 

The rather obviously annoyed white headed and tan bodied griffon that Pinkie had been bouncing around cut her off rather quickly by grabbing her by the throat and pulling her close. 

Gilda narrowed her eyes and hissed, “Get away from me before I string you up by your own guts, got it?” 

Pinkie just blinked and turned to face us, and with a voice that didn't even pretend that it was being strangled shouted, “Oh, Dashie, there you are! And Twily, and Rarity, and Applejack, and Aaron, and-” 

Gilda promptly threw Pinkie aside when she got sight of Rainbow, who had just looked down from the cloud she was on when she heard Pinkie call her name, and flew up to meet her. 

“Dash, hey! I was wondering where you were.” 

“Oh Gilda! Hey what are you doing here?” 

“What do ya think? I was in the area because of some dweebs I have to work with and thought I'd stop by.” 

“Nice, so what do you...” 

The pairs voices started to die down as they flew off, being followed by a very grounded, but still happy as ever, Pinkie Pie. I just shook my head, knowing where this would probably be going. 

“Well I'm still hungry, and I suppose those three can find their own food, so let's go and we can catch up with them later.” 

The girls just shrugged and got back to walking. 


-----


The dull murmur of the party going on in the building behind me barely registered to me over the sound of my chalk scraping across the stone on the street in front of me. I had just put my chalk away when I heard what I'd been waiting for, Gilda storming out of the door right behind me. 

“Stupid lameo pony dweebs, stupid dweeby Rainbow Dash, push me out of her life huh? Well I don't need her, if she-” 

“You know the party only just started right?” 

Gilda started, then glared at me, “And who the hell are you? Actually don't answer that, you were with Rainbow's 'friends' earlier weren't you? You're probably just as bad as the rest of them.” 

I rolled my eyes as I placed my hands on the transmutation circle I had just finished, “Yes I was with her friends, and after this last month I'd like to think we are friends, or at least good acquaintances. And maybe you should look at yourself before blaming the others for your bad time.” 

Whatever response Gilda was going to make died in her throat as alchemical lightning flashed and I pulled a solid stone Bowie knife out of the ground as the circle did it's work. I stood up and looked at the edge of the blade critically before pulling an apple out of my pocket and cutting it in two. I tossed one half to Gilda while I checked to make sure the cut was clean before I slid the knife into a sheath I had gotten made earlier that day and turned to face Gilda. 

She looked at me slack-jawed, the apple in her left claw, and seemed to struggle for a minute before she could figure out what to say. 

“What, how, who, what the hell? How did you do that? Actually, what are you that you can do that?” 

I blinked, I was honestly surprised it took her so long to ask what I was, and that Rainbow hadn't actually said anything to her about the weird hairless ape who could do magic. I didn't let it throw me too much though. 

“I'm human, and that actually has nothing to do with what I just did.” 

I pointed to the apple she was holding, “You can eat that by the way. Anyway, I'll gladly tell you what that was, hell, I'll even show you how to do it, or at least try to, if you go back in there and apologize to everyone. 

Gilda looked ready to attack me right there for even suggesting something like that, but I interrupted her, “I know it's not entirely your fault, though you did overreact about what went on in there. But believe me, I fully plan on making both Pinkie and Rainbow apologize to you as well. They're just as much at fault for your little, ah, episode. However, that comes later, mostly because I don't actually want to go in there." 

Hey, I don't like big gatherings, alright?

Gilda shut her beak and looked at me thoughtfully before turning her eyes to the apple half she had. She tossed it into her mouth, core half and all, and chewed on it slowly while she thought. Eventually she swallowed and looked me in the eye. 

“Promise to tell me?” 

“Absolutely.” 

“Fine, but you have to come in with me. I don't know why you don't like parties like this, but if I have to deal with it, so do you.” 

I groaned, but nodded, “Fine, let's go.” 

I was about to open the door when Gilda stopped me, “Hey... Aaron. Thanks.” 

I smiled, “Don't mention it.”
> The Gala
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I still don't understand why I have to attend this thing.”

“Well I simply don't understand why you wouldn't, this is the Grand Galloping Gala we're talking about! Everyone wants to attend, why, some ponies are wait listed for years, and we now have tickets courtesy of the Princess herself! Oh I can't wait to get there, and-”

“Be ignored by ponies who think that they're better than you because of how inbred they've kept themselves.”

Rarity gave me a sour look, but chose not to comment since we'd already had this argument multiple times, in fact I'd had similar arguments with all of the element bearers when they tried to convince me that going to the Gala was something that I should look forward to. Of them all, Spike had been the only one who agreed with me, but as far as he was concerned the food was going to be worth the hassle.

Even worse, I couldn't pull the 'I know what's going to happen' card since I never watched the Gala episode, I only had my own understanding of such events to go on, and that wasn't enough to convince anyone.

I shook my head at Rarity's expression and turned to look out of the window of the carriage I was sharing with Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow. I could hear laughter coming from Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike's carriage in front of us. No doubt they were having a good time.

Applejack spoke up, “Now listen here, I understand you don't want ta go to this, but you are, so ya might as well buck up and make the best of it.”

I turned back to the group, Rarity and Applejack were turned towards me, while Rainbow was passed out on her seat, mumbling about the wonderbolts.

