> Remembering the evil ideas > by reader8363 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Nightmare, work, and Discord > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I lifted my head to find out that I was blindfolded, then I sighed, leaned my head back against the wall, and listened to the sound of torches crackling, I felt the cold metal on my arms and my horn,  and the dirty, silky cloth around my eyes. It felt like hours of being alone until I heard something creaking. I tried to levitate the blindfold off but couldn’t, then a familiar voice said as I listened to it getting closer, “I think it’s enough time being in here, now..” Then my alarm went off. I opened my eyes to see that I was in my bedroom. I sighed and said as I got out of bed, “Great, the same nightmare again, and no clue who was talking.” I  walked to the bathroom, opened the door and got in. It’s been 4 months since I had amnesia from getting hit with a cart in Manehattan, waking up in Canterlot hospital with Celestia standing over me asking how I’m feeling, moved out of Vinyl’s and started living on my own, and getting a job at Sugarcube corner since I lost the skill to properly swing an ax. Besides the only closet forest is the everfree and almost nobody wants to go there. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and get out of the past. I rinsed out my mane and tail, got out, and headed downstairs to make some coffee and get ready for work as I was drying my mane. After I was ready for work and I had breakfast, I grabbed my bag and ran out the door, then I felt like someone was watching me. I turned around to see a shadow in my room looking down at me. I shook my head to focused, to see nothing was there. I turned around to the street to see Discord watching me. I walked up to him and said, “Hey Discord, how are ya?” He smiles and said as he materialized a pocket watch from his fur, “Hey Eric, I’m doing fine, I see that you’re running early as usual.” I shrugged and said, “ya do know that I prefer you not to do chaos around me, gives me a headache for some reason, and yeah, early to work the more I get paid.” When I got to work, I was greeted by the smell of baking bread and snacks, and Pinkie waving to me as she said as she avoided eye contact, “Perfect timing, I was thinking I would have to do both the cooking and the cash register, you handle the money and I’ll do the baking.” I nodded and said, “It usually not this busy in the morning.” I walked over to the register and said, “Mr. and Mrs. Cake are busy?” Pinkie nodded and ran into the kitchen when the bell went off. After a bit of work, I checked the clock to see that it was noon, I called to Pinkie that I was taking my lunch and headed to the park. I pulled a piece of paper, and a writing utensil and wrote, “Dear Luna, The Nightmares are back. We need to figure out what to do with them, signed Eric Lumber.” I rolled the paper up and used the spell Celestia taught me to send the letter to Luna. When I got to the park, I sat down and a letter popped in front of me. I opened it and it said, “Dear Eric,  I’ll see you tonight to figure this out, and it’s happening to everyone in Ponyville and Canterlot, so it’s not just you.” I rolled it back up and stuffed it in my bag. Ever since I lost my memory, I been having nightmares, and it turns out that everypony either dreams of being chased by changelings or being enslaved by Chrysalis. I can’t make eye contact with anypony since I somehow got an ability to freeze ponies if I make eye contact. Learned that hard way at a check up. A nurse at the Canterlot hospital was checking my eyes and froze while shining the light in my eyes. I shook her and she didn’t do anything so I did the only thing I can think of, I called for help, luckily Celestia was there. She snapped the nurse out of it and said while looking through the papers that I have an ability to freeze ponies and any other creature by eye contact, and with enough practice, I would be able to control it and the ponies. A warning has been put out about my ability,  new creature are always scared of me at first, but they get used to me. I decided to walk around Ponyville and after that, I headed to work. After my work day was over, I was heading home and I saw Discord drinking the glass with the chocolate milk intact. I slowly walked up to Discord, using magic to muffle my steps and said right by him, “DISCORD, what did I tell you about drinking glass, you go through enough glasses but not enough chocolate milk.” His eyes bulged as he sprayed liquid glass all over the wall and started coughing. I couldn’t help but fall over and laughing. He glared at me and said, “You didn’t have to scare me, and that was a good glass thank you very much.” He muttered something under his breath, but I couldn’t make out what he said. After getting my laughter under control I got up and said, “Come on, I’ll treat ya to a drink, and no it’s not glass.” I led him to my home. He whistled when he saw the size of it and said as I went in the basement, “This is pretty big, you could hide the princesses here.” I came up with two bottles of wine and tossed one to Discord and said, “Yeah. I have Celestia to thank for it. After I got out of the hospital, she gave me the house and talked to Mr. and Mrs. Cake into letting me work at Sugercube Corner. Don’t go through that, I have to go to Canterlot to get good drinks, and I have to pay for them and the ticket, so don’t come back for a few weeks.” We talked for a bit, then Discord excused himself and left, disappear is more like it. I ate dinner, got ready for and bed, went to sleep, to talk to Luna about ideas. > Talking to Luna, attacked, and read a letter > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I sat in a dark room, then a door appeared and opened. Luna walked in and said, “What was this nightmare about?” I walked up to her and said as I hugged her, “Being in the cell blindfolded.” I don’t know why I’m friendly to Luna, but not as much to Celestia. She nodded and said, “Do you think it’s because of your ability that you’re dreaming of being blindfolded.” I let go of her and said, “Maybe that’s the reason. It’s been awhile since I last saw ya. How’s everything going with ya?” She shrugged her shoulders and said, “The usual.” I was about to answer, then I got this weird feeling, I turned around to see a darker and lighter version behind me. The lighter version had a chain around its neck and it was being dragged by the dark version. He looked at me and said, “Ah, the middle one’s here, been awhile. How are you, spy?” The lighter one looked up and, “Hello, Eric and Luna.” Luna and I looked at each other, then I said, “Guess this is tonight’s dream. I always wonder about them, and is it me or do they remind you of Discord and Fluttershy, apart from the leash thing.” Luna was speechless at what was going on, she just nodded and disappeared. I opened my eyes and sat up. I quietly thanked Luna for getting me out of that nightmare, I never been able to get out of nightmares, it like I’m chained up and being tortured with these nightmares. I rolled over and went back to bed The next morning, I got up and got in the shower, and got ready for my day off. I ate a light breakfast and walked out the door. As I was walking, I saw Twilight at the market. I walked up and said, “Hey, Twilight.” She turned to me and said, “Oh hi Eric, Have you gotten a hold on your ability yet and how have you been?” I shrugged and said, “I’m doing fine, and I don’t know. Haven’t looked ponies in the eye in a while.” Twilight nodded and said, “How about we meet for lunch, I’m going to meet Fluttershy for lunch, but I don’t think she’ll mind if you join us.” I nodded and said, “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll see if I make it or not.” We said our goodbye and I headed to a different part of ponyville. As I was walking, I felt something grab me and pulled me into a nearby alley, then I was slammed into a wall. Standing in front of me was Chrysalis, I think it was Chrysalis, I just heard about her from the mane 6 and the princesses. I started to scream but felt a leg with holes in it on my mouth. She stared at me and said, “Master, do you remember me and your army?” My eyes widened with fear and when she removed her leg, I said, “Please don’t kill me, I don’t know you, you must've got the wrong pony.” Chrysalis was taken back by the comment and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you, master. My name is Chrysalis, and I am your lieutenant. I was sent by you five months ago to tell you a word that will make it all clear, robots, and your letter is in a book of hypnosis in Twilight’s library.” Then she took off. I stood there for what seemed like an hour then I collapsed on my but and sighed that I’m alive. I got up and headed to the hayburger to get some food after this scary encounter. I got there to be lead to a table with Fluttershy and Twilight already there. Twilight saw my expression and said, “Eric, what’s wrong?” I was about to say something, then our food came, Twilight said right before she took a bite, “Hope you don’t mind that I ordered for you if you showed up.” I shook my head and said, “I don’t mind and I just had a scary run in with Chrysalis.” I took a bite, then looked up to see Fluttershy and Twilight’s expression. After a few minutes of silence, Twilight broke the silence and said, “Why, how, what was she doing here?” I shrugged and said, “She called me master, said her name, that she's my lieutenant, and gave me a random word that I don’t even know what it means. I think it was robot or something. I looked up to see Twilight’s and Fluttershy’s mouth