I sighed, “Look, I'm sorry I'm being such a wet blanket, but even if I wanted to go to this thing I'd still resent being told that I have to attend, I mean”, I pulled a letter out of my suit pocket, “look at this, Celestia didn't even tell me why I needed to be at the gala, just that my presence was 'politely but firmly desired', and she barely gave me a weeks notice!” I turned to Rarity, “Thanks for rushing me a suit by the way, the clothes you've made for me are probably the most comfortable I've ever worn, and I would have hated to have had someone else rush me a suit.”

Rarity waved me off, “Think nothing of it, but if you do want to show your gratitude, perhaps you could at least try to be positive about this?”

I sighed and shot Applejack and Rarity a wry smile, “I suppose your right, this does give me a chance to at least try and talk to the Princesses about some projects that I think they'd be interested in”, I gestured to my satchel, which I had insisted on bringing with me much to Rarity's frustration, “so there is that.”

Applejack gave me a wide smile, “That's the spirit! See, this won't be so bad.”

I shook my head, “I hope you're right, but we'll see.”

Rarity simply glared at the satchel and muttered under her breath.





I was standing around at the back of the ballroom sulking when I heard a mildly familiar voice, “Aaron! There you are, I had been wondering if you had actually chosen to attend.”

I turned to see Princess Luna making her way through the crowd. As she came closer I bowed.

Luna snorted and waved her hoof dismissively, “Please don't. There are enough of these so called nobles falling over themselves to placate me already. It's almost funny when you consider the things they say about me behind closed doors.” Luna shook the sour expression from her face, “But that is no matter. You are a friend of the elements, and I would much prefer to remain on more familiar terms with the individuals who saved me from my Nightmare.”

I stood up, “With all due respect, that was them, not me.”

Luna nodded, “Be that as it may, my decision stands. My sister and I would much prefer to be on good terms with the only representative of your species should contact eventually be made.”

I blinked, “I'd be lying if I said I wasn't honored by your regard, though I suppose you have more reason for seeking me out than to inform me of my privileged position?”

Luna let out a bark of laughter, drawing the attention of several nearby nobles, who quickly turned away when they saw who they were about to pass judgment on.

“Can I not seek you out for the simple pleasure of candid conversation? After all if what the elements have told me about your opinions of the Gala are to be believed, you certainly don't dance around the issue like the rest of these stuck up sods.”

Several of the nobles nearby stiffened, but said nothing.

Luna leaned in closely and whispered, “There are privileges of being considered out of date you know.”

I had to stifle a snort of laughter when I realized that Luna was deliberately antagonizing the nobles for entertainment.

With a sigh Luna leaned back and the grin fell from her face, “Unfortunately you are correct, there is another matter that we need to speak with you about in private. My sister and I that is, she will join us as soon as she is able, but in the mean time she has asked me to bring you to one of our meeting rooms.”

I shrugged, “That works for me, I wasn't really enjoying myself anyway, and this gives me the chance to run some projects by you that you and your sister might be interested in.”

Luna began to lead me through the crowd to one of the blocked off hallways, “Oh? And what projects might those be?”





“So you see, if you were to build a room with this circle inscribed on the floor, anyone who knew how to activate it would be able to cause the rapid decay of magic into waste energy, effectively allowing you to safely destroy dangerous enchantments and other such magical anomolies.”

Luna looked down at my notes, “This is brilliant, but I do have one question. I must admit that I've been using my position as guardian of dreams to look into some of the things you have taught Twilight Sparkle, and from what I have gleaned I had gathered that your alchemy could only effect physical matter, how can it effect magic?”

I nodded in acknowledgment of her question, “Normally that's true, but while I've been teaching Twilight alchemy, she's been returning the favor by teaching me magical theory, I can't use it, but it's still fascinating. It was during one of these lessons that Twilight noticed that one of her enchantments actually got warped when she activated a circle she'd been practicing with. We're not sure why yet, but it seems that Alchemy, at least to a degree, treats magic as another type of matter. It doesn't allow for the casting of spells, but already existing magical fields, such as those generated by enchantments, can be affected.”

Luna nodded as her horn lit up. In a flash there was a duplicate copy of my notes floating above her, with another flash they were gone.

“I will find someone to work on building this as soon as possible, the potential usefulness of actually being able to destroy the enchantments on dangerous artifacts is to great to ignore, but for now, I believe my sister is ready to speak with you.”

“I never could sneak up on you sister.”

I jumped and spun around to find Celestia standing in the room with us, the door already closed behind her, “How do you do that! You're a six foot tall horse for crying out loud!”

Celestia grinned, “Centuries of practice.” The grin fell from her face, “Unfortunately we have something important to discuss. Do you remember the request you made when you first arrived?”

I raised an eyebrow, “It's been a while.”

“About Cadance.”

My eyes widened, but before I could speak Celestia continued.

“Lately there have been times when she would act slightly off, but even under scrutiny it wasn't anything to worry about, but last week something very strange occurred. My niece was scheduled to make a diplomatic trip to Zebrica, but roughly an hour after she had been scheduled to leave she sought me out with a letter which stated that the Zebricans had decided to send a delegation to us instead. Unfortunately we cannot tell how authentic the letter is as correspondence between Zebrica and Equestria can take weeks to arrive, but that's not the issue.”

Luna spoke up, “Ever since you mentioned to us that something might be awry I've had an agent in place among Cadance's personal guard, and he sent me a report just before he boarded Cadance's airship confirming that they were on their way to Zebrica.”

Celestia picked back up, “Needless to say, the Cadance who is mingling with the nobles here is an impost er, so now we need to know, what do you know about this?”

I bit my lip as I thought about what I wanted to say, “Alright, what do you know about changelings?”





“Princess Celestia has unfortunately been waylaid your highness, but she assures me she will be along soon, so if you would please take a seat in here I will return to my post.”

As Princess Cadance walked into the room I was waiting for her in she had her head turned back to the guard who had brought her here, “Thank you, though I don't suppose she mentioned why she wanted to see me?”

“No, your highness.”

Cadance sighed, “I see. Thank you again.”

With a shake of her head Cadance closed the door and turned to face the room and myself. I stood from my seat and bowed.

Cadance smiled gently at me, “Hello, I don't believe I've seen you around the castle before, though I do remember my aunts talking about some kind of bipedal creature living in Ponyville, is that you?”

I guess being able to detect emotions would keep her from being easily snuck up on.

I stood up, “Yes, it is. My name is Aaron Arthas, and it's a pleasure to meet you your majesty.”

Cadance blushed and waved her hoof at me, “Please, my aunts and I are princesses, not queens, 'your highness' is more appropriate.”

I grinned, “I didn't finish your majesty, Queen Chrysalis, mare of the vermilion flame, leader of the swarm, she who-”

Princess Cadance shook her head, “I don't know what you're talking about, but your clearly confused, I'm Princess-”

“Luna knows that the real Cadance is on her way to Zebrica, and so does Celestia.”

Cadance frowned, “I'm sorry but you must be feeling sick, let me call a guard-”

“The Princesses have warded the door, you're trapped in here with me. Face it Chrysalis, you've been out maneuvered.”

Cadance glared at me, “Even if what you said were true, why would you want to be locked in here with me?”

I sat back down and grinned, “Well for starters I just really wanted to meet you, and other than that I figured that now would be a good time to negotiate, though I have to ask, please take off your disguise, I'd much rather speak to the real you rather than the Disney horse.”

Cadance stared at me for a moment, but complied. With a wave of green flame Princess Cadance disappeared, and Chrysalis stood in her place.

Queen Chrysalis was probably about as different from a pony as one could get without losing the basic equine shape. Her body was covered in matte black chitin armor, and her mane and tail were made of a light green gossamer substance. Her wings were more akin to those of a beetle, and her wings, tail, mane, and body were all riddled with holes. Topping her forehead was a jagged black horn that further increased her already impressive height of at least six feet tall. When she spoke her voice buzzed in a way that sounded like several voices layered together, it honestly sent a bit of a shiver down my spine.

Queen Chrysalis glared at me, “What exactly is stopping me from killing you right now?”

I shot a smug look her way, “The fact that the Princesses have placed a charm on me, and if anything happens to me they'll come in horns blazing ready to take out the threat to their kingdom that you represent. The only reason that we're talking right now is because I asked them to allow me a chance to negotiate with you.”

Chrysalis sneered, “And why should I negotiate, my plan-”

“Fails. Though in all honesty it's not your fault per-se, you had no way of knowing that Twilight and Cadance already had a ready-made identification system in place.”

Chrysalis looked taken aback for a moment, but quickly recovered, “And how could you possibly know anything about my plan, or how it would turn out.”

I sighed, I figured I'd have to give this explanation again, but that didn't make it less tedious, “I'm not exactly local, in fact I got ripped from my home dimension and deposited here by a couple of gods with gambling problems. In my world there is a kind of entertainment instance that follows the events of this one, though we see it as pure fiction. The wedding invasion was one of the events covered, how else do you think I knew to warn the Princesses of your impersonating Cadance in the first place?”

The frown didn't leave Chrysalis' face, but at least now she looked more thoughtful, “Assuming that's true, why would you want to negotiate with me, if you know my species, and myself specifically, are a threat, that we are 'villains', why wouldn't you just remove us?”

“Would you be a villain to the changelings? You're trying to survive, and besides”, I grinned, “I'm actually fond of the changelings.”

Chrysalis blinked, the hostility slipping from her face, “You're not lying, I can't feel any disgust or fear from you.”

“Oh I'm so glad you're an empavore, that makes this so much easier.”

A neutral expression fell over Chrysalis' face, “Be that as it may, what would my people stand to gain from these negotiations?”

I shrugged, “Freedom to live openly? The ability to feed freely and not have to worry constantly about being discovered and killed? The chance to grow as a culture? Take your pick.”

“And what about Equestria, why would they want to ally with parasites”

This time I frowned, “You're not parasites. You don't actually harm the ones you feed off of, at least not if you aren't trying to.”

“And how exactly do you know that?”

“There's no mention of you in any equestrian legends. If your feeding process was harmful, even if you were never discovered legends would have popped up about something that sucks the emotions out of a pony and leaves them as a husk.”

Chrysalis looked like she had bitten into something sour, “So a lack of information was information in itself. I didn't expect to see the day when an Equestrian other than the Princesses themselves would figure that out.”

I smiled, “Well I'm not exactly Equestrian, am I? As for your question about what Equestria gains, your people have the potential to be the perfect actors, therapists, teachers, or any other job that changing appearance or being able to read emotions would provide you an advantage with. But that's not what I believe Equestria would gain the most from. The raw military potential of your people is virtually limitless. Not only is there the obvious asset to information gathering you'd provide, but with the right placement you could influence decisions of rival armies, or even more devastatingly you could purposefully allow for your own discovery within their ranks, paving the way to a witch hunt that would cause their army, and even their nation, to rip itself apart. In return you'd gain military might that you don't have, your people excel in espionage, but not necessarily in a protracted conflict, correct?”