open I picked up my burger and said before I took a bite, “Close both of your mouths, nothing happened after that.” I turned to a waiter and said, “Could I get a drink? When the waiter placed the drink on the table, Fluttershy and Twilight jumped. I turned to them and said, “Is it okay if I go through all your books on hypnosis, to see if Chrysalis was telling the truth about me sending a message five months ago?” Twilight finished her burger and said, “Sure, it will be interesting to see if Chrysalis lost her mind after trying to kill me.” She got up and ask Fluttershy if she wanted to come. Fluttershy looked down and said, “I need to back to my animals.” As we separated, I rubbed Fluttershy’s head and followed Twilight back to her castle. After looking through the books, I found a letter. My heart almost jumped out of my throat when I saw the date. I was five months ago, just like Chrysalis said. It read, “This might come as a shock to you, but this isn’t a fake. If ya got this that means that ya lost, or was betrayed, and had your memory erased. I placed a failsafe in the ponies closest to us, then erased their memory. I had to erase our memory so that Celestia or whoever is in control now, wouldn’t find out when torturing ya. I’m guessing Twilight is there with you, and you probably have our ability. Tell her robot and then give her a command. I added our notes and a list of everypony that has the failsafe in them. The fate of our era is in your hands now. Eric Lumber.” > Denying and checking > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I looked at the letter and crumbled it. This must be a joke, Celestia has ruled over a peaceful era for thousands of years, and now I’m supposed to do something about it. I looked over the list and was shocked to see who was on it, Luna, Twilight, Vinyl, Octavia, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and some other names. I decided that the whole thing was a joke, and tossed it all away, but I couldn’t get the thought out of my head. I turned to Twilight, who was sitting at the table reading a book. I shrugged my shoulder, what do I have to lose if it doesn’t work, besides looking like an idiot for a few minutes When I was walking up, she looked up and said, “Did you find the letter, or is Chrysalis losing her mind?” I rubbed my back leg and said as I thought about how to go about this, “I did find a letter, but it seems to be just nonsense. Is it okay if I try something to see if it holds any truth?” She placed the book on the table and said, “Sure, what do you need to do?” I took a deep breath, and said robot and waited for Twilight to ask or laugh. I looked to see that she didn't move at all. I slowly stepped in front of her and waved a hoof in front of her, she didn’t blink at all. I thought about what to command her, then I got an idea. I said as I got ready to grabbed the letter and hand it to Twilight, “Head to your room, go to bed, sleep, and don’t wake up till I say awake.” It won’t work, since she might have work to do, and she wouldn’t even be tired since it’s noon. I took a step back as she got up, waiting for her to yell at me that she has work to do, but she just walked past me and out of the library. I followed her, then she stopped in front of a door and opened it. I’m guessing it was her room. I followed her in and shut the door, she didn’t even notice, and if she did, she didn’t care. As she was getting in bed, I looked around the room. There was a familiar smell, but I could put my hoof on it, and it was my first time being in here. I turned to Twilight to see that she wasn’t moving and her breathing slowed down, in other words, she was asleep. I walked up, and tapped her on the shoulder when that didn’t work, I rolled her on her back and back up a bit. When she didn’t wake up from that, the letter looked less of a joke. I shook my head and said forgetting about Twilight, “No, this can’t be real. There is no way that I am trying to take Celestia’s throne and no way I would control my friends. This is a joke someone else is playing on me. They put them under the spell, and when I try to do it more, I’ll be framed for it.” As I was walking out, I said awake and slipped out the door before Twilight could see me inside her room and ask questions. I went back to the library and took the notes, letter, and the list, and walked out the door of the castle. In the notes, it had coordinates and directions to a base that I supposedly used five months ago. I walked to my home to get my bag to get more potions. I ran out two days ago, so I didn’t have any yesterday or today. After I grabbed my bag, I headed to the Everfree forest towards the two sisters’ castle. As I was heading there, the animal stayed in the shadow where I couldn’t see them, but I could feel they’re eyes watching me. It felt great to get some quiet away from the sound of ponies screaming, yelling, and playing around. I shook my head and walking, when I finally reached the castle, it was about 3. I lit my horn to see the notes, turned, and headed right. It was about an hour walk of constantly looking over my shoulder to see if any monsters were following me or changelings were running at me to capture me and turn me into food when I reached a clearing. I looked around to see that there wasn’t anything there. I sigh, placed the papers in my bag so I can burn them when I get home, then I turned to around to head to Zecroa’s, to get my potions to help me a little with my nightmares, when I saw Chrysalis standing there. She smiled and said as she slowly moved towards me, either to not scare me or to make me more nervous about what’s going to happen, “So you believe my story master, your story?” I took a few steps back and said as I powered up my horn to put up a barrier between us, “Stay back, I won’t let you kidnap me, have one of your drones replace me, and turn me into food. Can’t since I don’t love anyone that I remember, you’ll kill me, and change my attitude to make somepony like me.” Chrysalis walked towards me and said, “Calm down, I’m not going to turn you into food or replace you.” My eyes widen that it looked like they were going to pop out of my skull. I said right before taking off, “You're going to kill me and make it look like a timberwolf got to me, or you’re going to make me into a statue, then turn me into dust.” As I was running away, I felt something grab my hind legs. I fell forward and when I turned around I saw Chrysalis pulling me back. I tried to grab the earth, but couldn’t. I closed my eyes and said as I was pulled, flipped over, and pinned down, “Disappear, Begone, Awake, Luna, wake me up from this nightmare, robot, SLEEP.” I felt something land on top of me. I opened my eyes to see Chrysalis on top of me asleep. I tried to scream, but it was caught in my throat, then I did the only thing a pony could do in my position, I fainted. > Coming to term and deciding to repair the damage > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I woke up to the sound of hissing and nudging. When I opened my eyes, I almost jumped out of my skin. Two changelings were standing over me. I was about to scream, but then I realized that they were waiting for something. I looked around to see Chrysalis laying next to me. I got up and started pacing around. I have one of Celestia’s enemies and a letter that connects her to the pony that’s trying to frame me, but if I brought it in without more evidence, then it would be useless. I thought about it and said as he turned to Chrysalis, “Uh, Chrysalis, can ya hear me?” Chrysalis said as she lazily nodded, “Yes Master.” I steeled myself and said, “I want you to follow in disguise.” Chrysalis got up and changed into a dark gray pony with a blue mane and a book for a cutie mark and started following me to Zecora’s house. When I got there, I knocked on the door and Zecora said as she answered, “Hello Eric, I assume you’re out. Am I correct?” I nodded and said, “Yeah, I ran out two days ago, so I came to see how you’re doin and get some more.” She nodded and said as she walked into her home. “I’m doing fine and your remedy shouldn’t be hard to find. Now, what is on your mind?” I jumped and said, “I don’t know what you are talking about, I have nothing on my mind, just tired.” She looked at me and said as she grabbed my medicine and hand it to me, “I could tell that something is troubling you. Is there anything I could do?” I levitated the medicine into my bag, then said as I walked to the door, “I really don’t have anything troubling me, I’ll talk to you later, bye.” I didn’t wait to hear what she said. When I was far from her house, I turned around to see Chrysalis, still in disguise, was still following me. I slowed my pace to a walk in order to catch my breath and figure out what I’m doing, how was I supposed to find out more to catch whoever is framing me. Then it hit me if I go up to a pony on the list and ask Chrysalis to use the word robot, and when they obey Chrysalis, I can frame her for it. When we were at the castle, I turned to Chrysalis and said, When we get into the castle and in front of Twilight, I want you to tell her robot.” Then I headed into the castle Chrysalis said as she followed me into the castle, “Yes master.” It took a while to find her, she was in the kitchen. She turned around and said when she saw us, “Hello, Eric, who’s your friend?” Chrysalis stopped next to me and said, “Robot.” Twilight looked at us with confusion and said, “What about a robot?” My heart dropped into my stomach. It seems that robot will only work for me. I sat down, placed my head on the table and said, “It’s nothing, awake.” Chrysalis shook her head and said as she shed her