Chrysalis stared at me for a moment, then laughed, “Oh you I like, let's talk.”

I grinned, "Alri-"

We were interrupted by a large crash that reverberated through the castle.

I stood up with a sigh, "I guess we'll have to save the rest of this until after whatever crisis is happening is dealt with."
> The Night Before
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The door slammed open as I trudged my way into the farmhouse with a haggard look on my face. I didn't even make it three steps in before Applejack came out of the kitchen to greet me.

“Aaron, yer finally home! How'd the talks go?”

I walked over to the only human sized chair in the living room and sank down into it and sighed, “When I decided to head off Chrysalis' plans by trying to make peace, I didn't expect that I'd actually be involved in the peace talks themselves.”

“What, did you expect me to deal with the Princesses by myself? I eat love and Celestia's preaching on friendship still nearly gave me diabetes.”

I groaned as Chrysalis sauntered through the doorway, a smug grin plastered on her face.

“Though I admit Luna provided a pleasant counterpoint to her sister. It was so refreshing to see a pony who doesn't just blindly hoof out their trust.”

“I guarantee that Celestia was just as wary as her sister, and I know that you know it.”

“Yes but Luna was so much more straightforward about it, not even I can enjoy political subterfuge.”

“Ah-hem.”

Chrysalis and I turned from our conversation to Applejack, who was giving us both a flat look.

“Thank you. Now,” Applejack turned to Chrysalis, “Chrysalis, right? No disrespect, but what are ya doin' in mah house?”

I grinned, “Yes oh great changeling queen, please tell Applejack why you're here.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, “As part of our treaty, I have to stay in Ponyville with you and the rest of the elements nearby so I can learn about 'pony values'. Apparently the fact that I didn't actually invade doesn't mean I don't have to pay some sort of reparation, and this is what your princesses wanted.”

Applejack blinked, “But aren't you a queen? Shouldn't you be taken care o' yer people?”

I piped up, “That would matter, if Blueblood hadn't forced her to reveal that she and all of her people are linked telepathically.”

Chrysalis' expression suddenly shifted into a snarl, “If that pompous brat of a prince hadn't tried to extort one of my drones for 'services' while threatening to sabotage the peace talks if she reported him then I wouldn't have had to.”

I held my hands up, “Hey, he got what was coming to him, I was just saying that your busting down the door and running through the castle chasing him while shooting bolts of magic did raise some very difficult questions, which lead to you having to reveal that you can communicate with your people from pretty much anywhere.”

Chrysalis grinned sadistically, “Got what was coming to him indeed.”

Applejack shook her head, “Ah don' wanna know. Anyway, if you have to stay here, then where are ya stayin?”

Chrysalis' gaze turned sultry, “Well, I could always sleep in-”

I shot up, “Nope, no, no way. Applejack, show her to the hotel, put her up in a guest room, I don't care, I am not dealing with any more of that, no thank you.”

With that I hurried up to my room, the sound of Chrysalis' cackling only fading away after I slammed the door shut. With a sigh I flopped down onto my bed and brought my hands up to my face. It had been nearly three weeks after the Gala, and for some reason the Princesses had decided that since I was the one who brought the changelings to their attention, I should be part of the peace talks. At first I was fine with it, I had always been fond of the changelings, and had even admired Chrysalis herself. Not to mention I got an opportunity to spend more time getting to know the Princesses behind their royal masks, a privilege I was grateful for.

Unfortunately about halfway through the talks Chrysalis decided to try taking human form for...some reason. She never did explain why. Either way though, she apparently teamed up with Luna to figure out just what exactly human women looked like through watching my dreams.

I'd had a long talk with Luna about privacy after that, but I don't think she heard any of it over her own laughter.

Long story short, when Chrysalis showed up in a human/changeling hybridized form wearing a business suit my reaction didn't go unnoticed. For nearly five minutes I couldn't make any noise more complicated than 'urk', and to make it worse Chrysalis was able to taste where my emotions went after that. Ever since then Chrysalis took every opportunity she got to tease me, either verbally or by surprising me with her human form.

It had been a long week after that, and the train ride back was even worse, and with her living in Ponyville for the foreseeable future, it didn't look like things were going to get any better any time soon.

With a groan I got up and walked over to my desk. The top of the desk was covered in papers covered in formulae, blueprints, and a nearly completed device that I'd been working on for a while. There were only a few things left to do on it, but before I could get to that my attention was caught by a note left on top of everything else. I picked it up and quickly read through it.



	Dear Aaron,

My class is going on a field trip to Canterlot. Maybe I'll see you, but in case I don't and you get back from whatever talks you're busy with before I get back my homework's on my bed.

Thanks,
Applebloom



I put the letter down and shook my head, if nothing else at least all of the practice drawing transmutation circles had done wonders for her penmanship. Penponyship? Whatever, the point was that she was writing better, though the hoofmounted pencil holder that I had made her probably also helped.

Wait.

Did she say a trip to Canterlot?

"FUC-"



Applejack stared at Chrysalis as her cackling finally died down, her eyes completely flat.

“Ya done?”

Chrysalis released one last chortle before responding, “For now. So where am I sleeping?”