disguise, “Where am I? Oh, hello Twilight, it’s been five months.” I looked at Twilight to see that she paralyzed with fear and confusion. When she found her voice, she turned to me and said, “Eric, why is Chrysalis here, are you even Eric, why did you bring her here?” I sighed as I bang my head on the table, “Don’t worry, she is apparently under my control somehow. The more this day goes, the more it seems that I’m evil.” Then I felt a hoof on my shoulder and heard Chrysalis saying, “Master, there is something that might help you. Twilight, could you take us to your storage.” I looked up to see Chrysalis had a hoof on my shoulder, then I turned to Twilight to see that she was shocked by all of this. She nodded and left after turning everything off. When we got in the storage. Chrysalis walked to a wall, then pass right through it. Twilight gasped right next to me and I would if nothing else happened. I walked through the wall to see books, a coat, Vinyl’s glasses, potions, powder, black jacket, a letter in front of it all, and above it all was a banner that had my cutie mark on it. I levitated the note to me and read it, “Dear me, I guess you were a bit stubborn on believing that Celestia is good. She is good but has everyone believe that she is perfect for Equestria forever. We aren’t evil, sure we control ponies, but we gave Sombra a second chance and fed Chrysalis’ hive.” I burned the letter, tossed it in the trash, grabbed the books, then ran out the door. I don’t care what the letter says, that was the last nail in my sanity coffin, and now there isn’t a way to go back to my previous life. I went to the library and pulled out a map of Equestria. Ponyville should be the first place to figure out I did and try to make amends. It says that I controlled ponies to love the changelings. Vinyl’s on the list with the failsafe, so I’ll visit her to get the story around ponyville, with the books are correct, even with the memory forgotten, the ones with the failsafe would be able to remember, but if a guard finds me controlling ponies, I’m dead. I shivered at that. I got up and headed for the door. When I opened the door, Twilight and Chrysalis were standing there. I pushed them away, then it dawned on me. When my schedules change, or I have an appointment. I always forget, so I leave early for work but haven’t figured out what to do with the appointments. I turned back to Twilight and said, “Robot, you will become my assistant, and when I say awake, you will return to normal. Awake.” Then I turned to Chrysalis and said, “How many of the army is alive.” As Twilight was getting used to what happens and mumbling, Chrysalis looked at me confused and said, “About a fourth survived being captured and starving, they are mostly young ones, nymphs.” I nodded and said, “Twilight, once you are used to being an assistant could you head to my home and looked through my paper, and get everything together, even my appointments, I need some help with that.” Then I headed out the door, to head to Vinyl’s house to hear what needs to be amended with Ponyville. > learning about others opinion > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As I was walking to Vinyl’s house, I looked at each pony, thinking on how I should fix what I did to them. Once I got there, I was about to knock, but I heard music coming from the house. I unlocked the door, and walked in. Vinyl was at her dj equipment with her headphones in. I smiled as I messed with her equipment, adjusting the volume, pitch, and tempo. She looked at me and I could see excitement, happiness, or maybe relief in her magenta eyes. She walked up to me and said, “Well, was my glasses in you boxes or what?” I shifted on my hooves and said, “Not exactly, I thought we decided that ya didn’t really need them.” As I was packing my stuff to head to my new home, Vinyl couldn’t find her glasses to go to one of her concerts. I convinced her to try it this one time to go without her glasses. She came to my house and said that it was enjoyable not being hidden behind her glasses. She smiled and said as she walked into the kitchen, “I don’t, I just want to sign them, then maybe put them in a museum or sell them. Do you want something to drink?” I shook my head and said, “No thanks, I’m just here to ask some questions. Could you sit down for a moment before you make yourself a drink?” She looked at me with a puzzled look on her face, sat down, and said, “What are the questions you want to ask me?” I sat down on the other side of the table and said, “Robot.” She stared at me without blinking. I stood up and said, “You will remember everything. How was everypony before I tried to take over Equestria.” Then a felt something stir in me. I added, “Did they like it or were fine with it.” Vinyl nodded and said, “They were fine with the idea, and some enjoyed helping the changelings out once you talked to them about what they were dealing with.” I nodded, it seems like I didn’t need to fix anything, but something was bugging me about the whole thing. I brought the whole hive into ponyville, told the ponies to feed them, and they’re fine with it. I’m glad it worked out, but I was thinking it was going to go another way. I shook my head and said, “You won’t remember anything that happened before the Canterlot takeover. In a few minutes you will come out of the trance, just remember I asked you a few questions, but won’t remember what they were, then I needed to run somewhere.” I stood up and left to see another pony if it caused any problems. After looking through the list, I decided that either Rainbow Dash or Applejack would be able to tell me how everything has been. Rainbow was my guard, so she would have seen almost everything that happened, and Applejack can’t really lie, even under my control. I had my head in the clouds, figuratively speaking, that I didn’t notice that I was being watched. I headed to Sweet Apple Acres to talk to Applejack to get more information. A few minutes after I walked through the gate, I heard a thunk echo across the orchard. I smile and headed towards it. Applejack was taking a small break from applebucking for the day. When she saw me, she smiled and said as she tossed an apple at me, “Hey Eric, how have ya been “ I smiled back, caught the apple before it could hit me in the head or get pierced by my horn, and said as I sat down on the other side of her, “Same old, just learning how to keep my abilities in check.” I don’t know why, but every time I come down here, I’m tossed an apple, maybe I left an impression on here when I started to control her. I waved that thought out of my head and said, “Robot, you will remember what happen before I went to take over Equestria to answer my question. What was your real opinion on me ruling over Ponyville, and how did the others act or talk about when I or the guards weren’t around?” Applejack looked at me and said, “I rather enjoyed it. Helping out with food, having my family under your control so I didn’t have to keep secrets from them. I think almost everypony would like to help anypony that needs help.” I nodded and said as I took her hat off her head and placed it on my head, “You will relax and take a nap, then afterward, you will wake up and not remember me saying robot or anything after it.” Her head fell across her chest and she started to snore lightly. A few minutes later, she woke up and said, “Sorry about that, I occasionally take naps after I get my work done.” I smiled and said, “It’s fine, after the hard work you do, you should take a nap once in awhile.” Then she noticed that I was wearing her hat. She grabbed it, pulled it off my head, and placed it on her head. I added, “I have to get going. Nice seeing you again. I let you get back to doing work.” She nodded and I left. After getting the almost the same report from Vinyl and Applejack, I decided that I didn’t need to fix anything, so maybe the next thing to do is to find what more about me and decide what to do from there. I headed into my home and saw a bunch of papers flying through the air. I follow it to the next room and saw that Twilight was sitting over a bunch of papers. I started pounding my head against the wall. I wanted to figure out what I needed to do, but I let my instincts kick in and altered Twilight’s personality for my benefit. It turned around that me banging my head on the wall alerted Twilight of my presence. When about to bang my head against the wall. I hit a force. I opened my eyes to see a block of magic on the wall, where I was banging my head. I looked see Twilight looking at me with curiosity and worry. I straightened my back, stood up, and said, “Robot, you won’t be my assistant anymore and will remember being my assistant. You will go home, get get what you need to get done, then tomorrow, I’ll come over and we’ll talk about it.” Twilight released the magic and walked out the door. I closed the door and headed to my room to get some sleep, after today, I need the rest. > Getting upset by Twilight > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I woke up with a horrible headache . I couldn’t remember much of my dream, but then again, why would I want to remember my dream if some of them are memories of my old self. I got up, took a shower, grabbed some breakfast, then I headed towards Twilight’s castle. When I arrived at the door and was about to knock, Twilight opened it and said, “Eric, what do you have to say for yourself? Altering my mind to suit you.” I sighed and said as I walked past her, “I’m guessing that you’re really pissed at me about doing that. I recall that I didn’t do it on purpose and it was Spike that agreed with me, you could read about it in the books that I wrote months ago.” I headed into the library and picked up the books and started flipping through them. Once I found what I was looking for, I quoted, “As Twilight was busy getting the tea ready, I asked Spike if Twilight was good to be an assistant. He shrugged his shoulder and said, “I guess”...” I was about to read more, but Twilight teleported the journal out of my hooves and said, “I get it, but that doesn’t mean I would like to do some lazy pony’s calendar for appointments and work times. By the way, you do know that you shouldn’t bang your head into a wall for a long time, might get a concussion, or at most, break or damage your horn.” I rolled my eyes and said, “what to do prefer I should do when i act on instinct or some old habit that I have forgotten, place a hoof on my face? I’m not lazy, I just can’t remember times of stuff.” She waved her hoof and said, “It’s almost the same thing. The point is that I didn’t like to do your work.” I held my hooves up and said, “Robot. Let’s tweak your personality since there might be a problem with it. How do you feel and why?” Twilight stood there and said, “I feel angry because of you taking control of me without permission, scared because you might do it again and that you would make me do something horrible for your own benefit.” I nodded and said, ”Sit down in the chair. Did these feelings happen recently or did it happen for a while?” Twilight said as she sat down, “It started a few months ago, while you were in the hospital. I started to have nightmares of you chasing me into the throne room, and taking control of me and ponyville. I would wake up and dismiss it, but a little bit of me thought that since it felt so real, that it was my memories. Then when the truth about you was revealed. I grew angry that you wanted to overthrow Celestia and scared about how you were going to do it. Then, when you control me, it grew worse.” I nodded and said, “You’ll forget about the dream and all the feeling about it, but you’ll remember me accidentally making you my assistant and feeling connected to that. Awake.” Twilight shook her head, looked around and said, “You did it again didn’t you?” I nodded and said, “I just wanted to check if you were okay, and how did you know I was at the door.” Twilight looked surprised and said, “Oh, that’s easy, I put a tracker on you.” I looked at her like she just said that she made a bomb, confused, shocked, and a little scared. I shook my head and said, “Um, can you repeat that?” Twilight said as if it was nothing more than levitation, “I put a tracker on you so I now where you are at all times. Come I’ll show you.” I followed her to the throne room, she powered up the map to show that my cutie mark was hovering above Ponyville. I looked at her and said, “I don’t know whether to be impressed or scared. If you can do this, so can Celestia.” Twilight looked up as if she was thinking about it and said, “Maybe, but I don’t think she have did it yet.” I thought about how to approach this, I needed to make sure, but I can’t just message Celestia and ask her if she has a tracker on me. Then it hit me, Luna, she has been with Celestia, so she should know if I’m being tracked or not. I turned to Twilight and said, “Can you teach me the spell?” After Twilight told me about the spell, I grew a bit worried. For the spell to work, I need something that the one, that I want to track, holds precious. I can’t remember ever having something precious to me. Twilight must have known what I was think. She said as she headed out of the throne room, “It was simple, the one thing that you hold precious is the ponies that are close to you, and that would be your friends.” I thought about it. It was possible that I feel that my friends are precious. I looked over the list of ponies still under my control. Almost all of them are my friends. I looked up at Twilight and said, “Is there anything that is precious to Celestia, besides ponies of Equestria, Luna or her pet?” Twilight started walking around, lost in thought, then she said as she turned around quickly that I jumped, “I got it, her crown. When I was young, I took her crown and looked for it, then when she found it, she told me that it was worth more than her life. It’s basically a symbol of power. “ I nodded and said, “How do you think I should do this take it and cast the spell, control Luna and tell her to get for me, or maybe I should do the spell in front of her and make her curious why I placed a tracker on her.” Twilight sighed and said, “Forget it, you’re acting like Pinkie, only more sarcastic.” I turned towards the door and said, “Take off the tracker, I like to be alone sometimes.” I walked out of the throne room with Twilight calling after me to stop, but I didn't. I just wanted to be left alone to figure out what is going on. In two or three days, my ordinary life was spun around and now I’m an evil mind control pony that had lost his memory, and everypony is fine with that. I was in the park, when I heard voices calling out for me. I turned around to tell them to leave me alone, but that died in my throat. Right behind me was the crusaders, Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle. I haven’t figured out why I can’t tell them to leave me alone, then again, I can’t tell Pinkie to leave me alone, I could, but she wouldn’t listen. I sat down, they came up and Scootaloo said, “Why aren’t you at work, Mr. and Mrs. Cake won’t let us in the back.” I smiled and said, “Didn’t you forget to clean up last time you were in there. I have enough to deal with, so I wouldn’t want to get in trouble and maybe lose my job.” Applebloom got up on the bench and said, “ We promised that we'd clean up this time, but they still said no.” I sighed and said, “If they say no, then I can’t go against them, they are my bosses.“ Sweetie sat down on the other side of me and said as she pouted, “Please, just this once.” I looked away and wished that she would remember what I did. They know how to get to me. I got up and said, “I have some work to do at home. Sorry, but I not going to work today. It’s my day off as well. Don't you have work to do. Applebloom, I think Applejack needs you. Sweetie, the same for your sister. Scootaloo, why don’t you visit Rainbow?” They looked at each other and headed in their own direction. I got up and was about to start heading in a different, when someone called me. I sighed and turned around to see Octavia walking towards me. I said as I turn back around, “Hey, Octavia, nice to see you, but I’m not in the mood for talking. Octavia ran in front of me and said while catching her breath, “Will you stop think of yourself for once and listen. I need to sit down.” She sat down and as she was catching her breath, I said, “Robot, be quick about it, what’s this about?” She said with her head down, “Twilight has an idea about your problem” I sighed and said, “I want you to head back to Twilight and say that I’m busy, then carry on with business, like Twilight didn’t ask you for anything today.” She nodded and took off back to Twilight’s, then I headed home to get away from everyone. > Finding about the plan > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I got home to see Discord sitting at on my couch, with the lock to my cellar broken and a few bottles of my best wine at his feet. I rolled my eyes, sighed, and said as I walked up to him, “Discord?” He looked up to get punched in the face, giving him a bloody muzzle. He stared at me and said as he made a tissue appear in his nose, “I’m guessing there is a reason for that.” I punched him in the nose again and said as I picked up the bottles, “I told you not to do chaos around me and I told you not to go through my wine. It’s supposed to last me a while.” I didn’t add that he sold me out, getting me in this mess. He looked up again and said as he snapped his fingers and another bottle appeared, “I’m not in the mood for your antics. Why don’t you buzz off.” I went to punch him again, then I noticed that he was drinking a dangerous combination of drinks. I took the bottle away from him and said as I pour it into a glass and some water, “This is your last drink, then you are going to head home to Fluttershy.” I swear that windigos just went through the house right after I said that. Discord looked at me, then he took the bottle out of the air and gulped it down. I shook my head and said as I headed upstair, “You know what forget it, just go somewhere else, and quit drinking my drinks.” I heard him muttering something, but I didn’t really care. After I got done with a hot shower, I headed to my study to see what Twilight did as far as organizing. She got done with my scheduling with my work for the next three weeks, all down to how long it take me to do something. It was kinda creepy how she knew what I do and how long it takes. Then the sound of crying cut through the air.I looked in the living room to see Discord just cried his eyes, literally, they were rolling across the ground. I sighed and was about to say something, then I heard a voice say, “Eric, how dare you do that to Octavia. I just asked her to get you, you didn’t have to do that. What’s wrong with Discord.” I sighed and turned around to see Twilight standing there with steam coming off of her head and the rest of her body was drenched like somepony pushed her into a lake. I said as I levitated Twilight and carried her away from Discord, “I don’t care, none of your plans work. Allow me to show you the door.” She squirmed a bit, then Discord said as he waved goodbye, “Bye, Twilight. It was nice to see you. I tossed her out, then I grabbed Discord by his tail and tossed him next to the door. I