Applejack frowned, “Now hold on a minute, what do ya mean, 'where am I sleepin''? Ah never agreed to let ya stay here, and even if Ah did, Ah'd still need Granny an Mac's opinion before Ah could commit to anythin'.”

Chrysalis sneered at Applejack, “Well pardner I'm a Queen, so I think I get to sleep where I want, and I want to stay here. Be glad that I don't demand room service to.”

Applejack snorted, “Queen or not, that don't give you the right ta' just waltz inta mah home and make demands, especially iffin yer gonna give me lip. Speakin' a lip, what was that just now with Aaron? And speakin' o' him, how come ya weren't givin' him this high and mighty act?”

Chrysalis looked at Applejack for a moment before responding, “Let me put it in a way you can understand. Imagine my people are one of your precious orchards. Now imagine that you've been in a drought for more than a decade, and that you've only barely been able to get enough water to barely keep your trees alive because as far as all the ponies with water are concerned, you're a monster. Next imagine that someone comes along who single hoofedly ends your drought by bringing you before the biggest sources of water in the world, and convincing them to work with you.

“Aaron is that someone, and those trees are my subjects. He's earned my respect. Your Princesses have earned my respect through their actions these past weeks, you and the rest of your kind have not. Give me a reason to respect you, and I'll stop giving you 'lip', and as for what just happened, that's my own business.”

Applejack narrowed her eyes, “Now you listen here-”

“FUCK!”

Chrysalis and Applejack both jumped and turned to face the stairs, where it sounded like Aaron was trying to peel paint by force of vulgarity alone.

Applejack sighed, a large amount of the tension gone, “Look, if the rest o' my family's fine with it, you can stay for one night, but after that you need to figure something else out, but, if you don't drop the attitude, Ah'm tossin' you out tonight, and I'll strong-hoof Aaron inta helpin' to do it.”

Chrysalis didn't turn away from the stairs, but she did look at Applejack out of the corner of her eye, “So you have some steel after all. Fine, I'll try and 'reign it in' for a night, but don't expect me to be friendly.”

Applejack rolled her eyes as she turned around and made her way to the kitchen, “Ah don't think you'll have to worry about anyone wantin' that from you.”
> A Taste of Discord pt.1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As we stepped through the unguarded doors of Canterlot castle I couldn’t help but grimace, “Well that was… odd.”

Rarity shuddered as she and the rest of the girls stepped up beside me, “I’ll say. Have you ever heard of a train that gets up and walks around on spider legs? Ugh, it was absolutely dreadful.”

“Ya know, somehow I don’t think that was somethin’ that’s really happened before in the first place Rares. Though I also get the feeling that someone here might know more about what’s goin’ on than he’s lettin’ on.”

Before I could respond to Applejack’s comment Twilight spoke up in my defense, “Applejack, Aaron already told why he can’t give us any details, if he does- “

“If he does then there’s no telling what kind of damage could be done to the time space blah blah blah. I’m sorry Twi, but I’ve got to side with Applejack on this one.” Rainbow’s frustrated tone cut through Twilight’s explanation as she flew through the hall, clearly eager to get moving. “Whatever he knew was going to happen has obviously happened already, so what could he actually hurt by giving us more information?”

“Oh! What if by telling us what he knows he somehow-“I shot my hand out and grabbed Pinkie’s muzzle, making the rest of her statement come out as unintelligible mumbles. With a sigh I let go and glanced over at Fluttershy, half expecting the poor mare to comment as well. Unfortunately, she was still too shaken up by what had happened to her animals to do much more than follow along mutely. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one to notice her distressed state, and not a moment later I saw Rarity move over to her and give Fluttershy a shoulder to lean on.

Shaking my head, I turned back to Pinkie, “Sorry, but if by some coincidence whatever you were about to say was correct, I don’t think I could hide that fact from all of you. I’m not exactly good at lying.”

Applejack snorted, “You can say that again. You lie worse than’ Ah do.”

I was about to reply when I saw that we had managed to make it to the throne room while we were talking. As Twilight opened the door I paused, briefly wishing that Chrysalis hadn’t been forced to fly off to help her own people. Even though I knew who we were up against I wasn’t exactly sure what might be different in this world compared to what I knew from television, and extra power in the form of Chrysalis would have been comforting.

Unfortunately, it was just the elements and myself, or really just the elements. I somehow doubted that alchemy would be able to help me fight off a nigh omnipotent being of mischief.

With that sobering thought I followed the rest of the girls into the throne room, only a few steps behind them as we walked up to the throne where Celestia was seated. It did not escape my notice that the Lunar throne next to hers was empty though.

“Thank you all for coming so quickly. As you’ve no doubt noticed chaos has begun to spread throughout the land, and as much as I wish I could say this was the result of a powerful spell gone awry or some other more easily dealt with event, the truth is much more sinister.”

As Celestia rose up from her seat I frowned. It wasn’t terribly obvious, but Celestia was exhausted. She had slight bags under her eyes, and her legs shook just a little bit as she walked. The elements and I shared a worried glance, Celestia had literally thousands of years of experience in keeping up a stoic mask, the fact that we could see any signs of her exhaustion at all spoke volumes as to the toll that recent events were taking on her. Especially since it had been barely twelve hours since this had all started.

Our concern did not escape unnoticed however, and as she led us through the castle Celestia let out a small chuckle, “Do not worry yourselves over my wellbeing my little ponies. Keeping the chaos in Canterlot under control has admittedly been quite taxing, but it’s nothing that I can’t handle. Besides, my sister is valiantly fighting against the worst of the chaos as we speak, leading squadrons of soldiers against the various monsters that have been stirred into a frenzy by all of this.”