shut the door and placed a spell on my house that prevents teleportation into the house as I headed upstairs to get some sleep. Luna came in my dream and said, “Eric, Twilight had a plan for you.” I imagined her with a zipper across her mouth and said, “Don’t want to hear it.” She tried talking, but all that came out was muffling. She undid it and said, “As I was saying, why don’t you want to hear the plan.” I imagined poison joke in her mouth and that it made her voice change into a quiet one. I said as I walked away, “Most of her plans don’t work.” She talked, but I couldn’t hear her. She stopped and writing appeared, “Some of them work out in the end.” I couldn’t stand it anymore. I turned to Luna and said as I changed everything to darkness and blank, “Fine, what did Twilight say and don’t take to long.” Luna coughed a bit and said, “I thought you learned manners after your accident. I know this is your dream, but you can’t simply…” I stopped and said, “robot.” I was expecting her to disappear from the dream, but she stayed right where she was. I guess she placed more of herself in than she thought. I added as I materialized a chair behind her, “ sit down and tell me what Twilight has been trying to say in few words as possible.” She sat down and said, “Me, that’s all she said.” I sat down on my but with my mouth wide open, how did I not think of that. Luna is the sister of the one that I was against in my past, so she should have info on what happened from her view. I wanted to run up to her, but I stayed where I was and said, “I want you to go to Celestia in the morning and when she’s not busy, then kindly ask if she has any reports on me, don’t show any hint that I’m controlling you. Make something up if she asks why you want them, then mail them to me and forget afterward. Do you understand.” She nodded. I got up and said, “You will only remember telling what Twilight wanted you to tell me and nothing more. Awake.” She shook her head and said, “Guess that’s all, I have to go now and check on other ponies’ dreams.” In the morning, I woke to my alarm clock going off and got ready for work. I stepped out of the house to see Discord talking to Chrysalis, her guard looked at me almost pleading me to stop it. I sighed and said as I walked up to them, “Excuse me, but it seems to be a really heated conversation, anything I could to help?” Discord looked at me and said as he started to walk away, “No, nothing you can help with. I was just arguing about something that doesn’t really matter.” As he walked away, I looked back at Chrysalis. I was glad that she was in disguise or that this would be a problem if a pony saw me with a changeling. I said, “What were you to arguing about?” Chrysalis said as she sighed, “Discord was wondering why I was hanging around Ponyville and not trying to get my numbers back up. I basically told him to mind his own business and quit watching your house.” I nodded and said, “Okay, I need to get to work, will talk to you later.” Then I head towards Sugarcube Corner. When I got there, I was tackled by Pinkie Pie. She said as she got up, “hurry, it's too busy for just me the cakes are busy with the babies. I can't handle the customers and the baking.” I sighed as I got up and headed to do the cash register. After work, I got my pay and headed home. When I got home I saw Chrysalis taking bottles out of my cellar. I walked up to her and said as I tapped her on her but, “what are you doing with my bottles?” She jumped and almost dropped the bottles and said, “I was just making room for our food supply to avoid any problems with the locals.” I sighed and said when I noticed a package on the dining table, “I'll talk to later about this.” She nodded and placed bottles down. I ripped open the package to see a stack of papers. I took the first one out and started to read. > Celestia's pages > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 01     The guards have been telling me that Eric is rambling on about a new era and that I’m holding Equestria back, keeping it in the past. I dismissed it as a pony that is badly influenced by evil. Day 06     Eric is now screaming for Discord since he betrayed him. The guards have been asking me if they could silence him, I kept telling them no. Day 11     He stopped eating, he insists on being alone and will bite any hooves that get close to his mouth. We were forced to bound his mouth shut, so no pony would be ending up in the  hospital. Day 17     After six days, we decided that him alive is better than him being dead. We fed him in the middle of the night, once he was asleep. Day 25     He personally asked to talk to me, after being made sure that he was hooked in, I asked him what he wanted to talk about. He asked me why I was trying to go against time, I’ve been ruling more than a thousand years. I basically told him that if going with time meant that Equestria goes into ruins, then I would gladly accept that. He somehow got the blindfold off of one eye and said as he looked at me, “What makes you think it’s not there yet and I’m not trying to fix it?” Day 34     Eric’s word still rings in my head, he didn’t control me, but his words sank deep. We’ve been attacked multiple times already, maybe he would be good at ruling than me. I mean, he took out two powerful enemies and three princesses by himself. He could save Equestria from destruction. Day 40     We started talking casually, I have to say, he’s quite the charmer. Not only did he give me the locations of the places he been, but the ponies he controlled. I sent guards to collect them. The guards said that they ran into some difficulty with changelings protecting the ponies. When I asked him about it, he basically said that he didn’t have anything to do with it. The last command he gave the changelings were to take Canterlot. I looked him in the eye and trusted his word. Day 51     He asked me if he can walk around since it’s been a while and his legs are cramped. I agreed but made him go with three or four guards to make sure he didn’t do anything. He headed to the Library and controlled the Librarian under supervision. He just made the mare help with finding a few fantasy books and a few on Starswirl to read. Day 62     The ponies have been returned to normal and don’t remember what happened. I did it to be sure that they won’t break from the memories. He told me stories of what he did, I smiled at a few parts, like the changeling army growing nervous of the ponies turning to them. In his own way, he was kind to the enemy and foes. He asked me if I found Sombra. When I said yes and that he’s in a cell, he asks me if he can see him. I declined to that, I know he said that Sombra has changed, but I don’t want to take that chance. Day 69     Discord came over and ask how Eric is doing. I told that Eric’s doing fine, and ask him if he wants to see him. Discord declined and vanished. Day 74     Eric suggested that I try to relax sometimes, working this hard will lead to problems and not sleeping. I thought about it and said that I’ll try to do that. Day 81     Discord came over to check on me and  did a little chaos. He was surprised when I didn’t react the way he wanted, then he checked my temperature and ask if I was fine. I pushed his claw away and said that I’m just relaxed and that he should try it. He looked at me strangely and left. Day 95     I made a terrible mistake. After talking to Luna about Eric, she brought up that he has a silver tongue. Our chats have been putting ideas in my head. I went into his cell and asked him if our chats were charmed. He said as almost all of them were, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t telling the truth. I ordered the guards to chain him back up and left. Day 103     His words are still in my head. I decided that I’ll take a chance and see if he can get back up here and do it all again to proof me wrong, that he can help Equestria and that I’m holding it back. I walked into his cell and erased his memory, then I put him in the hospital. Day 115     I forgot about his power, but he now seems scared of what he can do. I don’t know if I have to worry about it. I’ll put Disord on watching him, I hope I didn’t make a mistake. > A dinner with the princesses? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I read the pages over and over, she’s tired of ruling? This can’t be, Celestia can’t get tired, she’s been strong for Equestria for all these years. Without her, Equestria wouldn’t survive. I place the pages back in the box and wrote a note saying, “Please give these back to Celestia Signed Anonymous.” Then I placed the note in, scratched the name off of the box and said as I gave the box to a changeling, “Get this to the castle and take this note as well, and give it to whoever catches you if you’re caught.” Before Chrysalis could tell the changeling to get back there, it was out the door. She turned to me and, “What did you that for? You just sent a changeling to its death.” I shrugged and said, “You don’t know that exactly. Celestia might be kind.” She looked at me suspiciously and said, “What was that note you gave the changeling?” I levitated a bottle out of the box and said as I looked at the label, “Just a little note saying that keep the changeling safe.” She took a step back and said, “You thought about everything.” I gave a quick smile and said as I headed into the kitchen to get the dishes done, “Being around Twilight does that. Well, almost everything, I didn’t think about what to do if Celestia doesn’t keep the changeling safe. I’m just hoping that she’s kind to the changeling.” Chrysalis nodded and said, “I’ll keep track of him, and tell you what happens.” I stopped in my tracks and turned around to look at her. She looked confused, then she added, “I forgot that he had amnesia, changelings have a connection, so that we stay in touch, even though we are on different sides of Equestria.” I looked at her for what seemed like a few minutes, trying to figure out if she’s telling the truth or not. In the end, I just shrugged my shoulder, grabbed a glass and poured myself a drink, when a letter appeared in front of me. I opened it up and read, “Dear Eric, Celestia would like to invite you to join us in Canterlot for dinner and to catch up on how you’ve been. You may bring a friend with you.” I read it again and said as I handed it to Chrysalis, “Well, we can go see Celestia and get her opinion on it.” Chrysalis looked through the note. When she was done, she looked up and said as she handed me the letter, “It might be a trap. They’ll invite you there, then arrest you.” I took the letter and said as I headed to the shower to get ready for the dinner, “I’m sure it’s fine, they won’t know who you are, since you will be in disguise, that’s if you’re going to come.” I know that they won’t mind if I come as I am, but I don’t think the guards will like it. I was in the shower when Chrysalis burst and said as she closes the door, “I’ll go with you, just to make sure that you don’t get in trouble.” After the shower, I yelled at Chrysalis for barging in the bathroom when I'm using it. I got dressed in my suit and met Chrysalis at the front door. I locked the door and headed to the train. When I was paying for our tickets, I had to keep getting the attention of the pony. He kept looking a Chrysalis in her dress. After getting on, I was pacing back and forth, I could feel steam coming off the head. The pony made us wait and the train left so we had to wait for the next one. It was almost dinner, and I don’t want to keep the princesses waiting. Chrysalis just sat there, trying to not make her a target and probably trying not to make me attack her for some reason. When the train stopped, I jumped out the window and took off towards the castle, slipping past some ponies that got in the way. When I got to the gate, a guard stopped me and said, “State your business for being this late. Open court is closed for today.” I looked him in the eyes and said, “Get out of my way. I’m going for dinner and I’m not in the mood.” The guard got out of the way and said, “Take a left, a first right, third left, and it’s the third door on the left.” I was about to walk in, when Chrysalis stopped me and said, “Don’t leave me on the train again. I had to deal with stallion looking at me.” I turned to see the Guard standing with his mouth open. I sighed and said, “I’m sorry, shall we get going.” We headed there and opened the door to see Luna and Celestia were sitting with the elements at the table. Celestia looked up and said, “Ah, Eric. I thought you wouldn’t make it and who is your friend?” > Dinner and Dream > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We walked in the dining room, I felt their eyes follow me. Chrysalis and I sat down and the chefs brought us our food. I said as I pushed my food a little in front of me and rested my arms on the table, “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, missed the train and had to wait for the next one. This is my roommate, Chrys..” Twilight coughed, then I stopped and looked to see if she was okay. She gave me the look that I know too well, I was about to say something wrong. Then it dawned on me, I almost said Chrysalis’ real name. I turned to Celestia and said, “Krystal. I told her I was coming and she wanted to see you.” Celestia nodded and started eating. We all ate in silence, until Luna said, “So, Krystal, how long are you going to be Eric’s roommate?” Chrysalis looked up from her food and said, “I don't know how long, maybe when I finally can get back on my own hooves.” I looked at everyone to see their expression, everyone was eating, then I noticed Applejack hasn't touched her food. I placed the fork down and said, “Applejack, is something wrong?” She jumped, shook her head and said as she got up, “I just have a weird feeling, I'm going to get some fresh air.” As she left, I got a feeling that she knows something is up with me and Chrysalis. I shrugged and went back to eating, it's better to act like nothing is wrong and I'll ask her what's wrong after dinner. After dinner was done, Rainbow Dash got up and said, “Well, it was nice to see you all and have dinner, but I have to get going.” I said as I held her in place, you're going to leave before having some wine.” Everypony stared at me, including Chrysalis, then Celestia said as maids cleaned up the dishes, “I didn’t say anything about wine.” I turned to her and said as I teleported a bottle to me, “I just wanted to give everyone wine for making you all wait. It’s my treat.” Rainbow shrugged and said, “Sure, I can stay for a glass or two.” I smiled and said as I grabbed everyone’s glass and filled them, “It’s fine, I have plenty of wine to go around.” After a few glasses, Celestia said as she tried to levitate the glass closer, “What’s the wine called?” I steadied her magic and said as I looked at the bottle, “It seems that the label has peeled off, but I’m sure it’s fine.” After about ten minutes, I was kicking myself in the but for jinxing it. Luna and Rainbow passed out on the floor and were cuddling, Fluttershy was cuddling with Rarity, rubbing her head, with Rarity complaining about her mane, Pinkie was asleep on the table, probably dreaming of something odd, I had to keep Chrysalis from screaming out her name and getting rid of her disguise, and now she’s talking to Twilight about magic and different kinds of control. Celestia was about to take a drink, then she lost her concentration on the glass and it hit the table. I said as I brought it up to her mouth to drink, “Celestia, when Luna and I were talking, she happened to mention a few pages that are before my accident. Just out of curiosity, is it all true, or is of only your opinion?” Celestia was about to answer my question, but Applejack came in and said as she looked around, “What’s going on?” I looked around and shrugged my shoulders and said, “I don’t really know what happened, I just gave them some wine, then this happen.” She walked up to me and said, “If that happened, then why do you look like you aren’t affected?” I shrugged, then I heard a thunk right next to me. I turned to see Chrysalis laying on top of Twilight. She was struggling with Chrysalis on top of her. I sighed, turned to Celestia and said as I levitated Chrysalis onto my back, “I’m guessing we’re staying for the night. Could you give me directions to a guest room?” Celestia stood up and said as she walked towards me while swaying back and forth, “I’ll show you there. It’s on my way to my bedroom.” I nodded and followed her to the room. When we got there I said goodnight to her and closed the door behind me. The room had two beds and a dresser between them. I didn’t really care about the dresser since we were just staying the night, and all the clothes I had with me is this suit. I placed Chrysalis on the bed and locked the door so no one could get through, then I headed over to the balcony to see almost all of Equestria. So this is what it’s like to look over the kingdom you rule. I shook my and said quietly as I walked to my bed, “No, I’m not here to rule it. I’m just here to have dinner with the princesses, and tomorrow, I’ll be heading home.” I headed to the other bed, laid down, and thought about how to ask Celestia if it’s true that she is tired of running Equestria or if it’s a mistake on my part. That I made her think that way. Before I knew it, I drifted off the sleep. I looked around to see that I was in a different bedroom. Instead of two beds, there was a big one that could probably belong to a princess. I turned to the door and saw that the space was empty. Then I heard someone say, “Why are you dreaming of my sister’s room?” I turned around to see Luna laying on the bed. She was in a sleepwear that was a light version of the night sky, including the stars. I shook my head and said as I shrugged, “Honestly I don’t know, maybe from my past-self memories.” She stared at me and said as she stood up, “It might be, or it might be a desire that you want to have Celestia’s bedroom to yourself.” I sighed as I rubbed one of my eyes. With my eyes closed, I noticed a faint smell coming from her. I looked up and said, “Excuse me, but are you where some sort of perfume.” Luna looked at me with confusion and shock, then she said, “Yeah, I put it on for the dinner and forgot to shower, but how did you know that I don’t think you can smell in a dream.” Then she looked terrified like something was scaring her, then she shook her head and muttered quietly, but I could hear it, “No, that can’t be, you would have to be born into it, or it takes years of practice and training to master it.” I was confused at what she was saying, but I didn’t bother her. It seemed like she forgot that I was here. After a few minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked over imagined a baseball bat and cracked it on the back of her head while making a cushion that wouldn’t damage her. She gripped her head and said as she turned to me, “Thanks, I needed that. What were we talking about? I shook my head and said as I made an ice pack appear, “Forget about it. If I remind you, you might start going crazy again.” She was about to say something, but decided against it and closed her mouth. I decided to change the setting. I closed my eyes and decided to make it something familiar. I heard Luna gasp and I opened my eyes to see that it was the cell from my dreams. I banged my head into the wall, so far, this dream has been ridiculous. First, I dream of Celestia’s room, then, Luna goes crazy, and now, we’re in the cell from my nightmares and my past. Then I heard her sigh. I turned to see that she was sitting on the bed. I thought about a chair, then I sat down and said, “I just noticed that you weren’t being honest with me when you say that you’re fine, what’s wrong.” She looked up at me and started spilling her guts to me. After a few hours of listening to everything that happened and imagining a tissue box for her, she smiled and said, “Thanks again. I really need that since Celestia is busy with some stuff.” I smiled and woke up. I felt something press against me. I opened my eyes to see that it was Chrysalis. I almost jumped out of my skin. I calmed down and teleported out of her grasp, then I headed to the kitchen to get a drink. I opened the door to see Celestia looking in the fridge. I coughed gently to get her attention, but not scare her. That didn’t go well. She jumped and said as she sighed, “Eric, I thought you would’ve left by now.” I walked next to her and said as I made me a drink, “I decided to let Krystal sleep in after what happen. How everyone?” As I took sips of my drink, Celestia talked to me about what’s been going on, and about that the changeling that came with a box. It looked nervous as it climbed the stairs. I turned to see Chrysalis looking around for me, then I said as I placed the cup in the sink, “I guess she didn’t sleep much, I talk to you later.” I could see that she was trying to hide the confusion. I walked out of the kitchen and led Chrysalis to the train to head home. > Heading home and getting a surprise > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the train, I thought about what happened in the dream and what Luna was muttering about. She mentioned something about having to be born into it like she knew from experience. Could she have meant being able to enter ponies’ dream? I was jolted out of being lost in thought when Chrysalis shook my shoulder. I turned to her and said, Sorry, I was lost in thought, what do you need.” She said as she pointed out the window, “We’re almost there.” I looked out the window to see Ponyville in the distance, I turned to her and nodded, then we got ready to get off. As I was walking past work, I felt hooves grab me and pulled me into the building. Of course, I screamed a little, who wouldn’t, and the last thing I saw before the door closed was Chrysalis staring at me with bewilderment. I started rambling on about stuff. Then I heard Rainbow laughing. I was confused at first, then I heard Twilight say as the room lit up a bit, “Rainbow, that’s not funny, We almost gave Eric a heart attack with your idea on how to get him alone.” She turned to me and added, “Sorry about that, we just wanted to thank you for the wine last night, but Rainbow got the idea of talking to you alone and came up with this dumb plan.” I sighed with relief and said as I stood up, “It’s fine, it’s coming from the one that was snuggling Luna last night.” She blushed as the others laughed. Then I added as I pulled her close, “I’m just kidding, it was a little cute.” She squirmed out of my grip and said as she blushed more, “It’s your drink’s fault, so don’t call me cute.” Then she flew past me, then I heard a thud and her saying, “Ow.” I turned around and lit up my horn to see that Rainbow ran into the wall. She was on her back with her wings and legs spread out. I turned the light on and said as I looked closer at her, “Are you okay?” She rolled onto her stomach and got up unsteadily, then said as she swayed a bit, “I’m fine, just wondering if there are changelings.” Her eyes were a bit unfocused, then she collapsed on the floor. The girls ran over to her and looked at her. I sighed and said as I walked out the door, “Hope she’s alright, but I have to make sure my roommate doesn’t go crazy with me being dragged in here.” I stepped outside to see Chrysalis wasn’t waiting outside, so that must mean that she’s at home preparing the army to storm the building. It’s a bit overkill if you ask me. I headed home. When I got there, is was almost as normal as it could be. There were changelings moving around and cleaning up. I shook my head and headed up the stairs. When I opened my door, I saw something that made my blood run cold. Inside the room was Discord and Chrysalis, she was sitting on the floor with swirls in her eyes and her head to the side. Discord said as he turned to me, “Oh, Eric, I seemed to find your toy. So, I guess you figured out who you are, maybe I’ll go tell Celestia about this.” I ignored him, he can do whatever he wants, and walked over to Chrysalis. I placed my hoof on her shoulder and shook it. Her head swayed back and forth until it hit the bed. She groaned as she held her head, then she looked up at me and said, “Master, how did you escape them?” I said as I stood up and teleport Discord out of the room, “It turned out to be the Rainbow’s plan to thank me for the wine.” She nodded, then she burst into tears and said, “I’m sorry, I led Discord here. It’s all my fault.” I placed a hoof on her head and said, “It’s not your fault, it was bound to happen, Discord figuring us out.” I didn’t expect it so soon, so I guess, I’ll have to beat her at the game. > Coming to an agreement > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After calming Chrysalis down, I walked back to the Sugarcube Corner to see if Twilight is still there. I opened the door to see that only Pinkie was there. I walked up and said, “Hey Pinkie, do you know where Twilight is?” She turned around and said, “I think she headed back to the castle after we made sure that Rainbow is okay. Maybe the writer knows.” I looked at her with confusion and said, “Are you sure you didn’t get hurt. Anyway, thanks.” I hurried towards the castle. Once I got there, I didn’t even bother knocking. I burst in to find Twilight. After checking about a dozen room, I ran into her. She was sorting the books. She turned to me and said, “Eric, are you alright?” I said once I caught my breath, “Discord knows about Chrysalis and went to tell Celestia.” She looked confused and said, “Why not control her to forget, or plead for forgiveness and beg to live with Chrysalis.” I stared at her and said, “I’m not going to plead and I didn’t control her at all.” She looked at me with shock and said, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that you didn’t control her, but why wouldn’t you? It would’ve guaranteed your rule.” I stared at her and said, “My memories are gone, remember?” She opened her mouth to say something but closed it, then she said as she lowered her head, “I’m sorry for yelling. I’m just stressed that I forgot.” I got up and said as I made my way to the door, “Don’t stress about it, I’ll figure something out. I might do it as I go.” I swear that her color drained out of her after I said that. I know she is a bit of a control freak, so just doing it as I go won’t work for her as well. I closed the library door behind me and started walking towards the entrance when it opened and I almost bumped into Spike, who was carrying a basket of gems. I teleported behind and headed home. Once I got there, there was a note from Celestia on the table. I opened it up and read, “Dear Eric, we didn’t get a lot of time to talk, you were saying something last night, but was interrupted by your friend. I’ll be coming over later today to hang out with you.” Signed, Celestia PS, Luna wanted to say hi, but she has her nose crammed in really dusty books.” I folded up the note and started to see which bottles of wine I have. I got downstairs, passed the cocoons that the changelings were working on, and went to the crates of wine. I looked at each bottle and found one of the oldest bottles I have. I headed upstairs and placed it on the table before checking up on Chrysalis. She was sitting on my bed with her head lowered. I gently tapped her on the head and she jumped as she looked up at me. I said as I sat down, “Chrysalis, I told you already that you aren’t to blame for Discord finding out. So why are you still down?” She lowered her head again and said, “I know, but I can’t help it. If I paid more attention to my surroundings, I would’ve seen him and took a bit more of a detour or go through the back door.” I nodded and said, “Yeah, you should’ve been paying attention, but it’s not great to stay with that thought. You need to learn from your mistakes, that’s how you get better at being a queen.” She looked up and smiled as she hugged me and headed out of the room. I smiled and got up to finally get ready for the day, it’s been hectic today with riding by train, getting pulled into a dark room, Discord finding Chrysalis in my room, talking to Twilight about ideas, and now getting another letter from Celestia. I stayed under the water as if it would wash away most of my problems and add answers to the questions I’ve had. I got out and headed down the stairs to hear a knock at the door. It was as if time stopped in the house, every changeling stopped what they were doing and stared at the door. I saw Chrysalis and whispered to her, “Get the changeling into the basement quickly and quietly.” She nodded and started ushering them into the basement while making sure nothing suspicious was out in the open. I opened the door to see a mare looking around like she was nervous about getting caught. I cleared my throat, which made her jump, and said, “Hello miss, may I help you?” She quickly pushed past me and said, “It’s me, Celestia. I needed to lose my guards so we