Twilight looked torn between her curiosity and her concern for her mentor, but in the end, she decided that if Celestia was devoting her entire self to dealing with this problem then so would she. “Princess, what exactly is all of this?”

Celestia was quiet for some time, but as we turned the corner into the corridor that led to the vault of the Elements she finally sighed. “All of this, my dear student, is Discord.”

Above us Rainbow laughed nervously, “Discord? Yeah right, he’s just an old mare’s tale, right?”

Celestia shook her head, “Unfortunately not. He is very real, and very dangerous. Thankfully you six were able to awaken and bond to the Elements of Harmony, as without them I doubt that any of us would be able to stand up to him.”

At this point we had reached the door to the main vault, or at least we assumed it was the main vault. I had trouble believing that there would be a more important vault inside the castle given the grandeur of the door itself. Made of metal that looked just different enough from steel to convince me that I didn’t know what it was the door was inlaid with expansive gold etchings showing various scenes from Equestria’s past, much like the various stained windows that lined the hall we were in. The surface of the door was interrupted by a single hole at the perfect height for Celestia to insert her horn, which she promptly did.

As the door began to glow and the thrum of heavy enchantments being undone began to echo around us Celestia spoke up, “Unfortunately we have been required to place the elements in this vault as the more secure one that Luna and I have designed is still under construction. However, with the enchantments that we’ve placed on the door I’m certain that they’ve remained safe.”

Finally, the doors cracked open and with a thought Celestia was brought out an ornate box wreathed in the golden glow of her magic, and presented it to us, before proudly opening the lid, “Once again I must ask you all to- “

“It’s empty”

Celestia blinked, caught off guard by my statement before she whipped the box around, seeing it’s barren interior for herself. As the elements began to mutter she spoke in a shocked tone, “Empty? But that doesn’t make any sense.”

Suddenly a sinister laugh echoed through the hallway as the light at the end of the hall began to fade away, leaving a darkness that quickly rushed towards us and in an instant we were enveloped in an inky blackness that made it seem like we were floating in an empty void.

As the laughter continued the windows that had lined the hall began to slowly glow, shedding no light on the surrounding area, yet becoming clearly visible, only these windows didn’t depict the scenes of Equestria’s various triumphs. Instead the windows showed images of Ponies, Griffons, Dragons, and all manner of other creatures fleeing from various forms of encroaching chaos, from giant marshmallow monsters to sentient houses scooping up their former inhabitants each window showed increasingly bizarre scenarios that left us all feeling incredibly uneasy.

Without warning the laughter abruptly cut out and from each scene of chaos silvery strings began to extend towards what we could only assume was the no longer visible end of the hallway, and as the strings from each side of the hall reached two points in the dark one final window appeared in a bright flash.

The window was huge, easily towering over us and every other window floating in the darkness and depicted a strange, and for Celestia and myself familiar, figure. The creature had a long serpentine body divided into three parts, the tail of a cockatrice, a torso covered in brown fur, and the neck of a strangely distorted horse. It stood tall on two mismatched legs, one seeming to belong to a dragon and the other to a goat. It’s two hands, one the paw of a lion and the other an eagle’s claw, held the silver strings that had extended from the other windows, showing the beast as the puppet master of all that we were seeing. Finally, our eyes were drawn to the monster’s pony like head, assuming said pony had had its face stretched out like taffy. Just above the beast’s goatee a single fang extended from its mouth.

However, this all paled in comparison to the creature’s eyes. Its pupils placed firmly in blood red irises set against the whites of its eyes which had turned a sickly yellow. Those eyes held no kindness, only a kind of sick joy in the suffering of other that only the truly mad could experience.

Without warning the depiction of the beast moved, grinning as it pulled on the strings in its hands, “Sense? My dear Celestia, what fun is there in making Sense?” And with that the windows shattered and light returned to the world.
> A Taste of Discord pt.2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the light faded we were all met with the sight of the the beast floating above us in the , now unchanged, hallway that had led up to the vault. Unsurprisingly the first to react was Celestia, "Discord! What have you done with the elements, and more importantly how? Even you shouldn't have been able to get into that vault without alerting me!"

Discord dismissively waved his hand, "Chaos; I don't have to explain shit."

Before Celestia could respond Discord snapped his talons, and in a flash she was gone, leaving him free to turn his attention to us.

"And now that she's out of the way, we can pl-hrrk!"

Discord was cut off by the triple whammy of Rarity's telekinesis grabbing his snout, Applejack's lass looping around his throat and pulling him down, and Rainbow tackling him from behind. All three of them leveled a heated glare at Discord, "Where. Are. Our. Sisters!"

Discord blinked in mild surprise before his form shattered like broken glass, pieces of his body tinkling as they fell to the ground. The girls all stared in shock at this for a moment before Discord walked out from behind a pillar with a dustpan and broom which he used to sweep himself up. As none of us had decided to speak up at this point he shrugged and popped a piece of glass in his mouth, making a noise like a cross between a squeaky toy and crumpling paper as he chewed before swallowing. "Huh, Chocolate sardine aged in Chardoneigh, that one's new."

With a shrug Discord pulled open a pouch on his body and poured the rest of the glass in, "Now where were we? Oh yes, your sisters!" Discord's gaze flickered to Rainbow, "Or sister figures anyway. Wonderful little vermin they were, and while I'd normally be disappointed at having less chaos to work with I can't help admire how they went completely off script. That little apple one didn't even come to the garden! I had to rely on that foppish stallion with the slicked back golden mane raising another stink over something trivial to provide that last little oomph to get out."

Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow moved towards him, their stupors broken by his works, but before they could start demanding any more information, especially since Discord obviously knew which fillies they were talking about, he snapped his fingers and they found their mouths sealed shut with what I recognized to be over-sized wax lips, "Tut tut, I wasn't finished. Though I suppose I can let you know, as a reward for going against the grain I put them somewhere safe where they can watch the proceedings without getting caught up in our games, and speaking of, let's get started shall we!"

I decided to speak up, "And here I was hoping that we could skip the twisted game stacked in your favor and just move on to the part where we use the elements on you, but I suppose you just want to go down the basic, predictable route hmm?"

Discord's head whipped to face me so fast I'm sure he would have been suffering whiplash if he bothered to care about mundane things like anatomy as he growled out "Who dares-" Discord's anger died in his throat as he blinked, momentarily taken aback, "Is that a human?"

In a flash he was standing over me in a brown vest and holding a jewelers eyeglass against his eye, backwards of course, and pacing around me as he examined my form, "By my Mother it is! Oh Celestia, this almost makes up for the thousand years in stone! And it's not even my birthday, how thoughtful! But still, you did insult me and I don't feel like having you interrupt my game, so off you go." 

I briefly heard the girls who could still speak shout in outrage before Discord snapped his fingers and my vision was filled with light.
====================================================================================================
When my vision cleared the first thing I noticed was that I was in a sealed room with no windows or doors, and more importantly Discord was lounging in the air in front of me while I was rather firmly strapped into a large lounge chair.

Considering my situation I feel my reaction was understandable, "What the hell did you just do!" I began pulling at my restraints, though this accomplished nothing but to make my wrists and ankles sore.

Discord waved a hand dismissively, "Oh relax, I just took you somewhere more private so we could have a little chat, and in case you were wondering your little pony friends are currently playing my 'twisted game stacked in my favor', but you knew that didn't you?"

Discord floated down and wrapped himself sinuously around my cushioned prison and looked me in the eyes. "I do so love you humans, did you know that? You all have so much chaotic potential even while embodying several of the Harmony's oh so precious elements! Wars escalated to worldwide scales due to your countries remaining loyal to their allies, friendships torn apart by a moment of honesty, and laughter without thought causing deep, festering resentments. Absolutely wonderful! But you, you're even better. Because you're an unknown in this world, and thanks to your interference with the script this world is on a path that not even Celestia or I can predict, and that, that excites me."

Discord slowly unwrapped himself, floating over to a corner and pulling forward a large oval object wrapped in brown paper. "Now, how about you help me push things even further off track?"

I snarled, "Like hell, I'll-"

Discord interrupted me with a roll of his eyes, "Yes yes, you'll never help me, never betray your friends, yadda yadda yadda. I've heard it before, and let me tell you it never gets interesting. Anyway, you haven't even heard what I have to offer! And before you bother, I don't care if you don't want to know."

Without waiting for me to respond Discord turned and pulled off the paper with a flourish, and any words of protest died in my throat as my heart began to break. From behind my shoulder I heard discord speak, "I'll even let them go with you, help me now, and you'll never have to worry again."

I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out. I tried again several times before I could choke out a few words, "Three hairs."

Discord blinked suddenly appeared before me again and blinked, "What?" 

"I also want three of your hairs, that's not a problem is it?"

Discord looked at me for a moment, then shrugged, "Fine, not like any magic can touch me if I don't want it to." Casually Discord plucked three hairs from his goatee and handed them to me as my restraints broke up into butterflies and fluttered away, though how they left without any windows being present I have no idea.

"Now that that's settled, I do believe I hear a purple pony calling for me, so I'll leave you here until I'm ready, ta ta!"

Discord disappeared in a flash along with his larger offer, though I barely noticed as I stared down at the hairs in my hand.

====================================================================================================

I stood behind Discord's throne as I listened to Twilight's speech, the words, and even the chaos around me, barely registering to me as I reflected on what I was about to do. I was making a sacrifice that I never thought I'd have to, and it left my heart feeling empty.

But I'd made my choice, and as I felt Discord give me a mental nudge I realized that I had no time left to question it.

As I stepped around the throne I heard all the girls gasp, and felt my heart break further as I saw the looks of betrayal on all of their faces, but unlike me it seemed that Discord found those same expressions absolutely hilarious as he cackled madly,

"Really, you six should have known better than to trust a human, after all they are creatures of chaos at heart, not that you'd all know that I suppose. Regardless, are you all really prepared to blast both of us?" Discord wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer, "After all, there's no telling what it might do to something so totally unfamiliar to this world, who knows it might even reject him so violently that he winds up as a rainbow colored paste!" Discord cackled again, but I was able to hear Applejack speak over him.

"Aaron? Ah don't, how could yah-" I cut her, and by extension the rest of them, off as I placed my hand on Discords back in a show of camaraderie, "Applejack, he's right. It's dangerous to trust a human."

Applejack's expression hurt the worst, she had let me into her home, practically become a second family, and I was throwing it all back in her face.

I really hated to trick them.