could talk in private.” I took a small bow and said as I motioned to the bottle, “That’s a good disguise, it fooled me. I was about to have a small drink, do you want some.” She shook her head and said, “No thanks, I think I drank enough yesterday.” I nodded and sat down as she added as she sat down on the other side, “You mention about pages before your accident.” I set the bottle down after pouring me a glass and said, “Yeah, I was talking to Luna and she mentioned them, I was wondering if they were based on your opinion or facts.” Celestia stood up and said, “I think this is better discussed elsewhere.” then she headed out the back door towards the woods. I gulped down my drink I followed her. After we entered the forest, she said, “Most of it is fact, and my opinion as well. I heard something that spoke to me directly and cut metaphorically cut through me like a knife.” I nodded and lowered my head, so I might have placed the idea in her head. I said as I changed her form, “If you are willing to answer, what was said?” The disguise dissipated and she was shocked before dismissing it and said, “I was asked if I think I’m doing a good job. I thought about it and realized that there have been more attacks with me ruling Equestria. So I put out a challenge.” I didn’t push it, since I knew what the challenge was, and followed her. After a few minutes, I said, “Luna’s been having a hard time, you should spend time with her.” She nodded and said, “I will. I’ve been pushing her away again. At least she can tell you things when I can’t listen.” We walked in silence, then she added as she turned towards me, “Oh, Discord came by and said that you found Chrysalis and is letting her stay with you.” I gulped and couldn’t think about what to say, but I didn’t have to. Right there, a few changelings attacked her and started tying her up, while making that she couldn’t use magic. Chrysalis came out from behind me and said, “Master, we captured again, now we don’t have to worry.” Celestia looked down and said, “I guess you knew everything and planned this from the start like a true leader should. I should have seen the clues earlier, changing Chrysalis’ name to Krystal, her pinning Twilight down while being the same size, and should have listened to Discord about what was going on. I thought taking away your memories would change you, but I guess I was wrong. You truly deserve the throne and this time, I’ll stay in the cell.” I motioned the ropes off and said as levitated Celestia back on her feet, “I would appreciate my old memories back, and yes, you should have seen the signs and listened to Discord, but I’m not after the throne anymore.” She looked up stunned and confused. She was about to say something, but I stopped her and added, “I know about the challenge, to capture the throne again, but we aren’t in Canterlot at the moment, are we? I still think that Equestria can do better with a new ruler, but you can grow with more help. I already got the changeling empire and one of the powerful unicorns to change, there are three groups to help you. So what do you say, can we come to an agreement?” She looked at me and Chrysalis before nodding and holding still for the changeling to allow her to use magic. > A new job and life > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once we got back, we were swarmed by ponies, asking questions until Chrysalis came out of the forest behind us. The ponies stopped with a look of fear on their face. My heart dropped a bit until Celestia walked up and said, “You don’t need to worry about Chrysalis, We’ve come to an agreement, and it's in the making.” Everyone relaxed and the ponies jumped a bit when the changelings came out of hiding. I turned to Celestia to see her sending a letter. She smiled at me and added, “It’s just something that needed to be done.” I nodded and went for a walk while they got things situated. I ended up in the park where most of this began, it’s really quiet and peaceful here, I saw out of the corner of my eye to see fillies playing with the young changelings. I knew that image wouldn’t leave my mind for a very long time since the young ones are the future, then I heard the bench that I was sitting on creaked. I looked over to see Twilight sitting there. Her mane was disheveled as if she’s been worrying about something. She said as she looked at the young ones, “I’m guessing it went well and you are off the chopping block?” I shook my head and said, “I’m not off of it for a long time, I just got Celestia and most of Equestria off my back for the most part. With Equestria being attacked a lot, I could get in trouble at any time.” She was about to say something but decided against it. I looked up to see a certain cyan leg hanging off a low hanging cloud. I looked over to Twilight to see her smiling and nodded. I placed my magic around it and pulled. The leg came off, but that was it. I was completely confused at what I saw. It was just Rainbow’s leg. Then I heard a low voice behind me, “Why did you take my leg.” I jumped off the bench and turned around to see Rainbow hanging on the bench laughing. I threw the leg at her and Twilight stopped it before it hit her. Once Rainbow stopped laughing and caught her breath, she said, “That’s what you get for making run into a wall.” I was going to say that she did it too herself, but I decided not to and said,”You got me there. How are you feeling?” She said as she started rotating her neck, “A bit sore, from hitting the wall, but other than that, I feel fine.” I nodded and pulled her real leg this time before grabbing her around the neck. She could’ve just flown up to escape me, I don’t know whether she wasn’t thinking clearly or was enjoying it. She swung around pulled me to the ground, but somehow I ended up on top of her. I was laughing really hard that I didn’t see that we had company before they clear their throat. I looked up to see Celestia and Luna standing above Rainbow and I. Celestia said as I got up, “I see you’re having fun, but we need to get started making it official, you and Twilight are needed.” I nodded and headed home. I went up to my room and packed a suitcase with things that I would need when we get to Canterlot. Once I was done, I exit the house to see that I was in Equestria. Luna said as she took my suitcase, “Don’t worry, your house is still in ponyville. I just place a teleportation spell outside your house. It would make much easier, than you riding to Canterlot.” I looked around to see ponies whispering around me and one I saw was passing a bit. It made me more nervous about this.I decided to get lost in my thoughts to escape this. I thought about how Sombra is, when I would get my memories back, and when I do, will it help me have even more control over my ability, or is it going to make it much worse? I was stopped before running into the castle’s doors. Luna added as she gave me back my suitcase, “You’ll be staying in the same room you were in last night. Unpack your bags, then come to the room next to the dining room and Celestia and I will explain what’s going on.” I nodded and headed towards the room that Chrysalis and I slept in the night before and placed my clothes in the dresser between the beds and sat down. I didn’t think it would be this quick, I just suggested her needing help and she tells me that I’m needed for something. I finished up and headed towards the room. I entered to see that there was a medium-sized triangle table with the four princesses on one side, Sombra and Chrysalis on another, and there was a chair on the last side. I sat down and said, “ Okay, what's going on?” Celestia said as she placed a paper on the table, “Right now, we're making a treaty that you need to watch. Then we'll get your work official. Your work is making sure that it stays well between changelings and ponies.” I was stunned. I wasn't expecting to get an important job, I watched Chrysalis and Sombra read the paper and nodded as they signed it, then the princesses took turns signing it. Once it was in front of me, I gave it a quick read. It said that for Chrysalis’ help, they are allowed to yet the changelings feed off of them, and for Sombra’s help, he’s cleared of all crimes that he did when he was using black magic. I burned my cutie mark into it and gave back to Celestia. Chrysalis got up and said as she headed out, “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get the changelings together and move our love over.” The other turned towards me and I shook my head, then she added, “I mean the love that we collected a long time ago.” She gave me a hug and left. They relaxed after she left and Luna said, “Get some rest, tomorrow we’ll announce it to Equestria. I nodded and got something small to eat before entering my room, my head hit the pillow and I was out like a light. I dreamed of quick images of things happening. I woke up with my body feeling like it was on fire. I head to the bathroom and poured cold water on me, then I realize that it was the next day and someone was pounding on my door. I got my clothes on to see Chrysalis standing there, she said as she started dragging me, “Didn’t you hear me? I was pounding loudly on the door, a few guards thought I would break down the door. You slept for almost the whole day.” I was stunned that I didn’t realize I was in front of other till I heard Celestia’s voice, “Greeting ponies, I’m terribly sorry for the wait. Eric here was going through some difficult stuff. I’m proud to give you the one that will be in charge of the changeling and ponies interaction, and Luna’s and my adviser.” I stepped up and waved while they cheered. I had a feeling that it might go well for now on.