"You should especially be wary to trust one of us when you don't bother to get verbal confirmation of an agreement bastard!"

Discord barely manged to turn his head before I opened my hand completely and pressed a scrap of paper with a very special transmutation circle to his back and pushed energy into it.

The roar of pain that followed scraped against our sanity and brought all of the ponies to their knees, and I only held on out of necessity as the circle hadn't completed it's job yet. Discord had made a major mistake in giving me those hairs as well as not checking my pockets and taking away my notepad and pens that I always kept on me for alchemic emergencies.

It had been fairly easy to create a circle capable of analyzing what Discord was made of, and in doing so I found out something remarkable. Discord's physical form was actually an amazingly complex enchantment, or in other words a purely magical construct. And as I'd told Luna at the Gala, magical constructs could be forced to decay with alchemy.

Unfortunately without the proper set up I couldn't create a circle to rapidly decay Discord into his component magic, a rush job like this one did have the wonderful side effect of putting him through excruciating pain as it slowly ate away at his essence.

As I felt the reaction take hold more firmly I pushed discord to the ground, alchemic lighting crackling over his form as more and more of his body bubbled and boiled, spitting out random bits of magic as the decaying crater on his back got larger and larger.

As Discord writhed on the ground, futilely trying to force himself up I shouted, "Girls, now!" Time was of the essence here, I had no doubt that Discord could simply detach the portion of himself that was falling apart and recreate it if he bothered to concentrate, I had been banking on the hope that Discord would be completely unfamiliar with pain like this and it would keep his thoughts muddled, but I had no way of knowing how long that distraction would last.

I shouldn't have worried though, the girls recovered from their surprise quickly, and even as I shouted they had begun to challenge the power of the elements, and in seconds Discord found himself once again encased in stone.
> A Taste of Discord Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot General Hospital, morgue, 2 hours before Discord's fall

Three cloaked figures slipped into the morgue, one remaining at the door to keep watch as the other two made there way to the corpses that were stored there. As the two approached the doors to the enchanted cabinets that kept the remains in stasis.

One of the two, clearly an earth pony or pegasus given the lack of horn poking up inside the hood of their cloak moved forward to inspect the identifying tags on the doors, moving from one to the other as they looked for one corpse in particular.

The cloaked figure at the door, the tip of his horn tenting their hood, lilting voice and thick but haughty accent identifying them as some form of noblemare though raised outside of Canterlot,  chose that moment to speak up, "While Discord's rampage provides an ample distraction, it might behoove you two buffoons to hurry, I'd rather not risk my cover by trying to turn back any staff."

The third figure, a clearly bipedal creature standing nearly twice as tall, and twice as wide, as his two companions seemed to perk up at the mention of someone discovering them before speaking in a growling voice that still somehow managed to convey childlike naivete, "Oh, can I-"

The figure inspecting the doors snapped out in a gravelly, masculine voice, "Would you two shut up! I've found her slot, so get over here and help me with your damn magic." He jerked his head at the larger figure, "You go watch the door, we'll deal with any idiots who come down here without her charm now."

The unicorn sniffed contemptuously but still allowed the larger figure to take her place at the door and walked over to her irate companion, her horn lighting up and casting a light golden glow as a similar glow surrounded the door in question, swinging it open, and unfortunately allowing the fowl stench within to fill the room.

The two ponies quietly retched, taking a moment to compose themselves before the unicorn's horn lit up, lifting the body bag up and placing it on her compatriots back.

He grunted in disgust as he felt the weight distribute itself on his back, "Damn it, even if I can't question their effectiveness, why the hell did he get those beasts to take her out? It's going to take bloody forever just to fix the body up."

The unicorn shook her head, "For once dear brother, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Now let us hurry and work our way back out, I'd rather not-"

Their discussion was cut short as their third companion spoke up, "There's two ponies coming..." Slowly he turned his head to the other two, "Can I eat them?"





Applejack frowned as she stood in front of the door to Aaron's room, a plate of food balanced carefully on her back. She was here to bring him some of the supper, but she couldn't help but hesitate. Aaron had gone and locked himself in his room as soon as he'd gotten back to the farmhouse, and the rest of them had had the sense to leave him alone to deal with whatever was bothering him. However, even Chrysalis, who'd returned briefly after Discord's chaos had finally been cleaned up around her hive, had stayed away from his room, stating that the amount of negative emotions she could feel coming from Aaron were enough to make her physically ill.

For some reason it had taken three trips up the stairs and then back down to the bathroom for her to figure that out.

Changeling antics aside though, that told Applejack that Aaron must be hurtin' bad, bad enough that she was beginning to thing that leaving him on his own wasn't the best idea. Shaking her head and swallowing her apprehension Applejack raised her hoof to knock, and stopped.

Her ears flicked forward to catch the faint noise she'd only just managed to catch, and ignoring all her normal scruples Apple jack replaced her hoof with her ear as she tried to hear better what Aaron was saying.

Her eyes widened as she heard him sobbing, but the words that he managed to get out broke her heart and made her body tense up in anger.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. He said he'd let me go back, but I couldn't- I couldn't just leave them behind, not like that. I'm sorry momma, I want to go home, but I couldn't." A few more sobs broke out of Aaron's room, "I miss you all, I'm sorry."

Applejack placed the tray of food down with trembling hooves before she turned to walk away. Aaron'd come out and see it when he was good and ready, and she needed to go and try to convince herself not to take a hammer to a particular statue.